All Good Comes to An End (All welcome)

[Ultimatum]

Aboard the Sovereignty in deep space Ultimatum found at last some small time to think back on past. It was a haunting time for him, especially a short period preceding and following the invasion of Mustafar by the Sith forces. The worst times all involved the same person, the Guide. Ultimatum had never learned his identity, had never captured him, and most importantly never defeated him. Ultimatum recalled the fateful day, the day on which his reign on Mustafar had truly ended. Certainly the Sith's completed invasion did play a key role, but it was the Guide who hammered the final nail into that coffin.



--------------------------------------

The Day of the End of Ultimatum's Reign



It was about midday and Ultimatum was working in the Progenitor Facility. The recent invasion of the Sith had effectively ended his ability to command the world. Ultimatum knew that he could not stay, but he knew that the chaos that had come with the fighting. The artificial hoped to mitigate the anarchy that was showing signs of popping up and perhaps more importantly to save those who followed him in the old regime. He did not want to abandon his people, he had adopted them and he could not turn his back on them in the final moments of leadership. If he could smooth the transition he would, even if it broke his heart. His plan was to set up something for the Sith to build on and remove his own people from the seats of power to save them from the ends that the Sith would give them.

So long as he could maintain the secrecy of the Progenitor Facility it was possible that he could maintain a power space on the world. Certainly the shipyard would be safe, given that it was underneath the command of a company that might support them. Meanwhile Progenitor Facility was a secret base that could easily be seen as a threat to the Sith. Fortunately for those he intended on rescuing, he had already planned the escape off world. There were several transports awaiting liftoff and the Sovereignty had managed to crawl under Sith surveillance with its stealth technology. It was not permanent and Ultimatum wanted to work quickly in order to get his people out of harm's way first.

------

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Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO1pn6D-t4M​

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The situation in the city was deteriorating. With Ultimatum's forces pulling out and immanent threat of Sith entrance there was mass panic. There were looters trying to make off with whatever they could get hold of while others tried desperately to buy spaces aboard ships leaving the world. Smugglers and captains were making easily ten times the amount they would have normally just to carry people.

There were police forces trying to put an end to criminal activities while at the same time trying to keep the various LOOM built droids and augmented people from retreating from the cities. There was no reasoning with the droids, they had stopped following the orders of police commanders and seemed to be moving to the outskirts. Whatever their purpose, it had weakened their ability to fight the waves of madness that had captured the cities. They would likely accept the help of whoever was willing to aid in the containment of the criminals.

There were few true villains here, most were people driven through hysteria to acts that normally would have been beneath them. All knew the Sith by reputation and that living under them would be more hellish than the droid.

-------

"Yes, we need to get them out of there now. Government facilities will probably be the first targets and until the Sith attack we will have no idea when they may start. Set up an outpost near the entrance with defenders. Have them dropped off there. I'll see about getting any allies, I don't think they'll come though."

Turning to another makeshift terminal that had been set up in his office, the artificial barked out his question, "Where's the Vanguard. We need her to help plan this. Find her."







OOC: Unless it is not obvious, this thread is about Ultimatum's final departure from Mustafar as her ruler. This is a story that has been going around my head since the droid took control of the world. This thread, timeline wise, almost directly follows the Sith invasion of Mustafar, before they gain complete control of the world.

All are welcome to join where they wish, though if you wish to meet/come alongside Ultimatum then expect to be taken on a rollercoaster of a ride. Otherwise go nuts. There is a general arc for the rest of the world, but the main focus of the story is what happens between Ultimatum and his long term political nemesis, the Guide. Everyone is free to make their own story and I will occasionally make broad statements about what is going on, whether that affects what you character is doing is up to the individual.

 

[RIP Carlyle Rausgeber]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXP0CpnL8ps​

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The Galactic Alliance had been squashed. Today, was a day of vengeance for the First Order, and a reckoning for their adversaries. The murderous aggression the Galactic Alliance and their allies had displayed on Kaeshana had been paid for with their blood, and territory. Today, the First Imperial Cog now flew victoriously on Barkhesh, Rutan and Lord Vader's ancient Mustafarian fortress.

Admiral Carlyle Rausgeber watched the glowering planet of Mustafar from the glasteel bridge viewport of the FIV Malice, his extensively modified resurgent-class star destroyer. In the days following the victory achieved in the Asmeru anomaly, Carlyle had been transferred to running patrols, destroying escaping convoys, and finally, guard duty. Along with an armada of other escorts, the Malice sat in orbit of the volcanic planet. It's mission was three fold. Firstly: Hold the line in case of counter attack. Secondly; support military assets on the planet with aerial superiority to wipe out any remaining pockets of resistance. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, the capture of [member="Ultimatum"].

The droid leader would be an important capture to First Imperial propaganda. The idea of a Galactic Alliance provisional governor being captured, was one Central Command was eager to exploit. To assist in that venture, Rausgeber was handed control of two interdictor cruisers, whose gravity wells were to be continuously engaged until ordered otherwise. Although one would be effective enough, two would be able to see the whole system shut down. No traffic would leave without the knowledge of the First Order's navy.

"Give me a status report on the air." Carlyle commanded, briskly, "How clogged are we down there?"

The TIE Operations Officer of the Malice had been unfortunately delegated the duty of Executive Air Traffic Controller, at least until the main Mustafarian cities could be secured. "We're clear for the most part sir. There are localised troop movements are occurring, as they sweep the ashfields. Approximately twelve TIE squadrons are on patrol. Most of whom are performing recon runs on the cities. A few freighters have attempted to contravene directive three, but our TIE's have chased them down."

"Good," Carlyle smirked, "Have the fighters continue directive three. It will be only a matter of time before the army tracks down this malfunctioning droid." Rausgeber was referring to the very public declaration the First Order had made on all public signals. Any attempt to circumvent the blockade would end in immediate termination. The wreckage of a troop transport, which slowly was drifting to the atmosphere was evidence of this. Should any ship attempt to leave, they would be met with red, hot plasma.

 

[Ultimatum]

Those Imperial troops who wandered across the world would find no resistance in droid form. In fact the LOOM V-1s and 2s were working to quell rioting and put a stop to looting attempts. Ultimatum had planned according to what he had found to be standard Imperial tactics. They were here to install their order, what would happen if they found it already being installed by those who they would have assumed to be enemies. This however did not mean there were no resistors. In many of the cities local governors were either surrendering to incoming Imperial authorities or rallying civilians to fight their captors. Weapons were given to all who could hold them, men, women, and even children were put to battle.

In the majority of cities there was fighting between LOOM forces, alongside police forces, and criminal elements. It would make for a chaotic scene for the new Imperial overlords, but it would not be too difficult to decide who was the 'ally' of the Imperials.

