Sliro Barsha

Sliro Barsha, also known as Sliro Ruback, was a human male who served as a Director in the Galactic Empire's Imperial Security Bureau. During the Galactic Civil War, he served as the crime lord of the criminal syndicate Zerek Besh, which served as an ISB covert intelligence division that would infiltrate the underworld to retrieve intelligence from various criminal organizations in the galaxy and find the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
==Biography==
===Early life===
As a child, Sliro was part of the wealthy Barsha family of Corellian industrialists. His father considered him a mistake and his brother, Jaylen Vrax, was the favored son and heir to the Barsha family. The pressure of expectations and underestimation from his family made Sliro's childhood difficult and caused him to hate his father and brother.
===Revenge and promotion===
After the end of the Clone Wars, the Barsha family was due to secure the contract for Star Destroyer manufacturing for the newly established Galactic Empire, potentially making them the most powerful family in Corellia. Sliro, however, falsely accused his family of plotting against Emperor Palpatine, earning a job as a Director in the Imperial Security Bureau in exchange for his service. Around this time, he programmed BX-series droid commando ND-5 to hunt down and kill every member of the Barsha family. His brother Vrax was however able to reprogram ND-5, using him as his bodyguard and beginning a quest to find Sliro and, in turn, take revenge for his family. During his status as Director of the ISB, almost no one knew his identity, and when he appeared in their hologram only his shadow was seen.
===Undercover crimelord===
Sliro Barsha advanced through the ranks of the ISB, and following the Battle of Hoth he was assigned to create a specialized division that would pose as an underworld syndicate to elicit a response from the Rebellion which was known to employ smugglers and criminals for its missions and sent Captain Amilyn Holdo to form an alliance with the criminal underworld to rebuild its supply chains during and after Operation Starlight. The ultimate goal of his division, which was given the name Zerek Besh, was to uncover the Rebellion's location so Commander Ellian Zahra and her Hunter Fleet and raider crew could destroy the divisions of its fleet and detain its leadership since Sith warlord Darth Vader was looking for his son Jedi Commander Luke Skywalker. Barsha assumed authority over the Zerek Besh as its "crime lord". 
Within mere weeks, the syndicate started growing its influence and activities. Funded by millions of Imperial credits from the ISB's black budget, the Zerek Besh quickly began actively competing with larger and older ones such as Crimson Dawn, making Barsha one of the most notorious crime lords in the galaxy. He maintained a private resort named Westhill Palace on Canto Bight and secretly collected information on Imperial bases, installations and callsigns without his superiors' knowledge, collated within a codex he kept secure in his vault.
===Syndicate War===
In 3 ABY, the Syndicate War erupted as part of Crimson Dawn’s leader Lady Qi'ra's plan to destroy the Sith. Due to his role as the supposed head of a major syndicate, Barsha was in a unique position to observe the happenings in the underworld from within. He was summoned to Coruscant by Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine to report on the cause of the conflict. Barsha explained the crime lords believed Palpatine was seeking a replacement criminal syndicate for the Hutt Clan to form an alliance with the Empire after their Council’s unexpected betrayal when they attacked Vader’s flagship when he tried to take his son’s friend Captain Han Solo from Crimson Dawn, and understood the mastermind behind the rumor to be Crimson Dawn.
===Hunting Kay Vess===
At some point during that year, Barsha captured a rebel agent, Asara Deyn, whom he assumed to be a spy for one of the syndicates, attempting to infiltrate his palace. Inviting representatives of the Pyke Syndicate, Crimson Dawn, and the Hutt Clan to his palace, he opened that while the Galactic Civil War was going on, the underworld stood to profit before accusing his guests of sending a spy into his own home. After showing a hologram of Deyn, the Pyke representative refuted the accusation as he reminded the Zerek Besh has been raiding the Pykes' spice lanes, to which the Hutt enforcer argued that the spice lanes belonged to the Hutt Cartel. Barsha then recalled an anecdote from his childhood, where Jayden frequently starved him at dinner and remarked that the Weequay seemed to resemble his behaviour. The Pyke representative failed to understand the point of his anecdote while the Crimson Dawn agent criticized Barsha for what seemed like a failed attempt at a partnership. However, the crime lord calmly made it clear that he was starving for power before his enforcers executed his guests.
