Kamino: Ten Years Ago

Mon Jan 16, 2012 5:14 pm by Aherk Formidonis

*Outside the transparisteel window, a storm raged like an inconsolable child much as it had every day since the tenants of the late Boss Liito's warehouse had set up shop there. Waves slammed against the thick stilts of the building with tremendous force, wind howled through the small cracks left by doors and windows, and rain spattered against the roof and walls with a cacophony that would drive the most mild-mannered of sentients to murder. Unlike the cities on Kamino, this warehouse was situated right on the planet's equator; the climate was not as punishing as some other planets, but the evaporated water and wind currents constantly bombarded the region with storms far worse than those encountered elsewhere on the planet, concealing its location at the cost of being almost completely inaccessible.

For Aherk Formidonis and Darth Vila, however, it was a day like any other.

The black-haired Human looked out into the storm from the main lobby of the warehouse much as he always did, as though we was ready to welcome a visitor that would never come. There was never anything to see out there; the local fauna knew to stay well away from the warehouse, either out of caution for the treacherous weather or out of some innate instinct that Formidonis had been yet unable to place, possibly the saturation of the dark side of the Force itself.

But such a thing was unlikely. For starters, such an influence would undoubtedly alter any creature caught in its snare before they were aware of it. And further, Formidonis was unsure as to whether either he or Vila truly fell on that side of the spectrum. While he used its power and taught the young Shan of its abilities, the mad scientist knew full well that he had*

"...won't warn you again, babycakes, step away from the kiddies."

*Formidonis snarled, his voice given an eerie, stereophonic quality by the black biological weapon bonded to his skin. The Jedi girl's slate gray eyes simply glared across the hall, leveling her blue blade at him before speaking a single word.*

"No..."

*"minor eccentricities", as he like to put it. As such, in spite of his vast knowledge base and formidable intellect, Formidonis felt himself unable to make such a judgment call. Some days were clearer than others for him, and all of them punctuated by visions that further muddied the waters at the least convenient of times. At least Vila had made the choice - as much as it could be called one, anyway - consciously. Formidonis hadn't really had a choice.

In fact, looking back, Formidonis felt at his clearest whenever he was in the lobby, looking out to the wild storms through the transparent door. Inner tranquility, brought about by external fury. Is that why he did what he did? Why he would do what he would?

Formidonis made note of the idea. Mad or no, he still fancied himself a scientist.

The Human turned around, slowly walking to the flight of stairs that would lead to the quieter and considerably darker personal quarters of the warehouse,*

...much to show for the fight.
Oddly enough, this was a little disappointing.
She stepped down the stairs, hopping over the dead droid and looking around at the large chamber beyond. There were three corpses piled in the far corner, Toydarians by the look of them, but little else...

*almost stumbling on the first step. The visions were becoming worse. They did have their benefits; such visions had told him how and where Boss Liito would be most vulnerable after the Dantooine excursion, who his primary accountant was, and even showed him what the warehouse itself would be like in a few years' time. But just as often as they helped, they got in the Dark Jedi's way.

Slowly, Formidonis made his way to the main hallway, turning the corner to reach the main computer room. It was the best-lit room in the whole building, trumping even the lobby on a rare clear day. Being near the epicenter of the building, there were no windows, which made it the perfect place to work on mechanical exploits. The room itself was two levels high, the second level's walls lined with computer columns, and separated from the main floor only by a series of catwalks hanging precariously from the ceiling. Formidonis' personal computer terminal*

*...the front end of a YV-100 freighter shining its lights inward, and a strangely painted Eta-2 interceptor hovering just to the right of the long catwalk leading to the door proper.

In the room where this characterless scene was being viewed, on the bottom center screen, the photoreceptors of the sentinel on the farthest right of the semicircular lineup flared to life...*

*was on the far wall, consisting of several keyboards and six large screens, currently acting as a single massive monitor. And on the wall farthest from the door, to the right of the computer, was his apprentice.*

"Didn't hear you come in."

