Even Rats Abandon Sinking Ships

Chairdor

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Even in the distant atmosphere Hiro could see the orange and smoke billowing from the charred city-world of Coruscant. Slowly he turned away having enough data on that monstrous sight then he could properly digest. As he turned he spotted the other men and women he came to work with on this day. Each and every one of them armed differently from their sidearms to their expression, all for the same job. For all these people and the ship they rode on were the last and only hope for some of higher ups who would rather go down with the sinking ship that was the Alliance, but changed their mind when they felt the icy water. Each and every member of the mission expected an exorbitant reward, thus the usual types who exchanged their lives for rewards were present and abundant on board.

All at once the droid felt one with them yet apart and distinct. Even though some hid it under Mandolorian visors or feigned smiles, Hiro could determine from the angles of their bodies, the twitch of their hands, their sweat in the coldness of space. These people were terrified. All the while Hiro didn't fear death, he couldn't be touched by it. Deactivation yes, but what he feared most was losing his memory again. He didn't even know how much time had been lost or what kind of bot he had been before he awoke in the sandstorm on that abandoned rock, to lose himself again might be too much for the droid. Then again if he had truly lost his memories, perhaps that was not the first time it had occurred. That possibility, allowed Hiro to feel fear alongside the others.

Entering the atmosphere on a presumably abandoned edge of town wasn't enough to fool the invading Imperium, large buckshots of anti air flak filled the sky forcing the ship to duck and dive in all manner. Hiro's robotic grip practically bent the beam of the ship he clung to as others bucked about or managed to strap themselves in. Eventually the ship got below firing range and managed to slip into the relative safety of the urban sprawl. Intensive breathing filled the cabin, Hiro often wondered about that, did they really need more oxygen, or were they just trying to prove to themselves that they could still breathe.

As the ship landed on one of the few buildings still standing, the door opened revealing the muffled sound of war. Explosions and gun fire colored the smoky sky their thunderous noise coming a second after the flash. A man-made thunder storm, but no rain to payback the carnage, to wash away the blood. Without wasting another logic cycle Hiro produced his speeder from the freighter's hold as did many of the other hunters, one in particular producing a small swoop bike. As they came to the lip of the hold they were given a holodisc with their mark to rescue and went off into the black of the night. Hiro received his and internally revealed it to be a Besalisk business man named Dexsalisk Jex, a man who had deep economic ties with the jedi and certain criminal elements, a double whammy in the eyes of the Imperium. Noting his last known location Hiro turned on his GPS functionality and noting its faulty nature due to the interference caused by the space battle above deactivated it, producing a city map instead. As the beacon of his last known location came into view, Hiro wasted now time. Vaulting off the building and heading into the deep abyss of the streets, he looked nowhere but forward, looking forward to the moment he could get off this sinking ship.
 

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Somewhere in Coruscant's depths, a young man stood on top of a small house. He gazed up at the giant hole in the metal sky. Over the last five years he had worked on climbing out of the hell that was the Coruscant Underworld. He had woken up five years ago, with no memory of anything. He had awoken, a young teen in the depths of the galaxy's capitol, he had no idea why he was there. He couldn't even remember his own name. But he had been given a name by those he protected. That name was Death. He had taken that name, made it his own.

War waged on around him, the Imperium had finally made it to the Core and they were intent on the destruction of the Galactic Alliance. He didn't care about the Alliance, but the Imperium he despised. They were led by the Sith, and from what he knew they weren't exactly for the people. They were for themselves. An Imperium soldier came running down the street. Death pulled his knife out of his pocket and jumped down from the house. Plunging the knife into the soldier's throat, not bothering to be very discreet about hiding the body. He pulled the knife out and ran towards the hole in the metal sky.
 

Chairdor

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Hiro's speeder was maxed out almost instantaneously as he soared through the streets, making sure to dodge duck dip dive and dodge any debris or person who got in his way. As the droid scanned forward, the echoing beacon of his targets location his sun, Hiro began to notice the horrors of war inflected on this place. Every smoke filled building was a story, every charred corpse a tale, every ruined home a ballad all sharing a single ending here on this dying planet. Hiro calculated the possible life on this day, but stopped shortly after the first trillion. It's funny how the higher the number of dead, the less life forms seem to attach their morals. Murder murder is abhorrent and that is only one person killing another. Hiro was reminded of the ruling in which robots cannot murder if programmed by their owners to kill. Hiro was glad he did not have an owner, and he wondered if he was beyond the power of that programming, while he had done good, was it merely part of his function. Was he nothing but an extension of a benevolent master long dead.

