Rebirth of the Monarch

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum took the west entrance and was cautious as he made his way to a receptionist. He kept himself at high alert, in case of some form of foul play. He did not expect that [member="Lady Kay"] would attack him, not yet anyways. But if she did, the droid did not anticipate survival being easy to accomplish. Before Kay had seemed to spend little time honing her Force abilities, finding more constructive things to do with her time, but as a Sith Ultimatum expected she would be more knowledgeable about the Force. That was one thing he had no guard against, at this point anyways.

The droid waited quietly until the appointed hour. He was willing to wait even longer, given the fact that there had been apparently an accident and no doubt the Queen was quite busy with other matters. The extra time allowed him to mentally work on other issues as well. At the moment he was focusing his attention on having some more droids constructed and two volunteers collected for the new program he intended on instituting. This turn of events merely demonstrated what the droid had known all along but had not been willing to believe: that organics could not be trusted to maintain the same ideals for an extended period of time, that they had to be watched, and finally that he would have to have contingencies in place to deal with the unexpected betrayals.

It was unfortunate that this was true. He wished that organics could be as constant as artificials. At least when he worked with Legion and his prototype AI he knew what they would think and that they would turn against him. Even the V-2s were more consistent, trustworthy, and unwavering than the normal organics he had met. How could an entire society of beings even function with all of this betrayal and corruption. As far as Ultimatum was concerned, it was a simple answer: It didn't.

 

[Ryn'Dhal]

The Sith Lord began his onslaught without hesitation. Good.... the young Jedi's HUD began recording, and simultaneously transmitting a live feed, the recording being sent directly to any allies he'd had the good sense to address the feed to, namely Veiere, Ghorua, and Ultimatum.

Were it not for his natural blessing if superior agility, further enhanced by the Force, Ryn's special hybridization of Soresu and Ataru would have been barely able to stave off the brutal advance. Breaking away, he placed some distance between himself and the volatile Titan. "My 'brother', gone without a trace, my 'family', attacked on all sides, and you....." he gestured to the mad Titan, saber trembling slightly in hand, "took the only family I had left, and returned her as a fallacy!!!!"

He then violently removed his helmet, revealing a series a angry, red scars upon his furred face, and a wild fury in his eyes. "For your sins, I will taste your screams....." he snarled, before launching forth in a blinding rush of motion. Mid charge, with a flick of his tail, a collection of the debris left behind from the Sith Lords's 'demonstration' with Thraxis was sent flying at the Sith to distract him from the approaching flurry of lightning fast strikes, first from the left, down low, then suddenly from the right, up high. There was one realm in which this Jedi was almost singularly gifted above and beyond, and that was speed.

Abundant. Speed.

[member="Veiere Arenais"] | [member="Ghorua the Shark"] |​

[member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Stardust Raxis"] | [member="Sareen Zar"] |​

[member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Ultimatum"] |​

[member="Connor Harrison"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]​

 

[Samka Derith]

"Hm," Samka could merely shrug at [member="Lady Kay"]'s explanation. "You're waiting for them to be weaker than unarmed and imprisoned? So be it." Either Kay was a sadist who wanted to give hope then take it away or... this was an excuse made to cover her mercy. She strongly suspected the later but would not say so aloud. "Go meet with your friend," she said referring to @Ultimatum. "I can finish up."

Once the monarch was out of earshot, she daintily walked up to [member="Darlyn Excron"] and looked up at him. It was her first time seeing his face. Sam preferred the mirror mask on, that way she could see her own fair reflection instead of this scarred face. "So," she queried with a cocked head, "what's your game here?" The teenager may be small and youthful but in many respects that only made things more eerie when she wanted it to, a small probing tendril of cold fear which naturally accompanied the girl would slither it's way through the Hunter's body and encroach on his mind.

 

[Darlyn Excron]

His game? The woman was smart to be suspicious, after all these were very... strange times to say the least. However, he had to stay focused, and calm. The tendrils of fear reaching for his mind could be resisted, somewhat, but it was impossible to deny he was feeling the effects of her presence. Perhaps his darker nature was providing some level of ease, even in such a situation, but the man had to play it off as more concern for Kay, and not fear of the woman in front of him.

