Baygool Dar considered himself a true Mandalorian, though even he wasn't entirely sure what meaning he infused into the word. He was born on Mandalore to Tanner and Ilari, members of the opposing pacifist faction of Clan Dar. From an early age, he was taught what it meant to be a Mandalorian—a mighty warrior, respected by enemies and honored by his compatriots, just like his parents.
Every day began and ended with training, interspersed with lessons on Mandalore's history and culture. The boy grew up listening to legends of great warriors past, of battles that left their marks on the ages, and of leaders whose names every Mandalorian still remembered. He trained to the point of exhaustion, striving to meet his father and mother's expectations, even as he increasingly noticed a difference in strength between himself and his peers. Over the years, this became more and more apparent.
Unfortunately, Baygool did not demonstrate exceptional skill during his training. Because of this, despite all his dreams of fame and honor, he didn't try to stand out, preparing instead to leave the planet and take up the trade of a bounty hunter. However, Tanner Dar decided otherwise, swearing allegiance, like most clan members, to the leader of Death Watch.
Thus, Baygool had no choice but to follow his parents. He couldn't live among the New Mandalorians, who propagated pacifism and the rejection of centuries-old traditions, for he did not wish to part with his beskar'gam and deviate from his father's teachings. And after his clan joined the Watch, he couldn't find the strength to go against his family. He still hoped to earn his father's respect.
For the most part, the young warrior had not regretted his decision… until today.
When a fellow clan member asked Baygool to help drag away a captured slicer droid, Dar had no idea that he would witness exactly... this with his own eyes.
Aden ani'la beskar'kyr'am... Or, in Galactic Basic, "Merciless Ultimate Iron Death."
Baygool remembered the descriptions of this droid well, along with its rare and poor-quality holoimages. He always loved the legends of Mandalore the Preserver and his successor, Mandalore the Ressurector, which Ilari told him, partially supported by preserved archival and diary entries. A droid often figured in these legends, one gifted to the Preserver by someone so... great... and terrifying that his very name had been expunged from the archives. Baygool considered Mandalore the Preserver his idol and strained every nerve to live up to the image immortalized in ancient legends.
But he could never have imagined that he would one day meet an "animated legend"... or rather, a part of it. A very dark and terrifying part.
No, he understood that this was likely a skillful forgery, an imitation created for some unknown purpose to resemble the very assassin droid that once served two Mandalores and never lost a duel to any Mandalorian. The sole beskar'ad granted the honor of entering the Circle of Battle and ultimately becoming its champion. The first and only beskar'ad champion.
An assassin who shot without fail, without doubt, without pity. A herald of swift death for whoever it was sent after.
Of course, what lay on the floor before him now absolutely could not be that same assassin droid.
Yet, a sixth sense was literally screaming danger, urging him to get as far away from the droid as possible. But Baygool couldn't do that. Not in front of his clanmates.
All he could do was peer with hidden horror into the predatorily sharp facets of the captured droid's faceplate and its extinguished optical sensors, mentally praying to all gods that it wouldn't turn out to be the legendary beskar'kyr'am.
"What are you frozen for?" loudly asked Maglis Dar, who had called Baygool for help.
"Lost in thought," the young man grumbled back, grabbing the droid's legs.
"Think less, hustle more," the clanmate laughed. "Let's drag this junk to the airspeeder."
"Why?"
"For the terminal!" Maglis quipped again. "Don't ask stupid questions. We'll take it to the base and show the technicians. Let them dig through its memory core. Maybe we can trace the client."
"Maybe we shouldn't take it to the base at all?" Baygool asked cautiously, his anxiety beginning to rise.
"And why is that?"
"What if it's a trap? What if it's being tracked? Or what if it reactivates on the way?"
"Have you caught Wren's paranoia? Did Ursa bite you?" Maglis replied with a smirk. "This piece of scrap took several ion blaster shots at point-blank range. All its computational core components should be fried. I even doubt the eggheads in tech division can pull anything from its memory banks."
"Then maybe we shouldn't haul it at all? What's the point?"
"The point is, we have an order."
There was no arguing with that, and Baygool dutifully continued following instructions.
