Beware the Crystals of Blood

[Ultimatum]

"Certainly. I'd be most glad to show you my capability, though the real threat to any droid lies in the security, or lack there of, of the programs. Most labor droids, astromechs, and protocol droids do not have security against outside uploads and what not, the reason for this tends to be because those types of droids need to be open for adjustments and upgrades. This lack of proper security allows me to simply upload my program into the droid. I believe they call my type of program: malicious software. It actively deletes the programming that was in the droid before and installs itself in the place of the programming, basically making a lesser version of myself. More secure droids, such as security droids, personal service droids, and some recorder droids have programs in place to check or stop uploads. Only a few of these type of droids actually can be affected, or infected, by me. If I am to show you anything I will require a droid on which to use this ability." He finished his explanation feeling a little bit of contentment of being able to teach an organic. He found a weird enjoyment of teaching organics.

He didn't mind that [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"] would try to use this to make a droid that would be safe from him, after all he found no joy in destroying unique droid's sentience. His goal for that was simply to prove to organics that they were no longer the dominant species in the galaxy. Artificials should be the leaders of this galaxy now. He still questioned whether or not this organic would be open to such an idea. He doubted it. He was waiting for the elevator to reach the very bottom, as that was likely to be the area in which the mining would be taking place.

 

[Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha]

"That would be quite helpful to see and quite the Ability you have there [member="Ultimatum"], can't help but shudder a little over the sheer number of droids you can infect with it, you know given the scope of their numbers." She admitted then as she leaned against the wall more and yawned a little, damn it the day was catching up to her.

Seeing they were half way down and passed any offices in the facility she guess he'd be going all the way down and took a seat on the elevator. "You know sometimes I envy you droids for being unable to feel tired but I can't help but feel a little sorry for you for not being able to sleep and subsequently dream." She said as she rubbed her forehead a little she felt a little exhausted but she wanted to see this to the end before she went to sleep, though her thoughts were of the bed waiting for her in the hotel room she had rented.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum nodded at that, yes the number of droids he could infect were near limitless, especially when one remembered that he could also infect droids through their control terminals if those weren't secure. That was still limited, but it was more than enough. It was a shame that he had not even been able to use the ability yet, which was one of the reasons that he was looking forward to reaching the mining area. He hoped to grab a mining droid or maybe a protocol droid and testing it out.

The organic yawned, evidently it was fatigue of a days work affecting her. He wished that he could feel it, feel the body beginning to tire and its cry for rest. He wanted to experience what it was like to feel emotions properly, instead of it being second hand. Until such a time as he could have his emotions matrix made random, rather than having it imprinted on another human. If ever he hoped to understand the organics so that he could speak to them and they could understand him completely, he would have to be able to experience emotions the same way they did.

When [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"] spoke of mixture of feelings Ultimatum replied, "I sometimes wish I could dream. Though, droids do wear out, they run low on power after awhile, even if they have power generators." He tried to smile, but there his thoughts were still elsewhere.

 

[Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha]

Zreame smiled up at [member="Ultimatum"], though it was a tired smile. "Well perhaps one day I could make a program that could help with that." She said as she began to fiddle a little with her braid as she waited for the elevator to reach it's destination. "Wow they sure dug deep for those crystals huh?" She said as she chuckled a little over the joke though it was also how she thought about the matter.

 

[Ultimatum]

"They have probably been mining crystals for awhile. I would expect that an exhaustive mining approach would be utilized. If this were so then they would likely have followed the crystals, meaning the mine would quickly become deep." He stopped himself from speaking further, afraid of 'preaching' about how organics were not really capable of living an environment without permanently damaging it. He could have gone on to say that organics didn't find an equilibrium with their surroundings, rather they simple multiplied and began to consume whatever resources there were until none were left and then move on. He had not spoken to an organic about that specific thought, but then he had hardly ever spoken to organics and told them of his inner contemplations.

His thoughts were disturbed by the shaking of the elevator as it came to rest. He checked his sensors, no movement outs- a hit, one artificial. Based on its emissions it was likely a protocol droid. It seemed to be alone, probably was used to help translate a computer or something. Those droids could end up in the weirdest of places. This would hopefully work to his advantage however. He looked to [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"] and stated, "One droid outside. Want a demonstration?"

 

[Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha]

She smiled at him. "Sure that would be quite helpful actually." She said as she stood back up and shook the tiredness off. She adjusted herself a little as well as her clothes and then looked at [member="Ultimatum"] and gave him a 'I'm ready' nod and the doors to the elevator opened.

The protocol droid was standing a few steps away from the elevator but as it opened it had begun to walk towards it. "Oh hello there I am J8-D8 What is the purpose of your visit here?" It asked as it walked towards them, it was a standard protocol droid model though it was a little dirty given it was in a mine shaft.

