Starwind Eclipse Syndicate
From Starsider Wiki
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| [Source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Contents |
History
An information brokerage and smuggling organization originally based out of Nar Shaadaa, the SES was the creation of the Twi'lek spy and smuggler Ulin'dran Dree. Dree was a former Black Sun operative who refused his Vigo's command to eliminate high profile contacts within Gallofree Yards Inc. in order to bring the embattled company fully under Black Sun control.
Knowing his days were numbered in the organization, Ulin'dran escaped before the purges of Prince Xizor. He had already established a small used starship dealership based on the moon of Nar Shaadaa as a front for his smuggling outfit under the fabricated identity of Vic Starwind.
Originally, the SES was simply Ulin'dran and the crew of his modified GR-75 transport, the Quantum Storm. A few years before the Battle of Yavin however, Ulin'dran and his crew were integral in the Battle of Nar Shaddaa in which they defended their home from an Imperial fleet. Though they didn't lead the battle (That "honor" fell to a brash young Corellian smuggler named Han Solo) their actions gave them a certain level of fame among smuggler circles. Unfortunately, this led to some unfortunate incidences as bounty hunters sent by the Black Sun came by much more frequently with the higher profile.
Starwind Eclipse Systems
Despite the CEO's nomadinc lifestyle, the SES still maintained a small starship lot on Nar Shaadaa, managed by Ulin'dran's trusted friend Shal Breeno, a former executive Engineer of the bankrupt Gallofree Yards, but as the Galactic Civil War blossomed, and Ulin'dran found himself on the wrong side of both the Empire and the Black Sun, he found it prudent to remain mobile. As such, the SES conducted most of its business (both legal and illegal) from its mobile operation centers aboard the starships Quantum Storm and (as of 3ABY) the Starwind Seraph, the former of which also featured a small docking bay and workshop for the SES's skilled technicians.
Rebel Ties
In their travels, Ulin'dran and his crew became more and more disgusted with the Empire. On too many worlds they saw the effects of Imperial subjugation and oppression. Though far from an idealist, Ulin'dran could not abide slavery, and hated the undue burden that Imperial tariffs and regulations placed upon honest businessmen. Moreover, with Imperial warrants looming over him as well as a Black sun Death Mark, even the industrious Ulin'dran knew that if he continued "going it alone" his past would catch up to him, and his crew.
So it was in 1BBY, the SES leader was allowed a clandestine meeting with former Senator, fellow fugitive and Alliance leader, Mon Mothma. Desperate to increase the upstart Rebellion's information and supply channels, Mothma was very interested in the SES's ties to (now defunct) Gallofree Shipyards, and the ships that the Alliance so desperately required.
Though the SES would still take Imperial credits, Ulin'dran found himself working as an informant and smuggler for the upstart Alliance more often than not after his meeting with the idealistic Mon Mothma.
It was in this capacity that, in 0ABY, he met the leader of the 13th Roving Line, Admiral Ieheeloonea Gaivee.
Galactic Civil War
As an information brokerage and smuggling agency, the SES provided service (for a price) for the growing Alliance Navy. The Ithorian Line Admiral Ieheeloonea Gaivee used the SES quite often in the early years of the war, leading the SES to more direct conflict with the Empire.
In 2 ABY, Ulin'dran and the SES infiltrated Naboo with a commando team from Shadow Squadron. There they discovered the existence of an alien craft unlike anything any of them had seen before. Stealing the specs for the ship (as well as a couple of restored ARC-170 starfighters from the Royal Naboo Imperial Aerospace Museum), the group blasted out of Theed and escaped to Derra IV where they rendezvoused with Alliance High Command in time to help them evacuate to the new secret base on Hoth, where Ulin'dran and the SES, vouched for by Shadow Squadron, was obliged to sign an exclusive contract with the Alliance or be incarcerated on the ice world.
Unable to sell the alien specs to a distracted Alliance Command, Ulin'dran agreed to transport Shadow Squadron out to the last known location of the 13th Roving Line, to guide them to the new base. They arrived just in time to partake in a confusing three way battle between the 13th, Imperial forces, and an alien force utilizing technology similar to that found by the SES on Naboo. All three fleets fought over the derelict remains of an Imperial Praetor-class battle cruiser.
