Trash, or Treasure?

Trash, or Treasure?
Date of Scene:	23 March 2024
Location:
Synopsis:	Soren contemplates giving Kline one of his old projects, but the droid escapes.
Cast of Characters:	141, Kline Tel'daris

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Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
Bracca is not a world for tourists, or the elite.

No, this world full of shredded ship remnants and every type of partially deconstructed machinery is the realm of the scrappers. Their terrestrial, boat shaped landspeeders can be seen darting to and fro, from atop the piles of rusted rubble, as they search for salvage. Truly, Bracca is the physical embodiment of the phrase, 'One man's trash, is another one's treasure.'

Consequently, anyone watching may find it peculiar when a sleek, private liner arrives at the Bracca spaceport. It reeks of Coruscanti elite, what might someone of such status and high societal regard be doing here, of all places?

When it lands, the cargo bay doors open immediately, revealing a modified architect droid in a wonderfully cantankerous mood, followed by a tall human male with wistful hazel eyes and a reluctant expression. They're escorting a large metal container lying a top a hovercart, out of the cargo bay of the private liner...

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    Standing atop a heap of wreckage is the one and only Kline Tel'daris wearing a jumpsuit, instead of his characteristic dress suit, overseeing scavengers loading salvage into the Dark Prisim.

    Kline watches the new ship prepare to unload its mysterious cargo and wonders what it entails. But then remembers what he was doing and shouts, "Remember we have a deal I take this salvage and sell it at the major scrap market and we split the haul 50/50"

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
Kline waves to the tall human, and with a curious look shouts "Dumping anything intresting?" to the fellow in the liner. At that moment a group of droids push the wreckage of a landpseeder out the cargo bay of the Dark Prism to crash below.

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
The chestnut haired man's gaze flicks to Kline for a moment, watching him shout at the scavengers. His brows furrow, and a distant look crosses his expression. The droid accompanying him becomes indignant. "I -know- what you're thinking, and that is a -terrible- idea!" He hurries the hovercart down the cargo bay gangplank and out of the private liner.

He then tries to approach one of the scavengers, but they're far too preoccupied with their work to pay much attention to him, despite his best attempts to flag at least one of them down.

And then Kline asks the chestnut haired man if he's dumping anything interesting. The distant expression vanishes quickly. "Well, I suppose that depends on what you define as interesting. The smelters on Coruscant have to inspect everything before they dump it. Protocol, I suppose. Here, I've heard there's something called the Maw that will take any and everything, regardless of how toxic or explosive it might be."

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    Kline frowns "Sounds Scary, I guess a mystery is better left unsolved in this case".

    Kline leans over and starts talking to a small Jawa scraping in the area and asks "You there which way to the MAW?". The Jawa sounds excited and starts gesturing and pointing and speaking sharply. Kline smiles and replies, "Thanks friend, I'll let him know".

     "Well sir the MAW is not far from here" Kline says to the chestnut haired man. Kline proceeds to point in the same direction as the Jawa and says "5 clicks that way".

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
The man's gaze grows distant again. "...I suppose."

However, he does not move, or even thank Kline when he tells him which way the Maw is. Instead, he watches as his droid continues to founder to and fro in the shipbreaking yard, still attempting to get the attention of the scrappers so that he ask them where the Maw is.

And yet, the man does not interfere, despite knowing where the Maw is already. It may occur to Kline, that the man actually does not want to dump whatever is in the container...

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    Kline looks at his own wrecked landspeeder, and contemplates the behavior of the man with the hazel eyes.

    Kline then calls over, "You know there might be other options, you don't look to fond to part ways with the container". Kline looks sad and reminiscent, "I am also familiar with expensive storage costs if thats the issue, I had to scrap many of my uncles things when he passed since I couldn't afford to keep paying storage fees on it."

    "Hey Thats an interesting droid you travel with... I also have a companion that's an architect droid, you could call him a business partner of sorts" Kline says with a friendly smile.

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
The chestnut haired man blinks, suddenly snapping back to reality. "There's always other options," the man replies, "That isn't the case here. It's whether I should indulge those choices, or not."