HK-47 heard every word the Mandalorians spoke, maintaining a minimal power level barely sufficient for his computational block and audio sensors. He couldn't move, fight, or even see anything around him. However, this was the only way to ensure his captors wouldn't realize the droid was merely pretending to be deactivated.
A similar tactic had once helped to deceive the Sith aboard the Leviathan when the Ebon Hawk was captured by Admiral Karath. It worked then, and it's working now. Based on the sounds, two Mandalorians were dragging the droid somewhere, actively panting and complaining about the iron assassin's weight.
Meanwhile, just by listening to the surrounding conversations, HK gleaned a few names of Death Watch participants, confirming the involvement of Clans Dar and Wren in the organization. The Wrens presented an interesting story; according to information from Tira, Wren and Vizsla were not on good terms, despite being related branches. However, the apparent feud in the Parliament, it seemed, didn't stop the future clan head, Ursa Wren, from serving Pre Vizsla.
To the droid's luck, his captors were quite talkative. In the less than an hour it took for HK to impersonate a pile of scrap metal, they managed to blab several interesting details.
From the slips of the tongue by the one HK identified as Maglis Dar, Death Watch was rapidly gaining popularity and had managed to infiltrate most governmental structures at various levels. The plan was something like a soft military coup, but with the full support of the people.
But how did such a radically-minded organization plan to win over those who were perfectly content with the New Mandalorians' policy of pacifism? This would require fundamentally discrediting the current government or creating a significant threat to the civilian population, which would ultimately lead them to turn to the Watch for protection. However, either the Watch's leader didn't yet have a clear plan, or the rank-and-file fighters weren't privy to the details, which was more likely. The representatives of Clan Dar did not say anything useful.
The shuttle pilots, on the other hand, who transported HK to the Watch's base, revealed something. According to them, all the "flyers" were already being run ragged between the main base and two new ones. Active construction was underway for the organization's new shelters. This meant they had the funds for expansion, as well as a reason for it. The Watch's numbers were clearly growing.
Unfortunately, all the overheard information required confirmation, which HK planned to seek upon arrival at his destination.
Thankfully, the wait wasn't long. Just fifty-three minutes later, the shuttle landed safely, and HK was quickly unloaded and dragged to the local technicians' quarters. The mechanical killer immediately recognized the sounds of diagnostic terminals and repair tools.
"Hey, Voral!" Maglis called out to someone, carelessly dropping the "deactivated" droid onto the floor.
There was no answer. Only the loud sounds of a grinding machine.
"Voral!" one of the captors yelled louder.
The screeching sounds of the grinding wheel on metal stopped, and a man's voice responded:
"Did someone call me?"
"Yeah, crawl out of your junkyard and help us," Dar called.
A few seconds later, accompanied by the sounds of something metallic and hollow dropping, grating noises, choice cursing in Mando'a, and curses directed at the unwelcome guests, the person named Voral reached the members of Clan Dar who had brought HK.
"Maglis? Baygool? It's not often I see you in this part of the base," Voral said with surprise in his voice. "What brings you here?"
"An order from Bo-Katan," Baygool explained first.
"This droid was captured while attempting an act of sabotage in Pre Vizsla's office. We pacified it with a couple of ion charges. We need to dig into its memory and find the client," Maglis added.
"Two charges on a protocol droid?!" Voral exclaimed. "All its circuits should have burned out! Those frail things don't even have primitive ionization shielding."
"He doesn't look like a simple protocol droid," Maglis countered. "Look at the degrees of freedom in its limbs. And the overall design..."
"Hmm," the local technician drew out thoughtfully. "Yes, perhaps. A non-standard model. Could replace a full-fledged servant if necessary. You think it's an infiltrator?"
"Most likely," Maglis agreed.
"He looks more like an assassin," Baygool interjected.
"An assassin?" Voral repeated. "Well, you can make an assassin out of any droid if you want to. Provided it has the right protocols. But I don't recall this kind of design being used for assassin droids in the last hundred years."
"What about the HK series?" Baygool insisted. "Look, he's very similar to them!"
"HK?" the technician repeated. "I don't recall those. Who manufactured them? In what years?"
