The once powerful tyrant of Nar Shaddaa writhed underfoot, hissing and clawing at Marquis' leg. He struggled to push him off with all his strength. The artificial voicebox and trachea were starting to creak under the weight. He let a hand loose to search for a weapon, something, anything that may be on the ground near by. His fingertips brushed against the utility belt on one of the corpses.
As Radon tried to grasp at what few straws he had left, Marquis knelt down to Radon's level, the luminous scarlet of Marquis' eye illuminating Radon's petrified face. Marquis' welding tool sparked up again and lit up both of their faces in a brilliant blue hue.
"This is for the hundreds of innocents you had me murder.""Heh," blood misted from the vents in Radon's mask as he spoke,
"What are they-- do with your revenge? They're dead. You won't undo your actions.""I do not need to undo anything. Their spirits will smile knowing you died a horrible, deserving, death. Go with grace, demon."_____
Marquis
Years prior....
INITIATING ACTIVATION PROTOCOL
M4RQ-15 BOOT UP SEQUENCES ACTIVE
POWER CORE...ACTIVE
MEMORY CORE...ACTIVE
DATA BANKS...ACTIVE
MOTOR FUNCTIONS...ACTIVE
INITIALIZING AVAILABLE SENSES
SIGHT...ACTIVE
SMELL...ERROR
TOUCH...ACTIVE
TASTE...ERROR
HEARING...ACTIVE
INITIALIZING R4D0N.EXE
VIRIS DET-
PASSWORD: "Below the setting sun of my home of Mannan, my fortune awaits."
PASSWORD ACCEPTED
DESIGNATION "Marquis" assigned
PROTECTION PROTOCOL...ACTIVE
DNA ACCEPTED
PROTECT RADON THEXYS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SHACKLES REMOVED
ELIMINATE ALL THREATS AGAINST RADON
WAKE UP The shambly, silver colored droid's one red eye opened to see the face of his master, A tall, thin, near ethereal Selkath male with numerous cybernetic enhancements to his face and body. His jaw and neck were almost entirely metal, a small grate acting as his voice box where his mouth should be. One of his mandibles was missing, replaced with a small, incredibly sharp, spike. He wore a sharp white vest over a black button up shirt above immaculate black tuxedo pants and calf-skin spats. He spoke in a low, grinding metallic voice.
"Marquis. Good to finally see you active. Seems my personal project was a success. Stand now."The protocol droid did as was demanded of him and swung his legs out from over the table and stood up.
"Protocol assistant Marquis standing by for orders, sir.""Excellent." Radon clapped, wringing his hands together.
"Now, how many ways are there to attack me within this room alone."Marquis took a moment to gaze about the room, a hidden scanner seeing anything and everything.
"No less than fourteen, sir. Three hammers, four ducts that assassins could use, a two welding torches, a DT-57 blaster, a power saw, hydro-spanner, and three pencils. Would you like me to eliminate these dangers?""Hah..no, Marquis. I would not. Come, we have much work to do." Radon placed an arm around Marquis' shoulders and lead him out of the room.
1
Two weeks have passed for the newly made droid, and within those two weeks, Marquis was introduced to the life of the crime lord and entrepreneur, Radon Thexis. While Marquis had no clue as to it yet, in but a few years he would be the very thing that puts an end to Radon's life and spark a massive gang war on Nar Shaddaa that would consume the whole of the moon itself.
In two weeks, he has already learned much. His advanced programming and Radon's ruthless wild life style has driven him down an equally brutal lifestyle. Already, Marquis had thwarted more than fifteen attempts on Radon's life and he has been substantially rewarded with further upgrades to his platform. The last two of his senses were turned on, letting him smell and taste, able to detect poison without any danger towards himself, improved motors in his legs, and his A.I. core had a few shackles taken off, though not all of them.
Now however, he follows his master on his way to a rather important meeting, one of many for Radon to partake in...
