Ask Jabbing Kale

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

JABBING KALE

Governor Arus Kale has repeatedly blocked Czerka's attempts to gain mining rights on Jabiim. The Governor has resisted bribery, blackmail, and negotiation. It seems that Czerka has finally lost its patience. Eliminate Kale so that Czerka may make a deal with his successor.

Kara had worked with HK-24 before when they assassinated a politican and framed a Sector Ranger from the Independent Systems Consortium (ISC) for it. Unsurprisingly the ranger had never been tried or even investigated by its employer despite the Bounty Hunter's Guild keeping the bounty up for almost a decade. Such was the power of galactic governments, it seemed. Regardless, Kara now worked for another faction that was clearly 'too big to fail' and it was known as the Czerka Megacorporation. They were holding her newborn son hostage in order to get her to do their dirty work for them. Worst part was that Kara understood their reasoning. If you had a change to bend the boss of a Crymorah crime family to your will and use her extensive list of contacts as a known fixer of the Bounty Hunter's Guild to further your own cause.. wouldn't you do the same? Kara.. probably would. It wouldn't stop her from killing the Czerka executive that took her son, though.

As it was the easiest way to meet after arriving on a planet, Kara waited for the HK-droid in the spaceport cantina. Not the nice one where corporate spaceships and transports funded the lounge areas, though. No, Kara sat in a booth for the cantina where only the downtrodden went. The Miner's Guild employees that needed spice and caf just to survive their days. The small dose of glitterryll injected into the hookay pipe dulled some of the emotional strain the new mother was feeling as her somewhat glassy eyes lazily kept their unfocused gaze on her booth. The droid would arrive soon, surely. She had to get her head back in the game somehow and.. well, Glitterryll sure did keep her mind off of the other things.

@Nor'baal

 

[HK-24]

HK-24 had never understood the predeliction of organics for spice. Every force-forsaken planet he went to these days seemed to be awash with spice addicts, very few of whom could point to a noticeable benefit they personally obtained through their habit. Logically it made no sense, but organics were not known for their logic. Some claimed they imbibed for the 'high', but HK-23 knew that such 'highs' could be secured from the thrill of combat, a far more noble pursuit.

As he walked into the Cantina, HK-24 scanned his photoreceptors across the room.

Holding an E-11 Blaster rifle in his vice-like grip, he noticed the bouncer off to his right seemingly considering to ask him to stow it. However, evidently, his pay was not high enough to warrant such a risk and thought better of it. HK-24 continued into the cantina and stopped in front of where Kara was sitting.

"Statement: You are Kara. I am HK-24." he stated montonisically. He recognised her as if it was only yesterday that they had met. She had changed, she appeared hardened even more by a galaxy which seemed only to ever keep 'her sort' down. HK-24 would have cared - except he was not programmed for empathy, and so didn't.

He extended his hand "Request: The target puck?"

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

The HK-droid was as sublte as a raging bantha in a porcelain shop. Ordinarily Kara would get frustrated by the utter lack of subterfuge, but now she didn't care. She didn't care about much, ofcourse, that's what the Glitterryll was for. "Hey twenty-four," her voice sounded lazy and was awfully monotome, but she seemed to be able to move about just fine as she handed the droid the target puck. It would spring alive in the droid's hand and display a holographic still of their target.

Target: Arus Kale
Wanted: Dead
Reward: 80,000 credits
Info: Governor of Jabiim​

And look at them, already on Jabiim. Kara took the hookah pipe from her mouth and put it down on the table before taking one of systech corporation's anti-addiction stimulants from the inside pocket of her jacket. "There's no specifics about the manner of death or framing someone this time," which, if she remembered correctly, made this job right up the droid's wheelhouse. It was a crude and violent operator who worked briefly for the Zaa Fenn back when they were still operating out of the Quick-Draw Cantina on Coruscant. Like TC-SC 23006 he easily evaded persecution, yet unlike the other droid lacked the disguise matrix that made it so valuable for Kara's usual business. "Suggestions?" she asked as she injected herself with the Systech stimulant and was caught up in a whirlwind of adrenaline as he body shook off the effects from the Glitterryll. Fun was over. It was time to work.


