"Just to win a beauty's smile, an Outer Rim warlord spares no expense—skipping the easy options and traveling all the way to Ryloth to recruit workers for Bespin's factories… Industrialization in ten years, modernization in fifty—turning Ryloth into the jewel of the Outer Rim!"
"…Ryloth's son-in-law. Whoever makes an enemy of Ryloth makes an enemy of Max Vizsla. A friendly warning to certain criminal elements: turn back before it's too late—and don't say you weren't warned…"
"That's fine," Max said into the comm. "Have a Holonet News Network entertainment reporter handle it—or hire a romance novelist to punch it up. The moment our recruitment fair kicks off, push it live. I want it as the entertainment front-page headline."
"Yes, Commander Vizsla," the staffer at Bespin's Coruscant liaison office replied.
"Good. Appreciate it." Max ended the hyperspace call.
"Boss," Christopher Rhen asked beside him, "if we play it like this, Master Aayla Secura won't be easy to keep in the dark, will she?"
"Keep what in the dark? We're not hiding anything. This is Coruscant's trash media publishing it—what's that got to do with us? Besides, the Master's conscience is clean. She won't care about this."
The tallest nail gets hammered. Ambition, big dreams—if you can hide them, hide them as long as you can. With an early setup like "Shocking! Outer Rim warlord throws money around to chase the most beautiful Jedi!", "investing to build up the goddess's homeland" sounded a lot more harmless than "economic colonization of Ryloth."
"Chris," Max instructed, "next, go grease the local Ryloth outlets. Once HNN's entertainment headline drops, make sure the local papers reprint it as their own front-page lead."
"Yes, boss."
Get ahead in the information war. Build momentum. Reduce Twi'lek suspicion toward economic domination, and smooth the project's rollout. That was the idea.
…
"Oh my—!" Senator Orn Free Taa came striding up. "I was worried sick! Lord Vizsla, Mr. Rhen—seeing you back safe is such a relief!"
Max hopped off the speeder bike, embraced Orn Free Taa, then said, "Senator, I gave those maniacs a thorough lesson on your behalf."
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!" Orn Free Taa laughed so hard his lekku trembled. "Did you now? Ahh, you've truly suffered for Ryloth."
"After my 'lesson,' those maniacs led by Cham Syndulla have fully recognized your greatness—and their own mistakes. Starting tomorrow, members of Free Ryloth will report into the city in waves. They'll provide security for the recruitment fair on the 25th."
"Good, good, g—uh… what?" Orn Free Taa's lekku started twitching harder. "No, wait, that—"
"Eh." Max waved him off. "They're entering openly. What's left to worry about?"
"Oh, right, right." Orn Free Taa nodded fast, then made a slicing gesture at his own throat. "So you mean we lure them into the city and wipe them out in one go?"
(Well damn. So you're not just some harmless mascot.) Max smiled. "Uh… if they actually defect to you—or at least stop fighting and start cooperating—do you still insist on eliminating them?"
"Th-that… that…" Orn Free Taa hesitated.
"Besides, for every one that reports openly, I'm guessing plenty more will slip in quietly. If you make a move then, the risk is huge."
"I-is that so?" Orn Free Taa shivered.
"Yeah." Max nodded. "And if you really try it, you won't be able to hide it from your 'dear little sister.' If she steps in, your trap-and-slaughter plan won't get off the ground."
"Th-then… forget it."
"Free Ryloth entering the city to provide security helps you. It boosts your standing with ordinary Ryloth citizens."
"Really?" Orn Free Taa's lekku quivered again. "Ah, Lord Vizsla, you don't know—there've always been rabble who not only refuse to appreciate everything I've done for Ryloth, they even cooked up this 'Free Ryloth' nonsense to oppose me. Outrageous, isn't it?"
"Outrageous. Absolutely outrageous." Max nodded hard. "When the time comes, I'll 'educate' them a few more times for you."
Before Orn Free Taa could respond, Max leaned close and murmured, "If you're still not satisfied, I've got another method. Might even wipe them out."
"Oh?" Orn Free Taa's eyes lit up. He understood instantly—and pulled Max toward his luxurious office.
…
"Have them fight the Pykes?"
"Exactly."
In interstellar trade, Ryloth had two pillars: exporting Twi'lek female slaves (male slaves too, but far fewer), and exporting the spice mineral ryll.
Ryll was a valuable mineral spice—raw material for many anesthetics. The Pyke Syndicate used it to synthesize the narcotic glitterstim.
Right now, ryll hadn't hurt Ryloth too badly. Ryloth was so poor the Pykes weren't even interested in cooking or selling drugs locally. They refined the raw mineral into ryll on Ryloth, shipped it back to Kessel, produced glitterstim there, then moved it to market.
But if Ryloth ever developed—if Twi'leks started having money in their pockets—that would change fast.
And this was the best moment to cut the drug risk off at the root. With Lom Pyke dead, the bosses were tearing each other apart for the top seat, splitting the syndicate. Lom Pyke had been a master at balance—his lieutenants' factions were relatively even. The succession war and fragmentation would likely drag on for some time.
If Ryloth struck now, the local Pyke operation would have a hard time getting support from headquarters.
"Fifty percent."
"Fifty?"
The Pykes had been giving Orn Free Taa twenty percent—twenty percent of profits priced in ryll, not twenty percent of profits priced in glitterstim. Max had already negotiated with the New Mandalorians' Krayt Pharmaceuticals: based on the Pykes' ryll valuation, Orn Free Taa would receive fifty percent.
"If Free Ryloth can't handle it, my people will step in." Max blinked. "If the two sides get locked in a standoff, my people can 'arrive a little later.'"
"But…" Orn Free Taa hesitated. "Will Cham Syndulla agree?"
"Eh." Max waved it off. "Senator, there's an old Core Worlds saying: you can lead a 'righteous man' wherever you want—so long as you wrap it in the proper banner. Free Ryloth boasts they're righteous, that they 'serve the people,' right? Press them with the cause of 'removing a scourge for the people'—they won't dare refuse."
"Mm. Makes sense."
Max's full plan went like this:
First, he would tell Senator Liif Galamby of Corellia that he'd traced the source of the spice his beloved grandson was using—back to Ryloth. He intended to destroy that evil source, and he wanted the senator's support. Then Orn Free Taa would issue an invitation to the Corellian Republic—officially as an "exchange and study visit"—requesting a defense fleet visit Ryloth.
The Corellian fleet would only need to stay in orbit, monitoring and sealing the hyperspace routes around Ryloth.
With the Corellian Defense Force as a banner to hide behind, Black Sun—who already had grudges (the First Battle of Bespin)—could be pressured into backing off. The Pyke Syndicate would be handed to Free Ryloth. Max's own forces would focus on the Zygerrian slavers.
And since Ryloth was still poor, it was the perfect time to fight hard and fast up front. Break a few things now—no one would mourn the loss. Build after the war.
—
PS: In current canon, ryll is a specialty of Ryloth and its neighboring world Aaloth—there's no third source. In Legends, ryll has more production sites. This story follows the canon version.
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