The Silver Beast

[Lief]

The Wilds of Midvinter​

​

Summer on Midvinter was not as one might expect, given the name of the season. The world was virtually set in an eternal winter, snow could fall any day and ice could crisp even the deepest waters. It was not a place that was kind on skin, especially not when you got away from the small hubs of civilization where fires warmed the soul.

There, in the wilds, the girl had made her home. She was very good, this little beasty, at adjusting to her surroundings. For decades now she had been lost within the snows of Midvinter, waiting for the return of Animus... Waiting eternally. He was gone, and she had lamented that loss. Now she had her own survival to consider.

Today, as with most days, she had taken her natural feline form. She had spent the past week in the skin of her child state, the real state she ought to have been wearing, to refrain from succumbing to the beast. The idea of being unable to change frightened her like nothing more; sometimes it was good to give her human legs a stretch.

Now the furs she wore when in that state were sprawled over her back; on the back of the Daux they appeared small, though usually they dwarfed her entirely. Clothes had long since been abandoned, they only tore with the transformation. At least pelts did no such thing.

Groom prowled by her side, steadfast in his protective nature. The tuk'ata stuck out here, he was not of this world... But then again neither was she. Her feline form had adjusted over the years to better suit the environment, the fur was lighter, thicker, her hide heavier, but she was still obviously a Daux. Still foreign.

In fact of the trio, only Ariel who hung overhead was truly of Midvinter. The Andöryn provided the eyes they needed; he guided them on their travel across the icy continent... An endless journey. How many times had they walked this path? Or one akin to it? How many alk had they felled? How many Vhaanir had they run among? How many Frir had they befriended?

Her life was one continuous loop here, and time did not mean a thing to the ageless one who wandered amidst the twilight of Midvinter.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

The droid's black cloak flapped on the wind as pair of red glowing eyes scanned the blizzard before him. Once again he found himself on Midvinter, a sad gods forsaken place he ventured on very rarely, more or less only whenever he accompanied a merchant convoy, or just happened to crash onto the snowy planet like the last time he came there and had to face off against a band of Trandoschan pirates.

However, what brought him back were rumors the droid picked up on when passing by the planet, rumors from a local hunter who claimed to have seen once a shapeshifting child. Usually the machine would think little to nothing of such hearsay, however the man was able to provide a fairly accurate description of a child the droid once knew but lost contact with after he had to disappear and could not stay in touch with Jaxton.

As far as HK knew, Kida would have been somewhere in those regions last he checked, and if it was a chance to find her again, even if only based on rumors, he might as well take it, just like her he was ageless, already ancient and immortal, he had nothing better going on than to look for her.

So the machine stepped further into the cold embrace of blizzard as winds rushed past him, scanning the area where rumored shapeshifter was supposedly lurking, his red glowing eyes would be visible like two torches through the snow and the storm.

 

[Lief]

Out there in the wilds, there were only ever two kinds of beings: Hunters, and Travelers. The latter were less common amidst snowfall, they tended to wait for the grass to start showing through, and more often than not they wandered with some sort of mount: a horse and carriage was the typical. No great metal beasties on this world! All the more reason for Kida to be happy here.

Yet her ears pricked, and overhead Ariel swooped his tell tale circle. Even Groom seemed on edge. Through the trees something stirred, something which did not smell... right. Not a Valkyri, not one of the native creatures - for she had seen most all of them by now - it was... Different. Odd.

Lowering on her haunches, she tilted her head subtly to one side and the rest fell into place. Groom prowled off to the left, and overhead Ariel swooped to the right. Where he was circling her avian friend provided all the eyes they required... And Kida had become excellent at using them even from ground level.

Her eyes rolled slightly, her body stiffened, and suddenly all the tops of the trees, all the plains of winter, for miles around were visible to her. She was soaring, flying in a way that no mortal could ever have reason to experience, and her eyes could pierce the rolling fog which had long since set over the land.

Two, sharp, red, glaring eyes... That was what she saw above all else.

And when she returned to her body, the child shuddered. There was something familiar about them... Something she couldn't quite place her paw on.

