When Fire Blazes (Ultimatum)

[Pyro]

"I guess so.." The truth was, Pyro was terrified. Here she was, one minute breaking into a secure mining facility, the next riding in a speeder with the fething Lord of Mustafar. She knew her eyes always betrayed her real feelings, so she looked down.

"I'm so sorry if I've disrespected you in any way, m'lord. I will repay my debt in any way you see fitting." Pyro put her right fist on her left shoulder as a gesture of salute, before returning her hand back to her side. She bit her quivering lip, she would repay [member="Ultimatum"] for his kindness and the deed she had done.

 

[Ultimatum]

He smiled, yes this would be a good friend, if they could bypass this accident. "Please, call me Ultimatum or some variant thereof. There is no need for formality and there is no debt. You have said sorry for you attempted theft and that is all that concerns me." He spoke gently, that was the emotion that he most often used. His master had intended him to be a war strategist droid, one capable of many tactical feats, heartless and without care for the loss of others. Ultimatum had decided for himself that those were traits that he did not want. He chose compassion and a gentle hand. Certainly there were times when he had to be hard, hard with those that remained stubborn. But he had become soft, or so some organics would say. He didn't care though, he had made his own decision, instead of having some dictate it for him.

He waited a breath before continuing, "May I ask a favor of you, as an equal?"

[member="Pyro"]

 

[Pyro]

"Okay.. Ultimatum. I would like you to call me Pyro then." Pyro tried his name out, and found she liked it better than the formalities. She smiled up at [member="Ultimatum"] despite her fear and nodded at his request. If anything, she liked to be referred to as equals, and she liked being able to choose. So much of her short life had been under the constant control of those who thought themselves higher than her.

 

[Ultimatum]

"Good to meet you Pyro. I was hoping that we might be friends. The enemy of my enemy is my friend correct?" At least, he hoped that she could be a friend. For Ultimatum is was a security feature, he could help Pheonix and also hopefully recieve help should he ever require it. Now, that was definitely not the only reason that he wanted to be friends, it was simply a cherry on top of his proverbial ice cream. He actually liked this little, strange organic. She seemed amicable, which was more than could be said for some of the people Ultimatum knew, and she seemed sincere, even if at times she resorted to crime. He didn't blame her, he was hardly an example of wholesome living.

The vehicle was slowing down, signalling their arrival to Progenitor Facility, which was little more than a rocky outcropping on the surface. A hidden entrance, which opened for the vehicle- Ultimatum was so proud of the addition of an internal garage- would reveal an almost sterile environment. The lighting was dark, as the droids inside the facility didn't require much in the way of spectral light. The temperature was still high, only lowered by about five degrees for the sake of the metals that were handled in the facility.

[member="Pyro"]

 

[Pyro]

"Correct. It's always nice to be able to add an ally and not an enemy." Pyro let her eyes adjust to the darkness inside the facility before looking around curiously. As they exited the speeder, [member="Ultimatum"] would notice the small, bright glow she gave off due to her Force-abilities. Realizing too late that she was giving off a glow, Pyro dimmed it so she was still luminescent, but not enough for her to look like a lamp.

"What is this place?" Her curiosity about most things was a trait that her creator, Terolyn, had sneaked into her during the experimental phase of her creation, to the annoyance of the Sith overseeing it, her husband Peredan. The curiousity gave Pyro the urge to learn all she could about things going on around her.

 

[Ultimatum]

"This is Progenitor Facility, a personal hideaway and base of operations on Mustafar." It housed almost anything of importance to him. Not that there was much that was important to him. He was not attached to anything yet, not things anyway, people were important. That was why he was working on things to help people, save them from their enemies and sometimes even themselves.

He filed away the fact that [member="Pyro"] had been glowing for a few moments. He was certain that she was a Force user now, the fact that she could control it was a suggestion to that. He wondered if she were a Jedi, or something close to that. "So, you're a Force user? Who taught you?"

[member="Pyro"]

 

[Pyro]

"Amazing." Pyro glanced around her as they kept walking. The place fascinated her, and wondered where they were going when [member="Ultimatum"] asked about the glow.

"So, you're a Force user? Who taught you?"

Two questions, the latter being a question Pyro dreaded. She stopped, thinking it over, a troubled look in her red eyes.

"Yes I'm a Force-user, but I don't like talking about my former Master. He was.." She looked for the right word to describe her master/creator, "Crueler than most."

