Putting The Hunter Into The Hunter-Killer [Jamie Pyne]

[HK-36]

[member="Jamie Pyne"],

Orbit of Naboo,
Some Time After Republic's Attack On Starport,


A bright flash of light illuminated darkness of the void within Naboo's gravity well as shape of a large super-carrier and military escort composed of old Protectorate and Alliance ships jumped into real-spac. It was the Dancing Queen along with a naval task-force picked by HK for eventual confrontation with one Chancellor Suravi, the figure-head responsible for latest attack on Naboo,

"Sir,"

HK's ensign addressed him, the armored and cloaked droid was standing at the bridge of his large flagship, an old spoil of war that was once used by the Horde and the Sith under the name "The Dread Lord", captain by one Overlord Dredge, who the droid defeated during a boarding action, took control of the flagship for the Pyre and Abregado, and renamed it to further mock his opponents. The droid looked to his crewman, his metal arms folded at his chest,

"We have entered the real-space without anomalies, all vessels are on stand-by."

The machine commander nodded,

"Have them stay here and prepare their hyper-drive engines for another jump, the course will be set after my talks with the Naboo court conclude."

HK motioned out towards the blue planet then,

"Send out a transmission to Naboo on official Alliance frequency that we have arrived, bring The Dancing Queen closer in so that we can meet them on the planet's surface."

The ensign nodded,

"Aye-aye, sir."

And the droid went back to staring out across the vast expanse of space at Naboo.


The Naboo representatives would have probably heard about HK once more due to his involvement during the Atrisian Incident, leading an army on the surface where Jamie and her Jedi Mistress joined them, ordering Abregado-aligned vessels to reinforce the battered Naboo fleet in the orbit so that they could face the battle together. Then there were the humanitarian efforts he pushed for afterwards, offering his own ships and planet as sanctuary for the wounded and refugees, as well as a stage for planning out the planet's reconstruction, a ploy to sway the Alliance into accepting his regime among their collection of governments banded together without meddling with his dictatorship too much. And, of course, as soon as he heard about the attack on Naboo's port by the Republic he sent out an official message of his condolences, as well as personally accepting the bounty Naboo set for the woman responsible.

Which was what brought him to the planet with a military fleet, due to the distance between the two planets it took him a while to get there, which means if he was to conduct the hunt efficiently he couldn't waste time for going back to get more ships.

Even outside of his recent burst in activity at least older representatives of Naboo should be somewhat familiar with the First Baron of Abregado-Rae, this was before Jamie time, perhaps she was merely a child when the events happened, or perhaps it was even before she was born, but the droid once had a very close relationship with Naboo. During the Protectorate days when the machine was a mere Colonel of the Pyre, shortly before he was granted ownership of Abregado, he befriended one Feena Mason, the Queen of Naboo at the time. Their friendship lasted as he climbed through the ranks and she maintained her position, Naboo eventually entering the ranks of Protectorate and the droid enjoying making visits and deals with their queen.

When the war with the second incarnation of the Confederacy sparked up, continuing into their reformation as ASA, Abrion System Alliance, or as HK liked to call them, Abregado Supremacy Acknowledgment, the CIS/ASA lead an assault on Naboo, attempting to gain control over it. The droid came to aid the planet personally with a division of volunteers from his Iron Company, fighting off the invaders alongside Naboo defenders on the surface of the planet and even briefly in the submerged cities of the Gungans. Later on, during his brief sting as the Iron Lord of the Protectorate he used his power to promote Queen Mason into position of the Exarch of Naboo, one of the highest positions in Protectorate government. Naboo became the capital of its section of space, bringing the nearby planets within Protectorate's frontiers under its sway, allowing the planet an access to another age of prosperity, at least until the droid decided to retire, deactivating himself for prolonged time and the Protectorate collapsed.


