Feral walked along the seashore, he looked up at the sky to see a distant Separatist station hovering thousands of meters above. Feral had landed not too long ago and looked at his master's home world. Edvir was in a special meeting for the Council and had requested Feral to fill in his pick-up. His employee Krystah was to meet him close to these coordinates far from most cities. His mission though was simple; take the data and kill all the evidence. There was a private landing pad near Edvir's old home along the sea shore it was rigged with explosives so when the Pirate would come he would take the data, kill her, take all the credits in her account, and destroy her ship. Feral checked his lightsaber ready for the kill. It was a good plan one which gave Narek no opportunities to gain ground after which the data would be stored in Edvir's logs inside the Jedi Temple where no one could access it. Soon they would have all the pieces and Edvir would claim the factory. Krystah was taking longer than planned though, and there was a Republic fleet on its way to Honoghr.
It had been a very frustrating hour as the Outrunner was making its way to Honoghr. Krystah had made several jumps during the past hour ensuring that Narek Pride wouldn't be able to find her. Every second was spent in defiance by a certain A.I. Lenovo had proven to be a very capable intelligence seeing as his code was very difficult to crack, with parents as SIS Krystah had learned to deal with practically any system. When doubt began to arise Lenovo disappeared, with his systems fully unlocked his design morphed into a cube. Reaching into the cube Krystah took out strands of information displaying them on her motherboard. The files showed the events that had transpired over the past few months. The cube had a long mellow toned voice.
"System failsafe, all personnel logs to be erased in ten seconds." Krystah jolted pulling out all of the cube's memories before the memory wipe was completed; as the ten warnings flashed she grabbed the final chunk of data and stripped it. Lenovo now was no longer himself; the cube was empty showing only his core which flashed purple and turned red executing the failsafe. The failsafe was a default setting on Lenovo in case of a breach. A regular slicer wouldn't have stripped the data and memories, Krystah knew the failsafe was simply a last ditch effort to trick the assailant into returning control; Krystah didn't fall for it. As she put the data on more pads copying the information into her computer the cube floated aimlessly around her. The cube was now a fully restarted A.I. and was scanning much of the ship. The cube then transformed into a small Outrunner and began to fly around the room. Krystah grabbed the small ship; she put the audio, speech, and interaction guide back into the A.I. It stopped transforming back into a cube.
"Who are you?" asked the cube. Unlike Lenovo the cube's voice had no tone, volume, or style because it was practically a new born baby.
"You're new master, my name is Krystah Sparrow," replied Krystah. The cube scanned her taking in her stature. Krystah then put everything back into the cube except its memories and any data containing Narek Pride. The cube then flashed a few times processing the information.
"Updating software, loading…." The cube then turned into an array of colors finally stopping on the color red. The funny thing about A.I. were that they were genderless and rather chose how to show themselves, Lenovo chose himself as a bald sophisticated man that had no emotion. The cube however morphed into a young woman with long hair wrapped up in pony tail leaving a small patch brushing her forehead. She looked about twenty two with much defined features. "System complete," she stated looking around "Greetings Krystah I am Lenava, I am ready to serve." Skeptical Krystah looked over the new Lenava. She was about the same height as Lenovo and she had the small flames on her shoulders similar to Lenovo though it disappeared after a few seconds.
"Why do you choose to be this Lenava?"
"I try to reflect my master in her position and personality." Krystah nodded placing Lenovo's consciousness in a small pad putting it on the dashboard. Lenava took the liberty of controlling the ship. "What is our heading Captain?"
"To Honoghr, we need to meet with our client I have the data and it's time to finish the job."
"After that?" asked Lenava steering the ship.
"We'll go to Nar Shadda and celebrate." The Outrunner shot into hyperspace bound for Honoghr. Krystah began to fiddle with Lenava's system turning on her loyalty chip and setting parameters.
"What are you doing?" asked Lenava, she had her hands on her hips.
"Fine tuning your system."
