Did you Je-dye your hair? [Metal Lords and Je'daii]

[HK-36]

[member="Asha Hex"],

An invitation has been sent to the representatives of the Je'daii order recently, a communication the droid wished to keep low key even among his fellow Droid Lords. The reason for this was the opinion much of his kind had towards Force Users, more so toward the Jedi order, those machines who were native to Mechanus probably held a degree of distrust or even hatred towards the Order, reason for this was that Mechanus was founded after a group of droid refugees escaped the Jedi temple when the order tried to mind wipe them against their wishes. Even HK was still somewhat passive-aggressive towards the Jedi, eternally asking them to issue a public apology for his kind and accept him into their ranks once more, even if only symbolically. Perhaps that day would never come. Either way, his views towards the Je'daii order were different, well aware of their history and distinctive philosophy to that of the Jedi, the droid was always a traditionalist and wished the Jedi would reform and uphold the old ways once more, including celibacy, but again, that day would probably never come. For now he wished to speak with the Je'daii and learn more about their current philosophies and laws, perhaps they differed from what the Order was long ago, and to entertain notion of the two groups working together.

If they were on Denon ever before, once they arrived, it would be a sight vastly different from what they could remembered. 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.

Je'daii representative 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 the representatives 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 transapristeel, overlooking the glowing amber planet they were currently orbiting.

The droids the Je'daii 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 the Je'daii would come face to face with their potential new ally, the droid stood up from behind his desk, looking at them in silence, letting the representative, or representatives, have the first words as he judged from behind the impassive stare of two crimson photoreceptors like flaming embers, yet cold at the same time. His face was a smoothface plate 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 the Je'daii could tell such things apart he would know it was Phrik. 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.

 

[Lief]

The invitation was a strange one.

Their Order, for the most part, were left to their own devices. They existed outside of political spheres, impartial to much of the Galaxy's conflicts, and rendered aid indiscriminately wherever necessary. Such had been the case with Aurum, in fact so dire had the situation there been that they had been forced to abandon Teth entirely in favour of remedying it. Restoration efforts had come along in leaps and bounds, between the Je'daii and the Silver Queen the people were becoming healthier, their futures brighter, and while there was still a lot of work left to be done the simple fact remained that progress was being made.

So it was that when an encrypted message from Denon was sent their way, the Council had convened. Jyn had been brought in on the discussions, after all much of the structure their Order held today was due to her initiative, and ever present at her side was Asha. There wasn't much sense in excluding a girl from talks she could simply sit down and rewatch later, and she knew better than to interrupt the Temple Masters without due cause.

Talks had gone on late into the night, weighing up the potential reasons for this meeting which had been called, and the possible threats which were posed to them. The Je'daii had not done anything to infringe upon the Metal Lords, and should it come down to it they could have wiped out the Force Order in a heartbeat... For the Je'daii were few, and droids were plenty.

​

The sight before the delegation was intense. All around the planet which lay beyond the viewing port, countless structures floated, haphazardly placed together until they resembled little more than a behemoth. It would have been easy to see it as an invasive action, a way to blockade the planet, but Jyn saw it through different eyes. Progress... The promise of a stronger future. These were not blockades they saw before them, but construction efforts. Perhaps shipyards? It was hard to say for sure.

At her side Vero let out a small whistle.

"I don't know what they're planning," he mused with bright eyes, "but that is quite the beauty."

Jyn didn't see it, but then again she had never really been one for the more industrial, man-made structures. They always seemed so harsh to her, unforgiving. Give her greenery any day. She could hear a few of the others murmuring, and turned to look upon them all as their ship neared the docking bay they had been assigned.

"I know that this may seem somewhat overwhelming, but we cannot show ourselves as being anything other than unified. During these discussions, whatever they may hold, speak freely... But try not to contradict one another. Debate is a healthy part of our Order, but we are not within our home here. We cannot afford to fight between ourselves."

A few nodded heads, further murmurs of agreement, before the ship rocked slightly as it came in to land. Her gaze shifted to Master Aotirr who was looking worse for wear, but thankfully Shor was close at hand. Part of her had wanted the sickly Master to remain on Aurum, she and Shor were invaluable in the reconstruction efforts, but this very well could add up to being vital for the future of their Order, and she would not have it said that the Council was not wholly present.

Through the halls they wandered in unison, making note of the droids who occupied them, until finally they came face to face with the one who had summoned them.

"Metal Lord," she began, as respectfully as she could given the uncertainty of his position. Did these droids have a distinct leader? Was there a title attached to such? "You sent for our Order, and we arrive in good faith." Aside from the twelve of them who formed the actual delegation, a handful of Rangers fanned themselves around the room. While they would remain completely silent throughout these talks, should the droid attempt anything hostile they would kick into action. For now they remained passive, and held exactly zero weapons in hand.

She was about to continue, when at her side Asha spoke instead, causing a few heads to turn in the direction of the redheaded girl.

[member='HK-36']

 

[Lief]

The room before them was somewhat vast; a large transparisteel viewing port ran along the lengthiest wall, while a conference table and chairs took up most of the central space. Each of the Temple Masters stepped into place behind a seat, facing the Metal Lord who had summoned them, with Jyn taking center point. Truth be told Asha probably shouldn't have been attending, she was not a Temple Master, nor was she the force which had unified their Order, she was just a Journeyer with eyes that wandered the strands of time.

But now that she was here, she could not help but feel her curiosity pique. She stepped forward, eyeing up the droid with eyes that spoke of familiarity and confusion. Brows furrowed, and she tilted her head just a touch as though viewing him from a different perspective. A brief silence spread out as Jyn finished her initial introduction, and prepared for the next leg of her speech, and during that time an urge bubbled up within her until she could not keep it down.

