A Matter of Rational Security

[Chairdor]

Media was an odd choice for a concert, Hiro calculated, but that wasn't his job this day as Tiss'shar workers and all manner of businessmen and women moved backstage in a hectic frenzy of purpose, the droid had a very specific purpose and while it mattered little to the betterment of a vast and infinite universe, this job if done right would at least provide smiles and a fun evening for an intimate gathering. Freddie Venus, a big shot singer who grew up on this humble little world, had fame fortune and all the deadly enemies that came with them. So it became a necessity to hire out a pair of trustworthy and armed goons to ensure that his head stayed attached, a rather necessary part of singing.

On this night, Hiro was to be that goon and if he read the file right his partner was to be a female named Laylah, a Falleen, Hiro had never met a Falleen, but he figured if they could shoot straight they were worth meeting. Before he met his partner for the night however, the droid found it important to check on his charge. Knocking lightly on the door to Freddie's dressing room, a large star proclaiming the singer's ownership of the space Hiro called in,

"Howdy sir, just checkin in on ya,"

"Sure thing sure thing daddy bling, you're worse than my ex checkin in on me, and she had six eyes,"

"How many lips did she have?"

That elicited a laugh from behind the door and the door opened allowing the bot to step in. The droid shut the door swiftly as steam held inside was rapidly escaping, a prep technique of vital importance for the performer Hiro knew, he knew that specifically because it had been recited to him sixteen times before he arrived on Media and countless times after. Inside the steamy room, Freddie lay on a large mattress, two small fruits on his eyes and one in his mouth. As he swallowed the bit he spoke again, "You're alright tin man, but you worry too much,"

"It's my job to worry sir,"

"First off, don't ya call me sir, sir was my father or woulda been if he hadna been a dead beat beluga, call me Venus. Secondly it's my job to sing so let me sing you a little tune called, I'll be fine get da kriff outta here,"

The singer began to sing his final words in varying tones and Hiro backed out tipping his hat. After multiple encounters with the famous man he figured out his natural edge was merely for humor and had no malice in it. As the droid concluded his check up he nearly bumped into a fidgety Tiss'shar who hissed in response until he recognized the receiver of this gesture was the only guy with a gun. Backing off slightly he muttered an apology and rushed to Freddie's room,

"Five minutes to sound check sir,"

"For the last time call me Ven- Oh wait it's you Bading, yeah now you call me sir you slitherin gamook,"

Hiro noted the reptilian fellow noticeably prickle at this, but his tone was one of normality as he continued,

"Also we still haven't got your set list,"

"Ack you amateurs don't believe in the beauty of art, nothing is set in stone my friend, including what I sing,"

Bading shook his head at this and walked past Hiro muttering a few complaints. After this exchange the droid figured it would be important to scope out the stage area. As he walked out, he noted the large open windows on every wall. They would be closed with curtains so they would basically be covered. What the droid worried about was the sun roof, or in this case, Moon roof. This theatre was unique in that it was lit entirely by natural light, while it was an interesting stylistic choice, it was a nightmare for hired guards like Hiro. Checking its various angles, Hiro knew then he'd have to head up there to ensure it was safe during the performance. But he couldn't do that till he met this Laylah.

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

Laylah​

Media. What a rotten planet she'd been assigned to. It looked humble on the outside, but the inside was filled to the brim with nobodies, passerby losers, and hopefuls without a dream in the world except to work at the local cannery. It was pathetic. Just like home. She did her best not to scowl at the locals as one or two smiled at her, while a few others gave her a curious--if not suggestive--look over, because even in her fully-equipped Thrawn-Era body-armor, she was still a woman. A curvacious one at that, and the way she walked never hindered such thoughts ether. Really, the walk wasn't about showing off, one foot in front of the other and all. It was really about balance, the proper placement of weight upon the linoleum floor beneath her boots. It was solid ground. Fighting ground. She continued walking too, even noting the apparent wide berth given above to the natural light that so readily bathed this little industrial world. Perfect for snipers. Any Bounty Hunter and criminal assassin wouldn't miss such an opportunity. The smart ones would avoid it, but word of mouth was they weren't expecting smart ones. As she eyed the ceiling above, she nearly ran over her contact. A droid named Hiro was expected to have shown up and her firm referred to it as a 'capable mercenary and bodyguard'. What she expected was a protocol droid with large bug-eyes, similar to the modern-galactic assassin-droid designs. This wasn't that, or anything like it, at all. Giving him a quiet look over and tilting her head, she had to be sure... "You surely cannot be Hiro?" She said, one brow arched as her shimmering-green eyes looked over every odd nook and cranny his body possessed. It was like someone rolled him up with sticky-tape, a hand-held welder, and a bin full of child's toys in the middle of a littered hangar bay. Regardless of the response he gave, she offered a nod. "Well then, let's get set up. I'm not here for pleasantries, I'm here for the job and there's a big red target painted on our client's back. I take it you noticed the glaring flaw in the ceiling?" She adjusted herself a little, the large blaster making a slight rattle against her armored hip, with the strap of the large carbine on her back being moved along her breast plate to get a bit more comfortable... She'd been holding these things for nearly 13 hours on her trip here.

