Chapter One: Operation Dark Thrall

Having made your preparations, Lexi fires up the ECUL as the hangar bay doors slowly open, revealing the Kraspen skyline, illuminated in the dark of night. Immediately the stench of the Bonadan air assails your senses as Lexi closes the canopy, just in time to prevent you from gagging. As you look outward on the city, waiting for the transport elevator to reach your hangar bay, you can't help but notice the layer of choking pollution and smog completely blotting out the the skyline toward the upper levels of some of the taller buildings in the distance. Speeders, both land and air, go about making their way to destinations, jammed up in spots here and there as far as the eye can see. Everywhere you look is choking decay.

A sykscraper, less than 10 kilometers away, is completely consumed by a conflagration of flame, hopelessly intent on burning to the ground. "Labor riots. Gets worse every day," Zhaff mentions offhandedly. Kraspen is clearly polluted and suffering to a staggering degree, much worse than you had ever imagined based on the mission details from STRAT-COM.

The transport elevator arrives, and, after descending a couple hundred meters past multiple hangar bays, Lexi follows Zhaff's directions, guiding the ECUL through the urban sprawl toward the Espos station. At one point you have to stop, the road ahead clogged with rioting civilians, perhaps a hundred of them, going toe to toe with a few dozen Espos forces. An Espo on the outskirts of the chaos is really laying into a civilian, repeatedly striking the downed woman, over and over with his baton. Zhaff shakes his head. "This kinda stuff happens all the time now. Corp's are tighter than ever with the creds. They control everything: wages, prices, laws. Kriffin' everything." A dozen or so baton strikes later, the Espo, satisfied with his work, looks up and notices you as he wipes the baton off on his leg. "We should go."

You take a detour suggested by Zhaff, going off the main road, picking your way carefully through alleys and side streets both industrial and residential. Along the way, you navigate around couple of similar brawls on a smaller scale. Zhaff watches in dismay. "We're almost there." Heading down a residential side street, you pass by a smaller apartment complex, perhaps a few dozen homes within, people moving in and out, apparently looting. "Now this," Zhaff begins, a degree of surprise in his voice, "this is new. Only the second time I've seen it. Neighbors robbin' neighbors. See, they're too afraid of stealin' from the corp's biz, so they steal from each other." Nowhere is an Espo to be seen as you watch two Twi'lek men drag another Twi'lek into the street by his head tentacles. Three blaster shots later and the aggressors head back in. "Espos won't come. They're too busy protecting the corp's." The young Neimoidian sighs. "This stuff is happenin' all over the planet. Bonadan just ain't what it used to be. No place to live. People are tryin' to get off world too, but the corp's just won't let 'em go. Gotta keep their 'workforce', y'know. more like slaves."

As you get closer to the Espos Station tower, the violence and destruction drops off rapidly. It's almost as if you're in a different city entirely. Finally, after about an hour of travel from the spaceport, Lexi brings the ECUL to a stop near the curb by the Espos station, which has a squad of 8 Espos stationed outside the main entrance. Zhaff pauses, about to exit through the rear door.

"Well, here we are. I just wanna say thanks for doin' this. Y'know. You guys didn't have to patch me up, or bring me here. And I appreciate it. I do. I owe you one. I would have died without you." He visibly shudders and looks out the window toward the Espos tower as four airspeeders take off from a mid level hangar, Espos lights flashing red and yellow. "Look, you guys know I was there to rob you. But you were supposed to be merchants or traders, or somethin' like that. And I'm guessin' you might want answers. So, if you want, I can set you up to meet my guy. Just say the word, and it's done."

The ECUL's power core hums as Lexi pulls it out from a parked position, guiding it down the street. As you move along, it's glaringly apparent just how quiet and still it is in this area. Besides the Espos station guards you saw before, you haven't seen a single person or any traffic since arriving at the Espos tower. Kraspen is clearly in a state of chaos, and so far you've been able to discern that the streets are either bustling with traffic (as they were closer to the spaceport), intensely alive with conflict and aggression, or absolutely dead and abandoned. You assume that, in the latter case, people are trying to keep indoors and stay safe.

Lexi parks the ECUL at the end of the street just a few blocks down from the Espos tower, coming to a dead end by what looks like a singular bus type transport terminal across the street to your left. The navcomputer informs you that your destinations are further ahead, a block beyond where the street connects to something more like an alley, wide enough only for foot traffic and poorly illuminated for the most part. A neon sign posted near the alley entrance reads: 'RESIDENTIAL AREA, NO VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT'.

Ahead, on the right side of the alley, you see a glowing orange sign nonchalantly proclaiming 'Charitable Charlatan's.' Further down to the left, just before an intersection, you see a neon sign that simply says 'Open.'