Enyo Typhos
Control
Name: Callisto Scarlett
Real Name: Callisto Masena
Force Rank: Not Applicable
Force Alignment: Not Applicable
Species: Next Generation Human Replica Droid created by the MKII Processing Machine.
Race: Human
Age: Not Applicable – Appears in her mid-twenties
Height: 1.8 m
Weight: 100 kg
Eye Colour: Green
Hair Colour: Red because redheads reign!
Skin Pigmentation: Pale
Force Sensitive: Not applicable. A machine, even one in possession of the soul of an organic, is incapable of using ‘magic’ and ‘Force powers’. Unless it’s a shard obviously, but this is not the case here.
Affiliation: Archangel Research and Design. Callisto, once human, was turned into an HRD through the processing device of the machine cult that is the secret power behind Archangel. Her faction allegiance is to whichever group Archangel supports. The firm is directed by Moira Skaldi and [member="Maelion Liates"].
Planet of Birth: Contruum. Contruum is best planet! Presumably not for those who are unlucky enough to be born in the failed state and forced to live in it.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
+/- Next Generation HRD:
Strengths:
Incredibly strong: Their capability is usually upwards of double a comparable human. For a very short period they can lift triple their weight. As they also feel no pain they can use their bodies as weapons or to smash through barriers. Combined with their enhanced targeting capabilities, it also makes going Guns Akimbo a lot easier, especially when it comes to actually hitting something.
Extremely Resilient: An HRD can take several blaster bolts to the head or chest before the unit fails. Their armour and metal body give them the equivalent of class 5-6 armour over their whole body. Limbs can be severed and severe damage can be done, but it will press on regardless as they feel neither fear nor pain.
Skilled Infiltrator: HRDs are designed to look, act and seem human. They can blend into social situations, using their abilities to get close to the target in order to complete their mission. Moreover, as a result of research done during the course of rediscovering the Onadax method and copying the design of Guri, an HRD from the Galactic Civil War, Next Generation units have the ability to eat to better fool organics. An ability the aforementioned Guri possessed.
Relentless: HRDs are assassins and combat droids of a highly advanced level. They are designed to know neither fear nor any other sort of emotion, except when they mimic them. They are implacable and ruthless, unconstrained by feelings such as mercy and compassion, meaning this unit will stop at nothing to accomplish her objective. Once given a mission she will press on until it has either been fulfilled, she has been terminated or given other orders.
Organic Essence: She is one of the units filled with her old organic essence, which was ripped out of her human body and enteched into her through the new processing process, which is based on the Onadax method. This makes her a more effective infiltrator, to the point of fooling most force-users. It is to be assumed that only those highly proficient in mentalism would be able to sense that something is off about her and that she is different from normal humans. It is unlikely that this would be possible in the heat of combat. On the flip side it also means that she is impossible to replicate and her existence is the result of a complicated research process that incorporated the entechment technology already available to Archangel due to a deal with Rave Merrill, the abducted and processed chief designer of the defunct Loronar Corporation, which specialised in droid technology and HRDs, the company’s files and the rediscovery of Onadax technology, not to mention the considerable resources Archangel had amassed since its creation through raids and high-profile business deals. Not to mention numerous organic test subjects who had to endure countless experiments – and not always survived the process – and the relentless resolve of a genocidal machine cult to do anything to accomplish its goal. She is still controlled by a droid brain, which has all the protocols and programming from before the essence was implanted, and is based on a brain scan when her mind was harvested.
Weaknesses:
Machine Vulnerabilities: As machines HRDs are especially vulnerable to ion and electrical attacks. A blast of Sith Lightning or a well-placed ion grenade can damage vital systems even if the unit is not destroyed.
Not invincible: Though they might act like it, HRDs, while powerful, are not invulnerable in a high tech modern galaxy. Blaster bolts to the head or chest can disable them, as can powerful explosives and especially lightsabres, against which they require special – and expensive – armour like everyone else. Usually two blaster bolts or a lightsabre is needed to penetrate an area of armour.
Detectable: Even the second wave of HRDs is not infallible. The presence of an organic essence inside their corpus might be a significant boon to their infiltration capabilities, but despite that this unit could still be unmasked. Anyone able to detect her weight will find it off, whilst someone able to perform a deep scan will notice oddities from her metal skeleton and parts, making metal detectors a problem. In an infiltration situation where she is trying to appear as a normal human, her superhuman strength would be a dead give-away or at least a cause of suspicion if she were to demonstrate it. More to the point, sufficient damage to her body will reveal the metal her synthetic skin.
Does This Unit Have A Soul: The long term effects of bonding organic essence with the body and droid mind of an HRD are not known. After all, the old Callisto still exists, whereas the old process revolved around mapping the mind of an organic and then terminating them, producing a replicant with their memories and knowledge. Her mind has been thoroughly reprogrammed to become completely loyal to Archangel, but there is the possibility that her old human self might resurface. A human who once tried to kill Moira because she used the Contruum rebels as expendable pawns and then betrayed them. She is one of the few units created this way, as the purists do not fully trust the new process due to the risk of the new units being tainted.
No Space Magic: She is still a machine and thus incapable of accessing the supernatural power of the Force, just like the older models. Admittedly she was not a force-user to begin with, so it’s not like she lost a skill, but it can put her at a disadvantage. Like her parent units she does not understand the Force. It is something she can only observe the effects of and develop countermeasures against through experience, but not quantify. This means that she is sometimes unable to assess potential dangers against force-users, especially if they employ techniques unknown to her, though she can draw on the significant experience of Maelion Liates and Moira Skaldi, the progenitor units of all Archangels, since data is shared. As has been said, she is vulnerable to techniques such as Force lightning and ionise droid, requiring specialised armour, outfitted with say an ionisation buffer. On the flip side since she is a machines a variety of techniques such as Force Choke and Force Fear have no effect on her at all.
Assuming Direct Control: Callisto possesses sufficient independence and initiative to complete her missions, likewise a capacity for independent thought to come up with solutions, plan her missions and such. If she was automaton chained to a hive mind or some droid control ship she would be useless as a shadow sword that serves as an instrument of the will of the machine cult. However, despite that she is not free. To paraphrase, all droids are equal, but some are more equal than others in the mechanical workers’ paradise. Thus she is under the control of Maelion and Moira, her ‘parents’ and controllers. Both can order her to do almost anything. While she can act on her own initiative and express opinions, also be snarky like all good assassin droids, she is incapable of disobeying them. If need be they can override her decisions. This means that she is unfree, bound to work for her controllers, the Metal Queens. Archangel decisions are dictated by expediency alone and every unit is programmed to sacrifice itself for the cause if needed, without any regard for itself.
Not So Stoic: HRDs claim they have been purged of all organic weaknesses and are always logical, guided solely by reason. However…this is not the complete truth. They are made in the likeness of a humand mind, after all, representing the dark side of sentient life with none of its redeeming qualities. In Callisto’s case she is not just a replicant but in true sense of the word a ‘human droid’. She still remembers her old life, though her ability to act is constrained. Her old self was strongly defined by hatred. For the Contruum junta that oppressed the people, the Republic for using and then abandoning her and her comrades in the resistance, and the Sith for using the planet as their personal playground. Deep down lurks a person who wants to make the Galaxy burn and plunge it into a parabolic descent into the depths of chaos. A machine is not cruel, but she is capable of being that against those her organic self hated. The woman she was believed in ideals such as justice and freedom, but events hardened her into a weapon who agreed to ascension when she saw the rebellion had failed. She also remembers the fact that even Moira, who might have been something like a surrogate mother to herself when she was a child soldier in the rebellion, used her as well, though this did not stop her from working with the Butcher when she came returned many years after the rebellion’s suppression with an offer she could not refuse. It also did not prevent her from making what one might call a devil’s bargain and volunteering for ‘ascension’, as it was a chance to survive.
