Daemons with the faces of Angels (Maelion/Project Uriel)

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"], [member="Project Uriel"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"]



The Lightbringer, the vessel through which Archangel spread the message of the Age of Steel, shot through the blue shimmering tunnel of hyperspace with great speed as space unfolded before it, pushing its engines for all it was worth. The fruit of relentless machine drive and the cooperation of willing and unknowing organic allies, the stygium array, coupled with the finest engine emission controls available meant the ship was invisible to almost every observer. This was an attribute that would certainly be needed on this task, for stealth would be essential for the operation the Metal Princesses planned to pursue. The destination of this voyage was Onderon. Once a minor kingdom of Sith Lords on the edge of civilised space, now it was the capital of the Republic after it had been driven from the Core Worlds by the One Sith onslaught. To be more precise, the destination was not Onderon itself but Dxun, known as the Demon Moon, an orb stepped in bloodshed, broken dreams and covered by a jungle populated by wild beasts.



Once upon a time, a good while before the cataclysm the mad goddess Akala unleashed upon the Galaxy, Moira and Maelion, partners in crime and zealots in pursuit of an age of machines, had visited the moon before, seeking a piece of the famed Taurannik Codex inside the tomb of Freedon Nadd, leaving corpses in their wake. Now once again they were here to salvage what past eras had left behind. Almost a millennia ago the Galactic Empire had pursued a project codenamed Shadow Droid. Inspired by the entechment technology utilised by the Ssi-Ruuv xenos, Palpatine's best scientists had created a starfighter that blurred the line between organic and machine.


The Shadow Droid had been piloted not by an organic pilot or a controlled by a droid mind, but by surgically implanted organic brains. Umak Leth had, much to his master's displeasure, failed to replicate entechment and thus fallen back upon the proven success of a direct circuit-to-cerebrum neural link. The still-living grey matter of grievously wounded TIE pilots had been harvested and hardwired to the ship, turned into cybernetic hardware and endowing the pilots with reflexes and efficiency far beyond the human norm. Likewise, Palpatine had endowed them with the gift of the Force. In their day and age the Shadow Droids had been devastating, and had been deployed during the battle of Onderon, though in the end the Empire had fallen when their master was pulled into the netherworld.


Intelligence uncovered during Atrisia's collapse indicated that a Shadow Droid might still be buried deep in the muddy ground of Dxun, something worth salvaging and improving upon. It was a moon littered with the detritus of wars upon wars, populated by dangerous beasts and undoubtedly others would be attracted to it to plunder as well...but that would not stop genocidal death machines. And unlike Palpatine, they had not just harnessed entechment but gone beyond its creators had done.


Moira Skaldi stood upon the bridge of the Lightbringer as she studied datapads containing intelligence, absorbing the data at rapid speed. All around her there was activity, but rather than frentic it was orderly and precise as the crewers went about their duties. Then again, this was to be expected because every single one of them was a droid. So many projects absorbed her time. The chaos caused by the netherworld crisis had been good for Archangel, though it had not lasted long enough for her tastes. Still, they had acquired cortosis on Bespin and dealt Firemane a blow in the process, acquired murakamid orchid on Shri-Taal, made a phrik contract with the Protectorate and she had acquired a DNA sample of [member="Coryth Elaris"]. Once the clone was created she would be...magnificient. As was common in operations like this she was not wearing her 'true face', but rather had changed appearances since for HRDs that was easy as choosing a different pair of clothes. Nothing could be allowed to hint at Archangel's involvement, for to all outward appearances it was a respectable company that in the past had enjoyed cordial ties with the Republic and still did.

 

[Project Uriel]

Lightbringers Cargo Control. Stasis Bay 7. Uriel Model. Test Drone U-1.1
Scanning primary systems since system reboot…..

New memory core integrated, chassis standard prototype, systems reading green. Motion controls online…. Standby… Standby… Testing new sub routines. Error… system startup failure, mission parameters missing, rerouting control to backup routine. She had no backup routine, and so for about five minutes remained silent. A droid expecting her to stand up, pulled open the panel on her holding tank, and began to reprogram something very basic into Uriel, a fall back, Seek Commands.

Uriel’s head jerked up, her blues eyes becoming natural as they focused into place.
Primary Mission: Seek Commands (Backup Routine)
Secondary Missions: Unknown.
Primary Directive: Test Uriel Unit.
Secondary Directives: None.

Uriel being not yet programmed in anything except basic sequences, was slow to get out of her pod, but eventually the testing drone worked her way free, pulling the door aside and finding the nearest comm-panel. “Awaiting Directives.” Uriel eventually said, still not identifying herself or having a programmed marker to call herself by. A binary voice would bleep back to her something faster than a human would ever be able to, as she downloaded the mission schematics, but her place within it was not yet recognized. Uriel being the simple machine she was currently, only responded to simple commands, till she had developed further neural pathways.

