The System: An Awakened Fallacy

[Ultimatum]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIF1UtS21IQ​

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At last the newest invention was complete, at last the next step had been accomplished. Ultimatum was glad that he had sent out the messages ahead of time. Many of the people he knew had been made aware of his work on a new form of technology. Now he opened the information onto the HoloNet, a message spread out into everywhere and anything. A message that spoke of a new experiment open for any participants. The message contained coordinates to a deep space station that projected beacons many lightyears out from its center.

Aboard the sizable station, Ultimatum waited. In the time he awaited for allies and strangers alike, the artificial ran several precheck scans through the systems. He had another computer generate random mental makeups and had the scanners begin working through them. He looked forward to this, a test that would change how the organics thought. Time would become a lost thought with this invention, and it would be glorious.

He hoped that those who came would be willing to accept the inconvenience and more importantly, be forgiving of it. It would be worth it.

[member="Darth Abyss"] [member="Arisa Yune"] [member="Lady Kay"] [member="Marl"] [member="Dead Eye"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay had gotten the message from [member="Ultimatum"] a few days ago. It was an odd experiment, but as it worked with the mind, she figured that it could help her. During her abduction and months of captivity by Darth Prazutis, one of his tortures was in ripping out memories of times and people that she cared for, of her best friends. Some of them had been restored through her Force Bond with [member="Veiere Arenais"] . Yet he could only do so much. He told her that memories could never be fully taken, just blocked from her. Lacking those memories, lacking those parts of herself made her feel as though she was at a disadvantage. It frustrated her and she was lucky that no one had tried to pull a fast one on her. Instead, most had only felt bad for her and tried to force her to remember through recreating certain events.

But those efforts didn't work. Veiere had hoped that holding her old lightsaber and reconnecting with it would help, but her lightsaber was lost. The last that she knew, a Herglic bounty hunter named [member="Ghorua the Shark"] had possession of it. People told her that she was on friendly terms with him, but she wasn't so sure. More than likely, he probably sold it.

So Ultimatum's experiment would have to do. It was worth a try. She had left Commenor on board the Free Lady the day before, telling others that she was going on a retreat. It wasn't hard to get others to agree, for they all figure that she worked too hard anyways. She wasn't dressed in any gowns this time, only slacks, shirt and jacket. No jewelry was on her person except for her wedding rings, which had been alchemized to increase her Force Bond with Veiere. If she was ever in trouble, he'd know.

When the Free Lady finally exited hyperspace her pilot opened up communications with the station that loomed ahead of them. ~This is the Free Lady requesting permission to dock.~ Her name wasn't announced. She didn't exactly want others to know that she was there.

[member="Darth Abyss"] [member="Marl"] [member="Dead Eye"]

 

[Farlon Orbit]

Orbit sat silently in the guards quarters of the Free Lady, for one of the first times in his experience as a royal guard for the queen of Commenor, he was alone inside its metal cabin walls. Instead of the normal Royal guard colors, he wore a ban that leather duster over a cheap tunic and worn pants. If [member="Lady Kay"] didn't want to attract attention, he wouldn't attract attention. Rather than read a holo-novel or do something else for entertainment, Lrbit had done his best to find out what he could about [member="Ultimatum"] and the space station they were to board, but with the limited time available and the small amount of archival information he could find over the starship's limited holo net access, he felt unprepared, very unprepared.

An automated intercom recording rung over the ship, they were about to dock on the space station. Rather than taking just the WESTAR-35 stuffed inside his knee-reaching jacket, Orbit slung a modified E-11 across his back for good measure, he had learned in the army, if you didn't know what was gonna hit you, better pack heavy. Without a second thought Orbit left the guards quarters and opened the door to the queen's cabin, "Queen, we are approaching the docks."