He didn't fear her. No, that couldn't be true. It wasn't true. He was aware of what was going on... it was just a presence. He could, he would resist. She was no more terrifying than any other. "My game? Well it's very simple, I've explained it quite clearly in fact. I owe [member="Lady Kay"] my life, for saving me on Bespin. I was in the neighborhood after a hunt, and decided to take the opportunity to repay it in kind. Given my experience breaking into such areas as this, I assumed I would be a rather nice fit keeping people out. " Would [member="Samka Derith"] believe him? She had no reason not to (to the best of his knowledge) aside from his old companionship with Ghorua. Yet even that was.. flimsy. Hunters often knew one another after all, and even occasionally ended up on jobs together. So that was far from unusual...

Not to mention not a single word he gave her was a lie. There was absolutely nothing untrue, Kay saved his life. He just merely happened to be on the planet. He figured he could repay his debt, and would be a good replacement for Einon. Nothing was a lie. Perhaps a bit lacking in the full story, but even that which he gave her created a very clear picture of chance and circumstance, not something unusual in a galaxy as large as this. "Now then, are you satisfied, Miss? I imagine as the Queen's new Head of Security, my place ought to be by her side until lockdown has finished. Wouldn't you agree?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay could hear the commotion raised by [member="Ryn'Dhal"] and [member="Darth Prazutis"] . Did she want to watch her Master utterly destroy one that was part of her old life? A part of her did. They didn't try to save her afterall. So there was no need for her to try to save him.

She looked to [member="Samka Derith"] as she spoke, clearly not believing Kay's explanation of why she made the choice that she did. But why would she need to answer to Sam? She was the Queen and Sam was but a guest, a representative of an ally. So there was no need to make her see her strategy.

And now to see another. Kay went down the hall to meet [member="Ultimatum"] . From their past communications that she had found in her datapad, she knew him to be a well enhanced droid. He had no emotional attachment to her, so it was hard to predict what his reaction would be. Would he scold her? Would he walk away disappointed? Who knows?

She approached him, hands clasped in front of her. "Ultimatum? What do I owe the honour of this visit?"

*****************************

Einon, on the other hand, had made it into the canyon. He wasn't sure of where the ship was. Surely [member="Ghorua the Shark"] didn't have it cloaked or something? He could've walked right past it. He brought up his commlink from his pocket and just held it. Best to wait for the Herglic to get back to him first.

 

[Ultimatum]

It was possible that Kay remembered him, or that she simply had information on him readily available. He had no method of finding out. He simply had to act as if nothing were wrong, as much as it would aggravate him. Ultimatum smiled politely as he replied, "I had been told of your return to Commenor and wished to see that you were in good health." The droid took a moment to gather his thoughts, millions of questions, accusations, and commands that fought to be released from his cores. Yet what came out was far from what he would normally have spoken in the current circumstance, "And as is no doubt obvious, I came to seek business. We were and still are allies and based on your 'coronation' speech to the people you plan to expand the military capabilities of Commenor. I wish to aid if you would accept."

Ultimatum wondered if [member="Lady Kay"] could detect his lies. From what little he truly understood of the Force, he could not be read through it. His comprehension was that the Force was largely incapable of sensing artificial beings on their own merit. A rather useful fact that truthfully Ultimatum had yet to take full advantage of. At the same time, it was possible that she remembered enough about him to tell he was lying.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay bowed her head as straight away, [member="Ultimatum"] wasn't doing what others had done. He wasn't scolding her or telling her how disappointed he was. Instead he was interested in doing business. Finally. At last she was moving forward now instead of moving backwards.

Droids don't normally lie. And given that he wasn't 'living', the Force was of little help in figuring out his motives. Droids tended to be straightforward. From their past communications, it seemed as though his offer to aid her in that aspect was there before. That hadn't changed at all since her return and rise as Monarch.

Kay smiled and bowed her head. "I will gladly accept. Thank you. Shall we go over some specifics?" She gestured for him to follow her down the hall, away from the fighting and the noise. "I want to rebuild the ship factories, among other things. Would you be able to help with that? And when can you start?"