With the sacrifice of Feye Ghast and the Sand Vipers, the Rebel force (including the Quantum Storm) managed to escape with the battle cruiser. They returned to Hoth, with a salvaged reactor in tow, where they again tried desperately to warn Command about the alien threat, but to no avail. For the next year, the SES would grow in size and scope, taking in the refugees from the Sand Vipers and Red Nebula Corsairs, becoming a vital supply and information broker for the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
Evacuation of Hoth
While the SES was profiting greatly from its sales of retrofitted Gallofree products to the Alliance, and Echo Base was completed with the salvaged reactor from the Praetor-class battle cruiser, Ulin'dran became somewhat obsessed with discovering the secret of the strange alien force the SES and 13th had fought in the Unknown Regions.
The SES made many supply runs between Echo Base and various supply depots, but Ulin'dran continued using his extensive network of contacts to make inquiries into the strange and deadly species. Every time he seemed on the verge of a significant discovery however, the war got in the way.
In 3ABY, the SES learned of a strange, pale blue-skinned mystic on the planet of Tatooine who prophesized the coming of a race of conquerers known as the "Far Outsiders" who would bring the "cleansing pain" to the galaxy, paving the way for the return of the "god-world."
Though the mystic was dismissed as one of thousands of doomsday conspiracy theorists, his description of these "Far Outsiders" as riding "living ships of blood and stone" piqued Ulin'dran's curiosity, and he prepared the Quantum Storm to leave Hoth for Tatooine to continue his investigation.
Unfortunately, before the SES could depart, an Imperial probe droid located the Rebel Base, and the evacuation plans began. With his ship already prepared, Ulin'dran and the SES loaded as many Alliance personnel and equipment as they could into the Quantum Storm and launched. With two X-wing escorts and a salvo from the v-150 Planet Defender ion cannon, the Storm escaped into hyperspace and made it to the Alliance rendezvous point well above the galactic plane.
Return to Nar Shaddaa
With the Alliance needing all the transports it could get after the losses of Hoth, and the SES requiring a more powerful, if smaller, base of operations, Ulin'dran contacted his business partner and old friend Shal Breeno. The SES returned to the smuggler's moon for a time aboard a stock Incom X4 gunship. On Nar Shaddaa, SES techs worked to customize the gunship, renamed the Starwind Seraph, into a vessel capable of both defending itself from all but the most dogged Imperial pursuit as well as masking its identity and utilizing sophisticated and illegal sensor and communications equipment to continue the SES's vital intel work.
The Court of Jabba
While on Nar Shaddaa, Ulin'dran learned of Jabba the Hutt's continued dominance of the planet of Tatooine. Understanding that Jabba and his agents would be the best way to find an individual on the desert world, Ulin'dran signed on as a smuggler for the Desilijic -clan, using his prestige as both a veteran of the Battle of Nar Shaddaa and a hated enemy of the Black Sun, and it's then leader, Durga Besadii Tai of the rival Besadii clan.
Though Ulin'dran and his crew were a few of a handful of Alliance agents infiltrating the palace of Jabba, the SES was the only Alliance organization to establish a small outpost dubbed Starwind Sands near the northern dune sea. This outpost acted as a rendezvous point and safe house for Alliance agents and ships as well as a base of operations for the Starwind Eclipse Systems front company.
SES Today (3ABY)
Though the SES continues to search for the missing "Far Outsiders" prophet of Tatooine to discover the elusive secret of the alien fleet, the war continues to press upon them. The organization has grown in scope and size over the last few years, and maintains businesses, safe-houses, and information gathering cells on worlds as varying as Nar Shaddaa and Nal Hutta, Corellia, Imperial Center, Anaxes, and of course Tatooine. The Empire, once a nuisance, has become a very real threat, and only the most creative slicers and most well-placed politicians have been able to keep the front company of Starwind Eclipse Systems a viable entity.
The SES continues to work behind the scenes to bring about the end of the Empire and discover the secret threat looming just beyond the edge of the known galaxy.
OOC info:
The SES is an RP guild searching for independent smugglers, scoundrels and technicians who may be slightly sympathetic to the Rebel cause. Players joining the SES will have to be open to crewing aboard the Starwind Seraph X4 gunship and the Solarian Zephyr YKLr Nova Courier as well as any other ships in the small SES fleet.
Characters in the SES must be discrete (Both the Empire AND the Black Sun are after us), and they must be able to improvise.
More on the SES and our sister guilds the 13th Roving Line and 105th "ONYX" squadron can be found here:
Behind the scenes
The SES was created for the Novella Out of the Shadows and is based on events and characters found on the Ahazi, Valcyn and Starsider Galaxies in Star Wars Galaxies.
