Kobayashi, Eiko - Echo - Movement Number Four; Dragon Seeks Path

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Name: Kobayashi, Eiko ‘Echo’
Species: Nagai / Homunculus
Gender: Female
Height 1.5 meters (1.15 without her legs)
Weight 66kg
Hair: Jette Black
Skin: Palid Grey
Eyes: Coagulated Cloudy Crimson
Homeworld: Nagi

“The way ahead feels lonely.”

Echo is the callsign of a force-sensitive neophyte drawn to Vyscara upon the rumors and eldritch whispers of it’s connection to the force. Resembling a droid at a distance, Eiko’s armor is a mixture of thin, polished bronzium plates over an electromesh bodysuit with simple, flowing robes to ward away dust and debris. It’s very light and seems intended to protect her cybernetics and grafts from the natural elements rather than absorb blasterfire or vibroblades.

The roaming Nagai’s legs are purely mechanical from the knee down, though there a couple augmentations in her body proper that are of debateably more importance; Namely a dialytic filtration pump and a voice modulator replacing her lost larynx. The internal machinery is powered kinetically and intended to last for Eiko’s full lifespan, though her legs require occasional maintenance and replacement.

She doesn’t seem eager to talk about what put her in such a state, and most people she’s worked with don’t see fit to inquire. Those that manage a supremely-rare glimpse of the flesh behind her machinery might recognise the unnatural pattern and scarification from chemically-warped skin and harsh cauterized meat.

What’s past is past, or so she presents. Eiko appears eager to move forward, navigating through force, friend, and foe towards the mysterious power that drew her like a beacon to Vyscara; And, should she survive, elsewhere.

[Announcer]

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El Matador -

The crackling of arc welders and the hissing and clanking of shifting machinery is ever-present in the Balmorran industrial zones. People yell to be heard and many will end up with tinnitus in their old age if they make it that long. Few do. The infirm and elderly don’t offer much profit.

Drowned out by the noise pollution, over-worn shoes tromp quickly through the urban jungle; Gliding around greasy corners and clambering over oxidized obstacles. Behind them, a quartet of heavy, skitter-like ‘footfalls’ smash through the scrap and dilapidated infrastructure without slowing. She runs out of alleys. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide; Just a wall of dead wires. The climb begins, masses of cables being thrown to the ground below as she grasps for whatever will hold her weight. She find herself following them.

The fall seemed endless; A sparking, smoking confetti of metal cords peppering her vision as the behemoth reel back from charging the wall. Time seems to stretch on and on; Almost like she was flying. In her mind; there’s no smog; Only trees, and a familiar face. Suddenly, it ends, with an eruption of pain. She sees the alley smear together around her. Blood and bile fling everywhere. She smells flesh frying, but it doesn’t smell like food. Blasterfire lights up the swirling alleyway. Everything blurs and turns grey.

Pain. A shudder runs through her body as a drug-dulled ache throbs in her bones. Outlined agaisnt the grey, smokey sky; There is a figure carrying her. She feels sick, turning her head and retching the meager contents of her stomach onto a pair of Beskar greaves. It makes her think, for a moment. At least her legs don’t hurt.

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To Love and Lose -

She walks through the glittering, mineral-infused tunnels with a sense of purpose. The destroyers follow behind her, unknown to it. “I need to ask Her.” Eiko thinks.

She passes by the army of crystalline arachnids, extending her presence and parting them like a sea. They cry out for food, and scream out in pain and death as they are put down in her wake. “I need to see Her.” Eiko thinks.

She hurries, splitting the myriad of starving eight-legged weaklings from their prey. It’s pointless. These wageslaves do -not- have enough substance to fuel this many. Echo urges the rangers to leave, and carries on. “I need to tell Her.” Eiko thinks.

She enters the chamber. Despite the incendiary charges arrayed around Her, Eiko marvels for a moment in the magnificent beauty of the natural Force, manifest. The remaining presence is like a skeleton, but even that evokes familiarity. “I need to tell her- I’m sorry.” Eiko resolves, internally.

She is held back from the monolith, a Jetti that has never shown Echo anything but blind hostility barking orders at her to stop. “Shut up.” Eiko hisses, struggling to break free; Her hand outstretched toward the crystalline spire. Another comes, striking her armored cowl with his fists. Her bell rings as she’s concussed. Rage billows in her desperation to reach Her; Reach Alice. Eiko’s foil ignites, and she chokes out a static-laden gasp.

She looks down. Two, brilliantly pure blue shafts of light run through her electromesh. She doesn’t blink before they are pulled through, nearly bisecting her. Pain. Eiko collapses in a heap, choking silently for a breath that will never come. Under her cowl, tears run down her face as she grasps for the crystal. “I need to tell her- It will be okay.” Eiko thinks, in finality.

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Hollow -

“I hear ‘dig’ from you, babe, and all I can think of is a shovel.”

Eiko feels, again. The Endless Sleep was shorter than she expected. Nothingness surrounds her, and she dwells alone with her thoughts. No light, no dark, no sense, no motion, only The Force. “Is this Manda? Will it be?” Eiko thinks. She is answered only with silence. “Is this Her? Will I see Her?” She thinks, answered with silence, again. The space seems to stretch on in all directions for eternity, and when she look inward, there is only her presence in The Force. A burning feeling slowly grows. Pain turns to Loss, Loss turns to Regret and Fear, Fear turns to Resentment and Rage. A pressure builds outside the boundless nothing, pushing and prodding at the barrier between life and death. Her rage pushes back, thinning the veil until-

Agony. Eiko’s twisted, saber-marred corpse convulses as every synapse aches and burns with pain. Electronically-modulated crackles and choking bursts out of her faceplate. Slowly, the twitching diminishes until the N’gai’s body is still again. A ‘heart’ is brutally inserted in her body; It hums and pulses with a song she finds familiar. It hurts, but she can’t recoil. A constant stream of static quietly buzzes from her cowl, like white noise. She hums the song, but it doesn’t come out. A hand is offered to her. She tries to stand, but stumbles. Eiko grasps the hand. Stiffly, she rises again.