The Thread Where HK Casually Kidnaps A Child [Kida]

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

It's been a standard day cycle or so since HK stole Kida away from the wilderness of Midvinter, the harsh snow clad planet where he finally tracked the changeling down and came upon her amidst a blizzard. With a wave of his hand the snow around them died and the two were reunited once more, few minutes later the child would find herself aboard a black raven-like stealth transport in the droid's arms, along with her bestial companions HK agreed to bring along. Since then they spend some time aboard the ship, making their way through the hyperlanes towards Abregado, about halfway through the journey they veered off the charted course, straying into deep dark space where they met up with a fleet of ships that bore the symbol of Abregado emblazon upon their hull, among them was the Siege Tower, HK's original personal flagship, an old Protectorate-made frigate.

The stealth transport docked inside the frigate where Kida would be given her own room, a rather small space with enough bedding for her and her animal friends, along with a view out into the stars and the streams of hyperspace whipping past them. The droid would visit her everyday, to make sure she would not freak out by prolonged journey on the ship, to make sure he would not lose her again, unlike her previous caretakers apparently. Other than that the journey would be rather uneventful.

At least until now when the ship shook and with a flash of light entered realspace once more, materializing itself once more at the edge of Abregado system. HK was standing at the bridge currently, wrapped in his usual set of armor and black cloak, looking at the blue and green planet he called his domain at the time with the red sun of the system in the background. There were more ships with the planetary symbol in the trade world's orbit, their defense fleet watching over the various trade and civilian ships sailing through the void, and there was a group of much more stranger ships nearby, decrepit and rugged, most of them older models salvage and reforged once more, some of them looked like they had no right to be still functioning.

The ships of the Metal Lords. During his journey towards the system HK would send a message to [member="Ultimatum"], asking him to come to Abregado and meet with him for there was a matter to discuss and someone for the younger droid to meet. This took place before the Metal Lords emerged in the Denon system and proclaimed their new territory, however it was at the time HK made his intentions known to other droids and they begun to gather ships and resources needed to make their design come to fruition.


For now, however, he was standing at the bridge of the Siege Tower, looking out from the viewport of ther hammer-shaped frigate. If Kida was there with him, he was probably holding her in his arms and he would say something along the lines of,

"Look, Kida, this is Abregado. This is my kingdom, and one of your new homes."

If she was staying in her cabin room instead, well then he better hurry up and go get her.

 

[Ultimatum]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKjNlqg1a3c​

Ultimatum received the message and though there was some work yet to do in setting up ships to move supplies to the new space for the Metal Lords. There would be a lot of work done on the far end, building stations and outposts, not mention setting up LOOM facilities on what worlds he could. But [member="HK-36"] spoke of meeting a new person. Was it perhaps another soon to be colleague, a new Metal Lord? Whatever the reason, the droid planned on heeding the summons.

It took a short while to have the Sovereignty prepared for the trip and before long the artificial was in hyperspace, having sent a message ahead to notify HK of his immanent arrival. "En route, I look forward to meeting with this new person. Is there anything I should know ahead of time?"

[member="Kida"]

 

[Lief]

How long had it been since Kida had last been trapped within the belly of the great silver beasts?

Their initial journey had been harrowing to say the least. Between she, Groom, and Ariel, the region of the ship they had been placed within was a cacophony of whines and screeches. Apparently her friends did not like this either. With time they had settled of course, with help from the Silver Beast, though Groom never kept far from Kida's side, and Ariel was forever watching from afar.

How long they spent suspended within the inky black sky she did not know. Time moved differently for this particular child, she who had not aged in decades, perhaps longer, for who could tell how long she had resided on Endor for before she was taken from the world. But moreso than that, time moved differently within the void, too.

Every so often the funny Silver Beast would appear. Taking her into his arms, with her animal companions following closely, he would show her around the belly of the beast, speaking the funny words of the uprights in only the way he could; it was strange how quickly she had adjusted to life beside him, after so long without any real contact. It was easy to move with the changes of the world when life was as simple as hers, though.

And then, one day, their walk took a different turn. Rather than the inky black before them, a strange sphere appeared beyond the beast. It captivated her attention, she was in awe by the mere sight of it. And the Silver Beast referred to it by a word she actually knew.

Home.

Kida had a home again?

[member="Ultimatum"] [member='HK-36']

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

For a while the droid would not say anything else, just holding Kida in his metal arms and stroking her hair slowly as he watched the planet grew larger and larger within their viewscreen, silently keeping track of the activity going on within their ship's hangar, a transport shuttle being prepared to ferry them down towards the planet's surface. The thicker material of his black chameleon cloak was wrapped around him like a robe, using its surface as a buffer between Kida's squish body and the hard and sharp contours of his frame, making being held by him a much more experience for the shapeshifter than it usually would.

