Chop Shops

*Reference Book: Star Wars Saga Edition Scum and Villainy*

Chop shops are illegal mechanic shops where smugglers, pirates, and other spacefaring scoundrels can go to have their Starships worked on. Chop shops sometimes hide in plain sight under the guise of legitimate Starship and Vehicle repair facilities, but many are also hidden away in warehouses, far from the probing eyes of the law. Chop shops can be found at most shadowports and also in some legitimate spaceports in The Outer Rim, but the farther one goes Coreward the harder it becomes to find a chop shop.

Chop shops are safe havens for criminals, a place where they can dock their Space Transports and leave the ships in the capable hands of the shop's owners. Chop shops don't ask for identification, they never inquire about BoSS certificates, and generally welcome anyone as long as they have the credits to pay for the chop shop's services. Most smugglers who have extensive illegal modifications to their Starships dock at chop shops exclusively, since the shop owners won't report a ship's illegal modifications to the authorities. Likewise, the owners and operators of chop shops are usually a motley collection of outlaw techs, shipjackers, and other criminals. When creating a chop shop, Gamemasters should feel free to populate the chop shop with all manner of strange, unscrupulous aliens.

## Simple Repairs

Chop shops offer many services, but the most basic services include basic repairs, refueling, and restocking of commodities. Typically, chop shops can provide consumable and fuel restocking at the same rates as most legitimate spaceports. Additionally, chop shops can perform basic repairs, providing both parts and labor for a starship. If the heroes choose not to make repairs themselves (which has no cost but requires a lot of time and Mechanics checks), they can usually hire the chop shop to make repairs instead. Hiring a chop shop for repairs usually requires the heroes to pay credits equal to the number of Hit Points that need to be repaired (up to the ship's maximum Hit Points) x 100 credits. A typical chop shop can repair about 4 Hit Points per hour per worker; if the heroes wish to hire multiple mechanics to work simultaneously, increase the per-Hit Point cost by 50 credits per additional worker.

Gamemasters can use the above formulas to determine repair costs for legitimate spaceports and docking bays as well. However, if a Starship has any visible, illegal modifications, the mechanics at the spaceport will report the modifications to the authorities. The heroes should be warned that parking a Starship at a legitimate docking bay will likely raise some questions and even lead to a confrontation with the authorities if any illegal modifications are immediately visible.

## Illegal Modifications

Chop shops are also a great place for the heroes to have illegal modifications made to their starships. When it comes to finding Restricted or Illegal Starship Modifications, a chop shop can serve as The Black Market for the purposes of buying the illegal items. As with repairs, chop shops can be hired to perform the installation as well. Chop shops charge 2,000 credits x the number of Mechanics checks required to install the illegal modification x the number of hours of work required to install the illegal modification. Chop shop mechanics have a base Mechanics skill bonus of +16, and multiple mechanics can use the Aid Another Action to increase this check for the purposes of determining how many Mechanics checks are required to install the modification (see Starship Modification for more information on installation times and checks).