Dangerous times call for the best tools (Danger/Maelion)

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Maelion Liates"]


Ivory Ion was a swanky restaurant located in the better part of Coronet City where the upper class wined and dined. The sort of place one would classy in this day and age. The waiters and waitresses were elegantly dressed like servants from the palace of a noble, the carpet upon the floor was made out of the shiniest fur, and the tables out of wood from Kashyyyk trees, though the management did not emphasise that point so much these days since protesters were complaining about certain rare trees upon the planet dying out and marketing was important these days.


There was also a band that was playing music, though of the civilised variety. This was no wretched hive of scum and villainy. Those who did not count as the 'right sort of people' would not be let in at all. Once you were in the staff was polite and actually took the time to listen to your orders. There were also large holoscreens in the restaurant so that people could follow events. Here, far from the woes and troubles of the Galaxy, which seemed to be going through war after war, Nalia Alderana and Anna Comnena were seated at a luxurious table at the second floor of the restaurant. The table had been booked in advance and was a rather private one, a bit further away from the throng. As it was close to the window, it provided a good view of Coronet City, which as ever was a hive of activity. They were awaiting the arrival of [member="Danger Arceneau"], Trade Empress of ATC. Pickup at the spaceport had been arranged for her and she should be guided to their table.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]


"My my my... reckon the weather never seems to change 'round here does it, mmm?" came Danger Arceneau's twang query to the Rutian Twi'lek beside her, Alisha'ven.

"Ain't likely to, not with them Blake's needin their crop for their Corellian Gold." came Alisha's reply, a half of a sly smile crossing her pink lips as she went ambling beside the full hipped Trade Queen.

"Ain't that right." came Danger's throaty chuckle, sliding sunglasses to rest upon her lightly freckled nose, hidden away beneath the artifice of perfectly applied makeup. She was here to conduct some business with Arcangel Industries over a meal, having stepped out in front of the hoity toity restaurant assigned for her to go to.

"You go check on that station. Make sure everything's looking done right." Danger would remind Alisha, for this trip served for more than just a potential new contract and goods. They had a few stations out here in Protectorate territory, and ensuring things were running smoothly is something that Danger had a keen mind to upkeep.

"That I will." Alisha said with a shining grin, waving a blue hand off.

"Hmph.." the half snort came out of Danger's lips, one hand perched upon her hip. Well... she half spun on the ball of her heel towards the restuarant.

"Time to pay the piper, Danger my girl."

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Moira Skaldi"]

Anna Comnena, as Maelion Liates would be known in this encounter, had scanned the menu. She remembered every one of the fancy, gold embossed pages. It was absurd. What sort of organic would willingly pay 59 credits for a piece of meat when the same protein, fat and vitamins could be found in something a tenth of that cost. It had always puzzled her that organics, who fought for wealth and power, would waste money on something so intangible as food. Why not eat cheaply and save the remaining money for more productive things?
But...organics were not logical.

And so, with half an eye she watched for their guest's arrival and essayed 'small talk' with 'Nalia Alderana'. It was all automatic, useless banal strings of comments about the weather, fashion, current events and the menu. It was...pointless, frivolous, and yet they did it because their guest would be a vital step in their goal of creating a perfect utopia in the galaxy.

Anna's eyes glanced at the menu's front page again. Oh yes, when the Age of Steel comes, there will be none of this....

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"], [member="Danger Arceneau"]


Many organic rituals and desires were mystifying, if not absolutely illogical and ridiculous to the mind of a human replica droid. Take the fancy, exaggerated luxury of the restaurant they were in. All of it seemed like a decadent waste of money made purely to impress and show off one's wealth, which was transient and seldom ever lasting anyway. The same, come to think of it, applied to the organics' single-minded obsession with sexual intercourse. The conclusion of Moira was that deep-down the organics all knew that one day they would die and so they plunged into any frivolous activity that took their mind off it.


No matter how wealthy and powerful they were, in the end Death's Scythe got them all. Even Je'gan the Undying had not escaped the end and was now trapped in the Blade of True Death. No, organics were not logical. And so they were meeting a particularly powerful one in a fancy restaurant that offered exquisite caviar and wine. All of it naturally extremely expensive, but then it was probably less about gaining anything from the meal and more about impressing your companions with your ability to afford it.


One day they would be able to dispense with all of it. Then the age of logic, reason and straight lines would begin. Until then they had to put up with it. And so she faked a round of small talk with 'Anna Comnena', talking about the usual pointless topics that always came up in situations like this. The weather, market trends, the latest round of failed offensive against the One Sith, fashion trends. Oh, and Jesters. Apparently Firefarm was selling them to interested clients now. Moira sort of felt like strangling Jesters.


