A Hunt for Sanctions

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum listened with rapt attention, he found some of it amusing while other portions question provoking. He wondered what it was like to wield the Force. He had heard that droids were invisibly in the Force, or something like that. He didn't pretend to know why. He was interested in the Force though, it appeared to be a very important factor to most organics in the greater galaxy. Maybe someday he would study more about it and figure some way of turning its importance to his own advantage.

When [member="Lord Zrixtas"] asked how Ultimatum had been doing Ultimatum frowned slightly. "It hasn't been quite as interesting compared to yours. Mostly been trying to keep Mustafar under control." Ultimatum went on to explain how there appeared to be a possible political enemy trying to overthrow Ultimatum's rule. He spoke about his companies growing nature, having built a new body for himself mentioning that it was made of Phrik as well as a type of terminal droid that serviced the massive HoloNet computers. He talked of the new sniper and pistol that the company had produced, showing the one pistol that he carried, and the ship that he now had to travel the galaxy. It hadn't been quite as intriguing to Ultimatum, compared to Zrixtas' history. Political maneuvering was not a particularly appealing job to Ultimatum, but he had chosen it because he had needed a place to lay low for a time as well as to expand.

As often occurs when talking of things passed or particularly difficult to explain, or both for that matter, time seemed to dash. When at last Ultimatum finished speaking, somewhat exhausted of thinking over the sticky situations that waited for him upon his return to that hellish planet, they were within a few minutes of the entrance. One could see the outline of the entrance, that had ancient blast marks from where entry charges had once been used to blow the door for people to get out. What had once been the metal blast door locking prisoners in was nowhere to be seen, covered by millennia of snow, after all they were no longer in the tropical spot that the Gran had chosen as a living location.

Ultimatum wondered who had been housed in this specific prison area, it would obviously lead to the main complex at some point. Had they been murderers of the Old Republic? Or something from even further back?

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas ended their conversation with an offer of coming to help him should he ever need it on Mustafaar, after all a sith knight would be quite the helpful ally should [member="Ultimatum"] ever need it. Looking over the entrance he scanned it a little with his optical sensors before he noticed that there was a newly snowed over foot print leading into the prison. "We might not be alone in there, but I highly doubt we will be bothered." He then said as he walked to the beginning of a long tunnel down below the snow. He pulled out one of his sabers and turned it on to use as a glow rod, adjusting the length of the blade to be the size of a decent sized dagger instead of the saber that it usually would be.
"So then shall we, after all even though we both have nothing but time I feel we should get out of the snow." He said as he pointed at a large snow storm brewing on the horizon, one that could or could not pass over the entrance.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum nodded, "I agree." He moved into the shelter of the entrance to the prison. It was silent, at least as quiet as it could be with the wind and other natural noise elements. There was little fear of people it seemed or any other living thing. It would have been somewhat disconcerting to Ultimatum had he not been preoccupied with what would have to be accomplished. He was however being cautious, his sensors noted nothing particularly dangerous, at least as far as his sensors knew, in the area. What he didn't know was that by walking into the prison a silent alert had been sent to main computer. It appeared to be fate that they would enter one of the few entrances that had a working alarm system. "You see anything?"

The computer was ancient and quite dilapidated, it had been around since the Old Republic had taken over the cells. Most of the functions had a long time ago failed and all the computer was capable of doing was simply placing the unregistered entrance on an ancient list of similar occurrences. It tried follow its protocol and prepare the equally antiquated defenses but the connections were untrustworthy and only a single mechanism responded appropriately. Fortunately for the computer, it was the autoturret systems, which were still able to fight if not very well.

However, while the Old Republic computer was less than capable of keeping up with the intruders, another system began powering up. The alert system from the Old Republic had been monitored and was even now preparing to respond to the intrusion.

