Log:Array Consortium: Speaking With The Master

Speaking With The Master

Location: Thyferra, Bandit's Castle (via holocommunicator)
Participants: R5-DT, Adhar Gann

'Two days after the successful return of Countess Davali from the Mathall Syndicate spice boss, Danar Koolen, to her family on Chandrila and the destruction of Koolen's compound, Adhar prepares the next step in the effort to weaken the Syndicate. This time, he reaches out to R5-DT, his friend the assassin droid currently masquerading as an astromech on board the Bandit's Castle. But that's not the only thing he has on his mind...

Now by and large, you have a good life as a droid. Thanks to your position and no doubt the contributions that you've made, you are top of the list for...damned near anything. New parts, oil baths on demand, the works. Among the droids, you are something of a celebrity and a mystery - why does the Captain treat you like one of the officers, they wonder, and what have you done in the past? They know you are old, and that your mind is well developed and experienced. They know you are different but can't say why. But here you are, and you do your duties for which your were programmed for. Your cover. Even as the Captain apparently prosecutes a war against another faction, and to good effect so far. He's almost like an assassin in that way. No. More like a naval officer who might think a bit like one.

Then, late in the night on Nar Shaddaa, a holocomm call comes in - routed, mysteriously, to you. It's from the Captain, on board the Risky Business, a bulk hauler belonging to the Consortium, currently landed on Thyferra. Instructions are to take it in his office.

R5-DT routes the call into an internal system creating a holo inside of him so to speak, "What's up captain?" He's still plugged into power and looking like he's powered down around the other droids but his programming and hard wires won't let that ever be truely the case.

"Hello, R5." Adhar's image appears in your cybernetic mind, a bit fuzzy thanks to distance, but at least in color. He sits at a well-appointed desk on a well-appointed office, likely the former Gizka office on board the ship. " Is the link secure?"

R5-DT shifts his form into a humanoid if only in the general shape and body parts before he nods a bit, "Yup. Internalized and secure. You 'woke' me up was in a powered down sorta state."

Adhar looks a bit surprised at that. "Oh! I'm sorry. Must have miscalculated the time delay - well I will try not to keep you long." He purses his lips. "I know you've grown into your role a bit here R5, but I'd like to ask..." He reaches for something 'offstage', which turns out to be a mug of what is probably caf. "Do you still want to carry out your original duties? Sabotage, assassination, that sort of thing?"

R5-DT chuckles, "I power down all the time because well I can and it's great. And I don't see why not I've got blasters inside this chassis for a reason! And I'm wanting to get some rockets."

He chuckles at your response, taking another sip before speaking. "I forgot how much you enjoy the work," he says. "All right. You know we're in a bit of a war, so to speak, with the Mathall Syndicate. We've taken some very aggressive, overt action against them in the last two weeks that has done much to cripple their stockpiles of Blue, which only they can produce. The market is already looking to other options but it won't be long before they produce enough again to get supply back up. We need to make sure that doesn't happen."

R5-DT nods a bit as a holographic chair arrives, "Always wanted to sit down." He thrums his holographic fingers because he obviously doesn't have real ones and then nods, "So we have to destroy their production facilities and lead scientists."

"Essentially, yes," says Adhar. "But capture the scientists, not kill them. I want to create a synthetic version of the natural mineral spice they alone produce. Give the formula away, or sell it to the highest bidder. Whichever."

R5-DT chuckles and shrugs, "Well that makes it a little more difficult but still able to manage it. Why not just steal all their data and burn the place to the ground no survivors to come back from the ashes?"

"I don't know these people," Adhar says. "The Mathalls make extensive use of slave labor. I got no problem with killing people need getting killed, but I don't murder innocents. Nor do I send people to do that for me."

R5-DT nods a bit, "Okay then no razing the compound. Evaluate assess and exterminate the hostiles. Not the work force."

