Based on Cloud City, The Exchange is an underworld network of information brokers and illegal operators, focused on the acquisition of information and hard-to-obtain items for it's clients. Through it's front company Elysian Acqusitions it engages in private investigation, import/exports, cargo transit, treasure hunting, repossessions, and will even collect on the occasional legitimate bounty. Behind the scenes, The Exchange branches out into smuggling, theft, prison breaks, espionage, and other less-than-legal facets of it's modus operandi.
The Exchange has tentative ties to Black Sun, and the Pink Moon Syndicate. Their relationship with the Ouishii Kajidic and the Rath Cartel is negative and competitive, but is not openly hostile. The Exchange has had a number of run-ins with a shadow organisation known as Sarlacc, who once attempted to kill Shadowstar because of her former association with the shipping company Silenus Corp.
History
Around 4000 BBY, The Exchange was an interstellar crime cartel involved in a variety of underworld enterprises - the spice trade, smuggling, weapons trafficking, slave trading, extortion, bounty hunting - within the Galactic Republic, the Sith Empire, and Hutt Space. They were particularly active during the time of the Jedi Civil War, Great Galactic War, and the first Cold War.
Galactic Civil War
In 10 ABY, an attempt was made upon the life of Emelie Shadowstar by an organisation known as Sarlacc. The information broker Atton Kira covertly intervened, sending bounty hunter Vittore Montegue to thwart Shadowstar's would-be assassin before the mission could be completed. Hiring Montegue to investigate the attempted hit, Shadowstar sent him to retrieve slicer Sadie K'Vesh (unaware at the time that she was Atton Kira's niece) from her abusive associates on Nar Shaddaa. Shortly thereafter, Montegue and K'Vesh investigated the individual who had processed the bounty against Shadowstar, but he was killed by agents working for the Rath Cartel before they could uncover any answers.
Forced to abandon her previous business enterprises, Shadowstar entered into an arrangement with Kira to build an underworld enterprise that would combine their areas of expertise. Shadowstar provided leadership and direction, while Kira provided experience and finances, on the understanding that for the first ten years the business would be divided 50:50, after which Kira would retire and leave Shadowstar with complete control. "The Exchange" was chosen as a name to obscure ties with either individual and their legitimate enterprises, and the two conceived The Broker as the organisation's mysterious and fictitious leader, to deflect attention away from themselves.
Hierarchy
Much of the modern hierarchy of The Exchange is fabricated. Members of The Exchange refer to The Broker, a fictional figure intended to conceal the true leadership of the organisation, and to disguise it's scope and extent.
Most of the organization overlaps directly with the Elysian Acquisitions corporation: this company handles most of The Exchange's "legitimate" business, with covert Exchange components handling the more "legally ambiguous" tasks. The Elysian-owned nightclub Elysium on Cloud City is used both as a venue for meeting prospective clients, and to conceal the location (and power consumption) of one of The Exchange's main data hubs. The Annwn Distillery was recently established on a disused Tibanna gas extraction platform, both to produce alcohol for Elysium and for resale, and to provide a plausible reason for Exchange operatives to leave Cloud City en route to the abandoned Jedi platform.
Tempest Holdings is a corporation founded/owned by Atton Kira, which owns and administers most of The Exchange's real estate holdings - including various storehouses, safe houses, and data nodes scattered across the galaxy.
Leadership
Operatives
Droids
- Sleazy (CZ-41) - a communications/protocol droid, skilled at forging documents.
- Katie (R4-K8) - a utility droid modified for slicing and surveillance.
- Bumblebee (221-B) - a malfunctioning (stuttering) medical droid.
- R4-P13 ("PIE") - an astromech droid, formerly integrated into Inyos Aamoran's Jedi Starfighter.
Associates
Miscellany
Transports
Starfighters
Timeline