@Nor'baal

 

[HK-24]

Scanning the puck, HK-24 formulated several possible approached in his mind based on the parameters of the mission. Bringing the organic in alive was not required, making the mission considerably easier.

"Observation: The target is likely to be guarded quite well based on the size of the reward." he remarked before continuing to search the local databases. From what he could tell, there was a sizable compound outside of town, which appeared to be under Arus Kales's ownership.

It followed that he was most likely to be found there.

HK-24 had a predictable suggestion "Recommendation: Assault the compound, me from the front, you more discreetly." he said, gauging her response. It was a risky approach, but only really for him - he could more easily be patched up, unlike an organic, and the approach played more naturally to their individual skills.

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

The HK-droid hadn't changed in all these years. A frontal assault on a compound owned by the governor of the planet? That was suicide. At least, it would've been for an organic. As her head returned to normal and she was once again able to focus on the job at hand, Kara thought the droid's idea over and allowed a smile to come over her face. "I can't guarantee I'll be able to pick up your memory core," she stated and pulled her port-scanner from her pocket, "but I can download a back-up, just in case." It would involve her having to physically plug directly into the cognitive unit that held HK-24's memory core and its default programming. She had done it a million times on TC-SC 23006 who she programmed specifically for every mission she send him on.

Even if the droid was physically destroyed or disabled inside the compound it would only lose all memory from this point forward. It would be difficult to source all the distinctive parts of a HK model, but with Kara's contacts and the Zaa Fenn's funds it would be possible and that made the back-up a viable option.

Kara much preferred droids over organics when it came to jobs like these. She needed reliable operatives that knew how to pull a trigger and to do it at the right time. "Sit down, let me plug this in."

@Nor'baal

 

[HK-24]

As an assassin droid, HK-24 didn't 'live' for much beyond the application of violence.

He had remarkably little understanding of the need to take precautions for his safety in combat. As long as the job was completed and the target killed, that was all that mattered. If he didn't make it out - oh well.

Opening his I/O port, he enabled Kara to do what she needed to do, and, once done, stood back up.

"Statement: The compound is nearby, I shall head there and inform you once I am in position." he remarked, before walking toward the door and dropping out of sight.

---

A commanding view of the compound was afforded from its front entrance. It was a modest place, surrounded by a low electro-fence. Inside one long two-story hall was at the rear of the area, with two separate one-story buildings to either side.

HK-24 did what his protocols demanded.

"Statement: Arus Kale is within this compound. Subparagraph 16 of the Bondsman Guild protocol waiver compels you to immediately produce said asset."

He remained still, blaster in hand as he noticed a group of B1 battle droids trenching out of the compound and forming two ranks in front of him.

"Repeat: Arus Kale is within this compound. Subparagraph 16 of the Bondsman Guild protocol waiver compels you to immediately produce said asset."

HK-24 tensed, waiting for them to fail to comply.

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Kara did as she had said and plugged into HK-24's cognitive unit. It was remarkably similar to a default assassin's droid programming and had little in the way of directives and lines that suggested it had re-programmed itself a fake sentience. Despite that it didn't seemed to have been wiped often which meant it had been programmed well and by an advanced droid engineer. As Kara scrolled through the droid's registry she immediately discovered why.. it was a Czerka model. You could say a thousand things about Czerka's business practices, but when they made a droid they at least made sure the programming didn't fail. The same could not be said for Cybot Galactica or indeed illegally programmed droids like her own TC-SC 23006.

