Pyke Syndicate

"A powerful part of the spice cartel. Their criminal activities had allowed them to almost completely control the production of raw spice, used to create a powerful drug."

- Former Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, on the Pyke Syndicate

The Pyke Syndicate, also known as the Pyke Family, was a spice dealership within the Spice Cartel that operated in the criminal underworld from their homeworld of Oba Diah. They also participated in the crime raids on Mandalore to start the Death Watch rule on said planet.

Equipment
"Do you know how to use this?"

- Han Solo to Chewbacca, on a Pyke Sentinel electrostaff

The Pyke Syndicate owned a large complement of Pyke starships and freighters to transport their enforcers and goods around the galaxy. Their troops were typically equipped with large pistols but the Pyke sentinels typically possessed larger and more specialized weapons. Some sentinels were seen attempting to use a blaster turret during the riot on Kessel. Some Pyke sentinels on Kessel used stun spears to enforce the discipline of their slaves.

Alliances
"The Pykes control Kessel. Crimson Dawn has a fragile alliance with them. We can't jeopardize that without risking another war among the syndicates, which I will not do."

- Dryden Vos

The Pyke Syndicate almost completely controlled the production of raw spice in the galaxy. The Pykes struggled to maintain a relationship with the Black Sun, even when they both joined Darth Maul's Shadow Collective. They subsequently abandoned the Shadow Collective when it became more costly than profitable for them. After the fall of the Shadow Collective and the Galactic Republic, Maul eventually became the shadowy spearhead of Crimson Dawn, another of the five most powerful criminal organizations. The Pykes later maintained a shaky alliance with Crimson Dawn.

Operations
The Pykes were responsible for ensuring the flow of spice from Kessel to Coruscant, utilizing smugglers and freighter captains to carry out Kessel Runs to ensure spice deliveries. As well as spice, the Pyke Syndicate also extracted coaxium from Kessel. During the reign of the Galactic Empire, the Pykes' operations on Kessel were administered by capo Quay Tolsite along with his staff of droids. The Pyke operations on Kessel employed many slaves of different species, which Tolsite was ruthless to.

Auction of Eldra Kaitis
Prior to the invasion of Naboo, the Xrexus Cartel captured a young Twi'lek Jedi Padawan called Eldra Kaitis from the wreckage of a crash that had killed the other Jedi Knights and personnel. Their leader, Xev Xrexus, had her put up for auction and it caught the attention of the Pyke Syndicate and many other criminal organisations. The Syndicate's leader, Lom Pyke, brought four of his men to the auction of Eldra Kaitis at Xev's hideout but were not successful in winning the Padawan, who was bought for 2.5 million credits by Jee Kra.

The event took a turn when Kra and his men were ambushed by Darth Maul and his team, who took Kaitis away. Xev learned of this and shot their ship down before it could escape the system. She then had the Pykes and the other gangs pay in order to hunt Kaitis and her new captures. Lom sent his four Pykes down to hunt for the Padawan. The four soon encountered Kaitis and Maul travelling below them and they open fired. Maul and Kaitis drew their lightsabers and deflected their shots. The four then found themselves flanked by four DRK-1 Dark Eye probe droids which gunned down one of the Pykes. Another shot down one of the droids but as they were distracted, Maul pounced on them. Unable to respond to the Sith apprentice, the three remaining Pykes were cut down.

Killing Sifo-Dyas
Sometime later, Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum sent Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas to engage the Pykes in negotiations with the Galactic Republic regarding the Pykes' monopoly on the spice trade. At the behest of the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus, however, the Pykes killed Sifo-Dyas.

Joining the Shadow Collective
"We know you've been forming an army.''" "Were you expecting us?" "''Underworld's a small community. I have no desire to oppose you. We come to join you."

- Lom Pyke to Darth Maul, leader of the Shadow Collective

Years later, during the Clone Wars, the Pyke Syndicate gained control of the mining operations on the planet Kessel. In 19 BBY, the Syndicate allied themselves with Darth Maul and his Shadow Collective; the Pykes were eager to join after Maul had coerced the Black Sun into joining the alliance. Along with Black Sun, they assisted Maul and Death Watch when they attempted force the Hutt Clan into joining the Shadow Collective on Nal Hutta, where they attacked Gardulla the Hutt's Palace and forced all but one of the Hutts to flee to Jabba's Palace. The last Hutt, Oruba was stoked into revealing the whereabouts of the other Hutts and killed him after. The Pyke Syndicate then helped Maul attack Jabba the Hutt's Palace and force Jabba and Gorga the Hutt into joining them. For the Shadow Collective's next move, the Pykes staged a false flag attack on Mandalore, allowing Death Watch to intervene as so-called defenders of the people. With the government of Mandalore unable to manage the crisis, Death Watch successfully took over Mandalore without any real resistance and locked up their opponents. The Death Watch leader, Pre Vizsla, arrested Maul and assumed control over the planet.

Aiding the Jedi
Later, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived on Oba Diah, hot on the trail of Sifo-Dyas. After admitting that the Pykes had indeed killed Sifo-Dyas, Lom introduced the Jedi Knights to Valorum's former aide Silman, who the Pykes had kept in captivity as insurance against Tyranus. Lom told the Jedi they could have Silman in exchange for them turning a blind eye to them killing Sifo-Dyas. Shortly afterward Tyranus arrived on Oba Diah with the intention of keeping the Jedi from discovering the truth behind Sifo-Dyas' demise. Tyranus cut through several guards and killed Silman when arriving at his cell. Tyranus then engaged the Jedi and the Pykes in battle. Lom surrounded Tyranus with his men to assist the Jedi but Tyranus killed him and escaped.

