Aquaris Freeholders

"Silver Fyre helms the biggest gang of star pirates and mercenaries in the business!"

―Han Solo^[1]

The Aquaris Freeholders were one of the galaxy's largest smuggling and piracy groups during the Galactic Civil War. The Freeholders were based on the ocean-covered planet Aquaris, where they operated out of a large underwater base. The Freeholders were led by Human criminal Silver Fyre, who decided to throw her support behind the Rebel Alliance as the war reached its height.

Description[]

"Rather elaborate base for mercenaries and space pirates."

―Leia Organa^[1]

A large gang of smugglers and pirates, the Aquaris Freeholders were founded by notorious criminal Silver Fyre, who served as the group's leader. The Freeholders consisted of a number of different species—a humanoid alien, Kraaken, served as Fyre's right-hand man.^[1] After settling on the planet Aquaris, the Freeholders centralized their operations around a cutting-edge underwater base, which could evade topside sensors while still accomodating visiting ships with a retractable landing pad. Freeholders primarily used aqua-skimmers for transportation through the Aquaris waves, and quickly had to become adept at using the weapons mounted on these vehicles, as their base became a frequent target of the planet's larger predators.^[2]

History[]

"Silver Fyre's Freeholders are joining us, Leia?"
"Having caught the traitor among our new allies... it's safe to use their help with the situation at Yavin Base, Han."

―Han Solo and Leia Organa^[1]

The gang known as the Freeholders was founded by the Human rogue Silver Fyre, and by the era of the Galactic Civil War, Fyre had built her Freeholders into one of the biggest and most formidable smuggling and pirate gangs in the galaxy. In their early days, the Freeholders made robbery targets of other smugglers transporting spice—one such victim was the Corellian Han Solo.^[1] Fyre's operation eventually grew to the point where she began searching for a permanent base, an out-of-the-way world they could take over—although she considered options such as Myrkr and the Vergesso Asteroids, she ultimately settled on the ocean-covered^[2] Expansion Region^[3] planet of Aquaris.^[2]

As the war reached its height, Fyre began to develop Rebel sympathies, and pledged her support and the support of the Freeholders to the Alliance. Not long after, Rebel leaders Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa and Fyre's old smuggling rival Solo personally visited the Freeholder base on Aquaris—however, Fyre was unaware that her right-hand man, Kraaken, was an Imperial asset. Kraaken plotted to eliminate the Rebels and steal their droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, to deliver to the Empire important information that was purportedly stored on them. Fyre and the Rebels uncovered Kraaken's plan and foiled it together, reaffirming the Rebels' previously-shaky trust for the Freeholders. Afterward, Fyre threw the full weight of her organization behind the Rebel war effort, committing fighters to help break the Imperial blockade of the Yavin system.^[1]

Behind the scenes[]

The Aquaris Freeholders appeared in Traitor's Gambit, a comic strip story arc written by Archie Goodwin, illustrated by Al Williamson and released in 1982.^[1]