Unfortunately, it seems that in the current Galactic age only the memory of atrocities lives on while good deeds go forgotten. So, perhaps, Jamie would remember seeing the droid on holonet or reading about him during her schooling, perhaps the other representatives of Naboo that would meet with the machine or even the Queen would remember him as the droid commander who came to their aid when they were besieged by the CIS and fought alongside him, perhaps it was him who allowed their political careers to blossom as he placed Naboo on the center of Protectorate's political stage when they were only starting to carve their reputation out. But just as likely all of that would go forgotten after the Protectorate's influence disappeared and none of them would have any idea about the machine's history with Naboo.


Either way, a shuttle with Abregado's insignia would break through the clouds, heading towards the hangar or landing zone designated for their meeting, if none of them met HK before that was about to change.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

With Naboo currently under an incredible amount of stress due to the recent attacks from the rogue forces of the Republic remnant, the crown had been overwhelmed with hearings, meetings, and deliberations as of late. Sects of the former Republic had formed as well, denouncing the actions of the former supreme commander, Suravi Teigra. Navigating the issues and concerns that the people of Naboo had in conjunction with those claiming themselves the true Republic was murky water that needed to be tread carefully.

Jamie was far too young to have personally recalled anything of the Iron Lord's achievements, or acts. That history was well enough documented however, and when the courts received word that they would be receiving said guest the Padawan spend a bit of time reading up on the droid, a seemingly strange thing for her to be reading the accomplishments of. Droids were typically found to be relatively simplistic, capable of performing a single task the exact same way all of its' counterparts did. So that one was so distinguished had been quite a surprise to the young noblewoman.

Regardless, the ship aboard which Lord Protector resided would find that upon its' landing Jamie and a pair of royal court guards would be waiting by her side to escort the droid and those accompanying it to the palace. Whilst the King was busy with other matters, Jamie had taken up many responsibilities in his stead. A vibrant long, flowing dress adorned her tall and slender frame, hair curled. Her lightsaber rested along the underside of her left forearm in a small holster, given that her attire provided no adequate means to secure the weapon. Typically she would simply relinquish her hold of the weapon for such meetings, however tensions were high, and one could never be too careful anymore.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Jamie Pyne"],

"They get younger every solar rotation do they not?"

"Do not attract attention to it, it may be their custom, or she might be just a young looking alien."

"Like an Ugnaught?"

The machines whispered to themselves very quietly while they were still out of Jamie and the guards' ear shot, without a need to move lips or look at each other they should not be able to give it away,

"Yes, except less wrinkled."

"Should I address her in some specific way?"

"No, just act normal."

"I do not know, that may be overstepping on some custom, I have a good feeling about going different this time."

"No, just do not be weird, you remember Zeltron."

"That was different, no one will be grinding on anyone this time."

The machines were clad in suits of GA designed and manufactured armor fashioned out of Phrik, HK's face would be left uncovered, revealing the skeletal silver-grey metal faceplate usually hidden by a helmet, if Jamie could tell Phrik apart from other materials, the droid itself was made from it as well. HK, just like his guard-units carried lightsabers on their belts, no other weapons or gadgets outside of it, they wanted to have something ready in case of another terrorist attack without going overboard, his guards' faces were hidden behind helmets.

"Howdy-ho."

"For feth's sake."

HK greeted Jamie with a soft wave, although the machine was usually lucid and somewhat serious Jamie would probably start to understand right off the bat how he came to divert so much from the usual droidic nature, due to his long lifespan without having a memory wipe what people usually called 'quirks' accumulating within programming grew to make him more or less nuts.

"You have my official condolences towards the travesty condone on your people by the Republic as an ancient being with vast amounts of knowledge and the First Baron of Abregado-Rae."

The droid placed his empty hand on his chest, leaning forward towards the vibrantly dressed young woman in a soft bow, his body guards mimicked the gesture.

HK motioned to each of them,

"These are the Greycloaks, my personal honor guard."

As he introduced them the other droids removed their helmets, revealing faceplates of HK-units below them, older models at least,

"Do not worry, they are trustworthy, as they are me."

The machine chose to make up his bodyguard unit with his own copies, a logical decision for someone with as high self-esteem as 36.

