You don’t get more nowhere than here…

[Tejori Lotor]

The pod hit the ground with a severe jolt – then again – and again. It was skipping across the sand.

Finally, one impact stuck, slowing it down bit by bit as it tunnelled through Jakku's desert and very gradually came to a stop.

The pod jarred forward, into the air, so hard that it looked as if an explosive charge had been set off. But the deep roar she heard told her the truth. Whatever ship this had been ejected from had crashed into the planet, and the escape pod was being thrown forward along with a tsunami of dust and sand.

Tejoti was currently 100 metres above ground. On a rope. As quiclly as she could she made her way back down – head first. Oddly this direction of travel was more dangerous than heading the other way. Odd – but true.

From her viewpoint deep inside the old and abandoned Frigate, she’d seen the escape pod but not the main ship. She smiled. Most eyes would be on the ship – which from the sound of it came in so hot it was probably in flames. She may be the only one that saw the real prize.

She didn’t take her eyes off it as she descended. Slowly, the pod rolled to a stop again, this time apparently for good.

She risked a jump as she reached the floor (which was in fact the side of the ship here). She winced as she’d misjudged it in her greed. Greed was the killer here. Not dehydration or infections. But risks taken in the name of a new find.

She limped as she moved as fast as the pain would allow – deciding to walk as opposed to riding her makeshift speeder. The noise would draw attention away from the main wreck.

Her eyes hadn’t left the escape pod once. She closed the gap swiftly and finally reached it. She punched the button and recoiled from the heat. Covering her hand with her sleeve, she tried again.

The doors shivered. She hit the button a third time, this time with her boot. Then they slid open, sending a small cascade of sand streaming into the capsule. Inside was darkness to her. No doubt whoever was inside would be equally disarmed – this time by the brightness of the sun behind her. So she simply waited, allowing her eyes to see what she would see when they became accustomed to the light.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]


The door shivered, then opened with a hiss, sending along a small cascade of sand into the capsule. One could consider it the traditional welcoming gift on Tash-Taral, world of monsters, tomb world and graveyard. Inside the capsule there was darkness, a strong contrast to the brightness of the sun outside it. Slowly, mechanically, but with precision, the capsule's occupant awoke as the rays of the merciless sun invaded it. The first thing anyone peering into the capsule would be able to see were two blue eyes glowing brightly. There was the sound of boots upon durasteel as the figure arose.


Unit: Caerys Argente
Accessing Caerys Unit Command Matrix
Running Systems Check
Personal Shield is offline, synthflesh and combat chassis have sustained damage.
Core Systems intact.


The HUD of the HRD flickered slightly, whilst the unit ran through its internal diagnosis. Presumably the unit had been damaged in combat or by the crash, but either way its synthetic flesh had been peeled away in places, exposing the metal that lay beneath it. Experimentally the HRD flexed the fingers of her partially damaged right hand, twitching just a bit. A heavy pistol was strapped to each of her thighs.


Targeting equipment came online to provide her with detailed feedback of what she was looking at, her vision mode adjusted to the sudden brightness invading her capsule, as using infrared in the darkness had left her momentarily blinded. The HRD jerked slightly when she took her first steps. Though there was a certain awkwardness to her movements, she still had the aura of a predator, ready to pounce at her moment's notice upon prey. The glow, caused by buried photoreceptors, vanished and her eyes focused upon the apparent intruder.


Unknown organic detected.
Human female, teenager.
Estimate fourteen years old.
Hypothesis: Salvager.


The possible courses of action that flashed through her HUD could be summed up as: kill, knock out, communicate. Well, it was presumably more complex than that since everything was written in some weird computer code, but we can make do with something simpler.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

Her eyes were used to sudden changes in light – working inside wrecked ships was a significant contributing factor. But it still look a little while to make out any detail.

She saw and heard movement before she could make out anything specific. Two eyes were definitely looking back at her. Blue and piercing – unlike her own colourless irises.

Then she heard the sound of boots before the figure was sufficiently clear enough to make out detail. But what she saw confused her. It wasn’t a human, nor was it a droid. But it seemed more machine than person.