 

[Chairdor]

As Hiro looked on out the window, long past the point he needed to acquire it's possible weaknesses, he began to see the designers intent in using the window. All around the room there was no artificial lighting for the stage, everything used mirrors to redirect natural light for whatever purpose the performance required. For a moment the droid reflected on that, what exactly made natural light any better than it's artificial counterpart? Both lights had the same purpose, they shooed away the darkness, created the perpetual illusions of color and shape, in fact artificial light had one distinct advantage, it didn't have to be manipulated. It could simply be turned off. At that thought Hiro realized why the designer selected natural light. Natural light was alive as were the singers and artists. They didn't come on at the flick of a switch, they burned bright for all time until they burnt out in a super nova, a grand finale the universe would never forget.

Amidst these calculations and thoughts, Hiro turned to see his Falleen comrade, Laylah. Or at least he assumed as such as the emerald people weren't all too common on this little world. When she asked who he was with a tinge of disbelief in her voice he responded kindly,

"I could be Hiro pardner, and don't call me Shirley,"

Laylah seemed to be sizing Hiro up so he did in kind, she was well armed and armored assuredly, though the way she shifted and moved it was apparent the comfort didn't weigh too heavily into her outfit choices. This was a darn shame because despite the persistent scowl crossing her face, she seemed to have the capability of looking quite lovely with a smile, but in the end what did Hiro know, he wore a mask to hide his face from the galaxy. As Laylah mentioned the ceiling Hiro nodded and pointed up,

"Any nerf herder with a rock could harm our fella from up there, I was waitin for you to talk bout our plan. I reckon one of us should head up there to ensure theres no shenanigan's while the other can stay backstage to make sure nobody sneaks up on Freddie,"

Noting Laylah's continual shifting, he checked the time on the planet and noted they had thirty minutes to curtain,

"Hey Laylah you look plum tired from your trip over here and we got time to spare, you wanna take a load off and meet the guy wer protectin toni-?"

Just as he was about to finish the question the boisterous Freddie Venus bounded onto the stage,

"Who's meetin the new guy big ca- well well well," Freddie slicked back his hair and became the second person tonight to give Laylah a once over, for less than tactical reasons, "And here I was thinking Media didn't have a gal worth a second look but you-" Freddie looked back and forth to the backstage then back at Laylah twice, "-Just got three, Name's Freddie, Freddie Venus, you've probably heard of me, but mon coeur what is your name?" as he said this he leaned over to kiss her hand.

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

Laylah​

She was about to insist they didn't have the time to meet the host of tonight's events when Venus himself showed up like an alley cat looking for a fix. When he started to talk--with a compliment towards her features no less--she nearly rolled her eyes. Instead, however, she furrowed her brow and the scowl further darkened her features. "Freddie Venus," she repeated his name with a hint of ire. "I have to apologize, because I don't recognize the name. I assume you've sung a song for a casino or two in the past considering your reputation amongst the less reputable faces in the galaxy. Sleep with a mob bosses' wife and run off, did we?" She assumed with almost a hint of a smile. She didn't like the famous types, they were generally not much better than the common crook who sneaked about with a shiv in the dark. She gave him a moment to respond before hefting the rifle off her back and suddenly looking a hint less tired than she'd been a moment ago. "If you don't mind, Mister Venus. I'm going to have to cut this cute little chat short in favor of keeping a blaster bolt out of your chest. I have a job to do and your life is literally on the line." With that, she turned her gaze to Hiro with almost a sigh. Hiro seemed to be the only one that wasn't trying to imagine her naked. Probably because he was a droid. Could droids imagine people naked? She didn't know, nor did she want to find out. "I'd like to think you'd blend in better in close quarters than I," she started, her gaze turning away to spy the curtains behind them that hid the backstage wall. "If I move now, I can make it to the tower on the south-end I saw. Set up a proper perimeter and clip any suspicious figures that get on the roof. I'll setup a suppressor field up to throw the sound so it doesn't interfere with the show if I spot anyone. I've already talked Ev-Vi into watching the North-East as well." Ev-Vi being her S19 Astromech droid, she would explain if he asked. "Though I'm not sure how well the suppressor will work if you decide to use those antiquated slug-throwers of yours. If they can fire at all." She didn't even bat an eye at the (possibly unintended) insult she delivered. An honest mouth with an honest mind, she had.

