“The life fuctions of my master appear to be terminated. Are you my new master?”
K-9 is an advanced model of cyberdog created sometime around 2241 by Dr. Schreber at Camp Navarro for deployment under Dick Richardson's division of the Enclave. However, the doctor perfected his creation too well, and created a fully sentient, talking cyberdog with abilities that extend beyond the normal, and a burning hatred of its creator. He appears as a potential companion of the Chosen One in Fallout 2.
After being brought online sometime prior to 2241 at Camp Navarro by his creator Dr. Schreber, unlike most cyberdogs, K-9 displayed increased intelligence, up to full sentience and the ability to use a modified set of vocal organs that allowed him to communicate verbally in several languages. His high intelligence allowed him to develop his own sense of morality, which brought him at odds with Dr. Schreber and his unethical experiments conducted for the Enclave; despite being programmed to work as his assistant, he came to hate the sadistic scientist with a passion.
Sometime before the Chosen One arrived at Camp Navarro, an incident occurred where K-9 acted on his anger and used his cyberdog jaws to bite Dr. Schreber, who then punished him by disabling his legs, forcing him to stand still like a statue and observe the doctor's horrible experiments unable to look away.
Later life
After meeting the Chosen One during their infiltration of Navarro and getting their help repairing his motivator, K-9 was dropped off in NCR so that he could receive necessary repairs from Dorothy and Doctor Henry.
A short time later, however, out of fear that too much information about the Enclave including his past ties would be obtained if NCR leaders were to look closely, Henry attempted to destroy K-9 as well as Robodog that he'd created, but was stopped by K-9 and Dorothy, who suspected what the scientist was planning. Henry's actions led to the NCR government using it as an excuse to confiscate both cyberdogs in order to learn more information about the Enclave as well as what makes them "tick." Sometime after being taken into custody, against Dorothy's objections, K-9 and Robodog were disassembled for analysis, with it being reported that structural damage during the disassembly process led to their deaths.[1]
Fix K-9: He can be found in Dr. Schreber's office at the Navarro facility. He is non-operational when first found and requires some physical repairs.
To obtain K-9, two requirements must be met:
K-9's leg mechanisms must be repaired with a drive mechanism. One is available in the mechanic's shop right on the Enclave base inside a locker. Using this part on K-9 will fix him (this does not require the Repair skill); no other repairs are required.
Dr. Schreber must be killed.
Statistics
K-9 makes a number of comments as he levels up:
"Initiating program update, Master... Upgrade complete."
"Installing software upgrade, Master... Version 2.0 installed."
"Performing hardware modifications, Master... Systems nominal."
"Performing hardware modifications, Master... Systems optimal!"
K-9 will not join if one has low Karma and negative reputations. Moreover, if K-9 is in the party and the player character becomes a Childkiller or their Karma drops below -101, he will leave permanently.
K-9 possesses a sense of humor, and will sometimes make sarcastic and snide remarks during conversations with the Chosen One.
If the player character lies to Skynet about being Dixon while having K-9 waiting outside the Sierra Army Depot, K-9 will turn hostile when Skynet does. This can be fixed by escaping Sierra Army Depot without killing K-9.
His stats are superior to the other cyberdog in Fallout 2, the robodog.
K-9 is one of the few characters that will join a Chosen One with an Intelligence of less than 4.
The name "K-9" is a pun on the word "canine," the scientific name for all species of dog.
It also serves as the code name for police and military units that utilize trained dogs for operations such as search and rescue and contraband detection.
