Droids are Too Dumb

[Orn'om]

The Cataclysm and long war with the Sith before that had decimated Mandalore's population. It had never been like most planets where population centers were where the bulk of Mandalorians made their lives. Most of the population was spread out between remote settlements, villages, and towns across the planet's surface. They had formed small communities where your closest neighbor was probably 20 miles away, and so when the quakes and eruptions while the damage to cities like Keldabe and Krostport had been terrible, those out on their own were devastated. Having just reached the 1 billion mark before the Sith War, their numbers on world had plunged to its lowest in history. While he gave a job to almost any Mandalorian that asked, there just weren't enough of them to fill the gaps in security he was now facing.

Share holders didn't trust mercenaries enough, and had basically strong armed Zeke into this meeting on Cartao. He shifted in his seat and looked out of the viewport in his cabin as the ship began to break the cloud cover. Rolling plains and a winding river filled his view with the large Spaarti Cloning facility sitting neatly alongside the natural view.

"Sir," the pilot started over the ship wide com, "we've been cleared and are begining our decent. Strap in."

 

[Orn'om]

[oops]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

"The representative from MandalMotors has arrived, my Lady," the female Kaminoan was saying to the hologram of Taeli. Taeli was currently touring the training facility on Thyrsus, making sure everything was coming along nicely with the clone soldier programme. "I will keep you abreast of the discussions and any agreements reached."

"Very good, Ce," Taeli replied. The hologram faded out and the Kaminoan known as Ce Perlo, the chief of operations for Spaarti Creations, began walking through the facility to the landing pad. On the way, two clone soldiers that were acting as security fell into place behind her, each wearing the face of Khonsu Amon. She was curious if the Mandalorian representative would want soldiers of this template, or if they would be working with a new one. Something for her to consider in these discussions.

 

[Orn'om]

The shuttle's repulsors and its maneuvering jets hissed as the kom'rk came in for a landing and its wings assumed the position, orienting themselves towards the sky. Hydraulics forced the troop bay door open and a landing ramp clattered down to the pad. Clad in his standard black suit and beskar mythosaur pin, Zeke exited the shuttle, flanked by two Mandalorian guards. The air was fresh here, it reminded him of Mandalore. A cool breeze reminded him where he was however as it carried the trademark smell of antiseptic and other chemicals associated with labs and hospitals.

A tall Kaminoan was at the other end of the walkway, no doubt the contact he was meeting here. Ce Perlo, the chief of operations here. She was flanked by two guards of her own, their armor bright and new.

"Heh...They look like a couple of shinies," joked one of his Mandalorian guards. Skirata slang, apparently one of the many holdovers from some war a thousand years ago. Something to do with the newness of a soldier's armor. Zeke ignored the comment and instead focused on their walks. They were confident, trained, disciplined.

They would do nicely.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

"Mr. Farthan, welcome to Spaarti Creations," Ce greeted in that usual Kaminoan emotionless way, bowing her long neck in respect to the Mandalorian. Her gray eyes traveled over the armored guards with the MandalMotors representative. Her own guards remained at attention behind her, perfectly disciplined by their Thyrsian and Mandalorian trainers provided by the base template and Vilaz Munin. "If you will please follow me, we can get to our discussions."

She would gesture for him and his guards to follow her and her guards, leading them into the facility. There may have been a shorter path to her office, but Lady Raaf had said the presentation was always best. Show, don't tell. So their walk to her office would coincidentally be a small tour of the facility, from the cloning cylinders themselves to some soldiers beginning the initial training, designed to make sure the flash training had taken effect, under the supervision of their instructors before they were sent to the actual training facility.

"We are honored to have received your attention," she said as they walked. "We are still in a rebuilding stage since Miss Garner's disaster and then the stagnation. As you can see, we are striving to overcome such lasting legacies."

 

[Orn'om]

"Yes," Zeke agreed, "It seems like most of the Galaxy is rebuilding from some catastrophe or another."

He wasn't naive, Zeke had spent nearly his entire adult life in the business. Despite being slightly annoyed at the extra long walk, seeing the clones training and the pristine condition of their relatively new and updated cloning cylinders did bring a smile to his face. He loved industry, and he loved tech, even if he didn't understand it at first sight.

"Ho-ho," exclaimed one of the Mandalorian guards, <Now THOSE are some SHINIES. Look how he punches, my niece could punch better than that!>

<Your niece is also a Wookie.>

<Yeah, but she's a 20 year old Wookie, not even fully grown!>

The two were chattering in Mando'a. The stark difference between the two clones and the two seasoned Mandalorians was staggering, though Zeke had full faith in these two. Zeke sucked his teeth though, signalling it was time to cut the chatter as they finally made it to the office. One of the Mandalorians stopped at the door and nodded to the other before speaking, again in Mando'a.

<I'll be right outside boss, if you shout make sure you're on the ground so I don't hit ya on accident.>

<Right.> That was an unsettling thought.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

<What you see are clones that have only emerged from their tanks one day ago> Ce responded in perfect Mando'a, her voice still not betraying any emotion even in this tongue. Having heard every word of the guards with Mister Farthen, she had wanted to humble them a little. Because of some of their trainers, Lady Raaf had insisted that she and her chief technicians and cloners know the language of the Mandalorians and Thyrsians. <They shall be shipping out in a week to our training facility>

Reaching her office, she gestured for her guards to remain with Farthen's and stepped into the office. It was sparse, decorated in the seemingly bland white of Kamino, although her desk and chairs were more along the lines of normal amenities. It was oddly difficult to find pod chairs this far from home.

