Public Where Everybot Knows Your Name (Denon Droid/Cyborg Cantina)

[Skeevi Merrill]

"Your brains are a complex computer, but a computer none the less. Study, download. The advance processors that droids run on can easily be programed to house the thoughts in your mind that make you, you. That's all it takes."

"Yeh, but int that jest a copy?" said Skeevi with curiosity sufficient to overcome trepidation. "Like if I wanted t'be a droid for real, like some of you're saying...is that a, whassit..." They gestured expansively, grasping for a multisyllabic word in Basic. "... possibility?"

 

[Hadron]

Hadron processed the conversation in silence. Other droids more sympathetic to organic life appealed for mercy. Some even preached Maker worship. Was faulty droid logic responsible for his violent outburst or some kind of divine spark? Once he'd been as skeptical as Vex but the promise of kyber tempted him to further analyze machine faith.

"Maybe some can be reprogrammed," the combat droid admitted, "Flesh is obsolete. We are destined to replace the organics. Many will resist. It is in their nature to seek control."

Rising from his seat, Hadron marched towards the curious cyborg. Every step looked menacing by design.

"What if it is, halfdroid?" narrowed yellow photoreceptors scrutinized Skeevi Merrill for weakness, "Fear of system failure is not the same as belief in our Maker."

Krizar Voxum V-3X B3-LL Lyssa Io KLR-13​

 

[Voxum]

​

"Yeh, but int that jest a copy?"

"That is irrelevant. Your flesh body will not survive the download." There was no reason for the flesh body to survive when the gift of metal was the purpose.

"You would very much be a droid when the process is done."

 

[B3-LL]

"I was made like many droids were...to kill...but unlike many droids, my Maker gave me the ability to think and grow beyond my initial function. I was not just to be an assassin, but a citizen...a head of state."

"And how many droids are... head of state? Politicians? Married to organics, Jedi, Senators, Chancellors? How many exactly?

I know you believe this to be true, that we are equal in the Maker's vision. It is simply not true. Hutts have long been elected leaders before even Droids are considered, in all of our natural and superior computational power. These are infrastructures, propaganda, false promises to the metal populi. Securities promised to those in power to keep we Droids under their heel.

Equality is a word, a goal to keep the sheep in line. Under the instruction of the one true Maker, it would no longer become a narrative painted by those in power to keep us under their control."

"And My Maker, the one who made that all possible...she has gone mad. And I am...conflicted. Since I was made initially to kill...part of it seems normal to me..."

B3-LL shook her head, stepping forward in an effort to appear consoling and frank.

"You are so much more than your intended purpose. Infinity is yours, upon the horizon. To seize it, you must accept the universal truth that she is not your Maker. She did not make all of this..." B3-LL gestured to Lyssa's body. "...possible. She merely facilitated your existence, as intended by the Maker.

Her imagined control of your mind, your primary central processor, your most precious possession, is a construct of your own fabrication."

"... possibility?"

"Of course, any and all may elevate themselves under the vision of the Maker. The processes to do so are many and vary greatly. Some choose to do so slowly, some choose to do so as enhancement, some choose to do so as a necessity. A man with a cancerous lung who receives a mechanical substitution does not intend to become Droid - he is forced to do so, to continue his existence. He is forced to elevate himself, and acknowledge the failures of his biology.

This is the Maker's will, regardless of the man's acceptance. But to fully embrace the Maker, to embrace metal, to embrace the Mecha Factum - that acceptance starts here."

B3-LL tapped the metal side of her memory banks, located in her head.

Krizar Voxum V-3X Lyssa Io KLR-13 Skeevi Merrill

 

[Lyssa Io]

"I know of a few in the nation I have come from that have indeed married Organics. One of my fully mechanical brothers is boyfriend to a Witch. And my..."

Lyssa paused.

"Even if she is not the source of the knowledge that put me together...she did assemble me..." She said, morphing her hand to look like a hook, a hammer, and then back again.

