Faction [Darkwire] Break My Chains of Connection

[Hacks]

My body is a cage,
but my mind holds the key

Hacks shrieked, a banshees cry that split the night. She was lifted off the ground, her lower arms ripped from her very body by great mechanical hands. She howled as fiery agony tore through her soul. She felt herself fall and hit the asphalt, dreary Denon rainfall wet her cheeks, the indifferent speeders of the Ecumonopolis passed her by. she craned her head to look up just in time as a cybernetic CorpSec officer brought his boot crashing down on her skull, and her world went dark.​

var terms = [
"$(function(){\n\t$.database.get('Password')\n});",
"exec({\n\t'Password' : 'KbJ7zpQ',\n\t'Username' : 'ExO'\n});",
">>> Command Initialize 2",
">>> Return 0;",
"## Server Connected",
"## Server Disconnected",
"## Connection Failed",
"ACCESS DENIED",
">>> Command Initialize 2",
">>> Return 0;",
"## Server Connected",
"## Connected",
"ACCESS GRANTED",

>>REINITIALIZE...

<WARNING: CRANIAL DAMAGE!

CHECKING POWER...
CHECKING FUNCTIONS...
REBOOTING...

Eyes fluttered awake. Hacks groaned and went to rub a hand over her face but felt no response. Painfully she remembered and glanced down to her missing limbs. They, CorpSec, had ripped all four mechanical arms out of her. Something welled up in her eyes against the harsh sun above. She rolled in the muck, a tremendous heap of trash. Turning left and right, as far as the eye could see, landfill. Discarded droids and mechanical parts. She was just another left out to rust, but no, she was human. Somewhere deep down beneath all the maze of cybernetics, this mod-junkie was still human.

She wept as she bent her back and brought her knees forward, struggling to bring herself to her feet. Unsteadily she rose, then fell, rolling and crashing down the side of a mountain of waste. She yelped and shouted, pinballing from a decommissioned assassin droid into a thruster from an x-wing, and came to a stop. She lay there, defeated. Her mind dull with the memory of her last moments before she found herself here. She wondered what she had done, she couldn't recall. The thought frightened her. Why can't I remember? she almost shouted. Panic swelled up and her throat became tight.

In the distance a commotion rose, a gaggle of droids were meandering their way along what one could call a goat path through the wastes. A protocol droid sporting a black eyepatch and a rusted blaster at his side led a motley crew of astromechs and power droids. A loud gonk! echoed into the wind. "Hey!" Hacks screamed, wiggling her body to try and get attention to herself, "Hey!" The protocol droid turned and faced Hacks, waving a stiff arm to his companions to follow him. As they approached Hacks wiggled back onto her bum and sat up, her phantom limbs begging to push herself back onto her feet but without her arms she feared falling over again and hurting herself more.

"Argh, avast ye' lads!" the protocol droid cried, unholstering his blaster and directing it at Hacks, "We have a live one - stand and deliver!" Hacks tried to shield herself with her arms but nothing happened, a harsh reminder. "Don't shoot, don't shoot, I need help," she pleaded, "I-I'm.." she drew a blank, something deep in her mind prodded, "Aranetta..." The power droid let out a shrill gronk, the astromech whistled and the protocol droid said, "Well why didn't you say so!" and holstered his gun. "I'm Drek Drednar of the Sable III, and this be my crew!"

Hacks frowned, "Drek Drednar?" she said aloud, the name tickling her brain. She had once learned about someone of that name. "But. . . he's been dead for eight hundred years. You're not Drednar." The protocol droid shouted, "Yes I am." "No you're not." "Yes I am." "No you're not." "Yes I am." "Okay fine," Hacks relented, "You're Drek Drednar, but can you tell me where I am?" She cast a weary glance to the other droids in the company of this Drek Drednar, all were garbed in what one may call pirate clothes, were one inclined to enjoy watching holovids on fantasy pirates. "You're on Altier," Drek said proudly, raising his chin up. Altier. . . but that was lightyears away from Denon. How the hell did she get here. "I need to get home, can you take me to a spaceport?" she asked, the protocol droid nodded and raised the woman onto her feet. She winced in pain. "I can take you to my ship and fly you there myself," Drek declared boldly.