 

[Ultimatum]

The droid was pleasantly surprised that his deception had been so readily received. He wondered if perhaps the fighting that he had picked up was perhaps related to some of her other friends, ex-friends more likely. It would not surprise Ultimatum to hear that associates such as [member="Ryn'Dhal"] would not accept Kay's change so openly. Of course, he did not truly accept the alteration of his ally, but his distaste would not be revealed at any time for the foreseeable future.

Ultimatum bowed in response to her initial speech before following her down the hall. As she asked of his ability to aid in the reconstruction of the ship manufacturing facilities the droid was struck with the similarity of the request with one he had worked with before. Another Sith, the first the artificial being had ever truly began to deal with in business. Perhaps that was why he was willing to pretend to be a friend of the new Kay, he had already experienced the same sort of mentality once before and had come to learn how to work with it.

Her questions were valid and Ultimatum was more than certain of his own ability to aid her with it. "Certainly I can help with such a project. I can have ships begin bringing supplies as needed within ten hours. How soon would you prefer to have the ships arrive? They could wait until the atmosphere has calmed here a bit more if you would prefer." He commented, pointing back down the hall where the fighting and noise had been heard before.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay was pleased to hear that such help by [member="Ultimatum"] could come so quickly. They had helped eachother a lot in the past, it seemed, yet it puzzled her that memories of him were stripped away from her as well. Were they really that close? Did her old self have a fondness for droids? Or was this one in particular different from the rest? All of that would probably be discovered later.

"Ten hours seems a bit too quick. A week would suffice. That should be enough time. I'd rather be prepared, rather than caught unawares should my enemies come. Yet I want to be sure that we are ready for your aid as well." She was going to have enemies come at her from all sides. The time to gain more allies is now.

"You'll of course be compensated." She wasn't about to cheat him out of anything. That just wasn't her way. At least not yet.

 

[Ultimatum]

She offered compensation, that was fair of her and an unanticipated act to the droid. Ultimatum, based on his previous work with Sith, had been expecting a more exploiting behavior. Then again, he realized, there was a flaw in his judgment. He had made an assumption that Kay was now a Sith and while some of the evidence did indeed point towards that direction, there was no direct confirmation of that conclusion. It was illogical therefore to assume that she was Sith, yet at the same time enough of the markers were there that Ultimatum wanted to be careful in case she was. It was a contest of logic verses caution and every time caution won.

"I would be most appreciative of compensation should you feel so inclined. If it would help, I could have an outlet for LOOM constructed on Commenor; it would give easier access to what vehicles and weapons that I can give." He had to at least be as accommodating as possible, given that there would be a great deal of tumult for this new ruler. Whether or not she was Sith, whether or not she had been his friend, and whether or not she would turn on him at some point in the future. He had to be the better being. Perhaps by being an example he could lead [member="Lady Kay"] back to the light.

However, until he could figure out a full solution, Ultimatum needed a method of staying close to Kay. That was what he had been thinking and putting through on Mustafar. "I have a guard unit that I would be most gladdened to add to your personal security, in fact that was their initial purpose before your disappearance." Another false statement, while he had contemplated building a unit before to help protect Kay, she had never truly seemed to need it. Now though, she was different and Ultimatum was willing to bet that she could handle herself in a fight. Still, if he could get these guards to be accepted then at least he could have an ear close to Kay.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay blinked. An outlet for LOOM? That would certainly mean more business, a boost to the economy should some businesses choose to leave after her rise in power. "An outlet would be most welcome, [member="Ultimatum"] . Keep in mind that I don't play favourites, so your tax and tariff discounts will be the same as all others."

She kept her pace even while she walked, almost unaware of everything else that was happening. Her focus was on the future right now.

He spoke of a guard unit then, tailored for her. A pity it wasn't around beforehand, but then she wouldn't be a Queen right now if she hadn't of been captured by her Master. "A guard unit, you say? And what would they specialize in? Would they be able to detect Force users? I can imagine that I'll be getting many more visitors, some with ill intent. And no doubt there will be assassins as well."

 

[Ultimatum]

Well another place for LOOM to step into was always welcome. More resources would allow for an increased gross production, which would in turn aid in the dispersion of LOOM into the galaxy. The droid hoped that someday the company would be able to produce whatever he required wherever he needed it. The galaxy was far too large to be stingy on resource expenditure. In the chaos it was treacherous not to have access to the supplies and weapons needed to survive.

