Blood from a Stone (Harby & Bond)

[Not-A-Droid]

"Well that was unpleasant all around" Harbinger muttered to himself as his ship lurched out of hyperspace into a dead and slow drift through the empty void before him and the space station before him. The BT-7 Thunderclap had been easy enough to purchase, since it was in such shape as it was. Most of it was awash in corrosion from the acid rains of Raxis prime, and much of it was damaged, missing or salvaged long ago. Only the most important or hard to scavenge parts remained, and it had taken a few weeks to get the thing space worthy even if it had no life support and several hull breaches.

With minimal power, the ships thrusters were the only method available to the Shard to make the large vessel twist and turn until it was facing the station in a more or less docking position. Its docking ring would take some work aswell, so he prayed that they had tractor beams to help him get the thing inside a repair hangar. Looking through the console for a working set of communications, he managed to open a link between himself and the station after fusing some wires and splicing into the remaining power circuits.

"This is Harbinger, Bounty license 295-GHD-49X. I messaged ahead a few weeks ago to let you know i would be bringing in a vessel for repairs. I have limited propulsion and manoeuvrability, a tow would be appreciated"

 

[Raijin Arashi]

A Thunderclap, of all things? The model was at least four thousand years old, and this particular vessel seemed to be almost that. The poor bastard attempting to fly it was actually trying to dock at one of my ShardWorks stations. If the situation had been any less desperate for him, I would have turned him away. But this guy was going to start losing life support and would be leaking atmo into the vacuum any minute. I sighed metallically and pressed the comm button.

"Captain Harbinger, you have clearance to dock. I'll be pulling you in by tractor, so sit tight and make sure that wreck doesn't fall apart around you."

[member="Not-A-Droid"]

 

[Not-A-Droid]

The controls by this point, were no such thing if Habringer was honest. This entire time he'd been sitting in the captains chair manipulating what was left of the electronics with his mind. Some thruster here, an airlocks worth of air there, and it was mobile enough to get it lined up for a jump. Now thankfully locked into the tractor beam he stood up, and walked towards the boarding ramp. That was when the life support sputtered and died outright, the last of the ships power failing along with the blast from deep in the engine room.

"Well, thats all of it" he muttered to himself as he waited for the ship to be brought into the hangar bay. It was soon ice cold in the ship, the electronics freezing up as the gravity shut off, leaving him to lock onto the floor with the magnetic plates in his feet. It was then that the shard groaned and walked over to the ramp controls and began to pull out the wiring. As he attempted to hot wire the door to let the ramp down, splicing in some of his own systems power, he felt the ship settle down onto the steel deck of the hangar as the massive blast doors sealed behind it.

"Hold on... ive almost got this... Old Republic tech doesnt really hold up in a nebula you know... Thats how i found this thing, just floating there dead... Good find huh?" he called out through the door to those he suspected would be rushing out to held the crew of the stricken vessel. Minutes without oxygen would have been a desperate situation for organics, though he'd never been anything but calm in his communications.

Suddenly the gas shocks of the loading ramp gave a shuddering hiss as they decompressed and allowed the ramp to shudder down in jerks and starts. Walking out onto it, his weight let the ramp drop down more smoothly to the deck below. His metal frame glimmered in the light dully, his mismatched plate and armor clearly seen as he walked out from the ship, cloak forming up around him into a long flowing drape.

"So who's in charge around here? This thing needs a little bit of work" he said as he gestured over his shoulder to the derelict wreck behind him that had once been a ship in an age past and forgotten.

 

[Raijin Arashi]

So the mystery pilot was a droid, eh? Or possibly something more. I reached out with my mind, and hit... A disturbance in the Force. Another Shard. Amazing.

I leapt down, my gold face and arms gleaming under the clothing I always wore. This time, it was a pair of dark denim pants, and a leather vest, and my ever-present wide-brimmed hat on my head.

"Another Force-Sensitive Shard. I am glad to meet you. My name is Bond. The Shard Knight of the Sith. I own the station we are standing in."

[member="Not-A-Droid"]

 

[Not-A-Droid]

Harbinger saw that there was only another droid jumping down from above to greet him. Well, an unmanned station, how quaint. Walking forward Harbinger reached out on reflex towards the droid before him and attempted to override its programming. Why pay for something you didnt have to? That was when he found the force barrier in the machine before him.

"Well, for a Shard you're very forthcoming with information aren't you? Im Harbinger, Bounty Hunter and Iron Knight. I wouldnt say i care for the Jedi but im no Sith. Just a warrior" he said as he offered a hand to the clothed droid before him.

"A magna-guard eh? Not my first choice in bodies, but they're capable. To slow for most combat styles, then again ive only ever been in this body. And much like this ship, its largely antique. Tell me, how did you overcome the droid programming in the positronic brain? Took me near fifty years to supress and conquer this one" he said as his cloak swept back over his shoulders, stance relaxed.



[member="Bond"]

 

[Raijin Arashi]

I took the other Shard's proffered hand, and I shook it.

