Salaarg:
Kara immediately felt the heat sweltering against her skin. She could feel hot beads of sweat rolling down her neck. She slowly limped forward, looking from side to side. Red lights flickered on overhead, and Kara was reminded uncomfortably of the Kobane Cruiser that had shot her down over Salaarg. Hisses of steam erupted from the floor. She was standing directly over a pit of lava. Kara hurried down the corridor, limping as quietly as she could. She stepped over a long tube, shivering despite the heat.
Before she could go any further, she heard voices echoing from the corridor ahead. Two figures, a Salaargi and a human entered the hall, silhouetted against the lights. 'We don't want to keep Spiro waiting.'
Kara didn't hesitate. She grabbed a grate on the ground and pulled it open, dropping inside a shaft. She pulled the grate over her head, trapping herself in darkness.
Kara was surrounded by hot tubes, glowing a faint red. She scrambled through them, and found a spot where a little light filtered through a window in the cramped jumble of hot tubes, entwined beyond Kara's understanding. She stared out the window, willing the gloom to swallow her up and watched as the human came closer. She was wearing a black lab coat, like the ones used in the Imperial engineering facilities. The woman was poring over a data tablet, as she walked past Kara's hiding spot. Kara clambered further through the tunnels, dropping onto her stomach to crawl under a large copper tube.
The Salaargi passed Kara a moment later, using a grav-sled to push a large crate of water canteens. Kara snarled in disgust, remembering the lady she had seen on the streets of Salaarg. Only a moment later, Kara saw herself on Kijimi, when Reeve had given the young girl the water and Kara looked at the Salaargi, wondering if she herself had once been that monster.
Kara scrambled through more tubes and pulled herself out of a hatch, back into the corridor. She hurriedly limped to the end, and discovered an elevator. She had no idea where she would find KT and used the markings next to the elevator buttons to determine where the control level would be. She hurried inside and activated the elevator, just as the Salaargi appeared at the corridor's doorway, where Kara had entered. Kara ducked out of the way, just as the doors slid shut. She felt herself descending. Two black panels on the wall suddenly flashed bright red, and Kara quickly realised they were not panels. They were windows and Kara was descending right past a magma flow.
The panels became black once more and the doors slid open, revealing a large control centre. One man sat near a window, overlooking some sort of underground cavern. He spun around at the sound of the elevator, and when no one emerged, he stood up, going to investigate the source of the elevator's arrival. Kara had already slipped out of the elevator and disappeared behind a bench. She waited until the man had gone past her and crept to the window, peering over the top.
Underneath were black conveyor belts, with factory machines and workers carrying energy and fuel canisters across the room. Droids buzzed around the massive cavern, that went back even further than Kara had initially realised. A massive tube, glowing hot red was spilling lava into a large wheel, with ship sized buckets. Massive needles drew energy out of lava, leaving a black, charred mess inside each tray on the conveyor. Cogs lined the wall, spinning back and forth. Hisses of steam erupted from the walls.
'Hey' complained the man behind Kara. She whirled around. 'Who are you?' he grumbled, stepping towards her. Kara removed her pistol and darted forward, swinging it over her head. It collided with the man and he instantly toppled over. Kara dragged his body into a dark corner of the room and then returned to the control panel. She opened up a hologram of different rooms through the factory's massive complex.
She found a room labelled, Spiro's Quarters located on the top floor. She remembered hearing the Salaargi talk about him. He was the owner of the complex. Kara quickly decided to investigate, limping back to the elevator. She stepped back inside, sending it up to the top of the building. As she travelled up, a small ping alerted her that she'd been stopped. On the supply level. Kara swore, hurrying to escape detection.
The elevator doors slid open and the lady that Kara had seen earlier entered the elevator, pushing the grav-sled ahead of her. Kara took a deep breath of relief from her hiding spot. She had escaped through a hatch in the ceiling just in time, and now looked into the elevator from above. She stayed exactly where she was, not daring to move. She looked up to see the elevator rise up on massive rails, directly towards the ceiling of the elevator shaft. Kara grimaced. She was going to be squashed like a bug, pressed against the ceiling. She rolled out of the way, preparing to make a jump to the side if need be. If the lady would leave soon enough, Kara could escape.
Two floors until they reached Spiro's quarters. One floor. Kara winced, readying to throw herself off the side. She could the red glow of the magma chute far below. The elevator stopped. Kara looked down into the elevator. They had reached the top floor, with just enough space for Kara to remain. The lady exited below, and Kara scrambled into a ventilation hatch directly above her.
'This place could do with a little more ventilation' thought Kara, as she crawled through the hot tube. The hatch turned down, and Kara hurried down it. She looked out a small graft in the hatch and watched as the lady walked directly past Kara. Kara followed her down the hall and past two Kobane guards. They emerged in a large circular chamber, full of rich people sipping drinks at couches. Kara could see a bar at the far end of the room.
'Lord Spiro' announced the clipboard lady. Kara pressed her eye against a graft to get a better look, and immediately spotted Spiro. He was something of a stand out amongst the others in the bar. He was a Hutt.
Spiro the Hutt growled something unintelligible, and a protocol droid standing nearby translated his message. 'Lord Spiro requests that you immediately give the goods to his seller.' Kara looked at the grav-sled in horror, realising that they weren't water canteens, but spice pouches. The data tablet lady gave a curt nod and disappeared.
Spiro was fat. Very fat. His large stomach drooped over the platform he was seated on. He was grey, and had yellow tattoos spread across his back. His eyelids lazily drooped and he swayed from side to side. Before Kara could watch for any longer, a man entered the room. He was covered in white bandages, and was wearing black goggles. He had a leather jerkin, and a long blaster rifle slung over his back.