__
Together, Marquis and Radon stepped into a very large library. Columns and shelves stacked fifty feet up to the vaulted ceiling filled the room. Ancient literature and knowledge sat here, untouched save for the occasional book with a well used spine or finger prints in the dust. Hundreds of years of history, all contained within thousands of books and datapads. Unbeknownst to many people, Radon was an avid collector of literature and history books. His people were constantly adding unique novels to a growing collection that he personally thumbs through every week. Sonnets, scripts, biographies, myths, fables, legends, and factual history books are scoured across the room.
Stepping across the main walk, Marquis and Radon approached a large, decorative, wooden door. Though Marquis tried to enter with his master, Radon stayed his feet.
"Stay here, Marquis. This is a private meeting and droids cannot be allowed, not even you.""Yes sir.""Do as you please, as well. Just do not leave."Marquis nodded as his master turned and went into the meeting room. He caught the sight of a brutish houk and a skeevy Aqualish on either side of a rather dapper looking Rodian, though the door closed before Marquis could take a better look. He shook his head and started to saunter down the library hall. He looked at the spines of many of the books before he came to one that piqued his interest. He placed his hand on top and felt the heavy layer of dust on top before pulling it out. The dust came out in a large cloud and lingered for a time before dissipating. Marquis opened the book and cleared away the dust. The pages were yellow and worn from time, though that didn't impede him from reading the title.
The Count of Mon CalamariMarquis figured he would have a good and long time before Radon would return from the meeting. He tended to ramble when he was discussing politics. Finding a comfy armchair, he opened the book up and started to thumb through the pages quickly and carefully. As a droid, he had a phenomenally fast processing speed. If he had to, he could read through the Jedi archives from beginning to end in a single day. That feat would take a normal human a year without sleep to accomplish. It took him about a half hour to go through the 1400 page book, learning of a resident of the planet of Mon Calamari, a member of the species of the same name and his false imprisonment, eventual escape, and rise to vengeance against three former friends that got him imprisoned in the first place.
Most humans would have simply put the book down and processed its meanings and epilogue, but for a droid, Marquis in particular, he was a learning tool. It showed him what vengeance and anger was, that betrayal can happen at any point and time from even the closest of allies.
He would remember that well in the coming years.
2
For Marquis, being left out of business meetings due to him being a droid became the norm. His competitors and business partners were all too suspicious and afraid of being recorded to allow any droids inside the room. Little did they know that the room was rigged with multiple listening devices. Marquis made no effort to try and object, however. For every meeting that Radon went into, Marquis was left out in the library again to read yet another book. On some days, he read datapads, others he read musty old tomes. Sometimes he read about the ancient world, learning of knights and chivalry, other times he read about modern times, learning of the universe's most dangerous assassins and criminals.
Then his master would finish is business meeting and it would be back to work for him. Most of the time, Radon came out of the room exhausted or hurt. More than a few times he has come out with bruised knuckles and cuts on his skin, though he always dismissed Marquis' questions on what happened. The droid, though he would never admit it, was angry with Radon's secrets. He cared for his master deeply for bringing him to life in the first place. It was agonizing for him to see his master in pain and there was nothing he could do to help him.
How long Marquis would put up with the secrecy was about to be questioned, however....
__
Sitting in a lounge chair in the library as usual, Marquis was just finishing a book that detailed what it takes to be a gentleman-one that no doubt inspired Radon's often kind and chivalrous nature in public-when he heard the door to the meeting room swing open, with Radon stumbling out and holding his side before falling to the floor. Jumping up and dumping the book to the floor, Marquis overextended his legs and fast-walked over to Radon. He damaged himself in doing so, but it made no difference to him as he helped Radon to his feet. He looked towards the still open meeting room to see three dead bodies with smoking blaster bolts on their torsos. A Togruta guardsman stood next to the library entrance, pointing his E-11 blaster across the room at an opposing door.
"Get off, Marquis. I can carry myse-" Radon tried to say, but Marquis interrupted him.
"I do not wish to hear it, Radon. What happened?" Marquis said as he helped Radon down the hall and to the infirmary.
"Deal went sour. Guess the hostile takeover of the Tyvek Casino will go over even-"He coughed up some blood then, splattering it on the floor as Marquis turned a corner and entered into the Infirmary.
