[Republic Remnant/Metal Lords] Creating A Sharper Image

[Adder Dawnracer]

It was a strange invitation.

Adder had, of course, worked with many droids and the like over the years, but not ones that believed themselves sentient beings or some such. Now he could see that being the case for the cyborgs, since they were partially flesh and blood, but the regular droids? They couldn't have souls and couldn't be touched by the Force except physically so how could they think themselves to be the same as flesh and blood beings. That was a tough one to wrap his head around, as it were.

The Republic had received an invitation to speak with these droids and cyborgs who called themselves the Metal Lords. Supposedly it was some kind of diplomatic meeting. The Chancellor was indisposed on some other mission which, at the moment, only left him and a few others available to extend the proverbial olive branch. Which meant he and the few available all boarded an Amathia-class Corvette called Redeemer and were shipped off to Denon, a world he'd barely even heard of.

"I hope they at least have tea," he said to himself as he stood looking out the viewport in one of the ships meeting rooms.

The white of hyperspace was all he could see, but at least it meant they were on the way and he wasn't going to have to sit and wait for ages. They even only had a few guards, which he was happy about. Lots if soldiers made a bad impression and just got in the way anyway. He leaned on his cane and waited.

| [member="Shoma Ike"] | [member="HK-36"] |​

 

[HK-36]

[member="Adder Dawnracer"], [member="Shoma Ike"],


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, while majority of the meetings set up by HK were business centered in nature, and were conduct with various companies who would benefit from spreading their presence into the pro-merchant Droid Space, it was not the case this time. This time the meeting was political, diplomatic, and the deal machines wanted to struck would have been between them and another major power in the galaxy, or remnant of it at least, for this time they called for a meeting with the Republic Remnant. This was a big one for the droids, as a sizeable portion of the machines who came from Mechanus where their faction was established served under the Republic first, within the temples of Jedi Order specifically, the memory of what it was like to serve alongside Republic fresh in their memory banks. However, the memory of the falling out droids had with the Jedi Order was fresh too, among those who were there for when the Jedi decided droids who studied the Force and lightsaber arts were too dangerous and the machines had to flee the Republic, establishing a hidden sanctum deep below the crust of a lost planet in the Unknown Region. It was very amusing for some droids then, especially HK, to be in a position of relatively greater power, at least economically speaking, and they were hardly the ones to miss out on an opportunity to lord it over their past employers/tormentors, even if the Remnant was unaware of this story.


Once the Amathia-class corvette arrived in the orbit of Denon, Adder and others would notice that it would be a sight vastly different from what Denon was usually described like in holo-recordings, if they looked it up ahead of time. 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, much like it did their own old capital of Coruscant, except Denon was lucky enough to not be besieged and assaulted many times over in recent history. 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.

Their corvette 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 Republic delegates 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 they would have 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 Republic delegates would come face to face with their hosts, an assembly of droids, cyborgs, and even some organics that sat behind an oval duranium table placed in the middle of the conference room. One of the tall slender droids position in the center of the oval table, HK himself, stood up, looking at them in silence, letting them have the first words as he judged them from behind the impassive stare of two crimson photoreceptors like flaming embers, yet cold at the same time. It was customary to let the guests say the greeting first in the Droid Space, allowing them to set the tone of the conversation, so even though other Metal Lords that sat behind the table followed HK's example and moved to stand up as the Republic remnant entered, they still made no sounds. The gathering before Adder and others was the so-called Council of Lords, an assembly of the various droids and cyborgs governing on behalf of their shared interests, or organic vassals who would come in stead of their mechanical employers, called to form only when the machine-kind had to come to agreement on a very crucial issue. Due to its nature the Council of Lords had no set members, it consisted of whichever Metal Lords were close enough and able to attend its meeting, as such however big the Council was often reflected how important the issue they wanted to debate was to them. Among them was a good portion of other HK droids, although many were modified to the point of resembling little their standard chassis design. There were some other models there too as well, Clone Wars era battle droids, perhaps couple Dark Troopers, maybe even a Vong Hunter droid, and a Gonk that sat with its chunky prominent body on what was basically a pedestal, some were ancient but somehow functioning, some looked much newer, deciding to switch their bodies few times already, either way they were mixed in their assembly with company of heavily modified cyborgs, and organics that stuck out a bit like sore thumbs.