*Formidonis' voice was weak as he strode into the room, his steps somewhat more carefully-planned than they used to be since the visions had become worse. The girl was tinkering with something he couldn't quite see as he moved to his computer terminal. Vila had been sent - along with the hulking humanoid behemoth of a droid standing across from her,*

*...pinned her against the wall with the pressure exerted from a single arm, slowly compressing the girl's armor. KR-03 had been programmed to kill. And kill her it would...*

*handing her tools as she requested them - on her first true mission. Judging by her presence there, there had been success.

The madman smiled as he slumped into his big leather chair. She had so desired a chance to field test her latest project.*

*He reached out with the Force, reaching for the small yellow cylinder next to Vila's hydrospanner. The tube wiggled slightly before falling over and rolling to the floor. Formidonis glared at the thing, summoning his frustration and anger, trying to break through the illness and get the damned cylinder to him. It levitated at once and moved a meter or two,*

"...getting worse. You think the Jedi have this problem? Or are..."

*and then promptly fell to the floor once again.*

Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:11 pm by Eliana Shan

*She didn't turn around, instead opting to finish her tinkering. Her helmet was off, allowing her long brown hair to flow down the back of her armor. She picked up the object she was working on, turning it over in her hands, still not turning as she addressed her Master.*

"Stealth was part of my training. An opportunity to practice should never be passed up."

*After another minute, she put finally put down what she was holding and turned, revealing the fact that her armor was missing one other component at the moment: the cannon. It and her helmet were both resting on the workbench; next to them was a datapad, looking rather plain and unimpressive next to the much more advanced technological endeavors.

She walked over to where the tube lay on the floor and picked it up in her unarmored right hand, briefly considering throwing it in an underhand toss. Deciding against that, however, she simply approached her Master and held it out to him.*

*Vila didn't seem to mind that she looked rather odd with the cannon off, what with her entire right arm bearing no armor below the elbow. The blue jumpsuit that she wore underneath the armor was exposed on just that section, and it made for an interesting contrast against the orange tones of the armor covering the rest of her body. It also made handling objects into an interesting experience, but that could also be addressed later. Her armor was not without its flaws, and new opportunities for improvements had already presented themselves. She imagined that they always would.*

"You're looking rather under the weather."

*She tilted her head to one side, her eyes betraying no emotion. Her expression was purely analytical.. A little too analytical, in fact. As if she cared more about how he would react than how he actually felt.*

Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:29 pm by Aherk Formidonis

*Formidonis snatched the yellow tube from his indifferent apprentice, glaring at the girl for a brief pause before unscrewing the nearly-invisible cap of the cylinder.*

"Your keen powers of observation surpass even mine."

*The master's caustic answer matched the apprentice's cold stare. Cupping his free hand, Formidonis tilted the cylinder, allowing four small capsules to fall into his palm. He wasted no time in swallowing them. The pills were a simple attention medication often prescribed to those with manic energy and mood swings, and they had a profound effect on the black-haired Human. With his daily dose, Formidonis was capable of operating at his normal levels, untouched by wild visions of the future or the grip of mania. But it was only a temporary fix; over the past year, he'd had to quadruple the recommended dosage, and each low brought the mad scientist closer to the brink. The visions were getting worse. The mania was barely controllable. And both were affecting his work.*

"I'm getting worse. You think the Jedi have this problem? Or are they entirely too good and pure and wholesome to be plagued like I am?"

*Formidonis let out a hoarse laugh, the question largely rhetorical. He'd forseen speaking those very words just a few moments ago, and he loosed them with barely a thought. What, then, would become of the other visions he'd had? Did he go through with them on instinct? Or did he force himself to go through with them? Was this the will of the Force? A trick of the mind? Too may damned questions!*

*Throwing his arm forward, the helmet on the metal workbench screamed across the room, making a beeline for the pair before coming to a sudden stop as Formidonis caught the heavy orange thing. His frustration, along with the fast-acting medicine, was quickly bringing his faculties up to speed. He stood, staring into the helmet as he handed it to Vila.*

"What're the specs on this thing?"

Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:29 pm by Eliana Shan

*She reached out and took it from him, turning it around in both hands so she could look down at the visor. There was no disguising the glimmer of affection in her eyes; she obviously felt something for her creation.*

"It's got various viewing spectrums. It operates in infrared and X-ray vision, as well as having a passive sonar. Its opacity is variable, and I'm currently working on a way of breaking it down and retracting it into the armor without taking it off. Most importantly of all, it's got an integrated Force Mask. While I wear it, I can't sense anyone.. but neither can they sense me."

*She tucked it under her left arm, scratching her head idly with her unarmored right.*

"And it's not just you."

*She didn't elaborate further. Didn't mention that her mother used to have these same visions, although they had been less debilitating, considering the amount of time the woman had had to cope with them. Her mother had told her, once, of the story of how Vila's parents met, of the vision Kando had had at the tender age of 9.

But sharing such knowledge would be pointless and inconsequential, and so Vila said nothing in terms of explanation.*

Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:10 pm by Aherk Formidonis

*Formidonis turned to her, raising a dark eyebrow. Vague, and yet somehow very knowing; the typical Vila reaction, to acknowledge the point without revealing the entirety of her thoughts. It was a very tactical gesture, and one she was using more and more as the months passed.

He couldn't say he was too terribly thrilled at the thought of his apprentice keeping secrets.*

"Good to know."

*The scientist turned his head to one side, cracking the individual vertebrae in his neck before gesturing for Vila to follow him to the workbench, throwing his eyes upward to glance at the metal behemoth still standing there, hydrospanner still in its massive durasteel hand. Formidonis would neither lie nor hide his thoughts; he was damn impressed with the equipment she'd designed. He had made an attempt at powered armor with lackluster results, and it was in storage aboard his YT-2000 down in the hangar. Useful, but not at all what he'd wanted. To see his apprentice - several years his junior, no less - completely surpass his own efforts brought both glee and envy to his mind, both emotions pushing the haphazard visions to the side.

Reaching the workbench, Formidonis ran a finger over the relatively huge cannon. This particular facet he was less thrilled about. Vila would lose half of her dexterity (Force forbid she was right-hand dominant), for a weapon that he wasn't sure was worth it. Arm cannons were not unheard of in the galaxy, but they were almost never worth the effort.

Vila knew this. So why opt for it?*

*Formidonis turned his head to his apprentice, his slightly bewildered expression asking the question for him as he tapped the gun with his finger.*

Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:48 pm by Eliana Shan

*She smiled. Oh, for all his genius, how little he knew about what machinery was capable of...*

"It's fully modular. Right now, it just has the most basic component -- a blaster cannon -- but it takes the weapon of the Jedi and uses it against them. It's powered by their lightsaber crystal. I can modify it for flamethrower, sonic pulse, carbonite projector.. I even have designs in mind for an electricity emitter. It integrates with the armor, takes whatever powers their crystals grant. The possibilities are endless."

*Vila's smile broadened as she walked over to the workbench, scooping up the datapad in her free hand and tucking it under her arm.*

"Very soon, it'll be ready for anything that can be thrown at it. Plus, it can be detached and stored on the armor itself, to allow for greater dexterity in the event I encounter something I can't hack into with one hand. I'd say it's worth the risk."

Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:40 am by Aherk Formidonis

"Clever girl."

*Formidonis smiled and nodded. His time and efforts to acquire this young girl hadn't been wasted in the least. As far as he was concerned, the weapon was a technological marvel; in spite of their inherent similarities, Formidonis doubted that anybody would have tried to meld a lightsaber and a blaster together quite in the way that Vila had.

The blue-eyed maniac didn't mention, however, that most things involving such crystals needed a certain level of attuning to their user and the Force. In sealing herself away from it, Vila could possibly lose control of her weapon, or worse still not even use it at all. Vila had always been sensitive to the Force, but for whatever reason she had never truly embraced its power. Such a refusal could be the death of her someday. Formidonis could've pondered the question at length, but the medication he had taken kept his mind in the present moment; no need to undermine the point of the jagged little pills if he didn't have to.

In any case, she likely had a workaround planned.*

"Show me. You know where the range is."

