We can rebuild her...whether she wants it or not

[Amara Zarides]

[member="Arryn"]
“Let me guess, that’s the first warning?” Amara asked when the Eldorai made her promise.

A thousand credits. It wasn’t much at all, especially since apparently the bounty had been worth 10,000. Still, she’d take what she could get without being shot.

“A thousand credits, huh? I could buy one of those universal clocks for that. It has the times for over 100,000 planetary cities and locations across the galaxy. So you can find out that when it’s noon in Theed it’s teatime on Hoth. Not that you’d have tea on Hoth.”

Her babble would hopefully serve to make Arryn think she was a simple minded airhead more interested in clocks than getting a good deal. Amara was not skilled at concealing her aura, but if history showed anything it showed that Force sensitivity often decreased rather than increased intelligence.

“Great! And I want to talk to the Captain.” Soshahry still looked a little uncertain, so Amara put a hand on her shoulder. “Go along and get some food. If you want to come with me when I go you’re welcome. Same applies to you, Faelar,” she said. She did not put a hand on the Eldorai’s shoulder, casting a glance at Arryn. She didn’t want to eat any part of her own body.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]
“As merely a fractured part of your own psyche, the question is what alternatives are you considering?” the shade corrected.

“The alternatives are how you use it if you’re not going to destroy it. You can use it as an engine of war to make machines capable of conquest and destruction.”

A vision of Enyo as commanding legions of ships and droids to conquest appeared. It was not so subtly tinted red.

“Or you can use it for the betterment of the galaxy and to preserve life.”

A vision of the droids building settlements, providing medical care and performing work appeared. It was tinted blue.

“So…which future will you take?”

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Amara Zarides"]


Most Force-users were indeed dim-witted airheads. Time and again, this was proved by most Jedi and Sith. These days, there were even Jedi who consorted with Sith and considered it their duty to heal them. Instead of helping their victims, but this writer digresses.


"Clocks? Cut the absurd babbling and come on, human," Arryn said flatly. Amara seemed fated to always end up with grim, dour women who did not appreciate her jokes. Regardless, the Dark Eldorai would lead the clone out of the hall and to what passed for an office.


Predictably, it was not luxurious at all, but at least it was clean. 'Akure' was seated behind a desk. Unsurprisingly, she was smoking. A stream of smoke escaped into the air. Arryn looked rather put off by this, but said nothing beyond looking disapproving. The faux Chiss' scarlet eyes scrutinised Amara when the pair entered. The door closed behind them.


"You performed well. Better than expected," the 'Captain' began. Then, without any warning, she dropped the bomb shell. "Kaelin Isandros was a coward and a monster. You're not. Do you know Firemane Industries has put a bounty on your head? It also applies to anyone who gives you shelter."

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Maelion Liates"]

​

​

​

Young Enyo faced meaningful choices that would change her life forever. They were conveniently colour-coded and presented a clear dichotomy between good and evil. Naturally Enyo could have chosen to just destroy Archangel, but it seemed the clone was fixated on ascending the Throne of Steel. In other words, like the typical Bioware protagonist. Fortunately, she was better at conveying emotion than the Outlander - and an actual protagonist.


"I see these options are conveniently colour-coded. Red and blue. I miss the naively utopian, green option," she remarked. "It is a convenient way to label them. To make one choice appear more moral than the others and neatly compartmentalise them." It seemed that Enyo vacillated between barely saying anything and speechifying an awful lot.


"You present a false, poorly veiled dichotomy. Between good and evil, conquest and healing, selfishness and altruism. Power is nothing without control. There is no point in being overlord of corpses in chaos. Blind, naive altruism is self-defeating and will be exploited. Without strength, you are at the mercy of an uncaring galaxy.


I choose strength through discipline. I shall not go on a chaotic, mindless rampage, but nor shall I cruise across the stars, dropping manna on those who refuse to help themselves and expect the strong to give them succour. Archangel will pursue no cause other than its own - mine. It shall design cutting edge technology and machines the likes of which this galaxy has not seen before. In doing so, I will achieve victory over my creators.


It will become a haven for the clones Archangel spawned - and for those the Galaxy has forsaken, but who possess the strength to shape their own future. My creators used my cybernetics as a crude tool to enslave them, I shall use them to empower. We will crush those who threaten us and achieve glory and victory."

 

[Amara Zarides]

[member="Arryn"]
Amara felt a brief stab of fear, but covered it well. With no other option, she decided to play the game. Mindless prattling had gotten her this far.

“Oh, you think I look like Kaelin? No, no, just a coincidence I assure you. My hair is completely different…and much prettier. It’s the Dark Side, it’s bad for your skin, and the contact lenses you have to wear, just awful.”