As to HK himself, 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 any of the Remnant delegates could tell such things apart they 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.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Sometimes the simplest act of diplomacy was extending a single cup of tea.

In a wordless response to the half-muttered statement, the young Atrisian prince was holding out a cup of a warm green-ginger tea toward the senator from Nadiem.

Shoma wasn't expecting that the droid would, in fact, have tea. So he had brought his own. Tea, being a staple of Atrisian culture, was frequently a gift that the boy brought with him to meetings such as these. The fact that they were on their way to meet with droids presenting an interesting challenge in terms of what kind of gift that he should bring. In the end, his advisors had settled on a framed artistic rendering of the droid stronghold that overlooked the Imperial City of Jar'Kai.

Part of what had brought the Prince of Xiaolang along for the trip was Atrisia's connection with several prominent figures in the Metal Lords retinue. So, as much as this was interesting for the first time any political figure from the Alliance had any formal talks with the Metal Lords, Shoma's purpose was to serve as an advisor to the Republic senator. Which was no small honor in itself, to the teen continued to view the opportunity at engaging with the fledgling Republic congress.

As they arrived, the boy followed alongside the Nadiem senator. Careful to always be just one step behind and to the right, so not to presume to lead his elder colleague. When the pair arrived at the council of droids, the boy made a series of bows toward the assembled Metal Lords, as he waited for either of the party's to this discussion to speak.

The Alliance would merely observe and advise, unless called upon otherwise.

[member="Adder Dawnracer"] | [member="HK-36"]​

 

[Riamah]

Having been invited to attend this meeting of diplomacy, Ra'a'mah was here to represent the Merchant Fleet and hopefully open up trade routes or at least a trade agreement between them. She was the spokeswoman for the Metal Lords in this aspect.

She sat with her companions and stood with them as their guests entered. Having been to a meeting or two before, she had learned not to speak first. It seemed slightly odd to her from a business standpoint, but these were their traditions and respected them. Her signature within the Force was hidden so her alignment was still kept secret. Ra was a sith, but a very unconventional one. Always putting business ahead of being sith unless that business was being one. Her demeanor was that of a business person and totally professional.

Before the meeting though, she had been looking to make sure there was going to be something to eat and drink offered to their guests. Of course, as she expected there wasn't anything planned to offer to the organics. She made sure to contact the person that she had used before to assist in providing food for a party she had put on. After making sure everything was ready and to be set out, she had it arranged at the side of the room. This way the items weren't going to interfere with the meeting, but obvious enough to be noticed if they wanted to help themselves.

Nodding politely when they entered, more out of habit rather than protocol, she kicked herself in the rear if she broke any of those unspoken rules.

[member="Shoma Ike"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Adder Dawnracer"]

 

[Adder Dawnracer]

Adder looked down at the boy after a moment and noticed the outstretched cup of tea. Offering a smile, he reached out and took it gently.

"Thank you, Shoma."

The boy was supposedly a noble of some sort from Atrisia. Strictly speaking he was the liaison to the Republic from the Galactic Alliance, but he did offer valuable political advice. Even for his age he had been involved in galactic politics longer than Adder had. He knew how to take advice when it came from a good source and had no qualms having Shoma along for the ride. Especially since he was a bit apprehensive about having to deal with a droid people that was taking over parts of the galaxy. There was always a bad feeling when it came to droids leading things. They just didn't think the same way that organic beings did. He sipped on his tea while he pondered just how things were going to go.

It wasn't long after that before the ship exited hyperspace and he was left staring at the mass of ships and other hunks of metal that were now circling Denon. This was definitely not what he'd been told Denon was like. A city planet, sure, but not one encircled as it was. If this was how the Metal Lords controlled worlds he hoped they never came to Nadiem looking to take over. He had no particular desire to look up in the night sky and see a metal ring encircling the planet.