*Formidonis looked up to the massive droid's red photoreceptors and inclined his head away, moving to leave the workshop. Just across the hallway from the door, there was another room; blank and gray, it alternated as a firing range, training area, and garbage disposal; the only real particular feature of the room was that, with a press of a button, the floor slid apart to dump anything there into the ocean below. As a result of this, countless tinkerings and basic used amenities now found themselves at the mercy of Kamino's powerful currents.

In following its master, the gargantuan machine simply pushed the workbench to the side with one arm, stepping past Vila. Its footsteps were loud and resonated throughout the lab. The droid was (as much as such a machine could be, anyway) at ease; if it had so needed to, it could have followed Formidonis to the firing range without making a sound. But such a directive was not necessary, and would merely waste time by the droid's reckoning.

KR-03, for all its capability and the ingenuity of its creator, was an astoundingly ordinary droid.*

Sun Jan 29, 2012 1:07 pm by Eliana Shan

*Vila cocked her head to one side as she looked at him, as if making sure that she had heard correctly. And, judging by the large smile that graced her lips a few seconds later, she had indeed.

Despite the maturity that her past and present had forced upon her, she could still be a child when it came to showing off her new toys, and now was one of those times.*

*She set the helmet back down on the workbench and reached up to tie her hair up into a bun. When she was finished, she picked up the helmet and put it on, waiting to hear it seal before letting go. The HUD came alive, a few lines of code scrolling past as it ran its diagnostic routines. A warning light flashed in the corner, indicating that the primary weapon system was offline; Vila rolled her eyes at that. Of course it was offline, the damn cannon wasn't even attached, but she wasn't going to disable the warning. Indicators were there for a reason, and as proud of her work as she was, she knew that there was always the chance -- however slim that may be -- that something could go wrong.

And when it came down to choosing between being marginally annoyed over a blinking light, or being completely unaware of a systems failure, she was always going to pick "annoyed."

Vila picked up the cannon in her left hand and slid it over her right, again waiting for it to seal before letting go. The warning light stopped flashing, instead becoming a solid beacon that lasted only another second while the cannon's diagnostics were running, before blinking green and then fading out. She pressed each of her fingers lightly against the contacts inside the mechanism, and each setting came up on her HUD as either active or inactive; obviously, she hadn't yet been able to acquire all the parts necessary for her designs, but what she had would definitely suffice.

While the helmet's visor blocked out all but her eyes and nose, there was no mistaking the smile reflecting in her eyes as she headed to the range.*

Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:36 pm by Aherk Formidonis

*Watching KR-03 enter the range, Formidonis smiled as Vila crossed the threshold herself before pointing down the room, where five small plates had been set on stands of various heights.

The room was illuminated by three white lights along the roof, giving the hall a very drab look; despite its use as a training and testing area, there was nothing on the walls or the ceiling, and nothing to cast shadow save for the plates on the far wall and the trio of master, apprentice, and creation. Formidonis stepped back, behind Vila and KR-03, moving towards the door. His training hall wasn't very large, and he didn't particularly care to have hot porcelain shrapnel ricochet and hit the only unarmored person in the room.

Besides, from outside the testing area he could control the variables individually, to see how the subject would respond and adapt to different stimuli. In building KR-03, he remembered, he'd tested the droid under every condition he could conceive in that very arena.

And now, a very similar test was about to commence.*

*As he left the range, Formidonis shut the door behind him and turned back to his large computer terminal in the workshop, where the security feed was already focusing in on the range from the safest ceiling corner. Pressing a few buttons, the mad scientist switched on the intercom.*

:: Okay, take your first shot at the leftmost plate for the control. We'll calibrate the variables accordingly as we go. ::

Mon Jan 30, 2012 11:22 am by Eliana Shan

*Vila snapped her cannon up to aim at the indicated plate, and was at once pleased and displeased with the results. The targeting reticule was pointing at the plate, but it was shaky, evidence of the inevitable inaccuracy that plagued most organics, especially the inexperienced ones.