Shaking those computations from his head, the droid focused on a particularly tough set of obstacles in a heavily shelled street. he was nearly through when he heard a whimper. Turning his eye caught the small sight of a baby carriage left abandoned under an overhanging bit of destroyed street. His speeder stopping immediately, the droid disembarked and immediately began to walk towards the left behind infant. Above him he heard the rumble of his fellow hunters as they sped on, not giving the destruction around them a single thought. What if it were them, he thought, but his anger ceased when he approached the carriage. Leaning forward he lifted the tiny tyke and instantly knew something was wrong, the instant before the trigger the baby was attached to clicked.

Falling to the floor then kicked by the force of the blast, Hiro was thrown into the far wall, his internal workings batter but not destroyed due to his steel plating, still the droid was taken far below one hundred percent by the despicable tactic. His only solace was they at least did not use a real infant, instead utilizing a robotic replica, Hiro hated himself for not scanning the situation, not questioning it. Perhaps he was programmed to merely be good. No matter the cost. Now that cost became apparent as the droid limped to his bike, wondering how he could finish his mission now.
 

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Death hoped into the back of a speeder just at the owner of it began to leave. The man didn't notice Death hop in as he piloted the speeder for the surface of Coruscant. The speeder almost reached the surface until a stray grenade thrown from the grasp of a dying Alliance soldier exploded near the speeder. The owner lost control and the speeder plummeted to the street below. The shock of impact jarred Death and the owner. Death's was thrown from the speeder and landed hard on his side on the durasteel walkway. He groaned in pain as he rolled over onto his back, his left arm throbbed in pain, it had been dislocated. Using his right arm, he propped himself up and looked back at the speeder. The owner lay in the pilot's seat, not moving.

Death stood up, left arm hanging limp at his side. He was so close to escaping this planet, he wouldn't let anything stop him.
 

Chairdor

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Back on his speeder Hiro roared through the aching city, the bleeding planet. Faster and faster he rode across the broken bones of a world once the capital of the galaxy. The droid wondered if it would ever be rebuilt, or if it could even be rebuilt. Is a city merely its buildings? No it is the people who shaped them both literally and thorough their actions and meaning. While Coruscant was not always the best of worlds, it's streets filled with the depraved, it's government occasionally corrupt. This world was a symbol for a hope of galactic unity, an alliance, a friendship that all organic and inorganic beings could share in. Now that symbol was gone, ripped apart by blaster, bomb, mortar, and men.

As he rode he noted the brisk pace of another speeder in the distance, catching fleeting glances through the alleyways, Hiro figured it to be one of the other hunters searching for his own mark in this dismal locale. As it soared into the sky, Hiro watched as an explosion wracked it's riders sending them tumbling to the earth. The droid knew he would get nothing for saving these people, there was no advantage in this act, nor was it even wise given the small window of opportunity he had to get off world, but something drove Hiro to shift his course, his slightly busted joints painstakingly shifting as he turned away from the beeping dot of his marks last location.

Through alleys and gutters Hiro moved swiftly, his optical sensors on a swivel for any kind of trickery like the bit he had suffered earlier. Coming out of a dinal alley he looked down the cracks of what was once a thoroughfare, now thoroughly destroyed. Seeing the speeder on the walkway he rode up, but stopped just short as he saw the figure walking by it. Kicking off his speeder the droid zoomed his vision in to note that the fellow was young and from his look had no weapons upon him, from his gait Hiro could determine he might be injured. Slowly he eased his speeder forward until he was a few feet behind the boy,

"You're looking pretty worse for wear, but I suppose your lucky all things considered," Hiro said noting the unmoving rider at his back. Getting off his bike he approached the young man, "You look like you got yourself hurt in that tumble, I'm no doctor bot, but I could give it a look see all the same,"
 

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Death heard the hum of a speeder pulling up behind him. He turned to look at the sound of a mechanical voice. In the years he had spent living on Coruscant, he had seen many types of people, and wasn't surprised to see that it was a droid. "Yeah, I'm in quite a bit of pain. It's my left arm, I think its dislocated. My name's Death by the way."
 

