InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "A mass of quivering holes"

Kysh Torker (kysh) wrote,
@ 2020-08-29 15:28:00

"Great. Maybe you and that Sith Lord can have a party after we're all dead."

Full Name: Eirene Verikysh Nelan.
Known As: Kysh Torker.
Species: Human.
Age: Twenty-Eight.
Home Planet: Taris, Lower City.
Current Residence: Rusty Tach, a modified Defender Class Corvette used for small smuggling operations from Coruscant and throughout the Outer Rim territories.
Occupation: Professional Pazaak player, at least on paper. Scoundrel for hire with an affinity for security slicing and computer navigation. Also serves as the back-up pilot on her crew, although that's really in emergency situations only as she tends to be better at crashing than flying.

Biography: Growing up on Taris doesn't exactly make for the easiest childhood, especially when one grows up in the Lower City. Born Eirene Verikysh Nelan, she was the only child of Dradin Torker and Kyla Nelan. Her father, Dradin, was rather well known in the Taris Dueling Ring circuit, while her Kyla was a woman of very little consequence outside of the Lower City gang of which she was a part. She entertained patrons of Javyar's Cantina for extra credits, and Dradin was one of these clients. That she would become pregnant from this particular encounter was a total fluke, and an accident she would've rectified if she had been able to obtain enough credits for a proper doctor at the time.

If Kysh was an unwanted baby, then she was even less interesting as a child. If not for the compassion of a Twi'lek called Verikysh, who she was named for. Kyla was quick to return to work and paid little attention to the baby she spawned. And though Dradin Torker returned to her as a client several times in the future, she never bothered to tell him of his part in Kysh's siring. It was the Twi'lek who dubbed the blonde girl Kysh, and though she was the gang's den mother, and responsible for most of the young spawn of its various members, it was obvious who her favorite was.

Living among gang members, with an education that the Jedi Council would cringe at, it was really no wonder that Kysh would turn out as she did. By the time she was 8 years old she could slice through most older security systems, and was already conning the older children out of their credits with her skills at Pazaak. Unlike her mother, however, who worked for the betterment of the gang and rarely saved a credit for herself, Kysh was constantly hording her winnings. She rarely shared even the smallest amount, except on the rare occasion to buy something nice for Verikysh. When she did spend the money on herself, it was only for things that would help her to make more credits. Building up her sidedeck with those coveted +/- cards. A stealth field generator that would help her navigate through rival gang territories easier. A pulse blaster to stun a victim who had realized she duped them (and as she got older it was also used against gang members who didn't get that no actually meant no).

Verikysh finally asked her young charge what she was saving for and Kysh candidly explained her desire to leave the ecumenopolis. Even with her limited education she could see that Taris was definitely not making the Top 50 Planets to Live On list any time soon. As soon as she could gather up a sum that would tempt a captain to take on a passenger like herself, she was going to take the first freighter off that rock. It wasn't as though her parents would miss her, and though the Twi'lek had always been good to her, the older woman wouldn't be around forever, and at 15, Kysh was long past the age of being confined to a nursery. She would soon have to make a choice- declare her loyalty to the gang or get out. She didn't want to be stuck in the Lower City when that time came.

She very nearly missed her opportunity when her stash of credits was found a few months later. The Rodian who discovered them couldn't comprehend what a girl Kysh's age would be doing with all of that money. It was the one time her mother truly seemed to acknowledge her existence, and Kyla very nearly risked her position in the gang when she shot him to keep him from taking her daughter's stash. It would be the last time that mother and daughter would see each other.

Those credits might have earned her transport off of Taris, but they didn't get her far. She would trade one planet-wide city for another, when the freighter she boarded made its first stop on Nar Shaddaa. The Refugee Sector reminded her a lot of home, though not in a good way. It took time, but eventually she found her way to the Corellian Sector, where she began making her first smuggling contacts. She was forced to prove her worth through various tasks- from disguising herself as a dancing girl to breaking into a well known warehouse for contraband weaponry confiscated by the Republic on Level 88. It was during these three years building a reputation on Nar Shaddaa that she would meet the one who would eventually become her captain.

