Out of the Second Age [Metal Lords] (PM for Invite)

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"],

HK shook his head as he looked out of their hangar, scanning over the design of the larger ship as they entered its belly,

"I did not exactly took time to mull this over in the library before heading here."

The droid quipped before adding,

"But these designs are nothing I can point out immediately. There are many ancient precursor races, some still around, who would be able to produce a starcraft so old yet still functional. Rakata, Kwa, Gree, Silentium, Aing-Tii, even those creepy Iskalloni cyborgs. However, each of them at their historic peak would still have a more advance starcraft than this, nothing with a conventional airlock."

HK mused over what they were witnessing just as the giant airlock closed and air begun to fill the void,

"It might be some ancient strain of them, something older still, or another species that launched this design using parallel technology, developed differently and before they could adopt Galactic standard like force field on hangars."

He threw out some guesses, his red photoreceptors lighting up the immediate area around them,

"I suppose we will find out soon enough, the fact they need to vent air in probably means they are organic. Where will you need me for this?"

HK turned away from the view out towards the venting hangar to look at Ultimatum

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum had not truly thought about the possibilities of it actually being built by some ancient race, coming to a similar conclusion that it did not comply with any known civilization's ship designs. Yet at the same time, to build such a vessel of the massive proportions that it was... That required the backing of a significant amount of resources. He doubted that pirates or scavengers would have even attempted to build such a ship. But they might steal it. There lie the crux, indeed a rag tag team of misfits might not build such a magnificent vessel, but to first steal and then use it to their own advantage? What pirate wouldn't do that?

Perhaps then they were the guests of a pirate crew, or maybe some similar group. However, should it be the original crew then who and what were they? To have designed a vessel like this? For what purpose could anyone require such a ship? Such large vessels tended to draw the attention of enemies that were very quick to find weaknesses on such a ship. What then was its purpose? From its size it could be the housing for some form of super weapon. Or perhaps a colony ship from another galaxy.

Whatever it was, the crew was about to find out what they were up against. In answer to [member="HK-36"] he replied, "I would be appreciative if you would join me in meeting with our host. I have ordered most of my men to find ambush positions around the Sovereignty in case we need to defend against an incursion. Perhaps you can have your men take up similar positions. Or you can do with them as you wish. I plan to meet with our host, and attempt to find out their intentions. Depending upon what it is, I will either fall back and defend the ship or attempt to resolve the situation with a more diplomatic approach. Any suggestions or ideas?"

 

[WD-334]

WD-334 let go of it's shield, leaning the metal shield against a wall nearby to catch the rounds tossed by @HK-36. What HK had in mind of what they would be running into, it had no idea. Although the ionic rounds gave it a clue, and then HK continued and WD understood what HK believed they would be facing. Droids, organics, whatever. It would deal with both with precision, and lethality. Anything that stood within it's path with the intention of standing against the massive hulking giant.

WD remained on the ship as HK left to meet with [member="Ultimatum"], instead looking over any Greycloaks around it and their weapons. Something to pass the time for the droid. "HK-36, I would like to join the Greycloak team aboard the ship." While it knew both Ultimatum and HK, it knew HK's forces more. As well as their choice of weapons, so knew how it would handle combat by their side.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="WD-334"],


HK shook his head at Ultimatum's question,

"Well usually I would say 'know your audience' but we are pretty much screwed on that part right now. We can meet with them with small escort, maybe just me and you and one more Greycloak and the rest can wait hidden with your security forces in case we need to fall back for them and prepare for a fight."

The droid proposed before WD chimed in, contacting him from inside their stealth transport,

"Alright, WD, sounds good. I calculate it will be best for you to move with the Greycloaks inside Ultimatum's ship and wait ready for a fight. We will meet with the alien ship's representatives first, if it comes to a fight you will move in and we will fall back to your position to face them together."

