Trachta sat quietly yet again aboard a shuttle bound for another manufacturing planet. It had been a long time since he had been to Mechis III and even now he couldn’t fully remember it. The only reason he still even remembered it was that it was the world that manufactured his cybernetic life support components. If it weren’t for them, Trachta would have been dead long ago. That thought caused the memory of the horrible day that permanently scarred him to come back.

A Year Ago

It had been just another day for Trachta while he had been in charge of the Zebuni crime family’s spice smuggling operations on Kessel. The Zebuni family was one of the largest non-Hutt smuggling cartels around and Trachta knew this would cause trouble for him and his boss, Georgi Zebuni. But Georgi was foolish as ever and didn’t worry too much about the slug criminal masterminds. It was the last mistake he would ever make….

“Bula, please send in Grinko,” Trachta ordered politely into his desk intercom. Bula gave an affirmative beep and then the door opened. A Sullustan walked in with his usual strut, even if his left ear was missing from one of his more recent adventures outside of spice smuggling. He looked at Trachta and promptly took a seat in the repulsor chair in front of Trachta’s desk. He also took the point of adjusting the controls so that he was at eye level with Trachta. A very bold move to do with his superior, but Trachta was used to his pompousness.

“So, what’d you want with me?” Grinko asked as he sat there. He looked as if Trachta had just called him out of a very important. From what Trachta knew of the Sullustan that was most unlikely. He had probably interrupted his trying to chat up a female Sullustan at the smuggling base’s main bar.

“Because I understand you’ve been making runs for the Hutts,” Trachta said as he gave Grinko a very piercing and interrogating stare.

“Well, uh, you see…. it’s like this. Georgi pays well, but the Hutts can offer more. I mean, you’d go work for them if they could pay you better, wouldn’t you?” Grinko asked innocently as he sat there now with a nervous look on his face.

“No, no I wouldn’t. I wasn’t raised to be a backstabbing piece of scum like you, but perhaps I let it slip this time if you don’t do it again. If you do, I’ll be forced to dismiss you…” Grinko seemed to loosen up at that until “…. And the place a bounty on your head for betraying the organization. You know our policy; no one here works for the Hutts. But since I’m much more forgiving than Georgi, I won’t tell him this time as long as you stay loyal.” Grinko’s jaw dropped open in surprise and disbelief.

“That’s extortion! You can’t do that!”

“I can, will, and already have. If you do it again, you’ll regret beyond all existence. Anyways, what do you think this is, some legitimate business?” Trachta asked, he voice oozing with sarcasm.

“But…….” Grinko was turning pale, as he realized he couldn’t win.

“But nothing, you’ve heard me straight, now get out before I change my mind!” Trachta bellowed, causing Grinko to jump out of the chair and flee the chamber. Bula, Trachta’s Twi’lek assistant looked into Trachta’s office but simply shrugged it off. Trachta had always been a tough manager, even when he first started there. He had even gone so far as to kill one man and beat the living daylights out of another for dealings with the Hutts.

Two Hours Later

Trachta was sitting at his desk doing his usual quota balances to makes sure no one would notice the extra spice entering the market when the door opened unexpectedly. Trachta looked up quickly while at the same time reaching for his blaster that he had hidden underneath the desk. Trachta quickly stopped the motion when he saw it was Georgi Zebuni. Georgi strutted in with the air of a man who owned the universe. He was a tall man with coppery hair and handsome features that made Trachta wonder why he had never gone into the movie business. None the less, Trachta was stuck with this man as his employer which didn’t bother him too much since the Zebunis paid him an exorbitant amount of money.

“What’s up gloomy?” Georgi asked, using his nickname for Trachta’s usual serious and depressed look that he used to mask his emotions from everyone. Few had ever seen Trachta smile which had caused Georgi’s nickname for him to spread quickly. But Trachta simply smiled at his employer.

“Just fine, Georgi. Just manipulating some records to ensure we still won’t be noticed by local authorities. What do you want?”

“Came up to ask you to dine with me, I need to discuss some serious business with you since you’re the only guy here I can trust,” Georgi said looking around as if expecting to see spies everywhere.