His gaze softens when Kline says that he has an architect droid as well. "I always had a knack for droid tinkering," he says softly, "little did I know that he could become a companion, as well."

His brow then furrows. "Expense isn't an issue," he says. "Nor is storage space--"

What was it, then...

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
"If you want to talk about it I'm all ears" Kline says with a reassuring air, "If it makes you feel better you can flip me a credit chit and hire me as a lawyer!, you know the whole client confidentiality thing..."

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
The chestnut haired man shakes his head. "I'm not in need of a lawyer," he says, "I'm in need of someone who won't just think of her as a project, or slave." His tone of voice suddenly becomes slightly bitter.

"However, if credits will guarantee confidentiality..." He hands Kline a pre-paid credit stick, one that he'll immediately notice is worth ten thousand credits.

Then he gestures for him follow him back to his private liner. "Perhaps you could have a look, and decide if she's worth your time and investment."

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    The ebony skinned man walks over to the cargo container to stand next to the chestnut haired man.

    Kline smiles wide and holds out his hand, "Kline Tel'daris CEO A4 Industries... also I'm an Attorney" the man explained expecting a handshake.

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
The man shakes Kline's hand firmly. "Doctor Soren Cassias," he says. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. A pleasure to meet you."

"Tubi," he calls to the droid, who is still manically running about. "Will you bring the container back inside? This man here is going to do an assessment of sorts."

The droid stares at him, looking incredulous. He seems to think the doctor has lost his mind. "You can't mean that," He grumbles, but complies, shaking his helm all the while.

Once they're back on the private liner, Soren closes the cargo bay doors and pulls the canvas tarp covering the container. He hesitates momentarily. "You'll keep this all completely confidential, yes?" he says, arching a brow at Kline.

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    Kline shakes his head up and down in affirmative anticipation, "yes, of course" he says to Cassias.

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
Soren then inclines his head slightly to indicate that he's accepted his affirmation, then keys in the code for the lock on the case. Then with a pneumatic hiss, the container clicks open, while doctor's droid mutters, "Madness! madness!" quietly to himself, arms folded.

Kline might not believe his eyes when he peers into the now open container. Therein lies a droid, not of any particular model or type. It had been meticulously assembled from all sorts of varying bits and pieces. And to Kline's knowledge, none of these parts are at all common ... or legal to own. It was a little bit Enforcer droid, a little bit HK assassin, a little bit navi-droid, and a lot of other vintage parts that dated all the way back to the Old Republic.

It's clearly unfinished, though. The droid in the case is missing an arm, and its left leg remains skeletal in structure. A panel on its chassis is open, revealing its intricate inner circuitry.

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    Kline gasps and whistles, then in a dry voice "Wow"

    Kline steps forward for a closer look trying to determine a value for something like this. "I have never seen anything... like this" Kline exclaims.

    Kline continues "With your permission I think we should involve my associate A4 the droid I mentioned earlier, he has the most expertise in this field". Kline then looked to the Doctor expectantly

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
Tubi hmphs and promptly exits the room, looking annoyed, but the doctor remains.

Soren shrugs. "I don't see why not," he says.

"I've spent numerous years trying to get her online. But I never managed it. Perhaps your droid could make a better assessment of her than I ever did."

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    Kline looks resigned, "Then I suggest we move this project over to A4's workshop over on the Dark Prism". Kline goes on to explain, "He has an extensive droid workshop over on my ship".

    Kline helps Soren get the strange droid crated up so it can be transported over to the Prism where it can be fully examined.

    Kline calls to his ship using a small comm stick, "A4 I have a curiosity for you to look at, we will bring it to your lab"

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
The doctor follows Kline absently, his expression distant and wistful, hands thrust deep into his coat pockets.

Once aboard the the Dark Prism, Soren looks around, brows furrowing in slight curiosity.

"Something tells me A4 isn't the only droid you've tinkered with," he says as they make their way to the workshop. "How long have you been in business?"