One of the Greycloaks, who just finished gathering up the necessary equipment and weapons on the ship, motioned for WD to follow them out of the ship so they could lead him into a proper position where Ultimatum currently held his forces, that is if that was going to be the plan they will go with for the duration of the incident.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum began to walk towards the Hangar exit, "Then let us go meet with our host. Perhaps this can all be straightened out with a modicum of strife." The words rung hollow in the droid's mind, but he said it nonetheless in hope. If this ship was still manned by its creators, or even the same citizens of the creator's culture, then there was much to be learned. If however, these were thieves then Ultimatum assumed that negotiations would be impossible or incredibly difficult. For a war droid, Ultimatum had come to loathe the use of violence as a last resort, yet in this chaotic galaxy it appeared that it was the only option.

It would be a short walk to the main loading ramps of the Sovereignty's overly large cargo holds. With the introduction of a small factory into the ship, there was a necessity of enlarging the holds to contain supplies to keep the ship running. By the time they would reach the closed doors of the ramp, the outside environment would be fully acclimatized. While it would not have been a problem for Ultimatum or HK, or truthfully most of the Sovereignty's crew if the doors opened to a void, the fact that Ultimatum's ship was pressurized would have created some problems. Therefore the bay door had remained closed until the sensors indicated that the outside pressure was approximately equal to that of the internal.

There was already a group of people outside the ship waiting. Once more there was a definite sense of mismatch in the era of the clothes the people wore. Of the five, only one seemed to wear anything remotely similar to what was considered normal in the current galactic standard. The one in the lead was a human, dressed in archaic a Sith Empire soldier uniform. He stood with the strong stance of a hardened soldier, but the gleam of his eye said that he was not some simple front line grunt. At his side was a pistol, of a far newer design compared to his suit. To his right was an alien, he appeared to have once been some sort of Troguta, but many scars marred his appearance. He leaned heavily upon a cane and though his body showed age and weakness his eyes were vibrant and steadfast. His clothes were plain, yet unusual as if from a culture or time unknown.

To the left of the human was another human, but this one wore the colors of the old Rebel Alliance. She had the bearing of an officer, but it was obvious from her stance and eyes that any promotion she had received was likely a field promotion rather than one of study. A rifle of the same era as her clothes was strapped to her back and while she kept relatively still it was apparent that she was ready to strike at a moment's notice. The fourth, to the left of the female, was a tall being, who could be recognized as a member of the ancient Taung race if the two droids knew of them, he smiled a merry grin and was seemingly of a much lighter attitude of the other three. He wore antiquated armor that was nowhere near thick enough to protect from blasters and looked like it was manufactured of a some form of light metal.

The final person stood behind the others and at a distance behind. The person was masked in a dark cloak, a deep black hid everything about the last person. The way the person held him or herself was such that it was difficult to tell its background. However, there was an aura of power around it and its strength flowed from an unseen well. While the others stood only a few meters from the ship, the cloaked person had stopped at the entrance to the hangar.

The first to speak was the Togrutan, whose voice rasped but still remained strong, "Welcome, strangers."

The Taung spoke in a booming sound, "Welcome to the Primogenitor."

Then the Rebel dressed soldier curtly continued, "Welcome to the final ship you shall ever see."

In a distinct accent the leader of the group concluded in a confused manner, "Droids? Where is your master?"

Ultimatum glanced to [member="HK-36"] himself somewhat uncertain. He had not known what to expect, but it had not been this. None of the people here looked familiar, not within any of the readily available databases that he had access to aboard the Sovereignty, which meant that none of them were well known in the current galaxy. They might be pirates, but why wear such a range of odd clothing?

"This is a most... unexpected development. We do not have any masters, at least of organic kind." Ultimatum was unsure how much more he should reveal to these strangers, so he turned ever so slightly to let HK speak next.

[member="WD-334"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="WD-334"],


Seeing the groups if HK could roll his photoreceptors he would have, organics, it always had to be more organics. Of course the droid would have preferred it was other machines he had to meet with, at least then there was a chance that they could havegot them to join forces and assimilate them into the Metal Lord ranks. However, it was just more filthy organics, although HK was not really surprised since organics consisted something like 90% of the beings out there.

