Ask Testing Ground

[Newton]

Ord Mantell

"Looks good. All set" Newton said to his astromech droid companion M7. He had everything set up around his grounded ship . He had eight D3-NB series droids lined in formation closely across this desert flat in of Ord Mantell in groups of four. There were power lines in the far background, but this place was suitable for a demonstration he had prepared for a potential buyer of his droids, there were quite a few larger rocks that could make for good cover during testing. There were about a dozen remote training droids scattered about some 16-20 meters away, on stand-by mode linked to a datapad that Newton is carrying in his hand. There is also a crate of BM-548 Blaster Rifles This is a fine place for a demonstration he thought.

A demonstration for the incoming client is fair, as this would be a considerable investment, Newton is fine with a demonstration making sure the droids are indeed what they are worth in the client eyes to secure a sell.

It's coming closer and closer to appointment time, Newton would be standing under his ship just by the ramp checking his chrono and then keeping an eye out for the client's ship, using the ship to provide shade. M7 would be at his side, as usual.

The stage is set.

@Arclight

​

 

[Asminys]

Asminys approached the rendezvous point in a WTK-85A transport that he had "acquired" for this haul. During his robbery on Eiattu 6 the Sith had acquired something that he had little use for, but others might. Others like the Blackwell engineer that he was scheduled to meet out in the middle of nowhere on Ord Mantell.

Bringing the transport hauler in for a landing next to his contacts, he took his time getting off the ship. Make the man sweat. Strolling down the ramp in his usual black pants, combat boots and blast vest, he eyed the neat line of new battle droids and the accompanying crate of rifles. They looked suitable, better than the droids at the bank. He doubted they could stand well up against the lightsaber that rode his hip however

"Shiny." He said as he approached the engineer, gesturing to the droids. "You may call me Asminys." Coming to stand in front of the engineer, he smacked the satchel at his side that contained a bank security box, as well as a pair of spray paint cans. "Got it all here, now tell me about what I'm buying."

@The Good Doctor

 

[Newton]

Newton saw the vessel coming in, clearly a transport, that's definitely the client. Newton saw the man come out of his vessel, Newton would step out from his cover from under his own ship into the sun to meet his client, he'd smile when he heard his client remark 'Shiny'. Shiny does have it's appeal, especially on a higher end model like this.

Newton nodded as Asminys spoke, he saw the satchel in the bag, along with the spray paint cans. Most likely to use on the droids. The Blackwell roboticist did like that he is straight to the point, right down to business, just the way likes it. "Of course." He would then clear his throat and then gesture towards the droids. "These are the D3NB series combat droids, or 'D3' or 'Deneb' for short." He would pause for a second "These are general purpose combat droids, that can be used for security, law enforcement, battle, or whatever else you might need." just in case his needs don't strictly encompass any of those areas, they are versatile like that. Newton would nod his head and continue. "The main thing about these droids are that they have more intelligent artifact intelligence and are more faster and agile than your average battle droids. These droids also come with some extra in-built tools to help excel in their roles." Newton would smile in confidence.

The Blackwell employee figured that words alone aren't enough to seal the deal most likely,, which is why this demonstration was prepared of course. "But you know they say, talk is one thing but seeing is believing. You care for a demonstration?" he would ask if the client is ready. Plus it would be a shame if he didn't get the thrill of watching exploding remote droids and blaster shots flying.

@Arclight

 

[Asminys]

Asminys listened intently to the Blackwell Engineer's speech. For the first bit. Walking up to one of the droids while the man talked, he knocked a pair of fingers on the chest plate. He was still listing of course, but he was more interested in the hardware than the man selling it.

He was a bit surprised to find the combat droids to be a bit shorter than him, quite compact in their frame. Standing over it, he examined the droids head before staring it close right in the eye... photoreceptor thing.

"Deneb huh? You say they're smarter and faster than the average droid of their class." He didn't want to let too much doubt leak into his voice, but his previous encounters with droids of the type hadn't left him with the best impression. He had found them to be a bit slow witted, slow to react and easy to break. The only upside to them had been their dedication, they fought while the flesh and bone guards ran.

Asminys had no use for servants that ran from danger.

He walked back over to the man, who's name he still didn't know, though he supposed it didn't really matter. "Yeah, I want to see them in action." He said with a nod. Crossing his arms, he stood at ease, ready to watch his shiny new toys in action.

@The Good Doctor

 

[Newton]

Newton would nod his head, all he had to do was say he wanted to see it. Ask, and they will receive is what they say after all. With that, Newton would then step forward a but more and begin to shout commands to his droids, who were still waiting almost as still as statues in stand-by mode. "Alright droids, grab a rifle from the crate" With those commands, the droids would instantly follow their designer's orders, bursting to life and lining up to grab one of the blaster rifles from the crate, one by one in orderly fashion.

"Group 1, ready for combat, take the center stage" he would order his droids, the droids would assume a shooting stance and advance quickly towards the middle of the designated testing area. Once they do, then Newton would pull out the datapad. "Observe how these droids deal with the training remotes" hitting a button.

