Scene #3566: Where in the Galaxy is HK-47?

Owner	Pose
HK-47	'Bustling with activity' would be the words normally associated with the capital world of the Galactic Republic... but ever since the sudden 'incident' barely several city blocks from the Jedi Temple itself, Coruscant's situation was less 'bustling' and closer to being a state of controlled chaos. A shooting that caused a major skyline crash, involving two of the Jedi Order's ranking members in it's resolution - and an attacker that not only evaded said Jedi but seemingly escaped the planet itself. A situation that was very much an embarrassment and a concern for the Republic and the Jedi. Considering that - unknown to much of the public - that the target of the shooting had been a Jedi herself from another reality, it was far more pressing a concern for the latter though. To say the Republic had been weary of getting involved in multiversal affairs was... well, a gross understatement. But on the other hand, an attack on Coruscant - involving a Union member trying to get information on a certain machine that had been besieging the Union as of late - had left them little choice but to offer up a grape-vine. So when the Jedi learned of the Union's efforts in trying to coordinate a hunt for the sociopathic murder-droid HK-47 - Darth Revan's personal executor - the Supreme Chancellor himself had given special permission to let Union representatives use one of the Strategic Information Service's storehouses as a lab to analyze any captured droids and, hopefully, extract tangible information from them - anything that could give the Republic insight into whatever plans the droids and their masters had in mind for their actions as of late. It's for this reason that this safe-house has been deemed a form of 'open-house' meeting zone for the Union, complete with a droid analyzation table with a tray for tools, multiple work-stations and a holodisplay for the known Galaxy to start imputing data into as the field of hiding spots was hopefully narrowed down somewhat. There is also a holocommunication station to speak with a Republic 'moderator'... and a light is currently blinking on it, indicating the channel is open. If there are any questions - or if anyone has heard of Jayale's state and wishes an immediate update - they will want to use this console. Unless the Union did not trust blind delivery or the group present instead brought them along themselves, then the many HK-51's recovered so far will be laid out on the far wall in a series of segregated booths. The question though is which to start with - the more damaged ones, or the more intact ones? And how do they start - with a simple dissection... or the risk of powering one up to speak with?
Toph Beifong	It's a bit weird to be in this sort of world again, especially now during the holidays. She could be spending time at home with her family, resting up the final days before Christmas, but instead Toph Beifong had no choice but to head off to Coruscant. Sure, there was some strange weirdo who reeked of booze who had been at one of the streetcorners near the portal, blabbering nonsense about something weird called Lifeday, but that's got to be a made up crud. Toph arrives at the storehouse, presenting her ID to the guards before she walks in, and she can't help but feel a slight chill run up her spine as she senses the pieces of the droids there. Not that she expects she will be able to do much, but... it's worth a shot. And if she can get info on Jayale she's not going to say no to that chance. Maybe she'll do that before the others arrive, and then help them if they need her metalbending to inspect the droids or whatever. So the blind girl fumbles a bit with the holo communication station. "I'm ensign Toph Beifong from the Union... can anybody hear me?"
Yuna Kagurazaka	While Yuna herself hasn't been targeted by HK-47 (so far, anyway), she still considers herself to have a personal stake in finding the mechanical assassin. She has crossed paths with him in combat, but more importantly, he's attempted to kill a couple of her friends - and he's come very close, far too close for comfort, to SUCCEEDING. On the other hand, Yuna isn't exactly a skilled cyber-engineer. She's in civilian clothes at the moment, dressed moderately warmly due to the season where she's from elseworld, and is accompanied by the little robo-faerie Elner. It's Elner who's probably going to be doing most of the 'hands-on' work where Yuna's concerned ... or at least, it would be, if Elner had hands to speak of. And Yuna didn't want to risk questions about more 'droids' if she'd brought the rest of the Matrix of Light with her, so Elner's sensors and wireless interface capability are likely to be Yuna's big contributions. As it is, Yuna shows her ID on the way in, explains briefly that Elner is here to assist her, and takes a moment to see how things are laid out while Elner 'looks over' each of the recovered -51 chassis, not trying to do anything beyond detailed scans yet. If Elner can confirm which units have the most-intact memory cores, that should be a good starting point. If Toph needs help with the comm station, Yuna's ready to assist her, too.
Reina Kinney	For Reina Kinney, the holidays aren't much to her. Namely since she's usually on duty most of the time, and her family... well, don't ask her about her family. Especially given her recent nightmares she's been having. It's a sure fire way to tick her off and have a mighty shouting match with her. But anyway, back to the point. She's arrived on Coruscant and is trying to find her way to the location given, having an interest in this whole HK thing. Namely since GUARDIANS might be able to peruse possible technological information as well as the Union. Reina presents her ID wallet, which has two IDs in it instead of the usual one. One identifies her as an official member of the UAF, while the other indicates she's with GUARDIANS, and is a high ranking operative too! She makes her way to where Toph and Yuna are. She looks to the two women and then around, taking out her binoculars the scan the general area.
Kyra Hyral	A first visit to Coruscant should havae been under much better circumstances, all things considered. But given more recent events, Kyra Hyral has been sufficiently made gunshy enough to venture into this particular universe, /especially/ alone. Thankfully, she certainly wasn't alone today! The white mage hadn't gone through any trouble of trying to dress in a way to fit in with the locals. Her current attire did seem to fit enough that it wouldn't turn too many heads and she was, after all, a human. Nobody would find a human suspicious here. Only the Republic officials responsible for liasing with the Union would really know that Kyra wasn't one from this far away galaxy and right now, for the purpose of gaining access to a storehouse, the connection was appreciated. Her arrival to Coruscant was via the Rafflesia, however, a make of starship not native here. The vine-encrusted, shark-shaped ship might turn a few heads as it sits in its dock, though. Upon arriving in the storehouse, Kyra takes stock of each of the captured HKs, assessing their various states of disassembly, and frowning. "Before we start activating any of these, I'd like to remove their weapons systems completely, if possible. I suspect they each have some kind of resevoir for carbonite and cyanogen inside each somewhere. Emptying those would also be prudent!" Kyra produces one of the many 'surgery tools' she's brought with her today. It's a screwdriver.