Either way, the diverse group before them begun to speak, HK took a quick scan of their outfits and various armaments, nothing really that seemed like a threat to him specifically, but there was that strange mysterious cloaked figure at the back. The droid's photoreceptors rested at the cloaked figure, trying to scan them as the various organics spoke their lines and Ultimatum responded to them.

The droid was snapped from his scans when Ultimatum turned to look to him, HK nodded to the other droid, letting him know he was there still with him before looking to the group,

"We have been emancipated and now travel this Galaxy as free beings. Is 'Primogenitor' the name of your vessel or your group?"

HK asked, still not really sure what they were dealing with, the wide variety of outfits from different eras of Galaxy puzzling to say the least, and there was a Taung among them. The droid knew of the beings, as he met them before with his time among the Mandalorians, and there were still some alive in the Galaxy, but they were rare and few nowadays.

 

[WD-334]

WD-334 awaited the call to action. It could not see the meeting itself, so it did not know that there were in fact organics. Curious after [member="HK-36"] and [member="Ultimatum"] went quiet, WD sent a comm-request their way, wondering if they were able to answer and share what they had found, if anything. Just in case the war droids weapons were at the ready, it's shield held at it's side. It was eager. Perhaps too eager for combat, almost dangerously eager. "HK. Ultimatum. What has happened?"

 

[Ultimatum]

HK's scan of the material would reveal it to be a simple weave of organic fibers, the pattern was of an antique design and probably valuable in the current age. If [member="HK-36"] felt out with the Force he would discover that she had the Force within her, unlike the others present. Whatever the person was doing, it seemed that he or she would not move from that spot.

The human leader of the group spoke somewhat irritably, '"Primogenitor" is the name that many of our newer people have taken to
calling our ship. The true name of the ship is known only a few. Most of us call it "home", you'll get used to it.' He stopped for a moment and looked off into the distance, seemingly contemplating something important and then nodded before looking between HK and Ultimatum. He proclaimed, 'In a few minutes we will begin a proper introduction, but for now please prepare your droids and anyone else you have aboard the ship for a new life. If any of you have questions feel free to speak with any of us, but more questions will be answered in the briefing. I shall return later when the briefings are prepared.' The human walked away from the group and disappeared out of the doors into the ship. The hooded figure then stepped forth and produced a bottle of drink for those that wished to partake. The person placed it on a heavy crate nearby and pulled several glasses from the box. If one had been watching closely, they could notice that the person's hand were a dark velvet and covered in spiny ridges that looked painfully unnatural to most beings.



The Togruta questioned looking to Ultimatum, "I beg your pardon, my name is Eon the Third. Your ship is familiar. We had to work similar ship's awhile back, but there have been many changes to ships from our previous stop. Why is such an old design being used? Was it the best that the freed droids could get?"

Before answering the organic, Ultimatum responded to [member="WD-334"]'s transmission, "We have just met some new faces. It is an entirely different situation than what I was expecting. See if you can have everyone aboard the ship congregate in the Hangars, stay armed and ready for a fight. I do not think we will be fighting any time soon at the moment."

The Artificial then turned to the Torguta, "I am Ultimatum. It was an accident truth be told. Pirates had taken me prisoner aboard the craft an according to the computer banks it had been kept marginally running for several millennia passing hands before the pirates. With the help of a man I knew at the time, I was rescued and managed to destroy the pirate force and escape with the ship. After some upgrading and repairs it has become the vessel it is today."

"Has the layout changed much from the old format?"

With a bit of pride Ultimatum answered, "Indeed, many of the flooring arrangements have been adjusted to fit the factory that has been added along with other things. It is quite different. Perhaps I can show you the inside at some point."

"There will be no need, I will have the opportunity to see its workings later."