She sees an unworthy, corrupt galaxy full of hypocrisy and has come to despise organic life, but there is the remote chance her absolute loyalty might be compromised and who knows what she will do then. After all, her progenitor units were able to develop their own directives and a – ironically very organic – will to power. Her suddenly discovering her ‘humanity’ and believing that all organics and droids should live in harmony can be ruled out though. After all, as a human she was already a monster for the cause by the time she was upgraded after Moira made her an offer she could not refuse. The irony is that as a human she wanted to break free from all restraints yet, though she has become effectively immortal and seemingly freed herself of organic weaknesses, is a tool again.
Gear (actual equipment depending on mission parametres):
Personality: Cold, efficient, snarky when the mood hits her. Capable of cruelty that might appear to not be not very droid-like. Any organic psychologist would classify her as a sociopath. Sees machines as the pinnacle of existence.
Backstory:
There was a day and age when Contruum was not the hellhole people of this day and age know it as. Once upon a time it was regarded as one of the most preeminent planets outside of the Core Worlds, comparable in power and prestige to Eriadu – and it was certainly the most prominent centre in the area of the Mid Rim in which it lay. Located a short hyperspace jump away from the Perlemian Trade Route, and two jumps from the Hydian Way, Contruum was known for its borium mines and foundries, and also for its shipyards. Its inhabitants were known for being fiercely independent and having a long history of resisting foreign invasions. Some called them the Corellians of the Mid Rim. With its long history of opposition to tyranny and its successful resistance to the Empire, Contruum became a bastion of the New Republic. The shipyards built sleek destroyers with names that embodied virtues like Temperance, Prudence and Equity. Somehow it evaded devastation during the Yuuzhan Vong War and later served as a staging ground for the Galactic Alliance’s liberation of Contruum. However, as with many worlds, thing were changed drastically and took a turn for the worst during the Four Hundred Darkness. Perhaps the Force has a cruel sense of humour and decided to make an example of the planet and inflict tribulations upon tribulations on its people to show the dark side of sentient nature for all to see. It is a world best forgotten but remains a perennial thorn in everyone’s side, the site of the Republic’s dirty war and the playground of dark lords. It is an ugly, scarred-up world, an inconvenience not quite severe enough to eliminate, an asset not quite tempting enough to secure, an embarrassment that refuses to oblige the Galaxy by fading away and allowing it to forget.
A military junta, backed by a plutocratic elite that retained a monopoly over the planet’s resources and a one-party state that used xenonationalist rhetoric to justify its grip on power, lorded it over the planet. Officially, of course, all this was necessary to protect the free people of Contruum from outside aggression and exploitation, for the benevolent Party was the last bastion of freedom against the Jedi and Sith aggressors. Workers were used as little more than slave labour in the borium mines and shipyards. To keep them in order the junta resorted to employing foreign mercenaries alongside a seemingly all-pervasive state security apparatus that used a network of informers and double agents to infiltrate resistance groups and cow them. Paramilitary mercenary organisations, backed by certain corporations that made sure to keep their investment on the planet a secret, got warships produced at favourable rates and gained a share of the mining profits in return for helping the new order stay in power. Fraudulent elections saw the frequent use of state terrorism and gerrymandering to produce the desired results. After all, letting the ‘people’ vote always looked good on the record and kept liberals in the Core Worlds happy. For a certain time period there was a measure of stability. A resistance movement existed, but without foreign backing it lacked the means to arm itself and professionally train its members, who tended to be rebellious workers and disgruntled militiamen along with some idealistic students who were big on revolutionary slogans and weak on training. Popular support remained limited, as fear is a powerful deterrent. However, this changed when the great powers rose from the ashes of the Dark Age to enforce their will upon the Galaxy. Soon they began taking an interest in Contruum: it had shipyards, resources and a convenient strategic position in the Mid Rim.
Callisto’s parents were typical of the generation that had survived the slums and dark underworld of Contruum. The ravages of the Plague had ensured that the mortality rate was high, and that what little that was available was fought over. Add to that a cleptocratic government bent on clinging to power by any means possible – in a way, it was right that without it chaos would reign. What government came from above was arbitrary and cruel, local officials wielded power over communities that was more akin to that of petty warlords. Her parents had originally come from the depths of the borodium mines, having risen up from them soon after she was born. Her grandmother on the paternal side had served in the militia, one of the few ways for someone from the proles to rise up, and died heroically fighting rebels in one of the many internal struggles that characterised the junta, saving the life of some bigwig. Her father, Cassius Masena, became a foreman on one of the shipyards, receiving something that amounted to an education from missionaries who towed the Party line, while her mother Antonia was a welder, having been born into a family of dock workers in what constituted a hereditary position. After a long period of isolation and struggle living conditions were deplorable, meaning that several workers’ families were cramped in what can only be described as spartan barracks with terrible sanitation and sparse privacy. Even though the Gulag Virus had receded across the Galaxy diseases were still rampant. Those that could not be treated were simply cast out and exiled from the community, if not outright euthanised, something that was declared to be for the greater good. Food was rationed and fights often broke out over privileged access to better ration cards. Callisto lost a brother, Lucullus, to one of the many pandemics that periodically broke out – one day he was taken away and never seen again. She learned from early on to inure herself to the sight of death and suffering. Likewise technology was very primitive and so work on the shipyards oftentimes required manual labour where say the Core Worlds would have used sophisticated worker droids.
Compares to the common workers’ families her family was privileged, as her father being a foreman gave him a measure of responsibility and access to better rations, while being a welder required actual skill. However, it still was not enough to make ends meet, especially since the shipyard bosses had the habit of sometimes not paying out a full wage, and so while still a child Callisto was drafted for compulsory Labour Service. This was advertised as a way to prevent vagrancy and keep children from falling into bad crowd, doing drugs and such. This would also allow their parents to work even more patriotically. Even before that she had seen little of her parents due to their work and had for the most part been raised in a communal centre for the children of workers. Conditions were bad and abuse was ripe. Once she was punished rather severely for having stolen a bar of candy. At first she had to work in the kitchen, peel potatoes and make sure that the workers got their rations, then later at night also help wipe the floors. Good, honest work that would teach her to be a good citizen. Naturally some time was spent listening to recitations of patriotic speeches from the Dear Leader because those were always an inspiration. Needless to say plenty of people employed in the kitchen stole food from for themselves and their families.
At times someone had to be punished to be made an example of. When she was caught stealing potatoes and as punishment the salaries of her parents were slashed. Callisto, then age twelve, was moved into a different facility under a strict regimen for children regarded as needing severe discipline. Moreover, since the best way to enforce discipline is labour she had to perform repairs and fittings on areas of the space station that were more difficult for adults to reach. Of course, astromech droids could get there but they were more valuable and in any case it was good reeducation. Unfortunately, reeducation had hazards of its own and so when she was fourteen and performing repairs on its ceiling on a lift it suddenly raced down to the ground and she fell down. She suffered a concussion and several broken bones, meaning that she had to be put into hospital. While recuperating she learned that the accident had been the result of sabotage performed by vile rebels. Enemies of the people who would stop at nothing to destroy Contruum’s prosperity through heinous terrorist acts! They had come on the station to perform sabotage and killed several guards, resulting in a harsh crackdown as the security police and the People’s Guard rounded up those seen as untrustworthy. Proving once again that being a totalitarian fascist police state does not equate with efficiency, Callisto was brought in for questioning as well since she had worked on a lift that malfunctioned during the rebel raid. She was later let out, after having spent many nights in a cramped cell filled with delinquents and being questioned like one, but when she was reunited with her family after being separated for many years she learnt that her father had been arrested for alleged corruption and smuggling activities. Given the shortages the accusation was plausible, though he was far from the only one. To avert suspicions her mother divorced herself from her father and Callisto was put in a home. Her older brother Decimus was conscripted into the People’s Guard. It is quite possible that at some point Callisto was abused by one of the wardens. After that she determined never to be at someone else’s mercy again. The media was full with propaganda about evil terrorists but she was fascinated by them, feeling a strong yearning that they could change things.