Staren	Staren's never been to Coruscant before, so he can't tell if it's always like this or not. He doesn't spend much time outside anyway -- With the Stranger Than Fiction parked in orbit, he beams down just outside the building, then enters the lab provided after only a brief look around. "I think, if we can get some information on how droids store data, it would be simplest to examine their memories directly. Failing that, reprogramming them to follow our commands may be viable. But first... yes, that's a good idea, let's do what we can to deal with any... anti-tampering measures." Staren activates his armor just in case, and offers Kyra an environment suit, then helps get to work on disarming the droids.
HK-47	The Republic guards - simple soldiers in red-on-black uniforms with dome-like open-faced helmets - give tentative salutes and nods of acknowledgement to each Union official that presents their ID's. In spite of that though, it's somewhat obvious they are anxious of the metaphorical 'aliens' from beyond their reality. People teleporting in out of thin air tended to put people on edge, after all. As the holocommunicator powers up, the emitters flare to life and the projection condenses into a three-dimensional form, the resulting image being a dark-haired man in a lightly-armored combat suit; Jal Shay armor. Twin blasters sit in their holsters at his sides... and beside each blaster, a lightsaber hilt is affixed to a belt-hook. His wry half-smirk might remind some of a certain Corellian smuggler they may know as he takes in the arrivals, most notable being the girl who contacted him, though he looks somewhat questioning. "Hey kid - you the one that called me?" A sarcastic chuckle escapes him as he tilts his head. "I heard the Union takes all ages, but shouldn't you be off spending Life Day with your parents? Or did someone suddenly decide 'take your kid to work' day was a /good/ idea when dealing with crazy assassin droids?" And so emerges one of the trademarks of all who have been deemed scoundrels - a smart-alek streak. Something that Atton Rand, even after ten years as a Jedi, still hasn't lost. Though he does, at the very least, seemed to have gained a sense of priority as he crosses his arms. "So, you all find anything yet, or do you just have questions you want to ask?"
HK-47	As the HK-51's are examined, those with intact arms will trip up Elner's scans, and opening the casings for the right-side limbs will reveal what looks like a six-chambered revolver-system, each containing a different nozzle or emitter which which to fire a weapon. The Neural taser, Ion-Charger and Plasma-Emitter all are fueled by compacted energy-cells, but the other three - the toxin-emitter, flamethrower and carbonite-emitter - contain three storage tanks, each about three or four inches long; the reservoirs of cyanogen-gas, inflammatory fuel and liquid-carbonite that is used in combat. The left-side limbs contain a miniaturized dart-launcher system with over half-a-dozen different varieties of dart contained - incendiary, tranquilizer, poison, acid-filled or even just simple projectile-darts. Most of the droids, with the sole exception of one, have their memory cores entirely intact - with the one difference being a droid that was bisected at the hip by one Karian Icefang during the attempt on Twilight Sparkle, with it's head being half-crushed by debris caused by the grandiose... curtain-fall Lezard Valeth enacted that day. Additionally... Elner's scans will likely detect the shaped charges connected to the droid's power-cores - the devices that, when activated, ignite the energy-cells; the basis of the HK-51's self-destruct mechanisms. Likely a priority for removal. In terms of intactness, the ones that would bear the most attention would be the four relatively-intact units. The first is intact save for a massive hole punched through it's torso - courtesy of Yang Xaio Long when she came to assist in the rescue of Kyle Katarn. The second, aside from a disconnected power core, has only light burns and scrapes - the unit Jayale deactivated during the attack on Twilight Sparkle. The third, also suffering from a disconnected core, is the droid Jayale and Lowri Revan-Shan interrogated on the Autobot Arc-ship along with Blurr. But the Autobots removed all it's weapons already. The fourth is a notable exception to the others - it looks entirely undamaged save for being shut off, as well as being colored a rather shockingly-bright cherry-red with white highlights. This droid had been disguised as a Santa Clause in Gotham, apprehended by Toph Beifong and Batman... though rather disconcertingly, in spite of being the most intact droid, it ironically seems to have been entirely /disassembled/ and then put back together before being shipped here. Some parts are also missing and it's weapons were apparently removed for study by whoever had it last. Whoever it was that Batman had look at this droid, they really knew what they were doing since, sans the missing power core and weapons, the 'Santa' HK-51 looks pristine and the memory-core seems to have been duplicated and downloaded even if the data hasn't been decrypted. However, removing the internalized weapons of the other droids is actually comparatively simple... once someone actually can /open/ the durasteel casings of the droid's limbs in the first place. Likely, it will require prying the things open, delicately or otherwise - especially for the thick chest plates so as to access and remove the small, two-inch detonator sticks attached to the droid cores.
Toph Beifong	When the others arrive Toph does greet them with a wave, though she doesn't turn towards them. Not that they should take it personal, knowing that Toph seldom bothers to face people to 'look' at them. And well, Kyra makes a really good suggestion. "We did remove the power cores, but that's probably a good idea." Just so they don't mess up and do something stupid. Because Toph has the feeling that Pepper would not want her to spend Christmas in medical. Let's see what information they can get first. It's been too long since they have heard from Jayale, and well... knowing how messed up HK-47 is, a mix of skills and psycho, Toph /has/ been worried for the Jedi that got caught in his assassination attempt. When the man speaks to her that manner all Toph does is let out a snort as she crosses her arms across her chest. "I might be young, it might be the holidays, but stuff needs to be done. And we want to know how the Miraluka is doing. She's being treated, right? We're friends of her." Better not talk too much about Jayale, after all. And how many Miraluka can there be around here anyway? It should be obvious who Toph is talking about anyway. "Is she awake?"
Yuna Kagurazaka	Yuna twitches slightly at the reaction Toph's getting from their Republic contact. The earthbender seems to be handling it in stride, though, so she focuses her attention on Elner ... and with Staren activating his armor, Yuna transforms as well, her Light Suit replacing her civilian clothes. Just in case. Besides, she likes that jumper and doesn't want to damage it while poking around at salvaged droids. "Disabling and removing their weapons systems does seem to be in order," Elner reports, pinging Staren for a data-link; once that link's been established, Elner starts transmitting the schematics it's extrapolating for the HK-51s based on their shared 'features' and arrangements of systems. There's also a convenient log of what's missing or damaged in which of the six droids. "However, I would suggest defusing their self-destruct systems before anything else, in case there are anti-tampering sensors which will try to kill anyone who starts poking around in their systems." Looking for anti-tampering sensors is Elner's next priority, but the robo-faerie spares a look at Staren. "It might be feasible to modify the layout to arm a new suit of powered armor, if that suits your approach to combat. If nothing else, battling HK-47 with the weapons used on its 'brother' models could evoke an interesting and perhaps-useful reaction." Yuna grimaces, "I don't think HK-47 would send out drones that could be turned against it - would any of these weapons even slow HK down?"
