Droids Need Love Too
Mount Dakhan
Planet Aeotheran
Orian System
Naga Sadow Space

The ante chamber was quiet. Moonlight shone through the glass windows, as the crescent slowly rose over the snowy mountains. To an observer the room was a nearly organised area of boxes and storage containers. The automatic lights were off casting shadows across the room. The only artificial light was a dull red flashing one, mounted on the chest panel of the silent black astromech, it's body silent and immobile. It was not clear how long it had been sat there. Days? Weeks? Months. In it's shut down mode it had no way of knowing.

Suddenly the panel lit up, as more lights began to quickly flash across the surface of the panel. Finally the droid twitched, and then began to move forward on the small wheels beneath it's three legs. It moved through the doorway which automatically opened into a corridor, and then turned left and then right in a smooth circle, before approaching a computer port on the wall. A probe emitted form the droid's midsection into the port, and it rotated before locking into place. Once more the lights on it's panel flashed in seemingly random pattern, and then the probe retracted. The droid made a deep sonorous bell like tone, and then turned on a circle and made for the turbolift.

The lift door opened into the hangar and Zero made it's way across into the large cavernous area. It stopped as it studied the hangar. House Shar Dahkan soldiers and personell walked back and forth, on one purpose or another, all of them ignoring the black astromech as several others and different droid types moved around. The droid made another deep sound, and then it revolved and made for another wall computer port. Zero extended and locked it's probe once more, and waited until its' commands were entered. Finally it made it's way smoothly across the hangar, and waited.

A few seconds later a large robotic arm extended, scanning the droid, and then wrapping it's metallic claws around the astromech and lifting it, before lowering it into a metal crate which slid shut. A few seconds later the crate itself was lifted, swivelling around as the arm extended and then lowered it into a waiting shuttle. Zero waited inside its' crate until it detected movement and rumble of engines and vibrations as the craft lifted off. Satisfied the droid entered it's standby mode and the panel lights dimmed once more.

Seng Karash Starport
Aeotheran

Unlike the passenger areas the cargo bays were quiet, the only footfall were maintenance people and pilots going off for a well earned drink while their cargoes were unloaded. Droids and robotic machinery supervised the unloading of crates. As one of them was placed onto the hard floor there was a pause, and then the clasp of the crate began emit a shower of sparks, followed by the side collapsing with a metal clang, and Zero rolled out into the bay. It rotated a couple of times observing it's surroundings, and then began to motor across the floor towards the exit. Then it stopped. A pair of guards were making their way towards him, talking and not paying attention. Quickly the droid moved into cover under a large storage shelf and waited, its one red light flashing quietly. Once they had passed Zero continued. It rolled on looking for an access port, and finding one it logged in and began to search. After a few seconds the droid retracted it's probe once more and began to move, and then stopped. The two guards were looking directly at it and it heard them talking to each other as they advanced, raising their rifles. Quickly Zero's upper panel rotated left and right, looking for an escape, but saw none, and then it focused back on the guards who were now shouting at it. The droid reacted instantly. From behind it the blaster cannon extended and it instantly took aim, firing. One the of the guards was knocked back by the first shop, his chest smoking as he collapsed. The second returned fire, narrowly missing the droid. Zero aimed and fired a second shot, taking the other guard down. As alarms began to sound the droid quickly made it's way forward past the bodies, scanning for an exit. It accelerated, making it's way out into into the main area. It could sense more guards running towards it and kept going. Several shots fizzled past it but it ignored them, focusing on heading towards the exit. There was a fire door at the end of a narrow corridor, now sealed due to the alarm. Without stopping Zero opened another panel, extending its anti armour rifle. Slotting a round into place it aimed and fired. The door exploded outwards in a burst of flame and metal and Zero raced through the flames, out into a small alleyway. Looking round it saw the exit at the end was clear, and seeing open street it motored towards it, gaining as much ground as possible on the chaos it had left behind.

Zero lurked in the park, beneath the shadow of a large tree. Above the sun was shining through the protective glass dome, and families, couples and workers on their break walked, played or sat and ate. None of it meant anything to the droid, it was purely focused on the mission it had been given. As its head rotated back and forth it scanned the faces, checking them against the image in its database. So far it was negative on matches. It waited patiently, and then it made a match. A man was walking through the park, accompanied by two other men and heading towards the north exit that lead to the leisure district . The droid made a series of calculations. The human was in range, and it was likely it could make a successful attack before the humans accompanying had time to react. The ensuing panic caused in the park would give an opportunity to escape, but if the droid somehow missed then the panic would have the opposite effect. Slowly Zero began to move.