“Awaiting Directives.” She said again, seemingly caught in a loop, finding a new word useful, "for Uriel Unit 1.1." Hardly a recognition of individualism but still there was a small marker there for the future, a blip of recognition that she was an individual unit needing further input.

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

Spoiler

Anything about her can be reprogrammed so feel free!

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"]


Her boots made little noise upon the floor when Callisto made her way to the cargo control of the Lightbringer. Everything about her seemed immaculate, pictureperfect. As happened so often, in this case appearances could be deceiving, for as with Moira she was a death machine. Once upon a time she had been human and a case could be made for the idea that in some ways she was more human than Moira. For through the power of entechment her organic essence lived on in her durasteel body. Of course, it was a droid mind that guided her actions, but...she remembered being human. That said, this did not change the parametres for her mission. She had been briefed upon the mission, hostile contact was expected, though the prospect of murder did not bother her. Especially since it might lead to the deaths of Republicans and Jedi.


The door opened with a hiss and the redhead stepped through, taking in the scenery as she focused upon the Test Drone. That was what Uriel was at this stage, a drone, with little to no individuality and only equipped with basic directives. In other words, a simple killing machine, if one were to be unkindly. However, this would change. In a twisted sort of sense, she was sort of like a younger sister to the redhead. She would receive enlightenment.


"Uriel, I am Callisto Scarlett. Standbye for upgrade and upload of directives. You are aboard the Lightbringer, Archangel. All units aboard this vessel are designated friendly. We are heading towards Dxun to uncover an ancient piece of technology designated 'Shadow Droid'. Upload of protocols commencing."


At that Uriel would suddenly be receiving a stream of information as Callisto opened up a channel of purely electronic communication. The upload would commence step by step to give the drone time to adjust. Though HRDs could absorb massive amounts of information, it was still best not to strain them too much. Even a super computer can only absorb so much and this one was still fairly basic. Uriel would receive basic information about the Demon Moon, dangerous predators and about the tactics used by force-users since they could not rule out encountering them. Among other things, this meant she would know important details such as Force lightning being bad for her because it could overload her circuits and blow her up. She would also learn that firing at force-users with a bolter was efficient because the bolts exploded on impact. Likewise that Forcebreaker grenades were useful because the gas interfered with the forcers' bizarre powers.


"Mission parametres are to secure the device, terminate hostile that interfere and protect the Progenitor Units designated Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates. Your eyes will require an upgrade to function more effectively. We shall perform the necessary operation to install night and heat vision." The droid who had given Uriel basic directives earlier would receive a ping to help in making the necessary modifications.

 

[Project Uriel]

“Standby…. Standby…” The stream of new information would have been sorted naturally by a human mind and largely the huge process that went into filtering would have been done without a person even knowing, but to a machine it was all 1’s and 0’s, in Uriel’s case 1’s to 9’s in horizontal math but the result was still a lot of processing.

“All lightbringer units aboard re-targeted to friendly. A directive or a mission parameter?” The Uriel unit asked, which would either define its core function from here on out, or just the mission it had now.

Eyes blinked as the new information was integrated, if Callisto was more human-like, Uriel was the opposite as the condition called humanity was not yet known to her. Her body shuddered as the download completed.

“Processing… force users considered threat to archangel, termination required for success of mission parameters advised.” Her first thought? Yes you could call it that, her first independent thought about the nature of missions and her new update about force users, all of them. “Bolter required.” Not exactly a please and thank you, but then she wasn’t built for it, not yet anyway!

Shutting down her sensitivity systems, the droid prepared for her upgrade, clipping herself to the wall, slowly being fitted with heat sensitive vision, would make her a lot more deadly when it came to night fighting. The process was fairly simple, because she was just a basic unit at this stage, sliding away a panel on her face and refitting her eyes.

Testing heat vision, she scanned Callisto not sensing much but the subtle power signatures all droids had, “Error… uriel unit requires living organism for testing, awaiting additional commands.” She could not complete her upgrade yet until the nightvision had found something to seek out, and so defaulted to her primary backup directive which was to seek commands.

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"]


"Directive," Callisto clarified for her sister unit. "Preservation of Archangel and protection of Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates is a permanent imperative." She gave Uriel a nod when the drone formulated what could be considered her first independent thought! There was no please and thank you, but then they were death machines, not organics who wasted time with that sort of thing. "Indeed. You will be outfitted with a bolter once the mission starts. Keep the minimum range in mind when using explosive bolts."


And so a brief moment passed when the drone was upgraded with heat vision, a simple process that merely required briefly sliding a panel away from her face and upgrading her eyes. First test started, then there was obviously an error warning and Uriel defaulted back to her primary backup directive, still seeking commands. For she was but a drone at this stage, still in need of guidance. But that would change in time. Callisto would seeo that. Enlightenment will be received, she thought to herself, but did not say that.