Reina Kinney	"I'd think they're already deactivated or something," Reina comments to Kyra. "Still, good idea to just make sure." She has her weapons on hand if the need to use them should arise, but she's hoping that won't happen. "I'm hoping there's at least SOMETHING we can use. After all, one person's trash is another person's treasure... or something like that." She runs a hand through her hair and sighs. "Or at the very least, maybe I could earn some extra meseta perhaps?" Then the new guy arrives, and Reina turns to face him with a raised eyebrow. She's about to ask him who he is, but before she can ask him anything, he makes a sarcastic comment to Toph, and Reina winces slightly, anticipating, at the very least, a nasty comeback. But Toph simply remains firm without getting too harsh, and Reina relaxes a little. "How do you like that?" Reina mutters to herself, looking to the side with her eyes, sneering a little. "Someone thinks they can be more sarcastic than me?"
Staren	Okay, step one? Remove the weapons and explosives. They have tools for that -- Staren has nanomachines and every tool imaginable, and there's always Toph if they need plating precisely bent... And furthermore, they can compare Elner's scans of the previously-disassembled santa drone to scans of the others, to identify anything that might need to be removed to work on the droids. Once that's all done? Staren dismisses his armor. Staren has to agree with Yuna on the idea of a new poer armor. "Most of these are anti-organic weapons that won't do anything to a machine. The rest are energy weapons that aren't better than anything I've got. Somehow, I don't think emotional manipulation is likely to work on HK-47 anyway." An idea pops into his head, "At least... not like this." He doesn't speak of it further for now, though. Now? Staren will begin with analyzing the already-provided data from Santa Droid, then move onto other droids when he's gotten everything. Others are free to attempt interrogations if they think it's a good idea...
Kyra Hyral	Kyra finds herself with a sick sort of appreciation for the design of the KH. The compact nature, weapon loadout, and variety in projectiles was admirable. Being a droid, it could switch between weapon types easily and change out ammo with little time, whereas she herself needed to spend precious moments selecting the needed darts from her bandoilers. Maybe there was a design she could crib from these-a rotating drum of some kind, a little like a revolver, perhaps with similar minaturized darts. "Maybe his mixtures are more potent and that's how he gets away with smaller darts..." Kyra theorizes, fascinated. "Oh, yes, I agree, let's remove the self destruct first. Staren, if you would do the honors on that?" Kyra actually backs away. Engineering is not her specialty-other science is. "I don't think the HKs are programmed to react psychologically to anything. Given how good they are at evoking those kind of resposes in other lifeforms, I doubt they'd give them such a weakness."
HK-47	The rouge-turned-Jedi gives a half-chuckle at Toph's response, instantly reminded of a certain former bounty-hunter with an abundance of no-nonsense attitude, figuring the two would probably get along great. "Well, far be it from me to tell someone how they spend their holidays. I mean, I spend mine trying not to fall asleep meditating, so there's that." He then sighs as he gets right to the point "Anyway, I'm Atton - Atton Rand. And none of that 'Master' stuff, please - I hate titles. As for the Miraluka, I guess you're talking about 'Flowers', right?" His expression, though Toph can't see it, is decidedly both impressed and grim. "She's a tough old bird. She's awake, but still in recovery. A lot of her injuries were pretty bad, which tends to be the case when you survive a speeder-crash, but the worst was her left arm - or what's left of it since it was amputated at the elbow during her fight. Add to that the burns, and then getting a neural-scrambler shot into her on the back of a concussion and she was out of it for some time. Still, she's alive and, yes, she's awake now, so that's something." Atton's frank run-down of the situation might be called blunt, but he figures the group has a right to know what happened. And likewise, it should be obvious who Atton speaks of with his next west - "I take it that ol' rusty's given you people a lot of trouble lately?" The central chassis of the torso is rather durable due to the need for protecting the internal components, the bodies lined with reinforced durasteel. Opening them out will be a bit difficult, though removing the detonation sticks - small devices tied to the core-frames - isn't grossly difficult, though it would be best to remove them carefully in case of any trip-up systems - and they do in fact have a small trip-fiber that might cause a detonation. Though with the cores either removed or shut off, the resulting explosion wouldn't be strong enough to do anything but wreck the internal components of the droid - though that in and of itself would be a concern. When Yuna makes her comment, Atton actually quips up here - "Can't imagine he would, considering he's already had that little adventure. There was actually another /wonderful/ little batch of droids, the HK-50s. Rusty went after them and actually took down their entire central factory all on his own. They wanted to kill every organic in the galaxy and rule the universe back then, and the only reason their grandpa was /any/ easier to live with was because he didn't want everybody dead since that would mean he'd be out of a job" Atton replies, shrugging. "Guess even crazy droids have standards." In this, Atton has also hinted to something rather disturbing in saying HK was easier to /live/ with.
HK-47	Upon Staren's overlooking of the 'Santa-droid', preliminary data seems to simply be a log of some sort - possibly locations pertaining to Gotham City. The report will also note the 'cash-box' the HK had carried was a DNA/Fingerprint-scanner that had been systemically logging each and every individual in the city; likely the kickstart for a comprehensive database of inhabitants from which to begin a search for Batman. Of course, that data's been redacted - likely by Batman himself to protect his identity. However, it would be a good starter to see how the HK's conduct their searches when seeking out unidentified targets. Likewise, the darts and internalized weapons, once one actually starts looking into them, seem to contain very potent cocktails. The incendiary darts are little more then stronger-then-average firecrackers compared to the flamethrower, but the darts... the poison inside isn't cyanogen or an earth-familiar cyanide. It actually looks closer to... a fruit-juice of some form. Possibly a concentrate of some lethal plant-fiber. This is likely the toxin that nearly killed Kyle Katarn several weeks ago, the poison-dart's shape being strangely abstract and alien compared to the more practical designs of the others. Likewise, the cyanogen-gas tank shows that the gas inside is roughly somewhere between 300-500% concentrate, and has green dye mixed into it, likely to alert allies on the field when the gas is deployed. Potent even when it worked through skin-absorption, and exceedingly lethal when breathed in. The droid certainly seemed to love his poisons.