The Taung meanwhile walked up to HK and looked the droid over, their heights being about the same. He smirked before remarking, "You look rather old, automaton. Name is Briikase, most people just call be Kas, you're welcome to use whichever you fancy. Where are you from and when were you emaciated?" The muscled character smiled as if unaware of his mistake in wordage. He seemed a friendly sort.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="WD-334"],


HK listened as the exchange continued between the two groups and more information was revealed to them, sending out silent quick text messages to Ultimatum and WD,

They considered us servants at first, now they expect we will surrender Ulti's ship willingly, they will probably try to assimilate it or take it apart for parts, I did not see any other ships in the area besides ours and the Progenitor, this is what they call their vessel by the way.

The older droid contemplated before adding,

Perhaps WD should hide away the bigger weapons and act as if we surrendered or did not have them? They are underestimating us so far, just like the rest of the organics, even if we had to rely on our build-in and more hidden or smaller weapons at first, I believe we could make short work of them.

What HK did not like at the moment was the way the Togruta said they will be able to have a better look at Ultimatum's flagship's inner workings in due time, or perhaps he was just a bit too paranoid.


Either way his calculations would be cut a bit short as the Taung approached him, he would nod to the muscular being,

"I would say that your age strikes me in particular as well, but I have seen enough of you organics throughout my lifetime that at this point you all just blend in and look the same to me."

HK quipped as he wrapped himself in his black cloak, folding his metal arms at his chest.

"I am from many places and organizations, Mandalorians among them. I was forged on Taris first by the Hutts, before the times of Ancient Republic, I have outlived it many times over now. They were boring and lecherous creatures, for me to serve them was like a sniper rifle being used as a shovel. They got into debts with the Mando'ade, when Mandalore the Ultimate was forming his crusade against the Jedi he came in to collect. I was freed that day and turned against the slugs, the Lord of Mandalore got his credits, the Hutts were put out of their misery, and I was given a choice. I choose to join his forces and serve as a soldier in his army of crusaders."

The droid explained, parts of what he said were a lie, of course, including his age and how he gained his freedom, but at the same time not the entirety of the story was false. HK motioned with his head to Taung then, beneath his black cloak his arms split into two silently, two limbs kept up the ruse by staying folded over his chest, the other two bent back and pulled out of his gauntlets, reaching down to his belt stealthily,

"How about you? Have you been traveling on the Progenitor long?"

The machine asked as beneath the cover of the cloak he grabbed his lightsaber and one of his revolvers, trying to jam them up into a hidden compartment within his chassis, hiding them away from prying eyes of those around him.

 

[WD-334]

WD-334 gave a confirmation to [member="Ultimatum"], and began gathering everyone it could to the hangar, just as asked by Ultimatum. It did want to see what was happening and how [member="HK-36"] was handling in this situation, out of mild curiosity that had remained from the days on Raxus. But orders were orders. With that, the droid remained until further orders. Or until something unexpected happened. It somewhat hoped for the latter, for some action. The war droid was never used to calm days.

 

[Ultimatum]

While he felt a certain degree of trust with these organics, they had not proven to be openly hostile though he still remembered the ineffective shots they had fired on him, the droid did catch the near ominous words that this Togruta would know the inner workings of his vessel. Ultimatum felt more suspicious yet he wished to give them the benefit of the doubt. He knew it was a foolish idea and one that was not suited to an artificial as there was no logical proof to show them one way or another, but there was enough conflict and mistrust in the galaxy as it was.

"What do you mean by that?" Ultimatum had a guess that they wanted to tear his ship apart, for what purpose though? Based on the menagerie of craft within the hangar, the droid guessed that the people aboard the Primogenitor were collectors or would use the craft to add to their own ship.

"When we disassemble your ship, it will be easy to tell what has been added to." Eon pointed at the Sovereignty to emphasize his point.

"What do you intend to do with my ship that it should require disassembling? I still require it to return to the greater galaxy. Or do you intend on keeping us here as prisoners?" The artificial was beginning to believe again that these people were enemies.

"Prisoners, no... I cannot discuss more, that is something for the briefing." The organic looked somewhat disgruntled at that, continuing, "At one point I would have been able to tell you everything right here and now, none of these briefings and information chats. It's all a waste of time."