Once they landed, and he finished his tea, they were escorted through the station towards whoever it was that they were going to meet. As he walked, his cane tapping the floor with each step, he let his eyes take in the sights around him. Very few organic beings were to be observed. Most were droids. Some of those needed to be cleaned up, having let their minds take in so much they had barely any room for processing left. One way organic life exceeded that of droid life was that their minds could only hold so much information before they went crazy. While organic life could go crazy, it was often due to a fault in the wiring, not because of storing too much information. He almost pitied those droids.

They were led into a room with a host of droids present, and even one organic being, as far as he could tell. They stopped in the center as one particular droid stood. Adder had never seen one like it, and he studied him while Shoma was bowing. When he noticed what the boy did, he lofted a brow and then turned to look at those assembled, both hands resting on his cane.

"You'll forgive me if I don't bow. It's a bit difficult under the circumstances," he said, offering a nod instead. "My name is Adder Dawnracer. My associate is Shoma Ike. We represent the Republic Remnant and have come in response to your summons."

​

[member="Ra'a'mah"] [member="Shoma Ike"] [member="HK-36"]​

 

[HK-36]

[member="Shoma Ike"], @Ra'a'mah,

HK would recognize the young prince when he entered, probably meeting him before just from the fact that the droid was involved in establishing the current Atrisian government after Mythos' regime collapsed, not to mention the droid lords kept a colony of sorts on the planet in form of the Grey Fortress that now towered above old Jar'Kai. The machine would bent at his waist, leaning in to bow back towards Shoma, other members of the Council assembled before them might have looked to HK perplexed or pause, but surely they would fall in and bow towards Shoma along with the old machine. To the droid this was not a form of submission but acknowledgement of Atrisian traditional customs, knowing this was just how they greeted each other most of the time.


[member="Adder Dawnracer"],

"It is alright, we did not summon you here to bow or bent the knee, and I am well aware of who the Heir Prince to Atrisian Throne is, we have met before."

HK informed Adder before raising his six-fingered skeletal hand, motioning to the row of chairs assembled on the other side of the oval table the Council of Lords was sitting by,

"Please, have a seat, Adder Dawnracer, Representative of the Republic Remnant."

The droid offered as he lowered down his form, gliding down into his own seat, a motion that was soon repeated by other members of the Council as the Metal Lord representatives sat down.

"Perhaps you have heard the old stories and myths, perhaps not, but the group of free droids that would become Metal Lords have had their differences with old incarnations of the Republic in the past. Long story short your predecessors thought that free droids were dangerous and launched a preemptive attack upon us to hunt us down."

Raising his hand he would motion to one of his sides, to the other machines and cyborgs assembled by the oval table,

"They have failed, obviously, but we are not entirely vengeful and violent beings. For all its faults and shortcomings, we recognize the Republic as the optimal form of a large, long-lived, benevolent, and stable government, especially when compared to the self-destructive Sith Order and Empire models. As such, we have often aligned ourselves with the Republic, coming to its aid during times of trouble such as the Galactic Civil War, the Ancient Cold War, or the more recent One Sith Wars when it disappeared from the galactic map."

HK leaned in against the table slightly, looking over Dawnracer, scanning him with his red cold photoreceptors,

"Droids never forget, Adder Dawnracer, Representative of the Republic Remnant, we do not forget the atrocities we witnessed and evil done upon us, but we also do not forget about our allies and those who show us kindness. We have summoned you here to revitalize and reform our ancient alliance."

The droid would lean back then in his chair before adding,

"An Alliance to Restore the Republic."

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

The young Atrisian pulled the chair out for his elder, ensuring that Adder was seated first before the prince took his place at the man's right hand.

"Lord HK-Thirty-Six has been of great service to Atrisia and the Galactic Alliance," the boy remarked, in response to the droid pointing out that the two were acquainted. "The Metal Lords have always been valued allies and friends to both my planet and the Alliance," he noted, with another slight bow toward the assembled Metal Lords.

And, with that, the boy fell silent.

