An Organic In Hand Is Worth Two Droids In A Bush [Kaili]

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],

An invitation has been sent to the Andromeda company shortly after the Metal Lords made their public offer of patronage on their holonet storefront. A proverbial deal with the droid-devil, the instructions were simple, send your representative, take and unarmed ship, come to Denon. Nothing more, nothing less, of course if Kaili and Andromeda were somehow bit short on transports these days, an Abregado would have been sent to them to provide what was needed to meet their potential new patron, and hopefully to face the new chapter of their career.

If she was on Denon ever before, once she arrived, it would be a sight vastly different from what she could remembered. Well the planet itself would have been unchanged, still glimmering with the many industrial lights, still covered by the red and black veins of streets and buildings that covered the entire city-planet. The new addition, however, was the ring of ships encircling the planet as if laying siege to it, and the many stations being build in its orbit with hustle and bustle of smaller vessels and drones.

Kaili would have been directed to dock with one of these stations and come aboard, a strange construction that almost seemed to be cobbled together from skeletons and corpses of other stellar structures, repurposed many times over and added on top of each other, like jigsaw of starship wrecks and durasteel plating woven together to form the new presence over the planet. Other systems would have probably faced similar projects as Denon was not alone in still adjusting to the new power within that sector, planets like Nubia, Loromar, and Hakassi too had similar rings of spacecraft around, they too had new spacestations and bases build around them. The droids asked for relatively little of their subjects, they did not enslaved them, they did not force them to fight for them, some did not even overthrew their previous governments. What they did ask however was one of the main reasons why they decided to lay claim on territory. An armada of new, larger ships, and a lot of them.


Moving through the spacestation Kaili would have been directed towards one of the many conference rooms, passing many other droids on her way there, which currently HK claimed as his main office and base of operations within the system. The room would be fairly large, with a grand conference table in the middle with a holoprojector housed in its center, and a smaller duranium desk sitting in front of a large view screen or transapristeel, overlooking the glowing amber planet they were currently orbiting.

The droids Kaili passed would usually seem rather intelligent and independent, going about their day and the duties within the station, chattering with each other in quick bursts of data, although some did seem a bit off. Slightly loopy, dancing on the brink of insanity, only somewhat lucid, but then again such was usually the price when it came to droids who have not had a mind wipe in years if not centuries, quirks and data just kind of build up for them. There were few units who seemed much less intelligent, looking over their surroundings with dull cold stare, usually following other droids as their servants, or standing as silent guards within the station. They were drones, machines like droids, but with only rudimentary intelligence, more like animals than truly sentient beings. They were the answer droids had towards making large mechanical armies, yet not having the guilt over enslaving their own kind into combat legions.

And so Kaili would come face to face with her potential new patron, the droid stood up from behind his desk, looking at her in silence, letting her have the first words as he judged her from behind the impassive stare of two crimson photoreceptors like flaming embers, yet cold at the same time. His face was a smoothface plate with no nose, slots for lips and mouth, two fang-like spikes protruding down from it, and the holes for those electronic eyes. It was smooth and pale like bone, yet metallic, if Kaili could tell such things apart he would know it was Phrik. The rest of the droid's body seemed to have been covered in some sort of flesh-like black substance with thicker chitinous plates attached over certain regions, all of which was wrapped tightly in heavy black cloak. A Vong-shaped armor, rarely if ever seen on a droid.

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="HK-36"]

There was no doubt a small perk of her brow when she had first gotten the offer to come visit Denon. She’d heard of the Metal Lords but never had the time or reason to come visit. At least not until now. So how did one dress for a meeting with droids? Force know she had built more of them than she could count, but she had never actually considered what a droid would want her to wear. She wasn’t a very proper lady as far as such things were concerned, and perhaps in the end it would be for the better if that was the front she put on in an effort to not really hide anything. A casual business look. Leather jacket and tights, a nice shirt… That was what made it formal, right?

Kaili had no clue, but she sure hoped so.

Having arrived on the station she had let the force seep into all that she could. It was who she was, and the act of reading all droids in the vicinity was something she would struggle to keep herself from doing. She had done it since she was a child, and at this point it had simply become instinct or habit. She had to know her surroundings, to learn and see what everything around her was made out of and what made them tick. To understand what made a droid tick, to know the contents of a datapad without setting her eyes on it… People would frown if they knew exactly how much personal information the girl had managed to gather by mistake.