 

[Chairdor]

If droids could blush Hiro just might when Laylah laid into the flirtatious singer. As she spoke about his nature, his career, and possible past acts, he leaned back and took off his hat, suddenly quite interested in whether or not it had any stains. As Hiro backed off, Freddie leaned in, never spoken to like that before, and while one would expect anger to be his response, his smile only widened. As Bading attempted to shake Freddie out of his admiration for the Falleen he merely put up his hand to the suited reptilian before responding to Laylahs many criticisms,

"Girl, you in Venus's orbit now..." Freddie leaned in close before continuing, "And Venus is the god of love if you know what I'm sayin," the last word a shrill spike as he spun off and began one of the many dance routines he knew. Lost in the beat he ignored his two guards as they waxed strategic.

"I'd agree more or less," Hiro replied when she said he'd do best on the ground floor, funny, Hiro never assumed he'd ever fit in anywhere better than a living being, but Laylah was proving herself an exception and as she laid out her plain for the singer's defense, her exceptional nature continued to grow. As she listed off her plan to use the old tower and her astromech as a cover for the one blind spot they left, Hiro nodded in agreement his hand gripping the bottom leather of his mask, stroking it slowly as he computed his own part in the plan. He looked down at the 'antiques' she reffered to and responded,

"I like to refer to them as classics," before spinning one lightly in his hand, "And if the night goes as planned, they won't be fired at all."

Before the two could continue to speak the stage was rushed by background dancers as Freddie fell into a rendition of his most popular tune, a song even Hiro could remember bobbing lightly to on long voyages among other passengers. as the dancers came on stage, two mistook the droid for the cowboy stand in they had hired when the other had ODED on death sticks, ironically enough the replacement had also overdosed that morning. So Hiro was left to be dragged on stage. While he tried to turn to Laylah for any last minute advice or strategy, he was roughly pulled back in line with the synchronized dancing.

As a Droid Hiro was capable of many things, languages, gun fighting, telling of jokes, but in his many maintenance checks he had only installed one dance program. So utilizing that Hiro began to do the 'Robot' as so many life-forms called it, in truth Hiro never did any of these movements in his daily life and found the label racist. As he began to dance, Freddie spied the familiar Hiro and whooped doing the robot perfectly in sync the droid and slowly the other dancers began to do the same. At the end of the song, Hiro hardly expected Laylah to be there as Freddie hugged the droid and shouted,

"You gotta do that in the shoooooow!"

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

Laylah​

Laylah only gave Hiro a helpless shrug of her own as he got caught and was promptly dragged onto stage by the crew, and when she turned her back to begin preparations, she barely managed to hear the beginning of a song that had grown particularly popular in the slums of Coruscant. When she finally reached the exit at the end of the all--past the two security guards who gave a her a firm nod, with hints of a look over--all she could hear was a distance drum of sound that occasionally poured into the night air from the hole in the ceiling above. She took a moment to soak in the cool night air despite the mission at hand, then glanced to her left to spy Ev-Vi moving into position at the south end of the building. She offered a nod, and the droid snorted in retort--obviously displeased at being there, the stubborn bantha--but she simply laughed it off and started moving her way towards the northern-most-corner of the perimeter she'd setup. Soon enough, she found herself at the base of the tower just across the street from the north-east corner, her eyes glancing up towards the cap of the 12 story structure and the ladder that lead up it's backside in shadow. At the very peak, she could have sworn she'd seen movement. Another guard perhaps? A civilian simply looking in to get on the show? Neither of those were likely scenarios in her mind. So with a sigh, she steadily started her way up the ladder, careful to keep the heavy footfalls of her boots to a minimum with each step she took. When she finally reached the top, expecting the worse, she got less... a Rodian was currently setting up a high-end camera; something you'd usually see spying on people, to stream feeds of the live show to the holo-net. Without authorization at that. Slowly, she loomed behind him, giving the Rodian a few moments for that nervous itch to set in like someone might be watching him. When he turned around, his little whispered cry of surprise nearly had her smiling. "P-P-Please don't hurt me!" He'd stammer in his alien tongue, before she responded... "Get down." He never argued, and quickly packing up his things in a panicked frenzy, immediately got onto that ladder and slid all the way down until he was free and running back wherever he might have come from. With a satisfied smirk, she began to set up her equipment, resting the barrel of her carbine against the ledge with her right hand palming the grip. Her finger was off the trigger of course, every good marksman knew to put it to rest just over the guard for easy access while avoiding accidents. With a finger to her ear, she touched the communications receiver tucked at the edge of her lobe. "I take it you don't see anything suspicious, Ev-Vi?" She asked with a mild-mannered tone. The Droid beeped and booped in reply. "I don't think groupies are the kind of assassins we're looking-" She stopped short, spying a shadow slipping around the front of the building, and another on the opposite rooftop of a low-rise building, just before it quietly leaped onto the roof of auditorium...