Then three remote droids would spring to life at the edge of the makeshift arena, rising from the ground and and hovering upwards, the droids would take notice to them. The remote droids, would then fire at the the Deneb droids, to which the latter would respond by strafing to nearby cover and returning fire of their own. "Don't worry, the remote droids won't be able to harm the droids" Just so the client knows that the merchandise won't be harmed by this demonstration. Quickly two of the remote droids would be shot down, while none of the remote droids - due to the strafing of the droids and getting to cover and concealing a fair bit of their profiles - landed a hit on the Deneb droids. The third remote would be buzzing around trying to be evasive, but would be shot down by one of the D3s before too long.

Newton would then look at Asminys to see his expression and reaction. "As you can see, these droids are capable of leveraging cover, are good shots, and can react quickly to new threats" Turning back to the droids in front of him, he would then order his droids again, "Group 1: Activate jumpjets, form up on me." with that, the group 1 D3s would turn towards Newton, and then activate their jump boots function to spring them all closer to Newton. After they would touch down, they would advance with speed to meet Newton the rest of the distance between them, and then await further commands.

Newton would turn back towards Asminys to see if he has anything he needs to say, any feedback, or any questions. Newton is ready to move on with the demonstration besides that

@Arclight

 

[Asminys]

Asminys watched as the representative from Blackwell began the demonstration. There was little for him to do except watch at this point, so he did just that. The droids moved smoothly, utilized cover, and had good aim, blasting the remotes from the air. Efficient.

Catching the Engineer glancing at him, likely looking for a reaction, Asminys kept his face impassive. No need to let on that he was somewhat impressed. The use of cover was new, his previous encounter with battle droids had them just stand there and shoot at him, immobile and easily destroyed.

The jump jets were the biggest draw at this point in the demonstration as the quartet of droids swiftly closed the distance between their original shooting positions and the engineer, first by jumping the majority of the way before breaking into what Asminys would call a fast jog before coming to a stock still halt.

"I will admit, I'm more impressed than I thought I would be." He stated, eyeing the droids with a bit more respect than he had initially. "How receptive are they to more complex orders? Are they capable of independent operation or do they require a handler to give them orders at all times?" He wanted to know if he could give them a task and have them carry it out without having to constantly be present. He had little use for machines that needed to be micromanaged at all times.

@The Good Doctor

 

[Newton]

The guy really is stoic, he has a good poker face, Newton couldn't tell what he thought even when he was watching his reactions during the testing. But with what he said, he seems to be buying it. Must be the jumpboots, Newton thought when designing them they would be a nifty feature, in addition to better on-foot speed.

Asminya's did have some good questions, and of course Newton would answer them. "These droids have intermediate-level AI. They can follow more complex orders and they will follow them to the letter best of their ability." he said. "They are capable of operating autonomously when tasked. For example by default, In particular they are always reactive to hostilities similar to organics. If fired upon without their handler for example, they will not stand by idle as they are taken out." He gave an example. "And when tasked, they will carry out the task best of there ability without the need for baby sitting." he said. "Although with intergrated comlink, it's possible to issue commands remotely on the fly when you are elsewhere." a useful function for just in case new commands need to be issued but can't be physically close to the droids.

With that, he would await more questions if he has any. if not, they can move forward.

@Arclight

 

[Asminys]

Listening to the Blackwell representative answer his questions, Asminys was pleased. Perhaps the droids were not quite as quick-witted as organics, but perhaps he didn't need them to be. The integrated comlink was a plus.

"I find this acceptable." He said neutrally. Just because he was so far satisfied with the product didn't mean he wanted to let on to the seller that he was. Turning his burning red and yellow eyes to the man, he nodded. "Is there more?"

He wasn't quite sure just how much the Blackwell man had in store for him, whether the droids had any extra surprises. He also eyed the droids warily as they stood nearby. Paranoia ever present. While it would be suicidally stupid for the man to cross him, there were plenty of stupid organics in the galaxy that had made the mistake for the last time, or eventually would. It never hurt to be cautious.

@The Good Doctor

 

[Newton]

So he was satisfied with the answer given that's good. There were indeed just a few more things that he had to show and tell his client before this was done. "Just a few more things." he would pause before getting into more of the nitty gritty. "Not only are these droids proficient with blaster rifles, they are proficient with all sorts of small arms and melee weapons. So you have a very good amount of freedom with how your droids are equiped, be it with blaster pistols, vibroswords or what not. " He said

Newton would then continue "Another thing is these droids come with an integrated stun baton in their arm, so they will always be ready for hand-to-hand combat if needed." Newton would then face the droids. "Droids, show me your stun batons." the Droids would then turn to face Newton in turn, and then they would activate their stun batons, bringing them to bear, which shocking crackling emulating from them. "They are quite capable of holding their own in hand-to-hand as well." he nodded as he assured Asminys. One of the droids would step forward close, and then assume a fighting stance, and start swinging with stun baton in the air, delievering mock strikes, just for show. The droid's movements are quite quick, as the two would be able to see. After a few strikes, the droid would be on standby, and Newton would face this client once more.

