Climbing the Walls [Closed]

[Caulder Dune]

ORD CESTUS
HEGEMONIC AUTOMATON HEADQUARTERS, CHIKAT'LIK

Tyrin's eyes narrowed at the intern, who shrunk away from his desk. The Umbaran grimaced as he redirected his gaze to his ink-spattered right hand. A product of his own anger and frustration resulting in him snapping his pen in two. Great. He'd probably gotten some on his clothes, and the carpet. Of all the companies of the Tion Hegemony, there wasn't a single one that produced cleaning product. Utterly abysmal. How could he trust any other company to provide a product that could remove the stains from his carpet and clothes? But now he had more important things to think about.

"An inspection of our newest products, you said?"

The intern swallowed hard before speaking. "Y-yes, sir."

A heavy sigh escaped Tyrin's lips. No doubt the intern thought the source of Tyrin's anger had something to do with him. That was rather vain of the lad, to say the least. The true problem here was that Tyrin had already suffered an inspection by the Cestian government. Now another? Had he not done a good job of assuaging their fears the first time? Were they destined to keep harassing him in this manner? Fine. If they wanted a look at the Mehrunes Series of Droid Walkers before they hit the market, then they would get it. And they had better damn well be pleased as punch again.

"Thank you for informing me." Tyrin thanked the hapless intern. "Now get out."

Needing no further encouragement, the intern scuttled off. Tyrin waited a few minutes before leaving as well, heading straight towards the nearest bathroom so he could wash the accursed ink from his hands.

 

[Caulder Dune]

ORD CESTUS
MC-CES-035, BADLANDS

The Cestian air shuttle descended towards the landing pad, kicking up a cloud of dust as it lowered itself to the ground. Tyrin watched from a good ways off as this happened, the wind causing his cloak to flap wildly in the wind behind him. Prior to this shuttle's appearance, he had sincerely prayed to the Force for the first time in his life. Tyrin prayed simply that the inspector that had been present last time would not make a second appearance. She had been insufferable, impudent, rude, and callous. That crass abomination hadn't even the courtesy to look up from her datapad whenever she spoke to him, yet had the unbelievable gall to chastise him for being terse.

Needless to say, it was a tremendous relief when he saw a man descend the boarding ramp of the now landed-shuttle.

...Followed by an up-welling of raw fury when the man stepped to the left so that the same dour visage of Rhyssa Por'Ten could be seen as she made a beeline towards Tyrin. The anger only intensified when Tyrin realized she was not even looking forward as she walked, but still mindlessly fiddling with the same stupid datapad she had last time. Oh, what Tyrin would have given at that moment for the freedom to telekinetically grasp that datapad and smack Ms. Por'Ten in the face with it.

He cooled his anger down rapidly as she approached, squashing it just in time to grin as she came into speaking range.

"Ms. Por'Ten. I'm pleased to see they sent you a second time."

 

[Caulder Dune]

"Uh-huh." She said flatly, still making notes on her datapad. "What am I here to look at?"

Tyrin exhaled softly. "Ah, yes, the Mehrunes Series of Droid Walkers. These promise to be our most powerful line of battle droids yet. Each equipped to fulfill the role of-"

Rhyssa made a clicking sound, cutting the Umbaran off. "That's nice. Can we get started, please?"

There were few words in Galactic Basic that could adequately express the exact level of disdain Tyrin held for this woman. He very much wanted to at least attempt to give his pure, unadulterated dislike form by vocalizing it to this woman, but the nature of the situation demanded otherwise. Instead, his jaw simply clenched briefly and gestured for the inspector to follow him. It was the same trek as last time, albeit a different factory. These days, Hegemonic Automaton factories were utterly uniform in external layout. Underground, though, the byzantine labyrinth of machinery and assembly lines was unique to each location, depending on what they manufactured.

In this particular instance, since the droids being manufactured here were more akin to military walkers, the caverns in which they were produced would be of a daunting size.

 

[Caulder Dune]

After taking the lift down to the lower levels, Tyrin guided the inspector to the area where the M1 Light Walkers were being prepared for shipping. One of them had been activated and guided to the side specifically so that he could show it to Rhyssa Por'Ten and hopefully disperse any fears she or her government had over the product. The M1 towered over the both of them, looking back and forth every so often. It was perched on six thickly armored legs. It definitely wouldn't be the most agile and graceful of droids, but most walkers weren't anyway.

