Senza Ciatu

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

Suddenly the walk to the security center was longer than he remembered. And the heat from Ord Cestus' sun much more intense. Beneath all that hair and his suit (neither of which were apt for this environment), Gerion feared he was going to start sweating if he didn't pick up the pace soon. Yet for some reason, that was not the primary source of discomfort. That came from the now settling fear that he had upset his chief of security again. They could design a droid that could take an entire ammo clip's worth of blaster bolts to the face, but for some reason no one could design a sapient droid with thick emotional skin? Then again, droids wouldn't need to be blaster resistant if people didn't shoot at them constantly. Likewise, droids wouldn't need thick emotional skin if he weren't such of a rude lummox!

Great, now he was having an emotional epiphany, and it was because he upset a mass of durasteel and circuitry molded into the shape of a young woman. Truly there was no low to which he could not sink if given enough time. Gerion was still wracking his brain trying to figure out why he was allowing himself to be bothered by the fact he had upset a droid when she asked a crushing question.

“Mr. Ardik, do you think I need a memory wipe?”

Oh, for petty's sake.

Gerion stopped walking abruptly and turned around. Without much warning, he gripped his chief of security reassuringly by the shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. He could almost tell she was a droid just from that alone- she was far more sturdier than her physique would suggest. Durasteel tended to do that. "I absolutely do not think you need a memory wipe." For once in his life, he didn't sound particularly dismissive, critical, or talk with the intonation of the blue-blood he often acted like he was. That was sincerity passing his lips right now, and some cosmic part of the Umbaran prayed that no one was recording. For a moment, his hands tightened, as if he were about to say something as equally reassuring. Then, as if suddenly that same cosmic part of the Umbaran realized what he was doing, it was over, and he removed his hands and half turned away.

He coughed, outwardly embarrassed by this sudden outburst. "I simply need to work on my... Etiquette while you continue to pick up on social cues. I apologize."

Unwilling in the slightest to stand around and be faced with even the notion of reflecting on what had just transpired, Gerion continued his turned and then resumed walking towards the security center.

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

At the question, Gerion Ardik whirled around and grabbed Morgan by the shoulders so abruptly her nascent combat routines nearly kicked in. She was so caught off guard, she almost gave him a k'Jtari chop to the throat. But she stayed still as he offered his opinion that she didn’t need a memory wipe. He was so close to her now and it was so unlike him to touch her willingly at all. So now is when he kisses me, she thought and closed her eyes, parting her mouth just a little bit, awaiting the touch of his lips on hers. But he only squeezed her shoulders a bit firmer, so she opened her eyes again. Morgan had been a companion in a former life after all and she was only reverting to repeated behavioral cues not necessarily from Mr. Ardik, but of Bartho Redeaux and quite frankly Darell Irani.

He coughed and turned away, seemingly embarrassed by his own actions. After his sincere apology, she followed him along as he continued walking.

“Mr. Ardik, I’m sorry as well. I don’t mean to be an embarrassment to you. I struggle because for the first two years of my existence Mr. Redeaux kept me so secluded. And while yes, my programming allows for social etiquette I really do think it’s going to take some time for it to refine itself.”

Morgan stopped there. She wanted to tell the Umbaran that he may need to be patience and bear with her, give her time. But he had apologized after all so what more was there to say? And at the end of the day, Morgan was subject to the same imperfections as organics as much as Mr. Ardik may argue that droids were truly the answer to all of the galaxy’s problems. And why wouldn’t he? He built his life around the premise that Hegemonic Automaton could improve the lives of living beings with droids who would do their work for them. But it didn't change the fact that Morgan was proving to be quite a bit of work herself for Mr. Ardik.

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

Gerion kept forward, noting the security center was now in sight. "It's not your fault. The error lies with me."