It trailed the man through the park entrance and past the Aeotheran Security Force troopers who paid no attention to the droid. Though it was likely that the incident at the shuttle port had been reported, the city was full of droids of every shade and description, and it passed unnoticed. The droid studied the man intently as he passed a line of speeders. If the target began to get into one then Zero would have to take immediate action. A vehicle would be too hard to follow and the risk of loosing the target was too high. It powered up it's blaster cannon but kept it out of sight. It would have time to fire if necessary, either at the target itself or a vehicle. The target made no attempt to enter a speeder and kept on walking past them, and then turned into an alley, his companions taking a furtive look behind and following. Zero increased it's speed slightly, to ensure it did not loose sight on the target.

The target walked down the alley and stopped at the end. Zero watched from the alley entrance, analysing the scene. The targer and his companions had met another three humans, and they were conversing. From their tone the conversation did not appear friendly. The droid scanned them, detecting blaster pistols concealed about each of their persons. Slowly the droid moved forward, a series of scenarios running through it's brain. The six humans were still engaged in a loud conversation, and Zero detected an increase in body heat. Zero surveyed the alleyway. There was a doorway leading off, which had a heavy metal grill covering it, and a large waste bin. It slowly began to extend it's blaster cannon, and fixed it's aim on the target. Then it fired.

As the man fell, the others from both parties drew their weapons, moving into defensive positions. Spotting the droid they fired, and a shot bounced off the armour plating, the others missing. Zero could hear sounds of shouting from behind him, as people reacted to the sound of blaster fire. It fired back, narrowly missing a man who was taking cover. The could now hear the sounds of armoured feet from the street and sirens. Wanting to bring this to a close, the droid extended it's anti armour rifle, aimed and put a shot in between the troopers. The explosion missed them but caused them to move back, still firing. Then as Zero moved behind the metal bin, seeking cover, it heard the sound of shouting, followed by more blaster fire from behind as security troopers arrived and mistook the situation for a standoff.

Zero hid behind the bin, powering down to minimum functionality, listening to the sound of blasters as more troopers arrived and joined the fight and it could hear speeders above. Waiting for a short while longer, it began to roll up the alley back towards the street. In the chaos behind no one noticed it. It rolled out into the open and set off quietly, making for a safe location it could lie low until it could report it's success and be collected.

The HK droid touched down from the repulsor lift as the door clinked open with a silent thud. The home world of Clan Vizsla was a lawless place, a hive of scum and villainy that catered to the exotic and those that wished to stay off the radar. The presence of the droid would raise no alarm bells, and that was exactly what Mauro Wynter had banked on by sending his droid back to his old Clan. He meant to send a message, and the droid, Ossus, would do it.

Ossus was not so much property of Mauro Wynter as a partner of sorts. Wynter had found the relic droid during his time with Clan Vizsla while on a mission. The heap of old parts looked little like a droid and more like rubble. However, Wynter had an eye for old technology due to his upbringing on Raxus Prime. He painstakingly rebuild the droid over a span of several months. Yet, Ossus memories and personality remained from his earlier career.

Ossue strode into the bar’s entry way and analyzed the environment. There were some guards to be sure, but every patron of the bar was heavily armed and deadly as a full fledged Mandalorian. And Ossus waited for his prey to arrive as he slunk into the shadows. The reason for the mission was one of revenge. Naturally, none of that mattered to Ossus. He owed a debt to Wynter and as such he was going in to exact retribution.

Wynter held no true grudge against his old Clan, but recent events had taken a turn. As the Proconsul of Clan Scholae Palatinae Wynter was a public figure. The fact that he had previously been a Mandalorian amongst other things made him a target for derision and scorn from his old clanmates in armor. An example had to be meted out. And Ossus waited for the next shift to arrive at the bar.

Time had little meaning to a droid, just more analog coding ticking away in his code. And yet, time did move as the next shift arrived at the bar. Patrons come and go, but it was the personnel behind the bar that mattered to Ossus. The bar was a front of course for Vizsla, Mandalorians meeting behind back keeping an eye on the economic transactions and contracts being issued from the bar. Ossus infrared scanners keyed in on the team of six Mandalorians behind the bar and methodically let his concealed blaster pistols drop from their holsters to his arm appendages. He keyed the safety off and slide forward with the silent grace and ease of a droid.

The first table of patrons went down without a fight. Headshots all around, the next table the drinkers had time to try to take cover and body shots were needed as well. Some of them might still be living just heavily injured. The next table was ready for the droid and Ossus took several wild shots that did little damage. He thumbed a detonator and tossed it center line of the bar. The blast disoriented the remainder of the patrons. The Mandalorians behind the bar were arming up for an attack. That was enough – Ossus had made his statement. He would retreat before the Mandalorians engaged and started a feud.