Trial of Silvo

Around 9 ABY, Silvo stood trial aboard a pirate frigate. The former captain faced charges of leading a disastrous raid on a merchant freighter that cost many crew members their lives, as well as escaping from prison. Though initially sentenced to death by Captain Brutus, Silvo was granted the Right of Last Appeal under the Pirate's Code, owing to Chaelt's intervention. In a desperate plea for his life, Silvo promised to guide the crew to At Attin—a legendary planet of eternal treasure immortalized in pirate lore. He bolstered his claims by citing the legendary Captain Tak Rennod, who had supposedly reached At Attin and left behind a datalog that Silvo claimed to have found. Though Brutus was initially set on executing his predecessor, he ultimately relented, deciding to spare his life on condition that At Attin yielded its promised treasure.

During his trial, the defendant shifted the focus from his guilt to the broader struggles of the pirate crew. His last appeal revolved around hunger for credits, a theme resonating with the pirates' lived experiences. Towards the end of his speech, Silvo sought to regain command of the crew, but his efforts proved futile as the pirates remained loyal to Brutus. Although his life was spared, Silvo ultimately outwitted his judge. Some time later, when Brutus found himself defenseless and trapped in a cargo-lifting arm, he seized the opportunity to shoot him dead and take his place. As the new leader, Silvo launched a large-scale attack on At Attin. However, the invasion was repelled owing to the actions of the Skeleton Crew, who successfully called in New Republic reinforcements.

Prelude

From leader to prisoner

Around 9 ABY,^[3] Silvo—the captain of a pirate gang—came to the realization that many of^[4] his^[1] pirate underlings had begun to doubt his leadership skills, with some of his crew members already giving up on him. In order to remedy his difficult position, Silvo led an attack on a merchant freighter, which he believed carried a valuable cargo of credits. Although the assault claimed many pirate lives, the captain believed the wealth hidden in the bulk freighter's vault would offset the losses and restore his authority. However, when the wealth that Silvo had promised turned out to be a single credit coin, the crew mutinied against him, with a number of leading crew members, such as the Gran Pax or the Nikto Vane, aiming their weapons at Silvo or otherwise approving of this act of rebellion. Some other pirates, however, including Chaelt and Gunter, remained neutral and did not draw their blasters, instead watching as the helpless captain futilely attempted to defend himself against the mutineers,^[4] whose efforts proved successful and helped establish the Shistavanen Brutus as the new captain.^[5] Silvo, in turn, was apprehended and held for trial in a brig on Borgo Prime,^[6] a starport that Brutus would later view as^[5] his^[1] own.^[5]

From escape to capture

Under the new captain Brutus, the crew arrived in Starport Borgo. With Silvo placed in a brig in the underbelly of the asteroid, the pirates frolicked at the pirate market on the surface, where they had a run-in with four younglings from^[5] the Skeleton Crew:^[7] Fern, KB, Neel, and Wim, whom Vane saw to use Old Republic currency for payment. Since the children claimed to hail from the legendary world At Attin, a mythical "lost planet of eternal treasure," Brutus had them locked down pending further interrogation, a penal measure he believed would make the off-worders willing to cooperate.^[5] The children, however, happened to be detained in the same brig as former Captain Silvo. A Force-sensitive^[6] with basic Jedi training,^[2] Silvo allied himself with the Skeleton Crew and escaped to their starship. As the runaway prisoner jumped into hyperspace, Brutus had Gunter put a bounty on his head.^[6]

While Brutus did not give credence to the children's claims concerning their home planet,^[1] Silvo, if not fully convinced, was more prone to believe the story. With the help of astronomer Kh'ymm, he found that At Attin might have been one of the Jewels of the Old Republic, a group of planets accommodating Old Republic credit mints, now hidden from the rest of the galaxy.^[6] In addition, Silvo found that the droid SM-33, who had kept the children company since they accidentally left their alleged homeworld, had once belonged to Tak Rennod, a pirate captain well known in pirate lore^[8] for allegedly plundering At Attin.^[1] SM-33 led^[8] its^[5] new crew to Lanupa, where Captain Rennod's Lair was located. As he checked in a local hotel, Silvo was recognized by the bounty hunter Pokkit, who informed on him to Brutus. Although they did not take long to arrive on the planet, the pirates failed to prevent him from reaching Rennod's lair and accessing his datalog and the coordinates to At Attin. Eventually, Silvo and the Skeleton Crew parted ways.^[8] Nevertheless, as the pirates plundered the hotel, they happened upon their former captain as he left an access hatch. Led by the human Gunter, the crew arrested Silvo again and transported him to their frigate to put him to trial.^[1]

The trial

Last appeal amid simmering tension

The trial took place aboard the pirate frigate. Crew members gathered in a hall with a large table laden with fruits and beverages. The judge Brutus took a seat on a sizable, throne-like chair, with a plasma hourglass on the left armrest. Beside Brutus stood the Keteerian Snobbius Snee and the human Chaelt on his right and left sides, respectively. Snee, who was charged with overseeing the trial, announced that Brutus was about to pronounce the verdict. The judge found the "mad" Captain Silvo guilty and sentenced him to death by airlock, silencing the cheerful crowd in the meantime. In the face of the growing applause, the condemned^[1] man^[9] looked up to Chaelt, who^[1] uncomfortably^[9] averted^[1] her^[9] gaze before finally speaking up. The uncheering^[1] elderly woman^[9] screamed out, silencing the applauding audience and reminding about equal time and the Right of Last Appeal as per the Pirate's Code. The crowd fell silent, and Chaelt watched as Brutus growled, turning to Snee. Snee, in turn, concurred with Chaelt that the Right of Last Appeal had to be honored. To this end, Brutus announced that equal time was now beginning and struck the hourglass, whose plasma flow was to determine the defendant's allotted time.^[1]