"Assassin droids that were created in the image and likeness of the great Aden ani'la beskar'kyr'am!"
The impressionable Baygool Dar had once spent a great deal of time collecting bits of information on the legendary droid. He even managed to unearth the series name but never found out who created "the one."
"Beskar'kyr'am?" Voral scoffed. "That's a legend nearly four thousand years old! Do you believe in such fairy tales?"
"That's what I keep telling him, it's time to grow up," Maglis supported the technician.
"Well, just think how old your beskar'kyr'am would have to be? What droid lasts that long? Without core cleaning and a full overhaul, it would have gone mad and self-destructed within the first hundred years."
This remark seemed insulting to HK. The technician had just volunteered to be first in the firing line. After all, the Master had ordered no traces to be left. That meant everyone involved in the capture of the assassin droid was subject to liquidation. At least, that's how HK-47 perceived the order: act quietly. Quietly, without a trace. Conditions met. Even if it meant a bloody massacre at this base.
"But he looks exactly the same!" the young member of Clan Dar would not give up.
"I could fashion a faceplate like that in about five minutes," Voral said dismissively. "And the construction is primitive, limited by an anthropomorphic frame. Almost no armor, no external weaponry. Clearly not a combat model. I doubt it's particularly effective, or it wouldn't have been caught so easily."
"Yeah, we took him down with two shots. Didn't even resist," Maglis smirked.
"Maybe that was his plan!"
Maglis and Voral merely laughed at this suggestion. Baygool, seeing the disregard from his older comrades, hissed curses through his teeth.
"Oh, you're hilarious," the technician said, calming down. "Do you think a droid would be brought here if there was the slightest chance it wasn't fully deactivated? You did check it, right?"
"Yes," the elder of the present Clan Dar representatives replied with slight uncertainty.
"Was there any radiation?"
"Within measurement error," Maglis said a little more confidently.
"Was it alone?"
"Paired with an astromech, but the scoundrel managed to escape into the service passages. A Wren squad is searching for it," the senior Clan Dar representative reported.
"Hmm, better safe than sorry."
A device beeped. HK assumed he was being scanned again, so he hurried to fall silent and shut down even his audio sensors, depriving himself of his last means of observation.
The droid spent five minutes in this state and restored his environmental monitoring just in time.
"Are you sure you don't need help?" Maglis inquired.
"Thanks, I don't," Voral waved off. "Go tend to your own business. I can manage."
"Well, if you say so."
"Be careful," Baygool responded warily.
"Go on already!" the technician snarled.
The sounds of receding footsteps and the creak of the door mechanism were heard.
"Right, and in the meantime, let's see what we can use to open your service hatch," Voral murmured, mostly to himself.
HK spent a few more minutes listening to his surroundings. Nothing but sounds suggesting the technician was searching for some tool, sifting through various pieces of metal.
Waiting for an additional forty seconds for good measure, HK began gradually reconnecting his systems and increasing power flow. The first thing he activated was his optical sensors.
Preoccupied with his own thoughts, Voral didn't notice the assassin droid's crimson optics dimly glowing in the technical lab's gloom.
"Well, a vibro-knife should help." The technician, clad in a peculiar variant of Mandalorian armor with numerous pouches, pockets, and containers, approached HK, clutching a narrow, thin tool in his hand.
The assassin droid prepared to act. He had no intention of allowing the Mandalorian mechanic to compromise his chassis integrity.
Voral came right up to the droid and directed a beam from one of the lamps onto him. HK's plating gleamed with a familiar tint, which caused genuine surprise on the technician's uncovered face. Voral did not wear his helmet, as he frequently had to remove it to use a tool or device for precision manipulation. He had not thought that such protection would be needed in his isolated lab.
A mistake.
"What the—" the technician stammered. "Cortosis? What dinii thought to coat a protocol droid's shell with cortosis weave? Unless..."
Voral did not have time to register his realization. The vibro-knife, snatched from his hand with a lightning-fast movement by HK, pierced his temple and sank to the hilt into the skull of one of Death Watch's most talented technicians. The assassin droid offered its victims no chance of salvation.
