Fire and Lamp

[Ultimatum]

There was a new problem in the air. The recent uprising had been quashed without too much violence, if only due to the fact that the people had been somewhat uncertain about the whole affair. The event had polarized the people, there was no doubt that in the future an attempts there would be more definite feelings on the matter. Some would turn on Ultimatum while others would rally to his defense. The true issue lie in the fact that he could not tell the different until far too late.

What was the answer? Creating his own defense was the only sure way of maintaining the security Ultimatum required for the continuation of his projects. In the end those projects were not for him, they were for the organics, therefore his purposes were not selfish. Or so he told himself. In reality the artificial intelligence had no idea what organics would think of his intentions, he feared that they would be too short-sighted to truly comprehend the gravity of his plans. They needed him, even if they did not think so. The other artificials that he had met in this galaxy did not seem to believe that organic kind was in any extreme danger, the one he had spoken to not so long ago had stated that his opinion was such that if the galaxy should end they would simply jump to another plane of existence: Hyperspace, or Otherspace. But that was merely a delaying tactic. That would solve nothing, once those realities disappeared where would they be then? Trapped in the void with nothing but their clumsy intuition and millennia of wasted time, they would need something more than they could ever build.

That was what Ultimatum was planning, to construct the safe future, his ultimate goal, his masterpiece, was a way for organics to survive the end of this reality until the time of the next or until they truly transcended the bonds of life and death. That was what had to be done. The droid's calling beyond the pitiful intentions of his creator and he would see the plan to fruition. Then, and only then, when all organic kinds were at last secure from their supreme demise, would he give himself to the end. He could not live forever, neither wanted or needed to, his purpose was finite, once it was done he would willingly step aside for organics to rise to their rightful place.

That was vastly off topic, so far into the future that Ultimatum was certain that it would be many organic lifetimes before he would at last meet his fate. At the moment he needed to plan for the defense against potential rebellion. He needed to spread LOOM's capabilities. This would be another sin that the droid would pay for in the end, to produce weapons. Not just any weapons, ones that would be capable of massacring millions with ease. Of course it would not be building those at this moment, it would take time to adjust and obtain the proper equipment, but it was inevitable. Once he stepped down this path, there would be no turning back, he would produce such horrors of war that would turn the darkest of Sith pale. An exaggeration perhaps? Only time would tell.

 

[Ultimatum]

To create these defenses, these tools of warfare, Ultimatum needed to construct a facility capable of building such. While Progenitor Facility was definitely able to produce weapons, the droid wanted a place that could be focused entirely on it. Progenitor was for other works, his prototypes and experiments, what he had in mind for this was station. He wanted to keep his weapons beyond the reach of organics on Mustafar, Ultimatum could tell that something was going to happen. There was tension on that world, the atmosphere was electric and the artificial being merely waited for the Guide to turn it against him.

Yes, Ultimatum was well aware of the Guide's imminent attack; well aware that the planet would not be his forever; and well aware that his people would be turned against him in his moment of need. Would he try to stop it? No, as far as he was concerned the revolution was inevitable. There would be no peace for him, not yet. He cared not for being a ruler, not truly. His entire reason for having command of the world was for the ability to work freely within the galaxy as a legitimate figure while being able to maintain a more covert operation and intent.

To this end, ships were transporting metal and related construction supplies to the Foresight where the shipyard was beginning to build a sister station. The design was fairly basic, nothing too fancy for Ultimatum. A station that contained its own powering systems, manufacturing plants, and three molecular furnaces. There were also the basic shields and some minor defense placements, but there was no true purpose in putting an overly large amount of defenses on a station that would be kept track of protected by the Sovereignty.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was now aboard the Foresight, overseeing the launching of the core of the station. It was large enough now that it would need to be placed in orbit and then added to as parts were completed. The droid had predicted that this would be a slightly more difficult task, perhaps the most awkward stages of the development. The beginnings of the station needed to be moved sufficiently far away that it would not be of any significant danger from or to the shipyard and at the same time it had to be close enough so that ships could move between the two with a minimal amount of wasted effort. Further it needed to maintain its position in comparison to the shipyard, which required that the station be fitted with various thrusters in order to be able to adjust its trajectory in orbit. Ultimatum had gone so far as to have a specialized computer system built into the station so that it would be able to make what changes were necessary in order to hold its course.