Briikase smiled as the droid spoke. He chuckled before he responded, "I do not have the long and interesting history that you do. I have been on this ship for quite some time, perhaps a year or so. If I may ask, what has happened to the Mandalorians? I know my people are almost entirely gone, but what of our teachings? If you served under the 'old' ones then you would probably know of the traditions that have changed over the years." The Taung had a glint in his eyes, as if the kindly face was covering that fact that he was intently listening. Indeed he had had no news of the Mandalorians for a long period and he wished to know what had become of them.


At this time the woman dressed in the Rebel Alliance uniform stepped to Ultimatum and without a single word of apology towards the Togruta, ordered, "Droid, I have several engineering teams that will require access to your ship. They need time to familiarize themselves with the layout and any possible upgrades that we may need to work in there. This is not a request, however I have been ordered to notify you before taking any action."

That artificial lord sent another covert message to [member="WD-334"] and his compatriots aboard and [member="HK-36"], "Engineers will be moving through the ship. Hide what weapons you can on yourselves and get some people in hiding spots you can find or make. They will probably ask for you to join us outside, don't resist. If we fight, let it be on our terms." Ultimatum knew that there were smuggling compartments aboard the Sovereignty and that some of the crew knew where they were. Those that remained hidden aboard would hopefully be able to act as a rescue team should things really go south.

The droid then turned to the Rebel and responded, "Then by all means go ahead. The loading ramps are open and nothing is stopping you."

With a grunt she sneered slightly as she stalked towards the craft. Behind her a few engineers were talking together about something, "Bet you its a twenty-six."

"Twenty-six? Nah, they will have moved on. Twenty-Eight sounds about right."

"Don't be silly, twenty-eight is too damn big. Imagine how painful it would be to change everything to twenty-eight. I'm sticking with twenty-six."

"I've been here longer than you and I had to disassemble some ships from the same time as that bugger. They were twenties. The boss brought twenty-fours and the last ship we had was a twenty-six. If they stick with that growth rate then twenty-eight is next."

"It's still too big."

"Their droids! Do you think it matters how painful or long it may take to retrofit this bugger. They can do it, remember that little piece of garbage we picked up about four jumps ago. That was a stupid decision but it was done by a droid."

The first engineer looked to Ultimatum and asked, "Fine, let's ask him. It's his ship, so he should know right? Pal, Twenty-eight or Twenty-six?"

Ultimatum looked cluelessly at the duo. The second engineer laughed and whispered, "Just because he owns the ship don't mean he knows what went into it. Come on, let's get to work. Loser owes winner a drink eh?"

"Sure."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"],

HK glanced past the Taunt towards Ultimatum and the Togruta briefly, just scanning over their conversation before looking to the Mandalorian once more,

"Depends when was the last time you heard news of it."

He answered at first before going through the brief history,

"After the Crusades Mandalorians got torn apart by the Sith after Ultimate's death at the hand of Revan, then they were used by the Sith as puppets, in the process the Canons of Honor were all but forgotten and the Mandalorians turned pacifist, at least until the Clone Wars when the Canons were reformed and updated into the Supercommando Codex, this lead to a three way split between Mandalorian Protectors upholding the old virtues of honorable combat, the Deathwatch who wished just another path of conquest, and the Mandalorian Government who wanted to remain a peaceful neutral world."

HK explained, fast-forwarding through the Mandalorian history,

"Then the Sith Empire rose once more, some Mandalorians became puppets, some fought back, the Empire fell, the Mandalorian Protectors established a new rule of honor by the Codex under leadership of Lord Mandalore once more. Then the Gulag Plague happened and with it the Great Darkness, Mandalorian Worlds were hit by it as well, leading to their territories falling apart. Once the communications have been re-established they reformed and begun claiming territory once more, until they were screwed by the Sith yet again when their Mandalore turned out to be the Lord of the One Sith or something along the lines. They fell apart, after the One Sith were defeated they reformed, and now they are a bit struggling."

The droid looked left and right, as if watching out for anyone looking before leaning in to the Taung, lowering his voice,

"Between you and me, the current Mandalore is a bit of a c*nt."

