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Grym Kandle
May 26th, 2005, 12:59:15 AM
Grym slowly stood from dingy cot he was sleeping on and stared out the small square window to his side. This motel was not all the shoddy advertisement cracked it up to be but then again, nothing in Nar Shadda was ever half as good as it looked. And even then...

He ran a hand through his platinum hair slowly before he let it drift down the left side of his face. He could feel the veins and scars vaguely on the nerve damaged skin as it slid down his cheek. Revolting... pathetic... anguish ran through Grym's mind as his hand shook involuntarily. He was sure his face was contorting but he would not have been able to feel it regardless. He gazed down at both shaking hands now and examined the little green cuts around the tips of his fingers. Clarity was worth it. It was all worth it.
He reached into his cloak hung over the single chair in the small room withdrew a black case. From there, he withdrew a small thimble sized cup and a vial half full with fine emerald sand. The stopper went next and a miniscule amount of the sand went into the cup. Grym's hands were not shaking anymore. The vial was put away and a small syringe replaced it in his hand. Grym was methodical, an expert in this and a few other things. The syringe squirted out a little of the liquid within into the cup and a slight hissing noise could be heard coming from inside the small cup. His hands were not shaking but his eyes were dilated with anticipation and his spine shivered with mental dependency and hunger. He downed the small cup quickly and placed it back in the case with the syringe and closed them away, resting back in his cloak.
The Clarity of Glitterstim was a profound experience. There were several to take the potent drug and in a liquid form was the roughest but most effective. It tore apart your digestive system but the reaction of it was far longer than any other method. Grym saw it as a fair trade, he did not want a large appetite while on Nar Shadda anyways. The food could not have been much better for him. But the Clarity...
His senses were heightened, he could almost feel the passing of time, and recognize some kind of unseen... thing lying beneath reality. Sometimes he thought he saw glimpses of the future but Glitterstim was known for causing deja vu like that. The best thing about all of it was that it really was an enhancer, not just something that made you "feel" like everything was above par. But it all came at such a price.
Grym laid back on his small cot, breathing in deeply as he was not sure whether the rush of life he felt was his own blood or the planet-city of Nar Shadda.

* * *

The catwalk in the hangar was dim and shady and his cloak wrapped securely about him had gotten him this far without anyone noticing his presence. His now gloved hand reached inside his cloak and activated the SFG (stealth-field-generator) as he crept closer to view his objective. His footsteps were dampened by the SFG and he knew in this lighting, he was near invisible. As he should be. The mask that covered his face served more than its general purpose of hiding the scars of drug abuse as it gave him night vision and tracked the movement of the beings below him.
The mask had been a gift from his last boss. A good boss, worth the effort he'd put into the syndicate. So was the mask. It had several general purposes that served Grym's specific needs, night vision, magnification, infrared thermal imaging, movement tracking, and a deciphering module. It also had vents which would support Grym in a variety of environments. Yes, well worth the work. But he wasn't finished paying back for it. Just a few more things to do.

"Does anyone else feel like we're being watched?"

Captain Breft'Kel. A man who always needed somone to guard his back because far too many had plans to put a blaster bolt in it. Grym had to give it to him though, he'd always found some loyal dogs to watch it for him. The smuggler turned small time syndicate boss had thought to loan some money from Grym's boss and then kill them afterwards. He had mostly succeeded. Grym was still alive though so in the worst case scenario, he had failed.
The Captain had a Bothan and an Aqualish on his back this time, and those two carried riot control supressors, usually carried by the Corporate Security Force. They carried their worth. The Captain had five blaster pistols on him, none of those in his hand. For a simple human, Grym saw it a bit excessive. Regardless of how they were armed, Grym had no intention of confronting them yet. The shipment hadn't arrived. Grym pulled the cloak to him tightly as he disengaged the SFG and rested in a crouched postion, waiting.
Time passed and the three came back out of their ship as the main door to the hangar opened. Four beings led a large train of two crates into the hangar. Shraxx, the trandoshan that had betrayed Grym's former syndicate led the group. For a moment, Grym's breathing picked up but he quickly stilled himself once more, activating the SFG in case of the trandoshan or either of the three humans with him taking notice above them.

"You're late Shraxx. Tell me that means you have absolutely everything?"

Always so confident, Captain.

"Of courssssse Captain, glittersssssstim, ryll, carssssssunum, andrisssssss, yarrock, and ssssweetblosssssssssom."

So maybe the Captain was not small time, merely short handed and dealing with the most loyal and unloyal kind of scum in Nar Shadda. Those spices were no joke. Sweetblossom was the strongest narcotic on the blackmarket and you did not just crate it around like that. Then again, no one but Grym was alive anymore to have a problem with Shraxx, so Grym could see the confidence in the act. And the glitterstim... photoactive as it may be and with a short shelf life, Grym still saw the advantage of getting away with those spoils. Not to mention the credits he could pull of the others.

"Let me see the goods, Shraxx."

"Now, now, Captain. You know assss well assss I do that glittersssstim isssssn't any good exposssssed. Here'sss an xxxxxx-ray of the cratessss though if that will pleassssse."

The Captain grabbed the pad and examined it before blowing a few strands of hair out of his face in covered sign of exasperation. One could not just make the jump from simple smuggler to syndicate boss so easily.

Grym Kandle
May 26th, 2005, 10:59:14 PM
Grym slowly stood, leaning over the rail as he made a last scan of the area. Seven opponents, two automatics, four with blasters, and then Shraxx, who had his flamethrower strapped to his back. No melee visible but Grym predicted at least one dagger on each and then Shraxx' claws as well. Grym's hand gripped the rail tightly as his other attached the liquid cord dispenser's end to the catwalk.
Grym threw himself over the rail with silent grace, the cord snapping tight as he pressed the button on the dispenser. Unfortunately, a loud "twang" accompanied it. So much for silent grace. All seven sprung around weapons drawn in time to catch the explosion of light from a flash grenade. Grym's mask protected him from the side effects but the infrared sensor was recalibrating. He dropped from the cord and in two long strides was behind the Aqualish with the riot supressor. A white gloved hand snaked out from beneath Grym's cloak and wrapped about the Aqualish's neck. With a violent jerk, the small blade in his hands sent blood flying.
The others were pulling out of it, especially Shraxx who was whipping his flamethrower around. Grym caught the Aqualish's automatic rifle before it hit the ground and rolled to the side of one of the humans. A spray of laser fire went into the human's leg and he fell to his knees as Grym grabbed a handful of hair and pulled the wounded human towards him. The next human in line had a blaster ready and fired. The red beam scored the chest of Grym's human shield and the human's face of anguish went slack. Grym fired over the shoulder of the dead man and sent another six feet under. He threw himself backwards as he heard an all too familiar noise. The clicking stopped only to allow a roar that was followed instantly by a wave of fire.

"You need to sssssstay dead Kandle thisssssssss time!"

Grym hurled himself behind a large stack of crates as blaster fire came blazing over his head. Shraxx could have just walked up and toasted him but then again, who enjoys an easy game? But another familiar sound had to ring out first.

"Kandle? I thought he was dead. What's that son of a rancor doing here? How has he made it this long without his fix? Someone go see if we killed him already."

Grym was sure there would have been much more to the Captain's "delegating" if not for the next flash grenade he tossed over the crates just for Shraxx. The loud bang followed shortly afterwards and Grym flung himself around the corner of the crates and held the trigger down on the rifle. Blue laser fire sprayed everywhere, a few scoring the thick durasteel of the drug shipment and well enough, two of Shraxx' men. Shraxx was no where to be seen and the Captain was hiding on the other side with the Bothan.