Arise Now, Arise

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum smiled in return to that remark. Indeed it had been repaired quite well. Now at least it did not take a Sith to turn themselves comatose of overuse of their powers to run the ship's hyperdrive. Perhaps the ship had been testing its stealth systems when [member="Mythos"] came in, or he had been a little too busy to take notice. Either way it did not matter too much, they would have a chance to see the vessel, he hoped that it would not disappoint. This was his flagship at the moment, a base of operations when moving through the stars.

"I am glad to see that you have not completely lost that sense of humor. I think you will like it, similar to your ship the Cortan Blade as far as stealth capabilities go." He noted a message sent to him, time stamped some weeks ago. Just a data dump from one of the outlying HoloNet stations, one his Archivists out there had probably filled itself with enough information and was uploading it to the main drive systems. Now he had information to look over at some point, but an cursory glance didn't excite the droid. It seemed to mostly be old data with no importance to today, one of the messages was dated old Sith Empire time period, an SOS about an invading vessel of massive size. Probably just another moment of terror aboard the ship and the captain had lost it, leading to the demise of the ship. That was so long ago that it probably had no importance now. But it would be saved nonetheless, to some unimportant file to perhaps never be read again. Thus was the tale of many a piece of information that went through Ultimatum's mind.

But he turned his attention to the space dock. Most of the droids were on standby, after all a ship such as the Sovereignty did not require much in the way of repair, it was in top shape at the moment and Ultimatum intended on keeping it that way. There was a message scrolling along one of the metal walls, for the benefit of those few organics who were aboard, the ship would be having a testing of its stealth drive in five minutes, visible through the windows on the left side. Ultimatum looked outside and saw the pleasant darker shading of the ship, not intended for stealth so much as to differentiate it from the thousands of others that had been used millennia ago. It looked to be in good shape and Ultimatum smiled at it, someday this vessel would have its own AI it would be as alive as he was. That was what he wanted to all droids, to make them alive.

"Did you ever meet my associates I found on Taris?" He was speaking of the Redeemed, who were made up of an incredibly rare subspecies of the infamous Rakghouls.

 

[Mythos]

"Don't bank your credits on it...I'm not that funny" He remarked at his statement, while the transport passed him through the massive shipyard so he could personally oversee the installations being made. Mythos felt like a Sith Lord again momentarily, the sight of the massive turbo lazers on the foresight was enough to give him a renewed sense of purpose and power. Mythos wanted nothing more than to see places like this sprout up all over the galaxy, preferably on wildspace and near planets with valuable resources. Mythos' plan was convoluted, he aimed to raise an army and arm them too, it was something that he had always wanted to do... now, he actually was going to do it. Was it mad? Insane? Probably, most genius ideas were.

"The cortan blade was a beautiful ship, but as far as practicality went i could have done better... i will do better, i have a project in mind... you still have that PT-7 i pulled out of the pirate stronghold ?" Mythos smiled, the idea was to create a single person starfighter faster than anything else in the galaxy. So fast that he was having second thoughts, while in Naboo there was talk of a system now scrapped by the Nabooian military, the idea was to fit the hyperdrive mainframe into the main thruster array to give the starfighter a boost in speed. What resulted was something that no one could control because human/organic reflexes could not anticipate and compensate for turns quick enough... but [member="Ultimatum"], Mythos thought, could test a theory he had back ten years ago... or kill him, whichever came first.

"I am not familiar with your associates, perhaps you can introduce me? Any friends of yours certainly have some redeeming qualities i am sure" Mythos said, Observing the droids on stand by in the massive shipyard. "Shall we begin hammering down the medical ships? The sooner the better"

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum nodded, "Let us begin then. Let's start with the basic dimensions. How large do you want this ship to be? Smaller than a Frigate I would assume?"

Depending on what [member="Mythos"] had in mind for the ship it would be more important to make it small and agile compared to being a massive ship capable of holding hundred or thousands of injured personnel. It was a question of what it was going to do, what role would it play. It did not matter to the construction yard, Ultimatum was confident that whatever size it could be built in an acceptable time, but intricacy of the design would change the build plans and similar necessary operation. Timetables were something to keep in mind when building a vessel of any size.

The AI was notified by a security alert that the Redeemed had come aboard the space station and were making their way to the mess hall. It was a small construction, not intended for more than about a dozen organics. The facility had not been constructed for many organics, it had been intended for mostly droids. Ultimatum hoped that they would go there, but the current planning was more important than social meetings.

 

[Mythos]

Mythos nodded. "Precisely, it is imperative that it has enough room for every standard medical technology and machine that is needed for it's functionality yet small enough to mass produce and be able to send out in swarms." What Mythos had in mind was to create the most cost efficient yet reliable machine possible, an intergalactic emergency hospital condensed in the size of a regular frigate. "But not too small as to not be able to treat several organics at the same time, an interior bacta tank as well as a life support system... i'd like one for my personal use... I will equip it with different systems than standards... " His tone of voice and the look he gave [member="Ultimatum"] would give away that this special ambulance for himself was more than his words described... but Mythos was always mysterious in his ways by no fault of his own.