That was why she had the HoloPad on her wrist pick up a broadcast of constant trivia for her, even when she wasn’t actively using it. The wrist projector was an escape route, a cheap one, but one that she had found to be working for her nonetheless. It was something to drown out the unbearable silence that rung in her ears when she was stripped of electronic devices, and it was something to still her nerves when the silence lingered for too long.

This place was anything but silent, the buzz and oscillations of mechanical life surrounded her, flawed from a lack of memory wipe or not. They were a mechanical people around here, much like droids were in Kaili’s wettest of dreams. They were given a purpose, a name and the same modicum of respect that she would have given the droids of her own making.

Today she chose not to read others out of respect for them and what they did. Their memories were theirs, and Kaili would focus the entirety of her mind on the device on her wrist no matter how hard the urge to spread her mental tendrils as far and wide as she could was to resist.

Once she stepped into the room she gave the big droid in charge a quick look over. Vong armor with a cape. Out of all droids she had seen, he was the only one she couldn’t read. It was like he wasn’t even there, and at that her brow perked. Almost. She held it back as she bowed in a greeting to the man. A bow not too unlike that of a Jedi. It was the way she had been raised after all.

“Greetings, M’Lord.” She greeted him as she rose from her bow. “It is good to meet you.”

She felt perhaps a little bit underdressed for the occasion after all. Her armor was in the shop. Or rather, her ship back home.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],

Returned the gesture in a similar bow, much like Kaili the droid too had Jedi schooling, although for her sake he kept his lightsaber hidden within his desk at the moment, there wasn't a need to start a meeting off by brandishing weapons.

"You as well, Representative of Andromeda, I am the Iron Lord Protector Above Abregado And Denon, you may call me by my initial designation, HK-36."

The droid introduced himself before motioning to the char in front of his desk, wicker of all things and padded with crimson pillows for comfort.

"Please have a seat."

Saying that the droid lowered himself back down to his own seat behind the desk, with the field of stars and glowing surface of Denon behind him,

"We were impressed with your store when scouring the Holonet, few organics offer customized droids, too expensive to mass produce them you see, lowers the profits. As I mentioned in my message, we are seeking to offer patronage to a company producing civil and commercial goods."

As the droid spoke he pulled up information on Andromeda available off of holonet, one perks of being a machine was that he could Hyper-Google search with his mind.

"Every Metal Lord is required to have his own manufacturing plants and company you see, but also to supply his own forces, we do not currently have standardized army or navy, just feudal forces. As such our companies focus primarily on military development to bring up the quality of each Lord's forces before focusing on civilian goods, that leaves a void in our market we need someone to fill, as good as importing is, we would rather divert funds used in that towards developing worlds under our command."

HK explained, giving Kaili a brief look at the Lords' political situation,

"Of course we could have contacted a bigger company priding themselves on manufacturing of the useful, but that is not what we are about as a faction. Currently we have the smallest amount of territory among all the other major powers, but we make our prosperity off of alliances and deals, and with that we are growing. We favor the underdogs and those who are still growing, we want to offer Andromeda partnership to grow and prosper with us."

The droid could not tell whether Kaili was trying to read him with Mechu Deru or not, he could protect himself against such attacks with the Force-resistant biot, although certain parts could still be read, particularly his exposed head, but he could never sense such things. After all he was a droid, a strictly physical being with no active connection to the Force and its ripples.

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="HK-36"]

Representative of Andromeda. Now that was a name she certainly had never been granted before. Kaili smiled at it as she took her seat in the seat before the Iron Lord Protector Above Abergado And Denon’s desk. Or rather, HK-36 for short. He gave her praise for her storefront and her initiative to provide droids made on order, fully customized and designed according to the customers needs. Something about it being too expensive, which really didn’t mean much to Kaili at all. Andromeda was if anything a means for her to practice her hobby and get paid for it, that was by most means the extent of its existence. It wasn’t until the amount of orders grew too big to handle that she brought in others and it had all just spiraled from there. In short, Andromeda had never been about profit as much as the love of a craft and Kaili planned to keep it that way.

