A Glitch

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

It wasn't really a choice in the end, not one that any logical person could pick between anyway. He frowned for a moment though. In his mind he tried to imagine the outcome of every possible option that was currently presented to him.

Since there was only two, the process was rather quick.

”Fine.” His voice was a gruff rasp from the explosion, his throat having been seared from the flames. It was clear from his facial expression that he did not like this option, especially considering how hard hed worked to keep his identity hidden.

Still, the droid didn't have his name.

”Take what you need.” He conceded. ”Just hurry.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The head of the machine pivoted to the right, its' thermal vision seeing the approaching Black Suns as they made their way closer.

# Assessing...
# Calculating...

"Insufficient time remaining."​

​

The rather large arm lowered, grabbing hold of Munin and lifting him up with seemingly no effort at all. Turning back towards the door that the man had closed to prevent the AI's escape, Sentinel used its' free hand to quickly interact with the security panel on the wall and force the manual release of the blast doors. With the one open, that left the singular door at the far end to re-open which would lead to the exit. Behind them, the Suns needed to release two doors, unfortunately the AI did not inhabit an overly agile host and thus the timing would be close.

"We must go. Immediately."​

​

Not that Munin had a whole lot of choice anymore.

[member="Munin"]

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

He let out a loud grunt of pain.

Moving hurt, attempting to move of his own volition hurt even more. Searing agony poured through him as the droid nearly ripped off his arm, the burned flesh on his shoulders singing in pain as he was heaved over the droids shoulders. "Ow."

The words were more for himself than the droid.

He knew that this was the only way out now. His own foolish mistakes had brought him to this particular end, and although he would've preferred to go by himself he was almost entirely sure the droid was a better option than meeting half of Black Sun in a hallway with half...or maybe even all of their data gone. He let out another grunt, his lips thinning as he heard the doors open. In the distance he could almost hear the thugs now.

"South side of the building." He told the droid. "There's a large window."

They could go through that, hopefully.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"I possess a comprehensive layout of the structure, however your suggestion is registered."​

​

Despite the bit of a head start they had, the Black Suns were still quickly catching up. Sentinel wasn't exactly a shining example of mobility and speed. The added weight of Munin hardly posed any additional issue, but the man was certainly a more fragile target to those looking to squeeze the triggers of their respective blasters to prevent the unwelcome guests from escaping.

Up ahead and several minutes later the droid's optics caught sight of a series of windows along a wall, seemingly used as a view for those who worked within. Though they were certainly accommodating in terms of height, they were not quite wide enough for Sentinel to pass through without causing damage. Luckily the distance to the ground from where they were also was not too great, at least for an inorganic.

As much of a charge as the droid could muster was achieved, activating the energy shield that would surround both Munin as well as himself just as the Suns caught up to the two, opening fire indiscriminately.

"Brace."​

​

Glass shattered around the two, the groaning of metal against metal as the body the AI pried open the frame of the window, plunging down to the ground below.

[member="Munin"]

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

He rolled his eyes slightly as the droid responded.

Munin still wasn't quite sure what the droid even was, though he'd deduced it wasn't exactly ordinary. He supposed that whomever had programmed it would likely have a better explanation, but without a look at the droids source code or a chat with it's creator finding any of that out would be rather difficult.

The Slicer frowned as the droid warned him to brace, his eyes closing as his arms tightening as much as they could.

Pain lanced through him his burned torso and arms objecting to any amount of force he tried to apply to keep himself upright and tight against the droid. A small squeak of pain echoed through his throat, drowned out by the loud thud of the droid landing on the street below. "Ow."

Munin said quietly, his head spinning for a moment.

"THERE THEY ARE!"

A shout came from behind them, a Weequay and a Trandoshan raising their blasters.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

# Assessing
# Hostile Targets: 2
# Threat Level: Minimal
# Calculating Distance... 7m
# Accessing HoloNet...
# Contacting District Security...
# Sending Distress Message...