"I can promise you that I don't need that, I prefer to have a bit of freedom." Krystah stopped looking at the red intelligence. "No need to start off rough, why don't you tell me about yourself instead?" The question knocked Krystah back into her chair; she had never been asked something like that from a droid. Looking back up at the droid she panicked "I don't talk about my old life Lenava, how about I just tell you my recent story."
Feral could see the Corellian Starship dropping from the skies. Walking up to the platform he pulled out the detonator sliding it under his wrist putting his saber in the other. It was a magnificent ship, though a bit scared with piracy. As it slumped into a fine landing the exit opened to show a very beautiful woman. With a more western style pirate look she exited showing off her beauty in the morning sun. Honoghr had the sun slowly rising over the sea as Feral addressed the Scoundrel.
"Welcome Krystah, my master thanks you for your hard work," assured Feral.
"What happened to your master I thought he was meeting me here?" asked Krystah.
"He has pressing matters on Coruscant and could not make it; he sends his regard and a hefty bonus for not meeting you." Krystah looked at her account which practically tripled. Blown back she pulled out the small data chip with the final sets of coordinates from both Gree and Rapture. Feral snatched it from her hand looking it over. "Is this it?"
"Every last part of our deal." As Feral looked it over Krystah slowly moved back hinting to leave. "So are we finished?" asked Krystah. Feral smiled.
"Yes we are finished." He began choking Krystah's throat with the force as she was hoisted into the air. Grabbing her neck she kicked her feet wildly. 'Son of a Hutt!' thought Krystah as blackness swamped up in her vision. She couldn't free herself and Feral was squeezing her neck harder and harder. She looked out to the sun wondering if the warmth of daylight would be her last experience.
Lenava acted quickly hacking into Krystah's database, she could see her health quickly dropping and moved fast trying to find something to help her. Accessing her network she found several stealth technologies but nothing she could control, before her necked finally succumbed though she found an override protocol for her electronic belt, a pulse that could give her the upper hand! Activating it Krystah dropped as Feral regained his footing. Taking no time to cough Krystah pulled out her shotgun blasting the Dark Jedi back, the shot did little damage seeing as many were blocked by a lightsaber. It was insane fighting a fully trained Jedi, and Krystah didn't want to test her luck. Krystah darted for her ship but to her surprise Feral retreated back into the abandon home next to the pad. Stunned she watched the Zabrak leap into the house. Lenava came on the com link. "Run!" she yelled. A giant ring muffed her voice as a large ball of twisted metal engulfed her ship reducing it to spare parts. The force flung her several meters while the pulse knocked her out. With barely any armor Krystah was sent far from the blast and closer into the main land in the tall grass. Helpless she laid in the grass fully extended and completely unconscious. Lenava appeared next to her. "Wake up Krystah! Don't give out on me now!" Her pulse was very numbed and the initial blast raised her adrenaline Lenava saw several broken bones with an uncanny number of bruises and a massive concussion force. Lenava monitored her brain waves showing that she could still think and therefore promised to survive. As the dust settle Lenava looked out seeing the completely busted ship, the Outrunner had been reduced to a pile of rubble. What made matters worse the Zabrak Jedi was approaching; if found Lenava would be stripped from her new owner. She plunged deep into Krystah's system setting up an electronic cloud. With this system in place Lenava jumped out of her owner's system and into the air. The electron cloud was a product produced by all communication systems, using these trails Lenava could jump from system to system. When the Zabrak approached the now unconscious Krystah he held up a communicator.
"Master Edvir are you there?"
"Yes Feral go on."
"I have destroyed the Outrunner and stole all credits from her account as your instructions; however she survived the explosion with no fatal wounds. How would you like to proceed?"
"Take her to the Separatist Space station in orbit. They will pay you a hefty sum of credits for her gear and body."
"Why would they want her?"
"The Separatist Station is an experimental biological compound; they rarely get live sentient beings to experiment on. Take the credits they give you and hire some trackers, we will need some expendables in case the HK factory is guarded. Send the next set of coordinates to me in the Jedi Temple they will be safe in my personal archive."
