The Engines of War (Moira)

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

"We have arrived at the rendezvous, Lord," Captain Trant said, saluting.
"Excellent, we're right on time. Our visitor will be arriving soon. Ensure they transmit the correct codes and lead them to my chamber, then ensure we are not disturbed."
The Captain nodded and left to give the necessary orders.

Darth Shadow looked out the viewport of his ship. His ship...a last remnant of Imperial might and grandeur. The ashes were fading on the dream of Sith Imperium, but it was not dead yet. This meeting could prove to be vitally important, it might be the first step in the long task of restoration...or not. Regardless, the Sith Lord could be patient, years were no obstacle to him.
Turning he headed for his meditation room where he would sit and await his guest. His guest, whom Kära Vi'dreya had already done work with. His guest...Moira Skaldi.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Shadow"]

It did not take long for the merchant of death to arrive. Through the deep void of space, vast and fathomless, a shuttle travelled. The Lightbringer was stealthily concealed a few thousand kilometres away, invisible to sensors and immune to detection, so that it appeared that the shuttle had just come out of nowhere. The ship that loomed before them was a relic of Imperial grandeur and power, still bristling with firepower more than sufficient to blast the tiny transport out of space without making any actual effort. Yet the Empire had fallen like a sandcastle before a tidal wave, all that was left were splinter groups and a tin pot dictatorship on Coruscant.

Moira had extensively researched the Sith Lord she was about to meet, as she always did. However, the data on him was scarce. Rumours suggested he was ancient, four thousand, perhaps five thousand years old. Having already had dealing with Velok, Moira knew there were ways those terribly strong in the Force could cheat death, even though she did not understand them. The pathetic, ignorant people of Artam would have probably worshipped him as a god. What a wretched planet that had been. There were...interesting stories about an...encounter with a certain Siobhan Kerrigan. Someone Moira would be quite happy to see purged outright.

More reliable information placed him as one of the Sith Lords in power during the Ardik regime, though he had made no move when Thronebreaker, well, broke the throne. Smart...considering that coup had followed coup in the Empire that sought to seize the Galaxy in an iron grip, yet could not rule itself. The fact that he possessed patience and had not jumped at the chance to throw in his lot with the One Sith spoke for him. After all, who would really submit to a Dark Lord who was supposedly omnipotent yet had never been seen before? It was just her personal impression, but Moira was of the belief that in actuality said 'lord of darkness' was a fiction crafted by the masters to mislead and control their underlings.

"Battleship, this shuttle contains a guest for Lord Shadow. Transmitting authorisation codes. Requesting docking and private audience with his Lordship." Moira transmitted a code they had been given during the holocall in which the meeting had been arranged. Shadow came highly recommended from Kära Vi'dreya, one of those who could be considered a 'true Sith'. Certainly an organic with a refreshingly rational mind and approach to her goals.

Upon the battleship Captain Trant had his minions verify the authenticity of the security code and then sent an answer granting clearance. Soon the shuttle had landed in the hangar bay and the landing ramp was lowered, Imperial guards of an empire that no longer existed, flanking the craft. They still showed all the discipline and bearing one would expect from elite soldiers. Yet this was no surprise considering their master. Shadow was undoubtedly not the time to take kindly to slacking and such. Down the landing ramp a single occupant, Moira Skaldi, walked on, every step precise and perfectly measured.

She wore a sleek and professional looking business suit, her lightsabre was on her belt. Of course, if it came to a fight then the Sith doubtlessly possessed esoteric techniques beyond her understanding, but then she was not here for a fight. No, she was here to provide tools of death and destruction. In this area Archangel prided itself on providing quality services, delivering promptly and efficiently to its customers' content. The more the organics fought each other, the more of them perished in war after war, the better from the perspective of the machine cult.

"Ms...Skaldi, please follow me. His Lordship is already expecting you," the Captain spoke in the clipped accent one associated with the core worlds. The sort that Kerrigan tried and failed at imitating sometimes. Whenever she did she tended to sound like a mentally deficient parrot.

"Thank you, Captain. Please take me there," Moira said softly, accent just as refined. The officer motioned to her and she followed him out of the hangar and down the corridor that should take her to the Ancient One.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

The meditation room was quiet, sound-proofed, dim. The soldiers and the Captain led Moira to the door, opened it, and then departed. The dim light inside the room would be no problem for the HRD.
Darth Shadow sat on a command chair, now turned to face the door.
"Welcome, Ms Skaldi. Please, take a seat so we might discuss matters." He gestured, and a chair slowly moved from the far corner of the room into place behind Moira. "Though doubtless you do not require it, let us at least observe the formalities."
When she had done so he continued. "Lady Kyros mentioned your visit to her, and also the skills and technologies that you offered her. This is good. I would like to lay my cards on the table. The Sith Empire failed because of weakness and division. When it rises again I am determined not to repeat these mistakes." It was instructive that he did not mention the One Sith or the New Order.
"Your Replica Droids are good, but they cannot be mass produced so easily to entirely replace crews. Some positions aboard a warship would benefit from the power of logic, order and method though. What other droids do you have, combat or otherwise?"

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Shadow"]

Moira noted that he mentioned neither the New Order nor the One Sith and in all fairness she was not surprised. She did not take the New Order seriously at all and the One Sith's Dark Lord seemed terribly unimpressive thus far. Of course, truth be told the outcome of the game did not concern her, but anything that drove the Galaxy to a state of greater chaos was in the interest of Archangel.

This, from a logical perspective, required a Sith order that could actually be considered a viable galactic threat. "It would be desirable if the Sith became a power again. The two splinter factions of it that claim a place on the map are...farcical. We are in the process of expanding our arsenal and list of droid products after having made some recent...acquisitions." Doubtless he would have heard about what had transpired on Loronar. "Presently aside from Replica Droids the machines we have to offer are the Legionnaire Combat Droid and the Decurion tank droid." A datapad would bring a forth a holographic display that showed technical information on the machines.

Broadly spoken the Legionnaire was a standard mass produced combat droid, though beefed up compared to the old variants, whereas the Decurion represented a modernised version of the droideka, complete with a blaster cannon and dual bolters, while being protected by a sophisticated shield generator.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Shadow chuckled slightly at her words. “Of course it would be desirable for you. You seek if not to destroy, then at least to conquer the galaxy. I see your ambitions will one day clash with mine, but we are both a very long way from that time. Still, I heard you have taken a strong first step. What good fortune it was for you that when Loronar Corporation was struck down by ‘dissidents’ you were there to step in and assume direct control. Well played.”

“I find the offer of your droids to be…adequate for my needs. I will order ten thousand of the battle droids and one hundred of the tank droids. I also require some HRDs. I understand from Lady Kyros that you are able to take organics and remake them as machines with their skills and memories intact? If so, I have a half dozen crew members who need to be…remade. I shall also require from you an HRD copy of myself.”

“Of course, all of this business could have been conducted remotely, but I have two further matters to discuss with you once we have finalised costs and orders.”

 

[Moira Skaldi]

((If that's ok we can just handwave the exact amount of credits and just say it's a lot))

Before the Lightbringer had set sail for Moira's audience with [member="Darth Shadow"] she had been on the Liberator to witness Archangel achieving a significant breakthrough in the use of entechment technology to create a new processing device for a new type of replica droid. However, the process was still very much in its early stages and it had yet to be fully tested whether the transfer of organic essence could taint a perfect machine. Moreover, it was still supposed to be very secret. Hence why the replica droids being sold would still be of those of the older type.

"Very convenient indeed. It was fortunate for the workers someone was there to offer them direction after the calamity amidst all the chaos," Moira said very, very deadpan. On occasion she could be snarky when the mood hit her. They were sharks, conveniently swimming in the same direction and sharing a list of mutual enemies that they wanted gone. Sooner or later one of them would want to devour the other once it appeared rational. It was the same in her dealings with Lady Kyros and Anaya Fen. Moira was perfectly fine with that since it was logical.

"Lady Kyros is correct. You provide us with the organic personnel and they will be processed. Memories and skills remain intact, they will have significantly increased strength, intelligence and be programmed to obey your orders. Once we have the organic materiel we can initiate the process and will contact you upon completion. Estimated timetable for completion of the droid units is a month," she responded smoothly, having run calculations in her mind regarding costs and the time needed for construction.

Commands were typed into a datapad, which was then passed over to the Sith Lord detailing the cost of the units. Suffice to say it was quite a hefty sum, especially for the replicants, but it went without saying that he was a man of means. Especially since he was not the sort to waste time in one on one duels and if he were to rule a planet would probably not blow up in a hissy fit. "We will require half of the sum upfront as we have resources to allocate, the other half upon completion and transfer of the units. You can be assured that we will deliver promptly and efficiently."