But this was not Ultimatum's doing, it was the fighting spirit of the people. And while it was doomed to fail, they would fight nonetheless, they would rather die fighting than sitting down. Only two of Ultimatum's appointed officials attempted a retreat, but they had soon come across Imperials and were no doubt taken prisoner, or shot on sight. Either way they never reached Progenitor Facility. What would have been most confounding to the Imperials, if they had studied Ultimatum's work well, as the fact that not a single Awe fighter was to be seen anywhere. In fact, aside from the fleeing transports and smuggler ships, most of which would either return to the ground or be burned, there was no resistance in the air. Not a single anti-air craft battery, no weapon fired on the Imperial ships.

---------

Ultimatum stood, coordinating his droids in order to better prepare for the Imperial movement. He would not fight back, it was useless. The only place he would defend was the Progenitor Facility, but it was unlikely they would find it. Buried beneath the surface of a patch of land with a large content of iron, which was effective at breaking up scans. The fact that there were no above ground facilities made it unlikely there would be any searching there, excepting the small camp that was being set up.

The droid turned his attention to preparing a speech for the people. The most important part was that he remain hidden from Imperial tracking, however he already had a method for that. It was only due to his nature that he could possibly use the system he had, and it was all thanks to his creator that it was possible. How ironic that the intention of his ability had been to work in a manner similar to the Imperials, his sole purpose had been to destroy the galaxy along with all in it. Yet here was, in complete defiance of his programming. And he never felt more alive.

"Sir, our droids found the Vanguard. She's coming with a small detachment of units from the nearby settlement." Legion reported over the comms. He was overseeing work on the top side in preparation for departure.

"Very good. Set up for transmission. Disconnecting."

With that the droid's consciousness left his body. For a moment he was in a void where nothing was, there was no existence beyond his own tiny cell of light in an infinite darkness. Then his mind awoke in its true form. No physical body was his true residence, but he had been created first and foremost in the greatest collection of information ever to be found in galactic history. The HoloNet. Beyond scope and measure, the vastness of the HoloNet hid many secrets, no one person could hope to find everything the HoloNet had within its great web. And in those depths, buried under terrabytes of information, in some cases more, lay the program that was Ultimatum. Split into several portions and scattered throughout, the droid was beyond simple death by physical destruction.

Now though, his return to his birthplace was for a singular purpose. He was here to transmit his message. The droid manufactured a transmission origin from the various coding that he had become used to working in. How amusing that the idea behind this gift was to destabilize governments and cause conflicts that would devastate worlds and here he was using those abilities to attempt to calm a people and bring peace to a conflicted nation. Ultimatum gave the origin location to a desolate wasteland in Hoth, an attempt at a joke in this moment of difficulty. If the Imperials attempted to follow the transmission to its source it would prove to be a ice plain in Hoth that had never been colonized.

Across the entire planet, any open frequency had a message blared across, only voice with no visuals. "People of Mustafar. This is Ultimatum, your post ruler. As my final command before passing your safety to the Imperials. Do not fight on my behalf. I repeat, do not resist the First Order. Work with them in ever capacity possible. Remember my words and do not fight them. All things come to and end, good or evil. This shall pass like me. If not for my sake then for those around you do not fight. They will not hold back and to survive you must obey them. Carry this burden now and someday we may be reunited. Remember those who came before you, before me. Remember those who will come after, make a world of peace for them."

The transmission ended and Ultimatum was left with a feeling of sadness. He would have wanted to say more. He would have pushed them to fight harder, to fight till there were none left to stand against them. He would have told his people to steel themselves and know that death would only pave the way for freedom. It was not through pacifism that free will was won, but through the hard earned chaos of battle.

Switching to a line that he believed would meet an Imperial ship in orbit, not being entirely certain if he caught the right frequency, Ultimatum would send this message and await reply, "First Order personnel. Excuse the lack of proper title, but I do not know if this has reached the intended recipient. Please respond on the same frequency and also tell the highest commanding officer in the vicinity I wish to speak with him on a private channel." Of course Ultimatum knew he could not break Imperial encryption, which was why he merely wanted to get the commander of the Imperial forces' attention. The response was so that he could at least know he had gotten the right person. It did not matter to him if he caught a trooper, a pilot, or even a janitor, so long as the message got through.

Negotiation was not on his plan, but he did wish to give the new man a piece of his mind.

---------

Meanwhile another person was trying to get the Order's attention. The Guide had at last received the one thing he had wished for all along underneath Ultimatum, a liberation into a new era. The Sith had at last returned to Mustafar and were going to bring with them a peace that the lying droid never could. He had enough people now to do what he had wanted to all along and the time had at last come. The Order was destroying Ultimatum's physical empire, now it was time for him to destroy the hidden power.

Under a flag of truce, several Mustafarians would attempt to close on an Imperial detachment, unarmed and passive. They brought only a message to the troops with a comms unit to communicate with the Guide. He might have welcomed the Sith, but that did not mean he trusted them not to shoot first. "Glorious liberators, welcome to Mustafar. The Guide sends his well wishes and this unit to speak with you directly. He wishes to offer his services in bringing down the tyrannical reign of the droid."

[member="Carlyle Rausgeber"]

 

[RIP Carlyle Rausgeber]

"Admiral Rausgeber, we have a transmission sir." The Comms Officer began, "Sir, I think it's the droid. He-" The Comms Officer paused, rectifying himself, "It wants to talk to you." The Officer stammered. Carlyle cast a sideways glance to the technician and felt a feeling of surprise. Perhaps the droid wished to surrender, or was this a show of defiance in the way of overwhelming odds? There would be no way to find out unless they heard it out.

"Play it." Carlyle commanded. His strict voice hung in the air, menacing the officer into action. The lieutenant hurriedly scrambled, and began to play the message. Carlyle listened to it, slightly bemused. So the droid wanted to negotiate. How pathetic.

"Shall I set up a comms line for you admiral?" The Comms Officer asked.

Carlyle raised his hand and shook his head. "No." He stated in a simple, and plain voice, "I will speak to this droid within the Communications Suite." He informed the lieutenant, Carlyle's gaze rose to meet an officer standing at the end of the deck dividing the two crew pits. "Commodore Halferd, you are to remain in command until I say otherwise." Carlyle informed him.

Halferd straightened his posture and saluted, raising his right arm. "Yes admiral, understood." The younger officer could not contain his glee at his new posting. Something Carlyle smiled at. The admiral however returned to his scowl, not wanting to betray his emotions.

"Nothing is to leave the system." Carlyle said, his tone stern and steeled. "If anything attempts to breach us, whether they come from other sectors, or from the surface, bombard it." Halferd nodded, an acknowledgement. "Good." Rausgeber said, before briskly marching from the command deck, and towards the communications suite.

