Balada

Balada was a female Hutt who sponsored and ran the Hunters of the Outer Rim competition on the Outer Rim planet Vespaara, alongside Daq Dragus.

Biography

Founding the Arena

Stories told that Balada found Vespaara on accident while on a scouting journey for unique items. She established a settlement in the small inhabitable zone of the planet and constructed the Grand Arena, making Vespaara her new base of operations. Soon, a boomtown sprouted up around the arena.^[4]

Balada founded the Hunters of the Outer Rim, a competition in which contestants known as "Hunters" would face each other in combat for the entertainment of their audience. As a co-owner of the Hunters of the Outer Rim competition, Balada had ultimate authority over it. She partnered with showman and former fighter Daq Dragus, who trained Hunters and acted as the face of the competition. Dragus had influence in the recruitment of Hunters, but Balada made the final call as to who would be trained and who was added to the official Hunter roster. Despite the attention and care she paid to the competition, she spent most of her time in her ship, the Hypernova, which hovered above the Grand Arena, or traveling the galaxy in search of antiquities.^[4]

Balada was an avid collector. She traveled the galaxy in search of novel weapons, trinkets, or potential Hunters. Her finds included the lightsabers used by Hunters both Rieve and J-3DI, other weapons used in the arena, proprietary bandage tape, and even a set of old Sith armor, which had been gifted to Rieve. Balada mandated that all of the organic Hunters used the tape, which prevented injury.^[4]

Battling for the Arena

When goons working for the businessman and trainer Rothwell attacked the Grand Arena, Balada saw from her ship, and sent some of her personal guards to help evacuate the crowds. She then brought a blaster down to the arena to help fight off the invaders herself. While backstage, she apprehended an individual at blasterpoint, later discovering it was just Rieve. Then, Balada went with J-3DI to search for Rothwell in the underbelly of the Arena. After the battle, Rothwell and his goons were taken to Balada's ship before being handed to New Republic authorities.^[4]

Expanding the Arena

Balada eventually negotiated a deal with the Outer Rim Sports Network, granting them the exclusive rights to air Hunters of the Outer Rim on the HoloNet. The infusion of credits meant that Balada was able to begin construction on new battlegrounds and increase the number of Hunters.^[3]

Balada signed the KX-series security droid K-A0S to join the Hunters. Before the official announcement, all she would publicly reveal was that she expected Sentinel to be pleased with the new hire.^[6]

The Arena continued to expand, with new battlefields being constructed. At one point, an Arena News insider trespassed on a battlefield during construction and was caught and brought before Balada. Balada praised their gumption and "rewarded" the insider by locking them inside her vault for 24 hours.^[7]

Balada continued to sign new Hunters. After signing the Ewok Pilbush, Balada teased that a new Hunter was soon coming to the Arena. As usual, she refused to divulge many details before the official reveal, although she did reveal that Rebel veteran Zaina would be pleased with the latest addition to the roster, while Imperial loyalist Sentinel would not.^[8] This would prove prophetic, as Pilbush would bond with Zaina while forming a powerful rivalry with Sentinel.^[9]

The next Hunter that Balada would welcome to the arena was Nox, a Zabrak from Iridonia who formerly worked as a Night Wind Assassin. In her office, Balada showed off to Nox an Antarean butterfly, long thought to be extinct.^[10]

Shortly after a Clash between Nox and the Miraluka sharpshooter, Diago Velaar, Balada and Daq Dragus arrived at the training ground, announcing that Balada's prized tiara had been stolen from her chambers. They offered a reward for the capture of the thief, hinting that this may have something to do with a new Hunter who would be arriving shortly.^[11]

The new Hunter in question was a Kubaz rogue named Glikkin. When Balada officially introduced him as a Hunter in the Grand Arena, Glikkin caused a stir when, during the announcement, he reached inside his jacket and pulled out Balada's stolen tiara and crowned her with it. Balada was delighted by the prank and his thievery was forgiven, allowing Glikkin to keep both his position as a Hunter, as well as his life.^[12]

When the Jawa brothers known collectively as Utooni stole Glikkin's prized Dual Vibroblades, the Kubaz immediately brought the issue to Balada's attention. To settle the matter, Balada proposed a scavenger hunt between the three thieves to compete in, with the winner receiving the Arena Master Thief title, delighting the Hunters.^[13]

Utooni and Glikkin's scavenger hunt eventually resulted in a draw. As a tiebreaker, Balada declared that the winner would be the one who could claim Daq Dragus' championship belt first. The Kubaz and the Jawas raced toward the belt, but ran into a major complication. Namely, that Daq Dragus was still wearing the belt. He was unamused by the chaos the Hunters had been causing and demanded they resolve their differences with a Pinnacle Event.^[14]

Appearances

• Hunters: Battle for the Arena (and audiobook) (First appearance)
• Star Wars: Hunters

Sources

• Star Wars: The Secrets of the Bounty Hunters (First mentioned)
• Star Wars: Timelines
• Hunters Goes Galactic! on Arena News (original site is defunct)
• Chow Room Brawl Gets Out of Control! on Arena News (original site is defunct)
• A New Hunter...? on Arena News (original site is defunct)
• Poison in Private on Arena News (original site is defunct)
• Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
• Training Ground Tensions on Arena News (original site is defunct)
• Kubaz Mania! on Arena News (original site is defunct)
• Vanishing Vibroblades on Arena News (original site is defunct)
• Jabbering in Jawaese on Arena News (original site is defunct)
• Next Time On Hunters on Arena News (original site is defunct)
• Tuya Has Arrived! on Arena News (original site is defunct)

Notes and references