Darth Scabrous' HK droid

"Statement: I Shall alert Lord Scabrous, sir, that his guests have arrived." "Sure, good."

- Darth Scabrous's HK droid and Pergus Frode

This Hunter-Killer assassin droid was the personal property and protocol droid of the Sith Lord Darth Scabrous and stationed at the Sith academy on the Outer Rim planet Odacer-Faustin. In 3645 BBY during the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire the HK was tasked by his master to escort two bounty hunters, the human Dranok and his Nelvaanian partner Skarl, to Scabrous' tower. Later that night the droid traveled through the Sith academy's landing pad and informed the mechanic Pergus Frode to stop refueling the bounty hunters ship. The HK droid later escorted the Whiphid Tulkh and his Jedi prisoner Hestizo Trace to his master's laboratory. Some time after an outbreak occurred in the academy and the HK was ordered by Scabrous to hunt down and capture Trace, who had escaped during the outbreak.

During his search for the Jedi prisoner the HK came across Tulkh and joined forces with the bounty hunter. The pair fought against the Sith zombies and infected tauntauns during their trek across the Sith academy to Tulk's ship, the Mirocaw. As the pair made their way to the ship they found Frode aboard the Mirocaw. The small group then proceeded to rescue Trace from Scabrous. During their escape the ship came under fire by the defenses of Scabrous' tower. The HK droid then disembarked the ship and infiltrated the tower. The droid was able to deactivate the tower's defenses, but was destroyed when the ground-based defenses fired on the tower.

Service to Scabrous
During the Cold War between the resurgent Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, this Hunter-Killer assassin droid was the personal property and protocol droid of the Sith Lord Darth Scabrous, who equipped him with a restraining bolt that suppressed the droid's assassination functions and memory of those functions. In 3645 BBY on the snowy planet Odacer-Faustin under orders from Scabrous, the HK droid escorted two bounty hunters, Dranok and Skarl, to his Master's tower to receive the rest of their payment for bringing Scabrous the Murakami orchid. When they arrived at the tower HK escorted Dranok in alone with the "orchid" to deliver it to Scabrous. Scabrous discovered it was fake and stated that Dranok had failed him, but he would receive payment anyway. The HK then brought a kart in with a huge silver tray on it.

Dranok lifted the lid of the tray and saw what was on it: the stewed, severed head of his partner. The Nelvaanian's mouth had been pried open enough to accommodate the ripe red jaquira fruit that had been thrust between its jaws. Its dead, boiled eyes gaped at him with what looked like accusation. Scabrous offered him a chance to live after his betrayal; provided that he ate every morsel of the Nelvaanian's head. Dranok instead attacked Scabrous who choked him to death with the Force.

Later that night the HK was traveling through the academy's landing pad when the academy's mechanic Pergus Frode questioned him about the status of the bounty hunters and if he should keep refueling their ship. The HK responded saying that he should stop the refueling process and that the bounty hunters wouldn't be returning. Frode then asked if they would never return, to with the HK responded that they never would. Frode then speculated and remarked that he thought Dranok's ship is carrying a sophisticated flight computer. The HK unit responded saying that he doesn't know anything about that and that the equipment of ships is not in his programming.

Frode then asked the HK if it thought Scabrous would mind if he removed the flight computer and sold it. The HK responed with indifference saying that Frode could help himself to it, before going about its business. The HK later met the Whiphid Tulkh who brought the real Murakami orchid and his Jedi prisoner Hestizo Trace, the orchid's keeper, at Scabrous' tower. After performing a retinal scan to verify the bounty hunter's identify the HK escorted the pair to Scabrous' lab. Shortly after Tulkh gave Scabrous the real orchid and its keeper, and was paid by the HK as it escorted him out.

The HK was later commed by Scabrous and given orders to activate the academy's outer perimeter barriers, to scan Scabrous' lab for the Jedi's DNA and pheromone samples and to use whatever means necessary to capture her alive. Shortly after obtaining the samples the HK commed Scabrous and told him that he had located Trace and that she and the Whiphid bounty hunter were spotted working together in the northeast section of the academy. He then asked Scabrous if he should activate the academy's perimeter cannons and set them for stun. Scabrous responded saying that he would take care of the pair himself. HK then alerted Scabrous of the outbreak, the large number of Sith zombies, and that the outbreak was spreading.