Housed towards the rear of the bridge's superstructure sat the communications suite. A ring of consoles, mounted onto the walls, surrounded a large, round holographic projection table. The table was nominally used for fleet positioning, or conference calls. But now it would be used for a one on one meeting. Diplomacy, between two enemies.

By the time Carlyle had arrived to the suite, the team of technicians working there had begun preparations for the transmission. "How close are we to transmission?" Carlyle asked icily.

"Sir, the signal is almost ready, we've added some encryption, and are finalising the isolation of this channel." The lead technician informed him, "If this droid has anything up his sleeve, it'll only wreck this one channel, rather than destroy the whole system."

"Good," Carlyle said, a smirk pursing his lips, "Once you are done ensign, leave me." He said, "The droid specified this be a private meeting, and I'll see to it his terms are followed."

The lead technician bowed his head, "Yes sir." He affirmed, before continuing to secure the line. Another thirty seconds passed, until he reported again. "We are ready when you are admiral," He gestured to a small keyboard on the table, "Just press 'play' and it should be ready."

Carlyle nodded, "Thank you for your work gentlemen." He said, "You are relieved, for now." The four technicians hurridley exited. With them gone, Carlyle dimmed the lights, and stood before the projection table. He pressed play, and began to broadcast himself to the droid. Rausgeber's stern figure, attired with cape and uniform was exhibited to the droid.

"Ultimatum." Carlyle began in a dry voice, "I am Admiral Carlyle Rausgeber of the First Imperial Navy," Carlyle introduced himself, and bowed slightly. "If my deductive reasoning is correct, I suspect this may be your offering of a surrender, no?" He asked.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"],


Meanwhile, outside of that Mustafar Mining Complex,

The air was blackened and howling as an ash storm bellowed through the land, whipping through the lava lakes and ash fields of Mustafar. One of First Order's clones was crawling through the ask, blood splattered over his back and his legs limped, paralyzed or broken from collateral damage of battle. Suddenly there were quickly approaching clanking footsteps as a metal foot was slammed down on his back, pinning the soldier down with a painful groan and an electro-blast staff aimed at his head. One of ARGH's Infantry drones stationed as garrison for the Mining complex found the man, beeping out a report on their comm-channels to HK.

HK meanwhile was sitting on top of a Nocur mount, clad in its battle barding the droid scanned over the site of battle that took place outside the complex where only a small group of elite droids mounted on their beasts charged the much larger clone lines hammering them with mortars and somehow managed to hold them off, forcing them into a retreat or abandoning their posts in other matters. HK looked over the carnage, his mechanical soldiers gathering enemy corpses in lines to one side, removing their helmets, breastplates, weapons, taking them to shuttles and transports to be reused and repurposed for further conflicts.

"No, take him to the field medic and have his wounds tended to, we will ship the prisoners back to their masters."

HK answered the drone who immediately pulled his blast staff back and reached down to grab the man and hoist him up, carrying him over to a makeshift tent outside the complex where FO's wounded were gathered. It was standard Abregado practice to release their prisoners of war freely unless they were Force Users or Officers, the idea was to blame their commanders who issued orders rather than the soldiers who only did their duty, but even then, most Force Users and Officers captured by Abregado were just released anyway, or were never heard from again, there was never really a happy middle when it came to these things.


However it was then when HK was about to chalk it up as another glorious victory, assuming that battles on other worlds and parts of Mustafar went similarly to the front given to him when he received a grim transmission,

"My Lord, the Alliance is calling for general retreat from this sector, the Sovereign is calling for population's surrender without resistance."

The droid immediately replied with,

"WHAT THE F*CK, why?"

Dipping into his colorful vocabulary of profanities from other galaxies and dimensions,

"Last reports indicated that all systems were holding firm within GA defenses."

The response came in with,

"It appears they focused their forces on protecting Vader's castle which thinned out their presence in other systems, they lost control of the Sith fortress and are now calling for a retreat."


HK pulled on the reigns of his owlbear, pulling the beast around towards the complex and the ARGH transports and dropships landed in the area,

"Gods damned Alliance, how is it possible that they are so bad at fighting?"

The droid muttered to himself as his mount charged in, the infantry drones carrying on with their business scampering aside to quickly get out of the way,

"This would not happen if they listened to me for once."

It was in HK's strong belief that they should have placed him on the triad of commanders they had for central government rather than whatever organic was making those decisions and giving those orders.

"Finish tending to the wounded and loading out troops, we are retreating to our naval positions, the Alliance is pulling out of here."

He commanded his troops before sending a transmission to Ultimatum,


"Ulti, I received a report that the Alliance is retreating, what is happening?"

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum replied with a steady voice, "I am sorry to disappoint. I cannot surrender anymore than you could if out situations were reversed." Ultimatum continued in thought alone, "Of course, I am certain the reasons are different." The being was glad that [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"] had been willing to speak with him. There was much the artificial wished to explain, but he doubted that the organic would stay long enough.

"I would like to give my respects to your troops. They have fought well and since they defeated the Alliance I must admit defeat. I know that even should your forces be repulsed now, there is no continuing. I would like to make it known that I have done my best to quell what rioting there is and prepared for your government. I do not expect any mercy, or any leniency in my escape attempt, but I shall not be captured here. LOOM forces shall continue to aid in the restoration of order and will comply with your troops orders. I do not wish to make this any more difficult than it has to be. Is there any other way that I can keep this transition as smooth as possible?"

The Sovereign Artificial was well aware that this would not help his cause and that the Imperials were probably still attempting to hunt him down. His fate was not to end here though, his was to continue on and eventually join with HK to create something new. He would not surrender, not now, not ever. He could have fled right then and there, simply leave his body and everyone on Mustafar. He could have loaded himself into another body, perhaps aboard the hidden Sovereignty and simply disappear. But that was not his way and it never would be while he remained true to his cause.

----

Legion, working hard to take care of the work that Ultimatum left behind, caught the message from the HK unit. While under most circumstances he would have simply transmitted it through to Ultimatum, this was hardly normal circumstances. The situation was tumultuous, to say the least. So he replied quickly, "Sir, Legion here. The Alliance has pulled out and the Imperials have set up a blockade. Ultimatum has an exit strategy prepared, we are just waiting on the last remnants of the allied governors and the Vanguard to arrive. I would recommend you retreat to Progenitor Facility." The ex-protocol droid assumed that the his master had given [member="HK-36"] the location of the facility. Ultimatum had spoken of HK often and so Legion had come to the conclusion that he was a steadfast ally and therefore trustworthy with the bases coordinates. A high honor amongst all beings.

