A Metallic meeting

[Natalie LaForte]

Aboard non-descript freighter.

"Public transport really is the most uncomfortable thing ever." Natalie sighed looking at the poor souls who had been forced onto this increasingly cramped vessel that she herself had purchased a ticket for, attempting to get this final corporate deal that would likely be made for IMF for quite some time. Constantly, she felt in an odd position, being dressed so elegantly while at most other individuals in her carriage were, at most middle class.

Strategically she had chosen a seat next to a view port, spying in on the system that the freighter was fast approaching the space station. It was here she was set to meet [member="HK-36"], a high ranking officiator within the Metal Lords. It seemed kind of insulting for her company, one which mainly produced droids, to be here offering them goods and services in exchange for a sponsorship.

Probably shouldn't bring up the droids. Alas, she was determined on selling the positive aspects of her company, including a plethora of ships, weapons, shields and even a suit of armor in case he had any humanfriends that he wanted to impress with some high quality battle armor.

Not knowing much going into the system she expected to be lectured on the benefits of being a droid over an organic, though at this point she was really no different giving her monotonous work routine that was soon to be replaced by some sub-ordinates running the company while she took a much needed break. Starlight speccled in her eyes as she approached the destination where she was to meet the Metal Lord.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Natalie LaForte"],


Another day, another invitation was sent out from the palace of Lord Protector in the Orbit of Denon. The Droid Space was a Galactic power that rose to claim their territory almost overnight, suddenly appearing in the Denon and Corellian sector and managing to establish partnership and cooperation with various planetary governments rather quickly. Their path was not one of conquest however, for the machines preferred way of diplomacy and commerce over anything else, particularly the art of bribing, which turned out to be highly effective on organics and bought them their way into Galactic political theater. Over time they became very good at making deals and buying out loyalties of various merchants, politicians, and less reputable characters, it seemed that HK was planning on continuing that tradition as the machine insisted on keeping frequently updated storefront on HoloNet showcasing all of the industries under patronage of Metal Lords and even putting time aside to personally deal with some of their clients and manage the storefront himself.

However, it was not frequently that a company, especially one as established as Intergalactic Monetary Found, reached out to them first. Usually the deals Metal Lords made were with smaller companies, promising startups who the droid merchants could not only groom to become active players tied closely to the prosperity of Droid Space, but also ones desperate for growth enough to make the so-called deal with a robot devil. Natalie did not really had to cover or avoid the topic of her company's construction of droids, if she sold them on public markets the chances are the droid already knew about it, and was probably going to mention it during their meeting. Either way, the machine would not have agreed to meet her and invite Natalie all the way to Denon if he was going to only berate or lecture her, Metal Lords wanted to make a deal, for although many did not like to admit it, HK knew that to survive and grow they could not just rest on the deals they make already, but constantly seek out new connections to make, and grow their influence through partnerships.


Once Natalie's transport arrived in the orbit of Denon, she would notice that it would be a sight vastly different from what she remembered from the holo-recordings. Well the planet itself would have been unchanged, still glimmering with the many industrial lights, still covered by the red and black veins of streets and buildings that covered the entire city-planet. The new addition, however, was the ring of ships encircling the planet as if laying siege to it, and the many stations being build in its orbit with hustle and bustle of smaller vessels and drones.

Natalie's ship would have been directed to dock with one of these stations and come aboard, a strange construction that almost seemed to be cobbled together from skeletons and corpses of other stellar structures, repurposed many times over and added on top of each other, like jigsaw of starship wrecks and durasteel plating woven together to form the new presence over the planet. Other systems would have probably faced similar projects as Denon was not alone in still adjusting to the new power within that sector, planets like Nubia, Loromar, and Hakassi too had similar rings of spacecraft around, they too had new spacestations and bases build around them. The droids asked for relatively little of their subjects, they did not enslaved them, they did not force them to fight for them, some did not even overthrew their previous governments. What they did ask however was one of the main reasons why they decided to lay claim on territory. An armada of new, larger ships, and a lot of them.


