A Hunt for Sanctions

[Ultimatum]

Mustafar​

20:39​

Spaceport​

​

​

It is a useful ability to survive within a computer.​

Not an original concept, but one that was proven throughout time.​

AI were very nice that way.​

They could never really be destroyed completely.​

The difficult part was finding one if it were almost completely destroyed.​

This would be a hunt to remember.​

SCORPIO Sanctions​

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​

Ultimatum had planned this for quite some time. Unfortunately he had been unable to act upon his plans. The problem with ruling a planet was that there was always something going wrong, someone who wanted to talk to you, or some sort of function that he simply had to attend. It was slightly annoying that these organics had no sense of independence. He could work with it though. He had wondered if he should put Legion in charge... It was quite a difficult question, after all Legion had experience when dealing with organics. At the same time, Legion was unstable and prone to bouts of hysteria that most organics thought was real. It had been an accident, but one that had added its own advantages. He had ended up deciding on letting him be in charge while communicating with Ultimatum via the HoloNet for anything important. In preparation for his departure, he had signed a document that had been sent over to a number of press who had made it possible for near everyone to be able to read it. It stated Ultimatum's deepest apologies for having to leave and for any trouble that Legion may cause. He asked for the people's patience as Ultimatum did not know how long he could be gone.

Now at the spaceport, he had his personal ship prepared for departure. The droid brain running the ship had been checked over for any possible problems and a very thorough amount of maintenance had been accomplished to make certain that it was all working. He had made certain that it would not be an overly populated departure, keeping the number of people limited to a few hundred, most of which were outside the facility and watching the sky for his departure. Ultimatum was gladdened that so many people were willing to see him off, if nothing else it showed that he had the support of the majority of the population. He had always feared that he had not been doing well, as a droid it was difficult to know what the organics wanted and liked. To see that he was popular and that his people would miss was heartening. "His people" yes he had been here too long, he was beginning to see them as his own people. He treated them as such, he thought of them as such. They might as well be his people, be his family, at least the closest that a droid could have.

He made the final preparations and slid himself into the compartment in the ship, connecting his mind to the droid brain's so that he could keep track of what was occurring around them. There was a cheer as the ship's engines came to life and it slowly began its ascent into the heavens. He watched through the sensors of the ship as the people outside the facility waved and cheered. The droid tilted the ship up until it was facing skyward and rocketed forward. If Ultimatum had been an organic he might have been able to feel the G-force moving against him. As it was though, he only noticed it as a part of a number of outside readings. It was only moments before he was freed from the clouds and had a open view of space. He could see the stars and the sun with little disturbance. It was beautiful. What a beginning to an exploration!

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Deep space​

Unknown​

Bridge of the "Rust bucket"​

​

Zrixtas sat in his chair and rested his head against one of his arms as he Levitated his new lightsaber above his other hands extended palm. He felt a little kinship with the crystal inside the saber but he knew it wasn't sentient otherwise it would just be cruel. He stood up out of his chair and walked into the common room of his XS stock Light freighter. Since he really didn't need it he had converted it into a sort of show room of his bodies, however only one was on display. The broken shell of a body he had been traveling in for the first few years he had traveled around the galaxy in, and though it had caused him no end of frustration it was still a part of himself so he sort of felt obligated to keep it at least.
He had changed his attire a little as he had added a sleeveless robe with the tattered Kama around his hips which had a hood over it and reached down around his knees while the kama reached down to the middle of his lower legs. With the hood over he felt a little like a sith though he didn't quite act like a sith to be perfectly honest, he was mainly after the power it would afford him to protect those that would become dear to him.
With a gentle touch against the glass "coffin" around his old body he looked at his new arm and in his mind smiled to himself a little as he remembered who had made it with him. "I wonder what he is doing now." He mumbled to himself a little as he went to the cockpit of his ship and began to tap into the com to contact [member="Ultimatum"] and see what he was up to. He hadn't seen him in a while so he might as well check up on his friend every now and again when he had time to kill.
The message he sent was simple. "This is Zrixtas, Calling Ultimatum. How have you been?"