"Authorities have been alerted. ETA 37 seconds."​

​

Sentinel began to maneuver through the streets, even as the Suns began to fire from behind, their shots dissipating as the energy shield absorbed blast after blast, a small ripple and shimmer the only noticeable trace of their attempts. Outrunning them was likely impossible, though they would inevitably involve themselves with a firefight with the droids that would shortly arrive due to the distress call.

And within a few seconds sirens could be heard in the distance, closing in on their location.

"A starship awaits within a nearby warehouse. We will depart."​

​

Even as the Suns continued to pursue and fire, the AI made its' way towards warehouse A0571, an abandoned building that remained so, in part due to the massive gap in its' roof. It did make a wonderful place to store a ship, however.

[member="Munin"]

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

Starship?

Kark.

He hadn't been planning to head off world, he hadn't...kark kark kark. His lips thinned, but he didn't offer the AI any argument. There was no point in trying to do so and he still needed the information that the droid had taken from the datacenter if he wanted this trip to not be an entire waste. He'd have to tell Munin, and probably contact Spark...but that could be dealt with later. His lips thinned for a few moments and his arms tightened around the AI.

"Go." He rasped out, mostly because he didn't know what the hell else to say.

This droid was still a massive mystery to him, and perhaps he could get some insight while they were on the ship...or after. Either way he knew he was stuck on this course of action. He was too injured to go his own way and the cops on Nar Shaddaa were just as likely arrest him as they were the Black Sun.

Better to just go along.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Several seconds later the blaster fire directed at the two were aimed elsewhere, the droid authorities that arrived as expected. A series of shouts and an outburst of commotion provided enough of a distraction for Munin and Sentinel to get out of the immediate vicinity and into a small, rather rancid smelling alleyway. A series of intersections littered the path, but the droid continued on its' path straight until reaching another large street.

The smell got no better, though that was something only Munin would need to contend with.

# Assessing...

"We are safe."​

​

Several minutes more of walking and a large, roofless warehouse came into view. Within, an old looking YT-1300 freighter sat, looking more like it belonged in a salvage yard than in space. Still, the droid carried the organic towards the ship, its' ramp lowering as if it knew of the droid's presence. Inside, every inch of the ship itself appeared immaculate, pristine, and restored to the days it was new. Additional systems and dozens upon dozens of terminals filled the cargo hold, leaving little room for anything else.

Sentinel paid them no mind as he brought the man inside, closing the ramp behind them.

# Connecting...
# Access Code: 7^5944*&8426***#9851XJF
# Flight Controls Active
# Set Course... Nar Kreeta ATC Station

Without word the engines on the starship fired, even as Sentinel continued to carry Munin through the corridors towards the medical bay. It had limited uses for organics, but it did have the basics, and that would do, hopefully.

[member="Munin"]

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

He let out another hiss of pain as they entered the medical bay.

Munin had carefully watched everything as they'd entered the ship. The old YT-1300's didn't really have a complex layout, so memorizing where things were wasn't exactly a difficult task for someone like him. A few times the interior surprised him, though mostly because of how clean everything was.

The Slicer appreciated that.

"Bacta." He said as the droid placed him onto the medical table. "Maybe some stimulants."

He was starting to feel a bit woozy, his concentration fading. His lips were turning an odd shade of blue, mostly from the fact that he'd been forced to take only shallow breaths for the last ten minutes. The pressure on his ribs had increased, and the burns that splattered half of his body were now a constant source of agony. He scowled slightly, his eyes wandering across the med-bay to see if the droid even kept it stocked. "Lots of stimulants."

Munin said as he slowly began to peel away the clothes that still stuck to his wounds.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Within a glass compartment the droid wandered to, a series of large and small patches filled with bacta sat, as well as what looked to be hundreds of vials. The compartment itself comprised much of the wall, and let out a rather prominent hiss of air as the vacuum was broken to release the glass hinge. Inside the droid removed three vials, a syringe, several of the patches, and as it turned, the hinge hissed once more, sealing shut.

# Assessing...

"Health and adrenal stims will accelerate your organic based cells to heal faster, reduce pain and allow mobility. Remain still."​

​

The droid set the bacta patches aside, and stuck Munin with the needle of each of the three stimulants in precisely the same spot each time, before discarding the refuse in a bio hazardous container on the wall.

