Private Stranded

[Hoku Kalani]

Log: Day 20.

No response on the outbound comms… again. Supplies are a bit weird to get to on this world, but I’m getting there. Found a clean source of water, and the repairs to my armor are coming along. Found out a Fira isn’t all I need on this world.

The droids. Hopefully someone collects my comm chatter and can come by.

Locals are not what I expected. The world is teeming with Forerunner tech, that much is obvious, but the beings here? They arent touching it. The droids are keeping them at bay. The beings here who have been here? They’re so… rustic?

Seems my ship is being seen as a symbol of another time. They look at it with almost a reverence… A fear? I mean, it is set up with anti-personnel repeating blaster by the door and the security system is bio coded to me. Helps that way.

Log: Day 35

Had a run in with one of the more aquatic droids. Looked like a Firaxan shark.

Damn thing near too my leg off. Definitely scrapped the armor. But lucky for me it was a salvage run. The coastal tribe of survivors here have shown me a few of the Forerunner labs. One was under the water. The droid did not like that.

They’re set up by a program it seems. Something to do with terraforming. My specialty, right? But the datacrons on my ship don’t have any information on it. A droid fronted terraforming? Normally it was done with chemicals and large machines to uplift the grounds.

Anyway, had droid coming after me, got its teeth out with my fira. Got back to the Calm Reef and refitted my armor. A bit torn up, but its working. Won’t win any beauty shows.

Still can’t believe I did that. Should show the tribal leaders I’m more than a scholar.

Log: Day 43

Learned some new tricks…

Was provided a phrik staff. I think its phrik. Has markings of a Rakata research facility. But from what I’ve been shown, it pierces the droids well enough. Based on my knowledge of the Rakata and Gree tech, and showing the warriors how to exploit the designs in the droids, the Tribal Leaders are teaching me combat. Set me up with a slingshot, and i’ve been toying with some mixtures I found in one of the first labs I saw when I got here.

Should be a bit of an adventure.

Even started mapping some of the locations of the ruins and stations nearby. Maybe I can barter my way off world one day?

 

[Hoku Kalani]

Day 56
Helping locals today was a good feeling. They showed me a bit about the world. A bit about the droids. They are hunters. And seekers. Chasing the ones who would harm the world.

But they’re out there. And they’re made of lots of valuable parts. Is that a bit crazy of me? To think of the droids as a chance to harvest resources? I know one part I saw was for communication.

A local pointed out the larger flying droids. Solar powered. And above the mountains. What if I could use one to communicate off world?

My shuttle could chase one. But will the guns get it?

Day 61

The maps I’ve found have given me a few different locations to check out in earnest. There is a set of underwater ruins and an underwater research station.

Maybe I could locate something from the ancient Rakata. Or the Selkath they enslaved.

What I'm seeing on this world from what I’ve collected is that the Forerunners have used so many species. I need to get some gear together.

 

[Hoku Kalani]

It was today. Stepping up from his sleeping chamber, the Selkath had grabbed the modified fira. A weapon that he forged in the way of a sword, that now had a few odds and ends in the hilt to make it so he could track the weapon should it become lost. And he was being tossed around by some of these droids.It was why he updated some of his gear, with a phrik spear. No other weapon in that, aside from the point. But he had some other ideas.

It was why he was making his way to the hidden research station.

Datapad was at the ready, in its new case, made of a tougher material, allowing it to come with him. The Explorer Datapad that he got when he swung by the Laekia Acadaemy to help with his exploration here. What would be best would be to tie in the datapad and any mapping software. Between that and getting the flying droids. That could get him off the world.

Checking the armor, checking the water recycler, he nodded. It was time to get moving.

Grabbing everything, he made his way outside. The map was pointing him towards the shore. He knew what he was going to have to do. And once he was at the coast, and the cliffs, it should be easier.

 

[Hoku Kalani]

The sun was bright. Almost too bright for the Selkath. Used to aquatic environments and not being in the sun was a problem, but with his armor, and the knowledge that he had of this world so far, he was able to modify the armor to provide a bit of extra shade front he sun on his eyes. Didn’t help when he was looking for the flying droids, but that was not a problem he had at the moment.

The thought was to make a full face shield of tinted transparisteel. But that was neither here nor there for the Selkath at the moment.

Making the way through the underbrush, there was a relative of kolto here. Collecting that was his main way of making trades. It helped to provide a small bit of healing to the other braves on this world. For a planet on the brink of losing all its sentient life, the ones who did survive, did so based on spite alone. Some tribes had been here so long they forgot what they were looking for.

Others were still breaking into research stations. And that was where Hoku found his biggest trades.

Machine parts for kolto. He was going to get off this world.

 

[Hoku Kalani]

The coast. It had what he was looking for. One of the Forerunner posts that was water-centric but also used as a hub for construction of the droids. The door wasn’t far, but there was the trick of the guards in place. Hoku moved as cautiously as his aquatic armor would allow, ducking into the under brush and pulling out the spear. His Datapad was hooked into it, hopeful to connect to the droid’s system before it terminated.

Moving forward, Hoku stabbed for the droid’s body, after a few swings and rolls, he made contact. Tapping on the datapad, he uploaded the software spike, and began the download. As long as it didn’t send out a pulse. The datafeed gave him a bit of bad information.

A pulse did go out.

BUt he did have the codes for the door. Using the Force, he put a blast of ionization into the droid. Pulling the spear he moved to the door. The Forerunners didn’t use a SCOMP for him to pick the door with. The timer on his datapad was running down and Hoku knew that more droids were on their way. Wiring the datapad directly into the door, he was overriding.

In the distance, the thunderous sound of fast moving quadrupedal droids were running forward. He could hear the calls of them warning for intruders as the door opened and he tumbled inside.

 

[Hoku Kalani]

Falling into the compound, the lights came on, some automated system it seemed. Hoku got to his feet, his Fira in hand as he surveyed the room. This was where they had worked. Locked it away. The room was empty. Vacant. Aside from the systems that were running. Did the Forerunners leave in a hurry? Were they forced out?

A sound around the corner made Hoku move a bit faster. He wasn’t one to move all that quickly, being a scientist, but his time on Rakkone had fashioned him into a bit of a fighter. He didn’t care for that, preferring to use his intellect, and, lately, the Force to the small level he could. Coming around the corner he readied the spear. What he saw was not what he expected.

A cleaning droid.

The droid dropped the tray it had. “Oh… servant Selkath!” It said in an ancient Selkath dialect.

Was it going to be this easy?

“Droid. I am looking for the control room.. I’ve been issued a mandate to report there from Forerunner…” Forerunner who? Steve?

“Do not let me keep you delayed, Servant Selkath. Please, the third floor with you.”

Hoku nodded and carried on.

 

[Hoku Kalani]

Third floor, Hoku understood that. The Selkath made his way up the stairs, his modified Fira at the ready. But from what he saw on both the first and second floor. Empty work spaces, some cleaned, some kept at a not-dirtier-than-the-user-left-it level of clean. Hoku was curious, but he didn’t want to linger. As he got to the third floor, he looked around.

Droid creation, droid parts, access codes. The rooms had small labels and Hoku was hoping that the rooms he entered would have code in the data banks. Taking his Fira, he linked it, and its datapad into the first one. Nothing of use.

Some information on the droid construction. Droid usage.

Some were defense droids, most were converted to it. But some where designed to cultivate the soil. Others to clean rivers. And some to clean the air.

The last was what he was looking for. Digging into the files, he pulled the production specs for the transponders on the droids.

“Just what I need…”

With this, he could be off the planet in the month.