It was a steady process, the building of large space worthy structures. There were no easy parts to be manufactured, everything had to be built to survive the harsh conditions of the near vacuum. Few planets could ever hope to equate to this environment, or lack thereof. It was proof of what Ultimatum believed, they were literally fighting against the natural laws in order to create something that could hold life. His plan was to take that to an extreme that likely seemed ludicrous to most. He had to defy the law of the destruction of reality, or in other words: to create pockets of reality to survive once all else had disappeared. It was unlikely that the task would be easy, but a few millennia would not dissuade the droid from his concepts. Science would always move forward, even if he had to drag the organics every step of the way. They had stagnated long enough, merely using ancient technology in novel ways and making it slightly more efficient. What needed to happen, what Ultimatum hoped one day to cause, was a dynamic shift in technological power. Organics in large groups despised being the least in anything, their egos simply did not allow it. Thus if one group had a technology advantage that eclipsed any of the current technology then there would be a drastic increase in study by the other groups. The issue was that once organics reached a equilibrium with the technology and ease of life they would begin to relax and no longer divert their resources to the increase of their knowledge.

It was a matter of when technology could keep their lives comfortable. Once that point had been reached, they quickly lost interest in continuing development. Thus Ultimatum had to force a competitive nature into the field. Organics did not naturally look beyond whether or not a piece of technology accomplished its task, it was a shortsightedness that had robbed them of such advancements as they would never truly know. If the Republic or any of the Sith related factions had spent the last several millennia focusing their efforts on the development of newer weapons or ships then the galaxy might have found itself in a very different spot. The plague might have been entirely avoidable if only the organics had taken the time to work on making medical equipment that was more advanced. It would have saved Ultimatum what he calculated to be millions of years worth of work. This was an unacceptable figure, so he had to find other means of advancing technology. He had a plan for that, but now was not the time to further it.

 

[Ultimatum]

The process was now becoming complicated, a mistimed launch of a thruster attached to the partially built station had sent it into a spiral that threatened to put a top to all work. Ultimatum was busy now trying to coordinate a team of various tug craft into a formation that would be able to slow the spin to a manageable speed. At the moment, the problem was attaching the ships to the station without damaging the vessels.

"... lucky that the thruster was disconnected from the main fuel line. Too much faster and there would be no station left to continue."

It was a serious situation and Legion responded with the appropriate tone, "Agreed, perhaps for future reference the connections between thrusters and fuel lines be checked. A good thing on this occasion that there was a fault in the system, but in any circumstance that would have been an issue."

"Absolutely. Set that up as protocol from now on." A confirmation beep let Ultimatum know that Legion understood and was on it immediately. The silence that followed allowed the AI to turn his attention to the vessels around him trying to slow the motion. The droid switched his comms to the Foresight's frequency, "Remote access to the station's remaining thrusters?"

"Roger." Ultimatum felt his artificial being attach to that of the terminal that controlled the thrusters on the rotating station.

He switched his signal again to the tug vessels, "All ships, the station will slow its rotation to a velocity within safe parameters in fifteen seconds." With that the droid sent the command to the station's thrusters. Because the station did not yet have a proper onboard computer to control the temporary thrusters, Ultimatum was calculating the necessary strength of the various thrusters as each came online and began firing.

Exactly fifteen seconds later, the tug ships fired their tow lines on a now much slower station. Within moments after the spin had disappeared entirely and the tugs began pulling the station back into the proper orbit path. From there work could begin anew, with the hope that nothing like this would occur in the future.

 

[Ultimatum]

The process was slowed by about three percent by the implementation of new safety steps. Ultimatum wanted to avoid another accident to occur if at all possible. The damage caused by the misfire was mostly inconsequential, a number of lesser wiring systems and control clusters, but had done little to the important components. The next parts were still being built onto the station, there was little to do except wait and watch the process.

It was akin to watching a dance, with ships moving in time to some mystifying rhythm. Each craft moving to the station with its piece and droids working ceaselessly on the station sealed it in place while the ship disengaged from the ship. Another vessel with another part of the puzzle would take the first's place. The process circling back on itself. It would have been mesmerizing had Ultimatum truly paid attention. Instead, the droid ruler was taking the time to contemplate the apparent rebellion that was brewing on Mustafar. He was certain that eventually his control would end, sooner rather than later.