 

[Chairdor]

As Hiro descended the stage with a series of pats from Freddie's dancers he looked around and noted his comrade had taken her post. This was good as the show was going to begin very soon. As he descended into the hectic backstage environment, the droid almost envied his partner who while being in the cold and possibly wet of the night, would at least have a clean shot if anyone used that spot to make their move. Here Hiro's major job would be as keeper of the peace and if need be as a bouncer. As he moved to the far corner of the room where several exits and entrances were found. He began to scan the room for any heat signatures denoting handling of bomb materials. At first the droid was surprised to find most of the staff apparently had such material on their hands, then he heard a loud bang.

Rushing the stage, Hiro was relieved to find Freddie unharmed and in fact leaping in joy as glitter trailed into the area where the audience would be. Doing a 360 then moonwalking back toward the droid and looked over with a smirk,

"Sorry Hiro baby just checking out the sweet kaboom we got in store for our fiNALE" again his voice cracking near the end in a shrill so high Hiro's sensors went slightly off for a moment. Shaking his head the droid realized this was going to be a multifaceted security effort which was hard, because last time Hiro took inventory of his facets, he only had one. Shaking his head once more he went backstage once more and dodged a few men in black shirts he at first assumed were stage workers. Then he remembered the stage workers had been on stage already and whirled around as they rushed at Freddie Venus who screeched. Hiro sprinted after them, tackling them before they could rush the singer. Hiro felt a few pairs of hands on his back violently lift him up only to see Freddie now horrified,

"Hiro baby, you just tackled my family!"

At that moment the droid recognized the writing on the shirts indicating they were all members of the Venus fan club. If droids could blush...

Multifaceted job indeed. Hiro lamented his mistake, but had little time to apologize as the audience began to filter in from the outside, another method of attack of course would be to infiltrate the audience, but Hiro had some hope that the guards outside would spot anyone who brought weapons by using that entrance. With that half hope, half calculation the droid moved backstage once more to do a once over and noted a sudden calm. The lights dimmed behind Hiro as a bit of piano began instantly the audience began to clap as they recognized the tune and the lights fully dimmed, allowing only a single spot light on Freddie as he sang his melancholy tale of failing a female.

Meanwhile embroiled in darkness, Hiro switched to thermal vision looking throughout the lobby for any suspicious behavior, however as the audience began to stand, sit, or sway their heat signatures melded leaving Hiro hard pressed to see anything threatening. Giving up on this tactic he instead moved deeper backstage before bumping in Bading, the suited reptilian. The fellow tried to scurry off but Hiro stopped him,

"What's your hurry partner, anyway I can help?"

As he grabbed the Tiss Hiro's hidden smile dropped when he heard the sudden clunk of a grenade. Looking down at his feet at the flickering device, then up at the horrified looking lizard, the droid instantly kicked the explosive into a nearby janitorial closet and fell to the floor. The explosion racked the backstage, but was mainly hidden by Freddie's performance. As the droid rose to question the traitorous reptile, he found his efforts were for naught as debris from the explosion had split Bading's head clean in two. Throwing the body into the now destroyed closet and closing what was left of the charred door, the droid understood he now had to find what possessed Bading in his attempted assassination. And fast.

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

Laylah​

She picked up on the distinct sound of what might have been a thermal detonator going off behind the scenes, her rifle's optic being adjusted (for the moment) to ignore the unknown individual on the roof to get a better look through the hole in the auditorium. Though she couldn't see anything, she knew better than to mistake such a sound with the thunderous boom of Freddie's cannons. "Hiro, what the hell is going on?" She shouted into her comm, before turning her eyes back to the figure on the roof. A figure that appeared to be Corellian in appearance, and was also building a miniature sniper-rifle. She slowly settled her finger off the guard and onto the trigger, preparing to squeeze--just waiting for the right moment to give her carbine a chance. When the cannons went off again, she squeezed the trigger. An acute 'pew' was heard as the thin blue glowing bolt cracked through the air and made a clean exit on the other side of the Corellian assassin's head. The shadow dropped like a bag of bricks onto the roof, thankfully far enough from the entrance to the moon-roof that no one below would suspect a thing. With a finger clicking the comms on her ear, she gave Ev-Vi a job... Ev-Vi gave a squeal and a gurgle as the little droid burst right through the backdoor, past the alarmed guards and the smoldering closet ahead where Hiro had been just recovering. It beeped, blorped and booped up at him excitedly, telling him about everything that had transpired before seeming to suddenly realize the closet was on fire. With a little rotary eye that extended and wiggled, Ev-Vi gave a cute, surprised whistle at what it was seeing, then began to spew the same excited non-sense into Laylah's ear. "Ev-Vi, relax- No. Ev-Vi take a moment. Tell Hiro we have more company. A lot more company. A cargo speeder just pulled around the side of the building. I count seven armed individuals..." She said, her optic focused on the heavy cargo transport and all of the men--whom were thoroughly armored for rogues and bounty hunters--starting to depart. It seemed like they were planning to charge in through the back, take Freddie and his security from behind. She encouraged Ev-Vi to relay all this information to Hiro and give him a transmitter so the two could talk directly instead of having to wade through easily-excited Droid Squeak. "Hiro, if you have a plan, I'm listening." She said, knowing simply firing from up where she was would make her more of an exposed target without a proper distraction.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro took a moment to evaluate his systems to ensure he was still all there one hundred percent, a common concern among robots. While organics wouldn't see pain as a plus of being alive, it certainly helped when one was trying to determine if they had internal damage or even lost a limb. However his check was cut short by Laylah's loud questioning of what the kriff just happened. Hiro was about to respond when he noticed the grenzied movement backstage. At first he figured the explosion had sent the audience and workers into a frantic tizzy, until he heard the music upstage and heard the rabid cheers of the fans, mostly females, as Freddie ripped into lyrics that would assuredly be the topic of major debate on local holonews, that is if Freddie survived to sing the next chorus.

