8t88

"When someone desires information, they come to me."

- 8t88

"That was 88... The miserable pile of junk has the map!"

- Kyle Katarn

8t88 was a Tiss'sharl administrative droid that existed for nearly two hundred years.

Biography
"I should have aimed for your head when I had the chance."

- Kyle Katarn

"A lost opportunity."

- 8t88

Originally equipped with a reptilian head reminiscent of his creators, it was replaced with the smaller head of a JMM espionage model in a prank devised by Vice-Chancellor Zokor Polpot of the University of Coruscant, designed to embarrass his boss during a visit by the Woostri. 8t88 was horrified by the way he had been disfigured, and from then on he not only made sure to keep an updated backup of his memories, but became a misanthrope dedicated to avenging the damage done to him. However, as he only had backup memory files of the incident, his memory of the perpetrators was imperfect.

8t88's skeleton-body was silver and powered by hydraulic tubing. He was equipped with an infrared sensor, microscopic imager, holographic projector/recorder, a special storage compartment (since he did not wear clothing), extremely perceptive audio sensors, a specially modified vocabulator, and Tiss'sharl talons for hands.

8t88 become an information broker, hoping to not only find his perpetrators but use the wealth acquired through his brokering to be extravagant in his revenge. Though cruel, the droid nonetheless doted on his pet hornagaunt Grendel, a giant, wing-clipped beast from the planet Tertiary Kesmere.

8t88 took a job from the Dark Jedi Jerec to locate the hidden Valley of the Jedi, outbidding the infochant Balancesheet in the process. His search led him to a holodisc in the residence of one of Jerec's victims, Morgan Katarn. When Morgan's son, Kyle Katarn, went seeking information on the death of his father, 8t88 met Kyle on Nar Shaddaa, promising to exchange the disk for information on breaking the code. 8t88 left Kyle without handing over the disc, and in the company of a pair of thugs. After chasing the droid through a cargo facility, Katarn finally caught 8t88 as he was preparing to board a shuttle. Kyle distracted him and opened fire with his blaster pistol, several shots impacted on the shuttle's landing ramp, which was slowly beong raised, along with 8t88, into the ship; one of the shots, however, found its mark, severing 8t88's arm at the shoulder and dropping it, along with the datadisk into the bowels of the Smuggler's Moon.

Later, Kyle again encountered 8t88, this time standing watch over a stone map to the Valley of the Jedi, stolen from Katarn's father's workshop in Barons Hed. 8t88 escaped with all four limbs intact, but the map was destroyed by Yun, one of the seven Dark Jedi seeking the Valley. Later, Kyle again encountered 8t88. However, it transpired that 8t88's head had been removed and swallowed by Grendel. After a short battle against the two Dark Jedi Pic and Gorc, Kyle carved 8t88's head from one of the hornagaunt's three stomachs, and downloaded the map of the Valley of the Jedi.

8t88 was believed to be deactivated, but several years later Mara Jade came across 8t88's head on Rathalay, in smuggling kingpin Kaerobani's lair, pitifully plotting to reclaim his lost body. Reports have filtered in of 88 droids sporting a variety of heads, from that of a Phase I Dark Trooper to that of an ASP droid, from around the galaxy.

Most recently, an 88 was spotted sporting an EV robotic skull on Mawan, a sighting that coincided with a fatal accident claiming the life of visiting University of Coruscant Chancellor Polpot. This incident led to 8t88's head and torso having received individual entries in New Republic Intelligence General Airen Cracken's Most Wanted list.

Appearances

 * Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II