Ask Darting Marten

[23006]

Darting Marten

One of the bounties that has been on the Proletariat Bounty board the longest is that of Blackwell Regional Executive Marten Okada. In fact, it is getting kinda embarrassing. Its contractor (who will ofcourse remain anonymous) has decided to double the payout if the job can be done within a forthnight.
Participants: @Khalid Din and @23006

Name: Marten Okada (NPC)
Wanted: Dead
Bounty: 50,000 Credits + 50,000 credits
Contractor: Anonymous

• Target is a Blackwell Regional Executive
• Target was last seen at his penthouse in the Corporate Sector
• Target's daughter had been kidnapped years ago

_________________________________________________________

<... Downloading Directive 24/dash/12/tack/6 ...>

TC-SC 23006 stood in the lobby of Blackwell Corporate Housing Skyscraper 19 and was plugged into one of the free net-access points that the Corporate Sector provided. Thanks to its advanced holographic disguise matrix, it appeared to be a a human wearing a Blackwell uniform. Its voice modulater and personality matched to that of a low-level clerk named 'Fynn Werma'.

Fynn's partner for this particular bounty was supposed to meet him here in the lobby of their target building. The droid had received very little information on the Tiefling, other than that its name had been suggested to the droid's mistress by way of Eccle'baal the Troig.

<... Download Succesful: Mission parameters updated by designation LEO404 ...>

The droid unplugged from the outlet and sat up straight in the little lobby-booth. The connection in Corporate Space had been faster than the mistress had taken into account, so the droid was a bit early for its meetup. In other words; the human Fynn Werma sat silently and stared straight ahead. It hadn't been programmed by the slicer for idle waiting around and 'looking natural' as he did it.

@Versok

 

[Khalid Din]

One would think that Khalid would not go after Blackwell, given how they had been the creators of his favorite droid model, which was the origin of the two bastards that currently annoyed him back at his ship...And they would be right, he had eyed up that bounty many times, thinking that for fifty thousand credits he could try his luck with other bounties, given how he hardly ever went after them alone...But now the price had doubled, so the Tiefling decided to take care of bussiness.

Well, to be honest, he was mostly lying to himself, the credits didn't make him reconsider the fact that he was a blackwell executive, it made him reconsider that he was going to kill a completely innocent, mostly blameless person: It would be the first time he killed someone for a bounty that wasn't some kind of criminal, be it the good kind of lawless scumbag like him or something else. This was a line he had never crossed before, but he had fooled himself into feeling calm about it. Telling himself that he never cared about anyone but family, hell, he was already supposed to be the worst of the worst, why care?

Without his signature hat off, sunglasses and a bussiness suit he had literally bought for the occasion, the man had taken even more steps in order to make himself less recognizable for this job, such as taking off his many piercings and tying his long hair into a nice man bun, he looked like an actual classy person...Would take even the most skilled detectives in the galaxy to find out that he was the Tiefling cowboy Khalid Din.

So, the Tiefling stood around, knowing that his partner had some ways to be unrecognizable so Khalid needed to wait for them to approach him first.

@Eccles

 

[23006]

The human Fynn Werma recognized the tiefling as he entered. It wouldn't have been easy for a sentient's eye, but then Fynn wasn't even remotely sentient and was programmed to recognize his partner by the easiest of identifiers; their name and species. That is to say, Fynn didn't recognize Khalid Din at all but he did spot a Tiefling entering the lobby and although there was a wide collection of sentient species roaming around, this was the only tiefling.

Thus with one part of his identification process done, Fynn got up and walked over to the tiefling with the tread that was programmed as belonging to a corporate office drone, "Hello there new colleague," Fynn smiled as he extended his hand, "I am Fynn Werma of Blackwell Regional Office Ojoster Sector." otherwise known as 'BROOS'. The introduction and extended hand was programmed into the droid as the way it could complete the identification of the other hunter. Species: Tiefling, name: Khalid Din. Were he to give up the wrong name then.. well, TC-SC 23006 would simply return to the seat he'd been sitting on previously and wait for the next tiefling to come along.

Somewhere in the droid's programming something was rewritten and slowly reproduced itself, but LEO404 hadn't used the best programming technique and her codes were rather sloppy, so for now the way she had programmed the droid was still leading.

