Tea with the Throne-Broken [Tyrin]

[Darth Carnifex]

There was a buzz of excitement throughout Vain Hollow, the massive structure that jutted up from the volcanic wastes of the Maymdoem ah Masdim Ilam* that served as the abode of the psychopathic tyrant, Kaine Zambrano, and his equally psychotic family of killers and bastards. The servant work force was whipped up into a frenzy on the even before the arrival on an esteemed ally to the Royal Family, a one Tyrin Ardik, whom Kaine had worked with for several years prior. However; whereas Kaine was concerned with ruling over and controlling the lives of others through an oppressive dictatorship, Tyrin had distanced himself away and became a wealthy businessman who sold all sorts of mechanical goodies to those who had the coin to buy them. On this day, Kaine was one of those individuals with enough coin to buy several army's worth of mechanical goodies, but he didn't just want a set number of droids at his disposal, he wanted a manufacturing complex.

What his Empire lacked was a mechanical element to it. Sure they had vehicles, armor, and weapons from Santhe/Sienar and Iron Crowns, but they lacked droids, both for labor and for war. This is where Tyrin came in, because he was the owner of the massive droid manufacturing company, Hegemonic Automaton, and the droids that his company produced is what the Tyrant of the Pacanth hungered to be part of his Empire. Thus, he set up an appointment date with his friend from the Old Empire, and set forth his servants into tidying up the castle for the Umbaran's eventual arrival. Thus, the castle was literally spotless and clean, with every neat, tidy, and in an orderly fashion. The conference would be set up in the antechamber situated behind the throne room at the apex of the castle, where the Emperor would be waiting patiently with some of his advisers for Lord Ardik to arrive.

Soon™

[member="Darth Janus"]

*'Maymdoem ah Masdim Ilam' translates to the Mountain of Molten Iron in Epicant

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

If there was one thing to be said about Emperor Zambrano, he certainly knew how to take an ominous landscape it make it... More ominous. He had been to Vain Hollow before, but the sight of it didn't make him any less disquieted than last time. Just by looking at it he could practically hear the screams of those shackled up in the dungeons rising up from the earth. The general appearance of Myrmidon ahh Mausoleum Llama would be enough to make the Umbaran second-guess hanging around this area on its own. But being that there was a fortune to be made and he possibly had a favor to ask of his colleague, Tyrin was happy to suppress such irrational fears. This was, after all, allied territory for all intents and purposes. What did he have to fear but fear itself?

He took a moment to carefully mask himself from potentially giving away any emotional unease before entering the castle. Umbarans had the peculiar trait of being good liars, convincing actors: something Tyrin rarely found the opportunity to work to his advantage. Then again, he'd rather be filthy rich than constantly have need of any naturally endowed thespian talents. The castle was immaculate, as usual, and the Umbaran marveled at the interior just as if he'd seen it for the first time. He wondered how much servant blood had been soaked into these rooms to get them this clean.

Tyrin was brought into the antechamber where Kaine waited. Just as last time, Tyrin would incline respectfully as he had done before. Because Kaine was royalty and he was just an up-jumped, adopted peasant with a semi-large corporation at his beck and call.

"A pleasure to be here as always, your grace." Tyrin said.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Emperor of Panatha countered with his own respect incline, and gestured to the silver-haired Lord with his right hand. "Indeed? Then perhaps I need to move my castle into the very volcano itself, don't you think?" He chuckled darkly, a bit of forced humor to perhaps lighten the mood between the two former Sith Emperors, or perhaps to clog the air with it's awkward delivery that would make Tyrin uncomfortable. Whether or not either was the case, the Tyrant made no move to clarify, but rather let his outstretched arm fall back to his side as he then gestured with his left to the metal table that had been set up in the center of the chamber, with several chairs arrayed around it's circular form for them to sit in. Kaine took his own seat at what could be considered the head of the round table, opposite of the chair obviously pulled aside by a servant for Tyrin himself to take seat in.

Once both parties were seated, the Emperor relaxed back in his chair and clasped his hands together as his haunting emerald and lilac eyes stared down the Umbaran. "Let's get down to business shall we? I know that you are a very busy man, Lord Ardik, and I would not want to waste another moment of your time on fanciful formalities." The Emperor leaned forward in his chair, and propped both elbows on the surface of the table, and lightly pushed his chin and jaw against his clasped hands as he continued to look onward. "Know that I have always had my eye on your droids for quite some time, and that it has come to a point where I now require some of your mechanized beings in my Empire, for both labor and war."