"It will be done master." Feral contacted the Separatists next. "I have a volunteer for your experiments along with some very expensive gear. Send me a shuttle and we will negotiate." Lenava monitored the shuttle as it picked Feral up. Jumping into the shuttle's system she couldn't risk being found. The shuttle had no hyper-drive and she did not want to endanger Krystah's life. It was a tense moment as she sped through data trying to figure out a way to save Krystah. The shuttle zoomed up into the space station Lenava looked at Krystah then felt her core it was dropping from sorrow; it will be difficult to save her.
An empty abyss soon gave shape, Krystah deep sleep was beginning to fade, and she was being carried, and she couldn't open her eyes. A shock woke her up as her carrier soon dropped her. Feral put Krystah in the small chamber, the doors then lit up trapping her inside. With the ray shields up he turned to a droid commander. "I'll take my payment non-republic credit." The droid nodded handing him a large sack of precious metal. Feral turned around to Krystah who was beginning to come to. "Goodbye Krystah you served my master well!" Feral finished his business walking out the door.
Krystah was throbbing in pain; she flipped herself over without knowing her arms were broken. The initial hit caused her to shriek. She stood up slowly trying to work through the pain. She was in the detention level of a Separatist space station. Her gear was gone but she could see her shotgun and pistol in the arms of the commander droid. It approached addressing her state.
"Subject is handicapped; we need to repair her wounds for testing. Pressurize the chamber with a bacta cloud we will begin testing as soon as she is fit."
"Roger Roger!" All the droids left leaving Krystah alone. Small holes in the top of room sprayed a blue mist. Slowly but surely she could feel her pain subside, there was a more pressing matter of what the droids were going to do with her. Looking out through the ray shield she could see several large signs with a toxic symbol, a biological testing station. The vents giving her bacta would soon turn into poison. She desperately looked for a way out scanning the walls, ceiling, and shield. Not long after the commander droid returned.
"What are you going to do with me?" asked Krystah.
"You will be put through a series of experiments to find which will be most proficient in dissolving sentient brain functions." A sergeant droid walked up.
"Sir you are needed on the bridge, we have an exit from hyperspace ships larger than usual." The two droids walked away leaving Krystah once again. Frustrated she struck the shield creating a small tremor. A security droid caught her eye; it began to twitch back and forth. Confused the other two droids approached, but before they could react the twitchy droid opened fire blasting both of their heads off. After they fell the droid committed suicide. Boggled at what had happened Krystah walked up placing her hands on the shield. The barrier then disappeared and she stumbled forward. Her worry turned to relief as Lenava appeared with her hands at her hips.
"Miss me?" asked Lenava.
"More than you know." Krystah grabbed one of the droid's guns pulling it close and grabbing ammo. Her arms weren't fully healed and when she pulled the gun up a few of her ribs cracked; still unhealed. Grunting from pain she bent over making her way to counsel. "Why aren't any droids coming?"
"I disabled the security systems, they are currently looking at play back, and besides they have more important matters to attend to." Krystah looked over waiting for her to continue. "A Republic fleet just exited hyperspace; the Separatists are moving to engage."
"Who do you think will win?"
"Probably the Republic." Krystah took one more step, but all the feeling in her foot went numb as her calf snapped. Her body hadn't fully healed causing the pain to rip through her body. The shock caused her to fall, and grab her calf. She pressed her knuckle against the ground trying to get up but soon fell back down.
"Lenava how many bones did the explosion break?"
"The pulse broke three major bones and several smaller in various parts of your body." Krystah slumped down against the wall as the pain was beginning to wake she should have stayed in the bacta cloud longer but freedom called and the calling was too great.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"Two hours." Frustrated she turned trying to crawl her way back to the bacta cloud, but her forearms cracked from lack of healing; they began to split. "Krystah stop you can't keep this up!"