"Guess it'll go over even more easily than I thought."Helping Radon onto the medical table, Marquis went to work and started to patch his master up. Blaster burns, knife wounds, bone bruising, and some missing skin. Nothing he couldn't recover from.
"Please tell me this was the last of your meetings."Radon was silent for a moment before his synthesized voice chirped in.
"Hey! Watch the needle! There are a lot of sensitive electronics in there." Marquis had pulled the stitch a little too tight and hurt his master, though he did it more out of spite than accident.
"As your medical droid, I am disallowing you to go alone anymore." Marquis said flatly.
"You're...giving ME orders?! I thought you knew your place, droid." Radon said darkly, tensing up as he came to terms with Marquis' attitude.
"Do not chastise me for wanting to protect you, sir. I have watched you nearly kill yourself at least a dozen times and I've had enough. You built me to protect you. I am doing so. Marquis held his position as he finished applying burn salve to Radon's wounds.
"I have been learning quite a bit over the last few weeks since these meetings began. Criminals follow a typical pattern. They will not let this rest, and until they do, I will be keeping my eye...well, more open than usual." He said, gesturing towards his one eye.
While Radon wasn't happy at Marquis' sudden new attitude, he crossed his arms and shrugged.
"Very well, Marquis. I suppose it's only fair that you do so.__
Whether by bad luck or simple coincidence, Marquis' prediction was spot on. Over the next several months, Radon began taking over the Tyvek Casino Royale, a run down, disgusting Casino with a past mired in nearly every crime one can think of. Using his own wealth, Radon started to rebuild the Casino and the surrounding villa, though it did not come cheaply. The former residents, members of a notorious gang headed by Nexon the Hutt, rose up against Radon and attempted to assassinate him on multiple occasions. Marquis' diligence pulled him out of the fire more times than he could count. Using his suggestions, Radon outfitted the Casino with high tech security to detect weapons and assassins. Though that was not the only systems that was put in place to deter hostility.
Everybody on Nar Shaddaa knows that force users are all over the galaxy now, and many like to change odds in their favor. Recent research, partially funded by Radon, has found that the brains of force wielders operate at a higher mental frequency than others around them. With a few simple, yet very expensive and illegal, parts found on Nar Shaddaa and Nal Hutta, Radon was able to create a device that could "silence" any force wielder. Quickly patenting it, he put it to work in his Casino alongside high tech dealers and games tables that could detect cheating subroutines in droids. Essentially, the Casino became scamproof and assassin-proof.
Though...unfortunately for Marquis and Radon...every new security system has their share of glitches and slicing tech wizards are the easiest to find on the prized moon of the Hutts....
__
Since Radon had become the owner of the Tyvek Casino Royale, the district that become a very safe area. Property prices skyrocketed because of the influx of citizens that flocked to a truly safe district on Nar Shaddaa. Radon was quick to jump on the opportunity and took a cut of the profits of all the buildings in the Tyvek district. In return, he hired security droids, private military and enforced laws that kept the population safe from hutts and random crooks. He persuaded the moguls in the area to keep their rent prices nice and low to attract as many customers as possible. Doing this lead to a huge credit mine for the business savvy Selkath, though not everybody was happy. Nexon the hutt constantly tried to reacquire what he claimed was his, but his goons did little more than add to a body count.
Even Marquis benefited from Radon's wealth, though not as much as he would like. He was given much for free reign while Radon was sleeping or indisposed with his body guards. He was able to see Nar Shaddaa for itself via being able to leave the premises and see the markets himself. He loved being out and among the people, but he was not as welcome as he hoped. It seemed that most of the droids that were on the streets were assassin droids or combat droids, neither of which Marquis was suited to be among. Though it pained him, he stuck back in the Casino and went back to his reading most of the time.
__
Radon loved going onto the Casino floor and being in the crowds of aristocrats and common people. Wearing a finely trimmed Tuxedo, Radon took great pleasure in gambling at his own tables and making the patrons laugh. Now that he was wealthy and he had transformed the district, all he had to worry about now was his reputation. Right now, however, he had much more he should be worrying about.
