The Vandal Scandal

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The Vandal Scandal
Date	Year 17 Day 155 — Year 17 Day 168
Location	Galactic News Service
Result	Execution of Vandal Archibald and Henry Farlander
Belligerents
Vandal Archibald† Henry Farlander† ViskCor News Network	Black Sun Gree Trade Authority
Commanders and Leaders
Vandal Archibald† Rayus Kestyn	Dark Prince Jeor Knight Vigo Banquo Knox CEO Tomas o`Cuinn
Casualties and Losses
Vandal Archibald† Henry Farlander†	None

The "Vandal Scandal" - named after the puppeteer who initiated the event - was a minor incident in Year 17 that provoked a war of words, pitting the ViskCor News Network against both Black Sun and the Gree Trade Authority. The scandal began when Neria Derycke posted a trade warning on a public marketplace regarding the suspicious sales and trading practices of Henry Farlander. Farlander, a completely unheard of individual in the public trading circuit, had begun offering sales of expensive and rare starships typically sold exclusively by the reputable and wealthy. The ships he was attempting to sell included such vessels as a RZ-1 A-wing interceptor, B-wing starfighter, and Modular Taskforce Cruiser, among others, for a combined total of approximately 1.6 billion credits in listed sales. Numerous individuals were interested in purchasing the ships, chief among them being Neria Derycke and Draven Diesel. Farlander baited both of them with the A-wing, though Derycke proved too cautious to bite. Unfortunately, Diesel did not show the same restraint and transferred the ownership of two cruisers, one Strike-class and one Arquitens-class, to Farlander in exchange for the interceptor. Instead of completing his side of the transaction, Farlender provided fake evidence that he had mistakenly transferred the fighter to the incorrect individual, and refused to refund Diesel. Others, including at least Amirantha Dahrii, Dex Sehrin, Tazak Morgu, and Vosh Killdarn also fell into Farlander's trap before realizing they had been the victim of a scam.

Fallout

Within a day of the scam being completed, Henry Farlander was dead. A known member of Black Sun, Vandal Archibald stepped forward, claiming to have killed him. It is from Archibald that the affair takes its name. Archibald claimed that a member of the New Republic, Horatius Solomon, had funded Farlander and that it was Solomon who had sold him the ship Farlander was on, allowing Archibald to execute Farlander for his crimes against the Imperial Union citizens. This caused the New Republic to immediately denounce and strip Solomon of his citizenship. However, the excellent detective work of Kyota Navic began to cause Archibald's story to unravel. The true story was far more complicated. It was not Solomon who had funded Farlander's scams. It was Archibald. Archibald had used Farlander as his scamming proxy, then foisted the blame on a Black Sun operative loyal to new Dark Prince Jeor Knight in Solomon. It was speculated that Archibald's loyalties were tied to former Dark Prince Alexander von Ismay and his adviser Kathlen Stewart who had recently departed, voluntarily or otherwise is unclear, from Black Sun for the alleged theft of assets entrusted to them by the Family Council. The rumor at the time was that some of these asset had been entrusted to Black Sun by the Galactic Empire, which seemed to be collaborated by Archibald's loyalty to von Ismay. It had apparently been Archibald's plan to enrich himself, and cause tension between Black Sun and the Galactic Empire simultaneously. Others speculated it was to benefit von Ismay in his power struggle with Knight.

Naturally the Galactic Empire reacted sternly to the scamming of one of it's citizens by a Black Sun family member. While Diesel's items were recovered and returned to him by Rayus Kestyn, Archibald was still free. That also quickly changed, as his alleged loyalty to von Ismay and scamming of fellow members of the Imperial Union were damaging to Black Sun. He was arrested for treason and executed by another former Dark Prince Banquo Knox. Speculation was rampant at the time that Black Sun expedited the death of Archibald to placate the anger coming from the Imperial throne. It is more likely that it was his alleged loyalty to von Ismay was what cost Archibald his life, as the war of words between von Ismay's followers and Knight himself was raging white hot and undoubtedly Knight did not wish to have an alleged von Ismay loyalist in his ranks. Thus he used Archibald's scam as an excuse to rid himself of a potential thorn in his side.

War of Words

Three Galactic News Service news events were posted in the space of twenty four hours in regard to The Vandal Scandal. It lit up every social media feed, due to the twisted and complicated nature it took and the rumors of instability in Black Sun. ViskCor News Network kept the fire white hot against the new Black Sun leadership, undoubtedly due to possible financial backing they received from von Ismay and his followers. Black Sun itself responded once with an official statement condemning ViskCor's reporting and the actions of Archibald. However, a former member of Black Sun, Tomas O`Cuinn, the chief executive officer of Gree Trade Authority, also responded, echoing support for the new Black Sun leadership and slamming von Ismay as an addled drug addicted failure of a leader, run by his subordinates. Whether these accusations were true was left to the public to determine as ViskCor did not respond, nor was there any official statement from the Galactic Empire regarding the matter which had ensnared one of their first citizens. This brought an end to The Vandal Scandal, an event which riveted the galaxies attention for a full week, with incessant news coverage and political ramifications to go along with it.

Related News Articles

Black Sun's Future in Imperial Union Uncertain - Date: Year 17 Day 166

Black Sun Responds to Fake Instability Claims - Date: Year 17 Day 167

Black Sun - A Modern History Lesson - Date: Year 17 Day 167