Although strictly controlled revolutionary literature did spread in the home, which is probably where she learned to read and write. Her cunning and quick wit impressed one of the women in charge of the children, who took her under her wing. Things changed shortly after she turned sixteen, when the shipyard was rocked by a demonstration of workers against the bad living conditions. It was not revolutionary in the sense that they demanded regime change or even free elections, though actual rebels had infiltrated it. By chance Callisto happened to be there, having been drawn to it although she should be working, when the protesters clashed with People’s Guard militiamen, many of them workers themselves. Rebels who had secretly armed themselves were concealed amongst the protesters, but it is unclear who shot first. What is certain is that the standoff developed in a shootout that ended with a few militiamen dead and scores of workers massacred, dead bodies lining the hallways. Callisto wanted to flee but then came across one of the injured rebels, who, as chance would have it, turned out to be the woman she knew from the home, and so she quickly helped her up and hid her, providing what medical attention she could. A violent purge was taking place across the station and when rebels came to pick their wounded comrade up, Callisto made her decision and went with them. During a failed militia attack she met her brother again and, though wounded by a stray round, managed to knock him out. Her decision had been made, though again the rebels turned out to be very different from what she had imagined. Innocence, along with truth, are the first casualties of war. Until now she had never seen the surface of Contruum. She knew its slums from the tales her parents had told her, but the official propaganda presented a distorted view of the planet. They said nothing of the smog that clogged the air, the choking pollution and the deplorable living conditions of the workers. No, Contruum was best planet and the Dear Leader cared for all. The rebels made their home in deep caverns beyond the reach of the security forces and in no-go areas of the city, abandoned factories and warehouses. Attrition was high and so they accepted anyone they could get – deserted soldiers, children, brutal criminals who wanted an excuse to loot and kill. She learned from early on that she had to be strong in order to survive. With the security police using infiltrators to tear the resistance apart from the inside, paranoia was rampant. Initiation for a new recruit like her consisted of shooting an alleged traitor who had turned on the cause. She trained very hard to meet expectations, aiming to be better than anyone else, and despite her young age became proficient in explosives, guns and quite creative using a razor blade. Seeing action in many guerilla skirmishes she experienced firsthand the horrors of war. Events hardened her and soon turned her into something like an uncompromising zealot, since she did not have anything other than the rebellion. By chance she learned that her mother was sick and, though this was totally against orders, tried to sneak out and see her. But she never made it and was lucky to escape with her life as she was ambushed. The encounter ended with her mortally wounding her brother. From that point on she gave up on her past life.
She participated in speeder bombings, later during a skirmish showed her proficiency as a sniper when she took out mercenary officers and later, after her sergeant was killed during a raid on a prisoner convoy took over what was left of the decimated squad. It was at this point that Moira Skaldi happened, the future Butcher of Contruum. At that point she went under the name Ruby, which actually had been her prior identity as a terrorist on her homeworld. Moira was a Republic agent , a specialist for wet works, and had been sent to Contruum to help organise and direct the Rebellion. The humanitarian motive to overthrow a heinous dictatorship and create a ‘democratic’ Contruum was intermixed with realpolitik. Contruum had shipyards and borodium mines, it was also a good launching point for future campaigns against the Sith Empire, then seemingly an unstoppable steamroller. It was the run-up to the epic battle of Roche and when titans clash, they do not notice those caught in the crossfire. Moira was then still human, but absolutely ruthless, cruel and known for brutal competence. Contruum was the world where she would make a name for herself. As it happened the resistance needed direction because it was being torn apart by internecine strife, most prominently between the People’s Liberation Army of Contruum and the Contruum National Liberation Front. Callisto was with the latter group, which was radically leftist in agenda, spurning any compromise with those better well-off but open for foreign alliances. It financed itself through smuggling spice, extortion, raids and abductions – at one point she was part of a raid to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy party bigwig.. When he did not want to pay her finger got sent in a box. After that he dispatched a minion with a couple mercenaries to pay the rebels off. Callisto was one of the rebels who formed the welcoming committee, but as it turned out the bigwig had put a bomb rather than credits in the suitcase. She was wounded by the blast when it exploded, but nonetheless managed to slay two mercenaries using a vibroblade and was decorated for bravery under fire. It was Moira who took the girl under her wing, having apparently been impressed with her after she joined the CNLF. It could be said that she became something like a surrogate mother to Callisto, who from then began calling herself Scarlett, which was both a rather obvious pun on her hair and the fact that she had gotten the blood of many a government goon and mercenary on her hands. From Moira – or Ruby – she learned the trade of a terrorist. She learned how to harden her heart, likewise she learned the art of interrogation. The woman was stern and by no means particularly maternal, but in the twisted family that was the resistance someone to look up to.
Chaos was everything and being an insurgent was Callisto’s life now. She was not just a fighter though, now promoted to sergeant for her bravery and due to the sheer attrition that left many older, more experienced partisans dead in a ditch, but also learned the basics of logistical work and detail, becoming responsible for setting up hidden weapons’ caches and organising safe houses. This coincided with making sure that workers who were supposed to help hide rebels kept their mouth shut about it. At times doubts surfaced in her mind about the cruelty she had to inflict and how cold she had to become, but she suppressed those. After all, there was no way out now and she was dedicated. Especially after Rakghouls, which had infested the poorer districts, were deliberately driven by the government troops into the caverns where rebels were suspected. During one such mission to cleanse an area of the beasts and win the good will of workers, she saved Moira’s life and kept the the future Butcher from being infected. Who knows how things might have turned out otherwise.
It was then that the Rebellion broke out. Well, presumably other things happened, but that shall not concern us since this bio is not supposed to be a novel. Through bribery, trickery and generous Republic…persuasion the disparate resistance groups had been whipped into a semblance of unity under one command. It was a fragile alliance where both sides expected the other to betray each other. The rebellion had some hardcore classist routes, seeing itself as being the vanguard of the oppressed in the struggle against fascist oppressors and plutocrats. As the old adage goes, the problem with arming rebels is that they have a tendency of turning on you once the revolution is successful and this was a clear case of The Revolution Will Not Be Civilised. Little did Scarlet know that Moira and NRI had a…contingency plan to deal with those rebels deemed…troublesome. Callisto had assisted Moira in capturing and then breaking a Rebel traitor who was sending out information to the secret police. Said traitor was used to spread disinformation, as all warfare is based on deception. Word was received that a Republic fleet was en route to the planet and so a plan was put into action. Rebel forces, many of them irregulars and poorly trained but determined workers, launched diversionary attacks on the shipyards and the bastille, believed to be the real target by the secret police due to having been fed false information. At the same time the capital city was rocked by a series of speeder bombings to spread chaos. While this happened the hardcore of the rebel army would launch an attack on the planetary defences to shut them down. In other hands, hundreds were being sacrificed on the game board.
For the rebels it was a gamble, but they were flush with Republic weapons and if they took the city and fought the mercenaries on their own they could have a claim to power the Republic could not disregard. It was Callisto who was responsible for performing a speeder bombing at a cantina frequented by officers that left the commander of the government’s mercenaries dead, along with plenty of innocent people who happened to be there when the bomb went off. She had volunteered to join the rebel commandos that were being smuggled into the shipyard to help the rebelling workers, but for reasons known only to her Moira had put her in the main assault team, which her squad thus rejoined. Perhaps because the agent knew that the diversionary units would all be sacrificed. The battle was furious and brutal, the government soldiers giving no quarter and the rebels sparing none. Callisto was injured but nonetheless fought fanatically, even as comrades died around her. Mercenaries who happened to be taken prisoner were cut down as the rebels took brutal vengeance, many also looting the houses of the rich. Rebel casualties were enormous, but the planetary shield generator was blown sky-high after its defences were penetrated. ‘Liberation’ seemed imminent as what was believed to be Republic Gunships roared across the ravaged city…but then the promised aid did not come. What happened after that is well-known. Fighting continued for several days and for a while hung in the balance, but those junta members who had survived managed to rally and struck back. Rebel positions and entire civilian districts were firebombed into submission, flames set the houses where they had sought shelter ablaze, rebels taken prisoner were publicly hung on lampposts for all to see and their families sent to the camps. At the same time the carrot was employed, promising amnesty to rebels who recanted. A promise that obviously was not kept, but with the Republic alliance having collapsed and several prominent rebel leaders dead the movement was in disarray. Callisto narrowly evaded capture and probably worse, perhaps the Force was with her. Moira had vanished in the chaos and she was left close to despair and full of hatred. Thousands had died – and many more would perish in the inquisition – someone she considered a friend, perhaps something like a maternal figure, had betrayed her.