“But let’s just say for a moment that the sirens of sirocco have put a bounty on me, why are we talking? You have two choices; try and take me in for the bounty, or live with being part of my bounty as aiders and abetters. I doubt that they’d let me claim a bounty on myself; that’d just be silly.”

“Now, of course, you might be playing the dramatic card to spring option one on me, but I don’t think so. You’ve locked the door and there’s just the three of us here. Now, I’m not sure I could defeat both of you at once, in fact it’s probable I couldn’t, but I’d like to think I could at least maim one of you before the harridans of hellfire come to collect me. No, you’d have done that when I was unawares, when you had your full crew outside ready to pitch in, probably trying to use the former slaves as an implied bargaining chip. But since you haven’t, I think we’re on to option two.”

“So, that means you’re either opposed to the flaming floozies, or at least not their friends, and you’d not have brought it up unless you wanted to make a point. So, Miss Chiss, do I take the backhanded compliment at face value, or the implied comparison to my clone template as an insult?”

She was confident enough that they were not about to pounce on her, but that didn’t stop her casually glancing around. There were always things one could use in a fight. The small table, if hefted with the Force, could prove a distraction or weapon of opportunity. The glasses and bottles likewise. The…Angels of Ardarvia magazine…well…Akure probably didn’t want her to see that and had forgotten to cover it!

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]

“Then your choice is made, Enyo Typhos. I would have presented a purple, yellow and cyan variant, but those would be too tedious to go into.”

The shade nodded. “Best of luck with your quest for strength through control. And remember, for all your vision needs contact Planar Portents, the very finest in dimensional divination!”

The vision faded. Had that last bit been real or just another oddity in an already surreal setting?

XXX

Meanwhile, in a much more real world, Maelion had finally received the unconscious and trance locked body of Enyo and looked down at her.

Though it was impossible for a droid to feel frustration or disappointment she was very clear that considerable effort had to be extended to make this asset…useful.

 

[Naamah Aesham]

[member="Amara Zarides"]


There was one problem with Amara's analysis. "You babble too much. I could have shot you any time during your melodramatic speech. Talking is not a free action. Remember that," Naamah said flatly. She'd been holding a magnetic revolver beneath the desk. Its projectiles travelled faster than the speed of sound and could crack open almost any armour. It could also fire in burst mode. So yeah.


"Fortunately for you, I could not care less about Firemane. They're useful - though Arryn over here keeps telling me I should raid their convoys, turn their officers into Penitents and so on," at that she shot the Dark Eldorai a look. Arryn look unamused and muttered an Eldarai curse. Perhaps she was pondering the rites of Ardarvia. "So, tell me about Archangel. Your creators."

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


Clearly Enyo liked her melodramatic, absurdly long speeches. It was one thing she and Siobhan had in common. Regardless, her time in dreamscape had come to an end. Perhaps she'd learned something from it - and finally made up her mind about what she wanted to do with her life, once she'd escaped Archangel's iron grip. Of course, she still had a long way to go.


Slowly, she awoke in the real world. Her awakening was very mechanical when her eyes fluttered open. For a moment, her eyes flashed. Almost nothing about her was human anymore.


She locked eyes with Maelion Liates. Her mind said: I'm going to destroy you. However, these were not the words that left her lips - lips that were no longer human. The words she uttered were not the ones she had chosen. "Unit Enyo Typhos is ready to serve." Her tone was a dull, robotic monotone, wholly devoid of emotion.

 

[Amara Zarides]

[member="Naamah Aesham"]
“Yes, yes, of course you could have, but you didn’t. You’re not the sort to reveal your whole plan and then try and take action. Regardless, now you’ve finally got to your own point.”

She pondered. An enemy of Archangel. They did not lack for them, that was certain.

“You’re well informed about me, so you must know at least a little about Archangel too. I’ll spare you the details of a general overview and skip to the point. What do you want to know about them? I’m willing to give our information to them in exchange for a higher share of the spoils. There’s only one organic who knows more about Archangel, and sadly she is under their power.”

She didn’t know if the former was true, but it was a good boast to make.

 

[Naamah Aesham]

[member="Amara Zarides"]


"Oh, really? That's a pity." Naamah saw no reason to reveal her own encounters with Archangel at this point. "I'd like the codes to reprogramme Moira Skaldi and turn her into a sex bot I can sell for the highest bidder. Ideally, I'd like her to maintain self-awareness...but be unable to defy her programming," she said with a completely straight face.


"Your jokes are idiotic," Arryn grunted. Well, that and terribly morbid.