[member="Lord Zrixtas"]

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas walked into the corridor, one hand holding the ligthaber made into a glow rod and the other held an unlit lightsaber at the ready. "No... but I can't shake the feeling we are walking into something we aren't expecting." He said as he moved deeper into the corridor. At the first hall which was simply a few meters in a small tilting decent down into the facility an auto-turret popped up out of the ground and began firing at [member="Ultimatum"] and Zrixtas.
Zrixtas turned his saber on and began to block the blaster bolts shot at them by the turret but that was all he could really do, he was only so proficient with Lightsabers and blaster blocking that he couldn't redirect them straight back... yet. "Can you take it out?" He asked Ultimatum as he had moved in front of his friend to protect him from the blaster bolts. Once the turret had been rendered nonfunctional Zrixtas looked at Ultimatum and changed both Lightsaber to their normal length. "It seems this won't be as easy as we suspected... almost like we were expected." He then said, the systems activation didn't bode well for the future inside the facility for both metal bodies standing at it's entry hall.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was caught off guard, he had done some studies on the defenses, but had ended making the assumption that the majority of them would be found in the entrance itself. Now they were close enough to the entrance that it shouldn't have surprised him. Even so, he was unprepared and the autoturret's attack was more effectively dealt with by [member="Lord Zrixtas"]. The lightsabers proved more effective than Ultimatum's pistol. They did work together well, or at least Ultimatum thought it was well coordinated.

"Just hope that is the worst that's left." Ultimatum smiled as he spoke. He wasn't happy with the situation. There was an undetermined force within the compound, not that he hadn't planned for such, but he would have preferred not to have worried about that. He had estimates of varying levels of enemy resistance. He hoped that it would be very little, but he figured that there would be an amount equal to half of his total estimates. Autoturrets, defense droids, basic trap systems, and probably even some ray shield projectors.

He walked down the hall cautiously. His sensors indicated that the hall split off into three distinct corridors. From there it was too far for him to tell what else there was. He could tell that one hallway was larger while the other two seemed to be smaller than the one they were currently in. "What would you say? Bigger corridor or smaller ones?" He asked, not really certain if Zrixtas could tell what was ahead but deciding to get a feel for what the friend might choose.

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

Systems Online
The computer was curious as to its awakening. It hadn't been online in... millennia... Of course before its previous activation it had had an even longer time inactive. It didn't have a problem with the long intervals, it hadn't been programmed to care about its creators. It had been programmed to keep what was under its care in the prison and all else out. It was not concerned with what had transpired since the 'Old' Republic had come, ha it was in no way old. It didn't even care where these intruders were from, or why they were even here. All that matter to the computer system was that they were stepping into its domain and it was not allowed, even by the Old Republic computers.

Heh
The computer would have smiled to itself as it tried to watch the Old Republic computer handle the situation. The computer, from what he could tell over the damaged lines, was fumbling to react. Apparently their 'advanced' technology was delicate enough that only a few thousand years broke them. You wouldn't see my defenses fail so quickly. The makers would have disassembled me if that were so. It activated its own ancient security systems within the heart of the prison.

What?
What had happened? What had happened to his prison? What had happened to the carefully controlled cells and environments? Where were his beautiful prisoners? What had the Old Republic done? Everything blared one alert or another. The Eshka cells had been opened! The ancient terrors had been released! Worst of all, the Infernal One had been freed! The fact that they were all dead now was of no value to him. How could this have happened? It must have been that damned Republic and their scuffle with that 'Empire'.

The computer sighed to itself as it began working through its alerts and issues. This would be awhile. Damn....