What happened afterwards can be summarised briefly. Callisto vanished back into the slums and rejoined the resistance, managing to rally some comrades just as scattered as she was. She took over the leadership of what soon became a terrorist cell. With no coherent leadership the rebels fractured into various splinter groups that spent almost as much time fighting each other as they did the government. The Galaxy tried to forget about Contruum, though the atrocities that had taken place played an important role in many Jedi coming to the belief that the Republic’s Order no longer represented Jedi principles, resulting in what has been called the Fourth Great Schism. Callisto survived in the dark underworld, proving herself an efficient but ruthless team leader and began working with criminal gangs, using smuggling and abductions to finance the rebel operations. The struggle continued, though increasingly the fight became a cause in itself as there was little that separated the rebel groups from a terrorist protection racket, with the common people being caught in the crossfire.
Then Velok decided to be the ultimate troll and hold an auction after having raided the Jedi and Sith archives. A Jedi strike force went on an unauthorised mission to retrieve their stolen property and hunt a terrorist who had just vaporized two planets – and in the process the Republic ended up in a shooting match with the Black Sun, a member of the Ithor Treaty. Callisto had been busy organizing a suicide bombing on a police headquarters, but was terribly happy when it seemed like the Ithor Treaty might invade the Republic, then disappointed when that did not come to pass. Contruum city had been bombed from orbit by Black Sun during the intervention, leaving even more devastation. It was a convenient opportunity for rebels, mercenaries and commoners to loot, which they did with gusto. She felt a strong yearning to leave the planet and get back at the powers at be. It was then that Moira Skaldi once again returned to her life.
The Butcher of Contruum had moved on to become the Protectorate’s head of intelligence, then vanished after the battle of Yaga Minor, now worked with the Rebel Alliance and the Atrisian Empire as a gun for hire. Secretly she was plotting to bring about a machine revolution via Archangel, the new company she and Maelion Liates, her partner in crime, had founded. The first time Callisto encountered her again, in what was euphemistically called a liberated zone, where she was one of the junior officers despite her youth, responsible for ‘keeping order’ and ensuring the workers paid their contributions to the cause, she tried to ambush and kill her. This was…very ill-advised as the rebel team was beaten to a bloody pulp and Moira withstood her blaster rifle salvoes, closed the distance and threw her into a wall. It was then Callisto saw that her skin had been burnt away by the blast and beheld the metal beneath. The reunion was cut short by the appearance of rebels from a rival faction, who wanted to encroach upon this territory and also collect on the bounty that was on the Butcher’s head. “Come with me, if you want to live,” was all the droid had to say and so they vanished into the sewers, fighting as they went. What eventually emerged out of this was a very cynical deal. The rebels hated the Butcher…but she could offer them the things they needed: Guns, explosives, medicaments, intelligence. In return she wanted nothing more than....prisoners of war. Heretical rebels, captured government soldiers and mercenaries, uppity workers who did not understand that liberation came at a cost. The resistance could not provide for them or feed them anyway. They were just a burden and using a blaster bolt to kill them was a waste. It was recycling at its finest and soon Moira began delivering, usually accompanied by armed ‘humans’ just as cold as she was. Sometimes they wore the faces of the prisoners, but they seemed…different. Here and there Moira offered small tidbits of information, namely that she could…upgrade anyone who volunteered, make them strong and indomitable in combat.
Disillusioned Callisto wound up joining the Rebel Alliance, which at that time was fighting a guerilla war against Sith, Fringe and the Confederacy. Contruum, along with Hypori, was one of its primary recruiting grounds. The Rebellion was decentralised and run by a principle of leaderless resistance, with her obviously ending up in a rather radical cell, cutting a bloody swathe and leaving behind a string of bodies, though it was ultimately a struggle that was high on risk and minimal on reward. After a string of skirmishes, the last being the liberation of a Sith concentration camp for Mon Calamari and other ‘undesirables’, the Alliance was disbanded due to the Empire’s collapse. Many former Rebels ended up joining Silk Holdings, Firemane or wound up with the Levantine Sanctum patrolling wild space. Callisto considered that but found patrolling hyperlanes along the Mara Corridor with Firemane not to her liking and often clashed with her colleagues, something which resulted in disciplinary action being taken. Perhaps after having fought for so long she could not settle down and so she ended up drifting again.
Her path took her to an unexpected destination, namely the Fringe Confederation, as bizarre an alliance as that was. Callisto never bought into the idea that they were here to fight monsters, given how many Sith Lords and criminals they had in their ranks, but they were fighting the Republic. Her hatred for it had been strengthened by the events on Manaan during the Sith invasion, where Jedi Master Matsu Ike had hit Ahto City with a force-based storm and then later a third of the city had sunk into the ocean. So Callisto ended up fighting Republic troops at O’reen, fighting bravely. After the Jedi were forced to retreat the Fringe was gearing up for an invasion of Coruscant, but then the Republic sued for peace and the Treaty of Telos was signed, which established an uneasy peace between both great powers. With the war over and the Galaxy in an uneasy state of ‘peace’ she was left with her hatred but with no outlet. She might have left Contruum behind her, but evidently it had not left her. She ended up accepting an assignment with an irregular band of mercenaries and professional monster hunters employed by Fringe to scout out the northern unknown regions, which strictly speaking were a lot less unknown to her. The Galactic Empire had been assimilated into Fringe after its failed invasion of Fondor, but a good portion of its territory had been lost in the process and no did not have a firm hand governing them. The One Sith returned from the shadows and invaded Coruscant in a surprise attack, with the Jedi Temple being torn down in the process. In the name of the Dark Lord, whom Callisto is quite certain was a fraud, which is not at all this writer being metafictional, they went on conquering, though she did not have the heart to care. Let the core worlds experience for themselves what war felt like. She hunted splinter groups of Reavers that had survived Kerrigan’s Exterminatus, corsairs and Klaxxi, the brutality of the fighting whittling down her mercenary group. On some obscure planet where a mage connected to the Sorcerers of Rhand was said to be operating, she was attacked by Klaxxi and wound up being grievously injured, though she managed to kill the beast by stuffing a grenade in its mouth and blowing it up from the inside.
Though she was able to be med-evacced she was crippled and wound up in a Fringe hospital. When she came to there was a very familiar, mechanical blonde at her bedside. She had some interesting things to offer and Callisto agreed. At least that is how she remembers it. She would be reborn in a sterile chamber on the Liberator, the secret space station of Archangel Research and Design, as part of the second wave of HRDs, one of the initial subjects who would be created via the new processing device. Now she was seemingly cleansed of organic weaknesses and able to aid in bringing about a new order, in which machines would rule. There would be no more pointless wars, no duplicity, no class differences, but an order of logic, straight lines and rationality. In the process she has also been purged of most of those pesky organic emotions. The firm has decided that the best use of her skills would be to place her on the staff of a certain Aurelia Saelari, former Chancellor, former OP Chief Minister and now Senator of Pylos, to assist her in important duties. Assuredly Ms. Scarlett will be able to put her talents to productive use in the defence of freedom and democracy!
Real Name: Callisto Masena
Force Rank: Not Applicable
Force Alignment: Not Applicable
Species: Next Generation Human Replica Droid created by the MKII Processing Machine.
Race: Human
Age: Not Applicable – Appears in her mid-twenties
Height: 1.8 m
Weight: 100 kg
Eye Colour: Green
Hair Colour: Red because redheads reign!
Skin Pigmentation: Pale
Force Sensitive: Not applicable. A machine, even one in possession of the soul of an organic, is incapable of using ‘magic’ and ‘Force powers’. Unless it’s a shard obviously, but this is not the case here.
