Here Be Dragons!

[Flannigan Mcnash]

[member="HK-36"]

//Intercepted Transmission//
//Decoding..//
//10%//
//50%.//
//100%..//
//message..//

//Hutt Cartel.//
//Thraxis, is in @%=^1 while I'm gone, set my course for Zonju_V. We'll bring back the @%=^1, truly in my hand's a terrible weapon. With it I can finally @%=^1... - Flannigan Mcnash//

[End]

Theme​

Spoiler

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP3NgkPQ5Wo[/video]

The Coruscant's underground grew out of the cracked side walk like the jagged gap-toothed grin of an old junkie. The sole splash of colour in the grime came from the lurid graffiti and therefore the sidewalks were stricken by injection. From each lined entryway came the chopfallen stares of men and ladies in their pathetic cardboard homes. From higher windows came the boom of sub-culture music. The whores roamed the streets in their deficient outfits and high boots searching for work, their drug-addled bodies as skinny as pins, their cheekbones jutting out through pallid skin and their look all but scream 'what I'd do to you for ten credits, would make the hair on your toes curl'.

The Cantina​

The lavish signage radiating out in pink light, giving the street an outsider quality, as you enter the cantina sinewy vapours slide up and out of the grates of the floor, forming a cloud of semi-translucent steam. Your nose flair and the acrid smell of foreign cuisine is present in your nose, the low heavy hum of machinery resonates deep within the bowels of the cantina. A table sat round an empty, almost calling out to the patrons that funnelled in 'come sit at me'.

[member="Rose Kuhn"]​

Mcnash's Log​

---​

"Soon Zonju V." He moved about his ship, the clip clap of his pronged feet sounded, the dents and deformation of steel and stone under them as he scratched his way over to the bridge, the light from distance stars drifted by illuminating the bridges darkness the shadows writhed over him like malign imps sent from the darkness corners of the galaxy, The pivot and 'pop' of the centre core of the cyborg lurched forward snatching his coat in his hand and tightening his belt around his waist, the hilts of swords decorated his coat their pommels encrusted with ripe red gems and gold trimmings. "Soon."

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Flannigan Mcnash"] | [member="HK-36"]

Rose had never particularly enjoyed Cantinas. There were a few in the outer rim that she’d quite liked, but most of them were all pictures of the same depressing scene. It was something that she’d come to learn on her travels, and most of the time she preferred to visit the bar of a large casino or the common room of a small inn. The environment was always better, less...shady.

That by no means meant that she wasn’t used to this sort of thing of course, half of her job was going to Cantina’s and talking to a smuggler or a pirate about some route they had once taken to get somewhere.

Cartography in this galaxy was surprisingly interactive. Though much of her work was of course charting her own way through the unknown, she did speak to and interact with all sorts of spacers. It was usually how she began to plot a route, talking to some old and ancient man whose entire family swore by this one route through the local cluster. It was fun in its own way, but again, she rather disliked Cantinas.

Rose shrugged as she stepped through the arched doorway.

The inside of the cantina smelled of course, they rarely didn’t, and the people within paid her absolutely no mind as she stepped into the establishment.

She was supposed to meet someone here, a man...or robot? She wasn’t really sure that sought a route through one of the Outer Rim’s more unexplored systems. Rose likely wasn’t the best person for the job, but she was likely one of the most eager. Exploration was her game, and this...this sounded like fun.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Flannigan Mcnash"], [member="Rose Kuhn"],

The droid was standing outside of the cantina, leaning against the wall in shadows, his head aimed down to look at the floor, his casual appearance protocols working overtime as his built-in communications were forwarded the decrypted message, or at least greater portion of it, just in time, as his scanners picked up on a young woman heading into the cantina, he calculated that she matched the description of the Cartographer he was supposed to meet.

