Spider to the Fly [Calina]

[Archive-9]

The Femme Fatal. It was how Sarge had known [member="Calina Ovmar"] had landed, of course. She hadn't exactly hidden her transponder codes while she'd come in to dock. It was on purpose, he reckoned, but who knew; maybe it'd slipped her mind. A slow smile crept over his mechanical features, servos whirring quietly beneath the sleek facade of his face. He leaned a shoulder back against the wall leading from the starport proper out into the docking bay, disruptor pistol twirling around a bony finger.

"I wonder if the misspelling is intentional..." he muses to himself, looking back to her ship.

Data flowed across his eyes. Ship schematics. Approximate age. Boxes highlighted repairs; paint that was of a different composition than the rest; the telltale burns of previous combat, were there any.

He even flagged all the comm arrays erupting from it's hull like spines.

His life was information, and it fed him and flowed from him in equal measure. "...it might be. Maybe skip the mysterious part. Or maybe whoever painted it misheard. Cheap job? Perhaps. Should inquire."

 

[Lina Djo]

The girl that had scurried from the ship in a haze of emotion, head bowed, brows furrowed unseeing of everything around her, returned t the Femme Fatal with a slight bounce in her step. There were a number of reasons behind it, the first was that she'd peeled a layer away from Sarge, glimpsed the man beneath hard exoskeleton that he wore, and oh how beautiful it had been. Not because he himself was beautiful, for Calina rarely saw beauty in aesthetics. No the beauty was in the puzzle, in the unknown. Her mind raced over the treasure chest he'd presented her with, the thing that lurked in his mind, a possible general for the undead imprisoned by his force dead mind. She smiled, slight quiver of excitement coursing through her.

the second reason returned to the forefront of the teenagers mind as her mothers ship came into view. A new mission, a new purpose and a dangerous one at that. Infiltrate the Sith Empire, play apprentice to Kaine and feed back intelligence to Mara and Sarge. Play, was perhaps the wrong word, because she would become Kaine's apprentice and she would devour what knowledge she could glean from him because knowledge was everything. It wasn't just power, it was understanding, it was the ability to see the outcome of things before they happened, it would be wisdom, with time.

She came to a halt at the foot of the boarding ramp and turned, Sarge's words echoing in her ind. "Take [member="Archive-9"] with you." She'd agreed, eventually, more so she could quiz him about the thing in his head than any real desire to adopt another droid into her entourage. They'd not discussed collecting him...maybe he was lurking already. He did have that camouflage cloak...

 

[Archive-9]

[member="Calina Ovmar"] went straight past him. How, he wasn't sure. But, alas, that wasn't his fault. She'd seemed rather busy perusing her thoughts, and so he'd not interrupted her. Or, rather, he didn't up until she stopped at the boarding ramp, clearly thinking she'd forgotten something. "Hey, whoa." He says, walking out of the shadows through the very archway she'd used to get to her ship. "You can't leave without me, darlin'." The droid had the most exaggerated drawl she'd likely ever heard.

It was hard to peg, but if you'd thrown the droid into the woods, set him on a log and given him a string instrument, she wouldn't have been far off.

"Big ol' Sargey-Poo wants me to tag along. Guess he figures you need a dashing sidekick." He struck a pose, hands on hips, chin lifted, exposing the heavy blaster pistol set on his hip as the cloak was brushed back over his shoulders.

 

[Lina Djo]

Calina didn't know what threw her off guard more, the fact that he'd called her 'darlin' or the fact that he'd called Sarge 'Sargey-poo'...or perhaps it was the pose he was striking now...there was on thing she did establish from these three things; he was going to be fething annoying. She contemplated cutting him at the knees with a smart remark but if truth be told, none of the ones that popped into her mind seemed fitting enough. Besides which, she'd be stuck with him for a while so she might as well try and get off on the right foot.

"Wonderful." she replied after a moment, without a tone that said the complete opposite. She turned on her hell with a sigh and moved up the ramp. "Come on then, we've a galaxy to get across and plenty of time for you to irritate me between here and Bastion."

Parla greeted them at the top of the ramp, the HRD's ever impassive gaze fixed on the new passenger. Archive might recognise her as the twin of the one who had aided Anaya's escape from Fondor before she died. She was one of what had been five replicas. Only four remained, and they were Calina's now along with this ship. "Welcome back." she fell into step with the teenager. "I trust your visit went well?" Calina smiled, shooting a glance at [member="Archive-9"] .

"It did. Archive-9 this is Parla, she's one of four identical HRD's that work for me. Parla, this is Archive-9, Sarge's idea of a joke, I'm sure, but he'll be joining us for a while." Stuck up, emotionless and lacking any sense of humour, Calina had no doubts Parla would hate Archive-9 before Calina did.

 

[Archive-9]

Archive followed after her, jogging momentarily to catch up before slowing to a stop as he neared the top of the ramp and met Parla. Or... Parla Two. Or whatever. "Pretty well, I'd say." Damn droid just wouldn't shut up. "She didn't get shot at like her mother, and it seems you didn't either!

Everyone wins." The last two words were spoken with something akin to a pleased sigh, and as he was introduced, he bent forward and swept an arm across his waist in a deep bow.

"A pleasure." He remarks, electronically produced voice as real as one could get. "And I assure you, the only joke around here is why she agreed to this in the first place." And with that, he followed [member="Calina Ovmar"] into the ship with a hop, skip and a jump - metaphorically, of course. It was more a slow amble.

"Bastion here we come!"

 

[Lina Djo]

"Bastion?" Parla questioned, giving the Archive-9 a disapproving glare. "Is this a plan I'm going to like?"

"No." replied Calina without a moments thought. "We should to Lina Station first, need to change ships. I'd like to go into the Empire with as little of my mother attached to me as possible, but in all honesty Kaine is more likely to accept familiarity."

Parla nodded, peeling away from the pair as the entered the ships bridge. A dais rose in the bridges centre, a high backed chair settled upon it. It had been Anaya's throne. It was Calina's most hated thing about this ship. She ignored it completely moving past it without looking at it. "Report?"

"We're waiting for conformation from Control."

"Alright, once we're clear, set a course for Bastion. Quickest route."

"Yes ma'am."

Calina turned to look at Archive, hands moving to clasp behind her back. "What exactly is your purpose here? Aside from reporting back where i might fail to."

[member="Archive-9"]

 

[Archive-9]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

The droid stepped onto the bridge, looking around, a faint whirring from it's eyes saying it was zooming and cataloging it's surroundings. There's a pause as her question is asked, and then it speaks again, that purple light coming from within it's 'mouth' with every word it speaks. "I'm just here to watch." It says, chipper as could be.

"Or maybe I'm lying." It shrugs it's shoulders. "Who's to say."

 

[Lina Djo]

Calina rolled her eyes and turned her back on the droid. "Thanks for that incredibly detailed answer, I appreciate the clarity you've given me on the matter."

Her mind drifted ahead, to facing Kaine again and her expression darkened. "For the record, Archive, if you get in my way, blow my cover or do anything to draw suspicion to us while we're in the Empire, I'll send you back to Fondor in pieces."

[member="Archive-9"]