Private Old School, New School

[Miranda Io]

Wearing: Nothing

Armed with: Herself, House Io Lightsaber

Came to Naboo in: TIE Silencer

12 hours ago...


The pair of Final Dawn Sith were terrible, fierce warriors, sent to hunt and kill the Mother of the Machine currently stalking them. They were highly experienced practitioners of the Dark Side and deadly Sword Fighters in their own right.

It would not save them.

What awaited them now as they made their way to a supposed safe house on Nar Shaddaa was something made specifically to kill their kind. And do it magnificently.

She had been tailing them for a week, disguising herself as her own Mother, Laertia Io , in order to draw them out. She had set the bait, made sure to make a teensy mistake in covering her tracks, and like blood hounds they had closed in.

She waited in the apartment she had rented the Nanites covering her Phrik Alloy chassis, making her resemble a curvy, bronze Skinned woman in a silver cocktail dress and stilettos. Her best weapons were primed. A security camera clearly showed the two heading up the steps...with an armed squad no less, carrying slugthrowers, sonic disruptors and other heavy weapons.

This was going to be interesting.

Miranda's enhanced audio sensors let her pick out where they were spreading out, to get the best chance of killing her.

The door was Force pushed open, and the two fearsome Sith stepped through.

"You! Where is your master, Droid?" The Sith sneered at her in his black robes. "The Final Dawn comes for her. She will be made to suffer for her insult to the three Avatars."

"Feth you AND your three Avatars..." Miranda said lazily, looking at him.

"You WILL tell us, even if we have to strip you down to your very processors...no Assassin Droid is a threat to a true Sith. You're nothing but wires and scrap to us."

Miranda simply sat, legs crossed, looking bored. She picked up a small remote, having anticipated them having back up, and pressed it.

Remote Ball Drones armed with blasters flooded out of the air vents, firing at their advanced troops while shaped charges in the hall went off, turning some of them into piles of gore.

The Sith leaped for her and her Lightsaber came out, a black core with a blue aura, instantly blocking viciously efficient strikes, onboard database matching and instantly recalculating defense and offense, her Lightsaber Database as well as her own creativity allowing her to marry, evade and counter attack at dizzying speed. One leapt back and tried to use the Force to crush her whole body, the Nanites giving her a human appearance barely made a ripple, working in conjunction with the anti-Force field she generated, and the Sith was soon exhausted from the attempt to crush her as she fended off the second attacker.

The Sith to their credit didn't panic, and sent the chair hurling towards her, impacting with such Force that she was sent hurling through the wall, pinning her against another wall. Surviving Final Dawn commandos made their way around the corner, only for the Nanite sheath on her arm to withdraw, the miniaturized Stouker Concussion Rifle, sending a powerful purple bolt their way and bursting them into gore and destroying the ceiling, then firing into the room where her first two assailants were, both who barely dodged the exploding bits of wall and breaking their concentration as she dived through the hole she had made.

"WAR! DEATH! REBIRTH!" the Sith shouted. The creed of the Maw Brotherhood's faith: to destroy the whole universe and be reborn in a brand new, beautiful one prepared specifically for them. It was a crock of chit Darth Solipsis had conjured up, as far as her Mother was concerned.

Miranda, being a machine, had only the faintest understanding of what an afterlife was. Besides, she was not to kill these two. Mother had plans for them.

Miranda back flipped over a swing, landing on her hands and retrieving her Lightsaber, blocking the savage strikes, her nanites retracting on her left shoulder to reveal a built in saber dart shooter, filled with hyper concentrated tranquilizer. Her immense strength overwhelmed his, firing the dart into his throat, and knocking him out cold, hurling him into the other, slamming in to his head and stunning him severely, but not downing him. Miranda tackled him, cracking a rib of his as her hand clenched around his throat, slowly suffocating him before knocking him out cold.

Miranda admired her handiwork before getting out an encrypted comlink.

"Miranda here. Prep for retrieval."

Present...


Miranda, frankly, was thankful she was getting so much work still. Mother may have been banned from the CIS, but her droids had been absolved of responsibility for what happened at Rhand. As Droids had rights in the CIS, they had been allowed to stay.

They were still not fully trusted in the military, however, being given scant work. That said, the Models of Nuetralizers were getting increasingly difficult assignments.

So it was with her newest assignment. She was to assist another newbie to the CIS, an Assassin Droid named A83 . Miranda had never worked with an old school Assassin Droid before.