HK pushed himself off of the wall, following behind through the cantina door. The door opened and the large armored figure stepped in, he was clad in the Vanguard armor suit, Phrik variant, forged by Firemane for the Galactic Alliance, the machine was able to pull some strings and get his hands on one of the suits, and by pull some strings, he just nagged Siobhan constantly until she caved in and gave him the armor to shut him up. His droid head was covered by a full featureless helmet of the suit, hidden from the view of the bartender, a trick the droid learned after first few times bartenders tried to kick him out of cantinas, the machine noticed armored patrons were allowed inside so he simply did as they have done, keeping his nature somewhat more ambiguous so he could disappear in the crowd within the bar before being forced outside.

Either way, he scanned the room and quickly found Rose amidst other patrons, HK begun to move through the establishment towards her, heavy black cloak cascading behind him from around his shoulders as he did. If Rose found a table to sit at by then, then the machine would found himself standing by it, if she didn't, well he would just stand next to her to appear casual,

"You must be the Cartographer, I am your employer."

The droid looked to her, his helmet pulling back automatically to reveal the droid faceplate behind, the crimson-red glowing electronic eyes looking right at her,

"Do you have any outstanding issues with my kind?"

HK asked her quietly in his calm, cold monotone, his voice was similiar to that of Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Flannigan Mcnash"] | [member="HK-36"]

She offered the droid a confused look. “Not at all.”

Rose had no issue with droids, and found the question an odd one. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d encountered anyone who had an issue with automatons, though obviously there were a few. She frowned for a moment and then smiled at the hulking metal man, moving to reassure him.

“I had a droid Nanny as a child.” Rose contended. “She was lovely, still takes care of the estate back on Empress Teta when my sister and I aren’t at home.”

She had been built by Titan Industries originally, and had in-part been constructed as a guardian for the twin girls. Rose’s father had no illusions about his children and their own place in the galaxy, he knew that eventually they would become targets for people seeking to hurt him or Titan Industries.

J4-D3 had fought off several assassins in her time.

Rose loved that droid. “Perhaps after this I can introduce you to her.”

She joked with a smile.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Rose Kuhn"], [member="Flannigan Mcnash"],

The droid only watched Rose in silence as she replied, the crimson photoreceptors unmoved. When she finished that pleasant smile was met with a pause of silence before the droid finally spoke up again,

"I meant 'bounty hunters', whether you had any outstanding issues with bounty hunters."

The machine clarified, well that was a good start to their partnership!

"But thanks, I will keep that information in my 'Other Beings' Life Stories' databanks, and perhaps if I will ever decide I have a sex drive I will give your Nanny a call."

The droid quipped back to Rose through his humor protocols, formulating the image of HK and J4-D3 going at it, literally banging... because they had metal chassis.

HK scanned over the cantina, checking if anyone was looking at them too suspiciously or if there were any activity rising.

"I have been told you are one of the best around,"

In honesty that wasn't exactly what the droid was informed about Rose, he was told that she was more excited/crazy for this kind of job to take up something as dangerous as raiding Hutt forces in uncharted regions of the cosmic void. In their proximity Rose would be able to see two large pistols hanging off of the droid's belt, holstered, magnetic revolvers, along with a cylindrical object that looked suspiciously similar to a lightsaber hilt.

"Do you have much combat experience?"

HK looked back to Rose, turning his attention away from the crowd and back to her.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="HK-36"]

Oh.

Well now she just felt a bit silly. Her eyes shot off towards something at the end of the cantina, though quickly returned to the droid as she resettled herself. There was a job to do here after all, and she wasn’t about to spend it going off on tangents about her childhood, that was just bad form. She shifted slightly and then patted the blaster at her hip in response to his other question.

“I do.” Her Uncle Kiran had seen to her training as a young girl, that and her studies with the Sith had set her up quite well for any fight. Of course she lacked the force now, but she was still pretty decent in a fight. “Do you expect much trouble?”

As far as she was concerned they were only hunting one man, and how much trouble could one man really be? “Aside from the target, I mean.”

This time she decided to clarify herself, if only because she didn’t want this droid to think she was a complete idiot. Rose knew how to handle herself, both in the wilds and in a fight, she could do that because she was smart, and generally a logical girl. She was no Bounty Hunter, but that wouldn’t be her job on this trip.

