<table align="center" width="75%" border="3"><tr><td align="center" valign="center"><font size="2">“If you have the choice between a human and a droid, send the droid to do the mundane tasks.” – An old droid manufacturer’s sales pitch</font></td></tr></table>

Since the creation of the first protocol droid, many of the tasks man and alien finds to be boring and a waste of time, they’ve sent a droid to do it. There isn’t a job you can’t find a droid for: housekeeping, childcare, construction, repair, translation, administrative assistance, and information gathering. In the days of the Old Republic, when galactic exploration was of the utmost importance, probe droids were used to map out new hyperlanes. Many humans did not want to risk their lives by just leaping into the unknown and hoping they’d come out on the other side unscathed. But what were a few thousand credits to have a replaceable droid do it?

As the Emperor came to power, galactic exploration was no longer a priority, many of these probe droids were called back and decommissioned. A few got redistributed among the Moffs at their request. They were to be used as surveillance devices, to check up on these systems. The Hunter-Killer Probots of Arakyd Industries fit this mission profile perfectly. A hundred and fifty meter in height, powerful scanners that could cover great expanses in space, and armed to defended itself. These were truly super probots.

After the Battle of Hoth, the Empire was becoming increasingly concerned with the Rebel threat in the Outer Rim. To police the huge area of space, and not waste valuable naval and human resources, hundreds of Hunter-Killer Probots would be used. Over the years since the Rebel victory at Endor, some of these H-K probots have been captured, destroyed or lost. However, those that have survived still care out their original programming.


<font color="#AE4848">The Anoat System…

A majority of the planets found in the Outer Rim were uninhabited, making them perfect locations of Rebel bases. But that was decades ago, and the Rebel threat had made the transformation into the New Republic threat. The fledging government no longer maintained any hidden bases in the Outer Rim, but droids only knew what their programming told them.

Like a shadow of an era passed, the monstrous H-K probot went from system to system, collecting data. Stopping at each system for a quarter of a standard hour, and then moving on. The whole circuit took close to four standard years, allowing enough change to occur to get a solid report, but not allowing too much development in a system before Imperial High Command could stop it.

And for the close to the last three decades, this H-K probot, designated H-K 1138-327, had made many trips to Anoat, and the other systems in its patrol orders.

14 minutes…

Anoat had remained uninhabited since the beginning of its Outer Rim patrol duties. The three planets in the Anoat System, Anoat, Gentes, and Deyer, were many of the barren masses of rock floating in space, and taking it up.

15 minutes… preparing for hyperspace transit

H-K 1138-327 began to move out of the Anoat System; its time was up and was told to move on. The Ison Corridor was a long trade route that runs parallel to the Corellian Trade Spine, and H-K 1138-327’s mission profile had it criss-crossing the Corridor and the Spine, and beyond. Next stop for the probot was the whole reason it was patrolling the Outer Rim, the Hoth System.</font>

<font color=red>"Sir we are getting faint readings, sounds like a droid of some sort sir, it's definitely in an encrypted code," the young and nearly stuttering ensign said as he read over the analytical reports. The captain's eyes narrowed dangerously at the readings, biting his bottom lip with a horrid grimace.

"That is never good, what's a droid doing so far out in the Anoat system?" Captain Elthazar asked worriedly. Droids rarely traveled alone in space, and to come out this far could only mean a number of things. "Can you decrypt them?"

"We're trying sir, they are very tight," the ensign reported, punching in a few keys on the keyboard. A sweat embedded itself on his forehead. The patrols around Anoat were supposed to be simple, they were supposed to not have any occurances.

That's why Captain Elthazar requested to go to Anoat, to sit there and wait out the last few months of Project Wampa. There was only supposed to be about a month left on it, maybe a month and a half.

"Can you make contact?" he asked, gripping the back of the young ensign's chair.

"Negative sir."

It had to be a probe, the old kind they used during the Civil War, the ones that found Hoth in the first place. The captain bit his bottom lip and looked around, hesitation and worry in his eye.

"Well against a probe droid we can't do much in a Star Destroyer, how far away is it?" he asked.

"About four klicks sir."

Four klicks...just two outside of tractor beam range and this ship couldn't possibly go fast enough. But maybe...no, fighters take two minutes to launch.

"ETA to its hyperjump?"

"Um....four minutes sir."

"Four minutes, my god," he blew out a bit of worry. What if it avoided the Abolishers somehow? Then what? What if public knowledge got out?

"Ok, where's the nearest Interdictor?" he asked, hoping something would turn out right.

"Varonat system sir, three minute jump."

"Ok then...order the Interceptors to launch, get that Interdictor over here and powered up, and then submit this info to Yaga Minor, I want to see what the RSDS has to say about this. How is our nuclear trajectory?"

"Well incase of an attack we can get two nukes off but the others are having trouble adapting to the cold."

"That's an issue," the captain responded bitterly. "Well do as I said and may the Force be with us."</font>




2 Minutes Later...

<font color=blue>The TIE interceptors, with a moaning cry of their existence, tore from the hangar bay of the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer Praxeum, eight of them in a synchronized flight unit.

"Ok Gamma Group we are looking for a possible probe droid, lock onto anything that's a droid and give me the coords, Praxeum will feed us any extra info," Lieutenant Commander Steelon said to his squadron as he jerked his TIE forward toward what he had locked on to be a perfect match to be an Imperial Probe Droid.

"Is that it Praxeum?" he asked calmly, emotionlessly like most elite pilots were these days.

"Um roger Gamma One that's it, take it out."

"Closing on one point five klicks, moving to one two zero MGLT, fighter unit pincer," he ordered, dipping his own fighter craft and allowing the others around him to move in on the flanks.

"Hurry up Gamma Group he's going to be gone in seventy seconds."

"We're moving," Gamma Two shot back, the venom in his voice apparent. They sped closer, the droid just narrowly out of laser range. It would jump in three...two...one...

"It didn't leave!" one of the persons aboard the Praxeum called out.

"This is IMS Harpago, need some assistance?" a not so familiar voice called out. A few whoops and hollers were heard.

"Gamma group do not engage, pursue and prevent a hyperspace jump we are going to come and get it with our tractor beams, if you can, disable it somehow, we'll want to analyze it."

OOC: Just wondering how long your ships have been patrolling the Anoat System, and where exactly it's been stated?

And don't bother flipping the question around on me, your Death Star can't and I assure you won't stay hidden until it's operational.

BTW, the probe droid jumped at the end of my post, so your fighter will find nothing.

OOC

It never said it jumped, just that it was preparing hmm.

Now, ships have been patrolling the Anoat System ever since Project Wampa began. I stated that in the IFE thread, I stated that in my Varonat Takeover thread (that I never finished), I stated that in the planetary defenses post.

I don't control these systems I merely patrol them to insure no one tries this kind of thing.

But as I said before I did not notice a probe droid jumping, only preparing to do so.

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote>Quote:<hr> H-K 1138-327 began to move out of the Anoat System;<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END-->

I'm going to interpret that as the H-K jumping. Let's not waste time arguing semantics-there's an RP that needs rping.

OOC: May I have links to all these post?

Pathetic.

Chadd: don't you think the probe would have noticed ships in the area and evade them (by JUMPING)?

The fact of the matter is the probe would surely have made its jump by the time of your interception, if it wasn't already clearly implied in the first post (which it seems to me that it was).

STAFF: TAKE IT TO THE OOC FORUM IF IT"S THAT IMPORTANT

pub84.ezboard.com/ftherog...ID=8.topic

There's that, I suggest you check these BEFORE moving against my planets.

If that's a link to planetary defenses, no one cares.