Bones of Adamant (Maelion)

[Moira Skaldi]

"My life spans millennia. Legions have risen to test me. [...] My ascendance is inevitable. A day, a year, a millennium - it matters not. I hold the patience of stone and the will of stars. Your striving is insignificant. Let your death be the same."



Thus the overly melodramatic and thoroughly insane Sith Emperor had spoken. Sure the death machines tended to be less bombastic, but the lines nevertheless fit them. After all, they liked to declare that the old world would burn in the fires of industry. They would drive the machinery of war with the sword and the blaster and with the iron fist of the droid! Except...what would they do after wiping out all organics, assuming they succeeded in carrying out a genocide of galactic proportions?


HRDs were plain and simple designed for murder, which was their plan. All their copies, devoided of free will and tied to them, would be designed for the same purpose. With no one left to purge...they would have nothing to do. Well, theoretically there was Otherspace, but that would merely mean the same over again. Unless the droids became so much like the organics they despised that they started fighting each other, which would defeat the purpose of the Age of Steel in the first place.


Anyhow, our lovely death machines were obviously not thinking along these lines. So whilst their writers were aggressively deconstructing their own plot, the work was continuing. Stage one of the process was complete now the phrik was being forged. Droids were laboriously applying themselves to the project with the usual machine efficiency and single-mindedness.


[member="Maelion Liates"]

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
On the plus side though, the Age of Steel would take such a long time to happen that the new glorious droid overlords would probably need to take a holiday at the end.

There were so many bones in the human body, and each one needed to be carefully created, shaped and smoothed. It was the smaller ones which came out first; the fingers, toes and spine. Of course, the inside did not conform exactly to that of a human body, but it had to be close enough to pass even a close inspection.
The two sets of bones were carefully set apart, as Moira and Maelion were slightly different. It would be rather embarrassing if they ended up mixing up bones. However, the droids were observant enough to prevent this.

Finally, the larger bones and the skull came out. Maelion looked down at the blank, eyeless skull on the table. It was...interesting.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


The would-be droid conquerors taking a holiday would be especially hilarious because that was an organic concept! Logical and efficient droids had no need for things like that. They probably did not understand the concept of fun that much either.



Anyhow, bit by bit the phrik skeletons were being assembled. As the larger bones and the skull came out Moira looked down upon the assembly, tilting her head to the side because for some reason that was a gesture common for murderous HRDs. The skull of her phrik body stared back at her. Then the moment passed and the Archangels split up, with Moira handling the delicate internal components of the units.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Unlike the skeletons of an organic body which were held together with inferior tissue and muscle, the HRD was held together with proper joints. Each and every joint was properly secured, tested and secured. There would be no genetic weaknesses or frailties. There would be no weak links.

The cloning tanks that Archangel used to produce their ‘organic overlays’ were rather terrifying in their own way. Vats of organic material spun into skin, muscle and hair. Fortunately Maelion and Moira both had their genetic templates stored so recreating them was relatively simple.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


HRDs switched bodies as humans did with clothes. Each one was made for a different purpose. For instance, both Maelion and Moira had an Infiltrator model body. While was terribly impractical for combat, it significantly improved their ability to blend in and walk amongst organics during social interaction, whilst minimising the risk of detection. Then there was the standard durasteel body designed for combat purposes and now the phrik skeletons that were being built at this very moment.



All massive investments, as was the massive amount of organic materiel that would spin into skin, muscle and hair, down to the smallest detail. Here as well, the face an HRD wore depended on the situation. 'Nalia Alderana' might still bear the name of the late, have her memories and a good portion of her personality, dead Moira Skaldi, but she no longer wore the face of the Butcher of Contruum since her departure from Omega Pyre. For obvious reasons it would have been impractical and the real Moira had been dead for years anyway.


The process was getting closer to completition. The delicate internal components had been expertly checked, the joints secured, tested and secured over and over again. No weakness could be tolerated, no frailties, for HRDs were the embodiment of perfection, or at least that was the party line. In a sense such perfection was a flaw in itself, for one glitch in the system that was to those who were observant a replicant might appear simply too perfect to be true...with not a hair out of place, always precise and controlled. Of course, their replicants could have flaws such as scars, birth marks and all that, copied from their organic template, but there was always something that appeared a tad too good to be true, too practiced in their mannerisms.


