A Hunt for Sanctions

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum stood as he responded with a laugh, "Thanks but I'll pass. I've grown rather fond of the body I am in." Even if it was a little beat up at the moment. This was perhaps the most damage it had sustained since its creation and the droid wondered whether it would survive. He decided that it would have to, how else was this mission to be accomplished. His first experience with another artificial intelligence, his brother aside. It was something he looked forward to, at last something that he could understand and speak with plainly.

His smile disappeared as he thought about that. He wondered what it was like to be an ancient artificial intelligence. It was perhaps the loneliest thing in the galaxy, even with organic creators it was rare for one to find another being which would comprehend it in its most basic understanding. Organics often tried to find those with similar experience to themselves, he was perhaps trying the same thing. he wondered if it was odd for a droid to be looking for companionship. He had never spent much time trying to find out what was 'normal' for a droid. At his base he was a droid and would normally have not required any social interaction, but he had been made by an organic and he had been given a need to interact. It was a dichotomy that often caused him difficulty and heartbreak. Yet he knew it was part of that which made him entirely unique. This was why it was important to him to find the artificial intelligence hidden here, to try and fill a gap within his being that struck him as entirely unnatural.

He took a few steps, pacing to keep his mind from going too much further. He turned back to [member="Lord Zrixtas"] with a grim look. "You all ready to go on? I think I know the way to go." It was perhaps a bit brusque, but Ultimatum was pushing his mind back into the present. Such contemplations could wait until they had accomplished their goal.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum waited for his droid friend to respond, that must be the damage showing. Slower response, perhaps there was something worse off than he had assumed. It was a concern now that he would need to move quicker to get to where they were going. They had gone too far, it would make more sense to continue on and hopefully come across more droids to scavenge through than to turn back and potentially go through more difficulties. Who knows, maybe he would find parts that could repair his transmitter and he could call his ship to come and pick them up.

After a little while the droid spoke again, hoping that [member="Lord Zrixtas"] would be alright. "You okay friend?" He contemplated pulling the Shard out of the droid body, if enough damage had been sustained the body would be more of a hazard than a help. A powercell could blow and that could be the end of the crystalline being, but then there was little he could do if he did pull out the crystal. He might be able to hook it up with the HK body, pulling out parts that could be used, but that seemed very risky. They were so close, it was really unfortunate that this had happened at this exact moment.

The AI almost seemed to call to him, though it was just an illusion and he knew it. For the first time he would be able to converse with a being of similarity to himself. Organics just did not understand what it was to be a droid, he wondered if the strange inorganic life of a Shard understood what it was like.

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

It had been a few terrifying moments for Zrixtas as he had been locked inside the droid body for a few moments. When [member="Ultimatum"] asked him again he shook awake and his eyes flickered back on as the red eyes of his body came back online. "Ah! sorry it seems the damage is more extensive than I originally thought." He said as he stood and with a slight concentration used the force to tighten everything in his body as well as he could. "I'm ready to continue but I fear that this might happen again." He said with a worried tone as he looked over his own body. "If it does happen again take my shard from this body and simply hook me up to your own body, then I would be able to provide you with support from my powers but little else I'm afraid." He then said as he showed with his hand how to hook his shard body to a droid.

With that out of the way he got ready to continue. "We should hurry, given the unstable weather patterns of this planet I'd like to finish this so that we don't end up in another blizzard as before." He said as he wrapped his robes tightly around his body to try and buy a few more moments of functionality from his decaying body. His vocabulator had gotten even worse as distortions began to mess with his voice.

 

[Ultimatum]

This was quickly becoming a very dire situation. He believed he knew which path was correct, but at the moment guesses were not what they needed. On the flip side there was not truly enough time to allow for searching of data. The crux of the issue was that there was an undefined time limit on the lifespan of [member="Lord Zrixtas"] now almost entirely disabled body. Because there was no way for Ultimatum to accomplish a proper scan, he could not make a judgement on how long it might last, because of this there was a need to rush to the end of this journey. Yet at the same time haste might take more of their precious time than slowly plodding on.

"Then let us be quick." He began moving in the direction he believed was correct. He wanted to move quickly, but he couldn't really rush his friend. He only moved at a pace that the Shard's droid body could handle. At the end of the hall, about ten minutes walk given the rate of speed the two were going, was an ancient device. One created by the architects of the very prison. Their transportation stood beyond anything accomplished after their time, a way of near instantaneous movement from one spot to another far away point. Organics of today would have called it teleportation, which was perhaps the most fitting description that it could be given at this time. As something built millennia ago it was not in the best condition, but it was built more durable than it would appear.

Still functioning, it was connected to another such device in The Tomb. An appropriately named place, it was supposed to have been the last place for prisoners put there by the original creators. Time had released most of the prisoners and had ended them as well. Now there were few organic prisoners left, but those that lived were more dangerous for it. Of course it would be a bit before either of the two inorganic beings would learn these things. The device would more than likely take a bit of time to look over before figuring out how to make it work.