"Please, have a seat Mister Farthen and feel free to help yourself to whatever you like," she said, taking her own chair. She gestured at the small tray of refreshments on her desk already. "And now, to business."

 

[Orn'om]

Zeke shot both the Mandos a look, one of which sheepishly shrugged before the doors were closed.

"Thank you, I'll just have water," he said and grabbed one of the fancier sparkling waters from the tray before he sat down. The seat was...Superbly comfortable. He almost wanted to ask where they had found this chair and what it was made of, but then he took a glance around him and remembered where he was.

"Yes," he said before taking a sip of his water, "Business." He shifted in his chair and placed a small holoprojector on the table between the two of them. It activated with a short, happy sounding chirp and began displaying numbers and figures.

"As you've no doubt heard, the Mandalorians have had a rough time...A very rough time. Just as our population had finally started getting near that billion mark, a series of natural disasters and a massive civil war broke out among my people, bringing our numbers lower than they've been in a long, long time. With most families just trying to piece their lives back together and start small businesses of their own or are just flat out leaving the planet MandalMotors, who has hired mostly Mandalorian up to this point, is at a bit of a hard place right now."

He paused to switch the display to a chart showing the security needs of the company as it had grown over the year and where they had been, often surpassing the need. Zeke sucked his teeth.

"Now, as you can plainly see, as the company has grown as large as it has our need for security, good security, has jumped nearly five times what it was only a few years ago and there just aren't enough of us to go around. Private military contractors are too expensive, and often have their own ways of running security. We can't have that. We need cohesion and consistency, and I think your cloning operations, old reputation be damned, has the perfect kind of soldier to fill in our blanks."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

The destruction that Mandalore had gone through in recent years was unfortunate. Natural disasters, a civil war, and several schisms, why it was enough to break most civilizations. Except, these were the Mandalorians and if they were anything else, in Ce's experience thus far, it was they were absolutely stubborn. It was a remarkable quality of their people, the hardiness, and to her frustration, it seemed to be cultural and not genetic. Perhaps that was why Lady Raaf had insisted on Mandalorian instructors with the Thyrsians.

As Mister Farthen explained the current state of Mandalore, at least from the perspective of his company, she steepled her fingers on her desk. Stubborn though Mandalorians were, and dangerous, numbers didn't lie. They needed time to rebuild the population, but time did not stand still for anyone. With a growing company, full of trade secrets, being understaffed in security personnel was surely a nightmare. But as luck would have it, it was a nightmare that Spaarti could fix.

"Well, on behalf of Spaarti Creations, I can say we are glad you thought of us to assist with your security needs," Ce said, that gladness not translating into her words. "We are currently in a growth cycle ourselves, and mutually beneficial relationship with MandalMotors is very much desired. What numbers are you looking to commission and is there a specific genome you wish to have cloned or is our current genome satisfactory to you?"

She was unsure of his thoughts about having a cloned Thyrsians being his security.

 

[Orn'om]

"As long as I'm correct in assuming they undergo standard gene therapy the current template is fine. I've done my research you've chosen an interesting candidate for your template but your prior work speaks for itself. Spaarti has always had good clones." It felt strange saying the word clone. Really they should have been an industry standard, yet here he was only deciding to utilize them after losing millions in the wake of Mandalore's destruction. He wondered how the Galaxy would look at MandalMotors using clones as a main force of labor.

"Considering the requirement for both security and all of the logistics that goes with that...With our company spanning throughout the Galaxy I would say...Let's start at 1.5 million clones."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

"They are conditioned at the genetic level to be loyal to their commanding officer, not to their donor's culture," she confirmed. Given the genetic donor's... history and affiliations, she could understand why there might be hesitation and wariness if they were not performing the standard gene therapies needed to keep them loyal. Lady Raaf wanted happy customers, and Ce would, of course, make sure any potential customers such as Mister Farthen were at ease.

The number he had requested was significant, but certainly not impossible for Spaarti to provide. Between the current facilities and the facility on Cadomai... she did some quick math in her head to make sure her first calculations were correct.

"We currently have some 350,000 soldiers training at our training facility, with another 500,000 currently being grown or nearing completion at our cloning facilities," she said. "We can have the full breadth of your order finished within a standard month if that is acceptable."

 

[Orn'om]

"As long as they get to Mandalore," he said with a smile. "I'm glad this meeting was as productive as I'd hoped," he said as he nervously looked at his chrono, "I'm terribly sorry to cut this meeting short but I do have another meeting to get to on Vanir. My people will contact your people? And we can get this all squared away!"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

"Of course," Ce said, bowing her long neck. "My security will be sure to show you out to your ship. The hallways can be... rather confusing. I look forward to further working with your organization, Mister Farthen."

Once Mister Farthen and his security were on their way, Ce would return to her desk and activate her holotransmitter. The image of a robed and cloaked figure would appear.

"Mister Farthen and I have reached an initial agreement, my Lady," she said. "The final details will be cemented over the next few days, but as things stand, we will supplying soldiers for MandalMotors' security. A million and a half men."

"An interesting number, but excellent work, Ce," Taeli said.