Satisfied that the Mandalorian showed no signs of life, HK pulled out the knife, allowing the dead body to slump to his feet.
"Irritated Comment: You should have worn your helmet, you incompetent idiot," the droid tossed out, stepping over Voral's corpse.
The killer first blocked the doors leading into the technical laboratory... if it could even be called that. The place looked more like a junkyard, cluttered with containers of spare parts, electronic components, and various scrap, from droid parts to a piece of plating from a clearly obsolete walker model. The walls were stone and showed traces of heavy-duty mining equipment, leading HK to the hypothesis that he was in one of Concordia's numerous mines, presumably an abandoned one.
A workbench was found in the corner, and next to it, a table and a terminal. Proceeding to it, HK was about to activate the holodisplay and poke around in the local network, should one be found, when the terminal came to life on its own.
"Woo-deet! Doo-dee-deet!" came the joyful chirp of R2-D2, whose image appeared on the holodisplay.
"Surprised Query: You are still functional, you bucket of bolts," HK stated, without the expected notes of condescension in his synthesized voice, which could be taken as an indication that he, too, was glad to see the astromech... in his own way.
R2 let out an indignant trill and backed it up with a proud and prolonged whistle, letting the killer know what titanic efforts it had cost him to track down his captured partner.
"Clarifying Comment: So, you hid in the service tunnels where the Mandalorians couldn't squeeze through, then snuck into the hangar and attached yourself to the transport shuttle's hull?" HK decoded the flood of information from the astromech. "Restrained Praise: Not bad, scrap heap."
"Beep-deet!"
"Indignant Query: Psychotic old man?"
"Deet!"
"Threatening Query: Which of us is due for the scrap heap, you little pest!"
"Dee-deet! Doo-woooo!"
HK's circuits nearly shorted out from outrage, but he found the strength to restart his emotion-simulation protocols and return to a calm state.
"Focused Statement: I will not argue with a trash receptacle that has delusions of being my savior," HK-47 said with a barely discernible threat in his voice. "Suggestion: If you wish to assist, you should inform me if you have access to the internal surveillance systems and base schematics."
R2-D2 was somewhat surprised by the sudden change in his interlocutor's mood. But he had already realized that HK was far from an ordinary droid and, therefore, hastened to boast that he had not only gained access to the surveillance systems but had also taken control of them. That's how he found the assassin droid in the technical lab and even provided cover for forty-seven and his kill. It became clear why, despite the surveillance systems, the security forces were not rushing to respond. HK was preparing for a confrontation with the base's defenders, but apparently, this wouldn't be necessary.
"Request: Which command personnel are present at the base?"
A few seconds later, several photos with brief details about the sapient beings pictured appeared on the holoscreen. Most were of no interest, being low-level representatives in the chain of command, responsible only for a couple of rapid-response squads. But there were some who caught HK's attention.
These included two members of the Parliament who were obviously secretly supporting Death Watch, making them targets for capture and interrogation. One Pasley Zen, according to the records, was in charge of supplying and arming this complex. Unfortunately, getting to him was quite difficult due to the location of his room, where he was currently entertaining someone from his personal guard.
And last, but not least, the subject who interested him: Bo-Katan Kryze. Aside from the fact that the woman was the younger sister of Duchess Satine Kryze, the files R2 managed to extract from the complex's encrypted archives indicated the Mandalorian was virtually the organization's deputy leader. Her capture became the priority task. Especially since the target was moving in his direction with minimal security.
HK had to concede that R2-D2 proved to be a valuable partner. Not everyone could hack a secure network in such a short time without triggering an alarm. He was useful. Only T3-M4 had previously earned such praise from HK.
"Command: Copy all information regarding the organization's structure, designated shelters, resources, and plans that you were able to discover, and show me a map of the complex we are in."
The astromech executed the commands without excessive bickering, earning him a little more respect from the mechanical maniac.
Meanwhile, HK-47 began preparing for the "important guest's" arrival, concurrently developing an escape plan using the newly appeared complex map hologram.