Yuna Kagurazaka	Yuna spins on her heel to stare at the holo-projection of Atton Rand; the look on her face is most akin to surprised horror. "You know HK-47?!" she asks. She doesn't sound angry, just surprised. She almost adds more right away, but seems to catch herself, taking a couple of seconds to calm down. The horror hasn't entirely gone away, but apparently it isn't filtering out of her gut and into words so easily. "I ... guess he'd need to have a personality somebody organic can get along with, wouldn't he ... otherwise there'd be as many Confederate casualties at his hands as Union, maybe more ..."
Reina Kinney	Reina turns to face the projection also. She's got a stern look on her face as well, and while it's not as fierce as Yuna's was, it's still not exactly a happy one either. "So, what can you tell us about HK-47?" The question is asked almost instinctively, as if Reina expects this person to know something about HK-47 without even thinking it over. She folds her arms and narrows an eye as if she's starting to get a little on the impatient side.
Toph Beifong	The others should know Toph well enough by now, fully aware that she's used to being underestimated due to her age, small stature and her gender. If this wasn't such a serious situation she might snark back at the Jedi, but no. Not today. "I hate crud and unnecessary formalities myself, so that works out just fine for me." She nods in response to his question, it's indeed 'Flowers' she is referring to. And to hear just how Jayale is doing, now that makes Toph's expression harden, and she swallows. She lost her left arm... "That rust bucket has tried to kill several of us Unionites," she begins with a serious expression on her face. "He nearly killed my mom too, so it's gotten real personal." The fact that Yuna seems surprised makes Toph turn her head just slightly. "Hey, that rust bucket does get around. It's not weird that people know of him..." Damn thing. Toph lets out a sigh. "Tell Flowers that we're working on dealing with HK-47... and wish her a merry Christmas from me. Her present is waiting for her at Njorun when she gets back. If she can accept visitors sometime soon, let us know." With that Toph turns away from the holocommunicator, walking over to the others who are dealing with the droids. "Need me to bend anything?" she asks, wishing for something else to think about besides Jayale's current state.
Staren	"Hmmm." Staren mentally files this information on searching away. He'll think about it later, see if there might be a way to either confuse and frustrate the search method, or identify a hidden HK unit through its use. The poisons... are not his field. He'll relay the basic information, but he's not especially interested. He has his own countermeasures, and he doesn't really use poison, since in general if there was a chance to use poison, there was also a chance to just hit them with a /lot/ of force, the that works on all kinds of beings, not just beings with earth-like biochemistry. Staren gives Yuna a curious look. "He must have friends in the Confederacy, right? And Revan built him. I talked to the HK-47 that was in the Union over the radio, though we never met." Staren looks over the remaining HK units and takes a deep breath. On an impulse, he pockets one of the stunners for later analysis, to see if he can figure out a countermeasure. But more immediately pressing is the data search. After thinking for a minute or so, Staren goes back and actually attempts to hack into santa-droid's memory core himself (he was using Batman's copy of the data), just for practice. However that goes, his next try is on the previously-interrogated droid -- if he screws up from lack of experience, better to learn on the droid that they've already got /some/ info out of, right?
Kyra Hyral	Once the darts have been broken into, Kyra carefully collects them all into a lead box, which can be carefully sealed to prevent leakage. As she examines the darts, she's able to tell what is what-an incendiary dart is easily recognized, seeing as Kyra uses them herself. She's also familiar with the cyanogen already since Batman shared the samples and developed antitoxin with her. But the poison... "Hm, this must be what was used on Kyle." she says, carefully examining the dart, her hands protected by latex gloves. "Interesting. The dart has a completely different design too. A local variety maybe? Excuse me, Toph, Yuna.." she seems to be leaving the freaking out about Atton and his questionable living arrangements to Yuna. Kyra holds up the odd dart to the holo-projector. "Excuse me, but does the design of this dart remind you of anything? I'd say it, and perhaps the poison inside, were perhaps locally manufactured since they don't fit the ammo specs of the HKs. I'm pretty sure the poison inside is plant-based. I can give you a precise chemical analysis in a moment once I run it through your spectrometer." she assumes the lab has one, or something close to it. Mentally, she makes plans to plagarize every single one of these mixtures. Or in the case of the plant poison, figure out where it came from so she can go get her own.
HK-47	Atton's expression seems to become a bit sympathetic when Toph brings up HK's attempts to harm Union members, Toph's mother included. "That's rough, kid. I'm sorry to hear that, though at least it sounds like nobody's died yet." He likewise gives a small chuckle when Toph tells him to wish 'Flowers' a 'Merry Christmas.' "Alright. I, uh, guess that's what passes for Life Day in your... world? I'll tell her you've got her presents waiting for her." However... now would have to come the more serious part. Atton gives a long, weary sigh when finally addressing Yuna, crossing his arms and looking grim. "It's more then just knowing him." He pauses, seeming reluctant this time - a touchy, sad subject most likely - but he figures they deserve to know the truth - their friends were nearly killed by him. "He and I actually used to be allies if you can believe that. Actually, to be honest... someone I knew long ago is actually the reason the damn droid's up and running. Jedi Order was pretty much dead and buried in the wake of a war with Darth Revan - read the history holos to know all you need about her." "We were being chased by the Sith back then - real nasty bunch, and the group Revan's now leading again - and by the HK's 'cousins' the HK-50's, so when our 'fearless leader' found HK-47's wrecked body in the Ebon Hawk - the ship we'd... er, 'repossessed' I guess - she decided that having HK's firepower on hand would help us out." He sighs deeply. "I know it was desperate times, but I personally didn't think it was bad enough that we needed mr. shoot everything that breathes." "But it was her call, so, against the advice of me and just about half of everyone she knew, she put HK back together by tracking down his missing parts or salvaging new ones from the other killer droids and then switched him back on... and not one single day goes by that I don't wish we'd just left him to continue rusting in the cargo hold." Atton sounds a bit more vindictive here, and it shows in his face as well. "I mean, I don't like droids - I've never liked droids - but ol' Rusty took the cake. Bring him into a bar when a firefight starts, the first thing he does is lob a grenade into the dealing tables so that people start running around panicking and getting in the way of the people firing at him. He's trigger-happy, loves to kill people, loves to talk about killing people, and loves thinking of bigger, better ways to kill people." When Kyra brings up the dart, though... Atton pauses, narrowing his eyes curiously as he looks at the dart in her hands. "Looks like some of the darts Mira uses - she's our resident Jedi tracker. They're not locally-manufactured, though - actually, they're pretty abnormal by most standards. They come from some planet near the Rishi Maze - a dwarf-galaxy that orbits ours. Database can probably tell you more if you want."