She downloaded its programming and memory from the cognitive unit and stored it on an encrypted drive that she had brought along just in case. She would make sure to stash it in a spaceport locker before they left. There was no point in getting caught with it on her person and this way, if the HK-24 droid managed to survive he could very well retrieve it himself.

---

About half an hour later the locally bought jump boots allowed her to jump the low electro-fence and hide herself inside the compound. The droid was yet to inform her that he was succeeding in distracting the guards, although Kara did notice a commotion and movement towards the main entrance. Linking up her AT-Specs to the port scanner to get realtime information on nearby open ports, she started to sneak closer to the main hall.

@Nor'baal

 

[HK-24]

"Statement: Arus Kale is within this compound. Subparagraph 16 of the Bondsman Guild protocol waiver compels you to immediately produce said asset." HK-24 reminded the droids, as they parted to allow a chubby Rodian though their ranks. He looked the alien up and down, assessing it to not be much by way of threat.

"Statement: Arus Kale is within -"

"I heard you, droid."

How rude. HK-24 considered, pointing his blaster at the Rodian, as his backup of BD1s levelled their weapons at him. "You're not coming in freak-show. Droids, att -" the Rodian slumped to the ground as HK-24 squeezed the trigger, and rolled to cover off to his right.

"Rodger Rodger!" a chorus of acknowledgements rose from the droids, who trampled over their dead master and began to fire a sporadic array of inaccurate shors toward HK-24s location. Kara would no doubt hear the commotion, signalling for her to commence her infiltration - but just to be on the safe side, he clicked a signal down his comlink to her, before returning fire from behind cover.

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Kara had just slipped in through a back door when blasterfire erupted outside. Several organics made their way to the main hall now to see what was happening and if they could rest easy watching the BD1 droids take care of whatever threat had just appeared. "That droid just shot-" one of them cried, "what is this about the Bondsman Guild?" the confusion rose among the gathering crowd. There wasn't an official bounty on the capture of Governor Arus Kale, after all. This mission was very much hush-hush and the directives for it were known to only those hunters that took assassination jobs from certain boards. Well, certain boards and the Czerka Executive that was willing to pay to re-open negotiations on Jabiim.

Kara meanwhile tried to get a grasp of the compound's layout and where it was most likely she would find the Governor. His office was her first bet, so she-

Her AT-specs suddenly revealed a nearby open port into the compound's subnet in a room to her left, so Kara made for it quickly and discovered the security room. Several loading stations covered one wall, no doubt to charge the BD1 droids that were currently engaging with HK-24. The droid most likely was the compound's security officer and he had forgotten to lock his security panel as he had rushed outside to his untimely death. Kara wasted no time and locked the door behind her before taking place behind the panel and scrolling through the feeds.

Apparently there was a saferoom protocol in place at the Governor's office, but it wasn't yet activated for some reason. Ah! That's way.. Kara saw the Governor, a human, make his way from what she assumed was his private residence -there wasn't a security camera in that section- towards the office. In a minute he would be able to lock himself in a saferoom and be protected for a long enough time for Jabiim's security forces to send a special operations unit to save him from his attackers.

That is, if Kara didn't press -this button- and disabled it.

@Nor'baal

 

[HK-24]

With confusion raging across the camp, HK-24 escalated his part of the mission. He fired through the heads and chests of two BD1 droids as they chattered about calling for backup. From his present position of cover, he had the ideal placement to hold down whatever reinforcements came from within the compound.

He fired again, taking out a third droid, as the compound's doors opened, spilling out another rank of BD1s, and a single, heavy-set BD2.

It seemed security was stepping up the game. HK-24 reacted as the super battle droid levelled its wrist rocket, walking backwards from his position of cover, and taking a shot from a well-placed BD1 blaster. If he could feel pain, he probably would have, yet his heavy chassis held true. Firing a shot into the wrist of the super battle droid, he detonated the rocket at its source, causing a large explosion which took the door to the compound out in the process.

Everything was going well, so far.

