The enormous modified sandstone walls of Rekarsh stretched unbelievably high into the sky, perhaps several kilometers. I became much more familiar with them, than I wanted, as I waited in line for entry into the arcology city. I'd spent most of my life trying not to look at the local center of Hutt power, as if avoiding looking upon it would somehow keep the Hutts from being able to see me. Now I was forced to study the odd geometric patterns in the stone in detail. The 20 meter tall, 30 meter wide gates were made of some extravagant golden alloy and engraved with, probably falcious, scenes of the mass Hutt migration from Nar Shaddaa. To say my bright mood was soured by the disgusting images of their "bold explorations" and "noble sacrifices" would be a tremendous understatement.

  I might have still been sneering in contempt, when my turn to enter the city finally arrived. I quickly schooled my face into an impassive look, that I'd mastered in my early dealings with Koples. As my speeder crawled to the front of the line, A male Twi'lek dressed in the robes of a mid level functionary gave me a smirk.

  "Name, level of citizenship, or proof of permission for entry." His sibint and simpering Huttese contained more than a hint of mockery, likely due to the makeshift nature of my speeder. Though over the st couple of months I'd given it a few upgrades and smoothed out many of the more gring fws on the chassis, the signs of its workpiece nature were still obvious. I'd heard that Status was everything in the city, I had my first glimpse of the truth in the eyes of this gate manager. He thought he already knew my worth. Low.

  "Liam Mors, Citizen 4th css." I answered bnkly. It wouldn't be wise to shown any signs of my irritation at this point. Arguing with functionaries got you nowhere, and often led to all manner of unpleasantness. I watched as his figures danced over his datapad, checking whether my status was valid. If it wasn't I'd be talking to the two AR 317 enforcer droids behind him, not that it would be a long conversation. I'd give Pal alone better than even odds against both of them.

  The gate manager's datapad beeped the all clear. "Purpose of entry?" The official's cold eyes were showing that he was already calcuting how much of an extra tax I would be charged. A common practice anywhere in Hutt Space. Grist, it was called. Because calling it fraud wouldn't sit well with the Masters.

  "Spaceport." I showed my permit for the offworld travel. I'd also anticipated a certain amount of grist, based on public records, then doubled it, filling a disposable credstick for just this encounter. I didn't want to fsh around any more of my new found wealth than I had to. The Hutts had been known to just make people vanish, regardless of their level of citizenship. I didn't want to give them more of a reason to pick me for the privilege.

  "500 credits for your entry tax." The manager grinned with a predator's gaze fixed on me. I tried to keep the surprise off my face, that was only a quarter over the actual standard tax. He must not have thought much of me. The feeling was mutual, I had little respect for anyone that willing worked for or with the city's Hutts.

  I quickly handed over the prepared credstick, "Keep the change... for your pleasant service." It took a lot of willpower to keep my own smirk off my face. At least a little overpaying wasn't going to attract notice. Mercs and hunters on vacation did it all the time, and I looked simir enough to py the part.

  The manager handed me a ps-sheet pass, good for one day's entry. That should be more than enough time to get to the Spaceport and find a cargo shuttle headed to the Shipyard. Then I'd be off this cursed dustball. I gently opened the speeder's throttle to a slow crawl sliding through the invisible magnetic pressure field keeping the atmosphere in, and entered the city of Rekarsh for the first time, since I was born.

  I'd had Red and X4 prepare a map for me to get directly yo the Spaceport, when Pal and I loaded the extra ingots and materials I was keeping into the trailer. We'd made sure to hide them in cobbled together sensor resistant crates, so the Jawas wouldn't mistake them for part of our st deal. H-E in his compact mode was being towed behind the trailer on a repulsor sled I'd spped together. Red, and the Power Hauler were in trailer, while I'd made handles for Pal and X-4 to hang off the sides.

  The City was a shock in almost every way, the air was incredibly humid. Barely a minute in and I was already sweating and it was sticking to my skin unable to evaporate in the drenched air. I fiddled with the environmental controls in my speeder to gain some measure of comfort.

  The sheer number of beings just walking out in the open in simple light clothing was stunning to me. the sight of the occasional Hutt slinking around was detestable, and something I desired to minimize from this point forward. The suns' harmful effects on even the palest skin was heavily mitigated by yers of transparent domes far, far overhead.

  The grounds were so green, full of so many varieties of pnt life I'd never seen before. There were even actual tree, some of which were baring fruit. More shocking to a native of this world were the ponds, their waters holding all manner of aquatic and amphibian life. Most of which were destined to end up in a Hutt's belly.

  Gleaming metallic towers of every description cwed towards the sky some reaching and even passing through the protective domes. My mind boggled at the scope of the construction involved. Some of these monster must have require gravity stabilizer to keep from tilting. And this was still considered horribly rustic compared to what the Core Worlds or Nar Shaddaa had once been like. Hundreds if not thousands of speeders, both air and nd, zipped by everywhere.

  The noise of this many people and their activities this close together was extremely aggravating to me. I had to pull over and pause, gripping the control stick of my speeder tightly. Trying and failing to unlock my tensed jaw.

  "Master are you well?" X4 asked over comms. It was a true marvel how the protocol droids could mimic tone so accurately, that I could hear the worry in his voice.

  "I'm fine X4, just not used to all the people buzzing about." I spat that through my teeth as I forced myself to keep scanning the crowds and take it all in. If I narrowed my focus to just what I was doing like when I was working on droids, it was easier to maintain a sense of calm in the storm of activity. I slowly managed to unclench and then nudged the speeder back into the flow of traffic.

  The map my droids had provided me with was accurate, and we were parking the speeder near the Spaceport within twenty minutes of my bout with my overstimuted nerves. The Spaceport was dreadfully busy, making the city normal bustle seem tame in comparison. I hated everything about it, and promised myself I'd do everything to avoid crowded pces like this in the future.

  I had Red, X4 and Pal accompany me to the nearby terminals console. Red wasted no time connecting to the comp socket, and soon all the info on departing shuttles filled the screen. X4 pointed out three cargo shuttles leaving within the next two hours. Though only one of them still registered enough open room left to take the speeder and trailer with us. It was at terminal 12, I checked our terminal was 4.

  Red pulled up the Spaceport's rge map, and I saw we'd have to take the speeder all the way around the building's grounds. We hurried back over and made our way to terminal 12. Running to the service desk, I started the process of registering us. The female Togruta behind the counter was actually helpful and for a small bit of grist in the form of 50 credit chits she fast tracked our boarding.

  1500 credits to haul us to the Shipyards. Hyperspace robbery, but I didn't have a lot of other options. Once I had my own ship, this shouldn't be necessary again. Of course, then they'll gouge me on docking fees. And I'll have to worry about fuel costs...

  Within thirty minutes, Pal and I were strapped in next to each other on the small minimal seats of the shuttle the rest of the droids safe in the trailer which was in this tub's cargo hold. I was doing my best not to interact with the other passengers, not knowing who I could and couldn't trust. Which is why I paid extra for Pal to accompany me, just in case.

  Sadly, the shuttle, being mostly for cargo, didn't have any viewing ports back here. So I went through my first journey in space without getting to view the stars.

  I'll have the rest of my life to make up for that.

  Matuscarantos