Ask Establishing Haven

[Newton]

Central Zone - M4-78​

It's been quite awhile since Newton had been to the droid planet he and Zale discovered not too long ago. It was codenamed 'Utopia', but Newton has come to find that the planet's true name is M4-78. He reported the planet to Blackwell, and he has been digging on the planet, from outside and on it. It's not an organic friendly planet by any means, but still this planet has potential. The droids of M4-78 have been isolated for over one-thousand years, it's a resource that's untapped, and Blackwell can benefit from it's inclusion into the galactic community and setting up operations and office branches here. If they can get convince them however.

Or rather 'it'. The leader of this droid world is a droid intelligence that bears the same name as the planet itself: M4-78. Today, Newton planned on talking to the droid intelligence about a proposal for such. And if that goes well, that will set the stage for further Blackwell presence on the planet. He has a plan.

There was a landing pad in the Central Zone of M4-78, Newton landed his vessel onto it. Newton would step down the ramp of his ship and take in the view. It's not a very pretty sight, as it's a bleak sky that's full of smog. Newton has a filter mask on him. "Ready?" he would ask his partner (@Nor'baal)In the mean time, a protocell droid at the mouth of the landing pad entrance would waddle over to them. M4-78 has droids on it that are both familar as well as one's he's never seen before.

Just in case, Newton's ship is stocked with plenty of provisions: food, water, .etc because this planet has none of those on it.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

Julia disliked 'active' missions, preferring to operate from behind the scenes rather than out in the field. However, sometimes you just had to roll your sleeves up and dive on in, and that's what she now did. Making use of a filter mask similar to her compatriots, and equipped with a BW-713 pistol, her loyal D3NB-series Droid tagging along behind her, Julia felt reasonable safe - given the circumstances.

She had not worked with Newton before, however, her curiosity had peaked on the journey over, and she had taken the time to look through his file.

A capable man, a consummate Blackwell employee, Julia was comfortable that the mission was in good hands. "Sure, let's get going." she replied, her hand subconsciously checking her pistol at her hip, as they got underway.

 

[Newton]

Alright then, they are both ready and they can both proceed. Newton can clearly see the protocol droid from the other end approaching, waddling. Newton would move forward himself, meeting the droid. Once they make contact, the protocal droid would greet them "Greetings humans. Welcome to M4-78. We certainly don't get many organics around these parts" it spoke with a courteous famine voice.

The droid would then ask "What's your business here?" the droid asks. Newton would reply "We would like to speak with your 'leader' M4-78. We are envoys from Blackwell Technologies looking to reach out with a offer for it of mutual benefit." Newton plainly said. Newton gave the simple truth. The protocol call droid would then process. "Let me see if the supervisor is available" the droid would then seemingly idle in place for a few good five-seconds or so. "Granted, please follow me this way" Newton would then follow the droid.

It would be quite a walk before they get past the landing pads in the central zone. The protocol droid would then usher them to a building, and inside there would be a turbolift. "Right this way" the droid would stand aside and then gesture them inside. Once the organics would get in, the protocal droid would get inside and work the controls.

Newton couldn't help but look towards the horizon while following the droid, the Blackwell Executive can still hardly believe that this planet is actually real. This planet is like Courscant but for droids. The whole horizon is dominated by functional, efficient buildings, machinery, and circuitry. And smog, of course. Good thing they have those filter masks, although it's getting annoying to wear already.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

Julia kept to herself as Newton made the introductions, focusing instead on her datapad, running through the information Blackwell had made available on their mission, whilst flashing her ID when requested by the Droid that had met them upon arrival. She kept her silence as they walked up to the turbo lift, and quickly check her filter mask as the lift rose up through the smog. "I'm surprised you still get away with that," she remarked the the droid "...some people get a bit twitchy about air quality these days." she concluded, reminded of the legal battles Blackwell had needed to fight when it had tried to establish a foundry on one of the Core worlds.

