The New Order...

[HK-48]

The New Order





Pieces of scrap. Pieces of scrap everywhere. The only things standing out in the pile were drak green scraps of metal, shining from the moonlight in the dark. *Tzzzzzz* *Zap!*

The machine pieces where whirring. Why? A self-restoration program that was over 4,000 years old. A droid that's 4,000 years old, has a self-restoration program, and has a pigment of green?Why, that could only be the ledgendary HK-48! Only 19 of them were made. One is completely destroyed. The rest are spread across the galaxy. 18 in existence, the 8th beginning to awaken.


"Hey! Jacek! I found somethin' over here! It looks like pieces of a droid!"


Oh, yes, Cortanak, yes Jacek, and yes, Master...

[Gharhda the Hutt]

Raxus Prime Defense Force Barracks



"*Schhhhh* Alright, we got a bogey in our 8th Sector, Section V, 39 miles deep in. Sending coordinates to Task Force Delta Oh-Three, Over and Out. *Schhhhh*" the Lookout said, holding his microbinoculars.

"*Schhh* Copy that. Heading into the LZ, red flare marks bogey's postion. Over. *Schhh*" the Comms Op of Task Force 03 said over the built in radio in their helmets to the Lookout.

[Emily Srawd]

Raxus Prime Hidden Underground Base


"Well, that should do it for today, don't you think, Krayle?" the Emily asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'm gonna go see what's causing all the racket up top," Krayle explained.

Krayle walked through the underground fortress and fiddled his way through tunnels to the surface of the dusty, scrap metal-piled planet of Raxus Prime. There, he found two men, a Skipray Blastboat, and pieces of a green droid. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Krayle questioned them, Sylux and Jacek staring at the stranger that just appeared.

[Rossos Atrapes]

As a hunter, Rossos had made his name. His first true kill had been almost frightfully easy; a force adept who had called himself a Jedi had been killing Imperial Personnel, and Rossos had killed him within five minutes. It had been easy to see that the man had little to no formal training; perhaps a lucky youngling who found a lightsabre and felt it was destiny?

Rossos chuckled to himself. Destiny always made him laugh.

He had kept the fool's lightsabre, an elegant construction with a long orange blade. It was the lightsabre which led Rossos to believe that the man had been an extremely lucky Padawan-learner whom had somehow survived the Purges.

The freighter left hyperspace just above the junk planet of Raxus Prime. With a sigh, he began the landing procedures, idly wondering why he had to be sent to such a place, following the rumours which one, as a Hunter, always had to follow on the off chance that they held larger grains of truth than one would suspect.

Ostensibly, the Hunter was a cargo ship meant to drop some old, junked pieces of droids that had been deemed unrepairable. In truth, Rossos was, as he always was, hunting the grandest prey there could be: force-users.

Maybe there would be one here, he thought, feeling a familiar twinge that called him to the planet's surface.

One could only hope.

[Gharhda the Hutt]

"Ahhhh, um, looking for scraps, why?" Sylux replied, holding the green metal pieces out of Krayle's sight.

He look up, a ship approached. Corta threw the remains of HK to Jacek, he ran into the Skipray, and Cortanak shot Krayle in his left shoulder...
The Blastboat had taken off and drifted towards an abandoned mine.
The ship landed and they climbed into the scrap covered shaft.
"Hey, Jacek, they won't find us here. You still have those parts?"

"Yep..."

[Rossos Atrapes]

An alarm blared.

Looking blandly at the flashing light, Rossos raised an eyebrow. "Blaster fire...?" he grunted in his gravelly voice. "Odd, that."

He found a suitable landing spot not too far away from where the scanners had pin-pointed the plasma-burned ozone that signaled a blaster had been fired.

*Awaiting orders,* the astromech droid said it in its own odd way.

"Close the ramp as I leave," he said, slipping on black gloves and adjusting the cloak around his shoulders. "Open it when I comm you. Understood?"

*Understood.*

'If I had been any further away, the alarm would not have sounded,' he thought to himself as the Pole Star landed. Walking to the ramp, he pressed the applicable button and waited as the hiss of hydraulics accompanied the slow lowering of the ramp.