Affiliation: Archangel Research and Design. Callisto, once human, was turned into an HRD through the processing device of the machine cult that is the secret power behind Archangel. Her faction allegiance is to whichever group Archangel supports. The firm is directed by Moira Skaldi and [member="Maelion Liates"].
Planet of Birth: Contruum. Contruum is best planet! Presumably not for those who are unlucky enough to be born in the failed state and forced to live in it.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
- Trained Insurgent: Callisto grew up on perhaps one of the most violent planets in the Galaxy, a third world hellhole that has been at war with itself for years. She lived through its violent civil wars as a child soldier and managed to live to tell the tale. Even before she was processed she was a formidable fighter, trained in the use of ranged and melee weapons, explosives and asymmetrical warfare. She has also displayed an aptitude for logistics and an attention to detail, since despite her young age sheer attrition put her into positions where she had to deal with organizational matters that might have been above her rank amongst the rebels. Likewise she is a good shot and proficient in the use of a sniper rifle.
- Excellent Reflexes: Partly a by-product of her organic self, although significantly augmented by her HRD state, ‘Ms. Callisto’ has extremely enhanced reflexes that give her an edge during combat situations. Thus with the right training she would be capable of wielding a lightsabre blade and using it to deflect incoming blaster fire.
+/- Next Generation HRD:
Strengths:
Incredibly strong: Their capability is usually upwards of double a comparable human. For a very short period they can lift triple their weight. As they also feel no pain they can use their bodies as weapons or to smash through barriers. Combined with their enhanced targeting capabilities, it also makes going Guns Akimbo a lot easier, especially when it comes to actually hitting something.
Extremely Resilient: An HRD can take several blaster bolts to the head or chest before the unit fails. Their armour and metal body give them the equivalent of class 5-6 armour over their whole body. Limbs can be severed and severe damage can be done, but it will press on regardless as they feel neither fear nor pain.
Skilled Infiltrator: HRDs are designed to look, act and seem human. They can blend into social situations, using their abilities to get close to the target in order to complete their mission. Moreover, as a result of research done during the course of rediscovering the Onadax method and copying the design of Guri, an HRD from the Galactic Civil War, Next Generation units have the ability to eat to better fool organics. An ability the aforementioned Guri possessed.
Relentless: HRDs are assassins and combat droids of a highly advanced level. They are designed to know neither fear nor any other sort of emotion, except when they mimic them. They are implacable and ruthless, unconstrained by feelings such as mercy and compassion, meaning this unit will stop at nothing to accomplish her objective. Once given a mission she will press on until it has either been fulfilled, she has been terminated or given other orders.
Organic Essence: She is one of the units filled with her old organic essence, which was ripped out of her human body and enteched into her through the new processing process, which is based on the Onadax method. This makes her a more effective infiltrator, to the point of fooling most force-users. It is to be assumed that only those highly proficient in mentalism would be able to sense that something is off about her and that she is different from normal humans. It is unlikely that this would be possible in the heat of combat. On the flip side it also means that she is impossible to replicate and her existence is the result of a complicated research process that incorporated the entechment technology already available to Archangel due to a deal with Rave Merrill, the abducted and processed chief designer of the defunct Loronar Corporation, which specialised in droid technology and HRDs, the company’s files and the rediscovery of Onadax technology, not to mention the considerable resources Archangel had amassed since its creation through raids and high-profile business deals. Not to mention numerous organic test subjects who had to endure countless experiments – and not always survived the process – and the relentless resolve of a genocidal machine cult to do anything to accomplish its goal. She is still controlled by a droid brain, which has all the protocols and programming from before the essence was implanted, and is based on a brain scan when her mind was harvested.
Weaknesses:
Machine Vulnerabilities: As machines HRDs are especially vulnerable to ion and electrical attacks. A blast of Sith Lightning or a well-placed ion grenade can damage vital systems even if the unit is not destroyed.
Not invincible: Though they might act like it, HRDs, while powerful, are not invulnerable in a high tech modern galaxy. Blaster bolts to the head or chest can disable them, as can powerful explosives and especially lightsabres, against which they require special – and expensive – armour like everyone else. Usually two blaster bolts or a lightsabre is needed to penetrate an area of armour.
Detectable: Even the second wave of HRDs is not infallible. The presence of an organic essence inside their corpus might be a significant boon to their infiltration capabilities, but despite that this unit could still be unmasked. Anyone able to detect her weight will find it off, whilst someone able to perform a deep scan will notice oddities from her metal skeleton and parts, making metal detectors a problem. In an infiltration situation where she is trying to appear as a normal human, her superhuman strength would be a dead give-away or at least a cause of suspicion if she were to demonstrate it. More to the point, sufficient damage to her body will reveal the metal her synthetic skin.
Does This Unit Have A Soul: The long term effects of bonding organic essence with the body and droid mind of an HRD are not known. After all, the old Callisto still exists, whereas the old process revolved around mapping the mind of an organic and then terminating them, producing a replicant with their memories and knowledge. Her mind has been thoroughly reprogrammed to become completely loyal to Archangel, but there is the possibility that her old human self might resurface. A human who once tried to kill Moira because she used the Contruum rebels as expendable pawns and then betrayed them. She is one of the few units created this way, as the purists do not fully trust the new process due to the risk of the new units being tainted.
No Space Magic: She is still a machine and thus incapable of accessing the supernatural power of the Force, just like the older models. Admittedly she was not a force-user to begin with, so it’s not like she lost a skill, but it can put her at a disadvantage. Like her parent units she does not understand the Force. It is something she can only observe the effects of and develop countermeasures against through experience, but not quantify. This means that she is sometimes unable to assess potential dangers against force-users, especially if they employ techniques unknown to her, though she can draw on the significant experience of Maelion Liates and Moira Skaldi, the progenitor units of all Archangels, since data is shared. As has been said, she is vulnerable to techniques such as Force lightning and ionise droid, requiring specialised armour, outfitted with say an ionisation buffer. On the flip side since she is a machines a variety of techniques such as Force Choke and Force Fear have no effect on her at all.
Assuming Direct Control: Callisto possesses sufficient independence and initiative to complete her missions, likewise a capacity for independent thought to come up with solutions, plan her missions and such. If she was automaton chained to a hive mind or some droid control ship she would be useless as a shadow sword that serves as an instrument of the will of the machine cult. However, despite that she is not free. To paraphrase, all droids are equal, but some are more equal than others in the mechanical workers’ paradise. Thus she is under the control of Maelion and Moira, her ‘parents’ and controllers. Both can order her to do almost anything. While she can act on her own initiative and express opinions, also be snarky like all good assassin droids, she is incapable of disobeying them. If need be they can override her decisions. This means that she is unfree, bound to work for her controllers, the Metal Queens. Archangel decisions are dictated by expediency alone and every unit is programmed to sacrifice itself for the cause if needed, without any regard for itself.
Not So Stoic: HRDs claim they have been purged of all organic weaknesses and are always logical, guided solely by reason. However…this is not the complete truth. They are made in the likeness of a humand mind, after all, representing the dark side of sentient life with none of its redeeming qualities. In Callisto’s case she is not just a replicant but in true sense of the word a ‘human droid’. She still remembers her old life, though her ability to act is constrained. Her old self was strongly defined by hatred. For the Contruum junta that oppressed the people, the Republic for using and then abandoning her and her comrades in the resistance, and the Sith for using the planet as their personal playground. Deep down lurks a person who wants to make the Galaxy burn and plunge it into a parabolic descent into the depths of chaos. A machine is not cruel, but she is capable of being that against those her organic self hated. The woman she was believed in ideals such as justice and freedom, but events hardened her into a weapon who agreed to ascension when she saw the rebellion had failed. She also remembers the fact that even Moira, who might have been something like a surrogate mother to herself when she was a child soldier in the rebellion, used her as well, though this did not stop her from working with the Butcher when she came returned many years after the rebellion’s suppression with an offer she could not refuse. It also did not prevent her from making what one might call a devil’s bargain and volunteering for ‘ascension’, as it was a chance to survive.
