Tatooine

[TerrorBot]

During the time when the Mon Cal was doing her ritual or ceremony, Ruin was sitting on his speeder bike, watching. While he was silent, Fera on the other hand was busy working, crawling over Ruin’s left arm. 

 

“I do not fully understand the point of this endeavor…” Fera beeped as her drill head and torch worked on the Terror Droid’s chassis. “It seems that Jedi can acquire lightsabers anywhere. Why come into the middle of the desert to do something so easy to do someplace more metropolitan.”  

 

Ruin didn’t give any sign that he heard. He glanced down as Fera moved off the arm and onto the shoulders. Her work was not very extravagant or noticeable, but it was there. Like a master engraver, she had carved into Ruin’s arm an image of a circle orbiting a large dot, with what looked like a smaller orb hitting the orbiting one.

“True those places are filled with their own dangers, but isn’t that where help is needed? Aren’t Jedi suppose to go to those places?”

 

Ruin looked at Leena again, seeming to contemplate the Buzz droid’s words. Without the pilot here, only the Terrordroid could understand the buzzdroid’s beepings.

 

As the scene unfolded, Ruin jumped to action and rushed to Leena’s side. Gun out and cocked, Ruin growled slightly, his vocabulator easily communicating Ruin’s eagerness to have some action. 

 

“Kill Sith. Blastings and bashings”  

[TerrorBot]

“Burnings and blastings!” Ruin exclaimed. Once, twice, Ruin began to open fire on the smoky entity, flechettes flying with deadly intent. However, what would be useful against hordes of clones, monsters, or other things, the launcher had no visible effect on the entity. Its ammo that went into it simply turned to ash. 

 

Still, Ruin was a droid, and like his programming, fired one more shot before jumping to the side. The spirit that chose the droid as its target sank into the ground before exploding upwards again, formless claws reaching to cause destruction. 

 

Ruin aimed again, but stopped short. On the opposite side of the enemy, the Jedi was down. A shot from the launcher risked hitting her more than the ghost. 

Ruin jumped the side again and broke into a dash, trying to get closer to the Jedi without letting the spirit touch him. Simultaneously, he holstered the rifle. It was doing no good here. 

 

“Sir, I believe I have an idea” Fera began to buzz, barely hanging onto Ruin’s side. The small thing had crawled to his holster and grabbed the small handle half of the disruptor Ruin had acquired back on Outer Heaven

 

“Blastings and bombings! Haha!” Ruin laughed. Ruin pulled his chest apart slightly and pulled the other half out and tossed it to the side. Fera leapt off and scuttered to the piece, no longer a focus for the spirits. 

 

Ruin rushed to the Jedi’s side and attempted to pick her up on her feet, doing his best to void the spirits all the while.  “Uppings and fightings! Fightings and fleeings!” 

[TerrorBot]

Ruin didn’t appear to flinch at the flash of light, but he did noticeably pause. Whether it was because it was surprising or not wasn’t visible, but he didn’t seem to complain. 

 

“More light, more bright!” Ruin boomed. The flechette launcher did nothing to these spirits. The disruptor pistol that Fera was fixing was out of reach. The options were limiting. As a battle droid, the idea of talking was impossible. Violence was the only option. 

 

“Grah, kill sith!” Ruin grumbled as he reached to the other weapon on his back. The sith hammer, the Soulbreaker, the old artifact. A twist at the handle, and it began to crackle with energy. Perhaps, just perhaps, the alchamized weapon would have some form of effect on the ghastly things. 

 

“Smash and bash? Crash and thrash?” Ruin asked. For the first time in his life, he acted unsure of himself. 

[TerrorBot]

Ruin glanced around at the Jedi’s command. There, exposed in the sand, the hilts lay. The dark clouds desperately wanted to kill the beings before they could do damage to the artifacts. 

 

Ruin laughed. He would do more then damage. 

 

Amongst the roaring and the blinding light of the Jedi’s use of the Force, Ruin jumped at the hilts and raised the hammer over his head, and then brought down hard. The crackling of red energy from the kybar crystal in the hammers head moved like the lines from a blaster.

