Evening had set on another day on the Ring of Kafrene, luring the degenerates and nefarious elements of the trading outpost out into the open. The failed mining station had become a hive of illegal activity, acting as a bridge between the criminal activity of the Outer Rim and Core Worlds. Built during the age of the Republic, its construction was financed by a consortium of Core nobility in the hopes of harvesting significant resources from a seemingly untapped source.
But after sinking an eye-watering sum of credits into the linking of a pair of malformed planetoids, the consortium made little return on their investment, a fact that only worsened as time went on. Upon realising that the Thang Sector didn't possess anywhere near the quantity of minerals that their initial tests had suggested, the consortium abandoned the station, leaving the hundreds of miners and their families stranded, forced to either find their own way home, or remain.
Predictably, an abandoned station positioned in such a convenient location was seized upon by those with interests in illicit trades, turning its winding halls and passages into claustrophobic living spaces. Shanty towns sprawled across the station, expanding to the point where there was barely enough room to sufficiently accommodate those residing within it. It largely enjoyed a form of independence for much of its existence, never quite important enough for the Republic to justify wasting any effort in an attempt to regulate its activities. But the age of the Empire brought an end to that independence, stationing a garrison of Stormtroopers and officers on-board, finishing off its unfettered trade operations.
Karina M'Soina, known only as TK-912 to her superiors, closely observed a group of robed figures rushing through the cramped bazaar, standing at her allotted post as the bustling crowds swarmed past her. Imperial activity on the Ring of Kafrene ramped up in recent months, with their presence becoming more of an imposition on the inhabitants and travellers.
The ISB had reason to suspect that rebel activity had spread to the outpost, specifically activity relating to the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Ships making shadow runs back and forth from the outpost had become more common, always running without registries to prevent them from being tracked once they departed. Kafrene had started to double as a meeting point between rebel operatives and their contacts, right under the noses of Imperial troops.
But Karina couldn't have cared less about such activities, not when little headway had been made in apprehending any of the alleged conspirators. Kafrene was hardly the place a girl from the Outer Rim had hoped to be posted during her deployment, lacking a modicum of glamour the propaganda machine had promised when she enlisted. Despite having only spent a few weeks on the outpost, her once pristine armour had developed crusts of dirt along its ivory surface, formed by the exhaust fumes still being pumped from the old mining catacombs.
She knew her Stormtrooper armour should have commanded respect from the denizens of the outpost, fear of retribution if they slighted the Empire or her personally. But rebellious rhetoric had emboldened them, directing their anger directly at the grunts forced to maintain some semblance of order. With limited resources and a garrison already stretched to its limit, Karina's workload stacked up to an unbearable degree. What little leave she was granted was cancelled by top brass, severely impacting an already diminishing morale amongst the stationed troops.
Karina watched through her visor as a group of quarrens strode by, wantonly staring at her body, snickering as their eyes travelled up and down. She sent them scurrying away with a cock of her E-11 blaster, looping her finger under the trigger guard. Karina was forced to endure their invasive stares, aliens leering at her whenever they passed her during her patrols, resulting from the manner in which her armour hugged her figure, highlighting her feminine features far more than it should. Despite her requests to be re-fitted, arguing that the undersized armour did more to hinder her work, her concerns fell on predictably deaf ears.
Her squad held their position for the majority of her shift, safeguarding a small apartment that had been discovered the day prior, acting as a go-between for rebel agents. The troops kept onlookers at bay, warding off anyone who attempted to interfere with the work of the ISB investigators within, making a handful of arrests over the course of a few hours. Knowing better than to voice her own opinions, Karina didn't see the point of an investigation of any kind, having been posted on security detail for enough safe houses to know how meticulous the rebels could be in concealing their activities.
Every electronic device they left behind had either been deliberately set up to leave a nasty surprise for the unfortunate investigator who attempted to mess with it, or were encrypted to the point of being virtually non-functional without its owner. Imperial propaganda boasted that the regime was slowly but surely weeding out the budding cells of resistance, reassuring the sycophants and loyalists that all was well within the Empire. But Karina easily saw through the lies, witnessing for herself just how out of control the situation was becoming with each passing day. The propaganda machine tirelessly worked to convince the galaxy that rebel forces were fragmented and low on resources, but those on the other side of the veil knew the Rebellion possessed a fleet and an ever growing war chest.
Her days as a starry eyed believer in the cause ended a long time ago, something that came with seeing for herself just how inept and incompetent those seeking to gain the Emperor's favour truly were, wasting troops and resources without a second thought. War was coming, Karina and her fellow troopers knew it better than anyone. Any pretence of peace would soon come to an end, leading to conflicts not seen since the days of the clone wars. It was a conflict she wanted no part in, not when she no longer believed in the Emperor's supposed righteous cause.