----

"We need to hold the Imperials at this camp. Once we have the go ahead our fighters can begin to attack while we play defense screen for the Lord to escape. We will take the last few shuttles and leave soon after. Remember, we fight today for Mustafar, we fight today so that in the future we may bring freedom once more to her people. Hell to our Foes!"

The small transport reverberated with the response, "Hell to the Order!"

The Vanguard of Mustafar sat back and thought. Preparing herself for the battle that was no doubt ahead. There was likely to be at least one Imperial squad or something for them to fight through. She hoped she would receive the signal before they left the world. She didn't want to leave, this was her home. She had given her life to the movement, but she did not want to lose the world. The Vanguard didn't care if it was the Sith or the Alliance who ran the world, so long as she could move out into the wilderness and live the rest of her life.

Her comm lit up and she clicked it on, "Vanguard here. It's time? At long last... Alright, okay. I shall call you when it is done."

Turning off the comm Vanguard smiled weakly. Now it was time. The order had been given and it was at last the moment she had waited so long to come. Turning to the V-1s and Hybrids in the back she yelled out the phrase, "Where our light goes-"

Several voices responded, "Truth shall follow." There were many quizzical looks from those who remained silent. When blasters were aimed in their direction they became surprised.

The Vanguard aimed at the driver of the armored vehicle and said, "I'm going to need you to stop." When he did so she pulled the trigger. A blue pulse enveloped the man and he slumped over, stunned. "Only one man has earned death this day. You will come to understand." She then pulled the lever on the control panel that released the rear doors. She jumped out of the vehicle and moved to the driver seat. Removing the stunned man she carried him to the back where the others were doing the same with the people who had not responded.

They laid them down in a small valley in the ground where they would be safe until they awoke. The team then entered the vehicle and the Vanguard began driving. "Pull out the seats in the rear and make room for some more people. We need everyone we can get." She spoke over the intercom, the response was the sound of rending metal.

They would continue on their path to the Progenitor Facility, except this time there were deviations on their path.

 

[RIP Carlyle Rausgeber]

Rausgeber considered the droid carefully through the transmission. He tapped his chin, and his brow furrowed in thought. "Perhaps." Carlyle began, "As it sits, we have the entire system under lock down, there will be no escape as it is." He informed him, "Our navy has put Mustafar under a hyperspace blockade. There will be no way to evade our forces, unless you were to have, permission." The last word was spoken in a cool, almost seductive manner.

"From our analysis, there is a Galactic Alliance war criminal currently resisting forces at the Mensix Mining Facility." Carlyle informed Ultimatum, "Perhaps you've heard of him. The malfunctioning rust bucket goes by the name of HK-36." He paused, "That particular droid and his army assisted in the destruction of First Imperial property, and aided Tygaran and Galactic Alliance forces in their bombing and attacks on First Order run humanitarian missions on Kaeshana." The officer became rigid, "Their attacks and bombings caused substantial civilian and military casualties."

It would be quite obvious to anyone that the subject fuelled great anger and resentment within the admiral. He sneered whenever HK was mentioned. "Surrender the murderous rust bucket to our forces, and I can see to it a deal is done for the allocation of one transport which will be allowed to leave the surface."

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Carlyle Rausgeber"], [member="Ultimatum"],


By the time the Imperial blockade was set most of Abregado's forces that took part in the battle on Mensix would have already retreated, jumping away from the system with the rest of Alliance forces, since they would not be left without reports of the general retreat announcement too long and when the battle came to conclusion the Alliance and LOOM had superiority in the air and space directly above the mining facility.

Most because they wouldn't be able to pull out everything in time of course, few automated transports carrying phalanxes of expendable drones would be struggling behind, their value lesser than organic and intelligent droid counterparts of HK's forces, perhaps even lesser than the loot and trophies the machines claimed off of First Order clone corpses that were sent on transports heading for their homeworld. And of course there would be a team of five tall droids still in the facility, clad in dark armor and bodies wrapped in heavy cloaks, watching as the last transports with drones were finally cut off by the Imperial blockade closing in orbit.

"Alright, let us get out of here."

HK finally ordered as he and his Greycloaks shuffled inside the Knight of the Eclipse, their prize stealth transport and the droid's favored vessel. It would not take long before one of the Greycloaks took its spot as the ship's pilot and the sleek matte black transport pushed off of the ashy surface of Mustafar, speeding away into the blackened skylines as it engaged its stealth systems.


"Copy that Legion."

The droid replied aboard his stealth ship using encrypted comm channel,

"We are aboard the Knight currently, heading for the facility."

HK informed his ally, if Ultimatum would truly need just one transport, well HK just happened to have it.

 

[Ultimatum]

The conundrum had risen its head. The admiral had chosen well his words. Now Ultimatum was in a bind, for he was now in the position of choosing one life as more important than another. He was supposed to choose between himself and HK. Both were beings of value, such that Ultimatum did not believe that one was necessarily worth more than the other.

"I understand your anger. I have felt the same way in the past, when considering my creator. You are perhaps a far greater organic for being willing to deal with a defeated opponent. I shall... consider it. The droid you speak of is a friend who allowed me life when death was a far easier option. Certainly you can understand my situation?" The droid was trying to prolong the conversation while he thought about the possibilities. His calculations suggested that building a replica of HK was beyond the question unless the negotiations were prolonged far more than he believed possible. But then again, if he created a mere shell with minor functionality systems it might be possible. They might even be able to stick a bomb in and hope that the First Order did not realize until too late. But then how would that make him any better than the Imperials, who had used similar if not more insidious tactics before.

"I have lost this fight and I know that you are being generous in your dealings. Yet at the same time I am working to alleviate as many of the issues you would have to prepare for in a normal invasion. I request that if I agree to turn over the murderer you will allow three transports to leave, and detain those others that attempt to." He was working as best he could to establish something of an ideal solution. Three transports was not enough to evacuate all of his people, but it was the best the droid believed he could ask for. Even then, he doubted it would be allowed. Ultimatum was playing an uncertain game, trying to negotiate with a person who he did not know. He did now know if the organic would be open to negotiations, or if this was a mistake that would cost him. Yet he had to try.

----

"Where's the Vanguard? She's running late and time is running low. How are the programs doing? Have we gotten a match yet?" Legion was asking over various comm channels, most of which were unsecured but unlikely to be searched. Ultimatum had decided long ago to not use encrypted channels except when dealing with particular organics. The majority of his transmissions were in the most simplistic of droid languages, binary. Without context the language could mean anything, but because often the receiver knew the context it was able to be used as a safe conversations with little chance of enemy understanding. However, Legion did not communicate in binary now. The situation was too dire to waste time preparing that form of conversation.