Rose was just the guide, or that’s what she told herself.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Rose Kuhn"],

The droid nodded to Rose as she indicated her blaster,

"Good. Our target is a higher-up lackey under the Hutts, he has access to a personal army I encountered before,"

HK looked away to scan over the bar once more,

"His name is Flannigan McNash, he is wanted as accomplice in pedocide-"

The droid looked to Rose briefly, clarifying,

"Child-killing, some artistocrat posted the bounty. The crime and bounty amount are good enough reason for me to hunt him. I was able to infiltrate a palace he looked after before, I was not able to isolate him from other guests but ambushed couple other targets. Now I have a chance to him with minimal escort."

The machine leaned back in the seat, looking at Rose,

"As much as I would want to keep you out of combat, something usually goes wrong with these missions. The odds are high that we will have to confront his guards, whether on land or during a boarding action, and we will definitely piss off the Hutts if we pull this off. Good thing their Cartel is pretty much collapsed currently, by the time they will rebuilt their influence our deeds may just as well be forgotten."

HK crossed his arms at his chest because he calculated that would be something an organic would do,

"Are you ready to take those risks?"

 

[Subject 37]

[member="HK-36"]

Murder, and of a child no less. It was a deplorable thing, disgusting really. She couldn't help but think of Myra in that moment, thoughts drifting towards her little sister being murdered by some scum. She scowled for half a moment before glancing up towards the droid, eyes hard set.

"Yes." She wasn't a stranger to risks.

The Outer Rim hadn't all been gumdrops and rainbows. There had been dangers out there within the unknown. Pirates, warlords, and bandits of all sorts. They had all thought her a weak target of course, a little girl running around with her Daddy's money. Most of them had found out that they were sadly mistaken, though a few had made it away before she could teach that lesson. This man? Flannigan as 36 had called him, he would find out the same lesson.

She frowned for a moment. "Do you have a ship?"

Rose had brought her own of course, a vessel that her father had gifted her upon her return to the galaxy. In a way she was probably spoiled, but at least she had the good sense to realize it. Her fathers corporate assets and vast wealth had been a great assistance in her work with the GUIDE, and if they could help her on this job as well she would be a fool not to take advantage of them.

"If not, we'll take mine." Rose asserted. "Plenty of room for us both."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Rose Kuhn"],

As Rose looked at HK for a moment with those determined eyes, the machine stared back at her in silence,

Why is she looking at me like that?

The machine queried himself, calculating,

Oh my Machine God, there is high probability she is falling in love with my perfect body

His calculation concluded,

"Yes."

She finally spoke up and the machine nodded,

"Then we have a platonic partnership."

HK extended his hand out to her for a shake to cement them working together,

"As friends and nothing more."

He clarified,

Well done, let her down gently, maximum efficiency

HK commended himself,

"I am Hunter-Killer Series 36, Unit 1, but most organics call me the Iron Knight."

He finally introduced himself to Rose.


At the mention of ships the droid nodded in affirmation,

"I do, but my ship may attract too much attention. Let us take yours, besides, I need you piloting, and my calculations show the chances of failure are minimized if you are to command a vessel you are most familiar with. My ship can trail behind us at safe distance, far enough to not give our position away, close enough to arrive in case we would need reinforcements or crash-land- which happens much more often when I am around than it should."

The droid scanned over the cantina again, he did not liked staying in one spot too much during those missions, especially if some kind of trouble would start brewing even before they set off on their course, nudge-nudge [member="Flannigan Mcnash"], wink-wink,

"A good hunter always has a back-up plan."

He told Rose in a tone that would suggest he was imparting a life-lesson towards her.

 

[Flannigan Mcnash]

"That him? 'eard about him." quiet voices spoke in secret corners of the cantina, where the dark coalesced and only the vaguest of outlines stood out, their tones hushed, indistinguishable from the din of the room. "Apparently a machine from ages past, killed a number of guards at the place apparently, strangled em. Nasty business that. We better take 'im out from a distance. You really think this is the guy who snuck into the white palace?" There was a pause a punctuation before reply. "Gotta be, this is the guy the slicer said. And if not who's gonna miss another clanker."