Here droids fetched a high value – especially if they were working. This wasn’t precisely salvage – but then she wasn’t entirely sure what it was. For Tejori took in the twin pistols. Whatever it was, it was most certainly not salvage. And probably wouldn’t take kindly to her stripping the escape pod either.

In the space of a few moments, the biggest find of her life had turned to nothing. Unless she could find an angle of course.

“Are you OK?” she asked, cautiously…slowly. “Do you speak Basic? Do you even speak?” She smiled to show she meant no harm. As long as smiling didn’t count as some form of threatening gesture where the ‘thing’ came from.

[member="Caerys Argente"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]


The mechanical demon cocked her head to the side slightly as she looked upon Tejori. Her piercing blue eyes bore into the woman. If you were feeling poetic or particularly cliched, you'd say that they were looking right into her soul. Of course, to assume such would be quite silly because a soul was a metaphysical concept that could not be proved by scientific observation.


At least the droid would say so. "Yes," Caerys spoke flatly, emotionlessly. The dispassionate stare right into the human's eyes might be unnerving for the salvager. She noted that the human smiled, which she interpreted as a gesture of reassurance. Perhaps meant to indicate that she meant no harm. The droid could move in a blur and crush the woman's neck with her durasteel fist if needed.


"This is Tash-Taral. What is your name? I am not for salvage." Perhaps the droid had concluded for the moment that this did not constitute a hostile encounter, or maybe she wanted to set the human at ease. Either way her tone softened slightly, sounding a little bit more human.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

Tejori watched the…what does she call it? Droid? Person? Hybrid? Survivor?

She observed the…visitor and wondered if it would speak. The way it cocked its head made her feel vulnerable. Made her feel the tender age she really was.

But it answered in the affirmative. Finally. And then she couldn't shut it up, relatively speaking — as questions poured from its lips.

“Yes, this is Tash-Taral. For what it’s worth. And I’m Tejori. And I wasn’t planning on salvaging you. Not once I realised you were fully functioning. But this pod? Is it yours? I mean, who owns it? And…what’s your name?”

It was Tejori’s turn to fire off the questions.

[member="Caerys Argente"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]


There was a pause, before the droid spoke. Maybe she'd used the interval of a few seconds to run through a cost-benefit-analysis. "I am Caerys Argente." Once upon a time there had been an Angelii called Caerys.


A living, breathing Eldorai, not the HRD who wore her face. But she had been for over a century, killed in one of Kaeshana's many palace coups. "The pod is of no use to me anymore. Have you seen any other survivors from the ship?" Ideally she would not come across any, but that was the ideal. Moreover, there were other dangers to concern herself with. Her databanks were very clear on the fact that Tash-Taral was a planet filled with highly aggressive predators commonly categorised as 'Sithspawn'.


Stepping out of the pod into the light of the day, her eyes fell upon the wreckage of the main ship. It was presently buried 'nose first' into layers upon layers of sand. Ah, the beauty of a few strategically placed explosives. Same applied to messing with a ship's navcomputer.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

Tejori scanned the inside of the pod as she listened.

“Caerys. Right”

“And um…” she was aware the visitor had walked past her and was now surveying the crashed ship. It was too badly damaged to salvage a lot of working parts from. With luck, it would continue to draw attention whilst she stripped as much as she could carry from this wreck. Her ankle was still sore, and would slow her up. But she needed to work fast and talking was slowing her up. But for as long as Caerys was in the proximity, she had to go slowly.

“That is…no survivors. None. I don’t expect any, the way that thing hit the ground. And it only has one escape pod, so nope, nobody could survive the impact.” She gave a thin smile. “I know my ships.”

But she didn’t know things like Caerys. Perhaps she would have survived in some form. But the visitor would work that one out for herself.

“So, can I help myself?” She cocked her head in the direction of the pod. It wasn’t full of fancy tech, but what was inside was working. And so it had value. Air-con and scrubbing, lighting…it was bound to have some supplies too.

