The Gathering Storm

[zax]

Kerak slowly breathed in the cold air of Naboo as he exited from the passenger transit vessel. He remembered how the cold air on Kuat was refreshing to the mind, removing the thoughts of worry and replacing it with peaceful singular thoughts. Kerak held onto the bag that he carried tightly.

A few people who were native to Naboo passed by him, some looked at him with suspicious looks. Kerak didn't give them a chance to feed that thought of theirs. A friend of his asked him to find a merchant who would give him shelter and supplies while he stayed on Naboo for a while. Sadly, Damen never gave him the directions of where he was.

"Kerak? Kerak Lako?" A voice echoed in the streets as Kerak turned around to face the direction of the voice. A few feet infront of him was a short stocky man with a big grin on his face and a goofy looking hat he wore.

"Yeah?" Kerak responded gently as his grip on the bag grew stronger.

"Damen told me to give you a room in my house. Come, come, follow me."

Kerak followed the man side by side as they walked through the streets of Kaadara.

"Damen told me that you were in need of supplies, what kind of supplies do you need good sir?"

Kerak pulled out a written note from his pocket and handed it over to him.

"Mmm...I can get you what you needed."

Kerak smiled back at the man, "What is your name if I dont mind asking?"

"Jark, Ranner Jark." The man responded to the question.

"Thanks."

Upon arriving at the house, Ranner opened the door and showed him inside the home. Kerak saw furnished furniture and clean rugs. He was a bit embarressed walking into a nice home with dirty boots. Kerak motioned to Ranner if he could take off his boots but Ranner didn't hear of it and let him through anyways.

Kerak walked up into the third story where his guest room was, when he opened the door he found a bed and two tables with one chair. Kerak closed the door behind him as he laid down his bag, he opened the bag and removed a cloak and a small blade. He then gently unravelled the cloak to reveal a holodisk that contained information on his target. He placed the disc into a projector where he saw the face of his target and the location of where she was. She was in Theed doing business for a few underground criminals.

Kerak shut off the hologram and begin preparing for the job.

[zax]

Kerak left the safehouse to travel to Theed. Wearing a gray cloak over himself, he concealed two hidden blades beneath his arms incase someone decides to stop him. He had to plan the assassination to look like his target got into a serious fight with someone who wasn't pleased with the deal.

Upon arriving at Theed, he quickly sought out his target but at high time and the crowds overwelming the streets, it would be brutally difficult to track down someone during this time. Kerak decides to check out the local markets nearby. Kerak never took for granted at the arcitechtural structures of Naboo, of how pleasing and welcoming they were. He found it odd criminals would do business here but they were out to do it right underneath those who seeked to destroy them.

As Kerak walked through the crowded market square, his memory is triggered when he scans every visible face he see's infront of him. None of them have yet to be clearly his target, either his target left the area or was off the planet was unknown. A few politicians cried out laughing in a corner, while kids played near a fountain. He then notice something was critically wrong. His cloak was disturbed as he felt it being removed from him. He turned around to see a man wielding a blaster pistol directly into his face. On lookers stopped with whatever they were doing and looked into their direction.

"Were is my money Dunarn?" The man said as the pistol was dead still.

"Uh? Im not this Dunarn person you speak of." Kerak responded.

"You lie, Dunarn always wears a grey cloak. Nobody on this planet wears the same cloak. You obviously had facial surgery to disguise yourself." The man slowly took out what appeared to be a holopad that showed the image of the supposed Dunarn.

"Sir, wh-" Kerak was interrupted as a blaster fire erupted by his ear.

"Enough of your lies! Give me your money now or I will remove the mask you wear before you with my pistol."

"Again, sir, I am not Dun-" Kerak notice the man's trigger finger pulling backwards on the trigger. Kerak's instincts notified his brain for a disabling of the man.

Kerak pushed the pistol away from himself and others as he quickly removed the pistol from the man and pushed him onto the floor. The man was suprised as he struggled to get up, before Kerak was able to pick up the pistol, another was already placed down on the back of his head.

"What a lousy bounty hunter you are." The voice was calm and serious. Kerak raised up his arms as he was searched, then forced to face the person. She was wearing custom made armor that appeared to have its roots within the Republic military.

"One motion, and I will snatch the life right from you." She said as she checked his pockets for weapons. After failing to find any weapons she stared right into his eyes.

"I give no room to those who seek to kill me, so you could retire right now or I could kill you right now."

The crowd began to swarm between the two as security lately arrived to the scene, someone yelled that the security was on their way. For a brief moment, she looked away giving a very small window of opportunity for Kerak to make his move.

Kerak elbowed his target in the face before removing the weapon from her. It failed to rid from her strong grasp on the weapon, shots fired in the streets as the crowd screamed in panic. Kerak felt a sharp pain in his abdomen as she punched him in the side. Kerak then saw her weapon being brought up to chest length. Kerak quickly pushed her into a droid that yelped. She struggled to get up as Kerak tried to regain his bearings. He saw her boot coming straight for his face, ducking he gave way to kneel her down with his knee before being pushed off with her leg. He fell on his back as she removed her vibroblade and came rushing to attack him.

He raised up his guard wrist armor as the blade striked against it, before feeling a punch to the face. The blade came coming down upon his throat, Kerak moved his neck from the blade's path and quickly pushed her off of him. He got up and removed a blade from underneath his arm, She got up and removed a blaster from her back and fired four shots into his direction. Kerak's response time costed him a flesh wound on his arm, more shots were being fired as Kerak rolled to the right of her before knocking her off her feet. He shoved the weapon away from her hand and pushed the blade up to her chin. The sharp end slowly cut her skin but was not entering her body.

"Your more wanted alive than dead." Kerak out of breath told her as he motioned her to get up.

She cooperated, as Kerak was about to place binders on her a few shots were fired from a distance that ended up killing her. Security arrived after having difficulty making their way through the panic dense crowd. The shooter had escape through the dense crowd before Kerak could spot him or her. Kerak kneeled down beside his target and removed the braclet from her wrist, as the security arrived Kerak was no where to be seen.

[zax]

Kerak removed the cloak from himself as he checked the wound on his arm. The building he was staying was quiet, and it brought him peace. The streets outside had diminished since his encounter with his target. Now that his job was finished, he had to leave the planet before the local security here would find out his identity.

During the middle of the night, he quietly packed all of his belongings in his bag and left the house leaving a few credits for his thanks to the merchant. He soon bought a ticket to leave for Coruscant, the people and aliens alike were very few within the spaceport. He stayed quiet as he waited for the next transport to arrive. It became midnight as the transport had arrived, he borded the transport and left for Coruscant.