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If Hiro had been equipped with eyebrows they might have risen when the young man gave his name, Death, now he had known Laylahs, Leonards, and Asmodeans but no Deaths so far. So as he approached the oddly and hopefully not aptly named human he extended his arms and lightly touched both sides of the dislocated limb. Slowly Hiro made several hundred micro-movements, tiny and precise pushes and pulls to determined the extent of the damage, when it was done he put his head down slightly thankful that no damage to the nerve endings seemed to be apparent, but still not enthused for what came next,

"This is going to hurt," Hiro managed before wrenching the arm back into place, an ancient method long ago made obsolete by doctors and medical droids, had they not been deep in the hell of war other options might have presented themselves. As he put the arm back into place Hiro thought on that, the way war forces the entirety of society to regress, to collectively utilize their basest natures. To use gas, fire, laser, the types of energy that raised them from their primitive caves, in the debased practice of wholesale slaughter. Perhaps it was an irony that on this rock, amongst these killers. Hiro was helping a boy named Death. Frankly, it seemed death didn't need any help at all
 

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"KRIFFFFF!" Death screamed as his arm was popped back into place. He held on to his arm and groaned as the pain eases as quickly as it had come. "Thanks." He said as he rubbed his arm. "I don't suppose you happen to be escaping this planet now are you?"
 

Chairdor

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The droid noted the young mans pain, while inorganic beings such as himself could only feel the mimicry of pain, the shadow of a thought of the true thing, Hiro's sympathy cores went into full swing. Noting the sudden turnaround however, the droid was impressed looking over the young man then back at the unfortunate fellow on the speeder. His query going through his auditory sensors, Hiro noted a sudden glitch of feedback as the earlier blast took its toll once more, he was back on the ship for a moment a flash of an earlier automatic memory. It felt so real that the return to the present felt jarring, as if it were some unexpected journey.

Back where he was and remembering the moments that led to it, Hiro responded,

"Well pardner that's part of the plan, but unfortunately I got to go a bit deeper down the rabbit's hole afore I get to off this burnin rock. I'm with some mercs ya see where all after...eh waste of time explainin unimportant mumbo, listen you seem like a good kid and good kids are in short supply in this galaxy, I got room for one more on my speeder whaddya say?"

With that the droid leaped onto his speeder, hit the gas and reactivated the beacon, close but still far as the sky continued to ignite with burning ships and mortar fire. Looking ahead with his now plus one, he noted they both had their bit of damage, but as the saying goes a broken clock is right twice a day, so two broken clocks gotta be right even more than that. After that thought Hiro noted his logic capacitor had clearly been damaged in the earlier explosion and readied himself to speed off and leave this hell of a planet.
 

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Death stared at the droid as he spoke. He slowly nodded his head as he offered to give him a ride. He hopped into the speeder in the seat right beside the droid. They shot off into the skylanes of Coruscant. Death turned to look at the droid. Questions filled his head, and he felt the need to ask a few. "So what's your name anyways, and what are you doing here?"
 

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Above the lines of charred buildings that now littered the world once home to billions, Hiro looked and saw the chaos and meaninglessness that was war. All around him the works of millions of lives was being thrown aside for the ambitious of a mere hundred. Ships that could transport people to the stars, to any destiny they chose, were instead armed with death and explosives, raining fire down upon the innocent for no reason other than fear.

Even a droid knew war was propelled by fear, ignited by fear. It was a fear of death, a fear that their world's would collapse. So that fear ironically culminates and becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Now those stars fade as the galaxy is made small once more, controllable once more. The droid had little time to worry about the fate of the universe however as he had his own metal hide to look after and after his unscheduled pick up, this young boy's hide as well.

Hearing the boy's question as he gunned his speeder past a particularly rough patch of what used to be road, Hir responded loudly to ensure the boy heard it over the roar of the engine and the battle above,

"Name's Hiro parner, and I'm in this heap a trouble cause I figured a hundred thousand creds was plenty to risk bein turned into scrap metal. Specific wise I need to get this feller,"

With that Hiro clicked a button on his bike leading to the large Besalisk being shown. The Droid had already studied the face and body plenty over the long journey to Coruscant. The ride had taken weeks due to the fact that a light speed jump into the sector would earn you a swarm of tie fighters, so the smugglers who got Hiro on world were forced to fly traditionally. Over those weeks he had also learned the look of the various mercs he was on this job with, every last one of them had their own individual mark so without competition relationships built over the ensuing weeks. Hiro remembered he was especially fond of playing holo checkers with a Rodian named Harra.

At that momen the distinctive sounds of a swoop bike roared under the pair and Hiro looked down as the holo projection on the bike faded,

"Forgot to mention I'm not alone on this doozey of a mission, that feller down there is a a Mando named Karak Thar, we're all after rich folks who want off this rock,"

Perhaps the droid shouldn't have mentioned he knew the enterprising Mando because at that moment the proud warrior launched his bike off a bit of rubble, for a moment he looked positively brilliant ascending over the harsh smoke and fires below, but like Icarus he flew too close to the sun and a patrol of Imperials noted his leap and promptly fired a volley of shots that lead to the Mando's bike exploding, the falling warrior vanished into the acrid smoke and rubble of the dying planet.

