Pac Vempos

Pac following a "friendly" disagreement on Nar Shaddaa.

**Pac Vempos**, known mostly by his first name as "Pac", is a human male smuggler hailing from the city-moon of Nar Shaddaa. At a very young age, he grew accustomed to petty crimes such as stealing and bare-knuckle brawling for survival, using those skills to succeed in the galactic underworld. He joined a group of smugglers, however after a botched job, he was left one of the only survivors of the crew. He took the spoils for himself and beginning his own smuggling career. Vempos has made his name as one of the galaxy's most prolific smugglers of his era. Vempos flies a highly modified ZH-40 Tribune-class Light Freighter dubbed "The Jade", using it in most of his escapades across the galaxy.

## **Biography**

### **Early Life & Upbringing**

> "Just LEAVE! If you stay on this ship, you're gonna DIE!"
>
> - T7, a member of Pac's first crew.

Pac Vempos was born to an unknown mother and father in Nar Shaddaa, a haven for the criminal underworld controlled by the Hutt families. He was found at the doorstep of a home, where he was taken care of by a man and woman before being given away to a local orphanage. The child would age without knowing the identities of the two. Growing up, he was exposed to the seedy underbelly of society and inevitably found himself drawn into a life of crime. Vempos would join a street gang and fight in fighting rings for money. A handler would approach him after noticing how willing he was to throw himself into the ring, offering a deal to the boy. If he took it, he would be paid better than he would as a solo fighter, and could possibly even see himself in the higher-level fights that streamed on the holo-net. Younger Pac barely understood the terms of the deals, and couldn't properly gauge how much money would actually come from the man's promises. However, without any other choices, it would be a no-brainer to let a deal like this pass up. He would run a couple more fights under the guidance of the older man, being the forefront of his betting scheme. Pac would earn a percentage of the earnings, though only in the single digits. Eventually the partnership became less of a business pairing, and more akin to slavery. More of Vempos' earnings would go to his handler and the boy soon realizing that he was being used, though there wasn't much he could do without being under the threat of death. Years of his childhood passed, and life as a gang member started to feel more restricting than freedom-giving. And so, in the middle of his teen years, he begun to look for a way out.

After a late-night fight in the humid Nar Shaddaa underworld, Pac procured a hold-out blaster and hid it underneath his tattered jacket. Like usual, he met his handler. At this point he had given up hope for payment, as most of his thought went to trying to escape. He met the man and his entourage as they walked through the streets back to their own territory. The boy felt an unnerving amount of fear. He was surrounded by much older members of his handler's gang, and if he had tried to commit his original plan of just shooting him, he would for sure be caught dead. His eyes scanned the environment frantically, trying to find an out, any out. It had to happen that night, and thankfully, he saw a container of spice being carried on the shoulder of one of the older members. His handler was receiving a payment of spice for Vempos' ring victory and the boy, knowing this, would seek to take advantage of it's potency. He would wait until they got into a dark area, and when he was about to lose sight of the crate to the shadow of the alleyways, he fired a shot from his blaster into the side, sending the spice flying into the air. Pac made sure to cover his face, sprinting the opposite way while taking potshots with his blaster towards the group. He ran, climbed, and dove his way into losing the men pursuing him, now enacting the next part of his plan: getting the hell off-planet. He stole some clothes from spacers coming onto the planet, hiding out in a nearby spaceport district.

Eventually he was recruited into his first crew working mostly for the powerful Hutt Cartel, leaving most of his friends behind. The first ship that Vempos would operate from would be an XS stock light freighter, and his first job would take place rotating around Tatooine and Nal Hutta. They were easy at first, mostly consisting of moving shipments of solely spice, but the danger was all the same. The crew caught the attention of the Empire after smuggling in Naboo, coincidentally coming across a peculiar band of misfits consisting of a Mandalorian, several bounty hunters, and in particular, monks who wielded weapons called "lightsabers". Luckily for Pac, the convergence of the two groups drew attention away from the crew and onto the other group, escaping from the mid-rim away from the entire confrontation.

More opportunities arose for the crew, and Vempos would continue to hone his skills as a gunfighter. It seemed that they got into more conflict the more jobs they took, with the leader of the crew even dabbling in bounty hunting. Seeing this trend of violence, one of the crew's droids, T-7, warned Pac in a frenzy about the dangers of going down this road, but the boy did not listen. During the next job, things would take a turn for the worse. The crew got into another altercation while on a job, ending in a bloody shootout and the deaths of most of the crew. Pac was one of the few survivors of the deal-gone-wrong, emerging from the smoke and bodies alone. Not wanting to waste a second, he looted what he could and made his way off-world to start a new life. With the money he had saved from his time with the crew he was able to purchase a damaged ZH-40 tribune class light freighter, promptly naming it "The Jade" after the jade green detailing on its hull.

