Beast Hunt

[Xiarr Sair]

Xiarr sat quietly in the cantina, looking around on any possible job offerings. He didn't have much, and any job would be better than nothing. It seemed that here was nobody of interest, just the average smuggler or alcoholic. Xiarr decided that nothing would turn up by just sitting around in a bar, and he left the cantina. Yet again, it seemed there was nothing on the streets, perhaps he would find something closer to the spaceport? Xiarr then walked to the spaceport, and finally, he found some job opportunities, but they weren't very well paying. What was he doing on Tatooine? Nobody had any good jobs or coin on backwater worlds like Tatooine. Xiarr began to walk to the hangar where his ship was being held, maybe he would find a good paying job on his walk there before he left?

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],


Meanwhile,
Somewhere that was not Tatooine,


HK was sitting silently in a dark windowless room in meditative position, the lights of his eyes were gone as he tapped into the holonet, watching the webs of information tingle and shake throughout the Galaxy, new articles and research being published each second, news of countless tragedies around the universe, public messages and unguarded mail he could spy on, click-bait videos with seas of breasts and mountains of kittens. He watched the data and information swirl around in the great sea of Holonet and saw its patterns, comparing each word and number to what he already observed throughout the Galactic history, life was all circles afterwards and living long enough HK learned to trust ancient and forgotten prophecies, for he learned that fate and destiny were real.

Finally he found what he was looking for, a pattern that pointed him to where the Force could use him next, red light suddenly sparked up in the dark room as his eyes powered back up and he cut the connection from the Holonet,

Set the course for Tatooine, there will be a lost Jedi there.

Yessir.

He sent orders to his Greycloak companions, his own copies he kept around as bodyguards.



Above the clouds that swam lazily over the city where Xiarr was staying a dark shape sailed by, subtly disrupting the air and bending the light as HK's stealth transport, the Knight of the Eclipse, came closer to drop the machine off, pretty much literally, they had little need to actually land. If HK was in the right place at the right time again then he should be able to find his Jedi, and then whisk him away to a life of adventure and pretty much constant peril.

 

[Xiarr Sair]

As he walked back toward his ship, nothing turned up once more. Xiarr sighed, knowing he wouldn't last long if he didn't find anything soon. The plan was to get some rest and head for Coruscant where there were likely at least a few good job offerings, if not he would head for Nar Shadda, and if there was nothing there, it would go on until he finally found something, and he would search the entire galaxy for it if he had to, but fortunately for him the job came right to him. A dark shadow then soared over him, and Xiarr looked up to see what appeared to be some sort of ship, a stealth transport perhaps? It didn't appear to land anywhere, and Xiarr wondered what it was doing here. It seemed very unlikely that this was related to his current dilemma, but he would be a very fortunate man if that was so.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],


The ship seemingly disappeared into thin air as it passed beyond one of the clouds, concealing itself in its cloaking device as such was the purpose of a stealth transport, before it spiraled up into the upper atmosphere to wait until it was summoned once more by its master. Meanwhile, HK looked upon the direction of a ship he divined earlier from among a crows some distance away from the hangar, or he just happened to pick the right ship for the sake of the plot. Either way, the machine wrapped his black cloak around himself and pulled the hood down like a veil over his faceplate as the material warped and shimmered slightly, bending light until the machine phased out of the existence.

There was not much left to do but move in and introduce himself to his newfound Jedi target/friend.

 

[Xiarr Sair]

The ship passed beyond a cloud, and then it disappeared into the abyss. Xiarr looked back down in front of him and moved on toward his ship. He then heard a loud bang and the sound of some sort of metal, he looked behind him to see nothing. He simply thought his mind was playing tricks on him and moved on. But as he moved on he could hear the sound once more, and again, and again. Xiarr looked around, once again seeing nothing. At this point, he knew something was following him. He stopped in his tracks, putting his hands on his lightsaber. "Either I'm insane, or somebody is following me, if so, please do show yourself!"

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],


Well the lightsaber would tell HK that the being was the one he was looking for, but such weapons stopped phasing him after the whole being forged entirely out of Phrik bit, either way wherever the noise came from it wasn't HK, by now the machine knew how to use his sound dampeners efficiently to move silently and distribute the pressure of his body to leave no footprints, must have been one of those ship noises ships make from time to time just by virtue of being a ship.

Even if it was HK the machine would not reveal himself so easily, at least not when he was contemplating how to do so to maximize on his theatrical output! Perhaps he will speak solely in rhymes this time, or better yet begin with a musical number and use his technology to put up some sort of an enchanting laser light show, or he could just levitate a chair or something.

Either way, there was nothing but silence to respond to Xiarr right now.