The meeting point was in a Safehouse in the capital of These. Miranda walked it's streets, drawing looks due to her gorgeous appearance, before ducking into an alley where the safehouse awaited...

 

[A83]

These would have blown A83's mind if the killer actually had a concept of beauty. Well, he had a little bit of a grasp on it, but not in the same way organics or even most droids did. To him, These's buildings were merely efficient constructs. They provided an adequate home for the people here. Just as one of them will provide a safehouse for the mission here.

A83 hadn't been disclosed much about the mission yet. He was simply told to go to the safehouse and wait for his partner, a HRD they claimed was one of their best. The assassin droid, while barely 15 years of age himself, was manufactured based on a design that was ancient. He wondered how he would compare to the most advanced assassin droids of today. He hoped he could keep up with it.

The retro droid soon found himself within the walls of the safehouse, waiting for his new partner as instructed. Sure enough, a half hour later what looked like a human ducked into the alleyway outside. A83 knew better. This was his partner for sure, her energy signature was too unique for a human. He opened the door briefly and let her in.

"Inside, quick."

 

[Miranda Io]

Miranda nodded and strode inside.

A83 was certainly an ancient model. She was fascinated by his construction though she did not show it.


The safehouse had loads of weapons though she didn't actually need them. Her whole body was one.

"My designate is Miranda..." Miranda said. "A pleasure to meet you."

She headed into the meeting room, where a sensor hidden in the walls registered both her and A83's presence. There was a holoprojector that turned on as soon as they were both in.

"Welcome, agents..." a distorted electric voice called out, before showing a photograph of a man in an unsettling silver mask.

"Earlier this morning, the transponder of a senior member of the Knight's Obsidian who has been believed dead for months surfaced in the remains of the tenth Sith Empire, at the very edge of the former Empire's territory on a barely charted planet known by the designate UT0096. His name is Dri Sarvak. He was a highly skilled stealth specialist that disappeared during the invasion of Serenno by the New Imperial Order. Given the extended length of time since his disappearance and the transponder resurfacing, as well as the location, it is considered an ultra high risk mission. Your directives are as follows: Gather whatever weapons and equipment you can acquire and journey to this planet, and locate Sarvak's whereabouts. If it is determined that he has been compromised, capture or kill as you deem necessary. If he is determined to still be loyal, bring him back to CIS territory for debriefing. No intel regarding planetary terrain exists in our databases so be ready for anything. Message now terminated..."

The holoprojection shut off, flashes and sparks in its internals indicating something was deliberately going wonky inside it.

Miranda turned to A83. "So...you want to go in your ship or mine?"

 

[A83]

The holoprojector lightly illuminated the safe house in a blue tint as the two were briefed on their mission. Straightforward enough, but there were lots of variables. What was Sarvak doing on UT0096? Was he lost, or hiding perhaps? Was he in fact compromised or gone rogue? As the message closed, the blue tint disappeared. The only light in the room now was a dim one that came from A83's red photoreceptors. And yet to his sensors, the dark room was as clear as day. But what wasn't clear was what to expect in this mission, and that always unsettled A83.

A83 also was unsettled by the limited data of the planet itself. For all he knew, there could be dangerous creatures or volcanic terrain. Nothing he couldn't handle, but certainly something that could slow him down. And that was the last thing he needed in a mission with potential dangers already.

His thoughts were interrupted by Miranda's query. He replied, "I do not possess a ship; I was shuttled here. Yours, in that case."

A83 was curious what her ship's capabilities were. With a missing, possibly compromised Force sensitive being their target, the droid calculated the ship would come in handy in certain situations. He would find out soon.

In the meantime, he followed Miranda, and would ask her, "Have you heard of this Dri Sarvak prior to the mission? Stealth specialists seem like the type of operative who have an existing reputation among SOCOM operatives, such as ourselves." The droid's ominous electronic voice was asking in binary, which helped him keep a low profile. After all, you may never know who's listening.

 

[Miranda Io]

"I haven't been in the business very long..." Miranda confessed to A83 , also speaking in binary to her fellow Assassin. "But from my experience so far, when they offer that little info...it's bad. Never heard of Sarvak. I always figure, if the Stealth Specialist has a rep, they're doing it wrong. Which means Sarvak might be very very good. Good enough he warrants something like us coming after him. I'm guessing people got sent after him before and it didn't work out..." she theorized as they walked back to her vessel.

