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Thread: Recalling the Guild: Grym Kandle

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    Recalling the Guild: Grym Kandle

    Lethan - Approaching Trandosha

    Chir'daki flexed his hands inside the gloves of his ori'ramikade armour, relishing the reassuring feel of the reinforced fabric gripping against his skin. He didn't get to wear it often enough for his liking. Granted, he could strut about in his ship wearing the stuff if it would make him feel better, but that was different. This was business. This was hunter business in fact. He cracked a smile. It had been a long time; it was good to be getting back to his real job.

    Carefully, he entered the sequence of commands that would guide his two-seater Lethan down through the atmosphere, on a course towards the coordinates he'd recieved in a cryptic message. Normally, his wariness would prevent him from even considering responding to the invitation contained within without a serious amount of back-up, but it was usually career suicide to ignore such a request from a Black Sun Vigo; real suicide too, if the Vigo you were stupid enough to ignore was the infamous Grym Kandle. When someone that notorious told you to turn up at a smuggler's drop site on Trandosha, and to tell no one, you damn well got there on time.

    The atmosphere tugged at the inertial dampeners a little, turbulance causing the ship to shudder as they transitioned from orbit. Hands steady on the controls, re risked a glance across at his silent companion. At least he wasn't entirely without back-up; bringing his droid bodyguard along with him hardly breached the "tell no one" clause, either.

    He crunched his neck to the side, muscles already bunching in protest at the long trip spent in the cramped inerior of his smaller ship. Apparently, his body had grown accustomed to the relative comfort in which he usually travelled aboard the Blue Shadow; his responsibilities to Black Sun rarely required him to travel anywhere that didn't have sufficient docking capabilities for a yacht of her size. That would have to change, if he expected the other Bounty Hunters to take him seriously. The weight of Black Sun looming behind him would help, but there was a difference between fear by association, and fear by reputation. Chir'daki had once posessed only the latter; with the former now firmly in his grasp, he was determined to have both.

    The fighter swept low over the Trandoshan terrain, deserts, mountains and rolling plains sweeping away beneath him. His sensors homed in on his destination: a patch of savannah, easily big enough to land a decent-sized transport. Black Sun apparently used it for their illicit behind-the-scenes interactions with the Trandoshan slave trade, and as a cargo transfer point for the smugglers on their books, helping to evade Imperial patrols. Today however, it would be the location of information transfer, if the Vigo's message was to be believed. As the sublight engines died down, and the repulsorlifts gently lowered the Lethan onto the scrubland surface, a frown creased Chir'daki's brow. "What is it you want, Kandle?" he mused to himself, aloud.

  2. #2
    Grym Kandle
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    Breft'kel's Legacy, Grym's ship was nowhere in sight. Kandle had left it a day's travel where it would not be found with ease. The speeder bike was sitting beneath a tree on the opposite side of the clearing from where Grym sat against another tree. His mask was off and it sat by his leg and the small case he often carried with him when he had time to wait. His cloak was open and his white suit beneath was separated at the elbow, the armor removed.

    Kandle withdrew the needle from the gaping scar in his arm, a point of entry used far too often but easy enough given the environment and time constraints. His scarred, green skin was dry and bled a dark green a moment after the needle was taken out. He dabbed the wound with a sterile pad and then tossed it back in the case.

    Clarity...

    Grym leaned his head against the tree, staring up into the sky while his green eyes stared beyond to the clarity afforded by a dose of glitterstim that would have killed anyone that was not enslaved to the spice like he was.

    =======

    His mask beeped and Grym blinked, coughing suddenly as if he had not taken a breath in ages. His eyes watered and his head fell forward slightly as he regained his composure. His mask beeped again to indicate that a vessel was incoming and had hit the second marker, a message received from the dormant scanners on his vessel.

    Grym quickly closed the case and slid it into the pocket on his thigh. The armor attached well enough and Grym stood slowly and reattached his mask. He could see the ship incoming now. Without being on his ship, he could not tell whether or not it was Chir'daki or some other Black Sun smuggler come to use the place. There should not have been but then again, things happened.

    Grym pulled his cloak around him and activated the stealth field generator built into his armor. It was a custom device he had fine tuned to his purposes. The purpose now was a wait-and-see ordeal. The ship was landing now so if it was Chir'daki, he'd soon come out of his ship as instructed.

  3. #3
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    The clearing was empty. Chir'daki swore under his breath. His instructions had told him to be here now, and he had complied with them exactly; he'd just been hoping not to be there first. Waiting made him nervous. He'd much rather walk into a situation with the dangers laid out neatly before him, than arrive early and be forced to wait; forced to prepare in advance for god knows what would happen.

