Overkill Is A Myth (HK-36)

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Once upon a time there had been a Mechanical Dragon, called Mag'ladroth the Void Dragon. The savage Bando Gora had worshipped the child of Mechanus as the Machine God. Ghastly rituals and powerful mechanical monstrosities had been created in his name. Until Siobhan Kerrigan and [member="HK-36"] killed him during the battle of Gehenna. Said episode had included Siobhan tearing his wings off and beating him with them.



Now that had been fun. Anyhow, he had been a bloody tough opponent and what better way to honour the battle than to build an engine of destruction and name it after him? And put a bunch of destructive weapons on it, like a new bolt cannon. Especially with things happening like the One Sith going on a conquest spree in the core worlds. So it was with this in mind that Countess Kerrigan was awaiting the arrival of HK at Firemane R&D on Kaeshana. The compound was a heavily fortified bunker that was well-defended. Just in case vampyres or space orks might teleport in.



Just for the record this thread takes place before Siobhan death charged 'Darth Shadow', got blown up and spaced. Since...she still has to awaken from her coma!

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Siobhan would not have to wait long before the dropships broke through the atmosphere and came into view, eh?

Anyway, the convoy bore the emblems of the Protectorate and the Barony of Abregado-Rae, just a confirmation that it was the convoy they were expecting. Today they would meet and spoke about new weapon to be used against the Sith, a personal walker combined with mechanized armor to provide a whole new level of fire support for infantry on the battlefield. Even greater matters for the two planets and companions would be discussed as the terms of the Coalition HK proposed on Bespin would be went over.

And so, the dropship would finally touch down and the ramp would lowered, revealing who was inside as the group of droids and Gados researchers came out.

On the front of the group there was HK, the Iron Exarch Protector of Abregado-Rae, clad in his armor, cloak, and robes as behind him came the envoy of 4 Greycloak guards and with them the robed head researches of Gados.

"Siobhan, glad to see you are well."

HK has greeted his old partner in crime with a slight bow,

"How is your wife, whose name for the record is [member="Tegaea Alcori"]"

He would add it in, totally not slipping that just to tag her into the conversation,

"Has everything been prepared?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Well, HK certainly knew how to make a dramatic entrance. Given the fact that she liked doing the same Siobhan was in no position to be judgemental! After all, one of the reasons she liked Dahomey was the fact that the people treated her like a queen there.



"Good to see you again," she said warmly, returning the slight bow. "Tegs is doing well. And thanks for telling me her name! I'd never have remembered it otherwise," she quipped a bit lamely. "Yeah, we're all set. Follow me and I'll lead you inside. I see you brought your own entourage of techies with you!"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

The droid nodded, glancing to his envoy of Gados scientists,

"Indeed, they are the ones I go through with all my technological demands, they correct me on some issues, and fill out the holes to make everything work. Without them I would not have as much gadgets as I do."

One of the Gados swatted his furry hand in a manner of saying "Oh, stop, you"

With that HK turned back to Siobhan and gave her a nod,

"Well, lead on them, Sio, ladies first."

He would quip

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan chuckled slightly. "You're just saying that because you want to oggle my butt," she quipped. At this point HK would probably make a quip about how he had gotten a good view of it anyway because he had to carry her away from certain death situations a lot! Like from the battleship of the Bando Gora War God's Champion!


Regardless Siobhan turned on her heels and quickly guided HK into the immense and well-secured bunker complex, from whereon she would guide him to the research centre that had been set aside and prepared for their work on the impressive death machine they wanted to build!

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]


"You know very well I have photographic memory, and you have given enough show of it for me over the years, I do not need to see any more of the thing."

The droid would quip back, following Siobhan into the prepared research lab.

Motioning to his researchers they would take out the necessary datapads and holo-projectors, preparing the designs for Abregado systems and weapons they had prepared to share with Firemane, including were the Scarabeus suit design which they haven't released yet, the plans for RC-1 and developing RC-2 shattergun rotary cannons, and the Flamer weaponry Abregado has already created.


"So does Firemane have any products from the line of armor that they have created, or are working for, that could contribute to development of this walker?"

The droid would ask, looking to his companion at arms.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan looked over the holoprojectors and datapads the scientists had prepared with interest, giving them intrigued glances. She would certainly like a shiny a flamethrower. "Personal armour? We got a standard suit of duraplast battle armour based on Tegs' old suit. Also acquired a couple suits of Sith ultrachrome stormtrooper armour, but that's very limited and just for our best troops." Siobhan had worn one of those suits until Ordo built a custom-made beskar'gam for her.



"As you know, we have plenty of bolters. Well, a good deal of our recent work has been concentrated on further building up on those. Recently we developed the APE, which is essentially a HEAT shell, miniaturised and reduced to a rifle round to penetrate personal armoued targets to devastating effect. A significantly beefed up variant might be nice for the MK3 bolt cannon," she said. A switch activated by a mental command would bring forth a holoprojection of the round.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

HK nodded at Kerrigan's designs,

"Alright, Duraplast may be useful for armor plating, we could replace it with Ultrachrome, or Phrik, or Cortosis-weave sometime in the future once we have more resources, launch an upgraded series for special missions. Phrik would be good for that, lighter walker means it would move faster, maybe strap an over-sized rocket pack on it and it could fly around the battlefield too."