But there was time to worry about that later. She took the shot; as she did so, the cannon twitched moments before firing. A single bolt was issued from the weapon, and it impacted the plate a few degrees below the leftmost edge. Another millimeter to the left, and it would have missed entirely. A whole quadrant of the plate broke off, leaving the rest cracked and unbalanced; the formerly round plate rolled to the right and fell off the stand, shattering into tiny pieces on the floor.*

*Vila scowled inside her helmet. Obviously, she would need to improve her aim, but she had known that from the get-go. She would need to steady her hand, but that, too, was a known factor.

She was scowling because the auto-aim function of her helmet hadn't been of any help. It wasn't programmed to isolate individual, stationary objects; as of this moment, it only distinguished living beings and moving objects. A cold, unmoving plate was no threat. She would have to do something about that; after all, who knew when she would need to shoot out a support beam in a firefight, or take out a stationary gun emplacement? She would need the aim-assist until she became a better shot.

She would also need a way to differentiate targets of interest. That would be more difficult, but it would be necessary as well. She couldn't have her weapon systems targeting every object in her sight.

It was something to look into later, and that thought turned the scowl into a smile. No matter how frustrating the little bugs in the system might be, they were more things for her to fix, for her to improve upon. And that was true enjoyment.*

Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:03 pm by Aherk Formidonis

:: Well. That sucked. ::

*Watching from his computer terminal, Formidonis shook his head. He hadn't expected perfection right off the bat, but Vila had spent more time on this thing than her teacher cared to remember. Was the visor just not right? The aiming calibration faulty? The color just a little off? If Formidonis had that same amount of time to design a similar set of armor, he'd have had it ready for field testing in a third of the time. It wouldn't be nearly as artistic as Vila's would have been, but at the end of the day that's what truly separated them as master and apprentice; Formidonis preferred the flawless execution of a given function, while Vila just had to take it that little step beyond.

It both impressed and disgusted him. Nobody should be pouring their life and soul into their work like she did.*

:: Righto, against my better judgment, we're gonna go ahead and shut the lights off. ::

*As if on verbal command, the three lights in the training area shut off, leaving the room in total darkness save for the two red lights coming from KR-03's eye sockets.*

:: Roll on two. ::

Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:43 am by Eliana Shan

*She smiled. He had just made her task.. well, not easier, but definitely about to be more impressive than the first. She knew how to correct for her previous poor aim, and the dark did nothing to hinder her.*

*In the lack of light, her visor automatically adjusted to infrared; she did a quick double-blink to switch the view over to the armor's sonar. The room's outlines were highlighted, and she shifted her aim to the second plate, over towards the right edge and just a little above the horizontal axis. She pressed the firing stud with her thumb, and the bolt flew from her cannon before her armor had time to send out a second ping. She heard the plate shatter as the suit pinged the room; the next image that was returned showed the plate falling, having been broken into four equal pieces by a shot to the center, each piece still resonating with the sound of its breaking.

She didn't look up, didn't switch her visor view, didn't lower her weapon. She just spoke, cool and calm and confident.*

"Next."

Tue Jan 31, 2012 3:21 pm by Aherk Formidonis

:: Your call. ::

*As Eliana had been taking aim and firing, KR-03 had been moving behind her as silently as a jungle predator, compensating for its great size and weight with careful foot placement and slow, deliberate motion. When the lights were shut off for the second test, the machine raised its arm above her head, balling its massive hand into a fist while priming the pistons that would bring the fist squarely down on her helmet for the quick, efficient kill that Formidonis had programmed it to achieve.*

*And as its master shut off the intercom, the primed alloy fist came screaming down towards Vila's head.*

Wed Feb 01, 2012 2:32 pm by Eliana Shan

*Vila knew that her master was still outside the range. So when her motion sensor suddenly showed something close behind her, way too close, she knew she was in trouble.

Time to move.*

*She turned, pivoting clockwise on both feet, reflexively bringing her left arm up for protection and bending at the knees. Halfway through the turn, she heard the mechanical whine of servos; faint, but she knew machinery. She knew that it was above her, heading down, and moving fast. She continued to bring her arm up as the rest of her body dropped..

And then the mechanical fist hit, dead center on her forearm.

