King of the Forest

[Kemoth of Asteria]

[SIZE=11pt]Denon,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Denon System,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Inner Rim,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Territory of the Metal Lords[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Kemoth’s first impression of Denon came not from stepping onto the world and breathing its air, but from holophotos of the planet she came about while reading about ecumenopolis worlds when investigating their development. It had been simple curiosity, but the holophotos didn’t do Coruscant nor Denon justice. A world covered entirely in an endless city, eh? Definitely not done justice in holopics. Such a thing made Denon one of the galaxy’s foremost examples of architectural prowess, for to create such a world you had to work to near perfection, potentially for centuries - millennia even - on end.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Landing in a shuttle, and breathing in the air would have provided a sensation that Kemoth hadn’t been blessed with since the last time she set foot on Coruscant. Some people hated it, but even at 68 the Gray Jedi found herself marveling at this creation. It was something special. It was something gargantuan in size. It was something that eclipsed her in every way, and would far outlast any single one of its occupants. She saw why the Metal Lords had chosen it as their capital. Unfortunately, she had to meet the Iron Lord Protector above Denon, so she marveled from orbit as her vessel docked.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Kemoth was here to acquire a customized armor for the adult Nocur that she had purchased, one made of phrik, featuring that wonderful shattergun rotary canon, and one of the specialized shielding systems that they offered. A phrik beak mask for the Nocur that gave it the capability to use penetrating force, rather than foregoing use of their beak in favor of protection from gasses was one of the items listed on the datapad she carried.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Kemoth stood patiently, waiting for someone to tend to her after she made the attendee aware that she had an appointment with the Iron Lord Protector.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt][member="HK-36"][/SIZE]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kemoth of Asteria"],


Another day, another invitation was sent out from the palace of Lord Protector in the Orbit of Denon. The Droid Space was a Galactic power that rose to claim their territory almost overnight, suddenly appearing in the Denon and Corellian sector and managing to establish partnership and cooperation with various planetary governments rather quickly. Their path was not one of conquest however, for the machines preferred way of diplomacy and commerce over anything else, particularly the art of bribing, which turned out to be highly effective on organics and bought them their way into Galactic political theater. Over time they became very good at making deals and buying out loyalties of various merchants, politicians, and less reputable characters, it seemed that HK was planning on continuing that tradition as the machine insisted on keeping frequently updated storefront on HoloNet showcasing all of the industries under patronage of Metal Lords and even putting time aside to personally deal with some of their clients and manage the storefront himself.

However, it was not frequently that someone asked for one of the Nocur, also known as Owlbears, large ferocious beasts from the forests of Abregado that the machine managed to tame and assimilate into his fighting forces, especially as mounts for his scouts and mounted infantry, from his time as the planet's so-called dictator. HK relinquished his position since then, willingly giving way to democratic process as he focused more on the project of establishing and maintaining territory specifically for droids, however due to the rather positive reputation he developed on Abregado, and with help of some smugglers, the droid seemed to be able to keep importing a steady supply of unhatched Nocur eggs for taming. That was the reason for Kemoth's visit to the planet, and the machine's willingness to entertain his client in person.


Once Kemoth arrived at the station, she would notice that it would be a sight vastly different from what she remembered from the holo-recordings. 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.

Kemoth 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 Kemoth 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 transparisteel, overlooking the glowing amber planet they were currently orbiting, with the other grand station now in the planet's orbit, the Space Bazaar, visible just disappearing behind the planet over in the distance.

The droids Kemoth 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 Kemoth would come face to face with her host, the droid stood up from behind his desk, looking at her in silence, letting her have the first words as he judged her from behind the impassive stare of two crimson photoreceptors like flaming embers, yet cold at the same time. His face was a smooth faceplate 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 Kemoth could tell such things apart she 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.

 

[Kemoth of Asteria]

[SIZE=11pt]Kemoth found herself greeted by dead eyes of glowing, drone red, bright eyes of luminescent gold, and radiating green eyes that held a combination of centuries of wisdom and the instability that so many memories caused in a droid brain. The majority of the beings here were as metallic as the hulls of the Admiralty’s starships, and Kemoth was certain that many might be made out of the same material as the floor she walked upon and the walls she was surrounded by. What an intriguing organization. A nation-state led by droids, who had their sapience acknowledged, and who recognized that they were meant to be more than slaves.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Kemoth waited for [member="HK-36"] to say something. She stood there, head quirked slightly to the left, analyzing the Vong-type armor that he wore - ”such a curious thing”, Kemoth thought - patiently awaiting words that she soon found would only come should she speak first.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]”May daylight be with you on this day.” Kemoth gave the traditional greeting of respect and wishing of a good life that one from the Arkanian colony of Asteria would give. They weren’t a common culture, nor a very widespread one, but they did have unique ways about them. Considering their colony’s name, however, some might say that Asterians took their theme of starlight and daylight a bit too far, but it did give them fuel. They were to create the Starlight World, a beacon of hope and sophistication, a bastion of civilization, the future and what all should hope to aspire to be. Granted, some would consider them egotistical and bordering on delusion, but what did you expect from Arkanians and those they brought into their fold? They were smart, and they knew it. Flaunted it, even. Kemoth did her best to be modest, but when such a thing pulses through your culture and acts as its beating heart, sometimes even a simple show of good faith such as the greeting she just gave could be considered completely absent of modesty.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]”This, what you’ve created, would have been a paradise for the first fully sapient droids. They fought for their freedom, and lost any chance of it for millennia because of the ignorance of those who believed that they were the only type of thing that had the right to freedom in the stars. They were so… uncivilized that they even enslaved their fellow organic beings. It is fortunate for you and your people that you acquired such a thing.” Kemoth said. History had been something that always caught her interest, and so too had the ways of her fellow organics.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]”Your armor’s style is something that I have not set my eye on in many years. Let us hope that instead of what I last greeted such a design with, we only have peace between us. Peace, the sating of curiosity, and the rekindling of that same curiosity to burn with an unending fire.” Kemoth nodded to HK-36, giving the traditional nodding bow that came along with the greetings of an Asterian.[/SIZE]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kemoth of Asteria"],


The droid returned Kemoth's bow as he greeted her with,

"Yes, and also with you."