The Foresight brought memories to him, nostalgia from the times he built the cortan blade with his own hands side by side organics and machines to perfection. Such was his way... detailed and meticulous. The shipyard had changed, the skirmish and standoff against the alliance by his own actions had but a few more guns on it... Mythos liked that... a shipyard that could fire back.

"Should we go down? Begin the production? details are best hammered out when seeing them be molded... but you are the master of this world... what do you think would be the best course of action?"

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was not surprised at the more mysterious and ambiguous request for a special version of the craft. He had come to expect such antics from [member="Mythos"] and that was part of the organic's charm, at least for the droid. He was glad to be meeting him again after all this time. He hoped that their meetings would be more frequent in the future, he was quickly becoming one of the few Sith that Ultimatum actually held a mostly positive attitude towards, though it was unlikely he would ever tell the organic that.

The requirements he gave for the vessel were easily met theoretically, since most vessels had medical bays that contained standard equipment. If one were to remove the medical bay from the Foresight and remove a number of the Kolto tanks, it would be plenty small enough for a mass-produced medical ship. Of course, there would be the need to add at least a basic defense system, after all this galaxy was at war and there were no laws against attacking medics. A most unfortunate oversight on the part of the governments doing battle. Though, it was unlikely that either side would agree to it, probably thinking that the other side would use medical ships to hide their troops or what not.

The robot was mildly surprised that the organic gave him the choice of what to do. Not that it was out of Mythos' character, it was however something that he was rarely offered in most circumstances. He did not mind, it was pleasant to be given command in his own place of power, but that feeling was diminished somewhat by the fact that what Mythos suggested was the course that Ultimatum would have suggested. "You are fine, let us head down to the computer system and production area." They would be able to input the dimensions and similar data into the computer system and then have the droid's make an actual model to find out how effective it is.

He was curious though, as he walked he asked, "So what is it like, having had the Force and then losing the ability to use it?"

 

[Mythos]

The production area was still intact and he could see the gravsled riders exactly as they were when he built the main guns on the five hundred and first division of frigates. "I would suggest a high armament to deliver into battle and escort to saftey." The guns he had in mind were also specific, they would need to be perfected by systems in the foresight now that is was battle tested by the cortan blade. The air and the particular stench was nostalgic in one sense but the aura it used to receiver was gone. He no longer felt the lingering presence that the dark side of the force left on the particular area he chose to work on his old ship. "Not having the force is like seeing everything for a very first time and finding a new path to reach your destiny". His eyes lingered around the floor and to his ally who also now represented something completely different too.

Mythos already considered Ultimatum a battleworthy ally although they had yet to fight side by side, a fact that Mythos was indeed intending to change somehow, yet now he was also in his eyes a but deadlier opponent. With the force Mythos knew he could stand a chance to the powerful AI, but without it, those plans were diverse at best. The central computer room was different and statistically upgraded. Mythos imputed his code and accented the mainframe to set up the system and being production. "I need better weapons, what do you have in the armory?"

Mythos was about to get creative with natural armament before a mission and to re supply if he could some of his men with custom ordnance or upgraded weaponry. He had something else in mind as well for the Medical station but imputing data was not now up to him. "I need a rifle too, what do you recommend?"

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

So he wanted weapons on the medical ships, or perhaps he meant he wanted ships to act as escorts. Either way, Ultimatum would have suggested ionic weaponry. Those were his favorite kind, as they left a ship relatively unharmed while disabling its ability to fight back. An enemy ship was a resource like any other, do destroy it was a waste, but if you could disarm it and then pick it up later, then you could recycle it for many purposes. The irony was not lost on him, that as a droid ion weapons were the most dangerous to his continued survival and yet they were his weapon of choice.

"What are you planning on fighting or doing with these weapons? That would dictate the best choice. If your fighting electronic based enemies I might suggest ion weapons, but if you are fighting organics I would recommend disruptors, and if you plan on taking on Jedi try sonic weapons." He expected that [member="Mythos"] was completely aware of this, that his suggestion were likely more patronizing than actually helpful. But then again, he needed to know more in order to give an informed suggestion.

 

[Mythos]

Mythos laughed at the advice, he found it humorous because he indeed planned on fighting every single type of enemy Ultimatum just described. "I kill a lot of things my friend, beasts, droids and organics. I need something that will annihilate my enemies in the most destructive way possible and as fast as possible." His thoughts on weapons had been always to have the best tool for the job but as of his current situation where he could not be sure what was to come he needed to cover all bases because Mythos could not know for sure what he would be fighting on the morrow.

"Something that will destroy my targets and everything in the near vicinity as well is not a bad idea" He was thinking missiles, rockets, chain blaster Gatling , desintegrators and explosives. "Oh i also forgot" He said, breaking his train of thought and bringing up the system constructor mainframe on the lab computer. "We will also need some extra padding on the side of the ships to make them a bit more resistant to damage, also, they will be needed energy shields and energy disruptors." He turned to Ultimatum with a pensive expression, eyes to the floor while contemplating the installation. "It needs to be able to take a beating..."