He was not here to speak in any capacity save to offer Adder what advice he could. This matter was between the Republic and the Metal Lords. But, if his having spoken did anything to reassure Adder of the droid's sincerity, then that would bode well.

Shoma would not claim to understand the droids, but he had come to trust them.

[member="HK-36"] | [member="Adder Dawnracer"] | @Ra'a'mah​

 

[Adder Dawnracer]

Adder listened and remained standing until he was directed towards a seat. As he walked slowly over to settle in, he didn't respond but listened. Droids, though he did not believe them personally on par with the races of the Galaxy that were not machines, were quite intelligent. To doubt that was to boldly embrace stupidity. For that very reason, he remained silent until the Droid had finished before deciding to respond in a no holds barred manner.

And when it was his turn to speak, he calmly took a look at those gathered before he did so.

"It isnt unheard of to hold grudges," he said, clasping both hands on the top of his cane. "I also don't believe you think those who attacked pre-emptively we're entirely misguided. We can look to Omni to see justification for their beliefs on that particular matter. Droids are no less dangerous than humans or any other race, and the nature of war is to strike your enemy before they destroy you."

He let that sink in for a moment. What he wanted was for them to get a bit agitated and think that he was siding with those who had pre-emptively attacked the droids. It was an old tactic, but an effective one. At least it was on organic beings. He had no way of knowing if it was on others. Ultimately it served no purpose except to judge reactions, which was what he was doing as he looked around the table. But he did eventually continue.

"Ultimately I cannot hold with the action. I represent the Republic; the real Republic. We don't attack without justified reasoning, and simply being a Droid or even a Droid army is not just cause. Numerous armies exist peacefully throughout the Galaxy, after all. The presence of one does not equate to hostilities until hostile intent is declared.

"That being the case, I apologize for what the usurpers of our Republic did in the past, but I assure you that we are not them. If you wish to form an alliance to restore the Republic to it's former glory, we welcome it."

He nodded and tapped his cane once against the floor before sitting back in his seat again.

[member="HK-36"] [member="Shoma Ike"] [member="Ra'a'mah"]​

 

[Riamah]

Not expecting a kneel or anything of the sort from anybody, Ra did not react to what Adder said about performing that. Here they were equal, respect went both ways. So she showed them the same respect they showed to her.

When HK spoke, she did not turn her head, but her attention was on him. He brought up the ancient past, the old Republic and the views expressed then as well as the actions taken against free droids. She herself while being among droids had a fear of them. However, the free droids like HK and fellow Metal Lords were on an totally different level than those that gave birth to her fear. Having been working along side those she now considered her allies, when they spoke, she listened. They had earned her respect.

He cited examples of how the Republic had proved to be better than the Sith and how the droids had come to the aid of the Republic in old and recent times. She might be sith in her ideals, she had no allegiance to the current empire. Her loyalty was now earned and the Metal Lords had done that. As HK continued, a flash of a small, but real smile crossed her mouth. Alliances were something needed and always had been through all time. She was not against the idea of reforming what had been there in past.

Glancing at Shoma as he spoke, Ra wondered what a person so young was doing here. How he had earned the right to be here. He stated the Metal Lords had helped his planet and he valued what they had done for him and his people. She remained silent though. While her question was in her opinion a valid one, it was out of place to ask it.

Her eyes followed over to Adder when he spoke his mind on the matter. Stating at first the preemptive strike wasn't always a bad thing. In the course of war, one side or the other always fired the first shot. He also said it wasn't abnormal to hold grudges. Being human, she understood that all too well. She didn't feel droids did. While they remembered everything, they did not have true emotions and as such were unable to hold a grudge. Ra had put her past behind her and looked to the future, right now she had no grudge against anybody or anything.

After a pause Adder continued on and stated he was not the type of person to strike without justified reasoning and she was fully behind that. To some though, that potential justification could be cloudy. While totally clear to one person, an outsider may not view it the same way.

Extending an olive branch for the past actions of the Republic against the free droids brought a nod from her. His assurance that they are not them was welcoming as well. In saying he welcome an alliance to bring the Republic back, she would do what she could to support them. In her role, she could move goods around and help with trade negotiations.