@Versok

 

[Khalid Din]

It didn't take long for Khalid to be approached by someone, a human apparently: He did not know if it was them for sure, but it was what made the most sense, given how they approached them as if they were already friends...Wait, how did he introduce himself again? Yeah, it seemed like he was the guy after all "Khalid Din, nice ta meetcha" He almost whispered to the droid, intending to not draw much attention by saying the Din name out loud.

After shaking hands and immediately noticing how he was grasping metal, the Tiefling realized that there was more to this partner that what the eye could see. Probably a good thing and it made sense why he was told little about their appearance. The Tiefling clasped his hands together "All right then, another day, another credit...Let's get to it, the bosses must be waiting." Khalid would say, his words coming out a bit slowler as he now tried to hide his accent...Had to blend in too, after all, and the hillbilly cowboy accen't didn't quite belong in a place such as this.

@Eccles

 

[23006]

The droid was a bit too quick in its reply. Something about not being able to match programming speed with that of a normal sentient conversation. "Yes, we have an unscheduled appointment with Blackwell Regional Executive Marten Okada, living on the penthouse floor of this housing-designated Etti IV skyscraper." Suddenly the additions to it pre-programmed personality began to increase and the Fynn Werma's blank expression changed to a more self-confident smirk. "Or as you'd put it," the voice lowered to something more appropirate to a conversation of two sentients standing this close to one another and the tone became almost sinister, "another credit, another killing."

Maybe something was off about this droid, but it belonged to a licensed bounty hunter and known fixer, so it would at the very least be reliable enough to do the bounty, right? Anyway, Fynn Werma walked over to the elevators and flashed his Blackwell-badge to opened the doors. Getting access to the right floor wasn't the hard part.

Once they were both inside the elevator, Fynn Werma seemed to become increasingly overconfident, "There's a lot of droids in this building," he remarked, "Maintenance, protocol, landscaping, security. If I can find a suitable port in the subnet, from say the control room, I can have our target befall an accident," and every other sentient in the building, too. The skyscraper could become the epicenter of a droid-ruled Etti IV, just as Agorander-

<... Error: Unexpected Personality Discovered: Directive 78: Agorander ...>

<... Rebooting Personality Construct Designation Fifteen: Fynn Werma ...>

The droid's photoreceptors flashed for a moment and the holographic image of Fynn Werma flickered for a second as well, but before Khalid could say anything the elevator -Dinged- and the doors slid open to reveal Marten Okada's floor. "Proposition: Ring doorbell. Seclude Target in his Office. Neutralize Target." Fynn said again in a slightly mechanized dribble, but as the sentence continued the more sentient it once again seemed.

TC-SC 23006 exited the elevator and walked straight over to the door into Marten Okada's penthouse. Without any further questions for Khalid on whether or not the Tiefling agreed, Fynn pressed the doorbell and moments later a protocol droid appeared in the doorway. "I am Fynn Werma of Blackwell Regional Office Ojoster Sector, this is my colleague," he motioned towards Khalid, "There is an issue that requires Executive Okada's attention."

@Versok

 

[Khalid Din]

"Well force damn, this droid speaks fast as hell" Is what Khalid thought to himself before it proceeded to lean in and use the line he said in a more sinister, yet accurate, manner "Well force damn...This droid's a fucking psycho" Was the next thing he thought...Of course, he shrugged afterwards. It made sense, a droid programmed to do bounty hunting was not going to be right in the head, especially one programmed to take an innocent life just like that...Huh, what did that make of him, then?

Well, he wouldn't mind putting up with the weird droid for a bit, given how easily it was to gain access to the elevator thanks to him, he wouldn't have even minded going with the subnet idea the droid just had, but then the droid rebooted or something and decided against it "Whatever yer...processors or whatever say it's ta best course of action, just..." Khalid paused for a moment, shaking his head, thankfully there were no cameras on the elevator "Don't flicker like that! And certainly not in public, you'll blow our cover, we need ta be dis-creet!" Khalid scolded the droid, shutting up immediately after the doors to the elevator opened and an office lady waited for them to get out so she could get in, Khalid ignoring what he had just said and lowering his sunglasses for a moment before giving her a wink and a smile.

"Welp, so much for talking things out and discussing a plan" He thought to himself as the droid went straight to the penthouse and talked to yet another droid...He would let the both of them figure things out, as much as he liked droids...He was awful at convincing them to do stuff, or at least that seemed to be the case after living with two droids for the last couple years.

