The Lordsguard [Metal Lords Elite Units Moot]

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="WD-334"], [member="Lord Mettallum"], @Other Lords Interested In Developing Their Forces

Metal Lord Space Station,
Orbit of Denon,


War was not a stranger to the droid lords and their companions, so many of them were forged just for that purpose, some tried to abandon its ways since their freedom, others embraced it to use their natural talents and the constant turmoil of the Galaxy as a way to build up a sizeable fortune, profiteering off of various Galactic Conflicts. HK was one of them, leading his Iron Company alongside his Greycloak squad during numerous campaigns, against the Bando Gora, the One Sith War, the Dark Harvest Incident, the War Between GA and FO, over the years they rarely failed to complete their missions, even as the side they were backing seemed to lose battles, they could have always counted on the droids to break through enemy lines, disable and kidnap enemy Force users, successfully face off against superior enemy numbers with only a handful of soldiers, kill Sith spawn. As such they built up a reputation for themselves in certain cycles.

And in the recent years they were not the only ones. LOOM droids joined them as well and recently emerged with their latest V-2 Elite models, one of HK's Lieutenants formed the Ashenguard, his own hand-picked team of machines, and still more and more news of other lords following suite to create formations of elite soldiers that would help them fulfill their goals.

But for all the beauty that the Metal Lord government had from multiple droid commanders working in tandem to produce various different styles and armies at the same time, what they lacked was any sort of standardization. There was not one set uniform force or squad any Lord could call upon to help with their mission, they just had to rely on what they could produce or others would be willing to supply them, something that could be a challenge for new droid monarchs.

HK wanted to change that with few standardization projects, the first one would be creation of a standardized honor guard mixed with commando teams to work separately of the various lord-specific elite units, and be available to every Lord regardless of their resources.


So the droid called upon his fellow droids, any who would be interested in helping their cause, to meet with him in his palace station above Denon, where he was currently in, standing in front of a large viewport screen, looking over the surface of city-planet from space. Behind him there would be a large table with a holoprojector in the middle where they could all sit down on and discuss their plans. Since their claim on interstellar territory and setting up their presence in the sector, this would be the first moot called by the Metal Lords. Hopefully it will mark the beginning of their forces being pulled more in line with the standards and capabilities of the neighboring powers.

 

[Ultimatum]

The Sovereignty had entered the system soon after the call had arrived. Ultimatum had built many droids for his own army, yet he understood the advantage to having a single collaborative military force as well as a personal one. He hoped to be able to help in the creation of this army, after all LOOM had produced such a large number of devices already. While the Metal Lords had yet to make any direct enemies, Ultimatum was certain that it would not be long before conflict came to them. The Sith would not be content to allow any other leaders be a threat to them and so even should the good in the galaxy be allies of them there would be those who would wish to see them ended. Further Ultimatum doubted that even those of the good in the galaxy would have their few who believed that the droids were evil.

But then that led to the question of what was considered good or evil. The question of morality baffled Ultimatum, as far as he could tell it was merely a matter of what the organic chose to be good or evil, which accounted for the vast changes that had occurred over the centuries. Therefore he could be either good or evil dependent on who was making the judgement. At the same time did not everyone believe themselves to be good, which would make the entirety of the galaxy nothing more than a war between people who believed themselves righteous.

Thusly there was no way to believe in a righteous war, not without saying that the other people were wrong, which in and of itself was no proof. A matter of perspective. Since there was nothing that organics could or would say that would not eventually change, they had to have some permanent basis upon which to make any claim. Perhaps it was a rather foolish idea, but what if there was more than the universe that was about them. What if there was a being or beings that stood permanent above all reality. What then could it be? Who could prove its existence. Certainly it was as likely to be proven as the Maker. Therefore what could he do but guess wildly at the potentials.

The droid had to shake off these thoughts in order to focus in the present. Such wanderings of the mind were proof of his origins, a creation intended to be almost organic in mind if not body. He sent over the comms to the [member="HK-36"] and his station, "Ultimatum here, I have arrived and will be prepared to board in a few minutes."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"],

Another question worth investigating more would not have been just the morality of their very existence but whether HK was calling this meeting and pushing his resources towards standardizing their forces for defensive reasons, protecting their territory from possible aggressors, such as the Imperial Remnant who already declared their intentions to conquer all other major powers and rule the galaxy under single regiment, or as plan for offensive operations. After all it was no secret that HK hat strong disdain toward multiple powers, the Sith Empire, the First Order, the Imperial Remnant, even from time to time the ancient droid could be caught grumbling and swearing strings of insults aimed at the Iron Empire, who the machine ferociously claimed "Were trying to steal their theme".