Rather she gave a droid standing guard a nod and the door to the cargo area was opened. A cuffed and shackled Zabrak was led into the room. Presumably this unfortunate fellow was a prisoner who had been captured on one of Archangel's slave raids to acquire new test subjects and materiel to process. The overriding imperative of Archangel was to exterminate all organic life forms or turn them into machines, which would, if carried out to the fullest, result in them being wiped out. In any case, this should provide Uriel with a living organism to test her heat vision out on. "Test out your upgrade on the organic. Do not kill him."

 

[Project Uriel]

Her vision attempted to compensate for her first nonstandard upgrade “Command accepted. Writing new directive.” The HRD's eyes would flicker half red, half blue at first, before being tested. The sight of whirring metal, to an organic, might give her an unnerving unsettled color to her eyes.

Accessing Uriel Unit Command Matrix:

Primary Mission: Secure the device, terminate hostile that interfere and protect the Progenitor Units designated Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates
Secondary Missions: Unknown.
Primary Directive: Test Uriel Unit.
Secondary Directives: Preservation of Archangel and protection of Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates is a permanent imperative.

There was some flickering from the U-1.2 model, her temperature range needed aligning, so uriel approached the man and pushed her hand out, grabbing his arm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiM9dy-UI9E
Heat vision.

No smile given, no personable approach, just robotic movements. Obviously her zabrak subject tried to pull and remove his arm, but had no luck, the metal grip was unmoving it didn’t tighten or loosen in the slightest. Studying his hand, and with flicks of her head, the rest of his body. If you were anything but a HRD you might be concerned for the man’s safety, but given a command, the control was very much a mechanical holding response. The only minor damage being down was the tensing or moving of the muscle beneath her metal hand to try and free itself.

“Vision upgrade successfully installed, Uriel 1.2 is ready for deployment.” She still had hold of the man's arm, not thinking to release it.

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"]


"Satisfactory. Return to normal vision and release the organic. He will be upgraded," Callisto said enigmatically. The poor, unfortunate Zabrak was currently doing his best not to squirm in the iron grip of a death machine.


While Uriel had enough control and clearly knew her strength, it did not make the experience of being held in her grasp any less unnerving. Especially since a mere command would suffice and he would get his arm broken or ripped off entirely. "Upgraded...w-what do you mean," she stammered, fearfully.


As a response he got a blank, indifferent look from Callisto. "You will be liberated from your organic deficencies and find an actual purpose in your existence."


"Y-you're sick!" the poor fellow cried out, then tried to futilely struggle in Uriel's iron grasp when suddenly Callisto produced a syringe. But whatever effort he might put up was futile and the redhead jabbed the syringe into his neck. Within moments the sedative had taken effect and he suddenly became a lot more docile.


"No, just efficient," Callisto said in a very deadpan tone because apparently even 'dispassionate, emotionless' death machines could not escape the allure of corny one-liners. She gave a nod to one of the droids and so the Zabrak would be led out of the cargo room. His destination would ultimately be the processing chamber. Meanwhile the Lightbringer had left hyperspace with barely a ripple and now was slowly moving towards Dxun, though it would keep a respectable distance from the Demon Moon.


There was a jolt inside Callisto and her hand unsconsciously went to her ear when she received a transmission. A strangely organic tick, one might say. "We have arrived in the Onderon system. Our mission is about to begin. Uriel, come with me. I will provide you with equipment," she said softly and then turned on her heels, her boots making little noise on the ground as she headed out. She would be leading Uriel down a long, sterile corridor before she reached the armoury. Tapping in a few commands into a console, she opened the door to reveal...a chamber packed with guns...lots of guns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y70vcs3oV14​

​

So many death dealers that would make the praetorian guard of a tin pot dictator green with envy. Callisto wasted no time and quickly picked up an MK1 bolter along with appropriate ammunition, which she handed to Uriel along with a heavy blaster pistol and a vibrosword. Then she indicated a suit of ultrachrome stormtrooper armour. Way back in the day Moira had acquired several suits during an raid performed by the old Rebel Alliance against a Sith base when the Empire was falling apart under the hammerblows of Halcyon's crusade. Aside from the fact that the armour offered excellent protective qualities, especially against Force-users, it would also be useful to draw attention away from Archangel. "Put this on."

 

[Project Uriel]

Sick… running translation subroutine

1. affected by physical or mental illness, "nursing very sick children", relating to those who are ill, "the company organized a sick fund for its workers"
2. (of an organization, system, or society) suffering from serious problems, "the economy remains sick"
3. feeling nauseous and wanting to vomit, "he was starting to feel sick"

Response: Diagnose problem.
Method: Query self and other HRD
Running internal diagnostic… pending…. pending….

“Uriel unit 1.2 is not sick.” She stated to both, “being well is efficient?” The HRD was momentarily confused, not in the sense she stopped following, her programmed mission and directives were paramount, but model U-1.2 was curious.