Where had she seen those eyes before?

[member='HK-36']

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],


The droid stopped in his march towards the white harsh wilderness as it seemed that the droid's audioreceptors picked up on something distinguished from the chilly winds whipping past them. Was it the sound of flapping wings? Or perhaps some creature moving low to the ground in the distance causing the snow to compact beneath it. HK wasn't sure but as far as he knew, he wasn't alone in the storm.

His head turn right, then left, then right again, red glow of the eyes flashing through the snow like the beacon of a lighthouse before he raised one of his hands.

HK's fingers contorted into numerous gestures, series of somatic triggers for his grav gloves as he spoke out an order,

"Stop."

And the very reality seemed to ripple and obey around him as the droid sent out multiple gravitational anomalies around him, catching the snowflakes and wind around him with their hold and forcing them to stop in their tracks, suspended now around him motionlessly like a calm surreal curtain of white.

The droid looked around once more, his hand raised in the air still, holding the last gesture he formed as Kida would be able to see him clearer now.

 

[Lief]

As she finally approached the glowering eyes through the mist, Kida found herself momentarily faltering. Her pace slowed to a crawl, until she ceased all together and stood amidst the light flurries of snow which rained down from above. By her side Groom halted, and Ariel continued to circle overhead; their presence was comforting.

Then something strange happened, some abnormality that the child could not comprehend. She felt the air stirring, and watched as the snowfall surrounding those eyes seemed to pause in the air. It was unnatural, in fact it terrified her to see it. Midvinter had always been a place untouched by the rest of the Galaxy, no scary metal beasts, or loud weapons which burned skin...

It did not feel the same in that moment.

And yet... At the same time, there was a familiarity. With the hindrance to her gaze gone, she could look upon the being with clarity; she did know the creature with the bright red eyes, she recognized him... The silver fur, the smell that could not be described. Even the way it held itself.

A very quiet whimper left her, at the memories which surfaced; of the forest world she had grown upon, of candy bars, of leafy crowns...

And without warning, Kida leaped over to where HK was standing; he had found her... Even after all these years, the funny silver furred being had found her.

[member='HK-36']

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

As Kida pounced towards HK the arm holding blizzard around them still dropped, catching her and wrapping around the girl to keep her close against the metal body, and so did snow around them fall as well like a curtain, dancing back into its natural order of things as it whipped and cut around them. The two of them were more alike than it seemed at first, both ageless and seemingly immortal, both in one way or another without families. Although the machine was far much older and never had family to begin with, he was not born after all but came into this universe complete, forged in fires of forges and smelteries ready to fulfill his purpose right away. Throughout his lifetime HK learned the sting of outliving those closest to him, outside of his own copies, watching the organics he would call friends wither and pass away.

Kida lost her family young and unlike HK she did not had to go through the pain of watching her adopted parents die while she remained the same, or watching Jaxton or Thurion age away into dust while her droid companion mocked them for it. She was still looking for her place to belong, but HK knew one thing, she did not belong in those frozen wastelands, at least not by herself,

"I am taking you to my Kingdom."

HK spoke out, grabbing the edge of his cloak to pull it around Kida, swaddling her in it,

"There is much for you to see out there, and much to learn."

 

[Lief]

The little wildling transformed soon after, the beast shrinking into the form of a child who had barely aged a day since last the droid had seen her. The pair were indeed akin to one another, though one was organic and the other not so much; both seemed to exist solely to watch others grow and fade away, while they themselves remained in the same unchanging state.

Kida despised it. Each time she saw someone, given the fact that it was so rare she saw any on Midvinter, they were substantially older. Animus had been, then he stopped coming all together. Adas, her brother, had been almost fully grown when last he had come; Serena had aged, though she still looked mostly the same. Even her Furry had grown, he was a man now with a full head of hair, and children of his own. Someone else to love.

She shivered just a touch, her silver-furred friend was frightfully cold though his cloak did help to warm her. Behind her Groom stepped forth, and bowed down with the furs of their fallen quarry on his back. Gratefully the child snatched it up, and allowed it to add to the warmth she was experiencing. It felt odd to wiggle her toes again, to wrinkle her nose, and flex her fingers. How long had it been this time, since she had last transformed?

