Lord Greshh

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

I

TAURUS

I cross my arms across my face and chest to shield from the fire. The armor begins to blacken, and the exposed half of my face plate begins to melt a little. The nano self repair system kicks in, but is is sluggish from the EMP bomb.

To counter, my shoulder mounted turret swivels and opens rapid fire at the HK droid with both blasters and mini rockets.

HJ Twilight

I lift the Sith Hunters arm like a tail gun and pull one of the wires, causing a focused laser cutter beam to shoot out at the tall droid. “Try this!”

TAURUS

The beam misses a direct hit, but it clips my shoulder, burning a deep cut into my armor that does not repair itself. I ignore it and continue to fire at the HK droid.

HJ Twilight

I heave the droid arm into the air through the force, and it clatters onto the catwalk between the two battling droids. “Hank! Grab it!”

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

TAURUS

My sight is slowly returning. I raise my blades to parry most of the droids attacks, and those I cannot are observed by my armor. “A flaw in your primitive programming: you announce your attacks in advance. You lack spontaneity. I can calculate each of your moves before you even make them.” Knocks the droid’s blade to the side, then kicks him in the torso.

Omega Squad Leader

From behind the large droid, I underhand toss three metallic balls, sending them rolling to it’s feet. The droid turns just in time for them to pop and send an electro magnetic pulse up it’s legs.

TAURUS

Convulses as the pulse spreads through my chassis. My redundancy systems are able to resist the pulse enough to keep me from shutting down, but I can feel some of my internal function going temporarily offline. Raising my arm, I eject one of my blades, firing it at the Imperial like a harpoon. It strikes him in the shoulder and he is knocked to the ground. “That... was... a mistake.”

HJ Twilight

I crawl through the longing line of parts, trying to find a good place to jump back up and help Hank. Up ahead, I notice a crane arm attaching Sith Hunter arms to bodies. With a Force augmented jump, I grab onto the crane and swing it around, hoping to catapult myself into the catwalk above. I, along with the unattached arm, landing on the opposite side from Hank and TAURUS.

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

HJ Twilight

I jump to the side to get out of the way, shielding my eyes from the flames.

TAURUS

"AH!" The fire singes the metal outer covering, and my nanotech repair systems rush to fix any breeches. The intense heat temporarily overloads my optics as well, and I fire another sonic pulse to send the droid and the human away from me so I may recover.

HJ Twilight

The pulse sends me backwards over the railing, and I fall onto one of the conveyor belts. "Oof!"

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

HJ Twilight

I lead TAURUS out onto the catwalks. I knew he was trying to separate Hank and I, and I couldn't let him succeed. At the same time, we would have less room to maneuver out here on the narrow walkway. Below us, the assembly line continued to work, carrying the parts for Sith Hunters from place to place. Reaching out with the Force, I lift one of the massive droid legs and throw it at TAURUS.

TAURUS

I catch the leg, but the force of it pushes me back a few inches. I quickly discard the part and raise my arm towards the human and HK droid. From vibroblades extend once again. "I calculated your chances of making it this far even as you landed in the hanger. Since then, I have kept a close watch on your progress. I will admit, all poorly equip and outdated as you are, you have preformed impressively thus far." Behind me, the two Imperial squad members appear, holding their blasters at my back. Without turning around, a shoulder mounted cannon pops and rapidly blasts them both to death. "But the game ends here. Prepare to be deactivated."

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

TAURUS

It's head snaps back from the shot to the eye, and for a moment, it looks as though it is actually damaged. But then, as it lowers it's head again to look at the two, the eye is quickly repairing itself.

HJ Twilight

While he is distracted, I slash at his chest, then come back around to take out his legs. Neither strike does much else but leave a black mark across it's chassis. "Oh, come on!"

TAURUS

Backhands HJ away, sending him sprawling against the wall. "My self repair programming is highly advanced. What few systems your pathetic attacks are able to damage, I can easily repair within seconds thanks to built in nano technology." Reaches out a hand and hits Hank with a sonic blast that sends flying out of the control room and onto the catwalk outside.