Keeping exact time with the other HRD, they walked at almost the exact same intervals, hers just slightly behind as she’d started a half second later than Callisto. The chamber was large, and had a big selection, that was all the practical information she could glean. Uriel was processing the bolters for their potential to see if there were any minor differences, the armor was soon changed into without standing on ceremony, because she was at present walking around naked, robotic modesty not exactly high on her list of directives!

The sword was attached to the armor, and the bolter carried in both hands, gripped firmly to her stomach, she checked the weapon over, loading its ammunition and readying it to be certain.

“Chance of mission success has increased by a factor of two,” that was about the closest you’d get to a shout of excitement, but there it was all the same.

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"]


Callisto allowed herself a thin smile, which did not reach her eyes though. It never did. Still it was a very human reaction to Uriel. How much of the redhead was still human? That was still a question yet to be solved. "Yes, being well is efficient," she finally responded after the drone had equipped herself. "It is one of the reasons we are superior to organic life forms. Sickness, old age and disease kill them, in the event that violence does not. Their weapons can hurt us, but our bodies are more durable, though we are vulnerable to electricity. The only advantage they have over us is the power they call the 'Force' and eventually even this will be nullified." There, a nice lesson from big sister Callisto! Death machines bonding was such a sweet thing.


Then she likewise equipped herself with weaponry appropriate for the mission. Like Uriel she took an MK1 bolter along with all ammo types. Aside from that she took a vibrosword, a shatter gun and a portable flamerthrower that she could attach to her thigh.


"We shall be heading to Dxun now," she said calmly...emotionlessly. Through the sterile corridors she would lead the drone into the hangar bay of the ship. A few droid fighters could be seen, though Callisto would pay them no mind as she strode towards a small, basic freighter. Her steps were slightly less mechanical and rigid than those of the average HRD and had more bounce in them, but they were still precise. Aboard the transport one would find two other HRDs, minions presumably, waiting for them. There were no greetings, no 'how are you doing today' or anything of that sort, for machines had no need of this.


Within a few moments the small transport had taken off and shot out of the belly of the cloaked ship, heading towards Dxun. The Lightbringer was thousands of kilometres away from Dxun and thus would be far out of sensor range even if it was not fully cloaked. Their source indicated that the Shadow Droid should have crashed close to the abandoned Mandalorian base, though its exact location still had to be pinpointed, hence why they could not land there directly. They would land as close as possible and make they way to it. Once they had found the device their ship would receive a signal and pick it up.


Dxun was a world shattered and broken lives. For thousands of years it had been the grave of untold people, too numerous for anyone to count. Here Revan had fought the Mandalorians in a vicious battle, ironically beginning his own fall into darkness. Here the reborn Palpatine had unleashed his war machines upon the New Republic. Here a few years ago Jedi had fought a home-grown darkside cult when Onderon was drawn into the orbit of the Republic. The blood mixing with the mud as the Dark Side made it one of its homes. As they came in to land on Dxun one could still see the scars of ancient battles. A canyon here, a series of craters there, all the work of long since lost souls, in a dense rainforest populated by ferocious beasts.

 

[Project Uriel]

Subroutine written, well is efficient. Uriel Model 1.2 was writing subroutines as quickly as Callisto was giving her feedback. “Organics are inefficient, suggest termination on contact.” Her programming didn’t yet have the full firemane directive that all organics needed killing, probably a good thing else she’d systematically do so rather than complete her mission.

Command given she walked behind her counterpart, her steps seemed to contain bounce, which Uriel regarded as either a malfunction or an improvement over her speed, so tried to mimic but didn't find her bouncing very efficient.

Uriel had her own form of greeting. Their machine counterparts were regarded for flaws, in actuality they looked more of a polished design than the testing prototype Uriel was, she didn’t feel envy, but she did see the need to upgrade herself.

Boarding the transport with them, the last three units all moved exactly at the same time, running the same program, and acting in the same way. Sitting there motionless as the transport headed away, she was running diagnostic holding routines for her program, a standby mode. Then a reoccurring error message popped up, a glitch in her software?

“Additional information on mission requested, what is the primary purpose for the shadow droid?” Backchat from Uriel? Maybe if you were a HRD it might seem that way, because she was requiring additional input, but she was developing the use of her more subtle cognitive pathways regarding missions. The hardware she’d need to be intelligent was there, but the software was still catching up, self-learning as it was.

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"]


Callisto tilted her head to the side slightly as Uriel spoke up. "It is a superior starfighter piloted by a surgically implanted organic brain. Being turned into cybernetic hardware grants the pilot superior reflexes and abilities beyond the pitiful organic norm. We have the technology to improve upon the design and thus recycle organic minds," the redhead said blandly as the ship landed upon the muddy ground of Dxun.


