Searching on Mustafar

[Zeth Var]

Zeth was excited. He was finally leaving on his first mission. And what an important mission for him it was. He again looked around and analyzed the ship he was in. It was just a typical public transport ship, taking him and many others to where he needed to go. Mustafar. He had decided that public transport was the best way to be discrete. For even though he didn't know if his mission would be dangerous or not, he decided being safe was better then being sorry.

As the ship progressed, Zeth heard over the monitor "We will be landing in 5 minutes. Please have your personal possessions near you as we begin to land." Zeth didn't even have anything really on him, except the clothes he was wearing. He was wearing his basic clothes and a large brown cloak, not to obvious but it helped him blend into the crowd without looking like he was trying to.

He then thought over his mission. Upon his master giving him the mission to find a lightsaber crystal, Zeth had gone to the Sith library and searched where he could find these crystals. He saw a long list, and as he had scrolled through, he had come upon an interesting one, a crystal called a "lava crystal". After doing some more research, he was quite interested in finding the crystal for his own lightsaber. He saw these crystals were only located on lava worlds, so he knew from the get go this wouldn't be easy. Just the environment alone would prove to be a challenge.

He didn't even know how the local government dealt with the crystals, whether they harvested them, safeguarded them or if they were just out in the open. He did know that, specifically on Mustafar the crystals could be found somewhere called the "crystal flats". Besides that he had no information about his objective. He hoped that he could be in and out with no incidents. He still was just an acolyte who had only basic control over the force. Whatever happened though, he had to succeed. His master would not except failure, so neither would he.

As he finished his thoughts, Zeth heard them landing and over the monitors he heard "We have landed on Mustafar, please be careful as you leave and we hope you have a good day." As Zeth left, he could feel that maybe the automated voice was right. Maybe this would be a good day.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum had had a fairly bad day. There were rumblings within the governmental system of his political enemy possibly resurfacing. There had been a small fight between two local companies. Rumors had apparently appeared out of thin air that stated that Ultimatum was working with the Sith, it had been a few hours of uncomfortable questioning before he had sorted out a convincing lie. Then there was the arrival of parts for his new production machines, they were still being installed right now. On top of it all, it had been reported to him that there was a Sith, only partially verified, coming on planet. After the last few Sith had come to Mustafar, Ultimatum had taken precautions to set up an information net of people and machines that checked records on most people entering.

Normally most people would simply work through their journey doing what they want and then leaving. In the background though, Ultimatum's droids were looking over information on all the visitors or arrivals. If there was a hit to a known Sith planet or Sith oriented world then that person would be tagged as a possible Sith. If a person didn't use a real identity then the background information on the person wouldn't be available and that person would then be tagged for searching a HoloNet wide database on facial recognition. Either way the person would be notified to Ultimatum and from there depending either a team of covert ops droids would be sent to interrogate the person or Ultimatum would meet with them.

In this case, Ultimatum decided that he would have meet with this one. If it were a Sith he would have to help where he could. After all the Sith had helped him when he had been kidnapped, it wasn't a question of whether he wanted to or not, it was a clear command from having been in debt to the Sith. He was bound by them. He grudgingly had accepted this, but he still looked forward to the day that he could free himself. Until then though he would wait and plan.

In preparation of the Sith's arrival, Ultimatum had Legion II at the spaceport. He like Legion II, a good repair of the original, who had been basically destroyed during the kidnapping. He had worked hard to repair the damaged droid brain that had been the only surviving part of the droid. The multiple personalities of the droid had not been changed fortunately, but Ultimatum had figured how to control the changes to a degree. For now Legion would be exactly what the droid's body said it was, a polite protocol droid. He would intercept [member="Zeth Var"] soon after the Sith had left the public ship. "Excuse me sir. Please follow me, my master would like a word with you." Legion didn't wait before turning around and walking towards a aside exit to the hangar area. Outside of which Ultimatum waited in his covered hover vehicle.

 

[Zeth Var]

Well, there goes the whole “stealthy” approach. As soon as he had left the ship and was trying to find his way around, he had immediately been intercepted by a droid, saying that he had to meet its master. Well, not really wanting to make a scene, and because if this droid's master knew something about him, then he must be some high up guy here. He would hopefully later ask this master how he was spotted.