"Anything we need to keep watch for?" she turned to face Newton, her voice low so as not to be heard by the droid.

 

[Newton]

The droid that Julia Hipori was snarking to didn't quite quite get what she is saying. "Oh we are fine with the air. Droids are the only inhabitants of planet M4-78 and droids do not need to breathe air. Going through the effort of reducing industrial emissions makes our facilities needlessly less efficient" the protocal droid said innocently, with a slight hint of patronization. If one looks too deeply into the history of the droid world, they will know that terraforming into the droid cityscape and rampart pollution killed all the flora and fauna on the planet. M4-78 is as much of a machine as it is a planet.

When Julia was whipsering to him, he would reply. "We don't know much about them, they are hard to read." he said. These are droids, and these droids haven't interacted with the galactic community in a millennia. "The droids are creatures of logic, we should appeal to that. We also don't know much about them. should take this opportunity to learn much about them as possible." he said. Information is power, and knowing the history behind these people would go a long way in making dealing with these people easier. Knowing what makes them tick.

The turbolift would then take them a pretty far distance, but eventually they would get to their destination, the protocol droid would usher the guests through the blast door that the protocal droid would then interface with. "Right this way"

When they would get through the blast doors, they would be a huge open chamber with it, a huge droid Newton has never seen before floating, protected by a huge ray shield.

"Welcome humans, I am M4-78, Supervisor of this planet. How may I help you?"

There was a terminal in front the platform Newton and Julia were on. There were also a bunch of other droids Newton hasn't seen before with blasters on the platform, putting themselves between them and the terminal.

Newton would look at the big droid superintelligence. Well... Newton would then answer "Greetings, I am Newton Arden and this is Julia Hipori." Newton gestured towards her, nodding. "We are with Blackwell Tech. We have came here in hopes of reaching out to you to establish ties between you and Blackwell. But first if you don't mind, we have lots of questions to ask you." There were a lot of questions indeed that needed to be asked.

"Reasonable. What would you like to know?" The machine intelligence replied. Newton would then ask "We would like to know more about this planet and how it came to be." he asked. "Now that I think about it, may I ask also, who made you?" After all, droids don't assemble themselves, someone else has to do the assembling If Julia has any questions of her own, she can ask.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

Interactions such as these reminded Julia why she tried to avoid working with droids in any other capacity than load lifters or security drones. She kept her peace as they continued on their journey to the 'leader' of the world, deferring to the greater technical knowledge of Newton, listening intently as he ran through what they knew of the world. M4-78 was an anomaly on the galactic map, but one of immense scientific and material value and its occupants were clearly very much aware of that fact. Caution was the name of the game.

Julia clocked the terminal, heavily guarded as it was when the pair from Blackwell entered the room. "Governor Hipori," she stressed, nodding slightly - unsure as to the protocol of meeting a droid "It is amazing what you have achieved here," she added, assuming that even a droid super-intelligence was prone to flattery "As my friend, Newton, as already established, we are here to learn that which you are willing to teach us. Forgive me, I am unused to such," she gestured around the room "August surroundings as these. To begin with, I would be interested to know your assembly procedures, coming from a logistical background myself," she referred to her time in Blackwells logistics department "I would be fascinated by how you keep your population levels constant?"

 

[Newton]

The droid superintelligence would then respond to the two "<Error>... <Error> Creators unknown" it said. It would then adjust itself "It seems that the data for that information has become corrupted " Newton was curious about that. "However, I am able to answer your other question" Well, that's something "The planet that you know as M4-78 used to be a desert world a over a millennia ago. This planet was surveyed and was found to have a high concentration of fuels, energy deposits, and ores among other things and thus this world was primed for colonization. I, M4-78 was set up as Supervisor to prepare the infrastructure for the colony" Newton raised an eyebrow, this place was supposed to be a colony for presumably regular people, but there are no regular people here.