Hours passed, the sun setting over the horizon. Exhausted and dehydrated, Hacks stumbled into a smugglers haven. The droids led her towards a trash heap that vaguely resembled a CR90 Corvette. . . if you squinted your eyes. . . and tilted your head. . . and imagined it real hard. "The Sable III," Drek boasted, the droids in his crew shouted in whatever way they could in perceived glee. Hacks whimpered, something hit the bottom of her stomach, perhaps hope. It dawned on her that it wasn't some miracle that had placed Drek into a droids body, he wasn't Drek at all. This crew of droids were completely and utterly insane. Malfunctioning units that had survived the landfill and deluded themselves to the idea they were someone else.

Hacks looked around at the other vessels held in port, rust buckets and none that could jump more than two systems before falling apart. Worse yet not a single soul. She felt the need to punch herself in the head but couldn't. Her gaze fell to the ground and for a second she was ready to call it quits, roll over and wait to die. A light appeared on her belt, a datapad. Her datapad. "Drek," she shouted, "My datapad, toss it on the ground." The droid scurried over and without even beginning to question her intentions he did as she requested. At least his ability to follow orders as a protocol droid had not been lost when his sanity went.

Hacks folded her legs and plopped onto the ground, leaning down she tapped at the screen with her nose. "On," she said, voice-activating the datapad. It burst to life, hundreds of notifications appeared in a seemingly endless stream. Most were missed calls and messages begging to know where she was. They kept calling her 'Hacks'. From the time stamp the last message came in seven months ago, the first message asking where she had gone. . . almost a year. Had she been missing a year? Using voice commands she sent a message to 'all contacts'. An SOS and her location on Altier. Then the screen went black before she could see if it sent. She screamed. Did it send? The device was dead, out of charge. She could only hope someone got it in time. She looked up at Drek Drednar and his motley crew of insane droid pilots. She cried, she could be stuck with them for months... maybe years. . .​

 

[5-WCH (Switchblade)]

The notification appeared on the Razor's Edge HUD. A distress signal sent from...Altier? Who the nerf was all the way out at that junkyard of a planet. 5-WCH was not interested in going to a planet full of plenty rusted droids. But, he had nothing better to do. Engaging the ships hyperdrive, it slowly lurched into hyperspace. He had to get that thing upgraded...and soon.

After what seemed like and eternity the Razor's Edge jumped out of hyperspace. What payed in front of him was Altier. The junk layering of the entire planet turned it's color to a rust-brown. Large and small junk heaps floated around the planet, all left from lazy spacers who dump there trash. He couldn't blame them. That was all this planet had become: The Galaxies Trashcan.

Lowering the ship into the planet's atmosphere 5-WCH was trying to pinpoint the signal. It had cut out right after the message was sent, so he hoped the person was near the last-transmitted location. They went by the name of 'Hacks'. That helped him out a lot. Was that a boy's name, a girl's name, nerf...even a droid's name? Only The Maker knows. Nearing the ground he tried to find a flat spot to land. Finally, he located one next to a rusted-out CR90 Corvette. Coincidentally that was the last place the transmitter showed. The ships landed gear touched down of the metal ground, making a soft crunch.

Shutting off the ship 5-WCH made sure to grab a pistol from the weapon storage. He didn't know what he would find out there. Slamming his Durasteel fist against the controls the rear hatched opened. He did a quick scan of the area, detecting one life form. He wasn't even to the bottom of the ramp before the droids started coming up to him. One tried speaking to him, but all that came out was warbled noises. The droid reached out his hand to touch 5-WCH, but he drew his pistol.

"Touch me, or the ship, and you die. We clear?"

The droid backed away frantically, shaking his head yes. All the other surrounding droids did the same.

"Good."

He already hated it here. The sooner he found this 'Hacks', the better.

Hacks

 

[Cassus Akovin]

Cassus had been on Dressel pursuing a minor Bounty on an errant smuggler when he ran into Bryn Celli Ddu , and now she was on his ship traveling to Altier.

When he first received the SOS he almost didn't believe who had sent it. Hacks had been a Bounty Hunter he had crossed passed with on a few occasions, and would later meet again as part of the Darkwire network. However, she hadn't been seen in some time, he and many others were left wondering what had happened to the four armed cyborg.

"Bryn, we're here. Let's hope she isn't in too much trouble." The boy Bounty Hunter called out to his passenger before exiting his ship into the wasteland.

 

[Bryn Celli Ddu]

Maybe it was a good thing that her ship broke down. Leaving the husk of a vehicle behind to be repaired, it was going to take the mechanics a little while to complete everything. While on Dressel, she had encountered a young man, and as they had been talking, he had gotten what sounded like a distress call. At least, it did to Bryn.

Since the message hadn't been intended for the cyborg, she hadn't paid any attention to it. That is until she was invited to join Cassus in going to Altier and finding his friend. It was either join up with him or sit around doing nothing. This wasn't something Bryn wanted and decided to go along with him.