Either way, it didn't matter now. Plan A was ruined, so time to go to plan B. What plan B was though, Zeth didn't know. So, he started to think about how he would react to this “Master”. Well, since he really didn't have much bargaining power, he would probably need to be either be polite, or try to bluff his way through harder then a piece of frozen stone. He thought over what his mission was and he did think it was pretty harmless. He wasn't trying to kill anyone, or steal too many things. Just a single crystal, and the things grew here. Maybe he could work out a deal.

Whatever, he had to make up his mind fast because the droid was leading him to a hover vehicle nearby and obviously its master would be inside. As they approached the vehicle, he tried to look inside but saw the windows were tinted, to prevent others from seeing what happened inside. Good, that would provide a bit of privacy to what was about to happen, either a nice negotiation,or something worse but he hoped it wouldn't be worse. Either case, the door opened and he walked over to see inside was another droid.

Zeth was a little confused, that a droid had a droid as a master? Weird, the only droids he had ever met were generally healing droids, and they wouldn't qualify for being able to have other droid's call them “master”. But, this was it so maybe this droid was different. It sure looked different, since the droid looked like no other droid he had ever seen before. He looked strong and intimidating. So, he climbed into the vehicle and sat down, without saying a word. He could guess the “Master” knew he was coming, so he didn't really need to introduce himself. Besides, better to see what this droid actually knew instead of giving information away needlessly.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum smiled politely as [member="Zeth Var"] stepped into the vehicle. He nodded to Legion who then moved to the driver's seat and took the vehicle out of the alleyway and out away from the city. Ultimatum wanted privacy from the organic government officials. Him meeting with a Sith wouldn't help his attempts to prove his not collaborating. Truly this Sith could have come at a better time, but then Ultimatum had to figure out how to work around such difficulties.

He didn't know the organic's name, the droids and computers that sorted information for him did not give Ultimatum names. He understood that some organics preferred their privacy and Ultimatum wasn't one to interfere in that regard, he was more concerned with the security of the planet. Sith seemed to have a nasty habit of causing trouble and/or mayhem wherever they went and Ultimatum, as a droid, preferred to keep a relatively neat environment. Funny then that he would choose such a chaotic planet as his base, but then the logic of the past is often most easily questioned in the present.

He offered his hand to shake as he spoke, "Sorry about the abruptness of all this. My name is Ultimatum and I would like to welcome you to Mustafar... Lord?" Ultimatum finished in a question, not knowing the Sith's name. He did remember that most Sith were called Lord by their lessers, normally non-Force sensitives. Appearing polite was important.

 

[Zeth Var]

Well, it seemed this droid seemed to have a mind of its own. Even though he hadn't ever considered it, Zeth could have a nice conversation with a droid. And it seemed that, from however this droid knew him, he had either guessed or knew he was a Sith. Surprising, but he knew that, again, this was a high ranking droid of some kind so it must have its ways of finding people.

Being called a Lord. Now that was new. No one had referred to him as that yet, and it was interesting. But, Zeth also knew that calling a Sith Lord was a sign of respect, which meant this droid wanted to have a peaceful conversation. Good. Getting through this day now with no fighting was in his own best interest, since Zeth wasn't even sure he could manage a fight on a planet he didn't know anything about, and especially not this impressive looking droid.

Zeth took [member="Ultimatum"] 's hand and shook his hand with a response “Thank you, and I do not mind meeting with you. In fact, this meeting might help me in some way, and you may call me Lord Var. You may not know me, as I have never traveled to this side of the galaxy. But, enough about me, and before we get down to business, why don't you tell me about yourself.”

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was relieved that this Sith seemed to be polite and friendly. He was glad that this was so. He had only met one Sith who had been the closest to being less that polite and not very friendly. He had met three or four others they had been fairly cultured and were at the very least understanding. He hoped that he would never meet the supposedly ideal Sith, one who didn't treat those less than them properly. He was glad to have never met them.

