BE THE PIRATE KING!

Legion Priority Target

Nothing gives the Republic military more of a headache than pirates. But it’s the completely random nature of pirate raids and operations that lead to a difficulty in finding and stopping them. 

Some groups tend toward the militant, with members having served in an armed force or another. This is a particularly difficult type of piracy to counter because the criminals at large understand military and policing operations. They understand how to surveil a target, how to hit it and fade, such that policing action on the part of the Repub military, or worse, the Legion is reduced to little more than jotting down an after action brief. 

When the military does track them down, combat capable pirates often have complicated schemes in place to fade from the assault, dispersing in multiple ships and points of egress, or hide among their victims to vanish in the after action confusion. They break into sprinter cells capable of communicating through undetectable means so they may evade the authorities and then reestablish their network.

The mil-spec pirates rarely operate for long and there are several reasons for this. They will hit high grade, high yield targets and once they’ve had their fill, fade away to a non-extradition planet to enjoy the fruit of their labors. Occasionally, the Repub makes contact, and retains the force as privateers to run counter piracy operations or against anti-Repub regimes who aren’t playing nice with the galaxy at large.

Then there are the criminal pirates. Often culled from the ranks of bandits, mercenaries, and the occasional dilettante looking to make daddy mad by doing something illegal,criminal piracy usually lacks the sophistication of the military grade, until they’ve been busted several times by law enforcement or military interdiction.

 Getting nabbed for piracy can see a criminal landing in jail next to other pirates, as the ultra-forgiving Republic doesn’t use the death penalty to clear piracy off the plate. Instead, the pirates often network with other criminals and pirates, compare notes, and then exit the penal system, oftentimes with a better network of contacts than when they went in.

These pirates range the gamut from severe, hard-charging types that draw like-minded thugs into their orbits, to the goofy, flamboyant types, for whom piracy is a lifestyle choice.

The flamboyant types will typically shield themselves with the thug types, if for no other reason than to keep their own men from ousting them from command. One such pirate, Lao Pak, was noticeably present for many of the events leading to the realization of Article 19, and the subsequent creation of the new Republic. 

For those seeking to hear shouts of, “Lao Pak, pirate king. Keel, he stupid!” check out Galaxy’s Edge season 1!