He was holding a cage, with KT inside. Kara gasped in horror, but nobody heard her. The bandaged man walked in front of Spiro, dropping the cage in front of him. Spiro's fat little hands gestured for the man to speak.
'I received a tip from a scrapper today, of a girl who's planning to escape Salaarg. This was her droid' explained the man in a metallic voice, filtered by a box hidden under his bandages. Kara gulped. Wes. Gutso. One of them had sold her out, and Kara had a feeling she knew who it was.
Spiro let out a long gurgle. He released a string of snorts, coughs and spitting. He went on gurgling, motioning back and forth with his hands and swinging his head from side to side with surprising speed. He let out one final burp and stared down the bandaged man.
'He will take it' stated the protocol droid.
'I assume I will be seeing Owa about this.'
The protocol droid nodded. 'You shall receive a sum of scrap tokens for your service to the Kobane.' Spiro let out a satisfied snort, slithering away. The protocol droid picked up KT's cage and followed Spiro out a door. Kara hurried through the ventilation vent. It twisted around on itself and came out directly underneath Spiro's personal quarters. Kara emerged in a small drain directly under Spiro. She stepped inside and realised it was not dispersing water, but thick slime. A massive dollop of the gooey substance dropped down from above, right in front of Kara, and she looked up to see Spiro's backside. It was not a pretty sight.
Kara tried to push the image out of her mind when the protocol droid spoke above her. 'The coder is on his way.' Kara jumped in surprise, and the droid looked down, staring through the grate in search of the sound. Kara stepped back into the darkness, hoping she hadn't been seen. The protocol droid turned away and walked after Spiro, who laid down to rest on a red rug, at the far end of the room. The droid stood next to him, and Kara heard the doors slide open behind her.
A small alien, no bigger than Kara's hand wandered in. The coder.
'Yo Spiro, my main man' squeaked the tiny alien, waddling towards Spiro. Spiro grinned and Kara resisted the urge to gag, seeing his crooked, yellowed teeth. Kara knew she had to act. She burst out of the grate, grabbing the coder and tossing him across the room before anyone could react.
The protocol droid looked up in surprise but Kara had shot him with her pistol before he could respond. Spiro growled in protest, and Kara walked forward, her blaster levelled at him. She scooped up KT's cage, pulling it open. KT jumped out, leaping onto Kara's shoulder with an excited squeal.
'Sorry about that' smirked Kara, shooting Spiro in the stomach. Green blood spewed out and Spiro doubled over, growling. The coder stood up, squealing and Kara grinned, jumping back into the drainage pipe. She scrambled back into the hatch, escaping out of it. She had almost worked her way back to the elevator shaft when Spiro returned to his public chambers, squalling in anger. Kara scrambled into the elevator shaft, dropping into the elevators. Two Kobane guards appeared, raising pistols at Kara, closely followed by the bandaged bounty hunter. Kara grinned as the doors slid shut and she begun to descend back towards the supply level.
The doors slid open and she hopped out, her pistol already up. Two guards stood at the opposite doorway. Kara had shot one of them before they could react. The other raised his weapon and a blaster streak skimmed Kara's hair. Kara slid out of the way and aimed her pistol around the corner, shooting the man through the chest. Two guards appeared behind Kara and she limped out the doorway, into Venos.
Via was nowhere to be seen. Kara swore, hurriedly limping away but the guards were already onto her. Kara raised her arms in surrender, spinning around to face the two men who had pistols trained on her.
'I've got a tip for you Kara. Never give up' echoed Via's voice as she dropped from above, landing behind the guards. She grabbed their heads and slammed them together, knocking them out instantly. Via hurried away with Kara just behind her and they scrambled into the streets of Salaarg to disappear.
'Where are the Kargrans?' asked Kara as they narrowly avoided walking into a Kobane patrol.
'Never mind that. We're picking something up first.'
'This seems really dumb, staying in Venos after all the trouble we've caused' complained Kara.
'I got a gift for you Kara, so stop complaining' smirked Via. 'Plus, the Kobane probably think you're intelligent after you broke into their harvest factory with such ease. No intelligent being would come back to Venos so soon.'
'Like I said, this seems really dumb' muttered Kara. 'What are we doing this for anyway?'
'I took a scrap piece of your armour and gave it to the smith while you were at the scrapyard, you'll see' responded Via, leading Kara into the market. They soon reached the smith. A small black stall in the corner of the market. The stall was long and enclosed, more elaborately built than the others. It was deep, and Kara was unable to see its end, shrouded in darkness. A tall muscly man emerged from the dark behinds of the forge. He was massive, standing well above Kara and his arms were the size of engine thrusters. He had black skin and had long black dreadlocks as well as a thick black beard, tinged with grey at the edges.
'Ah, Via. You're back much earlier than expected' called the man. Kara jerked upright at his voice. It had a thick Lorian accent, reminding her of her past comrade, Kings. 'I am almost finished with your piece. I assume this is the lass it's for.'
'Thanks, Bronto. I knew I could rely on you' responded Via. Kara frowned, looking deep into the forge to catch a glimpse of what Via had arranged. Bronto disappeared into the back of the forge. There was a red glow from inside and a hiss of steam. Bronto returned to the light, using a large cloth to hold whatever he was making. The cloth concealed its shape, but as he laid it down on the bench between them, it was revealed. Long, sleek and made of the same chrome colour as her Imperial armour.
It was a leg.