The armor itself took most of the impact, forcing her to her knees, but it wasn't enough to take all of it. Her arm dropped a few centimeters under the blow, her forearm aching with a radiating pain. There would definitely be some bruising at the point of impact.*

*That was assuming that she lived long enough for it to bruise in the first place. This was what her master had meant when he wanted a demonstration.

Well, she'd just have to show him that there was no way in hell she'd be taken down by an unseen attacker taking a lucky shot.

No way in hell.*

Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:33 pm by Aherk Formidonis

*Vila's speed had not been taken into account. KR-03 had no way to measure the damage of the blow, either; while it could calculate the damage on an individual's arm in various states, Vila's armor provided a new element. KR-03 could glean just about everything about an opponent with a simple scan right down to bone density, and it had known the maker's apprentice far longer than any opponent or target so far. Had she been armored in accordance to the previous specifications, her arm would have broken. Unarmored, it would have shattered. But the armor provided a new variable.

And if KR-03 had anything resembling a personality, it would have a particular hatred of variables.*

*KR-03 forced its arm down, bringing its forearm in front of Vila's visor with little resistance; the massive droid had weight, leverage, and power on its side, and Vila was defending from a relatively weak position.*

*In spite of its size, the droid was a very tactical fighter, and already had several contingencies in place, and contingencies of those as well. Since it had been proven in the field, Formidonis almost never left when an assassination didn't need the aid of the Force; even with the visions (assuming they decided to be helpful on any given day) and his intellect, Formidonis couldn't have thousands of potential outcomes calculated prior to engagement.*

*With its fist still balled up on Vila's forearm, KR-03 readied its pistons and shot its arm forward the instant it was ready, the ideal outcome being the girl's total surprise at being decapitated by a metal fist the size of her unarmored head.*

Sun Feb 05, 2012 1:36 pm by Eliana Shan

Oh, fierfek.

*There was a metal fist a little over a foot in front of her face, pointing right towards her. This was not an acceptable position for her to be in. She didn't yet know its full reach, nor did she care; it had to have forced her into this position for a reason, and that reason couldn't possibly be good. Which meant that it was time to move.*

*She let herself fall to the floor, dropping onto her back and bringing her knees up, letting her arm go limp beneath KR's as she fell. The fall quickly turned into a backwards somersault, moving her away from the metal behemoth; she wanted to get distance, she needed it in order to fight effectively.

She went through only a single roll before halting; as soon as her knees touched the ground again, she extended her legs, launching herself back up onto her feet and into a standing position. She took a few steps back at the same time as bringing her right arm up. Vila only took a second to adjust her aim according to what she had noticed earlier, then let fly with two shots from her cannon, one at each of the robot's photoreceptors.*

*She doubted that it would do any real damage, but it would blind it -- ironic, considering the lights were still down -- for long enough for her to think of a plan. More than that, the shots were a test; she was already probing for weak spots, and the most obvious ones were the droid's eyes.*

Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:45 pm by Aherk Formidonis

*In the low light, KR-03's scarlet photoreceptors stood out, its dull gray chassis nearly invisible in the dark room. Vila had gained a solid two meters of distance on the machine, in accordance with the 84.2 % probability that she would take such measures. In accordance with this plan of action, and knowing she would take care to aim before inevitably firing as evidenced by the prior weapon calibration, KR-03 responded in the most logical manner.*

*The droid's left arm raised itself to cross its photoreceptors, while its right arm crossed across the droid's upper torso, protecting vital and unarmored oil and hydraulic lines.*

*Vila's first shot sailed past the droid, illuminating the machine for a brief moment before crashing against the far wall in a shower of sparks and what would certainly be carbon scoring when the lights came up again. The second blast hit KR-03's left forearm, sending it right into the machine's skull.