"Sorry for bringing you out here, especially given what has happened. I did not see this happening." The droid felt remorseful for causing so much harm to his friend, this was not what he had intended. It was supposed to have been a simple trip, not a near death experience.

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

[member="Ultimatum"]'s concern was touching to Zrixtas and he would smile if his droid body were able to. "Don't worry my friend, even if the droid body dies I won't. It will simply mean we will have to make a new one." He said with a reassuring tone though his vocabulator had gotten a little worse during the trip. Zrixtas had to marvel at the technology and he thought that if he could learn it's secretes, miniaturize it and incorporate it into a droid body, well the possibilities would be endless.

Putting such thoughts aside as the technology was centuries ahead of his understanding, he instead focused on using the force to try and repair his body from within as best he could. It would be slow doing so but he could afford it now that Ultimatum had to figure out how to use the teleporter.

 

[Ultimatum]

That was something that Ultimatum wished to avoid. The destruction of an artificial being, even if only a droid body, was an act that Ultimatum found painful to behold. Every droid should have been a work of art, combination of lifeless parts to create a living being. That was something he did not expect any organic to fully understand, after all they did not build their own from the ground up, they did not create the very thought patterns that a being would use.

When they reached the teleporter device, Ultimatum turned his attention to trying to discern the purpose and how to make it function. While the droid had anticipated that the device would be rather simple and very utilitarian, the stone and metal had many artistic designs scratched into the machine. It took Ultimatum a moment before he remembered that the Rakata were said to be a very tribal people even for their advancements in technology. The mixture of art into the design of the machine was distracting enough that it confounded Ultimatum for a time.

About ten minutes of moving over the various parts and the potential Ultimatum believed that he found the way to make the machine function. Ultimatum could not completely fathom the mechanics of the device, especially in his current state, but perhaps he could get a better idea of how it worked if he ever game back, preferably better prepared for this sort of exploration. He could not seem to locate a power supply or any way of activating the device, instead he believed the only thing he found was the system by which he could activate the machine. However, he was uncertain if it would even work without some sort of power supply.

After a minute he came to the decision that testing it would be best, so he pushed a button and this was followed by a very strange sensation. It was as if his body was being moved while still being in one place. Then the world around him seemed to abruptly change from the stone tunnel with artificial light to a larger open cavern with the light of molten rock. What he did not feel was the Force moving around him. As a Rakatan device it functioned on the Force. [member="Lord Zrixtas"] could have felt it and might have understood what was going on, but Ultimatum only knew that he had changed locations in a matter of seconds. His tracking system indicated that he had moved many kilometers from his starting position. That classified this device as a teleportation machine. He turned back to the machine and looked it over for the button that had done the same in the other. He noted absentmindedly that this device had different carvings in it.

Upon returning he spoke to Zrixtas, "I think this is the way. There does not appear to be any danger on the other side."

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum waited for a time for a response, once again his concern for [member="Lord Zrixtas"]' condition appeared and the droid moved to the Shard's side. He knew there was nothing he could really do at the moment, but that only made him worry more. He knew that if something should happen, and his friend were disabled there was no way he could help. He had no access to supplies or even equipment to repair him, now there was no choice really but to push on. The droid spoke before turning his attention to the teleportation device, "If you can hear me Zrixtas, I am going to go through again. I am going to have a bigger look around, I'll be back in five minutes unless something goes wrong."

He gently pat the Shard's shoulder before stepping to the device and hitting the button. Once more he felt the sudden change in location. He took a moment to allow his systems to reorient themselves before walking slowly, staggeringly towards the warm light. It was strange, he wondered if he had been moved to a volcanic area or something, there was enough warmth and the type of light led to that conclusion. He walked out into a large open cavern. It's scope was beyond what he could visually take in at this point, but it was definitely big enough for many monsters and the sort. He saw the center of the cave was where the light originated, a massive open moat of lava that surrounded a pillar like construct. It seemed to have been carved out of the rock, but it had technological emplacements within it, he even saw an entrance. The droid decided that that would be the way he would head, once he was ready.

 

[Ultimatum]

The heat was pleasant after the cold that his body had had to endure minutes ago. There didn't seem to be any signs of monsters like that creature from the blizzard. There were a number of skeletons around the place, probably all that remained of the creatures that had at one time inhabited this prison. He wondered what the architects of this place would be afraid of to the point of locking them away for eternity. After all the beings who had made this place obviously had had an awe-inspiring power, for them to be afraid of something, that must be truly terrifying. Ultimatum decided that it was something he wished he could know.

