Build Me An Army Worthy Of Redheads, Especially Delila, I Miss You Dells! [Siobhan + Tygaran Members

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Tegaea Alcori"], Anyone Else From Tygaran Alliance Who Wants To Jump In,

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Abregado-Rae,
Capital City,

The azure canals and rivers of Abregado ran through its bustling capital city like veins on a particularly veiny forearm. Creating a real blue web one could see on someone's body if they took an exceptional liking to steroids, except in this case it was not grotesque, quite beautiful and peaceful actually, since the blue streaks crossed a rich and prosperous city, not someone's limb. Either way, on the streets and walkways there was the usual presence of Pyre soldiers patrolling the scenery to preserve the peace, one of the few planets left where the Pyre still had military presence, in this case in form of the Iron Company which still clung to older Protectorate gear they had stockpiled.

Besides the soldiers, usually trailed by one of the Abregado spider-droids the Guild manufactured, there were the tall lanky native Gados, moving to and fro with their daily business, usually wearing some sort of large feathery hat, humans, Wookies, Herglics, and other random alien races who were either just passing through the planet to trade, resupply, or decided to settle down in one of the canal houses, and of course, there were the droids.

Thousands and thousands of droids, war droids, engineering droids, protocol droids, droid droids, shrimp droids, assassin droids, droids on toast, more droids than HK knew what to do with. Of course they still haven't outnumbered the native Gados population but they were by far more numerous than humans and other species combined, making up a strong secondary majority after the tall furry natives. Some of them were the HBD series droids manufactured by Protectorate that HK took with him after the faction subsided, but most were immigrants, free units who did not have obedience protocols or decided to come to the planet to have them erased after the death or escape from their masters and stuck on the planet, creating a new life for themselves under the protection of a droid-controlled dictatorship.

The Gados didn't mind very much, of course, for one thing the government HK set treated them well, kept them protected after crackdown on piracy, and brought in prosperity in form of Guild of Hammers' renaissance, then the droid begun promoting the Gados culture and funded archaeological efforts to restore the records of their history, and Gados didn't really mind much of anything in the first place as long as their people weren't being killed en masse.


But it was the droid population why HK asked for Siobhan, Tegs, or anyone else from Tygara to come to his planet, he was working on formation of a free droid army. While he did use droid soldiers before, using a project of his to provide them with expandable droid vessels they could download copies of their programming into and go off to fight for him without worrying about such pesky threats like death, they were utilized only on a rather small scale, to supplement the numbers of Iron Company in combat.

This time, however, this time he wanted to form an army, greater than anything else he commanded before, upgrade the combat designs of mechanical units he used before, open up new droid foundries and factories, form it entirely out of droid volunteers fighting from their own free will, and offer its services to the Tygaran Alliance to march alongside their Space Elf gaggles. Perhaps even one day work with the Galactic Alliance if they would ever bother to finally accept him into their cloud of influence.


Either way, HK was waiting in the single spaceport his planet had for Sio, Tegs, or whoever else they would send to arrive so they can get this development going.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"] (if you wanna toss in a char or just like my posts)


The Omega War was over. The awe-inspiring superweapon had been destroyed before it could cause cataclysmic destruction. This also meant that the impromptu coalition of the willing was no more. The galaxy's great powers had found common cause when the Rogue Sith threatened to destroy them all. For the time being, a cold peace reigned, but no one was fooled that it would last long. Soon a new conflict would break out, and it was common sense to prepare. Warfare was the cause of unspeakeable misery, but also a motor of innovation.


A shuttle bearing Firemane colours gracefully descended from the heavens like a mechanical eagle, steering towards the only spaceport on Abregado-Rae. It seemed centralisation was the rule of the game, since having only one 'port allowed the local autocrat to control commerce, emigration and immigration.


Apparently the droid's long slumber had not given anyone cause to challenge his authority. Siobhan, who was used to more tempestuous political environments, found this a bit strange, but it seemed that the Gados were a very docile race. The same could not be said about the Eldorai, who loved Byzantine intrigue.