“Fine, I’m done anyway,” Trachta said shutting down his computer for the day, causing it to triple encrypt itself so that no one would access those files easily without months of hacking past the encryptions. Trachta then stood up and followed Georgi out of his chambers. Bula, seeing that her boss had finished for the day, shut down her own desk comp and left also.

As Trachta and Georgi traveled through the smuggling base, they discussed several normal matters of smuggling as they made their way to Georgi’s offices. When they arrived they entered the side room which served as a audience chamber. Georgi took a seat on the main chair while Trachta sat in a guest seat. Soon servants entered and severed the meal.

“So, what was it that you wanted to discuss with me, Georgi?”

“The Hutts; they’ve started muscling in on our business and I think we need to send them a message that no one screws around with the Zebuni family.”

“So, what shall we do then?” Trachta asked as he cut into his food.

“I was thinking maybe you should deal with that Trachta. I know quite well that you’re much more devious than you let on.”

“Been bugging my office, have you Georgi?” Trachta asked, sounding completely unsurprised as he continued to eat his dinner.

“Maybe, but that’s beside the point. What we need to do is something devious and even more underhanded than the Hutts could possibly imagine. But we can discuss that later, lets have some entertainment,” Georgi said as he clapped his hands. A beautiful woman appeared soon and began to dance very exotically.

Trachta had to admit he loved the entertainment the Zebuni men preferred at their dinners. The woman danced and advanced continually towards Georgi. Trachta was watching her closely but then something occurred to him. Why did she continue her approach? That didn’t seem right for any dancer to do. His suspicions were soon answered when she was so close she locked her arms around Georgi and then suddenly exploded. Trachta heard a scream of utter terror and pain and realized that was him. Even now he could here the klaxons going off as security personnel were entering the chamber. Trachta tried to blink his eyes to try and see what remained of the room, but soon realized he wouldn’t be able to blink ever again.

“I’m blind!” he cried as the guards grabbed him and dragged him out of the rubble. The last thing Trachta remembered was passing out from the severe wave of pain that hit him as they picked him up.

Sometime Later

Trachta heard muffled sounds and felt wetness around him as well as a breath mask on his face. He therefore assumed he was hopefully in a bacta tank and not a stasis tank. It became much more apparent he was in a bacta tank because the pain he had felt earlier was now only a faint phantom of itself. He still felt it there though, and that was a good sign to him. If he could still feel pain then there was a good chance the bacta was still helping. Either way, it didn’t seem to help his current sight impairment. Trachta soon lulled back into unconsciousness as he felt drugs being administered to him.

Trachta awoke again. This time he was lying on his back and not in a bacta tank. This time he was quite aware he wasn’t in bacta because the pain that had been a phantom before had returned in full force. Agony crawled across Trachta’s body as he lay there strapped down to the table and listening to the voices around him.

“His stats are going up, I think he’s awake. Trachta, can you hear me, sir?” Doctor Morgy asked as Trachta felt an anesthetic being introduced into his system, making the pain return to the phantom from the bacta tank.

“Of course I can hear…..” Trachta suddenly stopped as he heard his voice. Panic ran through him. It didn’t sound at all like his voice. I had a more grating metallic sound to it, yet it still help some almost invisible vestiges of what he once sounded like. “Wh….what has happened to my voice?”

“Ah, I see you’ve noticed that. Well, you see, sir, your mouth, lungs, and voice box were seriously damaged in the explosion. We had to replace them with…. artificial components.”

“What about my eyes?” Trachta demanded as he remained strapped down.

“Well, we haven’t tended to that yet sir. We wanted your permission before continuing with the application of prosthetics. We will have to remove certain organs and to fit the life support equipment into you, sir. The bacta could only do so much.”

“Very well, get on with it. I don’t want to remain sightless forever,” Trachta ordered. Then he suddenly felt unconsciousness creeping into him yet again. He was actually getting used to this happening now and that scared him slightly right before he slipped back into nothingness.