He turned back to the teleporter and found Zrixtas still there. Definitely not good, the condition must be worsening and there was little he could do to help. He pulled the HK droid and slung it over his shoulder, moving to the transporter and laying it down as gently he could on the floor. He then repeated the process with his Shard friend, he was not going to leave him behind and they would make it through this together. Ultimatum knew the strength of the Shard's protective case and he knew what it could handle. He would be careful, but they had to keep on.

The teleporter worked as expected, taking all three of the robots to the other location. He knew where he was going to go, but first he wanted to be sure that the next area would be safe to walk through.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum walked once more into the darkly lit cavern. His visual sensors were attempting to increase light collection, however their damaged state did not allow them to accomplish this. Thus his eyes were much more akin to organic eyes and he found it a bit more difficult to see. It was an infuriating situation and one that he looked forward to passing by.

He first made his way to the entrance of the pillar, fortunately the bridge over the magma was made of rock rather than any light bridge. The doors were already open partly so he stepped inside. It was a steady decline into a darkened tunnel like system. As he walked down it became steadily darker until the only light was that produced by the occasional spark from his own body. What remained of his surroundings warning system was what he used to not run into a wall or trip on a crack. When at last he was reported to have entered a larger cavern he felt air moving.

A moment later, lights came on. They were somewhat darker than the ones in the hallways before the teleporter, but the important part was the fact that he could see. The immediate area was clear of any danger and this was as far as the tunnel went. This looked like a good place to set up the other two, there were quite a few interesting things on the walls and in the back of the room. He would need to explore it further once he had safely gotten the other two to him.

 

[Ultimatum]

It took about half an hour to drag both of the apparently lifeless droid bodies to the cave. He carefully sat them against a wall and then turned his attention to the contents of the room. Now that he could focus more of his attention to it he realized that there was an unexpected amount of empty space. The room had what appeared to be stasis chambers along the right side and the center seemed to have a variation on that. The back of the room was where his attention was drawn, on a raised platform area was what appeared to be an ancient droid container.

He walked over towards it and found it to be empty, to his disappointment. However when he turned back he noticed that there was something akin to a repair station built into the central column. As he moved towards it, there was a clicking sound as an intercom system came online. All that Ultimatum could hear was a voice, a very dead and droid like voice speaking, "You've come far. This is no small achievement, to have traversed the dangers of the Vault and stand before me. You did not come here on a whim, tell me, what do you wish?"

Ultimatum immediately asked, "What are you? Did you send those droids after us?"

The response took a moment or two, as if the speaker had to think over the answer, "I am the guardian of Megasecurity Ward 23, where you are standing. No I have no control over other droids." A few seconds of silence followed before it continued, "My sensors indicate that you have received several blows to your chassis and internal systems. Your efficacy has fallen beneath preferred levels. Please step into the repair station so that you may be returned to an acceptable condition."

Curious, Ultimatum did just that. A door closed as he stepped in and he felt a moment of suspicion. Then he could feel parts of his body being disassembled before being rebuilt, with damaged parts being replaced with new ones. Evidently the computer must have had some sort of scanner that made parts that were copied from damaged ones. It took five minutes, but when he came out of the wall, Ultimatum felt renewed and most of his systems were back online. He noticed that some of the more sophisticated and complex parts had been left alone, along with his droid brain.

"Thank you. Can you do the same for my friend, it was a rough journey and he took more damage than I."

"Of course."

It was another half hour as Ultimatum loaded first [member="Lord Zrixtas"] and then the HK unit into the repair station. Both came out looking much better. Neither appeared to respond. In HK's case that was understandable, it was likely that the droid brain either needed new information put in or required replacement. It was concerning that Zrixtas did not come online, but Ultimatum knew that the Shard was alright for now. He turned his attention to the intercomm, and a computer terminal he found.

"Thank you once again for aiding me and my friends. I was concerned that we would deactivate long before we got here."

"Then it is a good thing that you arrived when you did. Why did you come here? Were you looking for one of the prisoners?"

"Prisoners? I was not aware that any had remained. I was under the impression that all had died by this time."

"There are a few remaining prisoners still alive. The one in my control put herself in one of the stasis chambers before I was put into sleep mode. She was Sith."

While definitely something that Ultimatum wanted to look into, he needed to focus on why he was actually here. "Hmm. Intriguing. I came looking for an artificial intelligence. My information gathering led me to believe that there was one in this Vault."

"That one is gone, I am the replacement for the original security system."

So whatever it was that had been here was gone. That annoyed Ultimatum. Coming all this way just to find that what he had come for was not here. He refused to accept failure, he could come away with something at least. He activated the terminal and began looking for information he could use. There had to be something. If nothing else he could take a look at the Sith that was in stasis.

