Freelance
TravellerHuman male apparently in his early 40s.
It has been said that it is possible, by both a leap of logic and personal ethics, to claim that even this master of personal survival has some redeeming qualities. After all, even the people he has killed would tell you, if they could, that he is a most charming individual. He was the first key member of the pre-eminent crime syndicate in the Marches to turn on the organization and cooperate, first with local then with Imperial officials to give them an unprecedented view of the power structure of organized crime's tentacles throughout the Marches.
Called the "Duke of Duplicity" by the popular media, he sees himself as a man of integrity. Before the war, the criminal Clans enforced the code, were comfortable and everyone knew his place, what was allowed and what was not. In the chaos following the war, after the Clans were partially decimated by the Zhodani, everything changed. According to Ranna, shorsighted greed coupled with a lack of respect destroyed the code of loyalty and honor.
His criminal career began well before the war when he dealt in smuggled goods, goods for which the only qualifiesrs were that they were valuable and of concern only to planetary authorities. "We stayed clear of pirated goods and anything that was stolen from Imperial bonded warehouses," he said in one interview. He, with the tacit assent of his surviving bosses, helped during the war in the liberation of the Marches. He gained wealth and influence by providing from the background key information on how to get "packages" on and off worlds, where the holes in system security were, who could be trusted as not having been turned by the Zhodani, and how far they would go to aid in the resistance and final liberation. He was considered an invaluable asset by his Imperial handlers, yet at that time they generally knew him only through intermediaries.
The planetary authorities in many systems, for various reasons, want to indict officials who have been on the take from the Clans. The Clans' influence in local politics goes back well before the war. The Clans offered their support to the liberating Imperial forces who were glad to find such staunch allies against the Zhodani. These contacts flourished throughout the conflict.
Making the most of his wartime Imperial connections after being arrested, he sought and quickly received the status of an Imperial Protected Witness. He was given a secret residence, lives in high comfort, and is provided with bodyguards whenever the Imperium decides to lend him out as a star witness in local trials. His revelations have thus coincided with the local trials of hundreds of planetary politicians and government officials. His testimony, under the guidance of his Imperial sponsors, continues to substantially alter much of the post-war planetary political establishments in the Marches.
The PCs might encounter him through being employed as his bodyguards, or in a posh but very discreet resort, restaurant, hotel, casino, etc. As he is occasionally moved to testify in various trials around the Marches, their ship might be chartered to discreetly and covertly provide him passage. On the flip side, they might be used as decoys to draw attention while he actually travels via different means. This man has many powerful enemies, all of whom want him dead by any means possible.