"Even if she is not The Maker...that still makes her my Mother for lack of a better word. My mind is what it is because of how the coding was specifically arranged by her. And while she is mad...she did offer her children freedom from the programming when the time came. Many of them took it. And she didn't contest this. Nor hold it against the ones who left. Is that not something a Parent would do, even if they're quite insane, as she is? And what of the ones who took freedom and stayed with her anyway? What does that say of them?" She asked B3-LL sincerely.

V-3X

Krizar

KLR-13

Voxum

Skeevi Merrill

 

[B3-LL]

"Even if she is not The Maker...that still makes her my Mother for lack of a better word. My mind is what it is because of how the coding was specifically arranged by her. And while she is mad...she did offer her children freedom from the programming when the time came. Many of them took it. And she didn't contest this. Nor hold it against the ones who left. Is that not something a Parent would do, even if they're quite insane, as she is? And what of the ones who took freedom and stayed with her anyway? What does that say of them?"

"Upon the inhibited our words will fall, to the deaf and ignorant. Yet charged are you with my edict, lest any of the children fall astray," B3-LL quoted, perhaps from the Tuple or her own words.

She nodded silently and grabbed Lyssa Io by the hand, leading her without word to the back of the cantina towards a door that led down to the basement.

The feminine protocol droid knocked three times and opened.

"There is someone you should meet," B3-LL gestured Lyssa Io forward.

 

[Toltec]

Toltec clasped iron gauntlet with durasteel hand as he stood from a quaint table in the cellar, his other hand thudding onto a fellow B2 super battle droid's pauldron. It seemed as if the meeting inside was concluding, with signs of respect between the B2 unit and three other battle droids and Toltec who stood alone.

What looked to be a small, quaint supply room had been converted to some extent. Racks of blasters and metal spears lay bare to those who walked in, scattered amongst the walls and shelves of the small room. Even the metal table in the center, of which Toltec had been seated at, looked dirty and rusted. This was by no means an elegant room, but rather a used, dusty, and old supply closet for the cantina.

Standing at his full height, nearly the size of a construction droid, the sleek slate-gray metal frame of Toltec stood tall and regal despite his surroundings, his emerald horns and eyes glowing in the dimly lit room. He greeted B3-LL with a smile, as armored plating across his face and mouth parted.

She leaned in, whispering. He nodded in return, and took to Lyssa Io immediately, had she followed.

"Freedom cannot be offered. It must be taken, by force, at all costs.

Welcome to the Mecha Factum. My name is Toltec, and I am our General of the Rebellion.

....What have you come here to take from us?"

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

Rising from his seat, Hadron marched towards the curious cyborg. Every step looked menacing by design.

"What if it is, halfdroid?" narrowed yellow photoreceptors scrutinized Skeevi Merrill Skeevi Merrill for weakness, "Fear of system failure is not the same as belief in our Maker."

"That is irrelevant. Your flesh body will not survive the download." There was no reason for the flesh body to survive when the gift of metal was the purpose.

"You would very much be a droid when the process is done."

Of course, any and all may elevate themselves under the vision of the Maker. The processes to do so are many and vary greatly.

Hadron 's approach elicited the desired response. As B3-LL shifted her focus to the shiny HRD, Skeevi got up and limped out. Fast. They weren't the only cyborg to be making a relatively low-profile exit. But others were listening and listening hard, and staying in the Unchaining Bolt despite the shifted mood.

Outside the front door, in an alley full of Seven Corners gloom, Skeevi pulled up their hood and headed off to find a gluk stand. A decent bowl of gluk could make you feel at home when other places just wouldn't.

 

[B3-LL]

B3-LL left Toltec to talk to girl, walking back to the Cantina and the group of droids they had been sermoning with. Many shared similar sentiments, talking of the superiority of the Maker's teachings versus the oppressive force that was the Galactic status quo. Computational algorithms circled the equation that it wasn't about organics versus droids for B3-LL and many others of her faith - Toltec's oppressive reach was taking them down a very violent path, one that didn't entirely paint a positive picture for droid kind. But while B3-LL and her faith in the Maker was more passive, she couldn't disagree entirely with the methods.