Trachta floated about within the confines of his mind. He had no idea how much time was actually passing as at sometimes it seemed like ages while at other times it seemed likes it was all going by within the blink of an eye. All Trachta had to explore now were the dark recesses of his mind. He pushed back into his memories. He first encountered the most recent ones which were those of working with the Zebuni family. He quickly shoved those aside as he already knew what all those were about and didn’t want to go into them. Now he crossed into what Trachta called his days of misery. These memories were mainly of Trachta being drunk in cantinas and getting into bar fights. Trachta took more interest in these because no one really knows how miserable the universe truly can be unless they experienced it for themselves. Trachta had that misfortune all too much after graduation from a private military academy on Carida. That thought sent Trachta even farther back. Now he was looking upon the memories of his days at the military academy. Those had been happier days; much happier day in fact. That had when Trachta had actually felt like someone important. He had been at the head of his class, considered a genius by those who served under or against him in the simulated battles. But those days had lead to the more miserable times.

After his graduation from the academy he had hoped to join some major government’s military forces only to be shoved away each time with the same excuse. They only wanted officers that had been trained in their public academies. Trachta despised this fact and requirement while he wallowed in self-pity for all those years. His only lucky streak had been to be recruited by the Zebuni crime family who needed someone to organize their spice smuggling and look where that luck had landed him. He was now unconscious, receiving cybernetic implants to stay alive. He seriously began to hate his luck as he continued his mental journey.

But before Trachta could go any further, consciousness smashed into him like a rampaging bantha. Light! Trachta could see light again! But then he noticed something strange about the light as he looked at it. It was sort of discolored, in fact in was mainly tinted with red and Trachta couldn’t understand why. He could still see colors, but all of them had shades of red around them. Trachta then saw the ugly Klatoonian face of Doctor Morgy which was also tinted in red.

“Trachta, can you see me?”

“Yes, but why do I see so much red?

“That is an unfortunate side effect from photoceptors, sir,” Morgy said with a slightly grim tone. “They interpret light as it is meant for droids to see. Unfortunately your brain doesn’t have the same filtering capacity of a droid brain yet.”

“What do you mean by yet?”

“Your brain will slowly adapt to the photoceptors. Once they have, that red tint you see will disappear completely and you’ll see much more clearly. It will take several months for this to happen, but it will. It will take time though so you must be patient.”

“Very well, but can you tell me what happened in the audience chamber? All I remember is the dancer exploding,” Trachta asked curiously as he sat up slowly. He could here the sound of servomotors as he moved.

“It was a synth droid loaded with organic explosives. It was able to get past all of our safety mechanisms. It killed Georgi, and has caused you to require permanent cybernetic implants to simply go on living.”

“Who caused this?”

“Well that’s the thing. It was Grinko; and he’s seized control of the base. I think he plans on turning it over to the Hutts pretty soon. That’s what the gossip is.”

“That slime ball, he tried to eliminate me and Georgi. It’s such a pity he failed to get rid of me. Does he know I’m alive?” Trachta asked as thoughts of revenge entered his mind.

“No, he thinks you’re a casualty also. I made sure of this because he seemed quite intent of killing either of you if you had somehow survived. He thinks you’re just a smuggler who got fusion burns,” Morgy said as he examined Trachta’s new cybernetics to make sure they were fully functional.

“Where does Grinko stay currently?”

“Well, with Georgi’s room totaled by the bombing he is using your room. I’ve also heard he’s been trying to access your files but is having trouble.”

“Excellent, I think its time I paid Grinko a visits, don’t you think, Morgy?” Trachta asked as he slowly stood up and tested his cybernetics. He moved around slowly at first and then began to move a little faster to test his reflexes. He was surprised to see they were faster than before. Morgy must have noticed the way he seemed surprised because he gave an answer.

“Those prosthetics give you amplified reflexes. You’ll be able move a bit faster, against humans anyway.”

“That’ll be useful; do you have a blaster I can borrow?”

“Here,” Morgy said pulling it out of the medicine cabinet marked biohazard.

Trachta took the gun and checked that there was a full charge in it. He also checked to make sure it wasn’t sabotaged in any other way before holstering it and turning back to Morgy.

“I suggest you get out of here before the fun starts.”

“What are you planning on doing?” Morgy asked suspiciously as he looked at Trachta.

“I’m going blow this whole base to oblivion, I suggest you not be around when the klaxons start going off.,” Trachta said as he changed into some spare worker clothes and then left Morgy who was already packing his stuff in a hurry.

Trachta moved along the hallways without much pace. He maintained a casual stance as if he were off to his work detail in the docking bay of the base. Trachta quickly and quietly made his way to the reactor core of the base. He entered slowly and carefully using his command override codes to get through the security measures. He traveled along the long tunnel as it sloped further and further down into the crust of the planet. Trachta then reached the door he had been looking for and entered. The room he walked into was stuffed with work and monitoring stations. Techs sat at all of them carefully looking over their power readings and ignoring Trachta. Trachta changed that as he pulled out his blaster pistol and set it to stun. He then fired off a shot into the third row of techs as they were the closest. Several of them jumped out of surprise but soon slumped to the floor as the stun wave effect hit them. Trachta then fired off several more stun blasts knocking out the ret before the alarm could be sounded.

Trachta walked over to the main console and began to tinker with the controls. If there was one thing Trachta had learned, it was how to run a reactor core. This was due to the point that there weren’t techs on the base at certain times and it had been his job to do one of the watches on the reactor. Trachta then started the reaction he knew would take a while but once it started it couldn’t stop. The techs would probably wake up just after that and have time to escape. Trachta then walked out of the control room and looked it with his command override codes. That would keep everyone out of there, especially Grinko and his followers. This base was going to go sky high and the Hutts would never get their slimy hands on it. Trachta moved back into the upper levels and soon made his way to his office. He found Bula sitting at her desk outside, but there was something different about her. She had a black eye and now had a sour look on her face as Trachta approached her.

“What do you want space junk?” Bula asked sourly as she sat there looking up from here reports. By the way she spoke; Trachta knew she didn’t recognize him, especially with all the new hardware on him.

“To tell you to get out of here before this place blows, Bula,” Trachta said in a lowered voice as he stood there.

Bula’s eyes got wide as she heard the voice of her supposedly former employer coming out of the cybernetic monstrosity in front of her. “Trachta, is that you?”

“Yes, most of me anyways, where’s Grinko?” Trachta asked with a very savage tone.

Bula looked around before answering. “He’s in a meeting with a Hutt crime boss, but he’ll be back here soon.”

“Good. Now get out of here before this whole base blows up,” Trachta said as he walked towards his office doors. The door slid open and Trachta started to walk in but turned to make sure Bula was leaving. She was and blew him a kiss as she disappeared out of the reception area’s door. Trachta smiled to himself mentally before continuing into the chamber and got in position.

Grinko did come pretty soon and as the door slid open he noticed a pale figure sitting there with glowing red photoceptors and pale skin. He had no idea who this wise guy was but he was going to make him remember who ran things at this base now.

“Who are you and what are you doing in MY chair?” Grinko demanded in what he thought was an intimidating voice. The stranger didn’t seem to think so because he let out a harsh metallic cackle from his vocabulator before he pressed a button causing the door behind Grinko to slam shut.

“Your room, Grinko? When did this become your room? I don’t ever remember giving it to you,” Trachta said now with a wicked and savage tone.

Grinko turned pale as he recognized the metallic voice and started to reach for his pistol only to find Trachta already had whipped his out and was aiming it at him.

“T….Trachta, I thought you were dead.”

“You WISH I was dead. But guess what, I’m not and I’m really annoyed. I never thought you would have gone so far as to kill your own boss, Grinko. But you proved me wrong and now its time to pay the piper.”

“P….please, d…..don’t shoot me!” Grinko cried as he stood there shaking.

“Shoot you? Why would I shoot you?” Trachta said causing Grinko to look relieved at first. “I rather prefer the thought of you going up in one giant fireball, along with the rest of this base that isn’t yours either.”

“WHAT!” Grinko exclaimed before he fell to the floor from a stun shoot hitting him square in the chest.

Two Hours Later

Grinko woke to the sound of klaxons and a neutral metallic voice like Trachta's except it was that of a female. ‘The base’s main computer,’ he thought. The he noticed something else, the voice seemed to be counting down. He looked over at the computer screen and saw the countdown.

“One minute until reactor core overload,” The computer said matter-of-factly.

Grinko began to panic and tried to get out of the chair he was in only to find he had been tied to it. He could still here the computer counting down but now it was in Trachta’s voice.

“Fifty….”

Grinko kept struggling and then he felt it, one of the ropes slipped and he began untying himself.

“Forty…”

Grinko got out of his chair and ran to the door but it wouldn’t open. He heard Trachta's cruel metallic laugh emitting from the main viewscreen. Grinko turned to see Trachta on it.

“Sorry Grinko, I made sure the ropes were loose enough to raise your hopes right before you died as a final piece of revenge. Goodbye, traitor,” Trachta said as his image vanished from the screen.

Grinko yelled curses at the blank screen until suddenly it changed to numbers also.

“Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve….”

Grinko was now simply standing there as he accepted the inevitable. Trachta had gotten the best of him, even, it appeared, in death.

Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one……”

The last Thing Grinko felt was the sudden flash of heat and then nothing else ever again.

In Geosynchronous Orbit

Trachta watched as the massive fireball appeared where the smuggling base had been. Trachta watched it for a few more minutes before triggering the hyperdrive and forever leaving his old life behind

The Present

“Sir, we have arrived at Mechis III, shall I request landing clearance?”

Trachta suddenly snapped out of his reminiscing. That had been a painful memory but he never thought he would be visiting the world the builds his cybernetic components, but
TNO needs manufacturing centers to further its cause and Mechis III was perfect for the job.

“Yes, inform them that this is the negotiation mission from the New Order,” Trachta said as he sat there waiting for them to land so he could begin.

"Blitz One, you have clearance to land in docking bay twelve," the Mechis III aircraft controller droid said over the shuttle's speaker unit.

"Confirmed, Mechis Space Control, we are making our decent," the shuttle pilot said as he punched in several controls and the shuttle began its stead decent towards a massive industrial spaceport.

Freighters descended and ascended as they came to wheel and deal with the Administrator of Mechis III. Trachta watched out of the forward view port at the massive city-sized spaceport below them. Its soul purpose was to hold and transfer cargo quickly and efficiently, you could tell just by looking at it. Trachta had to admit to himself that it was quite a site to behold. He also realized that it was an intimidation tactic probably ordered by the Administrator of the whole planet, Artemis Relquite. The tactic didn’t work though, mainly because Trachta had been through so much that not much impressed him.

The shuttle was soon approaching the docking bay marked 12 in what appeared to be three or four different trade languages besides basic. Trachta had to admit that was a pretty clever move on the part of whoever had that first done as some races didn’t speak or read basic very. Trachta now watched the innards of the docking bay as the shuttle’s wings folded and deployed its landing gear. The bay was full of service droids who moved about like little hive insects. They all moved about without any collisions at all and seemed to know where they were going. Trachta removed himself from the awe of the droids’ efficiency and approached the door that opened to the boarding ramp. There was a loud click sound followed by hissing as the door opened. The hissing continued as the boarding ramp lowered and extended down to the docking bay floor. Trachta began his descent into the docking bay.

As Trachta just walked off of the boarding ramp, a doorway on the far side of the chamber opened and a polished chrome droid approached Trachta with what appeared to be an air of importance about it. Trachta found it comical watching the droid strut up to him as if it were better than him, when all he had to do was introduce the droid to a very special virus Trachta had had produced by the New Orders best computer technicians before coming here and the droid’s whole perspective on life would be changed forever. It would become a perspective bent towards serving the New Order and Trachta. Trachta pushed those thoughts aside though as he watched the droid draw closer. Phase Two would only be needed if the original idea failed. The original idea, of course, was to make Mechis III incorporate itself into the New Order without military coaxing. Trachta though had another way to make that happen once the original plan failed as he knew it would.

“Greetings sir, I am 3D-4X, Master Relquite’s personal assistant. I am to understand this is diplomatic negotiations so will you be requiring a place to stay?”

“Yes, I expect to be here for a while so as to get these negotiations done as soon as possible.”

“Do you have any luggage, sir?”

“Just a single briefcase, feel free to have a servant droid take it to my room, I wish to speak with Relquite.”

“Ah, he expected as much, please follow me, sir,” the droid said as he promptly turned and walked away. Trachta moved to stay in tow of it.

As Trachta and the droid exited the docking bay, Trachta got to view even more of the massive spaceport. Trachta was sure this wasn’t the only city-sized one on the entire planet since the whole world was practically just one huge factory whose facilities were rented out for use to the major corporations of the galaxy. Trachta had to admit that Mechis III could be considered one of the wonders of the galaxy. It was one of the largest manufacturing centers in existence and most of its population was droids which work for free and require very little maintenance. Trachta would have loved to shake the hand of the man who came up with the idea of an automated factory world, but whoever it was, was now dead. Trachta had to deal with the snobbish and maniacal Artemis Relquite.

Eventually they reached a massive cargo port where automated repulsor transports dropped off finished products and picked up raw materials. Trachta found that there was a repulsor limo waiting for him and his mechanical host. They entered it and it quickly took off and flew away from the spaceport. Trachta looked through the window at the landscape. Most of it was nothing but barren lands but they passed over many huge manufacturing centers, each with logos painted on them showing who currently rented and ran the facilities that produced a good bit of the galaxy’s hardware and sometimes software. What soon caught Trachta’s cybernetic gaze was a monstrous factory-city. It had to be the largest one he had seen yet, it even dwarfed the spaceport Trachta had landed at. At the center of it was huge office building which surly must have been the tallest thing in the skyline. Trachta felt the repulsor limo begin to descend and he saw it approach a docking bay in the massive tower. The limo slowly came down and set down. Trachta’s droid escort quickly got out with Trachta following him. They soon began to move down the many corridors.

“This is Relquite Tower, the tallest building on Mechis III and the nerve center of all production on the planet. Almost every floor of this tower is rented out to a corporation so that they can oversee the production at the facilities they are currently renting from us. Impressive, isn’t it?” the droid asked rhetorically as they walked on.

Trachta got the very sudden urge to make a yawning noise to show his contempt for the independent planet’s egotistical administrator and his little pet projects like this tower, but resisted it as it might hurt the mission. Trachta had seen buildings at Imperial Center ten times larger than this one. Trachta made a note to simply stay quiet until he finally spoke with Relquite.

“I must say that Mr. Relquite is very interested in knowing what you are doing here. Would you mind informing me so that I can have my records ready for negotiations?”

“No,” Trachta said causing the droid to make an affronted noise as they continued onwards.

They soon reached a turbolift and the droid motioned for Trachta to enter. Trachta did so and was then followed by the droid, who inserted his index digit into a scomp-link socket. The turbolift moved upwards and towards what Trachta assumed was the Administrator’s level. Trachta wondered which floor they were going to, but then occurred to him quite quickly which one it was. The top floor, the usual symbol of authority in the corporate world, was where they were going. Trachta soon found his guess to be right as the turbolift slowed to a stop and the doors opened to a massive and beautiful chamber. It was full of trees and greenery, even a waterfall was visible in the background. It fed a wide stream that went down the center of the room with two bridges connecting the sides. Trachta entered the room and followed the protocol droid across the left bridge to the other side where Trachta found a desk in the center and a well dressed man sitting at it.

“Presenting the New Order’s dispatched negotiator, uhhhh….” The droid stuttered because it realized it hadn’t gotten his name or title while in the docking bay.

“Commodore Trachta,” Trachta said introducing himself to who was undoubtedly Artemis Relquite.

“Ah, commodore, welcome to Mechis III. I hope your ride here was pleasant,” Relquite quite stated as he flicked a piece of imaginary dust from his suit.

“Most of it, though I wasn’t aware that it was common procedure during negotiations to try and intimidate the other side’s negotiator before he arrived,” Trachta said as he looked at Relquite.

Relquite had a stunned look on his face as he realized Trachta had caught on to what Relquite had done while Trachta was on his way here. Then he quickly made the stunned look vanish as if it had never been there. Trachta gave him credit for recovering so quickly.

“Ah, so I see that the Empire sent someone who is very observant,” He said in tones of annoyance.

“Observant enough to see that we should drop the pleasantries and get down to business, I’m not here to be a conversationalist.”

“Very well, what business does the New Order have for Mechis III?”

“This,” Trachta said pulling out a piece of paper and handing it over to Relquite.

Relquite took the paper and read it over very slowly. He didn’t get far though because as his eyes seemed to reach the middle of the paper, his eyes widened with surprise and then filled with anger as he held the paper in one hand and glared at Trachta.

“This is a contract making you Administrator of Mechis III and making Mechis III property of the New Order. Did you think you could honestly get away with this proposal? Do you think me that stupid?” Relquite demanded as he crumpled the paper up in his hand.

“In a word: yes. I did think you were stupid enough to sign that before reading it,” Trachta lied as he stood there. This was as he thought it would play out.

“How dare you! I am the soul controller of this entire planet and you thought you could just make me sign it over. I’ll make you pay for this,” He said as he pushed a button on his desk. Security droids soon appeared from turbolift platforms in the lawn around the desk. “Take this useless Imperial out of my sight and have his ship seized, inform the New Order that it was attacked by pirates before it got here.”

The protocol droid nodded and followed the security droids who took Trachta away at gun point. Trachta went easily and moved as he was told. They would probably take him to some holding facility in this tower. Perfect. Phase two would begin as Trachta had anticipated.

Trachta sat in his holding cell silent and motionless as he often did. He had been in this holding cell for a week now and had finally learned the habits of the droids that guarded him and gave him his nutrient rations. It was now time for him to begin phase two of the conquest of the massive manufacturing world of Mechis III.

Trachta removed his officer’s tunic to reveal his upper torso. While the upper half remained human, but pale to the point of being white, the lower half was completely metal which Trachta used to his advantage. He reached down with his gloved hand and opened the metal casing. Inside was the circuitry that kept what was left of Trachta alive and moving. Trachta removed a small device that had been put in there once phase two became necessary. Trachta pulled out what appeared to be a retraining bolt, but looks could be deceiving as in this case. This little device actually held a nasty computer virus that would rewrite the programming of any droid and turn it into a loyal follower of the New Order as well a spreading unit for the virus. Trachta called this nasty little bug the Omni Virus since it could seize control of practically any droid created and spread quickly.

Trachta closed the metal casing and put his tunic back on as he heard the sound of the delivery droid approaching. Trachta finished closing his tunic and palmed the ‘virus’ bolt in his left hand and stood to the side of the cell. Right on schedule the simple labor droid appeared with a tube full of nutrients in its hand. It opened the door and placed the nutrient tube on the cell’s table. It then made the fatal mistake that it had made every time it had delivered the nutrient tubes to Trachta; it turned its back on him to walk out. Trachta seized the moment and jumped on the droid’s back clapped his left hand where a restraining bolt would usually be placed. The ‘virus’ bolt clapped into place with a metallic clank and the droid suddenly quit struggling. Trachta released it and watched as it turned towards him as if awaiting instructions.

“Commence phase two,” Trachta ordered as he stood there.

The droid gave a barely visible nod and walked out of the cell, closing it as it usually did after it had delivered the nutrient tube. It acted as if nothing had happened at all, even though something had. Trachta had just started the process which would lead to the fall of Artemis Relquite and the conquest of Mechis III. The revolution had begun.

L-23C moved down the corridor as it usually did after delivering the prisoner’s food. But now it had new orders and loyalties. Its soul job now was to spread the Omni Virus to the rest of the population of Mechis III to ensure the New Order’s complete control over the world. L-23C approached the security droid at the end of the holding cell corridor who paid it no attention, since it wasn’t a prisoner. L-23C suddenly brought up its index finger and shoved it into the main data socket of the security droid, who gave a static burst of surprise from its vocabulator as its programming was rewritten. It returned to its duty as L-23C walked out into the main corridor and went down the corridor. It was about to enter a turbolift when it was stopped by 3D-4X, Relquite’s mechanical flunky.

“You, come with me. I need to have several crates moved to the records level.”

L-23C followed the protocol droid waiting until they could get in an isolated area to carry out its orders. They traveled to 3D-4X’s chamber and L-23C sprung on 3D-4X, who yelled for help only once before the Omni Virus took over. 3D-4X now continued as if nothing had happened and continued to order the labor droid around until the job was done. 3D-4X then dismissed the droid and went on his routes of daily management.

3D-4X left Relquite Tower with his usual air of importance as he would do his usual rounds at several of the closest factory-cities. So the converted 3D-4X made his way about the complexes of each factory-city, drawing labor and security droids into the shadows and out of camera view so that he could do his job of spreading the virus to his fellow automatons.

Two Weeks Later

Trachta sat in his cell and read over reports 3D-4X had been smuggling to him about how many droids were joining the cause. By the look of the reports they now completely control the central city and all of Relquite Tower, including its security forces and had even infected manufacturing machinery so that droids would be built with the programming automatically in them. Trachta also read that most of the factory-cities around the main one were more than 75 percent under their control. Trachta was delighted to see that every manufacturing center and spaceport on Mechis III now had at least one infected droid and their numbers were increasing by the day.

Four Weeks Later

Trachta sat in his holding cell and inserted the nutrient tube that had just been delivered to him. He then closed his casing and sealed his tunic as he stood up. He also read over a report the labor droid had left with the nutrient tube. As he looked over the statistics he realized it was time.

“Guard, come here,” Trachta ordered, causing the security droid looked at him and then stood up and approached his cell. “Let me out, its time to clean house.”

The security droid froze for a moment as its rewritten programming fully took over. The droid opened the door allowing Trachta to leave. Trachta passed the droid and was happy to hear it following him as he went down the corridor to the door. It opened without resistance as Trachta walked out into the open and then spoke.

“Its time to clean house,” Trachta said, initiating the full activation of the virus programming. “Now go my minions and activate your brethren.”

Trachta watched as the droids that had heard him moved about and began speaking the phrase he had said activating more and more of the copies of the virus. He even saw some broadcasting it to whole sectors and ordering it to be spread. Trachta watched as a mechanical revolution began on Mechis III. Trachta soon ran into the snide 3D-4X who had had his program activated. Trachta had 3D-4X lead him to the turbolift to take him up to Artemis’ office. Soon they were on the top floor and walked into the beautiful chamber from where Relquite ruled this world. Trachta crossed the stream on the left bridge and walked up to Relquite who didn’t look up at all. Trachta looked at 3D-4X who walked up also and stood there.

“Presenting Commodore Trachta of the New Order and soon to be administrator of Mechis III,” the droid said with its usual air of importance.

Relquite’s head now shot up in surprise to see Trachta standing there and then anger entered his eyes as he realized what his droid had said. He pressed the button on his desk causing the security droids to appear again from the hidden turbolift platforms. They walked up and aimed their weapons at Trachta as he stood there. Trachta looked at them and then at Relquite.

“I believe this is the last I am to see of you, Commodore,” Relquite said as he looked at Trachta with the look that said he thought he had the advantage on Trachta.

“Yes, I believe you are right. It time to clean house.”

The security droids, to Relquite’s confusion, froze for a moment before the started moving again. Now they all aimed their weapons at him. Relquite gapped in utter disbelief at what was happening. He just couldn’t believe what was happening. It seemed that his mechanized security force had somehow come under Trachta’s control. It just didn’t make any sense.

“Sign this please,” Trachta said presenting Relquite with a second copy of the New Order contract.

Relquite looked in horror first at the contract and then at Trachta. He looked into Trachta’s soulless photoceptors and then back at the contract. He then pulled a pen out of his pocket and signed the contract with a shaking hand.

“Thank you,” Trachta said as he made the contract disappear back into his black tunic. Trachta then looked at Relquite again and then stepped away. “Kill him.”

Relquite gapped again as the droids opened fire. The last thing he would see was the flash of light and Trachta’s emotionless photoceptors as the blaster bolts cut into him. After that, everything went dark and he only felt his body falling and then he felt nothing ever again.

Trachta walked up to the corpse of the former administrator of Mechis III and gave it a kick. When it didn’t give any response besides laying there he turned to the security droids.

“Take his body to an incinerator and burn it. I won’t no remains whatsoever,” Trachta said as he took a seat at the administrator’s chair and then began to change files and passwords with the aid of 3D-4X. After he was finished he stood up and walked around the massive chamber. “3D-4X, inform the rest of Mechis III that I am now Administrator, the planet is now a member of the New Order, and that they should expect the arrival of Imperial officials soon.”

3D-4X bowed slightly and left the chamber. Trachta looked up at the stars and muttered to himself, “So many to conquer and so little time.”

The protocol droid soon returned and reported that the workers have been informed and that they have easily accepted the change in administration. Trachta nodded and then turned towards the droid.

“Send a transmission to my superiors in the New Order that the planet has been successfully taken and is now ready for Imperial occupation. Also inform them that Omni was successful and that the planet is fully under our control.”

3D-4X bowed himself out again as Trachta now walked about the massive chamber. He had to admit he liked its odd design, and he would make a note of running his governorships from Mechis III as the world was much safer to live on than Kuat was. Trachta looked out into the nighttime sky of Mechis III, the world that he had just conquered for the New Order.