[member="Thraxis"],
While the battle raged HK was more or less running around trying to outrun the blaster bolts shot at him by the Sith sharpshooters, more or less he was succeeding now that a cloud of ash engulfed them, making it much more difficult for the combatants to see each other. He did however caught a glimpse of Thraxis,
"
Hey Thraxis, how is it going? I hope your Gammos are as plump and perky as always."
Of course last time HK saw the Gammos, or Thraxis, in person was back in the White Palace when they may or may not have had an epic battle in which Thraxis may or may not have been defeated and cashed in for a bounty or the droid may or may not have had to make a hasty retreat from the depths of a pit hidden in the bowels of the palace.
[member="Adele Adonai"], [member="Darth Lykos"],
The droid pounced with his outstretched arms, narrowly dodging a blaster bolt chasing him and rolling nearby the duo who apparently were just chatting it up mentally,
"
Oh come on!"
The droid complained as he curled up behind a nearby outcropping of stones as another burst of plasma came his way, clashing against the rocks he used as cover,
"
How come you end up with the only pacifist Sith in the Galaxy?!"
Of course he couldn't stick around them too much as the rocks broke apart violently from the shots and HK rolled to the side, blaster shots following him before he pushed himself up to keep running.
[member="Symara Tarriq"],
As HK dashed and bounced about he activated a comm link with Symara and her forward command post,
"
Symara!"
He called out hastily as she could see his little blue figure hologram representation dashing through clouds of ash and narrowly dodging blaster bolts,
"
We have here -shhhhh- sharpshooters and all kinds of sh-shhhhh-t!"
His transmission came through with some interference,
"
Elpy is with me -shhhhhhh- Provide air support?"
Basically he was asking if she could conduct an airstrike for him if the snipers and sharpshooters kept on being an issue for him.
Nate the Bounty Hunter said:
he simply plucked a grenade of a fallen corpse and sent it soaring into the birdsnest
[member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Seria Ventreme"]
The droid bodyguard, currently keeping the Sith sharpshooters as pinned as he could, even managing to thin down their numbers, had his shattergun taken away from him and apparently there was not much he could do except extend his hand out towards it in longing and whisper,
"
Delila~"
Already missing his favored weapon before an order came to him from 36-1,
Counter-sniper duty,
Through their instant communication.
The Greycloak guard nodded and pulled an
SR-1 shattergun rifle off of his back, wrapping himself in his titular grey
chameleon cloak before activating its systems, disappearing to find a suitable position to take cover in and start hunting for that other sniper, Desmond, as the other Greycloak guard kept churning out round after round from their shattergun rifle to flush him out from his sniping position.
The bodyguard unit hoped that Nate's grenade toss was as effective as the bounty hunter expected it to be.
[member="Desmond C'artyom"],
Through HK's constant dashing and dodging, along with the cover of ash that now enveloped them and blocked out the sun, plus the constant stream of slugthrower pellets that moved along with Desmond even as he switched positions, tracked by the bodyguard unit that chipped away at the building around him with each second and another thunderous shot, it was going to take Desmond a while before he was able to find the droid again.
Finally, however, he was able to spot the similar cloaked figure and the red glow of the cybernetic eyes. They were looking right at him,
Target locked,
HK's body guard informed him.
As Desmond would take his aim the ash around HK would part, and he would see the droid facing him, his arm stretched out and pointed towards him, his hand formed a finger-pistol aimed at him, as if about to take the shot, and lowered his thumb, as if lowering a hammer in a revolver, hand pulled back mimicking recoil.
Desmond would be able to take his shot still before he moved to the E-Web, if he did the ion bolt would hit the droid, causing one of the droid's red eyes to crack and explode outward with shattering transparisteel and black splatter of oil. However, he would not have enough time to dodge the counter-shot from droid's hidden bodyguard, the one that used to fire at a sharpshooter team before Nate took his minigun so that the droid could switch to a sniper rifle. And while he took one of the droid's eyes, he would find the scope in his rifle exploding from a pellet that went right through it, heading for his own eye and face along with the glass of its lenses and metal shrapnel.
Or he could have pulled back, taking the droid did give him a warning after all, and the pellet launched against him would either completely miss or pierce his rifle at some other point where it could damage it without causing actual harm to him. However, if he did so his shot would have missed the droid's eyes, splashing out against the edge of his Phrik head, leaving a singed burn there but no actual damage, an electrical webbing would spread around his head and caused him to jitter, offering an opening to [member="Break"] if the other droid was able to deal with the magnetic attack HK sent against him, however the ion damage was absorbed by
the droid's built-in protection that granted him immunity to ionic attacks, since they were pretty much a go-to for people to choose against droids, leading to no permanent hindering.
Either way, when Desmond would move to the E-Web, scarred or not, he would find himself under sniper fire again as the bodyguard unit, cloaked under its.. cloak, took couple shots at him from beyond the ashen veil, aiming at his E-Web, its battery pack to be precise, to damage it so that when the gun fired, it would overheat quickly and turn explosive.