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum understood, he didn't talk about his original master much either. He hated the man, not because of cruelty or anything he had done to Ultimatum, but it was because the organic had been a hypocrite and a liar. He had made Ultimatum a war machine and for that Ultimatum had decided against it. He had changed his own programming just to spite his master.

He led to a room which contained a comfortable bed and a table with chairs. It was meant as a basic living space for organics who visited, it had a window looking out over the lava river to the volcano, which was in a constant state of eruption. "I am very sorry to hear that. I hope that you have had better experience with other people. This is where most organics stay, or would if I had any guests. You would actually be the first to use this room. I can have some food brought in if you would like." Ultimatum had never had a visitor who was in the facility long enough to make use of the room.

[member="Pyro"]

 

[Pyro]

"Yes, some food would be nice. I can only stay for a few days as I am going off planet to visit a friend in another system." While she didn't have many friends, the one she was going to visit was a very special friend that she had met only a few months prior. They had become close friends very quickly, because of their common traits and fighting techniques. She smiled at [member="Ultimatum"] gratefully.

"If you are ever in need of my assistance, contact me, or find em near these coordinates." She wrote down the coordinate location of the volcano where an abandoned mining facility sat. The said mining facility was, in fact, Pyro's lair/hideout, a location only one other person besides herself, and now Ultimatum, knew about.

 

[Ultimatum]

"I hope that the only times I have to call you are social in origin." He smiled as he spoke, he truly did not want to have to call on anyone for reasons of war or battle. He wanted to be a friend that avoided such conflicts, yet he knew that as a droid and a leader of a planet he was doomed to be made an enemy of. Thus far it had only been one enemy, but one was enough to cause considerable strife.

Such thoughts though, they were not for the present. He cast them aside as he sent a silent command over his connections to bring food to the room. Not too surprisingly, it was a mere thirty seconds before it arrived, the usual efficiency of his droids had not slacked even from all his time away. He allowed the droid to take the platter to the table in the room and set it before leaving. Ultimatum stayed still until he decided to ask, "What are you looking for on Mustafar? If I may be so bold as to ask." It was probably a strange question, in fact it was probably irrelevant, but he asked anyways.

[member="Pyro"]

 

[Pyro]

"I hope that as well." As the food arrived, Pyro ate quietly and quickly a little lost in thought. She listened to [member="Ultimatum"]'s question and nodded slowly.

"I am here for sanctuary." She decided to tell her story to the best of her ability, and leave out most of the details. Pyro's face became somber and showed signs of weariness and things that no one at her age should have gone through, a side she rarely showed unless talking of her siblings.

"I am the second youngest of my siblings. We all had special talents that caught the eye of the Sith. For four or five years they brought us in one by one and trained us to become monsters, weapons bred for war. Soon we remembered that we were actual beings, not weapons to be used and discarded when we were rendered useless, and so we escaped, killing our masters and fleeing into space. After we had escaped, we made a pact to separate so it would be harder to find us." Pyro bit her lip and held back a tear. She missed her family so much. "I came to Mustafar because I had heard that it was a beautiful volcanic planet, and I knew I could hide here until it came time to find my siblings again."

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum listened in rapt attention. He realized that the similarities between their pasts, while there, were remote indeed. He did have a sibling, perse, a fellow AI created only days after himself. His master had intended the two AI's for purposes that Ultimatum did not agree with, but that was where the likeness ended. He did not like his younger 'brother' the two AI's were similar enough to cause strife, yet different enough to not be completely understanding on one anther.

When at last [member="Pyro"] finished Ultimatum took a deep breath. He felt much pity for the young being, knowing that she should not have gone through all this at such a young age, not aware of how truly young she actually was. He hated, truly and deeply loathed, how horrible sentient organics could treat one another. He had found it the most surprising revelation when at first he had figured it out, there was no other organic that was as cruel or dangerous to itself than a sentient organic. Yes a Gundark could kill you, but a human, a Twi'lek, a Gran, and so many others could torture you for information. It was a sad reality that an organics greatest enemy was a fellow sentient. That was part of his beliefs.

Ultimatum at last replied quietly, thoughtfully, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

 

[Pyro]

They sat in silence for a bit. Pyro couldn't blame Lord [member="Ultimatum"] for his silence, she knew how tragic her story would be to some beings. Just when she thought the silence would never end, Ultimatum spoke up.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"If you could keep your knowledge of my presence here hidden from any Sith you may encounter, it would be easier to come and go from this planet. I am going to be leaving and coming back every once in a while to try and contact my siblings on the planets they set out for."

