Ask Links in a Chain

[Crix Aran]

Spoiler: Mission Brief

Ord Mantell is situated at an intersection between two trade routes, the Celanon Spur and the Entralla Route. Because of this, during more overtly prosperous times, the system was heavily protected by both the Republic and the Empire. An investment was made into protecting Ord Mantell in the form of a defence grid made of twelve XQ-5 Platforms, all linked by communication satellites and manned by a mixture of droids and organics.

One of the stations in the chain, Platform E, has recently suffered something of a mutiny by the security droids who were stationed there to supplement a 'marine' detachment. The droids in question have taken hostages but appear to have gained some measure of sentience, hold the hostages comfortably and their demands are simple; pay equivalent to their organic counterparts and the right to choose to leave the role should they desire.

The local defence forces want this dealt with one way or another and a diplomatic envoy of Jedi are agreed to be sent to the station to agree terms. It is up to the Jedi in question whether or not this is Lightsaber-dipomacy or not.

Red Lancer, Crix's long-suffering pilot droid, gave the green light as the ship exited hyperspace after the short jump they had taken to go from the edge of the Ord Mantell system to the platform in question. Platform E looked like every other XQ-5 Platform around the planet which, in turn, looked identical to all of the other XQ-5 Platforms he had ever seen before. Say what you might about their quality and suitability in a modern Galaxy but they managed the uniform look in a way that few others managed.

Moving out of the cockpit, trusting his pilot droid to get them in safely since they were expected, Crix entered the communal area between the rooms and the cargo hold. His fellow Jedi were not alone on this mission, the locals had sent with them a representative of the local Spacer guilds, a human by the name of Theo Kaz, with two organic bodyguards. As he stepped back into the communal area, the representative spoke up to the Jedi.

"Now Masters Jedi, I know your Order has a history of violence against security droids but please do your best to keep your lightsabers on your belts to begin with." he joked as he sipped at a cup of caf, "I'm sure if these droids are anything like organics seeking better pay and concessions, there will be enough 'strike breaking' action to go around later."

Odd way of being both accepting of a peaceful solution but also open to violence, he supposed. Crix raised an eyebrow ridge at the representative before glancing to his fellow Jedi.

"I can't speak for my friends here but I'm not gonna start anything."

As a Jedi it would be frowned upon - as someone who believed in droid sentience and had studied droids at university? The idea of forcing them to accept terrible labour conditions sat badly with him.

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[Eruc Panacean]

Eruc's hazel eyes stared into the mesmerizing lights of Hyperspace. He so rarely got to travel through space and relished every opportunity to do so. He found peace in the abyss.

When they snapped out of their lightspeed jump, he shook his head as if a spell had been broken. He folded his arms as he looked at their destination, Platform E - suspended forever in the void. Space stations were another sight that he rarely got to see and the scale of them always blew him away.

Reluctantly he pulled himself away from gazing through the cockpit's glass and followed behind Crix to join the rest of the Party in the communal area. The task they had been assigned to was an odd one, atleast to Eruc - but the solution to him seemed pretty straight forward.

The emissary from the Spacer guild began to give the group a miniature briefing - and made a few jokes that Eruc did not find funny. The Jedi stood silent, leaning against one of the walls, his arms back in a folded position. He snapped back into the conversation when he realised that one of his companions were expecting a response.

Pathetic little robots, it would be so easy to crush them with just a wave of your hand.​

"I would like to avoid violence at all costs - we are not Barbarians." He added, his hand raised slightly.

Coward.​

His stale gaze briefly washed over his fellow Jedi. He had distanced himself from the Order and was not personally familiar with either of them - although he had heard Crix Aran's name and knew of some of his exploits. The same could not be same about the Padawan in their company.

Eruc hoped that together the three of them could work together towards a peaceful solution.

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[Torruye Almuth]

Torruye stood off to the side, but not far off enough that she went unnoticed. She wore a calm expression on her face, but she was certainly not distant. She nodded gently along with everything that was spoken. She did not speak. Words from her were not necessary at this moment. She tilted her head and nodded once more at Crix's words. She had definitely heard about him, but the other one, she had not. They both seemed totally capable.

This would be a good learning experience for her.

