Ysalamiri

Talon Karrde watched as the Imperial shuttle slowly descended through the atmosphere of Myrkr. A few dozen kilometers up and away hovered an Imperial Victory-II Class Star Destroyer. The Victory class was far smaller in size and armament than the infamous Imperial Class Star Destroyer, but they were still produced during the height of the Empire as they were much more affordable and require less maintenance. Furthermore, there were some jobs in which a smaller ship could outperform a larger ship, raids on pirate and smuggler bases and other low level law enforcement counted as this.

After the fall of the Empire, the Victory I and Victory II classes experienced a major revival in popularity. Tight economic conditions and an overall lack of resources and the appropriate shipyards caused the Victory classes to be the only cost effective Star Destroyer model. During the Cold War between the New Republic and the Imperial holdouts, the First Order was the only Imperial faction that continued to produce large capital ships due to their more militant nature and their access to greater equipment and resources, such as Kyber crystals mind from the planet Illum. However, even with these advantages, the First Order was able to produce only a small number of powerful vessels and newer models, such as the Mandator IV Siege Dreadnought, were woefully under armed as a result of budget costs.

Karrde knew that the Star Destroyer was not looking for his head, still he couldn't help but feel nervous as he watched it descend. Talon Karrde was a professional smuggler and information broker. If somebody wished to know something, Karrde was the one to see. His network of spies, contacts, and informants was rivaled by only the Bothans and the Black Sun crime syndicate. While he often thought of himself as existing outside of the law of any one Galactic government, his actions were seen by many to be highly illegal. Still, Karrde saw himself as a man with principles. He was more than willing to steal and pirate data, but he would never lie to a paying customer, nor did he allow his organization to dabble in more insidious illegal practices such as drug or sentient trafficking. In many ways, he saw himself as a businessman and a captain of industry, an unorthodox one perhaps, but not a robber baron or a gangster.

Besides, as he often told confused recruits who questioned his methods, there were perks to being seen as an 'honorable' pirate. For instance, while he would sell information about the New Republic to the Imperial Remnant and vice versa, and both sides were willing to put up with and trade with him. After all, during any cold war there is a lucrative information market, and the dealing with a man like Karrde was much prefered to dealing with a gang of thugs such as Black Sun. Furthermore, his position allowed him to pick and choose which clients he wished to deal with and what the terms of their agreement would be. While the existence of multiple galactic powers greatly benefited his business, he did not wish for the war to become hot. Active galactic war benefited only the arms dealers, such as Black Sun, while smaller organizations such as his own would be looked upon with suspicion- not very good for business. As such, while he was eager to sell information to either side about conditions such as ship movements and supply statistics, in short easy to obtain information which served mostly to corroborate the reports that either side's intelligence organizations found out, he would rarely sell information that could lead to the early destruction of a regime.

The only major time he broke this principle was when he learned that the First Order was greatly increasing its warship sizes and production abilities. Rouge and militaristic regimes such as the First Order were as bad for business as the Black Sun, and as such whenever he would uncover any information relating to their activities, he would sell it for cheap to the New Republic, Imperial Remnant, Chiss Ascendency, and even the Hutt Cartels. His fears, as usual, turned out to be justified. When the First Order destroyed the Hosnian System, it was as if the entire Galaxy had been engulfed in a hot war while suffering from a sudden and unexpected economic depression- very bad for business indeed.

While he certainly would not throw his complete support behind one side in such turbulent times, he was more than willing to help whatever civilized faction he could to regain power, or at least an area of dominance, as fast as possible. Still, in times like these, the price for failure was dire. One wrong move and his allies could turn on him, and one wrong alliance and he could lose everything up to and including his life. But, such risks were sometimes necessary to save the Galaxy from itself.

The shuttle touched down and its boarding ramp descended. From the inside came a half dozen stormtroopers wearing suits of armor that had seen better days. While he knew that the shuttle belonged to the Empire of the Hand, not the First Order, he subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the classic helmet design.

Karrde's guards slowly surrounded the stormtroopers. While heavily armed, all pistols stayed in their holsters and all rifles stayed pointed down. Karrde's men may have outnumbered the Imperials five-to-one, but the head of any major criminal organization needs security. Karrde, who had been sitting sideways on a parked speeder bike as the shuttle descended, rose and walked over leaning slightly on his Greelwood cane. Karrde was very healthy for his age, but he did not take anything for granted, including his health, and was willing to use a cane to take pressure off his aging spine. Plus, it was a very stylish, but not too stylish, model.

From inside the shuttle came a man with blue skin. If Karrde had not trained himself to always maintain a pazaak face, he would have gasped. Many of his men did so, until they realized that the man in question was not the Grand Admiral himself, but a much younger Chiss officer.

"Greetings Talon Karrde of the Car'das Organization," said the young Chiss holding out his hand, "I am Lieutenant Thrass of the Empire of the Hand representing Grand Admiral Thrawn on this mission."

This boy sure loves his titles, thought Karrde as he shook his hand. "Welcome to this little slice of paradise," he replied sardonically, "Would you like any refreshments or shall we talk business out in the open?"

"I am fine," said the young man, "but we should probably talk about business matters in your office or study."