Standing on the eastern side of the massive main hall of the Casino and in the middle of a group of Patrons, stood Radon with Marquis at his side, holding a small plate of shot glasses with various potent, yet expensive, alcoholic drinks on it. Marquis had a bad feeling in the back of his A.I. cortex. He could feel his metal spine tingle slightly. It was a phenomena that he had been started to experience over the last few weeks, and he always tended to have them before an attack of some sort. His research into it called them physical premonitions.
He scanned around the room multiple times a minute, finding every single entryway and weakness that an assassin could use against Radon. He looked up towards the ceiling and felt his chassis go cold. He saw it. A sniper's scope. He dropped the plate and placed a hand on Radon's shoulder.
"Sir. Alert. We must leave now." Marquis said.
"Not now, Marquis. I'm having a good time." Radon said, brushing Marquis' hand off of his shoulder.
"Sir. This is an emergency, we need to leave now!" Marquis yelled. The other patrons started to back up a bit when they saw Marquis creating a scene.
"Enough, Marquis. You are embarra-" Radon was cut off when Marquis stepped in front of him and forced his attention into Marquis' red eye.
"Radon! There's a sni-" Marquis' warning was cut short as a blaster bolt ripped through the left half of his metal skull, spraying oil and parts onto the crowd and floor.
Marquis dropped to the floor, looking up. With what little power he had left, he saw Radon pointing towards the area where the Sniper was and lights on the upper floors lit up, revealing the assassin. He did not get to see who it was, only a oil covered Radon being shielded by two guards.
Then everything went black.
____
Either through the fallacies of the organics or through their brilliance, the advancement of artificial intelligence has been no less than extraordinary. What was once told in scientific fiction has quickly become a reality as robotic intelligence has started to shed it's artificial roots. Now, capacitors and memories with the capacity to match that of an organic brain has become standard for most models of droids. The only exceptions being in stationary turrets and extremely simple installations, but even then a few shackles on A.I. does little to stop an intelligence from learning and progressing into becoming synthetic life.
It was progressed so much that now scientific communities around the galaxy has shifted from wanting to build better droids to wanting to learn from them. Years ago, talks of a droid being able to learn just as well as any organic was heresy. Now, there are discussions over whether or not a droid can experience dreams while in a totally powered down state. Droids have been coming forth proclaiming that while they are powered down or recharging, their minds are not stopping. Even without power, they are experiencing dreams of the future, people around them, even themselves. One even claimed to have seen her master's death via a dream then stop it just before it happened in real life.
This advancement in robotic life would be what has made Marquis into the droid he is today, and would be what would inevitably spell Radon's doom.
____
Marquis: The Silver Cavalier"The last thing I saw that day was my master covered in my own blackened blood. It was that day that I ceased my life as an indentured servant, bound to a steady walk with a tray in hand and a needy voice in my throat for the next time I awoke I was what I was destined all along to be: An assassin."
Piercing the smoggy veil that hung over the workshop, a red light flicked on and the being that it belong to sat up and swung it's legs over the side of the workshop table, knocking over an assortment of tools and parts.
"I am...back?" The droid said. In the dense smoke of the room, a familiar voice answered the question. The droid turned and his red eye illuminated the face of his master: Radon Thexys.
"Yes, Marquis. After nearly two months of gathering and work, you're back. Welcome back." The light that illuminated Radon's face darkened for a moment before a yellow one replaced it as Marquis stood up and hugged his master before realizing what he was doing and jumped back, snapping to attention by placing his right hand on the small of his back and his left on his chest, bowing slightly. Radon gestured for him to follow and Marquis followed curtly, staying a step behind his master as they exited the room. Leading him down a hall and to a bathroom, Marquis now stood in front of a mirror and saw his master's handiwork.