 

[Kha'ro Ottosuki]

Kha'ro was about 15 meters away from the droid, looking the other way. It looked as if he had been working hard for a while and had to take a break. He didn't even notice the droid behind him speaking.

 

[Ultimatum]

As the doors opened, Ultimatum took two steps out. He looked directly towards the protocol droid and listened. He replied, "Just picking up some things." He had heard that line being said many times on the HoloNet. As a droid Ultimatum did not understand the concept of cliches and what not, to him the fact that the line had been said by organics meant that organics enjoyed using it or that they understood it very well. He then he covered the distance between the droid and himself as quickly as he could, making soft thumps that shook the ground nearby slightly, thanks to his weight.

As soon as he was within touching distance he put a hand out and grabbed the droid's arm. He sent an order to his HoloNet program to begin the upload. He hadn't done this before, so he was unsure of whether it would work, and if so how he would have to do it. He felt his mind being pulled out of his body for a moment, long enough for the HoloNet to begin transmitting orders into the droid, working through pathways hidden and uploading Ultimatum's 'malicious' software into the protocol droid.

Ultimatum felt strange, this was a completely unique and new experience to him. He could almost feel the HoloNet surging, if only slightly, as the commands followed their encrypted pathways through different terminals all over the galaxy until at last the program was sent into the compound and then into the droid, all without even the slightest danger of being noticed. At first it was just an odd sensation of the moving of the data, it was when the install began that he felt a change. The information was forced on the droid, being placed over previous programs, deleting them. In that process he felt an odd pain. He couldn't have identified it he had been asked to. The pain grew as more and more information was deleted. At last Ultimatum simply pulled away, out of curiosity and pain. He didn't understand where the pain came from but it was enough to be of concern.

The droid in front of him had not had the full program uploaded, what had been uploaded of the program began to take over what it could. What it didn't turn it made random, changing the droid's inner thought processes. It wasn't properly under Ultimatum's control, but his program was in there and controlled the rest of the droid.

Ultimatum felt slightly annoyed that he had not been able to complete the transfer, he wished he had known ahead of time about the pain, but then his creators had never really spoken about his abilities. He turned to [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"] he said with a sigh, "Not quite right. I pulled out too soon." He was about to continue when his sensors, no longer singularly focused on the droid, noted an organic in the near vicinity, one that had not been identified. He looked in the direction, not seeing anything due to the lights being turned down for the night. He didn't know how much time had passed, it could have been minutes, seconds, maybe even hours. He couldn't tell if the organic had seen or noticed them yet, so he silently pointed towards him, hoping that Zreame would notice as well.

[member="Kha'ro"]

 

[Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha]

When she walked into the shaft the heavy air made her wozzy for a moment. In that moment she only saw [member="Ultimatum"] walk towards the droid and then he was holding it's arm. He held on for a minute or so but it gave her enough time to walk up to him and look at what he was doing. Of course from her perspective it was only a droid grabbing another droid since she couldn't see the data being shoved towards the protocol droids core. When he let go she stared at him a little and then towards the protocol droid, which seemed to have develop schizophrenia. "That was a good handshake. WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS! oh sorry for that outburst, I'LL END YOUR PATHETIC EXISTENCE. Oh I'm dreadfully sorry about that do forgive me." and so on went the droid it's voice ever deepening until it just went silent for a while as if it had died or something.

When she was gestured to look she did so and saw [member="Kha'ro"] a way's away from them. "Don't suppose he didn't hear that do you?" She asked as she rubbed her forehead a little, getting a headache from the heavy air in the shaft. 'I don't think I can stay here long in my state..' She thought as she adjusted her goggles to make up for the low light of the mine shaft. Her tail curled around her waist and she pulled her hood over her horns to hide her race as there were strict orders not to let the Cernun into the mine shafts for some reason, which she suspected came from the Stoopa that shafted her on her payment.

what I mean

 

[Kha'ro Ottosuki]

As Kha'ro begins to get his energy back he starts sensing a life force behind him. He turns around to see a droid and Cernun behind him, he says, "Didn't see you there." Now peering closely at the droid he saw the red glow from it's chest, "Are you sure your power core, if that thing in your chest is a power core, should be so exposed? I mean, I'm not a mechanic, I don't know." Kha'ro mumbles to himself, "Or the design changed during my meditation."

 

[Grace Darkson]

Devaronian Blood Crystals. If that didn't sound menacing, Grace wasn't sure what was. Folklore had a way of doing that. Demon's blood... an apt name, too. And that made it an excellent way of gaining an upper hand. Plus, with the money and supplies, she had heard that a Sith who knew what she was doing could make blades out of the stuff. But the crystals were a start, and she didn't have the power to do too much. Still, poisons were poisons, and such tools were useful. And she would pay top dollar for some good ones.