[member="Jacen Voidstalker"], [member="Gabriel Sionoma"], [member="Spencer Varanin"], [member="Elpsis Elaris"], [member="Joza Perl"], [member="Kana Truden"], [member="Lord Ajihad"], [member="Rapax"], [member="Lark"], [member="Darth Vulcanus"]
Ajira Cardei said:
Ajira settled into the captain's chair. "Thanks for keeping it warm for me, Shambleau. You did as well as anyone could. What news from the Abregado-Rae landing party?" "Fourteen M47 dropships and four Niathal-class shuttles reached the surface. Almost six hundred elite soldiers and medics are joining up with HK-36 and reporting to him from this point on. The landing has been an unqualified success, even with the loss of the Forgewarden. Ma'am-"
Now whether HK was injured or not in the sniper fire exchange, everyone in their area would be able to hear a cacophony of noises approaching them from somewhere beyond the wall of ash, in the direction opposite to the Palace for those who could discern such things. There was the noise of engines, at first just background whirring but undoubtedly it was coming closer and closer towards them, and then that thudding rhythmic sound of ground being pounded,
THUD-THUD-THUD,
The sound of some heavy footsteps, it sounded like a singular being at first but soon enough the sound of many beings marching would reach them.
WHMMMMMMMMMMM,
Engines above them would near, lowering down as they could see spotlights cutting through the grey cover that blocked out the sun, scanning over the battlefield before finally one of the pillars of light found HK. The droid stopped, turning towards it, trying to scan through the cover of darkness, looking towards the sound of advancing army as he reached down to take his remaining
Magnetic Revolver and his
lightsaber. When suddenly, above the noise of marching forces and the sound of engines there was music,
violin music broadcasted from some unknown source. And then-
THRUNK!
Through the ash cloud above them a walker dropped down right next to the droid, one of the Heavy Variant
Personal Walkers Abregado manufactured, air-dropped in just for him, as finally through the ash-screen the ships would be visible, they were the Pyre dropships still used by Abregado forces and the Iron Company under HK's command, and then the figures advancing towards them appeared. It was a phalanx of
Iron Legionnaire drones, moving through the ruins in a neat square as expendable machine warriors often did, each one of them bore no additional armor but they were armed with
the Gados Blast staves, couple of them held poles from which flags flapped on the devious wind. Flags with the symbol of Abregado-Rae,
Just in case anyone forgot who these forces belonged to, the droid's face was right on it.
"
My babies!"
HK raised his arms out half in joy and half in surprise, he did not receive any notification about them landing, how could he under the cover of the Storm and ash, but they did receive his location, the ping machine sent out to Elpsis and Zark, forwarded to Iron Company when they arrived in the system. They formed their landing zone rather far from the city, where Dominion could not spare their forces or get in range to intercept them, and they were marching since to reunite with their commander under the cover of volcanic ash screen that rose from Vulcanus' actions.
"
Hello papa."
A spider-droid from
the Mobile Weapons line chirped out, the larger machines were accompanying the forward drone phalanx as heavier fire support, their heavier two-gun variants were seen further down back as well as the armored Droid Tanks from the same production. As the Phalanx moved closer a line of durasteel walls would be seen moving behind them, hovering, they were
the mobile barricades used as forward defenses to protect the advancing troops behind them, organics and more Iron Legionnaires, this time smarter droids, all clad in the different varieties of old
Pyre Power Armor, armed with the weapons produced by
the Guild of Hammers and
Firemane. They marched to the sound of Abregado battle bards, the droids forces, just like him, had a penchant for theatrics and flamboyance.
Testament of that would a regime of Abregado Winged Hussars, clad in Power Armor adorned with long dark brown and grey feathers from avian beings native to their planet, armed with the familiar Magnetic Revolvers, and
Spears of Rae, riding the fearsome
Nocur steeds (Owlbears) clad in their
Battle Barding, some of them had the
OPRC-1 Blaster Cannons attached to hardpoints on their back, ready for suppressing enemy positions.
There were also some
HBD-300 units, serving under the droid's command since his days as an officer in the Protectorate, outfitted to serve as a mobile artillery.
HK took his hand to touch the side of his head, to either nurse his broken eye or smooth over the singed mark from Desmond's bolt as he looked to the spider-droid that greeted him,
"
Charge up your mass driver."
"
Aye-aye."
As he turned to look at the ruins where Desmond made his nest, before looking to Thraxis, Seria, and the other Sith,
"
I would like to take this moment to point out that Abregado has a strict non-execution policy towards enemy combatants who surrender to us directly, unlike some of our allies present on the planet."
((Just for the record, I won't be using NPC forces against PCs en masse, only one NPC unit for each PC at a time if at all. They're here for background fluff and as pressure against other NPC forces, Seria's sharpshooters for example.))
