ORBITAL FORTRESS: GRUTOKA I

Features

Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy. Whatever its original purpose, the space station known as Kron’s Lock has long since become a dingy nest of smugglers, assassins, thugs, and disreputable underworld types from across the galaxy. Most find a home at the Lock to escape heat in more law-abiding sectors where they have worn out their welcome.

Ancient Battle Station. The smuggling port is housed within an ancient terraforming device of a long-forgotten civilisation. The facility’s true nature has never been fully discerned, though some have speculated that the lifeless husk of Grutoka and the dead sun it wanders around were perhaps ushered toward their current state by this very device. Thankfully, whatever its design, the capability of the fortress is long forgotten and remains dormant.

Underworld Controlled. Kron’s Lock has been reclaimed by a notorious criminal syndicate run by the Snivvian called Uro Gruul. Few engage with Gruul directly, however its fingers find their way into all business undertaken on the station. Various tithes and fees ensure few can compete with Gruul directly, and weapons of any kind are forbidden on the Lock; with the exception of Gruul’s own guards. A heavily armed Nebulon B-class frigate patrols the local area. Rumour has it that Gruul boarded and assaulted the ship single-handedly, a legend as preposterous as it is unlikely—and yet somehow the tale persists.

Smuggling Den. The space station has since become a thriving hub for black market goods and anyone keen to profit from its location both within the range of common smuggling routes at the fringe of the Core Worlds, but far away enough from Imperial patrols to be relatively safe. At least, safe from Imperial problems; as a famous pirate haven, the Lock is wild and dangerous, but for those on the run from Imperial law, it is a far better alternative than most.

Star’s Menace. Something close to a permanent feature orbiting the station, Uro Gruul’s personal starship, the Star’s Menace, is a Nebulon-B class escort frigate, supposedly acquired by Gruul in a manoeuvre now written into legend. While the Menace is not formidable enough to stand up to anything more than an Imperial patrol, it is more than a match for almost any local starship, and only the largest regional crime lords might seriously consider assaulting the Lock head-on.

Locations

Free-Fall Bar and Tavern. When the nefarious corporate franchise, the Free-Fall Bar and Grille, set up shop on Kron’s Lock, they were apparently welcomed with open arms. Yet, once established with a burgeoning clientele base, Gruul saw to it that the entire place suddenly converted into a non-franchised alternative. The corporate workers suddenly disappeared, and the franchise owners have curiously never returned.

The Red Pit. Gruul’s organisation hosts a monthly gladiatorial contest on the station, in a gutted section of the station’s lower levels. The Red Pit has become notorious for the bloodshed which ensues within, and many warriors and mercenaries travel across the galaxy to compete in the competition, which yields impressive rewards for victory. An even larger number of gamblers and smugglers attend in order to place wagers on the various combatants.

History

The station now known as Kron’s Luck was discovered in orbit around the planet Grutoka several hundred years ago. It origins, purpose, and ultimate destination remain unknown. Why it appeared in orbit of such a lifeless and remote planet are mysteries yet unsolved.

In more recent times, entrepreneurial interest in the station grew, and it was briefly utilised as accommodation for a nearby mining colony, and later still appropriated by the Galactic Republic military as a refuelling port. During the Clone Wars, however, the base was abandoned and its staff withdrawn to the Core Worlds where their manpower was better utilised. The station itself briefly became abandoned once more.

It subsequently fell into the hands of various crime syndicates, routinely exchanged during military conflicts or as part of larger negotiations between powerful local lords, some of whom felt the ancient architecture of the station granted them a measure of allure or grandiosity. For over a decade, the affluent Kron family dominated the station’s ownership, from whence it gained its present name. The Krons were a renegade group of influential Devaronian warlords, whose ruthlessness gave them control over significant swathes of nearby territory.

In more recent times, Kron’s Lock was lost and recaptured a number of times, before the Kron family were brutally destroyed by a Hutt cartel with whom they had unwisely waged war. The station again spent some time floating between owners, until it was claimed by an ambitious young crime lord known as Uro Gruul. The Snivvian, just as the Krons had before him, bunkered down in the station and reinvented it as a smuggling port, gaining a great deal of notoriety in the process. It garnered a bustling black market, and became something of a hub for various criminal activities in the region, even attracting renegades from the Core Worlds; Black Sun defectors, renegade Sith, and all manner of the usual ne’er-do-wells.

Coinciding with Gruul’s rise in status and power, and his complete control over the Grutoka system, the Lock gained something of a reputation well beyond its actual sphere of influence, and is now inhabited by all manner of rogues and gangsters. Nevertheless, it remains a place of relative security in the chaos and disorder of the Outer Rim, kept in line by Gruul’s own draconian laws and ruthless control of the station.

The Lock sits close enough to a few legitimate trade routes which leak out from the Core Worlds to enable smuggling and piracy to flourish, yet it remains far enough away from Imperial patrols to remain relatively safe from military adventurism on behalf of some rogue admiral. Kron’s Lock is indisputably wild and dangerous, but for those on the run from Imperial law, it is far better than most alternatives.

The Lock? That place is impenetrable. All of Governor Jora’s efforts to infiltrate the place have, as yet, come to nothing. I’ve lost seven agents to that wretched hive already. Good agents. The kind one sends to get things done when they really need to be. Something is up with that place.

—Commander Orlo, ISB Agent

Impenetrable is right. The snarks and snitches will tell you it’s because Gruul doesn’t mince words and keeps his minions loyal, or fearful, or both. But the place is also literally impregnable. I’ve heard that the reason that Sorrek can’t handle Gruul is because he has assaulted the place before, and that cesspit is actually an amazingly durable old battle station. Anything a star dreadnaught can’t even dent is something we should be taking more seriously.

But Gruul knows when to keep his head down, and doesn’t tend to tangle with the Empire directly. So while the ISB has its hands full working out what Gruul is up to, we can’t even get close enough to test those theories about just how thick the Lock’s hide really is.

—Commander Saalenda, Naval Intelligence Officer