### **First Years Solo & "The Smuggler's Pact"**

For a time Pac worked as a solo smuggler, but eventually he met an ex-inquisitor Togruta, a gray jedi, and another smuggler. He repaired the Jade and together they formed a crew, taking on several jobs once again serving the Hutts, albeit not Jabba. It was during this time that he would meet his future crew member Jando, who at the time was working as a mercenary accompanying one of the grey jedi. With several of the members amassing a network of contacts throughout the smuggler world, they formed an organization specifically for the protection of smugglers across the galaxy. The group, eventually coming up with the moniker "The Smuggler's Pact", amassed an operating group consisting of a small fleet of starfighter to freighter-sized ships, and for a time ruled their own piece of dominance in the galactic black market.

However, their success was short-lived when the Togruta was sensed by the Empire's Inquisitors on a mission to Hutt Space. They were forced to flee to Nal Hutta the crew managed to escape, but the Togruta was separated from them. Pac was able to come back with The Jade and use its weaponry to defeat the Inquisitors, extracting his crewmate during the fight. Time passed with the group on the run. They did a plethora of jobs across the Outer Rim until a betrayal would take place; the Togruta eventually fell to the dark side and battled Pac at a spaceport on the mid-rim planet Ord Mantell, ending with her running away and Pac barely winning the fight. Before she fled, she tore a hole in the top of The Jade with the force and her lightsaber, making it unable to fly. Growing disillusioned with those he had befriended before, Pac split away from the grey jedi and the other smugglers. The Smuggler's Pact would inevitably come to an end due to a combination of in-fighting and a lack of leadership.

### **Marooned!**

With no other option, Pac turned to joining other established groups for pay, doing many different odd-jobs until he was able to make a deal with one of the groups' captains. He managed to barter a semi-damaged C-ROC Gozanti into his possession, and in return, Pac gave the captain a take of credits from a job. With his own ship, Pac set out to build up his own reputation, taking jobs from clients higher and higher up on the food chain of the criminal underworld. One by one, he formed a crew large enough to cover all of the systems of the Gozanti.

The crew dubbed themselves, *‘the crew of the Coward Fynock’*, to which they named the ship.

### **Adventures on the Coward Fynock**

They took on many different jobs, their underworld reputation skyrocketing into near-legendary status. They were known to have won gladiator matches hosted by Jabba the Hutt and won speeder races on Nar Shaddaa. Pac himself grew notoriety for being able to steal even the most guarded of artifacts and other possessions.

One day, Pac was contacted by an unknown signal. The person on the other end turned out to be Tyber Zann, the sole leader of the Zann Corporation. He asked Pac to find and return a holocron rumored to be in an abandoned nightsister camp on Dathomir. The crew had heard of the horrifying stories of the planet but were eased to know that it was somewhat under Imperial control, only for the fact that if the stormtroopers could handle it, so could they. The crew flew to Dathomir, locating the camp and quickly seeing that the inhabitants had been slaughtered. They explored deeper, entering a nearby cave into a large cavern of kyber crystals. In the middle of the room sat the holocron, but also standing in front of them was an inquisitor and his squad of stormtroopers. The crew fought the inquisitor, taking the holocron from its stand. In the midst of the fight, one of the crew members managed to catch the inquisitor off guard, forcing him to accidentally let go of the holocron. Wasting no time, Pac swooped in and grabbed the artifact using his rocket boots, taunting the inquisitor on top of a nearby incline while the rest of the crew escaped. Pac escaped alongside the crew which flew out of the system to meet the Consortium’s men in space where they were promptly paid.

### **Return of The Jade & Encounters with the CSA**

After the holocron job, Pac was able to repair his old ship back to working standards, even adding a couple more additions with the money he had made. With his main ship back in order, he was able to leave the helm of the Fynock and fly jobs solo for a while. The crew were more than capable of handling themselves on the C-ROC. Pac’s solo adventures mostly consisted of regular jobs to smuggle spice and other things set about by different employers. It wouldn’t be until the crew called him back that he would be on board the Fynock again.

This would be during a spice run where the crew had been intercepted by imperial TIE fighters. They managed to fend them off, but they were forced to make a landing in the corpo city-planet of Duroon. They soon found out that the Corporate Sector Authority had been alerted to their presence on the planet. So, they devised a plan; the crew were supposed to find enough parts to repair the ship, and also find a way to create a distraction large enough to let them slip away without being shot out of the air. They met an unlikely duo, the famed Han Solo and Chewbacca at a local cantina. The two happened to be in the same situation as Pac and his friends, and decided that if they were all to survive without being shot or arrested, they had to work together. In the middle of formulating a plan, the two groups had been ambushed, leading to some being split up. In the end, enough parts were stolen to get the Fynock up and in the air again, while most CSA soldiers were dealt with by blaster or by cannon fire.

