Chapter Four: Factory Recall
Less than two hours later, Cipher Nine was at the Rust Yards.
"The Rust Yards" was the name given to Nal Hutta's miles-long mechanized wasteland of factories. Generic factories. In typical Hutt style, they had been constructed for one purpose, then – after being run into the ground – were refitted for some other goal. Safety and efficiency were not concerns – only profit.
Twenty years earlier, in the wake of the Treaty of Coruscant, there had been a sudden demand for security droids. True to Hutt form, the Rust Yard's workshops had been dedicated to churning those out. Inevitably, the droid bubble had burst, and the Hutts shifted focus to the extraction and processing of fossil fuels. The completed and partially completed droids were not melted down; they were simply dumped in the swamp. Many survived, and even now security droids in various stages of completion patrolled the Yards, intermittently targeting those they regarded as "security threats."
Which wasn't all bad, Cipher reflected as she found the body of a relatively recent droid victim. A young man, not dissimilar in build to herself. She stripped him of his uniform and changed into it. She would now at least pass a cursory scan as a factory worker. That, plus the specs of Fa'athra's factory that she had received from an Imperial asset named Jheeg, should be enough to get her into the area.
Jheeg had told her of a series of tunnels connecting the factories, probably originally designed as escape routes. That would be her way in, and likely her way out again.
"This is starting to feel like fate."
The gruff voice made her look up sharply. Zarek, the Zabrak bounty hunter, was standing with his arms folded, watching her. He was also wearing a factory uniform, though his looked a bit tight around the shoulders and collar.
"How long have you been standing there?" she asked.
"Concerned about your modesty?" He smirked. "Don't worry, you were already straightening the cuffs when I spotted you. Yours fits a lot better than mine."
She studied him, evaluating options. Keeper would doubtless tell her to eliminate him, but she preferred not to. He hadn't seen anything that conflicted with her Red Blade cover. Plus, he might actually be useful.
"It looks like we're both heading to Fa'athra's factory," she observed. "A job for Nem'ro?"
"A dirty one," he said. "But if it gets me into the Great Hunt…" He shrugged.
"What's your plan for getting in?"
"I was going to just stroll in through the front," he said.
She eyed his ill-fitting uniform.
"Yeah," he acknowledged. "Bad plan."
"I have a better one." She told him about the tunnels. "Even a Hutt's not stupid enough to leave no security," she said. "I could use your help getting through."
"And once we're through?"
She patted her pack. "Some things will go 'boom.' " He frowned, started to say something. "Don't worry, Hunter. It'll be on a timer. We'll have ten minutes to get out."
"Ten minutes." He sighed. She knew it wasn't much time, but if she allowed more than that, there was too great a chance of the explosives being detected and disarmed.
"OK," he said at last. "So where are these tunnels?"
From appearances, she guessed the "tunnels" were actually designed as a network of maintenance passages. They appeared to criss-cross to all the factories, though several passages were cut off by crudely-welded grates.
"Judging from the amount of rust, this is a couple years old," Zarek grunted as he studied a grate.
"So probably Nem'ro, reinforcing a weak spot," Cipher judged. "Not Fa'athra."
"First good news of the day," Zarek replied.
Mako's voice came through his earpiece, and Cipher used her implants to listen in.
"I might have more good news," Mako said. "I've been doing some digging, and it looks like Fa'athra only took control of his factories a month ago. The tunnels you're in aren't in the official specs, and Fa'athra's attention has been fully devoted to trying to refine gas. Which means…"
"Which means there's a good chance Fa'athra doesn't know about them," Cipher observed, smiling. "You are good, Mako."
"Better than you know," Mako told her. "Nem'ro left security junction boxes all over those tunnels, and I've pinged their frequency. Set your implants to Frequency Zed-7-Omega-9-2."
Cipher did as instructed. Her implants quickly detected the junction boxes. In effect, she now had a map leading from their current position to Fa'athra's factory.
"If you get tired of the big guy, I can find room for you on my team," she told Mako.
"Thanks, but no. Zarek and I have some business we need to tend to."
Cipher led Zarek down the trail. The grates didn't show on Cipher's map, so she had to double back a few times. Still, the junction boxes led them directly beneath the line separating Nem'ro's territory from Fa'athra's. As they crossed, they noted surveillance cameras and dormant security droids.
"I'm guessing Nem'ro's prepping an attack from below," Zarek said. "Probably reprogramming some of the droids from the Rust Yards – A couple here, a couple there. Just a little at a time, so Fa'athra doesn't notice. Credit where it's due - Nem'ro may be slime, but he's not stupid."
Cipher agreed. From the build-up, she guessed that Nem'ro was maybe a month away from pushing Fa'athra out of his factories. That, and not laziness, was likely why Toth'lazhen was so unconcerned by the rival Hutt operation; he knew it would soon be ended.
It also showed how far out of favor Karrels Javis had fallen, that he was so unaware of the situation.
A single security door separated the tunnel from a ventilation shaft that formed part of Fa'athra's factory. With her implant and a simple unlocking device, Cipher was easily able to get through. She left it unsealed.