Dispute with the Black Sun
Marg Krim became the leader of the Pyke Syndicate following Lom's death. When the Black Sun leader Ziton Moj proposed merging the two crime syndicates, Krim rejected the offer. In retaliation, Moj ordered the kidnapping of Krim's wife Tezzka Krim and their children Vram and Laalee. Krim was unable to rely on his Pyke Syndicate subordinates for help because several of his underlings contested his leadership of the organization. In response, Krim enlisted the services of two independent bounty hunters&mdash;the former Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress and the undercover Jedi Master Quinlan Vos&mdash;to rescue his family. Ventress and Vos succeeded in rescuing Krim's family from the Black Sun fortress on Mustafar. However, Black Sun retaliated by launching an attack on the Pyke Syndicate's stronghold on Oba Diah.

Leaving the Shadow Collective
"I'm telling you--a full armada of droid vessels just appeared out of nowhere and is laying siege to our defenses." "It's happening here, too--they were lying in wait for us! How could they know?!"

- Ziton Moj and Fife discussing the separatist attacks on their Syndicates

The Pykes remained loyal to Maul's Shadow Collective even after he was taken prisoner by Darth Sidious, and Krim's majordomo Fife met up with the Sith Lord on Ord Mantell with the rest of the criminals and warriors. The Pykes defended the Black Sun stronghold during an ensuing Separatist attack, but not without some many casualties. Following this, Fife and Ziton Moj both voiced concern over the likelihood of Maul's plan against his former Master succeeding, but were told they would be paid nonetheless.

Soon afterward the Pykes came under attack by a Separatist armada and lost a significant number of ships. The Black Sun suffered a similar attack from the Separatists and abandoned Maul because of his lack of assistance. The Pyke Syndicate followed them in their decision, and Fife informed Maul's lieutenant Rook Kast that their partnership was finished as they no longer saw any financial incentive. Because of this, the Shadow Collective fell apart, and Maul withdrew with his remaining forces following their loss on Dathomir.

Age of the Empire
In 10 BBY, Tobias Beckett gang arrived on Kessel in the Millennium Falcon to steal some of the Pyke Syndicate's coaxium. First Qi'ra exited the ship with a disguised Beckett, L3-37, Han Solo, and Chewbacca (the later two in shackles and disguised as slaves). Qi'ra was met by capo Quay Tolsite, who ran the Pyke Syndicate's operations there, and his Pyke sentinels. Qi'ra claimed to be a representative who had come to negotiate a deal with Quay. Quay agreed to negotiate and told Qi'ra, Beckett, and L3-37 to come with him, while two of Quay's guards took Han and Chewbacca to work as slaves in the mining operation. When Quay and Qi'ra arrived to the control room of the mining operations, Quay led Qi'ra and L3 into a closed room, but told Beckett to wait outside. When the door of the room closed, Beckett killed two of Quay's guards, and began to fire at the others. Eventually Beckett killed all of Quay's guards. Quay quickly realized something was wrong, but Qi'ra quickly tackled him to the ground and stabbed him in the chest, killing the Pyke.

With no guards in the control room left, L3-37 deactivated the restraints of the slaves, freeing them, and causing a massive riot. This allowed Han and Chewbacca to get free of their restrains, and knock out the guards with them. Han and Chewbacca then ran to the coaxium, but on the way Chewbacca saw Wookiee prisoners being tortured by the Kessel guards, and went to help the Wookiees. Now alone, Han made it to the coaxium vault, and took out the single sentinel guarding it. Inside he was able to steal the coaxium, and start wheeling it away on a cart. On his way to the Millennium Falcon, Han was stopped by multiple guards, but Chewbacca came back just in time to take them out.

Han and Chewbacca were able to bring the coaxium to the Millennium Falcon, where Beckett was taking out soldiers trying to stop the riot. Several Pyke sentinels set up a gun on a tripod to disable the Millennium Falcon but were targeted and gunned down by Han and Lando. L3-37 was in the midst of the riot, and yelling that it was a revolution, but the unfortunate droid was shot and destroyed by a Pyke soldier. Saddened, Lando Calrissian ran out to L3-37's mangled corpse, but he himself was shot in the arm by a Pyke soldier. Han then ran out and carried them both back to the Falcon. With the coaxium and all their crew members inside, Beckett's gang escaped the planet.

Behind the scenes
The Pykes were developed by George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars. They were first introduced in "Eminence," an episode in the fifth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Before the cancellation of The Clone Wars TV series, a four-episode arc entitled "Ahsoka's Walkabout" was to follow Ahsoka Tano after her decision to leave the Jedi Order, showing some of her first adventures in the Coruscant underworld where she met a scoundrel named Nyx Okami, whom she developed a close relationship with. During their adventures she was to be challenged by the Pyke Syndicate, and in the process she would have had to resist her Jedi teachings for her own safety.

Appearances

 * Darth Maul, Part II
 * Darth Maul, Part III
 * Darth Maul, Part IV
 * Dark Disciple
 * Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir, Part One
 * Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir, Part Two
 * Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir, Part Four
 * Most Wanted
 * Solo: A Star Wars Story
 * Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition
 * Solo: A Star Wars Story Read-Along Storybook and CD
 * Solo Adaptation 3
 * Han Solo - Imperial Cadet 3
 * Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition
 * Solo: A Star Wars Story Read-Along Storybook and CD
 * Solo Adaptation 3
 * Han Solo - Imperial Cadet 3