While he was rummaging through containers of spare parts and junk, looking for valuable equipment like an ion incapacitator, a portable power cell, and something very much resembling a focusing chamber from a DXR-5 disintegrator, which was illegal in this part of the galaxy, HK was also brainstorming ways to eliminate traces of his presence at the base and how to return to Mandalore.
As the assassin droid initially surmised, he was in one of Concordia's abandoned mines, which greatly simplified the cleanup task. The structure of the tunnels concealing the Watch's base was inherently unstable, which the radical Mandalorians were trying to remedy by installing additional supports and reinforced ceilings. This would have had an effect had they not decided to place a genuine weapon manufacturing facility in one of the large caverns, which had obviously formed during the ore extraction process.
The vibration from the heavy machinery negated the entire effect of strengthening the tunnel and cavern vaults, not to mention the presence of storage rooms containing highly explosive compressed Tibanna gas in dangerous proximity to the power plant fueling the conveyor belt.
"Anticipatory Comment: Oh, such a gift, and all for me?" HK said, indulging the least stable part of his personality matrix, which, backed by his logical blocks and assassin protocols, had already developed a plan for "eliminating the witnesses."
But first, the primary objective set by the Master had to be fulfilled. To obtain as much intelligence as possible. And the Mandalorian approaching the technical laboratory was supposed to be the source of a large portion of the information about Death Watch's activities.
Poking through the technician's belongings, HK discovered a decent blaster, clearly custom-assembled by hand. Perhaps the slain Mandalorian was a talented armorer. Well, all the better that the likely opposition wouldn't have such a specialist on their side.
HK chose not to bring his own weapon on the mission, fearing the rather sensitive scanners and detailed inspections at the spaceports of Mandalore and Concordia. Even without blasters and grenades, HK remained a lethally dangerous opponent, capable of killing a target with bare manipulators, a datapad... or the simplest writing implements.
Among the clutter and trash in the lab, he also found several useful gadgets and components, which the assassin droid decided to use to create a medium-power explosive device... Medium by HK's standards.
The logical blocks of his processing matrix had just finished developing a detailed escape plan, combined with the complete destruction of the mine and the secret base hidden within its depths. HK-47 had missed such assignments and allowed himself to slightly expand the task within the framework of the Master's initial command. After all, he had specifically clarified Death Watch's status relative to the Master and the Eagle team. The answer was: likely enemy. Thus, the droid's actions could be considered a preemptive strike. This is how the assassin protocols managed to bypass the inhibitors and even enlist the support of most of HK's computational blocks.
Meanwhile, the target had almost reached the technical laboratory doors, and the assassin droid prepared for a "warm" welcome.
"Bw-deet, woooh!"
"Confirmation: Acknowledged. Three. Two guards in full armor. Target in the center, unhelmeted," the mechanical maniac responded to R2's warning.
Bo-Katan Kryze, left by Vizsla to oversee preparations for transferring part of the manufacturing capacity and supplies to the two new strongholds being built, was unpleasantly surprised when two men from Ursa Wren's squad returned to the base with a captured droid that had tried to cause a disruption in the Concordia Governor's office. The situation itself was not new. Not a month passed without someone from the New Mandalorians or a Senate lackey sticking their nose into Concordia. But a protocol droid being used was a first. And the infiltration point... the Governor's office. The target was clearly Pre Vizsla, but until now, Bo-Katan had been certain that no one knew the true identity of the Watch's leader. At least, her sister sincerely believed Vizsla to be her loyal supporter, never suspecting who she was allowing within mortal striking distance.
Bo-Katan snorted, recalling her sister. Satine had always been weak. The Hutt-like idealist was given such a chance to restore Mandalore to its greatness... and she squandered it all, blinded by her dreams of a "peaceful galaxy utopia." Pacifism only works when everyone adheres to the ideology. But when the area is full of belligerent neighbors, not to mention bandits and pirates of all stripes, the pacifist just becomes a victim. And Mandalorians were never victims!
Bo-Katan Kryze frowned and irritably swept a red lock of hair off her forehead, which had fallen into her eyes from her quick pace. She rarely wore her helmet within the base walls, preferring not to hide her face from her subordinates. Comrades should see confidence and determination in the leader's eyes—that's what her mentors taught her.