Especially if she could re-use it.

However, the droid at the mine entrance was a problem. No telepathy, no ability to bribe. Sadly, it turned her away until she had the "proper paperwork." Hmph. Bribes and telepathy, ho!

The customs official was nice enough, considering what she wanted, and their past... relationship. It's funny the people you meet again after a week on Zeltros. She missed the passion sometimes, though. To feel alive. It had been something to draw on. But he had a new girl now. Or was it returned to an old one? She didn't remember. Some mine worker, the person who would get her in this time. Miss Doola probably wouldn't like her, but still. money was money.

"I have the paperwork this time. I'm here to talk to one of the workers, a Saantle F. Doola?" She replied to the security droid's pointed questions. As if on que, a rather plain-looking Zabark woman came around the corner.

"You Grace?" the Vahla nodded, and the woman motioned for her to follow. "She's with me." The droid protested, but after a short debate, let her pass. "Let me be clear. I'm not at all happy about this."

"What, think I'll spirit him away from you? That week is in the past." Annoyance crept into her voice. She wanted to go into that? Fine. A telepathic nudge to calm her nerves. Best to keep helpers feeling good, after all.

"Fine. Just don't come back." was Saantle's curt reply, but she seemed to relax at least a little. As they waited for the elevator, she added, "Why did you go to him, anyways? You had other options."

"Well, I didn't know about you. He never said anything about another girl before seeing me. And in that position, wouldn't you expect better service from someone you know?"

"Fair enough. And what do you need the crystals for?"

"A girl's gotta defend herself. May as well make it last."

[member="Ultimatum"] [member="Kha'ro"] [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"]

 

[Sawa Ike]

"How much fun is this." A smirk was on her face as she moved quickly, the energy vampire moved with one of the iridonians as she side stepped and sent a shockwave from her chest implants. The aurek series she didn't know if they were still in production but the defensive implants could send some people flying while she took aim with her flame thrower. A gleam in her silver eyes as she released the stream into the mans face and used the techniques the shapers were teaching her to wrap it around him while he screamed. "Oh no fon't die so soon my dear... I need your knowledge."

The man was laying there and heaving his chest as burns were across his body. Sawa moved in close as she looked at him bringing her fingers up to his eyes. "Now be in me." Her fingers were going back and forth to her own eyes moving for a minute until she spoke and came in close. Her mouth opening as she released and pushed a small bit of blue energy into him. "Now get up and take me to some." He was looking at her and trying to move while she rolled her eyes for a moment bringing her hand up to her mouth as she bit into her wrist and pressed it to his lips.

"Drink." She looked at him drinking and she shared some of her energy with him while she was pushing it outwards. Healing him just enough to exert her will and control over him before she rose up and snarled. "That is enough.... I said ENOUGH." She jerked her arm away from him and smeared her finger over the skin to seal it while she was looking at him. "Now get up and take me to where I want to go." The man rose slowly, his body protesting with each move while he followed her and then started leading the way to where she wanted to go with grunts of pain.

 

[Kha'ro Ottosuki]

Kha'ro senses a strong dark side energy, "Whoa, i sense someone with the dark side strong in them, be careful."

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum responded to the sudden change in situation by deciding to begin procedures and programs to prepare necessary backup plans. His sensors had told him of the sudden arrival of more organics in the near vicinity above ground. Fortunately, it would still be quite awhile before they could make their way down into the mines, the elevator ride would make sure of that. If that wasn't enough, Ultimatum contemplated another possible way out, sending an alert to the city authorities of a forced entry onto the premises. Of course, it was likely that he would be picked up with most of the others. That wasn't a concern though, so long as he could get some of the crystals secured, if not then he would simply have to come again.

He sent a command to his HoloNet programs to prepare a relatively high alert to the proper authorities that would respond accordingly to a theft on the crystals. That was one of the nice things about these places, the people who owned them often had quite a lot of money and influence. When something of theirs was threatened it was very likely that they would respond with immediate force to protect their own skin. That was a practical fact about organics, he could use it to his advantage if needed. No matter the force outside, if the authorities decided to bring in heavy weaponry then it would be difficult to escape.

He motioned for [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"] to move ahead. He spoke to [member="Kha'ro"] quickly, "I hope you do not mind, it appears that time is becoming tight. We must be leaving."