[member="Caerys Argente"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]


The crash had not been accident. For one, she had hacked the navcomputer to ensure that when the ship left hyperspace, it was pulled into the Ooort cloud and thus into the gravitational well of the planet. Some explosives had been placed as well.


Nobody could survive the impact. A confident, reassuring thought, though one that invited complacency. "I will require repairs. Are you capable of providing those? If you are, you may have the pod and do with it as you please."


However, danger far never far from Tash-Taral. There was a screech and then a large, rather hungry looking arachnid began charging towards them. Perhaps the noise caused by the crash had woken it up. Moving in what seemed like a blur, Caerys pulled her two hand guns into her grasp and fired.


The first shot was from her sonic blaster. Firing a concentrated mass of sound rather than a blaster bolt, the sonic wave slammed into the beast with powerful concussive force. The force of it ruptured the exoskeleton, the noise disorientated the beast briefly. Boom. An APEB round leapt out of her bolt pistol. Designed to penetrate anything except the heaviest armour, it sent the beast's brain matter spiral across the ground.


However, then another spider suddenly burrowed out of the ground right in front of Caerys and struck. Quickly the HRD brought up her guns, but the beast was faster, knocking them out of her grasp and tossing her against some rocks with its large members.


Charging, the beast tried to strike at the droid with its large legs, but the HRD grabbed them, digging her boots into the hard sand as she wrestled the monster. The two combatants pushed against each other, both seemingly at an impasse. In a fit of rage, the beast spat acid at her, though it could not do much beyond eat more of her skin. It was then that Caerys decided to break the stalemate by revealing a hold-out blaster and firing a hail of bolts at the creature's abdomen.


They could not lethally hurt the creature, but the beast squealed and was momentarily distracted. Quickly Caerys used this to her advantage by smashing the spider to the side onto its back. With its vulnerable chest now exposed, she plunged her durasteel fist into it and tore its heart out.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

Tejori was a street-wise kid. She'd been raised by a local crime lord - albeit small-time (but this was Tash-Taral after all) - and had seen death plenty of times. Even close up.

But out here, in the graveyard? She'd endured near-starvation, a daily fight against dehydration and disease and the terrible storms. Predators tended to come out at night - expect when a fresh ship crashed and they sensed easy prey. She'd been sloppy. Once more greed had nearly taken her life.

She had no blaster. If she had, she would have traded it in for rations. She had her speed, quick reflexes and an ability to use anything to hand as a weapon. But other than hide, she would have had no defence against the creatures she'd just faced. And it would have been written across her face too.

"Thanks..." she managed, finally. "I owe you one. And repairs? I'm good at that stuff but parts might be the challenge. Let's head back to my place and I can take a better look. OK?"

[member="Caerys Argente"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]


Caerys, whose hand was now splattered with spider ichor, dropped the beast's heart to the ground. The droid twitched a bit and clenched her metal hand slightly. Fortunately, the acid had not damaged her endoskeleton, but more of her skin had been eaten.


Looking half machine, half elf gave her a slightly grotesque appearance. Nonchalantly she walked over to where she had lost her guns and picked them up. "That is acceptable," she said finally, scanning the area for further threats.


Undoubtedly carrion animals would soon feast on the carcasses of the spiders. The scent of blood, not to mention the big explosion caused by the crashed ship, might attract more predators though, so they should make haste. "Salvage what pod pieces you want and lead the way. Do you live alone?" Perhaps droid was actually interested, perhaps she was experimenting with this thing called small talk. It was not easy to tell with an HRD.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

The escape pod was internally perfect, nothing broken. She’d rarely seen anything like this before. Not this big.

“Acceptable is good,” Tejori said, a thin smile returning to her lips. It was not a facial expression she was used to.

She scanned the inside of the pod for what could easily be removed and what would hold value. Ration packs and water canisters were first to go in her satchel. Then power sources and communication devices. Finally she opened a small door and found a blast pistol. She picked it up gingerly. She’d not handled one since she ran away from her previous ‘boss.’ But its value was obvious so it too went into her bag.