"This is the M1, the first walker droid of the Mehrunes series we developed."

"What kind of weapons are we looking at here?"

"Ah, well, this one in particular seems to be equipped with slugthrower auto-cannons and the flame projector, though it can also be manufactured with anti-personnel blasters and a grenade launcher."

In a rare display of being cognizant of Tyrin's speech, Rhyssa looked up from her datapad and raised an eyebrow. She was completely unchanged from her last visit, the exact same plain woman Ovmar and Starchaser had been present to encounter. This time Tyrin had neglected to invite either of them, as they likely had infinitely more important things to do. They could never afford to stop by on every occasion Tyrin needed to flesh out the designs of his company to government inspectors.

As much as he would have liked the company.

"So, is this thing armored like the rest of your stuff?"

"Of course. Really, the effectiveness of our molytex-dura-armor-durasteel can only be increased as the scale goes up. No reason to fix what isn't broken?"

Rhyssa sniffed. "Dura-Armor?"

Dura-Armor, surprisingly, was not a well known material. A real shame, considering its uses. It was not terribly different from Durasteel, but it was forged in a different way. The base components of neutronium, lommite, and zersium were all there. The matrix they were set into, however, drastically increased the material's ability to absorb and re-direct incoming blaster fire. Compared to durasteel, it wasn't even that much more expensive to make. This wasn't to suggest that Dura-Armor was the be all, end all of armor. No, droids that used it were still as susceptible to blaster fire, albeit to a lesser degree. Better protection against glancing shots and whatnot.

Now, couple that with the molytex coating and a reinforced durasteel skeleton... There there was definitely a droid to be beheld by all. A TA1 could withstand a few direct shots from medium and light blasters, but that was still greater than most other droids and people on the market. A TA2 was almost impossible to destroy without heavy ordnance, especially if one was assaulting it from the front while the hulking droid had its energy shield active. The M1 would fair just as well. Granted, it lacked a shield generator, but that was besides the point.

"A variant of Duasteel, simply stronger for the purposes of defense against small to medium arms fire." Tyrin explained, opting for the simpler explanation. "Nothing to become too excited about."

 

[Caulder Dune]

Rhyssa shot Tyrin a glare, having sensed the condescension in his voice. How could he help himself? Here he was, explaining away his products for a second time. Ord Cestus must have been fairly insecure about who these droids were going to. Perhaps they thought a coup was in the works. At this rate, Tyrin had half a mind to do just that. Depose the accursed regency and ban all forms of government inspection from being performed against Hegemonic Automaton. And then ramp up inspections for whatever repulsive enterprises the Mandalorians set up on the system.

Then again, the lack of inspections against the activities of Mandal Hypernautics was probably more credit to the wisdom of the Cestian government. After all, Hegemonic Automaton's leadership did not have a track record for obliterating all life on a densely populated planet for differences in political opinion. If Tyrin was to get any respect or be left to his own devices, it started to feel like he would have to glass one planet or the other. Not worth it. There was no way Tyrin would willingly lower himself to that kind of cliche villain status for such a paltry thing.

"Tone, please." Rhyssa chastised, making note of the transgression on her datapad. As if she carried it around for any other reason than to make note of something she found unsatisfactory.

"My apologies."

"What's the point of being able to change out the main weapons? Why not just stick with blasters?"

"A good question." Tyrin lied. "Autocannons have a higher rate of fire than blaster cannons and are more lethal to infantry. Of course, they aren't so good if an enemy vehicle comes into play, or if they run out of ammunition, as slugthrower weapons do. There's also a much higher chance of overheating or jamming where slugthrowers are concerned. The repeating blasters don't have this problem, but have a slower rate of fire. Albeit they are more capable when dealing with any light vehicles that need to be dealt with."

"Uh-huh. So which would you use?"

"It all depends on the situation. If I don't anticipate the enemy will be having light vehicles, or if I have M2s to accompany me, I would prefer the slugthrowers."

The inspector's nose scrunched up to her face in abject displeasure. Tyrin noted the facial expression, however briefly it appeared, and hazarded a guess to her thoughts. He'd mentioned the M2. Fantastic. She would probably be expected to inspect that one as well, otherwise she would have to be sent here again. Clearly this was as horrific a notion to her as it was to Tyrin, but he made no comment of his silent observation. All for the cause of politeness and proper etiquette.