That was all he had to say on the matter. To continue would probably be to risk another ludicrous emotional outburst. Was his current stance on droids really only a result of their behavior and appearance? If they appeared to be of an organic species and behaved with emotion, did he suddenly consider them... People, rather than objects? Was he really going to waste his time thinking about this? The security building loomed ahead of them, a large, spartan, and metallic thing that bore a close resemblance to a military bunker. There were no windows anywhere except for one long, thin one that circled the entire fifth floor, allowing for a pleasant view of the majority of the factory complex.

He flashed his keycard at the door, prompting the blastdoors that marked the entrance to slowly creak from their position and recede into the wall. If there was one thing Gerion liked about this building, it was the blastdoors. Reinforced quadranium, one of the hardest materials in the galaxy. A stark contrast to the ever-vulnerable glasteel that made up the window. A frightening weakness that, if compromised, could spell complications for the rest of the factory. Sort of like an Umbaran who had, for whatever reason, was having trouble reconciling the fact that he felt low of himself for upsetting Morgan even if she was a droid. An animate object was still an object.

The lights lit up the interior once the doors opened, revealing a few rows of deactivated TA2 Super Battle Droids. As usual, he indicated her to enter first. "After you."

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

Being a droid, Morgan wasn't one to dwell on these human replica “feelings.” She tended to be focused on her environment, and if she had any preconceived notions, they were based on what resided in her data storage most of all but also repetitive social cues and behaviors. Which meant if she had an incident or a meltdown it wasn’t long lasting and the protocol droid appeared to have recovered from her earlier emotional instability.

The security building was circular or octagonal – it was honestly hard to tell as they approached. She entered the security facility when prompted, and once her artificial retinas adjusted to the light, aided by her vision scan module, she saw a rows of formidable battle droids.

The odd thing about being an HRD was that Morgan didn’t really feel much in common with this very basic Class Four droid model, nor a special affinity for them. But there was something that drew her to them just the same, and much like a Neanderthal is a human ancestor, she felt a little like she was viewing her prehistoric self. They were such simple mechanicals though, their function for one thing only. She turned to Mr. Ardik and said, “I’ll have to be honest that I’m not as familiar with the TA2 model. What are the differences between these and the B2?”

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

Somewhere on the other side of the galaxy, Jemmila Krygen was no doubt groaning in utter anguish. Her worst fears had come to life- Gerion was about to embark on another bombastic piece of discourse. Gerion was not intimately familiar with the inner-workings of droids, but he was familiar with what made his droid products the best in the galaxy. Someone had to make the sales while Zothustro was ill, after all. As it so happened, the B2 was a very frequent point of comparison to the TA2. They were both the second droid in the series, they both went by the title of "super." The primary difference being that, in comparison to the predecessor, to call the TA2 "super" was actually underselling it.

At least, that's how Gerion usually put it. There were three rows of five inside the security hub. The remainder of the TA2s garrisoned here were stationed inside the factory. As Gerion stood at the edge of one such row, gesturing to the TA2 on the end, his prior exchange with Morgan was momentarily dismissed. There were droids to market.

"The B2 is a versatile model, certainly. Cheap, generally reliable. It's withstood the test of time, but its armor, weaponry, intelligence, and targeting have failed to upgrade to the modern era. On average, the TA2 can withstand... What was it? 307%? Yes, 307% more firepower than the B2. There's also the fact that the TA2 carries enough firepower to wipe out an entire platoon of B2 droids and hold its own against some light anti-personnel vehicles. This isn't to mention the improvements in accuracy and critical thinking the TA2 holds over the B2."

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

Morgan didn't share the acute annoyance that Jemmila Krygen would have felt when Mr. Ardik launched into his monologue on the differences between the B2 and the TA2. She was a droid after all and enjoyed hearing information about fellow mechanicals. Communication was also the HRD's specialty, even though she was now programmed for combat and to fight to the death if required.

In fact being a machine, she could probably kill Mr. Ardik right now if she was so inclined. The combat moves that the technician had installed included quite a few k'Jtari moves which were fatal, including an uppercut which would snap the neck back shattering the vertebrae and the more typical head wrench which would also break the neck of a normal-sized, unprotected human or alien.
However, Mr. Ardik was the only one who would be able to stop her from executing himself or someone else, since he had an exclusive access code circumvent her encryption which would come in extremely handy if she was ever, for some nefarious reason by his enemy, programmed to turn on him.