Finally after prolonged silence HK spoke up again, receiving a confirmation from his Greycloaks servants that the shuttle was ready for them,

"You may not understand this right now, Kida, and I may have to explain this to you again later on, but I think that we are more similar to each other than it seems,"

HK begun as he took Kida from his grasp and set her down on the floor, kneeling in front of her to look her in her eyes with his two glowing photoreceptors,

"Other beings have underestimated us most of our lives, they always assumed that I was nothing more than a simple servant or war droid, and I think now they assume that you are not as clever as you really are."

As the machine said that he lifted his hand up and poked the child's nose,

"And they will probably keep misunderstanding us still. You may not truly understand what or who I am not, but one day I will, maybe I will understand the same about you as well. Everyone else we encounter on our journeys, they will not. They may think that I am a danger to you Kida, that this is a sign that I have become too unstable, or that you are a weakness they can exploit to get to me. I will not let them hurt you, and I will not let them take you away from me ever again."

HK explained before standing up once more, straightening out his silver legs as he reached his hand down to Kida to take her hand and start leading her towards the turbolift along with her animal companions,

"Most of my life I have been abandoned, ignored, or pushed away by organics, Kida. I will not let that happen to you as well, I am not leaving you anymore."

Of course if Kida wanted to climb back up in HK's arms again, she was free to do so.


[member="Ultimatum"],

Meanwhile, HK received a transmission from Ultimatum and sent one back to the other droid as well,

"Sounds good, meet me in the Governmental Palace in Abregado Capital City. Her name is Kida, she appears to be a child but she is more like us than it seems."

HK explained to Ultimatum before adding,

"Like a droid she does not age and I have no way to tell how old she is or how much she saw already."

 

[Ultimatum]

An organic that did not age? There were a plethora of species that were immortal, they never died, but of a species that simply did not age? That was something rare indeed. Was it a side effect of overactive cell production? Then again, perhaps that would lead to an never ending growth cycle which would bring the organic to a specific peak age and then never leave it and simply keep growing. If not then what?

The easy answer, and the one that Ultimatum feared it would be, was that it was the Force. That all-encompassing mystical field that seemingly allowed access to unnatural abilities, yet was restricted to those who could manipulate it. Perhaps as a droid he was unappreciative of its full abilities. Maybe because he did not understand its full potential he dismissed it as a powerful tool of organic make which actually caused more harm than good. From a purely historical perspective, more wars had started thanks to devotees of Force using than any other reason. From what Ultimatum understood it was the epitome of organic religion and was perhaps a greater war starter than any other religion had been.

Whatever the organic's story, Ultimatum looked forward to meeting her. Ultimatum also was interested in seeing Abregado, a new world to the artificial. He figured that the Governmental complex would be easy enough to distinguish from surrounding buildings. He was going to find out soon though. The Sovereignty would be arriving in the system in a short while and until then the droid would wait with curiosity as to who he was going to meet.

[member="Kida"] [member="HK-36"]

 

[Lief]

It was true, Kida did not comprehend the words he was speaking... Yet that did not matter. She had learned long ago to interpret the meaning behind words, the way they were spoken, without understanding the tongue used. And her funny Silver friend? Though he chirped with the mechanical tone, she sensed nothing but unity from him, a promise, and understanding.

"F...Friend..." she managed, as she stared into his glowing red eyes; it felt so strange to try and speak the language of the uprights, but she had done so before and she would learn it again in time. Baby steps... Her nose wrinkled slightly as his finger booped her gently, he continued to speak and the understanding she was garnering from his words only grew. He rose up, and she was forced to walk at his side, her eyes fixated up at him... Truly intrigued. It was rare she bothered to listen, truth be told, she comprehended Groom and Ariel much better than any sentient being.

Surprisingly Kida did not try to leap back into his arms. She realized that she needed to try, she had known for a while now that she was reverting back to her truly feral state... And she worried that there would come a time where she was unable to change from beast to child. That she would lose what remained of the humanity she knew was contained within. So she held on to his hand and moved at his side, less shaky than usual.

He was talking now, but she knew the words were not directed at her so she did not really pay attention. She was mentioned, she had heard her name after all, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that she now walked alongside the first real friend she had ever made after so many years apart.

Things were coming full circle, perhaps that meant progress could now be made.