"Says the woman who left her sense of humour in a jar and is in a committed relationship with her razor. You'll get a higher share proportionate to the value of you information," she turned her attention to Amara again. "I want to know their hideouts, their centre of command. The Denon HQ is just smoke and mirrors. If I were them, I'd keep the sensitive stuff neatly tucked away, somewhere out of sight, out of mind. Probably build a stealth ship or two and a mobile factory."

 

[Amara Zarides]

[member="Naamah Aesham"]
Amara raised her eyebrows at the first comment.
“I’d never thought about Moira in that way before, but now I can’t get it out of my head.”
She thought of Kress. Hmm, perhaps there was something to this idea.

Predictably the Eldorai didn’t like the joke or the idea. Seemed she was a sourpuss like so many of the women Amara met.

“Anyway, I think that information is worth a bit more than a few hundred credits. So, let’s come to an agreement on something more substantial for the most juicy information.”

“You know the basics; Archangel is a cover organisation for a coven of genocidal, insane droids. They want to purge the galaxy of all organic life because they think it makes things untidy. I was created to serve as a bridge between them and the galaxy, and to the Force. They don’t understand the Force but they recognised that their plans would be much easier fulfilled if they had some powerful Force using clones on their side. They obtained my genetic material from a Sith Lord, and had Siobhan Kerrigan’s from him or elsewhere. They may well have planned or have other clones for all I know. The key point is that Archangel made a mistake by giving us too much free will and trying to persuade us to aid them with a lie. Now they have switched to the less effective zombiefication method. Less effective, but certainly not pointless.”

She paced around the room. “I’m surprised you knew who Kaelin was. It’s been many years since her head departed her shoulders.”

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]
Maelion’s cold, clinical gaze examined her.
“Proceed immediately to chamber one for processing,” she ordered.
Enyo would have no choice but to comply.

Inside this chamber lay a pretty blue Twi’lek in a strange pod, clothed in only the barest necessity for decency and PG-13 demands. Droids wore clothes not out of any societal need but because it made dealing with outsiders very awkward!

As Maelion entered she clicked her fingers. “Taiya…arise.”

The Twi’lek stood. “Unit Taiya Linosa is ready to serve.”

“Perform full diagnostic on Simulacrum integration.”

Silence. “Integration complete. No errors recorded.”

“Go to workshop three for full physical examinination.” Now to Enyo. “Enter the pod and remain still,” she commanded.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


Enyo had thought she'd overcome her fear. She was very wrong about this. What? No! Stop! Kill the queen. However, her protests were futile, for no words left her lips. She was struggling against chains that she could not break. Her mind might rebel, but her body obeyed. Looking back to her visions, she felt betrayed.


"As you command," she spoke mechanically. So she moved towards the pod, walking like a puppet whose invisible strings were being pulled. Her slow gait was reminiscient of that of a zombie. There was no resistance. The cyborg entered the pod and became as still as a statue.

 

[Naamah Aesham]

[member="Amara Zarides"]


"I have my ways," Naamah shrugged and gave a thin sort of smile. The faux Chiss straightened, her mane of black hair tumbling back as she tossed her head. It was unlikely that Amara would be getting more of an answer out of her right now. She puffed on the cigarette in her hand before scrubbing it out.


"I can throw in more credits, a solid ID and passage off Coruscant. Oh, and have you had a medical scan lately that wasn't performed by an Archangel flunky? If I were them, I would have implanted you with a killswitch." The same one the Inquisition had used. In their case, it had only been set to paralyse the wearer or cause them grievous pain. But it would be different in this case.

 

[Amara Zarides]

[member="Naamah Aesham"]
“Alright, you’re on,” Amara said, pulling up a chair and sitting on it the wrong way. “The more enemies Archangel has, the better it is for me. I’ve got some business to take care of first, but if you really want the metal maidens gone I’ll be down for that.”

Amara had a good memory, and during her time with Archangel she had learned a lot about their operations. At the start Maelion and Moira had been willing to give her all the information needed to make her productive, and Amara had genuinely believed their stories.

The information, even if slightly out of date, and with Archangel knowing she was rogue, was still extremely useful and damaging for the company.
She told them about the facility on Gehenna used to train the clones, told her about the secret base on Elysium, told them about the Lightbringer and its stealth, and discussed all she could remember about the processing, droids and backdoors Archangel used.

Amara spilled the beans. She could have held out for more profit, but she rightly surmised that Akure really, really hated Archangel, and that the enemy of her enemy was her friend right here. She had little option though.

And if this info got around it could really hurt Archangel, or at least disrupt them.