[member="Lady Kay"] then asked perhaps the most crucial question that Ultimatum could have been required to answer. The defense team would need a method of detecting Force users. He had one way, however it was not even in experimental stages, much less tested. There was relatively ancient technology, that used a specialized crystal to sense Force users based on their aura. It was little more than a theory, advancing the technology to fit a more mobile purpose. Of course, this meant that this first unit would not be able to take advantage of Force sensing technology for some time.

"They will be a combination of organic and artificial units. They shall have specialized training in all necessary defensive fields, with a definite anti-Force user training. It will be a small unit, probably less than twenty people totally. The unit needs to be small enough so as to avoid being detected or planned for by most would be assassins." That the people within the unit would be the receive and pass the most demanding training possible and would therefore be the very elite, superior to guards of most any rank, went unspoken. "I can not truly give any more information until the unit is closer to completion. But does it suit your needs for the moment?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

It sounded to her as though [member="Ultimatum"] was giving her the best of the best. They weren't Force users, but capable of combatting them. That suited her just fine. Most still didn't know that she was a Force user, and there were many governments that were untrusting of them. So having that hidden was a great benefit to her and Commenor. But she will only be able to keep such a huge secret for so long.

Kay bowed her head to him. "It suits my needs very well, thank you. I'd like to meet all of them when they are ready and get all of their files. It'll be better if I knew who was watching over me." There was bound to be loyalists that would seek to take her out. The only way that she could lose the throne was either through death or if she chose to step down. She hadn't planned on either for a long time.

There was much that she had to do.

"Thank you for the support. My return has brought a lot of negativity here. But I will change that." Oh yes. She had her ways of getting rid of the fighting spirit amongst dissidents.

 

[Darth Prazutis]

​Grief, anger, hate.

​The dark side swelled within the self proclaimed Jedi Master one who the Dark Lord apparently took everything from. The hateful gleam behind his eyes told Darth Prazutis everything he needed to know, this Jedi was on the edge. The Jedi always knew where the line was, always knew how to toe said line, and ensured they never crossed it. They always prided control over their emotions holding in their anger, and hate never allowing them to take root. But this Jedi? He was just one of many who had been pushed ever too close to the edge, and just one thing could send them over the cliff into the dark side.

​That was [member="Lady Kay"].

​For someone of his immense size and strength the Dark Titan was nightmarishly quick, a deceptive speed that often caused the end of those he fought. They never expected someone of his size, his caliber of strength to move with such speed and agility. But when [member="Ryn'Dhal"] struck out tossing debris at the dark lord, before lunging forth. This feline was quick, what he lacked in strength he more than made up for in speed. When the Dark Lord stopped his assault to wield the force in shielding himself from the shattered debris the man lunged at him, his blade striking a blow on the phrik plates of his shoulder. A blow that should've cut the mans arm off if he hadn't been wearing battleplate equipped with phrik plating. The energy of the blade sparked and scorched on the phrik cutting but not penetrating its surface, the extreme resistance of phrik was well known. However continued blows eventually ​with great effort could cut through.

​However it appeared as if the Destroyer was taken back by the felines strikes, a hit on the shoulder, one down low on the left striking true. But immediately he began his assault once more. Instead the Dark Lord switched to a different style meant for single combat, a makashi fighting style. The curved blade he wielded for djem-so also augmented this particular style with a subtle shift, he immediately lashed out with fury his voice silent as apparently he moved to retaliate.

​It seemed the Jedi surprised him, apparently.

 

[Ultimatum]

It was no surprise to Ultimatum that her return was unwelcome among many people. She had changed in such a manner that was simply too severe for many to accept. Whether or not the droid agreed was inconsequential, as he had to maintain appearances all the same. So as far as Ultimatum was concerned, he had to accept the different personality and get used to working with her. He already had access to her ear, perhaps because of his different approach to the situation.