Escaping Duroon, the ship was slowly repaired but was not able to get its hyperdrive working properly. They once again found a nearby planet with another opportunity to get their ship fixed. This opportunity was the Tallarii-CSA war. They received a distress call from the planet asking for help, and the crew of the Fynock accepted in return for ship repairs. Fighting wave upon wave of CSA troopers and reprogrammed battle droids, the crew emerged victorious alongside the Tallarii. Getting their ship repaired, the crew were able to jump out of the sector.

Pac once again returned to his own ship, pursuing his own goals while still helping out his friends during their time of need. As of now, he continues to take on dangerous jobs with a high risk, but nevertheless, a high reward. In addition to this, Vempos has gained an interest in archaeology, and tends to make mental notes whenever he is out on his adventures.

### **Back on Track! ...Or, so we thought.**

The Coward Fynock flew in the skies once again, finally escaping the clutches of the Coporate Sector Authority. The crew spent most of the next few weeks doing job after job after job of mostly smuggling. The crew took a couple of days off at a shadowport in the outer rim, enjoying their time drinking and checking up on the holoport. However, on that same station, a man wanted by the Empire had drew their attention to their location. In short, the station was promptly orbitally bombarded, sending the repulsors and stabilization thrusters into a tilt and sending the place crashing down towards the planet. During the freefall, the crew were able to make it to the ship, even saving some of the patrons and accidentally, a squad of stormtroopers who were stranded, though they didnt know until after the fact. The Fynock jumped towards Tatooine, where they were intercepted by an Imperial Arrestor ship along with a large wing of TIE fighters. The raw power of the modified the Fynock was able to let the crew escape to Tatooine, but the raw amount of TIEs that accompanied the Arrestor alongside the local garrison was enough to disable the ship, forcing them to ground in the Dune Sea.

   While the survivors in the cargo hold recuperated outside, they found that the crew had vanished, with the only trace of them left being the screech of hoverbike engines being heard roaring across the distant sand. The crew made their way back to Mos Eisley spaceport, promptly splitting up to take their own jobs across the galaxy. They had to do this to survive, anyway, as their main mode of transport for work was gone, and Pac's personal ship did not have enough space for the whole crew. In the weeks after Pac did jobs mostly alone, once again piloting the Jade in lieu of the loss of the Coward Fynock. To get another ship, and thus get the crew back together, he had to formulate a plan.

In the days after the crash, the smuggler was often snooping in every large event in the galaxy, creeping out calls for help that seemed to come from syndicate holo-signatures, or sneaking into an Imperial Ball celebrating the 19th year of the Emperors rule.

Pac had stalked the underworld-net for weeks, then stumbling upon two opportunities. The first way to get a ship back, was through raiding an Imperial towing convoy headed for an on-world impound. They could risk getting caught, but at least it would yield them a ship. Vempos ended up writing this possibility off as he did not want to gain any heat on the crew while they didn't have a ship. The other possibility was quite the goldmine. On the entertainment side of the holonet was an announcement for a gathering of many famous net personalities, holo-streamers, and big-wig trust fund babies in Coruscant's Entertainment District. It was to be a huge block party celebrating the summer season of the core world, but most importantly, there would be a race involving the personal ships of many of the attendees. The plan was set, and the crew set out to imbed themselves in the party. They had to make their way through security guards while posing as the son of a mid-rim trade baron. Setting their sights on a Baudo-Class Star Yacht, a fast ship capable of outrunning many ships with it's stock parts, they knocked out the owner of the ship, eventually taking it for themselves during the race. Pac's skills ended up with them winning the race, though word would of course spread after the event about the ship being piloted by a thief.

## **Personality & Traits**

### **Galactic Entrepeneur**

> "Skilled pilot... tricky gunfighter... legendary thief, who wouldn't want to hire me?"
>
> - Pac being quite full of himself.

Intelligent, quick witted, headstrong, silver-tongued, and stylish, Pac lets himself shine as the peak example of pure indomitable spirit. He can set a smart trap for a play against anyone in the galaxy, and later crack quips and insults while in the motion of the actual fight. Many times there has been a situation or job deemed impossible, such as stealing an artifact from the literal hands of an inquisitor or fending off against a planetary army, but Pac was able to pull it off. Besides his feats, as a person Pac is very clearly still mentally reclaiming his tumultuous childhood. He explores the world through his adventures instead of through a holo-recording, and has a blast meeting new people and discovering new stories. While he may be self-centered at times, it usually comes with reason. While others view him as an impenetrable thief, what lies underneath is the trauma of his past. Pac’s fatal flaw because of this is that he’s underlyingly untrusting of almost everyone else. Subconsciously he is ready to protect himself and his own interests at any point in time. Selfish? Undoubtedly. Fixable? We shall see. Even with this fact however, there are always those who manage to breach his wall of distrust and insults, with them usually becoming members of his crew.

Coming from the life of an ex-street kid, he’s very empathetic of the poor, even going so far as to pulling off robin hood-level feats. He’s been through more than enough to gain the skills that he needs for his line of profession but also smart enough to not dig his own grave. This, perhaps, is how he recruited the numerous members of his first ship.