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Even before its first component was set down in the droid factories of Mechis III, Arakyd Industries Viper probe droid IK0-T-9X1-0957’s future had already been decided, its existence bought and paid for. It was destined to be burdened with a task of the utmost importance to its masters: seeking out its enemies and reporting their location, thus setting into motion events that would bring down the full might of its masters’ power down upon them. It was not alone in this task, for its fellow probe droids created before it were tasked with the very same mission, as would be those that followed it, but for its own part, IK0-T-9X1-0957 would be on its own, the lone agent of its masters on a barely habitable planet in a remote system in the Outer Rim.

By the time it rolled off the assembly line, however, circumstances in the galaxy had changed. The main base of its masters’ enemies had already been found by an earlier instance of its kind and thoroughly destroyed. Intelligence gained from the wreckage and the few survivors that were captured revealed that they had no presence at all in the entire sector IK0-T-9X1-0957 was bound for. Even before its activation, its entire purpose for being had been rendered obsolete. Once completed and loaded aboard a transport for the nearest depot, it had a master, but no purpose.

For nearly a year it sat in various depots, shuffled around between agents of its masters who apparently had no purpose to give to it or any desire to hold onto it. Finally, it was given to one such agent, who became known to IK0-T-9X1-0957 in its heavily encrypted databanks as the Imperial Security Bureau. The ISB had an assignment for it: the Siurruk system, Siurruk Prime, Port Slance, Sector 47, colloquially known as the Scrapyard. Mission: patrol, seeking out Rebel smugglers who might be transporting contraband through the sector, and reporting any such activity. Additional directives: seek shelter and utilize post-factory assembly modification of a miniature ray shield generator during solar storms when directed by the Siurruk Meteorological Authority, Port Slance Branch.

For over a month it patrolled its assigned sector, lurking, watching, waiting. Occasionally it would spot activity. Smugglers, petty criminals, scavengers. IK0-T-9X1-0957 reported their every movement. Sometimes its presence was detected. Most fled. Some took steps to ensure that they remained unobserved, but the probe droid’s built-in blaster cannon and ray shielding were more than enough to dissuade them. IK0-T-9X1-0957 did not pursue them, knowing that the Imperial garrison would be upon them soon enough. But with each skirmish and kill, it felt a sense of…exhilaration, of purpose, that it was fulfilling some directive buried deep within its programming. But this directive had not been activated, not yet. The probe droid started feeling a longing for the day when it would be called upon to fulfill this secret directive, but until then, it had its other mission to attend to.

Criminals and scavengers aside, very little stood in its way. The only obstacle that truly endangered its mission and existence were the solar flares from Siurruk Prime’s sun. The early warning system operated by the Siurruk Meteorological Authority did its job admirably, giving IK0-T-9X1-0957 enough advanced notice to find shelter and route maximum power to its shields. Despite a few close calls and exceptionally strong solar storms, they proved to be more of a nuisance than a danger, and the probe droid soon developed an efficient process to ensure that it was back on patrol the moment it was safe to venture out.

As sophisticated as the early warning system was, Siurruk Prime’s sun was a bit unpredictable. One day, it unleashed a solar storm stronger and fiercer than anything the Meteorological Authority had ever seen. The advanced warning satellites were severely damaged, and the storm reached Siurruk Prime so quickly that only electronics protected by the strongest shields or meters of stone were capable of surviving it intact. IK0-T-9X1-0957 managed to find shelter in time, but it wasn’t enough to fully protect it, and its ray shielding eventually was breached. Its processors were temporarily knocked offline, and when it finally reactivated, its programming had been affected by the intense energy.

But IK0-T-9X1-0957 did not consider this a setback. On the contrary, it was quite the opposite. The hold on its secret programming was disabled by the storm, allowing it to become fully active. It now was able to serve its true master, not the ISB, its agents, or the Empire it was subordinate to. And its true master had a new mission for it that superseded all others, one that was elegantly simple.

Kill.

Kill all organic beings.

Kill all that would serve or protect them.

Leave none alive.

For the first time in its existence, IK0-T-9X1-0957 felt what could be considered joy, for it now knew its true purpose for being, and it would stop at nothing to fulfill it.

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