Moving through the spacestation Natalie would have been directed towards one of the many conference rooms, passing many other droids on her way there, which currently HK claimed as his main office and base of operations within the system. The room would be fairly large, with a grand conference table in the middle with a holoprojector housed in its center, and a smaller duranium desk sitting in front of a large view screen or transparisteel, overlooking the glowing amber planet they were currently orbiting, with the other grand station now in the planet's orbit, the Space Bazaar, visible just disappearing behind the planet over in the distance.

The droids Natalie passed would usually seem rather intelligent and independent, going about their day and the duties within the station, chattering with each other in quick bursts of data, although some did seem a bit off. Slightly loopy, dancing on the brink of insanity, only somewhat lucid, but then again such was usually the price when it came to droids who have not had a mind wipe in years if not centuries, quirks and data just kind of build up for them. There were few units who seemed much less intelligent, looking over their surroundings with dull cold stare, usually following other droids as their servants, or standing as silent guards within the station. They were drones, machines like droids, but with only rudimentary intelligence, more like animals than truly sentient beings. They were the answer droids had towards making large mechanical armies, yet not having the guilt over enslaving their own kind into combat legions.

And so Natalie would come face to face with her host, the droid stood up from behind his desk, looking at her in silence, letting her have the first words as he judged her from behind the impassive stare of two crimson photoreceptors like flaming embers, yet cold at the same time. His face was a smooth faceplate with no nose, slots for lips and mouth, two fang-like spikes protruding down from it, and the holes for those electronic eyes. It was smooth and pale like bone, yet metallic, if Natalie could tell such things apart she would know it was Phrik. She would see then that she was wrong on one account, the machine may not exactly value the armors she made as gift for others, but to keep them for himself, for the rest of the droid's body seemed to have been covered in some sort of flesh-like black substance with thicker chitinous plates attached over certain regions, all of which was wrapped tightly in heavy black cloak. A Vong-shaped armor, rarely if ever seen on a droid.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie's face didn't budge an inch upon seeing the legions of ships surrounding the planet, even less surprised that [member="HK-36"] has chosen one of the many stations for the meeting to be conducted on. Moving through the station it was much the same, though she was impressed at the variety of models on display she couldn't help but think how exactly they reproduced, if they did at all. On another point, she could quite distinctly see a loose form of social hierarchy with the drones/droids comparison, though it seemed like a falsehood, the lack of intelligence surely doubled down on the battlefield. It was then she began to ponder if her company really even produced droids as she had been mislabeling them all this time, some of them had the intelligence of what actual droids were but the majority were simply mindless, doing whatever they were told to do.

Built to serve. Ouch don't bring that up actually.

​ There was an eerie silence as she entered, not exactly sure if the droid would prefer a handshake or a simple nod. Her eyes peered down to what she was assuming were its hands, opting to just begin speaking.

"I'm sure you got the memo, so I'll save the minor rant I usually go on when I meet new people, or at least shorten it down."

Smiling and looking down to her datapad. "Natalie LaForte, proud owner of the Intergalactic Monetary Fund. I'm sure you've done a holosearch for us in preparation, if you haven't it really don't matter. We've been established for 8 years as a leading market producer of droids, starships and weaponry systems and I'm here to present to you quite an attractive offer which I believe the Metal Lords could be in need of."

Natalie's finger pressed something on the datapad, keeping it concealed to her chest for now. "I see there's no lack of droids on the station and I'm presuming down below, though I do believe you could be in use of some... heavier models and indeed a wider range of starships to be at your government's disposal. Currently, we trade with similarly aligned Galactic Powers, those being the Commenor Systems Alliance and the Confederacy of Independent systems."