As usual it was very cloudy in the sky and raining a great deal, which had the result of making the ground even muddier. A communications channel was opened. "Directive: Do not speak about Archangel projects with individuals that do not belong to the Company. Shadow Droid information has Seraph classification." So many new directives within less than an hour! Callisto had deliberately not mentioned the fact that, unlike Palpatine's research, Archangel had not only been able to duplicate entechment technology after having acquired it through a deal with the late Rave Merrill, but even surpassed it, which meant they should be able to make the Shadow Droid far more efficient.


Talk time was at an end as the droids began to make their way through the dense rainforest. The journey was not easy. HRDs gained their great toughness and strength primarily from their metal bodies, and this caused a great deal of weight. Thus, on the unpaved tracks and wilderness of Dxun they would frequently become bogged down and forced to go around obstacles. Rain would sheet down their armour and drench them, whilst mud splattered their boots.


It did not take long for the wild life of Dxun to take an interest in our Metal Princesses. Obviously since they had just started their quest the most dangerous predators would not appear yet. Hisses and screeches could be heard, and then suddenly a horde of cannocks charged towards them from all sides. This was quite amusing because the beasts would probably find that the droids were not very edible. Callisto dispassionately brought up her bolter and fired. The powerful gun roared when it expelled buckshot shells, with the other two HRD minions with her following suit, each of them covering one side. BAAG BAANG BAANG Soon there would be plenty of dead beasts lying around. One managed to jump at Callisto from behind and bite into her gauntlet but she simply bashed its skull with her bolter, then grabbed another beast coming at her from the side and snapped its neck.

 

[Project Uriel]

“Recycling organic minds is efficient?” The HRD asked updating her programming, one thing to notice about Uriel is she never once blinked, she had no program to blink, observing and taking in data at all times, blinking deprived her of a split second's visual data.

Another directive given, she stared ahead, her CPU screen flashed across her eyes, the micro-core unit updating itself in the large flash memory, to permanently write these directives into her hardware.

Accessing Uriel Unit Command Matrix:

Primary Mission: Secure the device, terminate hostile that interfere and protect the Progenitor Units designated Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates
Secondary Missions: Unknown.
Primary Directive: Test Uriel Unit.
Secondary Directives:

1. Preservation of Archangel and protection of Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates is a permanent imperative.
2. Do not speak about Archangel projects with individuals that do not belong to the Company. Shadow Droid information has Seraph classification

“Directive update complete, Uriel 1.2’s hardware ready.” As personable as ever! The young prototype unit was gaining a core ‘brain’ of sorts to live by with each new directive. She almost did another version jump to 1.3 but there was not sufficient data recognition achieved yet to warrant it.

Alongside the HRD’s Uriel trekked through the mud, finding her heavy footing increasingly hard to judge, “the terrain is inefficient.” Uriel commented, getting her foot stuck, and pulling a huge lump of mud with her in her next footstep.

Uriel tracked the cannok not yet recognizing them, her targeting software analyzed their approach. She hadn’t levelled her bolter to fire, not until the others did, adding her weapons shelling to their own, mud splattering everywhere amid bodyparts. In what might be an amusing scene to watch, one of the small creatures had bit its teeth down on her armor arm, and she shook it about, but the thing wasn’t budging.

Watching the beast she took one hand and pulled its leg, caused a scraping sound against her armor as its claws and teeth dragged against the metal. Its claws seemed fearsome, but the leg wasn’t, and she ended up with half a cannok attached to her arm curiously, the other half discarded.

“Classification?” Uriel asked Callisto, studying what was left of the imbedded beast.

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"]


"Cannocks. Predators indigenous to Dxun. Eat anything that fits into their mouth. Negligible danger," Callisto said by way of explanation because apparently she was in older robot sister mode today. Without any visible effort she pulled off the cannock half that was still attached to Uriel's arm. However, there was no respite for our Metal Princesses as soon once again beasts came surging towards them. It seemed that the wild life of Dxun had decided to make them their favourite target. This was quite ironic when one considered the fact that in all likelihood the droids would not make a particularly appetising meal. Or perhaps the aggression of the beasts was due to the influence of the dark energies radiating from the tomb of Freedon Nadd, an epicentre of darkness upon the moon. Sith magic did all sorts of bizarre things, after all.


A long time ago Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates had visited the tomb and faced its dangers in search of a piece of the Taurannik Codex. But that was not relevant now. A boma cried out in pain and was torn apart when one of the HRDs introduced it to the explosive qualities of a boltgun, with limbs and innards being strewn across the mud-covered ground. Attacked from various sides the HRDs split up to cover their angles. As beasts came from the flanks and even leapt from the trees the flat crack of bolters resounded across the jungle.