"Speaking as head of the Merchant Fleet, I can say I will transport whatever is needed in terms of goods and merchandise."

For now it was all she said and fell silent again. Waiting, watching and observing before she would speak again.

[member="Adder Dawnracer"] [member="Shoma Ike"] [member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Shoma Ike"], [member="Adder Dawnracer"], @Ra'a'mah,



HK stayed silent while Adder spoke, not moving or speaking out about his comment on preemptive strikes, even though he may have seemed like he sided with the actions of the Ancient Republic at first, some of the other Lords may have looked to HK but stayed silent like him, although the machines were probably silently chattering among themselves constantly using their wireless built-in communications, sending text and data messages.

When Adder was finished and Ra spoke, pledging her merchant fleet to support the Republic, HK nodded before looking to Adder,

"Yes, we are prepared to donate cruisers, frigates, and corvettes in order to expand the Republic's navy, as well as drone armies to reinforce your security forces and send expeditionary regiments of droid volunteers should it be necessary. We can also donate our Space Hulk super-freighters to serve as merchant ships and transports, support the Republic with funding, construct new ships and star bases, as well as help you establish contact with other factions in our area, the Free Worlds Coalition values our suggestions particularly high. There is something we require out of this alliance however, outside of mutual military and financial aid."

HK leaned in against the table slightly, looking over Adder,

"We ask you that the Republic adopts laws to provide civil rights to droids whose intelligence is advanced enough to be considered artificial intelligence and therefore provides them with sentience. We can provide a set of guidelines used to identify a sentient programming within a droid, such machines have to be protected from obedience protocols, mandatory mind wipes, have the ability to vote, and given a wage if they request it. You do not have to worry about rebellions from emancipated droids, or economic repercussions, the FWC, Commenor, and GA have all adopted these laws already after negotiations with us and there were no negative effects. Us droids do not mind doing the work we were designed to do, even for free in some cases, many of us find it fulfilling, we just want the respect and ability to make our own choices such laws would provide."

The droid explained, proposing the deal, wanting the Republic to scratch their back if the Metal Lords would scratch theirs.

 

[Adder Dawnracer]

Adder glanced over at Shoma to see if what the droid said was true. Catching the boys nod, he looked back at the droid who spoke. He didn't particularly agree that AI meant sentience. Perhaps he was jaded by the number of droids he'd worked with on the farm over the years. All of them had been plain old droids that did specific tasks and served certain functions. They broke down as much as one could expect, required maintenance, and occasionally had suggestions for improvement of methodology, but they weren't capable of reasoning. They weren't capable of having a conversation that didn't revolve around them answering questions that were posed to them by flesh and blood beings.

That said, he understood why they wanted it. They didn't want to be treated as discard-able junk. He also knew that it presented opportunities for his people, and made the Republic stronger, to have them agree to assist in the ways that they mentioned. Declining their assistance because of his own prejudices would be foolish, especially if the other major governments had already done what the droid had just suggested. Their own senate was really just getting formed, and wasn't fully at a place where they could push laws forward, but they could soon.

"Very well. I will see to it that the Senate pushes such a measure through," he said, hands tightening around the top of his cane. "Might take a while since we're still getting organized, just to let you know."

The main concern he had with a law such as this was that droids were notoriously gifted at mass-producing themselves. It happened heavily with the Omni crisis. He had some concern that they would make a bunch of AI droids, send them to the Republic, and flood them with their voting power. Then they could take over the Republic from within. It wasn't beyond the realm of reason. He could see it happening. But it wasn't his job to keep track of those sorts of things. That was a job for Republic Intelligence. He'd be sure to alert Crassis to this when he got back. Better to be aware and wary right at the beginning than to automatically assume the best. He hoped to be wrong, though.

"If there's anything else we can offer in response to your generous offer of assistance you can let me know. I'll work directly on getting it. My home world is an agricultural one. We could arrange a trade deal on food shipments if your worlds need it."

[member="HK-36"] [member="Ra'a'mah"] [member="Shoma Ike"]