And now she was being potentially rewarded for it in the way of a patronage. A hand had been offered and she wouldn’t turn it down, and the fact that he knew from the start that she had no interest in developing weapons was a big part of that. She was expected to deliver civilian goods, something she had done once before on a planet of her own. While that planet was far beyond the reaches of the Metal Lords, the principle would be the same. Of course, Kaili wouldn’t be alone in this offer and she wouldn’t expect anything else, but to help bring a steady flow of domestic products was something she could do.

The man brought up that he could have contacted someone else, but Kaili wrote it off as an attempt to improve his position in the negotiations at first, and she wouldn’t feel entirely wrong about it. It was to be expected in the end, it was how business worked she had come to understand.

As for her read on the man before her, she wouldn’t have used the force for this. She’d play it fair and square and let her gut steer this conversation, and right now that meant she had a good feeling.

“I am humbled by your offer, HK-36.” Kaili once more bowed her head to the droid but this time in appreciation. “While I can’t say many of my products have been as successful as the Hermes HoloPad, I can still assure you that the products I’d deliver would only be delivered once they have met met a series of very strict criteria on what it can do and what is expected of it.”

“But, for the sake of curiosity I have to ask…” Well, it might not have been her place to actually ask, but part of her felt compelled to. “Have you approached anyone else?”

“I would like to have competitors in this, it helps further the sciences behind electronics and similar devices forward and in the end that’s all I really want with any of this.” Kaili leaned back in her chair. “That said though, I am certainly open for the patronage. I think there is much for both of us to gain from it.”

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],

At Kaili's question about whether the machine approached anyone else about the offer the droid gave out a mechanical scoff,

"There is no one else I would rather approach. Who do I have to work it, the arrogant jackasses at Silk Holdings? The tyrants at Techno Union or Bactoid forging armies of my brethren as their slaves every day?"

The droid dismissed the choices with a wave of his hand,

"You are my first choice because I would rather not contact anyone else with this offer. But do not worry about your competition, they will be plenty."

HK leaned back in his chair,

"Once my fellow Metal Lords will see that I have made a deal with organic manufacturer to bring their goods into our territory they will not let the market go without their presence in it. They will increase their budget and efforts in civilian manufacturing to compete with you. You will have your competition, our people will have domestic products to choose from, my brethren will have their incentive to take focus off of constant preparation for war and think about the people of our space for once."

The droid held out three finger, one for every point he made,

"Everybody wins."

The machine declared, amazed at his own cunning and business savy in this scenario,

"Along with our patronage I would like to propose that a station be built for you within Metal Lord space to serve as your headquarters and holdings along with an official title to claim it. With that, as other Metal Lords will be concerned, you will be seen as part of my court within our territory, an agent and extension of my dominion. It will give you some political presence, but more importantly protection from other Droid Lords who might take interest in your work and station and access to my resources in this territory, as dealing with you would mean dealing with me as well. I will not ask you for anything more within that partnership than I already did, which is mostly just continuing the work you have already committed but within our space."

HK offered, the government and political scene within Metal Lord space was a strange one, a bit overcomplicated, so there were some interesting hoops to jump through for people willing to deal with it.

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="HK-36"]

There was no shortage of blinks on Kaili’s end. Perhaps she shuffled a bit at the mention of arrogant jackasses and Silk Holdings considering her best friends was one of its major stakeholders, but beyond that she just couldn’t find the words. They wanted Kaili, but not so much as a means of production but rather as a means to ignite a flame that would shift others’ attention towards her branch and business. She was a device for intrigue and manipulation. She wanted to feel offended, but… An even greater part of her — to her own surprise — actually found it admirable. Now, had she been intended to be a card that would spark war she would have turned down the patronage in a heartbeat, but when used as a means to shift attention away from war she couldn’t help but consider it.

And then, at the very end of the second sales pitch, there was the promise of a space station. A means of production that transcended the factory she had at the moment that wasn’t her own. A hand reached to cover her mouth as her eyes stared themselves blind on the droid’s vong armor. Was this an offer that was too good to be true? What was the catch? Did she want to know? How big was the political presence that was expected of her, and why would she need protection from the other lords?

Her hand fell in her lap, but the eyes remained staring in continued shock.