"I hope that you will not find too much resistance. There is much that you could do for your people. If I may be so bold, what happened while you were gone?" It was a question that the droid wanted the answer to. He had no doubts that it was an event that had occurred during her absence that had led to what she was now. Therefore, if Ultimatum wanted to understand what had become of the Kay he knew, they he would begin in the most logical of places. The closer to the beginning he could get, the more he could begin to understand how she had been turned into this.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Samka Derith]

"Hm." Sam mused. She had no power here, this was the choice of [member="Lady Kay"] and no one else. She was a foreign citizen and little else. "Her majesty has made her decision. I have no say in the matter and as such the position is yours regardless." She shrugged non-nonchalantly and began to turn away.

"However," Sam paused and shot [member="Darlyn Excron"] a glance. "Should you do anything to change the Lady's new... enlightened state. You shall answer to me."

"One last question before we depart, Hunter," Sam began to walk away, there was a lot happening on Commenor she needed to take care of. The chaos of transition was still in full swing. "Have you heard from Ghorua the Shark since your arrival?" As far as she knew, the Bounty Hunter was the only one of Kay's former allies yet to be accounted for. It worried her. "I'll know if you lie," she warned ominously.

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn smiled lightly, turning his back to [member="Samka Derith"]. Her warnings were duly noted, though he hardly cared what threats she would make. It was the question that caught him off guard, however. Had he heard from Ghorua? Well, as he mulled over his choices a brief moment, he came to a reasonable conclusion. "No.. the old fish hasn't made contact with me." How very true. From a certain perspective, of course. Ghorua never made effort to contact him, and she had failed miserably to specify any and all contact. Therefore, he would simply lie by omission. It worked well enough, as he was not lying. "Have a lovely evening. And I'm not a Hunter anymore."

Walking down through the chaotic rooms, Darlyn found himself a place beside [member="Lady Kay"] as she spoke to the droid. A momentary look of recognition crossed the man's face as he recognized the droid from before, the one he had ran into. How curious, a droid meeting with a queen. He looked [member="Ultimatum"] over, memorizing what he could for later. The fact he wasn't being escorted out in cuffs, or shot for that matter, meant he may very well be seeing the droid again.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay clenched her jaw at [member="Ultimatum"] 's question. It was still much too soon for her to go into any details. Doing so would only fill her with rage, and now was not the time for that. Better to do it later, when she was alone. There was a strategy at work here that she was implimenting, so she had to be mindful of her actions.

Was Ultimatum aware of her abilities? Their holo-messages gave her no indications of it. So it was better if she just assumed that he didn't know.

"I was captured and I died. A few times really. Hard to say as I lost count. It changes one's views on life. But I'd rather not go into detail, if you don't mind."

As for the one that refuse her rule, she had plans for them. "The Commenori that don't accept my rule, those that break my laws, they'll all be sent 30,000 feet below ground to work in the mines. That should work the fight out of them. And if that doesn't work? Then extreme measures will have to be taken."

 

[Ultimatum]

It certainly seemed a sensitive subject and one that he could not investigate until she had overcome whatever emotions that held. The droid had no problem with that. It meant patience and Ultimatum knew a lot about that. He would wait, until such time as she was more willing to speak about it. The droid turned his attention momentarily to [member="Darlyn Excron"], he absorbed as much information as he could from the glance before nodding and looking back towards the Queen. He did not truly recognize the organic, having not caught enough information the first time.

"If you require any criminals rid of in less permanent manners, I have some experimentation that needs 'volunteers'." As long as there was conflict, Ultimatum saw a need for soldiers, warriors who needed to be given the best possible chance at fighting. In order to accomplish this the droid wanted to create better augmentations. At this point Ultimatum had learned of an old technique invented by the Ssi-ruuk, he was attempting to get hold of one of their engineers in order to question him on the technology and hopefully perfect it. Soon organics would never have to step onto the field with a single weakness, that would make Ultimatum far more comfortable with the concepts of conflict.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay gave [member="Darlyn Excron"] a glance as he joined them. She knew what he was there for. And with people attacking her Palace and her Master, she needed as much protection as she could get right now.

She raised a brow upon [member="Ultimatum"] stating that he could use some volunteers. Hmmm. She pondered on the different kinds of experiments that the droid could do to them. Perhaps she could send some of the Loyalists his way. "You would be most welcome to pick volunteers. I can have their files sent to you, and you could choose from there for whatever suits your needs. Unless of course you have a general idea of the types of volunteers that you're looking for?"