The message from [member="HK-36"] almost went unnoticed underneath all of the communications that Legion was passing over. He was not Ultimatum, he could not handle hundreds of thousands of thought processes simultaneously. He was a simple droid, not the artificial being that had been intended to manifest in hundreds of bodies at any one time.

However, the droid did catch the message and responded, "Good. I don't think any of us will make it to the Sovereignty though, the Order has the region locked down. If it gets any worse we might need to the land the Sovereignty." An advantage to landing the ship was the fact that there it would be possible to load everyone aboard and potentially escape that way. There was still the issue of escaping the Interdiction field.

----

The small armored vehicle was filled with a collection of V-1s, Hybrids, and even one of the experimental V-2s. The car was moving faster and faster, beyond even the highest of safety recommendations. The Vanguard wanted to catch Ultimatum before he disappeared. She didn't care if he was handed to the Imperials or killed by the movement, it was just the fact that he did not escape.

At the rate they were moving, it was likely that HK would make it to the facility first. However, they were probably not going to expect the betrayal that was to come any more than Ultimatum would have.

----

While the most important part of the Guide's plan had begun, there were stages far beyond the read of the system. The Guide did not simply plan on destroying Ultimatum's government, but permanently damaging his relations with other governments. Over the time of his rulership, Ultimatum had managed to befriend other people in powerful positions in the galaxy. In order to keep them safe he often gave them a token guards of elite V-1s and a Hybrid. Ultimatum had never truly been careful about infiltrators and moles until recent times, when the Guide became more overt with his attacks. Before that, he had accepted all volunteers without truly looking into the reasons of their volunteering. Therefore the Guide had taken advantage of this and managed to set up several people in preparation for this moment. The order was sent in much the same fashion as the Vanguard. It was half a phrase that would be innocous to those who read it, but would tell the readers it was time to act.

The message made its way through the HoloNet and was received by an agent on Commenor, where one of Ultimatum's oldest friends yet lived as the ruler of the planet. The V-1 who read it understood its purpose. His mission was simple, attack this [member="Lady Kay"] under the guise of an order from Ultimatum. First he had to deal with the other V-1s and the Hybrid, who was of course hiding himself away while he commanded the droids.

"Alright, time for rotation. Rob! Oh, there you are. Talking with Angela again?"

Rob turned and watched for a moment as two of the other V-1s walked in. Good timing. "Something like that. Don't know where Josh is at the moment, probably sleeping is my guess."

"It's not like we need to really patrol the place anyways, the droids that Chris as control of are enough to at least warn us if someone is coming."

Rob nodded as he stood and moved away from the terminal. He had to take these two down, they could not be allowed to interfere with his mission. But as had been said so many times among the movement, only one man deserved death. These two did not need to fall for a cause they did not understand. Once Ultimatum was gone, they could be taught the truth once more.

While the two entered the room, one moving to the bunks, and the other to a table holochess set that had been left on, Rob moved to the door and picked up one of the helmets. Putting it on he proceeded to pull over the combat armor and picked up one of the Entropy rifles that was set on the wall. As of yet, the team had yet to use one. What better time for this rifle to begin its use than with the liberation of Mustafar. Before he could leave however, he pulled a gas grenade from the Overseer drone that had been set inside for emergency use. Pulling the device to activate he dropped the grenade on the desk and picked up the other helmets before stepping out the door.

When it slid shut behind him, he punched part of it in on near the slide, jamming the door closed. Then came the part he did not want to do. Putting down his rifle had prepared a detonation charge on the door, with a trip laser. He did not want to harm his companions, who had been with him for so long, but they could not interfere. He hoped to finish his mission before the gas wore off, but if they managed to awaken early and forced the door open then the explosion would surely end them.

Then he began the walk towards the throne room, whether or not Kay would be there, he did not know, but it was a good place to start. His appearance should not have been out of the ordinary, even if his carrying a weapon was.




[member="Carlyle Rausgeber"]

 

[RIP Carlyle Rausgeber]

The Admiral fought to stifle the chuckle which seemed to resonate within him. Sympathy? Mercy among droids? It seemed like a comedy in of itself. He listened to the sentient automaton make a case. When he was finished, Carlyle spoke. "I will be honest with you machine," Carlyle began his voice cold, and harsh, "You're the lesser of two evils." Rausgeber said, he agreed somewhat with the sovereign. "Had you not risen up against us, had you not supported the Alliances corruption in the face of our arrival, I'd dare say that you'd be allowed to govern this world."

He paused, "But you didn't. Instead you supported a regime far more murderous than ours." He let those words linger, "However, given you have been far more reasonable than the incestuous Kerrigan clan, and more hospitable than the Alliance's high command, I will strike a middle ground with you." Carlyle informed him, "Have HK-36 lay down his arms, and surrender peacefully. I will then grant your request."

A smirk pursed the admirals lips, "But there will be two caveats." He said, "There will be two transports." Carlyle informed him, "And they will undergo inspection by the First Imperial Army before they are allowed to leave the system." His smirk turned into a grin, "That is my ultimatum."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Although the air space directly above the Mensix Mining Platform still held out against the Starfighter Corps, perimeter patrols run by the Starfighter Corps ensured that nothing left it's airspace unmolested. Not even HK-36's private shuttle. As it departed, although it did not appear on any sensors, Captain Lance Drago of Kray Squadron watched it.

The captain was a veteran of the Ssi-Ruuk wars, and more recently Kaeshana and Mustafar. The captain was a deft hand when it came to combat, and immediately began to track the shuttle, rather than using his computerised scanners, and instead using his own eyes to track the vessel. "Krayt One to Fleet Command, we have a situation over."

There was a pause, "Fleet Command here, what is your status?" A transmission beamed back.

"Fleet Command, I have a lock on a shuttle here that just took off from the Mensix Mining Platform over." The pilot reported, "Ship seems to be coated in something, I can't read it on sensors, but I have a visual, over."

There was a pause, as the Comms Officer aboard the Malice registered this. "Krayt One, which direction is he headed, over."

"Headed along trajectory, five one, dash, four two nine, over." Drago reported, as he gently let his TIE fighter follow.

"Understood Krayt One, keep an eye on him, reinforcements will be dispatched." The Comms Officer reported, before rushing to dispatch another three squads along the projected path, and to reinforce Krayt Squadron, who'd now begun to follow the shuttle. "Do not engage, just keep reporting his position."

"Will do, this is Krayt One, over and out."

[member="HK-36"] | [member="Ultimatum"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"],

Of course if Ultimatum told HK about Carl's proposal he would find the older droid much more willing to participate in it, after all he just saw it as a way to get inside one of First Order ships and wreck some chaos, and as future showed us, just how Ultimatum will escape Mustafar unharmed by the end of the day, so will HK be able to get away with his ship and guards.