For all she knew it might have been years.

Her funny friend spoke the language of the uprights, though in a way that only he could, and she peered up at him with wide eyes that sought to take in all that they could. Some of his words were known to her, others foreign. It did not matter, because she knew what it was he was meaning regardless. Was it time to leave the world of ice and snow? Was the droid finally doing as he might have done all those years back on Endor, and taking her with him?

Kida only smiled, and settled her head against him. Groom remained close by, and Ariel swooped down to set upon the tuk'ata's shoulder. Hopefully her friend would allow her companions to join them, Groom would not know what to do with himself without Kida... And Ariel had become another set of eyes and ears for the child. She needed them just as much as they needed her.

"They... Come..?" she managed, the pronunciation a little off due to a lack of use. She hadn't had to speak really since she was Princess of Atrisia, how long ago that was... Back then she had been civilized, she had worn dresses, and bore clean hair, she had spoken and walked and laughed and played.

And then she had been abandoned again, left in the wilds with only animals for company. The Galaxy was not so kind to this particular child, it did not seem to want her to grow up.

[member='HK-36']

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

Well there may have been some awkwardness coming their way when Kida's past with Adas and Animus would be revealed as HK was in a way an accomplice to their deaths, or at least presumed deaths as Adas was never found after HK along with others stepped into the ruins of Imperial Palace on Atrisia to bring him to justice as the heir of Animus' reign on the besieged planet before HK captured Serena and brought her in secret to Abregado. Although funnily enough in a way she would be the princess of Atrisia once more as the old reign crumbled soon after HK landed with his droid armies and a new palace now towered over the ruins of what used to be Jar'Kai city, this one held by droids.

Either way, they were going to cross that bridge when they'll get to it, for now HK looked out at the animal duo as Kida asked about them. Looking over the two animals HK foresaw himself having to walk them at early hours before he went off to battles and hunts, his equivalent of working, and then making sure they were fed and groomed and all of that jazz. Plus that probably meant he was going to have to actually activate life support on the ships he would bring them on, a feature droids did not exactly had use for. One could wonder, would he not have to do that anyway as he planned on having Kida travel with him? A conveniently Kida-sized vacuum sealed suit in chamber aboard his flagship with a built-in food dispenser and a poop chute told a different story.

However, the droid seemed to have been content enough to suck it up as he nodded,

"Very well, they can come with us."

He then sent a quick silent command to his accomplices in the system before looking to Kida once more,

"You have spend too much time on this planet already."

HK pointed out as there was a noise of engines suddenly and black shape formed above them, dropping its cloaking systems. It was the Knight of Eclipse, HK's personal stealth transport he managed to get a hold of years back perhaps even before Kida was alive, during the incident that would be known only as The Dark Harvest. The Eclipse was as black as the void between the stars, speckled only to blend in into the background of space even with its stealth systems shut off, sleek in shape in a way it resembled a large raven. It begun to lower down through the snow towards the ground near them, an airlock opening on its side revealed another HK unit standing there, clad in armor and wrapped in a grey cloak, an older model than the one main HK was currently inhabiting, it was one of the Greycloaks, his honor guards and copies of him.

 

[Lief]

Can.

The funny silver beast said can. That meant that she would not be separated from her pack. Her head turned slightly to gaze upon Groom, and as though by command Ariel swooped to settle on the top of the tuk'ata's head. He watched HK with mild interest for a moment, before moving to clean the curve of his beak with the talons on his right foot.

As the ship came into view however, and the sound of it tore through the air, the young girl cowered against her silver companion and in response Groom seemed to become defensive yet again. Not quite aggressive, yet he stared at HK with distrust and yapped once or twice.

It had been so long since either of them had been within the belly of the great metal beasts, and for Ariel it was a first time entirely.

Thankfully both of the creatures would do as Kida bid.

The sight of another droid so similar to her beloved friend was confusing. It was like seeing two Furrys or two Jax's in the same place at the same time. She blinked once, twice, and then looked back up at him, trying to deduce what it was she was seeing.