"I'll have to look at this M2." She eventually said, after finishing up typing a particularly long note.

"Of course. Right this way."

 

[Caulder Dune]

They exited the chamber, allowing the M1 to be stored for shipment. Tyrin then led the inspector deeper into the facility, whereupon they entered an even larger chamber. Herein lay the M2 Heavy Walker Droids. In comparison, to the M2 the M1 was incredibly simplistic. The M2 Heavy Walker was listed as heavy for a reason, most notably the fact that it toted three different weapons systems. The quadrupedal walker stood ominously before them. It made not the slightest movement, almost as if it were any other soldier standing at attention. Two large missile launchers sprung from the back of the M2, almost like wings. Only instead of giving it the gift of flight, it gave if the gift of unrivaled firepower. Atop its back was a heavy blaster cannon, adept for destroying vehicles. On either side of the mechanical beast's 'head' were a paid of repeating, anti-personnel blasters.

Frankly, it was Tyrin's favorite droid. He'd been rather impressed with the design once he'd seen it completed for himself.

Rhyssa was unmoved. It was rather dubious she even looked at the thing. Her datapad was evidently much more interesting. Biting back the urge to slap the device out of her hand and demand an actual, tangible conversation, Tyrin simply waited. Last time he had started to speak without being sure she was listening, she had rather rudely cut him off. Such would not be the case this time. Tyrin was not wasting a single breath of oxygen more on this woman than necessary.

After a few moments of silence, Rhyssa glanced up briefly from her datapad to fixate Tyrin with a confused look. "Are you going to tell me what I'm looking at here today, or should I come back tomorrow?"

Boiling. Rage.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Tyrin waggled the fingers of his right hand while keeping it pinned to his side. This was all in effort to disperse the sudden urge to backhand the most just and fair Rhyssa Por'Ten across her tattooed gob. The next time this happened, Tyrin would be requesting a different inspector. There was only so much nonsense he could take. Well, technically he could take more, but presently his thinning patience is being played for laughs. It also affords a very nice excuse to swallow up space on this post and prevent it from looking bare-bones. The meatier the dev thread, after all, the better it would be. Even if some of the meat was really just filler.

"This is the M2 Heavy Walker. As I'm sure you've noticed, it boasts drastically heavier armaments than the model I previously showed to you."

The armaments were clear enough for anyone to behold. It was quite a sight. The two anti-personnel blasters mounted on the head gave it the kind of versatility against infantry that a walker needed when navigating the battlefield. The larger blaster cannon mounted on its back was slower to fire, but could tear up un-shielded medium vehicles with relative impunity. The missile launchers were risky, but needed. They could make short work of any incoming aircraft if they got too close, and would easily cripple the heavier sorts of enemy vehicles it came up against. This all hinged on the fact that no one would shoot directly at the missile launchers. Perhaps it would be wise to deploy some of them without that attachment.

"The concept is more or less the same as the M1." Tyrin continued. "The missile launchers you see here are optional attachments, whereas the repeating blaster cannons and the heavy blaster cannon may be swapped for slugthrower autocannons or a heavy ordnance launcher, respectively."

"These things don't look very graceful."

Oh, what an utterly fantastic plot twist. It turned out that the inspector had actually taken the time to look up from her thrice-damned datapad to see what Tyrin was talking about here.

"Certainly. Walkers are rarely quick moving things. Hegemonic Automaton prefers to focus on armor and armaments rather than speed in the Mehrunes series. This will make them less susceptible to destruction."

 

[Caulder Dune]

"Can we expect these units to be offered at a reduced price for the Cestian government?" Rhyssa inquired, returning what little attention she had diverted back to her tablet.

"Of course." Tyrin answered. "It wouldn't do very well for us to discontinue our working relationship with the government. Not when they've been so kind to us."

Which was to say that Tyrin would offer them whatever discounts they wanted, short of just giving them droids, if they would stop with these inspections. Or at the very least send someone else. What did they think he was doing here? Planning a planetary coup? Maybe all of his factories were actually fronts for death stick labs or something. That would be a wonderful plot twist, certainly. But death sticks and similarly illegal substances were substantially less profitable than Hegemonic droids. Even if the manufacturing costs were also much higher.

"I'm just having a hard time believing all of these guns are necessary."

"Madam, what you call unnecessary, I call innovative. If we skimp on the armaments here, there would be no incentive to purchase our model over an inferior product."