One of her deals had gone south, and she found she had pissed off the wrong person. Kysh was found to be involved in plots against the local crime boss, a Hutt with a very short temper. She made the mistake of helping a Jedi (though she didn't know he was a Jedi at the time) to rescue a Twi'lek that the Hutt held in slavery. Though her ally (a man who called himself Jarek Kaal) and the Twi'lek got away, Kysh was not so lucky. The Hutt considered outright killing her, but decided it would be more beneficial to him to make use of her skills for his own purposes. She was forced into virtual slavery, though not in the traditional sense- instead this Hutt had her performing criminal acts to his own benefit. The last job she did for him involved stealing from a Mandalorian bounty hunter, and it would be the second time she was caught in the act.

Ehin, the Mandalorian captain of the Rusty Tach, considered dragging her back to the Hutt responsible for her, but Kysh managed to convince him not to through a combination of flirting, begging, pleading, and cajoling. He dropped her at a nearby planet on his route, intending to leave her there without a second thought. It seemed that Kysh was on a run of bad luck because shortly after being left behind she managed to piss off the locals over a game of Pazaak. She had such a successful run of wins against their Champion that he was convinced she must be cheating. Though this wasn't true, the accusation was made and she had to hide from the local authorities. Luckily for her, the captain had decided to come back and check on her- though she didn't know this at the time. All she saw was that the Tach was back in port and it could be her way off-planet. She used her stealth generator to sneak on board the ship, unknowingly triggering a dead man's switch once inside. When Ehin discovered her, she surrendered ruefully, and her skills had impressed him enough to ask her to be a part of his crew.

By the time she was twenty eight, Kysh had managed to establish herself quite well on the Tach. She was particularly close with the Gand pilot of the boat, who took her under his wing so-to-speak, and taught her to fly the ship as well. With its captain, she had felt an instant attraction, and though nothing had developed between them, there was an obvious tension between them. Over the years her education had grown from experiences- she was familiar with more up-to-date technology and able to slice her way in and out of most security systems. She has developed a moderate skill with blaster pistols, as well as learned how to fly the ship she lives on. When very drunk she swears that she can understand droid chatter, and sometimes it even seems like this statement is true. Although she never did receive any formal education, Kysh considers herself quite knowledgeable in those fields she's comfortable in, and though she still has a lot to learn about the galaxy she's proud of the woman she's become so far.

Misc. Facts
+ Are the Force-Sensitive? Yes. Nothing significant mind you, and she'd never word it as such, but Kysh does have an instinct for getting herself out of tough scrapes that is a testament to the small way in which the Force works through her.
+ How do they feel about the government/Jedi/etc; love it or hate it. She's not really fond of the Tarisan government, actually kind of hates her home planet. Otherwise, Kysh is relatively self-serving... She'll be for or against a political leader so long as it's going to work in her favor.
+ Are they biased against/for other species? Not especially, although it should be noted that she speaks Ryl as clearly as she speaks Basic. Obviously the subtle body language involved in the translation are beyond her capabilities, but otherwise her pronunciation is as natural as any Twi'lek.
+ Talented Pazaak player. Always on the lookout to improve her side-deck. Never plays Republic-Senate rules.
+ Borderline alcoholic with a weakness for Tarisan Ale. The sweet wine with a kick tends to kick her in the pants, and most of her troublesome scrapes come from tipping that bottle back a bit too much.
+ Owns two blaster pistols. One is a modified blaster pistol based on an Arkanian design, upgraded with the latest in Republic technology. The second is a Mandalorian heavy blaster that currently has no modifications to it.
+ Chronic nicknamer. Tends to act more familiar with people than she has any right to do.