[member='HK-36']

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],


"This is my twin brother."

HK explained to Kida,

"Of sorts."

He added, trying to describe the being that caused confusion in the young shapeshifter the best he could, not certain whether she knew already what clones were or not, or that she could fathom that in a way they were the same person. Of course existence to a droid was determined by their memories and experience combined with their programming, the amount of quirks gathered on top of their original function was what gave them their personality and behavior, so the two droids would become different beings as soon as a mind was copied into another body, as their perspectives and experience would differ at that point, but at the same time there was nothing stopping a Greycloak from downloading HK's current memories and personality to combine with their programming and becoming him should the main body be ever destroyed.

Either way, he would probably have to explain all of that clearly to her later on as it was a common practice among droids like him, if he would end up bringing her to other Metal Lords and their city ships, she would probably see that most of their crew was fashioned out of their own copies as well. For now he simply started to carry her towards the black sleek transport, the other droid moved back to disappear within the ship, opening up a way for them to enter through.

"What happened to Thurion and Jaxton?"

The droid asked,

"They were supposed to watch over you, not let something like stranding you in the middle of blasted Midvinter happen."

HK mused in angry mutter before adding,

"I should have never allowed them to take you away, I should have brought you to stay with me from the start."

 

[Lief]

Water off a ducks back, that's what words were to Kida. Just the weird sounds of the uprights that never made much sense. The occasional word might ring a ball, stir some familiarity within her, but she had been isolated for so very long... Survival was all that she had retained, and very slim memories. Faces, people, she recalled those. But actual words? Strings of sentences? They might as well have been beast calls. Understood through intonation as opposed to their meaning.

She did not stop him when he walked up the ramp, with her two companions following suit. Though it scared her to be back inside the beast, she understood the concept of it. Go inside, close your eyes for a few days, rest, and be spat out into new terrain.

Like magic!

She just hated the lack of greenery. It hurt her feet, and her eyes, and her nose... And her poor little ears.

Two words she knew were uttered, and she lifted her head in understanding. Somewhat. "Jaa?" she cried, believing the blue-furred man to be somewhere closeby, "Furry?" Had the funny Silver friend found them? Was she going back home?

Only, now there was anger lacing his tone... He seemed extremely displeased, and looked to her questioningly. Did he think she knew? Did he think they were in the snow, too? The little girl frowned, and settled back against him with a huff. Yet she was grateful all the same.

One friend out of three was a great achievement!

[member='HK-36']

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

"Yes, 'Jaaa'"

HK agreed with Kida as he entered the ship, immediately to their left there would be a small arsenal of various weapons, mostly rifles and pistols, along with a curled up large suit of what looked like power armor mixed with exoskeleton, one of the dwarf walkers Abregado designed, machines of war clad in thick plating and wielding devastating weaponry like mass drivers and rotary cannons, yet much smaller than normal walkers.

"Such will be their screams of regret when they will wake up to find me over their beds, seeing what they have to say in regards of leaving you here."

The droid continued as he sat down in one of the transport's secured seats, looking at Kida, realizing little that most of what he said would be lost on the wildling girl, he only moved his six fingered hand to stroke the back of her head as she pressed against him with a huff, whispering to her.

"And then I will slit their throats."

Woah, HK! Taking things from a 2 to a 10 in the matter of seconds,

"No, I will not do that."

Oh geez, ok, that was a close one,

"I will smash their faces in because they are made of meat and my hands of phrik."

Oh no, here he goes again!

"Just kidding."

Wow alright then, what a rollercoaster of emotions,

"Or am I?"

Whoa, big boy on campus! Perhaps it was for the best Kida could barely understand what the droid was saying right now.


Either way, during this little monologue Kida's animal companions would be able to come in and join them, the airlock would close and hiss as it was secured and then the ship would shake and there would be that motion of it lifting up. Thankfully, it was a stealth transport, so probably it would be much more quieter on the inside than all the other ships Kida was used to traveling in, giving her ears some rest!