A Day in Nar Shaddaa's Underworld
My name is Yusup. I don't know if you've ever heard of the place that I live, most people in the Galaxy have. I live on Nar Shaddaa, the most crime infested planet in the galaxy. I don't just live in Nar Shaddaa though, I live in the underworld of Nar Shaddaa. I'm sure, though, that most of my readers have heard of Nar Shaddaa. It is quite famous due to publicity from Imperial News Networks.
I live in a 900 Square foot house with my wife and two kids. We are pretty poor but then again everyone down here is poor. Only the poor live in Nar Shaddaa's underworld. On Imperial News Networks I've heard a lot about Nar Shaddaa but not about it's underworld. I will tell you why. Nar Shaddaa's underworld is too dangerous for many journalists to go down into.
Every once in a while you have a brave journalist that will come in with a private army and all the best assault rifles. Sometimes that just isn't enough and they still get killed somehow. People here hate journalists. I have always supported them because I feel the rest of the galaxy needs to know what it is like down here in the underworld.
Nar Shaddaa has one of the worst rates of survival in the Galaxy. On Nar Shaddaa only two percent of everyone reach the age of 75. 12 percent of people die from civil violence alone since there are few laws on this planet. We are ruled by organized crime. The rest die from disease and starvation.
Nar Shaddaa has a population of one hundred billion people. Since Nar Shaddaa is an ecumenopolis, which means that the entire planet is covered by a city. We are referred to as the Smuggler's Moon because many pirates, smugglers, and Hutt crime lords began their careers on this planet. Besides, we're not really a planet, we're actually a moon.
I wake up really sleepily to the sounds of a crowd bustling outside my window. As I blink my eyes, I notice that the door to my room is open so I walk out into the living room to find my wife Anzoehiya preparing breakfast.
"I want another one." My wife stated.
"Wait, what!" I almost yelled.
"You heard me."
"We have two already! If we get another one then Jerry an' Yomson will have to share a bed! Plus, you know this is Sulday. I'll have to stop by the drug store, the food store, and the Imperial cloning facility! You know how dangerous it is to be outside that long." I explained patiently.
"I still want another." My persistent wife demanded.
"A'right but what kind of features do you want?" I asked.
"This time, I want a girl with brown hair, green eyes, and human."
"You know they can't be alien unless you're an alien right? It's 'cause of the blood genetics." I reminded her.
"Oh right, right." She remembered.
"Anyway, I'd best head out if I'm gonna make it home in time." I told Anzoehiya as I strapped my blaster on.
"Bye!" She shouted cheerfully.
"Bye!" I said as I walked out the door.
I then stationed a guard at the entrance to my home in case anyone attempted to charge in while I was gone. Almost immediately, as I did this, I heard a gunshot. Then looked at an interested crowd and noticed a man holding his neck in terror as he shrank to the ground. The crowd soon lost interest and kept going on with their business. I got in my land vehicle, started up the engine and took off as the crowd departed to let me through.
While I was driving though a person attempted to cross the street. I didn't stop, no one stops on this planet because you never know what that person's intentions are. The man landed on the vehicle behind me and, unlucky for him, his land vehicle didn't have a top. I guess he'll have to enjoy a corpse as the co-pilot for a while. Of course there are plenty of other planets where no one stops for anybody but it is notoriously common here.
I stopped at the food store, got out of my car and took care to avoid the diseased bodies around the street corner leading to the food store. If you even go near someone who is dead or dying of a disease you could catch it. Standing near their diseased bodies was practically suicidal. I eyed everyone in the crowd, scanning for threats. I heard gunfire in the distance but you always hear that on this planet.
While walking through the crowd I noticed someone with a burning hole in his side fall to the ground. I wasn't sure why but it was probably just another criminal attacking and looting. I walked into the food store and put in my order.
While standing at the counter, I noticed a gang of three thugs arrogantly stride into the store. They shoved a man out of their way and walked to the front desk, put in their order, which was ahead of mine and was obviously going to take a long time. I couldn't afford to be in the waiting area, that's suicide. So I pulled out my blaster and popped the lot of them. When I was done I heard cheering in the store.
"Why don' we put my order ahead of that one, eh?" I asked mischievously.
"Suree' thin'." The clerk replied.
I looted the three thugs and used their money to pay for my food, and would use the rest of their money to pay for everything else I would get later in the day.
"See ya'!" I yelled out.
"Lata'."
I walked back to my land vehicle making sure to not piss off the four gangsters by the street corner with assault rifles ready to shoot any member of an opposing gang that they saw. Sure enough, I saw them raise their rifles and pop a rival gang member who was crossing the street onto their turf. Gang wars happen all the time here and that instance was a minor occurrence.
I looked at a bunch of dimly lit signs that were all over the district, advertising the small businesses. Big businesses were all upstairs. Upstairs you could see huge neon lights and loud speakers advertising products to people. This city is truly crazy.
I stopped by the drug store and collected the weekly hand outs the empire gave and began heading for the Imperial cloning facility. While I was making my way there four armed men opened the door to my land vehicle and dragged me out of my car, pointing weapons at me. I stood up quickly and punched one in the face grabbing him and using him as a human shield while the other three fired. I used his blaster to cut down two of the enemies before the fourth ran to cover. I charged his position pulling out my blaster and kicked him to the ground then shot him in the head. Quickly, I rushed back to my land vehicle before anyone else could show up. I sped through the crowded street, running over anybody foolish enough to get in my way.
People fighting with fists is also extremely common on this planet. The streets are more like a never ending brawl than anything else. So when I got out of my land vehicle and someone was pounding away on another person it didn't surprise me. I went into the cloning facility and noticed that it was so white due to the walls, floors, and ceiling being incredibly white that I thought I'd go blind just from looking around. I told them how we wanted the clone genetically modified to my wife's preference. They understood and put the order in, we should have a new child in two weeks.
I was in a rush to get out. The longer I stay out of the house the more likely it was that I would die. Though being in the house wasn't always safe either, which is why I have spent precious money that I barely have to hire two guards that operate on shifts to protect my family. As bad as Nar Shaddaa is during the day, it's even worse at night.
I came back to my house in a hurry. I saw the door to my house and opened it, quickly shuffling in to find my wife making our dinner. I saw my kids charging out of their bedroom with fake lightsabers and playing around with them.
"So how was your day, Yusup?" Anzoehiya asked curiously.
"I think I pissed some people off." I said nonchalantly.
"Who?" She nervously questioned.
"Some idiots in a gang of three. I shot them because their order was going to take a long time, but I don't know if they were a part of a gang or not." I told her.
"No need to worry about that now, just get some sleep after you eat then we can talk about this, ok?" My wife comfortingly assured me.
So I ate my dinner and crashed on the bed. It didn't take long for me to slip into an unconscious state.
I dreamed I had nothing to fear... then I woke to the door of my house being kicked down... Guess I was wrong.