"I want to strike a pact with you, to build your factories in my Empire, to construct your automatons for my people, and I will pay you handsomely for your service."

[member="Darth Janus"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

Tyrin smirked, taking his seat at the spartan, metallic table as indicated. There was far too much going on in the galaxy at large to be made uncomfortable by a bit of force humor. The Umbaran listened patiently as the Tyrant recounted his reason for summoning him here. Now there was an incredible amount of money involved in this discussion. Now one could easily forget any concern about doing anything to disquiet Tyrin. Wherever there were sales to be had, Tyrin was willing to sit through just about anything- moreso since he considered the Epicanthix Emperor a good colleague. Kaine could have literally cannibalized an infant in full view of those assembled and Tyrin would still not depart or display any meaningful reaction until business was concluded and he was safely on his shuttle.

Building factories outside of Ord Cestus was not exactly part of Hegemonic Automaton's business model. There were less labor laws to worry about, not to mention the prices for land and materials was cheap on Ord Cestus. The fact that Mandalorians could hardly spell "corporate taxes," much less enact them in a meaningful way, made the cost of doing business there even greater. It also gave him one less thing to worry about. Having factories all over the galaxy heightened risk of blueprints and schematics being stolen. That was the primary reason for Hegemonic Automaton's factory design and the sole locations of its factories.

Tyrin folded his hands on the desk and answered accordingly. "It would be my pleasure to open factories here. Where would you like them placed?"

But if there were ever a secure part of the galaxy, it would be the star system ruled over by a friend. A friend who also happened to be a maniacal tyrant ruling over the area with an iron fist.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Kaine smirked, "I've had some ideas, but my advisers agree that the industrial world of Fornow would be the most prudent location." With a twitch of his hand a circular opening appeared in the center of the otherwise bare table, revealing a miniature holo-projector that thrummed to life and displayed a projection of the planet in question, including a bullet-list of the planet's information. "In ages past this planet was the industrial heartland of the Pacanth Reach sometime before the Clone Wars, but fell into ruin shortly after the Gulag Plague several centuries later. Before I came to power the planet was a wasteland of empty factories and broken cities, ruled by tribes of dregs that roamed the world in endless conflict with other dreg tribes. When I united the Reach I rebuilt the factories, disbanded the tribes, and gave the entire planet to the Graug that had remained loyal to me after the War. Despite their brutish nature they have served me well as the castellans of Fornow."

The image of Fornow changed into an image of the Graug capital on Fornow, a massive underground foundry complex that they called the "Underhold". A layout of the complex was also available for Tyrin to view, "Should you agree with this decision, the factories will be created on the surface above the Graug city, but will eventually become a part of the city in time. I actually plan to build a manufacturing city atop the Graug's, one that could also house Hegemonic workers and foreman, and could present easy access to the Graug crafters down below." He then pulled up a estimated schematic of the proposed city in question, overlaid directly above the underground Graug compound, showing the means of which the two cities would be connected.

"Questions or concerns, Lord Ardik?"

[member="Darth Janus"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

"The employees, all of them, will need to be natives of this cluster. The fewer outside your holdings that know of these factories, the better." Tyrin said, then adding. "I also hope the Graug living here are more... Well-behaved than the one's I've dealt with."

Loyal to Kaine or not, Graug were still unruly creatures. Tyrin didn't want them anywhere near his factories; Graug had an uncanny habit of smashing advanced computer systems rather than operating them. Suggesting an alternative location would've been rude, so Tyrin would go along with the one proposed Fornow. Having a Graug city eventually encompass the factories didn't sound very appealing to Tyrin either, but he didn't have to live there.

Tyrin certainly didn't want it to become public information that Hegemonic Automaton was manufacturing for a nefarious tyrant, either. As per his contract with Darkwater Security, there would be more than a few military contractors who would be privy to Hegemonic Automaton's presence in the cluster. Those were military professionals, though, and unless some hacktivist group went snooping through Darkwater's data centers, no one else outside Kaine's private Empire would know of any Hegemonic Automaton factories not on Ord Cestus.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Have no fear, Lord Ardik. I already have scores of workers at my disposal, ready to fill your factories to capacity, and begin production as soon as we are able. The Graug, however; will not be working the delicate controls of your systems, but will rather serve as smiths far below the factories. Fornow had always been a very mineral rich world, but has yet been tapped in by any of my ancestors or previous rulers of the Reach. I plan to remedy that severe overlook and resources, and have tasked the Graug to mine endless all across the planet. They've already built a massive stockpile of ore and metal that I think you will find satisfactory." He leaned back in his chair, and lightly tapped the tips of his fingers together rhythmically as another picture, full of numbers and charts displaying the quantity and quality of the resources already amassed by his Graug Horde.

