(The droid specially constructed and programmed by one Darth Chataris to ensure continuity of operations does, of course.  She is the one to whom the escalations reach, not the one who escalates.)

The moment he exits his ship, several droid chassis that would not look out of place at any old landing pad approach the vehicle, going through the routine of seeming to be convenient hosts.  (A grounded ship is a ship that can do much less damage if it is hostile.  And they don't want to shoot a hostile down into something else that's important, like civilians, not when there are better alternatives.)

That these droids do not look out of place is the one normal thing about them.

The environment he arrives to has exactly zero visible biological lifeforms, blast shields over everything firmly shut, and one mouse droid with a holoprojector.

"Master K'rin," says the site manager, on one side of the projection.  They're wearing a strange sort of headgear that looks neurological.  "I thought you had been informed that Threshold Corporation was profoundly unwilling to cede our specialized containment programs to the Jedi Order.  You are not authorized to be here.  Please leave."

The...  Protocol droid?  It's humanoid, but not built to the standard model; it seems to have felinoid ears, and an articulated tail - on the other side of the holoprojector shakes her head.  "I have said it half a dozen times and I shall say it again; we are authorized to operate these artifact vaults, and we are confident in our security measures.  Please cease and desist; you are trespassing, and security protocol for Class-2 artifact vaults authorizes lethal force on forced entry.  You are annoying, but I do not want you dead."

"Ah, at last, a person. I will require access to your vaults. The Jedi Order is far better equipped to contain these artifacts," K'rin declares, waving his hand to press his will upon the site manager over the holocomm.

Master K'rin is in substantially more danger than he was a second ago.

[CALL DISCONNECTED]

"Cease and desist from attempting mental assault upon our staff, Master K'rin, or leave this facility in pieces, rather than in peace.  This is your final warning."

He sputters angrily.

"I am Jedi Master K'rin of the Jedi Order, droid! The Order has a mandate to preserve and secure Sith artifacts, and I will not be blocked from my duty by a bucket of bolts!"

"You are incapable of safely containing much of our special collection, and you, specifically, have proven to have sufficient disrespect for our biological employees' mental autonomy that you are now no longer authorized to speak to them directly.

"The Jedi Order does not have the authority to do whatever they want to whosoever they please.  I am quite certain that the legalities I informed you of in my first, fourth, and seventeeth replies to your messages still hold, and that therefore Threshold is a treaty-protected entity under Republic law.  Now remove yourself from this private property."

I have a name, you know, I signed it to my messages, she does not say, because it would not change his mind.

I will not be responsible for permitting, for all I know, what could be the next Skere Kaan to waltz out of this building with hundreds of meaningfully dangerous artifacts, to say nothing of their historical value, she does not say, because that would only bring more rage to the fore and she is trying to avoid killing him.

I was entrusted the safekeeping of these artifacts by the architect of these vaults, who was and is better than you, she does not say, because of much the same reason.

If you're so intent on testing our security, I'll need a liability waiver, she does not say, because she will not give him the satisfaction of having been invited.

You are speaking to the highest available authority over Threshold, with our CEO unavailable for meetings for the next nine-hundred and fifty-three years, she does not say, because that did not work the first time.

[S1-LV4], kneecaps, she does not say, because if he tries something she will not need to, and if he turns back now she shouldn't have tried.

Do you really want to try and breach the security of vaults that drove away power-hungry Sith for decades because you're more self-righteous than they were, she doesn't say, because generally Jedi do not like to be told they are worse at things than Sith are.

...She'll keep that one in reserve, actually.  [S1-LV4] might like it.

"How dare you doubt our ability to contain the artifacts we guard, droid!"

K'rin's glare is thunderous, completely unwilling to yield in the face of this insult. 

"We have been charged with the sacred responsibility to protect the galaxy from the threat of such foul creations, and you will not stop me from fulfilling that duty."

"I do not doubt your ability to contain what you have."  Much.  "Your ability to store a holocron in a secure location is not much different from mine."  Not that she's going to hand them over.

"It is the other things we contain that concern me.  I am not going to let you take a plague vector that can possess you to Coruscant, to name but one example, and if you insist on trying, you will be met with force proportionate to the danger you will cause by breaching security.  Am I understood."

The stubborn Master is stunned. "A plague vector? I cannot possibly leave such a thing in your hands, nor the holocrons — which, as you said, you cannot secure better than we can. I insist, droid."

