Nar Shadda, nicknamed the "Smuggler's Moon," is the notorious moon of planet Nal Hutta, homeworld of the Hutt species. It is home to a large criminal underworld dominated by bounty hunters and Hutt crime lords. In an ecumenopolis, the entire surface of Nar Shaddaa is covered in urban sprawl. On a particularly bad spot, an old ore refinery was refitted and repurposed by some crime lords and a smaller village was built around it. Apart from the usual cantina bar where the worst of the worst individuals met up for all kinds of shady business, there were also other things. The law was not even part of the dictionary here, prostitution, gambling, spice trading and bounty hunting was normal here. At the heart of the refitted refinery was an old, rusted data broker's hub called the Spindle, under the infamous man, Mek Voss. Voss was more or less the same thing that Aiva was, but on Nar Shadda instead of Coruscant.
Outside, a modified Kuat Drive Yards Z-10 Headhunter Freighter lands next to other starships. The hatch opens, and from it, Cole and his astromech emerge. Cole is dressed in his casual attire, complete with his cowboy hat and arsenal, but has also added a set of dark glasses. RAD, his modified astromech, has chosen to repaint and redesign himself. They exit the old piece of hardware and make their way towards the Spindle, and RAD is not happy.
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RAD beeps and tweets along and rants as they go along the dusty street.
"Where are we, RAD?"
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"Exactly, and what is the last thing anyone can have on Nar Shadda?"
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"Yes. The minute we enter the Spindle, it will be stolen or destroyed. Also, the Z-10 is not a piece of junk," Cole says.
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"...Fair enough. But that just adds to the mystery, doesn't it? I mean, imagine we both know it's trash, and everyone else will also know it's trash, so no one will look at it. And when we need to make a fast exit, which we most definitely will, we can be certain that it will still be there. I did upgrade our baby after all," Cole argues.
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"That's just slander."
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"... Let's just get this over with. Remember the reason we're here," Cole says, and they enter the Spindle.
As soon as they enter the establishment, a cloud of cigar smoke and ozone greets them. Slicers, smugglers, bounty hunters, women and men looking for a score were seen all around. Alcohol and spice were being passed around. Neon lights flash, and a cantina band is playing their tunes. On the higher floor, a lounge and a better-looking area could be seen. That's where Mek Voss, the leader of the place, is staying.
"All right, partner. The place smells like lies and lost credits. Plug in secretly and see if this place's got a basement. Somewhere they don't want us to know about, and where we find the even messier truths we might be looking for," Cole tells RAD.
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"You think you can manage without gathering attention to yourself?"
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Cole leaves his beeping droid to do his thing as he moves toward the upper floors and takes the stairs, pushing past a pair of drunken Weequay and Twi'leks asking him if he is interested in a good time. In the private lounge above, lit by gaslights, sits Mek Voss, info-broker and backstabber extraordinaire. He has a bad reputation and looks even worse, but that's what you need to survive here. In truth, he is one of the most powerful men in the district, just because he knows more than most. Voss is surrounded by holo-pads and two twitchy Devaronian bodyguards who touch their blasters as they see Cole walk up. They hold out their hands and stop Cole.
"Hold it!"
Mek Voss looks up and sees Cole and shakes his head. He waves at the guards, and they let Cole through. He sits down in front of Voss with a grin.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Cole Cassidy. I thought you were dead. Again," Voss starts.
"Rumours are like blaster bolts, Voss. Plenty flying around and they all miss me," Cole smiles.
Voss chuckles and shakes his head again. Cole is known for 'dying' and then somehow returning every so often.
"You after ghosts or gossip tonight?" Mek Voss asks, returning to his business.
"I'm looking for a courier. Slipped out of somewhere cold, headed somewhere hot. Word is he stopped through here. I need a name, face, hairline, shoesize... Trail of crumbs. Anything really."
Voss raises an eyebrow and purses his lips. He looks at Cole and goes through the options he has. He knows Cole for his chaotic behaviour and erratic actions, and that he is unpredictable throughout. But Cole is a man of his word... most of the time, which is already more than one can say about 99.8% of the rest of the galaxy. The broker's fingers tap one of the holopads in quick succession, looking for something to show the bounty hunter. As they are doing their thing, in another part of the Spindler...
RAD has found a way to connect to the building's electronics and is slicing deeper into systems he should not be touching. But he's not named rad for no reason. Live security feeds, private message logs, blueprints, secret floor plans and even buried vault schematics. RAD finds it all. But the heavily advanced and modified astromech has a tendency to mean too well. He beeps excitedly.
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He triggers something.
*BRRROOMM*
All the lights flicker in the Spindler. Cole and Voss look up and feel the buzz-kranking sound and vibration, followed by the sound of pressure valves venting somewhere in the large complex building.
"Sigh... Don't tell me..." Cole says to himself.
"What did you bring in here?!" Voss shouts angrily.
*Click click*
The twitchy Devaronian bodyguards aim their blasters at Cole, waiting for a word from their boss to kill him. Voss looks at Cole angrily, but the tension is somewhat broken as RAD comes rolling in from behind, smoking slightly. He rolls up next to Cole as if nothing happened and beeps away.
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*ZZ-BOOOOM*
Suddenly, a wall panel explodes in sparks, surprising everyone. But that's not the only one. Below, the bar bends and then explodes under the pressure, catching fire.
*BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP*
The fire alarm starts shrieking, plunging the already terrible situation further down the drain. Somewhere in the basement, a containment breach flashes red on internal systems.
"AAAAHHHH!" People start panicking.
"My drink!"
*Bang*
"DIE Weekway scum!"
*PEW PEW PEW*
A large brawl and shooting start below, and Cole looks at RAD with a deadpan expression.
"Stealthy, huh? How bad?" he asks.
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"That is a fun fact. Anyway, time to go," Cole says, and suddenly has his Colt in his hand. He pulls the trigger twice.
*BANG BANG*
And shoots the guards, then aims the weapon at Voss. He grabs Voss by his suit and pulls him across the table.
"Be a dear and print me the info, Voss, would you?"
"Bu-bu but... the Spindle!!" Voss stammers. Cole slaps the confused man across the face to wake him from his stupor.
The man slams a few buttons, sending the file to Cole's wristpad just as smoke fills the room.
"Much obliged," Cole says and drops him.
"You'll pay for this, COLE!!! YOU HEAR ME?!!" Voss shouts.
He lets Voss go and turns toward the door, but finds it already on fire. RAD deploys a mini-extinguisher arm and puts out the fire.
*TSSHHHH TSSHHHH*
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"Yes. Is there another way out?" Cole asks, seeing the massive chaos below and all the fire going on.
Everyone has turned into utter maniacs, even more than they were before, killing each other and taking the last smokes of spice or drinks of alcohol they can. What a mess, and they were only there for a few minutes at most.
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"Fuck sake, RAD. What's the upside?"
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"Lead the way, BRADley," Cole says, cracking his neck.
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"Yup."
A compartment opens on RAD, and a small but powerful gun appears. He points it at the wall in another room and shoots.
*BOOOM*
The man and droid disappear into the smoke-choked hole and make their way deeper into the complex.
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Cole makes his way through the toxic sludge and dons his mask. The air filter allows him to ignore the smell of decay and burning in his lungs. His healing factor is taking care to fix what the sludge does. RAD, meanwhile, is floating above the substance using his anti-gravity boosters. Cole is too tall here, and even RAD has to lie on the side to avoid touching the sludge. After wading through the disgusting pipes, the two finally make it to an abandoned comms relay tower on the outskirts of Nar Kreeta, half-buried in sand and rust. It's quiet, broken, and full of places to hide, giving the two a moment of respite to go through the information that Voss had given Cole.
Cole uses a set of explosives and blows a hole into the pipe, climbing out of it. He drops into the dark hallway with RAD clanking right behind him and beeping cheerfully. Sparks still fly from his head, which he managed to short-circuit from his recent endeavour, but he is still cheerful. He can repair this easily, but it will take some time to do so. Cole takes out a new holoprojector and console from his inventory, connects his gauntlet to it and uploads the data Voss gave him. A large amount of codes are seen and loads itself up, showing a set of corrupted files.
"Encrypted. Naturally, Voss wouldn't panic and simply hand me the info without payment. Should have known. RAD have a go at it."
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RAD proceeds to override the encryption with a combination of slicing and slightly aggressive noises to accompany it. Cole could do this himself, as he has learned how to slice a while ago, but now that he has RAD, he is interested to see what his partner can do. The thousands of lines of senseless repeating codes turn static and then finally give access to unclear images.
"Docking records... for a YT-2000 freighter," Cole says as they go through the first one.
The second one has a blurred image of a hooded figure, which they can only assume is the courier. He looks humanoid, possibly near-human, young, judging from the little skin seen, wearing a ripped white shirt, branded with 'DH Biotech' on it.
"DH Biotech? Do you know this one?" Cole asks.
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"Let's see the others."
They go through more pictures. This one shows a landing zone: a small spaceport on another planet, Saleucami.
"Saleucami? Saleucami is a temperate world with a mix of environments, including arid deserts and swamps. Its name literally means 'oasis', so why would the man we're looking for be heading there?"
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"I suppose that could be the case. But-"
Cole stops talking, just as a shadow moves outside the broken window, alerting him. His senses are telling him that they have company.
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Ten Zabrak's, agents of a shady organisation, approach the tower. Their armour consists of things they stole and killed competitors for, like ex-military gear, black-and-yellow plates of some mid-durable material, and some more or less expensive blaster rifles. They are being led by a Zabrak female, Bollis Krent, an enforcer of the organisation with a taste for blood and a somewhat acceptable success rate.
They place their swoop bikes to the side and get ready, moving towards the abandoned relay tower. Their tech seems bad, but it's not as useless as it may appear on first glance. One of them is armed with a modified blaster rifle and tries to move stealthily. They follow the Zabrak female's command and position themselves in the right place. However, they had already been noticed by Cole and RAD and weren't ready for what was to come. Nevertheless, they are going in, determined to do what they were tasked with, whatever that may be.
"Target confirmed, Bollis," one of them says.
"What of the files?" she asks.
"Yeah. He's got the files," the Zabrak answers.
"Alright. The priority has changed; we don't bring him in while he's still breathing. Kill him."
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I added the talk of RAD to make it easier for me not to always have Cole repeat everything he says. Tell me if you like this or not. Most of what will happen in this arc comes from my imagination, and some canon or legends facts mixed into it.