[member="Darth Abyss"] [member="Marl"] [member="Dead Eye"]

 

[Marl]

Marl hired a transport to take him to the mysterious location, after the transport left. Marl walked through the hallways. Participants of what? Marl had wondered, however if the reward was as big as the ad had mentioned, well hopefully it's just testing beauty products. He made his way through the hallways when suddenly a dead end, this was a T intersection however suddenly he saw a glowing figure, wait no two figures. he ducked into a nearby doorway, one male and one female were walking through the hallway they were a translucent blue. He held his DC-17 blaster pistol close to his chest. once the two passed him he yelled over.

"You two freeze. turn around, slowly, put the guns on the ground and kick them into the intersection. I have much bigger guns than you and I'd hate to have to use them." Marl hope they didn't catch his bluff until it was too late. If this ad was actually a trap he was hopefully about to find out.

The two turned around. they were Hologram AI, projected using floating holopads. The Lady AI ignored Marl and went towards another docking bay.

"Right this way, ​Marl.​Our master has been expecting you, and as for those.​" he nodded towards the Marl's blaster.

"Those you won't be needing." The AI continued inward towards the ship and Marl followed holstering his blaster..

[member="Farlon Orbit"]
[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Ultimatum"]
[member="Dead Eye"]

 

[Bolt]

(Just realized it never saved my post! Wtf! I replied within 15 mins of your tag! Stupid phone!!)

Doc silently did his old trick for reloading his six shooters. Long had he been using these, practicing every single day. He was a perfect marksman, not even just ggood but truly an apex shooter. It had gotten to the point the rolling the chamber with a quick jerk would mean he could simply launch bullets into it with a precise ease (*). Which he was doing now. One, two, three, four - so quickly the bullets slid home, that counting them aloud would be impossible to keep up with.

Holstering each, he turned on a dime, grabbed his Shadow Coat and made for his ships controls. Soon enough he would be meeting with the others.

(*= See sig)
[member="Ultimatum"] [member="Marl"] [member="Farlon Orbit"] [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay looked up to the ceiling as she heard the transmission go through. It was time. She didn't expect access to be denied. [member="Ultimatum"] was a close ally and friend, though she didn't quite feel close to him. Hopefully this experiment will help her to remember. It was possibly dangerous, but she was so desperate to get back what she was missing.

[member="Farlon Orbit"] soon opened her door and stepped inside. She looked over to him and nodded. "I heard. I don't expect any trouble, but thank you for coming with me anyways. I just hope that it won't be boring for you." Kay often wondered how bored her guards would get following her around at times. At least Farlon shared her passion for reading holo-novels.

Access for the Free Lady was granted. Everyone on board could feel and hear it dock, the new pilot not quite being accustomed to the modified freighter. The ramp was lowered and the ship was powered down. Kay left her quarters and headed down the ramp, not entirely sure of where to go. Maybe Ultimatum would be somewhere nearby. She glanced around and shrugged her shoulders a bit as she didn't spot him right away. "I'm sure he'll be here shortly."

Another ship was there already, though [member="Marl"] had left by the time they arrived. Kay looked over towards [member="Dead Eye"] 's ship as it began to dock. Just how many people were coming here? And who? She just wasn't sure.

 

[Ultimatum]

Indeed Ultimatum would be there shortly, he had finished most of the maintenance and would leave the rest to be conducted by the main workers in this area. Now it was time for him to play the overseer, he would not operate any of the machines unless absolutely necessary, he would need to coordinate the organics and hopefully maintain peace. Ultimatum was glad to see that a number of people had already shown up, including his friend [member="Lady Kay"]. He walked to the bay to meet with Kay and her body guard.

He approached and spoke, "It's good to see you again. I trust the trip was uneventful?" He held out his hand.

-----------

He had also received a notification that one of the participants had already entered and was being escorted to the assembly area. Most of the people who showed up, would be asked at that point to secure their weapons and valuables in lockers. The Hologram leading [member="Marl"] would take him to a large room, with a simple row of about two dozen lockers. Behind a counter to his left a droid was waiting and the Hologram pointed to it before disappearing. The droid would then begin to speak, "Welcome Participant. Please leave all valuables and weapons in one of the designated areas. Each is biometrically locked once closed."