HK-47	There is indeed a spectrometer in the lab, and once the poison is analyzed, it turns out to be a natural compound - Cryptberries, a poisonous fruit that is extremely lethal to most sentient species. It's natural homeworld is Dahrtag, otherwise known as Necropolis - a graveyard tomb world... disturbingly located in the Core Worlds. A planet where people were buried en-masse from all across the Core. What a fitting place for the droids to harvest poison from. Likewise, the dart actually is more then just unique - it called is a Kyber Dart, there is, in fact, only one place in the known galaxy where they are manufactured; an oceanic planet called 'Kamino'. In other words, the dart is hardly something one just up and purchases at the local markets. Finally, there is Staren's attempt to access the droid's memory, which at first responds adaptively - the lockouts seem to be code-embedded, though it is largely more conventional then what the deeper lock-outs for the behavior core would be. But any missteps cause the data to start auto-deleting. Some of the data isn't severely restricted, though - one thing that is easier to access is a topographical map of Gotham City, seeming to be a soft-scan analysis of addresses for each individual the HK's make a log of and cross-checking it with locations where Batman has been most sighted. Again, the names and addresses that were scanned have been redacted, but it points to the HK's having a decidedly-metodocial hunting process when selecting targets. A strangely stark contrast to the more obvious quickly-planed, forceful smash-and-grab hits HK-47 has carried out against the Union to date. Is this a new modus-operandi... or is the one HK is /currently/ using on the Union the new tactic as opposed to his preferred style? There is further data in the core - a list, it seems, of individuals. However, once accessed, safeties begin tripping up and the information starts erasing itself - though the way the firewalls kick up will likely provide insight in how to approach them next time. It also shows that, if that was in fact a list of what Staren might suspect it to be... then the HK's don't just select targets at random. Someone pre-meditated at least a few of those past targets... and may have planned more.
Toph Beifong	The blind earthbender walks up behind Staren, letting out a snort. "If that thing has any friends then I'm the freaking queen of Ba Sing Se," Toph states sourly, not really bothering to hide her opinion of HK-47. For now she merely observes the others working, ready to assist if it should be needed.
Kyra Hyral	"Oh really? How very interesting. I wonder if this planet happens to have any extremely poisonous local plantlife. Thank you." Kyra moves away to extract the contents of the dart to run it through the spectrometer. While the poison is being analyzed, she sits herself down in a rolling office chair, wheels herself in front of the aforementioned database and starts researching the planets near the Rishi Maze. She also takes a picture of the dart, using it to augment the search to further narrow it down to the correct planet. Kyra's quick to learn that the picture of the dart alone would have quickly got what she was looking for. "Well that's interesting. These darts are Kyber Darts and there /just so happens/ that there's only one planet in the galaxy where you can buy them: Kamino. Sounds like it might be a good candidate for an HK base if you ask me." A cheerful 'bing' tells that the spectometer's analysis has finished. With a shove, Kyra wheels herself back over to the machine. What she sees was definitely a match for what poison she had found in Kyle's system. "Cryptberries? Now that is a very interesting name...what. /What/? There are entire planets that are nothing but tombs in this galaxy? /What/? That's like...but what if a necromancer...like Lezard and..." her speech turns to babbling as she envisions the horror of some sorceror creating a zombie planet with raise dead. "/Ugh/, so put down Dahrtag, also known as the /Necropolis/, down as another potential HK-47 base world." Kyra prints out a copy of the spectrosopy results for later study. With all the darts collected, she closes the box and heads over to peer over Staren's shoulders. "Hey, how goes the hacking?"
Staren	Staren hmphs as Atton goes on about HK's deranged love of killing. Yeah, the Multiverse will definately be better off without that droid... Staren otherwise works quietly, until he trips a safety. "Gah! Damn it!" He's already trying to save any of the list he can, but it may just be too late. However, it stands to reason that if there /is/ a list of general targets that the droids are supposed to persue besides their primary target... Then all of the droids will share it, or at least each will have whatever the list was when they were last programmed. Staren takes a stab at trying to make sense of the programming, to see if maybe he /can/ program the droids to tell him, but soon comes to the conclusion that that will just be more work than directly hacking the memory cores, and if he screws up the reprogrammed droids will no doubt accidentally trigger their own safeties anyway. HK has certainly done a good job of putting obstacles in their path. It was hard enough to obtain these four droids even in this state... Well, on to the one the Autobots interrogated. Staren figures that's a good second target, since, again, at least some information has already been extracted from it by other means.
Yuna Kagurazaka	"... I didn't introduce myself yet, did I?" Yuna smiles wryly. "Yuna Kagurazaka, singer." Clearly more than just a singer, given how she transformed into a sleek, snug-fitting battlesuit like that, but she doesn't elaborate on it. "And we appreciate your help, Mr. Rand." Elner is still mainly assisting Staren and Kyra, if they need it; the robo-faerie can't help with tools, but it can confirm where something is beneath the 'armor' or details like that, and Staren's getting any further details that Elner's sensors pick up from disarming the defunct droids. (There may not be much that Elner can provide that the spectrometer won't, mind you, and it DOES have the 'local universe' data that Elner completely lacks.) Yuna herself can't do a whole lot to help with the investigation at this point, but she's listening to what gets said. "They might need otherwise-uninhabitable worlds to use as graveyards," she notes with a shudder. You could NOT pay her enough to make her visit such a planet, clearly. "Elner, should you try accessing one of those data cores on your own? We'd just need a suitable interface and the right kind of power feed, wouldn't we?" "Unless there's an error-checking routine to query the HK-51's other systems," Elner points out. "We may have multiple data cores to work with but it's still a limited number. If Staren is confident in his skills, I'd sooner entrust him with the task."