"Well..."

The droid's internal workings was stunned to find he didn't have much to say on that unfortunate occurrence as he sped on deeper into the city. Eventually arriving at the beacons promising blink. This was where his mark last was. Now to find him and get the hell off this rock. As Hiro came to a stop with the boy and got off, he immediately encountered one problem. Well actually several hundred problems in the form of rioters and Imperial troops.

Hiro noted his mark's place of residence was one of he few buildings left standing and this made it obviously a place desirable for the many refugees the Corsuscant campaign had created. It seemed one band decided to try to take the building by force leading to the massive street fight now occurring,

"Well partner, you knew these streets better than I do, please tell me theres a better way to get in then through all that,"
 

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Landed in courscant a few hours ago in point rain. Draven's drop ship managed to doge the mortar shells that flew passed it before was destroyed the second it dropped him on the planet surface. The explosion of the ship was something of a bright star slowly dispersing in smoke. I knew that pilot, Draven thought deeply to himself. A good pilot, one of the best star fighter pilots in the Empire. He dropped and extracted us from every single mission we've went on. Draven felt a slight pain, yet bitterness in his stomach. The rest of troopers looked at the sky in a blank state in silence as the sounds of explosions echoed.

"Listen up. I know what you just saw, but we've seen our comrades die in battle. We have a job to do. Let's move."


The armored enforcers removed the blasters from their holsters and headed down the streets, only to be met with an angry mob of natives that wanted to tear them apart. Apparently the entire planet wanted us dead, Draven thought to himself. This was war, an intense one that would go one for hours or perhaps days. The disgruntled crowed rushed in with blunted objects in one hand with blasters in another. In response, a series of blaster bolts were sent into the angry mob. One by one, each sentient being fell backwards with blaster holes in their attires or their skulls.
 

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As the speeder came to a stop, a droid and a young boy jumped out of it and proceeded towards a sole standing building. Death turned to look at the droid that called himself Hiro. "I'm just as new here as you are. I've never been this high up on Coruscant's levels. However, there should be a vent we can enter through." He looked back towards the crowd and his gut clenched. Imperials troops were firing bolts into the crowd, slaughtering the rioters. "Or we take on those troops, the rioters might let us go on our way. I'd rather go through the vent though."
 

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As the droid viewed the continual slaughter, he couldn't compel his matrix to call them innocents. They were rioters, uncaring of who they crushed in their mad rush to safety, Hiro did not blame them for their animal behavior, but he also couldn't forgive them for it. What played out before him as hundreds of lives ended with a searing bolt through the skull was a continuation of the blameless chaos of war, the smoke of morals so thick no one could truly see one end from the other, yet when the droid spoke to people about the conflict on the ship here, some of them felt it was so clear, so cut and dry. For example the Twi'lek bounty hunter on board had been a slave to Hutts her entire life until an Imperium inspection squad liberated her. Meanwhile the Mandolorian that had just been shot down by Imperial troops never ceased to talk on the battles he had fought against Alliance troops, always honorable, always honorable he said.

Truly there is good and evil in all beings and thus no organization, political entity, or any collective can be expected to be wholly good, so how can there ever be a just war? Hiro had little time to ponder as the opportunity this killing provided began to diminish, the rioters were dying, Hiro and Death could die with them, or they could use their ended lives as a sacrifice to save their own lives. Noting Death's suggestion Hiro promptly agreed with a nod. Setting his speeder to idle, hidden under an overhang of rubble, he looked out to the smoking field of concrete and bones and ran forward leaping down from the overpass above the building they sought to get inside. His steel frame tightening as his body made impact with the ground, Hiro checked for any structural damage, but maintained the only damage he had to worry about was from the despicable bomb earlier. Looking back to Death he waved his back before shooting his grappling hook, the pointed end sticking deeply into the lip of the destroyed road. Ushering him to climb down, he looked back to the continual slaughter and hoped they had enough time to get to safety.
 
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Half of the rioters were either dead on the ground or scattered like a pack of frantic Kowakian monkey-lizards. One of the rioters was crawling to get away, despite half of his intestine was almost eaten away from a blaster bolt. As his hand was trying to reach a blaster pistol that dropped to the side of him, a white armored boot was stomped upon the hand as draven angled his blaster rifle on the wounded rioter. Squeezing the trigger, a blaster bolt was fired and a echo was sent down the street.

