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Salaktori Anchorage
History of the Anchorage
History of the Anchorage
Salaktori Anchorage is to most in the galaxy little more than a myth. A tall tale told by spacers in the seedier cantinas across the Outer Rim. However, the select few sentients that have passed the deadly trials of the Bounty Hunters’ Guild know the truth of the tale. They know that Salaktori Anchorage is most assuredly real, and they know of it’s secret location. For Salaktori Anchorage is the headquarters of the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, a location where the galaxy’s most ruthless hunters and the most intrepid trackers can meet up far from prying eyes and any potential competition.
Salaktori Anchorage’s location is a secret that is closely guarded by the Guild, and they have been known to commit to severe sanctions against any who might reveal the coordinates of that most secret of bases. The Anchorage is located in the Salaktori system, a system that is mostly uncharted by Republic cartographers, and to most spacers, explorers, and scientists, it is an exceedingly dull and uninteresting system as well, lacking a true star at it’s core, and making due with a Brown Dwarf instead. Instead of any true planets, the same Dwarf possesses a large asteroid field, which once held precious ores, but is now devoid of anything of value after a brief but extensive mining operation by the Mining Guild.
It is the Mining Guild’s former occupation of the system, and it’s current anonymity that the Bounty Hunters’ Guild has taken advantage of. Salaktori Anchorage was initially set up by the Mining Guild as a local ore processing plant, a massive factory built into one of the larger planetoids within the asteroid field, where they took the raw ore they harvested there and refined it, before shipping it off to the galactic market. But as the Salaktori field ran dry, the Mining Guild, like a swarm of locusts with no more crops to devour, moved on to find richer pastures, taking with them most of their equipment, but leaving the Anchorage itself intact.
The Bounty Hunters’ Guild discovered the recently abandoned Anchorage after one of the Mining Guild’s former executives with a price on his head decided to retreat there and use it as a hideout. Obviously, that plan didn’t work out too well, as the executive was caught and returned to the Mining Guild. Instead of accepting the usual bounty however, the Council of the BHG renegotiated with the Mining Guild, and received the legal rights and deeds of the Anchorage, and the Mining Guild also agreed to purge all data as retaining to the Salaktori system.
With their new base hidden far from any hyperspace lanes, and far from any nearby neighbours or prying eyes, the Bounty Hunters’ Guild quickly made Salaktori Anchorage their new headquarters. There, they could handle their affairs in private, without the interference from any corporation, the Republic, or the Hutts that they so frequently opposed and just as frequently worked for.
Facilities of the Anchorage
Being a former ore processing plant, Salaktori Anchorage is truly a massive complex, meant to handle hundreds of galactic standard tons of ore on a daily basis. And with the Mining Guild having removed most of their equipment, such as the gargantuan fusion furnaces and conveyor belts, the Bounty Hunters’ Guild truly had more than enough space to do pretty much whatever they needed. Over the centuries since they took over the Anchorage, the Guild has customized and changed the base in a multitude of ways.
Shooting Gallery: A Bounty Hunter that can’t sling a blaster isn’t worth their salt, and that’s why the Guild converted one of the former furnaces into a multi-tiered shooting gallery. Here, the Guild’s members can keep their skills sharp and practice with most non-explosive firearms in a variety of ways, from urban CQC with walls that can be shifted and moved around to create new and challenges with repurposed droids or other hunters as opponents, to your basic old fashioned firing ranges.
Armoury: One of the keys to the Bounty Hunters’ Guild’s success is not only the innate skills of its members, its network of contractors and informants across the galaxy, or it’s Republic funding, but the fact that it possesses several vast armouries with whatever weapons and equipment any Hunter could need for any particular job, be it high explosive devices, hyperspace trackers, space suits, blasters of any kind, various surveillance drones, or even a small fleet of speeders.
Docking Bay & Dry Dock: One of the most common services the Guild performs for its members, aside from providing them with ample opportunities to hunt and be well paid, is to refuel and repair their starships whenever they should need it. In order to accomplish this, the Guild has repurposed one of the Anchorage’s old cargo bays where massive cargo haulers would come to load up ores into a small dry dock, where they can repair and refit ships as large as corvettes.