On their way, he explained somethings to the former Sith and he had her interest. He also told her a little bit about his friend. Saying Hacks was a friend might be going too far, but that was the impression Bryn picked up from what he said. So far he had yet to really see much emotion from her and all she did was nod when he said he hoped Hacks wasn't in too much trouble.

"What makes you think this isn't some sort of trap?"

Perhaps this was exactly what it sounded like. A rescue mission. Then again it could be a trap like she suggested. Nothing was sure as they started to exit the ship together.

Pulling a mask on over her head, a person could still tell she had one organic eye that looked human. Under her skin though was something else entirely. Not having gotten into many personal details about herself, Bryn held her knowledge. If a fight happened, then his people might figure out she was more than what she appeared to be.

Checking her weapons, the knives were present and everything else was in its place.

"Where do we begin?"

Just a simple question. Looking across the expanse in front of them, her organic eye automatically found traces of life...if you could call malfunctioning droids life. However, with her cybernetic eye, she could see traces of heat left behind.

"I can follow her trail, maybe. It's fading fast."

Turning her head as she heard another live person talking nearby, she pointed him out with a tip of her head to Cassus.

"Another friend of yours?"

Hacks 5-WCH (Switchblade) Cassus Akovin

 

[Hacks]

A week had passed since the SOS. If anyone had gotten it they could be well on their way now, even already here. Hyperspace travel wasn't instant and she knew chances are if someone was far enough she could be stuck here the better part of a year. Perhaps forever if that SOS didn't go through. She didn't really know and could only hope. The droids were incompetent at helping her with most tasks, busy discussing their next big piracy job. Their units were so ancient they couldn't even make a connection to Hacks' datapad and charge it for her.

So Hacks sat waiting in the gutted CR90, covered in a layer of filth and grime. Her soft features had become harsh with grit and scratches. She had been hunting insects through the halls of the ship, squashing them gently with a foot and then laying down to eat them, or if she found a rat she'd find Drek to cook it. They were fairly accommodating to Hacks, having even crowned her first mate of their rust bucket. The Dread Pirate Aranetta. She wanted to laugh but couldn't find it in her. She was too busy fiddling with her feet, lost in thought as she tried to delve into her memory.

Her mind drew a large blank. She vaguely understood she was from a city, a city so large in scale it encapsulated an entire planet. She was a good person, but not by the standards of normal people. She had pieced together that perhaps she had been a slicer as people had called her Hacks on the datapad. She wanted to rub her forehead and groaned in frustration. She knew she had the knowledge somewhere deep down in her but for the life of her she couldn't remember. She needed a trigger.

A trio of power units and astromechs burst into Hacks' room, surrounding her. They beeped and gonk'ed furiously. A pirate astromech by the name Blackcircuit used a small manipulator arm to assist her in standing up. She rose to her feet and followed them down dark halls void of light. Missing ceiling plates exposed wires, and Hacks would have to dodge the occasional drop through the floor where the floor plates had rusted away. Onto the bridge she came across the delusional pirate protocol droid.

"Argh, lads, weh 'ave company," he alerted and brought up a holographic map that pinpointed two different vessels that had just landed, as well as organic life signs. "Don't do anything to them, not yet," Hacks warned, "They might be the help I called for."

Bryn Celli Ddu - Cassus Akovin - 5-WCH (Switchblade)

 

[5-WCH (Switchblade)]

5-WCH continued toward the beaten-down Corvette. Looking down at his data pad, then back up, then down again he followed to the last-known point of the transmission. More and more broken droids tried to approach him, but they all got the same warning. Most of them listened. Most.

One cranky, old protocol droid tried to grab him. His audio-box wasn't even a voice, just a low pitched scream. Before the droid's hand got on 5-WCH a energy bolt went through it's head. The head shot clean off, flying back a few feet. The droid's lifeless body just stood there, motionless. With a push of my right hand the body fell over with a thud.

Yeesh, they just don't stop coming. An ancient protocol droid approached me. He got the same warning as the last ones, but this time he spoke.

"A'vast! Who ye dare think ye ar' to 'proach I?"

"Move, unless you want a energy blast like the last one."

He waved his gun toward the ground, pointing in the direction of the dead droid's head. Turning back to the protocol droid, he listens to what else this senile thing had to say.

"No one dare 'peak to ye that way! What be your business 'ere Space Droid?"

"That isn't of your concern. Now move."

