Raid on the Dlarit estate

"People assume that if they say nothing and do nothing they're not involved in the fight, but the fact is that their apathy is a tacit vote of support for the status quo. They have to be made to see that by making no choice they have indeed made a choice."

- Elscol Loro

The raid on the Dlarit estate was an infiltration operation launched by the Ashern commandos and their allies against the Thyferran Home Defense Corps in 7 ABY during the Bacta War on Thyferra. Led by the anti-Imperial mercenary Elscol Loro, the commandos successfully entered the Dlarit estate, home of Defense Corps General Aerin Dlarit, and took hologram images of him stripped naked in his own personal office in an attempt to undermine the Xucphra Corporation's Imperial-sanctioned regime on the planet.

Loro, who ran a mercenary organization that helped resistance movements overthrow their local Imperial governments, originally planned to assassinate Dlarit to frighten allies of the Xucphran Corporation, but her ally Iella Wessiri voiced moral objections to the plan. Instead, Wessiri convinced Loro that the public humiliation of Dlarit would not only be more merciful, but have a stronger propaganda effect.

Loro and her partner, Sixtus Quin, successfully launched the late-night raid by exploiting a weakness they identified in the security sensor arrays placed around the Dlarit estate. Two Thyferran Home Defense Corps guards were killed during the infiltration, but Loro's team suffered no casualties. The raid had exactly the effect Loro and Wessiri anticipated and proved to be a major source of embarrassment for the Defense Corps, both in the eyes of the Thyferran civilian population and their Imperial allies.

The Bacta War
"Dlarit might seem harmless, but he's helping prop up a system that keeps the Vratix in virtual slavery. He's propping up a system that means billions of individuals suffer needlessly from diseases because they cannot afford the cure. He's got the blood of everyone who died because of a lack of bacta on his hands, as well as that of the families of the Alazhi's crew."

- Elscol Loro



Shortly before the New Republic launched their assault against Imperial-controlled Coruscant, Imperial Intelligence Director Ysanne Isard developed a plan to unleash the devastating Krytos virus on the planet. Isard planned to cede control of the world to the New Republic, which she hoped would ultimately be destroyed by the expense of treating the Krytos virus. Isard fled the former Imperial Center in her flagship, the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Lusankya, and immediately dispatched her forces to Thyferra, the planet where most of the galaxy's bacta was produced. With the New Republic desperately in need of the medical substances bacta and rylca to combat the Krytos virus, Isard believed that by taking control of Thyferra&mdash;and most of the galaxy's bacta supply&mdash;she could ensure the virus would ravage Coruscant and destroy the New Republic. Isard supported a revolution on Thyferra that placed the Xucphra Corporation in charge of the entire bacta cartel and installed herself as Chief Operating Officer and Head of State of the planet.

The New Republic Provisional Council was unable to order military action against Isard because the revolution was considered an internal Thyferran conflict, and interference could frighten other potential member states away from joining the New Republic. As a result, Commander Wedge Antilles, and his fellow pilots with the elite Rogue Squadron, resigned from the New Republic to launch a private assault against Isard, thus starting what would later become known as the Bacta War. Recognizing the complexity of overthrowing an entire planetary government, Antilles sought the assistance of Elscol Loro and Sixtus Quin, who ran an anti-Imperial mercenary group that organized local resistance movements and helped citizens fight and overthrow their local Imperial governments. Loro had previously flown in Rogue Squadron under Antilles, while her ally, Quin, was a former commando with the Imperial Special Navy Force. During the Bacta War, Loro and Quin worked hand-in-hand with the Ashern, a group of Vratix commandos. The native species of Thyferra, the Vratix had produced bacta for thousands of years before the Xucphra and Zaltin monopolies vastly dampened their business efforts. In response, the Ashern were formed to fight against Human control of the bacta cartel.

Targeting Aerin Dlarit
"He's made himself an obvious target. If we take him out we will rock Xucphran society to its foundations."

- Elscol Loro

After the subjugation of Thyferra, Isard created the Thyferran Home Defense Corps, a defense organization of Xucphra volunteers established to work in conjunction with ground-based stormtroopers to protect the planet. Aerin Dlarit, a wealthy and well-known manager with the Xucphra Corporation, was appointed a general with the Thyferran Home Defense Corps. Dlarit was primarily a figurehead who deferred day-to-day operations to Major Barst Roite, but he served a highly symbolic role hosting several functions and making many public appearances in his Corps uniform. Dlarit generated significant media attention, through which he assured his fellow Xucphrans that conditions had improved and the Ashern were under control. As a result of such a high-profile status, Loro and Quin determined he was a perfect target for assassination, as a means to undermine the authority of the Xucphran regime.

Iella Wessiri, a former New Republic official working with Antilles and Loro, was uncomfortable with the prospect of killing someone without any real military responsibilities, and instead suggested they undermine him by attacking other targets and undermining his public statements. Loro, however, insisted Dlarit's prominent public role made him the ideal target because it would rattle the Xucphran society and bring home the nature of the war. Loro planned to kill Dlarit, film the act with a holocam and circulate the footage throughout the planet. She further determined the assassination would have an even greater impact if it occurred within Aerin Dlarit's own home, a strongly-defended mansion remotely located within the Thyferran rainforests. Wessiri reluctantly agreed to participate in the plan, but convinced Loro not to kill any of Dlarit's children or staff if it could be avoided, arguing it would demonstrate to the public that they were capable of mercy in ways Isard's forces were not. Although the more pragmatic Loro agreed, she also developed a backup plan of shooting random Thyferran citizens as an alternative, but more ethically questionable, way of instilling fear into the Xucphran population if the Dlarit raid failed.