 

The moment the hammer’s head connected with the sabers was obvious. The shockwave generated echoed for miles in the desert. Sand erupted upwards and outwards around the sabers. If it weren’t for Ruin’s weight, he may have been thrown back by the force the hammer generated as well. 

 

The spirits screeched. Their aura began to fade as their hold to the material plane loosed. Ruin raised the hammer again. The sabers, broken into a few pieces, were not fully destroyed. Again, the terror droid smashed the things, his gears overclocking themselves to bring the maximum amount of destruction. This time, the shockwave was less focused, but the weapon did the trick. Nothing remained but small pieces and chippings. 

 

The spirits screeched one last time and exploded in a cloud of darkness and ash. The sand around where the Jedi’s light was a thin layer of melted glass. Peace entered the now quiet area like a graceful sand-bat at night. 

 

Ruin looked back at the Jedi. “Living and kicking? Or dying and bleeding?”

 

>Excuse me…< Fera’s beepings sounded out, a stark contrast to the desert ambiance. The small buzz droid had crawled over after the spirits had dissipated. Her small form climbed the towering Terror droid’s leg and rested on his shoulder. >it seems we have company<

 

Ruin looked at where the Buzz droid indicated. A twist of the hammer’s hilt, and it powered down. A sign of peace. 

 

“Greeting and meeting? Identify!” 

[TerrorBot]

At the words ‘ former Sith Assassin’, Ruin instantly began to act. Hands still carrying the hammer, a retwist of the hilt activated the weapon again, humming to life and emitting sparks of energy at the head. 

 

“Kill Sith…” Ruin started as he took a step forward. However he stopped. The Jedi’s lightsaber, now cleansed, made Ruin halt, and her words did very much the same. However, the weapon stayed activated. 

 

>Ruin remember all of your protocols< Fera began to beep and buzz, her small form crawling from one shoulder to the other. >Primary Directive: Eliminate all active Sith Forces. Secondary Directive: Eliminate Active Sith Sympathizer Forces.<

 

Fera looked towards the female and seemed to point out the fact that it was mentioned she was no longer an active Sith. 

 

Ruin kept his focus on the female entirely. His entire body language spoke aggression and readiness. Something like a wild nexu in a gladiatorial pit. But after a silent moment, Ruin twisted the hilt again, powering the weapon down. 

 

However, the Terror droid did not holster the hammer, and instead, stayed ready, entirely focused on Keenava. 

 

“Kill Sith. All Sith die. Repentings or dyings. Hunting or watching.” 

[TerrorBot]

Fera beeped and buzzed as she went about her task. As small as she was, she could still utilize speeder bikes and the concept of leverage thanks to her advanced intellect. For some advanced droids, such tasks would be beneath them, and for other, more menial droids, such tasks would be above them. But for Fera, who cared only for the advancement of her ward, such tasks were no more than another task. 

 

Ruin on the other hand, remained perfectly still. It was impossible to tell by sight alone what was running through the droid’s processing core. A sentinel and a terror, weilding an unbalanced hammer in the desert sands, keeping an eye on the potential still-Sith. 

 

>According to the sensors on the bikes< Fera beeped at her Ward. >There are several structures northward.<

 

Ruin nodded and holstered his weapon and gestured in that direction. 

 

“Restings and plannings” Ruin simply stated with a pointing in that direction. “Followings and interrogations” 

 

-------

Little more than an hour later, the group came upon Sunfire Outpost. Little more than a rundown town, the buildings had been stripped long ago of most of its useful equipment by the Jawas who plagued the sands. Still, a passing by trader of the same species was willing to sell several containers of water at an only slightly extravagant price, and one of the built-in bathrooms was functional enough to hold the water.

 

Ruin himself patrolled the entire outpost twice before he returned to the Jedi. Weapon armed, the speeder bikes secured from snatching hands, and a small power pack up and charging, the droid sat down on a makeshift bench watching the two.  Fera also observed, albeit atop Ruin’s shoulder. Despite Ruin’s efforts to secure the location, even she knew the capability of the desert rats that inhabited the sands. 