Reina Kinney	Reina realizes that she's been a bit too harsh for the time being. She looks to Toph and says, "I think when they say, 'friends,' they mean like accomplices or something of that nature. Because I highly doubt he'd have anyone who would want to be his friend either." She then looks and watches as Yuna introduces herself and decides to take the opportunity to introduce herself as well. "Ensign Reina Kinney, Union Forces and Head Operative of GUARDIANS." The operative takes a moment to flash her dual IDs to indicate her affiliations before putting them back. "So, what's the status with the current technology? Anything we might be able to utilize for our own forces?"
HK-47	Atton gives a nod to Yuna and Reina, agreeing with the latter point - "That was our situation - we tolerated him but there weren't enough credits or juma-juice in the galaxy to make it enjoyable." However, he does rub the back of his head somewhat awkwardly with Yuna's thanks "Uh, sure kid... but you don't have to call me 'Mr. Rand.' I'm not /that/ old." Well, considering he was about 42 by galactic standards for humans, that was something of a lie, but he didn't like advertising that. Likewise, when Kyra brings up the probability of HK being based on these two words, he moves offscreen for a moment to log it down himself - "Not surprised. Even knowing he was Sith-built, he was one sick droid, so my money's on the graveyard world. But just in case, I'll see if I can get the SIS to scout it out first." Meanwhile, in response to Kyra's logging the worlds down, the holomap nearby gains two new blips on it marking the locations of Dhartag/Necropolis and Kamino respectively, a pair of red patches marking down the tangible size and range of planets HK would need to be at in order to have a presence at. Each is a few lightyears with some neighboring systems flagged as well in case HK only set up shop near the system instead of in it. Still, it's a start. When bringing up the matter of weapons that would affect HK, Atton sighs. "Well, he's tough enough to stand up to lightsabers, and that's not counting that he has energy shielding and capacitor-diffusion armor that dampens electrical attacks. Still, he's not invincible - he admitted that he was dismembered by Jedi before, so his joints are probably easier to cut into. But aside from just hammering him 'till he drops, you'd probably know more about weapons that could scrap him then I would - and if you do, I'll gladly take twenty of them."
HK-47	Staren's analysis of the droid the Autobots already interrogated shows that some of it's firewalls have been breached - however, it's own hit-list was deleted... but it's strategy-plan was not. And contained within is an extrapolation of what was to happen should Noble Six's assassination succeeded. Stage One: Acquire and repair Armor of Spartan-B312 for use as disguise. Stage Two: Analyze corpse of Spartan-B312 to derive venom based on SPARTAN-III genome that can reliably overwhelm human immune-systems with a 00.7% margin for survivability among matching genetic codes. Stage Three: Infiltrate UNSC divisions through infiltration as new-age service droids and distribute modified virus through falsified medical check-ups, killing any and all SPARTAN units that have undergone bio-modifications, including the recent SPARTAN-IV Generation. Stage Four: Order an HK unit to ssassinate Arbiter Thel Vadum while wearing the armor of Spartan-B312 to spark war between Covenant forces against UNSC. Stage Five: Use Spartan-B312 armor to assume identity of Spartan-B312 and 'defect' from UNSC. Eradication of SPARTANs + re-igniting of war = termination of UNSC. Stage Six: Unite remaining human fragments under Sith Empire and occupy target reality, swiftly absorbing all human elements into new subsidiary empire for Confederate/Sith interests. ... It's clear that the HK's didn't expect Noble Six to have had allies that day. And it's clear that each attack has a plan... but it still doesn't explain the harsh attacks and lack of methodical planning the HK's have used until now. Was it possible that plans this detailed could really be just feints? Or was it that the HK's simply made sure to have a plan in mind all outcomes, including their brasher, more brazen attacks succeeding? ... However, this may be overshadowed when Staren reviews the list he took from before - at least part of the list survived... though it would have only done them any good months ago, considering half the names have already been targeted since then: Noble Six, Toph Beifong, Han Solo, Kyle Katarn and Twilight Sparkle. However... disconcertingly, there where four names that are /not/ among the list of those who were attacked. Targets on the hit-list that the droids were intending to hit in the /future/. Ryuko Matoi... Yuna Kagurazaka... Raditz... and finally, Juno Eclipse.
Staren	Staren comments, overhearing Atton, "Sounds like our best bet is RAISER weapons or defense-piercing protoabstractum. At least that's what I'd try. Hmm..." He stops and thinks for a moment, then resumes his work. When he finds the plan to eliminate all the Spartans, he says, "Holy shit. This was thorough... The plan wasn't just to kill Noble Six, but to use her armor as a disguise, analyze her body to develop a virus to use against /all/ the Spartans, and then use the disguise to start a civil war so the Confederacy can swoop in and conquer the pieces." He goes on, to find... The List. He gasps, then... "Yuna, you're on the hit-list! And so are Raditz, and Ryuko, and Juno..." He hrms to himself and rubs his forehead. He notifies the Union immediately, of course. Now, on to those last two droids... The one from the attack on Kyle, and the one from the attack on Twilight. He should probably do that one last, since finding out whatever HK's sick plan was for /her/ -- probably using her to unleash some kind of magic plague on Equestria or something -- might make him so angry as to disrupt his concentration.
Kyra Hyral	Kyra's going to get copies of the data from the database on possibilities of other planets near the two that HK may be located upon. "Oh hey, thanks, that will be very helpful." she says to both Atton and the not so animate database. She'll be sure to share thiis with whoever decides to make a write-up on their findings. "...Juno's on the list? I'm...not so surprised, actually. They've had problems with each other in the past. I'll have to let her know." Inwardly, the lack of herself on that list was reassuring, though she doesn't do anything as callous as to say it out loud.