Arena: Bounty Hunters can be a rambunctious, hot-headed, stubborn, and prideful lot. Coupled with the high octane life they lead, where they are frequently jumping from one deadly situation to the next, it’s no surprise that even with the strict discipline and rules of the Guild, sometimes a pair of Guild Hunters will find themselves at odds. If the Guild’s Council can’t find a solution, they will often make the Hunters involved fight it out in this massive slag pit that the Bounty Hunters converted into a fully functional arena. Of course, it isn’t just used for trials by combat, but also to teach recruits new techniques, how to hunt certain beasts, or just for training and sport.
Council Hall: Without the Council to oversee it, the Bounty Hunters’ Guild would just be another band of common criminals and thugs. While the Council rarely convenes in person, and they are even more rarely together in the same sector, in the rare instances that they do convene and have to weigh on official matters concerning the Guild, it is within this hall that they do so. The hall itself was once the main office of the Anchorage’s former chief of operations, but is now a place of justice and authority within the Bounty Hunters’ Guild. It is also rumoured that behind closed doors in the Hall, the Council possesses their own DataCore that is connected to the fabled Black List, containing the most dangerous and high paying bounty contracts in the entire galaxy.
Data Vault: The Data Vault is perhaps one of the most important areas of the Anchorage. It is where the Guild’s numerous contractors scour the galaxy for bounties and hand them over to the Guild Hunters most suitable for the hunt in question. Here, the Anchorage is connected to the DataCore of the Republic Office of Criminal Investigation, as well as various corporations like Corellian Engineering, Kuat Drive Yards, Czerka Corp, and even the ShadowCore, where the Guild’s more infamous and extralegal clients can post their bounties without attracting unwanted attention. In addition to being connected to the DataCores, the Data Vault also works as the Guild’s own library, containing all the information the Guild has amassed over the centuries about certain factions, planets, creatures, and individuals. Smart Hunters spend a considerable amount of time in the Vault in preparation for a hunt.
Communications Hub: The Communications Hub is another vital part of the Anchorage’s operation, where the Guild is connected to the closest hyperspace buoy through a series of encrypted signal stations scattered throughout the asteroid field. The buoy’s own signal is encrypted to a frequency used exclusively by the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, preventing people stumbling into the system. Obviously, tampering with a hyperspace buoy is considered a criminal offence by both the Hutt Cartels, the various corporations, and the Republic.
Living Quarters: Salaktori Anchorage is, quite literally, home for many of the Guild’s members. And a home-away-from-home for even more. As a result, the Anchorage has a surprisingly large portion of its interior space converted into dedicated living areas, with personal quarters suitable for most sentient species. They even have a number of living areas dedicated to species with special needs, such as Selkath, Quarren, and Mon Calamari. In addition, they have commissaries where the Guild’s hunters can enjoy a warm meal in the company of his fellow hunters.
The Depths: The Depths is a part of the Anchorage that most Hunters rarely visit, and even then, rarely happily. The Depths contains facilities dedicated to locking up their quarry, if said the Hunter is for whatever reason unable to deliver his acquisition to the bounty poster immediately. The Depths’ contains a carbonite freezing chamber, a leftover from the Mining Guild’s time there, as well as several force cells, and regular cells as well.
Defences of the Anchorage
Obviously, the Anchorage’s primary defence is its anonymity. To most, it’s a myth. A spacer legend, and the Guild is obviously keen on keeping it that way. You can’t hit what you can’t see, after all. The second line of defence is the remoteness of the Salaktori system, and the fact that the base itself lies partially embedded in a planetoid within a massive asteroid field. Even if an outsider was to enter the system, finding the Anchorage would be a challenge in and of itself, in addition to the challenge of navigating the treacherous asteroid field.
But in addition the natural defences and secrecy of the Anchorage, the Guild has installed a network of sensor buoys in the asteroid field, along with automated turrets hidden within the asteroids as well. These sensors will detect any ship entering the Field, and unless the correct codes are transmitted, the turrets will activate and attempt to destroy the intruders. Finally, as a last line of defence, the Anchorage itself sports a moderate amount of weapons to defend itself from fighters, bombers, and light ships, but would struggle to fend off anything larger than a moderately sized frigate. In addition, the Guild can always scramble whatever combat ready ships happens to be within the Anchorage at the moment, as most Bounty Hunter ships are combat dedicated vessels.
