Zerek Besh

History

Around 3 ABY, Director Sliro Barsha established Zerek Besh as a hidden intelligence network for the Imperial Security Bureau. Quickly, this undercover division evolved into one of the galaxy's most powerful crime families during the reign of the Galactic Empire. Although Barsha considered Zerek Besh his personal criminal domain, his loyalty to the Empire remained unwavering, and he dedicated himself to hunting the Alliance to Restore the Republic, believing his initiative would secure victory in the Galactic Civil War. Operating from within the criminal underbelly, Zerek Besh sought out Alliance agents and gathered intelligence from the syndicates.

Following the Hutt Clan's attacked on the Executor, Darth Vader's flagship, between 3 ABY and 4 ABY, Crimson Dawn approached Zerek Besh. They claimed that Emperor Palpatine desired an end to the Empire's alliance with the Hutts due to their assault, suggesting that Zerek Besh could gain Palpatine's favor and forge a partnership with the Empire. Deceived by this proposition, Zerek Besh engaged in the Syndicate War against the Hutt Clan, Droid Gotra, Pyke Syndicate, and [Black Sun](/article/black_sun]. Later, a contact within Zerek Besh informed Barsha that Crimson Dawn was the source of these claims.

That same year, Zerek Besh unknowingly apprehended Asara Deyn, a rebel attempting to infiltrate Westhill Palace. Barsha, suspecting him to be a spy from a rival syndicate, invited emissaries from the Hutt Cartel, Crimson Dawn, and the Pyke Syndicate to a dinner, where he accused and executed them all. Subsequently, a rebel cell led by Dennion launched a rescue mission to free Deyn, inadvertently leaving behind their hired Cantonican thief, Kay Vess. Assuming her connection to the Rebel Alliance, Barsha attempted to interrogate her, but she escaped Westhill Palace aboard his personal freighter, the Trailblazer, prompting him to issue a death mark on the thief, which was then picked up by the bounty hunter Vail Tormin.

Later, Waka tipped off Zerek Besh that Vess was on Toshara, leading them to pursue her into the wreckage of the Castellan. Vess eliminated the initial team before being held at blasterpoint, with the intention of killing her and claiming the Trailblazer, only for Tormin to intervene and kill him. Vess managed to escape by triggering the reactor of the unstable wreck, and, despite the efforts of other Zerek Besh agents, made it out with the aid of BX-series droid commando ND-5. Subsequently, Barsha's brother, Jaylen Vrax, recruited Vess to attempt another heist on Westhill Palace, with the goal of stealing an alleged 157 million credits worth of unmarked beskar ingots to pay off her death mark, when Vrax' true objective was Sliro's Codex containing blackmail information on his fellow Imperials.

Jabba Desilijic Tiure discovered a Zerek Besh mole within his organization and coerced both Vess and Tormin into cooperating to infiltrate Fort Sunfire and uncover the mole's identity. During the infiltration, Tormin, separated from Vess, encountered a Zerek Besh agent in the base and confronted him. Unaware of Zerek Besh's true allegiance, Tormin attempted to question the agent's collaboration with the Empire but was met with resistance, forcing her to kill him. Simultaneously, Vess extracted the mole's identity from the base's computers before she and Tormin made a dramatic escape from Fort Sunfire, after which Tormin chose to give her bounty a head start. Barsha later met with Bib Fortuna, revealing that he expected his mole to be found out and offered to aid Fortuna in seizing Jabba's throne in exchange for information on Vess.

On Akiva, a male Human Zerek Besh bounty hunter journeyed to Akiva to interrogate Temmin Wexley about Vess's whereabouts, only for his death mark, accompanied by ND-5 and Gedeek Obaz, to enter Temmin's shop. A Zerek Besh agent pursued the group into the droid factory beneath the shop, but Vess eliminated all agents before they could discover the rebel Kivo Base. Vess subsequently collaborated with the cell's leader, Asara Deyn, to rescue rebel prisoners captured by the Hutts before the Empire could acquire them. Zerek Besh dispatched a squad in the Empire's place, but all their agents were killed in the ensuing confrontation, leaving Vess puzzled by the syndicate's presence in place of the Empire.

Barsha later visited an ISB station for an update on Tormin's pursuit of Vess. After revealing his knowledge of her fortune on Niamos to discourage her from abandoning her assignment, Barsha was confronted by Darth Vader, who conveyed the Emperor's dissatisfaction with Zerek Besh, deeming both the syndicate and its director as failures. Barsha defended Zerek Besh's successful infiltration of the underworld and its greater accomplishments in weeks compared to the Imperial Army, reminding of their failure to stop the rebel fleet at Hoth, but Vader quickly lost his patience with his posturing and threatened Barsha to capture some rebels to prove his worth. Kay Vess, who had infiltrated the station with her mother Riko to steal Barsha's passcodes, witnessed the confrontation and learned Zerek Besh's true nature.

Despite the thieves copying Barsha's passcodes and covering their tracks, Zerek Besh anticipated another heist on Westhill Palace. However, despite their heightened security measures, Vess' crew managed to make it to the vault and killed off two waves of agents sent after them. Barsha, accompanied by Tormin, confronted Vess and ordered his bounty hunter to finish her off, only for Tormin to turn on him to get a piece of Vess' score, killing his agents and knocking him out. The crew would then escape to the sewers and into the Canto Casino. Zerek Besh cleared the civilians out of the casino and attempted to stop Vess' crew from getting away with Sliro's Codex but were unsuccessful.

Later, Vrax contacted the Sith Lord Darth Vader, requesting control of Zerek Besh and the freedom to do as he pleased with his brother. Vrax hoped to seize the empire his brother had built after he had cost their family a fortune after the Clone Wars. In exchange for the syndicate and Barsha, Vrax offered the Empire the location of a rebel base on Akiva and the return of sensitive information Barsha had lost. Vader agreed to Vrax's terms, and Vrax swiftly executed his brother using ND-5, only for his own droid to kill him soon after once Vess had removed his restraining bolt. Nonetheless, the syndicate survived the deaths of both brothers 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.