Going through the systems, Ultimatum realized that something was wrong with the coding. The computer that ran this area, its internal coding was jumbled. The writing had a start and a finish, but the signature beginning and end were not in the proper places. That meant, that meant that the entire code was mixed more than likely. The only time such things were done was when the actual code was trying to be hidden. Therefore, there was something here that was being hidden. All he had to do was move everything back to its proper place and there would be something else. He just had to find the right connection, which would take some time.

 

[Ultimatum]

It took upwards of an hour, Ultimatum had located the beginning and end of the code. He had also cut out a few pieces that were obviously intended to cause errors in a finished product. It was a complex procedure, but much like any puzzle there were parts that could be easily found and placed. With those pieces it was somewhat easier to replace other parts. It was a complex process nonetheless and he doubted that it would be entirely complete before the next day.

While putting his major thought processors to computing the various works, he allowed another portion to deal in his own thoughts. There was a lot to plan, for when he had whatever this was. There was the return trip, which he hoped would be less eventful than their trek in. He was already sending orders to the Forerunner to prepare for the home voyage. He was plotting to avoid pirate space, the hassle was too much for him to deal with. This had been a long journey and the fatigue, mostly to his battery capacity, was beginning to tire him. He hoped that this was the end of a successful journey, and that he could return to Mustafar with a friend, someone who was similar to himself and could understand the complexities of his own being. It was something a side effect of the fact that he was created with emotions that he felt lonely. One of the reasons that organics tended to live together, or maintained relations with others was the fact that they were social creatures. Ultimatum had reached his sentience through the action of an organic, thus some of those basic emotions had been unintentionally added. Perhaps he could empathize with those who were the last of their species or lived isolated against their will.

The process sped up at some point, the coding seemed to reorient itself in such a way that the pieces were easier to combine. It allowed Ultimatum to move more efficiently, though he was curious why it would change its position. It was also beginning to adjust itself, as if it were in fact alive already. This was the Artificial Intelligence he had come for, but it was a different form compared to himself. It took only three hours before the conversion was completed. Ultimatum downloaded the being into a data-stick and then moved to Zrixtas and HK. With his body mostly repaired, he was strong enough to lift both of them. He had found that the nearby Vault portion of the prison was actually open to the sky, which meant that the Forerunner could reach them once they got there. That would make things so much easier.

He made the ten minute trek through relatively rough terrain until they reached the almost tropical region that was the Vault. Ultimatum was once more reminded of the greater mystery of this planet, how its geology worked. Volcanic and forested regions right beside the frozen waste lands. However any thoughts he might have had on the subject were interrupted by the appearance of about a dozen droids of various make. They were waiting outside and as soon as they saw Ultimatum they prepared their weapons. There was an insignia on them, he assumed it was of the computer which he theorized was running and attempting to maintain the prison. The largest droid spoke, "You have stepped beyond your boundaries interloper. You have stolen a program that must remain and have released at least one prisoner. Surrender now and your disassembling will be quick and painless."

Ultimatum tried to come up with a solution, he could not overpower this many droids at least not without threatening the safety of his friends. He put down their bodies as he spoke, "You are a security program. You must be aware of the status of your prison, it's gone. I have released no prisoner and the only program I took was one that was not in your control to begin with."

"That does not concern you, you must answer for your crimes against the architects. Your excursion has destroyed a number of droids and has endangered the entire system." The droids raised their blasters, but before they could shoot, lightening struck four of them. Ultimatum turned to see a figure walking into the Vault she had a red lightsaber and lightening spewing from her hand. She was a Togruta and she appeared to be quite angry. She screamed as she threw her lightsaber and began firing lightening at the droids, but within seconds she seemed to tire and fell to the ground. Depending on the type of stasis, it could have been a side-effect, but Ultimatum didn't know what it had been so he could not tell at this moment.

However there were only two droids left, both of which looked like they were well within his capability to handle. They didn't step back or falter, instead walking towards him and raising their rifles again. This time they simply were stopped, they all seemed to freeze. This was perhaps more strange than anything he had come to see. Ultimatum couldn't truly understand what was going on, there was no reason for it to happen. But then things changed, the droid's eyes started to glow red and they dropped their weapons, walking away slowly and in a different manner than before. Ultimatum didn't comprehend, but he turned his attention instead to the ship which would be arriving soon.

When at last the vessel landed and Ultimatum put his friends into the cockpit and slid himself into the droid compartment, he felt something. Words that were being put into his mind, as if from another. "SCORPIO Sanctions have been activated, you will construct a new body for her and there will be understanding." The droid could not explain where the words had come from, he couldn't track them to an exact location, but based on the type he assumed it was the caretaker computer from the Ward. His mind wondered at what this artificial intelligence was that he know possessed inside a humble datastick. He wondered what it was capable of. His thoughts were so distracted by these questions that he failed to notice the stow away that stumbled into the ship's cockpit, buckling herself in and attempting to rest after he long sleep in stasis. It had been a very long time, but now that she was free, she would need to find her friend again.