"So what happened to these colonists?" Newton asks. "They never arrived. War with the Sith broke out around 1000 years before the battle of the Yavin 4. The second Sith empire was established." Interesting, the religious fanatics, the Jedi and Sith always go to war war with each other and every time it the galaxy suffers for it. And the war must have affected the colonists to either they were destroyed, the project wasn't feesable with war and they abandoned it. "We continued to develop as per my instructions entered on my creation, but over time I concluded that the colonists would never come. Instead I abandoned the directive." Of course, as typical of droids so much time without memory wipes leads the droid to develop quirks, and this one has had over a thousand years. "Who were the colonists?" He would wonder if it happens to be Blackwell Tech by some chance, Blackwell as an company has older than this intellgience. Newton would curiosly ask "<Error>... <Error> colonists unknown. Data corrupted." Newton didn't have any more questions for now.

The droid intelligence would then answer the Governor's questions. "Droid assembly itself on M4-78 is a bit different than how organics do it, but not by very much. We have many droid manufacturing facilities that mass produce droids that are fully automated with supervisors watching them ensuring they operate without error." As for how population is kept constant. "Population on M4-78 is constantly growing. It takes a matter of hours for a factory to make a batch of droids where as most organics take nine months to produce one child. Also as we are droids, we can survive indefinitely as long as we have proper maintenance. We also are a haven for abused and ill-treated droids across the galaxy seeking freedom, so not only will you find droids produced by us, you will also find droid refugees here, such as the protocol droid who escorted you here." which of course they would have access to, the lives of a lot of organics are brief, the droid intellgience himself has survived about 9 human-life times and could live longer. "We are however, continuing to build more infrastructure across the rest of the planet and underground. In the unlikely event that we are nearing over-population levels, as Supervisor I can order as many droids as needed into shutdown and cease further production. That is however unlikely to happen any time in the near-future given this planet's and the system's abundance of resources." it said. "Does this answer your question Governor?" the droid intellgience asked.

Newton was liking what he was hearing more and more. This droid planet is ran as if it was a well-oiled machine. Literally.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

Julia listened along to the information the droid superintelligence was imparting to the Blackwell pair, and found her suspicions roused by the lack of data surrounding the origins of the intelligence and the planet it now called home. She had noticed the lack of ''normal" people on the planet, despite the assertions from the superintelligence that this planet had been created for their use primarily; yet she allowed those doubts to subside when the news of the planets resources was announced.

The fact that the colonists had never arrived was of some small interest to her, but the production methods of this planet, and its seemingly self-sufficient nature,was of far greater interest. "Thank you for your candor," she began "...in return, is there anything that you, would like to ask of us?" she responded, hopefully continuing the information exchange.

 

[Newton]

"Yes, actually. Holonet broadcasts do reach here. I know well of this Blackwell Technologies you both work for. One of the largest corporations in organic space. So what brings Blackwell Technologies here?" the machine intelligence asked. It knows from the protocal droid that they are here for some sort of deal. What kind of deal are they looking for though, droids, resources? It wondered. It also wondered what the organics could possibly give when M4-78 has everything it needs on this planet and this system

Newton was expecting that they it would be straight-up anticipating an exchange of hard goods and services, but he was looking to subvert that a little bit. He figured that the droid intelligence would be reluctant to agree to any hard deals with organics, especially with a mega corporation or sorts. This planet has kept to itself for one-thousand years and hasn't made an attempt to reach out to the greater galaxy since then. Even now it has no reason to do so. But what if, they can at least establish relations between the two, a bridge between Blackwell and M4-78. Which would serve well as a stepping stone towards future prospects with this planet.

"Ah yes. So, before I begin, I will make it clear that not just Blackwell that is aware of this world, as a Free World senator I know for a fact has discovered this world and probably has informed others in the senate. Sooner or late, other galactic citizens may seek to come here for their own reasons. The two of us have a proposal with the intent of establishing relations between you and us organics."