Mother's rapidly expanding wealth, looted from dozens of conflicts as well as illegal black market sails, had allowed Miranda to purchase something more robust than a simple Corvette.

House Io was exploring heavily armed scout vessels as a basis for their citizenry to own. To that end, they had become particularly fascinated by the Trident Surveyor Ship. This was the ship Miranda led her fellow Droid to. It was a dark green color with black viewports.

"Welcome to my ship, The Outstretched Hand. A deep space scout vessel with advanced sensor systems, and an ability to dive underwater..." Miranda explained as she led him aboard. The interior had a custom dark green color with black highlights, and the armory was highly visible, stocked with lethal weapons such as railguns and Disruptors.

"Make yourself comfortable, A83. Once we are in orbit over our destination we'll discuss a game plan from there..." Miranda said, heading to the cockpit and signaling the ship's Droid intelligence to take off. Then she went to the main cabin and unlocked the armory.

"A lot of nasty weapons, in case you need them..." She said helpfully, before her Nanites alerted her to a need to run its periodical debugging routine and self optimization checks, opening a small stasis chamber, and letting the sheath of Laminanium Nanites that gave her a human appearance slide off an obsidian Droid Skeleton, deliberately modeled on the human skeleton, with bright green photo receptors.

"I'm sorry if I seem strange...I'm a prototype..." Miranda said, walking over to him, wondering if he might feel more comfortable dealing with her if he could see exactly what he was dealing with, something familiar and mechanical. He could clearly get a good scan of the terrifying number of miniaturized weapons at this point.

"I've never run into your model before. I was created for infiltration and killing Force Users. Is it the same for you?" Miranda asked with an electronic undertone to her voice now...

 

[A83]

Miranda's response to A83's query began to imply just how dangerous the mission could be. The assassin droid pondered that he may need specialized equipment for a mission this high-risk. Thankfully, he would find just that as he climbed aboard The Outstretched Hand. The ship seemed like an ideal type for the mission- a scout ship, but by no means a weak one, and its armory was packed with weapons that A83 could probably use in the mission. Then, as Miranda started her debugging process, it sunk in just how advanced she was. His sensors became flooded with indications of miniaturized weaponry. Impressive.

A83 then listened to her now more electronic voice as she noted her primary functions. Infiltration, assassination. Assassination of force-sensitives, to be precise. A truly large claim for any being in the universe is succeeding at killing a trained force-sensitive, let alone several.

She also asked him about his design. While certainly not as impressive as her design, the A-series Assassin Droid was no stranger to killing trained Force-sensitives either. A83 himself hadn't pulled off that feat yet, but the prestigious history of the droids, particularly their use in the Clone Wars, asserted that such feats were possible by any A-series droid.

"My series dates back millennia, but as the years passed, we... adapted to modern technology the best we could. I am programmed with detailed files on several sentient species anatomy and apply such knowledge in missions. I haven't faced a Force-sensitive- at least, not a trained one. But I have already calculated several efficient manners of fighting them. You see, Force Users often rely on close-up melee combat, and although blasters can be blocked or reflected by their sabers, explosives are much more difficult for them to counter. Land mines are particularly effective, that is, if you have the preparation to set them up. But the more skilled ones often detect land mines, or if they encounter grenades or thermal detonators, they can use their telekinetic abilities to get the explosive clear of them before it detonates, or worse, send it back. That being said, however, such powers require a lot of focus from a Force User, so distractions and feint attacks, or perhaps overwhelming firepower are effective way to prevent a Force User from using their powers. Also, even Force Users will struggle to block attacks from several directions at once, so outflanking and surrounding them is a good way to try and overwhelm them. Follow up such tactics with use of an unorthodox weapon, such as explosive or incendiary weapons, and that should terminate them... we should keep this in mind as we choose weapons from the arsenal. In the meantime, however, we should get ready for the launch. I calculate that whatever is going on, it may be time sensitive."

A83 assumed that Miranda already knew what he knew, but said this anyway. He didn't want Miranda to think he wasn't effective or knowledgeable, or else he'd be treated as little more than a burden. He might have rambled on quite a long time, though. It was best that he didn't disrupt the preparations they were making for the launch, so he silently helped with anything Miranda needed for the time being.

 

[Miranda Io]

"Oh, I absolutely know what you mean, A83 ." The Prototype said enthusiastically. This one was well programmed. And such a shiny chassis...