Appeal to never-ending hunger

Before Silvo spoke up,^[1] all the pirates had focused their attention on him^[9], and a pirate had yelled at him to "open his glob." Silvo began by shifting the focus from his guilt to the broader struggles of the pirate crew. He spoke about hunger and scarcity, themes resonating with the pirates' lived experiences. His rhetorical strategy immediately captured attention, with a male pirate asking what he was on about and a female pirate insisting on killing the man on the spot. Another male pirate, in turn, contended that the defendant would say anything to save his life. Silvo then asked everybody how long they had been hungry, a question that the pirate who had yield at him to open his glob was surprised to hear. When Silvo was about to continue, Brutus chimed in, believing that words of a convict were worthless. In response, Silvo approached the judge and pointed to the plasma in the hourglass, whose continuous running indicated his time was yet to run out. Turning back to the audience, Silvo screamed that all of them were hungry because credits were scarce and were never enough, an opinion the amicable pirate concurred with.^[1]

Promise of a hearty future

Finishing his appeal to hunger, Silvo asked the pirates to imagine a place where credits would never run out, a vision that two male pirates took kindly to. Then, the defendant turned to the Quarren Glerb, whom he told to imagine buying a whole ocean instead of the glow-weed plantation^[1] he^[10] was saving up for. After Glerb admitted that "it would be something," Silvo approached the human Kona and apologized for having failed^[1] her,^[9] saying that he believed she could have a fleet of her own. Skeptical about the former captain's speech, Kona asked where the trick was, and Silvo assured her that there was no trick, but only a virgin gleam of brand-new Old Republic credits. Having said that, the man pulled out a credit coin and flipped it up, prompting the other pirates to take a closer look. The Nikto Vane pushed ahead and confirmed that the coin looked exactly like the credits he had seen the Skeleton Crew younglings use back in Starport Borgo. Silvo concurred, adding that Tak Rennod also believed so. At these words, Brutus joined the discussion, asserting that Tak Rennod was dead. Rather than counter the judge's interruption, Silvo started singing a pirate shanty that narrated Tak Rennod's fate, including his departure on the Onyx Cinder and alleged plundering of At Attin. The audience joined in to sing along, but did not complete the stanza. Therefore, the defendant asked what the final line words, and Kona rushed to provide the lyrics.^[1]

After the spontaneous singalong, Gunter asked Silvo if he really believed the myths about At Attin were true. In response, Silvo said that he believed Brutus would make a good First Mate and suggested that the crew instead follow him as their captain, promising to give them the entire galaxy. At that point, the hourglass ran out, so Gunter and Kona captured Silvo and dragged him up to Brutus. The judge grasped the defendant by his shirt and hauled him to the airlock, pushing him against the glass to see a bunch of trash being jettisoned into space. Brutus promised that Silvo would share its fate if At Attin—where he agreed to set course to following Silvo's coordinates—turned out to yield no real treasure. In this way, the judge suspended the death sentence pending the crew's arrival on the legendary planet.^[1]

Aftermath

When the crew arrived at the destination point, Brutus saw what he assumed was a large toxic maelstrom, which was in fact the Barrier that helped keep the legendary planet hidden from the rest of the galaxy. Considering At Attin a myth, the captain insisted on executing Silvo immediately, but later on he agreed to scout the alleged maelstrom and find whether it was the Barrier, as Silvo believed. After the volunteer Glurb died while penetrating the mass of gases, however, Brutus proceeded with the execution. Just as Silvo was about to be airlocked, Chaelt detected a starship emerging from hyperspace. Taking advantage of the ensuing chaos, she released Silvo and let him back aboard. The former captain insisted that the starship—the Onyx Cinder—was the key to getting through the Barrier. Along with Brutus and other crew members, Silvo went down to the hangar. In an attempt to board the intercepted ship, Brutus wound up caught in a lift claw by the Skeleton Crew. With the incumbent captain trapped by the enemy, Silvo shot Brutus dead and won the crew's loyalty back to himself.^[11] Under his command, the pirates launched a planetary invasion in order to subjugate its people and have them produce Old Republic credits for them. The invasion, however, ended with the arrival of the New Republic forces, which could attain the surface of the planet after the Skeleton Crew disabled the Barrier. With his plan derailed,^[2] Silvo watched from Supervisor's Tower as his pirate frigate drifted out of control,^[12] its wreckage eventually coming to rest in a local water canal.^[2]

Behind the scenes

The trial of Silvo debuted in "Zero Friends Again," the sixth episode of the Disney+ live-action television series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew,^[1] which was aired on December 31, 2024.^[14]

In an interview for Entertainment Weekly, the series creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford admitted that the pirates' internal politics, although curtailed due to screen time limits, was manifest during Silvo's trail. According to Ford, Silvo's appeal for Chaelt's intervention revealed a close relationship between the two characters.^[13]

Appearances

• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — "Zero Friends Again" (First appearance)

Notes and references

External links

• GR-FF-002297 by The Walt Disney Studios on Getty Images (December 31, 2024) (backup link) (Picture only)
• GR-055562 R by The Walt Disney Studios on Getty Images (December 31, 2024) (backup link) (Picture only)
• GR-057237 R by The Walt Disney Studios on Getty Images (December 31, 2024) (backup link) (Picture only)
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew creators go inside the finale and future of the show by Dalton Ross on Entertainment Weekly (January 15, 2025) (backup link archived on January 16, 2025) (Indirect mention only)