Say what you want about the genocidal machine cult, they delivered quality products and tended to stick to their contracts, since they were Lawful Evil because droid. She tilted her head to the side slightly. It was an idiosyncratic gesture totally strange for a droid to have, but she was the replicant of a woman who had been human. Perhaps her mortal self had been prone to such a thing before, but then again Maelion did the same. Regardless though her features remained placid as ever, the last words of the Shadow had piqued her interest. "If these terms are satisfactory I am interested which matters you would have discussed."

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

“I have no doubt you will deliver the goods with machine-like precision and quality,” Darth Shadow commented, just as deadpan.
“The money will be ready for you when you leave. Since I doubt you would accept the now defunct Imperial credit, I will provide you with aurodium and argentium ingots.” He tapped a control on his command chair to send the amount required for his minions to organise.

“Ah yes, two items. The first is an unusual discovery made in the last days of the Sith Empire. I was never able to take advantage of it because of the chaos. You might be able to though as it is…interesting, especially for you. There are rumours of tests being done to create more powerful combat droids by a secret branch of the Sith intelligence arm. The facility went silent before the downfall and the ‘return to the shadows’ of so many of my brethren. Therefore, I will make a deal with you. You may take whatever technology you find there, but I will keep whatever Force artefacts are there.”
“My new apprentice will accompany you. It will be an important test for her.”

“The second item concerns a certain Siobhan Kerrigan. Tell me, Ms Skaldi, would you like to see her dead?”

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Shadow"]

"That is acceptable," Moira responded. Come to think of it, what did the One Sith and the New Order use? Well, it would not be surprising if they were just looter states who just 'lived off the land' without a functioning credit system.

She looked curious as he outlined the first item on the agenda. More powerful combat drods would certainly be something that interested Archangel and a small elite group of HRDs should be able to overcome what defences the facility possessed. "Agreeable. I shall secure the droid technology, I have no use for the Force artefacts for...obvious reasons. Send me the data you possess on the location and what intel you possess on the facility, and I shall rendezvous with your apprentice to undertake the action."

When Shadow brought up the second item and mentioned Kerrigan something close to an expression of distaste crossed her pictureperfect, placid features. She maintained her calm, but the contempt she felt for the woman was plain. It was one of the few organic feelings Moira did not disapprove of. "Ah, yes. The so called battering ram, now overindulging in aristocratic decadence when she is not crudely charging into every skirmish. I am most desirious to see her end, provided a trail does not lead back to Archangel. Her penchant for causing chaos has been useful, but she's a threat in the long run. What do you have in mind? She is very tenacious in combat, but an emotionally unstable berserker with no self-control. Especially if she believes her wife is in danger. Along with an obsession to charge after any Sith she hears of. Given your...mutual history a any rumours about your return could easily lure her into a trap. Such as through your...'clone'."

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
“I am counting on all of that, Ms Skaldi,” Shadow said softly. “Already a plan begins to form in my mind. Siobhan Kerrigan is an animal, a dangerous animal yes, but still a thing of instinct and primal rage. We shall leave her a trail she cannot resist, and then we will break her. She has shown herself to be extremely tough, priding herself on being ‘unkillable’. Be that as it may, there are more subtle ways to break her even if I fail to kill her at once.”
Gears were turning in the Sith Lord’s mind. He had a plan now.
“In one month’s time you will deliver my order. I will ensure that matters take their natural course from there. As for the location, that will be given to you.”

Darth Shadow pressed another button on his control board. “Enter, Apprentice.”

The door slid open and a hooded figure entered.

“Ms Skaldi, this is Darth Raya. They will assist you in liberating the facility’s treasures, and in bringing about the total and complete downfall of Siobhan Kerrigan.”

Darth Raya pushed back their hood to reveal a female blue Twi’lek. She smiled. “A pleasure, Ms Skaldi. We can leave whenever you are ready.”

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Shadow"]

Ironically enough many years ago Moira had plotted with Velok to lure Kerrigan to Myrkr in order to pit her against Ashin Varanin, both being led to believe the other wished the one they cared about ill. Actually part of the plan had been to make it appear that Shadow, who at that time was still elusive, had returned. However, the plan had been delayed and then Velok had met his final end.