The Westhill Palace was later raided by Canto Bight criminal Kay Vess was hired by Alliance undercover operative Dennion as part of a crew they were putting together to rescue Asara Deyn from Barsha's mansion under the pretext of an inter-syndicate vendetta robbery. Vess successfully broke into one of Barsha's vaults, but after realizing that there were no credits inside she demanded the payment she was promised upfront. Deyn and Dennion tried to reason with her, but Vess threatened them with her blaster. In response, Dennion stunned her and escaped, leaving her for Barsha and the Zerek Besh to find. Finding Deyn gone and Vess alone in the vault, Barsha interrogated her on her Rebel contact, but Vess escaped with the help of her pet merqaal Nix, trapping Barsha in the same vault he was holding Deyn. Despite being hunted by Westhill security, Vess reached Barsha's private hangar and stole his EML 850 light freighter, the Trailblazer, escaping Cantonica.
Infuriated by Deyn and Vess' escape and the loss of his personal shuttle, Barsha used his authority as leader of the Zerek Besh to place a death mark on her. He also hired the assassin Vail Tormin to personally track Vess down and either bring her back to him or kill her. Tormin managed to locate Vess on the moon Toshara where the Trailblazer had crashed, but she was ambushed by ND-5 who took Vess away. Barsha was greatly disappointed with Tormin's failure and threatened to "discard" her like his family had done with the EMLs they manufactured if she couldn't do her job.
Meanwhile, Kay Vess, now working with Barsha's brother Vrax, was making her way around the galaxy putting together a crew with the intention of robbing his main vault and stealing his entire Zerek Besh fortune. During one of these missions, Vess and Tormin worked together temporarily to expose one of Barsha's spies planted in Jabba the Hutt's palace on Tatooine. Upon learning of his spy's execution, Barsha came to Tatooine to meet with majordomo Bib Fortuna who Jabba dispatched in his stead. Barsha explained that he intended for the spy to be discovered to understand the weaknesses of Jabba's security based on how long it would take them to find him, and proposed a deal: Fortuna would give him all the information he had on Kay Vess and Barsha would help him grow his influence to succeed Jabba as the head of his empire.
Sometime later, Barsha traveled to an ISB space station where he contacted Vail again. The assassin complained that her simple mission to bring in Kay Vess had become a lot more complicated with her mark becoming involved in something big. But when she declared her intention to abandon her mission, Barsha simply stated that if she chose to do that, he would recoup his losses by taking over the fortune she had stashed on Niamos, forcing Vail to comply.
As he began to admire his collection of weapons, just then, Darth Vader arrived at the facility to personally announce Emperor Palpatine's displeasure with the Zerek Besh's failure to uncover any significant rebel networks despite the massive resources they collected from the Empire to do so. Barsha tried to argue that the syndicate successfully infiltrated the underworld and done more in weeks than the Imperial Military failed to do during the Galactic Civil War, reminding how their "mindless show of force" allowed the rebel fleet to escape Hoth. Losing his patience with Barsha's posturing, Vader shattered the glass in Barsha's office and pointed the pieces at him, giving him one last chance to find the rebels, for the Emperor was waiting.
Unbeknownst to both, Kay Vess had infiltrated the facility to steal Barsha's master key and had witnessed the confrontation, discovering Barsha's true allegiance. Upon returning to Vrax, she and Riko Vess confronted him before the rest of the crew, forcing him to admit that he knew Barsha was an Imperial but the money they would be stealing from him was still enough to cover the increased risk.
