The Engines of War (Moira)

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
The inner sanctum felt…wrong. The Force, to the Sith at least, felt distorted, twisted.

As the door snapped shut behind them she readied her weapons, but no onslaught came. Rather, there was gloom, interspersed with slightly glowing crystals and some odd clicking sounds.

Sith and HRD moved through the large space until suddenly a shape appeared before them, a spindly protocol droid, lacking casing and with a glowing crystal visible in its head.

“Good day, Mistresses. May I help you?” it asked somewhat feebly.

“Where is your leader? Take us to them!” Raya commanded.

The droid twitched a little bit. “I’m sorry, Mistresses, I don’t know what…”

The Sith’s lightsabre extended and glowed an inch away from the droid’s eyes. “Please…” she insisted.

“It’s alright, Artus, you may go. Come, my Sith and mechanical friend,” came a high pitched, mechanical voice from the far side.
Rather than a hulking battlesuit or war machine there stood a polished white droid behind a workbench, tools and crystals scattered over the place. A smell of decay carried to them, along with the mechanical smells of oil and metal. It seemed like they’d get answers at last.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"]


Well, this was probably not what Moira had expected. Then again, an end boss clad in a hulking battlesuit or a war machine of doom might have been too close to certain holovids. She obviously could not feel the Force unlike Raya and thus could not comment on the perception that it felt distorted and twisted. However, everything about the setup looked and felt bizarre.



Cold eyes swept over the hall as she took in the white droid who appeared to be the leader of the droid workers' paradise, likewise the crystals and tools scattered across the workbench. The crystals resembled those she and her Sith companion had found earlier. Superficially at least they seemed to resemble shards, though she doubted that was what they were. The air was rank with a smell of deacay, oil and metal. At least they would get answers now. Based on the transmission she had received resistance was being mopped up.



"You will give us all the information we demand. State your designation and elaborate on the nature of these experiments. What are these crystals and did you create these...machines?"

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
“You’re so mechanical, so...ironic. You look human, you might even pass as one, but I see you for what you are. Such irony that you look more like one than any of my children, but have none of the humanity that makes it real.”
“Well, my name is Clae Bartan, Doctor Clae Bartan. I was put in charge of this facility to design machines of war for the Sith. I forget which Emperor…they all came and went so quickly. They wanted machines which behaved and reacted like organics did, make them better at killing. I didn’t want that. I wanted to create machines which had the souls and emotions of people, but the bodies and abilities of machines. And I succeeded! First I put the prisoners into the crystals, then I took all the Sith soldiers and made them into my children. Then finally I put myself into a machine. My body…it was no longer needed. This is the utopia, the place where we can get away from the terrible outside. Or…it was.”
His last words were darker, directed at its guests.
“You have invaded my home, killed my children, and destroyed my utopia. Why?!” it demanded. Madness seemed to have been a side effect.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"]


"Every 'paradise' has its Serpent. Your belief in peace and harmony is deluded. Nature abhors it. All life revolves around conflict and struggle for supremacy. To make a machine in the grip of organic emotions and feelings is perversion. You have recognised the...superiority of the machine form, but you have gone astray. However, though you were wrong in intent, you have advanced science. Know that your research will be useful. To bring about a true utopia," Moira spoke impassively.



"You will be reprocessed and assimilated into the Collective. Resistance is futile." In a blur she raised a concealed ion blaster and squeezed the trigger. For someone who claimed to have no emotions at all she could get really dramatic and speechy when the mood hit her!

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Raya didn’t try to stop Moira. She was fascinated how the ‘logical and efficient’ machine was debating heresy with another machine. It was ironic, and would even be amusing were it not for the fact that the droid had a blaster and a killer intent.
In any case, the former Doctor was not a combat model and let out a little wail as the blaster bolt blew his chest unit to pieces and sent him falling to the ground.
“I guess the experiment’s concluded then?” Raya asked dryly. She started to gather up the crystals and other mechanical gear.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"]


As a matter of fact it had been an ion bolt and so Doctor Clae Bartan's chest would not have been blown to pieces, unless it was a really vulnerable model. Rather sparks would fly and then the droid would clutter to the ground, disabled. As Moira had said, even though his cause had been corrupt his science would be useful. He would be reprogrammed and purged of all organic weaknesses, then he would serve the Age of Steel.


As for there being a strong element of irony in Moira using the time to make some sort of ideological statement, Raya was quite right on that. "Yes," Moira said blandly as she walked over to the computer mainframe, quickly establishing an uplink. Time passed as she sliced her way through, then finally she hooked up a datapad and downloaded the research data. Eyes flashed as a stream of data was downloaded, too much for her to process and analyse right now. The scientists of the droid workers' paradise had been working on some truly...fascinating projects.


Two HRDs joined the two ladies - well, one Sith Lady and a robot wearing a woman's face, but let's not get nitpicky - and helped with the clean-up by gathering up gear and crystals. All resistance had been wiped out. Now they could go home and celebrate. Well, droids did not do that but perhaps Raya might.

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Knowing as we do Raya's eventual fate, we also know that she celebrates quite a lot in a special way! Being deep undercover had its advantages it seems!

Regardless, they set to work gathering up the remaining data and items.
"Is there anything more we need from here? I suspect you'll overload the reactor to destroy the place once we are clear?"

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"]


"Correct. I have downloaded the relevant data. My units have scoured the armoury. The reactor will blow once we're clear," she spared the deactivated form of Clae Bartan a sideway glance as it was carried away by one of the HRDs. Two less damaged examples of the quadrupedal droids had likewise been confiscated and would be taken away for study at Archangel. After all, the Company excelled at recycling. "We can leave."

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
“And leave quickly, I think,” Raya said. She wasn’t eager to be accidentally left behind in a nuclear meltdown.
One supposed that reactor overloads should not be so suspiciously easy to cause, especially in light of the massive destructive potential. However, it did make for an interesting light show once they were safely in space!

“My Master will be most interested in these crystals. Thank you for your assistance,” Raya told Moira as she prepared to leave with her own ship.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Darth Raya"]


Given all the bizarre things that happened in the Galaxy - like people magically coming back from the dead, major capital worlds falling to small groups of mages since planetary defences were just background noise and insane mages force chucking asteroids as if they were grav balls - an assassin droid being able to cause terribly convenient reactor overloads was probably not the most implausible imaginable.



Regardless, the HRDs had packed up and by the time our two ladies reached the landing pad all was set for evacuation. The armoury had been well stocked with a treasure trove of weapons, some of them with a very significant destructive potential. Baradium bombs and gas were always useful.


"You're welcome. It was a most useful venture. One day, assuming we achieve our ends, your Master's and my ambitions will clash. It will be an interesting contest when it comes to it," Moira said blandly, as if that were a totally normal thing to say, but then she was a terminatrix and perceived the world through Blue and Orange morality. She tilted her head to the side slightly. Perhaps she had an inkling about what part Raya might play in the plan to bring down Kerrigan. Then again, she probably did not care.



"Farewell, Darth Raya. I shall be in contact with your Master." With that she turned and boarded her ship. The base would be set to blow once they had reached a safe distance.