Regardless, the transport craft touched down upon the ground and came to a halt. The hatch opened with a hiss and the landing ramp was lowered. Four amazonian Fire Sisters marched down, with two taking up position on either side of the ramp as a sort of honour guard. They were dressed in ceremonial robes, deep scarlet and orange, tinges of fire-like yellow; their feet were tucked into black boots. Lightsabres hung on their utility belts, while Cylix bolt pistols or shatterpistols rested on their hips.


Only now did the curvaceous Lady deign to appear. Despite leaning on an elaborate cane, Siobhan carried herself like a queen; gracefully, regal and dignified. The Lady was dressed in an expensive black-coloured women's business suit with a swazzy skirt and silk stockings. Her rarely used lightsabre was sheathed on her belt. She wore her shoulder-length, coiffed firemane like a crown. Her heels click-clacked on the durasteel ramp, accompanied by the rhythm created by her cane.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Ghost Delila arced an eyebrow at the entrance of one [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] .Figures she would give up the soldier life for one to be pampered by her wife. What was with that cane? Probably using it to get women to have pity sex with her. Puh-lease. Fooled she was not.


Floating along she looked at HK. Why did he always want to get with her? What was with that? In hindsight she should have just went full robo and started a relationship with the droid. What other prospects did she really have before anyways? Hindsight always was twenty/twenty or so the saying said. Being dead she couldn't do too much. Shame the writer lost muse and killed off the redhead. Otherwise HK might have had a chance to get a piece.


Oh well.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Delila Castillon"],

Otherwise HK might have had a chance to get a piece.

Oh come on! Either way, nothing the droid could have done about it now, even if Dells had the power to try and pull a Ghost scenario with her as Swayze and HK behind a pottery wheel, droids were incapable of seeings ghosts, as they were incorporeal manifestations of will through the Force. So as far as he knew Dells could be just floating around him 24/7 and he wouldn't have the slightest idea.


[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

As Sio walked down the ramp, the droid could not help but wonder: what was with that cane? Probably using it to get women to have pity sex with her. That totally sounds like something Sio would do. Either way, the droid would be there, in his old Pyre armor, long black cloak hanging off of his shoulders, flanked by four HK droids, all with lightsabers hanging off of their belts. While Sio had access to monastic orders of Force Users as her guards, HK preferred to just copy himself and have himself guard.. himself.

"Hey Sio, how was flight over here? Alliance was being hit recently by some scourge hitting up their prison transports and raiding planets in the Core area. As much as I wish you took care of it, I hope they did not give you any trouble."

He referred to the transport going missing near Belsavis and Warlords of the Core staging an attack just off the fringe of GA territory, in the direction of Tygara, little did he knew there were also Sith causing trouble on Coruscant and another attack on Belsavis being staged in the near future.

"The droid troops are ready for the exhibition."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"], [member="Delila Castillon"]

For a brief moment Siobhan felt a presence she had not felt in a long time! She frowned slightly. Once upon a time, she and Dells had been buddies. The Colonel had oggled her XO's arse a lot. Siobhan had sent nice flowers to the funeral. Hopefully the woman's kid was doing alright. Anyhow, Siobhan approached the droid. Contrary to what everyone else was thinking, she actually needed the cane to walk, unless she used the Force, though she was not above exploiting her disability to bed pretty ladies. Maybe this writer should say the cane is Force imbued and sub it to the Factory.


The four Fire Sisters fell in line, following their Mistress. They were all pretty, deadly and loyal to their Grandmistress. There was an Atrisian, a Cathar and two Dahomians from the tropical world of Dahomey, a planet Siobhan and Tegaea had liberated many years ago from slavers. Back then it had been the Pyre's first conquest.