“Wow.” She whispered. “A-Are- are you-... Uh. Hmm, you are-....”

“Y- You…” Her lips closed and puffed up as she shook her head, uncertain what to even say or do or ask. “You are talking a sort of vassalage, right?” Kaili exhaled. “I work for you, hold territory under you, work for you, and in turn you protect my interests in Droid Lord territory.”

Her elbow found her armrest, her hand found her forehead as it drifted through the locks of her hair to direct her blind stare at the floor before it dragged itself across her face to snap her out of it.

“I’ve always wanted a space station.” Kaili swallowed and looked at the Droid Lord. “What kind of agent would I be? Would I have to swear an oath of fealty, or a… I- I- I- I-...” She exhaled again in panic. “I don’t- I don’t- I-I- I don’t know. What would be expected me? Would I need to build an army?”

“... I’ve never been one to clamor or reach for the spotlight, Lord HK-36.” Kaili finally mustered up the nerves to speak plain. “I have always been a wallflower, and I like being a wallflower.”

“If I was to work under you, I want to create a decoy to shift attention away from myself.” She swallowed. “An HRD, maybe. A fully developed, mind of its own individual who could act as an extension of myself.”

Her head shook. “I wouldn’t be able to handle having that many eyes on my back. I’ve already experienced it once before and I almost tore myself apart.”

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],

"Alright, geez, breath."

The droid tried to calm Kaili down a bit from all the stammering,

"If you pass out there is literally no one on this station who could give you mouth to mouth."

Although they should have some first aid kits with oxygen masks, somewhere on there underneath mountains of droid emergency repair kits.

"Vassalage and fealty are very strong words for what I am asking, but yes they are accurate and it is what I am asking. Mind you this is only a position within our internal politics, you will get a fancy title, something like Mistress of Crafts, which would denote your role within our space as a craftswoman and trader, but when dealing with other faction or powers you will have no privileges or duties."

The droid explained,

"What are the duties of a vassal really depends on each Metal Lord, I am rather easy going, so outside of manufacturing your goods within our space and consulting with you on future projects if you wish, I will not make you do anything else. You will be subjected to our Lord's Code, just as I am, which does require you to maintain a production space, which will be your station, and enough forces to protect them from outside threats."

He pointed out next before leaning in against his desk towards her,

"But I think we both know that armies are not the only thing that provides security. I can provide you with two phalanxes of our infantry drones to garrison the station but I think you would do better with other means, for example slicing and electronic warfare. We have many armies but few Lords are specialized in those techniques, and it would get you around building an army or really worrying about military."

The droid would open up one of the compartments within his desk, shuffling through it then,

"I made it sound worse than it will be however, many of us are rather fickle and distracted easily, those who would remain to compete with you over the long course of time, they will never outright attack you as the code prevents them from doing so, and I doubt they will dip into aggressive espionage. Whatever competition you faced on the Galactic market already, it will be similar here. Unless someone specifically asks or takes interest in you, they will not have to even know that you are part of my court."

HK would then bring up a datapad from his desk and put it in front of her,

"I like where your mindset is though, getting an HRD here is pretty much like buying a new shirt. You want it to look just like you or spice it up a bit? Because we have some interesting simulation projections."

The droid tapped the datapad,

"We could get a version of you but as a really buxom Zeltron woman, or hey, this is not exactly an HRD, but here is what you would look like as an HK unit."

HK turned the datapad around, on it would be just an image of a generic HK unit, their chassis the color of Kaili's skin, and then a wig in the style of Kaili's hair pops up on the droid's head.

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="HK-36"]

Well, Kaili wasn’t wrong as far she was concerned then. The title would be mainly internal and not all that powerful, but it was still a title and land. She would get a station and she would be expected to keep it safe by her own means, at least from foreign invaders. The Lord had a plan in place though and Kaili would nod her head at what he was saying. She wasn’t keen on the idea of creating and equipping an army of her own, and the fact that she didn’t have to was just about enough to seal the deal. She would just be in another market that was much alike the one she was in right now, and she could definitely handle the one that she was in right now.