As soon as the ramp had settled, Rossos spied a ship speeding away into the distance. A smirk slowly wound its way onto his features. Bringing the comm-link to his mouth, he ordered, "Drop the speeder-bike."

He walked down the ramp, listening for more hydraulics as a small compartment opened on the the under-side of the ship and a rack containing a single speeder bike slowly dropped.

As he disconnected the various locks and lines that secured the bike, the hisses began again as the ramp closed, finishing as he brought the speeder from underneath the ship and straddled it.

Seeing no other leads, Rossos gunned the engine, and sped off in the direction he had seen the ship flee.

[Emily Srawd]

"Krayle!" Emily shouted.

"Emily, go- go get the- *GASP!* *Cough* *Bloody Sputter* go get the Telosaurian, use it to get to them... *Cough*" Krayle instructed Emily, then he stopped breathing, and died.

Emily ran into the tunnels and found a Saurian-like animal from Telos IV. She jumped on top of it and rode out of the caverns, following Rossos to Cortanak.

[Rossos Atrapes]

The Force was with him this day; he could feel it hum about him in anticipation.

In his focus on the departing speeder, he had overlooked the other presences within the Force, but as he got closer to where the ship had stopped, he felt a large burst of fear from behind him, which slowly bled off. Someone had died.

There was another presence behind him a distance, but his instincts told him to continue on. Thus he did so, content with the knowledge that they were coming to him.

He gunned the engine again, reveling in the chaos he could feel in the Force this day.

[Gharhda the Hutt]

*SLIP!*

*THWACK*

"Ouch..." Cortanak said after he skipped and hit a pipe.

"Hey, see that button, Corta?" Jacek asked.

"Yeah," he answered.

*Poke*

(Elevator Revving)

(Elevator's slow and low pitched whir as they go down, deep into the mine)

"Well, now what?" Sylux asked.

[Rossos Atrapes]

"A mine," he said in distaste. As if in answer, the wind picked up around him, causing the ends of his cloak to flap gently; the Force was bolstering him. Closing his eyes, he felt the presences within the mine slowly grow faint. Opening his eyes, he grinned. They were heading deeper into the mines.

"How...delightful," he said, thinking of how much fear he could squeeze from them within its confines. Reaching within a compartment of his speeder-bike, he pulled out an odd pair of goggles, and placed them over his eyes.

Lifting the hood of his cloak above his head (one must always have a proper sense of drama, especially in a career such as his), he made his way into the mine.

The physical darkness seemed to welcome him, slipping over his frame easily and liquidly. The moment he found himself without light, he reached up and spun the frame of the right hand lens, causing the goggles to revert to night-vision.

Thus equipped, he made his way swiftly through the mine shaft until he had entered a larger one. Taking a moment, he closed his eyes and felt for the now rapidly dwindling presences. Following the general direction of them, he found himself at a junction; where an old elevator seemed to be making its way down.

"If the lift works," he murmured to himself, "Then the power should not be off in the rest of the complex." He looked about for a circuit box. He smirked, finding it a short walk down the shaft. Breaking the lid, he turned up the power to the goggles, and began fiddling with the wires and fuses within. Within three minutes a small glow came from above; the lights slowly came on, strongly in some areas, flickering in others, and altogether remaining dark in yet more.

He smirked, and stood. He had just told the fleeing corpses that they were being followed, but they would not know from where he would strike. The knowledge was sweet, like a particularly resonant symphony hitting the lowest notes and causing one's chest cavity to reverberate with the vibrations.

[Emily Srawd]

'I think I know where he's going' Emily thought to herself.

The tan color of the Saurian blended in with the dusty atmosphere of Raxus Prime. Dirt, rocks, and metal, were being kicked up by the mount that Emily rode on. She was catching up to Rossos.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! Went the feet of her mount.

Almost...

[Gharhda the Hutt]

"What the? The lights are back on!? Smeone's here Jacek. Hurry, get R5 to fix the droid!" Cortanak said as the lights blurred on.