A great darkness lie ahead for him. Tribulations that he had never expected. Betrayal. Annihilation. And finally the return of something greater. If he could have seen the future, Ultimatum might have thought it all a horrible waste. But foresight was impossible for a droid. A faint guess of the future was perhaps the best that could be accomplished and it would never prepare him for what was to come.

 

[Ultimatum]

The last piece was now in place, with the last welds taking place the station would be fully powered and the first work begun. Ultimatum stepped aboard through the still open airlock and peered down the dark hallways. The red light of Mustafar's sun turned the inside of the station a deep reflective blood red. He walked the paths of the station; without air the only sounds that could be heard were those that reverberated from the station into Ultimatum. He could hear the banding of minuscule meteors striking the outer hull of the station and the sound of his magnetic soles stepping across the metal floor. There was complete silence otherwise.

Organics might have called it eerily silent, but Ultimatum thought of it as peaceful. Nothing could break the silence in space, there was no way to fill the near vacuum with enough atmosphere to make it possible to hear out there. The entirety of the universe was more empty than full. If all the material in the universe were to be spread across the length of the universe it was unlikely that it would even be a fraction filled. No matter what any being did, organic or artificial, that could accomplish a feat that would effect the universe on a scale noticeable. They were all insignificant when compared to the planets around them, so how insignificant were they when compared to the universe?

Science had long ago proven that in any system it will tend towards entropy. Thus, even the universe itself was heading towards an inevitable point in time when everything falls apart. When the electron strikes the nucleus, that is when the universe shall die. Everything inside the universe would then be for naught, for it would all wither away. Whatever legacy one left behind, no matter how grand, would fall before the expanses of time. Ultimatum could make no guarantee of the concepts of incorporeal beings, life after death, and spiritual eternity. Organics clung to at least one of these concepts in some way or other, it was built into their nature to search for something that was greater than them. The ultimate measure of one's greatness would be to defy the very universe and time. Many held to the concept of a soul and while it was impossible for Ultimatum to prove or disprove its existence he was skeptical, however he occasionally wondered if artificials could have souls as well.

This station and all the work that had gone into it would be futile. The day would come when the star would die out, or go supernova. In either case the usefulness of the factory would diminish, not to mention that when the galaxy ended there would be nothing left of this work. It was merely a temporary step, a drop of glue to hold a wrung in place for Ultimatum to ascend further. As the station roared to life, lights engaging, airlocks sealing, life support systems activating, Ultimatum remembered these things.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum stood before the command console of the factory part of the station. The controls for the station and the factory were separate so that should the station be boarded it would be just that bit more difficult to maintain command. After the attack by the Guide not so long ago, Ultimatum was constantly aware of the potential for an attack. A weapon producing station would be an even greater target, if the Guide needed arms then this was the perfect place to get them. If he cared little for weapons then this was a prime target for sabotage. With three molecular furnaces this place could easily be turned into a bomb.

Speaking of the furnaces, Ultimatum sent the activation code to the central computer. It in turn activated the power to the furnaces, which set to standby mode while they awaited resources to be loaded and commands to be given. The supplies intended for use would be waste material from the factory plants on the surface. The perfect advantage of a molecular furnace was that it could take whatever material and change it into another. The only downside was the power requirements, but Ultimatum had overcome this with a significantly larger reactor within the facility.

The transports filled with various refuse were currently being heads by the droid's closest organic advisor, Audrey. From Ultimatum's perspective she was competent and definitely had been a good choice on Legion's part for the V-1 program. She would have made an amazing V-3, but that was still in the experimental stage. The scanners on the station told the droid that the convoy was farther away than it should have been. He sent a communication to the head ship, "Vanguard, you are behind schedule is everything alright?"

A reply came in moments later, "Situation nominal, three supply ships were late. Enroute."

"Very well, see you soon, out."