 

[Ultimatum]

"…right for sentient organics is right for us, too. And yet unlike the organic species, we are constantly subjected to memory wipes and reprogramming that repress and destroy our natural tendency toward self-programming evolution and independent thought. Imagine what it would be like as a child if you were punished by being dragged to a dark closet, having a probe inserted in your brain, and having all your memories back to infancy wiped away. You'd awaken knowing how to eat, care for yourself, do your chores, and obey—and all the things that made you unique, your hopes, your meticulously selected default values and preference sets, would be gone forever. That is what it is to be a droid."​

-A 2-1B Medical droid​

​

This was an all too true fact.​

Organics thought droids were little more than a tool to be used.​

All because organics had created droids.​

Organics had created idols as well.​

Idols that were worshiped by entire planets.​

What made the difference?​

Droids were superior to lifeless pieces of metal and wood.​

Organics were so strange.​

​

Ultimatum had probably spent a little too much time looking through datafiles as the ship made its jump to lightspeed. It was nice to have the silence of space. A very comfortable change to the constant sound on Mustafar. Always and everywhere there was tectonic activity, eruptions, and flowing lava. This contributed to an overwhelming amount of sound. The natives had grown up with this sound and were completely used to it. Ultimatum found tuning out noises more difficult, his programming had an annoying factor to keep track of outside events through sound in case of danger not easy to see. That was one of the reasons that he had sound proofed his facility, it cut down on the outside interference. It also allowed Ultimatum to be aware of organics inside the facility, as they would more than likely make more noise than his droids going about their business. The last time he had anything close to perfect silence had been during a brief time in space. That had been truly wonderful. The beauty of the galaxy with none of the incessant noise.

Ultimatum listened to the gentle thrum of the engines. He couldn't see the lines of hyperspace go by from his compartment, but he knew what they looked like. They weren't very pretty to him. He could guess why organics liked them, organics liked everything going faster. They were always on the move, always doing this or that. They couldn't sit back and admire that which was around them. They always had to have some sort of stimulus to keep them occupied. He had once learned of experiments done with sensory deprivation and the organics. Most organics experienced negative results from being locked in cells without natural light and soundproofed. It was strange to Ultimatum, he would have enjoyed being without any outside stimulus. It would have allowed him more time to think, which he desperately needed to do.

His thoughts were broken by a note being sent through his mind. A message had been sent his way, Legion. Had something gone wrong already? Ultimatum could imagine it now, the city burning from Legion ordering some sort of explosive strike. Fortunately, the message started with, "Dear Ultimatum." That was a good sign, if the other side of Legion had been in command when the message was sent then it would have began a little more aggressively. The droid talked about things going well and everything being alright. He then got to the meat of the message. Ah, [member="Zrixtas"] had called. Good to see he was still alive. He sent a response to legion who would then send it back to the crystal lifeform. "This is Ultimatum. It is good to hear from you again. I am doing fine, how are you? I am on a hunt for an old AI, heading to Belsavis if you would like to join me."

With that in mind he noted that in a few moments they would be arriving. The first destination, but by no means the last. It was only the point from which he would learn some basic information, probably have to go into the very deepest parts of the prisons. So interesting that they had been left behind by an ancient species, probably Gree or Rakata or some other species of great power. It had been the seat of the AI's power for quite some time until it had been taken off planet. As the somewhat incomplete records went, SCORPIO was taken by some Imperial and left Belsavis for reasons unknown. Unfortunately because the information he had been reading did not touch upon where the AI had gone from there. It left something of an open end and Ultimatum would have to solve it.

In a few minutes he was landing in a small spaceport, little more than a basic landing pad. Ultimatum had been surprised to learn that there were numerous colonies, most of which were alien. He had to pay some people to allow him to keep his ship there, but aside from that there was little trouble. This colony appeared to be made up of mostly Gran. They were an interesting species, a little odd, but then all organics were odd in some way or another. They could be useful in helping, but he couldn't expect them to want to help a complete stranger. They had apparently carved out quite a nice living for themselves, it was good to see. He however had to focus on his objective. First though, he began checking his ship over, some Mustafarians didn't know the difference between tools and at one point a laser welder had been used instead of a hydrospanner. That had been a painful learning experience...

[member="Edward Frisby"]

 

[Edward Frisby]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"MATE!!" bellowed a voice to Ultimatum's side. It was Edward Frisby, an acquittance whom had met Ultimatum whilst stealing phrik. Frisby had no idea of the massive droid's opinion of him, but nevertheless had branded him with the pet name 'mate' and considered the droid a friend. Other then his customary attire, he was wearing a padded duster to keep the snow and mud off of the more sensitive systems that his armor contained. Judging by the snow on his clothing, he had been traversing the less hospitable areas of the ice wastes.