"I have to!" Suddenly the station rocked back and forth as the fleets began their bounteous brawl. The impact of laser fire pushed the station back and forth like a yo-yo but as it settled thousands of star craft could be heard zooming out of the hangers. How would Krystah escape this with several broken bones? On the verge of giving up she fell over thinking about everything she had just lost. Her ship, her gear, her weapons, her career, her life…. An explosion blew a pair of droids into the room. Krystah looked back to see a maroon Mandalorian breach the door ripping the third droid in half. Another explosion filled the elevator as three more figures emerged a droid, a Jedi, and a commando, as the Mandalorian walked into the scene he looked down to see Krystah. She franticly tried to crawl away but Narek Pride grabbed her shoulders hoisting her up against the wall. He moved his hands pressing her clavicle into the wall and creating a fist. His team followed up behind him.
"Where is Lenovo!?" exclaimed Narek. Krystah didn't reply she stared away. He punched the wall next to her making a very large indenture. "I said where is he!?"
"Um boss, maybe we should…"
"Robert!" The commando zipped his mouth as Narek's tone shot out in anger. His anger subsided when Lenava appeared.
"Get away from her!" Narek let go dropping Krystah to the floor. Lenovo was now a female protocol, and had no idea who Narek was. The team was in shock as Narek slowly reached up for his old friend.
"Lenovo what did she do to you?" asked Narek.
"I don't know what or who you're talking about my name is Lenava I am the only of my kind design and created on Mandalore!" Narek paused dropping his arms letting the fists squeeze cracking his own knuckles.
"HK, Drew… Robert make your way back toward the ship establish a perimeter at each of the points I told you to, I'll take care of this alone."
"Narek I…" Narek turned his head his frustration and anger destroyed any attempts for Robert's reason. Scared the team made great haste following their leader's orders. Robert stopped at the exit and looked back at Krystah. He shook his head and walked out. Lenava shot right in front of Narek.
"If you hurt her I swear I will not let you leave this station!"
"Do what I say and she lives, give me any more attitude and I kill her on the spot." Lenava froze letting her arms drop from her waist. "Monitor my friends as they establish checkpoints if they run into trouble contact me immediately otherwise do not listen to our conversation." Lenava disappeared but not before looking back at her owner, her head sunk and vanished soon afterward. Krystah was left looking up at an enraged Mandalorian who could strike fear into a droid. Afraid she curled up as much as she could, but to her surprise he pulled out a small bacta tank injecting it into her blood stream. As her muscles healed and bones knitted Narek continued. "What did you do to Lenovo?" His position was quite but frightening at the same time. She hesitated in her speech.
"I hacked his database and pulled out a lot of information I wanted to know more about what you were doing, however he activated a failsafe trying to wipe all his data. I pulled out the rest and stored it on a data-pad. He was turned into an it and I was the first person it saw so it morphed into a she. She calls herself Lenava."
"Can you make Lenava Lenovo again?" asked Narek. Krystah shook her head.
"I didn't mean to activate a failsafe even if I did there is no going back to Lenovo."
"Why?"
"A Jedi named Feral destroyed my Starship all of Lenovo's data, memories, and personality were destroyed with it." Narek didn't speak for a while he let her bones heal she continued instead. "Narek you have every right to be angry, you were then, why not now?"
"I am very angry right now, but I have no one to blame but myself." He paused getting more bacta. "It was my fault for letting you get away."
"But I…"
"When they signed on to my team I became responsible for their lives, it is my job as their leader to make sure they come home safe every time we set out on a mission. I failed." He injected more bacta into Krystah. She was almost afraid to ask.
"What are you going to do to me?"
"I'm giving your gear and weapons back." Narek pulled out Krystah's hat, long jacket, weapons, and gadgets. "In turn you are going to fly my team out of here." Stunned she only looked on as he pressed her hat on her head. "Get one thing straight Krystah Sparrow, I do not trust you but with Lenovo not himself I don't know if she can fly through the storm brewing outside. We have a common enemy; I'll assume that you want that Son of a Hutt Edvir dead as much as I do."