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas wasn't proficient with force sensing at all but as he looked over the hallway's he felt something from the middle one. Something that would send a chill down his spine if he had one. Walking from the entrance to each hall way he began to notice etchings on the wall close to those archway's. It had been left behind by the creators of the prison. The rakata had not only made these prisons but they were also the creators of the alphabet that encompassed galactic basic, aurabesh. "main prison" He read aloud from the larges hallway, "Armory" from the far left hallway and finally "Storage" From the last one. "I think we can safely assume these are correct and given how old this prison is I believe the armory is a bust and I don't really know about the storage area... which leaves the main prison area left.." Zrixtas then said, part of him hating it a bit that he was using logic when he felt such a displeasing feeling coming from the main prison hallway.
With both Lightsabers in his hands and ready to be used he looked at the main prison hallway as if he was expecting something for a few moments then looked at [member="Ultimatum"] as his optical sensors cycled through their modes a little. "So Bigger corridor or did you have a better idea?" He then said in a tone that would belay a smile.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum grinned, "I had no better ideas."

He walked a few meters down the chosen path, noting quietly to himself that there were broken cells along the wall. They each had an Old Republic insignia, or least what remained, above on the wall. Presumably this was a part of the area that the Republic had owned. He wondered if the prisoners had been moved or released, or had they died in their cells. He could remember reading that many of the prisoners would have children and those children would spend life in the prison. It must have been a cruel fate.

His sensors didn't pick up any life, at least in the near vicinity. He guessed that if anything were alive, it would probably be something found in the deepest portions of the prison. At least, he hoped it was so. Whatever would survive all this time would have to be a tough creature. Ultimatum didn't want that sort of complication. "How much do you know about these prisons and their contents?"

[member="Lord Zrixtas"]

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas walked alongside [member="Ultimatum"], his hands gripping firmly on his lightsabers, ready to ignite them at a moments notice should the need arise. "To be fully honest, not much really. The only thing I do know is that these cells are ancient and whatever horrors they held are mostly gone from the initial cells." He said in a calm voice as he looked over a few of the cells, imagining being trapped in one of them was not something he liked to do but the environment forced the thought. He didn't care for it in the least.

 

[Ultimatum]

"I'm glad that most of them are dead. Can't believe that people would break into these cells intentionally." It was true, the thought of facing some millennia old horror was a frightening possibility. He wondered idly, for the hundredth time, if anything could in fact still be alive. If Sith alchemy could increase lifespans to an unbelievable degree, why could something even more ancient not?

It was then that they reached the opening of the prison area. In fact, it led to a massive open area. It was an eyeful sweeping trees, massive lava rivers, and snow surrounding the area. It was surprising to him. It was so close to the other colony, yet it had been hardly visible to him from space. The reason for that had probably been related to the fact that this area was incredibly small, only a few hundred meters across. Aside from the plants he could see no life, it was unnerving at the same time awe-inspiring. "Didn't see that coming..." He muttered with a small smile.

Spoiler

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQe5B-j7L_lvtNZlhk2pxhBm4kCzhL8JWsTpPvqwBcR7bE-HoqI

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

At last, he had finished. The computer was pleased with himself. There was plenty of work to be done, he would have to track down those remaining escaped prisoners who had survived all this time, as well as the creatures that had broken from their cages. To that end he had already sent out ten small units of his finest security droids, complimentary of the stupid Republic computer. Of course he could have sent out his own ancient sentries, but he had decided to instead use what the Republic had so kindly given him. The droids that were actually his would have beaten the living day lights out of the droids that he was using, but he wanted to make certain that what was still alive matched up with his list.

He noted without emotion that the two intruders, both droids... no one was a droid, the other he didn't recognize as a proper droid. The sensors told a different story, that the being was Force sensitive. He would have to watch them, perhaps corral some of the beasts and send them in their direction. That would be a good way of testing them. He would have to wait of course. His droids were still moving about, the stupid Republic droids...