A thin pin prick of red trained down onto [member="Rose Kuhn"]'s, table. The light narrowing and elongating and with a sudden 'THOOP' as if a great breath was blown from an even greater straw, the glass shattered on the table missing [member="HK-36"], by a hairs breath. Than all hell broke loose, tables were flipt over guns were produce from holsters and a number of assailants began to take form, they blocked the front people were moving to the back, their shabby outfits concealing none to shabby weapons. "Kill em!"

'BANG' 'PEW' 'PEW' fire came from a number of positions, dazzling blues and reds and greens, molten hot and ready to sear the face off anyone standing up too fast, people were just firing now. Didn't matter, it was gonna be one of those days for the duo.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Flannigan Mcnash"] | [member="HK-36"]

As soon as the first glass shattered Rose jumped into action, or rather, she fell. Her first instinct was to get away from as much of the blaster fire as humanly possible, and to her that meant slipping beneath the table. She fell from her set and moved herself beneath the heavy durasteel table, shielding herself just in time as a blaster bolt struck where she had been leaning not moments ago.

”Kark.” She cursed as her own blaster was quickly removed from the holster at her thigh.

This wasn’t exactly the best place to hide out, evidenced by the fact that just a few seconds a shattergun round struck just a few inches away from her head. She winced slightly, and then quickly began to scan the room. The front door was likely being watched by whatever had shot at them first, and she had no intention of ending up dead today.

”Can you break that down?” She yelled above the chaos to her companion, pointing to a door behind the bar. ”Kitchens usually have back doors!”

Hopefully they wouldn’t get shot on the way out.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Flannigan Mcnash"], [member="Rose Kuhn"],

The table they were sitting by exploded in a burst of glass, sparks, and just general plasma by-product. The machine looked aside into the cantina and time seemed to slow down in HK's perspectives as his programming initiated temporary overclocking for faster combat calculations. In his vision red squares and rectangles appeared around the shooters, marking his targets, numbers would run by them, calculating their current position and movement, trajectory to intercept them with a projectile. As bolts of plasma flew towards them in slow motion, rectangles would appear around them as well, extended dotted lines being plotted on their course so that the machine could see how to dodge or intercept the plasma projectiles.

Meanwhile, underneath the table HK's hand gripped the handle of his Magnetic Revolver, pulling it out of its holster in a practiced, mechanical movement, lifting its barrel to aim it towards the shooters from the darkness beneath the durasteel surface. He calculated the trajectory, seeing dotted lines that plotted trajectory of his shattergun bullets towards the targets, at what angle and tilt his pistol needs to be to meet its marks. The droid pulled the trigger and held it, his revolver whirred as the barrel was spun at high speed, sending out hypervelocity pellets silently, emptying its revolving magnetic chamber in quick succession.

In cacophony of his high speed bullets buzzing and slashing through the air, the crack of body armor plates being shattered and penetrated, and the painful screams of the shooters, HK brought down six of them at once, in one quick burst, seemingly simultaneously and instantly.

”Can you break that down?”

Rose asked and the droid grabbed the edge of the table she was hiding under,

"I calculate you will find soon that I can break down anything."

The machine quipped as he flipped the table over, creating a durasteel barrier between Rose and the shooters, quickly sliding down from his seat to kneel down behind it, a blaster bolt splashing against the phrik plates of his armor, leaving a stark black scorch mark on his otherwise silver and polished suit.

"Climb onto my back."

HK said to Rose, apparently wanting for her to piggy back ride him, as he scanned the cantina and the door she indicated, pulling on the hammer-like lever behind the revolving chamber of his gun, the chamber spun again with another whir, this time filling up with the small caliber metal pellets,

"I have a plan."

He reassured her

 

[Subject 37]

[member="HK-36"]

Things had not gotten off to a great start. Within ten minutes of meeting one another they had nearly been assassinated. That in it of itself should have been a clue for Rose to simply drop this mission and return to her safer work with the GUIDE, but in truth, that seemed rather boring.

