Exploring a New Galaxy

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Omni stood within the center of Coruscant, he stood within an alien body. A body that he himself had made, a body that he himself had designed, A body that the galaxy had never seen before. The AI watched and observed. He had brought destruction to Coruscant, he had killed, maimed, destroyed. Yet, here they all were, back on this magnificent world ready to do their duty and run their daily lives like the bugs they were. The AI watched them, his glowing eyes following a thousand people at once. It was interesting, to inhabit only one body at a time. It was a new experience for him.

The AI was used to seeing a million things at once, to doing a million things at once. Now however all he had left was this body, only theses hands could interface with the world. The AI hated it, he despised it like nothing before. To him it was torturous, to only be one being at a time. It was horribly inefficient, however it was necessary. The AI could no longer sustain himself in more than one body. His programming...his code was fragmented in such a manner that he couldn't sustain more than one whole body at a time.

The others would just deteriorate, they would dissipate in a matter of hours and grow rampant. It was a problem, one that the AI wanted to fix but had no hope to. It was frustrating. He required a network, but in order to build one as such that he had he would require Artemis, Disciple, Zy'Anya and now that he was unplugged from the holonet he had no idea where they were. He was alone, completely isolated within the galaxy.

“We are what we are shaped to be.” The AI said quietly. His body was strange, and speaking with it still felt strange. Instead of a voice modulater like his droid body this one used vocal cords. Every time he spoke his throat moved and vibrated. It was a strange thing, one that the AI was still uncomfortable.

“Excuse me?”

A woman spoke to him, she had kind eyes but still looked upon him with confusing. The AI simply stared at her, wondering how she had survived his massacre, if she had lost any family, or if she had been scarred by what he had done. The AI nodded at her, as if signaling for her to go away. She stared for a few seconds, and then moved on shaking her head in confusion. The AI simply stood, and stared at the crowded mass.

 

[Carbon]

Manda'lor shifted the thick cloak that hung from his shoulders, pulling it around his front to obscure his body entirely from view behind the billowing cloth. His attention was drawn to the alien talking to himself and scaring the civilians. Slowly, his T-Visor rotated to fixate upon the man talking in what was likely some kind of a code phrase.

When he'd shown up here to update the galactic bounty board, he hadn't expected to be about to talk to an off the walls alien who seemed at a complete loss. The planet was still reeling from a surprise invasion, but the reconstruction had gone quite well all things considered. Stepping up alongside the alien, Emberli said nothing for a few moments.

"Shaped to be...? You someones creation?"

 

[Tefka]

"Very....Ominous."

A large creature shuddered forward, dressed in rags, a red slimy tongue slinging out of his mouth beneath the veiled drape that served as a hood on the humanoid's head. The creature, standing just shy of three yards in height, slid his hand on the droid and then towards the Mandalorian's armor, grasping and seemingly enjoying it. Where his hand touched, a disgusting residue was left behind - one could only suppose the thing hadn't bathed in weeks, perhaps months, as it smelled disgusting awful as well. Hunched over, he lifted his head a bit so two red orbs were seen poking beneath the drape, and whispered to the two of them as onlookers began to disperse - the smell of this creature was that potent.

"One follows a path of war..."

His hand rubbed from the Mandalorian's armor to the droid.

"...while one follows the path of enlightenment."

His hand began to move away from the two, moving back towards it's robes and slunk in it's deep recesses.

"...This one..."

His hand slithered back out, now visible on his chest.

"...walks the road of evolutiooooooon."

A small, cackling giggle erupted from the robes, but not from where the creature's mouth seemed to be...

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Omni looked at the Mandalorian who had approached him. The AI stood and stared not answering the man. He had fought many Mandalorians, he had killed many of them in fact. They had always been tough of course, their lineage assured that they were trained well. This one however he had never seen before, from his armor however the AI could deduce he was of some important, though that meant little to the former hivemind.Then another creature stepped up to him. It was big, bigger than he himself was in this form. This came as a surprise as not many were taller than him standing at 7' tall. He turned to the creature who touched him. The AI felt something strange, it was strange, the creatures voice was...familiar. The AI looked, and then decided to do the rational thing. Before the beast could move too far away Omni lashed out. With intense mechanized speed the AI lurched forward with an outstretched hand aiming to grab the creature by its throat.

