Location: Aldera Ruins, Allied Frontlines
Objective: Provide Support for Siobhan, Phylis, Confront Kraal
Allies: The Last Alliance, [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Phylis Alince"], [member="Coryth Elaris"],
Enemies: The One Sith, [member="Tsavong Kraal"], [member="Darth Mierin"],
Musical Selection: Hotel California by Eagles
"Blade Knight" The Third Greycloak of Abregado-Rae
This was to be, and so far was, a battle like any others the Iron Company has taken part in under the command of HK-36. It begun with ships, masses of ships in the orbit, of Republic, Protectorate, and many other more minor origins as the proto-Allied forces begun to work together to hit upon the Sith territory. Then the dropships would land, soldiers set up landing zones and other fortified positions before streams of soldiers and war machines moved to engage their enemy.
Among them were the Greycloak Droids, the four copies of HK sharing his skills and abilities, yet not his memories or higher quality droid body, as they were made to support him during combat, guard him, and sometimes, be used as decoys. After all, every droid body could be replicated, memories copied, erased, transferred and manipulated, as much as HK always took measures to prevent that, and so far he has succeeded for millenniums. There were few instances of that happening during Old Republic, but since then he was on a good streak! Anyway, sometimes it was bloody hard to distinguish which droid was which, whether it was the real one you were fighting or speaking with, whether it was real or along or perhaps the original HK-36 was lost sometime long ago in the ages and replaced with one of his copies, a copy with its own agenda.
However, the writer will get into that much later, for now let us get back to the adventures of the Blade Knight. While the titans of the Force and otherwise battled each other, the Droid Guard coordinate troops under his command, fought a Sith or Vong here and there, seemingly either slaying his foes or escaping them as he was still functioning and more or less in fine condition at the current time of battle. And it would very much seem to him that he would be able to pass through the battle unseen, just part of the background noise to the Jedi, Sith, and other Monstrums, but all of that was shattered by a huge, enraged mass of Vong-Flesh coming towards him.
“WHAT ARE YOU,”
The droid pivoted to face Kraal, his metal heels digging into the ruined ground of the battlefield, large metal claws of his feet scratching against the surface in preparation of either launching the droid away in a dodge or digging him in further to entrench him against any kinetic attacks or grapples. The Durasteel and Bronzium body of the droid was covered in Durasteel Heavy Power Armor of the Protectorate, a standard issue suit among the Iron Company nowadays, the signature Grey Chameleon cloak hanging off of his shoulders, staple to the five HK's of Abregado since the Sarge has granted the droid piece of equipment during their mission to Endor, and the machine took liking to it, replicating protocols dealing with the use of the cloak. In one of his hands was the hilt of a lightsaber, its energy blade deactivated yet, although the machine did took a Djem-So stance in case he was to face off the mass of maddened flesh before him, in his other the SP-1 Shatterpistol produced by Abregado, another piece of basic equipment with high potential of lethality in right hands.
[Yuuzhan Vong] "
I am an old being attempting to make sense of this universe."
The droid answered in the guttural Yuuzhan speak, it is in writer's assumption that the language would become available through the ages to non-Yuuzhan, even droids, as before similarities between it and other languages, such as Janguine were noted, droids like the YVH-1 were able to summon at least some phrases in it, and since then there was even a period of cooperation with the Yuuzhan when the planets were rebuilt.
[Yuuzhan Vong] "
And you are not well."
The machine continued as it noted the Vong clawing at its own head, dark blood starting to stream from it and trickle onto the hard, scorched ground. He carefully shifted his footing to get into a better position in case an attack happens.
[Yuuzhan Vong] "
Have a seat and say what ails you."
Blade Knight would motion to a nearby large boulder which sure seemed like it would support the being's weight. A conversation between a droid and a Vong in the middle of the battle would sure seem.. surreal, but whether it was something that could happen instead of just constant repetitive fighting, well that was something we would have to find out as events developed.
Meanwhile, to show his own good will the droid moved over to another nearby boulder, something he could sit on in turn if they would be able to speak. As to speaking Vong, there was a strong chance that it could just enrage Kraal further, and the droid was prepared for it, his weapons still tight in his grasp, his legs and built-in repulsorlifts ready to launch him away, plus if it would be a chance to piss off another Vong, well it would be a win-win then.