    He left the helmet behind, intending to rely instead on the enhanced sensory systems of Roy, his bodyguard. His thoughts lingered on the small arsenal that the Lethan carried; it would be prudent to secure the area in advance of the Vigo's arrival. Though in the middle of nowhere, the selected meeting location was hardly devoid of potential threads. He jabbed a finger into the controls that would unseal the boarding ramp, and nodded a silent instruction for his droid to proceed from the ship first. Servos clanking into activity, Roy complied; Chir'daki waited a few moments, observing silently through the cockpit canopy as the Super Battle Droid paced mechanically away from the Lethan, blaster-equipped arm held ready to shoot at anything his software designated as a threat.

    Chir'daki snatched the pistol from the holster on his thigh, pulling the power pack free to check the charge, and then slapping it back into place. He typed in a brief command sequence on a keypad above him, and a concealed locker opened within the cockpit; retrieving a blaster rifle from within, he repeated the same routine. Satisfied that his preparations were sufficient, he slid from his seat and stepped on to the egress ramp, bending into a low crouch as he ducked beneath the ship's fuselage.

    The clearing was quiet, and that in itself was disquieting. He held the blaster ready and swept his surroundings with his eyes, the nearby droid sweeping with sensors. He saw nothing obviously out of place, but those weren't the only senses on which he was relying. Something didn't feel right; Chir'daki didn't usually put stock in the subconscious insights of others, but he trusted his own instincts implicitly. He was being observed.

    A smile played across his face. He knew Kandle's reputation of course. It had been foolish to assume that he was absent, when in truth it was far more likely that he had arrived in sufficient time to completely conceal his presence. He came to a halt a few meters short of the center of the clearing, eyes observing every patch of viable cover for even the slightest sign of movement. He slipped a business tone into his voice. "Your hiding place is quite effective, Vigo."

  4. #4
    Grym Kandle
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    Droids. Lifeless entities that fulfilled tasks as simple conveniences and saved one effort in the long run. Battle droids, like the one Chir'daki employed, were affronts to what fighting really was all about in the Echani style. At least, that was what his Master used to say. Grym would not deny their usefulness though, accepting that everything had its place and that, more so him specifically, not everything was an element of the fight as his Master had believed back then.

    Kandle disengaged the stealth field generator to reveal him standing at the edge of the clearing. Stepping into the sunlight, Grym appeared to be little more than his mask and cloak.

    "Well met, Chir'daki. I appreciate your timeliness in meeting me here. I hope it was not too much of an inconvenience."

    Kandle's voice was distorted and seemingly disembodied by the mask he wore. It carried nothing of tonal recognition that might imply as to whether he was being serious, sincere, or sarcastic. Grym was not known in Black Sun for being either sincere or sarcastic when involved in business and given that he was 'former' assassin who was still known for making people disappear, everyone took him serious.

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    A stealth field generator? Chir'daki fought hard to stop his eyes from widening. As if the universe didn't already provide enough reasons to securely lock your doors at night.

    He lowered his weapon; clearly if the Vigo had intended him any harm, he could have exacted it already. Becoming visible again was a sign of trust. Chir'daki chose to reciprocate in kind, slowly lowering his rifle into a non-threatening poise. His Battle Droid however didn't quite percieve the subtleties of the situation. "Stand down, Roy," he instructed in a low voice; obligingly, the automaton retracted his arm into its usual tucked-away neutral position. "Wait at the ship," he added. "Standard defense perimeter."

    Roy responded with a synthesised aknowledgement, then trudged back towards the waiting ship. Chir'daki meanwhile returned his attention fully to the Vigo, sizing up the man he knew so far only by reputation. He drew parallels with himself - not through arrogance or anything, but simply in an effort to better understand the man opposite. Both spent their lives ending those of others; that took a certain kind of person, and in Chir'daki's experience lent a certain kind of danger to these sorts of proceedings. They both hid as well. Chir'daki his identity behind the reputation he'd conjured for himself, and disguised his features with the self-inflicted scar that people noticed before and remembered long after the man who bore it. The Vigo's mask on the other hand was more literal.

    And creepy. Chir'daki offered a slight smile. "No inconvenience, Vigo. I was -" He searched for an appropriate platitude. "- in the area."

  6. #6
    Grym Kandle
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    Grym smiled beneath his mask at the young hunter standing before him.