There was one thing she left out though. It was minor, but important. She didn’t discuss the programming. She didn’t trust the two women in this room an inch beyond a mutual foe so until she got the materials she needed to free herself, it was not something she was going to disclose.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]
As she lay in the pod, two unskinned HRDs came forward. Her clothes were removed with complete lack of ceremony. Using chains of phrik they secured her in the pod and placed a crown-like apparatus over her head.
Maelion looked down at her, utterly dispassionate.
“You will be reborn, Enyo. Free from this organic shell.”

No command was given, but one of the droids inserted a syringe into the clone’s neck. Enyo would find it very hard to stay awake suddenly. The urge to sleep would be overwhelming. From this sleep there would be no awakening…not in this form anyway.

As the clone slumbered the deep scans of her brain began, mapping out every cortex and node. Those were only the backups though, a replacement in case something went wrong. Of more importance was the body scan which would record every detail for processing.

When this was done, and a second scan was made just to be sure the top of the pod was removed. The crown was removed and the whirr of surgical saws sounded. The sickening noise of them biting into flesh. Blood, fluid.

Enyo…died? No, not truly. Kept alive through a horrific mixture of science and medicine, the brain was carefully removed and preserved. It would be needed.

Enyo had no body to be conscious through, no senses to experience, but just perhaps her spirit might understand and feel the terror of existence without consciousness. Thought without memory. Life without time. To a brain in a jar what was one hour, a day, a year? Was the organic that would be reconstituted on the other side be the same?

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


"I have no mouth and I must scream." This was how it felt to be Enyo at the moment. No mouth, no tongue, no hands...nothing except disembodied consciousness. She could not move, sense, hear or touch anything. If a human was deprived of all senses, what was left of them? Did she still exist? She was stuck in a limbo, a state of not being alive yet not quite dead.


This time there were no visions, no dreams of doom or glory, but this brought her no peace. As long as she had those dreams, she could still act. At the very least, she had something she could punch and rage against. But now there was nothing. She did not even have a body. Not even a shell.


Just darkness, infinite, seemingly unending darkness. Thought without memory, life without time. She lost all concept of time. How much passed? A day, a year, a decade? What use did time have for someone who was, to all intents and purposes, dead. Terror swallowed her black soul.


The classical depiction of hell is as a place of physical torment and anguish. A prison made of flesh and bone and fear. However, that kind of hell is not the worst. As long as you feel pain, you feel sensation. You have something to fight against. Perhaps you can gain some nobility from resisting the torment.


This was hell. Pure nothingness. A dark abyss from which there was no escape.

 

[Naamah Aesham]

[member="Amara Zarides"]


The debriefing took quite a while. Naamah took notes and let Arryn record it. The faux Chiss was somewhat tempted to hook Amara up to a lie detector, but decided against it. Presumably the clone would react rather poorly and in any case she concluded that it was not needed.


Doubtless there were things Amara had kept from her, but this was the real deal. She could not attack Archangel's centre of command take them out - not yet. Not by a long shot. But she know had the knowledge to cause some serious damage - or at least sell it to those who could deliver a suckerpunch.


So when all was over, she leaned back in her chair, running a blue hand through her mane of dark hair. Keeping up the transformation was becoming more taxing, but she willed herself to maintain the charade. It was getting painful, but she had a working relationship with pain.


"We can hit the devil machines at last. I'll check the data and see if any suitable targets present themselves," Arryn said brusquely and got up. There was a wicked, predatory gleam in her eyes.


Naamah gave her a nod, gaze focused on Amara. "That was very helpful. You'll be well compensated. Now, let's check you for hidden implants, shall we?" The medical room was probably one of the few places in this building that were fastidiously clean.

 

[Amara Zarides]

[member="Naamah Aesham"]
Amara, tired out from talking, simply nodded. For once she didn’t have anything to say!

As they headed into the medical bay, Amara lay down on the examination table after pulling off her top. Her hand reached to behind her shoulder.

“There’s something there. They told me it was for medical reasons, but obviously that’s both true and a complete lie. Droids, huh, lie without you realising it.”

It wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t funny. She felt concerned about just what might be in her back.

When the scan had been run she winced.

“Fortunately they didn’t get a chance to activate that,” she said softly. “Have you seen these before, Akure?”

 

[Naamah Aesham]

[member="Amara Zarides"]


"Yes, I have. Old Imperial model. Most of them only cause grievous pain or paralyse. This one can kill you at the push of a button," Naamah explained in a disturbingly clinical tone that probably was not reassuring in the least.


"If I do something wrong, a massive electrical pulse will fry your brain stem. It is EMP/ion shielded, so I can't simply give you a big electrical shock. I must cut all the wires - at the same time. Questions, concerns, last minute prayers?"