Coh Veshiv

A Human male, Coh Veshiv was heavily involved in the politics of the Galactic Empire. Sometime prior to the Imperial Senate's dissolution in 0 BBY, Veshiv served as a senator. However, Veshiv built his career beyond the rank of senator through an art at which he was a master: blackmailing. Veshiv used the secrets of other Imperial politicians that he had discovered and traded favors for his silence. Using his skills at that art, he soon became a powerful member of the Imperial Court on the capital world of Coruscant, and rose to become an Imperial Advisor to Emperor Palpatine.

As an Imperial Advisor, Veshiv was responsible for the Core Worlds' Bormea and Darpa sectors and represented the Ringali Shell, an area that passed through both sectors, in the Imperial Court. The Advisor was also kept busy keeping the Moffs and Grand Moffs up to date with the Emperor's wishes. Veshiv reported certain secrets to Palpatine, who found the Imperial Advisor subtle and amusing. However, in 0 BBY, Veshiv inadvertently irritated Palpatine—during a search to find dirty secrets about one of the Empire's Grand Admirals, the Advisor discovered illegal transfers of money. After the Grand Admiral was not intimidated by Veshiv's blackmailing, the Advisor told Palpatine of the transfers. However, Palpatine was the one who had requested that the Grand Admiral use those diverted funds for top secret research on starfighters. Annoyed that Veshiv had damaged the covert operation's security, Palpatine had high-ranking Imperial Advisor Sate Pestage move Veshiv away from Coruscant.

Veshiv was sent from Coruscant and started an inspection of the areas he oversaw. For the inspection, Veshiv used the Empire Forever, a CR90 corvette under the helm of Captain Annance which had much of its interior room changed to recreational space for Veshiv. The Empire Forever also had an arboretum that housed plant life native to the Advisor's homeworld. Though it had been modified for speed and durability, the ship was ordered to avoid combat in order to protect Veshiv. In 0 ABY, Veshiv and the Empire Forever arrived at the planet Esseles, almost three months after the start of the inspection tour. By then, Veshiv, who was unsatisfied with the corvette, had made multiple requests for a larger ship. He had also managed to annoy Annance, who was a patient man.

After three days' stay at Esseles, Veshiv and the Empire Forever prepared to leave from jump point 180:45:115, near a Golan III Space Defense NovaGun, Platform 8127/121. However, prior to Veshiv's departure, the Imperial EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Far Orbit arrived near Esseles, and Captain Dhas Fenoep Vedij of the Far Orbit hailed the Empire Forever and offered to ferry Veshiv around for the next part of his journey, sending the orders that he had received to do so to Annance. After Veshiv was informed of the transfer, he and his two aides, Vestig and Pich, along with his group of veteran stormtrooper bodyguards, were transported to the Far Orbit by Veshiv's personal Lambda-class T-4a shuttle Myrenia.

As soon as Veshiv arrived on the ship, he started complaining that he wanted a cruiser, not a frigate. Once the EF76 entered hyperspace for Veshiv's next destination, the crew of the Far Orbit turned on Veshiv and his escort. Unbeknownst to Veshiv and the others, the crew of the frigate had become privateers for the Alliance to Restore the Republic—which was currently engaged with the Empire in the Galactic Civil War—after mutinying against the Imperial commander of the Far Orbit. After intercepting an Imperial transmission that pinpointed the location of Veshiv, the Far Orbit and its crew had decided to try to capture the Advisor. As the crew attempted to take Veshiv, the stormtrooper guards fought back, attempting to reach the bridge to send for help. This caused a firefight to erupt in the corridors of the vessel. In the end, the crew overwhelmed Veshiv's guards, and they captured the Imperial Advisor.

Veshiv was sent to the brig, and he told the crew of the Far Orbit many Imperial political secrets that were useless to them in exchange for his continued health. Veshiv was eventually handed over to the Alliance for a ransom of 10,000. After the loss of Veshiv to privateers, the Imperials dedicated resources to finding and eliminating the threat of the Far Orbit. Palpatine was angry at Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik, who commanded the Imperial Center Oversector which contained Esseles, for letting Rebel-allied privateers take Veshiv, and he sent Teshik on a suicide mission to the Andalia system. To cover up the disappearance of Veshiv, the news net Imperial HoloVision reported that Veshiv had died after his shuttle hit a stray asteroid while he was on the inspection tour. Imperial HoloVision also stated that the Empire had yet to find a replacement for Veshiv.

Coh Veshiv was vain, and both gluttonous and consumptive. The Advisor was in a neglected physical state, with an unhealthy pallor and overall poor vitality, while his weight actually hindered his movements. Possessing a sharp mind and a perfect memory and recollection, he was knowledgeable in the dealings of the Imperial Court, as well as how bureaucracy worked in general. Obsessive about the secrets of others, he had a particular talent in discovering them, as well as improprieties or embarrassing facts about other Imperial political members. Veshiv was also a master at blackmailing, and he used that and the secrets he discovered to rise in political rank. He would usually use a lesser secret to start the extortion, before eventually revealing how he knew more important things. In exchange for his silence on certain secrets he knew, Veshiv would receive favors from those he blackmailed.

After being sent away from Coruscant on the Empire Forever, Veshiv was annoyed that he was on a corvette, which was not any better than the ships that had transported him when he was a senator. The lack of an important vessel to transport him sat uneasily with him; Pestage had actually arranged it as an insult. Upon finally receiving a better ship than a corvette, Veshiv immediately complained that it was a frigate and not a cruiser. Self-centered, Veshiv was considered annoying by most people, including Annance and the crew of the Far Orbit. A coward, Veshiv sweated as the battle was fought on the Far Orbit, even though he carried a hold-out blaster at the time and was able to use it. Besides the blaster, he also carried around a comlink. He was somewhat skilled in the use of repulsorcrafts, and had some technical abilities that included the programming of droids and computers. Veshiv was also fairly knowledgable about various topics, ranging from alien species to business, and from languages to culture. Additionally, he knew a bit about law enforcement and scholarly material.

Coh Veshiv was first mentioned in 1998's The Far Orbit Project by Timothy S. O'Brien, and appeared in the roleplaying game adventure The Capture of Coh Veshiv from the book. The Far Orbit Project was a supplement to West End Games's Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and was a sequel of sorts to the previous publication Pirates & Privateers, carrying on that book's theme by following the privateering vessel the Far Orbit. Capturing Coh Veshiv was the third outlined mission in the book. The Advisor was also mentioned in The Essential Guide to Warfare, written by Jason Fry and Paul R. Urquhart and published in 2012.

Although the mission in The Far Orbit Project suggests that players lure Coh Veshiv onto the Far Orbit, players can capture him any way they want. The book outlines two different ways in which the battle over Veshiv can be fought, depending on when the crew tries to capture him after he is on the Far Orbit. If the players attempt to seize Veshiv prior to when they enter hyperspace, it is possible for the Myrenia and her pilots to warn the Golan III space station and the Empire Forever of the Far Orbits true colors. If a warning is released, the Golan III and the CR90 attempt to stop the frigate. However, if the crew jumps on Veshiv after they enter hyperspace, the shuttle cannot warn them. This article assumes that they enter hyperspace before trying to seize Veshiv.

• The Far Orbit Project
• The Essential Guide to Warfare