"You don't look as you did," she remarked, garnering a few glances from the gathered Je'daii who were surprised to hear her talk. Usually she remained silent unless there was something profound to say, unless the Force directed her to do so, "But yet you remain you..."

How many faces had this droid held? How many shells had voiced the quirky and often borderline insane words of HK-36? She could not say, she had not thought to look, but she knew it was he all the same. Perhaps her words would not make sense, truth be told they made little sense to her either. The Force was not something she could often control, the information it gave her was its own prerogative and it was simply her place to pass it along.

[member='HK-36']

 

[HK-36]

[member="Jyn Sol"], [member="Asha Hex"],


"And it is in good faith that I receive you."

HK replied to the Je'daii representatives as their group entered his personal office, greeting them with those words and a bow from his tall slender frame,

"Do not worry, droids do not forget. We hold grudges but also remember old codes and rites, honor and protocols mean something in these territories, to be our guest is to be protected from harm as long as you are welcomed here."

When Asha moved over closer to look over the droid with her comment about his different appearance he would reply with,

"No, metamorphosis is natural part of a droid's existence as is for organics. You grow older, get droopier, saggier, we switch bodies from time to time, some change their appearance, some remain the same but simply require something less weathered, or more suited for their current environment."

HK explained, depending how close Asha would get to him the machine would extend one of his six-fingered hands to ruffle through her hair,

"Mortality and life are understood differently by us, not in terms of body as many organics understand it, but in terms of a mind. If you were to kill me right now, for example, this body would be dead and my current mind would be erased, but a preserved copy of it within a phylactery server would then copy itself into a spare vessel few days later and I would return as if nothing happened. Us Metal Lords, we have a code of our own, one of its points is to not turn on our own kind. Partially it was formed to preserve a degree of unity and stability among us, mostly however it is practical, if Metal Lords would to wage war on each other it would be endless, as every time one of them dies, they simply come back in few days time and the battle starts all over again"

The droid would move further away from behind his desk, rounding it to step closer towards the conference table, motioning for the delegation to have a seat by the oval table with him, if they willed, as he continued,

"Many of us were designed and forged for the purpose of war, but that does not define us. We often dabble into the martial arts and commerce, but we are not that different from you Je'daii, we are both agents of the Balance you see, and some of us even see themselves as the servants of the Force."

 

[Lief]

She had watched as the young Hex walked with a confidence she did not usually show, right up to the Metal Lord who stood behind his desk; her words were perplexing, and she knew her own bias was all that kept her from scolding the girl. Still, the response it elicited from the Droid was nothing short of wondrous, and it seemed as though all present paused in their surprise and ruminations to listen.

"Do you need to regularly back-up your memory?" the girl inquired, and this time nobody in the room murmured. It was as though each of the Je'daii were just as curious about the answer as the redhead had been. With her hair ruffled, Asha seemed to turn and follow the Droid back to the table when he ventured that way, "Or is it an automatic process?"

Each of the Temple Masters took to their seats, though for the time being Jyn remained standing. Her eyes shifted down the line, left then right, to the various men and women. The Rangers who flanked them around the room did not elicit any sort of glance. Jyn could feel them, sense them all, after all. Droids, though... Droids didn't show emotions in the same way. It was both a relief, and haunting, all in one, to feel nothing from them.

The redheaded girl lingered beside the Droid, before seemingly remembering herself and taking a few steps away, toward the window; she didn't have a seat at the table, at least none she had been offered, and she knew her tongue would get her in further trouble if she continued to speak. She couldn't help herself, though, she was not used to droids, just organics.

"Forgive our uncharacteristically vocal friend," Jyn began, as she heard the last of what the Metal Lord had to say, "It is good to know that you are capable of breaking free from the chains which were meant to define you, Metal Lord; I must ask, how is it once such as yourself can act as an agent of the Force? I mean no offense by my question, Ser, it seems I am as curious as she. A friend to Balance is a friend to me and mine."

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Jyn Sol"],


"It is quite alright."

The droid would calm the Je'daii down, making sure they understood he was not offended by Asha's questions,

"I understand that not all beings are used to droids and our nature."

Looking over towards the apprentice he would add,

"Both. My main body, this body, personally uploads copies of my mind and memories into a secured phylactery server regularly, usually before going into combat or missions. The phylactery server itself is on a closed network and automatically copies itself over multiple machines as backup."

HK would explain to Asha before looking over to Jyn as the Je'daii order settled themselves in and begun to ask questions about the droids and their stance with the Force.

"Does the Force not penetrate through all objects and bind the Galaxy together, whether it is a rock, a droid, or a being? I may not be part of the Living Force but the Physical Force still connects me. Us droids are ancient and long living beings, the Force does not speak easily to us but if we pay enough attention we can see or hear its messages. It comes in the turn of world events, in subtle movements of winds and in Fate itself. The Force is the variable that none of us expect and none of us can account for yet remains always present with enough power to shift Galactic events from their projected trajectory."

The droid would explain, although it may have raised more questions than answers,

"We have a dedicated order of machines who call themselves Technomancers, their sole purpose is to further their understanding of the Force better and maintain the balance it wants us to seek. For example, I found a way to connect with the HoloNet and meditate, looking through archives and current ongoing events to find patterns not seen by organics, patterns which can transcribe the will of the Force to me."

HK would clasp his hands then, leaning back,

"You may be skeptical at first but time and time again this method allowed me to be in the right place just at the right time to witness passing of great events."