Finally she found some meds and realised she could carry no more.

She started walking in a given direction. “Follow me and yes, I live alone. I just hope you appreciate basic.” A companion? Even for a night would be odd. She was a loner through choice. But, she had a full bag to thank this stranger for, so she had to be grateful.

“Tell me, where are you from?” It was politer than the thought that first crossed her mind…who made you?

[member="Caerys Argente"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]


While Tejori went about her salvage work and raided the crashed pod, Caerys stood watch. Here and there, her metal hand clenched and unclenched. This slight malfunction caused her to experience something close to the sensation that organics would call annoyance.


Presumably some circuits had been damaged inside the hand, causing the performance issue. By now rather aggressive looking beetles were beginning the slow process of feasting on the carcasses of the two spiders. She observed the process of decomposition dispassionately. Animal, human, alien, sooner or later everything ended up as fodder for the maggots.


Similarly, machines ended up on the scrap heap and became salvage. "Basic suffices. I don't have extravagant needs," the droid said in a very deadpan tone. An attempt at making a joke? Perhaps. Stranger things had happened.


She followed Tejori, hand upon her bolt pistol in case more beasts came. Sand and skeletons crunched beneath her heavy boots. Here and there, the thick sand dunes slowed her progress since she was weighed a lot more than her lithe appearance would suggest!


"The woman whose face I wear was an elf from Kaeshana. She has been dead for more than a century. The same applies to my owner. I was manufactured on a world of factories called Loronar to mete out violence in my owner's name."


Unlike the HRDs churned out of the factories of Archangel, Caerys was a 'pure' machine. She wore the late, dead Caerys' face and name, but nothing beyond that. No organic memories had been imprinted upon, she had never once been an organic who was transformed into a machine. Ironically, the fact that she was more of a machine than her 'cousins' was probably the reason why she didn't feel an urge to process Tejori.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

It was 20-metres long. Or would be if it weren't partially covered in sand. The Lambda-class T-4a shuttle was developed for use in Palpatine's Galactic Empire. It once had had three wings: one tall, dorsal stabilizer that remained stationary, and two lower wings that would extend during flight and fold upward for landing.

Now it had none. It made it too visible for a start. And anything and everything salvageable had been stripped out of it a long time ago.

In its day its shape was considered elegant and a departure from the Empire's usually crude designs. Now it was a makeshift home, with the cargo bay the primary living quarters.

"It's not much but it's home," she said as she headed for the makeshift entrance that led into the belly of the craft. It might be an ancient, rotting, rusting example of now useless military might, but to Tejori, it was the difference between life and death each night.

After carefully unloading her gear and supplies onto the homemade cabinets and shelves.

Bits and pieces of homemade decor ornamented isolated alcoves and corners. On the far end of the hangar was a makeshift bed, with a pillow that had cost her a day's work. It wasn't much, but where such examples of defiant individuality had been placed, they softened the drabness of their surroundings.

"Right, take a seat and we'll take a look at you." She indicated one of a few boxes which clearly approximated as seats. She had listened to her guest as they'd walked back to her home. It was a challenge to read her. But she'd already started to refer to Caerys as a female.

"So...you're older than you look, eh?" she said as she put a light on and grabbed some tools before taking a look at what might be the problem. "Do have have diagnostics? Do you know what's not working?"

[member="Caerys Argente"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]


Lamdba-class T-4a shuttle. Era of development Palpatinist Galactic Empire. Significant structural damage, now repurposed as a home after becoming incapable of flight. Presumably the anaylsis that appeared on Caerys' HUD looked sort of like that.


The droid had little conception of what humans would call elegance, but she could appreciate ingenuity when it came to recycling. The crashed ship was both a vestige of a bygone era, of a galaxy-spanning colossus that had been humbled and brought crashing down, and a home for new life.


Supposedly somewhere on this graveyard planet there was a crashed SSD that had been turned into a city. However, she had been unable to verify this yet. So she followed Tejori into the cargo bay, which had apparently been repurposed as a bedroom. Her mechanical eyes swept across the room, taking in every nuance of it. For a moment they focused upon the bits and pieces of homemade decor.