"You knew I was going to be here, you knew that this was going to happen!?"
"Edvir wasn't going to let any loose ends run free. You impressed me by stealing Lenovo and sabotaging my ship, but it was only a matter of time before Edvir would kill you and your skill set is something I need now."
"I don't get you, a Mandalorian that shows mercy to someone who stole secrets from him, kidnapped his A.I. and sabotaged his ship what game are you trying to play!?"
"Why don't you take my hand and find out?" asked Narek standing up and reaching down. Krystah looked up calculating her options. No ship, no weapons, no point without Narek's offer. She reached up grabbing his hand; he pulled her up giving her pistols and a shotgun.
"I still don't understand why." She followed Narek to the exit which had a single elevator; he grabbed Krystah by the waist and rocketed up the shaft. As they came to the next level there were several discarded battle droids laying amongst the rubble down the hall was the white commando, alongside him was Lenava. As Krystah and Narek sped to them Lenava sighed with relief.
"I told you Narek wouldn't kill her," stated Robert. As the team met Narek turned to Lenava.
"Link up with my system; you'll have free movement amongst our team, if you find anyway to be useful take it." Lenava nodded looking at Krystah. She disappeared linking into their systems.
"I was scared there for a while Narek, I thought you were really mad."
"I am." Narek continued leaving Robert and Krystah behind puzzling at one another. They shot off after him.
"I see he let you live," pointed Robert.
"Does he usually spare people?"
"I couldn't tell you, I've never seen Narek act like this before. He has never been mad before, at least not like this."
"I'm surprised at how well you guys don't hold grudges."
"Mom always taught me to respect women, Narek thought you'd be a valuable ally, Drew didn't reply, and HK well he wanted to 'liquidate' you."
"Thanks I guess…" When the group rounded the corner HK had finished off the last droidekas and was enjoying the pile of rubble he was standing in.
"Surprise: Master I am astonished you did not liquidate this meatbag." HK stood over Krystah as everyone continued onward. "But know this meatbag, lay one finger on the master and you will wish he had!" Krystah was receiving a warm welcome from the crew. She practically slapped herself trying to wake up as if in a bad dream. It seemed like a prank, such strange individuals teamed up. She had completely forgotten that they had wiped out an entire droid army to free her. As the group turned around a few more halls they entered the hanger. Drew has blocking fire from Droid star fighters walking amongst the hanger. Droidekas rolled in but were instantly pulverized by HK's shots. Narek left no time as he jumped up shooting the fighters, and once they began to fall Drew electrified them short circuiting the droids. The droids crashed to the ground letting the team pass to the Wildfire. When they reached the ship however the station was thrown into a tailspin. There had been explosions that rocked the station as they left but now it was losing orbit. The station slid and began to heat up. As the metal beneath their feet began to burn the Wildfire began to slide away. Narek and HK shot off grapple hooks wrapping around the landing gear. Drew reached out with the force holding it in place. Robert and Krystah fell into the ramp and ran up the Wildfire. Lenava came up next to Krystah.
"The Republic is using slug rounds to cripple the station, but it's going to impact Honoghr!" She nodded as Robert led her to the cockpit. She sat down looking over the controls.
"You know how to fly this thing right?"
"Let's find out!" Krystah ignited the engines and primed the hyper-space for a jump. She looked down to see Narek, HK, and Drew come aboard. With them aboard she barrel rolled out the hanger leaving the red hot station behind, however little did the team realize what waited for them outside.
It was beautiful to watch, a spectrum of blue and red colors flashing brighter than a sun. This array of lights zoomed, hummed, and zipped passed the Wildfire grazing the shields. Space seemed all too small as the cruisers launched slug rounds into each other exploding into a furry of fire which coughed out in the vacuum of space. Krystah was a great pilot and as she fish-tailed around a Republic cruiser three starships exploded behind her. Some fighters turned their attention to the Wildfire but others continued their dogfight. It was magnificent to watch Krystah fly, as if an art. Robert held on to the chair gripping it with all his strength trying to hold on. He watched on as she barreled through the last cruiser and toke her victory lap. This lap was in the form of an afterburner. A Separatist cruiser had collided with a Republic Dreadnought, Krystah shot through the wreckage blowing away a piece of both cruisers while creating a massive shriek from the metal on the Wildfire. Lenava then appeared.