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    Kline leads the doctor up the ramp into the open mouth of the Dark Prism's cargo hold, then into the Habitation Module.

    While walking through the gigantic transport ship Kline admits, "My mother ran a shop where she repaired household droids when I was a child, I learned to interact with them and understand them." then he continued "I have only had A4 Industries for less than a year now, before that I worked as an Attorney"

    They pass several droids performing routine tasks and ship maintenance. Kline comes to a door in the back of the Habitation Module and presses the door hatch release. Inside there is a central workbench with projects in various states of completion. Against the walls there are racks of parts all neatly labeled. There are also several large cabinets against the aft wall. In the corner near the door is a pile of boxes and crates. Behind the central workbench is an Architect droid looking at a circuit board.

    Kline greets the droid, "Hey A4, I want you to meet Doctor Cassias. He has a very interesting droid you should look at.", kline then wheels in the storage container and places it in the middle of the room. "Doctor if you will" Kline suggests.

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
Soren follows Kline, glancing around at all the droids hard at work performing various tasks. "I see," he murmurs softly. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you prefer the company of droids over people," he says softly.

The doctor nods politely at A4 when Kline introduces him to his business partner. "A pleasure to meet you," he says politely to the droid.

He then moves over to the container and opens it once again, revealing its contents to A4.

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
A4 reaches into the storage container and examines the unfinished droid with some instruments. "Hrm" A4 beeps out in binary. After a few moments of examination the droid looks up at Kline and Soren and says, "It doesn't have enough power to activate, the power systems for the droid are inadequate, it will need a new more powerful power source".

    A4 walks over to one of his racks of gear and pulls out some power transfer cables and walks over to a power conduit plug on the wall and sockets the cable. The droid plugs the other end of the cable into the sleeping droid. "I can use the ships power systems to animate the droid but only while its in my workshop since I'll have to closely regulate the power output" A4 explains.

     "Though I might have a power source that could work on a more long term bases, it would have to be adapted of course." the droid conjectured and continued "A Gonk droid might be enough, they are walking power supplies after all"

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
The doctor nods. "I see," he says. "Well, perhaps the haul the scrappers bring in might have something?"

He suddenly seems slightly apprehensive when A4 plugs cable into the inert droid. "I ... explored that possibility," Soren says. "But the Gonk droids are not very versatile. It might be too--"

But their attention may quickly be drawn away, as the lights in the workshop suddenly flicker. And if A4 looks over at the strange droid, it may realize that the other droid is doing something that none of them had anticipated - it had overridden the power output A4 had put in place is now drawing an unlimited amount of energy to itself...

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    There is a whine as power courses into the droid and the pitch starts to climb. "Oh dear!" A4 says followed by a long list of unintelligible binary beeps and whistles. A4 quickly moves to the wall to desocket the power cable at its source from the ship.

    "We should probably continue this experiment on the surface" the droid suggested.

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
"Wait," Soren says, his eyes now wide with alarm. "How many watts were just drawn through the output?" he asks A4. "I was about to tell you that the droid has three built in energy accumulators..."

But before A4 can reply, the droid in the crate has sat up and ripped the cables from it's chassis port...

Kline Tel'daris has posed:
    "Uuuh I know I should have probably asked this first, but Doc what is the purpose of this droid?" Kline exclaimed!

    A4 vocalizes "Intresting" as it stares at the other droid sitting up and disconnecting itself from the ship.

Soren Cassias (141) has posed:
"..." Soren is about to reply, but by now, the droid has fully climbed out of the container and is looming over them.

At this present moment, A4 and Kline may become acutely aware of just how large and intimidating this droid is. It's at least 2 meters tall, and its optics glitter a wicked ruby red.

"My name is Colonel X," the droid intones, its programming clearly feminine. As she approaches, her scarlet gaze and murderous demeanor will make her purpose abundantly clear.

"Now get out of my way," she says. Thrusters attached to her heels ignite, and abruptly, 'Colonel X' is jettisoning out of the Dark Prism, the same way Kline and Soren had come in...