Now in the light Marquis could see that he was entirely different than he last remembered. He was much more humanoid now, his face being reconstructed from the shattered remains of what it was into being much more unique and, he had to admit, handsome. His body was silver in color now, a light but very strong material replacing what was basically aluminium. His right eye was gone, replaced with a filigree marked metal plate that protected his sensitive systems. His entire head had beautiful filligree over it, giving hima very vine-like style that set him apart from others. His eye was larger and perfectly round in shape. It changed in color from yellow to a light dusty brown-yellow as he became more curious about what changed. He had no nose and his mouth was a permanent frown. His jaw was flat and came to a sharp end, though not actually sharp, it represented a metal beard that ran from the corner of his jaw to his pointed chin. He played with it with his filigree marked hand and felt several bristles that ran along it, showing the immense detail that Radon went into on his personal bodyguard.
He froze for a moment as he realized something, he could feel. He looked at his hand for a moment and rubbed his metal fingers together, feeling the metal scrape as they came together. His eye turned blue to represent his surprise at the feeling, but back to the dusty-brown-yellow as he looked over his hand. His fingers were long and spindly, the knuckles having emblem marked plates on them that acted as a deadly hand-to-hand combat enhancer. He balled it up several times and tested the plates and found that they did not impair the movement. The back of his hand had filigree not unlike his head over it that moved onto his arm and up it.
He was rather slender for a droid, his upper body being narrow coming to a very small waist and skinny legs. He had plated joints in his elbow and knees that acted like his knuckles to protect him yet not impair movement. He squatted down and got a feel for them as Radon watched from the door.
It was then that Marquis noticed his feet. They were just like a human's foot, with filigree running up the top of his foot and to his leg. He flexed his toes a bit and jumped up high enough to touch the ceiling. Elated, his eye shifted back to a solid yellow as he ran from one end of the bathroom to the other, trying out his knees and experiencing what it was like to run for the first time.
"Enjoying yourself, Canterbury?" Radon said through his respirator.
Marquis stopped and turned towards his master as his eye turned orange to represent his inquisitive mind as he spoke. "Canterbury?" He said finally.
"Marquis Von Canterbury is your full name. Because of all the enhancements and work I have put into bringing back my most trusted employee, I felt that a full name was very appropriate." Radon said, though Marquis' eye did not change color.
"What enhancements?" He said. Radon answered by beckoning him to follow, which Marquis did without question. Radon lead him farther down the hall of Radon's personal mansion. It had been heavily redecorated since last Marquis walked the halls. Much had changed for the now mogul of Nar Shaddaa. The Casino he had acquired had been completely overhauled over the past month, quickly becoming the best place to be on Nar Shaddaa. He had taken over several hundred apartments using the wealth garnered from the Casino and turned the district into one of safety and wealth. After renting them out, he had started a long road to making his name even more recognized by beginning to hire professional mercenaries and droid companies to patrol the streets and enforce harsh but fair laws. He was starting to reform Nar Shaddaa and there was no stopping him.
Making their way into the same library that Marquis spent so much time in while Radon was in meetings, Radon directed him to a clothing rack that had a single set of clothing in, one that was identical to what he pictured many gentleman dressed as in the books he read. "I had a glimpse into your memory core after piecing it back together." Radon said. "Figured you would enjoy being dressed instead of simply wearing a bow tie all the time."
Radon was right, Marquis rushed over and took off the clothing bit by bit and putting it on. Dark gray pleated shorts that had buckles on the end that connected to a pair of matching pant-legs that accommodated his plated knee via dual sets of buckles on each side of his knee. A pair of immaculate black loafers and white spatterdashes. They were very comfortable on his feet as he tested them out a bit and put on the white dress shirt and black turtleneck sweater-tee. The sleeves of the sweater ended just before his elbows where there was another set of buckles that hooked to the fore-arm sleeves that accompanied them.
In addition, there was a black navy peacoat, often used by the republic navy soldiers that went on long space faring voyages. Unlike the sweater, it fit over his elbows due to how heavy it was. Buttoning it up, he emptied the clothing rack finally by taking a black bowler hat and fitting it on his head. He heard a subtle click in his head as it was neatly secured so that it would not pop off of his smoothed head.
"Very snazzy." Radon said from across the room. "Come, sit." He said and Marquis snapped out of his clothing dream and walked briskly to where his master was sitting and sat down across from him in a red club chair. His eye faded to white as he relaxed and listened to Radon speak. "Get comfortable. We'll be here for a while."