He would turn his attention to the new rounds then,

"Sounds good, normal rounds and solid slugs in greater size would work as well, slugs work well against armored vehicles, normal bolts just for crowd control. So, basically, while the newest bolt-gun was miniaturized, this time we will make it all bigger. Are we going with chemical propellants, magnets, or both? Also for ammunition, standard magazine just bigger, or a chain-fed ammunition belt in a replaceable ammunition drum?"

HK looked to Sio, asking his line of questions

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


She gave HK a nod as he spoke about the new rounds. All in all the new bolter would be a significantly scaled up grenade cannon. Some ammo types would be cut out, the calibre would be beefed up to give the cannon a greater punch. The regular explosive bolts of the MK1 were already able to damage light vehicle armour. "I'd say a chemical propellant. That's how the regular boltguns work. And a drum-fed magazine is probably for the best I think."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]


The droid nodded,

"Alright, we can use the designs for Abregado's current Graphite ammo drums we utilize in our Rotary Cannons and use that for this new Bolt Gun, that will decrease ammunition malfunctions as Graphite is durable enough to withstand blows from lightsaber and higher caliber weapons. At least any accidental explosions from stray shots will not be too much of a problem."

HK would pull up the designs for Scarabeus powered armor,

"Now, the question is, how the bloody thing is going to work, you see the Scarabeus armor we have been working on is the size of a small walker but it is a heavy powered armor, an exoskeleton, Gados anatomy and limb length allows it to be completely controlled by them while offering plenty of weaponry and armor."

He would motion to the elongated limbs of the Scarabeus armor,

"But that does mean it is unusable by most humanoids with shorter limb length, which makes it counter-productive for Eldorai, Humans, et cetera, so what I propose is what I call Dwarf Personal Walker Exoskeleton, DPWE. The cockpit and bipedal movement will be based on AT-RT, small recon walker utilized by Republic at the time of Clone Wars, I have seen plenty of these in action. It will be compact and efficient, allowing only the pilot, movement of legs will be controlled via set of pedals, however the cockpit would not be open, rather completely closed and relying on sensors, or a mix of sensors and small transparisteel opening. The legs will be much more stout, as well, this will not be a recon vehicle, it will be a walking fire support platform fringing on heavy infantry, most of its height will come from the size of the shield-like heavily armored torso rather than long legs as with AT-RT, however by my calculations their height should be similar, about 3 meters tall or so. Should be enough to grant mobility in urban environment while offering impressive armor and arsenal."

Through all of this HK has shown Siobhan old plans for an AT-RT he has kept in his memory banks over all this time,

"Now as to armaments, this is where the Exoskeleton part comes in, as opposed to the leg movement of the walker, which would be controlled via pedals, they would be controlled by the pilot's arms and upper torso rotation via simulation units. Meaning pilot moves his arm right, the Walker's arm move right, he moves it left, it goes left, turns right, the walker turns right. I believe this would greatly increase its accuracy as it would feel much more natural to aim than if the weaponry would be fixed on the chassis, and again, add to the maneuverability."

The droid would look to Siobhan then,

"What do you think?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan gave him a nod. "Works. I see where you're going with this. Way back Blas-Tech made an armoured exoskeleton, I guess we can this our variant of it. Smaller legs than a conventional mecha means if a Sith death charges it to hack at them with a lightsabre it will not small as hard or easily. Well, along with having a flamethrower and a bolter to blast Sithies."



Siobhan was speaking from experience here since way back when Tegaea had still been a mercenary and she a Jedi, they had infiltrated and torn apart a Sith research station that created mechs. Siobhan had destroyed one by hewing at its legs till it fell down.


"Smaller size means navigating dense urban terrain should be easier, along with entering buildings and such. What's your estimate on speed and weight of this thing? We'd be advised to have some form of insulation for vital cruits to protect them EMP and force lightning because every Sith uses lightning! Asbestos works for that and against fire damage. Even a built-in faraday cage. Come to think of it, an ionisation buffer would be handy."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

The droid nodded,

"It all sounds good, electronic defenses included, but I am calculating about the weight and speed of it. I presume it would be a slower machine, we do not need it to go too fast as long as it will keep up with advancing infantry during heavy combat. But we surely will need to make it heavy, it will provide a better defense against telekinetic assaults and explosive weaponry which could throw it around, possibly we can install density projectors in its hull or legs to allow it to anchor should it need to. Besides, its armor would not be light, even by itself."

He would look back to the plans,

"While we are talking about ionization buffers, we could come up with an upgrade component for droids to allow them greater degree of protection. That reminds me of something, do you remember those Electro-Whips I had Abregado produce?"