But her normal mode of action was dialogue-friendly, so she listened respectfully to the Umbaran's answer to her question and did not interrupt him. When he had finished Morgan asked:

"Is there something specific we are doing with these T2 models?"

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

"Specific? No, not really." Gerion replied. These were just the units that were stationed in this building. They had only come up in conversation because Morgan asked. "As Chief of Security, I simply expect that you know the layout of our security buildings and their contents."

Gerion abandoned the TA2s for the turbolift in the back of the room. As before, he swiped his card. It was only with this prompt that the blast doors shielding it began to open, allowing them both to enter the turbolift. This particular lift only went up from the ground floor to the second floor. If they wanted to get up to the third, fourth, and fifth floors, they would have to cross the room again in order to utilize a second turbolift. Likewise, that turbolift did not connect to the first floor. Giving potential saboteurs a straight shot throughout the complex was not something Gerion really favored doing. It was also worth nothing that the lift was somewhat over-sized, easily capable of accommodating thirty individuals at once.

When the doors opened, the sight was roughly similar to the last room. The lights had to flicker on, revealing half of the room to be stocked with a few rows of TA1 Battle Droids. One of the racks was conspicuously empty. The other half was a virtual armory of BlasTech, Czerka, assorted melee weapons, and even a few riot shields. Asset protection was possibly an understatement. This was more along the line of borderline-paranoid asset fortification and entrenchment. Gerion gestured her to leave the lift first, following behind her.

"These aren't the only security droids we keep, mind you. There are smaller detachments kept underground within the factory proper. We also have a few on patrol and lookout at all times."

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

The layout of the HA security center was such that anyone trying to infiltrate to steal blueprints, technology or even material assets would find themselves locked out at every attempt. A clever building design by X-Tings? Verpine? Possibly Rodians?

Then her employer showed Morgan a room full of weapons and other assorted defense gear. The HRD wasn’t the judgmental type but in her data entries on Umbarans she knew that assassination attempts were commonplace on Mr. Ardik’s home planet. She did realize that they were touring a profitable production facility, but the amount of armaments in this room was bordering on the absurd.

She went ahead of him onto the lift again and in doing so asked, “Mr. Ardik, were you ever the subject of an assassination attempt back on Umbara?”

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

"No. My standing position back on Umbara was relatively innocuous, even during my time as Senator."

This was actually true, surprisingly. Gerion's activities on the world were very rarely of a high enough profile to warrant assassins coming after him. That wasn't to say that he did not participate in assassinations. Being that he had higher Force Sensitivity that normal, his birth to lower caste parents had aroused attention. An enterprising noble, Thelon Ardik, had him kidnapped. Gerion was then raised as one of Thelon's own for the time being before he was shipped off to the Umbaran Sith Academy. From there, it was a dual job as both a Dark Acolyte and the personal assassin of House Ardik.

But that was all behind them. And not at all relevant to what was going on.

"Why, do you anticipate needing to safeguard me from assassins?" He asked, sounding bemused.

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

“Mr. Ardik, you don’t think given both your position at Hegemonic Automaton and your background as a Rootai, essentially the highest Umbaran caste that you would not be under threat of assassination at all times?” Morgan asked incredulously. It was the only time he would hear a slight amount of annoyance in her voice as her personality mostly vacillated between even-keeled, with occasional bursts of sudden emotion.

“Besides, why all of this security if you didn’t think yourself a target?”

She let that sink in and as the lift stopped to wherever they were going next, the protocol droid said, “But I have a request to make. Since my systems aren’t self-repairing based on the delicacy of my build, do you think it’s a good idea to have a custom HRD repair droid with me out in the field? This way if I’m in the line of fire and am injured, the droid can repair me right on the spot.”

The Umbaran was half a head taller than her so she titled her head up at him, searching his features for a hint of a response. “What do you think?”

[member="Gerion Ardik"]