Kilwyo Kesh

"If she's a ship or a humanoid, I can board her—whether she likes it or not."

- Kilwyo Kesh

Kilwyo Kesh was a Synnott pirate, the leader of the ferocious Nightside Raiders in the Unknown Regions.

Biography
Born in 76 ABY on Synno in the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob, Kesh took to crime at an early age, and was in and out of several Tetrarchy jails by the time he was twenty. Following a raid on the Rubutu branch of the Vall`to Sector Bank which resulted in the deaths of two of Kesh's accomplices and seven Tetrarchy security police, Kesh earned the first of many death sentences in absentia. He also earned the notice of Garik Armande, Captain-General of the Nightside Raiders, who recruited Kesh into the brotherhood.

Kesh spent the next seven years as an apprentice to Armande, leading Nightside attacks on civilian transports, corporate convoys, and occasionally even Tetrarchy scouting craft. He captured no fewer than eleven Tetrarchy patrol ships, allowing officers to board his vessel and then killing them with nerve gas, concealed crew members, or assassin droids camouflaged to look like machinery or other parts of the ship.

Four years into this "apprenticeship", the Tetrarchy went to war with the Golden Empire, which caused disorder and unrest on many of the Tetrarchy's vassal worlds, broke down some tighter security, and opened new markets for the Nightside Raiders. Several Empire victories drove victims right into Armande and Kesh's arms: bankers fleeing with their savings from the capture of Vall`to were intercepted by Raider forces, as were rich government officials and backers deserting Mezlagob in the final weeks of the war.

One year after the Great Liberation had ended, Kesh decided he had learned enough and earned the respect of the Raiders enough to lead them, and stunned Armande, put him in an escape pod, and jettisoned him into a black hole. Seizing command of the Raiders without difficulty, he led them in a string of attacks on Royal Integration Corps and medical personnel from the Golden Empire who were still working to fully incorporate the worlds of the former Tetrarchy into the Empire. Outraged, Queen Rin Sakaros ordered the Order of Keltrayu to hunt Kesh down, but the wily pirate evaded capture for six years, always one step ahead of the law, using the fear generated by his presence and reputation as a shield whenever he made port. Several times he fought local law enforcement, and twice battled Centurions of the Order, but always managed to escape.

Realizing that it was only the officials from whom Kesh was bothering to hide, Rin declared him an Enemy of the Empire, giving any citizen license to capture, harm, or kill him without consequence. Unimpressed, Kesh did not adapt his tactics, trusting his ferocious reputation to protect him. This proved his undoing in 109 ABY; while Kesh was at the Miner's Daughter on Vedros VI, regailing a few retainers with his next plan for a raid, a brave civilian who had recognized him crept up behind him and stabbed him in the back. Kesh bled to death seconds later.

Appearance and personality
Kesh had an intimidating reputation as a man not to be crossed, with a penchant for murdering people for the slightest of offenses. This compelled the crews of many starships he captured to surrender willingly and offer no resistance, hoping to be spared. Kesh also had a notable sadistic streak, taking pleasure in building up such hopes before executing crews, sometimes even flying away and leaving crews alive only to blast their ships to pieces with his own.

Among the Nightside Raiders, Kesh was a much shrewder leader, ruling through a combination of reward and force. He brooked no rebellion and would punish dissenters in horrible ways, such as ejecting them from airlocks. On the other hand, he prized ingenuity in his subordinates, rewarding them with their own starships in the Raider fleet, and ensured that all the Raiders received proportional shares of whatever plunder they captured.

Appearances

 * "It Takes Only One"