"You say so," said Karrde as he led the way inside a large hanger that served as his base of operations. The stormtroopers and Karrde's own men followed. Along the way, Karrde made small talk by pointing out all sorts of items scattered around the hanger and explaining their meaning and function. He, of course, did not reveal any secrets, but he knew that the free and open exchange of small and unimportant bits of knowledge worked a long way to improving diplomatic trust.

"...and over there behind them doors is the refresher in case you need to take care of personal matters," he finished up, "Oh hey! Here's my office." The office was a room with large glass windows that looked out over the hanger floor. He turned the handle. Instantly a large furry muzzle appeared and rubbed against Karrde's legs.

"Heeeeyyyy, good girl," he said scratching the creature behind the ears. Suddenly, the beast smelled the strangers and uttered a low growl.

"No! Stay!"

The creature yielded.

"Go! Go lay down!"

The beast, as well as a second one deeper inside the office, walked back to their beds.

"That's just New Drang," said Karrde, "Don't worry about her. She's a good girl."

"Was that a vornskr?" asked the Chiss.

"Yes, and I can get you some if you like. They make excellent guards if you train them right."

"No thanks- or at least not at this moment," said the Chiss as he followed Karrde into the office. The stormtroopers tried to follow, but Thrass waved them away. They continued to stand guard outside.

"So what are you in the market for?" asked Karrde taking his seat behind the desk. He fumbled around with some flimsiplast and papers on his desk before pressing a button on a datapad.

"Well," said the Chiss nervously looking down at his own datapad, "We- and by 'we' from this point on refers to the Empire of the Hand, specifically under the leadership of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and this is the Empire in isolation of- yes, do you have a question?"

Karrde was holding up a hand signaling the youth to stop. "Woah woah, hold on a minute. Are you sure you wouldn't like any refreshments?"

"I am sure," said Lieutenant Thrass.

"Well you just seem nervous, that's all. You're more than welcome to cut all the legalistic formulae. I just want to know what are you looking for, what are you offering, and why do you need it."

"Very well," the Chiss took a breath, "We would like to order as many Ysalamiri as you can supply. We have our own nutrient frames but need the creatures themselves."

"Very well," said Karrde, "But I thought I gave some to the Good Admiral a few years back."

"You did," said Thrass, "but they are old and many have already died. Furthermore, we have been unable to breed the creatures as they only become, uh, in heat, when around their natural habitat of Olbio trees. Unfortunately, we have been unable to plant these trees on other worlds as even in mineral-dense soil, they do not survive long for reasons that are still unclear to us."

"Understandable," Karrde nodded, "So why do you need the Ysalamiri in the first place?"

"As you know, the Ysalamiri project a bubble that nullifies the power of Jedi. We wish to use them for security measures."

"But the Jedi are dead."

"Yes," said the Chiss emphatically, "but we still need them just in case."

Karrde could tell there was something that the Chiss was telling him, but he let it slide. "Name your figure."

Lieutenant Thrass gave a prearranged sum. Karrde thought about haggling, but the sum was generous- at least as generous as one can hope for in such economic conditions.

"I'll see what I can do. Will there be anything else?"

"We would like all information relating to both rouge Imperial factions and the remains of the New Republic and the Resistance."

"As I'm sure you already know," said Karrde, "I am already supplying the Grand Admiral with such information."

"He says that he would like more," said the Chiss, "the details are contained in this envelope." From his pocket, the Lieutenant produced an envelope and handed it to Karrde.

"I'll take a look at this as soon as I get a minute. Anything else?"

"Well, if it's acceptable to you and your organization, the Grand Admiral Thrawn has requested images of your Ysalamiri facilities."

Karrde rose from the desk, "I'll do you one better, come, I can show you where I keep them and you can take all the pictures you need."

Thrass rose to his feet and followed Karrde out the door. They walked the length of the hanger, all the while Karrde continued to make small talk, this time asking small questions about how Thrawn and the Empire are doing almost as if they were two distant relatives reunited for Life Day. The Chiss usually stuck to one word answers.

They emerged from a side door. In front of them was a large tree with several small lizard-like creatures in the branched. Thrass walked over and examined them. Ysalamiri were small furry lizards who dwelled in trees. They were completely harmless and were dependant upon the trees that they inhabited to live. They would suck out the nutrient-rich sap from the bark for feeding, but this process was slow, requiring them to live in the trees almost constantly. The sap could be produced artificially, but the process was expensive, and the ysalamiri could then be transported in nutrient cages. Due to these costs, nobody would bother with them if not for their strange ability to nullify Force abilities around them. Through unknown means, Ysalamiri developed a way to prevent others from sensing them in the Force. This by itself was not too unusual, as there were other known species that evolved to be invisible to the Force, such as the mysterious Taozin, but the Ysalamiri took it a step further as their cloaking bubble spread outward from their bodies not only hiding them from others in the Force but preventing others from being affected by the Force at all.

Thrass pulled out his datapad and took pictures. The small lizards watched curiously. After a while, they made their way back to the Imperial shuttle. Before boarding the shuttle, Thrass turned around.

"Does Mara Jade still work for you?" he asked.

Karrde allowed himself to raise an eyebrow. "Yes, why?"

"Grand Admiral Thrawn would like her to extend an invitation to her," he said producing another envelope, "Please hand this to her."

Karrde took it slowly. "I'll see what I can do."