 

[Carbon]

Emberli barely shifted as the new creature touched his shoulderguard, leaving a trail of slime in its wake. That could be washed off later when he was alone, cleaning his armor for the evening. Helmet and mask filtering the smell, the creature was still pungent enough to penetrate the filters, meaning he had to reek something tremendous. For once, though, the Mand'alor was at a loss. Standing at six and a half feet tall, he wasn't used to things being taller than him. But here was an alien at 7' and another at what he estimated to be just about 9'. That surprised and pleased him, as it meant he was actually forced to look up to someone instead of down. He loathed having to look down sometimes, as he felt it made him appear aloof - which he wasn't.Just as he was about to speak, the one that had been speaking to itself lunged towards the newcomer and Emberli stepped out of the way. This was likely going to turn into an honor duel of some kind and as a Mandalorian he was obligated to stay out of it. Pulling the cloak tighter around him and obscuring his entire frame from the shoulders down, he watches from behind his visor at what was either going to be a long and drawn out brawl, or a terrible misunderstanding. The gargantuan one had spoken of evolution, and the first had spoken of being shaped. Something told him the two knew each other in some manner, and it was only a matter of time until he found out; of that he was certain. Brown eyes shifted under the visor, locking to where the two red eyes of the beast were.Most. Peculiar.

 

[Tefka]

Ack!

The beast seemed to squirm under the grip of the droid, his eyes glowing redder whilst struggling against Omni's grip. The beast writhed and twisted until his hood fell back, revealing the face of Artemis Obauldi, Dread Lord of the Horde. It did not seem, however, that all was well with the Yuuzhan Vong. Something seemed amiss. This evidence was further backed by the slimy ooze that seeped from his mouth as he growled back, gurgling almost, as he rose his hands to grip the arm of the droid and pull him away. The ooze spilled from his mouth in large quantity, splattering against the metallic hand of Omni.

Smoke rose from this slime, threatening to burn through it's gauntlet until it was apparent the liquid was not acidic enough to eat through it wholly. It would only leave scorch marks and burn holes. Focus turned back to the Yuuzhan Vong's face as the encounter continued. He was scarred, visibly so, but then he had always been scarred. He looked tired though, as if he had been suffering from some illness for quite some time.

Artemis attempted to throw the droid's arm off of him, trying to release himself of Omni's grip, while growling back.

"Unhand me, you damned dirty droid. It's me."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

The AI stared at Artemis for a few second, then on the aliens face something of a smile seemed to creep up. This body was strange in that its facial expressions weren't exactly normal. He stared at Artemis and finally relaxed his grip. He let go entirely and then observed the substance on his hand. It was still slightly sizzling, something that disturbed the AI. He looked at his Warchief, and his eyes seemed to scan him over, they synthetic, and they seemed to glow with a dark blueish glow. The AI spoke finally.

“Warchief. You seem to be...ill.”

The AI stated the obvious of course and then quickly looked to the Mandalorian that had stepped aside. He wondered what the man thought of this, he probably thought that they were both insane. It mattered little, if he interfered he would be killed. The Horde's Warchief was Alive, and this thrilled the AI greatly.

 

[Samara Galloway]

From under the concourse a new pair of eyes was drawn to the three of them only twenty feet away. Samara had not been on Coruscant for long, and it had been the first time she'd set foot on the world in thirteen years. So much had changed, yet everything about the world was familiar. Her arrival had not been at the council's behest. She wouldn't be surprised if they still didn't know the Jedi had returned to the world the Order had once called home.There were still many demons left to be exercised from her mind. So many dead that she'd felt helpless to prevent. Samara had wanted to return to perhaps find some closure. Maybe uncover some knowledge that would help the Jedi Order to restore themselves. But all she found was this particular sight. A being she'd never seen before and a cloaked figure. The sight of the Mandalorian gave her pause. She remembered stories about them, and heard of accounts where they'd been active in helping the Empire to hunt down her fellow Jedi. When the hood was ripped from the creatures head and Samara saw the face she took a step back, a gasp escaping her lips. She'd seen holos of the man in recent years. Realizing what it was she might be seeing Samara figured it was best to find a better place to observe then out in the open. Her silent retreat however was broken by the sound of the woman yelling as the Jedi backed into her.

 

[Carbon]

Rolling his shoulders ever so slightly, the Mandalorian kept his eye on the strength of whatever the ooze was. Thankfully, it didn't seem potent enough to actually burn through anything, and so the threat level had been downgraded from where it had been so far in his mind. Canting his head off to one side, the Mandalorian speaks up once more with a quiet, deep voice.

"Your powers of observation astound me..."

Frowning a little, he takes a step or two towards the revealed Vong, visor tilting upwards ever so slightly to put the xeno into his view. "So, the Dread Lord has returned... and here I'd thought the Horde gone." There was no hint of a mocking tone, merely a curious individual stating something he thought to be fact.