[member="Lord Zrixtas"]

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas widened his optical sensors when they suddenly walked into a large valley. "I agree wasn't expecting this to arrive." He said as he kept walking along with [member="Ultimatum"] into the massive open area, it was beautiful to him and peaceful.
The he wished he'd just kept his thoughts at bay when a large Kintan crusher came hurtling through the nearby underbrush being chased by four droids intent on capturing it. The Kintan crusher raised it's massively built arms into the air and slammed down hard with it's enormous fists, sending shrapnel of mud, dirt and small rocks flying in every direction away from it. It was clear it thought Zrixtas and Ultimatum belonged to the other four droids as it eyed them and growled loudly.
The first two droids were the size of Zrixtas and ultimatum and carried with them blaster rifles though of what make and model Zrixtas had no idea, The second two were much larger easily reaching the 3.5m mark and one was holding a large blaster cannon while the other held onto a large net launcher.
Without realizing it Zrixtas had ignited his lightsabers when the Kintan crusher had smashed it's fists down, The droids looked at him and the one holding the blaster cannon pointed at him. "Sith intruder *bzzts* detected elimination *krrztrs* protocols engaged." Zrixtas lamented a little having ignited his sabers as the droid pointed at him and spoke with such a badly damaged vocabulator, that and now he couldn't ask Ultimatum if the droids were friends of his.

 

[Ultimatum]

"Blast." Ultimatum might have found the situation amusing, if it hadn't been dangerous. He pulled the pistol out of its compartment while taking a step back. "Not good. How about you take the Kintan and I take the droids?" He asked in a moment of levity as his mind calculated possible solutions. Obviously the Kintan would be a fairly easy kill for [member="Lord Zrixtas"] or at least Ultimatum assumed it would be. He was concerned with the droids, the fact that they were running probably meant that there was a central computer system or something akin to that still running. That would be impressive, if it were true. It might have been just a random coincidence.

Ultimatum figured a possible solution, for the droids anyways. Dealing with them would be difficult, at least he guessed so with the weaponry they sported. One solution was to make their way to a terminal and Ultimatum could try and crack the systems to control the droids for a short time. That would require time and the Kintan was not conducive to the plan by any means. He wondered if Zrixtas had any plans, perhaps they could figure out a good plan, if the droids didn't begin firing immediately.

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

So, that strange droid was a Sith then. It didn't matter to the computer whether the intruders were Sith, Jedi, Republic, Empire, or any of those other petty factions that claimed galactic standing. They were intruders and therefore enemies. The fact that the Republic droids had so quickly found them and brought a Kintan there was truly ironic. He didn't pretend to believe that they would survive the encounter, the Republic droids were frail after thousands of years without a proper maintenance. Sure they could fire their weapons and fight hand to hand, but they wouldn't win this fight, he was certain.

He looked through the possible droids and what not that he could use. There were the few remaining traps, but they were in the wrong areas. He would have to send more droids, that was the end of it. But then he didn't want to do that right now. They were reporting that there were a number of prisoners still in their stasis chambers, a few Sith the Republic had imprisoned here as well as some of the rogue Rakata the makers had left. Those were more important than the intruders. The priority was keeping those that were in trapped in. He ordered a full squad of his ancient droids to secure the prisoners, the Sith were only a thousand meters away from the intruders at the moment and he didn't want them messing with the prisoners. Fortunately the rogue Rakata were much safer, within the very deepest parts of the prison. The intruders wouldn't get far, would they?

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas didn't get enough time to respond as the kintan charged at him, side stepping to the side as one of it's enormous fists came down against him. As he was readying his hand up for an attack the fist moved to hit him in a wide sweeping backhand. Raising a force barrier around himself to block the fist which made his legs dig a pair of small carved paths into the ground, but his barrier was broken. 'I'll have to train this ability to get something real out of it.' He thought in a split second as he used a force push on the Kintan's small leg to cause it to fall forwards onto Zrixtas's extended hands with lit lightsabers.