Hiro clicked his com frequency on and shot a message to Laylah,

"One of the workers back here is workin- well was workin with the killers, he's dead now, but theres a bit of a sitchiation in the-"

Hiro was about to finish when an astro droid came out of the blue beeping like a madman if madmen beeped. amid the garbled binary, the droid recognized his fellow in-organics meaning, he belonged to Laylah who had just killed a sniper on the roof. As he finished the little droid went off to douse the growing fire in the close leaving Hiro to do what he did best. As he was about to move, the astro droid beeped a last bit of information that stopped him in his tracks, seven men were entering the building via the back and Hiro was sure the guards trained to stop sixteen year old girls and armed with batons weren't going to say no to them. Hiro heard Laylah's request for a plan and sort of sighed,

"Well it ain't so much a plan as-"

Hiro heard the distinctive sound of crunching wood as the backdoor collapsed, a woman's scream echoing through the backstage absorbed by the screams of a hundred other women on the other side of the stage. As Freddie sung about blurred lines, Hiro did his best to give his form blurred lines as he rushed as fast as he could to the back entrance, stopping just short as he saw the men approaching the second set of double doors. Acting quickly he threw his smoke grenades toward the door. Smoke began to hiss out of them as the doors burst open sending one grenade flying over the curtain and landing on stage, the audience loved it as the smoky missile created a strange shadow behind the oblivious Freddie Venus.

Meanwhile Hiro produced his Protector slug shooters and spun them once for good measure, his thermal vision giving him a clear picture of his targets as they coughed and waved their arms trying to clear the smoke from their closed eyes. Three would never open their eyes again as hot metal ripped them apart. Hiro was lucky as the performances finale was just beginning, large explosions rounding out to cover his gun blasts. As the men were killed or laid low by the suppressive fire, the few able to run retreated back and attempted a different route. Hiro thought to pursue, but was pulled roughly. Thinking it was an assassin he pointed his gun backwards and heard a high picthed scream, turning around he saw he had inadvertently threatened a stage worker,

"Fred-fre--HE NEEDS YOU ON STAGE" the worker managed before rushing off.

Hiro knew he had to protect Freddie and couldn't afford this detour, so ignoring the worker he was about to pursue his quarry when he heard another scream from the worker and turner to see a Tiss'shar in a business suit sticking the business end of a knife into the workers neck before pointing his gun at the cowboy droid. Ducking down and rushing to the cover of a sound piece, the Tiss fired one shot busting the speaker only causing a massive feedback spike to loop back and hit the speaker he was right next to. Crying in absolute agony, he left himself open for a shot between the eyes via Hiro.

"Four men outside, I'm heading onstage, the killers are among us," Hiro managed to say cryptically before holstering his pieces and rushing onstage to join the grand finale.

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

Laylah​

Around the time armed men had started pouring into the front entrance, Laylah was already on her way down the tower--hands gripping the sides of the metal ladder as she slid--and moving to a better position so she could help provide any amount of suppressing fire. At an angle to the front entrance now, just as another speeder pulled up to unload more greedy crooks and bounty hunters, she set up her carbine over high-rise cement wall... then began to open fire. One by one, she started dropping them with accurate, pin-point shots. Blue bolts slashing across the air encouraged the others to take cover behind the two speeders on either side of the building, returning fire in a frenzied, inaccurate manner. She couldn't stay in this position long either, eventually one of them were going to get lucky. She had no doubt more could even be on the way, with heavier equipment too. "Hiro, we cannot stay here!" She spouted into the comms on her lobe, giving a glance over her shoulder to briefly check behind. A few more shots later, and a few more thugs dead on the ground, she began to move, inching her way back behind the tower as a few of the bounty hunters pursued. Soon enough, she was setting up a few trip mines and sprinting her way to the other side. While setting up her weapon again, she couldn't help but smirk to the noisy 'booms' the broke the night air and briefly shook the ground. Again, she aimed and open fired, sending the bounty hunters into another panic. "Front entrance is no longer an option..." She spouted as a very large repulsor vehicle appeared around the corner and down the street. It was an old Rebel Alliance T2-B. However, it had been repainted and modified to appear more like something the Hutts would use, with red fans sticking off the sides and symbols associating it with various Bounty Hunter guilds. She called out, her droid giving a few curious beeps. "I assume you've already slipped out of the back and started pre-flight?" A series of beeps confirmed that. "Hiro, the Hammer is on its way... get to the roof!"