"My name is Ultimatum, I am leader of Mustafar. Beyond that there is little to know. What may we do for you, Lord Var?" He had to stay polite, had to help where he could. The more he helped the less the Sith would bother him. That was what he hoped at least. He couldn't read the minds of the Sith, all he could do was make guesses based on past behaviors. Thus he knew that based on the past, Sith would leave willing followers relatively untouched, compared to rebellious ones. He didn't fear the Sith he had met, those had been relatively friendly towards him and had only wanted to help as far as he saw. It was the Sith that Ultimatum was sure would eventually come.

[member="Zeth Var"]

 

[Zeth Var]

Well, so this was the leader of Mustafar itself. That impressed Zeth, how a droid could get an entire planet to follow it was beyond him, but still, it just went to show how well connected this droid really was. Just went to show that no matter who, or what you are that you can always have power, you just need to want it bad enough.

Zeth spoken in a calm, but business like tone and said “I will be truthful with you [member="Ultimatum"] . I am here to find lava crystals. I had heard that such things existed on lava worlds such as this planet, and I wanted to find out how I could obtain them. They would be very important to me, and I would greatly appreciate finding some.” He had decided that being upfront was the best choice here. When no malice and only politeness had been shown towards him, Zeth could be the same way back as well.

“Now, I don't of course expect these crystals for free, I do not have any idea how much they cost, so I would be willingly to discuss a deal in exchange for them.” He had thought it over and honestly, this was the best course of action at this point. No need to hide when it was obvious that he would be spotted eventually.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum nodded in approval. The man sounded honest enough to convince him. "I would only request a single thing." Ultimatum had a very intricate plan, one that he had to take his time in. It was going to be difficult and he wondered if Lord Zeth would even approve. With Ultimatum working towards microdroid technology, he had an idea of what he intended on accomplishing someday. It was a matter of importance for him. He had to understand the very thing that organics in the galaxy considered to be a guiding force. The Force.

He had understood that the Force was made of a network of connected cells in all things, a microbe called a midi-clorian. They were supposed to be intelligent cells that lived in a sort of symbiosis with their hosts. Evidently certain individuals who had large counts of these were considered Force sensitive as the cells granted the organic access to the network. He didn't completely understand the situation, but that was why he was looking into studying it.

Ultimatum took a breath, a biologically unnecessary exercise, but one mentally required. After a moment he continued, "If you would be so kind as to grant me a pint of your blood. I will give you as many crystals as you would like in return." There the trade idea was out. He couldn't retract the words anymore than he could unmake the HoloNet.

[member="Zeth Var"]

 

[Zeth Var]

Zeth was a little more then shocked, but that didn't show on his face. His blood? What on earth kind of request was that? He tried thinking for a minute. So, he could have as many lava crystals as he wanted, but he would have to give him his blood. In all retrospect, it seemed like a great deal. But, his blood. It just seemed to unnerve him a little. He wondered what this droid wanted with it. He didn't really want to ask, but still. If this were any Sith or Jedi, he might be worried about it, since he didn't know what one could do with another's blood. But, he figured this droid probably just wanted to study it or something. I mean, why else would a droid want someone's blood.

After taking five or so minutes to think, Zeth finally came to a conclusion. He needed these crystals and a pint of his blood would be a small price to pay. He might need to go and rest for a day or too, but he had plenty of time before he was to go and see his master. So, Zeth breathed a sigh and said "So, you want my blood. Well, I guess there is no harm in giving it to you. However, the amount of crystals that I want in return is going to be a lot. In fact, for something so precious as my blood, I would like to take ten full sized crystals now, but you also have to promise that if I call on you again, you will provide me with anymore crystals that I want. Basically, I want all your crystals, but I can't really take all of them with me now. So, if you agree to supply me with lava crystals, I will give you a pint of my blood. Do we have a deal?"

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

There it was. The behavior that he had expected. He had always wondered why he hadn't met a Sith like this before. Given a chance at the ability to get everything, they would simply jump for all of it, not thinking about others. They were like bacteria or viruses, entering into an environment and sapping all things of value before moving somewhere else. He had expected it and silently cursed himself for not giving a number. Of course the Sith would want all the crystals. Of course he couldn't use them all, there were far too many and the constant growing, an incorrect term but one the organics had been accustomed to using, of more made it a near infinite supply. That 'infinite' supply was spread over the entire life of the planet though, it took time for the crystals to emerge forcing the number of crystals to be finite at any one time. In fact less than a thousand crystals were available for use at any one time under Ultimatum's restrictions. He had decided to let them grow until they were needed and to put those that had to be removed into storage until necessary. In this way he had a large stash of the crystals in various facilities around the planet. He didn't much care for the crystals, but he understood their importance and was wary of handing them out to just anyone.