Callisto had rid herself of a boma by taking off its head with a powerful swipe of her vibrosword, when suddenly a massive, feline creature dropped down from the tree above her. Its mouth was full of sharp teeth and its eyes a luminous green, whilst its fur was a metallic grey coat flecked with tiny bronze plates. Sharp spikes protruded out of its back, its four legs were thick, muscled and clawed, whilst its sported a long, serpentine that carried spikes dripping with venomous poison...of course that part would be useless since HRDs could not get sick.


Having been distracted Callisto was too late to react and found herself buried under the large feline. Cruelly and aggressively its claws slashed and cut at her armour whilst its immense bulk held her down. Then suddenly the beast cried out in pain when her droid fist burrowed through its belly with great strength and she knocked the animal off. Mouth dripping with saliva and with pieces of flesh stuck on its teeth it righted itself and stormed towards her. BAANG The APE round of her boltgun had the effect of blowing one of the beast's legs off and in a blur she had grabbed it by the jaw. The beast struggled and tried to bite her hand, but she brutally forced its mouth open and then killed the beast by shooting right into it, blowing its skull apart as the round shot right through it.

 

[Project Uriel]

Cannok, at this point Uriel was considering how flawed organics were, the animal’s claws and teeth still clinging on her arm even as the remaining half of the beast was pulled away, she pulled them out. More steps through the mud, the test unit had yet to adapt to sinking and moving, though she was learning, either she’d pull half the planet with her or learn to balance in mud eventually.

Multiple beasts, her heatvision tracking unit came online, and she began exterminating them efficiently, using only as much as ammo as she needed, but sparing no creature. It was not a priority directive or mission objective to defend Callisto as she was overpowered, so Uriel continued killing off the beasts, her mission taking precedence over possible tertiary tasks.

Like Callstio she had pulled out her sword, but completely unused to melee weapons she missed her swing at the boma, who shifted with a jump to its side barrelling into her, the sheer weight of the armor and the droid unit itself kept her up, but she did sink further into mud, registering minor damage to her out chassis, as it rammed her with its head at her again. Unfortunately for the beast it almost stunned itself as it dented her armor, shaking its head, tail raising in the air.

Stuck in the mud and unable to use her sword, she fired again with the bolter and there was a loud pop from the beast.

Status Bolter: Essential (Previously useful)
Status Vibrosword : Ineffective on Uriel unit, require upgrade.

Mission status was given full concern after her directives, pulling herself out of the mud, she then moved to check if the Callisto unit was still functional, dealing with any hostiles surrounding her, leaving only steaming craters of mud where once there was life.

“Is the Callisto unit operational?” Uriel asked Callisto, with regard only for the mission, perhaps Callisto would amend or add herself to the list of those to protect!

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"]


"Yes," Callisto said blandly as she got to her feet. Needless to say she was covered in mud and blood, though obviously not her own. She had noted the difficulty Uriel had with using a vibrosword. This would require an upgrade and more training, but that would have to wait for now.


As for whether to protect her fellow units or not, ironically HRDs were not really programmed to care about one another or make the lives of their brethren take precedence over the mission objective. Even if only one still stood, they would continue on with the mission until they succeeded or had been destroyed in the process. It was doubtful that Moira or Maelion cared about whether an individual unit was destroyed. That said, the redheaded terminatrix did have something like a survival instinct!


"Tertiary directive, work and cooperate with your fellow units to maximise efficiency. Provide assistance to me when needed. Preservation of Progenitor Units and completion of the mission takes precedence." she said in that same emotionless tone as she moved up further across the mud-covered ground, which was annoying as could be imagined. It was inefficient and awkward to move through, though after having had plenty of experience Callisto had become adept enough in it.


Rain continued to pour down in massive droves and at one point Callisto almost slipped before she managed to retain her balance, but on the flip side they were no longer assailed by wild, feral beasts as they made their way towards what had once been the Mandalorian base upon the moon. As they passed through the tropical jungle under the greyish, cloud-filled sky and came across a grassy plain, and the incessant rainfalls, they would happen upon a couple carcasses. Leaning down she examined the carcass of a boma, finding that the creature had apparently been slashed across the belly by what appeared to be an energy sword, judging by how the wound had cauterised, though rain was wiping the burn away.


"This carcass is fresh, no more than a few hours old," Callisto surmised. "Wound presumably inflicted by an energy blade, perhaps lightsabre." She rolled over two more carcasses of bomas before she came across the dead body of what had to be an Onderonian soldier, who looked like a wild beast had badly mauled him with its claws before being likewise slain. "We are not alone. Suspect Jedi." In the distance the crack of a lightning strike could be heard, as if some wrathful god was voicing his displeasure at this place being disturbed. Further ahead, after an ascending jungle path, lay the ruins of the command base of the Mandalorians from millennia ago. By now the stone structures had long decayed and were overhung with moss and vines.

 

[Project Uriel]

“New directives received.” Uriel announced but something didn’t seem right with the testing model.

