Junk for a Bargain

[Johbi Kenseih]

Johbi's Junk was a neon sign outside of a small shack in a run down town on Ord Mantell. The village was on the fringe of the infamous Ord Mantell junkyards in which a wide assortment of companies from across the galaxy had contracts with the planet government into which they dumped most of their garbage. Johbi had no issue with this as junk was obviously his business as indicated by the sign. There were a lot of junk dealers though but few of them had the skills like Johbi had. Working in the Ord Mantell militia as a computer specialist and then conveniently disappearing several months after the fact had been enough and for the last six years the man had been living the life he had always intended.

He sat on the seat of the main body of a swoop bike behind the counter made out of the blastdoors to some cruiser that had been dropped a few clicks away. The door was merely a thermocloak that had gone on the fritz but it kept the place warm at night and kept the cold air out and that's all that was important to him at this time of night.

The upper torso of a protocol droid sprung to life while Johbi polished the visor of a helmet he had recently found.

"Sir, an organism... first marker..."

He was still working on that. For some reason, the droid just could not seem to utter verbs. Slightly frustrating but at least it could still translate. Johbi, in his crusty flight suit, draped in cloth that shifted tone and color to his environment, reached for his ion rifle. Killing people was a bit overrated in his book. Kenseih would rather just give them a jolt, take their belongings and send them on their way. Only if they mean trouble, of course. But how often did the innocent customer come in an hour before midnight?

[Baralai Lotus]

Ord Mantell took on a very sinister feel at night, the mountains of junk and scrap that sat on the planets surface were its only real landmarks. Walking amongst the piles of metal, was a figure hunched and mumbling to himself. He had a datapad out, furiously scribbling on the surface. He was taking notes as he spoke, keeping a list of all the things he would need.

His fingers were tight and bunched together, and as they pushed out one last word, Baralai stopped, raising his eyes and smirking at the sign above one of the stores.

Johbi's Junk

It was as good a place as any to search for what Baralai needed. After all, the saying might be true that one mans trash was truly another mans treasure. And after all, there might be some new toys amidst the garbage, like Victor was.

Baralai pushed the door open and looked inside, turning his eye through the store, looking around at all the different kinds of toys and devices that littered the store. His fingers began to move quickly, jerking back and forth. He began touching and holding things, turning them over in his hands and looking them over, examining every little detail.

Every now and again, he would poke one of the devices and it would jerk to life or send a jolt through his body, and each time he would smile, putting the object back on the pile and patting it gently.

"Yes, yes. As it were."

He continued to rummage through the things, always making sure to put them back in their designated place. He was enthralled by the objects in front of him, surely if there was anything that Baralai needed, it could be found here.

"Hello?" Baralai called out, rolling his head over his shoulders and looking around, almost letting the noise slide out of his mouth like a howl.