"On the outside it appeared as corrupt and vile as the planet it called home. On the inside it was a jungle; a savage land where brutality and violence marked the passing of time. Often I would wish for death, only to be denied that one favor by the creature they called Administrator Broumm."

Location:Valex 3

Planet: Valex III

Housed inside the Valex 3 Penal Colony are criminals from throughout the sector, guilty of crimes ranging from simple fraud to various atrocities some species had never even heard of. The colony is nicknamed “The Grindhouse” and just the mention of it was enough to wilt even the heartiest of criminals.
Named after the rigorous toll the mining operations take on a convicts body and sanity, the shaft, running from the center of the colony platform far into the depths of the ocean, bore into the heart of the planet. Prisoners are forced to work in shifts at the bottom of this pit, sometimes for days on end, “grinding” away at their jobs until they expire in the bubbling soup.
Being situated out in the middle of the Valexian Ocean, escape is nearly impossible as there are few transports that have authorization to approach the compound, and those unauthorized are generally blasted to slag by the massive turbolasers positioned on all four corners of the colony platform. With ranged extending up to a mile out, no one has ever successfully escaped from "The Grindhouse."
Officially, the purpose of the Grindhouse was to mine Valexian mineral deposits for use in the construction of the planets buildings. However, several years back during a routine mining operation, a group of convicts hit upon several deposits of pure Dulicite- a nearly useless mineral whose only value was as a highly addictive narcotic.
Realizing the monetary potential at hand, the prison warden, an Imperial by the name of Fenris Trollif, made a deal with local crimelord, Akelish the Hutt, to move the drug throughout the system in exchange for a healthy profit. When Trollif began to demand a greater percentage of profits, Akelish used her pull to set up Trollif, who soon found himself an inmate at the colony. Needless to say, he didn't last long and Akelish had one of her own men, a human named Broumm set up as the facilites new warden. Broumm, a sadistic man, is content in his position, and takes great enjoyment watching others toil and die only to use their sacrifice to line his own pocket.
The downside, for the convicts at least, is that the mining area is a treacherous place. Nearly a half kilometer in diameter, inmates are transported to the bottom of the shaft by hoversleds, where they are given powerful vibrocutters they used to bore into the Dulicite deposits.
Escape isn’t an option, as they were always at least hip deep in sea water, while a pipeline struggled to pump the incoming seawater back out into the ocean.
Armed guards are always stationed on the hoversleds, patrolling the mining area to make sure no fights erupt and to quell any thoughts of escape.
There are various oceanic predators that managed to find their way through the shaft’s narrow fissures and chasms that made quick meals of prisoners whenever the opportunity presented itself. The fact that the only illumination was a dim red glow provided by a haphazard lighting rig stretched high above the expanse or the headlamps of the hoversleds and the whole combination made for nothing short of a literal hell for any prisoner unlucky enough to land in “The Grindhouse.”
Before Vic met Raptor Squad he worked for Akelish as a means to get into "The Grindhouse", where one of his former Fallen Angel comrades, Zarius, was being held. Before he was able to attempt an escape however, things took a turn and Vic had to flee the planet, a fact that still haunts him to this day.