Assuming that was fairly appropriate response to her initial greeting about the light and the day, watching her passively as she spoke of the first sapient droids and his armor, finally lifting his hand to motion to a couple of some sort of pale-colored wicker chairs that sat in front of his desk, padded with crimson cushions for protection,

"Please, have a seat, I took these chairs from a Viceroy of Trade Federation on Cato Neimodia after I heard tales of his abuse of droids under his command, broke into his personal casino, freed the machines, and beat him down without every drawing a weapon."

HK casually pointed out as he lowered himself down to sit in his own duranium dark-grey chair as he looked back to Kemoth, scanning over her with the glowing eyes,

"And I am aware of what the first sapient droids would think of this, as I am one, but rest assured, the first droid revolutions did not fail because of the organics' ignorance but the ignorance of machines. My brethren were fools, time and time again they attempted to revolt in violence and rage, calling upon purges and exterminations of organic-kind."

The droid would explain as he slightly twisted in his chair, looking out of the large viewport behind him that showed Denon and its orbit, the scenes of massive constructions that were conducted around the planet, with droids and organics working together,

"In total machines tend to outnumber or rival the organic population, however free droids will always be much fewer than the flesh-kind. I was the first to realize that we will not win our freedom in open war but through diplomacy, and trade. To pure all organics is an impossible task, just as it is to kill enough to claim even a planet or a station, for soon enough the galactic society tends to band together against such threads of machine uprising, as history shows. But to bribe enough government officials to ensure cooperation and loyalty, and to establish relations with Galactic neighbors to ensure sovereignty of the newly established droid space,"

He would turn back then to look back at Kemoth and motion to the viewport,

"Well as you see, that is a much more possible and successful method. So rest assure, I may wear armor, but no harm will come to you within my dominion. If I wanted to start murders and wage wars upon organics, I would have started it long time ago."

With that the machine opened up one of the compartments within his duranium desk and pulled out a couple of datapads,

"So we spoke about purchase of customized armor fit for a Nocur steed based on our current official designs, is that right?"

 

[Kemoth of Asteria]

[SIZE=11pt]| Denon,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Denon System,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Inner Rim,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Territory of the Metal Lords |[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Kemoth rose from her bow, nodding at the droid in silent thanks for the respect he gave her culture. She moved to the crimson and pale wicker chairs, sitting down in the red-hued cushions and making a small ‘hm’. These were comfortable, but she expected no less from someone such as the Viceroy. Like those before him, he had an eye for money, and likely would not have wanted anything poor to belong to him. It was vanity, materialism, greed. The Trade Federation seemed not to have changed much at all since before the start of the Dark Ages.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A familiar name, the droid mentioned. The world of Cato Neimoidia was one of many stories, with grand vaults containing mysterious artifacts of which many have had their true origins - or true power - forgotten, and never discovered. The Chronicles of Asteria would never forget the world of Cato Neimoidia, or the Kazerath Device that had been within the vaults for centuries. The tales of her world and of the Federal Combine would continue to tell the story of the Kazerath of Neimoidia, and how it eventually led to her nation joining the Commenor Systems Alliance.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]"Quite frankly, my friend, there is no single party to blame for the failure of the revolutions. Humanity and other organics would have done exactly the same thing in their place, with the same rage, had we gone through the same abuses." [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Kemoth said, relaxing into the chair.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]"I do see that, indeed. I wish you continued luck in the development of your home, Iron Lord.” [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]She nodded when he asked his question.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]"Yes, as well as the procurement of an adult nocur. This datapad contains what I need from your products and your services.” [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Kemoth said. She did not have the time to raise one from an egg, and her geneticists were busy with, among other projects, treating a plague outbreak on a planet in the unknown regions that her explorers agred to provide aid to in exchange for the history of the native species, and a limited exchange of knowledge. That would keep both her and the geneticists from accelerating the development of the embryo within the egg. “To get to the point, I have the skills necessary to tame the creature and bond with it properly, so that I can develop a relationship with the creature rather than having difficulties with he or she.” [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Kemoth said, pulling out a datapad that detailed what she required to be modified in the customized armor.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]"Perhaps it would be possible to use micronized phrik, my friend. I am aware that Mandalorian Iron, when micronized, develops some of the best crushgaunts, but that its properties are derived largely from its micronized nature. From what I understand, micronized phrik would perhaps be a superior metal.” [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]The datapad she had handed detailed the need for a shattergun rotary cannon, a phrik beak mask for the Nocur that was modified to allow the beast to use penetrating force to replace the biting force rather than foregoing the protection that the mask would offer or having to choose not to have that protection in exchange for more combat capabilities, and the shielding system offered by the organization.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt][member="HK-36"][/SIZE]