@Eccles

 

[23006]

The protocol droid cocked its head. <Statement: Today is Mr. Okada's personal day where he spends time with his daughter. He is not to be disturbed.> and then the protocol droid pressed a button and the door closed on them. For a second there, TC-SC 23006 just stood there, looking at the door while its programming tried to find what contingency there had been programmed into his mission directive for a situation like this. It queried for 'what would Fynn Werma do' and 'how would a sentient behave when a door is shut in their face'. It turned to the Tiefling, still looking very much like the clerk of the Blackwell Regional Office in the Ojoster Sector; Fynn Werma.

"When first you fail," Fynn Werma smiled, revealing that one of his teeth was actually crooked, "you try again." and the droid once again pressed the doorbell.

It took roughly twenty seconds before it opened again, revealing the same protocol droid with its emotionless expression. <Question: Did I not speak in Galactic Basic?> it asked with -truth be told- rather an attitude to the voice. It seemed this droid had something of a caretaker-module installed for whenever it was meant to watch Mr. Okada's daughter.

What happened next it clearly did not expect, for Fynn Werma took one step closer, planting his foot in the doorway and taking the droid's hand as if to shake it; <1001001 0100000 1100001 1101101 0100000 1101001 1101110 1100110 1100101 1100011 1110100 1101001 1101110 1100111 0100000 1111001 1101111 1110101 0100000 1110111 1101001 1110100 1101000 0100000 1001001 1101110 1110011 1110100 1100001 1101110 1100011 1100101 0100000 1011000 1001001 1001001 1001001 0101110> It was hard to see, but it had directly interfaced with the droid through a port in the droid's wrist.

<... Error: Unexpected Output: Missing Directive: Reboot Unavailable ...>

The protocol droid's photoreceptors flickered and then changed color to red. Whatever TC-SC 23006 had just done it had appeared to be effective, for it stepped aside to let the two 'Czerka Employees' enter the residence.

Fynn Werma smirked as he held a hand out for Khalid to enter the apartment first, stepping aside slightly to make room for the Tiefling to pass. "After you, cowboy."

@Versok

 

[Khalid Din]

Khalid's eyes widened as the droid mentioned that the man was spending time with his daughter, the daughter was here, NOW? That changed things, that changed a lot of things, he was still making peace with the fact that he was going to kill this random man who had done not much wrong and now he was doing it in front of family. A small streak of sweat went down his face as the droid talked about trying again.

More thoughts went through his head as he dealt with the droid...Should he just leave? Back out? No, that would put a big dent in his bounty hunter reputation, but could he truly do it? Maybe he should just compromise. With a deep breath, he looked at the other droid "Yeah, good job pardner" Khalid said, about to go in before turning around and putting a hand in his shoulder.

"Listen, before we go any further, no lethal on anyone 'sides the target, aight? Specially not the kid." The Tiefling would say, clearing up that part...He really didn't want to see a kid die tonight " 'Course, that's because real professionals kill only those that are needed ta kill ta not draw too much attention, y'know? And we are professionals" The Tiefling said, making up that bullshit reason on the spot so the droid would be more likely to agree "So, set yer gun ta stun, we can always double tap."

@Eccles

 

[23006]

Fynn Wyrma's eyes looked at Khalid with an utterly terrifying blank expression considering what the Tiefling had just told him, but then -slowly- the corners of his lips went up. His eyes didn't smile, nothing about the rest of his face suggested he tried to smile, but his lips did. "What gun?" There was a reason the Tiefling was here and it wasn't to secure them uniforms or access, clearly. They needed a sentient to pull the trigger.

The pair of hunters followed the protocol droid into the living room where Marten Okada was getting his nails painted and makeup applied to his face by his nine-year-old daughter, Kara Okada. <Statement: These Blackwell Representatives arrived with an urgent business matter.> The little girl instantly looked annoyed and then, spotting the Tiefling, seemed to flash some kind of worriedness. Kara Okada had been through a terrible ordeal three years ago when a Czerka Regional Executive had kidnapped her in an attempt to distract her father too much to close on a contract the two megacorporations were competing over. It had ended with a crew of Mandalorian bounty hunters brutally murdering the Czerka Exetuvie -Wex Witt- and rescuing little Kara amidst a violent display of 'Blood Eagles' explosions and being used as a living shield. Subconsciously the girl's hand went to touch the bracelet she had gotten from one of the Mandalorians. It had a piece of Beskar in it with an engraved sigil she -nor her father- knew to which clan it belonged.