Scabrous then informed him that he was on his way to take care of the Jedi and ordered the HK to prep his ship. The HK later ran into Tulkh in the academy's training chamber who alerted the droid of its assassination protocols and activated them through the removal of the droids restraining bolt. The HK then used its forearm-mounted augmented laser arrays and leg-mounted flamethrower to fight off a horde of Sith zombies. After the HK destroyed almost all of the zombies the last one attempted to attack Tulkh only to receive his spear through it's mouth. After the battle Tulkh and the HK raced backed to the Whiphid's ship, the Mirocaw.

Partnership with Tulkh and destruction
"Have I told you how much I hate the Sith for enslaving me here for so long?" "Only about twenty times."

- Darth Scabrous's HK droid and Tulkh

As they were making their way back to Tulkh's ship the pair took turns in eliminating the zombies. During the Whiphid's turn he broke his spear when he decapitated one zombie, after that he offered the head of the spear as a keepsake to the HK unit who declined the gift. The HK unit then alerted Tulkh of the new incoming horde of zombie Tauntauns. The HK used his flamethrower and laser arrays to take care of the first Tauntaun. As a horde started entering the room the pair discovered that the zombies were riding inside of the beasts.

The HK unit saved Tulkh as one of the beasts tried to infect the Whiphid with its infected bloody spit. As they started to be overwhelmed the HK fired a mortar round into the center of the horde destroying them. After the skirmish the pair continued to make their way to Tulkh's ship. When they arrived at the Whiphid's ship they discovered that someone had taken Dranok's ship and crashed it nearby, before stowing away on Tulkh's ship.

The pair then continued toward the Whiphid's ship with the intention of disposing of the stowaway. The pair discovered that the stowaway was the academy's mechanic Frode and had him take them to Darth Drear's, the academy's founder, Sith Temple and proceeded to rescue Trace. After getting Trace aboard their ship the HK produced a syringe from it's breastplate and took a sample of Trace's blood to verify whether of not she was infected. The HK then confirmed that she was clean but someone else was infected. As they tried to make their way off the planet they came under fire by the academy's perimeter cannons.

Trace then asked the HK where Tulkh disappeared to as they came under fire. When the droid didn't answer she then asked if it could remotely disable the cannons, to which he responded that he no longer had control over them. Trace then asked how they could stop the cannons, to which the HK responded that he might be able to override the main control system inside Dramath's tower. Trace then ordered Frode to land and the HK droid departed the ship the moment they landed. The HK was able to deactivate the towers defenses, but was destroyed when the tower exploded after it was fired upon by the ground-based defenses.

Characteristics
"Is there anything else we can kill?." "Ourselves, if we don't move."

- Darth Scabrous's HK droid and Tulk

The HK droid had yellow photoreceptors and gray plating. The HK droid displayed a unique speech trait and vocally prefixed every statement he made with a speech conditional that described what type the statement was. For example, if responding, he would first say "Response:" before beginning to speak. After his restraining bolt was removed he dropped the speech conditional and didn't like being polite. The HK unit took pleasure in killing and hated the Sith for enslaving him.

Abilities
The HK droid was able to produce light from his dorsal processor array. The HK droid was also proficient in combat.

Equipment
"You have anything bigger than a laser?" "Mortar rounds."

- Tulkh and Darth Scabrous's HK droid

The HK droid was armed with forearm-mounted augmented laser arrays, and his left leg was mounted with a flamethrower. The HK unit was also armed with mortar rounds. The HK unit was also equipped with a syringe and was able to take and process samples, and with sensors that were able to scan and detect intruders and infections.

Behind the scenes
The HK droid first appeared in Joe Schreiber's novel Red Harvest which was released on December 28, 2010. He was later pictured in Pablo Hidalgo's reference book The Essential Reader's Companion which was released on October 2, 2012.

Appearances

 * Red Harvest