Using Kafrene's covert communications channels, Karina had worked in secret to get herself a direct route off of the claustrophobic outpost and as far away from the Empire as she could. The penalty for desertion was fully understood in her mind, but the prospect of death in battle on a meaningless planet made the risk worth taking. With the rebels vacating the outpost entirely for an unknown reason, Karina's options were limited, forcing her to make contact with some of the shadiest figures that plagued Kafrene, beings she would never have considered having anything to do with if she hadn't been so desperate.
With a conversation going back and forth over the course of a few weeks, Karina finally set up a meeting between herself and her contact. The risk of meeting someone she didn't trust in the least -- and didn't even know the species of -- had been taken into deep consideration, but Karina could no longer bare the thought of suffering through the rest of her service. It was only when her squad was rotated off duty that a fearful tremor threatened to obliterate her plans before they truly got off the ground.
"Ten hours!" she heard the modulated voice of one of the troopers grumble, watching him sling his DLT-19 across his shoulder as they trudged back to their barracks. "They didn't even find so much as a thermal grenade in there. We were standing around all day for no reason!"
"There's nothing worse than these blasted ISB goons. I want to know what they're doing here, I'm surprised they would deign to get their boots dirty in a dump like this," another piped up. "I didn't enlist just so some aristocrat could play at being a super sleuth. If I wanted to be a bouncer, I would have found a job at a club on Coruscant. The pay would probably be better too."
Karina listened in, but wisely chose to keep her thoughts to herself, lagging behind the rest of the squad. Her fellow troopers did nothing to hide their discontent, the risk of rebuke did little to stifle their growing disillusionment. Morale had hit rock bottom and Karina was certain that it wasn't unique to those on Kafrene. There were stories about entire squads of Stormtroopers defecting to the Rebellion, some going as far as to turn their weapons on their superiors before doing so. As skeptical as she was about the validity of such stories, there could be no doubt in her mind that there was some truth to it, especially when she had experienced more than her fair share of fantasies about blasting her own commanding officer.
"The rebels aren't even here anymore. Something happened that sent them scattering, and Mavvers from Beta squadron claimed that Cassian Andor might have been involved," a trooper stated, likely referring to the incident that led to the deaths of two troopers and an unknown rebel informant. "They know something and I can guarantee that the higher ups know it too. Yet, we're the only ones being left in the dark."
Seeing a neon sign she recognised as a direction towards her rendezvous point, Karina took her chance and broke away from the main group, offering an admittedly flimsy excuse about having to report to HQ. She hoped she wouldn't be around for long enough for anyone to investigate the validity of her excuse.
Wandering the corridors alone was always a dangerous prospect for a female on Kafrene, even more so for one clad in tarnished white armour. Karina kept the safety catch of her blaster off, maintaining a strict posture to make it appear she was out on patrol. With tensions as high as they were, the last thing she needed was for any reprobates to force her to put them down and risk lighting a fuse that couldn't be snuffed out.
Karina barged through a group of cloaked figures, all dressed in bright colours as they gathered around a food stall, clamouring for the exotic meats and spices that had recently found their way to the outpost. It took far longer than she had anticipated to follow the path, periodically forced to pause to search for the markers she had been told to look out for. A half hour passed before she finally found the location she was expecting, a dingy hovel functioning as a trader's hub.
Making sure the streets were clear, Karina ducked inside, still refusing to lower her weapon. She found herself standing in a dilapidated showroom, looking around at the countless exotic goods and components that had been haphazardly stacked on the shelves surrounding her. It didn't take much to conclude that most of what was on display had been imported illegally, flagrantly violating the strict regulations imposed upon the station, avoiding discovery only due to the concealed location of the store. Karina identified a variety of blacklisted weapons mods, with a few specially designed to enable blaster bolts to effortlessly pierce Stormtrooper armour.
"Hello? Is there anyone in here?" Karina's modulated voice asked, kicking aside a few loose speeder parts as she searched for any signs of life.
"Ahhh, is that TK-912?" the ugly snout of a Dug emrged from a curtain of multi-colored beads dividing the showroom and the back office. He brushed away the residue of wet food from his lips with the sleeve of his ratty shirt, his beady eyes moved around to ensure she had in fact come alone. "I'm Pillesh. We meet at last, Ms M'Soina, I was beginning to think that you changed your mind. Come through, we have little time."