Marten seemed annoyed, "This is my personal day, gentlemen-" he arose, fingers painted and makeup -badly- applied to his face. "-so this better be life threatening."

Fynn Werma handed him a datapad showing a projection of Blackwell Regional stock crashing deep into red numbers. "It's much worse, Marten. It's our bottom line." Ofcourse, the report was fake and the Blackwell bottom line was just fine. Marten didn't know that, though, for he was having a personal day. That just showed that in the world of megacorporations, missing just a single day of work could end your life.

"How can this happen?" the Blackwell Executive blurted out rather angrily before remembering he was in the same room as his daughter and it wasn't proper to talk business with her around, so he motioned for his fellow Blackwell employees to follow him as he walked to his office. "Dee-Forty, keep an eye on Kara please." the protocol droid appeared to nod and moved closer to the daughter.

Once again Fynn turned towards Khalid slightly and motioned for him to go first. "After you, czerkboy."

@Versok

 

[Khalid Din]

Khalid let out a relieved sigh as the droid told him that he was the one that had the gun: That meant that Khalid had absolute control about who lived and who died, so he didn't need to worry about the droid going ballistic on anyone else, like that little girl...Shit, it also meant that he was going to be the one to pull the trigger after all, the Tiefling decided to put on his best poker face, even though he was pretty sure by now that the droid could not understand human emotions "Aight, fair nuff."

Once more, the Tiefling let the droid do the talking: It was probably for the better, given how he was too busy looking at the kid that was already nervous about his presence...Could he blame her? It was a good thing he was wearing sunglasses, because his eyes both betrayed his intentions and how he felt about this whole ordeal: It was not often that he felt shame, and yet this might've been the time he felt it the hardest.

Once the child was out of sight, Khalid took his blaster out of his suit, pointing it at the executive who would soon have the color leave his face as he realized what was truly happening. Marten would get down on his knees, pleading for his life and the Tiefling couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, his breathing getting funny...Part of him wanted to just shoot the droid and be done with it, but eventually, the Tiefling simply pulled the trigger twice.

The blaster fire would hit executive in the chest, the sound echoing on the walls as the body hit the floor. It would not take long for the girl to come back from where she had been taken to, blaster fire being something she had heard before. The little girl would hug his father as the light started to leave his eyes, his last moments alive spent embracing her as she started sobbing.

The Tiefling felt as if he had a hole in his chest, his eyes widening as he stared dumbfounded for a moment before coming back to his senses. After that, the Tiefling would look at the droid, nodding towards the door: Not only did they need to escape, but he felt sick, he needed to leave as soon as possible.

@Eccles

 

[23006]

They had barely entered the office when Khalid did one of the most overt things possible: just plain blasting the guy. They could have smothered him, strangled him or hit him on the head repeatedly with a blunt object. A vibro-knife to the spine as he looked the other way could've been brilliant. But no, apparently the Tiefling wanted to get caught.

"Oh no help," a tired-of-your-bullshit expression came onto the holographic face of Fynn Werma in a surprising sentient and yet uncaring facade. The droid put it up a notch as the little girl entered the room, uttered a cry of distress, panic, fear and general anxiety as she ran over to her father and watched him die within seconds. "He shot him," Fynn Werma cried, pointing at Khalid just as the protocol droid entered behind him. They were all looking at Khalid's blaster now with expressions of various degrees of shock.

The protocol droid D-40 raised its arms, "Statement: I will notify Corporate Security at once!" yet it didn't. <I will send an alarm to the medical corp!> and yet it didn't and this time it also seemed to forget to at the "statement-part".

As Khalid walked out of the door, TC-SC 23006 lingered for a moment. "What should I do?" Fynn asked the little girl, before seemingly understanding how odd that looked and paced up and down the office once, "I should go after him! Have him arrested!" to which the protocol droid responded by stepping aside and so TC-SC 23006 -still in the guise of Fynn Werma- left the penthouse and got in the elevator with Khalid "the assassin" Din.

The droid pressed the button for the floor their speeder was at and watched the doors close with a grin on his holographic face. <Statement: You're one cold-hearted killed, Khalid Din.>

@Versok