Hand of Sorrow [Jared]

[Lief]

You will never be alone again...

Words spoken just days before the void had struck him; in a rare moment, where his Mother graced his presence, she had made such an unkeepable promise that remained with him to this day. The irony was not lost on him, because since she had said that Kobe had never been more alone. The brother he had never met, but always felt, had perished, and so too had his beloved Mother. His absent Father had tried and failed to reconnect, resulting in Kobe abandoning the Jedi Order and venturing off into the vast abyss that was the Galaxy.

It had been nine years.

Nine long, lonesome years as Kobe Seren wandered the stars, tormented by nightmares and tortured by visions that plagued even his waking hours. What they meant he did not know, and Kobe was no closer now to finding the source than he had been all those years ago, when his 'quest' had first began. Yet he was growing tired, like an old man who had seen too much of the world and accomplished all he sought after.

Kobe had accomplished nothing by comparison. He had seen many'a world, he had found ways to stay alive - selling random wares for a shopfront on Nar Shaddaa one day, taking out a gang's competition on Coruscant the next - and he had made it this far... But he had nothing to show for it.

At some point, the boy had acquired a lightsaber. His days in the Jedi meant he had known what it was from the offset, and even how to activate it, yet he was not so much a fool as to presume he could use it. That wasn't to say he hadn't tried, once or twice in the safety of his own ship. Well, the one he had acquired on Raxus Prime after lodging a slug in the previous owner's temple. He'd been paid particularly nicely for that.

Yet here he was, ship, slug and saber to his name... And nothing accomplished.

Another hit had led him to Bakura, deep within the heart of Fringe Space. He did not care for the politics of space - anywhere that lacked too tight a security was usually ruled off, but either way the lure of Bakura's hit was too tempting to pass up. The target was a turncloak Rodian, likely hiding out in a bunker at Telaan Valley if Kobe's sources were anything to go by. But in order to get there, he had to first land his ship in the spaceport and hire out a landspeeder.

Sometimes, Kobe really despised hits that took up so much of his time. The pay, at least, would compensate.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kobe Seren"]

Many a people would have considered the man leaning in one of the corners of the spaceport inconspicuous, you might wonder about the paradoxical nature of this statement, because how would people notice a man if he was inconspicuous, no? And that was the heart of its brilliance, the trick of remaining unseen was not to disappear, it was to stand in the eyes of the men and women, and simply… seem uninteresting.

Such was the way of the nondescript man standing in the corner. Eyes noticing him soon drifted off again and promptly forgot that he had even been standing there, a part of the decor, a mannequin that simply belonged to the scenery. Little did they know just how interesting the man could be, if people simply gave him the chance to show it off.

The rapture had done its damage to the Fringe Confederation, once a nation that had held monsters at bay and bloodied the noses of the Republic at O’reen, only to sue for peace a few days later.

No, one could say that the Lords of the Fringe had always been slightly erratic in the way they handled their affairs. But that had been one of the many reasons that had made it interesting to live here.

Point being, the rapture had done its damage, reducing their territory, but more so reducing the trust the people had in the old guard. If they couldn’t protect them, then who would?

It was in this atmosphere that the young lad would find himself trundling towards his own destination. The corner man hadn’t been here for Kobe, for that the youngling was too much beneath his standing and yet…

Yet there was something about his thread that made Jared Ovmar, the Lord of the Fringe, pause in his disregard.

The decision was made to pay attention to the boy.

 

[Lief]

Entirely unaware of the individual lingering in the shadows, under the influence of the White Current, Kobe continued on his way from the Spaceport and considered his options. There would be a much greater reward should he bring the sniveling creature in alive for retribution to be dealt first hand, but then again the Epicanthix was no fool and he knew that the Rodian was a cunning little so and so, how else would he have tricked so many?

Taking out his datapad, the young lad scanned over the details again and compared the dead and alive rewards. A considerable difference, not to mention that failing to bring him in might lower Kobe's rep' among these criminals. That would severely hinder his line of work, no doubt. Rubbing his forehead, which had creases that suggested stress despite his age, Kobe sighed and replaced the hunk of metal to his backpack without even bothering to look over his shoulder whilst doing so. It had all become second nature.

Reaching the speeder hire hangar, Kobe ducked his head - being fairly tall in comparison to the natives, due to his genetics - and entered through the side door meant for patrons. A quirky little Tahlboorean peeped their head from behind the counter, an odd grimace-like smile creasing the blue flesh around their mouth. Was this thing male or female? Kobe didn't know, nor did he care to find out. Instead he tossed a few credit chips to the counter and tipped his head to the left in anticipation.

"Landspeeder, a few days ... a week at most" the boy said, voice deeper than his age should have allowed, and words to the point and without any unnecessary additions. Even after all this time, he wasn't the best with communication. Of course, he had come far from the days of not speaking at all. The odd little Troob, detectable from its kin' the Hobor by skin, bobbed its head up and down. "Yes... Yes..." Then it scooped up the chips and hastily - no, greedily - scanned over the amount it was being paid. A small hmph escaped its pink lips before it waved a hand. Credits were credits.

"This way, this way!" The excitable creature waved its hand and guided Kobe on through the hangar to a sorry-looking speeder in the corner. Only one other could be found, and it left the boy wondering just how this little blue munchkin had managed to drum up so many customers. Not one to be fussy so long as the thing worked, Kobe gave one sharp nod of his head before jumping in and giving the ignition a test.

With a low hum it activated, lighting up the hangar with a sudden flash of orange as the HUD flickered into existence. Well... At least the damned thing worked. Without waiting, Kobe directed the speeder out from the hangar before pausing for a moment and staring at the City. If that little rat was holed up here, if he had wasted good credits and time on exploring the valley for no good reason, then there would be hell to pay for sure!

[member="Jared Ovmar"]