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

The Governor entered his office, sweat already forming on his temples as he rushed across to his desk and pressed the hidden button underneath the small statuette of a mining instrument. He immediately turned to where he knew the entrance to his safe room would appear, but the bookshelf didn't move. Arus Kale tried the button again, and again, but to no avail and he then walked over to the bookshelf to open the door manually. It didn't budge as it wasn't meant to be opened that easily.

"Were you expecting to hide from us?" Kara said, menacingly, as she closed the door behind her and aimed her blaster pistol at the Governor's chest.

Arus startled and turned to her with large fear-stricken eyes. "What is the meaning of this?" he began in his usual authoritive tone of voice, but while that may have been enough to sway locals to his every whim, it wasn't enough for a spice addict that was only here for his murder. "Who are you!?" Arus demanded just before he noticed the muscle in Kara's trigger finger tensing.

The burning bolt of plasma melted away a large part of the Governor's face before he fell lifelessly to the floor of his office. "A mother," Kara answered simply as leaving the man's last words unanswered seemed somehow to be wrong. The only reason she did any of this was because of Czerka. The only reason she did any of this was because they had her child.

She quickly exited the room, but the blaster shot had been audible and it had obviously come from inside the building. Kara had the foresight to disable and scram the footage from the security camera's to make sure she couldn't be recognized. For the HK-droid this was less of an issue, for no one could tell on HK-24 apart from another anyway. "Twenty-four, target dead. Fallback to rendezvous point Alpha." she said into their shared commline as she sped down a flight of stairs and ended up face-to-face with a confused and distraught member of the Governor's organic protection detail.

Kara didn't like it, but she also didn't want her face to be seen on all wanted-holo's from here to Coruscant either. Her blaster already in hand, she only had to raise it faster than the kid could draw his own and then she fired. She had already passed him by the time his lifeless body reached the floor.

@Nor'baal

 

[HK-24]

The withdrawal command came in as expected, and so far, the alarm had yet to be raised beyond the compound. As far as anyone knew, there had been no attack beyond the one at the main gate, which was about to wind down anyway. Rolling behind cover at the other side of the gateway, he fired a few more shots at the ranked droids before standing and walking back away from the compound.

Slowly the incoming blaster shots began to die away - after all, the droids had not received any orders to engage targets outside of the compound that was not firing.

He signalled over the comm that he was withdrawing to the rendezvous point and hopped on his speeder to do just that.

---

"Statement: Mission success." HK-24 remarked, as he cleaned the barrel of his E-11, and restocked his blaster charges from the supply bag on the side of his speeder. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing else that needed to be done - the target was eliminated, surely, otherwise Kara would not have withdrawn.

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Kara had again jumped across the low electro-fence and rushed the short distance to the speeder bike she had stolen from town. She hadn't been followed as all eyes had been on the distraction provided by the HK-24 droid and the only two witnesses of her presence were dead.

Their rendezvous point was inside an old mine that was long abandoned by the Mining Guild on Jabiim and that was large enough to hide a SH-3 Gun Tug. Just in case an exfil with one of the main corporate starliners wasn't possible, Kara had arranged for this nondescript yet hyperspace-capable vessel to be hidden here by one of the Zaa Fenn. As she arrived the droid was already cleaning the barrel of his E-11 blaster rifle.

"Good work, twenty-four," she said, though without the typical smile that would've accompanied in the past, and stepped off her own speeder. "Let's get in the ship and offworld before they put it on lockdown over Governor Kale's untimely death."

The Czerka Corporation would no doubt influence whoever replaced Arus Kale as Governor and that would set the stage for a very profitable deal mining resources from the planet. All thanks to Kara and HK-24. Would it be enough for Kara to get her child back? Unlikely. She knew that they would milk her until she either died for them or got caught, in which case they would simply pay HK-24 to kill in her prison cell. Kara needed to figure something out and she needed to do it fast.

/end thread
@Nor'baal