"We're going to have to get out fast," she explained.
Zarek nodded that he understood.
They emerged from the vents and quickly joined a work crew, their stolen uniforms allowing them to blend in. They spent the next hour working alongside Fa'athra's laborers. Cipher pulled out her PADD and moved from gauge to gauge, ostensibly checking pressure readings to make sure the various pipes weren't overheating. What she really was doing was using her PADD to trace the pipes to their source – the main shaft.
Meanwhile, Zarek played the part of computer technician, working to bring a recalcitrant terminal online. He was surprisingly deft with electronics, Cipher noted. Brains as well as brawn. Once he had it online, Mako hacked into it to locate their target.
They met at the base of a set of stairs. They walked casually past Fa'athra's guards with several other laborers. Zarek's too-tight uniform got a couple looks.
"They didn't have one in my size," Zarek snapped, feigning indignation at the guards' stares.
They accepted the explanation and waved him through.
Their respective targets were in opposite directions. She offered to help him with his task first, but he shook his head.
"This is ugly work," he said.
"I'm not squeamish," she replied.
"Well, I am. Ten minutes, right?" She nodded confirmation. "We'll meet at the grate, go back out the way we came. Agreed?"
They separated.
Two guards stood by the main shaft. She walked past them, flashing one guard a flirtatious smile. She continued walking, not varying her pace, stopping only after she had turned the nearest corner.
Then she pulled a gas grenade from her pack. A small device, designed to silently release a short-proximity jet. She popped back around the corner and lobbed it directly between the two men. They barely had time to register it before it sprayed the gas. They collapsed to the floor, instantly unconscious.
She affixed a breather to her nostrils. She strode back to the guards, quickly affixed the explosives within the shaft, and started the timer.
She waved to a couple passing laborers and pointed to the unconscious men. When they started to approach, she held up a hand to stop them.
"Gas leak," she said, pointing to her breather. "Get everyone to the lower levels, as fast as you can."
She dragged the two guards, one at a time, away from the proximity of the gas. More laborers appeared, grabbing them and taking them downstairs. The guards she and Zarek had passed on their way up had already left their posts. She doubted Fa'athra paid well enough for anyone to risk dying in a gas explosion.
She moved briskly to the vent that had been their entrance, her eyes searching for Zarek. The bounty hunter had not yet appeared.
Her implant tracked the time. Four minutes left. She would give him two more, then leave without him. She hoped he was safe – But she was not about to risk either her mission or herself.
Zarek found the accountant in a small office. Practically a holding cell, complete with two human guards.
These guards were not lulled by his uniform.
"Keep moving," one growled, while the other pulled out his blaster. Both had already noted the poor fit, and eyed him with evident suspicion.
The thing about humans that Zarek had found was their propensity for making assumptions. Zarek was big, which humans tended to assume meant "slow."
He wasn't slow. He rolled to the floor, drawing his blaster in a single motion. As he completed a somersault, he drew the gun up, firing at the guard with the gun. The other guard was vaulting behind the desk, to use it as cover.
He didn't make it. Zarek's blaster found him half a second before he would have made it to safety.
The accountant, Yalt, trembled on the floor, hands clutched to the sides of his head as he stared at the dead men. Then he stared at Zarek, eyes wide with terror.
Zarek approached him. "You know why I'm here."
"Please!" Yalt cried. "You don't have to kill me!" His eyes begged for mercy. "You can see that I was a prisoner, can't you? Look – I'll take my wife, get off this planet." He gestured to the computer terminal. "I'll crash Fa'athra's accounts before I go. Ruining his finances will make Nem'ro so happy, he won't care what happens to me!"
Zarek hesitated for the barest instant. The man was obviously terrified, and the guards Zarek had just killed pointed to the truth of his words.
Besides, he was a bounty hunter, not an assassin. He would kill when he had to, such as with Vexx, but he preferred to bring men in alive.
"How fast can you crash Fa'athra's accounts?" he asked. "You've got about five minutes. Faster would be better."
Yalt shot to the computer terminal like he was jet-propelled. His fingers danced across the keyboard, accessing Fa'athra's files. A few more keystrokes, and the very large numbers on the screen transformed into zeroes.
"Where does the actual money go?" Zarek wondered.
"With no records, the bank will just keep it," Yalt replied. "Reinvest it, or more likely pad out a few executive bonuses." His fingers continued to move in such a rapid blur that Zarek could barely distinguish the individual digits. If the man had practiced with a gun instead of a keyboard, he would have been a faster quick-draw artist than Vexx. "Deleting the back-up records… There. Completely unrecoverable."
Mako confirmed Yalt's words. "Fa'athra's going to be getting some very unwelcome news from the Cartel bank," she said.
Zarek nodded. "OK, Yalt. Time to run. If Nem'ro finds out you're alive, he's not going to care about this magic trick – He will kill you slowly. Send someone for your wife, and get on the first shuttle out of here. Use a fake identity, and never come within a light year of any Hutt ever again."
Yalt looked like he might cry. He started to offer Zarek his thanks. The bounty hunter cut him off.
"There's no time!" Zarek snapped. "Run!"