5-WCH pointed his gun at the droid. It lifted it's hands slowly and backed away. He lowered his gun and continue walking. On the other side of the ship he found a ramp. Continue up it he was confronted with a makeshift Durasteel door. He banged his fist against it three times, waiting for a reply. Looking down at the datapad it said the transmission location was in here. Hopefully so.

Hacks Cassus Akovin Bryn Celli Ddu

 

[Cassus Akovin]

"What makes you think this isn't some sort of trap?"

"It could be, it's always a possibility with Darkwire. The Corporate Authorities only pretend to be nice when they need something done, otherwise they hunt you like any other criminal. Their reach doesn't extend here, though... not yet at least." Cassus responded with honesty.

"Where do we begin?"

"I don't know, honestly. The signal was short and went dead pretty quick. I was able to land in about the general area it came from." The boy knelt down and felt the dirty soil of the planet. He was a Bounty Hunter, but he often relied on more technological means of tracking down his quarry, so bereft of those kinds of clues he was left pretty empty handed on this waste land world. The only thing he could do was emulate what he's seen others do on frontier worlds in holoflicks, or something Uncle Crol might do without actually knowing the reason behind what they were doing.

"I can follow her trail, maybe. It's fading fast."

"I'll take anything at this point."

Turning her head as she heard another live person talking nearby, she pointed him out with a tip of her head to Cassus.

"Another friend of yours?"

"Can't say that I recognize them," Cassus started to say before hearing blaster fire, "They don't sound too friendly to the locals, however." The boy remarked as he looked around the junk heap. "If we can keep our distance, it might be wise. Lead the way," Cassus offered softly with a gesture of his hand, while holding a blaster in the other.

Hacks 5-WCH (Switchblade) Bryn Celli Ddu

 

[Bryn Celli Ddu]

While Cassus had explained some things about what went on around him, but not quite everything. The cyborg could understand a lot of what he mentioned.

"Who are these Corporate Authorities and what power do they hold?"

Even though they had met about a week ago and traveled here together, Bryn felt she could trust the teen. Turning her attention to the highly faded signs of a not droid she could see with her cybernetic eye, she pointed in the direction the path went.

"This way."

Since it seemed she had the advantage here, she started to move when shots were fired and she stopped to ask if he knew the other one here. When he said to lead the way, she just nodded and tried to avoid getting into the sightline of the one that fired the shots.

Unfortunately, even though he had followed a different path, they ended up coming to the same ship. Making a small motion to stop, Bryn crouched down behind some debris to make some observations. After a few moments, the shooter moved into the ship after threatening a droid.

"Our trail leads into there."

A clatter was heard behind them and the assassin turned around quickly to see what had caused it. Noticing it was just another malfunctioning droid, the knife that had appeared in her hand found its way back into the sheath she had for it.

"What do you want to do? Potential danger ahead and all around us. Though I don't feel these things out here will be able to do much damage to me. You might be different."

Cassus Akovin 5-WCH (Switchblade) Hacks

 

[Hacks]

Hacks studied the controls and the screen, frustrated her glasses were smashed to pieces. She intuitively knew it was hardware she had obtained from. . . somewhere, her brain couldn't explain. A device that allowed her to use her eye movement and thought to manipulate data and computer processes. She asked the captain to turn the camera just as the mysterious figure opened fire on a droid. "Screw it, shut the hatches," Hacks said and the protocol droid cackled, slamming a fist on the control deck.

Blast doors across the ancient vessel slammed shut with a grating rusted exertion. Drek Drednar, or rather the droid that had delusions he was the long-dead pirate, withdrew a blaster and shouted to his crew of malfunctioning droids, as equally delusional as their pirate leader. "We've been boarded lads, to tha guns!" Drek shouted, the droids gathered whistled, whirred and gonk'd in excitement. The power droids hobbled about almost aimlessly, unable to actually fight, while protocol droids clumsily grabbed old pipes and exhausted blasters, the astromechs taking out their plasma torches and shock devices.

Hacks looked around, unable to fight or defend herself and hoped the droids were enough. They had no idea who this person was, some scavenger who intercepted her SOS, maybe even a real pirate? Perhaps. The droids stood at ready by the closed blast door that led onto the captains deck, Hacks moving away and hiding under a table.

Bryn Celli Ddu - Cassus Akovin - 5-WCH (Switchblade)

 

[5-WCH (Switchblade)]

He waited for a couple of minutes, yet no reply. After more banging on the door he really had no other options left. Diverting primary power to his left leg he slammed his foot straight into the Durasteel. The door flew open, colliding with the wall. What was inside though was something he wasn't expecting.