[SIZE=11pt]And he was also open to the idea of an HRD replacement to act as Kaili’s face outwards. This was just overall shaping up to be all kinds of okay with her. He suggested a ‘buxom Zeltron woman’ and Kaili couldn’t help but look at her own rather ‘less prominent’ chest. Eyes rose with a perk of her brow. Her lips spread in a grin at the sight of the HK-unit with a wig that looked like the mop of hair she was sporting. It was amusing, and she would get a laugh out of it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The last of her nerves had stilled by the time she spoke up again not long after.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“While I’m sure the idea of a Zeltron woman would be appealing to most, and while I would also make a very cute HK-unit, I believe I’d like to keep the idea of an HRD that is close enough to me in appearance, yet not really.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Kaili’s hand waved over the datapad in a slow sweep to change the parameters of the information shown. Kaili had a very specific image in mind. An HRD agent had been on her mind for a long time now, as a way to let herself be out of the spotlight while continuing to do what she was already doing for a living. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Hell, she was practically in the works of turning Andromeda ‘Electronics’ into the Andromeda Collective as it was. A collection of creators and workshops who all worked under Kaili’s banner to make whatever their hearts desired. That was what had powered Kaili and she would be honored to grant the same to others. Privileged as she was.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“I like to call her Isabel, or Isa for short.” Kaili nodded at HK. “I’ve had this in mind for a while now. Just never felt like the time was right.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“So you would be okay with this? An HRD in exchange for my working for you?” Her shoulders rose in a half-shrug. “I mean, it’s a lot. A space station with factories and an HRD. I don’t want to take too much.”[/SIZE]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],

"Yes, a very cute HK unit."

The droid agreed with a mutter, watching the picture silently for few seconds,

"Mmmmmr~"

Before looking up to Kaili, he was going to save the image for later duties,

"Oh, it is fine, we are literally churning our spacestation with factories on them like it is no one's business and ARGH already produces HRD units with a very well developed program. Getting a body like the one you want is not a problem, the trick will be getting a mind to run it. I could just let you design the programming for the droid, or I could find a volunteer from one of the droids or Lords to copy their mind and synthesize it from that, Isa would have her own memories then, but also experiences and skills no fresh programming could match. There is also an experimental cognitive digitalization method, we could form her programming based on your mind."

HK leaned back, pointing to Kaili's head,

"There is always a chance of something going wrong with that however, some subjects tend to go vegetative and their consciousness transferred into the HRD body."

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="HK-36"]

Was… He purring over the image of Kaili as an HK-unit? Kaili blinked for a sec before an awkward smile spread on her lips as she shuffled in her seat again. Finding comfort she leaned back once more, but then he mentioned programming the HRD and Kaili felt herself slide back into a state that left her quite unsure what to say. On one hand she could transfer her own memories into a droid, but the risk of that was to enter a vegetative state and live as an HRD. As tempting as that was, Kaili quite liked her own body and so did her girlfriend. There was no need to take risks that threatened to impose greater harm than it did good no matter how big or small that risk was.

A small chuckle parted Kaili’s lips into a grin. “While it would be a great leap for technology… I quite enjoy being me, Lord HK-36.” Kaili nodded her head at the idea of her writing the droid’s programming. “I would want to write that code myself to ensure that I have full control over what does what and how. What would worry me is the chance of a cognitive dissonance when the droid inevitably start asking questions about who she is and finds out she is a droid with the memories of someone else.”

“I guess what I am saying is that I want her to be aware of that from the start. I’d raise her like an apprentice, let her make her own mind on certain topics and try to make her change her mind on matters we differ on.” Whether by the HRD’s own volition or with the force. Mechu Deru and all. “Isabel would be aware of her own state of existence while not being quite a mirror of myself, but coming pretty close.”

“In the end I will be using her for my own ends, and that’s something she needs to be okay with.” Kaili frowned. “Ethically dubious and outrageous, but a necessity for my own ends to be met.”

“I hope we’re okay with that.”

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],

"Yeah that is fine, it is your conscience after all."

HK waved Kaili's ethical concerns off,

"We do it all the time, my honor guards are just copies of me made to protect me and replace me temporarily should my main body be destroyed. Although perhaps it is easier for droids since I can maintain a constant remote communication with them, we are not as separate as an organic and droid would be. Usually when a copy is made it already knows it is a copy because we include all memories leading up to the point of it being made, including when the original body decided to make a copy and made that copy, we refer to those as ancestral memory and the moment the copy is activated as point of divergence where it can being making its own memories and gaining its own experience."