"My flight was pleasant, thanks. Didn't run into trouble. You got raiders in the Core now? I guess that'll give the Alliance military something to do to keep them fit. Until they finally give the Fascist Order a clobbering. Please, lead the way to the droid army. I'm eager to see it," she turned her head slightly towards her guards.


"By the way, these are Takeko Nakano, Jynasa Suzal, Mercy and Hope. Four of my most promising acolytes." The Dahomians had a curious way of naming their children; they often gave them descriptive names which best suited their personalities when they came to take a name around their 10th birthday. This all sounded rather odd to most in the Galaxy but to the Dahomians their name embodied them, and was different from their birth name.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

HK nodded,

"Oh, yes, we heard rumors that the Graug have returned and they are forming a new horde. Trandoschans have been uniting their clans for once, we might need to contact some Wookiees to deal with that, and I have had reports that Sith are rallying up on Atrisia."

HK shrugged,

"But I am sure that will never become a problem or anything to fight over."

Three days later- Atrisia happened.

The droid waved to the Fire Sisters,

"Hello kiddos."

He motioned back to the bodyguard copies behind him, the Greycloaks,

"This is all me."


The droid motioned for the ladies to follow, taking them to a nearby Gados Float-Boat waiting just for them in the spaceport. He would climb aboard along with his guards, it was going to take few minutes before they would get to the new droid factories and testing yards where his new army amassed, they may as well travel in style and comfort.

"Speaking of armies, how are the Eldorai regimes doing? Are there any projects with them you were working on, Sio?"

He addressed the Firemane, the boat would lift off of the ground with a slight shudder, slithering out of the spaceport slowly before it slipped into a nearby water canal and picking up on speed above the water as it navigated through the waterways.

Soon enough they would be leaving the city's outskirts, heading towards the more industrial designated production zone, where large spires could be seen reaching out towards the sky like smokestacks, designed after the Geonosian architecture. After all, the insectoids had some of the most efficient droid foundries around.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan raised a delicate eyebrow. "Atrisia, I have history there. They've fallen far. Perhaps something for Firemane to check out in the future." Three days later happened, Vulcanus turned into a Volcano Demon and Sith committed ritual suicide to summon a Force Storm.


Anyhow, the group moved on and boarded the Gados Float-Boat. Siobhan made herself comfortable on a seat, followed by her four Fire Sisters. The craft lifted off the ground and slithered out of the spaceport, before gaining in speed after it entered the water. "The High Lady has many 'projects'," Jynasa Suzal, the Cathar Fire Sister, quipped in response to the droid's query.


Siobhan gave the woman a look, but chuckled slightly. "Oh, I have a couple. We're building a citadel to protect the planet. It'll be even bigger than our old fortresses on Kaeshana." For a moment, she was silent, remembering the terrible cataclysm that had destroyed the planet. All her power had been insuffficient to save her home. She pushed these gloomy thoughts away. "In addition, we're recruiting auxiliaries amongst the natives. For the time being, the units are racially segregated and officeered by Firemane officers, though Xioquo and Qadiri should rise through the ranks in time. They can perform security duties, keep order and fight raiders." It went without saying that the auxiliaries did not receive the same equipment as Firemane and Eldorai soldiers.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],


"The High Lady has many 'projects',"

"Gross."

Was all that the droid had to say to that, he just assumed that the quip was meant in a sexual way, because after all, with Sio it usually was something to do with sexuality or erotica.

"Race segregated army, I do not remember one of those around serving trans-planetary forces since the days of the Empire, and even then near the end they got desparate enough to allow Xenos into the ranks of Stormtroopers."

The droid looked away from Sio and the Elves towards the Capital City, the Gem of Abregado, as it grew smaller and smaller behind their float-boat,

"Gados have been good to us, welcoming both towards me and the droids who came to serve me, even when the Pyre begun to station their troops here and created the first fortifications, although they claimed the planet for their own yet managed presence of pirates the Gados welcomed them with open arms. I do not think what I established here would be possible with any other race."

