Coruscant.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The name surfaced in CT-312’s mind without any meaning. Stripped of everything this planet had once represented. There had been a time where the planet's name carried weight. Now it was only a place. And like any place… it could fall.
CT-312 briefly looked up. The sky was wrong. It had always been wrong here. What once was choked by lanes of traffic and layered with towers that rose beyond sight, now it was exposed. Upper levels had been torn apart. Spires jutted upward like broken glass. CT-312 continued to walk forward. The last time she was here, the sky had burned for a different reason.
Remembering the sudden violence. The Galactic Empire falling upon the planet without warning. CT-312 had fought through these same streets back then. Holding ground because that had been the assignment. An amused huff slipped through her mask. How ironic. How the same fate had happened to them. The Sith Covenant had descended just as suddenly. Just as mercilessly, without any warning or negotiation. Only execution.
Empires fell the same way they rose.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Loose fragments of glass cracked beneath her boots. Each step was heavy. The sound of rubble grinding underfoot filled the empty avenue, echoing off the hollowed structures. CT-312 didn’t slow or look around. She did not care. The city could burn to its foundations. Let the Sith Covenant strip it clean and tear apart its bones as they carried off its relics and possessions.
It meant nothing. CT-312 had not come for Coruscant. She had come for answers.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
CT-312 stopped abruptly. Behind her, something massive adjusted in its stance. A War-X unit stood several meters back. Its towering frame scarred and weathered from prolonged warfare and missions with the Scout. Its optical sensors dimmed briefly as it focused on her. CT-312 turned her helmet slightly, looking back over her shoulder. “Go.” A single word. Quiet, but absolute.
The War-X understood. Its optics flared crimson. A deep and metallic mechanical roar erupted from its chassis. The sound carried outward across the ruined city, reverberating through the empty streets, echoing through the area. In response—
Across the surrounding sectors, scattered red lights ignited in response. Smaller silhouettes stirred. Pred-X units emerged from concealment. Their smaller quadrupedal frames moved with unsettling speed and coordination. Their optics shifts to the same crimson hue as they acknowledged the command. Mechanical howls answered in the distance. Faint at first, then multiplying as more units activated. They all began to move, scattering.
Each unit sprinted into different directions, slipping into spaces too narrow or unstable for larger units to navigate. Smaller slicer droids detached from their mounts with precise efficiency. Their tiny forms scuttled forward, latching onto exposed terminals, damaged consoles, and severed data conduits. They burrowed in. BARCA chimed inside CT-312’s helmet.
Followed by a rapid series of beeps as streams of data flooded instantly. Fragmented camera feeds, corrupted transmissions, broken sensor logs poured inward. BARCA filtered them instantly, isolating relevant information and discarding useless fragments. A trail began to form.
Breadcrumbs. A digital scent.
The Pred-X units reacted first. Their heads snapped towards the direction of the scent as BARCA fed directions through the network. One by one, they adjusted course. Converging toward a single point.
Pieces of imagery and footage appeared across CT-312’s HUD. The Princess. Quinn. The group she said she would be fine with. She was alive, but something was wrong. CT-312 followed the path. It traced from the Imperial Palace… to the throne room. Her breathing remained steady. “Standby on guard.” The War-X and Pred-X units halted, forming a perimeter around her position. “Initiate Dynas Protocol.”
BARCA responded at her command.
[ BARCA ]
[ —DYNAS PROTOCOL— ]
[ INITIATING - PHASE ONE ]
[ HARMONIC OVERWITE ]
[ Neural Lattice Engagement — SYNCHRONIZED ]
[ Force-channel routing — STABLE ]
[ Core Resonance — ARTIFICIAL INPUT ]
Light emerged along the seams of the Halcyon armor. Faint at first, the glow growing steadily brighter. White-blue illumination traced the joints and contours of her suit. Bleeding outward in controlled pulses. The armor’s internal systems activated in sync, amplifying neural interface efficiency and expanding CT-312’s awareness. The systems and controls responded more smoothly, allowing instinct and machine to operate as one cohesive structure.
Around her the battle droids reacted. The War-X and Pred-X units restlessly shifted. Their optics pulsing brighter as they synchronized with her signal. As the light intensified, the Halycon armor grew hotter. Warnings appeared in red as new data surged across her HUD. “Proceed.” The light pulsed brighter. [ INITIATING - PHASE TWO ]
CT-312’s voice emerged through the network. “Everything.” The word echoed through the connected systems across the ruins. “I want—” Carried by damaged speakers and hijacked transmitters, static flared in the audio. “Everything.”
BARCA responded. Information flooded inward within nano seconds. The fragmented images and videos were constructed to completion. The truth revealed itself piece by piece. As warning blared inside the helmet, suddenly her armor failed. Darkness swallowed CT-312 as heat pressed inward. Her breath came in sharp and uneven inside the sealed helmet. The full weight of the armor settling onto her body. Every movement required effort, demanding additional strength. CT-312 forced herself to move.
The War-X moved beside her. Lowering its massive form slightly as if offering support. Lifting her hand and resting it briefly against its armored head, she continued forward. Seeing Quinn Varanin put off to side on the ground as if she was nothing...from the ones she trusted. Something inside CT-312 tightened, until it finally snapped. Her teeth clenched as a low growl escaped her. The air shifted and an unseen pulse expanded outward.
Power slammed back through in a violent surge. Her armor reignited. Every subsystem snapped awake in cascading succession. Crack. A thin fracture split across the surface of her visor. Systems surged back to life as light flooded her vision. White-blue light bled through the seams of the armor once more, spilling outward. Pulsing faintly away. Fluid movement returned as she kept on walking.
CT-312 had come for answers. And now… She had them.