The droid would look to Siobhan, keeping his eyes from diverting at her cleavage.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan's impressive bosom was rather eye-catching. Well, her wife liked it. It made a good pillow! "Agreed. If we need speed we can also create a dedicated scout version of it. Make it a powerhouse that can take a beating and won't be easily tossed around like a ragdoll without effort."


At the mention of the whips she gave him a look of complete innocence. "Oh, yes, I remember those. What about them?"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]


The droid raised his hand to put the fingertips on Siobhan's bosom and push it back slightly, just to make her take a step back as to the droid the thing seemed to grow only bigger and advance towards him like the Blob,

"Well I had an idea for an addition to it which could really screw over the Force users. Basically, lightsabers are streams of extremely hot plasma contained by tubular magnetic field which keeps the plasma from exploding everywhere and gives its blade their shape, some lightsabers have stronger magnetic fields, like the training lightsabers, some have weaker and are more unstable, some are just in the middle, those are standard lightsabers."

The droid begun to explain, hopefully Sio did not threw him around yet after that awkward unsure caress to make her move back,

"What if I would install an attachment in the Electro-Whips that allow them from switching between electric shock to strong magnetic impulses designed to interact with a lightsaber they whip would coil around? Basically, you fight some Sith, with a good snap you coil your whip around his saber's blade, and with a push of the button you can cause the blade's plasma field to break and have the Sith be exploded or horribly burned by his own weapon, not to mention the damage it would cause to the saber's hilt."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


"Hey, keep your hands to yourself and off my tits!" Siobhan pondered for a moment whether she should throw the droid around! As it happened those dreadful, overpowered mind pincers wrapped themselves around HK in an attempt to lift him off his feet and into the air and give him a good, very fast spin through it! Before he was presumably allowed to get back onto the ground.



There, point made! HK should go get his own boobs. Presumably Siobhan had not heard about the new HRD bodies he had commissioned. As for her rack, it was most assuredly not a blob. It was well-shaped, voluptuous and made an amazing pillow!


Presumably Siobhan had found use for electro whips that was, ahem, outside of combat situations. As a matter of fact, Siobhan had first gotten her hand blown off because her lightsabre was blown up. "Anyhow, sounds technically feasible to me and would be nasty in direct combat. I like the idea. You better give me a couple whips for free!"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

Claws from HK's feet would extend as he dug himself into the metal floor like a tick, yanked by Sio's telekinesis as he tried to stick to the floor,

"No, I will not go, no."

He answered to her telekinetic manipulation, using a density projector to increase his weight artificially as well.

"But I will see about giving you a shipment of those whips if I will ever apply the modification. Has there been anything else concerning the robotic walker suits that you could think of?"

The droid asked his partner in crime, trying to somewhat get back to the business they were discussing before.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan was tempted to just pull harder until HK's claws would give way and the droid woul be pulled into the air. After all, increasement of artificial weight only helped so much against someone who could throw tanks with her mind. However, then she decided to show a certain degree of maturity and get back to business.


"I think we've covered the major points. That said we could make a heavier variant of the suit. Durasteel's a solid option for the materiel of a baseline heavy assault version, but for a super heavy one we might use duranium. It's tougher than bronzium, durable but light and can take a glancing blow from a lightsabre. There's also the Graphite Reinforced Durasteel ARGH made. We should definitely use that. Then duraplast is a more common, 'light infantry' variant. After all, it can withstand a laser cannon and reinforced duraplast is quite resistant to EMP and ion. Come to think of it, what do you say to giving the walker claws like the ones you have?"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

The droid would nod, agreeing to what Colonel was proposing,

"I would say put Graphite reinforcing mesh to Duranium and have the best of both worlds, but we would probably need a team of Mandalorians for that, bloody things are hard to shape as they are. We used some of it in designing new mechanized infantry to reinforce my Iron Company units, came across a few problems that stall their deployment, something we can both take a look on in the future, if you would like."

He would comment, passing over to her the holodisk with information about the Legionnaire droids, which apparently would be put into combat just after their meeting, the problems droid was facing being solved by Gados either way.

"As to claws it should work fine, as long as we have proper density projectors to match it, there were few things I have been working on with them since my utilization of the curious systems with the Mobile Barricade project, another thing for you to look at if you would like."

The droid would say, nodding.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan listened to HK's suggestions, then gave him a nod after thinking the matter over. Combining Graphite reinforcing mesh with duranium would not come cheap, especially given the credits Firemane would already be spending on the Gehenna operation and the construction of new fortifications on Kaeshana.


Hence why the unit armoured in such a manner would see more limited production, whilst common durasteel and duraplast worked for a baseline version. However, the enhanced protective qualities should off-set that and make the investment worth it, at least in her opinion. She took the proffered holodisk with information on the Legionnaire droids, looking over the technical information outlined in it.


"I'd be interested in looking into them. Perhaps we can arrange some field tests for them and the walker once we have a prototype model. Likewise I'd be game when it comes to the density projectors," she responded after having finished her brief examination.