===Vail's betrayal===
The crew agreed and they went through with the robbery, successfully infiltrating Westhill and the vaults. However, after opening the main vault, the Zerek Besh attacked them from behind. Barsha, with Vail at his side, emerged after the first two waves were killed, remarking he never thought he'd get the opportunity to claim his own death mark. Ignoring Vess' taunt to take her himself, Barsha ordered Vail to kill her. Vail, however, killed his enforcers and pointed her weapon at him, deciding to side with Vess for a cut of the score. Shocked, Barsha reminded Vail and the crew that killing an ISB Director would have terrible consequences for them and their families. Vail simply knocked him unconscious, remarking that she didn't want his death on her, before joining Vrax's crew and stealing the memory core containing all of Barsha's stolen Imperial information.
===Failure and death===
Barsha was later summoned to the Star Destroyer Revelator, much to his indignation. As he was about to enter a turbolift that would take him to the bridge, an approaching stormtrooper, secretly Kay Vess in disguise, told one of his escorts that he was relieved. An impatient Barsha complied with Vess' deception and dismissed the other stormtrooper, allowing Vess to join him.
Upon arriving on the bridge, Barsha was greeted by a hologram of Darth Vader, who was aware he suffered a security breach. The ISB Director tried to play it off as a personal matter but Vader expressed his displeasure that he permitted the theft of sensitive Imperial intelligence, thus putting his usefulness to the Emperor at an end. Barsha soon turned around to see Jaylen Vrax, ND-5 and a captive Asara Deyn standing behind him as Vader told Vrax the Empire had accepted his terms.
As the Revelator jumped to hyperspace to the coordinates of the Akivan rebel base Vrax provided, a stunned Barsha asked his elder brother what terms Vader was referring to. Vrax answered that in exchange for both the Akivan rebels and the return of the codex, he'd control of Zerek Besh and would be free to do with Barsha as he pleased. Barsha nervously assumed Vrax informed Vader that they're brothers but was told it was an irrelevant detail. The ISB Director condemned his brother for undermining him only to be reminded of his own betrayal of their family, to which he responded shamelessly and reminded that Vrax always made him feel inferior. Vrax then declared that for destroying their family's empire, he's going to take the one Barsha had built himself. He then reintroduced Barsha to ND-5, the droid originally meant to kill every last Barsha, whom the ISB director remarked had a new scar on his chest. Before Barsha could speak again, Vrax ordered ND-5 to shoot him in the chest, ending the Director's life.
==Personality & traits==
Sliro Barsha is a cold and ruthless individual. When it comes to dealing with his inferiors, such as Kay Vess or the syndicate representatives, he delegates their executions to his underlings, rather than do the dirty work himself. As an ISB director, Barsha took great pride in his position, believing his tactics were key to winning the Galactic Civil War.
However, deep down, Barsha maintained resentment over his older brother Jaylen's abuses towards him in his youth. At times he would recall anecdotes from his past. Having grown to despise his family, Barsha had no problem betraying and ruining them to boost his own position.
==Behind the scenes==
Sliro Barsha first appeared in the fifth issue of the 2021 comic miniseries Star Wars: Crimson Reign. The issue was written by Charles Soule, illustrated by Steven Cummings, and published by Marvel Comics on June 22, 2022. Prior to the release of the issue, the director was revealed in a preview article of the issue released on StarWars.com on June 15 of the same year. Barsha's actual appearance was obscured by shadows in the issue, appearing just as a black silhouette from the shoulders up; his finalized appearance was eventually featured in the 2024 video game Star Wars Outlaws, where he serves as a major antagonist and was given the first name of Sliro. He was portrayed by Caolan Byne.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars Outlaws
*Crimson Reign 5 
==Sources==
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*Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
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==Notes and references==
Category:Cantonicans
Category:Corellians
Category:Crime lords
Category:Humans
Category:Imperial Security Bureau officers
Category:Individuals with he/him pronouns
Category:Males
Category:Zerek Besh members