Private Malfunction

[K1[_ _]]

The flashlight blinked in response. A data pad. K1 had to crouch a bit to make it into the room, heavy footfalls thudding on the concrete as he closed the distance between them.

"I'll try my best... no promises.." He reached for the data pad, the screen crackling as he took hold. He froze, relaxed his grip and held it as gently as he could.

A panel on his arm popped open, and from it a small corded device was removed and gingerly plugged in. K1 stared at it for close to half a minute, the flashlight reflecting off the cracked screen, before finally lifting his bright gaze to Aliris.

"....This may take a bit..."

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

"I'm in no hurry, so take all the time you need." It wasn't like anyone was waiting for her. Aliris moved about the room some more while she waited, seeing if there was anything else to find or use. Anything at all. And nope, nothing that wasn't beyond repair or recognition. With a sigh she found a spot to sit, slowly kicking her legs to and fro with an extremely bored expression.

She didn't mind waiting. She was just bored.

".. So how's it goin..?"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

"...Not well..." K1 withdrew the cord from the datapad, holding it out for Aliris to take if she wanted to. "..it seems a majority of the data is.. too damaged to recover.."

"..The only information I could find was a set of coordinates and a map..." The flashlight flicked off, instead transitioning to a different function. A holomap appeared in the air before him. Being so tall, however, it was high in the air above Aliris's head. K1 knelt down, causing the holomap to settle a foot and a half above the ground, easier viewing height for the small female.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

".. Well, that'll have to do I guess." Aliris looked over the map, uncaring that he seemed to have to crouch to show her. Then she smiled, reaching up to pat his shoulder. "Good work. Let's go check that place out. Maybe it's not as broken down?"

Then she hopped from her seat to squeeze her way out of these ruins and back to the open sky above. She took in a deep breath as she looked up to the sky, smiling wide and warm. This was going surprisingly well, even without her dagger. Hopefully. It was the growling close by that took her thoughts out of that. Right. No weapon. And now the local wildlife had taken notice. She blinked slowly, turning her gaze down towards the Gorocco that was now lowering it's horn and preparing to charge.

".. Chit."

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

".. Chit."

K1 was just stepping through the doorway as Aliris cursed. This was the second time she'd said it since he 'awoke', so it drew his attention.

The sight of the Gorocco preparing to charge stopped the droid in its tracks, and time seemed to slow down. K1 didn't realize he'd moved until after it happened, and by the time he was back to reality he was already at Aliris' side and the Gorocco was charging.

Without much warning he grabbed her, scooping the young female into his arms. He had no time to delay, dashing to the side just as the Gorocco closed the distance, barely avoiding its horn as in and swung it angrily.

"...Are you okay...?"

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

She tensed her hands, crouched low. Readied herself to try and.. something. Aliris wasn't too sure what she could do. She didn't have the physicality to dodge, and without her dagger she couldn't even cut it down. Or focus her lightning. Crap. Crap crap crap. It charged, horn lowered for her, only for it to suddeny move.

Oh. Not it. Her. Aliris blinked rapidly as she felt herself carried, turning her gaze to the droid for a moment, then back to the horned animal as it reared to turn back towards them.

"I'm.. I'm good. Yeah. Can you fight? My weapon broke so.. I can't do much. Sorry."

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

K1 stared down at her for a brief moment before shifting to look at the raging beast, setting her down gently beside him without shifting his gaze.

"...Get somewhere safe.. I'll distract it until then.." He truly didn't know whether or not he could survive fighting such a massive creature, but that didn't matter. Aliris' safety was what mattered. "..Go, now.."

K1 took a few steps forward, bending down to grasp a stray pebble before chucking it at the beast. It bounced off the horn, bouncing harmlessly to the side, but it had done the trick. The Gorocco growled as it turned its attention to K1, who walked to the side, reaching down for another pebble in case it decided to divert its gaze.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

Run to safety? Aliris stared up at the droid for a moment, but didn't say anything. Didn't argue. Without her dagger she didn't have her spells, or something that could even hurt the beast, so.. Running was her only option. She scooted low once the Gorocco looked away, taking a stealthy as she could approach to moving away.

Get somewhere high up, safe. Hopefully K1 could handle it.

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

K1 kept the Gorocco's attention, tossing pebbles and raising the volume of his voice if it showed any possible chance of going after Aliris. It charged a few more times, with the droid just barely dodging out of the way of each pass. After almost a minute and a half of dancing with the beast, K1 quickly diverted his gaze, looking for Aliris. He had to know she had gotten to safety.

His ocular sensor flickered as he found her, crouched amongst the rubble atop the building they'd just explored. It wasn't easily accessible, at least, not for such a large brute like the Gorocco. A sense of relief washed over the droid, knowing Aliris was safe; that feeling didn't last long. That brief moment he spent to make sure she was safe was more than a chance for the Gorocco to make its move.

Time, once more, felt as if it had slowed down. The Gorocco closed the distance, using its opponents distraction to its advantage. He turned to face the beast, the sound of its heavy charge drawing his attention once more. Too late. Metal screamed as K1 was lifted, the Gorocco's horn impaled straight through the droid.

He hung there, unmoving. The damage may have been localized to just where the horn had impaled his mechanics, but it also happened to tear right through his power supply.

The Gorocco shook its head, uncerimoniously tossing the droid off its horn and against the stone wall. K1 fell to the ground, laying still as the energy to function slowly drained from him.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

She'd just gotten to cover when she saw it. The droid looked back to her, to make sure she was safe. Why'd he do that? Before she knew it, the thing had been impaled. The droid that'd helped her. And tried to make sure she was safe. Why were people like that? Going out of their way to make sure she was safe and end up sacrificing themselves? Anger, frustration. Before she knew it she'd jumped towards the Gorocco.