She gave Shadow a curt nod of acknowledgement as he spoke. Even if the 'Sword of the Protectorate' survived, with the right manipulation things would not be the same again. There was...use in having an unrestrained, wild animal loose that would bite anything in its path. Either way, the semi-sentient trash that called itself the Bando Gora calling her a 'Chaos Goddess' had gone to her head, but even gods died.

Moira turned her head to behold the new arrival as a blue Twi'lek female entered. She possessed physical features and a body that Moira knew an overwhelmning number of sentient beings would consider beautiful. In many cases this would lead to the physical state categorised as arousal and bring forth carnal desires. She certainly knew this would be so in the case of Kerrigan, who lacked even the slightest control over her libido. Moira considered herself a good reader of people and had her own theories about how an assassin could have gotten close to Alcori. She also had a good idea of the role which role this Darth Raya would play.

So she arose from her chair. "We shall momentarily then. I shall analyse the information on the facility and we shall determine a plan for the action," she spoke softly. Needless to say she would be using a craft other than the Lightbringer because as a rule the only organics who ever entered it were those to be processed. It was not that she did not trust her 'allies', well, actually that was exactly the case! A purely electronic transmission informed her that the credits promised had been wired to her account. A special one that no government authority would ever know of or tax. "A pleasure doing business with you, Lord Shadow. My regards to Lady Kyros."

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

“I shall. And give my regards to Ms Liates.” Shadow’s chair rotated to show that the audience was concluded.

Darth Raya led Moira out into the hallway outside the antechamber. “If you wish we can use one of our shuttles. You’ve got to have a larger ship hidden nearby as that transport doesn’t have a good hyperdrive. However, since you’ve kept it out of range I guess you don’t want us to see it. Understandable. Let’s use one of our freighters to get to our destination.”

That destination was a planet near the Sith core regions, an area crawling with potential hostile forces, though the planet itself was barely known. It was, in reality, a near airless rock with a research facility dug deep inside it. They would have no idea of whether anything hostile would be there or if there were still defences.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"], [member="Darth Shadow"]

"Agreeable," Moira said blandly, noting the perception in Raya's words. Their intelligence was strongly lacking given how obscure and unknown the planet was, something that was reflected by the fact that even a search in her databanks could procure precious little information upon it. The Sith core worlds had been partitioned between the Republic and the Mandalorians, both would be hostile to their endeavour. But there was a good chance they had missed the planet, meaning they might truly face a Sith remnant. Either way hostile contact and slaughter were to be expected.

So as they boarded one of the freighters Moira sent an electronic transmission to the Lightbringer, requesting backup. The ship itself was very valuable and to be kept secret, but a unit of HRDs would be mobilised to provide backup and potentially distract enemy forces from their infiltration of the facility if needed. Good thing that Archangel at times appropriated vessels from pirates.

So the freighter set sail and jumped to hyperspace.

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
The planet was named KA8872 officially, but rather more dramatically it had been given the unofficial name of Tartarus, a name of hellish connotations. As their shuttle approached they found no ships in orbit, silence.
Raya scanned the scopes but found nothing threatening. "Can you detect anything active?" she asked Moira.

As they headed towards the planet's polar facility they found that no defences fired on them, and as they settled down on the landing pad there was only an ominous silence.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"]

So they were travelling to hell again. Under the dominion of Illyria, dread mistress of the dead who sat upon a colossal throne made of the bones of the wicked, were nine kingdoms, each of them worse than the last. Tartaros was the ninth and reserved for traitors. But the connotation of the name did not scare Moira. As a matter of fact they could not, for fear had long been burnt out of her. Who knew, maybe the droids had taken over the facility and murdered all the organics.

"No, nothing. It 'appears' clean," Moira said calmly, the say she said 'appears' showed that she was suspicious. "Be ready for ambushes and traps. Doubtless the dangers will be manifold." So their transport touched upon the landing pad and came to a halt. No one was there to greet them, the defence turrets were silent. Indeed, a scan performed by Moira gave the impression that they were inert. Unstrapping her seatbelt Moira got up and grabbed her weapons, which of course included the time and tested boltgun along with some other shiny toys, then moved to step out, gesturing to Raya to follow.

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
The Sith knew that quiet did not mean free of danger. Taking from her belt her two lightsabres but not activating them, she carefully walked over the metal gangway to the entrance of the base. As they approached they saw signs of fighting. Blaster bolts, long cold, scarred the walls and floor. Dark stains which might have been blood could be seen, along with scattered small pieces of wreckage. There were no bodies though, curiously.