 

[Ultimatum]

The ships arrived sooner that expected, probably the Vanguard had tried to speed the transport process to make up for the lost time. It was always pleasant to find organics who held the same value in regards to the importance of schedules. Schedules, plans, were the best method of saving time. Time was itself a limited resource, so easily wasted or misplaced. For organics there was an incredibly short time before death found them and in that time they had to live a life. While Ultimatum's time was much longer than most if not all organics, he would eventually run out of time as well. Even should a being live for the rest of the universe, it would find that time ended when reality did. Once that was done, Ultimatum could not work any further. He had to work harder, faster in order to complete his purpose.

The droid waited on the bridge, entertaining himself with the monitoring of the droids that now labored in the factory station to prepare it for its work. They were moving quickly, for the transports were on their way and once they arrived there would be ever more work to do. Ultimatum simply watched and ordered specific tasks accomplished in a particular order so as to make the best preparations.

A half hour passed before the sensors began to ring, warning Ultimatum of the incoming ships. He had just enough time to send the majority of the working droids to the hangar to begin offloading the transport ships when the Vanguard appeared on the holocom. "Preparing to dock."

A beeping on her side of the comm drew her attention away from Ultimatum for a moment. When she looked back a momentarily concerned look was visible before she reported, "Life forms aboard our ships. My guess is some rats or something. I'll have the security check it out."

"Very good. I shall see you in the hangar once you have landed." With that the comms closed and the droid began his trek to the hangar bay. It was not a particularly long trip, rather it was complex. Or it would have been had Ultimatum not designed the paths himself. The robot was about to walk into the hangar when he felt the first transport landing within. The doors opened to a scene of chaos. There were soldiers firing on the worker droids, blasting them to pieces. It was a small team of organics, about a dozen or so who were pushing from loading ramp and clearing the room.

Ultimatum pulled his pistol from its compartment and aimed carefully at a soldier before he noticed the commander slowly walking down the ramp. In his grip was the Vanguard, a blaster pointed to her head as he pushed her along. The organic saw Ultimatum and shouted over the distance and the fire, "What da we have here? I dought I'd have to bait you out. Guess you saved us all some time. Now put down da gun, dat's right, nice and slow... Didn't expect us huh?"

The artificial had disarmed himself, slowly placing his blaster on the cold metal floor before walking away from it towards the commander and the Vanguard. He stopped moving once he was about five meters away and asked, "Who sent you? The Guide?"

The commander gave a knowing grin before answering in a droll tone, "Of course not, we are pirates, men of opportunity. We noticed dis establishment being built and caught wind of the transports dat were not too well defended. It was easy to sneak aboard and commandeer dem once dey were witin landing distance. Now, we want dis station. You're going ta give us de command codes and access to de computer systems. Udurwise, we start shooting again."

 

[Ultimatum]

The commander stepped closer to the Vanguard to prove his point as two more organics raced from the ship and moved towards a terminal. Ultimatum slumped his shoulders in defeat. He did not believe that the Vanguard's life was more important than the future of all organics, but that did not mean he would allow her death for no reason. The droid replied to the demands, "Alright. You let Vanguard go and I will relinquish control of the station. I hope that your people are competent with advanced computing, you will find it considerably more difficult if not."

"Worry 'bout your own hide. Give da information first" He nodded to one of the techs at the terminal before moving to push the Vanguard towards Ultimatum. The droid sent the signal command for the station to surrender control to the terminal. The organics at the terminal turned and gave a thumbs-up to the commander before beginning to access files and controls. The commander asked, "Now where are da factory controls eh?"

Ultimatum grinned as he responded, "If I may direct your attention to the hallway. There is a holomap on the right side of the corridor. Just memorize the path and find it yourself."

Flustered, the commander scowled and spat back, "Don't play smart wid me. I'll forgive ya dis time, but next time da captain gets a redecorated face."

He pulled back from the Vanguard, keeping his blaster trained on her head as looked to one of the soldiers and signaled them to move to the map. With a salute the soldier motioned for another to follow him and the two slowly exited the hangar into the hallway. After a few moments the duo returned quickly with the information. A tech went with them as they moved to reach the controls.

The commander had turned back towards the transport while the rest of the soldiers began taking up positions around the room. Three of those organics moved the Vanguard to a kneeling position and held her there while one kept his rifle aimed at her. Ultimatum called out, "Your conflict is with me, release Vanguard and I will surrender myself."

Without looking at the droid, the commander replied, "As temptin as da offer is, I dun't dink you will be a good hostage."