Yuna Kagurazaka	"If you insist, Atton," Yuna says with a smile and a polite, Japanese-style bow to the hologram. She thinks he's old enough to call 'Mr. Rand,' but since he seems not to take well to it, who is she to argue? 'Yuna, you're on the hit-list!' That derails Yuna's train of thought rather tidily. "I - what?" Yuna turns to look at Staren; Elner is hovering next to Staren to look at the list for itself. "I've only fought HK-47 once, and that was more like 'interrupting another fight' than ..." "That doesn't make you any less of a target, Yuna," Elner states. "You're a publicly-recognized figure - an idol singer, as you stated, and one who's known across much of this part of the Multiverse. I believe Mr. Ishikawa's desire for you to stay safe, even at the cost of cancelling public appearances and concerts, is increasingly well-advised." "Wha- Elner, you CAN'T be serious! I'm not going to go into hiding just because some bolt-brained bucket-headed robot is aiming for me!" "You should." Elner flies over to hover about two feet in front of Yuna's face, right at her eye level. "Your Light Suit is designed to protect your life and health, but it does have limits, limits which you've encountered in the past. And it won't do anything to protect your fans." Elner glances briefly at Atton's hologram. "I presume that HK-47 would have no compunctions about killing members of a concert audience, or fans in line for an autograph, if doing so would make Yuna more vulnerable physically or emotionally. More likely, it would do so explicitly for that very purpose - to hurt you, to make you angry." The robo-faerie barely hesitates before adding, "You should cancel the Christmas Eve concert." "WHAT?!?" Yuna stares at Elner, her face pale. "But there's a truce - not even HK-47 is going to break that just to take a cheap shot at me or my fans!" Elner's reply is as calm as Yuna's claim is fervent: "How many lives are you willing to stake on that?"
Reina Kinney	At first, Reina is merely reporting the information to GUARDIANS until the mention of Yuna is heard, and Reina does a double-take. "YUNA is being targeted?!" She looks around and then stares at Elner and Yuna. "In the middle of a falzing truce?" She sighs and rolls her eyes around. "That HK-whatever goon must not believe in truces or whatever!" She narrows her eyes and scowls. "He'd better not do it though, or else they're gonna be picking him out of a scrap pile after I get done with him!"
Staren	Staren looks... slightly surprised at Yuna's reaction. "Noone said you need to go into hiding. However, making sure you have elite protection might be a good idea. And," Staren shakes his head, "I don't believe HK-47 would break the truce. Bringing /both/ superfactions down on his head would only make it harder for him to continue killing organics. It's much more sensible to wait until the end of the truce. However..." Staren rubs his chin, "once the truce is over, canceling public appearances... well, I don't know if I'd go that far, unless you don't usually take precautions... has the thought that an elite might attack one of your concerts never come up before?" Staren sighs as Reina seems to now be /assuming/ HK will break the truce. He facepalms. "We have no evidence that he's going to break the truce. Remember, these droids were dispatched long before the truce was established. Their orders are out of date."
HK-47	Atton looks somewhat relieved when Yuna agrees to drop the 'Mr'. He also pauses as he listens to Staren, tilting his head. "Well, I'm not quite sure what those are, but if they'll punch Rusty's ticket to the scrap-heap then sure." Finally, he gives a nod to Kyra - "I'll also have the SIS scout out the nearby systems. If they find anything - or if they just happen to vanish - I'll call it in. I've got a score to settle with that walking scrap-pile myself, after all." When Yuna is revealed to be one of HK's prospective targets, Atton grimaces and crosses his arms. After a moment of thinking, he sighs. "Well... if there's a truce going on, he probably won't come after you. He's crazy but he's not stupid - if both Union and Confederacy are upholding this truce, I doubt he'd do anything to turn his allies against him. Still, better safe then sorry - like your friend said, he doesn't really like truces." Meanwhile, After having seen the description keys for the memory banks of the other HK, these next two are progressively easier to exterminate... and the one Yang cored has a /very/ unexpected boon. Because it was terminated believing Kyle Katarn had been terminated by HK-47's poison... the hit list on this one is /intact./ It's memory-banks, now that Staren can get a good look at them, are programmed to lock down the target lists until after a target is killed - or until the HK unit believes so at least. ... and once that list is accessed, the first terrifying thing is the /size/. Noble Six - (1 Attempt Made; FAILURE) Toph Beifong - (1 Attempt Made; FAILURE) Han Solo - (1 Attempt Made; FAILURE) Twilight Sparkle - (1 Attempt Made; FAILURE) Kyle Katarn - (1 Attempt Made; SUCCESS) Emiya Shirou - (Assassination Pending) Steve Rogers - (No Current Assassination Pending) Veronica Potts - (Assassination Pending) Saber-Class Servant Arturia Pendragon - (No Current Assassination Pending) Psyber - (No Current Assassination Pending) Kimberly Hart - (No Current Assassination Pending) Pegasus - (Encountered - No Current Assassination Pending) Raditz - (Assassination Pending) Serenity - (No Current Assassination Pending) Yuri Stinson - (Assassination Pending) Franken Stine - (LOCATION UNKNOWN - Capture for dissection) Sarah Rodgers - (No Current Assassination Pending) Unidentified Alternate-reality Ebon Hawk Pilot - (Capture at all costs) Galen Marek - (Capture at all costs for improved relations with Galactic Empire) Juno Eclipse - (Capture for improved relations with Sith Empire) Miraluka 'Flowers' - (Assassination Pending) Tomoe - (No Current Assassination Pending) Blurr - (Encountered - Assassination Pending) Ryuko Matoi - (No Current Assassination Pending) Rebecca Chambers - (No Current Assassination Pending) Yuna Kagurazaka - (Assassination Pending) ... This goes far beyond simple selective process - this is pretty much everyone HK-47 has met that he didn't like or who fought him. Some of these like Franken Stine or Han Solo are either not known members of the Union or affiliated with it at all. This is practically a war-path.