"This whole planet wants us dead, eliminate all natives who pose a threat. The jedi must be eliminated on site. Trooper, I need a recon droid in the air. "

"Yes sir!"

Removing his backpack, the trooper tossed a miniature probe droid in the air to sweep the area of any hostiles.
 
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Hiro motioned for him to climb down the wire he had hooked into the street. Death quickly climbed down and followed Hiro. Looking up, he saw a droid going around, searching for something. "Better watch our heads, looks like there's a probe droid looking for something." They reached the side of the building and Death frantically searched for a vent. He didn't see any and instinct kicked in. He had been in this situation before, he looked at the base of the building and spotted a pile of garbage bags. He ran to them and threw them aside, uncovering a vent. "Come on, through here."
 

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Hiro watched as Death swiftly descended the wire and the moment he got to the ground pulled in hopes of the hook becoming undone, but alas it stood fast and the bot was forced to detach it, another tool lost. Noting what Death said about a probe he kept his head down and in hopes of distracting the soldiers who had long since scattered and finished the rebellious crowd pulled up a smoke grenade from his pouch and threw it arcing it just so over a building so that it would roll over the roof overlooking the troops. He heard the distinctive hiss as the grenade created a thick cloud which then slowly drifted above the troops. Hoping this would lead them to believe that a sniper of some kind had taken position on the roof Hiro ran right behind Death, utilizing a back alley to avoid detection, hoping the pair were beyond the probe droid's sight for now.

When they at last hit the building his compass had pointed to Hiro saw Death frantically look and then resourcefully find a vent they could use to get inside. As Death began to crawl into the vent Hiro pressed himself against the wall for a few moments, but it was all for naught as he heard the sudden distressed beeps of the probe droid searching at his back. Turning around swiftly Hiro produced his slug shooters and fired one shot each into the center of the droid, he didn't stick around to see what effect they had as he holstered his pieces and began to shimmy through the vent behind Death calling out,

"We're gonna have company, move!"
 

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The HUD of the probe droid was blurry with a infrared tone that scanned every atom of the vicinity. As it approached the two life forms that trying to escape, one of the pointed the barrel of it's blaster to droid. A flash of light and the monitor was fuzzy.

"Probe droid down sir, down that alley."

"Troopers, Head to the alley!

A sprinting in between from alley to alley, the reached the dismantled recon droid and pair of droid legs protruding from out a vent.

"Blast them!"
 

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Death moved quickly through the ventilation system. He came to another vent cover and pushed it out. He crawled out of the cent and stood up, stretching his back out. He looked back for Hiro. "Their armor should keep them from going through the vent. But they'll come back through the entrance, we better get to your client fast."
 

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Hiro heard the men behind him as he shuffled along and he had no intention of hearing what would come next pressing his arms to his side to at last press through the tight system the bot began to slide through the system gaining speed as he went, too much in fact that his efforts to slow down were only met with sparks of protest. Calling out to the young man below,

"Watch out feller I'm comin in hot!"

Just as he finished saying that Hiro burst through the cover and flew lightly through the room before coming to a screeching halt in front of a defunct boiler. Lifting himself, his coat now lightly melted at it's front, Hiro looked to Death and saw by and large he was alright. Noting his concern that the soldier would continue their pursuit the droid looked to his tracker, but they had already arrived at the building there was no direction in particular for them to go towards. It was at this moment that a small bip of a communication came through via his wrist,

"All bounty hunters...all bounty hunters...this is the Condor we will be up in the air in twenty, come then...we will not wait...."

The message ended with a small bit of static and Hiro noted the time table, he needed to find his client in five minutes to have any chance of escaping the planet on time. Looking out the door for any sign of the man, he found while fate had not been kind to him earlier, he was favored now. there huddled in the corner was Dexsalisk, his rich coat tattered, his primped hair now a greasy mess. Approaching the man he heard him cry out,

"Oh gods leave me be,"

"Well I certainly could if ya don't wanna get rescued," Hiro said assuredly.

The Besalisk looked up with sudden recognition and a smile,

"You...your...yes my family of course, they paid you to rescue me?"

Hiro extended his hand and lifted the quivering man up before tipping his hat,

"Yessir they did indeed, names Hiro, but enough pleasantries we can get better acquainted after we get past the twenty or so troopers aiming to burn a hole through our heads,"

Turning to Death the droid pondered a possible course of action then sent a query his way,

"How do you suppose we should proceed? You're the local."
 
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