 

[Ultimatum]

"As best as I may, your living here will be completely secret. If you and your siblings ever need a place to stay just ask. Where are you planning on going?" Ultimatum could feel his mind ease a bit. He was at first surprised, it was as if there was something wrong with him up until now and it was beginning to fade. He realized a moment late, it wasn't something wrong with him that was fading, it was something that he had done that was righting the wrongs. He was helping against the Sith, there was relief in that. He had been working alongside the Sith so as to avoid conflict and he had known that it was a temporary thing. Now he was working against them, even in a small way.

He smiled a little, only to himself really. He knew that he could break free of the web he had created. He had to and he would, this was the beginning. He had learned one thing under his master, that there was always an alternative, there were so many paths to tread that there was no correct one. He had tried to figure out what the correct life was, but there seemed to be none aside from what one chose for him or herself. He found it too difficult to comprehend. That was why he had chosen to stay neutral, there was too much to this galaxy and he had to understand it all before he could make a proper decision.

[member="Pyro"]

 

[Pyro]

"I don't exactly know where, but I'll go wherever my heart leads me to go." The truth was Pyro had no idea where to start. Her brothers and sisters never actually told each other where they were going, but she knew she had to at least try to look. She had had little to no contact with the outside world since her escape and didn't know where to start. It was a big galaxy versus a little girl. Yep, good times. Pyro stood up from the table and moved towards the window with the view. Surprisingly enough, when she squinted she could make out the shape of the mining facility she lived in. Her eyes widened and her face came closer to the glass, a small, almost non-existent smile on her lips. The landscape that spread before her was magnificent. Volcanic rivers flowed from spewing mountains and joined together to form a very large river. Pyro sighed at the view, taking it all in.

"Breath-taking view."

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum followed [member="Pyro"]'s gaze. It was an extraordinary sight. At the same time, for Ultimatum it was a perfect symbol of that which he was trying to destroy. The lava, ever coming forth from the volcanoes, was destructive and it would devour the ground created by that which was created before it. This was all too similar to the Sith, new acolytes were always arriving and they always wanted to destroy their masters and take the power for themselves. For all this, it was ironically a symbol of hope. No matter how much molten metal and rock spewed forth there was always more, just like the hope that he was ever striving for.

"It is." He had no affection for the lava's symbols of power. He was not one to be attracted to such a basic thought. His mind had both advantages and disadvantages to being overly complex. He did not fail to understand why organics thought the way they did, but he could not think that way himself. He could see why the some organics saw it some ways, but he could only see it as his own.

"What is it you see?"

 

[Pyro]

"See that abandoned mining facility over there?" Pyro pointed towards her home. She really only used the main control room and the main entrance, so there was no need for the other storage rooms and docking bays, but it still held firm.

"That is where I live. That is my sanctuary."

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum took a mental note of the location, to be certain that few ever entered it. There was a definite location to defend. He decided to speak on a matter of much importance in regards to her safety. "I must warn you that a Sith has taken up this planet as a work place. He is using me and my company to expand his own goals, while he doesn't come here often it is possible he might find that facility. If he returns I will keep him busy elsewhere, just please be safe."

He wondered what she thought of him. Strangers until only an hour or so ago, that was indeed a steep curve in which to become even associates. Was he a friend to her? Was he an acquaintance? She trusted him quite a bit. Were they friends? It was a question that he hoped would be answered in works rather than words. He trusted her, she was the enemy of his enemy, but more than that. She was a fugitive, forced out of her life by the selfishness of the people that he equally hated. He had not yet been on the side of the Sith that everyone knew, but he didn't have to experience it. He could look around him and see their legacy. He looked forward to the day he could openly defy them.

[member="Pyro"]

 

[Pyro]

Now that was something to be accounted for.

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the warning. I'll keep my wits about me."

Pyro also wondered what [member="Ultimatum"] thought of her, as a friend, or just an ally? They had only just met, like, an hour ago. She wouldn't voice the question for she thought that would be rude.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum looked down at the little organic beside him. Yes, he did see her as more than an ally. He had trusted her thus far, and he got the feeling, from where he knew not, that he could trust her with everything he felt. He had never truly opened to an organic, he was a droid after all and was at least somewhat distrusting of an organic's ability to keep a secret. He knew though that this one had little in the way of friends, but more than that she appeared truthful and forthright. She hadn't attempted to escape justice when she had been caught. That was not something he would expect of a Sith, and was grateful for it.

Ultimatum spoke, quietly at first, unsure of what he was going to say completely, "I, wish you good luck in finding your siblings. I believe that we are very much alike and for that I would like to say that we are friends."

[member="Pyro"]