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[Crix Aran]

Seemed that he had gotten himself a ship full of Jedi who were willing to give people a chance before resorting to violence. Some of the Order, in his experience, tended to be rather gung-ho about violence as an option and he was beginning to dislike it. Something to be corrected in the future... and there he was beginning to think and act like he was something more than he was.

He was just a simple Jedi and it was time to go to work.

The ship shuddered slightly as the transport docked with the station that they were due to hold the talks aboard. There were then several moments of nothing but a light hissing sound from where the ship was connected before the door split open to reveal the escort that they had been given by the droid workers.

Two hulking 501-Z Police Droids stood at the end of the docking tube. The two were armed with the signature stun batons of their station but they were not currently armed.

"Follow us. DES is ready to discuss terms with you."

Their voices merged together as they spoke in absolute sync before moving deeper into the station, expecting the Jedi and locals to follow. Crix raised an eyebrow ridge before following along at an unhurried pace, eyeing some of the LE-VO law enforcement droids who seemed to be milling around, guarding intersections of corridors as well as the hanger area they had been connected to.

"Any of you know much about the droids on the station?" he asked his companions as they walked, "501-Z and LE-VO law enforcement droids. Reports said the leader was a Blackwell droid. What do you know?"

If they didn't know much that would be fine - it would just mean that Crix alone would be the one to deal with any mechanical issues that they found. He really hoped that there weren't any but he wasn't about to start holding his breath.

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[Eruc Panacean]

The ship shuddered and Eruc brought one of his hands up to a beam in order to steady himself. The air was filled with mechanical hissing as the ship exhaled, connecting itself with the space station's docking system. The entrance doors to the ship split open and in the doorframe stood two imposing droids, holding equally imposing weapons.

They look breakable and weak - you could easily Obliterate them Eruc.​

As they spoke their synchronised command Eruc pushed himself off the wall and obeyed it, following behind Crix. He wanted to be as compliant as possible in order to reduce the possibility of anyone, humanoid or droid, getting hurt or harmed. He cast his gaze across the hanger as they entered and the droids had well and truely entrenched themselves in the ship. It was impressive really.

Crix began speaking again and Eruc took his attention from his surroundings and returned it to his companion. "I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help in that regard - I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't well and truly outside of my element." He knew nothing of droids, their machinations or their origins. He'd encountered them, everybody has at some point, but he had never thought to ask more about them. Perhaps that was a mistake on his part.

His eyes began examining the huge figures of the droids escorting them. "Is it common for droids to become... self aware?" He said that last part quietly, hoping not to offend any of the armed metal men watching their every move.

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[Torruye Almuth]

Torruye followed the other two Jedi onto the station. She perked up a little when Crix asked if they knew anything about two types of droids. "The 501-Z Police Droid or ZED was designed to handle security and law enforcement on frontier outposts, or supplement understaffed constabulary districts on high-traffic planets. SoroSuub made the Zed with a personality module that was as advanced as that on the most sophisticated protocol droid. The Zed's programming contains a subroutine that allows it to improvise when confronted with a difficult challenge, and these droids will even exhaust ever legal resource to bring in a wanted felon." She took a breath. She was repeating almost verbatim from what she read in a book, and the knowledge was proving useful.

"LE-VO droids are less intuitive and more diplomatic. Their programming requires them to follow Imperial codes to the letter and only use force when absolutely necessary," she knew a little less about LE-VO droids. "As for the Blackwell droid, anything could go; this one's likely to be similar to the Zed and LE-VO droids." she explained. Her body stance remained cool and neutral, her hands still clasped in front of her. She kept her golden gaze on Crix.

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[Crix Aran]

Eruc was self-aware enough to admit that droids were not his subject of choice and that was absolutely fine - it was better that they all knew before things got out of hand. Things often did get out of hand when it came to diplomatic missions involving Jedi after all. Though Torruye's depth of knowledge showed that the Padawan had done an awful lot of reading. He gave her a grin.

"Someone read the user guides." he teased with a wink to show he was only teasing her, "I haven't heard it recited quite so well since I was on Corellia doing it as part of my course on robotics. Good job, Torruye. Remind me when we get back to the Temple to show you my droid workshop if you're interested."

Turning back to Eruc, Crix decided it was best to explain before they actually met the 'leader' of the droids here.