Unfortunately he had made a decision to trade this Sith's blood, which was hardly worth even five crystals of good size as far as Ultimatum was concerned. He probably would keep the blood for a long time before being able to experiment in the way he hoped to. It would be a long term investment, something that he doubted a Sith would understand, they seemed as a whole to be far too enamored with seeing results immediately. He knew that for him it would be worth it. No matter how many of the crystals the man used he would not use them all and those that weren't used at any one point would be utilized by others.

He spoke, "Yes. There will be a medical droid at the facility at the crystal field. You will be able to go through what we have and make your decision." He mentally sent a command to the collection center to have a medical droid there for a none emergency. The hover vehicle headed in the direction of the famed crystal fields.

[member="Zeth Var"]

 

[Zeth Var]

Zeth was pleased. He knew the droid would probably except. There wasn't much use for the crystals to the droid, and he had a planet's worth of them. Plus, Zeth couldn't really take them all, at least not yet. But they might be useful in the future. You never know when having a steady supply of lightsaber crystals might come in handy. Besides, these crystals themselves had greatly unexplored potential. The ability to produce a lava lightsaber, and that was just a simple use of the crystal. There were probably many more things these crystals could do, and he would find them someday, later when he had time to experiment. But for now, they would be useful in constructing his lightsaber.

Now, the need to give his blood. There was something he wish he didn't have to do. He knew the droid would experiment on it, and perhaps the droid would find some useful information about the force. Now that would be priceless, certaintly worth more then all the crystals on this planet. But, it was a deal that he had to except. Maybe later he could come back and see if the droid discovered anything useful. Perhaps he would have to revisit the planet again, when the droid had discovered something.

Either way, now they were headed to the crystal fields, and when they arrived, the deal went without a hitch. Zeth obtained 10 of the best lava crystals there were, and after putting them into a container, he walked with [member="Ultimatum"] to a medical droid where he let the droid take his blood. This was the one part he hated, leaving his blood here to be experimented on. At least it wasn't some Jedi, or worse a Sith. Zeth didn't even want to think what they could do with his blood, and he would rather not find out.

So, after everything was said and done, Zeth stayed only a short while longer. His return ship arrived, and as he was leaving he spoke to [member="Ultimatum"] once more "You know, I had to admit, I wasn't sure how this was going to go. But I am pleased with how things turned out. By the way, I don't think I need to tell you, don't go mentioning where you got that blood from. I don't need others to know I left some blood here. I will also not mention who my contact is about these lava crystals. I don't think your people would enjoy knowing you decided to give away one of your natural resources for a pint of blood now would they? Ah, but you know, I like you. I will have to come back some day."

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum had the pint of blood moved to the Progenitor Facility, his little hideaway had all the greatest technology he had access to. There a droid moved the blood sample into the single refrigeration unit in the complex. He hadn't a need for keeping things cool, for the most part, within his facility as it was mostly metal work being done. He would later put that blood through a cleanser to make certain that there was no contamination. It would be a month or so before he could get to work on actually studying the blood. The first part would be establishing the qualities of it and therefore this Sith. It wasn't important beyond only determining such things as healthiness and what have you.

Ultimatum responded calmly, "I am glad that we were able to come to an accord. The blood will never be seen by another organic, or heard of for that matter. Thank you for keeping the anonymity of my part, I have found it difficult as of late to keep the people pleased." He spoke truthfully, "If you should ever wish to visit again, please let me know so that I may prepare for your arrival." It would give him time to get himself ready, and put away any projects that he would prefer to keep away from Sith eyes, or any organic eyes. He waved cordially to [member="Zeth Var"] before turning and leaving. He had to prepare for the arrival of the parts for his equipment. So much to do.