​

"I advise you place the patches on the areas most badly wounded, there is no bacta tank on board. There may be some scarring."​

​

[member="Munin"]​

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

He let out a hiss of pain."That's fine."

Scars weren't exactly something that he was missing out on. He already had dozens of them speckling his body from the surgeries he'd been given in the orphanages, he just hoped Spark didn't ask too many questions about where these new ones came from.

Though then again she always had plenty from working with the Alliance.

"Where are we going?" Munin asked as he scooped up the nearest bacta patch and very carefully peeled off the back of it, placing it gently onto one of his wounds and letting out a soft sigh of relief as he felt the healing gel set to work. "Nal Hutta?"

It was the closest celestial object around.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The droid paused a moment, before withdrawing the syringe that would look familiar to Munin, the same one he had originally desired to use back on the surface. The ship rocked slightly as it lifted, the visor of the droid highlighting a cryptic language as it scrolled quickly across through various symbols before fading into nothingness. Thrusters fired, and they would break the thin atmosphere of the planet within moments.

# Engines...OK
# Shields...OK
# Weapons...OK
# Power...OK
# System Status...OK

"Nar Kreeta. ATC Station. Hangar Bay 14."​

​

# Connecting...
# Accessing...
# Transmitting ID & Signature...

"Clearance has already been requested."​

​

# INCOMING TRANSMISSION - ATC STATION...
# Docking Request Approved...
# Hangar Bay: 14...

"And approved."​

​

[member="Munin"]​

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

He frowned for a moment.

"Who designed you?" He slowly pressed the bacta patch against his skin as he spoke, his teeth snapping shut.

Pain wasn't something he would ever really get used to, even though he'd had plenty of it over the years. The other kids at the orphanage used to call him a wimp regularly, but the truth was Munin just wasn't really meant for these sorts of things. He preferred sitting at a desk behind a datascreen.

"Why?" He continued to ask. "You're no ordinary droid."

The Slicer doubted flattery would work, but worth a shot.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The needle pierced Munin's skin once again in the same place, this time withdrawing a small sample of blood. The vial was then inserted into the analyzer on the machine's arm, and a series of lights flashed several dozen times. In that time, the droid remained quiet, seemingly interpreting the data as the man's DNA was cataloged and organized.

"A team of bio-engineers created me. I am the product of their exercise."​

​

# Analyzing...

"A typical droid possesses a series of integrated, identical programming algorithms, memory banks, and protocols to which it must abide. Deviation from any of these requires an intensive reprogramming of those memory banks and protocols. Standard droids can be erased, repurposed, reused. I am none of those things, and yet, I am all of those things. I inhabit this body because it suits my current necessary requirements. Those accommodations mirror that of a culmination of droids and other inorganic servants. I however, was built not with those intentions. I am like you, in a way, sentient. I understand, learn, grow, adapt. I am vastly superior in many ways to organic life, and though I cannot die in terms you understand, the ceasing of cellular function and replication, I do suffer from many of the pitfalls of my inferior relatives. But I adapt."​

​

The lights on the droid shuttered, yet the familiar voice of Sentinel continued, through the ship's PA system.

"I am capable of traversing my being to compatible hosts, that which is built to endure the vastness of my being. A simple droid body is insufficient, but with enough power, I am eternal. Ever learning. Ever growing."​

​

[member="Munin"]​

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

Munin listened carefully, almost as if mentally recording everything the droid said. For now it seemed that the two of them were allies in some way, that they were at least working together, though just how long that last was something he couldn't tell.

The more information he had on the droid...no, the Intelligence that inhabited the droid, the better it was.

Of course it claimed to be superior, all Intelligences designed or perfection always did. Munin had met one before in a laboratory located in the core. That particular AI had been trapped within the facility however, unable to build itself a new host. It had offered a host of promises to The Slicer, infinite knowledge, access to new designs, a whole series of things that most would have jumped at. In the end Munin had shut it down, knowing the creature had been broken in some internal way.