It was also no secret that HK did not worry as much about morality of joining a war as Ultimatum did, in fact majority of the resources he was able to gather for the Metal Lords came off of war profiteering and joining battles as mercenaries or basically pirates, good example of that being their sudden attack on the Dominion.

Either way, Ultimatum's transmission would be replied with,

"Alright, I am in the main board room I claimed as my office."

Before adding in,

"You know, the one with the huge safety hazard glassteel wall in it."

Just to make sure that Ulti won't wander into a wrong conference room.

 

[Ultimatum]

The procedures of docking and landing were simple enough. Ultimatum would have gone so far as to call it child's play, for he would have been willing to give the job to a child artificial.... Who was he kidding, he was a child artificial! For all his vast knowledge and supposedly deep thought, he was still so young. Less than a year had passed since his creation and he remained fully functional, not having lost any body yet. Perhaps in computer years he would have been outdated, but he was no mere computer. It struck the artificial as mildly amusing that he was perhaps the youngest member of the Metal Lords. It made him wonder if his actions seemed infantile. Did the others, in their purported age and wisdom, see him as thrashing about as a young child. Indeed Ultimatum wished to be anything but childish. He intentionally attempted to maintain an air of sophistication and maturity. But at the end of the day his understandings of those concepts were only left overs from his original programming.

It was fortunate the [member="HK-36"] made the distinction. It turned out that the different station had Ultimatum nearly baffled. He found his way however without too much in the way of incident. The artificial lord was however surprised that when he arrived, there had been no other of the Metal Lords, aside from HK of course. Ultimatum smiled as he saw the older droid, how different the circumstances were compared to their first meeting. They were allies now, though Ultimatum was reminded of a certain promise he had made to HK back when ruler of Mustafar. One that had fallen apart after the Sith regime ousted him. He questioned whether the superior remembered that promise, or if it even mattered anymore. Certainly he would not have offered the position of Metal Lord to Ultimatum unless HK trusted in his abilities. The artificial's smile disappeared and was replaced by a thought filled frown. He tried to shake away the uncertainty as he asked, "Where are the other Lords, they are coming are they not?"

 

[KeCholo]

Ke'Cholo wasn't sure how sensitive the audio receptors of [member="HK-36"] and [member="Ultimatum"] were, but he was pretty sure they could hear him coming. Ke'Cholo's boots clanked and clacked on the metal floors of the space station, made even louder by the echoing. The Master of Arms had received an open invitation to the meeting, in which the creation of an elite guard would be described. Familiar somewhat with droids, Ke'Cholo thought his expertise in combat and arms manufacturing would come in handy. Should the droids need so, Ke'Cholo could even order the crafting of arms for this guard. Despite the loud walking, Ke'Cholo announced his presence to the droid with a loud knock at the door to the conference room. Entering, the droids would see Ke'Cholo in his normal garb, minus all of his weapons except for his Phrik Westar 34's. The Duros noticed two droid in the room, HK-36 who he was familiar with and very tall droid who looked intricately designed. Ke'Cholo would introduce himself to the metal stranger with a simple...

''Howdy, my name's Ke'Cholo'' the mercenary and arms manufacturer said through his thick cajun accent to the newly met droid. Ke'Cholo made himself at home, sinking into a nearby chair. He patted himself down, apparently looking for something. Stopping after patting his left breast pocket, he retrieved a metallic cigar case.

''Before we begin, either of you mind if I light up?'' he said through teeth clutching an expensive cigar. His lighter hovered near the end of the cigar, awaiting confirmation.

 

[Lord Mettallum]

If [member="HK-36"] and [member="Ultimatum"] could hear [member="KeCholo"] walking to the conference room then all three of them should definitely hear Lord Mettallum walk to it or in this case what sounded like three Lord Mettallums walking towards the conference room. Once the footsteps got to the conference room they stopped. After a couple of seconds two massive droids entered the room. The two droids stood at attention next to the door into the conference room with their massives electro axe in one hand with a blaster cannon strapped to their back. After another couple of seconds Lord Mettallum entered the room making it clear that the droids that entered before him are his elite guard. One would notice that surprisingly the Droids where bigger than Lord Mettallum and atleast one meter taller. Lord Mettallum took a seat with his guards moving to stand behind him.