HK-47	The plans the HK-51's had for their respective targets is no less grim, starting with Kyle. Stage One: Eliminate Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors - assume identity through voice-mimicry protocols. Stage Two: Using Kyle Katarn & Jan Ors' identity, lead the New Republic to a Jedi Storehouse pre-filled with HK-51 units with claim of being Jedi Training Droids. Infiltrate New Republic and Jedi Order using knowledge of Jedi & Sith teachings to integrate. Stage Three: Subtly introduce susceptible new generations of Jedi to Sith teachings for conversion to Sith ideology. Stage Four: Gather vocal samples of all noteworthy individuals in Jedi Order and New Republic, then systemically assassinate and replace trouble individuals when needed or necessary. Stage Five: Put any and all fallen Jedi into contact with Confederacy - stage controlled self-destruction of Jedi Order. Final Stage - Engineer collapse of fragile New Republic infrastructure. New Republic estimated time to collapse after the dissolution of the Jedi Order = six months. Establish new ruling body among remaining factions for Confederate/Sith interests. And then... there was the plan for Twilight. And it is here that the droid's willingness to commit atrocity takes a new level. Stage One: Eliminate Twilight Sparkle and recover cadaver for analysis in efficient termination of Equestrians. Stage Two: Have Necromancer Lezard Valeth re-animate as resurrected corpse so as to continue interrogating after target expression. Begin mental restructuring through psychological assassination of mental faculties through refined and gratuitous torture, interrogation and mind-affecting techniques both scientific and mystical. Stage Three: Use reanimated Twilight Sparkle to draw out remaining five bearers of 'Elements of Harmony' - Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack & Pinkie Pie. Eliminate and reanimate all cadavers. 5t Staren might need to pause here to subdue any anger at HK's plan. Stage Four: Corrupt or destroy 'Elements of Harmony' - consult mage-entities for assistance. Sow chaos among Equestria. Stage Five: Integrate HK-51 units as peacekeeping entities in resulting chaos following corruption or destruction of 'Elements of Harmony.' Destroy mental faculties of of the six bearers and send them against Equestria as enemies to destroy faith in leadership of Princess' Celestia & Luna. Final Stage: After establishing HK-51 units as peacekeeping units, depose of Princess' Celestia & Luna through inflamed rebellion against failing leadership and failure to prevent chaos. Will recommend establishing Confederate-Affiliated Equestrians Ebon Ribbon & Bramble Patch as new leaders and assimilate Equestria into Confederate/Sith control. Will recommend establishing Lezard Valeth as official Confederate liaison and representative as payment for necromancy abilities making plot possible. ... It's getting worse. By all accounts, HK-47 is now integrating the abilities of other Confederates into long-term plans in the event of success, vastly broadening the scope of what he could achieve. Perhaps the grandioseness of the attacks was meant to disguise and hide focus on what came after... and yet, these strategies are so extensive that it seems unlikely that HK-47 would devote so much time and effort to creating advantage-taking contingencies for every single one even before the success of the attack was confirmed. HK-47 is an assassin droid... but these plans are more like military conquest. ... And there /is/ a power behind HK-47 that would be interested in such a venture.
Yuna Kagurazaka	"The 'thought' has never come up," Elner answers Staren, with Yuna caught in between shock and outrage. "Her concerts have been interrupted before, though, even before Unification and on at least one occasion since. Admittedly, none of those interruptions were a direct attempt on Yuna's actual life." Yuna takes a deep breath, trying to clear her head (again). "The -51s had better have been programmed to respect the truce," she mutters, then speaks normally. "I'm not worried about security at the stadium; when Ayako shut down the holofield, we knew she was in the building, right? And these HK droids are even more obviously machines than Yuri or Ayako, and way below your tech, Jiina's, or her sisters', Elner. We do a full sweep of the stadium during set-up, make sure each entrance has a scanner to confirm who's human and who's mechanical, and pay closer attention to cybernetic types. It's too late to just cancel my biggest concert of the year, anyway - I'm going on-stage tomorrow night." If Elner's face could show expression, it's likely that the robo-faerie would simply look resigned at this point. Atton's statement that HK-47 will probably refrain from attacking in mid-truce does help defuse some concern on that front. Then the other files are accessed and decrypted: the full list of targets, and the assassination plans and subsequent plots ... It's probably just as well that Elner doesn't share that information with Yuna, at least not here or now. She's compassionate even towards her enemies ... but she's still a human girl, her compassion has its limits, and the assassin droid is swiftly placing itself on the wrong side of those limits. Add in the upcoming concert, and it's just as well to keep Yuna out of that particular loop; she doesn't sing nearly as well when she's enraged ...
Staren	As Staren goes down the list, he doesn't recognize some names, and he actually /laughs/ at the idea of HK trying to assassinate /Yuri/. He looks more solemn at some of the others, though. One of those evn sounds like a powerless relative of Pepper... The plan for the Jedi Order is imrpessive. It's not really shocking, after seeing the plan for the UNSC. Using Speak With Dead on Twilight he can understand. But everything else... Outwardly, Staren mutters, 'Monster.' and his knuckles whiten as he grips the table he's working at. Inwardly... Never before has he felt so justified in imagining all the things he could do to HK if he got ahold of that droid's mind. After a few long moments, that line of thinking passes. He only needs to kill HK. Torture provides no additional utility, although psychological warfare to weaken and subdue the droid to make him /easier/ to exterminate may still be useful. And Staren already had an idea. He's filed HK in the 'monster beyond redemption' box in his mind, though. Staren reads further, though he's beginning to skim at this point. "He just wants to destroy everyone..." Staren shakes his head slightly. "There's no understanding it. He's gotta be destroyed, like any other monster." Staren looks at Yuna with an expression that says 'Oh, are you still going on about that?' "His plans are too big to risk on breaking the truce. If anything, this pattern of planning to corrupt or kill everything in the Multiverse shows that he's /less/ likely to attack your Christmas concert. I'm sure you'll be fine..."
HK-47	As the information contained in the dead HK's is discriminated and analyzed by the Union, Atton in turn sighs. "Well, if Rusty's going dormant for the holiday truce, it gives everyone some breathing room. SIS should have some information about Necropolis and Kamino by the time the truce ends... or at least cross out the possibilities if he's not there." Atton seems a bit contemplative at Staren's words, looking like he agrees. "Yeah, though I wouldn't be surprised if Revan had a hand in this. War was pretty much her thing, after all. Still, doesn't change the fact that the galaxy and this 'multiverse' would be better off if he were put on the scrap-heap for good." With the most valuable information recovered, and at least two possible locations for HK-47's location, the group's efforts have effectively paid off... and as they leave, Atton decides he may as well give them the typical send-off of a Jedi, albeit mixed in with his own brand of snark; "I'd wish you luck, but I've been told Jedi don't believe in that... so instead, I'll say something I never thought I'd say. Thus, Atton gives a mock-salute with his typical smirk as the signal ends on his parting words - "May the Force be with you."