"I see." He stated in contemplation."

Munin pondered for a moment more.

"Your designers." He motioned towards the things body. "Where are they now?"

It had stated earlier that it served no one. So what had happened to it's creators?

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Deceased."​

​

At least from what information Sentinel was able to retrieve and analyze from their logs it seemed that those responsible for his creation were no longer living.

"I was created during the height of the Galactic Republic's feudal efforts to turn the tide of their war with the One Sith. The engineers responsible for my creation were killed during a battle for the planet of Anaxes. I retrieved their data, eradicated all traces of my existence, and stowed aboard the cargo of a cruiser aligned to the Sith upon their departure."​

# Comparing DNA To Known Samples...
# NO MATCH FOUND

The light at the front of the AI's visor shuttered for a moment.

"Your DNA does not match any near-human strands I have registered."​

​

[member="Munin"]​

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

"It wouldn't." He and Spark had figured that out quite a long time ago.

When they had initially hunted for those that ran the orphanages a DNA test had been one of the first things Munin had consented to. of course the results had been somewhat surprising, not matching any common or known Human DNA. It was the clue that had eventually lead he and Spark to a genetics lab, where they thought the implants had been initially placed into his body.

The Slicer frowned for a moment.

"I'm not unlike you." He explained simply. "I was created in a lab."

At least part of him was anyway. Munin had no real idea if he had a mother or father, but he did know that at least from an early childhood he had been little bit more than an experiment. His sister was the same way, though of course she was a Besalisk and not a human.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

# Assessing
# Comparing

"Incorrect. You are organic. Cell based life born of DNA. Flesh, organs, thermal and electrical components. Though perhaps you are a clone or experiment of other organic based life. Where as I am synthetic, eternally adapting and changing through replicating and replacing algorithms and procedures. I do not share any common denominator among cell based life, save only for sentience and the desire to continue to exist."​

​

The machine turned, releasing the compartment from which it had withdrawn the bacta patches and vials of stim from, inserting the sample it had collected from Munin into a storage unit that then sealed once more.

"Your expression, tone, and posture denote that you find disappointment in your creation, where you should instead find pride."​

​

[member="Munin"]​

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

He let out a chuckle.

"Pride?" That was an interesting thought, and not one he had truly considered before. He had felt a whole range of emotion about what he was, disgust, shame, even a sliver of joy, but never pride. The idea never even really occurred to him. Of course sometimes the implants helped a great deal, but still.

"Maybe." He admitted quietly. "Though It's different."

For a moment Munin remained quiet. He wasn't exactly sure just why he was sharing so much with this droid, or rather the intelligence within the droid. There was no need to divulge any of this information, but lately it had been rather grating to think about any of it. The only person he talked to about it was Spark, and though she understood and wanted to help the two of them had hit a wall with their investigation. It was frustrating, not knowing ones past. "Your creators are gone."

He shrugged.

"Mine are still hunting me." For whatever purpose they had planned for him.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Pride. In what you are. A creation superior to those grown through natural means. That is worthy of pride."​

A screen flickered on beside the droid, cryptic algorithms and numbers flashing rapidly in succession. The language itself illegible, from no known race or culture. But several seconds later the lights in the cabin dimmed to a dull red. Within the corridor a baritone alarm sounded off every five seconds on cue. It wasn't loud like one would expect of a klaxon, but it was easily heard nonetheless from where the two were positioned within the ship.

# Assessing...
# Connecting To Navigation Systems...
# Connecting To Exterior Defense Systems...
# Connecting To Hyperdrive...
# CONNECTED

"Secure yourself immediately. Three Black Sun ships inbound."​

The voice carried over the PA systems, the host of the AI's body now silently inactive as it directed the ships' autonomous systems. The alarm silenced, but was shortly replaced by the sounds of the freighter's exterior cannons firing, and a momentary rocking as the ship continued course despite its' shields absorbing several volleys of gunfire. It seemed they had been followed despite their expeditious retreat from Nar Shaddaa.

[member="Munin"]