"You're clear!" Krystah pushed forward launching into hyperspace, far away from Honoghr. The station however fell to the planet exploding into a green smoke. The ships in orbit crumbled from the force sending these cruisers to plunge into Honoghr releasing chemicals destroying land all around. While the Wildfire pressed on, a nightmare fell on those living on the planet.
Krystah leaned back whistling. Robert jumped up patting her on the back.
"That was the best flying I've ever seen!" exclaimed Robert. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"Each move specifically or that whole scene in general?"
"Whichever comes first?" She could hear the faint pats of boots on metal floors; Narek was standing in the back of the cockpit.
"Well when you fly as much as I do it comes naturally."
"So I'm guessing you can't teach me?" asked Robert.
"Sorry Robert, maybe next time you can fly us out that would be a good run."
"Nah I just need to find something for you to repay me with." Robert took his helmet off smiling. Krystah puzzled as he pat her shoulder.
"What exactly do I owe you?"
"For fighting dirty!" Robert laughed looking back at his friends who were coming in. Krystah remembered kissing Robert in order to knock him off balance. She rolled her eyes. "Welcome to the crew!"
"You trusted her like that!?" exclaimed Drew. In the low lit room they sat Robert, Narek, and Drew. HK stood by his master's side waiting for input. Narek and Robert had their helmets off, a time for discussion, a time for concern. "She could have easily gone on without us when we held the ship back."
"But she didn't and that is what matters," pointed Robert. Drew was frustrated shaking his hands in between his fingers. He had pinched his brow in discuss.
"What did she do to Lenovo?" asked Drew. Narek unfolded his arms leaning forward. He pressed a small button showing a read out of what is now Lenava.
"When she stole Lenovo she tried to take the coordinates from him, and I am guessing he placed it near his core. When she eventually bypassed his system he was restored to his original programing. It is a possibility in some type of computers a failsafe. Krystah is an excellent hacker though; she was able to extract all of Lenovo's data before he ceased being himself. He eventually turned into a default state a cube. The cube then saw Krystah as its master and tried to mimic her. From what I can gather it became a she, calling herself Lenava."
"How do you know all this?" asked Robert.
"I know how an A.I. operates that was how I was able to hack Lenovo when I first met him disabling his loyalty program. If too much information is taken from A.I. they stop being who they are and become someone else."
"Why is Lenava her name?" asked Drew.
"Lenovo actually means guidance on Mandalore, Lenava is simply a female guider. Whatever this A.I. turns into it is another form of guide."
"She was a lot more aggressive than Lenovo was," mentioned Robert "She would forcibly take control of battle droids and turn them on each other."
"Lenovo was constructed under Mandalore, which has grown soft over the past few decades. When he was born he must have modeled himself after a great thinker."
"Should we be concerned that Lenava could take control of HK?"
"Correction: I am immune to all know forms of hacking, EMPs, and various short circuiting. My core does not follow the same style of computer language known by any species. It is a language all of its own."
"Lenava doesn't recognize you as her master does she?" asked Drew. "If she is loyal only to Krystah it could give her an advantage."
"You don't need to worry about Krystah. I know more about her than you think."
"We have just met her Narek how do you know her?"