"I cannot possibly let you take that to Coruscant, where the consequences if containment is breached become exponentially worse."  And it's not stored at this site anyway.

"You cannot do better than we can at containing holocrons, because the Jedi are uniquely vulnerable to them.  I am not going to release ours into your care."

He waves a hand dismissively and strides off toward the entrance.

"I see.  So be it."  The connection closes.

"You were warned," comes a different voice, with a much harsher tone, emanating from speakers on the buildings.  "If you attempt to breach the walls of this facility you will be met with lethal force.  Leave or be fired upon."

And if he's still trying to move further into the base, he can have a bunch of synchronized stun bolts!  As a treat.  She's saving the slugthrowers for when he can't dodge them so easily.

A few sweeps of his saber deflect those back where they came from.

That's fine, the autoturrets aren't so delicate as to be fried by stun bolts.  If he's still coming her way, he can have some more stun bolts for his trouble, from more directions at once, now that she's starting to get an idea of his habits and capabilities - managing to bounce synchronized fire, even at that initial probing level, is impressive, if she's honest - and how best to fill the space around him with incoming and outgoing fire, such that there will simply be no hope that one could block and dodge everything at once.

He steps up his deflections for a moment, then lunges through one flurry of bolts with a twirl of his saber to escape the rest and keep advancing. He takes one to his shoulder, but manages to soldier on regardless.

Putting yourself closer to being pinned between multiple lines of fire is risky business, K'rin.  The overwhelming volume of stunners continues to rain down upon his new position, but now starting to be much more 'if there is a bolt ~in front of you, there will be an equal and opposite bolt from (mostly) behind you' as he closes.

In certain parts of the complex, droid-form security support hardware starts to come online.  She thinks she'll be able to overwhelm him before he can do anything too annoying, but expectations have a way of being subverted, when you're up against Force-sensitives.

Annoying is his specialty.

He slashes through two turrets as he lunges forward, then keeps deflecting as he dashes toward more turrets on the way to the entrance.

"The Coruscant Temple will be billed for the damage of your rampage, I'll have you know."

Meanwhile, the staff of this complex are locking the vault doors behind them as they retreat from the landing complex in an orderly fashion - but the pall of dread above them is, itself, not going to help K'rin.  The most charitable thought they're having is "At least it's not a hostile Sith."

"The charges to scuttle the artifact vault's controls are armed, ma'am."

"Thank you, Technician DuVall.  I hope we will not need them."

...He seems to be going straight for the vault itself.

Well, if he's going to try to cut through two meters of armor plating on the blast door with a lightsaber half that length, she'll let him try, before she stuns him in the back.

If that doesn't work, she's pointing her slugthrowers at his kneecaps.

He does in fact try. It takes unreasonably long to start making a dent in the door.

He manages to pull his saber out of the unfairly thick vault door in time to deflect the stunbolts by flickering the power on his saber. They spray back to the turrets that fired them.

Good.  If he breached the doors that easily she'd have to retire immediately, in professional disgrace.

"I warned you not to do that, K'rin.  Be glad that I am not yet obliged to kill you, for now I am duly permitted."

Bouncing the stun bolts back is not going to help him keep his kneecaps intact.  She has slugthrowers and orders to use them.

Is Master K'rin one of the few lightsaber-wielding Force Sensitives that has actually successfully entrained a reflex to not attempt to block small pieces of fast-moving metal with their lightsaber - which will only make the damage worse, because the metal doesn't stop when it passes through the lightsaber, it just gets superheated - and instead rely on some other technique?

Has that reflex been tested under mixed fire?

(And if that is something he is successful in executing, how good is his second- and third-order danger sense?  Because her next shots are aimed at his lightsaber, if she cannot get his kneecaps.  Either the emitter shroud or the power cell, depending on K'rin's favored grip for cutting things.)

No, he hasn't trained that reflex at all. 

Instead he has superheated metal in his kneecaps.

Also some screaming to do.

Well.  It is now time for medical droids.  And sedatives.

And to confiscate the chassis of his lightsaber, so he can't do anything stupid with it if he wakes up while they're treating him.  (Not the kyber, though.  She's not an asshole.)

He wakes up, immediately reaches for his saber, and is deeply confused both by its absence and to find himself being treated by Threshold's droids.

There is an abstract visual on a holoprojector next to his bedside that becomes far more ~active when it is clear he's awake, pulsing in time with the speech synthesis.