'Beep-boop-bop-beep-whiiiiirrrrrr!' R3-K18 mechanically yelled, the HK Droid almost patched up, still loose and scrounged together, though.

"Confirmation: My Vocabulizer feels like a hole has been burned thorugh it and several holes have been ripped in my chassis!
Uneeded Commentary: Oh my! I'm being tampered with by an odd-looking droid! Ahhhh! Please help me!" the HK whined as R3 fixed him.

(He hadn't been active since 4,000 years earlier, that's why he is thinking R3 is odd)

Cortanak smirked,"Hey, Jacek. I'm gonna go see what -or who- is doing what with the power. I've got my Cortosis Blade in case of a force user and my rifle. You go ahead and find a route back to the Skipray Blastboat."

"Got it, Corta," Jacek smiled back at him and helped R3 with HK-48.

[Rossos Atrapes]

Thus with light, Rossos found himself at a temporary loss; this mine seemed old and labyrinthine, and with the lift currently in use, he did not wish to find himself lost within in his search for his prey.

He paused in his deliberations to hear the sounds of someone nearing his position. Perhaps the presence - which felt distinctly female now he noted - had been closer than he had previously thought, what with his attention focussed on his current prey.

"This one is important," he murmured. "...She will lead me to my prey."

The Force hummed; a dull, soundless throb on his eardrums.

Wait. It whispered. She will show you the way.

He was not one to disobey, and he made himself comfortable while he waited, concentrating on dividing his attention between the fleeing men...man (one seemed to be heading back in his direction; how droll!) below, and the approaching girl.

This was proving to be more interesting than he had foreseen; but then, he was not particularly gifted with foresight out of the seconds he could glean whilst in battle.

And he waited.

[Gharhda the Hutt]

"Hey, you!" Emily shouted as a huge piece of scrap metal floated in the air, her hand balancing it and in a stasis-like motion.

Her mount, "Spark," had ran away from view, but on top of the mine. It was waiting...

Cortanak jumped up and drew a Cortosis Knife, holding it in his left hand, holding his bullet-shooting rifle in the left. "She asked you a question."

[HK-48]

"Statement: HK is ready to shoot, Master," The HK-48 Model blankly commented, talking towards Emily.

HK held an Aratech Sniper Rifle, aimed at Rossos. "Uneeded Commentary: Master, would you like the "Meatbag" to be gone?"

[Rossos Atrapes]

Rossos hadn't even needed to move. His grin widened to a smirk as she used the force to levitate a piece of scrap metal.

"Did she?" he asked, seemingly unconcerned with the fact the both seemed bent on him for the moment. "I heard no question." His gravelly voice echoed slightly off the rocks walls. "Not even a command; all she had said was something of an interjection."

The approach of the droid, apparently of assassin-make though extremely old and battered looking, caused only a raised eyebrow in reponse.

"You all seem to have me at a disadvantage," he said, though it didn't look to bother him. "I wonder why it is; I am not the one whom has killed today."

His voiced was laced with the Force, echoing into the other organic beings' minds; HK-48, being a machine, was unaffected by this particular application. Though there were other methods to secure its inaction; which he was more than prepared to use, if the situation called for it.

[Emily Srawd]

'Hm?' she thought.

"Interrogation: I do not understand, Meatbag, are you somehow tricking the humans into your advantage? If you are, I still do not understand," the confused Hunter-Killer asked.

Spark still waited for the perfect moment...

[Rossos Atrapes]

"A trick?" his voice carried a distinct note of amusment. "Ask your master, droid; she uses the Force. Could she not sense it?"

He kept his hood pulled up, hiding much of his face from view. "Much like the beast which carried her here awaits up above us. Not much hides from me, you know."

"Who was it who died?" he continued, the Force lending weight to his words. "Was it a friend of yours, girl? Or was it someone whom you knew, rifle-wielder? Did that rifle fire the shot that ended their life? Or was it your lightsabre?" he turned the questions abruptly back to the girl again. He stayed for a short pause, but then said before they could answer, "Or did you, droid, kill today?"

Above them, the lights slowly flickered.