Either way, the machine did not respond to the worry over Sovereignty so far to keep the chatter to minimum, besides soon enough after the stealth ship departed, the pilot announced to them,

"We have company."

As he looked over the consoles and sensors, watching numbers and data go by,

"TIEs, trying to be sneaky."

"Good thing we are not on a direct path."

HK quipped as he moved to the back of the ship towards its armory and cargo bay.

"Evasive action, lose them."

"What are you going to do?"

The pilot asked as he begun to carry out the order.

"If they will try to follow, as I suspect they will, I will just say 'hello'"


The squadron leader may have been a veteran of some sort of lizard war but the droids flew their transports their stealth ship throughout the One Sith Wars, Moross-Horde War, Protectorate-Confederate War, the Atrisian Incident, Battle For Kaeshana, and countless smaller battles and skirmishes throughout, running blockades and evading their enemy each time. As much experience their enemies had on hunting and tracking ships, the droid team was very good at evading and ambushing at this point.

So with a swivel and spin the transport changed its course tightly, flying towards one of Mustafar's super-volcanoes, blowing out a giant plume of dark grey ash into the darkened sky already. The matte black vessel would enter the curtain of black dust, letting it wash over them and cover their presence as they shot upward tightly to gain altitude.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay wasn't at the throne room by the time that Rob had arrived, at least not yet. In fact she had hardly spent much time there these days. She usually conducted meetings in either her office or one of the meeting rooms inside the Palace. When she wasn't at meetings, Kay was either out in the gardens, out shopping in Chasin City, or out visiting Commenor's allies and worlds flying their banner.

Fortunately for Rob, however, she had walked into the throne room minutes later, two guards in tow wearing their usual uniforms. Her intent wasn't to go and sit in her chair, but instead to survey the room with a different purpose in mind for it.

Kay glanced his way, noticing his rifle, but figured that he had it purely for appearances, given the room that they stood in. "I'm thinking of closing the Throne Room, maybe turning it into something else. A ballroom, maybe? A sitting room for staff to lounge in? What do you guys think?"

She had no knowledge of what had happened to [member="Ultimatum"] on Mustafar, news often taking a while to reach the Commenori sector. It was the aftermaths that she had often been told of, but sometimes much later in time than the actual events. With Commenor being so small and insignificant, it was easy for them to be forgotten.

Sometimes that was a good thing. It kept them safe.

[member="Carlyle Rausgeber"] [member="HK-36"]

 

[Ultimatum]

How... fitting... that his name be used at such a time in such a manner. There was nothing he could do to change the man's mind, or so Ultimatum believed. He had managed nonetheless to perhaps stem the slaughter that would occur should more people try to escape the world. There was also the problem of two transports. He could not fit many people into two transports only.... or could he.... A thought came to the droid. The terms were strict and he could hardly be expected to hold everyone he anticipated aboard. Yet perhaps there was a way around it. He just had to think. For now though the Artificial requested, "I accept these terms and if I may have one final indulgence: May I have your word that you will allow these things? I shall speak to HK about preparing his surrender."

Ultimatum was trying to find something, but he needed the organic's word that he follow through with the promise. The droid had been recording the conversation into his mind, not that that was any surprise given that any and all memories did that for robots anyways. He would not have been too surprised if the organic gave his word and then simply changed his mind, it had happened before. But he had the feeling that this man was more honorable than some of the ones Ultimatum had dealt with previously. Perhaps he was simply misreading the man, but he wouldn't know until the time came.

----

Legion stopped in his tracks as a message came through on all too familiar channel. "Order demands surrender of @HK-36. Exchange will allow two transports."
The droid found that there was no method of response, this was a notification not a communication. "Get HK on the line."

"The transmission has broken sir. Communication has cut out."

Legion looked to the other droid quickly and asked, "Our communication? Or his?"

"Ours. All channels are being blocked. External interference."

"Damn it all. Where is the Vanguard? We need armored support here in case they attack."

----

The Vanguard was close, the vehicle had parked in the nearby camp and after exiting a few of the V-1s had prepared a comm interference device. She didn't want Ultimatum to call for help. She stepped out of the driver seat and walked towards the center of the camp. Holding a stun pistol she entered the comms tent, the two people there looked to her and relief was evident in their eyes.

Before either could say anything she started, "Where our Light goes-"

The two looked at each other and in an instant the Vanguard raised the blaster and fired once into the first operator. The other jumped back, nearly falling over but catching himself. He tried to grab a gun off the table, but another shot from the Vanguard caused him to fall to the floor. Moving to the comms she picked up the intercom control and spoke, the message being taken to speakers by wires, to the camp, "Attention, this is an important message. Where our Light goes-"

She put the intercom down and then slipped the pistol away into its holster. Raising her Entropy rifle she fired into the equipment, turning it into dust even as she watched. She looked forward to using it on Ultimatum. To him disappear in a flash of light, of his own creation, and then turn to ash. That would be quite satisfying. The Vanguard stepped back outside and listened, there was blaster fire and she saw several flashes of light. Evidently there were still some loyalists here to be dealt with. She began to move towards the entrance to the base, just to cut anyone else from getting in. She wanted to catch the droid by surprise.

----

Rob watched silently as [member="Lady Kay"] entered the throne room. Her timing was perfect. The augmented man wondered for a moment whether he should simply kill her now. Certainly murdering the leader of the world would turn Commenor against Ultimatum. It might be even better than if he simply missed and failed in the attempt. People often became more enraged when their ruler died than when it was an attempt. Great wars had been started that way.

But, he told himself, that was not his mission. He was here to destroy an a relationship, one that could give Ultimatum reign again should he ever decide to come back to Mustafar. A new problem arose with that however, he needed to do some damage and yet he wanted to avoid killing the people here. Once more, fate provided an easy out to the V-1 program volunteer. One of the guard droids, commanded by Chris where ever he might be in the facility, was walking by on patrol routes when it entered the throne room.

Now was the time to act. He waved to Kay as he spoke up, "Mam... If I may interrupt. I have a message for you."

[member="Carlyle Rausgeber"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay raised a brow slightly as Rob beckoned her over. There was a message for her? It wasn't usual for messages to come through in such a manner. Perhaps one of her staff members were ill, or taking a leave of absence for vacation. Or maybe someone was hurt during a training exercise. Whatever it was, she could only guess.