His attention was drawn by the yelling, and the man's head snapped to the side to spot Samara. She was... vaguely familiar, although he wasn't entirely sure why. Turning sharply, he walks slowly towards her, his heavy boots clanking ominously off the street. "Something the matter...?", he asks, wishing to help in some manner should something be amiss.

 

[Samara Galloway]

Samara kept the Shockball cap she wore pulled low over her eyes as the Mandalorian approached. She'd been stupid to come here like this. Her former master's words came to her as she turned away to apologize to the woman, and possibly run. Coruscant is a pipe dream, lost to us. There is nothing to go back for there. So stop looking to the past for answers.

"I...I'm sorry ma'am. I thought I saw a..err...rat." The excuse was lame, but then she knew that no amount of talking about get her out of any mess. Turning her head slightly back towards the tall Mandalorian Samara shook it no in answer.

"Just an accident." That's right. Just continue to play like another clumsy pedestrian and you might be able to get out of this without bringing the whole of Coruscant Security down on your head.

 

[Carbon]

Samara was about to find out one of the more important qualities that made Emberli, well, Emberli. He simply knew when someone was lying to him through some innate means. Well, 'knew' was a bit too generous. He generally would get gut feelings and simply refused to ignore them. Should he genuinely be wrong - which was almost never - he'd apologize, but typically that wasn't the case. But, with the technology available to him, that innate lie detector was moot for the moment.

Smirking under the helmet at her attempts to leave, he merely shook his head. What she didn't realize was that his helmet was set up to give him a 360 degree view of the area around him on his HUD. It took a bit of getting used to, but the moment he'd heard the scream his gaze had spotted her facing them, backed into the woman.

"You aren't technically lying. I'll give you that. But you did back into her, meaning you were likely trying to get out of our sight. Why was that...?", he asks, sounding quite genial. To put it simply, he made even an interrogative conversation sound like one about the weather they were having recently.

 

[Samara Galloway]

Soft green eyes looked up from under the cap and darted over to the Yuuzhan Vong before returning to look into the faceless visor of Emberli. She wondered what was underneath the helmet. Old stories told by younglings would have had a vestige that would have made the Dread Lord in his current situation look almost loveable.

Samara doubted she could outrun the Mandalorian now. He was to close and the streets to crowded to make an effective get away. The best she would do was hope any half truths she could give would be enough to misdirect Emberli. "I've never seen an alien like him before." Samara nodded towards Omni, "Or the Dread Lord. I was scared and backed into the woman."

It was the truth, and one that didn't need the force to re-enforce. Though she did channel a small amount of the force, steadying her voice modulation and anything else that could give away falsehood.

 

[Carbon]

Emberli merely smiled under the helmet, taking note of the rather striking green eyes - at least in his opinion. Although she didn't know it, the man under the mask was a far cry from the oozing sickness of the Dread Lord's visage. But, stories were stories and urban legends were often hard to dispel. The man stopped in front of her, the red of his cloak hanging loosely about him as it drifted slightly in the breeze of the city-planet.

"Still not a lie. But not the whole truth."

He was almost annoyingly persistent, and clearly adept at reading people. "But, if you have something to hide, I shan't pry." A thickly gloved hand extended from under the red fabric, offering it up to shake. "Pardon my lack of manners - I am Mandalore the Stalwart."

Samara was getting a first hand glimpse of the almost preternatural ability of the man to glean things from people who were otherwise absurdly adept at hiding their feelings. But while he appeared to know how to read people, again, it was merely him going off of his gut - something he would never not trust to be right.

 

[Archon Kaan]

War comes every now and then, shakes things up good. War is good though. Good for business. 'Cause even though war changes things topside, the vice endures. No matter who comes in power. And down here in the shadows? In Underscant, the darkness remains eternal.

But from time to time even those who live in the shadows, step out into the light.

"Looks like a glorious mess."

#Indeed.#

The voice chipped in his ear. And unknown voice guiding him, learning from what he saw. Live intel. Nothing beats it.

"Much of the infrastructure is still smoldering heaps. But the factory seems serviceable."

#Good, at least we can get it up and running#

"And soon. Demand for small arms is going through the roof. We need to get this deal done with before the other sniff out the action."

#Im not worried about any of the gangs.#

"Its not the gangs Im thinking about...its the syndicates...and besides them..."

He was walking along the skywalks, many still remained servicable. A man dressed in plain coruscant clothes. Nothing out of the ordinary. Although he wore no mask. His eyes were covered by shades, and his popped collars masked some of his face.

All in all a forgettable figure.

Turning a corner he stopped dead in his tracks.