"Congratulations, K'rin of the Coruscant Temple.  You didn't die of your own utter hubris.  The rest of your lightsaber will be returned to you when you are leaving.  Don't make me have to expedite that, your knees won't like it.

"I will not ask for your gratitude for the fact of your continued existence, as I am what endangered it in the first place, but I will ask you to acknowledge that if I had not shown mercy, you would be dead.

"Please consider that, when the Temple thinks about whether it really wants to pick this fight."

His mouth opens.

Closes.

Opens.

Closes.

And then finally he growls out, "Don't you know who I am?"

Unfortunately, she does.

"...There is no answer to that question that will satisfy your pride, K'rin.  And you should be careful of your pride.  Is it not oft said, that pride cometh before a Fall?"

K'rin scowls thunderously. "Finish patching me up, then show me to my ship, droid."

The graphics of her presence indicator freeze and sharpen, a feeling that is not danger but is threat in its wake.  Her voice goes flat.  "I am not yours to command, K'rin."

Then things return to normal - or even goes in the other direction, almost chirpy.  "Thankfully, I don't want to keep you in my facility any more than you want to stay here!"  And honestly, if he's going to be like this, he can deal with his knees never being quite the same.

The remaining medical equipment will be disconnected from him in short order, and he will be given an assistive device to support himself upon if he insists on walking out of the facility.  He really shouldn't, but she thinks he'll try.

"Do warn the Coruscant Temple's liability insurance that they should expect a bill for damages.  That blast door you gouged a chunk out of is an expensive product to replace."  And manufactured in-house, so they're only - 'only' - out the cost of parts and labor if they need to replace the entire door - which, well, that mess did do some damage, but it's fixable - but it's the principle of the thing.

He does insist. He struggles his way back to his ship, and flies back to the Council.

And they pay their bill promptly.

She watches him depart, with relief spreading across her databanks, as operations return to normal status.

The hazard pay bonus for hostile Force-Sensitives is paid out promptly.

Now.  What could they do to prevent this from happening again in the longer term?  The bill ought to dissuade the current Temple from trying again, but clearly they need to do more than just be politely diplomatically implacable about their intent, or some other K'rin is going to try again.

They might anyway, but she wants to be able to say that she did all that she could do.

Perhaps a liaison posting.  It irks her, somewhat, to bend to it, but clearly there's enough prejudice against sapient droids in the Coruscant Temple that K'rin didn't take her seriously. Threshold can afford to establish a small office on Coruscant; there were already plans to do so for lobbying.  It changes the calculus of where to locate the office slightly, but that's doable.

INCIDENT REPORT SECAR-004 BL2A 2658-03-17

INCIDENT TYPE: Outer perimeter security breach, by force of arms.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS:

2658-03-10: The Jedi Temple of Coruscant opens contact with the Site Manager of Secure Archive 004, seeking to take custody of the artifacts within.

Contact from organized Force-Sensitives is escalated to the Office of the COO, as per protocol.

2658-03-13: Communications from the Jedi who originally reached out have taken on a belligerent tone, as he believes the COO is an autoresponder droid.  Secure Archive 004 is mobilized to alert status 3 upon receipt of [Item 27], a communication that "[he] will be visiting the facility to explain the necessity that the Jedi take custody of [Threshold Corporation's]," quote, "poorly-secured," artifacts, in-person.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1300 (1:2600): Jedi Master K'rin arrives in orbit and is permitted landing, to dissuade use of ship-grade weapons.  Nonessential staff are evacuated to on-site bunkers.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1312: K'rin lands.  Site Security disarms his ship non-destructively.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1314: The COO and the Site Manager make a joint appearance by holocomm, to attempt once more to explain to K'rin that he is not permitted to access the contents of SECAR-004.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1315: K'rin attempts to utilize psychic coercion upon the Site Manager to cause a type-3B (Nonviolent illicit vault access) or 4U (Nonviolent illicit removal of materials rated below 3 in all risk factors) security breach.  The attempt is defeated by standard neurological monitors and a comms shutoff.  Site Security arms turrets.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1315.30: Essential staff arm destructive security measures against access control and begin evacuations.  The COO chastises K'rin for the attempted psychic coercion and proceeds to attempt to impress upon him the necessity of secure sites that are not located on Coruscant.  This backfires; K'rin says he absolutely cannot let Item X-0173 continue to remain in Threshold's custody.  Item X-0173 is not stored at SECAR-004.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1318.50: K'rin ceases to engage with communications.  Site Security provides warning and engages outer perimeter defenses, firing stun bolts.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1319.27: K'rin damages two turrets while advancing through outer perimeter defenses.  Site Security arms mobile vault-interior security measures; breach is not expected at this time.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1319.53: Essential personnel confirm evacuation and successful arming of destructive security measures against access control.  K'rin does not attempt to slice the vault controls; he continues to advance on the vault door.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1320.25: K'rin attempts to use his lightsaber to melt through the vault door.  Site Security continues to pressure him with stun bolts.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1320.57: Site Security, per RoE, fires two shots from slugthrower turrets, continuing fire with stun bolts.  K'rin does not successfully deflect them.  The resulting injuries are documented in appendix B.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1321.08: Site Security begins medical treatment of injuries and administers sedation.