[member='HK-36'] [member="Ultimatum"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="Kida"],


Ultimatum shouldn't have had too much trouble finding the Governmental Palace within the planetary capital, it would be a more grandeur building around, with its luxurious dome extending far above other rooftops spreading through the web-work of alleys and streets that made up the trade port canal-city. Besides even if he didn't determined which building HK was talking about just by architectural context clues, he could always visit the quality tourist information web page for Abregado and the Capital City HK worked on so tirelessly in between hunting down monsters, dueling Sith, and making the robo-ladies swoon. Yep the droid had quite an exciting few millenniums of bachelor life but he was a parent now. Again.

"Very good Kida, I am your friend and you are a little squish cutie."

HK agreed to Kida's words with a nod,

"You will meet many more friends today, the people of Abregado, my subjects, and my personal friend Ultimatum, he is a droid like me."

HK would look down to Kida then, patting his chest before repeating that word,

"Droid. You will hear it often around me."


Soon enough the two would find themselves in the hangar again in front of that sleek black transport, the Knight of the Eclipse, the very same ship HK arrived for Kida and her animal companions in. They were required to climb aboard once more and be trapped inside it, however if Kida and the animals complied they would find themselves soon enough in the void between the stars, looking out towards the blue continental planet of Abregado, which grew even larger and larger as they drew closer in the shuttle.

And then, there would be fire as they would break through the atmosphere, then the cool whiteness of clouds, before finally they would see the oceans of Abregado eating away at the continents and planes of the planet, with long rivers cutting through the green canvas.

 

[Ultimatum]

The Sovereignty entered the Abregado system and began crawling towards the planet. Ultimatum moved to a shuttle for the trip to the surface, the Fate would be swifter in reaching the planet anyways. The artificial looked forward to meeting this organic, hoping that perhaps it would give Ultimatum some insight into organic development. To have a specimen that was eternally trapped at a single point of development, if indeed that was how it worked, would give such incredible knowledge on how aging affected organics.

Ultimatum sent another message ahead to [member="HK-36"], in case he was waiting on the artificial, "I have almost reached Abregado, shall arrive in ten to fifteen minutes." The timetable was an optimistic one of course, it could easily take far longer. The droid wished to give some positive news to the person who had so graciously called upon him to see this wonder.

[member="Kida"]

 

[Lief]

"Squish!" she repeated, enjoying the way the word rolled off her tongue and thus repeating it several more times in an excitable fashion. Her gaze lingered back to the view which had been afforded to them, and a genuine smile plastered itself upon her face. She knew what that meant, she knew that soon they would be leaving the belly of the beast, to be back on land. Green, sweet, grassy land.

He tore her attention back to him however, with a jab at his own chest that clanked somewhat, and she listened to what he was trying to say. Droid?

What a funny word. She didn't think she'd ever heard it at all, from any upright ever! "Drrrr... Drrr..." Okay so maybe that one would take a little extra time to learn, but she had plenty of it.

Together they returned to the smaller beast, with Groom and Ariel close at hand. A small growl escaped her, and Groom's ears set back, but they entered without resistance and she settled down into one of the seats and watched as the world came into focus before them. She longed to stretch her legs, to run freely as a Daux, to jump into rivers, and roll around in the grass. There had been some places where such was not possible, the cold world for instance had very little greenery, and the waters made her chest hurt.

She only hoped that wherever they were going would be suitable for her, both as a child and a Daux.

[member="Ultimatum"] [member='HK-36']

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"], [member="Ultimatum"],


"Sounds good Ultimatum, we are landing right now, looks like we will beat you to the palace, just meet us there."

HK sent out a quick response to Ultimatum upon hearing his transmission coming through on his built-in communication unit.



"You will get a hang of it eventually."

HK reassured Kida as she tried to pronounce "droid" patting her on the head slightly as their shuttle quickly made its way down through the atmosphere of the planet and before they knew it they were coming down for landing. If Kida liked rivers and streams then Abregado would suit her as through the viewports of their shuttle they will see the familiar blue veins of river seen from a bird-eye view far below them, cutting and spreading through the green country side of Abregado in its numerous waterways, all converging towards main point as the khaki and cream colored buildings begun entering the view, the Capital City of Abregado. That was not its description, that was its name, and not even given to them by the unoriginal droid regime that came into power fairly recently, this was the work of the natives.

Either way, the shuttle touched down and the ramp opened, letting in ray of sun slither into the darker interior along with a rush of fresh air instead of the usual recycled oxygen they would have been subjected to for the majority of their stay aboard ships and stations. Although Abregado grew to be an industrious and commercial planet under HK's leadership, they still cared for their environment and ecology, balancing out their prosperity with their planet's well being.