[Gharhda the Hutt]

"I think it was rifle fire. Or maybe a Knife!" Sylux shouted, his blade crashing down on Rossos, but instantly, WHAP!

"AAGGHH!!" Cortanak was hurled across the room, almost falling down the shaft.

Creak...

Snap!

SWOOSH!

WHOMP!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!" Sylux screamed, falling through the shaft with rocks impaling him onto the stopped elevator below.

CCCRRRRRAAAASSSHHHHH!!!!!

Jacek and R3 were already out though, on board the Skipray, listening to Cortanak's screms of pain, and then silence.

But there wasn't just silence. There was, an echo...
The echo could be heard through the Force, Krayle heard it in his early afterlife, Emily heard it, Rossos definitely heard it, Spark heard it, Jacek heard it, and Sylux heard it right before his death.

"Emily..." Cortanak Sylux's last breath led him to that. And finally, death had come to take it's bounty.

Spark burst thorugh the ceiling and crashed on the ground close to Rossos, HK, Spark, and Emily ran to the Skipray, grabbing Krayle's dead body. There were strangers, though. Task Force Delta Oh-Three. "Let us on," the Leader's voice rang out, echoing. Red smoke and flare marking the bogey's position.

[Rossos Atrapes]

It had been painfully easy to dispatch the man. A strong push of the Force, and he fell down the elevator shaft, to be impaled on the rocks littered on it. He allowed a sickly smile to play on his features as he soaked in the echo of Cortanak's death.

He loved his job.

With a resounding crash, an odd creature fell through the ceiling, and the motley group jumped through the hole it created and ran aboard the ship. Rossos growled. He wouldn't let the girl go easily. With a Force-assisted leap, he cleared the hole easily.

"Come to my coordinates," he growled into his communicator. "If the ship tries to leave, disable it."

He replaced the comm on his belt, and held out his hand, the elegant hilt of his lightsabre floating into it. He did not activate the weapon yet, though.

The Pole Star came into view not a moment later, hovering over the scene; the quad-lasers on its belly trained toward the Skipray. Rossos pulled the hood of cloak down, revealing his face for the first time. His expression was not the one of amusement he had down within the mine, but was a resemblance of rock. Hard, harsh lines and glaring eyes.

[Emily Srawd]

"Explanation: He is following us! I need something- eh- er- Aha!" HK mumbled as he found a Plasma Torch.

"Gaining into the atmosphere!" Emily reported.

HK dropped a bit of tiny crystals from a metallic pouch on his side. He threw the torch out of the ship at the Pole Star and...

[Rossos Atrapes]

The quad-lasers fired as quickly as they could, but with the droid both flying the ship and trying to fire at the skipray, it did not allow for good flying.

Rossos growled, ignoring the soldiers around him. It was unlikely they would do anything anyway; only Inquisitors wore the uniform that was now clearly visible from all the wind which caused his cloak to flap wildly away from his body.

*Something has impacted our shields. No damage sustained.*

"Land." Rossos growled. He would find them later, he would make sure of that. He had business on Imperial Centre that needed to be taken care of. The Pole Star broke off pursuit and gently landed not far away from him. It was a simple use of the Force to control the Speeder-bike and bring to the freighter's position; he attached it to the rack, and watched as the hydraulics pulled it back within the body of the ship.

A few minutes later, the Pole Star lifted off, and blasted out of the atmosphere, into the darkness of space.

[Emily Srawd]

" HK, they wanted on. R3, land and let them on, I'm going to see what they want," Emily said.

So, they landed, they talked, the Troopers got on board. Now to see if the Skipray had a hyperspace engine. If it did, then they would go off to see Yavin 4 and it's burned jungle, were Ken the Jedi Prince had left with Luke Skywalker.

[Gharhda the Hutt]

"A-HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW!!!!!" a slimy Hutt laughed, as his enemy fell into the lesser sarlacc pit on Dathomir.

*CHOMP*

"AAAGGGHHH!!" a shrill voice came out of the Sarlacc's throat.