She walked over to him, her face only showing the curiosity that she had for what it was that Rob had wanted to tell her. "Yes? What is it?" At least he wasn't telling her to sit down, so it couldn't of been bad news.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[RIP Carlyle Rausgeber]

The admiral watched the droid and listened to him. The request struck Carlyle as unusually. Was this droid bound by honour? Was that something encoded within him? The questions momentarily paused. He was to give the droid an answer.He was an honourable man, and bowed his head slightly. "Yes." Carlyle said, "You have my word that in exchange for HK-36, I will allow you to leave Mustafar." Rausgeber informed the droid.

He paused, before deciding to request his own. If honour were important, perhaps he could impugn Ultimatum with his own words. "But you in turn must give me your word that you will honour our arrangement." He said, "That you will surrender HK-36 and his cohorts to us." He declared, "And that you will not leave this system without submitting to an inspection by our forces." Carlyle commanded.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Krayt One to pursuit squadron, I have lost the transport." Captain Drago informed the pursuing TIE formations. Krayt squadron had just pulled out of a supervolcano, and had lost the transport within the thick ash clouds which billowed out of the mountain. The squadron began to buzz in, giving reports. Krayt's two to twelve hadn't seen anything. There was comms silence, and the TIE's momentarily paused, and circled around the fire mountain. What were they going to say? "Alright boys I think-"

"Krayt squadron," A voice buzzed in, it wasn't Fleet Command, a hush of excitement fell over the TIE squad. "This is Adler One," The voice declared, "I have visual on the transport."

Drago recognised the voice instantly. It was his superior, and interceptor wing commander, Major Rhett Khan. One of the aces who once flew for the Galactic Republic. A man who had fought throughout the Galactic Republic's decline, before deserting and working as a mercenary in Wild Space. His work brought him through to Dosuun, where on a whim, he reenlisted. Although he was treated with suspicion, Khan returned to fame and had proven himself a capable pilot. A living legend among some for his daring during the Battle of Kaeshana.

"Adler One this is Krayt One, where has the transport gone?" Drago asked.

"Transport has ascended to vector forty-two dash, nine, nine, one." Khan reported, "Rev your engines and up the pursuit."

The bold move performed by the droid knights under HK's command had dramatically failed on them. Rather than appear out of the ash unimpeded, they had reappeared into the way of a squad of TIE Fighters. "Alright Krayt's follow on pursuit trajectory, leave plenty of space, and slow up when we find the bastard."

Krayt squadron began to let up, and rushed to follow up. HK was now being tracked closely by two squadrons, with a third maintaining superiority in front, and below the droid. A wide perimeter had been set up. If the group of droids wanted to maintain secrecy, they weren't getting it.

[member="HK-36"] | @Ultimatum

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="Lady Kay"], [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"],


Perhaps it must have been a matte black plume of volcanic ash blown by a stray gust in shape of the shuttle, or unfortunate obsidian rock being spewed out from the magma filled beast beneath them, or more likely a glimpse through the blackened ashen curtain toward the stealth shipping passing somewhere in the polluted skies of murky darkness that even sunlight couldn't pierce, but the ship itself would not leave the dark volcanic cover, at least not yet. The droids cut their engines for the most part in their ascension, keeping them from stalling out and breaking the layer of ash, at least too violently, as they evened out at the high peak of their ship's parabola before descending down towards the ground. They stabilized themselves at the cloud layer, where the volcanic ash plumes mixed with the atmosphere, tailoring a quilt of matte blackness that caked the skies of the unfortunate volcanic planet. It was this heat and ash in its skies that gave both FO and GA alike issues with communication earlier that day. The trap and appearance of the TIE commander may have foiled the droid plan if they left the ash cover as their commander assumed they would, but they did not, the stealth ship stayed there.

The droid knew that even with interference their audioreceptors, photoreceptors, and suits upon suits of sensors and trackers built into them and their ship were better than organic senses and rival sensors which were useless upon their stealth vessel. So they stayed there where they fared better, somewhere out there by the growling and grumbling supervolcanoe, somewhere in the black skies over Mustafar.


Although not all of them would remain there forever as someone had to act the role of a bait, and distraction. For one unfortunate TIE pilot, one of the scrub tier ones who lost track of the ship in the ash cloud until their commander supposedly saw something, a surprise would suddenly appear out of thin air. A sudden silhouette dropping its cloaking before the TIE in mid flight, immediately firing off a burst of six hyper-velocity shattergun road from a heavy ARGH-made magnetic revolver (trademarked) as it smashed into the plexiglass viewport. It was HK himself, during his ship's ascension he left the ship through one of the airlocks and glided out, using his jet systems to keep himself in the air under the cover of his chameleon cloak, heat signatures hidden by the interface of ash and smoke.

The burst of shattergun pellets aimed at the large TIE viewscreen was meant to primarily weaken its structure before the droid's Phrik body slamming into it with a kick broke through the cover and he was upon the pilot in an ambush, the very same technique he would later use on Hoth to force his way inside a TIE under the command of Asharad. Fortunately for the pilot the droid did not mean to kill him, at least not right away, instead grabbing the TIE's controls with one hand and pushing them down, forcing the ship to tilt up and climb suddenly as his other hand pummeled into the pilot's helmeted face to steal the consciousness away from the soldier. Although the shots from the Magnetic Revolver were actually fairly silent, especially in mid air above a volcanoe where there was plenty of other noises to cancel them out, the sound of a Phrik droid smashing through viewport would be pretty obvious, not to mention the screams of the suddenly attacked pilot who was not killed right away, he should be able to scream out something along the lines of "Oh Force, of Force, he's here, he's in the cockpit, there's a droid in the cockpit and he wasn't here before" more or less before HK would either knock him out, decide to kill him, or the soldiers instincts would kick in and he decided to fight back.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was slightly surprised that the commander had agreed, however he still had his doubts about his planning to follow through. Nonetheless, the artificial had no other choice than to agree. In retrospect it seemed good to have been given the option. "I give you my word that given the allowance of two ship's freedom, I will submit to an inspection by your forces. In exchange for this freedom, I will procure the surrender of HK-36 and hand him over to your forces. Would you prefer me to bring him aboard one of my ships or will your forces take care of him?"

The Artificial Lord assumed that [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"] would wish to keep the two separated and would want his own men to collect HK, but Ultimatum was offering a little help. The droid had no intention of revolting, or in any way resisting as of yet. He knew his position was hardly one where he could hope to succeed in an attack, at least not without severe repercussions.

----

Rob tried to figure out how best to avoid shooting Kay as she moved closer. He had a plan, so as she moved closer, but was not quite within arm's reach he reported, "Ultimatum sends his regards." Waiting only a moment or two, he then raised the Entropy rifle and fired at the droid passing by on patrol. The blue energy ball passed by the other occupants and smashed into the droid, throwing it back and turning it to dust in the blink of an eye.