The droid would step outside, taking Kida's hand to guide her along with him, in front of the landing pad where their ship would land there would be a very tall and lanky creature covered in brown fur with two buck-teeth incisors protruding from its lips and two beady black eyes. On either side of the being there would be two droids, all dressed in elaborate robes of steel grey and gold. The create, one of the native Gados spoke out towards HK in a mix of chitters, trills, and static-like noise, the native Gado language, once lost now restored.

"Yes, thank you."

HK nodded back to them, returning the greeting. Behind the welcoming party there would be a small waterway leading into the more extensive canal network, above it hanged a hover-skiff, an elongated gondola with cloth roof to protect them from the sun, and for aesthetic purposes, with its small ramp extended towards a walkway from the landing platform to offer them an easy way aboard.

 

[Ultimatum]

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZrAQAx29gc

The droid continued through space, waiting for the eventual arrival at the world. The beauty of space was beyond simple comprehension. The worlds certain had their own lovely spots, but nothing was even close to equaling the absolute awe that space had. The universe had such breathtaking visions that was only dampened by the fact that few would see them and fewer still would appreciate them. Organics spoke of the prettiness of hyperspace, the hypnotizing pleasantness of the streaks of light. It was entirely overrated. There was no true beauty in seeing flowers as one zoomed by. It was only through stillness and observation that true beauty could be discerned. The same was true of stars, only the immobile and silent could appreciate their uniqueness.

Ultimatum had often spent time simply free floating in space, all the better to enjoy the light. However, now was not the time for such past times. He had to meet this strange creature that [member="HK-36"] had brought with him. There was no time to be wasted, for this was a rare opportunity, not to be wasted.

-----

Time had passed and Ultimatum reached the world and prepared to land. The palace was, as expected, easy enough to locate. The position, degree of difference in construction, and overall appearance made it stick out fairly well. It was nice that most governments constructed so obvious buildings for leadership, even though it often gave a very obvious advantage to potential terrorists. Ultimatum wondered if HK had much difficulty with anti-government organizations. Ultimatum had issues, but he had not heard of any that troubled HK.

The droid began to make his way to the governmental palace. Perhaps he would catch HK on the way, though the artificial doubted it. The time difference was likely too great to allow such a meeting to take place. But then, sometimes things worked out for the better. It would be time that would tell.

[member="Kida"]

 

[Lief]

She saw it almost immediately, the verdant landscape that was plastered beyond the viewing port. Far from the metal beast they traveled within, yet nearing them at an astounding rate. By her side Groom's ears pricked up, followed by a small whine that spoke of the self same longing that clutched at Kida's heart.

For a moment she jumped up and down in place, excitement plastering her expression. All thoughts of remaining in control were thrown out the window, and a restlessness set over her instead. The beast could not land soon enough, no siree!

When the ground rocked as the ship touched down, her companions lifted their heads; the moment the ramp lowered they were outside, Ariel taking to the skies while Groom ran laps around the landing platform, yapping with excitement. By contrast Kida peeked up at her funny silver friend and waited for some sort of confirmation. She ached to run free with her friends, but he had already taken her hand and was leading her from the beast and out into the world beyond.

Sniffing the air, she took in all the various scents she had been missing; dirt, grass, flowers which littered the area, life... Beautiful, glowing life.

The sight of the large creature caught her off guard; she released his hand and stumbled closer, sniffing the air once again to get a better understanding of the beast. Then, without warning, she bolted. On all fours, her limbs carried her through the grass, and down toward the stream she could hear in the distance. At her heel was Groom, while Ariel swooped overhead.

It felt good to be outside of the great metal beast.

She wouldn't have long, she knew, her silver friend no doubt wanted her by his side, but he couldn't blame her for wanting to stretch her legs, could he?

[member='HK-36'] [member="Ultimatum"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="Kida"],


At this point would be indeed impossible for Ultimatum to catch up to HK and Kira before they landed, but he wouldn't have been that far behind them.

Coming up to the Gados HK was speaking with, Kida's strange behavior, strange to the Gados and the other two representatives at least although HK himself was fairly used to it by now, it caused the Gados to pull his hand back slightly as Kida sniffed it, warbling out something in a question at what he observed,

"We found her abandoned on the Midvinter among its wilderness, it is one of the frozen planets you see, she is still dealing with trauma of surviving away from civilization."

The Gado made an "Ahhh" sound at that before continuing. At his next words HK nodded a couple of times while Kida bolted away towards the nearby bits of lawn and a canal over which their hover-gondola rested. Her abrupt movements caused the two droid representatives and nearby guards to turn towards her, about to move to catch the wildling before she would be able to fall into water but HK stopped them,

"Let her."

He commanded with a wave of his hand,

"She has been trapped aboard our ships in transit long enough."