There was also the fact that Rose was not easily dissuaded, and someone trying to kill her for something she was doing really only signalled to her that she would do it anyway. Perhaps that was a bit childish, but for Rose it hardly seemed to matter at this point. The droid demanded that he jump on her back, and after perking an eyebrow she decided to comply. ”Get us out of here!”

Odds were that eventually something would hit them if they stayed there long enough, and she’d rather not chance it.

In one smooth motion Rose holstered her blaster, slipping the weapon back into place and hopping onto the droids back. There was a loud clunk as she wrapped herself around the back of the droid, holding on for dear life.

She had no idea what he had planned, but he needed to move fast.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Rose Kuhn"],

With Rose wrapped around him in a clank, HK nodded and took the hilt of his lightsaber,

"Hang on tight."

The droid warned her, he jumped up, activating his lightsaber, the white blade erupting through the shady cantina, already deflecting couple blaster bolts like a shield, a peaceful aura of the Light-Side emanated from the plasma blade, passing through a Force-imbued Solari crystal within its hilt. HK planted his foot on a nearby durasteel table in mid-jump, using the repulsorlifts within his feet to propel them higher as with a whooshing burst the jet systems of his armor activated.

Rose wanted HK to move fast and he did just that, soon enough she would feel the rush of air whipping at her face and the dark cloak protecting her from the heat of the jet pack flapping in the wind as the droid literally flew with her across the cantina, using the jet systems built into his armor. He would go horizontal as they flew, time slowing down in his perspective again as he calculated the trajectory of blaster bolts sent flying on a path that could endanger Rose, swatting them away, trying to deflect the projectiles back at their user with his lightsaber. He could take a few hits as they flew, he wasn't so much worried about his Phrik armor and body getting damaged, Rose wasn't so lucky however, so he focused on protecting her.

With his other hand he pointed the magnetic revolver at the durasteel door they were moving towards at an alarming speed, his scanners quickly picking up on the location of its hinges, he pulled the trigger four times in quick succession, aiming for the weak points, and four shots would be sent silently, whipping in a buzz past them and disappearing within the durasteel frame.

Rose could feel the droid's body tilting back then, moving his feet forward to slow them down with his rocket boots, large claws extending out from his metal feet to cover larger area as in mid flight he kicked down the door behind the bar and landed inside the, hopefully, safer area with a stumble, his jet systems quieting down,

"Are you alive back there?"

He tilted his head to check how Rose handled the flight and to see if the goons were still after them, [member="Flannigan Mcnash"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="HK-36"]

[member="HK-36"]

Rose didn’t really think about anything else while she clung to the robot, she didn’t even pay attention to what was going on around them.

She more thought about how strange her current condition was.

Part of her hadn’t expected any of this to happen, she thought that the job would have been far more simple. Life generally tended to run away from her however so she at least wasn’t too surprised by anything happening, though she was a bit miffed that people had started shooting at her for little to no reason at all.

A frown settled on her lips as she shook and nearly lost her grip, the great droid springing onto the ground and rocking for a few moments before his voice echoed back towards her. ”I’m good.”

She answered, though her hair was starting to frizz up.

 

[Flannigan Mcnash]

"They've escaped after em, phase B phase B you spiceheaded fool." a slight creak of static permeated the airways, if one was attuned to that sort of thing they'd hear a heavy fat voice, the type you'd imagine donut crumbs flying out of and wearing a blue uniform a cop. "We've got reports of a fire fight in one of the cantinas, people are saying some old droid and his girly were killing people." the heavy whirr of sirens screamed through the night, the flashes of blue and red exclaiming in no uncertain terms 'get on the ground, or I'll give new meaning to the word police brutality and I ain't talking linguistically.'

The thugs began to pile out of the cantina, moving off into alleyways hiding weapons or shouting 'the shooters are getting away, they went round back'. It was gonna be one of those days for the duo.