Inside stood droids of all shapes and sizes, and they all had different weapons. Blasters, pipes, torches, other droid limbs. It was the worst rag-tag group of fighters he had ever seen. They all stood there with the weapons raised, prepared to attack. He quickly drew his pistol, pointing it at the droids with blasters. In his other hand was a knife. If there was a standoff, he would surely win.

Looking to his left he saw some Gonk droids huddle around a table. He took a step forward as the droids tensed. His pistol was still point at them.

"Don't move. Or every single one of you will meet your maker."

None of the droids moved as they kept their weapons raised. Putting away his knife he walked over to the Gonks. It looked as if they were trying to protect something. Tapping his pistol against one of their side's they quickly scurried away. With his free hand he picked up the table, raising it clear off of the ground. Underneath layed a figure.

"Are you the one they call 'Hacks'?"

Hacks Bryn Celli Ddu Cassus Akovin

 

[Cassus Akovin]

"They are an alliance of corporations that have circumvented and replaced planetary governments on Denon, Belazura, Devaron, Parcellus Minor, and a few others I'm probably forgetting." The boy explained to his found companion. "In other words, they are no friend to the common person. Wherever they setup shop, criminals of all variety seem to flock to them." He continued to follow her, and every few moments he'd explain something different to her about the CAD and the various gangs in the underworld.

"Darkwire is one of the only one's that's been actively fighting them, on occasion anyway. Hacks and I are part of it, but she's a Shadowrunner, a criminal professional. We've toppled governments together for a paycheck. As evil as the CAD might sound, the real evil is the money they have." It occurred to Cassus briefly that he didn't really know the background of his partner, that what he may consider to be evil may just be her ordinary. He didn't think to press on it, at least not now.

Right now they had to worry about a droid busting through a blast door.

"Don't worry about me," Cassus responded to Bryn Celli Ddu 's remark, while he fumbled with a few pouches along his belt. Eventually, he came across a Manipulation Projector, one of the many his mother had created. He never left without a few, and their corresponding Magnetic Anchors.

"I'm a Bounty Hunter, remember?" Cassus smiled, but Bryn wouldn't see it underneath his mask. The boy activated the projector onto the anchor and tossed it towards the droid ( 5-WCH (Switchblade) ), once it attached on he'd put full power into adhering him to the floor and reducing movement. Pulling out a blaster and aiming at the droids back he called out.

"I'd recommend standing down, I have a nasty habit of breaking tech."

 

[Bryn Celli Ddu]

With her full memory having been returned to her, Bryn was sometimes reluctant to open up to people. So she had kept her life pretty secret though her childhood was nothing to be ashamed of. What she had done as an older teen and adult was something different. However, the cyborg was not sure exactly where she belonged. After meeting Cassus though, she felt she had at least found some sort of purpose. The young man had given that to her and was in the process of opening a new door for her.

Listening to him explain the situation about who the Corporate Authorities were and who Darkwire was, opened her eyes quite a bit. It seemed the fate of many rested in the hands of the rich, the poor were churned and were just cogs in their machine. She and her parents were just some of those cogs.

"Have you ever heard of Bescane? It is a mining world and my parents are there, just working for the rich."

This might raise the question...why wasn't she with them? If that question was posed, Bryn would have to come up with some sort of answer. She was not yet ready to volunteer that much information, she turned her attention back to the quest at hand. Finding Hacks and getting her out of here.

Her own face was covered, but she heard the smile in the modified voice of Cassus and just nodded. On the chance there was the need to fight, Bryn was a melee fighter and did not possess anything explosive. Letting her companion take the lead, she waited on the reaction of the possible hostile in front of them.

Hacks 5-WCH (Switchblade) Cassus Akovin

 

[5-WCH (Switchblade)]

His arms suddenly fell to his side. The table came crashing down onto the floor, breaking into a few pieces. He had no idea what had just happened. Probably some pirates that came looking for Hacks as well. Footsteps came from behind him. Two people, one male, one female. The male spoke out first.

"I'd recommend standing down, I have a nasty habit of breaking tech."

Oh great, so he's cocky. This should be interesting. Putting max power to his arms he lifted them up, breaking out of the device. Drawing his two pistols he flipped his torso around 180 degrees, now facing the duo. He saw that they had their guns out as well. Well, time for his snarky Programing to do its work.

"Oh, you do? Well I have a nasty habit of breaking bones. So I would suggest putting your guns down."

He kept both pistols aimed at the duo.

Hacks | Cassus Akovin | Bryn Celli Ddu