The droid explained,

"It worked for us so far, we had a planet build around it at one point."

HK was of course referring to Mechanus, a mythical hidden kingdom of droids which recently some organics uncovered, whether accidentally or not, causing the droids residing there to abandon the planet by jettisoning their structures and networks from below its crust, tearing it apart in the process before hyperjumping away. And so the Metal Lords came to be.

"So, will you be swearing the fealty to me or your HRD counterpart?"

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="HK-36"]

Well now, that was the question, wasn’t it? Would Kaili swear a direct oath or an indirect one? On one hand she would be swearing her loyalty either to a man or the woman under him which would put Kaili herself in a weird spot in which she was loyal to her own creation. Yet, said creation was an imprint of Kaili herself and the morals and ethics that she imprinted upon it. The choice would ultimately be to what degree Kaili wanted to bind herself to a nation, and as far as that went she had always been hesitant. On one hand it felt more straight-up and honest to pledge herself to the droid directly, but to pledge her allegiance to Isabel opened up a seat to simply grant Isabel the same kind of authority that Kaili herself held over Andromeda and thus even the ground on which the two entities — one being Kaili and the other Isabel — negotiated amongst the Metal Lords.

Kaili gave it some thought before finally looking back at HK.

“I will pledge Andromeda to Isabel, and Isabel will be pledged to you while me and the rest of the board will stand behind her as advisors and envoys of ‘her’ will. It leaves me with room to focus on the part where I create consumer goods for you and your lords while still allowing me a small presence in the ‘politics’ of your realm.”

Her shoulders rolled in a shrug.

“Isabel will be granted the reins of all operations that happen within Metal Lord space while I will be back at Andromeda itself to hear what she has to say and ensure that everything she is doing happens according to our ideals and visions. That way I am out of the bigger spotlight, get to work on the things I love, and you get a direct connection straight to me without it actually being, well you know… Me.”

The girl scratched the back of her neck.

“In the end, anything that requires a board meeting will be decided upon in a board meeting and then relayed back to you, but considering how much I loathe said meetings the likelihood of this happening or being an issue is pretty slim, so I’d say we’re fine. Just don’t expect her to start churning out war droids or weapons for you or I’ll have her dismantled faster than you can count to two.”

Which was pretty fast with droids.

“I know we’ve already covered the topic of war-stuff, but I really don’t do those things, and I hope that’s alright with you?”

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],


"Mechanical doppelgangers and just a bit over complicated systems instead of simply facing the situation with honest and openness. You know you really do have a cold black heart of a Metal Lord."

HK quipped in response to Kaili's plan,

"If you will ever get bored of your organic body in elderly age you could consider paying the iron price and just changing yourself into a droid, you would fit with us right in."

The droid commented before adding,

"But yes that sounds perfectly fine, if I was looking for another military manufacturer I would have just told you about it instead of trying to trick you into it, not to mention my opinions on the quality of organic-made weapons and war droids as opposed to their droid-designed and forged counterparts."

HK agreed with Kaili's requirement to stay out of military business,

"With all that covered I believe we might have a deal here. Once Isa is made and ready, send her to me again and we will conduct the short ceremony of swearing fealty. It does not have to be public, we can just do it in my office, but if any Metal Lord questions the authenticity of Isa's oath, we want to have a recording of the ceremony being conducted, at least from my perspective."

The droid explained to Kaili.

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="HK-36"]

Well, it was hard not to frown at the mention of having a black heart. Kaili didn’t like to think she was a cold person, but she also knew that the approach she had to some would imply little but. She never liked to assert herself as someone who was above others, she often considered herself pretty much the opposite, but with time perhaps an ego or understanding of how the world worked had grown on her. It was about picking your battles and how you react to them. Kaili was in the end hesitant to tie herself to cause and she always had been. To bring in a proxy was a preferred method of dealing with all of this because that meant Kaili herself wouldn’t be under any real scrutiny as much as her company. It was less weight on a pair of shoulders that already had enough of them to last a while.