"Iron Knight" The First Baron of Abregado-Rae
The darkness and shadows were closing as the whole structure was shaking and the cloud of dust and rubble enveloped the metal being. He sprinted still, running through the structure collapsing on him, its doom he brought himself through explosion of the Mass Driver he used against Darth Mierin. His footsteps were swift, careful, yet his armor clanked as he moved through the abandoned rooms and apartments. In one of the said rooms he spotted with his sensors a shield propped up against a wall, perhaps a piece of equipment left behind by one of the Last Alliance soldiers, the Eldorai shields were after all given to the Iron Company as well, in return the Company would provide cortosis-woven swords. Anyhoo, grabbing the shield he kept on running towards his objective, a ground-level balcony door at the end of the collapsing corridor, knocked off, or ripped more likely, by some unknown Force before the droid even go there, part of the damage the building received when the structure was compromised.
He noticed the light of the opening quickly dimming as the ceiling along with masses of rubble and dirt were being brought down like a curtain. In his sprint the droid threw the shield in front of himself, jumping on top of it with the full length of his body as the propulsion systems of his jetpack and rocket boots sputtered, fired up, and shot him ahead, the shield sliding on the ground with a scrape, friction decreased as the droid sped through the corridor like on a skateboard, the systems of his jetpack and other rocket systems by their durable structure of higher-grade
Echani Graphite.
As HK sped towards the opening the chances he calculated for himself to escape before the cave in grew smaller with each second as even with his rocket systems he was not making the speed he should have made to get out of the building safely. Finally it was all left to clinging to the last of hope when odds seem impossibly stacked, and just as he almost reached the illuminated opening leading to freedom.
His world has went dark, buried under stone, rubble, dust and dirt, trapped in the ruins by the structure he has collapsed in his desperate attempt at bringing down Darth Mierin. But even in the darkness, life and hope could last.
HK was trapped between the hard ground and the shield, in last moment he turned over with it, jamming the tough metal place between concrete boulders and the falling rubble to create a shelter of sorts for himself, how long this would last he did not knew, but until then HK was laying in its safety, curled up in a little ball.
"
I am a droid."
He muttered to himself as he shifted slightly, looking at the packed soil underneath him.
"
I am a droid."
He would repeat, raising his hand in a fist in the small opening he had to work through under all the rubble and stone and impacting it into the ground.
"
I am a droid."
HK said once more, more impacts of his fist has stricken the ground, over and over, until cracks has shown in the earth from his metal fist.
"
I am a droid, and I am digging a hole!"
He would sound out, muffled to everyone else under all this debris as his hands cut into the now open soil,
"
Diggy-Diggy Hole, Diggy-Diggy Hole!"
Soil would be pushed around by his hands as a tunnel would start to be made, his form starting to disappear under the shield, leaving his stone prison.
"
Forged and unbound, yet another metal clone,"
He shifted his position like an earthworm, slithering in the soil as he pushed the soil around himself to move it behind his form,
"
Raised in the fire, the wealth of our bronzium home,"
HK dug deeper, using his built-in gyros to keep track of his relative direction, adjusting as he got to proper depth to move more horizontally,
"
Skin made of iron, steel is our bones!"
Finally he would shift once more, this time he would start to dig upwards, towards the surface,
"
To hunt a Sith will make us free,"
He would climb higher still, tunneling towards freedom, towards rejoining the battlefield going on overhead,
"
Come on units, sing with me!"
Finally he would feel the soil fall apart above him and a light would start to shine through.
With a good push and a slingshot of his repulsorlifts he would erupt from the soil, outside from the collapsed rubble zone that was the building he attempted to escape,
"
I am a droid and I just dug a hole."
He muttered to himself as he begun to run towards the direction where he detected Mierin when aiming at her with the MD-1, according to his tracking DUST in the area she was still there, and so was the Vong Beast!
His jetpack and rocket boots powered up as he ran, with another good jump he was shot into the air, flying rather low above the ground to keep himself from being too much of a target while picking up on speed to rejoin the battlefield that much sooner, the integrity of the propulsion systems he had the Gados designers to thank for, and their use of lightsaber-resistant Echani Graphite they were able to re-create on Abregado from Graphene, to make a much more withstanding jet propulsion system.
"
Requesting air support and reinforcements."
The droid sent out a transmission to his forces now that he was above the ground and out of the rubble, he was sure some of their allies could use an evac, besides, now that he had the area tagged with DUST, he could order a more accurate bombing run.
"
Sending the coordinates as follow."
And for the said coordinates he simply copied and pasted the sets of coordinates he was receiving from the DUST, of course he didn't really knew which ones were exactly pointing to Kraal, he needed to have visual contact to isolate those coordinates, which at the moment he did not had, but the support and reinforcements would still know where to head to aid their Exarch.