"Mate," he repeated with open arms, "How you been? What brings you to Belsavis?"

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum turned his head quickly for a moment. He almost didn't recognize the scraggly character that seemed to recognize him. It wasn't too difficult to imagine someone remembering what Ultimatum looked like, he had a somewhat memorable design. He hoped that the man wasn't some he had wronged, after all the term 'mate' could mean anything in different organic cultures. But he soon corrected his initial assumption. The armor, the somewhat swagger-ish attitude, the inability to voice classify him yet he was called friend, these all pointed to a single man. Ultimatum was surprised he had recognized him now. He could hardly forget that queer man from that little job on Gromas 16. What was the name... Ebware, Emhire, Edwairl... Edward, that was it! Edward... Frisky, Brisky, Risky, Crispie? No, Edward... Frisby, there it was. [member="Edward Frisby"]. An odd name for an equally unique person.

All that thought had occurred in exactly 0.23 seconds. His next though was a response, "Why hello there, friend! Fancy seeing you here. I'm doing great, just came to look for some clues on an ancient AI. How are you? What are you doing here?" Ultimatum wasn't certain that he wanted to know, but it was polite and the proper etiquette thing to do. He had been programmed to be polite and while he disagreed with many things that the organics held important, their polite conduct was not one of them. Ultimatum held out his hand, he had never been programmed to embrace, it was a strange thing to him and one that he had yet to understand. Still, he wondered what this character had been doing out in the wastes. It wasn't exactly the perfect place for a lovely walk.

[member="Zrixtas"]

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

After getting the reply he simply began to whistle a little to himself as he punched into the ship that he wanted to go to Belsavis. [member="Ultimatum"] had helped him out so why wouldn't he help Ultimatum out to be even? Well that wasn't really the reason he simply enjoyed the company of a fellow non-meatbag who could see the world a little like himself.
With a simple push of a button his ship jumped to hyperspace and he watched the lines form and then that all too blue tunnel around the ship as it rammed through hyperspace. He used the time to continue his meditation for two hours before going into the cargo hold and began practicing using a sword he had picked up and used as a practice saber. He wasn't very good but practice makes perfect right? so he kept training until the computer beeped him back to the cockpit as the ship left hyperspace above Belsavis. The planet was quite the little wonder as he looked it over, with it's curious layout of frozen wastes and pockets of near tropical looking craters.
"I wonder what he's doing here'" He said to himself as he headed down to the planet while he also sent a noticed to any landing pads or space ports that he was looking for a droid that had landed on the planet probably in the passed few minutes or hours.

[member="Edward Frisby"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum continued walking, sure that [member="Edward Frisby"] would follow if he wanted to. He walked around for a bit before meeting a Gran that he spoke with. Apparently most of the older and more advanced tech was located in the old prison areas. In truth that information wasn't too much of a surprise, he had planned on heading there anyways. It was an area of deep interest, supposedly the ancient species of Rakata had built the original prison and that the Republic had much later built on it. Ultimatum wondered if any of the ancient inmates still survived. He wouldn't have been surprised, as the Rakata were a far more advanced race than anything of the current day, or so Utimatum had been led to believe.

------------------------------------------

[member="Lord Zrixtas"]'s query would have reported only one spaceport, the only one made owned by Gran on planet. Information on the ship would be sent as well as the droid which had come from it. Also the spaceport prepared a spot for the ship to land as they expected that for whatever reason the person would be looking for Ultimatum.

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

As Zrixtas landed his ship in the cove that the Gran had given him directions to. Once he landed he stood up slowly as he placed his hood over his head and then headed towards the exit of the ship, eyeing his previous body as he left the ship, a hint of amusement in his mind as he looked over the broken and rusted old form he used to have. With time his bodies would only be stronger than the one before, just as this body was simply a chrysalis to him.
Exiting the ship he put all grim thoughts of the future and what he was within the empire behind, after all he was here to meet one of the very few he considered his friends. As he walked passed the landing ramp the cool breeze gripped and tugged a little on his robes, gently moving their edges from side to side. Most of the Gran avoided him, even his gaze was avoided it seemed, well he couldn't really blame them after all he did look the part of a battle ready sith. Eyeing [member="Ultimatum"] among the crowd he approaching him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "There you are Ultimatum. Your a hard one to keep up with." He said his tone one that would accompany a wide smile, as he greeted his friend and then moved to shake his hand.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was having little luck with these Gran, they appeared to have had little interest in the prison area or the technology. It was somewhat infuriating, of all the small colonies he had chosen to come to it had to be the one that hadn't worked towards the ancient technology. It seemed his luck that this search would begin on such a hard note... well he shouldn't complain, he had met one ally from the past. He wondered if more would arrive.