As for elderly age, well, that was a good century or two away. If the offer still stood by then, perhaps Kaili would, but for now the girl was quite comfortable in her own body. And then there was the fact that droid weapons were better in quality compared to organic-made ones. In all honesty Kaili would wince at the idea of droids arming themselves, but she held it back and watered the worry down to necessity. A sovereign power needed weapons, and if your nation was run by droids it was a line that had to be trespassed and infringed upon.

Kaili would nod her head and bid her farewell after that. Preparations were made on her end for receiving Isabel, and once the raven-haired girl was under Kaili’s wing, and once she knew her role in the greater picture, she would be brought for her oath of fealty to the droid lord.

“Lord-Protector.” The black-haired HRD would bow her head at him before Kaili did the same behind her back. A fitting image from the Lord’s view no doubt. “I know why I am here, and so does Kaili.”

The droid looked back at the blonde and then HK-36.

“I am ready to swear my fealty to you.”

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],

HK was sitting in his chair behind the desk when Kaili and her HRD returned, occupying himself by spinning a fidget spinner on one of the six sharp Phrik fingers, sitting back with his feet on the desk. When the two entered he turned to them and straightened up, pulling his legs to the ground as he tossed the spinner into a nearby trash bin,

"Those things are so stupid."

He muttered as he stood up, circling around the desk to step in front of them,

"Grand, very well, I will accept your offer of fealty."

Moving closer to the HRD he motioned down to the ground,

"Please, kneel down, we need to conduct a short ceremony as proof should other Lords call your fealty into question."

The good thing about droids was that they didn't had to conduct such things with other witnesses, recording it was just as good because if any of them tried to falsify footage, their colleagues would probably notice it fairly quickly.

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="HK-36"]

Time passed before reality kicked back to it again. A month one would almost say until a memory hiccup in the droid’s processors began to recover what it had missed. Kaili stared in awkward silence at the droid as it remained stationary, swearing up and down that it usually didn’t do this. Perhaps it was nerves, or maybe something had happened. Regardless, Isabel would eventually flicker back to life with a great big smile on her lips as she approached her liege to-be.

“I am ready, my lord.” She said and knelt down before him. “To swear my fealty to you.”

Of course, Kaili shrunk out of the view of cameras. She had no intention of being caught by them, for the sake of Isabel’s reputation as an individual. Of course, nothing said independent like having your creator be standing behind you in the footage where you swear yourself to a cause like a mother ensuring their child do their duties. Except, you know, just about everything about it would give that impression.

With Isabel kneeling and Kaili out of the pictures, the ceremony was free to continue…

After what, once again, was almost a month of waiting.

Oh dear.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],

For a while HK would just stand there silently, waiting for Isabella to reply more than a little awkwardly, glancing between her and Kaili from time to time. He was about to say something then Isabella finally replied, causing the droid to flinch slightly before nodding to her with approval,

"That was weird. Alright let us begin."

And with Kaili gone from the room HK went to stand in front of Isabella, perhaps it was better that Kaili was gone from the room since there would be no evidence of her being connected to Isabella so closely, on the other hand she would probably end up kicking her self for leaving, because next the droid extended his hand out towards his desk, which suddenly begun to tremble and shake, one of its compartments flew open, tugged by some invisible hand as he made a gesture up and from within in milliseconds a lightsaber hilt was catapulted out, in a parabolic arc, landing right in the machine's open palm.

To a layman it would seem as the machine just used Force-borne telekinesis, and it was true that one of HK's secrets was that he was capable of manipulating objects like that from distance, however it was not the Force he was tapping into to make it possible. With the lightsaber's hilt angled downward he pushed on the button to activate the energy blade before Isabel could react and with the signature sound a lightsaber blade would erect itself. Light would erupt from the droid's hand, his lightsaber being pure white, almost spewing forth rays of sunlight as he lowered the blade down to touch Isabel's shoulder. While usually such would be painful and even brief touch could melt through flesh and most metals alike, the saber's touch would not harm Isa, instead she would find out that it was set into training mode, being more of a club than sword equivalent. Kaili probably wasn't too far away from the doorway, though, to hear the sound of a lightsaber being activated and then a sudden and overwhelming sense of hope and serenity pumping out from behind the doorway, a strong aura of the Lightside, one of the properties of the droid's favored weapon, utilizing an imbued Solari crystal.