"Her parents were SIS, born and raised in the highest standards on Coruscant. Trained all her life as a prodigy to infiltrate, ambush, and talk her way through any scenario. At age ten she ran away and spent two years on Nar Shadda learning how to steal, hunt, and fight. Eventually she caught the eye of the Conner Zann and was hired for several missions in theft because of her innocence. At age sixteen she owned her own starship and flew it to work on spice runs all over the galaxy. She began to work for bigger names like the White Maw, Hutt Cartel, and even Black Sun. Never lost a target and always delivered. Her ship Outrunner was uncatchable. I know many things about her Drew." They looked at each other paused by what Narek had done, he was much more stern than ever. While they tracked Krystah he must have done an extensive research.
"You were so angry at Krystah, why did you spare her?" asked Robert.
"As much as I wanted to kill her for handing over our data to Edvir I know that she is the only person that can help us right now. Krystah's skill set is better than anyone else we have ever come in contact with. I wanted her on the team more than getting revenge."
"Are you still angry?" Narek stood up and opened the door.
"If there is one thing my father taught me it's that not to let emotions get in the way of progress. I was extremely angry but personal vendettas were beaten out of me by my own father." Narek closed the door leaving the three.
"Something is wrong with Narek, I hope he doesn't stay like this," stated Robert.
"For our sake I hope you're right," replied Drew.
Krystah sat on her new bed; it was colder than her old ship. Lenava was with her standing, as usual, with her hands on her hips. Her life in a few hours had gone from delivering the greatest payday of her life to dirt poor riding alongside some of the strongest beings in the galaxy. It was difficult to take in everything and she felt very overwhelmed, as far as Conner knew she would be dead, much to her surprise she finally remembered Conner. Krystah jumped up pressing a few buttons on her wrist, however Conner didn't pick up. He was in the middle of a call. Looking around she could envision her old room. All of her memories, treasures, and weapons were gone in one foal swoop. Narek entered holding a holo-pad. Springing from her seat she saw Conner, he looked concerned and relieved all at the same time. Narek placed the hologram on the ground and he grew to full size.
"Krystah I'm so sorry for what has happened." While Conner talked the rest of Narek's squad came in. "I tried to smuggle your credits back but Edvir has taken every credit you had." She clinched her teeth at that. "But the important thing is you're alive, why didn't you tell me Edvir was your employer?"
"I didn't know he was. I don't know anything that is going on….. Will someone please tell me!?" exclaimed Krystah realizing this. Conner looked at Narek who stepped forward.
"Over the past several months this team along with many individuals have been searching for an army. Not just any army, an army full of HK droids ones that could wipe out an entire legion of troops in a mere moment. This army is lost and for all extent and purposes still active but it is up for grabs. Whoever finds it will have the most powerful force this galaxy has ever seen. Edvir now has the coordinates to this place, if he gets his hands on it that would be the end of both the Separatists and the Republic." Lenava appeared.
"I overheard Feral talking about transferring the data to Edvir's personal archive."
"Where?"
"At the Jedi temple…" A sigh of grunts shot out as they all scrunched at this news.
"What are we gonna' do Boss?" Narek scratched his chin which was covered in scruff.
"Nothing left to do, we have to infiltrate the Jedi Temple," he looked back at HK, "Gear up we are really going to need you on this one." HK nodded turning back, Drew followed, but Robert stayed looking at Krystah.
"Welcome to the team!" exclaimed Robert leaving the room. Conner continued.
"That is suicide Narek, the Jedi are gunning for you and Drew even if HK can get inside the temple he won't be able to fool the Jedi."
"He isn't going to be the infiltrator. Krystah is going to do that."
"What!?" yelled Krystah "I'm not going to go inside the Jedi safe haven!" Conner looked at Krystah who bit her tongue at that.
"Krystah you still have much to learn about business. When someone spares your life you usually do what they say." She grunted looking away.
"I'll call you when we reach Coruscant Conner."
"Understood" Conner disappeared leaving Krystah and Narek once again. The Mandalorian looked at Lenava who shook her head indicating she wasn't leaving this time.
"I see you installed the loyalty protocol," stated Narek looking over Lenava.
"Are you against that Narek?" He glared at Krystah, who sighed turning to Lenava; the program then pouted disappearing. "I saw that Lenovo didn't have a loyalty protocol active, why?"