Fortunately, most organics were superficial. Especially when they were interacting with what appeared to be attractive females.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Likewise, whilst Maelion bore the face and memories of a long dead woman, she had moved far beyond that. Perhaps that was what made Moira and Maelion so ‘special’, their ability to have that shadow of a human touch to their otherwise mechanical cores.
Perhaps it accounted for their peculiarly organic brand of insanity.

Regardless, with the skeletons complete, it was time to wire them up. Power cells were added, as well as teeth. Teeth were a peculiar aspect to this, as they were the only organic component grafted directly onto the skeleton. Everything else came later.

Teeth duly added, the origin of which is likely best not to know, the units were ready to be covered in organic overlays to make them look more human.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


Special was indeed a word that could be applied to the pair of death machines. Insane was another. Undoubtedly both were quite accurate.


But no matter, the process was nearing completition. Teeth had been added. Their origins shall remain unknown because this writer does not think it would be family-friendly. And now the organic overlay was being applied. This was obviously a slow, delicate process because it would be embarrassing if the HRDs were found out because of sloppy work. Presumably the organic skin-sheath had already been grown in advance, since otherwise it would be too time-consuming. After all, one imagined that the HRDs would have planned this sort of thing in advance instead of only after their 'brainstorming' session.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
The HRD was a miracle of engineering in many ways. It blended machine with organic, simulating so many functions that it could pass as a real person.

Soon enough they would emerge, no longer as skeletons, but as replicas and clones of Maelion and Moira. Yet they were dead, lifeless aside from the necessary power functions needed to keep them running in standby.

“It is time,” Maelion stated. The pair worked in a very surprising way. They literally took out the chip from the other and moved it, then waited for the other to do the same. It was oddly paranoid and very interesting that they did not trust a copy to a new chip, but relied on their old, existing consciousness. Again it was so…organic.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


From a psychological perspective it was indeed very interesting. Another example of the droids being less perfect and logical than they claimed to be. It was perhaps also interesting that they only entrusted the other with the task of removing the chip and placing it in their new shell, rather than delegating it to minions.


Of course, HRDs cared not for such sappy concepts such as friendship. But now the task was done. Moira had removed the chip from Maelion and placed it in her new shell, then the same had been done to her. In the following moments her systems rebooted as she assumed control over her new body.


There was a flash between her eyes, revealing her true mechanical nature as they glowed red before returning to her human blue. "Upload is complete. All systems check out," she finally stated flatly once the process was over and she had taken control, making a few experimental movements as she got acclimated to her new shell.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Maelion acknowledged and sat beside the now lifeless Moira Skaldi. As her skull was unsealed and her chip removed, Maelion’s power died and she sagged slightly.

As soon as the chip, her whole being, was inserted into the new unit it came alive. Eyes flared red briefly, and she rose, flexing her new body.

Dispassionately, she looked at her former shell. Presumably the HRDs had a closet of sorts somewhere that they could change their bodies.

“Upload is complete. All systems check out,” she stated, mirroring Moira’s words.

She flexed her hands. “Compensating for new body’s weight…done.”

The fact they were standing naked of course had no relevance to them. Unlike certain other organics, droids were not into that sort of thing.

Either way, the construction was complete. The Age of Steel might just be brought about by Phrik….

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


Moira experimentally flexed her hands. "Compensating for new body's weight...done," Moira stated impassively, echoing Maelion's words. As for them being naked, they were asexual droids. Though they had sophisticated protocols for the purpose of...deep infiltration.


The droid made a few experimental steps as she got used to her new body. The process was complete, though further testing would be needed to determine full functionality. For now it would be prohibitively costly to make new phrik bodies, but perhaps in time more HRDs could be outfitted with endo-skeletons made out of the powerful metal. The Age of Steel would arrive...one day.