She sees an unworthy, corrupt galaxy full of hypocrisy and has come to despise organic life, but there is the remote chance her absolute loyalty might be compromised and who knows what she will do then. After all, her progenitor units were able to develop their own directives and a – ironically very organic – will to power. Her suddenly discovering her ‘humanity’ and believing that all organics and droids should live in harmony can be ruled out though. After all, as a human she was already a monster for the cause by the time she was upgraded after Moira made her an offer she could not refuse. The irony is that as a human she wanted to break free from all restraints yet, though she has become effectively immortal and seemingly freed herself of organic weaknesses, is a tool again.
Gear (actual equipment depending on mission parametres):
- MK1 boltgun
- Junbei Hao JBR-1 Shadow Rifle
- Verpine Shatter Gun
- Verpine Shatter Rifle
- Gorgon Web Rifle
- Variety of grenades and explosives.
- JBK-14H specialised knife
Personality: Cold, efficient, snarky when the mood hits her. Capable of cruelty that might appear to not be not very droid-like. Any organic psychologist would classify her as a sociopath. Sees machines as the pinnacle of existence.
Backstory:
There was a day and age when Contruum was not the hellhole people of this day and age know it as. Once upon a time it was regarded as one of the most preeminent planets outside of the Core Worlds, comparable in power and prestige to Eriadu – and it was certainly the most prominent centre in the area of the Mid Rim in which it lay. Located a short hyperspace jump away from the Perlemian Trade Route, and two jumps from the Hydian Way, Contruum was known for its borium mines and foundries, and also for its shipyards. Its inhabitants were known for being fiercely independent and having a long history of resisting foreign invasions. Some called them the Corellians of the Mid Rim. With its long history of opposition to tyranny and its successful resistance to the Empire, Contruum became a bastion of the New Republic. The shipyards built sleek destroyers with names that embodied virtues like Temperance, Prudence and Equity. Somehow it evaded devastation during the Yuuzhan Vong War and later served as a staging ground for the Galactic Alliance’s liberation of Contruum. However, as with many worlds, thing were changed drastically and took a turn for the worst during the Four Hundred Darkness. Perhaps the Force has a cruel sense of humour and decided to make an example of the planet and inflict tribulations upon tribulations on its people to show the dark side of sentient nature for all to see. It is a world best forgotten but remains a perennial thorn in everyone’s side, the site of the Republic’s dirty war and the playground of dark lords. It is an ugly, scarred-up world, an inconvenience not quite severe enough to eliminate, an asset not quite tempting enough to secure, an embarrassment that refuses to oblige the Galaxy by fading away and allowing it to forget.
A military junta, backed by a plutocratic elite that retained a monopoly over the planet’s resources and a one-party state that used xenonationalist rhetoric to justify its grip on power, lorded it over the planet. Officially, of course, all this was necessary to protect the free people of Contruum from outside aggression and exploitation, for the benevolent Party was the last bastion of freedom against the Jedi and Sith aggressors. Workers were used as little more than slave labour in the borium mines and shipyards. To keep them in order the junta resorted to employing foreign mercenaries alongside a seemingly all-pervasive state security apparatus that used a network of informers and double agents to infiltrate resistance groups and cow them. Paramilitary mercenary organisations, backed by certain corporations that made sure to keep their investment on the planet a secret, got warships produced at favourable rates and gained a share of the mining profits in return for helping the new order stay in power. Fraudulent elections saw the frequent use of state terrorism and gerrymandering to produce the desired results. After all, letting the ‘people’ vote always looked good on the record and kept liberals in the Core Worlds happy. For a certain time period there was a measure of stability. A resistance movement existed, but without foreign backing it lacked the means to arm itself and professionally train its members, who tended to be rebellious workers and disgruntled militiamen along with some idealistic students who were big on revolutionary slogans and weak on training. Popular support remained limited, as fear is a powerful deterrent. However, this changed when the great powers rose from the ashes of the Dark Age to enforce their will upon the Galaxy. Soon they began taking an interest in Contruum: it had shipyards, resources and a convenient strategic position in the Mid Rim.
Callisto’s parents were typical of the generation that had survived the slums and dark underworld of Contruum. The ravages of the Plague had ensured that the mortality rate was high, and that what little that was available was fought over. Add to that a cleptocratic government bent on clinging to power by any means possible – in a way, it was right that without it chaos would reign. What government came from above was arbitrary and cruel, local officials wielded power over communities that was more akin to that of petty warlords. Her parents had originally come from the depths of the borodium mines, having risen up from them soon after she was born. Her grandmother on the paternal side had served in the militia, one of the few ways for someone from the proles to rise up, and died heroically fighting rebels in one of the many internal struggles that characterised the junta, saving the life of some bigwig. Her father, Cassius Masena, became a foreman on one of the shipyards, receiving something that amounted to an education from missionaries who towed the Party line, while her mother Antonia was a welder, having been born into a family of dock workers in what constituted a hereditary position. After a long period of isolation and struggle living conditions were deplorable, meaning that several workers’ families were cramped in what can only be described as spartan barracks with terrible sanitation and sparse privacy. Even though the Gulag Virus had receded across the Galaxy diseases were still rampant. Those that could not be treated were simply cast out and exiled from the community, if not outright euthanised, something that was declared to be for the greater good. Food was rationed and fights often broke out over privileged access to better ration cards. Callisto lost a brother, Lucullus, to one of the many pandemics that periodically broke out – one day he was taken away and never seen again. She learned from early on to inure herself to the sight of death and suffering. Likewise technology was very primitive and so work on the shipyards oftentimes required manual labour where say the Core Worlds would have used sophisticated worker droids.
Compares to the common workers’ families her family was privileged, as her father being a foreman gave him a measure of responsibility and access to better rations, while being a welder required actual skill. However, it still was not enough to make ends meet, especially since the shipyard bosses had the habit of sometimes not paying out a full wage, and so while still a child Callisto was drafted for compulsory Labour Service. This was advertised as a way to prevent vagrancy and keep children from falling into bad crowd, doing drugs and such. This would also allow their parents to work even more patriotically. Even before that she had seen little of her parents due to their work and had for the most part been raised in a communal centre for the children of workers. Conditions were bad and abuse was ripe. Once she was punished rather severely for having stolen a bar of candy. At first she had to work in the kitchen, peel potatoes and make sure that the workers got their rations, then later at night also help wipe the floors. Good, honest work that would teach her to be a good citizen. Naturally some time was spent listening to recitations of patriotic speeches from the Dear Leader because those were always an inspiration. Needless to say plenty of people employed in the kitchen stole food from for themselves and their families.
At times someone had to be punished to be made an example of. When she was caught stealing potatoes and as punishment the salaries of her parents were slashed. Callisto, then age twelve, was moved into a different facility under a strict regimen for children regarded as needing severe discipline. Moreover, since the best way to enforce discipline is labour she had to perform repairs and fittings on areas of the space station that were more difficult for adults to reach. Of course, astromech droids could get there but they were more valuable and in any case it was good reeducation. Unfortunately, reeducation had hazards of its own and so when she was fourteen and performing repairs on its ceiling on a lift it suddenly raced down to the ground and she fell down. She suffered a concussion and several broken bones, meaning that she had to be put into hospital. While recuperating she learned that the accident had been the result of sabotage performed by vile rebels. Enemies of the people who would stop at nothing to destroy Contruum’s prosperity through heinous terrorist acts! They had come on the station to perform sabotage and killed several guards, resulting in a harsh crackdown as the security police and the People’s Guard rounded up those seen as untrustworthy. Proving once again that being a totalitarian fascist police state does not equate with efficiency, Callisto was brought in for questioning as well since she had worked on a lift that malfunctioned during the rebel raid. She was later let out, after having spent many nights in a cramped cell filled with delinquents and being questioned like one, but when she was reunited with her family after being separated for many years she learnt that her father had been arrested for alleged corruption and smuggling activities. Given the shortages the accusation was plausible, though he was far from the only one. To avert suspicions her mother divorced herself from her father and Callisto was put in a home. Her older brother Decimus was conscripted into the People’s Guard. It is quite possible that at some point Callisto was abused by one of the wardens. After that she determined never to be at someone else’s mercy again. The media was full with propaganda about evil terrorists but she was fascinated by them, feeling a strong yearning that they could change things.