Lightning danced between her fingers. Her skinned blacked from the raw power she brought out, and when she touched the back of it's hide? It unleashed.

The dead beast fell to the ground as she half stumbled over to the K1 unit, hissing in annoyance at the pain in her hands. At the droid.

"Why'd you do that..?"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

"Why'd you do that..?"

K1 turned his head as Aliris spoke, the light of his ocular sensor flickering dimly. Why had he done that? Why distract himself in front of a powerful opponent? He wasn't sure what exactly had been damaged by the Goroccos's horn, but it seemed to make it hard for him to think further on it.

"...You can't be fixed.." it wasn't a lie, but he wasn't sure if it was why he'd allowed himself the moment to make sure she was safe. "....My parts can be replaced... I can be fixed... but you cannot..."

It sounded like such a weak reason, even to himself.

The real reason? He wanted to make sure she was safe. K1 never meant to sacrifice himself in that moment, no, he probably could have found a way for both of them to escape if he'd had the chance. However, he'd been powered down for years, who knows how long; to say he was rusty was a physical understatement.

"...A...Are you angry with me...?" His voice wavered as his energy only continued to drain.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

She stared in disbelief for a moment, then sighed. That made a lot of sense, factually. and, well, he was a droid, right? Aliris sat down beside him, arms crossed over her chest as she frowned even deeper at that thought. Disposable. That's what the Ashlan's wanted to train her to be. She reached up, thumping him on the chest with her fist.

"Furious. You gotta help me figure out how to move you now."

No one was disposable, right? Even droids. She grinned, not even caring that her blackened hands were screaming in pain from just a simple tap.

"So how do I move you?"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

"...Mo-move.. me...?" His words stuttered and stumbled as he thought aloud. "...Uncerta-ta-ta-tain... m-m-ma-m-may need ou-ou-outside help..."

He was quite a hefty droid, moving him without help and possibly even equipment could be difficult, if not dangerous given the long rickety ladder that led in and out of the canyon.


"..Bu-bu-but why m-m-move me..?" He was confused, as she was that he'd helped her, so too did he. He had angered her. Something in the back of his processor told him the next course of action would be for her to leave him behind. So.. why wasn't she?

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

"I'll figure out something. There's gotta be some kind of repulsor lift around here." Something to make him float. Well, she could just use the Force, if she was stronger. Frustration built at that thought, but she didn't speak up about it as she stood and started digging around for any kind of left over tech. There had to be something, right? Sure enough she found an old cargo lift looking platform, and she crouched beside it to start rewiring it and get it working.

"..Bu-bu-but why m-m-move me..?"

"Because I owe you. And I refuse to owe people when I can pay a debt back." Because he saved her. Because people weren't expendable. She wasn't the type to wear her heart on her sleeve, something the Ashlans had long beat into her, but she still would act on it. She moved back over to him, reaching down to hook her arms around his to try and drag him up onto the trolley she'd gotten working.

Heavy. Way too heavy.

"Ugh. Think you can help lift yourself up or something?"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

"..." K1 turned his head slowly to look at the lift Aliris had brought over. His power hadn't been lost yet, but it was depleting, as such his movements were slow as if to conserve energy, that or he didn't have enough to move faster.

He turned to face the ground, using his arms to push himself up, bits of metal and wire tumbled from the hole in his chestplate as he moved. K1 stood, albeit slowly, a rough mechanical whir sounding from his limbs as they strained against the power drain.

One step, well more like a stumble, and he was basically atop the repulsor lift. K1 didn't say a word, only looking up at Aliris before giving a very slow thumbs up.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

Aliris returned the thumbs up with an admittedly exhausted grin before she clicked on the lift. Slowly but surely it'd start to lift up, and she climbed atop it just to control the strength so they could get out of the little pit they were in and, well, so she could drive it towards town.

".. So.. How do we fix you, exactly..?"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

"...D-d-do-do you know... any d-d-d-droid smiths-iths-iths..?" K1 turned to look up at her, where he basically lay on the lift. "...Or p-p-per-perhaps there's a n-n-near by town that could po-po-point the way to one..?"

Its not as if he knew the area, or if he had in the past, he didn't now.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

"No, I don't. .. Well, I guess yeah, time to slip by town and see who we can find."

If there was a droid smith in town, it'd make it easier, wouldn't it? She sighed, glancing towards the town in the distance. At least she hadn't made some kind of evil name for herself, right? She continued the lift's path to the town at least. Once they were there, she figured looking around for droids was probably the best bet.

"So.. What's your name, anyway?"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

"...I-i-identification.. unkno-kno-known..." His manner of speech had dwindled. K1 was doing what he could to conserve power, given it seemed as if Aliris wanted him to stick around.

"...Data bank-ank-anks.. damaged-aged-aged..." He remembered nothing prior to her waking him up. The only information he had was the basic usage of his model; even the purpose as to what he would have used his functions for in the past was lost to him.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

"Well. You have K1 on your head, so I guess.. We'll go with K1, alright?"

That'd have to work for now, right? Aliris nodded her head as if she was the most clever person ever before stopping the lift in front of a pair of droids in the town. They seemed to be having some sort of conversation in Binary, which she didn't understand. Which had her frown. Hopefully K1 did.

"Hey. We're looking for a droidsmith. K1 here needs some repairs before his power core runs out. Do you have a location?"

K1[_ _]