"My database covers that stuff also. My design and that of my brothers is based on the YVH Droid series, however. Does your data base also cover the use of Psychological Warfare against Force Users?" Miranda asked in genuine curiosity, fascinated at talking with an old school model such as A83. "My designer stressed that against a Force Adept, studying the particular target is just as important as what weapon, terrain, or tactic is used. Doubt is a powerful weapon against them." she added.

While she talked, she went and began gathering repair kits, as well as back up weapons for her own use, as the Ship lifted off, it coordinates programmed in.

"You know what weapon I noticed works really good? Shotguns. Especially automatic shotguns. Only so many projectiles they can stop with telekinesis."

The ship soon launched into hyperspace, and Miranda began listing off her inventory: Railguns, Particle Beam Blasters, Magnetic Lock Targeting Grenades, Flame Throwers and cryo sprayers.

Everything a lethal Droid needs.

While she let him make his selection, Miranda told her a bit more of herself. Her gestures and movement were not precise like a Droid's but organic like.

"I'm a member of an organization where Droids are treated equal to Organics. It's sort of a family..." she explained.

"We're looking for a planet to settle down on..."

Hours later...

The planet they had been sent to was a lush, tropical environment. And as they orbited over it, Miranda detected strange signals coming from the deep parts of a rain forest, and pointed it out to him on the holoprojection table.

"See that? No other sign of advanced tech anywhere else on the Planet..." The Skeletal Droid pointed out. "That seems as good a place to start our search as any..."

Miranda went to the stasis chamber and retrieved her Laminanium Nanites sheath, which flowed over her chassis and covered her in her bronze skinned human guise, made to resemble her wearing a skintight silver catsuit.

"Are you ready to land? Do you want to take point, or would you prefer I do it?" Miranda asked, clearly enthusiastic about the assignment and having Droid company other than her Infamous brothers...

 

[A83]

Although he droid had heard of the YVH droids before, he had not seen the connection between Miranda's model and them until they were brought up by her. YVH droids were the deadliest droids of their age, so it would make sense to expand on them the way Miranda's HRD model did. No wonder Miranda was so advanced, they basically modernized the droids that were literally programmed to kill the Yuuzhan Vong.

A83 soon found himself selecting weapons from the armory. He already had three built-in blasters, two on his wrists, one on his shoulder, as was standard for A-series droids. But he needed something more if they were going to face Sarvak together, so he picked the grenades and a cryo sprayer, which he figured was a unique weapon that may be useful.

Hours passed before the ship arrived at its destination. He wasn't expecting a tropical habitat, but then again, that didn't necessarily mean it was safe. If anything, rainforest missions were nightmares for any operative. It meant poisonous plants, venomous animals, and often guerrilla warfare. It was a good thing they were droids, because that way, they could sense guerrilla attacks coming more often, and obviously weren't endangered by poison or venom.

The droid's thoughts were interrupted when Miranda, to his surprise, asked his advice on who should take point. A83 calculated that it was best to have the more experienced and advanced droid take point, so he replied, "It would be ideal if you took point. You are more experienced."

 

[Miranda Io]

Miranda nodded, smiling. She then signalled to the artificial intelligence to land them close to a beach, and the Outstretched Hand was soon speeding to the ground, her own choice of spare weapons being stun grenades, a Magna-Caster 100 (Quickly becoming a favorite of House Io Citizens) and a DAS-430. Anything else her onboard weapons would take care of, and lethally.

Miranda had never set foot anywhere tropical before, and it made her do a double take at the beauty of the place, the lush trees, the wildlife. She proceeded ahead of A83 , already scanning for anomalies, scanners still following the signal.

It soon became immediately apparent that they were not the first ones here. Miranda spotted wreckage. Some of it was Sith Empire. Rest was CIS. There were no corpses. No signs of Blasterfire.

She soon came across the wreck of an old IPV-2C bearing Knight's Obsidian markings.

THEN she spotted bodies. They wore Knight's Obsidian armor, tattered now. They were all missing their heads. She crouched down, picking up the Lightsaber close to the belt of a headless corpse. "Well, we have our answer as to why we got so little intel...and whether we were the first...we should check the computers inside the ship. They might have known something we didn't..."

"They never even had a chance to draw..." She said, activating it. The dark blue blade sprang out. It still worked. No sense in leaving it behind. It could go to his next of kin if anything.

"What could have taken them by surprise? They were clustered real close together...no defensive positions...you picking up any tracks?" she inquired, alert for signs of anything irregular.

Her brothers had a saying: Never get off the boat, unless you plan on going all the way...