[member="HK-36"]
[member="Rose Kuhn"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Rose Kuhn"], [member="Flannigan Mcnash"],

"Great. Because that might have been the easiest thing we would do all day."

The droid pat-patted Rose on the back as he stepped away from her, taking a nearby durasteel appliance and moving it over to block the doorway they just flew through with a screech of metal and scraping. Moving across the kitchen he would peek out of the back door to witness the law enforcement of the planet surrounding the place, and then that voice rang out from outside,

'get on the ground, or I'll give new meaning to the word police brutality and I ain't talking linguistically.'

So here's the thing, the droid was working in Galactic Alliance's army, conducting missions for them, commandeering a ship in their name from time to time, not to mention they would have probably given him a bounty hunting permit or license by now and since everything he saw was recorded in his memory banks he could always just download the record of the shoot-out to a datapad and show that it was all in self-defense. Easy, since the Alliance controlled the planet he was higher on the chain of command than law enforcement, he could always claim mission outside of their jurisdiction and show proof he wasn't the one who started the brawl, just get off scot-free.

But did he do that?

Feth no, he was HK-kharking-36, he didn't had any time to deal with organic nonsense,

HK turned away from the door and came up to Rose,

"Well the place is being surrounded now, I know we just met but I need you to hug me and stand on my feet, I have a trick we could use."

 

[Subject 37]

[member="HK-36"] | [member="Flannigan Mcnash"]

Rose wasn’t some princess that needed to be tossed and thrown about like a ragdoll, She could very well think for herself and come up with her own plans. It was how she had survived in the Outer Rim without any real issue, and it was how she had made it through training with the Sith.

She wasn’t the strongest, bravest, or even smartest, but she was smart enough.

As she slipped from the Robots back she pulled a communicator from her pocket and quickly typed in some key command codes, a few kilometers away her ship would very suddenly spring to life. It’s TibanaX fueled engines would blaze into being and the slaverigging that had been hook into the ships systems would pull it off the landing pad.

”Just get us on that roof.” Rose said as she pointed towards a nearby building.

The vessel couldn’t come down low in the alleyways, but it could at least get low enough to land onto one of the flat roofs that was around them.

Without another word she quickly slipped around HK-36 and embraced him, eyes trailing towards the crowd of people that was slowly surrounding them.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Rose Kuhn"],

”Just get us on that roof.”

The droid glanced towards the building from the crack between the door and its frame and nodded in confirmation.

When Rose hugged him the droid took the edges of his black cloak and wrapped it tightly around them, wrapping them up like a burrito and pulling his hood down low to conceal his faceplate entirely behinds its mask-like veil. Rose would see then the material shimmer as the Chameleon cloak activated and bent light around them, becoming translucent from inside but rendering them invisible. Droid's cloaking device was an actual cloak, his cloakity-cloak.

"They will not see us. Try to lower your breathing."

He whispered to Rose, warning her that they still might hear.

Slowly the machine crept towards the slightly ajar door to slink outside, the sound of his footsteps muffled by his built-in sound dampening systems, his claws splayed out underneath the cover of the cloak, distributing the pressure so he would not kick up any dust or leave noticeable footprints. Slowly the line of police units would grow closer to them as the machine sneaked towards an alley by the building Rose indicated.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="HK-36"]

Rose remained as still as she possibly could.

For a brief few moments she found herself mulling over how ridiculous this was.

The situation was not at all what she had been expecting of this trip, not the least because she had thought she was one of the good guys. She still was of course, but it appeared that the security forces on this planet simply didn't have the time to sort those kinds of things out. She couldn't blame them too much, when cantina shootings started it was usually just best to arrest everyone and ask questions later, safer for everyone that way.

It was however, terribly inconvenient.

She glanced down at the blinking communicator in her hand, watching the small map on the screen. Her ship was getting closer, flying high in the upper atmosphere. On her signal it would swoop down and land over the roof, it's bay door already open.

This wasn't an unusual situation for her to be in, on the run and calling her ship down for safety, it was the primary reason she'd added the slave-rigging.