He focused back towards Jamie,

"Has your government's investigation towards the incident concluded yet?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie's eyes widened slightly as the droid began to speak, the dark voids in the center following his gesturing, along with that of his guardsmen. There was a momentary look of confusion as her young human brain processed what exactly was going on. His speech was impossibly unique for a mechanical unit. It had personality, whereas every droid she had ever laid eyes on was little more than the direct result of the intentional programming it possessed. Now, Jamie was anything but a technical genius, but even she knew that this was out of the ordinary for sure.

This droid is... a lot older than I. She realized this being was quite frankly, akin to the age of one of her ancestors.

HK might wonder for a minute if there was something wrong with the young noblewoman, as her empty stare lingered for a moment past the stage of awkwardness before she snapped back into reality.

"I...Greetings." It was rare that she stumbled on her words. She was subjected to quite tedious speech lessons to intentionally break any pattern of improper dialect.Speaking to an inconceivably old droid with a personality, however, was not in the coursework. "I thank you...We, thank you." She said, gesturing towards the invisible crowd of Nabooians as a symbol of gratitude. "It's an honor to meet you." She offered a small tilt of her head, "We have the name of the one responsible for orchestrating the attack, however the cleanup and repair will take quite a bit of time. A few ships were damaged, two lost, one with its' entire crew killed. Exact numbers of the dead, missing, and injured are still being tallied."

The young woman motioned for the droid and his guard to follow as she ushered them towards the inner sanctums of the palace, out of the small main hangar. "I've arranged for this meeting to take place in one of the veranda's by the gardens. It's quiet, and quite a sight. I find it to be a very serene location. I hope that is alright with you."

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Jamie Pyne"],

As Jamie motioned to the invisible Naboo crowd, HK looked to it as well, giving the symbol a quick wave as if greeting everyone,

"It's an honor to meet you."

"Yes I assumed so."

The machine quipped before adding,

"But it is an honor to be received by the Naboo as well. It has been some time, at least in your organic's perception, since my last visit here, it is unfortunate such dreadful tides bring me here this time."

HK nodded to Jamie at her motion for him to follow, doing just that as he mused on the attack,

"Yes, Suravi, I know the name from the bounty contract Naboo posted, and I followed her career a bit back in the days of the Republic. I never had much meaningful interaction with her, or took special interest in the woman, to me she seemed like one of those standard Republic politicians."

The droid glanced to Jamie,

"They can be a very bland folk, more mechanical and emotionless than some droids I know."

Looking ahead he continued,

"Besides, me and the Jedi, Republic by extension as well, had our differences, I did not end up doing much cooperation with them. Usually coming to them as an ally, but when I tried to establish any special contact with them and have a discussion they usually ignored me. Still, I would have assumed she was more stable than to conduct such an act. A Republican should know better. Any loss of life, especially that of organic one as immortality does not come so easily to you lot, is a travesty, and the dead will be avenged when Suravi is brought to justice, but I know the Galactic History well, as I witnessed it since the day Republic was formed,"

That was a lie, HK was not around for the Republic's formation, but still, he could throw around claims like that all he wanted, nobody else could prove otherwise, especially after the Long Dark when much of history was erased from archives around the Galaxy or just simply forgotten, leaving it vulnerable for him to simply re-write it through deceit,

"and things could have gone much worse."

As to the veranda, he simply nodded in agreement,

"Veranda is alright with me. Some tyrants could bring up paranoid thoughts of making an opening for a sniper to take a shot,"

HK made a side-glance at Jamie, quipping,

"Unlike them, however, I can survive being shot through the head, as well as decapitation and having my limbs removed from my torso."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

I assumed so? Droids were a bit of an anomaly for Jamie, and this one seemed to have accumulated some type of personal ego to his personality. Still, she didn't linger on the comment for more than a moment before carrying on with their conversation. Listening to the machine speak it was a bit humorous to the girl, that he seemed to have elevated himself above other droids, seemingly in belief that he himself was entirely sentient as she, organically, was.