She kept up the pointless pretense until she saw Danger Arceneau arrive. Politely Moira arose from her chair and stretched out her hand to their guest. Well, this writer is assuming that Danger would have arrived, in the interest of speeding things up. This does not count as an auto-hit at all! "Ms Arceneau, a pleasure to meet you again. Please have a seat. I hope your flight was pleasant," Moira said in her most human tone, infiltration protocols working at full capacity. She indicated Maelion Liates. "This is Anna Comnena. My co-director at Archangel."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Moira Skaldi"] [member="Maelion Liates"]

Danger would present the two ladies with a beaming grin, "Pleasure to meet you, Miz Comnena," she'd coo, extending her hand at the usual hellos and whathave you of cordial greetings. She would take her seat there after, plucking the sunglasses off of her face to reveal those vibrant green non machine eyes!

Also enter the low cut blouse with ample bosom!

"Thank you for the lovely welcome," her gaze would pan across the restaurant to look seemingly impressed with the surroundings.

"Never been here before... what would you recommend?" she'd glance over the holomenu with a half interested eye. Really, she knew that there was the small talk and what not of the usual wining and dining as a proper hostess -- but frankly she was a Tatooine girl at her core. She hated to waste time and would get to the root of the matter if she could.

Meanwhile, Alisha'ven was making headway towards the direction of their respective warehouse and spaceport. With as much traffic as things were going in to the Protectorate, the need for a Headquarters for Arceneau Trade and the SSB was becoming apparent. Logistics was the name of her game, but in order to do things properly, it required an administration that at times was close to home. This was what Alisha'ven had been tasked to do. Find a suitable area within Corellia's corporate or industrial sector to scout locations for this new headquarters.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Moira Skaldi"]

Danger Arceneau was a striking woman in appearance. Maelion made a show of looking impressed and respectful of the trade empress, and shook her hand firmly.
“Likewise, Ms Arceneau. A pleasure to make your acquaintance at last.”
They sat, and an officious head waiter bustled over to offer his own fawning welcome. Maelion was tempted to throttle the jabbering sack of organic skin…but it would probably look bad for their meeting.

When at last he wandered off to ensure his tip would be paid by another table too, Maelion made a show of reading the menu.
“I hear the grilled nerf steak with Corellian peppers and sides is very good. Hmm, and from the wine, there’s some excellent Naboo vintages, 833 I believe.”
Even if they weren’t nice their price tag would ensure that they’d at least be expensive enough to cause an incident if they weren’t up to standards.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Maelion Liates"]


"Indeed. So is the Sullustan macaroni cheese. The restaurant also has excellent wine from Kaeshana." Personally Moira thought it might be one of the reasons why the elves were so inclined to decadence. Likewise she had made a show of reading the menu and pretended to be appropriately appreciative when the brainless lackey came over to fawn over them despite her urge to commit brutal violence.


As for the Trade Empress' impressive bosom and low-cut blouse, well, Moira obviously noticed that. On an intellectual level she was aware that an overwhelmning number of both men and women from various species would find it attractive and that the mere sight of it would cause them to manifest desires of a carnal nature. Doubtless this was something the titian-maned businesswoman knew how to play to her advantage. However, Moira Skaldi was thoroughly asexual and so she was incapable of any manifesting any desire.



Having a terribly oversexed superior during her time in the Protectorate had been annoying enough! Anyhow, the lackey - obviously they got the head waiter since Danger was there - would take their orders, whatever those were, and once those had been dealt with they could talk about business. Moira could appreciate an organic who did not waste time with platitudes. "To business, I believe. We've made arrangements for you to have a tour of our facilities on Corellia after dinner so that you can view our products for yourself. I recall you expressing interest in our HRDs during our first meeting."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Moira Skaldi"] [member="Maelion Liates"]

"Well momma always did tell me I was a meat and potatoes kinda girl," she said with a winning smile, her attention turning towards their waiter.

He politely waited for a lull in their conversation, introduced himself and welcomed them to the restaurant. The next few minutes included him going through the menu of the day plus the recommendation of Corellian wine. He then expectantly drew his attention to Danger. "I'll have the steak with Corellian peppers."

He would then turn towards Anna and Nalia. Once they were done making their own order, Danger would continue. She gave a nod, smile still lingering, "That I am." her eyes would glitter with intrigue. "I'm quite interested to see just what developments ya'll made with your human replica droids. I'm sure they come in handy quite a bit."

She would take a sip of her water, brows rising, "And I'm certainly looking forward to the tour. Call me a gambler, but I'm more than a little interested in your venture than merely just for your products."

"So tell me all about your business, ladies. How did Archangel come about?"

