The cardio package was a cybernetic brain implant that micromanaged the cardiovascular system of an organic being, allowing the user's physical fitness and endurance to improve faster and to a greater extent than would normally be possible through exercise. The implant, which cost between nine hundred and four thousand credits, accomplished this by encouraging the brain to send certain revitalizing chemicals to the user's organs, particularly the heart. The complex nature of a cybernetic implant meant that the user needed training in their use and could only use one such implant at a time.
The implant could be constructed at a laboratory station with sufficient chemicals and medical knowledge. A more powerful version of the cybernetic, manufactured by the innovative Bavakar Medical Research Labs and costing two thousand credits, allowed cardiovascular function far higher than the user's typical performance.
The body of Casus Sandral, who used a cardio package, was found in the grasslands of Dantooine.
An individual used the implant at the time of their death while exploring the Tomb of Sith Lord Naga Sadow on the Outer Rim planet Korriban.
In 3956 BBY, during the Jedi Civil War between the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire, some Republic soldiers were provided the implant as part of their equipment. Casus Sandral, an amateur archaeologist who lived on the Outer Rim planet Dantooine in the same year, carried a cardio package when he was killed by kath hounds in Dantooine's grasslands. The man's body was discovered by the amnesiac Dark Lord of the Sith Revan, now retrained as a Jedi Padawan, while mediating the feud between Casus Sandral's father, Nurik, and his family, and the Matales, another family that lived on the agrarian world.
A version of the cardio package manufactured by Bavakar Medical Research Labs was used by Shasa, a female Selkath Sith apprentice in training on the Inner Rim aquatic planet Manaan. During the ensuing Dark Wars half a decade later, in 3951 BBY, the implant could be purchased from merchants throughout the galaxy.
Saquesh has a chance to give the player a cardio package if they choose a dark side option.
The cardio package first appeared as an equipment item in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, a 2003 video game developed by BioWare. The implant appeared in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, published in 2003 by Prima Games, under the name cardio enhancement package. Wizards of the Coast's 2008 Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, a supplement to their Star Wars Roleplaying Game, identifies the cybernetic as the cardio implant.
In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the implant requires the level one implant feat to equip and will increase the player's constitution ability by one. If the player selects the scout class, they will automatically receive the cardio package in an equipment footlocker during the tutorial aboard the Republic Hammerhead-class cruiser Endar Spire, along with the feat required to use the device. The implant can also be found in the remains of Casus Sandral on Dantooine and skeletal remains on Korriban. Interactions with the corpses are optional, but The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia establishes that the "Dead Settler" and "Sandral-Matale Feud" quests were completed; Revan thus must have discovered Sandral's body and personal effects. The player can not acquire the Bavakar cardio package from Shasa without killing her, but the seventh web enhancement for the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide establishes that Shasa was rescued by Revan and survived.
The 2004 sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, uses randomized inventory for vendors, loot dropped, and rewards throughout the game, giving a chance, but not a guarantee, for the implant to appear in many locations. The item may appear in the inventory or as a reward from the Duros Samhan Dobo on Citadel Station above the devastated planet Telos IV, the Duros Oondar, the Quarren Saquesh, and Twi'lek Fassa on Nal Hutta's moon Nar Shaddaa, the Aqualish Margar and Human Gegorran in the capital city Iziz on the planet Onderon, the Mandalorian Kex on Onderon's moon Dxun, and the Rodian Adum Larp in the headquarters of the Khoonda government on Dantooine. The implant only has a chance to appear as a reward from the Exchange's Refugee Sector overseer Saquesh while the player is levels four through six, and from dock master Fassa by completing the "Fassa's Freighters" quest while levels seven through nine. The player will only receive a reward from Saquesh by completing the dark side option during the "Sold to the Hutts" quest, convincing the refugee Nadaa to sell herself into enslavement to accompany her daughter, Adana, who had been kidnapped by the Quarren.
- Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Prima Official Game Guide
- Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide