Event Escape from Mataou - Broken Steel

[Allegra]

Oh kark no.

She sprinted along with the rest of the group, barely clearing the door in time. However, they mentioned explosives. She perked up slightly. "I got two," she intonated, also taking up a position on the side nearest the apparently least armed of them, the suited man (@The Good Doctor ). "But I suggest not staying here for long. IG-0R, how far from here?"

A standout against war droids was suicide, barring finding any blast doors to keep them at bay. They had to find a way forward, hopefully without getting gunned down straight away. Just in case, she reached down to her belt to hold one of the two grenades. Just in case shit went sideways... or more than it already was!

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[Cyrene Nilar]

The huntress kept in step with the others, the droid berating them for something was yet to happen, the droid was getting on her nerves she couldn’t wait until she could grind it’s gears into pieces.

Ducking under the door as it closed, there was at least there was a door between them at whatever lay beyond it how long that would delay them who knew but it was something.

“Are you going to just stand there or are you going to find a way out of here?” she nodded to the room around them, as she took a kneeling position looking at the previous door they entered through, shooting the door controls hoping it would delay whatever droids lay beyond it.

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[Gett'se Vizsla]

Running in Beskar'gam wasn't always the easiest thing, but Gett'se had plenty of experience at it. Practice that was coming in quite handy at the current time as he sprinted down the hallway towards the doorway that seemed to be the portal to their salvation.

Temporary salvation at any rate.

He hadn't realized just quite how long the hallway was, but it took almost all of the countdown to traverse as they passed doors and doors of "war robots" stored in cold storage for what was likely ages. He hoped against hope that the droids were as flimsy as the current generation and only a few would be able to hobble out of their icy resting place on rusted servos but he somehow doubted that Hod Haran would grant him the luck of that prayer.

Rolling under the door heavily before it closed, Gett'se turned to shoot the door controls but saw that the Zygerrian had already done so. At least there was a door between them and certain death.

For now.

It seemed their only hope now was to deliver IG-0R to the command console that seemed to control everything in this death trap of a warehouse. Gett'se turned his attention to figuring out where that was as he turned his visored gaze from the door they had come through and ahead of them. Looking for new and interesting threats as well as a possible avenue to continue this doomed venture.

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[The Gatekeeper]

@Phoenix @christhebetrayer @Die Shize @Killa Ree @The Good Doctor @Arclight​

The Objective was ahead and the organics were making more issues.

Forcing its way to the head of the pack, IG-0R wedged itself in between the two closing sides of the door. Using its right arm, it held the doors open while glaring pointedly at the organics for a second before speaking.

“There are not many more floors to go.” it acknowledged the question posed by one of the organics, “This is not an excuse to delay as you all seem to enjoy doing.”

In the distance, down the length of the corridor that they had just begun escaping through, the IG unit could see the War Droids activating. They were beautiful. A concept that IG-0R had seldom had any actual use for but one that it had, objectively, understood since its inception.

Why it had been programmed into it upon initial boot-up was not an answer it had.

Instead of feeling the awe as a terrible thing, as the organics likely did, IG-0R merely watched as the War Droids advanced from their cradles. Truly, if droids were the intended to be the servile class of the Galaxy, why would their forms cause so much dread?

It didn’t have chance to do anything further, however, as two of the closest droids opened fire. IG-0R managed to avoid one of the beam weapons but one managed to clip its right arm at the mid-joint. The shot didn’t destroy the joint but it did weaken it and that was bad enough - the weakening of the joint meant that IG-0R no longer had the strength and positioning required to hold the door open.

If the organics were all through, they would be fine even as the doors slammed shut, the sheer force and weight of the doors slicing through the IG unit’s right shoulder.
There was one other issue…

“This unit’s blaster has been crushed.” IG-0R stated, receptors turning to the organics, “I require a new blaster.”

The corridor had quickly become a chaotic cacophony of collapsing footfalls careening to cover and hissing as centuries-old terrors awakened for violence renewed. A dense thud echoed out ominously, amplified by the close quarters, as the machines took their first step in a very long time. For such magnificent creations, though, it was as if time had no effect on them. These war machines had been designed to withstand the sands of time, much like Xim’s glorious empire was meant to do, and, though they were largely outdated by modern standards, they still held the regal awe and horror that they were designed to possess.

The data-brief lasted a fleeting moment, and soon the command was issued to purge the facility of undesirable inhabitants. The closest two droids immediately snapped their weapons up and fired a quick blast towards IG-0R as it held the door open, deeming him the most immediate threat. One beam struck true and weakened the machine, rendering its capability to hold the door open inert. Heavy metal sheared clean through its arm at the shoulder, sending out a sunburst of electrical sparks and a keening whine of metal-on-metal.

The arms clanged hard against the metallic floor, and the group on the other side would be left in total silence. Only the whirring of faint orange-red lights and screeching klaxon marked any disturbance on this side of the sealed hallway. Within the corridor were a number of doors and maintenance hatches, just as there were in other corridors, and the group would recognize a few as the rapid deployment chutes within which they had previously been caught. At the far end of the hallway stood a grand prize - a functional turbolift, and one that was bathed in a gentle white glow from its overhead lighting.

Peace was fleeting, and even the most optimistic of the group would quickly learn this, for within a few moments of the door being sealed shut, a painful metallic groan rang out. On the other side, the war droids had set to the task of breaching this door to execute their mission, and two pairs of powerful manipulator arms had begun to tear at and force the door shut. Hydraulics wailed in protest, and it took only a matter of seconds before the door hissed open, slowly, inch-by-inch.

Fingers gripped the lips of the door for greater leverage and began to brute-force it open. Slowly, surely, fingers gave way to a full hand, and soon an arm, as one of the Guardian droids shoved itself through the opening. Head and shoulder quickly followed as it began to worm its way through. Hollow metallic eye tubes stared at the group of interlopers, processing them for a moment, before a head-mounted flame projector spurt forth a conical gout of fire to force them away and give it more time to enter the hallway fully.

 

[Vizim]

Vizim was through the door, so that was a good thing. He didn't wait around for the others, but the droid at least stopped to cover them. On the one hand, he was glad someone did. On the other, if the droid really was their only means of survival, he didn't love the idea of it being scrapped.

Turbolift up or down? he asked the droid, assuming that was the direction they were supposed to go but awaiting confirmation. Assuming he received it, he would head into the turbolift and take it to the next area as quickly as possible.

You know, especially since there were droids literally ripping at the door behind them. So it was time to double time. As such, he was already far away by the time the droid was spitting flames and wasn't really planning on waiting around for it to catch up if he could avoid it.

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[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

After bypassing the doorway, Cas stole a look behind her to find that Igor was struggling. Then his arm flew away. Once the door slammed shut, Cas did not hesitate. “Here,” she tossed her blaster pistol over to Igor. The rifle would stay in her hands and that made more sense under the circumstances anyway. Maybe someone else had a blaster to spare and they could play musical blasters if they wanted but time was of the essence.

That statement rang as alarmingly true as a klaxon moments later. After spotting the turbolift and feeling her heart rise with hope, a devastating noise stole Cas’ attention from behind. Her rifle leveled with the door that was getting breached. As soon as a head poked out before the doorframe her finger squeezed the trigger. Bolts flew to parade the war droid’s arrival but they didn’t last long before a breath of fire streamed inside the room.

Cas bolted aside, darting into the elevator while maintaining suppressing fire on the door and the hell that came with it.

“This might be a bad time to say this!" She suddenly realized that maybe if her abductors had done their deed while she was indeed sharing drinks with her mouth then maybe those drinks were still inside her. "But I gotta pee!"




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[Cyrene Nilar]

the droids was damaged, missing an arm and it's blaster, but there was no rest for the wicked, the droids were persistent she had to give them that as one began to pry open the door. retreat to the turbo lift after the monochrome spotted, she would fire a couple shot at the droids as it tried to enter the room as she retreated.

Meeting monochrome at the lift, she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration at his question and the female Mandalorians announcement. (@Phoenix @Die Shize) “Down laserbrain, what direction do you think we've been traveling this whole time” she turned to the female Mando giving her scathing glare “It can karking wait, so keeping shooting anything down that corridor that isn't us or so help me I'll shot you myself”

After venting her frustration at her companions she would help the Mando keep back the droid hoping to approach the lift. She couldn't wait to be on her own again and not having to deal with people.

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[Allegra]

No time to die, no time to live. She didn't wait for the war machine to approach before she was already moving; there was no point making a stand to fight if it was shooting fire. Ducking low, she snagged the suited guy (@The Good Doctor ) to drag with her towards the turbolift, never mind that it felt like another box canyon. If they would make it in, who wasn't to say what could wait for them below? It seemed more than coincidence that the war droids woke up right that second. And she valued her skin enough to save the one person that would likely pay her better than the vague promise of the Hutt that bellowed at her awakening.

Making a further run towards the hallway towards the lift, she would squeeze off a few shots towards the droid attempting to maneuver through, still holding onto the grenade. She would only toss it if they would manage to break into the hallway before the lift could go down. Still, she glared venomously at the catty one who was snapping out orders.

"Shut your mouth, unless you want to become war droid target practice."

She wasn't going to mince words, it was time to get the kriff outta here and figure out a plan that didn't involve immediately pinning themselves into whatever could be preparing down below. They had to stop the lift before the designated stop, perhaps, but first to get into the damn thing.

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[Newton]

"Ok, ok" Newton said as the other lady snagged her. He would then start running on his own towards the turbolift in so both of them can move faster and being sure not to annoy the already annoyed IG droid even more.

When he got to the turbolift though, he came into the slaver woman acting more all-know it all than she should be. The dark figure can hardly be faulted at not knowing for sure where to go, this place is a maze where all ways most likely lead into another throng of droids or other traps. Where they assume they should go may not be the correct place. It's hard to tell. Plus the cat-woman was most likely still extremely salty from when the IG droid chewed her out for failing to protect their six from the sabotage droids. If they had to sacrifice one person to the droids for the good of the group, it would be her. Would be one less slaver in the galaxy he supposes.

He didn't need to know that the other person needed to pee... Newton could only roll his eyes.

Newton was in the turbolift, and his eyebrow raised when he saw a droid literally shooting fire. He wouldn't admire it though, as he would fire a blaster bolt from his heavy pistol, aiming at the source of the flame. The group at the turbolift would be out of range of the flame projector at this point, Newton included. Newton would be ready shoot some more if the turbolift didn't get going before the time they break through the door entirely

@Arclight post
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[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se was about to unsling his rifle and toss it to the IG unit when the skinless mandalorian woman tossed over her pistol. A mental shrug and he was off towards the turbolift as the door began to squeel and open behind them. Turning, he spotted metallic fingers, servo-driven arms, and then a horrifying metal visage peak through and begin to shove its way through the door.

Nope.

Nope nope nope nope nope.

Gett'se's heavy blaster rose in his right hand, a finger pull sending a crimson bolt of energy hurtling towards the terrifying war robots hollow eyes. Left arm raised, he triggered the wrist rocket there with a clench of his fist, sending the explosive device screeching across the hallway towards the war droid's face. Maybe that would give it pause.

He wasn't about to wait around to find out however as he turned and sprinted to the turbolift before the war droid could roast his metal hide with its flame projector. Few times had he felt true fear when facing down a foe, few enough that he could probably count them on his fingers. But this... This was a foe he did not want to face if it could be helped. The empty, soulless glare of the war robot promised only death. Uncompromising, unforgiving, and unthinking. They were machines designed for one purpose, the decimation of armies.

And they would not stop until they had completed their task.

"Lets get out of here!" His voice rang through his helmet as he charged into the turbolift, his gaze settling on the shadowy meat product that manned the controls. "I don't want to be here when they get through."

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[The Storyteller]

@Phoenix @christhebetrayer @Die Shize @Killa Ree @The Good Doctor @Arclight​

IG-0R took a precious moment during the lull in the action to visually assess the damage it had sustained. The arm was cleanly gone; old the armory's defenses might be, but good hydraulics aged gracefully, and evidently they had the power to cause significant damage to those suddenly not equipped to resist them. Even so, the droid would have doubted one of the meat-sacks could have held the door open for any length of time.

As it considered its superiority to its organic associates, IG-0R's remaining hand shot out to snatch Casany's tossed blaster out of the air, swiveling its photoreceptors to examine the piece. Perhaps organics were good for something, after all.

It was then, of course, that the war droids made their dramatic entrance.

"Get to the turbolift and head down. I will stop us at the necessary level!" The droid shouted, firing its new blaster at the crack in the doors as they slowly ground open. "We have nearly reached our destination! Onward, meat-sacks!"

In truth, even as he loosed bolt after bolt at the hulking droid clawing its way into the room, IG-0R could not help but feel admiration for the construct. In theory, this was a primitive, thoroughly obsolete unit; the bounty droid had more sophisticated cognition circuitry in its smallest manipulator digit than a Guardian did in its entire chassis. But the droid was utterly relentless; heat sensors flared in warning as the antique war machine loosed a gout of fire to drive the party back.

These nodes shall serve us well. IG-0R thought to itself. Wait, where did that come from?

Sprinting to the turbolift, IG-0R stood beside its door, waving the others toward him as the hulking Guardian emerged fully from the doors and began lumbering forward. He would cover the group until everyone was aboard...

The High Command deemed that the droids and organics before it must die, and by Xim, whose fist would enclose the stars and whose name would outlive time, die they would.

X3R was a simple machine. Built in the great droid foundries of Thanium, he had never faced battle, coming too late to see service in the wars which had cost the Empire of Xim its existence. He had been among those war-robots offered as tribute to the victorious Hutts, placating the star-slime that their mighty fleets would not ravage the worlds of the Tion Cluster in their defeat. He and thousands of his fellows had gone almost immediately into storage, carefully horded as a final defense against any intruders who might make it so deep into the bowels of this alien sanctum.

This was not to say that X3R was not a capable warrior.

Idle he may have been, but deep in his circuits, X3R contained the combat data collected from a thousand battles. In his long slumber, he had drilled a million times, continuous simulations keeping his instincts sharp, and his databrain keen...

All against this day.

Blaster bolts spanged off X3R's armor, the high-energy plasma leaving deep gouges in the kiirium but not yet penetrating the droid's thick hide. Crossing his arms over his breastplate for further protection, the droid slowly advanced, blasts of flame covering its progress as it moved toward the fleeing organics and the single droid. X3R was not fast, but he was relentless...

 

[Vizim]

Vizim offered no counter-response to the woman's (@christhebetrayer) snide comment. The last thing they needed was to make an assumption that got them all killed. Their margin for error on this operation was getting tighter and tighter.

However, it seemed down was correct.

And Vizim was in as quickly as possible. It seemed the Mandalorian (@Arclight) had the same idea as Vizim who now punched the down controls as the droid kept coming. Someone else declared a need to urinate - TMI - but Vizim's attention was now on the steadily progressing war droid.

IG had stayed behind to cover them, but the way that blaster rounds simply pinged off the armor, Vizim decided it might be time for a different type of touch.

He held his hand up just a bit and reached out to the Force, focusing on the droid and its many facets. All the complexities that kept it in place and he started to tug. While war droids were durable enough to probably avoid being destroyed entirely, hopefully its systems would seize up and it would slow its advance to a near halt as IG got inside and they started going down.

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[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

Hold the pee, Cas thought after Cat barked something about karking waiting. Got it. Still, she couldn’t quite help it. Firing blasters was standard procedure in her line of work, as standard as bathroom breaks. But Cas kept shooting anything down that corridor that wasn’t her or so help her she’d be shot herself or...something. In hindsight, maybe if someone or someone else had lobbed some grenades before now they wouldn’t be in this box?

Gett’se mentioned something about getting out of here and he was not alone in that notion. Igor agreed with heading ‘down’ and down the group motioned to. Hey, between a bunch of meatbags, meatsacks, a shadowy meat product and an assassin droid calling everyone else those things, well, what could go wrong, right?

A few things, apparently. They hadn’t even descended before their assailants descended upon them. Kriff. Cas bit her lip, halted her bladder and caught onto Mask’s movements. A Forcey knew a thing or two about disabling droids, she knew, and a Mandalorian knew to aid in the attempt.

“Piss off!” Cas cried as she slammed her shoulder against an elevator wall, aimed and bit her finger down on the trigger of her rifle. Bolts exploded toward the war droid’s flame receptacle which had been identified by now. Between her force and Mask’s Force, the flamethrower just might ignite and explode upon the droid. The killer robot did not even need to be destroyed from this. It just needed to be distracted long enough for that turbolift to turbo the hell down already.



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[Newton]

Newton saw how that thing was just shrugging off blaster bolts. The war robot was big no doubt and it kept on and kept on advancing.

Newton was on the turbolift, he would do what he could do to maybe slow down the giant's advance so they can get down safelty before the flamethrow hits the group. Newton would fire a few shots towards the head, aiming at the section where they eyes are, where the reflective metal plating doesn't appear to be. Maybe that's a weak point, maybe doing that will cause some damage, or maybe it won't.

It would be really nice if one of them had an ion weapon now.


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[Allegra]

She would aim a trio of shots to the approaching droid's knees; it appeared that the torso could tank, so instead she targeted other areas less protected, aiming carefully to topple or cease its' movement. She shook her head. "We shouldn't stop on that floor straight away," her vocabulator buzzed. "They will have sent reinforcements." The Dark one(@Phoenix) was pressing tp shut the doors with their IG-0R companion, but she wouldn't waste time waiting until it did, aiming at the approaching droid or any others until they would begin to descend, aiming at the knees, elbows, and where the flames jettisoned out.

Instead, she would start looking at the control panel if the doors did close. She would need to get access somehow, or some way for them to prevent getting absolutely slaughtered in whatever else type of situation they would lower themselves in. "Are there any other boot-phase droid bunkers between here and there?" She asked the IG-0R droid succinctly. "Guns blazing will not work. We need to plan, quickly."

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[Gett'se Vizsla]

Nope nope nope nope.

If Gett'se had a tank right now it would be driving full throttle in the opposite direction of the lumbering war robot that continued its slow advance through the hallway, gouts of flame spewing from its metal head. Unfortunately all he had was his beskar'gam, his blaster, and a host of other huttnapped individuals forced into this suicide mission and now crowded into what he hoped wasn't a deathtrap of a turbolift.

His heavy blaster pistol's loud thump echoed within the turbolift as fast as the weapon would cycle as he shot bolt after bolt aimed pretty much directly at the Guardian robot's face, only shifting his aim downward to its center of mass whenever the flame spewed and spoiled his line of sight on the hulking monstrosities face.

"Down would be nice right about now!" He shouted in between shots, silently praying to Kad Ha'rangir, to Hod Haran, even to the loathsome Arasuum that the turbolift doors would close and they would be speeding on their way. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if the war droid got into the turbolift with them. Nope, too late, he imagined it.

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[The Gatekeeper]

@Phoenix @christhebetrayer @Die Shize @Killa Ree @The Good Doctor @Arclight​

IG-0R was not used to the sensation of being 'trapped' - usually it was the one who did the trapping. It was beginning to see the downside to being on the receiving end of the relentless determination of a battle droid with a mission. Its photoreceptors focused on the interior of the lift as it stepped back into it. Thankfully it didn't need to be the one to actually press the button.

If it had been, it would have been very aggravated to discover that the organics didn't know how to operate a lift.

It would not, however, have been surprised.

IG-0R would focus fire with its borrowed blaster at the advancing enemy droid's head. Specifically, aiming to hit what appeared to be emitters of some kind - seemed that they were related to flame weaponry. One of the organics was doing the same which elevated her in IG-0R's estimation though, admittedly, the only way was up.

"Please have all organic parts inside the lift." it declared loudly to those lagging behind, "You will not survive having your limbs cut off by closing doors with the same grace as I."

Hopefully the system did not control the lift controls.

X3R continued forward, blaster firing cratering his armor as he advanced. All was not well, however; something was wrong that the ancient droid could not quantify. There was resistance to his movements; the droid attempted to divert power to his servos, but even with the archaic actuators straining, it was all the robot could do to take one step at a time. More, systems appeared to actually be failing; the droid's self-diagnostic system failed to return status on a growing number of systems...

And then, abruptly, one of the organics got lucky with a blaster shot.

X3R's head-mounted flamethrower sparked and guttered as it was knocked out, burning fuel beginning to leak down the war robot's chassis. Although emergency fail-safes prevented the flames from spreading to internal fuel tanks, the droid was still rapidly engulfed. He continued to plod forward, however, ignoring the heat; the mission was all that mattered.

It was thus with consternation that X3R watched the turbolift doors glide shut, flame-sleeved arms reaching for them. Abruptly, though, the old droid's motivator circuits failed in the heat, and he toppled forward with a crash. Emergency shutdown commands followed soon after, and X3R returned to the darkness from which he had so recently awakened as the doors finally slid shut entirely.

It would not be the last sight X3R's photoreceptors ever beheld, as things turned out, but for now, the droid was out of the picture. There would only be the dozens of others of his kind to worry about...

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

And, like that, the doors closed and the lift took off. Cas’ bladder was fighting to do the same any moment from now but at least her efforts had paid off. They were not alone, though; the others in that elevator had had enough sense to combine her efforts with their own in warding off the metal monster and kickstarting the turbolift with Igor’s ever present encouragement.

The IG unit had a way of stating the obvious where it sometimes needed to be stated; of telling people what would happen to their severed limbs in the tone of voice a waiter tells a patron what a menu consists of.

Restaurants, Cas knew, had restrooms. Would wherever they were going have a restroom? She hoped so. It was all she could do to tuck into a corner of the elevator and purse her lips, crossing one leg over the other. Good golly-molly, by the streams of Naboo do I need to pee… She gulped at her thoughts; they had not helped. Maybe if she just asked everyone to look the other way? Maybe ask the other females to stand watch?

“Hey, Igor…” Cas spoke into their whirring descent. Elevator talk; it was the kind of awkward conversation that catered to the awkward situation of an elevator. And by Mon Cala do I need the distraction. “...You ever wonder what it’s like to...I dunno...go to the restroom?”

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[Vizim]

Vizim was glad to see that his attack had had at least some effect. The doors snapped shut moments later, and they were all on their way down. Vizim let out a quiet breath of relief, though if this trip so far had been any indicator, things weren't likely to get "better" from here on out. Just different.

When the woman (@Die Shize) continued on about the bathroom, even trying to pull the sassy droid into the conversation, Vizim cast a very judgmental look her direction. Even with half his face covered, the judgment was obvious. They were in a life or death situation here and she was obsessing over the bathroom.

He rolled his eyes and prepared for their arrival at their next destination, giving his pistol another once over just to make sure everything was ready.

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[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se breathed a sigh of relief as the doors closed on the flaming hunk of newly scrapped war robot. That terrifying visage wreathed in flame would probably haunt his nightmares for years. Holstering his blaster for a moment, he set about reloading a fresh wrist rocket into the launcher on his gauntlet, rolling his eyes as Casany (@Die Shize )continued to prattle on about going to the bathroom.

"Let it go or let it go." He said gruffly as he finished securing a new rocket to his vambrace and drew his blaster pistol again. "Better to stink like piss than die trying to find a privy... or because someone gets tired of listening." He eyed the one armed IG unit that the woman was directing her questions to. He was certain the droid held little regard for the organics it was shepherding along based on its rather harsh commentary, and if he had a guess it was constantly running cost-benefit analysis on each of their lives.

He didn't want to be around when it decided their presence was more of a cost than a benefit.

Taking a deep breath, Gett'se steeled his soul for whatever would be awaiting them once those doors opened. Breathing through the moment of panicked fear that had overcame him when facing the war droid initially, he felt shame at his lack of courage and resolved himself to die with dignity should the time come. But for now, they had an IG unit to deliver. Hopefully that would solve all their problems, though he eyed the unit through the side of his visor and couldn't help but wonder what was really going on.

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