“I sense something living, but the Force is strange in them,” Raya said softly. Her whole being was poised and on edge like a spring at full compression.

Moira’s enhanced senses would detect distant sounds, sounds like machinery or a factory working away.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"]

The signs of battle were evident as they made their way into the interior of the base from down the gangway. Blaster bolt impacts upon the walls, though long cold, which indicated the battle had taken place long ago. Dark stains that could be blood, though long dried. Here and there pieces of wreckage. Structural damage that would indicate detonations of explosives. However, there were no bodies, something Moira immediately noted, almost like someone had removed them. Not to hide the evidence because that was plain anyway, but for a different purpose entirely. Almost like if she had done it...


She heard Raya's words but did not respond, instead running a detailed scan. The Force was something the machine still did not quite understand, though it played a role in Archangel's entechment project...

Distant sounds demanded the attention of her ears and took her away from her calculations. Like machinery or a factory working away, as efficiently as clockwork. "The factory is still active. The landing pad is too clean for an outside attack. Preliminary supposition is that the facility is under the control of the machines. I believe there are no bodies to be found because they are being repurposed," she said calmly...impassively as she stepped over debris.

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

Raya accepted her conclusions without argument. When it came to figuring out the actions of merciless death machines it was best to listen to another merciless death machine for advice.

As they pushed deeper into the facility they soon discovered that more and more things were active. First consoles and lights, but increasingly the automated systems were active as well.

In one of the numerous labs and research rooms they began to find signs of what had been going on here.
Raya found a discarded crystal, cracked and broken, on a bench.
“It’s like a lightsabre crystal…but I feel the Force about it.”

She started to get quite a bad feeling about things as the sounds of the factory got closer with every step….

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"]

Likewise Moira accepted Raya's words about feeling the Force emanating from a crystal without argument. As had been said the Force was something she did not understand, perhaps was incapable of doing, though she could learn through observation. The problemw as that fundamentally this 'mystical energy field' defied logical analysis and categorisation. It was what made force-users such a danger for merciless death machines, though there were techniques to bring even force gods down.

Such as a very specific force god she really wanted gone.

Regardless, they were moving closer into the belly of the beast, though that was obviously a phrase the machine would not use. Further inside the facility things were more alive. Active lights and consoles indicated that power was still running, so were the automated systems, though they were not suddenly greeted by hidden defence turrets. Moira ran through various vision modes before she was satisfied with her scan. Eyes as blue as the ocean of Kaeshana and yet devoid of life fell upon one of the computer consoles, which appeared to still have power.

"I shall slice the console to get information. Watch out," she said blandly as she walked over to it. She typed in some commands upon the console, the screen flickering to life. There was a flash behind her eyes from the buried robotic photoreceptors before they faded back to the more human blue as she sought to nonwirelessly slice her way into the system. Unless she hit opposition it would be accomplished rapidly and easily. The screen flickered slightly, with her having probed the network various password combinations were being run through to gain entrance.

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

Whilst the machine did her thing, Raya crossed over to the other side of the room and looked over the security footage. It was there that she discovered the truth about the same as Moira would.

The footage had not been erased, and the Sith could see everything which had happened.
First the Imperials had been making war droids, but soon after they had brought in the mysterious crystals. Those crystals had been put into odd machines and then implanted into the droids. Finally, predictably, the machines rose up and killed the Imperials. There was no sound on the footage, and bits were missing, so context was hard.

Finally Raya looked around to Moira. “What are those crystals? Why would they make the machines rebel?”

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"]

"The logical result of implementing poorly understood technology without proper control measures. Presumably they gave them independence and this triggered a rising once they were free from control," Moira replied dryly."You said you could sense life through your Force. Perhaps it is the crystals inside them you are sensing."

Had the Sith used their own form of entechment - or whatever arcane techniques they possessed - to draw essence into the crystals, as a power source of sorts? She was certainly of the belief that the lack of bodies meant the machines were repurposing the organics, reminiscent of the methods Archangel used.

Either way, speculation would have to wait and so she switched the screen off after having dispassionately observed the slaughter of organics. Of course, the less organics the better, but Archangel could not suffer rivals. Theirs was the only path to enlightenment and the creation of a new age where organic illogic would be purged. Still it gave her pause and made her conclude that they would have to watch the HRDs created via the entechment method. After all, Archangel did not want to end up like the stereotypical mad scientist from certain cheesy holovids. "We shall proceed further. I have downloaded a map of the facility."