HK - 24 series assassin droid The HK - 24 series assassin droid was a class of assassin droid produced by the Czerka Corporation in the era of the Mandalorian Wars . Known for their distinctive red durasteel plating and fierce autonomy , the HK - 24 was designed to impersonate protocol droids to avoid suspicion and easier facilitate the elimination of its target . Although the HK - 24 represented a significant advance in droid technology at the time , and was mass - produced by Czerka in the run - up to the Mandalorian Wars , a lack of mass commercial appeal for an assassin droid ensured the HK - 24 was a massive financial failure . However , Czerka recouped some of its financial losses when the entire production run of HK - 24s was bought by Adascorp CEO Arkoh Adasca in 3963 BBY , so he could employ the droids in his search for runaway Arkanian Offshoot scientist Gorman Vandrayk . Adasca used many of these droids as security aboard his flagship , the " Arkanian Legacy " , but all of his HK - 24s were destroyed when Vandrayk set a host of massive exogorth beasts upon the Arkanian ' s ship . Description . A class of assassin droid designed by the Czerka Corporation , the HK - 24 represented one of the deadliest advances in droid technology of the era of the Mandalorian Wars . Despite their red durasteel armor plating and sinister - looking orange visual sensors , HK - 24s appeared to be common service droids to the untrained eye , but that was intentional on Czerka ' s part . HK - 24s were in fact designed to impersonate protocol droids to lure their targets into a false sense of security and make the eventual kill that much easier . Despite their unremarkable appearance , HK - 24s were deadly with a blaster rifle and highly cunning , possessing a heuristic processor to boost an HK - 24 ' s learning and reasoning and outfitted with a translator unit that allowed it to understand millions of forms of communication . In hand - to - hand combat , HK - 24s could utilize a utility vibroblade that helped the assassin droid specialize in cutting off limbs . HK - 24s could be effectively used not only as assassins , but as bounty hunters , although their use earned criticism from organic hunters in the era of the Mandalorian Wars . HK - 24s also saw use as security — their durasteel frame was quite sturdy , able to withstand crushing hits from much larger opponents , such as bulk - loading droids , and lose little if any functionality . However , HK - 24s could not always be counted on to work together . The droids were fiercely autonomous and resented others of the same class , as each HK - 24 believed itself above its " redundant " and " artifact " peers . Grouping several HK - 24s together often simply resulted in the droids bickering and insulting one another . History . The first major success in Czerka Corporation ' s assassin droid production , the HK - 24 was mass - produced in the hopes that demand from the Galactic Republic and planetary governments would be high in the run - up to the Mandalorian Wars between the Republic and the Mandalorian Neo - Crusaders . Czerka overestimated their market , however — most people in the galaxy simply did not have a need for an assassin droid in their day - to - day lives — and the HK - 24 wound up as a financial failure , with their production facilities eventually being shut down and abandoned . Although the HK - 24 was not a success for Czerka , the droids wound up being put to great use by one of the Republic ' s captains of industry : Arkoh Adasca , the CEO of Adascorp , the galaxy ' s largest bioengineering firm . With the war looming , Adasca had a plan to turn his corporation into a galactic player , by selling the destructive services of the massive , monstrous space slug species known as the exogorths to one of the competing factions in the war , effectively choosing the winner . However , this plot had no chance of success without the knowledge of one particular Arkanian Offshoot scientist named Gorman Vandrayk , who had fled Adascorp over thirty years before when he realized the company was planning on weaponizing the beasts . After a long search , Adasca ' s Rodian aide Eejee Vamm discovered in 3963 BBY that Vandrayk was alive and had emerged from hiding after sighting him in security footage from the bank ing world of Telerath . In response , Adasca purchased the entire production run of HK - 24s and sent them to nearby systems to track him down . Soon afterward , one HK - 24 unit found the elusive scientist on the backwoods world of Ralltiir , managing to gain entry to his junk hauler , " The Last Resort " , concealed in a crate of hyperdrive parts . The HK - 24 emerged from its hiding place once the ship jumped to hyperspace , quickly identifying a shocked Vandrayk , along with his close friend and protector , Jarael . HK - 24 needed Vandrayk alive , but deemed the other Offshoot to be immaterial to his objective and decided to eliminate her . Jarael leapt in to protect Vandrayk , and as the HK - 24 approached — intending to carve the Offshoot up with its vibroblade — the assassin droid was attacked and sent flying across the cargo hold by Vandrayk ' s massive bulk - loading droid , T1 - LB . The HK - 24 recovered , drew its blaster rifle and incapacitated the droid with a series of laser blasts , only for Jarael to attack it from behind with a chain . Jarael managed to destroy one of the HK - 24 ' s sensors , but the droid had gained the upper hand when it was destroyed in a surprise attack from behind by the Mandalorian warrior Rohlan Dyre , an acquaintance of Vandrayk ' s and Jarael ' s who had secretly stowed away on their ship . Not long afterward , however , Vandrayk was forced to return to Arkania due to an illness , where Adasca was able to manipulate Jarael into helping lead them to the Offshoot scientist . Vandrayk was quickly brought back to health once aboard Adasca ' s flagship , the " Arkanian Legacy " , where he was put back to work on the exogorths — by order of Adasca , he was accompanied everywhere by a squad of HK - 24 units to ensure compliance . Once the " Arkanian Legacy " reached Omonoth , where a large number of dormant exogorths were located , the time for the auction had finally come — invited parties from the Republic Navy , Mandalorians and the Jedi Order ' s interventionist Revanchist faction flocked to the Adascorp flagship , and Adasca began using his HK - 24 units openly as security . Adasca also directed several HK - 24s to secure the ship ' s brig after acquiring a pair of high - profile prisoners : Zayne Carrick , the alleged perpetrator of the Padawan Massacre of Taris , who arrived in the custody of the Republic delegation , and Lucien Draay , a Jedi Master who had been poisoned and incapacitated by Adasca after he unexpectedly crashed the auction . Guarded by five HK - 24 units , Carrick and Draay managed to overpower their captors and escape , and formulated a plan with Republic Lieutenant Carth Onasi to disrupt the auction and foil Adasca ' s power grab . With Carrick posing as a Mandalorian , the prisoners and Onasi were able to create a distraction allowing Draay to attack and cut through Draay ' s personal guard of HK - 24s . Meanwhile , Vandrayk reprogrammed the HK - 24 watching him to destroy the exogorth command station as he escaped and directed the massive beasts to tear the " Arkanian Legacy " apart . Adasca still had several dozen HK - 24 units defending him to the end , but they were all destroyed along with their master as the exogorths obliterated the ship and ended his dreams of domination . At some point not long after the Mandalorian Wars , the HK - 24 was illegal and found only rarely around the galaxy . Several years after the end of the war , during the Jedi Civil War , the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Revan based his design of the HK - 47 assassin droid off the HK - 24 , adding several of his own upgrades . The HK - 47 in turn became the basis for the HK - 50 assassin droid , which was produced en masse by Revan ' s Sith Empire during the war . Behind the scenes . The HK - 24 assassin droid first appeared in " " , an issue of the " " comic book series , written by John Jackson Miller and released in 2007 . After the droid ' s second appearance in , Miller revealed that the HK - 24 ' s number was inspired by driver who , sponsored by Lucasfilm , drove a # 24 car bearing the image of Yoda to a victory in the 2005 — Miller kept a miniature model of Gordon ' s Yoda car on his writing desk . The HK - 24 droid went on to appear through the ensuing story arcs " " and " " , and over the course of the droid ' s appearances in the series it was illustrated by Brian Ching , Harvey Tolibao and Bong Dazo .