"The Sarlacc hasn't been fed enough. A-Haw-Haw! Feed it more!" Gharhda shouted, ordering his guards to push traitors into the pit.

Then suddenly, RRRIIIIPPP!!!!
ZZOOOOMMM!!
SWOOSH!
The Skipray had flown overhead from hyperspace, not able to make the trip to Yavin due to the quad-lasers from the Pole Star firing at them. Only a few shots got to them, but one hit a major pipeline, causing a plasma leak, leaving the crew only 5 days of hyperspace travel, so Dathomir was closer.

CRUNCH!

"Blorgatta! Use your micronoculars and see what that was! I want my barge over there now!!!" Gharhda shouted at his crew.

[HK-48]

*Tzz* ZAP!

*Twitch*

"Uneeded Addendum: My Vocabulazor-r-r-r-r-r iz mal-mal-malfun-mal-malfunctioning! Prosezzed Addendatum: Can not work correctly-core-CORE MALFUNCTIONING!!!! Agghhh!"

[Gharhda the Hutt]

Zwwwooohhhmmm!

"Rossos! A-HAW-HAW-HAW! I need you to find an asteroid in Dathomir's atmosphere, and take a package at the spaceport down here to it. The package delivers a Sonic Boom! A-HAW-HAW-HAW!!!" Gharhda yelled into the Hologram recorder.

[John Anthony]

"I got your message, Gharhda. But, I'm not Rossos."

The Mandolorian pushed a few buttons and pulled levers, operating his landing gear. "My name's John."

[Gharhda the Hutt]

"Wha-? Blargatta! Talk with this annoying being that thinks he can outsmart me!"

Blargatta walked to the holorecorder,"Hey, human, whattya want?"

John shifted in his seat and put his hand on his fist, his elbow on the control dashboard,"You want some contact on 3z-HXe?"

[HK-48]

"Turning on Carbonite thrust. Lowering mutation spots. Raising temperture to fixate into wires. Blood mixing in metal, process may take a few days. Kolto status; it's-it's-uhhh-it's being polluted?" an expirimentalist reported as HK was being converted into a cyborg.

Globbbbb...

Gluuubbbbb...

GLUB!

Glop!

GLOOP!

SPLOOSH!

A tentacle-like arm cracked the tank and threw itself at the scientist, it wrapped him up and morphed onto him,"AGGGHHH!!!AGGHH-CCCLOOPP-GOOOORRRBBB!!! *Hacking and drowning sounds*"

"Data Proce- Da hudd vill dddddiiiiiyyyyy..." the partially-mutated HK whispered to itself.

[Gharhda the Hutt]

"Gharhda," Blorgatta yelled," I'm getting readings of half of a sentient being running in here!"

"Well, block the doors, seal them and turn on the shields!" Gharhda shouted back.

*Powering up*

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-ZAP!

"RAGH!"

"RAAAWWRRR-Corruption-breach!" HK talked through two ways, mutant and droid.

"John, hurry, cancel the coordinates, I will meet the droid in space!!!" Gharhda screamed.

Creeeeaaakkk...

CRACK!

CRUNCH!

CRUMBLE!!!!!!!!

"RAGH!"

Boom! Whomp! Bam-bam-bam! Splat! Blat! Ting! Zing! Blang! SPLOOSH!
The HK's mutant side started slipping off of him, it was gushing out blood,
rotting.

"Gharhda, we're ready!" Blorgatta had yelled.

The Hermaphrodite-Hutt slithered to the TIE-Scout, holding HK's droid parts, and a chain on the other. The chain held peices of junk. One other person followed. Emily Srawd...

[John Anthony]

"Hey, this is the Shadow Blast on Comm Signal 3HX! Can anyone read me?" the Mando took off for orbit.

Then try to find the Voodoo Heart. "Hello, can anyone hear this?!"


A TIE-Scout flew off past his Corellian Freighter. It boomed into hyperspace, trying to find the Voodoo Heart like him. But only to find 3z-HXe. He woud help them get the Medical Droid.

[Gharhda the Hutt]

"Blorgatta, transmit the coordinates to MD-8!"