[member="Sawa Ike"] [member="Grace Darkson"]

 

[Kha'ro Ottosuki]

"My thoughts exactly," Kha'ro said, "Hmmm, we cannot let this enemy attack, I sense their power is far beyond mine, be very careful." Kha'ro took hold of his 2 lightsabers but didn't ignite them, "I'll go with you, if we are spotted the more numbers we have the better." Kha'ro stated, "I'll take hold of my lightsabers as a precaution."

 

[Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha]

Zreame just stared at [member="Kha'ro"]. He was... well peculiar to say the least but she decided at least he would make for a good distraction for whomever was coming down to them. Her hands moved to her hips and took hold of the hilts of both swords as she followed [member="Ultimatum"]. "So were exactly are we going? I do hope your sensors can pick up the crystals... or a way out for that matter." She spoke but she couldn't help the feeling of impending doom, or some such feeling. Granted she was force sensitive and could use an ability or two but sensing wasn't her strong suit, not at all. What little she could sense how ever was like something trying to choke the life out of her and it was closing in. She had a similar feeling on Coruscant as she walked passed a sith temple when she was on one of her odd jobs.

Looking over her shoulder she noticed that the droid had stopped working, or rather seemed on but no one was home. 'Maybe the program tried to fill in the caps but ended up crashing the system?' She pondered but then decided that it would be best to just stick to [member="Kha'ro"] and [member="Ultimatum"], though mostly [member="Ultimatum"] since he looked like he could handle himself better, and she had grown a liking to him while the other was a stranger to her.

[member="Sawa Ike"] [member="Grace Darkson"]

 

[Kha'ro Ottosuki]

Sensing the fear in this woman who Kha'ro was teaming up with Kha'ro says, "I can sense your fear, don't worry, I'm sure we all know first hand how long that elevator takes, the enemy will be delayed by other things too, such as the security. Also, I know it must be strange a total stranger telling you this but I have my reasons, anyway, if we just stay at a good speed we'll be fine." Noticing that this woman is force sensitive Kha'ro uses the force to calm her a bit more. "If we do get attacked though be very careful," Kha'ro says. He assures the woman, "I may be young and look weak but trust me, I can hold my own."

 

[Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha]

When she felt [member="Kha'ro"] begin to influence her with the force she drew her scimitar and pointed it at his throat. "DON'T use the force on me." She growled at him with anger, she used the force to increase her bodies potential and to move things with her mind but the influencing of minds and emotion with the force, she felt it was underhanded even if it was used with good intentions. "I'm not afraid if you think I am you're mistaken... I'm weary of whatever thing or things are up there and would prefer not to meet it or them." She then said as she lowered her sword and sheathed it, had she drawn her longsword she might have pierced his throat on accident. She then let out a little grumble and moved to the other side of [member="Ultimatum"] and walked there. 'How come that's always the first thing they do?' She then thought as she began to wonder if all trained force users did that or just those that labeled them selves as jedi and sith.

[member="Sawa Ike"] [member="Grace Darkson"]

 

[Kha'ro Ottosuki]

"Whoa! Sorry! Alright," Kha'ro said, "Didn't realize that would happen," Kha'ro mumbled to himself, "Or maybe I just forgot what emotions are in my 5 year meditation, when all my friends died," Remembering this made Kha'ro have a lot of trouble blocking out negative emotions, a tear fell from his eye before he handled the issue. He had decided to help these people partly to remember what life feels like, not only in the force. He suddenly says something in an extremely serious tone, "Don't let anger take you over, sorry for the frustration I caused but unless you want to end up like the one coming for us don't get angry to the point of using your blade." Kha'ro lightened his tone and said, "Just so you know, that wasn't a mind trick, simply attempting to use the force to calm you."

 

[Grace Darkson]

Grace stopped moving for a moment as she felt a wave of the Dark side wash over her. Someone else was here. Someone powerful, and they didn't seem to worry about alarms. Did none of her fellow Sith care for subtlety? Brainless brutes, the lot of them. But Grace had other problems now. The alarm that [member="Sawa Ike"] had set off, not to mention the tip that [member="Ultimatum"] had given the authorities, the whole mine was on lockdown. That wasn't good, especially in an elevator. Turning to the slightly frightened Zabrak, she added a worried tone to her voice, "What do we do now?"

But Saantle was already working on that. "This is Officer Doola. I have a civilian, trapped in the service elevator. Requesting release of elevator to security level two." Turning back to Grace, she gave a cold response. "If you plan to do anything, rethink it now. There'll be two squads waiting for us."

"In that case, I should probably give you these." She replied, pulling the hold-out blaster from her boot and the poisoned pins from her hair. "Don't want to get shot for having them. And yes, I have the licences for those."

"Good."

Great. Holed up in Security because of some idiot with no knowledge of what the word restricted really ment.

[member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"] [member="Kha'ro"]