 

[Chairdor]

Once onstage, Hiro watched as the other dancer fled at the sight of him, the droid wondered exactly what was going on, when he saw Freddie Venus dressed fully in a robot costume. Colored in chrome pain and with a visor that mad his eyes appear red, the singer began to do an intricate robotic dance in front of the droid as music began to play. Hiro began to speak to Freddie, but he was completely deaf to the droids cries that as Laylah had just shouted, they could not stay here. Instead he bobbed and swayed and dipped his arms as the crowd mimicked him in the background, having the time of their life. This was good because as men poured into the building blasters blazing this very well might be the end of a lot of their lives.

Hiro couldn't allow that however, not without trying to stop it. So with no recourse, he began to dance with Freddie for a moment matching his moves and even throwing a few moves of his own in, starling and delighting the performer. In truth, the additional movements were glitches in Hiro's upper matrix, it seemed that the blast from earlier had slightly damaged his equilibrium matrix making intricate moves like he was now performing next to impossible without a little bit of 'improvisation'. As the two fell into a rhythm the blast of the cannon bounded and Hiro immediately went into action. Smashing his final smoke grenade to the ground. He waited until they were properly hidden by a wave of smoke before forcefully picking Freddie up and carrying him offstage.

"I've got Venus,"

Hiro said simply as the performer began to thrash and shout in varying notes. As he began to run, Hiro heard his Falleen comrades intel and immediately recalled the buildings architectural plans. Planning an efficient and safe route, the droid began to rush past confused Tiss businessmen and horrified stage workers as Freddie shouted every dirty word in every language he knew at the droid, who bounded on unabated the verbal lashing he was receiving. Eventually Hiro reached the stairs and began to ascend when he heard the distinctive clunk of a detonator.

Falling back much to the chagrin of Freddie who found the wind knocked out of him as 190 lbs of Hiro landed atop his stomach. A blast resounded causing the stairway to crumble completely. Hiro lifted himself as Freddie nursed his new bruise and looked up to see a Mandolorian in full armor holding another detonator,

"The Singer now," he said simply, beckoning at Venus as if he were a bad dog. Hiro lifted his hands in a sign of surrender then promptly activated the electric grappling hook stashed in his wrist. The device shot forward impaling the Mandolorian who helpfully held his ground as electricity coursed through his form. Hiro lifted Freddie as if he were a damsel in Distress and swung, using the Mando above to cross the gap the mercenary had just created with his explosive device. When the two managed to cross, Hiro detached the harpoon, ending the series of shocks, and swiftly ended the Mandolorian's suffering with a quick shot between the eyes.

Now running together, the performer and the droid busted through the roof door, Hiro planting a hand upon his head as he shouted,

"Now what?!"

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

Laylah​

As the T2-B began to open fire upon the mostly empty concert hall now--the quad-linked turbolasers tearing the walls and beams apart with relative ease--she had started to manuever herself back towards the other side of the tower, hoping to reach the ladder unnoticed. With some luck, she managed to make it and started climbing as quick as she could, not daring to say a word (even as Hiro demanded some attention) as to what was going to happen next in fear of drawing the Bounty Hunters attentions. When she finally reached the top, she spied Hiro on the adjacent rooftop down below and waved to him frantically, crying out "Stay there! Dawn's coming!" Then, as if on cue, a sudden eruption of blue light tore through the sky and smashed into the ground with several thunderous booms. This repeated itself until the large repulsor vehicle and cluster of pursuing Bounty-Hunters were all but smoking craters, leaving the rest to panic and take cover nearby. It had given them just a little more breathing room for the time being. From above, the Dawn Hammer swooped in low. Two small turrets along the underside suddenly opening fire at the remaining thugs on the streets as the ship swiveled around so the rear was closest to the roof. Just underneath, a hatch began to open, revealing Ev-Vi hooked into a small control panel--apparently piloting the ship--who started beeping frantically at Hiro and Venus to get onboard. When they were, the ship would immediately rise to do the same for Laylah, whom leaped off the edge of the tower--and nearly missing the lip of the platform by a single step--only to stumble right into the ship. As the hatch started to close, Laylah spouted... "Ev-Vi, get us the hell out of here." Just as three Skip-Ray Blast Boats began to take off from a nearby port in pursuit...