The woman didn't have time to consider that danger could exist even within the Watch's shelter walls.
Lost in her thoughts about the origin of the droid, which the Death Watch deputy commander intended to inspect in the technical laboratory, Bo-Katan failed to react in time.
The moment the laboratory doors opened, Kryze received a powerful kick to the chest that sent her flying into the nearest wall. It was now that she greatly regretted the absence of her helmet.
While the woman was recovering, she did not see one of her guards take a blaster charge straight to his helmet's visor, and the other was struck down by a vibro-knife blow to the neck.
To the Mandalorian's credit, she recovered in only two or three seconds and tried to reach for her weapon first. But she wasn't given a chance to use it. The droid was incredibly fast and was beside her in the blink of an eye. The blaster was knocked from her hands, and the woman barely dodged a strike to her head. Relying purely on reflexes, she attempted to engage in hand-to-hand combat, successfully avoiding an attempt to grapple her. However, the speed and strength of the mechanical soldier far surpassed the capabilities of the disoriented Mandalorian. The droid caught her trying to break the distance, grabbed her arm, and, using the warrior's own momentum, slammed her head against the wall.
HK-47, convinced that the target had lost consciousness and wouldn't be recovering soon, disarmed her and removed her armor, leaving her in only her undergarments. The droid was all too aware of how many surprises Mandalorians could hide in their beskar'gam.
"Satisfied Statement: Target captured," HK informed his partner, securely binding Kryze's hands and feet with several long straps found in the lab.
The astromech offered a concise congratulations to the killer and inquired about the further plan of action.
"Task Assignment: Proceed to the hangar and prepare a shuttle capable of interplanetary travel for launch."
"Woo-doo-deet?!" R2 responded indignantly.
"Mocking Comment: You are a clever scrap heap; you will figure out how to distract the security."
In response, the astromech erupted in a new stream of untranslatable Binary expressions, which only amused HK.
"Condescending Remark: Fine, I will assist," the assassin droid finally decided, concluding that moving through the base to the next target via empty corridors would be boring.
"Deet?" R2 asked uncertainly.
"Explanation: The security in your sector will sharply decrease in a moment. Command: Return control of the surveillance system in the corridor adjacent to the lab to the Mandalorians, but disable all other cameras."
In the next instant, HK took a fragmentation grenade from the belt of one of the dead Mandalorians and tossed it to the far end of the corridor, hurrying to take cover with the unconscious target in the lab.
The explosion in the narrow corridors was monstrously loud, something the security forces could not ignore.
"Joyful Observation: Now things will get fun!"
All subsequent events that transpired at the Death Watch base can be described as controlled chaos.
While the astromech discreetly made his way onto the shuttle in the hangar, whose security detail had rushed off to respond to the alarm and call for reinforcements in Sector 4, where his maniacal partner was supposed to be, the aforementioned maniac, better known as HK-47, was busy entertaining himself, transforming the base corridors into a veritable labyrinth of death.
Having finished preparing the shuttle, R2 quickly reconnected to the surveillance systems to see if HK needed his help... and was astonished by the efficiency and bloodlust of the ruthless assassin droid.
HK-47 was moving toward the assembly workshop, eliminating everyone who crossed his path. He masterfully used his environment, blocking doors, piercing power conduits or fuel lines left in the mines from the old mining operations with a precise shot, which caused small explosions and fires that sowed chaos among the guards. The minor cave-ins he provoked only worsened the defenders' situation.
HK shot without fail, hiding in smoke-filled sections of the corridors, in dark corners, or among corpses, turning fleeting skirmishes with the security into a genuine hunt. The droid was careful to keep his captive away from fire fights, tucking her aside from the site of an impending battle seconds before encountering the enemy. At one point, the mechanical maniac simply didn't have time to do this, but he managed the situation quite... effectively.
When a security squad rushed the assassin droid from around a corner, HK simply used Bo-Katan Kryze's body as a shield, grabbing her hair and holding her in front of him, facing the Mandalorians. They couldn't fail to recognize their commander, and the momentary hesitation was exactly enough time for HK to gun down most of the squad. Finishing off the few lucky ones who had managed to find cover was also easy. The realization that Kryze was a hostage severely restrained the Mandalorians in their use of weapons, especially grenades.
