The view of Taris from his new -temporary- office was amazing. Lieutenant Karn watched how the sun went down behind dozens of skyscrapers. Small lights from shuttles and speeder bikers provided the city-world with a scenery that never slept and never grew boring. It was a privilege to be the interim-commander of the Taris Imperial Peacekeepers. The strangest feeling, however, was that he meant it.
The Caellian Cognac twirled in his glass as Levik warmed the strong liquor through the glass. A few months ago Commander Venn had written him up for refusing to obey inspection orders and assigned him command of the sewer patrol units. It was meant as an embarrasment. The old man had it in for Levik and had hoped that by punishing him with more and more of the filthy debasing jobs far from the main office he could force the Eriadan to quit or at least request a transfer.
What he didn't know is that the surprise inspection that Levik had refused to do wasn't because he was a complete arse with a total disregard for hierarchy. Well, party true. The real reason was because the to-be-inspected goods had been transferred in the dead of night by the Freem Gotra. Old decomissioned blaster rifles that Levik had sold to the Exchange. Usually they got destroyed after shipping them back to Raxus, so he always misappropriated a few crates whenever he was in charge of inventory and logistics.
The next job Commander Venn had send him was to the frontline fighting the Sith Order. He was sure that Levik would sooner resign than put his life on the line fighting the much more superior combatants. Another error in judgement. Levik had seen opportunity and devised a plot together with the Freem Gotra to rid himself of the Commander while he was inconspiciously offworld putting his life on the line for the Empire. All bets had been placed on winning gambles. Venn was being re-indoctrinated on Raxus, Levik was his interim-commander due to the successes he achieved in the Expulsion Campagn and no one had managed to find out about his many embezzlements and black market activity.
So there he stood, watching the Taris skyline, Caellian Cognac in hand and a feeling of grand success and pride in self. Levik Karn was the son of a spaceport mechanic and a factory worker. The prestigious academies were far beyond his budget to attend. Yet here he stood. Sipping from a three-hundred-credit cognac from the office of perhaps the most powerful Imperial peacekeeper on the entire planet.
His partnership with the troig Eccle'baal -the leader of the Taris Exchange- was solidified with a supply of unbled kyber crystals from the Expulsion Campaign and the potential sale of a very special item; A Shard of Palpatine that Levik had taken from the Sith Council chambers deep under the Sith Temple on Korriban.
Together with his income as interim-commander and the bonus of frontline duty, his dealings with the Exchange had made Levik one of -and perhaps the- richest men of the Taris underworld. One thing he knew for sure: He was the least likely to be investigated and arrested by the planet's chief peacekeeper. A slight smile krept on his face as he realized that if absent from scandal, no supervisor or director would ever think to come to the Taris Sector and investigate him, and here onplanet, he had the unique position to keep himself, his partners and their activities outside the scope of the Imperial peacekeepers.
To be continued..