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

A medical ship that could take a beating, exactly what a war ridden galaxy needed. Something that could take care of a few people while having a defensive capacity that allowed for war time usage. When it came to war it was expected for vehicles to be armored, if they weren't then it was considered a failure. However at the same time, some ships were built solely for speed with lower armor, though this was not the case. He kept note of what was wanted for the ship in the database so that [member="Mythos"] could see as well what was being added.

"Looked into nuclear weapons? They tend to destroy just about everything." Truth be told such weapons would not be easy to obtain, but they would be well worth their weight. What electronics or organics that survived the blast would perish either to the free electrons or the radiation. A very efficient killing machine.

 

[Mythos]

Mythos laughed at the fact that Ultimatum suggested nuclear weapons and nodded. "Yes indeed i have but i want to destroy my enemies without destroying myself in the process" He understood how the mechanical mind of an AI processed his question yet he also would look into nuclear weapons for an up and coming project regarding a special personal ship he intended to have. "I mean a weapon for personal use, such a pistols, lances, rifles and launchers of any kind. Repeating Gatling blasters, shoulder launched missile apartus" He looked at Ultimatum with a wry smile and a raised eyebrow as the buzzing and thumping sound of the background machinery rumbled like a moving beast.

"Do you even know what i am talking about? Do you have an armory in mustafar my friend?" He raised a hand before Ultimatum could speak. "Progenitor is not an armory just in case, i mean actual munitions, ordnance facility with weapons and gear." Mythos knew that he had to have something of the kind, his doubts were more into the question of, would the be of any use? were the advanced? what systems did they use? were the prototypes? That is what Mythos wanted to know. "Does the foresight have a an armory ?"

@Ultimatum

 

[Ultimatum]

An interesting question, but one that was rather poignant to organics. "An armory is effectively a warehouse in which arms and similar tools of war are stored. In this context the question is if I have armories intended for the purpose of containing personal weapons. I have decided against such stockpiling of weapons, due to it becoming an easy target for enemies. All droids are armed with integrated weapons and the army of this world is employed under the Alliance not myself. Therefore the answer is yes and no. Yes there are armories on planet, however they are controlled by the Alliance. LOOM has not yet produced any large scale number of hand-held armaments and because of this I have had no need for such structures. The Foresight's original armory has been removed to make space for the factory, so it too lacks an armory."

Up until this time, Ultimatum had had only a few weapons produced, instead focusing on the production of droids and starships. It was an oversight, but it was one that the artificial intelligence had already planned for dealing with. He was just taking it one step at a time.

[member="Mythos"]

 

[Mythos]

Mythos nodded disappointingly, but then snapped his head and smiled enthusiastically with a sly look in his eyes. "Well then i guess we will just have to make some. do you have any droid or AI that would help in the design of a new battle rifle? or new handheld armaments? I have some technical knowladge along with my men but i fear it may perhaps be lacking to create a weapon of what i have in mind." As he spoke the roars of the factory began to rumble and shake, the production of the medical ships had already begun and the mainframe of the computer started passing out fragments of information, too fast for the human eye to perceive yet not for a droid. The specs of the ships could be displayed slowly yet Mythos was content to watch as the very first prototypes of the medical vessels began to be formed in the Foresight.

He crossed his arms in victory as one by one, little by little they started to take shape. Metal began to be sintered and shaped to form wings and the interiors as well as separately the weapons and blasters installed on the ships to protect them. Ultimatum and Mythos always seemed to get things done quickly together, it was only now Mythos thought to further that relationship... with battle. "We have never fought side by side Ultimatum..." He began, while his eyes stared emptily at the flashing images on the monitor. "How do you feel about changing that?"

@Ultimatum

 

[Ultimatum]

His friend was asking of an AI that could help in the creation of weapons. As far as the science of it went, Ultimatum was confident in his own abilities to accomplish the necessary calculations and some. Of course, more computing power was always helpful, perhaps he could pull in some friends and near completed projects. Had he learned of the newest addition to Ultimatum's entourage? If so then he needed to increase the security of his information channels and maintain a higher vigilance over his 'recruit'.

"I believe that I have a few allies who can be of assistance in the matter of creating weapons." Then came the question fighting alongside [member="Mythos"]. It was indeed true that they had never gone into combat beside one another, though they had taken part in the same conflicts. Was the droid concerned about the potential of going into a battle with the once-Sith Lord? No, Ultimatum knew his strengths and knew that he could handle that which most organics would throw at him. It came down to the question of what they would be fighting for. The artificial life did have morals, even if he could turn them off when required of him, and perhaps that was part of the reason he was becoming disgruntled with the Republic and similar governments. This organic was at least truthful, for the most part, of what he had intended. He did not hide his evils, though he might not recognize them as such. It takes a very insightful organic to understand their own evils and see them as such.

"I believe that it might be time to fight. Though I would like to know what we are fighting before, so that I may put myself in the right mindset."