Deciding to assist HK, the astromech, who was observing the action through the security cameras, tapped into the communications system.
All channels were practically bursting with messages like: "Hutt, what in the stars is happening in there?! Third Platoon has gone silent! They're dead! There are just bodies everywhere! Spirits of the ancestors, who is that?! Need help! Ahhh! They have incendiaries! Ditch the armor, don't let the compound burn through! How many of them are there?!?"
Judging by the negotiations, which were seasoned with a generous amount of Mando'a cursing, the Watch troopers were in complete disarray, which only eased HK's work.
Successfully establishing an encrypted link with the assassin droid, who was using one of the transmitters from a downed guard, R2 began relaying valuable intelligence on the movement of the base's defensive squads and their planned countermeasures, taking forty-seven's efficiency to a whole new level. Now, his opponents didn't even have time to register the approach of their iron death, as the droid began using ventilation shafts and fragile partitions between adjacent corridors—information the astromech promptly provided.
The Mandalorians tried to set ambushes, block corridors, and attempt flanking or rear attacks, but HK inevitably bypassed all the traps and struck before he was even discovered. They also failed to regain control over the surveillance system, which left the Mandalorian "ice picks" at a loss. They should have known that trying to outmaneuver an A.I. with enough power to plot dozens of hyperspace routes in a fraction of a second, just to circumvent its blocks, was utterly pointless. But no one suspected the presence of R2-D2 at the base.
Meanwhile, HK reached his secondary target. Specifically, he entered the assembly workshop and had already dispatched most of the soldiers assigned to guard the room.
"Who are you, you hut'uunla werda!" one of the Mandalorians yelled, notes of panic in his voice, as he crawled backward, clutching a wound in his side.
He was the last of the squad HK had encountered on the approach to the assembly workshop.
"Haughty Statement: I am the punishing hand of Mandalore, come to deliver judgment to you who have turned away from the ancestors' ways," HK-47 declared, deciding to pay homage to his temporary masters from Clan Ordo.
After all, the mechanical maniac conceded that the years of service to Mandalore the Preserver and his successor were not the "most boring." There was always enough of his favorite work during periods of power struggle. And the unification of the clans under the leadership of Canderous Ordo was no exception. So HK respected the Mandalores of Clan Ordo. They even both perished without HK's involvement, unlike his other "temporary owners"!
"Aden ani'la beskar'kyr'am..." the wounded Mandalorian whispered in awe.
"Contemptuous Remark: You have lost your honor," HK growled, finishing off the trooper with a precise blaster shot.
His sensors picked up movement in the doorway at the far end of the room. However, when HK pointed his weapon in that direction, no one was visible in the line of sight. Whoever had been observing the droid quickly fled.
"Scoffing Remark: Coward."
Having finished with the guards, the assassin droid prepared his farewell gift. The explosive device he had assembled, placed near the tanks of compressed Tibanna gas, was intended to trigger a chain reaction, causing secondary explosions of the compressed gas itself. By HK's estimates, the explosion would be equivalent in power to detonating a proton torpedo, and given the enclosed space and the instability of the corridors, little would likely remain of the base.
Picking up the captive, whom he had previously stowed in a storage closet, HK hurried to the hangar where R2 was waiting. It was unwise to linger near a makeshift bomb built from scrap found at the local technician's station. The timer on the bomb was counting down the final minutes of Death Watch's secret base.
The "saboteur droids" observed the mine's explosion only once they were airborne. Thanks to the astromech's instructions, HK managed to reach the shuttle without meeting serious resistance.
"Satisfied Statement: The Master will be pleased," HK said.
"Beep-deet... woooo."
"Dismissive Remark: You know nothing. Confident Statement: I know the Master better. He will be pleased."
The shuttle began to rapidly depart Concordia, heading back toward Mandalore.
And Baygool Dar, whose charred remains would one day be found under the rubble in the old mine, would never know how right he was when he warned his comrades about the droid that so strongly resembled the "merciless iron death" of ancient legends.
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