KR-03 paused, the blow inflicting minor electrostatic shock. And when the system once again became operable some milliseconds later, the machine reinforced its arms positions, taking into account the precise power output of the cannon and ensuring that the impact would be neutralized by the hydraulic pressure inside its appendages.*

*And when that was done, KR-03 advanced on Vila's last known position, its audio receptors listening for footsteps or weapon fire, and its motion sensor keeping the sentinel on target as it approached.*

Sun Feb 05, 2012 3:49 pm by Eliana Shan

*Her eyes narrowed. The behemoth had size and brute strength on its size, but she suspected that it was sorely lacking in speed; she had no idea as to what its defensive capabilities were. The one shot that had connected hadn't seemed to do much, but it had moved his arm. That was important: her shots at least carried enough force to push it back slightly.*

*She tapped one of the contacts in her cannon with her index finger, and another with her middle, then aimed dead-center on the droid's torso. As she took a few more steps back, Vila pressed down on the firing stud with her thumb and held it down; having set the mechanism to automatic fire and increased the power output by 5%, a flurry of bolts issued forth from the firing tip of the cannon. She trailed the weapon upward, allowing the line of energy to traverse the droid's chassis, sweeping up and down.*

*She highly doubted that a single shot would force it back again. That was one reason why her armor was designed to be so modular: she did not want to become predictable, and if she was limited to just a few options in combat, that would be exactly what she would become. Sure, she may be faster than KR-03, or she may not, but in this enclosed space that wouldn't be very helpful unless she got in the right position.*

Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:39 pm by Aherk Formidonis

*Being prepared for the incoming fire this time, Vila's blaster fire did next to nothing to stop the incoming behemoth. While a few shots managed to stymie its progress as they landed against its legs, KR-03 was every bit as implacable as Formidonis had built him to be. Cortosis-durasteel alloy served as its main alloy of construction, and while such a mixture weakened the metal's overall structural integrity, it rendered Vila's main weapon next to useless with the output she had used thus far.*

*KR-03's march was not as fast as it could have been. It knew this. Formidonis knew this. But there was no reason to let Vila believe that such a thing was possible. The droid's main weapon in this exchange was not force or endurance, but psychology; in playing the slow machine for now, it opened up the possibility of an overwhelming display of speed later, as well as portraying itself as an unstoppable force as more data was taken in through Vila's eyeballs and relayed to her brain.

And as KR-03 found itself in striking distance again, it played its hand.*

*The robot's arms were still protecting its vital areas, crossing over its upper torso and head, having used its audio capabilities to navigate. During the march, it had prepared for its attack. And when Vila came within the optimal range, the machine struck. At once, KR-03 crouched two long metal arms whipped away from the sentinel's body at an alarmingly fast speed, moving as two dark gray blurs.

According to its biometric data on Vila, her unarmored form would have been torn completely in two by the dual blow.*

Sat Feb 11, 2012 5:23 pm by Eliana Shan

*She barely had to time to react, barely had time to realize that an attack was headed her way. Reflexively, she started to recoil, hunching her shoulders, trying to lower her head and minimize the attack target. That reflex saved her life.*

*The blow from KR-03's left arm would have hit her square in the head, but instead it was deflected by the overly large shoulder pad of her armor. Not by much, but the shoulder pad took enough of the impact, diverted the blow by a few degrees, so that when the droid's arm struck her head, it was a partially weakened blow, at an angle at the top of her head. It was just enough so that she wasn't quite dead.

There was nothing to be done about the blow to her torso, however. So, when the metal hand impacted the armor, she was knocked off her feet, and when the second hand hit her head, she was spun around in midair, bringing her crashing down onto the metal floor below.*

*It hurt. Everything hurt. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire, the whole world was still spinning, there were numbers flashing in front of her eyes that didn't make any sense to her, but Vila was not done. She had been taught how to survive, and she knew she needed to get away from the metal behemoth. She rolled onto her back, the simple motion sending knives through her side, and started to push herself backwards. Then, a glimmer of light cut through the haze..*

It was protecting itself before.

*She raised her right arm, toggling the contacts inside the cannon to increase the power output to 75%, and fired up at the droid. It had just flung its arms out at her, it shouldn't have had time to cover itself again, and she was in the perfect position to hit the lines it so obviously wanted to protect.

Just for good measure, she fired again, then started to push herself back once more. She had to get away, she had to buy herself time, and she knew she wasn't going to last for much longer.*

Kamino: Ten Years Ago

Kamino: Ten Years Ago

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