HK looked back to Sio,

"But as welcoming and tolerant of foreign presence as the Gados could be, they make rather chit soldiers, one shot or slash to the arm and they can pretty much bleed out to death in seconds."

The droid looked to the Fire-Sisters,

"You see their organs are fashioned like ribbons running all throughout their body, along their limbs, which means any wound that penetrates the skin has a good chance to rupturing a vital organ."

He looked back to Siobhan,

"Although after this reformation most of my forces will be mechanical, I am planning on expanding the organic components as well. The Iron Company will be slightly reformed to keep up with tech advancements and move away from the old Pyre tech, more divisions will be opened both to the free droids and organic loyalists serving within it to reflect their new position as special forces and commando units rather than Abregado's common ground forces they were before. Our advancements in Graphite armor crafting will also allow me to recruit from the Gados, clad in the new suits I was planning on using them as troops dedicated to scouting and recon, the Gados have an uncanny acrobatics ability that comes with their lanky bodies you see. I was also planning on reviving the old Scarabeus project, it was an effort of creating mechanized power armor designed specifically for Gados anatomy that would allow for a Gados pirate to enter heavy fighting."

The droid nodded,

"I had to push it aside before and the research was used for our Dwarf Walker project."


The Foundry Spires would be nearing their float-boat as they made their way towards them on the canal, they still had some time to chat before the actual inspection begun, however.

((By the way, I'm back on my old PC in Poland, Skype is a bit finicky here, in that I was not able to get it to run just yet, apparently it either is not registering my password or I forgot what it was, so I might be off of Skype either for few days or until I'm back in U.S.))

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan was not sure whether the comment about racial segregation was meant to be a mild reproach or simply an accurate observation, but took it in stride either way. "I'm no supporter of racial segregation either. It's a provisional measure. I hope to eventually move to an integrated army. The Tygaran natives are unfamiliar with modern warfare and so far have more of a domestic role. I need to be assured that they can be counted on. The native rulers are looking to their own advantage and the Eldorai are..."


"Stuck-up, racist bitches," Hope interjected, disdain quite evident in her voice.


"Now, now, Acolyte. That's not the way to talk about our hosts and allies, is it?" Siobhan chided her.


"Sorry, Grandmistress. But many are racist."


"Oh, many still are. Though I can understand the concerns of those who aren't still clinging to delusional views. Anyhow, enough of that." Presumably now HK started talking about his plans to create a grand army of power armoured Gados, since otherwise Siobhan would've been interrupting him all the time and that would've been very impolite of her!


"Power armoured Gados scouts? Interesting, if they prove successful. I've heard about their gymnastic skills. How many do you envision recruiting? Probably smart to start with a trial unit and see how well it does. What are the specs of the power armour?"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

HK nodded as Sio discussed her own plan of reforming Eldorai structure,

"I suppose the Coruscant was not built in a day."

He agreed with the approach of taking things one step at a time. HK made no comment about their discussion as to just how racist, and sexist, the Eldorai were, after all it was a touchy subjects at least for the Fire Sisters and this was neither the time nor place for it.


At Sio's questions about the Gados power armor the droid nodded, gladly changing the subject,

"Well not that many, although the availability of pilots is not an issue, suits like that would be neither cheap to make nor made quickly, even through our manufacturing means. There will be probably as many of them as we have the Dwarf Walkers right now, just enough to field a handful during missions at any given time. As to their specs, they would be about the size of heavy Dwarf Walker variants but no heavier and with lighter plating to keep up with their mobility."

The droid explained,

"The way we have it planned out is for them to field a light assault weapon in each hand and a heavy siege weapon on the back to be mounted over the shoulder when in firing position. That way they could serve their role as quick recon and scout units, but in close quarter urban combat we could use their acrobatics to field them as weapon platforms, much like the spider droids, but ones with ability to quickly change their firing position in order to flank the enemy. For example one minute firing across the street then leaping on top of a building and sending another shot from there to out maneuver heavier enemy units."

