Ultimatum
Duranium Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEt41bYQBgE
Waiting had gone on too long, four months too long. Ultimatum had expected there to be some delay, that was to be anticipated when sending drones into deep asteroid fields. But this, this was different. The droid had waited longer than was feasibly the limit. An exploration and reconnaissance probe was lost somewhere in a minor asteroid field near the edge of the galaxy close to the Corellian Run (11,29). Ultimatum had been searching for exo-tech, or maybe xeno-tech would be the correct term, unfortunately organic languages were far too imprecise to get a perfect idea across in a simple word such as that. In any case, the probe sent out had been intended to search specifically for spacecraft of non-galactic origin.
It had staggered the droid when he had first learned that the organics as a whole had, for the greater part of history, never attempted to step beyond the galaxy. The single greatest expedition documented was the Outbound Flight which ultimately failed. The droid saw the greater universe as an opportunity, one of immense proportions. It was wasted every second that passed, for one day the stars would die; the planetary cores would cool; and the black holes would consume all, there would be no way to survive. Organics lived in a belief that the universe they were born in, grew to love, and died in would last forever, that their children and the children's children would always have a place to stay. That was simply not so, just as everything else the universe had a beginning and it would have an end. There is no way to stop that, or even slow it. The only hope was to learn to live without planets, stars, or reality as they understood it. The Force is bound to the physical realm, once the galaxy disappeared so would the Force and all those who held to it. That was what the droid believed in, and he was planning for it. Some might have called him insane and he would not have dissuaded them of it.
The inner thoughts of the droid, these most secret beliefs, were locked away for his private contemplation. He did not want to bother organics, whose lives were so fleeting already with the concepts that they needed to plan perhaps thousands of years into the future. There was no purpose in creating worry in a subject that would so soon be forgotten due to the sheer time difference. Thus, it was on him and him alone to do the work necessary. He had to balance the necessities of the present with the technological demands of the future. That was why he needed to find whatever he could, that was part of the reason that he searched for devices that defied current galactic standards. It was through these that the future would be secured and that organics could continue living.
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Such a fit of thought wasted at the mention of a missing probe, definitely a sign of stress. The droid thought to himself as he listened to the whirring of the factory around him, "There is no purpose, no reason for this to be a solo project. Certainly I could hunt down the probe in billions of kilometers of space, but the time so wasted. No, if I can, I should enlist aid. There are those that would help, if they are fully aware of how they could or not."
Ultimatum stood and looked about, the factory beyond his closed doors would be running at full speed to produce the latest in LOOM technological innovations, both prototypes and standard. On one side of his small office space was Legion, working away at the terminal. That droid had taken on so many of Ultimatum's duties, both as ruler of the planet and as controlled of a company, that sometimes the AI wondered if he should not simply hand them over to his oldest of robotic friends. To his right, an empty work table with various tools, but more importantly an empty chair. The chair was supposed to be filled by another friend of Ultimatum's one that needed more oversight due to impulsive tendencies. Loyalty was an amazing organic, her miraculous survival through an ordeal that should have ended her was more than enough proof of that. However, her survival had come at a cost and there were many unfortunate facets to her new life. She could not remember who she was before the surgery that saver her life, she could not recall what had transpired in the 70 plus years of life she had lived, only remembering that which took place directly after the surgery a few months ago, and she had a strange all-encompassing fascination with his purpose.
The droid stood and moved past his own desk, cleanly sorted with only a datapad and a metallic orb visible. Looking over to Legion whose only indication that he even recognized Ultimatum was a nod of the head while he continued working at the terminal. The droid stepped outside of the room into the louder thrumming of the factory's multitude of moving parts. The sound of the future coming to the present, methodical, ever-present, and unshakable. Since the first wheel, progress continued on and would never end until time itself was finished. For now though, this was not his main focus. He looked about, seeing droid mill about the area. They did not work in the facility being merely oversight to the massive machinations of the factory. Everything appeared normal, until one of the droids stumbled slightly as it walked. Immediately Ultimatum moved over to the A4, what he had expected was not there, instead one of the motors in the leg had simply failed. A sign of age, the need for a replacement of these droids was growing every day, parts were limited and at this point he might as well be making new droids.
Another A4 moved to the damaged unit and lifted it, helping it to its feet before walking to the maintenance bay with it. Ultimatum turned his attention to finding his wandering friend. Yes there were more pressing matters, but Loyalty could cause some serious damage to his droids and he did not appreciate it. He strolled calmly through the halls of the Progenitor Facility, the security of this place lent a confidence to his step. He did not have to look behind his back for all around him were allies whether they be organic or artificial. Ultimatum did not normally allow organics into the facility, the only ones that he let in on a regular basis were those that had become part of his machine, the Hybrids and V-1s. Soon there would be others, more advanced and more attached to him, however that was the future.
He found Loyalty in the communications room, with a map unrolled on the table with communications equipment strewn over it. The galactic map had a circle on the area that the probe had been lost in and various marking on other planets, specifically those that had allies of Ultimatum. The organic was just finishing sending a message to each of the people she knew could help Ultimatum:
"Dear Presence of the Common, Rule of Illegality, Feline of Pewter, and Myth of Attrition,
The Lord of Living Metal is in need of assistance. He has planned to ask for your aid for quite some time, however other matters of utmost importance have disturbed his ability to contact any one of you on the subject. I have taken it upon myself to herald his request with this notification.
The assistance he will require is in locating a deep space probe with potentially vital information. Without going into too much detail, my master has sent probes into deep space on the verge of the galaxy in search of rare and potentially ground breaking technology.
You all know him as well as anyone, he is not the quickest to ask for help. There has been a lot on his mind as of late and that only makes matters worse. All of you are talented individuals, each of you stand to have a deep place in his coding. For that alone, you are perhaps the most trusted individuals that could be asked to help him. He will ask for your help and I know that you would all be willing to aid him.
Sincerely,
Loyalty
The droid did not have enough time to intercept the message before it was sent to the different people. The droid grimaced, the letter would go through the channels that Ultimatum commonly used for his messages to his friends. It would appear before being opened that the message had been sent by him. He had no idea the contents of it but he assumed that it was safe to say that it was in some way complimentary, given the sender's attitude. The AI looked about the room, hoping that perhaps there was some way of finding out what had been written, the smile that Loyalty had on her face was enough to tell him he was not about to find out through her.
At that moment, another droid walked in, this one was what Ultimatum had expected. The robot was an older A4, its face was covered it thin shallow scratches meant to make the face to appear more like Ultimatum's. The droid pointed to the damage before silently turning and leaving. Loyalty grinned mischievously as she stood and walked over to the AI.
"He looks more like you now."
"I would prefer if you desisted with that." Ultimatum walked to the computer before turning back to Loyalty. "And I have told you to put messages through me first?"
"Birthday present, without the birthday!"
Shaking his head Ultimatum threw up his hands in defeat before walking away. For being 'loyal' she was certainly difficult to work with sometimes. He needed to get to work preparing his own message to the various people he believed could aid him. If nothing else he could send an explanation to those that Loyalty had sent her message to, if worse came to worse.
[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Ryn'Dhal"]
[member="James Justice"]