"Droids start off like children with pre-set things they can do automatically from day one. No one needs to teach a baby to breathe, for example, or blink - no one needs to teach a Zed to run through laws and find the correct way to apprehend a suspect. They just know it. What happens when they become more self aware is like when a kid becomes a teenager - they start to become more interested in different aspects of the experience of living because they've had more time, more experience." he grinned, probably showing how much he was a supporter of Droid sentience but he didn't much care, "These guys are just people, growing into themselves and that's sometimes scary. We just have to be patient and understanding."

From ahead of them a robotic voice spoke up.

"I do believe that is the nicest way anyone has ever explained that."

In the room they had been led to, a P1-D3S droid sat behind a metal desk with a human man sat beside it. The human man was clearly one of the hostages, however, with his hands handcuffed to the same desk and a long-suffering sort of sigh that rocked out of him as he rolled his eyes.

"Don't believe it for a second, Jedi. This is just a mass of quirks from them not having regular memory wipes."

The idea of memory wipes soured Crix's good mood.

"DES, I presume? Knight Crix Aran. May we sit and talk? We have many questions about what it is you want from this discussion."

Time to get down to business.

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[Eruc Panacean]

His pair of companions both gave encyclopedic definitions of Droids, their capabilities, and how their thought-process and sentience worked. Eruc actually began to feel a touch of embarassment wash over him - perhaps he should have done some research of his own before coming on this mission.

Before he could vocalise how impressed he was with the knowledge they both had on the subject he was cut off by what he was assuming was the droid's ringleader, sitting beside a shackled human.

Seeing anybody in chains made Eruc's heart ache but face was noticably soiled with a grimace when the prisoner spoke in such a vicious manner. He quickly switched his face back to a neutral one and decided to think about it from his perspective - he was, quite rightfully, upset with his current circumstances as a prisoner. But those were the conditions they had been keeping the droids in.
It seemed nobody was fully in the right.

They're just robots Eruc. Objects. They're beneath us. Beneath you.​

Shaking his head gently Eruc took one of the seats at the table, sitting directly opposite the Droid's prisoner.

"It is nice to meet you DES, I am Knight Eruc Panacean. We were relieved to hear that you were open to diplomacy and we hope that, together, we can work out a solution to this situation that leaves everybody happy and unharmed." Eruc put a hand on his heart.

He hoped that reason, rationality and compassion were among the brain functions these droids had reportedly developed.

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[Torruye Almuth]

A rush of pleasure at being congratulated warmed Torruye's insides, but it did not last long. Not that she was suddenly upset; rather, her emotions were very organized and under control. She nodded at Crix's offer. In reality droids were not her passion, but she did find them interesting and like anything she started at, she would not finish until she was good at it. She had been called a jack-of-all-trades on more than one occasion.

Her attention was pulled forward when a droid who seemed to be in charge spoke. The human prisoner next to him spoke spiteful words. What he said, however, was the truth- the more time the droids had to collect a memory bank, the more time they had to develop a personality of sorts. Torri could see how that could be both a good and bad thing, and a little excitement tickled her senses. She enjoyed a good challenge, especially a political or diplomatic one.

"Padawan Torruye Almuth," she introduced herself simply with a just as simple smile.

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[Crix Aran]

DES seemed to ignore the rather inflammatory remarks from the human member of the security team who sat by its side. This seemed to annoy the human who tried to cross his arms before the handcuffs tugged at his wrists, reminding him that he was currently in bondage rather than free to move. From behind the Jedi, Theo Kaz seemed to have gone white as a sheet and shuffled nervously to the main seat in the middle of the Jedi.

There was a pause where the man seemed to sway slightly before turning to the Jedi.

"Um... by the p-power vested in me, I give you authority to speak on our b-behalf!"

... by the Force, the man looked set to pass out just sitting across the table from a security droid. Sure, DES was a rather advanced model of security droid but still! Crix seamlessly patted the man on the shoulder and smiled.

"Of course."

DES seemed to regard the Jedi, nodding to each of them as they introduced themselves. It watched them for a second in silence before speaking again.

"Knights Aran & Panacean. Padawan Almuth. I have a question that I believe may help us create an understanding; does this unit have a soul?"

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