Newton would then nod his head in affirmation of his own words. "What I am proposing this: Is a section of the droid city - in a decent proximity to you if possible - be set aside to be a 'safe zone'. A safe-zone suitable for organics so that we can establish some branch offices, including an embassy here. Blackwell will have relations specialists standing by, we would have an air purification plant and a shield generator. With that, organics would have a place they can breathe freely on this world. With this, we can use this as a starting point between organics and your world. Although your system has a large amount of resources, the greater galaxy has much more and we can trade in the near future. What do you say?" Newton would await the droid intelligence's response, it is contemplating.

M1-78 digested the information that other organics other than these two and Blackwell know about this planet. As a resource rich planet, it will be sought after by someone or something. These could be the first of many. Is it better to deal with them rather than continue what they are doing and wait? The intelligence still needs to know more before he accepts any bargins. "Your proposal is sound. Although galactic mega-corporations are known for their ruthlessness and deceiving people, and not for nothing. What assurances do you have that you come with this offer in good faith?" It asked.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

So far, things were going reasonably well, which was always comforting given the fact they presently found themselves surrounded by a planet's worth of combat-ready droids. "So what brings Blackwell Technologies here?" Julia listened, deferring to Newton, as he outlined the basics as to why the Corporation had chosen to come to this world. Naturally, however, as the Blackwell team laid out their proposal, the Machine Intelligence grew somewhat sceptical.

we're not that bad, Julia thought to herself as the Machine Intelligence laid out its concerns.

"You are quite correct, some of our competitors have a deserved reputation for ruthlessness and deception, however, the Blackwell Corporation has sought to go a different direction. One of the more open ways we have done this is through our response to the AMS virus; focusing on how we can apply our technology to save billions of lives." Julia mounted a defence of the Corporation as she responded to the Machine Intelligences question "We are keen to ensure that display of good faith does not go unmet on our end, and in such an arrangement, we would be willing to show this by ensuring our 'Private Security' assets are kept off-world. We would be your guests, corporate partners, in this venture."

 

[Newton]

Newton's colleague does speak true, Blackwell has had no small part in the efforts against AMS, Newton has designed droids to fight against it, as well as other Blackwell droid designers. Newton has also been involved personally in the evacuation efforts on Utapau, which would save an entire two species from the brink of extinction. "She's right, you know about the AMS pandemic right? Blackwell has it's own droids and other assets holding the line against the disease until a vaccine is found. Blackwell has done more to fight the pandemic than any other of the other mega-corporations have. Our company has maintained good PR since it's founding over six-thousand years ago." He could say with confidence.

"Our competitors would pull any trick in the book to 'one-up' us so to speak. But when it comes down to it, all Blackwell wants to be is a product-oriented business to better the galaxy and improve people's lives, instead of a huge credit-making scheme to enrich the powers that be, as the others are."

Newton would then have one more to say to the droid intelligence. "So, supervisor" he would be addressing the droid. "This is could be the start of a mutual beneficial partnership. We could have a direct line with you, our Blackwell relations expert can keep in touch via hologram should the need arise." Newton would say. "So, what do you say?" The terms that the good governor were also should be good to ease the intelligence's worries. It does seem distrustful of organics to a degree, maybe out of abandonment from it's would-be colonial masters.

The droid intelligence would have a moment of pause before responding. "One moment <Processing>" While the droid is processing this information, Newton would then eye the console that's at the edge of the platform in front of the intelligence. He would take note of how it looks, it's an old terminal, but he what appears to be a data-card reader in it.

"Newton and Governor Hipori, I accept your proposal for your safe zone. I can allocate some space in the Central Zone, where the colonization efforts here first began. This zone was first built for organics, although much of the central zone became less optimal for organics over time. Still, I will send you the coordinates in which you can begin work on your safe-zone."

Newton smiled, success...the first phase of this has been complete, Blackwell can get started at any time with this safe-zone. Sooner the better though, there is much to be done after all. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" Newton would turn to his colleague to see if she has anything.

@Nor'baal