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

TAURUS

Staggers back a few steps from the force of the blasts, but my metal chassis is unaffected by the bolts. In the same emotionless voice, it comments, "Ah, an HK Assassin unit. Such an obsolete model. How amusing."

HJ Twilight

I activate my lightsaber and hold it defensively across my chest. "Big talk from a walking coming from a soon to be pile of scraps metal!" As I prepare to help Hank fight the droid, the Imperials are grabbing the foreman and his two assistants, hopefully taking them to safety.

TAURUS

"You will find it quite difficult to achieve that goal. My armor plating has been upgraded to withstand your laser sword. It is the same material the SHK-1395 is constructed of." Two vibroblades extend from his arms. "However, it will be quite easy to open your flesh and remove your organs." Charges forward, swinging the blades at HJ and Hank.

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

HJ Twilight

{Let's breach. If this keeps up, I have a feeling the foreman isn't going to last much longer.}

Omega Squad Leader

{We don't need him alive. We just need to take his master control codes.}

HJ Twilight

I roll my eyes. {Whatever. Let's just get in there before something bad happens. On three. One... two...} The door opens before I can finish, revealing a tall, humanoid droid. It's face is oddly expressive, with a working jaw and rd eyes that look almost organic as they flick between each of us.

TAURUS

"It appears the intruders have come to us. That shall cut back on time wasted hunting you throughout the facility."

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

TAURUS

A mechanical voice speaks next. “The Chancellor does not share your pessimistic appraisal of the situation, foreman. He is confident that you will find a way to fill his order on schedule. All you require... is a little incentive.”

Foreman Izel

“I don’t know what that means! I have the Foundry working at triple speed. If we go any faster, we’ll break the machinery! Then where will you be?” I pause for a few seconds, then quickly adds, “Look, I don’t mean to be ungrateful...”

TAURUS

“I must say, you certainly are being ungrateful.” The sound of mechanical feet walking can be heard. “The Chancellor has selected you for this assignment. You above all other candidates. I should think you would have kept that in mind. You don’t want him to feel he has made a error, do you? Because errors can be corrected, and you can be unselected.”

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

HJ Twilight

I take a few tentative steps off of the lift. We are on a cat walk overlooking the assembly line. Conveyors crisscross through the levels below, and machine arms move about at lightning speed to bring the massive droid parts together, slowly creating the iconic Sith Hunter Droids. On separate conveyors, other droids of various size are being assembled, including the one we'd just fought in the hallway. "They're making a whole droid army."

Omega Squad Leader

Peeks over the railing. "Not for long they aren't. Come along. The control room is just up ahead." I point to the center of the room, where all the catwalks lead to a central boxy chamber. Through the window, a couple of engineers can be seen working at the controls. One of them, an Arcona, is pacing with a very distressed look on his face.

I put my finger to my lips to signal silence, then I begin to sneak towards the control room. My squad mates to the same, staying low as they follow me stealthily across the catwalk.

Foreman Izal

I continue to pace in the Central Control Room. I try not to make eye contact with the imposing man staring at me. "I'm doing the best that I can! The Foundry can only mine so much from each asteroid we collect, and the 'special materials' the Chancellor insists we use aren't coming fast enough!"

A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

Omega Squad Leader

"Agreed."I give my two squad mates a knowing look. This was exactly the type of thing Darth Imperious would want us to take back. Once we wrench the Sith Hunter droids from the Republic's clutches, we may also make use of these smaller, high powered droids. These... Hyper Hunters, to coin a term.

HJ Twilight

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the Squad Leader motioning quietly to his men. They were plotting something, and I didn't like it. "Say, Hank. If HK-47 was controlling the Foundry's defenses, I wounder if you might be able to get into the security mainframe and take similar control. We could turn the base against it's own people."

Omega Squad Leader

"I doubt it would be that easy. HK-47 probably had access codes and administrative clearance. Your HK would have to slice itself in to even have the slightest chance o taking master control."