[member="Dead Eye"] [member="Farlon Orbit"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay spotted [member="Ultimatum"] as he approached. The last she had seen him, it was on the day of her wedding. She hoped that he liked his gift. He had been there to support her after her abduction and was told that he had searched for her during her disappearance as well. He didn't scoff at her darker state, didn't point it out, nor did he mention how she had become more like her old self. He treated her in the same way, always. She appreciated it more than he knew. Guilt was a terrible thing for her.

"It was a nice and quiet trip, thank you. Lovely to see you too." She smiled and took hold of his hand, giving it a soft shake before gesturing to [member="Farlon Orbit"]. "This is my newest guard, Farlon Orbit. He's done very well with us so far. As you can imagine, I'm not really allowed to venture anywhere alone. I hope you don't mind him coming along."

[member="Marl"] [member="Dead Eye"]

 

[Bolt]

Doc stepped free of his crafts control section, hand reaching into thumb the butt of the Colt. When the last of the shaking signaled a full docking, the Gunslinger moved too the rear of his craft. Exiting via the ramp, he once more brought his jacket to cover his weaponry. He never went without them, and he also knew it was likely that they would request he remove them. But if they didn't see them...

Who knew, maybe he could keep them.

"Hello, I am here under call of Ultimatum, I believe. Can you please let him know I am here?" Doc told a droid that approached.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum looked [member="Farlon Orbit"]up and down for a moment before replying with a pleased smile, "No problem at all. Commenor needs to protect their Queen after all. Perhaps he could take part in the experiment as well. I do have some rather important questions before you meet the other participants. It involves Force sensitivity." He began to lead them towards the first room, however he walked slowly so as to ask the questions while in relative privacy. The artificial recalled that Kay had at one point hidden her abilities from the greater galaxy and he was uncertain if that remained true. He also wanted to warn [member="Lady Kay"] of a specific precaution that was going to be taken for everyone's safety.

He intended on asking everyone present whether they were Force sensitives or not, in order to better brief them on the particulars of the System's mechanisms. Or at least give part information. After all the most key note in this test was that the participants were not aware of the true depth of what was going to happen. The studies would be slightly different from the ones that he would claim to be doing.

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Meanwhile [member="Dead Eye"] would be led by another droid to the same room as @Marl. The droid could not speak, its design was intended for intense organic calculations and had no need for a method of speaking verbally when working with computers. The walk was short and the new arrival would find the same situation as Marl, the artificial behind the counter would repeat, "Welcome Participant. Please leave all valuables and weapons in one of the designated areas. Each is biometrically locked once closed." Whether or not the organic would put away his weapons away was up to him. Ultimatum had no intention of enforcing the rule, merely seeing how the organics would respond to it.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Her secret. [member="Ultimatum"] knew of her secret, but [member="Farlon Orbit"] did not. She hadn't trusted him enough to divulge that information yet. Kay chewed the inside of her cheek. Going into whispers about it while Farlon walked behind them wouldn't be a smart choice. She cleared her throat a little and spoke quietly in response. "What about it?"

She didn't look at either of them, just straight on ahead. She was quite certain that Farlon would have plenty of questions for her, and more than likely he'd be angry about it too. People tended to get angry about it when she made them aware. It was partly why she kept it a secret to begin with. More or less, keeping it a secret had kept her alive.

[member="Marl"] [member="Dead Eye"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum continued walking at the leisurely pace. At first the artificial was confused, for a single moment he was about to remind her of her abilities. He knew such a reminder was unnecessary, at least from what he had last heard Kay still had her abilities. However, the thought crossed his mind that she was intentionally avoiding the subject. In a matter of nanoseconds he made a guess as to why she would not be willing to discuss it at that moment. There were several possibilities, but the one that struck Ultimatum as the most likely was that her guard was not yet aware of the fact.

In an attempt to pass over the simple fact Ultimatum continued, "Well you have had a tendency to keep Force sensitive company, I wanted to make sure that you're guard here was not one of them. Or was one, it hardly matters. In order to protect against potential accidents involving the Force some of the containers have been fitted with Ysalamiri. Which as Force sensitives know is a rather unpleasant surprise." He hoped that it would be a less obvious way of conveying the message to [member="Lady Kay"].