Taking a step back he began firing towards the guards, but intentionally missing as he took a step towards [member="Lady Kay"]. He reached out one hand to grab her as he pulled the trigger again, intentionally missing Kay. Rob knew the mission was suicide, he could not be taken alive. He had to enact an aggression that warranted immediate and terminal responses. He did not know of anything particular about Kay, only that she was ruler of the world. He hoped that by appearing to threaten her, the guards would begin attempting to respond with lethal force.

It needed to be a failed attempt on the leader's life, that way Kay would turn on Ultimatum. More importantly he could not allow himself to be captured and interrogated. They might break him, or otherwise gain information that put doubt over his apparent connection with Ultimatum. Death was the surest way of ensuring that the mission was accomplished.


[member="HK-36"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

"Ultimatum what?..." Before she could work out what he had meant, Rob's actions became clear. Instinct caused her to duck and cover her head as the bolt flew past, blowing apart the passing droid as though it was made of sand.

He reached for her then, after firing upon her guards. She backed away quickly and drew her small pistol from it's hidden holster up her sleeve, the Diplomat, and opened fire, sending two stun bolts towards his chest. She wasn't going to just let her guards do all the work for her, especially as she was at such close range. As she took her shots, her two guards closed in, ready to fire their own rounds in case she missed.

Both Kay and her guards found it strange that someone like Rob could miss so badly. He had to have been doing it on purpose. That's why stun bolts were used. He needed to be questioned, not killed. Especially as being killed seemed to be his motivation. Yet what part did [member="Ultimatum"] have to play in this? So many questions that needed answers.

But first they had to get Rob in custody.

[member="HK-36"] [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"]

 

[RIP Carlyle Rausgeber]

Carlyle paused, and thought of the matter quite carefully. "Procure the droids surrender independently of your movements." Carlyle informed the droid, he would treat Ultimatum with respect, but would not invest his trust in the machine. "It will arrive aboard my command ship independently of you." Carlyle paused, and cracked a smile at Ultimatum from behind the projector, "I believe that concludes our business." He looked the droid, at what hopefully would be in the eye, "I will enjoy entertaining you for the duration of your inspection. As soon as you leave, you will be hearing from us. But until then, safe travels. Should any issues with the war criminal arise, do feel free to transmit on this frequency. I will be sure to have my men monitor it."

Satisifed that their business had been concluded, Carlyle stopped the transmission, and briskly walked out of the darkened comms suite, and into the halls of the Malice. The four technicians immediately took Rausgeber's place, returning to their stations The admiral reached for his commlink, it was time to update himself. "Commodore, report." Carlyle barked.

"Admiral Rausgeber, we believe we possibly have HK-36 sir." Halferd reported, "A shuttle blasted off from the Mensix Mining Facility, we've managed to localise the shuttle's location to a volcano. Three squadrons have been dispatched."

"Any casualties?" Carlyle asked.

"One sir," The Commodore replied, "From what we've been able to ascertain, he was shot down. Squad leaders are trying to confirm this, but given the conditions, recieving telemetry has been an issue." The Commodore replied, "All TIE's are now circling the perimeter."

"Dispatch another squadron." Carlyle drily commanded, "Order them to hold clear." He said, "If it's a waiting game the monster wants, then we'll wait all day."

 

[Ultimatum]

"Thank you." The droid had assumed as much when he made the suggestion. It made sense for the admiral, or what he assumed to be an admiral, to not trust the droid. They were on opposing sides and therefore they were obligated to not trust each other. Perhaps that did not make much sense, why should they not trust each other, simply because they were enemies? A man was still a man, a droid was still a droid, regardless of their relation to others. Should Ultimatum then judge the admiral as untrustworthy simply because he was associated with Sith?

Those thoughts churned in the artificial's mind as he returned to his body. There was work in the world outside of the digital to be accomplished. His visual receptors activated as his body once more hummed to life. Turning back and forth he looked to Legion, who as always was by his side. The protocol droid stated blankly, "I've attempted to establish contact with the HK unit, to no effect. Perhaps if you would speak with him."

"Okay, let's get to it. He won't like what I have to say." The larger droid moved to the terminal collection and tuned one to the frequency that was often associated with HK, from past communications. Ultimatum did not care of his side was encrypted or not, the Imperial above would probably catch the message anyways and it wouldn't make any difference in the content.

"HK-36, this is Ultimatum. I need to speak with you as soon as possible. A situation has arisen and it is of utmost importance that I discuss this with you, over comms or face to face is up to you, but time is of the essence here."

As the artificial returned the microphone, there was an almost imperceptible moment where one of the emergency lights lit up. However before it reached full power the light turned back off. Ultimatum had set the lights as a security measure as well as for emergency situations. There was of course a system that detected arrivals that had not passed a specific word upon entering, or bypassed the door systems altogether. Given the situation Ultimatum chalked it up to someone rushing in for defensive purposes or to pull out supplies. This was not an ideal situation but that did not excuse lack of security. Ultimatum turned to one of the V-1s, "Check the entrance. We might have a person running around a bit much."


[member="Carlyle Rausgeber"]
-----

Ultimatum had incorrectly assumed. The Vanguard, with her considerable knowledge of the workings of the facility had managed to disable the alarm moments before full activation. The various Vs were now joined by local fighters who were part of the movement. Armed with ionic weapons the plan was to push into the facility, taking out any guards that might halt their advance to the armory. There the plan was to upgrade to whatever they could grab and push in until they found Ultimatum. Once he was secured, troops would deploy throughout the base in order to ensure no counterattacks took place.

"Go." Was all she said as the door slid open. A puff of colder air from the facility passed over those first Vs as they ran in. The sounds of heavy footsteps almost covered the fire that followed. Three guards around the door fell to the ground, two droids and a V-1, who looked wildly about as his arms and legs stopped working. One of the soldiers gagged the guard quickly before the Vanguard stepped in. Raising her Entropy rifle she fired once into the nearby surveillance system and began walking into the base, keeping an ear out for any incoming personnel from the base.

-----

He had not expected it, he had never seen it coming. The small pistol that seemingly appeared in her hands, he thought that it was all over. The mission was complete. He realized too late that the weapon was of the non-lethal variety, [member="Lady Kay"] would probably have noticed the sudden change in expression as the realization overcame his delight. He wanted to move, but no one could outrun a shot at that range at that point. The two shots proved true and struck the armor. The padding did little to protect from the bolts effects and there was no escaping them now.

Rob felt powerless as the two stunbolts slammed into his chest. He knew that it had failed. He could not allow himself to be captured. He mentally screamed at his arms to move, but his body was disabled and the mechanical arms and legs did not respond. Falling to the ground he hit his face and the world became dark to him.