For want of a better word, the place looked 'homey', as organics would call it. "I believe the organic phrase would be 'I age well'," the droid said in an emotionless monotone before sitting down on one of the boxes.


"My right hand has sustained damaged. Circuits have been destroyed and my left leg was hit by an ion blast." There were other areas in need of repairs, but her diagnosis designated these as the most important. Once she managed to get off the planet, she would also need new synthflesh, which would require enlisting a cloner.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

Tejori attempted a smile. It was not something she was used to, and only one side of her face took part in the exercise. Perhaps the lop-sided grin gave her a roguish look. She was clearly clutching at straws.

“Trust me, anything that spends more than twenty years on this planet ends up with more wrinkles than a Hutt’s backside.”

“Now, to business.”

She put a head-set on. Attached to it was a magnifying lens and a light. She had her box of tools to hand and listened to her guest. “OK, I’m a practical sort of girl,” she waved a screwdriver around by way of explanation — pointing at her abode by way of illustration. “Which extends to my repair work. It’ll be functional, you can be entirely sure of that. But elegant?” She glanced around the cargo bay. “No curtains, no frills and no flowers.”

So she set to work on the hand first. She wasn’t overburdened with spare parts — but she had just cannibalised the escape pod. She pored over the electronics she’d scavenged. Finding what she needed, she dismantled a couple of items and began to swap out damaged components.

The space was filled with silence as she worked.

Suddenly a radio crackled to life, playing music. “Kain Apollyon…” Tejori said, by way of an explanation. “If the wind is right, my radio picks up a music station. Must be somewhere on this planet. If you like Quenk Jazz, it’s a good listen. If not? You learn to like it. And Kain is a favourite on the station. And Mooneyes too.”

“There, your hand is all fixed. Now to take a look at that leg…”

[member="Caerys Argente"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]


"Do you have experience studying a Hutt's backside?" the droid asked innocently. Yep, it was totally an honest question, since it was important to figure out whether Tejori's supposition was based on empirical data. She was not trying to troll at all.


So the droid waited while Tejori fixed up her hand. One useful thing about being an assassin droid was that you tended to be very patient. In other words, the salvager would not have to endure annoying questions of the 'are you finished soon?' variety. Or complaining if she touched her nerve, since the HRD did not have any.


Music played. The droid had little appreciation for cultural things like that, though she had killed someone at a rock concert once. Music was one of those things organics considered 'fun'. She had concluded that the reason for their behaviour was that they all knew they would die one day and needed something to distract themselves from their own inevitable decomposition.


Yes, Caerys didn't really understand people. "My creator programmed me to be able to sing for her. She derived enjoyment from it." It seemed frivolous to the droid. Slowly she raised her hand, experimentally flexing her metal fingers. There was no twitching this time. "Thank you. Are you native to this planet?" she asked while she stretched out her leg for Tejori to examine.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

She’d smiled more this afternoon than in the past month. Ad given her company wasn’t a person, this made it all the more remarkable. Or perhaps all the more believable?

“Oddly…no,” she said as she set to work on Caerys’ leg. “Never seen one. It’s a phrase I must have picked up somewhere. Like saying someone scruffy is a nerf-herder, or having a bad feeling about this. Just words people use over and over. I suspect the facts of the saying are immaterial. It’s the fact that people — usually — know what you mean.”

Tejori kept her focus on the repairs but the concept of her guest signing was…odd. So odd, she sat up and looked at her.

“Really? I mean…I don't doubt you. It was a really of surprise, not incredulity. And what sort of music? Just curious. I mean, I listen to this stuff most nights and there’s not a great variety of songs played. If you want to sing, feel free. Not that I’m asking you to sing for your supper.”

She held up a hand. “Another saying. Not expecting you to want to eat. Nor am I expecting payment. I just took the singing angle and went with it. With the benefit of hindsight, maybe not the best move.”

She hastily re-focussed her attention and eyes on Caerys’ leg.

[member="Caerys Argente"]