It was a nice concept but whether they would be able to pull it off was yet to be seen,

"Speaking of the Dwarf Walker, I was planing on modifying our spider-droid mobile weapons line. We would pull the heaviest spider-tank variant from production as we seldom use it in combat anyway, instead we would take plans for the Dwarf Walker chassis and modify it to suit a droid mind as a pilot. Take out the cockpit, replace it with a droid brain center to house a far more intelligent programming than that of our Spider-Droids. We would be able to make an even larger and heavily armored variant then, as taking out the cockpit for a pilot would open up more room, and use them as heavily armored walker units instead of tanks."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Gados in power armour was a fun concept, in theory. It would certainly make the, well, rather weak Gados a lot more useful in combat. Siobhan was still a bit dubious about whether it would work out in practice. "If it works out that way, they'd be useful for hit and run tactics. They'd be in trouble if they get cornered by tougher units and can't escape. And the Gados would've to gain some fighting spirit. They're so...passive," she commented.


The Countess turned her head slightly to look upon the river their craft was crossing. When she was young, she'd always wanted to see the sea. Alas, her home had been a polluted hellhole. "I liked the heavy spider droid, you know. But I can see a heavier Dwarf Walker with a droid brain being useful. The problem is that even the baseline Mag'ladroth is already atrociously slow. That makes it good for infantry to keep with, but walkers run rings around it."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

HK nodded in agreement,

"Yeah they are not naturally very aggressive, but the Gados have been known to fight for their freedom, for example when the foreign regime instituted by the Empire begun to order limb removal for pretty much any crime, to them that was an equivalent to an execution so they staged violent revolves. Gados can be convinced to take up arms to protect their planet, it is simply a matter of persuasion, plus we would need to find only few who were willing to do it, not a whole army."

Moving along the canal the boat would finally enter the are covered in shadow cast by the large spires protruding from the plains at the edge of Capital City, the canal would lead towards the opening within one of the central spires.

"If they turns out too heavy on their own, we can always tinker with stronger rotors, jet propulsion, or repulsorlift engines to make them lighter, same for the walkers. We used tech like that before to make our rotary cannons more manageable, easier to lift, same with the augmented jumping ability of my body. With the cockpit removed from Mag'ladroth we would have more room to mount systems like that, and yes, I agree that the spider-tanks were fairly nice, but we used them so rarely, pretty much only to conduct artillery strikes, and even then now we have far more mobile droid units who can do just as much and more."

HK shrugged,

"We will probably re-design them to be more of a main battle tank or heavy walker equivalent and deploy them once more later on."


He would motion to the spire then as their float-boat would slowly enter its bowels,

"We 'borrowed' the plans for these foundries from the Geonosian structures I was able to study while undercover within Confederate Council just before their war with OP sparked up. They just might be the most efficient foundries to date, we mixed the standard Geonosian mass-forging methods with our 3D-printing technology."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]

Siobhan shook her head when she heard about how Stupid Evil the Empire had been. To her, it said a lot about how repressive it had been if even a race as tranquil and frankly weak like the Gados took up arms against the fascist oppressors. It made her feel even more disgusted about the First Order. Hopefully the Galactic Alliance would cut the fascists down to size soon. Firemane would gladly help slay the Sith-Fascist abomination.


"Keep me posted on the walker design plans. The Valora-class is very good, but it's more of a light walker like the old AT-ST. So if we can get something that plays a heavy armour role and has the speed to boot, I'd be pleased." She glanced at the spire after HK pointed it out and the floating boat slowly began to enter its bowels.