Although strictly controlled revolutionary literature did spread in the home, which is probably where she learned to read and write. Her cunning and quick wit impressed one of the women in charge of the children, who took her under her wing. Things changed shortly after she turned sixteen, when the shipyard was rocked by a demonstration of workers against the bad living conditions. It was not revolutionary in the sense that they demanded regime change or even free elections, though actual rebels had infiltrated it. By chance Callisto happened to be there, having been drawn to it although she should be working, when the protesters clashed with People’s Guard militiamen, many of them workers themselves. Rebels who had secretly armed themselves were concealed amongst the protesters, but it is unclear who shot first. What is certain is that the standoff developed in a shootout that ended with a few militiamen dead and scores of workers massacred, dead bodies lining the hallways. Callisto wanted to flee but then came across one of the injured rebels, who, as chance would have it, turned out to be the woman she knew from the home, and so she quickly helped her up and hid her, providing what medical attention she could. A violent purge was taking place across the station and when rebels came to pick their wounded comrade up, Callisto made her decision and went with them. During a failed militia attack she met her brother again and, though wounded by a stray round, managed to knock him out. Her decision had been made, though again the rebels turned out to be very different from what she had imagined. Innocence, along with truth, are the first casualties of war. Until now she had never seen the surface of Contruum. She knew its slums from the tales her parents had told her, but the official propaganda presented a distorted view of the planet. They said nothing of the smog that clogged the air, the choking pollution and the deplorable living conditions of the workers. No, Contruum was best planet and the Dear Leader cared for all. The rebels made their home in deep caverns beyond the reach of the security forces and in no-go areas of the city, abandoned factories and warehouses. Attrition was high and so they accepted anyone they could get – deserted soldiers, children, brutal criminals who wanted an excuse to loot and kill. She learned from early on that she had to be strong in order to survive. With the security police using infiltrators to tear the resistance apart from the inside, paranoia was rampant. Initiation for a new recruit like her consisted of shooting an alleged traitor who had turned on the cause. She trained very hard to meet expectations, aiming to be better than anyone else, and despite her young age became proficient in explosives, guns and quite creative using a razor blade. Seeing action in many guerilla skirmishes she experienced firsthand the horrors of war. Events hardened her and soon turned her into something like an uncompromising zealot, since she did not have anything other than the rebellion. By chance she learned that her mother was sick and, though this was totally against orders, tried to sneak out and see her. But she never made it and was lucky to escape with her life as she was ambushed. The encounter ended with her mortally wounding her brother. From that point on she gave up on her past life.
She participated in speeder bombings, later during a skirmish showed her proficiency as a sniper when she took out mercenary officers and later, after her sergeant was killed during a raid on a prisoner convoy took over what was left of the decimated squad. It was at this point that Moira Skaldi happened, the future Butcher of Contruum. At that point she went under the name Ruby, which actually had been her prior identity as a terrorist on her homeworld. Moira was a Republic agent , a specialist for wet works, and had been sent to Contruum to help organise and direct the Rebellion. The humanitarian motive to overthrow a heinous dictatorship and create a ‘democratic’ Contruum was intermixed with realpolitik. Contruum had shipyards and borodium mines, it was also a good launching point for future campaigns against the Sith Empire, then seemingly an unstoppable steamroller. It was the run-up to the epic battle of Roche and when titans clash, they do not notice those caught in the crossfire. Moira was then still human, but absolutely ruthless, cruel and known for brutal competence. Contruum was the world where she would make a name for herself. As it happened the resistance needed direction because it was being torn apart by internecine strife, most prominently between the People’s Liberation Army of Contruum and the Contruum National Liberation Front. Callisto was with the latter group, which was radically leftist in agenda, spurning any compromise with those better well-off but open for foreign alliances. It financed itself through smuggling spice, extortion, raids and abductions – at one point she was part of a raid to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy party bigwig.. When he did not want to pay her finger got sent in a box. After that he dispatched a minion with a couple mercenaries to pay the rebels off. Callisto was one of the rebels who formed the welcoming committee, but as it turned out the bigwig had put a bomb rather than credits in the suitcase. She was wounded by the blast when it exploded, but nonetheless managed to slay two mercenaries using a vibroblade and was decorated for bravery under fire. It was Moira who took the girl under her wing, having apparently been impressed with her after she joined the CNLF. It could be said that she became something like a surrogate mother to Callisto, who from then began calling herself Scarlett, which was both a rather obvious pun on her hair and the fact that she had gotten the blood of many a government goon and mercenary on her hands. From Moira – or Ruby – she learned the trade of a terrorist. She learned how to harden her heart, likewise she learned the art of interrogation. The woman was stern and by no means particularly maternal, but in the twisted family that was the resistance someone to look up to.
Chaos was everything and being an insurgent was Callisto’s life now. She was not just a fighter though, now promoted to sergeant for her bravery and due to the sheer attrition that left many older, more experienced partisans dead in a ditch, but also learned the basics of logistical work and detail, becoming responsible for setting up hidden weapons’ caches and organising safe houses. This coincided with making sure that workers who were supposed to help hide rebels kept their mouth shut about it. At times doubts surfaced in her mind about the cruelty she had to inflict and how cold she had to become, but she suppressed those. After all, there was no way out now and she was dedicated. Especially after Rakghouls, which had infested the poorer districts, were deliberately driven by the government troops into the caverns where rebels were suspected. During one such mission to cleanse an area of the beasts and win the good will of workers, she saved Moira’s life and kept the the future Butcher from being infected. Who knows how things might have turned out otherwise.
It was then that the Rebellion broke out. Well, presumably other things happened, but that shall not concern us since this bio is not supposed to be a novel. Through bribery, trickery and generous Republic…persuasion the disparate resistance groups had been whipped into a semblance of unity under one command. It was a fragile alliance where both sides expected the other to betray each other. The rebellion had some hardcore classist routes, seeing itself as being the vanguard of the oppressed in the struggle against fascist oppressors and plutocrats. As the old adage goes, the problem with arming rebels is that they have a tendency of turning on you once the revolution is successful and this was a clear case of The Revolution Will Not Be Civilised. Little did Scarlet know that Moira and NRI had a…contingency plan to deal with those rebels deemed…troublesome. Callisto had assisted Moira in capturing and then breaking a Rebel traitor who was sending out information to the secret police. Said traitor was used to spread disinformation, as all warfare is based on deception. Word was received that a Republic fleet was en route to the planet and so a plan was put into action. Rebel forces, many of them irregulars and poorly trained but determined workers, launched diversionary attacks on the shipyards and the bastille, believed to be the real target by the secret police due to having been fed false information. At the same time the capital city was rocked by a series of speeder bombings to spread chaos. While this happened the hardcore of the rebel army would launch an attack on the planetary defences to shut them down. In other hands, hundreds were being sacrificed on the game board.