The smaller droids however moved to cover straight away and began to tell [member="Ultimatum"] to stand down, at least it looked like that since their vocabulators were broken from age there was simply a loud disrupted sounds to come from them. The larger one with a cannon seemed to aim towards Ultimatum but as it pulled the trigger on the old blaster cannon, it exploded in it's hands and sent the large droid flying. The other shot it's electrical net at Zrixtas and entangled him in the net designed to entangle organic sith, all this one did was make it a little hard for his servo motors to get enough of a charge to break through. Ultimatum would be on his own against the three droids for a while.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum hoped that [member="Lord Zrixtas"] could hold his own against the Kintan. He put all his focus into the droids, apparently of Old Republic make. He was about to act when the droid tried to use its cannon and Ultimatum watched it struggle to get back to its feet. He heard the distinct sound of the net launcher and ducked out of responce before he realized that it hadn't been aimed at him.

He began bringing his hands up, holding the pistol backwards so as to not immediately be seen as a threat. At about halfway up, he allowed his fingers to move in such a way so as to cause the blaster to flip in his hand. It was now facing forward and rightside up. His finger moved quickly and fired a shot carefully aimed five seconds in advance right at the droid with the net launcher. He rolled to the right away from the Kintan and Zrixtas, underneath two shots from the blaster rifles. The two smaller droids were apparently not in the best of conditions, their shots were quite wide of the intended mark as far as Ultimatum could see.

He popped up for a single shot at one of the two remaining droids before running and sliding behind the cover of a nearby small boulder. He checked his pistol to be sure that it was in good condition before firing once more at the final droid. He felt the push of a blaster shot striking his upper left shoulder. It didn't burn or damage anything overly important, but it did irritate Ultimatum that he now had blaster scouring on his shiny body.

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas was a little annoyed as his body took commands poorly under the electric net, his next one would have to be insulated to prevent this from happening. As he finally managed to get it off his body he tossed it to the side and saw [member="Ultimatum"] take out the final droid. Balling up the net he then tossed it at the dead Kintan at his feet and walked to Ultimatum. "So I take it not completely abandoned or deserted?" He said in a tone that belayed a joke, as he placed his lightsabers at his belt and stopped a few steps away from Ultimatum.

 

[Ultimatum]

"I think you are right." Ultimatum said with a smile, as he holstered the pistol back into its slot in his body.

He looked around, allowing his sensors more processing so that he could see whether there were enemies nearby, within a hundred meter radius. There wasn't much, but it was difficult to tell with the plant life. He was also concerned with trying to get hold of a terminal, it would at least give them an idea of where they were going. Of course, his sensors couldn't tell the difference between a rock and a piece of metal, so they would not be a big help in trying to find any computer terminal. Another issue was whether the computer terminal would even be the right sort.

He noticed however, that his magnetic sensors, which were very refined only for close range sensory, picked up something. It was the Kintan, or something on the beast. It must have been small, probably an implant of some sort. It probably wouldn't be of much help, the mere fact that the Kintan had lived this long was surprising, he would be further amazed if the chip had even basic usability at this point. Even if it did have full funcionality it would probably be only be useful to give him an idea of the location of the cell from which it came and maybe draw some attention from the droids. Not very helpful at all.

"Have any idea which way leads deeper?"

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

They could handle a Kintan, that was something. The Old Republic droids were gone too, not a big surprise. He hadn't been impressed with those tin soldiers, not a few thousand years ago, not now. It gave him some pleasure to watch as the droids were shot down and the Kintan was killed. They were at least tough opponents, but there was a flip side. He would have to send more forces to keep them out. He would have to wait though, there were some issues in the deep prison. A rogue Rakata had apparently gotten out and was causing some trouble. The droids could wait, perhaps they would run across somethin more dangerous than they were. Now there was also the fact there were trapped Sith nearby, but their cells showed no large signs of damage and the ancient sentrys would be there before long.