As they walked Jamie nodded along, adding her conjecture to the recent attacks. "Our people have had no real dealings with the crumbling Republic as of late. However Suravi Teigra's behavior seems erratic, even for a falling government. She had set dangerous mines along civilian shipping routes. That alone rose alarm for our people, however following the destruction of our assets, unprovoked, forced our hand." She laughed ever so slightly. "Some might believe a public condemnation is little more than spectacle, but we aren't looking to start a war here.We are a people of peace, through and through. That is why this terrorist attack is especially heinous in our eyes."

Again the noblewoman smiled to the droid. "You are an old soul, if I may metaphorically say, to have seen the formation of the Republic's many phases, and its' transformations over the centuries. I do not know if I envy or pity that." There was a price for such longevity. The galaxy was filled with darkness and sorrow. For her short lifespan, there was more than enough to fill that void. Living in theory forever, would be a cold, and lonely prospect.

His final comment however was more than mildly disturbing. She had rarely considered the potential for such an act of evil conspiring against her, or those she personally knew. Still, she believed the security of the palace to be sufficient enough to prevent such a terrible fate befalling an honored guest of hers, or herself. At least, she would hope so. The blonde gave a nod. "Security is tight since the attacks, I venture to say we are safe from any such potential, regardless."

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Jamie Pyne"],

"I would argue that it is in organics nature to be erratic, if you were ever in love you can probably attest to that."

HK quipped in response,

"But I do agree that she has become more unstable over the years, perhaps her mind is degrading over time due to natural entropy, perhaps she could not handle loosing her power and see the government around her crumble apart, perhaps she was always an idiot but no one cared to point it out."

The droid mused over the subject and possibilities,

"Either way, unfortunately for her, Abregado is a bit more vengeful, besides, our fortune in current Galactic age was built upon warring and collecting bounties on scumbags like, I am not planning on making an exception this time."

At Jamie's comment about the droid being an old soul, and how it was a metaphor, the droid shrugged and nodded at the same time, it was debatable whether machines had souls, and for now he put it down as a debate for some other meeting, only responding to that part with,

"Perhaps I will never be certain whether I possess a soul or not, or if I have any hope in joining the beings I met over my existence in some sort of afterlife or even the Living Force, that is why I believe droids should focus on making the Galaxy a better place either by helping their creators or, preferably, by ascending over their primary programming and achieving true independence, changing the world around them from their own free will."

As he said this, HK slowly closed his six-fingered fist, as if crushing the throat of some unseen foe, slowly loosing himself in thought before flicking his head to look at Jamie, the red glow of his photoreceptors washing over the young blonde,

"But yes, I would welcome more companions who would stay by my side longer. Even other droids I encountered do not tend to stick around too long, they prefer to travel down their own paths once I free their minds. As to organics, well they are generally put off by the idea that I was around long before their time, and I will be there when they are dead and buried, most likely without changing much, even as their time is over and their children take the stage."


Either way, when they took to the balcony, HK returned Jamie's nod with a nod of his own,

"Good, good, I did not mean to doubt your security, but it is the time for daring attacks by zealots and fanatics I suppose. But going back to Suravi, were you able to tell when the charges were planted on the ships, where they came from, and who detonated them? Anything that could help me with tracking down her current location would be helpful."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie smirked, she understood the erratic behavior of those in love, something she was currently experiencing, though she wouldn't admit as much. That would be telling, after all. As for Suravi being a crazy? Jamie had to believe that people were not evil through and through, though their motives were driven quite often by greed or a cause that was believed to be bigger than one sacrifice or act of evil.

The blonde did want to reinforce one small detail however. "We do need her alive though. We're not looking to have her executed."

Droids were always a bit strange to Jamie, this one notably more so than any other she'd met in the past. The idea of one possessing true free will was strange. They were all programmed, built off of some basic language or purpose or code. They learned over time, but that was simply through collecting enormous amounts of data, it wasn't quite the same as maintaining true sentience. They were still at their core programmed. But at the same time, after a certain point, possessing enough information could be seen as identical in some way to being sentient.