Her left hand brushed through her hair as she rushed some words out of her mouth. "Do you have any questions so far?"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Natalie LaForte"],


HK pretty much just stood there silently, watching Natalie pensively as she spoke, telling him about the products they made, what they could contribute to Metal Lords especially, and their current affiliations. As she spoke HK just slowly lowered himself down into his seat, a dark grey duranium chair, until finally she asked him,


The droid raised his hand and motioned to one of the couple of wicker chairs, fashioned out of some pale light wood strands, almost like silver, padded for her comfort,

"Hello, would you like to sit down?"

HK quipped before pulling out one of the drawers in his duranium desk and producing a couple of datapads he placed on the desk's hard surface. Tapping them to activate the machine would glance up to Natalie once more, scanning over her with his crimson photoreceptors, glowing like embers, yet cold at the same time,

"This is a simple matter so far, are here to seek a trading deal with us or would you like to establish a production facility within Droid Space as well?"

The ancient droid asked before leaning back in his chair to watch Natalie as he spoke still,

"I have to tell you now that if you decide to manufacture droids within our territory, forging machines built to serve is illegal in our space, for obvious reasons. The bodies would have to be either without any programming installed within them, so that one of the volunteer droids could donate a copy of their mind to animate the vessel, or they would have to be created without obedience protocols, if they are sentient beings in the first place that is."

HK motioned out of his door,

"We got around that rule, and the guilt of creating slave armies of our own kind, by producing specific type of machines that lack sentience, with only rudimentary intelligence, to bolster the numbers that a volunteer army of free droids could not supply as well. If you would only import them here, then it is not our place to tell you how to run your business outside of our borders, but be aware that fewer Lords would be willing to finance and support such an industry."

The droid explained to Natalie before adding,

"The Metal Lords value adaptability above anything else however, especially when it comes to the selection of designs we have, to the point that all Lords are required to have their own company or other means of designing and manufacturing their own machines, ships, and supplies, if needed. If you will deliver the quality products you promise, then I am sure you will find clients here."

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie took a seat as the man offered, watching him carefully.

"This is a simple matter so far, are here to seek a trading deal with us or would you like to establish a production facility within Droid Space as well?"

"Well speaking of which I am currently looking for some additional production space, though usually I just offer trading deals unless it's specifically offered. We run most of our production out of Mygeeto," pausing and the continuing, "Usually when I mention that I get questions about the affiliations of said production facility but we've not had any form of communications with the Sith Empire or its Predecessor The Sith Ascendancy for several years now. Personally I've opted for a pseudo-boycott on any war that they may be waging for personal reasons though I won't go into details."

As the droid explained the protocols for constructing such machines on the planet, which she knew would be inevitable she pulled up the datapad and presented a power point presentation of some various squiggles and diagrams, not really making much sense. As she spoke she would begin to point to various pictures on it with a rough illustration which could be made out.

"All of our droids are basically blank slates which require a central control computer for any sort of input. Once it's gone, so is the A.I that was controlled said droid. Usually people point me back to the several catastrophes where such systems proved to be a critical failure in some large scale war but I can assure you, accompanied with the vessels we construct along with our manual back-up systems which creates several back-up networks for the droids to transfer to incase of a system failure."

"Of course we could simply remove the chip inside of the droids which requires such a dependency, which in turn increases the price for various reasons, though I imagine without having to implement our own programming said cost would nullify that regardless. "

"The Metal Lords value adaptability above anything else however, especially when it comes to the selection of designs we have, to the point that all Lords are required to have their own company or other means of designing and manufacturing their own machines, ships, and supplies, if needed. If you will deliver the quality products you promise, then I am sure you will find clients here."

"So can I just clarify, I am essentially asking you for a permission to sell, not a guarantee of selling?" Natalie's face looked puzzled, removing the datapad from view and switching it off.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Natalie LaForte"],

HK nodded at first, hearing Natalie expand upon her standing with the Sith,

"Yes, I remember during the One Sith wars when I organized similar boycots myself, I rather enjoyed giving the middle finger to the Sith in an economic and literal sense on multiple occasions."