"I hereby accept your offer of fealty and bind us in this contract."

He begun with the saber barely touching Isa's shoulder, with its hum right next to her ear,

"Though I may lead and you will follow, we will remain as equals."

HK continued as he flicked the lightsaber, swishing it over Isa's head with a zoom before tapping her on her other shoulder,

"Your enemies are now my enemies, and my allies are now your allies."

Now the saber swished once more and it moved to the other shoulder, tapping Isa there. The saber would still emit out heat, but not to the point of searing flesh and metal apart, it was more like hot iron being pressed through layers of thick cloth.

"Remember your oaths and I will remember my promises."

And finally HK swished the saber once more over Isa's head and tapped it once more. At this point he deactivated his saber and it would seem that the ceremony came to the end, but before Isa could say something or stand up the machine would raise his hand and lower it down quickly, giving Isa a little backhand slap, it wasn't anything too hard since it was part of the ceremony, but if it was Kaili in her place, it would probably sting her pretty hard, since it was still a metal hand delivering the slap after all.

"Sealed by pain, you may now stand, and face your path with the weight of oaths you have made."

And with that HK would clip his lightsaber back on his belt and motioned for Isa to finally stand up with the ceremony fully concluded.

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="HK-36"]

It would have been quite something to see, no doubt. Kaili remained by the outskirts of the room as Isa remained kneeling to the ground to fulfill her oath of fealty to the Metal Lords and HK in particular. The raven-haired droid remained kneeling until it was time to stand, and only then would her programming allow her to do so. Her mouth opened to say her thanks but was quickly silenced by the metallic clang of a metal hand reaching out to slap her across her cheek. The servos in her head would begin to work overtime to stop her from falling over. A hand reached up to pat at the zone of impact as if to check for damage.

Well, at least there was none. The black-haired woman remained standing as Kaili entered the room again once the cameras had gone away, only catching the very end of the ceremony and the slap that had come with it.

“Uh, right. That must have hurt.” Kaili said as she stepped up to the two droids.

“Not really, no.” Isa shrugged at her. “Droids do not feel pain like organics do.”

“Uh huh. Okay.” Kaili nodded. “So was that it?”

“Yep.” Isa responded before HK had the chance. Kaili did not look amused.

“I uh, I was asking HK, Isa. But thank you.” The girl chuckled and scratched the back of her neck.

“... Is it done? Can she get to her duties now?”

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaili Talith"],

The droid nodded,

"Oh yes, that was all, usually we go into a group hug and trust fall exercises, which as a side note are especially popular among droidekas, but we can skip all of that."

That was all probably a joke, either way HK moved to take his seat behind his desk before looking back to Kaili,

"There are somethings I would like to speak with you about before you will leave. I promised you a station, or a planet, so we should set up some preliminary designs as soon as we can, I was thinking something akin to the Bazaar Over Denon we will be finishing soon but perhaps smaller to keep a lower profile and more industrial, I am not sure how much manufacturing you would like to do on it or just keep it as an office."

The droid offered as he put on his desk a holoprojector with the blueprints of the Bazaar,

"I would suggest expanding your merchant fleet, for this purpose I can offer you, free of charge, one of the Commerce Hulks we will be finishing soon, it is a giant cargo hauler like the likes of Lucrehulks. Should you need some escort for it, we can lend you Abregado War Galleys."

With that the machine would put another holoprojector on the table, with the designs of the Commerce Hulks, still continuing,

"And we have some first assignments for your company. Like I said we have the Space Hulks, but other than that we do not have many commercial ships, if you would like to design one or two civilian vessels for the use of other companies it would be a welcomed addition. There is also another who agreed to work with us recently, [member="Rosa Gunn"], a recent owner of an Abregado humanitarian agricultural and foodstuff manufacturing company. I would suggest you get in touch with her when you have time, her primary concern if bringing aid to refugees, she might need some custom tech made to do so."

The droid explained before putting yet another, third holoprojector on the table, on it would be contact details for Rosa as well others who would join the Metal Lord commercial complex, like [member="Ra'a'mah"] and another Metal Lord who might be looking for partners, [member="Queen Antalas"]. That was presumably all the droid had on his to-do list for Kaili and Isa as he finally stopped talking.