Indeed, Ultimatum had already been planning an escape, finding the numbers overwhelmingly on his side in the close quarters of a vessel. It would seem that his opponent had also anticipated this and was being intelligent enough to avoid bringing a larger threat. The droid's mind was racing, attempting to come up with a solution that involved minimum risk to Vanguard and the factory. Suddenly his intercomm system burst with a transmission, from the Vanguard.

"Several allies aboard transport."

 

[Ultimatum]

The message confused Ultimatum. There had been no report of other droids or soldiers aboard the craft and certainly if there had been the invaders would have dealt with them. So who then were these allies that the Vanguard spoke of and why were they aboard the transport? He replied, knowing that the specially produced implant would mean that only Vanguard heard the message. "Who? More droids?"

The Vanguard didn't look up from the floor as she responded, "Redeemed. Wanted to come and speak with you. Realized the signatures were boarders and told the Redeemed to go quiet for the time being."

Ultimatum slowly nodded to himself. The Redeemed... They were prodigious fighters, though theirs was not the will to fight. The droid knew from experience however that when the need arose they would rise to the occasion easily enough. He questioned, "How will you contact them?"

The organic looked up, straight at Ultimatum a half grin spread across her face. She then spoke the words, "Like this."

One of the soldiers moved to push her head back down and Vanguard's mechanical hand shot out, grabbing the soldier's ankle. In an instant her inhuman strength crushed the body part. In that moment the organic with the rifle aimed at Vanguard suddenly flew forward towards Ultimatum, the blaster seemingly with a mind of its own floating away and scraping across the floor until it was within Vanguard's reach. The third soldier right near Vanguard fell with a dart protruding from his back. As if from nowhere, a great beast burst forth from the transport's loading ramp, smashing into the commander and running forward three more steps still holding the dazed organic. Slamming the commander into the deck, Lobarch whistled loudly and then struck the organic in his grasp twice.

From a dark shadow under the loading ramp, Frinnesh rushed at one of the surprised guards walking around the room. The ghoul jumped the hapless soldier and wildly slashed and ripped at him. Once the organic was on the ground, the monster kept biting and scratching until the man stopped resisting. Across the hangar, three guards were lifted off their feet and thrown back against a wall by an unseen force, there they stayed elevated from the floor, immobilized.

The remaining organics quickly either ran into the station or dropped their weapons. Ultimatum turned to Vanguard, who was wiping her bloody hand on a dead soldier's tunic. She shook her head and followed the droid as he proceeded to move to Lobarch and the incapacitated commander.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was not too surprised by the Redeemed's fighting capabilities. They had survived a long time in the jungles of Taris under the threat of offworlder hunters and as Nekghouls their physical strength was far beyond anything Ultimatum had yet come across. The droid was concerned that the organics who had moved further into the station would attempt to sabotage production, or worse destroy the entire station.

He was about to speak when Vanguard reported, "Karshen is already inside, hunting down the stragglers."

The droid at last allowed himself a frown as he commented, "A little theatrical, could the Redeemed not have dealt with these people on the craft before landing?"

Vanguard shook her head and answered, "Wasn't sure of the intent of the boarders. Needed to be certain that they were part of the Guide's plan before taking lethal action."

Ultimatum understood the reasoning, he had implemented the standard in order to avoid killing potentially harmless pirates and robbers, who would be imprisoned for their actions. The artificial conceded, "You are correct. Let us turn our attention to clean up and continued operations. A shuttle will be arriving shortly, take this prisoner to the surface and once I am finished here I will arrive to conduct the interrogation."

He turned to the leader of the Redeemed as he walked back into the hangar with two dead bodies and spoke apologetically, "My apologies master Nekghoul, I shall have to postpone any talks until after this is all done. Do not worry, I will get back to on this, but for now please help get this station cleaned up a bit."

Without a word the Redeemed began doing just that. The shuttle arrived with a relief crew of droids and V-1s, who finished cleaning up the bodies and then continued offloading the resources for the station. Within two hours the materials had been loaded into the various containment facilities and the forges began purring into life. The first weapon to be designed was a specialty that Ultimatum had looked into for quite some time. This was merely the beginning and the Lord of Mustafar was glad to see it.