The machines nodded although the guards kept watching Kida carefully. The grass and stream she heard were only a taste of things to come outside of the city, right now they were still in a fairly metropolitan area, in one of the spaceport's many semi-enclosed landing bays, with the water canal cutting into the almost complete circle of tall protective walls surrounding them. The grass Kida found was real, but it was mostly used for decoration, it wasn't exactly a park. Luckily enough just outside of the city there were rolling plains and many river deltas for her to explore later on.

"So you said you found strange markings aboard our ships?"

HK asked the Gados who nodded and warbled back unknown words,

"The red photoreceptor in colorful flames, like you described, mostly on passing city ships, we documented which vessels and crew like you instructed."

One of the droids instructed, causing HK to nod back.

"Good, good."


They would be talking for few minutes, giving Kida some alone time in the small oasis she found before she would hear HK approaching her with the other representatives in tow,

"Kida, it is time for you to meet one of my friends."

He alerted the shapeshifter, reaching down to offer his hand and lead her once more. Once she was ready, they would step aboard the floating gondola and the vehicle would take them off, hovering low above the water as it would take them through the web of canals that cut through the city. Leaving the spaceport area they would have to go through the market district, from their hover boat Kida would be able to see stands and shops set up by the edge of the water, bustling crowds of people moving about on their business, organics and droids alike would be spotted as either customers or shopkeeps, with people apparently being used to seeing war droids taking the role of fruit sales in large straw hats, bakers, or pretty much whatever they wanted to do. There would also be a common sight of armed and armored patrol of troops followed by a larger spider war droid. Abregado at those times were equal parts trade hub planet, mercenary war profiteers, and a socialist benevolent dictatorship.

It would not be long before their canal grew wider, accommodating multiple float-boats heading in different directions, from time to time someone at the banks, or a crowd, would be seen waving towards HK, a gesture the machine leader responded to by waving back, and a large dome-shaped intricate building would be seen at the end of the large waterway.

Abregado's governmental palace where their meeting with Ultimatum was to take place.

 

[Ultimatum]

The droid was impressed with the locale, but it was not the easiest to navigate. While the artificial lord had a basic idea of where he was going, the fact that he had missed the transportation and was constantly taking back roads forced him to walker longer than he had anticipated. However, at long last, Ultimatum arrived at the palace, there had been many a strange look along the way. Perhaps it was simply the uniqueness of the design compared to that of the droids [member="HK-36"] usually had roaming in defense here. Whatever the reasons, Ultimatum took the greetings and looks in kind.

Ultimatum walked along the ever growing canal up to the aesthetically pleasing building. Ultimatum wondered if it was constructed with the main purpose being appearance, or if it have some form of mechanical significance. Had it been an organic construction then the artificial would not have expected much beyond the visible, but with the mind of a droid it was possible to create something far more durable with something that appeared fragile.

As the artificial lord walked up he believed he noticed [member="HK-36"] with a smaller organic, the droid wondered if this apparently young person was the organic that HK had spoken of. Ultimatum thought a bit about that, if indeed it did not age, as far as appearances went, then certainly it must have been an incredibly unique, if not unique, case. Was it the Force? If so, then it must have been subconscious, since he doubted that someone of that age, based on appearances anyways, would be able to have a steady control of the Force. He looked forward to finding out.

[member="Kida"]

 

[Lief]

So. Much. Freedom.

The little wild child set about rolling through the green. She felt an urge within her chest to transform, though she knew that her funny silver friend would be unimpressed if he had to cart a Daux around with him all day; she may have been, for all intents and purposes, feral, but some things had begun to return to her, from her life before. The life with Animus. She felt her heart tear at the reminder of that loss, she had felt him torn from the Universe. That gave pause to her movements, and she whimpered just long enough for Groom to nuzzle into her side.

Then, and only then, did she continue. Her light footsteps brought her to the edge of the canal, and she peered down into it curiously. Her nose twitched, as did her ears, as she smelled the air and listened for all that was around them. Another small step forward, and one hand lowered into the water itself. It was cold, but not unpleasant.

Before she could leap inside, as she severely wished to do, the funny voice of her silver friend chirped and she turned her head toward him with a slight pout. One of the few child-like expressions she had. She wanted so very much to swim... But when the creature held out its silver hand she tottered toward him on all fours and reached out, pulling herself to her feet using his arm as support. With his aid she ended up atop the gondola, though she could not sit still nor could she quieten her mind. So curious was she, that she leaped from side to side, eyes fixing on the water below as they began to glide along it. If she had a tail, as she did in cat-form, it would no doubt have been wagging.

[member="HK-36"]