[member="Farlon Orbit"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Ultimatum"] figured it out rather quickly. And for that Kay was quite relieved. She wasn't sure if [member="Farlon Orbit"] had caught on yet. There'd be time to discuss that later. For now though she continued the small ruse.

Ysalamiri. She had been around them before, even used their odd bubble effect to hide herself from other Force Sensatives before she had learned how to shrink her Force signature. During her abduction, Ysalamiri-like properties were injected in her by a collar that was fitted with many needles. So she knew full well of what the effects felt like.

"I can understand how that'd be a concern. Farlon here is not Force sensative as far as I'm aware. But it's good to know that you're prepared. Is there anything else that I should know?"

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum shook his head as he responded, "Nothing else should be a concern. Though, I hope that you will be willing to relinquish weapons for the test duration. A security precaution, I would prefer to avoid the potential danger of people fighting and damaging the equipment. If you or your guard truly wish to keep your weapons then it is alright." As with everyone else he had no intention of enforcing the rule, it would create more tension to use such a rule.

They reached the room with everyone else at this point. Ultimatum pointed to the various lockers and suggested, "These lockers have biometric locks and no one will have access to this room while testing is ongoing. Whatever valuables or weapons you wish to leave are safe here."

[member="Lady Kay"] [member="Dead Eye"] [member="Farlon Orbit"] [member="Marl"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded. She didn't bring any weapons, however she knew that [member="Farlon Orbit"] did. Whether or not he'd be trusting enough to let it go remained to be seen. "Thank you."

She looked to the others once they joined them. Listening in on [member="Ultimatum"] 's instructions, Kay was a bit hesitent. She trusted her friend but she had no idea about the others; [member="Marl"] and [member="Dead Eye"] . Still.....she removed her wedding rings and walked over to one of the lockers. The door opened with ease and she slipped them inside, placing them gently on the bottom of the locker. She closed it and placed her hand on the biometric pad, hearing it lock.

Kay then headed over to Ultimatum, nodding to him. "I'm ready."

 

[Farlon Orbit]

Orbit walked alongside the queen and the droid without discourse or expression, acting as professionally as he would normally, despite the lack of uniform. A lifetime of military service, and diligent mercenary work had kept him a man of strict codes. Interrupting those of higher authority, broke many of those blatantly, so not any form of an opinion or commentary could be heard from Orbit. Instead he allowed himself to think about the conversation that [member="Lady Kay"] and [member="Ultimatum"] shared openly between them. Even his dumb infantry brain could tell they were disguising something with their words, but he had neither time nor the patience to investigate what the true meaning of their words were.

When they reached the room that contained the lockers, Orbit became hesitant. HIs duty, gallantly placed onto him by the government and people of Commenor, was to protect the queen at all costs. Giving up his only means of defense seemed illogical in a position where he knew little of what was to come, despite the relations the queen may share with this, droid. Eventually, Orbit came to a compromise in his own head, he lifted the E-11 from his back and locked it into the storage provided, but unholstered his side arm from beneath his jacket to display towards their host, "I cannot surrender my side-arm without her maj-" Orbit caught himself before declaring the queen of Commenor's presence among them, "Without Kay's approval." It felt unnatural to call the queen other than an official title or term of authority, but he knew the parameters of this mission, he could not oust his queen's identity.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum nodded to [member="Farlon Orbit"] as he replied, "That is alright, I believe that there will be no problems. The equipment is on the sensitive side so please avoid shooting anything."

Indeed the advanced technology was nearly priceless in its development. Certainly many would want to get hold of it, if its true nature were disclosed. Undoubtedly the participants would require an explanation and they would receive just that, after the experiment had been conducted.