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro and Venus ducked their heads as the sky was suddenly alight with a massive ship descending upon them. Hiro was relieved when the ship began to fire upon their enemies, the pilot clearly aiming their shots well as many of the innocents hid away in the deeper parts of the theater. As the assassins on the ground either fled or were incinerated, the ship descended for a moment revealing the pilot to be none other than Laylah's capable astromech. Hiro noted the small bots urgency and quickly shepherded the now frantic singer on board. As the two entered the ship it swiftly took off and hovered near the other end of the roof so Laylah could leap aboard. Hiro noted her near miss of the ramp and leaned down to grab her arm to steady her.

Hiro watched as the ship began to rise away from the small world. For a few moments everything seemed to have gone well, the killers had been foiled and Freddie, and his guards were making a clean getaway. As they ascended into the stratosphere Hiro looked to Freddie and began to do some very particular calculation. As he eyed the singer, Freddie began to pull his collar nervously,

"What's up tin ma-?"

"Why just two pardner?"

"I uh."

"Who are you in deep with?"

Freddied just stared at Hiro, then looked to Laylah, then to Ev-vi before falling to his knees,
"I don't know man...it's never been this bad, I swear I swear!,"

Hiro looked away at the sad case and shook his head then looked to his Falleen comrade. The droid was about to offer some congratulations to his impressive partner and her own personal droid, they had been nothing but useful in the unusual and extremely dangerous situation. Just as he was about to speak the ship began to rock from the shot in it's side, all throughout the cabin the ship began to flash red and beep hysterically as Ev-Vi translated it's distress into binary,

"What's it sayin what's it sayin!" yelled Freddie thoroughly exasperated by the multiple attempts on his life that night.

Hiro ignored him and turned to Laylah,

"This thing got manual turrets, cause I think were gonna need ta man em," he said just as the ship rocked violently from another blast from the ships at it's heels.

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

Laylah​

As the Dawn Hammer started to climb out of the atmosphere, the Skiprays managed to catch up on short notice; suddenly opening fire across the hull of the ship, sending it rocking side to side with every impact. Thankfully, the Dawn Hammer's deflectors seemed to be holding out, but they wouldn't last long under concentrated fire! "Left and right! Left and right!" Laylah cried out to Hiro and Freddie, pointing to the rear of the ship. Then she glanced over to Ev-Vi, the little droid gurgling and squealing every time the freighter was hit. "No, no I need you to start warming up the hyperdrive, put us as far into Alliance territory as you can we..." She stopped short on her way up to the cockpit of the ship, before groaning and quickly leaping into the pilot's seat, strapping herself in. Ahead of them, directly in their path, was a Victory II Class Frigate, an old starship that only saw major service during the Galactic Civil War so many years ago. Thankfully, however, the ship itself was covered in the insignias of the old Black Sun criminal empire, which meant it had likely been purchased off the market by a crew of unskilled bounty hunters. The same ones that were chasing them. "Hiro! Keep those fighters off our back, we have... uh... company!" She put as much power into the engines as she could then, forcing the ship to lurch forward as the frigate began to lazily open fire, missing a majority of the time. Every other laser, however, managed to strike the hull of the ship, nearly sending it into a spiral. "Ev-Vi I need that hyperdrive! NOW!"

 

[Chairdor]

As the ship continued to shake from the continual bombardment, Hiro heard Laylah's commanding calls and immediately did as she bid, her ship her rules and she certainly knew best in this case. Finding his own individual gun the droid swiftly strapped himself into the gunners seat and looked out for potential shots. They were not in short supply as the blast boats continually dipped and dived across the back of the ship, firing pot shots whenever they could. Hiro attempted to shoot them down, but the delay from the turret to actually reaching its target allowed the small ships to easily dodged everything he threw at them.

Moving the turret more and more swiftly at more random intervals, Hiro barely noticed the contribution Freddie was giving the pair, but when he did a plan began sparking in his servers. Looking over at the heavily sweating singer he watched as the singer continually shot straight, as the shots were intermitent and wholly predictable they were no problem for the blast boats to dodge. After a few crucial moments Hiro turned to the singer and said,

"Partner, you gotta dance!"

"I what!"

"Just do it,"

Slowly Venus began to shift and sway as he fired, his shots moving from side to side leading the blast boats to begin actively dodging his shots. As Freddie saw what was going on he began to grow more confident, then almost fanatical in his dance moves, left, right, up, down, slant ways, can't ways, there was no way Freddie's body didn't shake as the shots from the rear of the ship began to fling and flurry sending on Skipray into a tailspin, a lucky shot from the singer but one he celebrated with a mighty howl all the same.