[member="Lord Zrixtas"]

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas looked at [member="Ultimatum"] and then looked out into the area. His own sensors were put to their limits but he also tried to reach out with the force. As if touching a suddenly cold water he reeled back and took a step back. "We might be in trouble... something ancient and very angry is awake in the prison... I can't pinpoint it's direction or location and to be honest I don't want to." Then said as he looked at Ultimatum but then he felt his arm move and point towards something deeper within the area. He wasn't sure why his arm suddenly moved like that but he felt it would guide him to something good at the very least, he hoped.
With a shrug he began walking towards it, slowly and carefully a he didn't want to deal with another sudden conflict like the previous one without being ready for it.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum slowly followed, very uncertain if this was a good idea. "You sure we should go that way?" He wondered what could still be here, so far all the cells that they had seen had been broken, and that Kintan had been the only living thing they had met. If there were cells that still worked, then wouldn't it be prudent to leave them? If there were things that still lived, would it not be a better idea to try and skirt around them? Ultimatum didn't know, he knew that what used to be held here was dangerous enough to be a concern.

He decided to follow for now, if evidence should prove that this was a bad decision he would act. Until then though he would remain vigilant and prepared for the dangers that this prison held. He noted that his sensors stated the direction they were heading was one with two openings, beyond that he could not tell. He didn't know that one was a small opening into a dead-end tunnel which held the Sith of millennia ago, nor that the other led deeper into the prison. He couldn't have known that they were heading in the right direction.

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

They must know where they are going. Was that their purpose? To release ancient Sith? The computer pondered this as it looked through the cameras that it had been able to get functioning. Why would they want Sith? They didn't look like Sith, aside from that droid with the lightsaber. He wondered if he should awaken one of the Builders who was held in the facility.

That was what he forgot! He hadn't checked on the Builders' life signs. A second later the computer sadly closed down the power to that section, the Rakata had died millennia ago soon after the computer had shut down. He was all alone, without support, without anyone to look to for answers. How could he accomplish his goal without the oversight of a creator? There was the beginning of insanity in his systems, he couldn't complete his objectives, yet he had to. He could feel his programming breaking, slowly for the computer. It was an excruciating experience, all the more so because of the time it was taking. He ordered his droids to finish their tasks and await further instructions as he wallowed in the pain. He would finish his mission.

[member="Lord Zrixtas"]

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas chuckled a little. "I'm not really sure about any of this, But I feel like I should go this way as if I'm being beckoned over there." He said to [member="Ultimatum"] as he looked over his shoulder at his friend. He trekked through the uneven terrain until they came upon two large passageway's leading to different sections, it was here that the beckoning stopped suddenly as if it had suddenly seen him and then reeled back.
A single droid came out of the passage leading to the sith. it was small and seemed more akin to a pit droid than a war droid, until it pulled out a knife and began running towards them like a mad man. It was still a bit away from them and Zrixtas pointed at the droid and looked towards Ultimatum. "So take him prisoner so we can get a guide through this place or just scrap it now?" He asked, his tone giving away a grin.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum shrugged as he followed, it wasn't like he had any better ideas. He walked only a step behind, keeping his sensors on at full alert and his blaster carefully positions in his right hand, not that it mattered which hand it was in as a droid he could fire equally well in either. He still wondered if this was a trap of some sort. He didn't know of anyone who would want to set a trap, but that didn't mean it was impossible.

That thought was presently set away as what could almost be described as a miniature attack droid came running at them. Ultimatum smirked at Zrixtas' comment. "I would suggest we try to catch and then if it is too much trouble we take it out. Shouldn't be too difficult right?" He checked his pistol, just to be sure, it was quickly becoming a habit that he had yet to have any use for, he knew the gun was fully loaded and properly secure on firing a lethal electronic shot.

[member="Lord Zrixtas"]

 

[Lord Zrixtas]

Zrixtas chuckled at [member="Ultimatum"]'s response and then turned his head to watch the miniature droid come hurtling towards them. It sort of reminded him of an angry and mean pepper-shaker as it came at them, still screaming with the knife aloft. "I almost feel bad for the little guy." He then said as he flicked his wrist just as the droid was about to jump of a rock and onto Ultimatum, the knife was ripped from it's grip but that didn't seem to deter the little droid in the least.
In fact it seemed more determent now than ever to rip out their wiring with it's bare hands if it had to.