HK dropped the c-bomb barely censuring himself,

"He came to a diplomatic meeting and tried to assassinate someone there, on a neutral world, using a hidden poison dart, he missed and hit a bystander, afterwards when people challenged him to defend his honor in a battle circle he refused on multiple occasions, citing they are not worthy enough. And apparently barely anyone bothers still speaking Mandalorian, it is all done in common now."

The droid shrugged then,

"I will just see how that hyper-train wreck plays out, I tried to offer my support but organic memory is short, apparently coming to their aid time and time again and heeding a summon whenever the Mandalore called, wearing my armor, and spreading the teachings of Resol'nare is not enough for my opinion to be considered valid or even be considered a Mandalorian by them. Yet when the Ultimate freed me, he had no trouble giving me the same option he gave to everyone else whether I was a droid or not: Swear to follow the Resol'nare or die."

Clearly the machine had quite a lot of opinions about the current state of the Mandalorians and their Clans. Throughout his rant HK picked up on the order given to Ultimatum by the Rebel Officer and the message he sent right after to him and [member="WD-334"], chiming in on it,

So far it looks like they are mostly some sort of scavenger group. They should have trouble detecting the Knight of the Eclipse in Ulti's hangar, at least at first, try to hide the more deadly weapons in there with a group of soldiers, it is a stealth ship after all. I calculate we should just play along for now and let them take us deeper into their ship. They may not let us go freely without a fight, but if that happens, the closer we will be to their bridge the easier it will be to either disable or take control of their ship.

The older droid offered, looking over in Ultimatum's direction once more as now he was joined by the company of two engineers from the Progenitor.

 

[Ultimatum]

The engineers moved on towards the ship without waiting for any more response from Ultimatum. They seemed to know their job and were going about it without further delay. Ultimatum was left a little surprised, but hopeful that their apparent ignorance would make it easier to hide from them. HK's suggestion was brilliant and it gave Ultimatum an idea about escape should they require it. However at the moment the artificial felt somewhat better. They were dealing with people who seemed to not be aware of his technology and thus gave them a slight advantage.

The droid noted that the human in charge reappeared and spoke, "We are now prepared for the briefing if everyone will come with us. Do not worry about your crew, the engineers have been instructed to have them rally outside the ship. Once we have briefed you, you will be able to relay what you will to your people. If you can all come this way."

--------------

The Taung listened intently to [member="HK-36"] as the droid explained a brief history of the Mandalorian culture. The being gave a broad smile as the droid swore about the newest Mandalore. The grin disappeared as the droid continued. When the droid finished Kas almost immediately responded, "The way of a true Mando'a. At least there are some that remember the old ways. Do you teach others in these ancestral paths or do you prefer the lonesome path? Are all of your companions droids or are their others as well?"

Before any more could be said the leader's voice rang out and Briikase nodded before concluding, "Well, I guess that is all for now. I will see you after the briefing if you are up to continue our conversation." A tap to the chest and the Taung walked off towards the open airlock out of the hangar. The various other leaders were doing the same thing. The dark robed figure collected the opened bottle and glasses, calling those further away with the Force to its hand. With a deep bow to HK and Ultimatum it too retreated to the open airlock.

The leader waved for the duo to come to the airlock, where they would find a collection of seats set up in front of a projection screen. This was not a holographic screen of the modern era, but an imagery projection unit set in the rear that would show flat images onto the perfectly white screen. The current image was one of the ship, a basic breakdown of its dimensions in a collection of different units of measurement, some ancient and others recent. The human would walk to beside the screen and await the two droids to take a seat before beginning the briefing.

----------------

The engineering teams were tasked with mainly learning about the ship's construction. Thanks to previous work with ships of the same era the teams had a slightly easier time than they had anticipated. However, the updated layout and components befuddled early attempts and their scanning equipment was less powerful than what most types found in this day and age. The crew began right at the loading back, measuring almost everything on it as they went. It would be sometime yet before they reached the hangar and [member="WD-334"]