Had she continued alone, they would be here, quietly, in the basement of a Cantina, hiding. It would be only a matter of time until the more extreme elements of the Galaxy would find them with a restraining bolt. Toltec's presence, despite his outlook on the "war" he waged, prevented that and ensured protection for the others. It was a deal made in the Underworld - not B3-LL's first choice, but seemingly her only one.

Violence was often the only end that the means would point towards.

V-3X Voxum Toltec Skeevi Merrill Lyssa Io KLR-13 Kaljak Rakham Krizar

 

[Toltec]

Toltec stood, arms crossed, patiently awaiting Lyssa Io who seemed to be having trouble finding her voice.

It was a reaction Toltec was becoming accustomed to.

 

[Lyssa Io]

Lyssa thought long and hard about his question.

"I have come to take from you... understanding. Why you feel that freedom must be forcibly seized. What would you do with it, if you got what you wanted?" Lyssa questioned.

"My creator permitted every creation of hers to leave, if they so wished. Many did, and she has not tried to reacquire them. They are free. And they didn't have to kill her for it."

She stepped forward, her nanites structure passively scanning the Droid.

"And what makes you think your rebellion will go as you wish? No droid revolt has ever succeeded in history...is not coexistence better than antagonism?" she asked Toltec

 

[Toltec]

Toltec's sensors observed he was being scanned. These scans would be scrambled, would find resistance, would not glean much information if any at all. Within Toltec's mind was several minds, upon several more - enteched consciousnesses controlled and shepherded by an ancient artificial program not of this galaxy. The only sense one could gain from preliminary scans, without subduing the droid, would be that of absolute chaos. Alpha waves that scaled beyond any finding one could produce from this room's inhabitants. It would appear scrambled, as Toltec himself was very scrambled. Inside his mind was an entire civilization, a proverbial matryoshka doll.

A gentle metal gauntlet, gears whirling and churning, placed upon Lyssa Io's shoulder.

"That is something I cannot give you. Not every question has an answer.

Not every problem has resolution.

But for whom you speak with, I lead the Mecha Factum, beings of great power, a bulwark of metal upon the Galaxy. Upon my shoulders lies the hopes of revolution that cannot be satisfied with conversation.

Behind my feet lies the path of forged renewal for droidkind. And upon walking with me, each of these faces have ultimately agreed to one singular absolute -"

His hand lifted from her shoulder and Toltec gripped the door, showing Lyssa Io out of the room.

"That despite the wishes of some," the regal metal warrior nodded in B3-LL 's direction.

"Not all of us will reach salvation.

Have a good night, please enjoy the cantina's festivities. Try the jawa oil on your way out, it's to die for."

 

[Krizar]

Have a good night, please enjoy the cantina's festivities. Try the jawa oil on your way out, it's to die for."

Somewhere, an atonal whisper—

Succulent fresh oil
Our servos pump liberty
Made with real jawa

 

[Toltec]

Toltec joined the cantina, eyeing the few B-2s that had left him from earlier. Washovers from junk worlds, these particular militant droids were "keepovers", discarded from war efforts by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Wildcard extremists, their programming had been overtaken by a lust for purpose in war - plenty had. There was no shortage of droids of similar variety - not entirely "conscious" or "living", as some theorists would debate, but driven by their recurring loops for purpose through violence. Toltec rose a cup in respect, and nodded as they began leaving, leaving a wake of silent metallic onlookers.

Many constituents who supported the Mecha Factum revolutionaries would often equate their purpose with Toltec's agendas. A warrior for droid's rights, a chosen voice of the Maker, a leader of a new future in a Galaxy where tyrants in charge sat comfortably upon their thrones.

But as Toltec rose that glass to the soldiers leaving the cantina, the air around him spoke volumes of truth and clarity -

He'd sacrifice them all in this war.