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- "You should never underestimate what people will do out of pride."
- ―Grodin Tierce
Zothip was the leader of the Cavrilhu Pirates from roughly ten years before the Thrawn campaign through his death near the end of the Caamas Document conflict.
Biography
Zothip was a dangerous man, who was prone to holding grudges and had no ethical reservations about his line of work. He had no compunctions about spacing part of a starship crew to compel the rest to cooperate with his raiding parties, and was considered by some to be the "scourge of the Amorris system." When Grand Admiral Thrawn put out the word among fringe groups that the Galactic Empire would pay well for warships, Niles Ferrier tried to answer this call by stealing ships from the New Republic Defense Fleet at the Sluis Van shipyard. He was deflected from this course of action by Lando Calrissian, who suggested that Ferrier try his luck at the Cavrilhu Pirates' base on Amorris. Ferrier successfully stole three Sienar patrol ships from the pirates, and Zothip swore revenge on Ferrier and his entire crew. Zothip never got the chance to exact vengeance upon Ferrier, however, as the Smugglers' Alliance soon killed Ferrier for betraying them.
In 16 ABY, the Cavrilhu Pirates committed an attack against the people of Lorardian. This earned the wrath of the Mistryl, and would ultimately lead to Zothip's demise.
Immediately prior to and during the Caamas Document crisis, Zothip was involved in an under-the-table deal with Moff Vilim Disra of the Imperial Remnant. Zothip's gang was loaned some of the few remaining Mount Tantiss clones from Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic ten years earlier, and in return, the Imperial Remnant was supplied with Preybird-class starfighters from the Cavrilhu Pirates' production lines. The Imperial Remnant's territory had been vastly reduced following Grand Admiral Thrawn's death, and the production of the Empire's traditional TIE Series fighters had been consequently reduced to a trickle. The Preybirds were badly needed, and they proved to be adequate substitutes for TIE fighters, though they lacked the automatic association with Imperial power that TIEs evoked in most sentients. In addition to this exchange, the Imperial Remnant supplied the Cavrilhu Pirates with locations of New Republic shipping convoys. Both parties reaped the benefits: Zothip's gang kept whatever loot it found aboard the ships, and the Remnant happily watched as the New Republic's shipping endeavors were destabilized.
However, this deal between Zothip and Disra proved to be troublesome for them both. After defending an Ishori shipping convoy from a group of Cavrilhu pirates, Luke Skywalker investigated and eventually located one of the Cavrilhu gang's bases in the Kauron asteroid field. Skywalker was captured and briefly interrogated by Zothip, but he quickly escaped, narrowly avoiding an explosion triggered by the base's self-destruct system, which Zothip had activated as he fled.
Initially furious at Disra for allowing this to happen, Zothip agreed to one more job for the conniving moff, with the promise of the greatest reward yet. Disra asked Zothip to attack the Chimaera with ships falsely bearing Corellian insignia, in hopes that Gilad Pellaeon would believe that Garm Bel Iblis had rejected his peace envoy. Pellaeon easily routed Zothip's force, and Zothip, having lost more of his assets, went to Bastion to confront Disra. On the Imperial capital, Zothip sneaked into Disra's private office using a secret entrance and called Disra from the moff's own desk. Major Grodin Tierce, part of a secret triumvirate formed by Disra, suggested that they intimidate Zothip with their "Grand Admiral Thrawn" scam. The con man Flim, completely dressed and acting the part, put on a compelling show for Zothip. However, Zothip was unconvinced, and signaled for his men to attack the Imperial conspirators.
Major Tierce acted before Zothip's guards could fire a shot, and Tierce was joined by Karoly D'ulin, a Mistryl Shadow Guard who had also sneaked into the secret office and had been hiding outside of the room. After D'ulin and Tierce eliminated the pirates who had accompanied Zothip, Tierce took Zothip down with a kick to the stomach, and D'ulin ended his life with a knife to the back. As he died, D'ulin grabbed Zothip by his beard and made sure he knew that his death was punishment for the slaughter on Lorardian.
After Zothip's death, a pirate known by the name Control took over as head of the Cavrilhu Pirates.
Appearances
- Specter of the Past (First appearance)
- Vision of the Future
Sources
- Dark Force Rising Sourcebook (First mentioned)
- The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook