[center][i]A Dance With Aera Cura
Part the third[/i][/center]

[i]Wayland, undisclosed GRM facility[/i]

Eighteen men and women of various species and nationality sat around the semicircular table, a nineteenth chair bereft of its occupant at the apex of the curve and a glowing display before them. Characters from a long dead language scrolled past at a leisurely pace, occasional pictures bisecting the columns of text to illustrate a specific concept or to serve as a diagram for whatever the text was alluding to. This was the life's work of a select few of these individuals, their eyes aglow with the knowledge of what each intricate marking meant, and what the diagrams were of. Others were more recent additions, the text meaningless gibberish to them, but the project as a whole a most interesting prospect. With the nineteenth person joining them, the display died down and the lights undimmed to more fully show each member of the meeting. "For years, we have toiled," spoke Ekzrans Hollins, the head director of the secretive group seated at the leading edge of the table, "And despite some of our more interesting products, this will be the one to cast them all into shadow."

A murmur of assenting voices chorused around the room in agreement, all within the group knowing of the importance of this project to the greater scientific community. "Today marks the long awaited activation of our project, and the first of the trial runs." A slight tremble began to rock the meeting room as the floor opened up to reveal a mineshaft that delved deep into the facility and into the labs where their experiment awaited them. The whine of actuators and the hiss of hydraulics echoed from the shaft, increasing in volume until it was a cacophony of machinery and the table which held their hopes was now before them.

Atop the metal slab was a droid, similar in appearance to many of the current market's protocol droids, but eerily sinister in the way it's proportions were designed. Widened optical sensors made it seem far more predator like, and the curvature of its head lended to that appearance as well. Few of its joints were truly exposed, with plates covering the softer areas, and what wasn't covered by the plating looked to be wrapped in armour-weave fabric. The more one looked over the droid, the more it seemed to be a battle-droid masquerading as a protocol droid, even reaching into the realms of an assassin-droid. If one was to assume as such, they would be all too correct, for that was exactly what this droid was designed to be, and its predecessor was perhaps one of the greatest of its kind. Designated the Hunter-Killer Droid mark 133, this droid combined nearly three-thousand years of improvements on droid manufacture, as well as countless ancient secrets into its design, making it a terrifying machine on paper.

"As you can see," began lead designer Elric of the Czerka corporation, "The frame of the droid is of a Phrik-Durasteel alloy, making it resistant to blaster fire, and hardened against lightsabers as well. Designs from ancient Rakatan documents have allowed us to fashion a generator within its carapace that allows it to draw upon the force to power it, and also to a limited degree resist force-attacks. Because of its ability to draw on the force for power, the enhanced optical sensors allow it to use a form of Force-Sight in addition to the standard infrared, ultraviolet, and night vision optional viewing modes. Hidden within the vambraces of both arms are retracting vibro-blades that can extend to up to two feet in length, giving the machine a deadly back-up weapon in case its normal armaments are disabled..." Here he left off and allowed another to pick up his place in the debriefing of the machine.

This time a woman spoke up, one of the pair of Echani who were still not quite known about in the group. In truth, no one even knew their names, all they knew is that the pair were accomplished Echani Weapon Masters, and that they were not cheap to keep around. "Nothing has been left out in terms of combat programming, from the most basic of blaster courses, all the way to the martial arts of the long dead Massassi warriors. Myself and my partner saw to it that the droid was programmed with over three-thousand physical combat forms, and would be able to effectively utilize most infantry ranged weapons. Of course," She gave a nod to an elderly man on the opposite end of the table, dressed in the robes of a Jedi Consular, "It was our friends in the Enclaves who provided several dozen holocrons on weapon skills from both Jedi and Sith of varying eras, and with that I can confidently say this droid be able to hold its own against an accomplished Jedi weapon master or Sith Lord."

The table went silent as all eighteen of the members looked to the nineteenth figure, the singular t-shaped slit in their visor staring directly ahead at the droid. "Activate it." commanded the man, the one who was called the Paladin...

---

[i]Taris Sector Authority[/i]

"Sirs, we've received reports of an incoming fleet, a large one at that." a flurry of activity suddenly engulfed the command center as each crewman went to their stations and the commandant took the reports and gave his own overview of them. Seemed that Astranoma had decided to pay them a visit, though for what reason he was unsure, but it would be soon enough revealed as the fleet translated in system and broadcast their intent. "Fleet to battle stations." his order was bellowed with due authority, and translated to each of the attendant vessels of the Tarisian League Sector defense fleet gathered in Taris' orbit. As the frigates and medical stations of Astranoma moved into position to await a response from Taris Sector Authority, the three ISDs and six Victory SDs moved to intercept and effectively block their path to Taris. Behind them, the four Venator Type 1s of the patrol fleet sat in a fire-support position, their angles of fire marked on the tactical display and overlapping with that of the defensive fleets.

"Helm to me." he commanded, and a crewman swung the command-chair about to allow the commandant to take up the helm. Clearing his throat for a moment before he activated the hailing device, he brought up a link between the command center and the lead Astranoma vessel, directly addressing their commanding vessel. "This is commandant Fifteen-Zero-Three of the Tarisian League Sector Authority Command, you are in violation of our neutrality clause regarding the Hydian Way bypass, and are hereby asked to immediately turn about and return to the Hydian Way to leave GRM space. As a reminder to your [i]living[/i] commanders, article fifteen of the Mandalorian Neutrality Clause directly states that all major hyperspace lanes leading through space occupied by the Grand Republic of Mandalore will be kept open and protected by GRM forces for so long as non-GRM traffic remains inside the hyperspace lanes, and that any traffic disengaging from the lanes inside GRM space of a sufficient size must register their fleet with the GRM and gain permission to arrive by appointment. Failure to abide by these clauses will result in GRM forces being free to do as they wish with said vessels that have chosen not to abide by the Neutrality Clause. Since we are a fair and honorable people, we are allowing your vessels exactly fifteen minutes to register their hyperdrive's navi-computers with the Hydian Way and begin jump sequence to a location outside GRM space."

Taking a moment's pause for effect, his face darkened a moment before continuing. "Failure to do so will result in your vessels being fired upon. You have been warned."