"The Magna wanted to go on an adventure himself. My abilities allowed him to go further than he could've himself, and so our minds melded. Only took me a little bit under a decade, and I'm glad I chose him."

I relaxed, and sighed slightly.

"I'm so relaxed and forthcoming, because I've lived among organics for most of my bonded life. Same reason I wear clothes, and why I hide the second 'head'. Also, IG-150 is not your ordinary Magna. He's based directly off the abilities of Grevious, a general from the Clone Wars about a millennium ago. Already trained in lightsaber combat and Teras Kasi when I got a hold of him."

[member="Not-A-Droid"]

 

[Not-A-Droid]

Harbinger crossed his arms over his chest and listened to Bond's side of the story. His eyes narrowing as he spoke of a chosen alliance and a mutual benefit to one another, symbiosis infact. Turning, he faced his ship a moment and looked back to his kin.

"I wasnt given the choice to bond, so i took what opprotunites i was given and this machine paid the price. It may still be there, mad with corruption, but its a slave to my will. So to each his own i suppose. If you'd ever like to spar someday, its been quite a long time since ive had a proper fight" he said with a grin across his display.


[member="Bond"]

 

[Raijin Arashi]

"Spar, huh?"

I thought about it for a second, and then nodded. A thought had just occurred to me. The only other known Force-Sensitive Bonder in the galaxy was standing across from me.

"Sure, we can spar. If you will be my apprentice. I've been kind of lonely since leaving Orax, seeing as there are so few Bonded out there. I'm sure there's something I can teach you. Plus, you're in need of a major freaking overhaul on that rig of yours."

[member="Not-A-Droid"]

 

[Not-A-Droid]

Pulling a blade from his back, the cloak of his shifting and releasing the old mandalorian blade from its grip as he offered it hilt first to Bond "Bonded? Is that the word? I dont think ive every come across another shard who ever left Orax, though ive been home a few times. Its been a long five centuries, and ive had many masters and teachers. So why not one more. You say you're of the Sith. What of their order in this new age?" he asked as he took up his second sword and held it in his main hand as he stepped away from the battered ship and took a strange stance of a long dead martial art learned on a moon with no name.

"Show me that you have something to teach me Sith, and ill follow you"

[member="Bond"]

 

[Raijin Arashi]

"Show you, huh?"

I took the blade that the other Shard offered, and held it in a typical Ataru stance. Acrobatic and fluid, Ataru was usually my chosen form of assault.

"I can't help but wonder if you know how much you'll regret that statement."

As I slid into my stance, I locked my feet to the ground and nodded.

"Come at me, Harby."

[member="Not-A-Droid"]

 

[Not-A-Droid]

Harbinger chuckled and nodded "Oh im sure you'll show me wont you little Sith?" he said, his tone mocking and arrogant as he held his blade low enough so the tip touched the durasteel plating of the floor. For a moment he simply stood and took in his surroundings and his foe, the faint but tell tale signature of the force upon him growing stronger as he focused himself. His left eye turned from a deep dull red to a green so sickly it could be called toxic, and a sadistic smile crept across his vocal display in a most unsettling way.

Without warning, and surprising speed for a machine his size and bulk, he charged across the floor with a hail of sparks and screeching steel as his clawed feet and blade sent forth a shower of sparks as he dashed forward for a test slash towards Bond's legs. His movements were deliberate but graceful, an unknown combination of hand to hand techniques and sword play. While his blade lashed out, his left foot sought to take the legs out from beneath the clothed shard before him while his cloak shifted and swirled to help him maintain balance where he would other wise topple over.

[member="Bond"]

 

[Raijin Arashi]

I would have grinned, but I have no face. I love it when people come charging at me.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be sufficiently and rightfully impressed."

I spun out of the way, and my metallic laugh turned into a sense-shattering scream. Something that could overload even the most tenacious of mechanical opponents. I spun the blade in my hand, and crouched back into Ataru.

[member="Not-A-Droid"]

 

[Not-A-Droid]

Harbinger fell to his side, his cloak catching him to save him from a total wipe out as he sparked across the floor, leaving gouges in the steel. His body was in agony, or atleast the electronic version of such. Wiring was overheating, circuits failing to fire in their proper sequence, but above all he was losing mobility as his body went into a forced reboot.

"And here... We thought the Sith... had some semblance of honor in combat..." Harbinger said in a disgusted tone that spoke more of himself than he liked.

"Aye... This one disapoints me father... Shall we slay him where he stands? Oh please lets slay him..." came another voice from within the droid, though this one had an edge to it like crystalline acid.

"Not.. right now... Focus yourself..."

Harbinger managed to right himself, despite the shuddering in his joints and groaning of his hydraulics. He placed both hands upon the hilt of his sword and held it out before him defensively. Eyes closed, he looked as if he was completely shut down and powerless. His force aura began to intensify as his anger swelled within, his limited control over the force being used to animate his damaged body. What was left of his power being sent to his sensors as her regarded his opponent.

"Have at me Sith... Show me you can fight with more than tricks"


[member="Bond"]