"Right," he says. "But first, we need to find out where those facilities are. Now the Mathalls are still trying to do this the quiet way, and have tried to buy out some of our people. Who came right to me. I want you to do the same thing, only...different. I want you to locate a smuggler named Madja Bosh. He runs Blue for the Mathalls right here to Nar Shaddaa. He tends to hang out in the Hutt district. I want you to observe him and get on board his ship. Disable his existing astromech might be a good idea, though a temporary shutdown is only necessary. I want you to disable him, take over his ship, and bring it here. I want to turn him. Can you do that for me?"

R5-DT hmmmms and nods a bit, "Should be able to although that's not what I'm good at. It'd be easier for me to infiltrate via him. After all if he flies there his ship's navicomp and astromech would likely have the locations of the facilities."

"Exactly," says Adhar. "Do you have any stun weapons equipped?"

R5-DT nods a bit, "My blaster has the option for stun and of course I've got my stun baton. I've got a few types of grenades to operate on them as well stun, adhesion ect. But I'm sure I could manage with other things."

"Oh, all right," says Adhar. "I was going to get you a dedicated stun pistol actually. Almost impossible to miss with it. Pulse weapon you understand." A beat. "Well, let me know. He should be on Nar Shaddaa as we speak, since we've made it a bit hard for their spice to come in. You can head out whenever you're ready, and I will be returning to Nar Shaddaa this evening."

R5-DT nods a bit and then shifts back into his proper R5 looking form, "I'll start wheeling around and looking for him. How do you want me to turn him? Quickly or subtle?"

"Bring him to me," says Adhar. "I'll do the work. And while I'm doing that you can extract as much data as you can from his navicomp and his astromech - but don't hurt him, unless he's warped or something. I figure the poor guy's been as enslaved as most droids have. Might actually...hmm." He pauses. "What about the droid? Could you skip the smuggler and turn the droid to our cause?"

R5-DT nods, "I'll have him to you shortly. And well his ship's computer will be part of my datastores soon after."

"Thank you." A beat. "I performed my first assassination two days ago." He sort of blurts it out, taking a drink of caf afterward.

R5-DT chuckles, "Felt dirty for you didn't it? It's what I'm programmed and designed to do it's as natural for me as breathing is for you. Was it an assassination or a hit though? There is a difference. Assassination makes it look like a freak accident. A hit is a blatant kill."

"Actually, no," says Adhar faintly. "I suppose that what surprises me. I don't feel dirty at all - the man needed killing, he was a blight. I suppose I thought it might feel...intimate. I put a vibroknife into his temple and put him down a trash chute into the hotel incinerator. Not a molecule of him left. Nobody saw me...though security thought I had been cheating at cards. I wore a disguise, that sort of thing." He frowns. "What does that count as?"

R5-DT chuckles, "It counts as an assassination if there's no proof they died."

"Hmmm." Adhar considers this. "No. No proof. Sorry R5, there's not really anyone I can talk to about this. I hope that it's all right."

R5-DT shakes his dome, "It's fine. It's what I do. And no proof is good. Means no way to track back to you and the target vanishes. It also takes away some of that organizations assets as they try to track down the target."

"Oh," says Adhar, chuckling a bit, "I'm sure they'll know it was me. I sent a pilot to stealth-drop over the target's personal compound and drop a pair of heavy fusion bombs on it. Took out the whole island along with a large cache of Syndicate weapons, money, drugs..." He shrugs. "But they will think he vanished into thin air. Hmmm..." Wheels turn in his head. A plan is forming. "Well. Maybe I'll consult with you on methods in the future, if you don't mind. I'm sure that I'll have to do it again."

R5-DT gears turn as the droid thinks, "Yup it now looks like the guy sold out his people. They'll send some resources to track him down. But if he had his own ship or transponder to have used instead of ours then it would have been better."

"There was no detection," Adhar says. "We made sure of it."

R5-DT chuckles a bit, "Good that'll make them scramble and wonder where the security breach was at. Same with the next guy who vanishes and something happens to their stuff."

This processes for a moment, and then Adhar's eyes widen. "I have to make a call," he says, tone urgent. "Go and get that data. I need to handle things here and will talk to you tonight." He does not wait for a reply to kill the signal; he is simply gone, and your illusory chair-sitting self is alone.