Where Am I?

[Lorcan Roberts]

Abregado-Rae
Capital City
[member="HK-36"]

What? Where am I? What's that place?

All around Lorcan, there were buildings, canals, everything. Where was he? It was a place he had never seen in his life before, so he didn't know what to do or where to go. He wore but his typical set of clothes: gray T-shirt, dark jeans, boots... Nothing too special. And he was lying on the ground.

Rising to his feet, he looked around. People were walking around the place and they all seemed to have a great life. It may have been a typical day in the city. Well, yes, to be honest, it was a boring normal day. There was nothing special about it.

Why am I here? What happened?

The man was confused. Walking to a native or something similar, he asked, "Where am I? What planet is it? What time is it?"

The man looked just as confused as Lorcan now, yet he knew the answers to these questions. He was more surprised because of the 'dumbness' of that strange person who had come to talk to him.

Strange...

 

[HK-36]

[member="Lorcan Roberts"]

There was a group of armored soldiers who saw the man get up off the ground and come up to one of the natives, another human, it seemed like he was asking questions, and the baffled expression of the native meant they weren't usual ones.
Well, they were going to come over and see if they can help him anyway.

Either way,
The squad of armored soldiers would clank up to them, a group of humans and Gados, a large Herglic seen among them as well, heavy bolters hanging off of their belts, holstered, swords and light blaster repeaters on their backs. They were one of the many Iron Knight patrols sent out onto the streets of Abregado once HK took over. Their presence was unsettling to the locals, at first at least, but with the increased military presence came drastic decrease in crime activity, nobody wanted to break the law if they could face a muzzle of a bolter. And, over time, the locals begun to get used to it, it's not like HK had them raiding people's homes or conduct public executions to keep locals on their toes. It was a dictatorship, but a benevolent one.

"Everything alright?"
The officer in the group of soldiers asked towards Lorcan, hearing one of the questions Lorcan asked the native,
"Welcome to Abregado-Rae."
The armored being nodded slightly,
"I'm Officer Gavroche, I can direct you towards a nearby Shelter, if you would like, you can get something free to eat or drink there, or medical aid, while you get your bearings about."
He would motion towards a building somewhere over a canal, made from steel and concrete, simple sign "Shelter" reading over the entrance. It looked like a cross between hospital, police station, and a bunker. And that was exactly what it was.

 

[Lorcan Roberts]

"Umm... OK, I guess... Thank you!" Lorcan spoke, full of surprise when looking towards the strange building. Why would he need that? There was nothing wrong with him, right? He wouldn't need any help. Maybe. But it seemed to be better to be sure about his condition. "So I am on Abregado-Rae... What kind of planet is that?" he continued.

Yeah, he had never heard of such a planet before. Maybe, but most likely not. She would have known if she would have heard anything serious about it. It was most likely an independent planet... or just not under the control of a faction Lorcan was familiar with, that were the Republic and the Confederacy. He had spent some of his time in these two factions, even though not too much. Now he was a free soul, doing what he wanted to do.

Yet sometimes it was a bit difficult to manage.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Lorcan Roberts"]

The officer paused as Lorcan kept asking more questions an amnesiac or a complete, clueless, tourist would ask,
"One of the major planets of Omega Protectorate, a large trading hub, under current leadership of the First Baron Observer Iron Knight."
Gavroche would point something out with his gauntlet-covered hand once more, this time it was a broadcasting terminal.

The terminal showed a message from HK to people of Abregado-Rae, some sort of announcement, State of the Union or whatever will be as the dish of the day at Dekkan's Diner, stuff like that.
Message itself was droned out with the bustle and busyness of the Capital City, people chattering, walking here and there, the repulsorlift Gondolas sloshing about in the city's numerous canals. The droid's words may have been unclear, but his image was not, the grey metal face plate with sharp features, red grill with vocal cords, and the dull red glow of his photoreceptor eyes.

 

[Lorcan Roberts]

"Alright, I guess," Lorcan nodded. Omega Protectorate... Was it the militaristic kind of faction near Republic? He had heard some of it, but only a bit. Now that he was on its imporant member planet, he had the perfect chance to take a look at the major power's influence and see what's different from the two previous factions he had been a member of.

"So your leader is a droid? Huh, the first time I have seen something like that..." he spoke, his tone speaking more of disgust than surprise. Yes, he was a bit speciesist, a bit droidist maybe, too. He preferred humans running governments and everything. To him, really, the population of other species and near-independent droids was a disgust and he would have never wanted to give them any rights. Thank Force he was not the one to decide such things.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Lorcan Roberts"]

"It's not as bad as it sounds."
Gavroche interjected, picking up on Lorcan's disgust,
"We were a bit.. wary at first, sure, I mean there was a question of lack of ethics, or life being considered worthless and expandable by him, and having a droid army around, plus he kinda set up strong army presence to support his regime.."
Gavroche recalled those early events of HK's reign,
"But those were the tensest times of his reign, and it fitted in how he got it, as a reward for capturing a Dreadpirate Lord and taking care of the pirate raiders, I saw him drag the unconscious Pirate Lord through the streets to a dropship himself. After that came a crack-down on crime, all the gangs we had around, taken prisoner pretty much over night, weapon dealers that supplied pirates, streets were safe to walk at night again. When he was made a Baron instead of taking he mansion Protectorate gave him for himself he made an Academy, with that we received funding from the Protectorate to improve our schools."
The officer looked up to the terminal showing Broadcast,
"He designed and ordered a series of Shelters, homeless had places to stay, he brought jobs to us, medical, agrarian, and then industrial, we started to make profits as a planet and things just kept getting better."

Gavroche looked back to Lorcan,
"And now from what I heard he's giving up the office, once the formation of our own Legislative Body will finish, we'll be as strong as Fondor, even, and able to rule ourselves. We really benefited from his multi-tasking, bureaucracy got so much quicker."
The trooper added