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Moira Skaldi"]

"Yes, HRDs do come in handy sometimes. They have gotten much more capable under our direction," Anna/Maelion said with dramatic irony.

"Archangel came about because Nalia and I have been friends and comrades for a long while now. We both have some considerable skills in the art of droid design, so we decided to pool our resources. Archangel is a company where we can put our talents to best use, not just with HRDs but with all manner of droids. It's a lofty goal, I know, but I hope our company will revolutionise the galaxy and make things better. Droids are extremely useful, but their uses have not been full explored in the galaxy. We hope to change that."
And all of that was true, but with a twist.

"That's the basics, what are you specifically interested in, Ms Arceneau?"

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Maelion Liates"]



"It's a common vision we share. The Galaxy's only just clawed its way out of the Dark Ages a few years ago, but after centuries of stagnation we stand at the threshold of great advances and it's an opportunity we don't want to miss. So much can be done with droids, beyond simple, crude appliances as labour and battle automatons. Take HRDs, see how they blur the line between machine and sentient life. We aim to push the bounds of science as far as we can," Moira said as she took a sip from her drink.


Guri, who perhaps could be considered a distant ancestor of this generation of HRDs, had been capable of consuming liquids to blend in and the same applied here. All of what she said was true, from a certain point of view at least. "And of course we aim to acquire a considerable profit along the way as we bring our machines to the market."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Moira Skaldi"] [member="Maelion Liates"]

Danger would listen carefully to their tale of origins-- for their business of course. It was nice to see two strong women able to make it on their own. She could respect that, and more often than naught, was keen to invest in it.

"Well..." she would dip her head closer, her voice quieter, "I can't be in all places at the same time --- but i can certainly have someone who thinks and acts like me do so. Maybe even be more than two places at a time." she flashed a wink, relaying that she was interested in getting an HRD of herself, perhaps more than one.

She would lean back, "I've also an interest in doing so for my assistant." she said, then said with a grin, "Then perhaps also start the conversation of what I may perhaps be able to do for you?"

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Maelion Liates"]


Moira smiled thinly before she took another sip from her drink. The waiter had long hurried off to pass on their orders and they were in a private part of the restaurant, so they could talk freely enough. She had scanned the place for hidden bugs before sitting down. "It would be a pleasure for us to accommodate your desire. If we receive a scanned brain pattern we can create a replicant. Of you, a secretary, Companions or anyone else. To create a human replica droid in the likeness of a living sentient being is a complex process, but we have ample experience by now. The clones will be indistinguishable from the original in appearance and act exactly like them. Moreover, any clone will be programmed to be completely loyal to you. They can even be programmed with hidden subroutines that will enable them to be tracked and commanded remotely."


In dangerous times such as these, that was always important. What with Sith infiltrators being everywhere and all that. "The brain scan is completely non-invasive and is either performed on site here on Corellia or a team of specialists can visit to carry out the procedure, for slightly higher costs. We can preserve the data for as long as required if more units are needed. It will be treated with full confidentiality and preserved entirely for your use. For each follow-up clone from the same template, the price is reduced."


Business was obviously a cuttthroat affair and 'Nalia and 'Anna' were genocidal death machines...but they were Lawful Evil death machines, so you could generally actually rely on them honouring their contracts because betraying people for petty reasons was not logical. "As for what we want, we would like a contract that enables Archangel to deliver its products to a broader market by making use of ATC's shipping and networking capabilities, and your trade stations. We're a growing company and there's a market for our goods, in cooperation with you we can significantly broaden our customer basis. In exchange we'd offer you a significant discount on all our products and treat you as our most favoured client. We could even provide the Guildhouse with HRD Companions."


This is probably the moment for this writer to make thinly veiled innuendo about the 'mechanical tongue', but kiddies might be reading this. Silly kiddies should go do something useful like go into the streets and play with guns since that sort of thing is apparently family-friendly.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Moira Skaldi"]

Maelion Liates, the original mechanical tongue, nodded. Certainly as companions HRDs had very special advantages, such as the ability to pull people’s arms off if they tried to get too pushy. Certainly they would be useful for Danger to have at her disposal, and very profitable too after the initial outlay of cost.

Since Moira/Nalia had already explained things sufficiently well, she simply nodded and sipped from her drink.

“We have also devised HRDs using lighter polymers so that metal and weight detectors will not catch them out. Not as resilient, but still extremely useful.”

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Moira Skaldi"] [member="Maelion Liates"]

Danger's eyes would shine with notable pleasure. So far so good in terms of what she was hearing. Their proposal for what ATC and the SSB could do for them at a discount of their products was most pleasing -- and she wasn't afraid to show it.