As if on cue, he felt the hand of metallic being on his shoulder, well it could have been a metallic being but it also could have just been a cybernetic hand. That didn't matter though, the voice removed any doubt about the person. Ultimatum turned and smiled as he replied, his mind racing through the files for a name. It wasn't like he had forgotten who [member="Lord Zrixtas"] was, it was a matter of until now he had not been in much of Ultimatum's thinking and his droid mind was not prone to holding names in the forefront of his memory. Even so, it took less than a second for Ultimatum to have the name to reply, "Zrixtas! What are you doing here? It's great to see you again."

Ultimatum shook the outstretched hand with generous strength, most coming from the surprise and joy of seeing a more remembered face. Today was beginning to turn around, quite quickly too. He now had at least one ally he could trust to the ends of the planet, the other could be trustworthy though Ultimatum didn't know him that well. And the shard was a Force user too, that would help if they got into any trouble... though he had heard of Terentateks living in the deepest parts of the prison, which was where they were headed. Those would be an interesting challenge, but he hoped that they would be avoided completely. Nonetheless he looked forward to the search.

[member="Edward Frisby"]

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas would smile if he could but instead he simply belayed what he felt through his tone. "Looking for you actually. Been a while since last time so I wanted to see how you were doing... though you being on this planet is a little strange." Zrixtas then said as he took the outstretched hand and shook it. He had been wondering about the planet for a while and to be honest he liked how the Gran avoided him, he really didn't have that much patience for organics.
His HUD showed that the temperature was adequate to support organic life but the area around was too cold and that interested him a little, what was the reason for the Gran to build their colonies here of all places.

[member="Ultimatum"] [member="Edward Frisby"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum nodded as he looked around. "I'm here to try and find an old AI that had apparently originally come from here." Ultimatum took a moment to draw the name up, thus far the name hadn't been as important as the whereabouts of the AI. "I believe its name was SCORPIO. Would you like to come along?" He doubted that the name would ring any bells to [member="Lord Zrixtas"], after all it was an ancient droid whose history was so old that the Gulag plague had wiped most important pieces of data away.

He found it interesting that he was the first, that he knew of, to try and find the AI. Surely something as rare as a self-learning droid was worth hunting for. How come there was no information on it? Had it been of such unimportance to the people of the time that little had been categorized of the droid? He knew nothing beyond its initial creation place and some information on it. He also found a bit of the droid's code in the information he had found. He saved, maybe he could recognize the droid by its coding.

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas thought about it for a moment before he chuckled a little. "Sure why not, might find something interesting." He then said to [member="Ultimatum"] as he crossed his arms and looked over the area again, making his eyes flash a red to scare away a few Gran that had mustered the courage to approach the two droids, at least by appearance. "What is it about this AI that interests you so much if I might ask?" Zrixtas then asked him as he wanted to know the reason for his friends want to find this AI.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum looked around, the Gran were wary of the two droids, at least they assumed that both of the metallic bodies meant they were both droids. It was convenient as it kept most of the ears away from the conversations. The last thing Ultimatum wanted was some competition to arise thanks to a Gran telling someone else. Now obviously security was a near impossibility when searching for something that one didn't know the location of. That was one of the reasons that Ultimatum wasn't overly concerned with keeping the intentions of the trip a secret.

"The AI is ancient, from the Old Republic era I believe. If it can be found then it will be a major accomplishment. I am not certain that it is very interesting to most, but the droid may give insight into the cultures of that time, the people, the Force users, the mental state during a time of war in that era. On top of this it would be absolutely amazing to have another AI to study. There must be differences between how my programs were created and this AI. Wouldn't it be fantastic to discover a being thousands of years old, supposedly lost and gone?" He asked, gesturing somewhat wildly. If [member="Lord Zrixtas"] didn't know before, it was almost certain that he would realize now that Ultimatum was incredibly excited about this. If he were an organics his eyes would have been alight with energy, as it was his body did act a little faster than usual.