"I see. Fun fact, my first assignment as a Jedi was on Geonosis. Some kind of artefact was warping the natives' behaviour and making them hyperaggressive. Well, more than usually! Adril and I fought a bunch of them in a foundry similar to this one. Along with some crappy CIS droids. What's this foundry's annual production rate? I take it we're going to see your droid army soon?"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

"Will do, we could always set things up so the Gados walkers are a light scouting class, Dwarf Walkers are infantry-support assault walkers, Droid Walkers are heavy urban walker class for fighting within cities, and the Spider Tanks are used in open field and as artillery support. As fast as we could make these Droid Walkers, out in the open they would be probably out-sprinted by the spider variants, they just have more legs for better high-speed stability."

Their boat would finally stop within the spire as a docking ramp extended out from the canal's side and attached itself to the gondola, letting them step off of the vehicle and onto solid surface,

"Well the Geonosians are usually aggressive towards outsiders, they especially enjoy blood sports throughout their history, but their leaders often reign them in well enough to allow trade and diplomacy with others. The current annual production rate is comparable to the one in foundry spires on Geonosis,"

HK explained as he lead them off of the grav-boat, towards a waiting repulsor lift-pod so they could take a tour of the facility,

"But we are currently running at only half of this efficiency, we do not really need that many droids at a time, already it was enough to build a standing army, the rest is simply for maintenance and any replacements we would need. Should we enter state of open war this would be increased of course, plus until we are done with reforming the droid components there is no need to produce outdated models."

The machine moved aboard the pod, waiting for the rest to follow,

"The main ground position of the droid models will be separated into two section, the droid army, who will be enlisted within the Iron Company with their organic counterparts, and the drone models, who will form their own fully mechanical corps. Both the droids and the drones will function in identical infantry model, based off of the previous Iron Legionary model. They will be a slight improvement over it, better sensors, faster, more durable with better resistance to electric and ionic attacks, but the difference will be in the programming. While the droids, referred to as the Raehirrim, will function with their old programmings, bringing in a variety of different skillsets to work off of each other better in combat situation as a team, the drones, called MACU-D after the technical name for their vessels, will be suited with a much simpler programming put together by the Guild of Hammers called the GaDOS. It offers only rudimentary intelligence to handle simple tasks as a large group, more like the standard war droids of old, just marching towards a target in a large group while shooting from a phalanx. We came to an ethical standpoint in that we could not actually manufacture intelligent droids just for the purpose of serving for our army, so the drones lack self-awareness, they are more animals than full beings."

HK nodded, informing them about the military structure of this mechanized army,

"The Raehirrim will also be outfitted with additional uniform combat armor while the drones will be left just in their own bodies to distinguish them apart."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan nodded, looking attentive while the droid described his droid army. Basically, the drones would be, as the name implied, simple units that could be produced and deployed en masse, without the need to pay a lot of attention to casualties.


One imagined that they would not chant 'Roger, Roger' all the time or be shackled to a droid control ship that could be conveniently blown up by a single missile fired by a little brat who'd never flown a starfighter before. The salt is strong with this one today. By contrast, the Raehirrim would have a more sophisticated, specialised programming so that they could be considered individuals instead of mass produced automatons.


"I see. Sounds like a reasonable setup. I wouldn't mind seeing these units in action. Perhaps a live fire exercise?" she suggested. The Grandmistress was fond of drills, parades and manoeuvres. Admittedly there'd be no eye candy in this case since she was dealing with robots, but she always liked to see a product tested.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

Knowing HK they would probably end up chanting 'Dells, Dells' in memory of the military redhead who probably came the closest ever to taking the machine's virtue. Plus once he promised her that if she would ever die before him he would burn down the Galaxy while chanting her name.

"Things are not set in stone just yet and will probably go through restructuring still. You see, I would really like to make the claim that Abregado possesses the first free droid army. The problem is that I cannot make that claim if all my free droids are in the Iron Company alongside organics, not much of a droid army if it uses organic infantry, same applies if I would refer to the drones as such, because they are not technically droids and not technically free, they were made for warfare, not chose to fight for me as volunteers. I also do not want to make Iron Company exclusively organic because it would mean that if you are an organic in the military you get an automatic promotion to a more elite force and I would be getting rid of one of our most diverse aspects."