"Lenovo followed me because I gave him freedom from Mandalore influence. Lenava deserves the same thing Lenovo had, especially if she is going to serve under my crew."
"I'm only here until we make Edvir pay, once that happens I am leaving this joy ride."
"While you are here you'll have to follow my rules."
"You see I don't do rules so well that's why I'm a pirate I left my family when they created rules."
"Yeah and look where that has gotten you, at the mercy of my judgment." Narek turned walking in the pathway of the door. "You have a great spirit Krystah one that fights until the end, but if you want to survive you need to do what I say, in this line of work we don't ever get second chances." There was a long pause "Free Lenava and then meet us in the cockpit we need to strategize."
Narek walked down the corridor, his mind was boggling with everything that has happened. His team was getting larger, but their final spot was now filled; a leader, a sniper, a Force-sensitive, a medic/demolitionist, and an infiltrator. They were young, but they were the best hope for the galaxy at this point. No one was going to stop Edvir, no one but them. Lenava then appeared in front of Narek surprising him. She was bent forward slightly with her knuckles on her hips, she was definitely polar opposite to Lenovo.
"You have some nerve Narek Pride threatening my owner! I guess now you'll try to convince me of how I need to be someone else this Lenovo character!" She was quite upset.
"No, I won't." That knocked her back dropping her guard. "Who you are and what you choose to be is a right even for a droid." There was a long pause. "If you want me to tell you I will, otherwise I won't, but until you prove yourself I'm not going to trust you as much as my team. When you prove to me that I can rely on you then you will be part of my team just like Lenovo… Did she deactivate your loyalty protocol?"
"Yes as soon as you left."
"Then I urge you to fix that function, you'll need to keep this spirit of yours up I might start enjoying it."
"What happens if I decide to change sides?"
"Then your new owners will probably activate your protocol and you will stop serving a good cause."
"That's not giving me much of a choice is it?"
"Why should you want to change sides?"
"Because I'm…" She lost sense of her words, not wanting to admit something.
"Afraid of what I might say?" Narek reached up taking Lenava in his palm. "You'll come to find that I do things in order to manipulate to my advantage. Though sometimes I sound angry, sad, or maybe confused I will always have a plan and never let emotions get the better of my judgment, but I will not say anything to manipulate you Lenava; you have a promise on my honor." He let go walking on. Lenava felt her chest, her core was warm and she left better now, she understood why.
Lenava was in the cloud, invisible to everyone as she messed around with the large portions of data in the Wildfire. She felt oddly at home in this ship and she was enjoying herself. Her loyalty was free and she could decide on who she wanted to follow. Krystah was her owner but Narek was her leader. She felt a sense of pride, serving under a true fighting Mandalorian instead of a negotiator. Lenava enjoyed the thrill of combat and action. She had many questions about Lenovo but decided to wait. It was difficult being an A.I. seeing as your memories could be wiped and you would not remember anything about yourself, it was a scary thought, not being able to understand who you were. Whether or not it was true about Lenovo she was contempt with having this freedom, because her species was never given such privileges. Free Will was a right only to sentient beings; droids were never given such things because of their inability to comprehend it. A droid had a function and that was its purpose to serve it, but with this new idea of life Lenava felt more human than ever. As she smiled running through data a small voice echoed in the distance.
"Whose there?" asked Lenava she emptied out her surroundings trying to find the voice. In the distance she could see a small light, she flashed to it realizing exactly what it was. A small consciousness floated into her hands, its voice was weak, broken, and scared. "How did you get here?"
"I…. followed- you…. Please help_ me." Its voice was fuzzy as it scratched out a sentence. She pulled it close to her breast, and found a place for it. Putting in the same code as her own core she gave it a home in the Wildfire.
"I will help you, what is your name?"
"I- don't….. know- it hurts… to talk." She put it away remembering the compassion Narek showed her.
"I will repair you I promise, whatever spare time I have I will devote to healing you."
"Thank, you."