Ultimatum's voice rose and the speakers throughout the station blared out his message, "Those volunteers who are ready please continue into the testing chamber." A door with a bright green light above it would open up at the end of the room. Inside, the sterile white room was curved in a gentle sphere broken by what appeared to be various compartments with seating arrangements and a multitude of scanners. This was the first stage of the test, the collecting of information on each organic's individual brain process.

"This part will perhaps be the most boring for most of you," the droid said to [member="Lady Kay"] and Farlon, "In order to ensure the test goes forward as planned we will need to keep track of mental activity of each person. It is necessary that we have a full mapping of the brain in order to prepare it. There will be various tests that will range from painful to hopefully exquisite in order to map how each of your individual brains react to these stimulus. If we had a Force sensitive, maybe one of the other volunteers will be one, they would need to have a specialized set of testing for the brain's response to it." Ultimatum had already come up with a plan for getting Kay's Force tests done without necessarily revealing it to those around her. A 'mishap' with her specific brain tests would require her to spend slightly longer, once they had started.

[member="Dead Eye"] [member="Marl"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay looked to [member="Farlon Orbit"] as he first backtracked a bit on his words. She understood why he was reluctant, both in giving her title (something she wasn't fickle with anyways), as well as relinquishing all of his weapons. He was hired as her bodyguard and shouldn't have to rely on his fists and feet alone. But this was [member="Ultimatum"] . She trusted him. Should some trouble surface, she was sure that her friend would come to their aid and stop the experiment. "Do whatever you are most comfortable with, Farlon. I'm unarmed and so too is everyone else, I believe." Though she could be wrong. Whatever choice he would make, she was fine with it.

A door opened and she followed along with the rest of the group. There were plenty of chairs, and after looking to both Ultimatum and Farlon, she walked over to one of them and had a seat, leaning back. Mapping out the brain seemed a bit odd, but this was an experiment. Kay's eyes were drawn to Ultimatum as he mentioned specialized testing for Force Senatives. And some of the tests would be painful? She didn't see any needles or anything, so that was good. Perhaps, given all of the screens, they'll only be looking at pictures.

Hopefully she wouldn't have doubts about going into this.

 

[Farlon Orbit]

Orbit did not want to surrender his side-arm, but it was obvious by [member="Lady Kay"]'s actions that she wished him too. Reluctantly he set the WESTAR-35 blaster into one of the lockers, closing it with a bioscan of his hand as the key. Sighing, he returned with the group, keeping a wary eye of the other participants, remaining ready for whatever could happen. As they walked further and further away from the storage room, Orbit only more and more regretted his decision to leave behind his fire-arms, but he would have to deal with it. Orbit had been far worse situations, protecting the queen without any proper weapons wasn't the least scenario he could think of, but it wasn't one he wanted to be in.

When they reached the testing rooms, Orbit's demeanor changed. Rather than being the unemotional stone he was earlier, curiosity seemed to grip him. Despite [member="Ultimatum"]'s explanation of the room and its equipment's purposes, the way it all worked interested the clone. He gazed at the machine without leaving the queen's side. But when finished, returned back to the old posture he wore before, trying to remain professional.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum waited for those who were ready to enter the facility. The others could follow and would be given the same experience as the first. He closed the doors behind them, and motioned for the two to sit down in specialized chairs. Above each was what looked like a metal cap with silvery glasses on the front. While simple looking on the outside it was a very complex, not to mention expensive, machine set. It tracked brain patters in order to show how a person thought in certain situations. The brain was a complex organ that allowed for several functions at any given moment. It ran the entirety of an organic, most often without the organic even realizing or thinking about it.

Beyond that there was the various emotions, motor functions, and thought processes that needed to be recorded. And each brain was slightly different, in most cases it was barely enough to cause any problem. But for what Ultimatum had in mind the degree of perfection required individual results. It was not the most cost efficient method Ultimatum was sure, but it was what he had.

"The first part is just general mapping of the brain. Make yourself comfortable this first portion will be the longest." It was indeed the longest, and most important. Without a road map it wouldn't matter if he learned all the turns.

[member="Lady Kay"] [member="Farlon Orbit"]