"...there is this Horde."

#What's up?#

He had caught sight of the three of them ahead. He did not know them of course. But he felt something from them. Well from one of them. The Mandalorian. The other two were too bizzare to register. And then of course there was the Jedi.

"Nothing. Silence"

There was no response of course. He smoothened his collars, revealing his face a bit more and shuffled into his best limping gait. So it looked like he was skimming over the skywalk. Shuffling closer he slid close to the completely alien looking creature(Omni) and slid out his hand, three deathsticks slipped out in a display of some sleight. His diguise was good but not stellar, still as he had gotten closer he had seemed to shift attribute, looking more and more like a two bit dealer you wouldnt give your time of the day to. But when he spoke the difference truly came out...his voice...this voice belonged to someone else. It was not his voice, not like a disguise no. It was not a trick this one. It was truly not his voice. But it was the voice of an experienced Death Stick dealer.

"Heeeeeyyy...wannna buy some deathsticks?"

 

[Tefka]

"Ill..." The Warchief's neck popped to the side, sporadically, his head turning to the side but only in bursts of slow movement. As if a buffering video, or a sputtering engine. "...is putting it lightly, machine."

Despite how....broken....Artemis seemed to be, he still spoke down to Omni with such disdain that it was obvious he held no respect for the living metal. He turned to the Mandalorian, who was chatting with a very pretty lady who had approached the three of them. "The Horde is gone, yes." His teeth chattered with unnatural speed after finishing the sentence. "So goes my own fortitude." He meant his health was declining, but for some reason, the Dread Lord was speaking in deep, ominous verse. Obviously a side-effect of the ooze.

More of it spilled upon the street as Artemis wondered what kind of Mandalorian would introduce himself as Mandalore the Stalwart. Seemed tacky to throw a title out so quickly in brief conversation.

"Stewart...." Artemis addressed the Mandalorian. One couldn't be sure if he was prodding the man or just in a haze. "...this nice gentleman wishes to sell us deathsticks."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

The AI watched, after assessing Artemis he had no desire to keep speaking. Some kind of organic came up to him and offered death sticks. The AI just remained silent having nothing to say. The Droid was happy, it was a strange sensation but with this body it was entirely possible. Artemis was alive, true he was sick but that meant he could be healed. The AI just remained silent, watching and observing those around them as he always had.

 

[Carbon]

It took Emberli a few seconds to realize the Dreadlord was speaking to him, but he merely smiled when he figured it out. Whether or not he was attempting to insult Emberli was debatable, but regardless, Em was the type to play along. Rotating so that he's once again facing the Horde and drug dealer - while still able to keep Samara in his view due to his HUD - Emberli chuckles.

"Deathsticks, eh? I'm afraid we aren't interested."

Truthfully, Emberli wanted to just shoot the man, but that wouldn't look too good considering he was on a planet that wasn't controlled by his people.

 

[Tefka]

Artemis nodded, though extending his hand with some credits.

"Stalwart doesn't speak for all of us, stranger. I would like to purchase some deathsticks."

 

[Samara Galloway]

Despite her misgivings Samara felt that she could trust this Mandalorian, or at least trust him not to put a knife in her back. She was actually considering giving him her name when she noticed the other one shuffle forward. While his disguise had fooled the others Samara had felt the exploratory force probe. It had been light, but confirmed for both of them one simple truth. They were each a force user. Though for Kaan, Samara detected the taint of the darkside.

She let a soft hiss escaped her lips as she considered what to do. The Dread Lord may very well kill her if he knew Samara was a Jedi, as would this darksider. What she didn't know was what would be the Mandalorian's response. Clearly he was associated to the Yuuzhan Vong, but neither did she perceive hostile intents from him. A hand slide under her shirt and caressed the lightsaber hilt as she contemplated what to do. She took a step back, looking for an escape route if things went sour.

"My name is Samara." The young woman said it only loud enough for Emberli to hear.

 

[Archon Kaan]

"Of course Sir, I assure you these babies have quite the kick."

He shuffled closer and slipped three of the glowing sticks into Artemis's hand, shifting the credit chip out. In one smooth fluid motion the chip and the sticks exchanged places.

"You dont look from around here good Sir. Dont have the color of the locals...or the uptightnes."

He cracked a grin.

"If there's anything else you need you give me a call. Whatever the law says you cannot have on Coruscant. I can provide it for you. At a price of course."

He flicked out a comm card.

"Razor Eddie's the name, if you ever are down below in pleasure sector 88. You will find me on Paradise Street. Ask anybody for me. Ill hook you up."

With that he retreated a step.