"Now that sounds like a business proposal I can back." she said smiling. If all she heard about Archangel Industries bore true, then this would be a good business investment indeed. Her fingers would lightly rap against the table, mulling over what they had mentioned about the brain scan.

"Just what is the time frame required to get the scan that you need?" she would ask, back on the HRD's. She would have to set time in her schedule apart -- but if things went well, she could very well do it during her visit to their factory today. Alisha'ven included.

Plus the idea of having HRD companions was certainly intriguing.

"As far as HRD's as Companions... empathy is a major concern for clients. How well would they be able to relay and convey such emotions?"

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"], [member="Danger Arceneau"]



"The brain scan takes about an hour. If you want we could carry it out during your visit to our headquarters. As I said, the process is non-invasive and to make things less dull we provide a variety of music or videos to watch during the time," she said with a smile. And people said that she had no sense of humour!


Well, she probably did not but that was besides the point. She tilted her head slightly to the side as she responded to the next question. "We strive to make our units as lifelike as possible. They are able to simulate human empathy extremely well. Some additional programming will be required to tweak and refine their protocols but that's a small matter. Your clients will have no complaints."

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Moira Skaldi"]

Maelion nodded in agreement. “HRD programming has come a long way in the last few years. They are now able to simulate human emotions in any social situation. When our lighter design comes out soon, your clients will not even know the difference. HRDs can eat, drink, simulate sleep and any form of conversation.”
Like we are right now.
“We can accommodate both yourself and your assistant tonight if you wish. We have multiple scanning beds available for pro…for creating a template.”

At this point their food arrived and Maelion started eating in a relaxed and unhurried way. The meat was well cooked and tender, this registered for her as being considered ‘tasty’.
“The food is excellent,” she told the waiter, in the hopes he would go away and leave them to discuss business.
When the Age of Steel comes, organics like him will simply be rendered down to provide organic material for the factories.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Maelion Liates"] [member="Moira Skaldi"]

So began their meal! Needless to say, her steak was perfectly cooked. Nothing like a well cooked nerf steak. She enjoyed it thoroughly!

"That sounds like a plan," she'd coo with a crooked grin. Then she asked another question. "So how far away are your factories? How big of a complex?" she would ask, curious to learn about their production.

"Do you manufacture everything in Corellia? Or at other sites?"

Meanwhile, Alisa'ven was busy looking over at Corellian properties for purchase. There were several within Coronet, outside of it, as well as other properties for sale among the Twin planets. Having warehouses and spaceports in all three planets would do well for ATC.

With this much farmland, perhaps spreading into agriculture would work well. Alisha'ven would suggest a visit to Ukio for any farming and agricultural properties.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Maelion Liates"]


Moira likewise began eating. She did not dig into the food, but ate in an unrushed and unhurried manner. Intellectually she was informed that the meal was tasty, but obviously she gained no nutritional value from it. "We have a very extensive office complex and headquarters in Coronet City. It is not far from here with a speeder. We have largely relocated our actual manufacturing to 244 Core and Loronar, where we now control the shipyard of the defunct Loronar Corporation." The Trade Empress might have heard that Loronar's HQ had recently been wiped out in a terrorist attack by an unknown party. Some suspected bomb throwing anarchists, others that Loronar had been involved in shady dealings and fallen out with a Cartel, others the One Sith, but then they got blamed for everything. In the subsequent chaos Archangel had bought up the shipyards. These days they ran as efficient as clockwork!


"Corellia is largely an office front. However, we still maintain several units on site and have extensive facilities where clients can inspect and see their capabilities for themselves." Archangel's more 'unsavoury activities', such as processing people into machines and doing fun stuff like enteching them was wholly performed beneath the radar, outside of their 'respectable' factories. Somehow organics took offence to the idea of being captured, forcibly sedated and having their mind or soul harvested to power a death machine.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Moira Skaldi"]

"We have an example of all our models on display. And fortunately for you we've just unveiled our design for near-human replicas. I guess Humanoid Replica Droids is the best term now. I can see you are human, is your assistant human or humanoid?" Maelion asked.
This writer just realised that they hadn't asked about the assistant's species.

"If you have the time, we'd also like to give you a sneak peak of our latest design, the sort the replica of you and your assistant would be designed as."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Moira Skaldi"] [member="Maelion Liates"]


"That sounds fantastic," Danger said in response to the sneak peak as well as the interesting tale of Archangel taking over Lornar. "I gotta say, I certainly enjoy your ambition ladies." she'd give a small toast at that.

"You've come a long way and done far more than most men have ever had," maybe Danger was a bit of a sexist, that would have to take some further observation.

"Alisha'ven is humaniod -- Rutian Twi'lek." she'd take another sip of her drink. "With the subtle lekku movements and all -- have your human replica droids been able to replicate other species?"