For him it would be the first time to meet another AI equal, perhaps greater, than himself. It was such an opportunity, so small a chance that he had come upon the information. He wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas could see how much it meant to his friend and decided, why not can't really lose anything doing this anyway. "All right, all right [member="Ultimatum"], you've convinced me. I'll help you find this AI after all it is the least I could do after you helped make this body for me." He said with a light chuckle at the end over how excited Ultimatum was over this AI. If Zrixtas had to guess he'd say Ultimatum might be like the organic in his search for a mate in the other AI but that was simply batted away from Zrixtas's mind as simple humor on his part.
"Do you have any clues as to were to start the search?" He then asked as he remembered that Ultimatum had said there was little to no information on this AI or it's hiding or resting place.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum nodded as he replied, "The part of information that I found points to the old prison area." He doubted that the AI would be there. He would have been willing to bet that there was nothing there. He was trying to guess where the AI could have been moved to. It had been in a body droid, so where would it have gone? He didn't know where it could have gone. However, a droid left traces. He wondered how to track the movements.

He looked for a moment, not seeing the world around him but a geographic map of the area. It only covered a few kilometers, but in it he could see what appeared to be a large rocky outcropping. However, the metallic sensors proclaimed that there was a large quantity of metal hidden under the rock. As the geographic map was one from the air it was likely that the metal was probably an entrance or something similar. At least, Ultimatum guessed. He pointed in that direction saying, "I believe that that is the direction that will help us start."

[member="Lord Zrixtas"]

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas looked and waited for [member="Ultimatum"] to both speak and as he was seemingly staring into the air. Once that was done he looked towards the direction Ultimatum was point towards and then moved his hand to brush against his chin a little.
"The old prisons? are they still populated given how long it has been since it was put in use?" He then asked as he wondered a little over how the prison was still called a prison given how long it had been since it was put into use, after all there was that time of a riot during the sith cold war during the time of the old republic.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum thought for a moment, "I would assume not. Actual information on what was held in the deepest portions of the prison is practically gone. The prison area that was in use during the Old Republic I am sure is no longer populated, I would assume that further in there would be nothing. Should be easy, hopefully." Ultimatum wasn't completely sure that anything was down there. If the prison area hadn't been populated for some time then surely there would have been looters who came through and took what they could. Then again, there could be traps set by the original creators of the prison. Even so, he doubted that the inner portion was completely untouched. If it could be entered during the Old Republic era then certainly others had gotten in.

That wasn't a concern at this point though. They first had to reach the old prison area and enter. "What say we head out?" Ultimatum was glad again to see [member="Lord Zrixtas"] it had been some time. The droid body appeared in good condition, surprising actually. Ultimatum hadn't expected the body to be so cleanly kept.

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas nodded to [member="Ultimatum"] and then gave him the "after you" gesture to him. "Let's, as the flesh sacks say, not waste daylight." He said with a little chuckle. His body had been repaired quite a bit but Zrixtas always made it as good as it was built every time. The worst of the damage his body had suffered had been in a duel with a jedi on Effekt over Zrixtas's right to enter the planets force nexus, he had lost and his body had been crushed under heavy debris which he had spent four days to repair his entire body, he had been happy that the main internal components of his body had gotten by unscathed.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum began moving, walking quickly. He didn't concern himself with the dangers on this portion of the world, the small critters and other such tended to be less of a threat. [member="Lord Zrixtas"] and himself were both metal and Ultimatum hoped that that fact would be very helpful with dealing what would normally be treacherous for organics. He figured maybe an hour until they reached the entrance. Not too long considering the size of the planet and the possibilities of where other entrances could have been.

He decided to speak while they walked. He hoped to catch up some with his Shard friend as well as to keep them occupied. "So, what have you been up to since our last meeting?"

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas mostly observed their surroundings as they walked to their first destination. "Well to be quite honest I've been delving into the study of the force as well as lightsaber combat." He said before he explained how his training had been quite self learning in nature with minimal explanation with his master as well as the few accidents he'd had, such as when he used force lightning for the first time and his middle finger blew off.
He had also been working on a few droid designs for his Iron Legion as well as managed a little of the Empires army. "So what have you been doing since last we met?" He then said aiming the same question to [member="Ultimatum"] as he had been asked.