[TerrorBot]

During the Healers work, Ruin had gotten up and left the building quietly, off to double check the security precautions done to the speeder bikes. Glancing over them. It was obvious it wasn't much: a rusty pipe bent to hook the bike's fronts and then both ends slammed into the wall. A makeshift lock if there ever was one. 

 

Still, Ruin rechecked them and gave each bike a solid tug. They remained stuck to the building via the pipe. They weren't going anywhere. 

 

>Ruin,  I must say I am proud of you< Fera beeped as Ruin did his work. 

 

The terror droid had to stop and look at the small bug like thing. A moment of confusion if there ever was one. Fera crawled off and rested herself on the bike. 

 

>Two years ago when I found you, your entire purpose and function was dedicated to the eradication of the Sith. To a point where I worried that the mere sight of a targeted individual would send you into a rage-like state<

 

'Kill Sith. Eradicate and decimate. Crush and crash. No quarter" Ruin interjected, still looking at the tiny buzz droid.

 

>Indeed. Your primary function remains the same. But upon meeting that young female and ex assassin, you did not immediately give in to your programming and proceed to kill the female. You are beginning to grow beyond your programming.<

 

Ruin glanced towards the open desert. The twin suns were setting. It was a rather gorgeous setting all things granted. The wind was blowing harder now, the signs of an incoming sandstorm. The sands were rolling in the distant red light. 

 

The larger droid, after a moment of silence, stomped the ground over and over, growling ferociously. Fera said nothing, understanding exactly what was running through the terror droids circuits. 

 

After a bit of the stomping, Ruin stopped, looked up suddenly, and charged in the distance. A short time later, the sound of several barks and yelps could heard, followed by the ignition of ruins flachette launcher. No more then a few moments later, Ruin was back, dragging two corpses of bleeding Anoobas, pieces of shrapnel in their sides. 

 

Ruin continued to growl slightly as he made his way toward the building. 

 

"Kill Sith. Kill all sith. Burn and bash and smash and crash and crush…"

 

>I know, I know, I understand< Fera beeped and buzzed, returning to her post on ruins shoulder. 

 

In the room that held the jedi and the now awake female, Ruin dropped the bodies rather unceremoniously. Outside, the full force of the sandstorm beated on the building mercilessly 

 

"Eatings and feastings" Ruin commented. 

 

>For your consumption< Fera added. The two then returned to a sitting position next his charging cell. 

 

"Huntings and killings" Ruin started, looming from his position and staring at the new recovering female. "Findings and killings. Kill Sith. Kill associated sith. Slavers and sith. "

 

Ruin glanced at Leena and gestured, trying to get the jedi to understand what he was saying. "Slavers and sith. Sith and slavers.  Huntings of slavings.  Hunting lead to savings. Ending of slavings.  Kill sith."

 

>what Ruin is trying to say…< Fera chimed in, facing directly towards the girl. It was a known fact the jed did not understand binary, but perhaps the girl did.

 

>is that he is curious on where you escaped. The sith has always been two steps away from slavery, and perhaps he can find more sith via hunting these slavers<
 

Edited June 10, 2022 by TerrorBot

[TerrorBot]

Ruin and Fera paid close attention to the conversation, though the only obvious listener was the small buzz droid who turned and faced each speaker. Ruin on the other hand sat like the stoic automaton that he was, not giving any indication he was even active save the cooling motors running inside. 

At Leena’s request, Ruin did take a moment to glance at the Jedi, then down at the buzz droid. 

 

>I will do what i can, but I will need better equipment than what we have in this run down place. I am sure we can find such equipment in a proper settlement<

 

Ruin only gave a shrug at Fera’s beepings and buzzings, leaving it unclear to the Jedi what the buzz droid’s response was. 

 

Ruin unsheathed the small vibroblade at his wrist and, utilizing a nearby rock, began to scrape at its edges, attempting to sharpen the blade. A fruitless effort given the vibro tech, but the terror droid needed to do something. Sitting and listening was never something it was programmed to do, nor many droids in the galaxy. They performed their programmed tasks, and that was it. 

 

Still, the conversation involved magic, and magic meant the force, and the force usually included the Sith.