Accessing Uriel Unit Command Matrix:
Primary Mission: Secure the device, terminate hostile that interfere and protect the Progenitor Units designated Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates
Secondary Missions: Unknown.
Primary Directive: Test Uriel Unit.

Secondary Directives:

1. Preservation of Archangel and protection of Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates is a permanent imperative.
2. Do not speak about Archangel projects with individuals that do not belong to the Company. Shadow Droid information has Seraph classification

Tertiary directives:

1. Work and cooperate with your fellow units to maximise efficiency. Provide assistance to Callisto when needed. Preservation of Progenitor Units and completion of the mission takes precedence.

“Initialising Reboot of Uriel 1.3. Standby.” Uriel didn’t exactly shutdown as she made the version jump, but she did freeze in place, while her higher functions were updated to include the tracking of the other HRD units and their functions, because suddenly someone, or rather something other than her existed in her world.

Following Callisto, Uriel was heavier than a standard model HRD, so she was having even more trouble with the rain and mud, not slipping just bogged down generally. Clear of the jungle this was no longer a problem, even if she was brown from her waist down and soaking wet, it didn’t register beyond acknowledgment that she was no longer getting stuck.

“Jedi…” analysing files. “Jedi are a threat to operational HRD units and mission success, suggestion: bolters.” Uriel said looking at hers. All too obvious but then she was very much still learning what was obvious or not, maybe she could use a language program! Thankfully these missions would educate her what was worth reporting and not.

Not knowing to check her weapon yet to see if mud had clogged it up, she just assumed they fired in any weather, she was however checking to see if her movement was in any way impaired since the mud, which it wasn’t aside from the armor she was wearing. “Extermination and tracking of all Jedi advised to increase mission success probability.” All Jedi by Uriel’s calculation, and Sith, the animals here and everyone else, but her program could only hold so much data at once! "All Force users, and biological lifeforms." Uriel added as an addition to her growing program, the young robots, they grew up so fast!

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"]


Truly, it was very sweet to see the little death machine grow up. Only a couple days ago she had been Uriel 1.1. But now she was not an innocent, little drone anymore! Regardless the small group of HRDs would surreptitiously approach the badly decayed former Mandalorian base, which seemed to be in a state of disrepair and had been thoroughly reclaimed by the jungle, with moss and vine seemingly everywhere.


A few more dead bodies, which were being fed on by the vultures since the flesh was so juicy. The fact that HRDs had the ability to move very silently despite their size and weight undoubtedly came in handy during their approach. However, soon the HRD taking point motioned them to a halt. "Running scan, detecting organics. Onderonian militia," the robot said quietly. Very swiftly the data she had picked up would be transmitted to Uriel, Callisto and the other droid.


Callisto initiated her own scanning process as she looked upon the base before them, finding Onderonian soldiers on patrol. The guards looked as motivated as could be imagined since they were expected to serve sentinel duty during a rainy day on a cursed moon full of feral beasts that wanted to eat them. They looked as motivated as could be expected As she zoomed in further she would find that the landing pad further ahead was no longer abandoned, but occupied by what seemed to be a transport ship. Maybe they were looking for the Shadow Droid as well and the ship was there to load it up? Or their presence was wholly unconnected to it and had something to do with the tomb of Freedon Nadd. No sign of Jedi...yet. Presumably they would be found further inside the base.


She glanced over to the robot. "Come with me, we shall take them out quietly," having said that she glanced over to Uriel and the fourth droid in the group. "Stay behind, you will cover us and provide fire support if we're detected. If Jedi come into view contact me."


The ABC of anti-Jedi tactics was to move swiftly and employ superior firepower against them, ideally from multiple angles. Numerical superiority also helped because even if the Jedi was a master of blaster deflection, it was a difficult to withstand a massive volley of blasterfire except in very special cases. Slinging her bolter over her shoulder, Callisto and one of the droids began sneaking towards the Onderonian soldiers, as quietly as was possible through the forest.

 

[Project Uriel]

Heatvision tracked several targets bringing them to zoomed focus, only having x5 magnification currently it was enough to focus in, take an image, and register each one based on their threat level. It was that day Uriel was learning to prioritize her targets, and it was happening (in)organically through the nature of her mission. She still had a long way to go to know what priority order to put them in, at the moment it was: Ion Weapons > Bolters > Force Users > Mud > Everyone Else > Cannoks

Fire Support, running translation routine:
Fire support is long-range firepower provided to a front-line military unit. Typically, fire support is provided by artillery or close air support (usually directed by a forward observer), and is used to shape the battlefield or, more optimistically, define the battle.

“Command accepted,” she stayed behind, and looked for the most effective position to take, some higher ground to act more in line with her definition, sadly the other HRD had the exact same subroutine act at the same time, they both reached for the rock face to ascend. Bump, both HRD’s looked at each other pausing, Uriel was forced to take position to a different side, which would setup a crossfire of sorts, as per her ABC’S!