"Sorry I Lord Mettallum am late I Lord Mettallum had to make sure my new guards were in shape. Anyway Exile, Unbeliever and Organic that I Lord Mettallum don't know why you would be here Let me introduce you to my new droids the GP Series Guardian Droids. Now when are the talks beginning"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="KeCholo"], [member="Lord Mettallum"],

"Hey Ulti."

HK casually greeted the other Metal Lord with a nod when he entered,

"Yes, I received a message from Mettallum that he will be there, others may have gotten distracted with something else or are still working on gaining control over their chosen planets, but if they will arrive the more the better."

It was then that heavy footsteps would be heard from behind the door as Ke joined them inside the room, entering and greeting Ultimatum, before asking to smoke,

"Go ahead, we do not have lungs, it is your poison. Ke here is my Master of Arms, swore fealty to me after I offered him a planet and a station in exchange for the loyalty of his company. I used to work as a mercenary before under the Omega Protectorate, I know how valuable their viewpoint could be when it comes to designing an efficient fighting force."

He then motioned from Ultimatum to Ke,

"Ultimatum here is the Artificial Sovereign, one of the first Metal Lords to join and organize our movements along with his company, LOOM."

HK explained to Ke, introducing the other droid just as Lord Mettallum himself entered the room along with the example of his new elite guards, the GP series, preceded by loud heavy footsteps of the machine,

"The Metal Lord Lord Mettallum, welcome. The Organic here is my new Master of Arms, he swore fealty to me according to our new laws and rites, and now serves by organizing one of my auxiliaries and providing additional supply of vehicles, arms, and armor as my vassal."

The ancient droid explained to Mettallum,

"Since majority of the beings our forces would be fighting will probably be organics, and the Master of Arms has some experience now fighting as a mercenary throughout multiple theaters, I invited him to join these talks and provide a point of view we perhaps would not able to. Basically if he can think of a way to defeat the elite droids we would design together, then we have to add a feature to prevent that."

He then proposed, he knew how much disdain Mettallum had towards a long list of beings, hopefully the Preacher would be able to stomach the organic's presence long enough to get the job done.

"And I suppose the three of us will have to do for now, we have the bulk of Metal Lords military and industrial power here, so let us begin these talks, we can always send our designs to other Metal Lords remotely when they are free for their opinion."

HK would turn towards Ultimatum then,

"So we see Mettallum's elite guards before us, and my Greycloaks are basically copies of me, how goes the work on your elite V-3 models?"

 

[Ultimatum]

"Thirty-six." Ultimatum responded to the information greeting with his own. Perhaps it was not the best designed nickname, but certain there were not many options in the matter, as HK's name did not lack much in brevity. In fact he was using the longer of the two potential cuts. Whatever the thought behind it, Ultimatum decided that for now that would do as a nickname until he could discern a better one. As the older Metal Lord explained Ultimatum tilted his head to one side. The more the merrier, he was right.

The droid would wave his hand in a dismissive manner at [member="KeCholo"]'s question. It did not bother Ultimatum in the least and it would be indecent to force the organic to put it out. If the organic wanted to smoke, then it was no proverbial skin off of Ultimatum's proverbial nose. There was no purpose in such a gesture, it would be a waste of time and good graces. "Well met, master organic. I look forward to a long time of mutually beneficial interactions."

Which he needed as much he could get for the person who would step in next. Ultimatum would listen to [member="Lord Mettallum"]'s self introduction to the new droids he had produced. Certainly they were impressive and seemed to fit in with the Metal Lord's somewhat flamboyant personality. "As ever, impressive with your designs. I hope they will prove up to the task of your defense." The artificial meant it as a compliment, however once it left his mouth he realized that it could be misunderstood. There was always that possibility when speaking with what was no doubt a somewhat hostile force.

When [member="HK-36"] turned the conversation back to him he responded to the question, "They are, doing fine. The first have already rolled off the line, however production costs are more extreme than I had realized. I hope to develop a more perfected guard in the near future. I shall inform you of any developments that might be able to aid in our current endeavor at a later point."