 

[Xiarr Sair]

Nothing. Nothing but ear-ringing silence. Xiarr thought he was really going crazy. Xiarr then continued to walk down the seemingly endless convenient hallway. As he continued to walk, the strange sound stopped, hopefully for good. Maybe he finally snapped out of it now that he yelled, waking himself up. His ship wasn't far now, and he could see his hangar in the distance. He thought that he was just tired, and had been pushing himself too far, and needed some rest. It was late now, around a few hours after he sat in the cantina. There was nobody in sight, not even the common scum you'd find in a backwater spaceport. Finally, he set foot in his hanger, ready to get some much-needed rest for the coming day.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],

Unfortunately, Xiarr's worries would soon enough be realized as the next time he crossed over a threshold of an automatic door,

"Weeeeeeeeell,"

The machine suddenly phased into existence in front of the man as he uncloaked himself, beginning his musical number,

"When the twin suns hang over your head and you have nobody so you are about to go to bed, that is some prime time for the adventure to whisk you awaaaaaaaaay."

The machine did jazz hands as suddenly sparks shot out from his palms into the air,

"I was sent here by the Force but I am no Sith, so I will not slaughter you without remorse, there is no need to be afraaaaaaaaaaaaid."

Xiarr would be free to step in at any moment there,

"Although I may look like a witch, I am here to guide you, so do not be a b*tch, and join me for the greatest adventure of your lifeeeeeeeeeeeee."

Otherwise if the Jedi would restraint himself from stopping the droid it would go on for few more verses that would tell Xiarr that the machine somehow could, or at least he thought he did, listen to the Force, came from the Core, and it would be pretty clear he was a monster hunter since the big finale was him going,

"Let us go monster hunting, yes!"

As he managed to set a portion of the corridor ablaze temporarily by breathing out fire at the metal ceiling.

 

[Xiarr Sair]

Xiarr walked into the hanger, looking up at his Republic Corvette, but suddenly his view was interrupted by something decloaking in front of him. When it decloaked Xiarr could make out its features, it looked to be an HK droid, but then his thoughts were interrupted to the first and likely the only musical number he would hear in his travels.

Xiarr didn't say a word as it went on, even thought the droid likely wanted him to join in. At the end, the droid breathed fire at the ceiling as little spectacle, although a very illegal spectacle. Also, the droid had asked him to go monster hunting, and beast hunts usually pay well, and he didn't see why he shouldn't join. "Okay, but what monster are we hunting exactly?" He asked the droid.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],

"Oh you are taking this way better than I thought you would."

HK lowered down his arms, snapping his fingers as he activated his grav gloves and instantly by use of fancy gravitational anomalies the flames above them were snuffed out,

"Any and all that we will come across when protecting this Galaxy. Have you ever heard of Starweirds?"

Of course it would just happen that some of those hunts would coincide with large bounties being placed for rather dangerous creatures out there, but HK would leave that part out for now. He would probably share the rewards with Xiarr though. Probably.

Either way, the droid literally owned multiple planets so he could pay Xiarr off any amount of credits.

"Because there has been one especially vicious one spotted bothering travelers taking Rimma Trade Route hyperlane between Vandelheim and Yag'Dhul, it would be good place to start things off, plus merchants would pay pretty penny keeping their hyperlanes safe."

 

[Xiarr Sair]

The droid then extinguished the fire he had made earlier after making a remark that he was surprised by Xiarr's mood toward the spectacle. Xiarr was surprised himself, not every day do you see a droid performing for you trying to recruit for a monster, or maybe that was too oddly specific to ever happen more than once. The droid then asked him if he had heard of Starweirds. Admittedly he didn't know too much about them, as he hadn't seen one since he was an apprentice, but he did remember that they somehow managed to survive and live in space. "Yes, their habitat is space correct? I haven't seen one for quite some time." After the droid told him about the location of this vicious Starweird, he nodded his head in agreeance.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],

The droid nodded,

"Yes, deep space and hyperspace, no one really knows what they are, some say just another strange space-borne species, others claim they are the true inhabitants of the hyperspace or some other dimension pissed off at us for crossing over too often, some Jedi and mystics say they are pure manifestations of the dark side, or wandering spirits of Sith and pirates who died in a naval engagement."

HK shrugged,

"They were around when I was first forged, millenniums ago, they are incorporeal, and they seem to target Force users in particular."

The droid then pointed at Xiarr doing finger-pistols,

"Which works out great because if what the rumors say is right, Old Pale Shadow we are tracking should go out of his way to pop on your ship when we will cross into his territory, and when he does most of his attacks should be useless against me."

 

[Xiarr Sair]

It took Xiarr a second to realize that after the droid had explained his plan that Xiarr was just being used as bait against the Starweird. "So in other words, I'm just being used as bait for the creature? Do tell me I have a bigger role other than that." If he was going to partake in a hunt, he wouldn't want to be used as bait. Then again, it seemed like this odd partnership wouldn't last for just one hunt, and this would be the first of many. "Also, do you plan for our partnership to last just for one hunt, or for many more to come? As this hunt seems to be not very... exciting."