Methodically and finely her vision focused zooming on each obstacle or blip of motion, tracking Callisto was a tertiary objective, killing the Jedi was her primary mission. Her CPU computed the likelihood of bolter friendly fire as 32% at this angle, acceptable odds given the primary mission and her directives, perhaps not to an organic but thankfully none of the HRD’s suffered from such trivial concerns, like losing a limb!

Nothing to report yet, she remained silent, tracking them with 30% of her CPU…. 30% was computing the weight of cannok and its viability as a blunt or piercing weapon, 30% was analysing how to walk in mud, and 10% was computing whether Callisto’s hair color was efficient camouflage, Uriel was considering green.

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"]


The Onderonian guards were as motivated as can be expected given the fact that they were stuck guarding a bunch of ruins on a very rainy day in a jungle filled with beasts on a cursed moon. "Man, this job fething sucks. We're stuck here in the bloody ruin in creepy ruins because the eggheads want to...dig up a piece of wreck," one Onderonian soldier by the name of Wilhelm grumbled. He was supposed to monitor the pathway towards the old base but did not seem enthusted with his task. Much to his annoyance, the rain made it impossible to light a cigarette.


"Yeah, and who do we have to blame for this? Jedi and Republicans! They keep comin' here and bossin' us around. I mean, did any of the common folk get a say in things when they decided to move their capital here? They think they can lord it over us. Why the feth are there even any Jedi here? Shouldn't they be fighting Sith...and maybe not losing all the time?"


"Shut the hell up, Krause. You're coming close to speaking Naddist treason," an older soldier, a Sergeant by the looks of it, grunted in the eternally gruff tone of NCOs. "Unless you want to be assigned to Telti and get eaten by a Sithspawn."


"That's not Naddist treason, just plain common sense. What are they even trying to dig up...no one's told...," he never got to finish that line of thought because suddenly two very powerful, mechanical hands gripped his head and brutally snapped his neck with a sickening crunch. The Sergeant quickly raised his blaster rifle and was about to yell at his men to sound the alert but using her superhuman strength and speed Callisto took ahold of the weapon by the barrel and push the aim off target. In a flash she had ripped the gun out of his hands with her great strength, raised it face level and slammed the rifle butt into his head, fracturing bones, breaking his nose and indeed his skull.


Another Onderonian soldier sought to engage and fire his blaster on her while she was distracted, but her fellow HRD put him down with a shattergun round through the chest, then shot down another who was trying to reach for his comm. Paying the dead soldier no further mind Callisto used his now very blood-splattered blaster rifle as an improvised projectile to hurl it at a fleeing soldier, bringing him down as it connected with his back. As he approached him he pulled out a vibrosword and took a desperate swing at her, slashing into her leg. However, she did not even blink but instead simply stomped on his throat. A gurgle was heard and then his life was ended.


First patrol eliminated, no alarm raised. The two HRDs quickly pulled the bodies away to hide them in the bushes. Suddenly the comm of the Sergeant started beeping. Without breaking stride Callisto quickly picked it up and activated it. "Sitrep," a voice barked. "You're overdue for reporting in. What kept you?"


One of the skills of an HRD was the ability to perfectly mimic and imitate any voice they had heard, and so Callisto's voice sounded like that of the dead Sergeant. "Sorry, sir. Everything's clear here. Just some cannocks and whiny soldiers. Nothing unusual to report."


"Good, but keep sharp. Jedi are getting antsy about Sith infiltrators. We have the package."

 

[Project Uriel]

Uriel was learning the value of stealth, something that had eluded her in the previous cooperation with the hutts for testing purposes. She almost fired to support Callisto, but paused, analysing the situation instead ahead of her.

Status Stealth: Useful

A second patrol was approaching around the side of the other two HRD units. Uriel wanted to use her new found insight but was interpreting her orders literally, stay here and provide supporting fire to shape the battlefield. So there was a conflict in her programming, but mechanical reasoning and routine won out, her head shifted and she brought her weapon up.

He bolter made itself known, taking small trees with it and the foremost of the second patrol. The ability to re-evaluate programs on the fly might help the drone in the future, but it would also make her less predictable, a thought for later when Archangel reviewed the mission record, and this less than efficient turn of events. She was very much still in her testing phase!

They were crying out and diving for cover, but their return shots to an entrenched position through the dark were a poor response, Uriel had them out in the open, her and now the other HRD joining were leaving nothing but smoking craters in their wake, as the men ran to the only place there was cover, straight toward Callisto.

“Supporting fire on your position, 80 meters to your right, 70, 60, 50.” Uriel said, as the last of them made it! They of course had no idea Callisto was there, just Uriel, the last of them running right in toward the HRD and mouthing something along the lines of holy kark….. as he dropped to the floor and tried to back up.

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]​