HK explained his conundrum,

"So I will probably end up with three main branches, The Iron Company, organic forces supplemented by mechanical units, both treated equally and offered the same opportunities, the Raehirrim, separate Free Droid Army with similar structure and tactics, maybe more specialization, and then the Grand Drone Army, to just field them en masse."


Once they were aboard the pod, it would shake slightly at first before lifting off of the ground, levitating them upwards, higher and higher until it aligned with a doorway up against the metallic wall. The spires had a weird architecture about them, while they had that Geonosian style that seemed to be made out of carved stone or molded together by a hive using primitive means, it was shaped out of durasteel, duranium, and graphite instead of the usual stone and plaster materials they would use.

The doorway would open and the pod would glide inside, the woman would be probably hit with a wall of heated air and the sound of machinery clanking away as the foundry was currently busy forging the mechanical vessels for HK's forces, melting metals, forming the skeletal structures, applying circuitry and armor plates over them, the standard procedures one needed to craft a droid army. Of course, they could see that the components and even the ready droid bodies hanging off of hooks or standing on a moving conveyor belt were few and far between, the production was not continuous or packed in as efficiently as it could.

"These are all going to be back-up drones to put into our planetary army reserves, our standing army is already done, all we are dealing with is preparing the stockpile."

HK explained as he motioned towards the conveyor belt carrying away finished MACU-D units,

"The forging of the bodies itself is a traditional Geonosian method, we were able to improve on it through our application of 3-D printing to supplement the higher time requirement needed for manufacturing more advanced computing and circuitry units our designs use as opposed to the old Confederate crap these forges are used to."

He motioned towards one line that kept bringing in pre-made circuitry and processing supplies,

"The materials are mostly re-cycled from planetary waste and the loot from our previous battles Abregado got a hold of, Sio, our disintegration and re-structuring process allows them to be purified into workable durasteel and duranium. We have a degree of self-sustainability but we still need to either make brand new metals in our smelteries or import them for construction."

The machine explained, motioning towards the large vats into which melted metals were being poured to be used in manufacturing more mechanical bodies. HK would turn to look to Sio then, answering her previous question,

"We can do a live fire exhibition after the inspection, with both the drones and Raehirrim units."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


"Maybe you should give thought to renaming the Iron Company. It certainly exceeds the regulation strength of company. Perhaps the Iron Legion?" Siobhan quipped after the droid outlined his plans for Abregado-Rae's new model army.


Her eyes swept across the foundry while they were guided through the installation, taking note of the various steps in the production process. It did not escape her that production was neither continuous nor packed as efficiently as might have been, but the droid seemed to have a solid plan for his army.


"Sounds like your 3-D printers are doing their job as well. I sold a bunch to Silk Holdings to use them for the reconstruction of Coruscant." It was probably a good idea to occasionally inform HK about what she'd been doing with his tech while he'd been asleep.


"I look forward to the inspection and live fire exercise. I imagine you'll be incorporating the upgraded ionisation buffers we made for the Dwarf Walker." On the topic of recycling old Confederate tech, Siobhan had given thought to building an upgraded droideka. When you thought about it, it was baffling that the CIS had not phased out the useless B-1s and just produced Super Battle Droids and droidekas en masse. Stupid Neimoidians.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

When asked about renaming the Iron Company, HK just waved it off dismissively,

"I am too sentimental to just rename it, besides, if the enemy assumes that it is only a company and does not send enough troops to face it because of that, then all the better for me."

HK quipped as they sailed on the platform through the foundry and smelter,

"That is good, I could not build these forces or modernize them without the resources you accumulated while I was away."

The droid nodded in agreement and appreciation at Sio handling his business back then, but yeah it was probably a good thing she would tell him more about what she did with his assets when he was away considering apparently the machine now had a bunch of stations and outposts around the Galaxy he didn't knew about!