Now it was Hiro's turn to be precise as he saw Venus's moves he calculated the trajectory of his shots then the possible paths the remaining ships could take. While his lower functions were frazzled by the earlier detonation he suffered from, the droid found that his numeric calculator was squarely on point as his shots soon destroyed then crippled the last blast boat on their heels. With that work done, the droid was about to celebrate with his Falleen comrade and her droid when the ship began to shake more violently than before. Rushing to the cock pit, Freddi close behind the two looked up upon the massive frigate then at Laylah and Ev-Vi's frantic efforts to dodge the endless barrage of shots aimed at them. When she shouted the she needed the light speed jump Hiro knew what he could do to help,

Accessing the ships schematics the droid located the hyperdrive and pulled out his power adapter, turning it slightly to reverse the polarity so it would give power rather than taking it, the droid slammed the cord into the drive his power cells rapidly draining as the hyperdrive got a much needed boost to get them out of there that much faster. After he gave all he could, Hiro fell back in a heap the last of his power being used to put him into standby mode until he could get another charge. As his eyes closed he called out drearily,

"Let's ride into the sunset pardners!"

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

Laylah​

"Strap in!" She hollered the moment Hiro plugged himself into the hyperdrive. The entire ship shuddered as the drive systems came online--navigation pinging in the cockpit to alert Laylah that the drive was charging properly now. "Ten seconds... Nine... Eight..." Why she was counting down was anyone's question, but again she insisted that everyone strap in, suggesting it was going to be a very bumpy ride. Though the ship wasn't old, the hyperdrive had been modified beyond recommended specifications. Enough to outrun even a Victory II. Then, there was a low growl and a series of machine-like movements, before the stars in view became a blur. With enough force to knock over her poor unprepared S19 droid, the ship lurched forth and the stars become a blurry, flowing tunnel of blue. Hyperspace, at last. Laylah simply fell backwards in her chair, her eyes closing for a moment as she simply caught her breath... a light grin then twisting the corners of her lips up. "Is everyone still alive back there or am I the only one?" She called out from the front of the medium freighter.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro was out cold from the massive loss of power. As the ship shot off at the speed of light, Hiro hit the ground at the speed of dark. Clinging to his last bits of power the droid fell into complete stasis his surroundings forgotten, the danger of destruction by the ships and assassins at their back all in the past. It was a blissful silence the droid found himself in, but slowly these things all must end as Hiro began to spy a small light. Perhaps he was dying, but of course he knew the definition of death, stored securely in his central mainframe. Death, Noun: the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism. He was neither person or organism, he was a machine, made by creators with mortal souls to construct their heavens and destroy their enemies.

Eventually Hiro grew close enough to the light to begin recognizing it, it all seemed familiar then the video began to play and the droid recognized it as the media file he had been waiting to see began to play once again, spurred into activating due to his hard reboot. There again was the man from before, the man who seemed so familiar, so close, yet Hiro had no memory of him. Not a scrap from when he awoke on that forsaken rock in the middle of the waste. Again he listened to the familiar monologue clearly not meant for him to hear,

Well howdy Ginny, how's it going? I'm sorry I didn't make it to your birthday, I tried so very hard girl, I did, but life don't always get its way, I hoped to get healthy for you, to play our little games together again, but alas darlin, you've gotten as big as I've gotten old, but while I can't do much in this hospital, I still get time with my tools and with those moments I made you this, he's a droid, but don't treat like any ol bucket of bolts, you see I made him differen, I-"

Hir remembered this was when the monologue last cut out, all at once the hidden data began to pour outward, small tributaries cut off from a once healthy stream as the man continued to speak,

"-Made him for a reason Ginny, like I said my dear girl I'm getting old and am not long for this galaxy, so this little bot here was made for you to-"

BZZT

"Clear!" Freddie yelled out unnecessarily as he applied the charge stick to Hiro's chest. Swiftly the droid rose as the new power surged through his systems and the video once again vanished. So lost in the moment, so close to his question being answered the droid failed to sense where he was as he cried out,

"Made for you to what?! Made for you to what?!"

"Tin man I don't know what you're-"

"My purpose, it's all in my head, but I can't access it, the data, hidden encryption...I...nevermind," the droid ended as he looked down and noticed his hat had fallen where he fell earlier. Leaning over he picked it up and placed it on his masked head before looking to Freddie,

"Get more guards next time," he said simply and robotically as he moved toward the cockpit. Seeing Laylah and Ev-Vi alright gave him enough positive feedback to lift his spirits enough,

"Well that was a close shave if I ever saw one, yeehaw we did it!" he cried out triumphantly before extending both hands to shake his two partners in anti crime simultaneously, "You both did plum swell, couldna done it without ya,"