Zerek Besh

"Zerek Besh syndicate has infiltrated the underworld into the farthest reaches of the galaxy. We are on the verge of uncovering the rebel network. This is an unqualified success for the ISB."

―Director Sliro Barsha, to Darth Vader^[1]

Zerek Besh was a criminal syndicate that came into prominence during the Galactic Civil War and had influence into the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Secretly, Zerek Besh was an undercover intelligence gathering division of the Imperial Security Bureau charged with infiltrating the galactic underworld to gather intelligence from various criminal organizations and uncover the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

History[]

"Failure? The ISB has created the most groundbreaking intelligence network the Empire has seen and accomplished more in weeks than the entire Imperial army. An army whose mindless show of force allowed a rebel fleet to escape from Hoth. It is the ISB that will win this war—"

―Director Sliro Barsha, to Darth Vader^[1]

Created by Director Sliro Barsha as covert intelligence gathering network of the Imperial Security Bureau^[1] around 3 ABY,^[3] the undercover^[1] division^[4] quickly became^[1] one of the galaxy's great crime families during the reign of the Galactic Empire.^[5] While Barsha treated Zerek Besh as his own personal criminal domain, he remained firmly loyal to the Empire and was dedicated to hunting the Alliance to Restore the Republic, with Barsha believing his initiative would help win the Galactic Civil War.^[1] From within the underworld, Zerek Besh searched for Alliance agents^[1] and was able to gather intelligence from the syndicates.^[4]

After the Hutt Clan attacked the Executor, the flagship of Darth Vader^[4] between 3 ABY and 4 ABY,^[6] Zerek Besh were approached by Crimson Dawn, who claimed that Emperor Palpatine wanted to end the Empire's partnership with the Hutts as a result of their attack, and that Zerek Besh could win favor of Palpatine and enter a partnership with the Empire.^[4] Believing the offer, Zerek Besh then fought in^[5] the Syndicate War^[4] against the Hutt Clan, Droid Gotra, Pyke Syndicate, and Black Sun.^[5] Sometime later, a contact of Barsha's within Zerek Besh informed the director that Crimson Dawn was behind the claims.^[4]

Later, Barsha's brother Jaylen Vrax re-emerged and contacted the Sith Lord Darth Vader, from whom he asked for control of Zerek Besh and the ability to do whatever he wished to his brother. It was Vrax's hope to steal the his brother had made after he had cost their family a fortune after the Clone Wars. In return for the syndicate and Barsha, Vrax offered the Empire the location of a rebel base and the return of sensitive information Barsha had lost. Vader agreed to Vrax's terms, with Vrax then quickly executing his brother, only for him to soon meet his own end at the hands of BX-series droid commando ND-5.^[1] Nonetheless, the syndicate survived^[5] the deaths of both brothers^[1] and fell under the control of a new leader. Months after the Syndicate War had started, the criminal organizations involved in the war were contacted by Palpatine, who informed them that they had been lied to by Crimson Dawn. He then instructed the groups to stop fighting each other, and instead turn their attention to fighting Crimson Dawn and its leader, Lady Qi'ra. The Emperor then informed them that whichever of the criminal organizations brought him her corpse would rise high in his estimations.^[5]