Athus Klee

"I can't blame all those hopefuls for heading out this way. Crimson Dawn posted big-money contracts for labourers. "One year," they all think, "I can make it one year." Most of them will be dead before then."

- Dexter Jettster writes about Athus Klee in the Smuggler's Guide

Athus Klee was a world in the Outer Rim Territories portion of the galaxy. The Besalisk Dexter Jettster travelled to the world during the reign of the Galactic Empire and discovered an ore hub operated by the Crimson Dawn criminal syndicate where workers had been cybernetically altered by Doctor Cornelius Evazan. The Besalisk managed to rescue one Rodian worker from the hub and reported it to the Imperial Senate's Council of Labor Abuses.

Description
"Four days into the jungle now. Plenty glad I brought that vibro-machete."

- Dexter Jettster comments on Athus Klee's dense jungle in the Smuggler's Guide

Athus Klee was a world in the stellar skirt of the Tingel Arm region, a part of the Outer Rim Territories portion of the galaxy. At least one part of the world was covered in thick jungle that was home to vipers and gnats. Its atmosphere was breathable to members of the Besalisk species.

Evazan's playground
"Six days, two viper bites, and more gnat nips than I can count, but sure as you're born, that's a Crimson Dawn ore hub down in that valley. Rock haulers heading out and passenger shuttles heading in with more workers to feed the machine."

- Dexter Jettster writes about Crimson Dawn's ore hub on Althus Klee

The former pirate Queen Maz Kanata marked Athus Klee as a point of interest on a map she included in a book she began compiling that would later become known as the Smuggler's Guide. During the reign of the Galactic Empire, the Crimson Dawn criminal syndicate operated an ore hub in a valley on the world and offered lucrative one-year contracts for labours to work there. The syndicate employed Doctor Cornelius Evazan to cybernetically alter the workers in a gene-mod chop shop housed on site in a cluster of hexagonal silos.

After hearing rumours of illegal cyborg mods and bodies grown to fit buyer specifications in the stellar skirt of the Tingel Arm, the Besalisk Dexter Jettster arrived on Athus Klee in a star-streamer to investigate. After the starship made port in the morning, most passengers poured out quickly and headed directly into the Spacers' District, and by the time the older Jettster had made it off the vessel every inn had been fully booked out. Jettster instead headed out of the district into the underbrush and found a relatively dry rise then lay down under the stars.

The benevolent Besalisk
After six days of hacking through the jungle with a vibro-machete, Jettster had received bites from two vipers and countless gnats, but managed to find the ore hub. Sneaking around the hub's processing plant, the Besalisk spotted the chop shop and took a number of scans of the workers with his macrobinoculars. He then rescued a single Rodian worker from the hub and the pair headed back toward the spaceport.

En route, the pair spent hours one night starring up at the stars through the jungle canopy. Upon reaching the port, Jettster contacted a politician on the galactic capital, Coruscant, who he was friends with and informed him of the hub. The politician sent a ship to pick up the Rodian and Jettster's surveillance scans so that they could be taken before the Imperial Senate Council of Labor Abuses. Jettster wrote about his experiences on Athus Klee throughout his journey, with Evazan and the smuggler Han Solo annotating the pages with their own comments when the book later fell into their possession.

Inhabitants
Athus Klee had at least one spaceport and a Spacer's District containing inns where off-world visitors could stay. Crimson Dawn's ore hub was staffed by labourers that had been cybernetically enhanced to better aid them in mining. The alterations to the workers included swapping out hands for shovels, mouths and noses for biomesh to filter toxins, and the enlargement of eyes to collect what little light made it down into the mines. Many of the workers did not survive to see the end of their contracts, with passenger shuttles constantly bringing in new labourers to replace the lost.

Behind the scenes
Athus Klee was first mentioned in the 2018 reference book Star Wars: Smuggler's Guide, which was written by Daniel Wallace with illustrations of the world by Adrián Rodriguez and Studio Hive.