- "Is there any way to calculate a system's success rate against smugglers?"
"You can get a rough figure, anyway. You take the amount of legitimate shipping on some easily identifiable product—those Paklarn grist mollusks, for example—and compare it with the amount being sold elsewhere. The numbers are a little loose, and they obviously don't apply to every product type. But as I said, it gives you a rough figure." - ―Mitth'raw'nuruodo and Eli Vanto
Paklarn was a planet in the Paklarn system in the Abaar sector of the Mid Rim Territories. During the Imperial Era, the smuggler Nevil Cygni set up an iridium smuggling operation on Paklarn that involved the mineral being hidden in grist mollusk shells. In 11 BBY, Imperial Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo uncovered Cygni's operation due to predatory makorr that the smugglers were attracting with discarded mollusk meat. Cygni's men were then arrested.
Description
- "Shells. They were smuggling iridium inside shells."
"Yes, sir. They were taking the stolen iridium from the mines to an old surplus underwater transport, sir. Possibly Gungan; we still haven't positively identified the vehicle. They then transported it to a group of fishing boats where they formed it into small disks and hid them inside the shells for shipment offplanet." - ―Alfren Cheno and Eli Vanto
Paklarn was a terrestrial planet[2] in the Paklarn system of the Abaar sector in the Mid Rim Territories. It fell within grid square K-7 of the Standard Galactic Grid[1] and was home to grist mollusks and the aquatic predators known as makorr. The world contained bodies of water and iridium mines.[2]
History
Operations of the Nightswan
- "Nightswan is smart. These guys are idiots."
"Indeed they are. Which is why I asked one of them about the mollusk meat as they were being locked away. He admitted that the man who set up the scheme specifically told them to disperse the meat over their entire path. They told him that was too much trouble." - ―Eli Vanto and Mitth'raw'nuruodo
Nevil Cygni set up a smuggling operation on Paklarn.
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, the smuggler Nevil Cygni, also known as "Nightswan," set up an operation to smuggle iridium stolen from mines on Paklarn offworld. The smugglers working as part of Cygni's operation brought the stolen mineral to a surplus underwater transport then moved it to a group of fishing boats, where they shaped the iridium into discs and placed it inside grist mollusk shells that they had emptied of meat.[2]
As the meat was unusually dense, the iridium-packed shells weighed the same, meaning there was no discrepancy to be detected in the smuggled goods. Although Cygni told the other smugglers to disperse the meat from the shells into the water along the whole of their journey back to port, they considered this too much effort and instead discarded all of the meat over the sides of their fishing boats at once.[2]
A brilliant deduction
- "Fine. How did he do it?"
"It was the makorr, sir. One of the local water predator species. Captain Thrawn noticed that they were unusually active near these particular boats. Something seemed to be drawing them."
"That mysterious lure being free food. The smugglers had to get rid of the mollusk meat to make room for the iridium, and they simply dumped it overboard." - ―Alfren Cheno and Eli Vanto
In 11 BBY,[3] Imperial Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo—core name "Thrawn"—of the Arquitens-class light cruiser Thunder Wasp learned that Cygni was using iridium to pay for vulture droid parts. The Chiss captain uncovered the source of the iridium on Paklarn by noting that makorr were unusually active around the boats being used by the smugglers, as the predators were being attracted by the discarded meat. Based on this observation, he deduced the workings of the smuggling operation and captured its members, although not Cygni. The Imperials were unable to positively identify the underwater vehicle but thought it might be of Gungan design.[2]
Captain Thrawn uncovered the smuggling operation on Paklarn.
As the smugglers were brought aboard the light cruiser, the captain's colleague, Ensign Eli N. Vanto, explained how Thrawn had uncovered the scheme on Paklarn to Imperial Commander Alfren Cheno. Questioning the mollusk smugglers revealed that Nightswan had mentioned the planet Umbara to them, and when the Imperials traveled there to investigate, they were attacked by Nightswan's vulture droids and an uprising of the native Umbarans. After the droid starfighters were defeated, the Umbarans surrendered and the Empire seized control of Umbara.[2]
When Thrawn and Vanto later discussed ways to identify how successful a star system was in stopping smuggling, the ensign used the Paklarn grist mollusks as an example of an easily identifiable product that could be compared between systems to make such a calculation. Thrawn eventually deduced that Nightswan had set up the smuggling operation on Paklarn because he knew Thrawn was stationed in the area and wanted to lead him and the Empire to take over Umbara, as bribing Imperial officials there would be easier for him then bribing Umbarans.[2]
Behind the scenes
Paklarn was mentioned in Thrawn, a 2017 novel written by Timothy Zahn and the first installment in Star Wars: The Imperial Trilogy.[2]
Appearances
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
Star Systems of the Galaxy on StarWars.com (current version) (backup link) (previous version) — Based on corresponding data for the Paklarn system
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Thrawn
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines dates the section of Thrawn in which Paklarn is mentioned to 11 BBY.