"I was actually planning on updating the ionization buffers into new deflector shield systems I call Ion-Cycling Shields, the idea is to take the ion capturing and dampening technology that exists and combine them with standard anti-blaster deflector shields, the system would capture the ionic and electrical strikes against the shield and run them through its battery and capacitors while the excess was slowly dispersed."

HK explained,

"As a result the deflectors could be recharged, and reinforced, by the ion and electrical strikes against them, the more you try to disable the droid with such tactics the stronger its defenses would become."

The droid motioned then towards another port within a wall they were heading towards to in their floating platform-barge,

"The inspection is up next."

He informed Sio as they neared the opening.


The door of the portal would open up and allow them entry into an adjacent grand hall, before them stood a legion of infantry drones, unarmored, wielding either blast-staves or light magnetic repeaters, they stood in near phalanxes of 6x10 droids facing them, eight phalanxes on their left in a 2x4 formation, another eight in a similar formation on their right, so that equated to 960 droids in just that one hall.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]

Siobhan's forgetful, sleep-deprived writer finally got around to writing a post! And now we shall travel back in time. This is all before the Battle of Kaeshana. Post-Kaeshana Siobhan will probably be grimmer and darker.


Present one was in a better place and had come to Abregado to inspect HK's droid army. Presumably there'd be a parade. Siobhan liked parades as much as the typical Marshal of the Soviet Union did. One imagined her uniforms were just as ostentatious. Anyhow, on with the plot.


Siobhan nodded when HK elaborated on his plans for upgraded ionisation buffers. "Very ironic and devious, I like it. Have you given thought to branching out into cybernetics? It could help put severely wounded soldiers back into action if we had top quality stuff and didn't have to buy from Aurora or IBorg. Especially if we have the tech to make them less vulnerable to ion and electrical attacks."


A couple weeks later, the First Order would mutilate POWs by cutting their eyes out and carving numbers into their foreheads. ARGH would turn them into the Reforged. Anyhow, off to the inspection! Siobhan grinned broadly when she saw the legion of armed infantry drones. "Nice. An army worthy of redheads, huh?" Yes, this one just had to reference the thread title.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

HK nodded at Sio's question,

"Oh yes, we can work in prosthetics without any problem, we already have that advanced HRD construction program, they are basically extensive cybernetics and from our reports when they integrate into society it is almost impossible to tell them apart from organics. So we have the synth flesh and bone technology right there, it could be transferred fairly easily into cybernetics and expanded upon, we did not do much with upgrading the HRD systems in a while."

It was perhaps unfortunate that Sio moved notion of branching out into cyber-prosthetics in the past, that meant they would be ready once the wounded and scarred POW would reach HK's hands,

"Yes, I did build an army worthy of redheads."

HK nodded once more, agreeing with Sio before he whispered,

"I miss you Dells~"

Just to invoke the memory of [member="Delila Castillon"] one more time before she would come back from the dead and all those jokes about HK being heartbroken over her passing would stop making sense. Perhaps all this time she was simply on extended vacation and did not tell him so he only thought that she was dead.

Either way, HK motioned to the infantry drones,

"These are the drone infantry, under designation Mechanical Autonomous Combat Unit- Infantry Drone, they will serve as the staple of Abregado ground forces and the free droid army. They are based off of our previous Iron Legionnaire models, however their outer armor plates have been thickened as they are straying out of using additional armor suits unlike our other models, we also upgraded their sensor and tracking packages as well as plan on outfitting them with the new energy shield systems. However, they are not very smart, they can utilize only Abregado and Firemane technology, and even then that is limited to our Blast-Staves, Magnetic Repeaters, and Bolt Guns."

HK explained,

"Still it gives us variety of choices to outfit them based on combat scenario to maximize their efficiency. Their programming was designed to have them function within groups, the phalanxes you see right now of six by ten units. This is their standard formation although they can reorganize slightly into columns or firing lines. Their tactics, basically come down to 'go there and shoot' or 'stay here and shoot then go there'"