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],

"Hey, we all have to be bait sometimes, now it is a Starweird, but who knows, maybe one day we will have to face a particularly nasty Rust Mite or some such and the roles will be reversed, besides small beginnings, humility, and all that. But yes, you will have a bigger role than that, as incorporeal beings there is also a limit to how much I can do against it, I may not even be able to see it half the time, you will be able to fight back with the Force however."

The droid explained,

"But I do have a plan on how we could trap it, all it would take would be to lure the creature into a room where we could encase it in force fields and then proceed to cut it from the Force, and I just happen to have means of doing something like that, of course we could always just kill it, but taking the beast alive would give us an actual mean of learning more about them, which has not been really done more or less ever, outside of rumors and hear-say."

HK motioned a little square in the air as he talked about the room to trap it in,

"And yes, I do have more than that planned, there is a whole list of creatures and sightings to investigate, rumors of Withering Shades in the Catacombs on Abregado, sightings of the Deep Ones in Unknown Regions, a housing district on Coruscant with tenants mysteriously disappearing, terentateks. Although your definition of exciting seems to be a little off since Starweirds are some of the most elusive and dangerous creatures in the Galaxy."

The droid waved that thought away,

"But do not worry the plan will probably, as usual, just go to chaos and we would be forced to panic and improvise."

 

[Xiarr Sair]

Xiarr had to agree to trap the Starweird instead of just simply killing it. As the droid said, people knew close to nothing about the creatures for various different reasons. Xiarr had never heard of any of the beasts the droid had listed if they even were beasts, to begin with. For all he knew they could be hunting a group of cultists later on. Either way, a job is a job. Xiarr also had to chuckle at the droids last statement, it was true 80% of the time. Either something in the plan went wrong, someone else comes along and ruins everything, or everyone just abandons the plan entirely and part ways. At this point, most of his questions had been answered, all except for one: "This might sound a bit greedy, but how much will I get paid for the hunt? We should also get moving soon, as you never know if someone else will swoop in and take the bounty for themselves."

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],

HK waved that question off,

"Kid it may be difficult to believe, but I own multiple planets, got a kingdom in the Core of my own and few colonies here and there, I actually lost track of how many, I should probably get on top of that when I get some time."

The machine pondered a bit, there may have been already some long lost Abregado colony full of crazy droid hermits,

"Besides, I am a sort of war profiteer, so I profit pretty much all the time nowadays, money will not be an issue, if you would need food or equipment or anything like that, I can just fund it for you."

 

[Xiarr Sair]

"Right right, shouldn't have asked that." A droid ruling a kingdom in the core, and with colonies? Yet another thing you don't see every day, either that or Xiarr was very up to date with some of the major ongoings in the galaxy, probably the latter.

Anyways, Xiarr had all of his questions answered for now, and there was really no point in standing around in the same spot all day. "Well we should get going now, that is unless you have something else you would like to discuss before we head off. If not, we will split up and meet at the rendezvous point." Hopefully, the hunt can finally begin.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],

"Yeah you might see some strange things out there that involve me, and I am not talking just about Sith spirits and possible Elder God sightings, sometimes the less questions you ask the better, like for example 'What are MRE's made from?' you do not really want to know."

The MRE's were blocks of foodstuff Abregado cheaply manufactured in large numbers to relief starving populations, some say there was a connection between them and the low populations in Abregado prisons, that was probably just a rumor though. Probably.

"And you are right about getting out of here, Tatooine is usually when chit hits the fan, the sooner we are out of here the better. I was thinking we can take your ship, since it would be bigger than what I could bring in right away, plus inconspicuous enough to pass as a merchant or Jedi vessel. As bloodthirsty as Spaceweirds are, they are also rather intelligent, plus on the way there we can start preparing a chamber or room on the ship to be the trap."

 

[Xiarr Sair]

MRE's? It sounded like some sort of medical device, or maybe some weird version of soylent green, either way, it was probably best to not question it at all.

It seemed that the droid wanted to take Xiarr's ship due to its size and it being of Republic origin. Xiarr had no objections to it, and he couldn't really disagree seeing as he hadn't ever seen the droids own ship decloaked. The rooms in the ship should be able to hold a Starweird, but nothing was certain because nobody really knew what they fed on if they even had a diet anyway. "Alright, we'll take my ship then, it's a bit old but it should do the trick."

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Xiarr Sair"],

HK nodded,

"Alright, sounds good, lead the way, do you have any crew members or is it just you?"

The droid motioned for Xiarr to hurry up and get a move on, he would not want to linger too long in neutral space,

"The first place we should go to is Sullust, I have some resources there and it is nearby to the affected route, my associates can rendezvous with us there and bring the equipment we would need for final steps of the trap."

HK was curious to see what Xiarr's ship exactly looked like, pretty much the only thing he knew about it was that it was an old Republic make, probably few of them still sailing about.