Planning
"Any other philosophical objections, or can we get to planning?"

- Elscol Loro



Loro and her mercenaries studied the Dlarit estate's security system by slicing into planetary computers and conducting surveillance using satellites owned by the Zaltin Corporation, a rival company to Xucphra. The team downloaded real-time holograms of the estate and thermal images of the Human guard patrols outside the mansion. They gathered a great deal of reconnaissance information from this surveillance, determining the estate was surrounded by G-003 Tri-Trackers and sensor arrays. They also discovered weaknesses in the security. The Dlarit estate was surrounded by rainforest on all sides except the back, which was set against mountains with cascading waterfalls. The sensor arrays on the mountain side of the estate were muted so the movement of water and sound from the falls would not constantly trigger alarms. The satellite surveillance revealed the Human patrols concentrated most strongly on the mountain side. Nevertheless, the muted sensor arrays led Loro to identify that side as the most vulnerable spot from which to launch an attack.

The attack was planned so that the mercenaries would enter the estate between midnight and dawn, when most of the residents and staff would be asleep. The core of the commando team consisted of Loro, Quin and three former members of the Imperial Special Navy Force, the same organization Quin previously served. The rest of the group consisted of Wessiri, two Vratix, and four Human Zaltin refugees. Each of them was armed with a blaster and a blaster carbine, carried a comlink, and wore dark clothing and a light-armor blast vest with armored plates that covered them from throat to groin, front and back. Although the armor would likely not stop blaster bolts, Loro hoped they might deflect them enough from the body's midline to make any wound survivable.

Infiltration
"I'm uncomfortable with assassinating him, especially in his home.''" "''The act has much more impact there."

- Iella Wessiri and Elscol Loro

Led by Quin and his SpecNav troops, the squad approached from the far side of the mountain, ascending the summit at dusk. Once darkness fell, they descended toward the mansion, staying as close to the waterfalls as possible. They sped the descent by rappelling down one of the larger falls and hiding behind the curtain of water, which helped shield them from the sensors' range. Once at the base of the mountains, they moved along the fringes of the sensor's range and cut through the jungle in a winding path. Moving swiftly and silently, Quin and the SpecNav troops moved ahead first, then signaled for the others to come ahead by making a click noise on the comlink. As they reached the estate, Loro spotted two Thyferran Home Defense Corps guards on patrol. On Loro's signal, Quin and his men attacked the guards from the shadows. Unable to risk alerting others with the sound or blue light of a stun bolt, the mercenaries had no choice but to kill both guards. They cut their throats so that no noises would be made from shouts or shots being fired.

Two of the SpecNav troops approached the solarium, then notified the others to come forward once they confirmed it was clear. The SpecNavs then used an electronic device to override the solarium's door lock, and the team entered the Dlarit estate. After fanning through the mansion's lower level and securing it without incident, the team slowly and silently made their way up a stairway to the main floor, which was entirely dark except for light emanating from an open door in the large hallway. Wessiri inched slowly toward the door and took a quick glance inside, only to find Aerin Dlarit asleep, sprawled in his office chair wearing his Thyferran Home Defense Corps uniform.

Loro planned to shoot him and film the assassination with a holocam, but Wessiri stopped her, insisting she had an alternative idea that would be just as humiliating and devastating. She proposed shooting Dlarit with a stun blast so he would not wake up, then strip his clothes and film him laying naked in his own office chair. Wessiri insisted the embarrassing image would serve a stronger propaganda role than an assassination, while demonstrating that the rebel movement was not a murderous and bloodthirsty one. Loro was initially hesitant, but when the normally somber Quin cracked a smile at the idea, Loro was convinced and agreed to implement the plan. After stripping Dlarit and filming him, the mercenary group left the Dlarit estate the same way they came in, taking Dlarit's dress uniform with them. Their party was not detected and suffered no fatalities or injuries.

Aftermath
"Wait, I have another idea. One that may work even better.''" "He has to die." "''With what I have in mind, he will, but a thousand times over."

- Iella Wessiri and Elscol Loro

The public humiliation of Aerin Dlarit had exactly the effect Loro and Wessiri anticipated. The holocam footage served as a major source of embarrassment for the Thyferran Home Defense Corps and, by extension, the forces of Ysanne Isard. Word of the raid on the Dlarit estate traveled quickly. For example, when the raid took place, Isard's Victory II-class Star Destroyer Corrupter was en route to Halanit for a planned attack. Although not far from Halanit after the raid was completed, news of the incident had already reached the ship before they arrived. Erisi Dlarit, Aerin's daughter, who was heading the Defense Corps fighter wing, was aboard the Corrupter when the news was received, and it served to dampen both her own morale and that of her pilots. It also fueled Erisi Dlarit's desire to seek retribution against her enemies.

The raid not only damaged the reputation of the Thyferran Home Defense Corps among the civilian population of Thyferra, but also among Isard's Imperial forces. Many within the Empire already viewed the Corps as incompetent, idiotic, and inferior compared to the Imperials, and the raid on the Dlarit estate only strengthened that conviction. This was demonstrated by the fact that although the crew of the Corrupter knew Aerin Dlarit was Erisi's father, they felt no reason to hide the news or their contempt about the Corps personnel from her, even as they were en route to a major battle. The New Republic ultimately defeated Isard's forces in the Bacta War and wrested control of Thyferra away from her.

Behind the scenes
The raid on the Dlarit estate was created by Michael A. Stackpole and featured in his book X-wing: The Bacta War, the fourth installment in the X-wing series of novels.

Appearances

 * X-wing: The Bacta War