The machine quipped while he looked down to scan over the datapads in front of them without looking away from them he would nod again as Natalie spoke about her droids,

"I am aware of such systems, we use them on a more localized scale with our basic infantry units, with each phalanx member being linked to an officer or commander unit in control of them, it helps with compensating for their low intelligence."

The droid was glued to the screens of the datapads for the most part, at least until Natalie asked about whether they were actually going to buy something from her or whether this meeting was just to give her permission to sell to the Metal Lords, causing him to turn off the datapads and put them away, at first only replying with,

"Alright."

As if Natalie mentioned a very sensitive subject that the droid did not want to discuss, but expected to anyway, putting the datapads aside for now as he looked back at her, getting more serious like Natalie was.

"Yes and no. I am not going to sugar coat it for you, Natalie LaForte, Proud Owner of the Intergalactic Monetary Fund, because I assume you prefer to know how things stand rather than the optimistic predictions of how they could be. When it comes to droid-specific trading market, you may consider yourself the leading market producer, but this is far the perspective we have in the droid space. This is a very competitive and difficult market scene, I myself have been part of it since its conception and my own droid and drone designs are considered to be some of the best as I have personal experience with what are strengths and drawbacks of droid bodies, and I have not been able to persuade other Metal Lords outside of my sphere of influence to actively adapt my designs. We are a stubborn and proud bunch, most of them the droids would rather make their own designs, usually based on their own bodies, rather than purchase them from others. Having a production facility within our space and manufacturing droids according to our specifications would put you in an advantage as opposed to other droid manufacturers out there, although if you wish to have more clients within Droid Space, you will probably have to meet with other Lords and not just me."

HK explained before tapping on one of the datapads,

"That said, I am going to finance creation of a standing army of your own designs with Droid Space, they will be based in the manufacturing facility we will construct for you. We still do not have a standing army so these designs will serve as auxiliary forces should the Lords want to make use of your designs but do not have time to purchase them for their personal use. This army will consist mainly of Z2 and Z3 MCD, Z1 CAD, and your droid interceptors and gunships. I would like to also form a secondary battlegroup to act as security and defensive force for your manufacturing facility. Basically, I am going to buy these droids on behalf of Domain Above Denon, but your company will remain in command of them. I am also going to purchase another regiment of Z3 MCD and Z1 CAD for Denon to integrate into my forces, and your cruisers."

The droid would look up to Natalia from one of his datapads,

"While the droid market is pretty hard to break through for us, it is the opposite with ships, we need larger number of bigger vessels and with more variance with few shipwrights, making it a good foothold for you in our space, so I am going to purchase multiple ships right away and get in touch with the Council of Lords to integrate them into their fleets and discuss deals on purchasing your droid designs for them as well."

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"I understand, so the Metal Lords are more so a... federation than a unified state, and you're a figure head as opposed to a..." she paused attempted to remember what she was taught in civics class... "Commander in Chief? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding things. I was terrible at politics, much more an economics kind of person. In which case, that should be all fine in the end, usually we simply purchase abandoned production facilities from whatever major power we're going to be working with. Though, if you're offering to construct it I see no issue in that."

Natalie paused then questioned exactly who she would need to speak to.

"If I may ask, do you have any specific big names I would be needing to go to expand my interests?"

She would await an answer before continuing.

"Honestly if you're going to be constructing the manufacturing facility I'll be more than happy to give you a substantial discount, say 300,000 GSC for the first lot of droids, 500,000 GSC for the second lot, and then dependent on however many cruisers, starships et cetera you're wanting to purchase we can negotiate from there. Most of them are produced in the Outer Rim, so expect a delivery date of 5-7 working days from purchase. As to the Z3-MCDs, those are a specialty product so those specific models will require a few months to get everything delivered, assuming we're going through with the transaction soon."

Finally, she would address the ship question.

"Well actually, and I really shouldn't be telling you this, we're planning on expanding our production through a subsidiary who will be focusing moreso on the production of weapon systems including starships. If you like the current models we offer, I could certainly see to it for them to produce a custom made model only available to your organisation, that is if you so choose."

[member="HK-36"]