The thought alone was enough to make her head spin, so she simply let it go. It was easier to simply treat the droid as a person than to think about whether or not it possessed a soul.

"I don't find myself put off by your ability to endure the centuries, but I would not wish to endure the shifting galaxy generation after generation as new and old life clash with one another. Human lives are short, by comparison to other alien life, but I believe it drives us to make the most of our time."

Back on to the subject of the terrorist attack itself however, Jamie retrieved her datapad from her bag on her shoulder, passing it over to the droid. "All of the investigative files are there. It looks like she hijacked a cargo freighter destined for Theed with a cleared manifest. That was how she smuggled the empion mines. We're not quite sure how she managed to brainwash the pilot, but he seems an innocent party in this." She scrolled a bit further down to the image that had been sent along with the message. 'Closer than you think' "That's really all we've got, aside from the knowledge that she has a small ghost fleet made up of aging Republic vessels out of Kiribi."

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Jamie Pyne"],

When Jamie mentioned that they needed Suravi alive the droid only quipped with,

"Being alive comes in a variety of definitions, some would say I am alive, others that I am dead because I was never alive to begin with. Others still that I am something in between."

Perhaps this would end in the hilarity of HK repeatedly shanking Suravi and leaving her technically still alive on Jamie's doorstep, perhaps he is just messing with her. Probably just messing with her.

When Jamie moved onto talking about the investigation files and the details of the attack, HK moved to look over them as well, nodding as she spoke,

"Do you have in the records whether she is able to manipulate the Force or not?"

HK asked passively as he was busy taking all the data and images in,

"Either way, looks like I will need to stop by this Kiribi planet and come up with a solution to flush her out."

He paused, calculating for a second before asking Jamie,

"Are there security cameras or recording devices in this room?"

Perhaps the droid was finally going to make his move on Jamie and he was calculating the availability of them "interfacing" right on top of the notes on Suravi's attack. More likely it was all part of the plan to flush her out he mentioned.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Well, Suravi is human, so, in that sense the crown would like her alive, and well enough to be able to stand trial." That was still a pretty vague statement, though Jamie knew that not all people shared her views when it came to the whole all life is precious bit. So long as she was able to stand trial and answer for her crimes, the girl would leave the rest up to those who took up the task of searching for the woman.

"It's possible." She said, "That she is capable of manipulating the Force." The blonde shrugged, "But there's no way for us to confirm or deny that theory. I was not present during the attacks and I have never personally met the woman. It would be wrong for me to speculate on that subject without understanding more of who she is."

Pausing for a moment she glanced around, and up, taking in the space they shared. "No. Not to my knowledge, why?" That seemed a strange question to ask.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Jamie Pyne"],

"Lucky for her, Abregado does not support executing prisoners without a lengthy trial to ensure it would be better for the public good."

HK explained that Suravi would be brought to Naboo alive, unless she would actively try to kill herself before that happened,

"The Force will not avail her either way, I have ways of protecting myself against it, of fighting it and those who wield it with great efficiency. As to the cameras,"

HK looked to Jamie once more,

"I have a plan as to how to flush her out, and I will do so by making it seem as if her holdings are in danger of being claimed and destroyed. Tell me, miss Pyne, if you never met me would you find it more believable that I am an assassin droid who went on a diplomatic mission, or that I finally snapped in my age and decided to take my army, my fleet, and go raze a world from which pirates and terrorists attack us?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie paused, trying to think of which option actually sounded more plausible. "More than likely the latter, I would suspect. Though I'm no droid expert, I've been led to believe that periodic memory wipes are critical in maintaining proper droid protocol." At least, that was what she had always been told growing up, specifically by her tutors and other, much newer production protocol droids. Perhaps HK was an anomaly, a glitch in the programming where he had not been affected quite the way typical droids were when left without memory wipes for long periods.

That made him uniquely familiar with the galaxy. Perhaps he could get the job done after all.

"Everything I have on Suravi and her fleet, and Kiribi I will forward to you. If there is any other way I can be of assistance I would be happy to aide you."

[member="HK-36"]