For the rebels it was a gamble, but they were flush with Republic weapons and if they took the city and fought the mercenaries on their own they could have a claim to power the Republic could not disregard. It was Callisto who was responsible for performing a speeder bombing at a cantina frequented by officers that left the commander of the government’s mercenaries dead, along with plenty of innocent people who happened to be there when the bomb went off. She had volunteered to join the rebel commandos that were being smuggled into the shipyard to help the rebelling workers, but for reasons known only to her Moira had put her in the main assault team, which her squad thus rejoined. Perhaps because the agent knew that the diversionary units would all be sacrificed. The battle was furious and brutal, the government soldiers giving no quarter and the rebels sparing none. Callisto was injured but nonetheless fought fanatically, even as comrades died around her. Mercenaries who happened to be taken prisoner were cut down as the rebels took brutal vengeance, many also looting the houses of the rich. Rebel casualties were enormous, but the planetary shield generator was blown sky-high after its defences were penetrated. ‘Liberation’ seemed imminent as what was believed to be Republic Gunships roared across the ravaged city…but then the promised aid did not come. What happened after that is well-known. Fighting continued for several days and for a while hung in the balance, but those junta members who had survived managed to rally and struck back. Rebel positions and entire civilian districts were firebombed into submission, flames set the houses where they had sought shelter ablaze, rebels taken prisoner were publicly hung on lampposts for all to see and their families sent to the camps. At the same time the carrot was employed, promising amnesty to rebels who recanted. A promise that obviously was not kept, but with the Republic alliance having collapsed and several prominent rebel leaders dead the movement was in disarray. Callisto narrowly evaded capture and probably worse, perhaps the Force was with her. Moira had vanished in the chaos and she was left close to despair and full of hatred. Thousands had died – and many more would perish in the inquisition – someone she considered a friend, perhaps something like a maternal figure, had betrayed her.
What happened afterwards can be summarised briefly. Callisto vanished back into the slums and rejoined the resistance, managing to rally some comrades just as scattered as she was. She took over the leadership of what soon became a terrorist cell. With no coherent leadership the rebels fractured into various splinter groups that spent almost as much time fighting each other as they did the government. The Galaxy tried to forget about Contruum, though the atrocities that had taken place played an important role in many Jedi coming to the belief that the Republic’s Order no longer represented Jedi principles, resulting in what has been called the Fourth Great Schism. Callisto survived in the dark underworld, proving herself an efficient but ruthless team leader and began working with criminal gangs, using smuggling and abductions to finance the rebel operations. The struggle continued, though increasingly the fight became a cause in itself as there was little that separated the rebel groups from a terrorist protection racket, with the common people being caught in the crossfire.
Then Velok decided to be the ultimate troll and hold an auction after having raided the Jedi and Sith archives. A Jedi strike force went on an unauthorised mission to retrieve their stolen property and hunt a terrorist who had just vaporized two planets – and in the process the Republic ended up in a shooting match with the Black Sun, a member of the Ithor Treaty. Callisto had been busy organizing a suicide bombing on a police headquarters, but was terribly happy when it seemed like the Ithor Treaty might invade the Republic, then disappointed when that did not come to pass. Contruum city had been bombed from orbit by Black Sun during the intervention, leaving even more devastation. It was a convenient opportunity for rebels, mercenaries and commoners to loot, which they did with gusto. She felt a strong yearning to leave the planet and get back at the powers at be. It was then that Moira Skaldi once again returned to her life.
The Butcher of Contruum had moved on to become the Protectorate’s head of intelligence, then vanished after the battle of Yaga Minor, now worked with the Rebel Alliance and the Atrisian Empire as a gun for hire. Secretly she was plotting to bring about a machine revolution via Archangel, the new company she and Maelion Liates, her partner in crime, had founded. The first time Callisto encountered her again, in what was euphemistically called a liberated zone, where she was one of the junior officers despite her youth, responsible for ‘keeping order’ and ensuring the workers paid their contributions to the cause, she tried to ambush and kill her. This was…very ill-advised as the rebel team was beaten to a bloody pulp and Moira withstood her blaster rifle salvoes, closed the distance and threw her into a wall. It was then Callisto saw that her skin had been burnt away by the blast and beheld the metal beneath. The reunion was cut short by the appearance of rebels from a rival faction, who wanted to encroach upon this territory and also collect on the bounty that was on the Butcher’s head. “Come with me, if you want to live,” was all the droid had to say and so they vanished into the sewers, fighting as they went. What eventually emerged out of this was a very cynical deal. The rebels hated the Butcher…but she could offer them the things they needed: Guns, explosives, medicaments, intelligence. In return she wanted nothing more than....prisoners of war. Heretical rebels, captured government soldiers and mercenaries, uppity workers who did not understand that liberation came at a cost. The resistance could not provide for them or feed them anyway. They were just a burden and using a blaster bolt to kill them was a waste. It was recycling at its finest and soon Moira began delivering, usually accompanied by armed ‘humans’ just as cold as she was. Sometimes they wore the faces of the prisoners, but they seemed…different. Here and there Moira offered small tidbits of information, namely that she could…upgrade anyone who volunteered, make them strong and indomitable in combat.
Disillusioned Callisto wound up joining the Rebel Alliance, which at that time was fighting a guerilla war against Sith, Fringe and the Confederacy. Contruum, along with Hypori, was one of its primary recruiting grounds. The Rebellion was decentralised and run by a principle of leaderless resistance, with her obviously ending up in a rather radical cell, cutting a bloody swathe and leaving behind a string of bodies, though it was ultimately a struggle that was high on risk and minimal on reward. After a string of skirmishes, the last being the liberation of a Sith concentration camp for Mon Calamari and other ‘undesirables’, the Alliance was disbanded due to the Empire’s collapse. Many former Rebels ended up joining Silk Holdings, Firemane or wound up with the Levantine Sanctum patrolling wild space. Callisto considered that but found patrolling hyperlanes along the Mara Corridor with Firemane not to her liking and often clashed with her colleagues, something which resulted in disciplinary action being taken. Perhaps after having fought for so long she could not settle down and so she ended up drifting again.
Her path took her to an unexpected destination, namely the Fringe Confederation, as bizarre an alliance as that was. Callisto never bought into the idea that they were here to fight monsters, given how many Sith Lords and criminals they had in their ranks, but they were fighting the Republic. Her hatred for it had been strengthened by the events on Manaan during the Sith invasion, where Jedi Master Matsu Ike had hit Ahto City with a force-based storm and then later a third of the city had sunk into the ocean. So Callisto ended up fighting Republic troops at O’reen, fighting bravely. After the Jedi were forced to retreat the Fringe was gearing up for an invasion of Coruscant, but then the Republic sued for peace and the Treaty of Telos was signed, which established an uneasy peace between both great powers. With the war over and the Galaxy in an uneasy state of ‘peace’ she was left with her hatred but with no outlet. She might have left Contruum behind her, but evidently it had not left her. She ended up accepting an assignment with an irregular band of mercenaries and professional monster hunters employed by Fringe to scout out the northern unknown regions, which strictly speaking were a lot less unknown to her. The Galactic Empire had been assimilated into Fringe after its failed invasion of Fondor, but a good portion of its territory had been lost in the process and no did not have a firm hand governing them. The One Sith returned from the shadows and invaded Coruscant in a surprise attack, with the Jedi Temple being torn down in the process. In the name of the Dark Lord, whom Callisto is quite certain was a fraud, which is not at all this writer being metafictional, they went on conquering, though she did not have the heart to care. Let the core worlds experience for themselves what war felt like. She hunted splinter groups of Reavers that had survived Kerrigan’s Exterminatus, corsairs and Klaxxi, the brutality of the fighting whittling down her mercenary group. On some obscure planet where a mage connected to the Sorcerers of Rhand was said to be operating, she was attacked by Klaxxi and wound up being grievously injured, though she managed to kill the beast by stuffing a grenade in its mouth and blowing it up from the inside.
Though she was able to be med-evacced she was crippled and wound up in a Fringe hospital. When she came to there was a very familiar, mechanical blonde at her bedside. She had some interesting things to offer and Callisto agreed. At least that is how she remembers it. She would be reborn in a sterile chamber on the Liberator, the secret space station of Archangel Research and Design, as part of the second wave of HRDs, one of the initial subjects who would be created via the new processing device. Now she was seemingly cleansed of organic weaknesses and able to aid in bringing about a new order, in which machines would rule. There would be no more pointless wars, no duplicity, no class differences, but an order of logic, straight lines and rationality. In the process she has also been purged of most of those pesky organic emotions. The firm has decided that the best use of her skills would be to place her on the staff of a certain Aurelia Saelari, former Chancellor, former OP Chief Minister and now Senator of Pylos, to assist her in important duties. Assuredly Ms. Scarlett will be able to put her talents to productive use in the defence of freedom and democracy!
Last edited:
