[member="Ivy Lasranae"] | [member="Dak Canton"]
The Umbaran watched as Dak gingerly set himself down, hands splayed anxiously across the desk in a sign of nonviolence. Moneybags. Well, Gerion could not dispute that he could have physical bags of money if he wanted to, though the purpose behind having them was dubious at best. Burlap sacks were very rarely effective means of transporting large sums of money, however. Gerion handled most of his commerce electronically. Cool and efficient. Just like he was paying Dak to be, only the mercenary had failed in both regards.
"There have been several... Compromises to our manufacturing center on Raxus Prime. Nothing stolen, but rather someone is tampering specifically with the programming on our TA4s produced there." Gerion bent over to open a drawer underneath his desk and began digging around for a folder. "Now, we've dealt with the occasional industrial espionage here and there. People trying to steal blueprints, experimental programming routines. They never get very far. Our servers are physically hidden behind a dozen or so security systems; completely impossible to access without proper clearance... And proper clearance is a rare commodity at best. No one can even glimpse at these servers, much less tamper with their contents without us knowing."
Eventually he found what he was looking for. He had explained the situation to several dozen security contractors and miscellaneous personnel. Gerion now carried the folder with him wherever he went to speed up the explanation process. In fact, one of them was due here in an hour. Gerion realized with dread he was going to have to explain this twice. How utterly tiresome. Gerion slid the folder across the desk to Dak for him to peruse at his leisure. It was a very thick folder, several dozen pages of documentation with the occasional photograph. These photos covered a variety of subjects, including several shots of the Raxus Prime facility from different angles, the corpses of Rodians in various states of decay (lodged into the junk piles of Raxus Prime), the aftermath of a battle between mercenaries and Rodians, what appeared to be massacred corporate personnel from another company, the aftermath of a battle between TA1s and more Rodians, and finally a TA5 overseeing a cleaning crew as they scrubbed blood off of a bunker wall.
Hegemonic Automaton is a relatively busy company, yes.
"A month ago the foreman at the Raxus Prime plant was screening TA4s produced when he noticed an aberration in their programming. He didn't bother to inspect it or how it got there, he simply had it wiped and the TA4s went to market as usual. There were no reported incidents. In fact, several of them were destined for high-level executives on non-crime infested planets. We would know if they malfunctioned. The same thing happened later only with a lesser amount. He prepared to file an inquiry and was found dead shortly after. Heart attack."
"The position temporarily transferred over to another until we prepared to appoint a new one. He reportedly screened the droids, but apparently he had no qualms with the faulty programming. Twenty-three TA4s were shipped without their programming being repaired being repaired. Then we got reports of malfunctions and droids blathering about Raxus Prime directives. Hegemonic Automaton collections agents were able to track down seventeen of these droids, preventing a handful of homicides and massacres. Of course, despite our flawless protocols, all of the TA4s tracked down destroyed themselves before we could inspect their programming."
"I ordered the Raxus TA4 production center be taken offline and the relevant personnel detained. Everyone has been accounted for... Except the acting foreman, who we believe fled into the junkyards. We're still looking for him, but our zone of control on Raxus Prime is relatively small. Efforts are constantly being harried by scavenger bands and Rodian warlords. The matter is still being looked into."
Gerion leaned back in his chair and inhaled. "Satisfied? The situation is ongoing and the professionals at Darkwater will be spearheading the investigation. There are millions of TA4s circulating through the galaxy. Statistically, your odds of encountering the remaining... Six are infinitely small. Don't lose any sleep over it." He paused. "However, if you do, ensure you capture it with at least one of its droid brains intact. That would be helpful, to say the least."