"Another thing, I will require some Hegemonic Automaton workers to act as foremen for these new factories, they'll know them better than my workers will."

[member="Darth Janus"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

Readily available resources mined by surprisingly content, unpaid workers? This had already been an easy sell for Tyrin, but if he was looking at reduced or nonexistent prices for the materials necessary to produce his droids... Well, perhaps Fornow would eventually be home to more factories than Ord Cestus. He'd have to request permission from the tyrant to export the droids from the system if it was to make a difference, but that was all in due time. For now, baby steps. Huge, capitalist baby steps.

The Umbaran, though, was still not keen on bringing workers here. "If you insist, but only until natives are trained to hold the position themselves."

There weren't many human or near human foremans working ain Hegemonic Automaton factories on Ord Cestus. The native X'Ting were generally preferred for that role. He'd be able to dredge up one or two long enough to get some Epicanthix trained, hopefully. They would be kept in the dark as to what system they were going to and paid handsomely enough to ensure their silence. In increments. Just in case someone was watching for that sort of thing and decided to get all "investigative" up in his Hegemonic face- possibly his grill.

Paranoia was a terrible thing.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"That is to be expected. I will only tolerate them for so long, so the sooner they can pass their knowledge onto my workers, the better." He waved his hand dismissively at the subject, and instead changed the conversation towards something that Tyrin might be ready to engage in. "If that's all we have to discuss, then I believe it's time for the finalization of this agreement. I assume you'd rather keep this whole affair on the down low, yes? I've heard from a little birdie that you aren't very willing to move your operations out from Ord Cestus, an understandable concern, and one that will be respected. The construction of these factories will be kept secret, and only those under my will be privy to it. When they are finally completed, the public will believe that they are just another branch of Santhe factories, some of which were being publicly constructed on Sorimow and Panatha."

While Kaine's voice was level and calm, his mind was whirring with anticipation and excitement. For too long his Empire has been bereft of a dedicate droid manufacturer, and now that era was finally coming to and end with this single meeting. Santhe would produce his Empire with weapons, starships, and vehicles. Iron Crown would produce his army with armor. And finally, Hegemonic Automaton would supply his Empire with a menagerie of droids fit for various tasks, and at last he would be content. Although, there was still that trade matter he needed to speak with [member="Danger Arceneau"] about, but that could wait till another day.

"Before we finalize this, is there anything you want to add?"

[member="Darth Janus"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

Janus nodded, pleased he didn't have to go over the necessity of keeping his factories' existence sub rosa himself. It was all a very simple arrangement, one that would bring little attention to Hegemonic Automaton while securing it the profits associated with arming a tinpot dictatorship. Or maybe it was more like an ironpot. Durasteelpot. This was Kaine, after all. This little Empire would would last as long as Kaine did and likely not more than a few years beyond. That could potentially be an eternally long time. The Force had a way of prolonging lifespans, albeit to the tune of a more decrepit appearance where the Dark Side was concerned. Tyrin and Kaine seemed to be weathering that pretty gracefully, all things considered.

"I believe that was my only major concern. I'll have the relevant documentation drawn up."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Tinpot? Ironpot? Durasteelpot? More like alchemized-metalpot, you dirty smelly Umbaran.

"Excellent. I am pleased that we could come to an understanding on this, Ardik my old friend." Even as Kaine rose from his chair to reach forth and shake the Umbaran's hand, his mind was already in a whir of contemplation and thought as he imagined the industry of war churning into overdrive on Fornow. His servants, nay; his slaves, working ceaselessly to make the tools of destruction that he would arm his legions with, and once the time was right he would unleash the floodgates of his wrath upon all who opposed his might. The galaxy would be bathed in the flames of war, and would be purified of all impurities that had tarnished the galaxy for so very long.

"You will not regret this."

[member="Darth Janus"]