"Oh, really? So why bother with the fancy droid brain if the sell factor is just guns?"

Tyrin had to resist pinching his nose and sighing in frustration. He managed to avoid the dramatic display, though. "People don't buy droid tanks because they're smart, but if this one happens to be capable of more critical thought than other models and heavily armed, why would you go anywhere else?"

 

[Caulder Dune]

Rhyssa Por'Ten elected to spend the next several minutes hastily typing away at her datapad rather than say anything else to Tyrin. There was no "one moment, please" or anything of that sort. Just a long, pregnant silence. One that was only slightly disrupted by the sound of her fingers impacting the touchscreen of her device. It was killing his soul, truly. Whatever wretched, malformed piece of his soul that hadn't been sucked into the swirling black abyss that had taken up residence in his chest cavity, that is.

"Well, I think we're done here."

"Oh? But there's more."

"What? What else could there be?"

"The artillery droid, of course."

At this stage of the game, Tyrin had resolved to just ensure she saw every facet and part of the Mehrunes series before it hit the popular market. This way, she hopefully wouldn't need to come back. Every time he stopped to handle one of these inspections (as he hardly trusted anyone else to do it for him), it was money wasted and time he could have spent doing something more meaningful. Like making sure Hypori's infrastructure continued to operate efficiently. Or continuing to forcibly persuade the impoverished, unemployed, drug-addled citizens of Coruscant's underlevels to take part in the One Sith colonization project.

Rhyssa narrowed her eyes at the Umbaran, evidently just as displeased she would have to remain here as he was. "Show me."

And just like that, the dynamic duo were off once again, leaving the M2 to be packaged and prepped for delivery.

 

[Caulder Dune]

ORD CESTUS
MC-CES-041, BADLANDS

The M3 Artillery Droid was, by far, the most difficult droid to manufacture. Its size and choice of armament made it incredibly difficult to assemble them within the confines of an underground factory. Thus, they had to be produced on the surface. They were not manufactured at MC-CES-035, but rather a specialized facility uncharacteristically located above ground. MC-CES-041 was about the same size as the above ground portion of any other Hegemonic Automaton factory and only differed in that it completely lacked the subterranean facilities generally used. Tyrin was forced to suffer through a brief flight to the facility with Rhyssa Por'Ten.

Totally contrary to her displayed habits during this inspection and the previous one, Rhyssa made no attempts at conversation and simply remained buried in her nonsensical little datapad the entire time. Tyrin himself took the time to take a meditative break, as it seemed apparent this was the only way he was going to avoid snapping and attacking this woman.

Once they landed, Tyrin and friend were escorted to the exceptionally large building where the M3s were constructed. As per usual, one of them was already completed and was awaiting packaging so it could be transported. The colossal droid loomed before them, perfectly still. It was not currently active, so neither of them had to worry about getting gunned down by it. Then again, even if it was active, it would be unable to gun them down. Not without backing up a reasonable distance first, seeing as its only armament was a very large energy projector.

"This is the-"
"Wait."

Rhyssa continued to type into her datapad. She needed to jot something down before Tyrin launched into this. Of course. Yes. Obviously. As if Tyrin should have expected anything else.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Several prolonged minutes of typing away later, Rhyssa Por'Ten was finally able to complete whatever funny business she had going on in her datapad.

"Alright. Let's hear it."

Tyrin was numb to the rage at this point. He didn't even manage a roll of his eyes or an embittered sigh. He just continued on as per usual. That was arguably what was expected of him at this point. The Umbaran directed his gaze at the M3 Artillery Droid, sizing up the tank droid in front of him. The final piece that needed to be placed for the land division of his droid military. Sooner or later, the Hegemony would have the droid army it both needed and deserved. Then there would be nothing to stop them from getting exactly what they wanted out of the galaxy.

"This is the M3 Artillery Droid." Tyrin started, this time slowly in case Rhyssa wanted to interrupt again. "As you can well imagine, it's only function is to provide long range artillery strikes against enemy targets. It is only lightly armored. If we applied our armor strategy as thick as we usually did, it would be impossible to move with the added strain of the energy cannon. Further, the M3 holds no other armaments. It will need to be dispatched with an escort to ensure it isn't picked off."

"What range are we looking at here?"

"Oh, I don't know the specifics. About as far as any other artillery piece, I imagine."

Rhyssa narrowed her eyes. "Is it accurate?"

"All of our combat droids are accurate."