"I believe we are almost done now if you are. One last thing, there is a fail safe within my droid. Should it be rendered inoperable or captured, it will attempt to fry it's memory core, so it's memory databanks will unable to be recovered." Knowledge is power after all, and this would eliminate the possibility of someone extracting knowledge that is supposed to be kept secret from the droid.

"Any more questions or anything?" he would ask Asminys one more time about what was said.

 

[Asminys]

Asminys was glad to hear that the droids were well suited to fighting with all manner of arms. He wasn't sure what the best combination would be so he would likely just stick with what had been supplied for now, but it was good to have options. He watched with great interest as the one droid deployed its built in stun baton and went through a series of strikes in the air.

"I appreciate the versatility. How would you say these droids would stand up against a wielder of the force?" He asked the man. He was fairly certain they would still be stomped easily by any Jedi or Sith, but they did seem to be a cut above the standard combat droid.

"Excellent." He commented as the Blackwell engineer briefed him on the droid's fail safe in case of destruction or capture. The last thing he needed was a droid with sensitive information falling into enemy hands.

"No, I do believe I am satisfied with your product." He replied when he had anymore questions. He paused for a moment however as he thought of one thing. "I assume they come with repair and specification manuals." Not really a question, but he would like to read any data that could be provided on the droids to familiarize himself with them more.

 

[Newton]

His next question was an interesting one, he would cross his arms and stroke his chin as he would ponder allowed. "Hmmmm, that is an interesting question. In theory, these droids have some tools to help them against force-users, well more specifically their lightsabers. Their mounted stun batons can block lightsaber strikes and they can use their jump boots to create distance between the two. So there are some mitigating factors in theory, these aren't the typical droid from the Clone Wars era.." Then he would cross his arms "But in practice I don't have any hard data on their effectiveness towards force users, nor am I really an expert on the Force." Newton is great when it comes to things mechanic, but he doesn't know much about the Force. It's something he can't see nor does he have access to it. It's not easy to find a force-user as a test subject either.

"My suggestion is try to overwhelm them with numbers if possible, maybe four or five to one would be a good chance depending on the saber-wielder's skill and tactics employed, but I'm not completely sure."

Newton smirked when Asminys said he was satisfied with the product. "Of course, this datapad will come with all the information you would need." he would show to the man.

Now Newton would hold out the datapad for the man. "Alright then, I'll transfer the droids and their equipment over to you for you in exchange for the package" he nodded towards the satchel. "We have a deal?". If accepted, he would hand the datapad to the client and receive the payment, then the command to transfer the droids would be recited afterwards.

@Arclight

 

[Asminys]

Asminys watched the man as he pondered the question out loud. Theory was all well and good but Asminys would have to put the question to a more practical test eventually. It was good however that the had some answers to the question of Jedi. He would have to take a look into this Clone Wars era that the engineer mentioned, a term he had never heard before.

A problem he was running into all too often.

"I will take your suggestions under advisement."

Giving the man a nod as he asked if they had a deal, Asminys removed the safety deposit box from his satchel. Placing a hand over it, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the locking mechanism within for a brief moment. The device popped open with a small click.

"The device inside is some sort of experimental droid core," He began, removing the cylindrical device and showing it to the engineer before putting it back inside the box. "I read some of the data that came with it, but i'm certain you will have better use for it than I." He finished, fishing pair of datacards out of the box to display to Newton briefly before replacing them in the box and closing the device.

Handing it over in exchange for the datapad, he paused. "Perhaps it will allow you to make droids better suited to dealing with users of the Force. If so, I would be interested."

@The Good Doctor

 

[Newton]

So the exchange is done, Newton would have what he is getting out of it, and Asminys would have what he is getting out of this. They are in his hands. "I'm sure I will" he said. No doubt he will be able to put this into use when he has a chance to look at it. "Perhaps, I'll let you know if so" he said, not giving a definite answer into that, but not ruling it out completely. He was wondering what his curiosity about fighting force users is either, but then again Newton himself wasn't curious enough to ask.

Anyways, a deal is a deal, so now that Asminys upheld his end of the transaction, Newton will finalize his end. "Units D3-53 through 61" he would then look at all of them and gesture towards their new owner "You are now under Asminys' ownership." The droids would then turn towards Asminys. "Well my friend, it's a pleasure doing business with you. If you ever want to do further business, you know how to find me." Newton would nod his head towards Asminys, with a slight smirk that he sealed a deal.

With that, Newton would turn around, waving towards Asminys as he does so, he would head up the ramp of his shuttle the Messier 7. "Come on, lets go" he would look at his companion Astromech droid M7 and they would ascend up the ramp together, then the ramp would shut and the ship would be warming up eventual take off to depart from the world, back to Coruscant to look into the box and data he received, maybe make a stop along the way.

Good thing too, because this heat was starting to get to Newton.

/exit thread