    "Excellent. I would hate to disrupt the business of one so gainfully employed as you, Chir'daki. I have heard how busy you have been and I know what Vigo Olorin has you after at the moment as well, so I will not keep you long.

    This... revived Bounty Hunter's Guild is causing waves as it stands itself back up. This is not to be expected, however..."

    Grym had been far too involved in sustaining and developing the glitterstim business for Black Sun and had only recently returned to find his Crime Lord had disappeared and this Bounty Hunter Guild in question had seemingly appeared as abruptly as she had left. Kandle almost felt out of the loop or as if his information network had failed him. Almost.

    "What part do you play in it?"

  7. #7
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    So, to business then. The Vigo's interest in the Bounty Hunters was not unexpected; though Chir'daki had been given licence to make the necessary arrangements on Black Sun's behalf, he knew that his role in continued relations was precarious. The new status quo called for Black Sun to defer to the Guild in areas where they had been profiting of late in the Guild's absense; and while the acceptance of Bounty contracts from outside Black Sun was easily transferred, there were other roles that the crime syndicate's array of hunters, assassins, mercenaries and thugs engaged in which were not so easily surrendered.

    In truth, Chir'daki had intended to approach the Vigo himself, with overtones of some sort of alliance. With the Guild backing Chir'daki, and pure fear backing Kandle, the duo could easily secure the compliance of almost every hired knife and gun on Black Sun's books; or enough of them to satisfy their benefactors, at least. That Kandle had approached him first was a little disconcerting, but it was convenient none the less.

    Still, he kept his tone careful, keeping his cards pressed tight to his chest. "I was approached by Darven; one of the senior Bounty Hunters in the Guild. He asked me to serve as an intermediary between the Guild and Black Sun, so that we could establish a relationship between the two that was mutually beneficial to both."

    "To compensate us for the profits we are potentially missing through deferring to the Guild in hunting matters, we are provided with a percentage of their proceeds; we have also been invited to contribute a representative to serve as part of the Guild's leadership." He hesitated; it had been assumed thus far by all parties that Chir'daki would occupy that seat, but should Kandle have ambitions for it, there was no denying that Black Sun would more readily support him. After all, a Vigo far outranked the authority that Chir'daki had garnered for himself; and the respect that Kandle commanded clearly made him the better choice.

    Reluctantly, he admitted as much, although not in so many words. "The Guild has expressed their preference in me continuing to serve as Black Sun's representative, though the decision ultimately rests with the syndicate."

  8. #8
    Grym Kandle
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    The wind rustled the trees that circled the clearing and it sounded like an endless ocean as moments passed in the silence between the two men.

    Grym did not know what Chir'daki knew from Vigo Kal Olorin and his current tasking to seek out the terrorist De'Ville but the best method to undertake in the absence of their Crime Lordess would be to act as if she had never left in the first place.

    "Why did this Darven approach you and not appeal to Ms. Reeouurra?"

    A dangerous question really but with a number of understandable, simple answers. If anything, it was a breach on Darven's fault and not entirely Chir'daki's fault other than being the one that was contacted, suggesting in the social workings of the underworld that maybe Chir'daki had more in stake than simply being the initial contact. But that just over complicated things, thinking into such trivial things as possible implications of betrayal. Only a worm would be ignorant enough to trespass against Black Sun. And then with Darven's name, the new Guild would be just as quickly dismantled as it had stood up. This was no subtle, impending doom that Grym hid beneath his question to Chir'daki, but more of an understood consequence.

  9. #9
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    "Darven is..."

    His mind hesitated, as he sought for a term to quanify his associations with Darven. They had on occasion worked together, and had the grudging mutual respect that such encounters in variably brokered, but anything beyond that was perhaps an inappropriate leap. Still, the situation required a definate term, and in the absense of a perfect match, a best fit would have to do.

    "... an old friend."

    He frowned, musing over how best to articulate an answer to Kandle's question. It was something that he had asked himself, but not bothered to formulate a response to because of how obvious it seemed. When it came time to explain it to an outside perspective, the reasoning was much harder to articulate.

    "As a fellow Bounty Hunter, and as a member of Black Sun, he saw me as someone who could translate the mentalities of one background into the other. The workings of Black Sun can be - to outsiders - enigmatic, and he felt that someone as versed in those workings as myself would serve well as an intermediary." He offered a non-committal smile. "Its simply good business sense on his part, Vigo - like sending an Engineer to negotiate for replacement parts for a speeder: someone who understands enough of who and what they are dealing with to best represent the matter at hand."

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