2658-03-17, LPDC 1330-1700: Site Security disassembles K'rin's lightsaber, leaving only the kyber in his possession.

2658-03-18, LPDC 0930: K'rin awakens from sedation.

2658-03-18, LPDC 0935: Site Security, present in holocomm, reiterates that further attempted breaches of security will not be tolerated, and informs K'rin of the disposition of his lightsaber's parts (delivered to his ship).  K'rin attempts to order Site Security to let him leave, against medical advice.  Site Security, while not obliged, agrees that she does not want him here and provides assistive tools.

2658-03-18, LPDC 0950: K'rin's ship departs SECAR-004.

2658-03-18, LPDC 1015: K'rin's ship engages hyperdrive out of the system.

---

ANALYSIS:

While this event is troubling, it is unlikely that some sort of incident was truly preventable, given the character of the intruder.  K'rin, by all accounts, is very, very stubborn once he gets set on doing something.  (cf. Galactic Times Weekly ATC2460-11-15, pg. 4C, "Jedi Master with egg on his face, literally, in planetary holiday event.")  It is not impossible that he could have been placated, and thus the violence and damages avoided - but that he is returning from SECAR-004 a bit worse for wear may actually help our position.

Nonetheless, it is clear that the Coruscant Temple is at best passingly familiar with our work, which is an item of some concern.

---

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1) Establish better communications with the Coruscant Temple, building off of existing efforts to secure a Coruscant office.  Evaluate messaging once liaison is emplaced.

2) Promote competition, e.g. the Corellian Temple.  If the Coruscant Temple is less sure of its utter supremacy in the war of Force opinions, it will not produce as many Jedi who are as high-handed as K'rin.

---

DISRECOMMENDATIONS:

1) Lobbying to curtail Jedi authority more generally than the specific exemptions Threshold takes advantage of is contraindicated, by order of the CEO.  We do not want the Jedi to become a vestigial appendage of the Senate, or its tamed akk-hound; that way lies rampant corruption, which is hostile to our purpose.  It is unlikely that we will succeed in preventing that in the long run, but we will not contribute to it.

Some Time Later...

The GALAXY is believed to be at peace,

following the destruction of

SKERE KAAN's BROTHERHOOD OF DARKNESS,

and the Jedi ARMY OF LIGHT.

But, as the Sith would say, this peace is a lie;

that there is no hot war, does not mean that all is well.

The GALACTIC REPUBLIC is becoming convinced that

MANDALORIAN SPACE will pose a threat, and

THRESHOLD CORP. still defends its hoard,

and its secrets, from all comers...

FOR INTERNAL RELEASE ONLY - CLEARANCE 0

RELEASE OF CONFIDENTIAL OR PRIVILEGED INFORMATION IS A CRIME, AND WILL BE PURSUED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW

---

Special Projects: An Introduction

Last Updated ATC 2896-05-04 / ARR 0243-05-04

---

Welcome to Special Projects.

If you are reading this, you have been trusted to know the purpose of Threshold Corporation, in some small part.

As you may be able to deduce from the annotation at the top of this document, you are not being told all of our secrets.  There are dangerous things we keep behind our best security.  But you are trusted to know that that is why we keep so many secrets.

 

Threshold was founded some years before the Ruusan Reformation, in the chaos wrought by the Brotherhood of Darkness.

You may not know this, but the person who lead the Brotherhood of Darkness, Skere Kaan, began his path as a Jedi of the Coruscant Temple.  The founder of Threshold, knowing that the Jedi would seek to confiscate even the most dangerous artifacts of their ancient enemy, sought to prevent the next Skere Kaan from rising to power with access to vaults of lore - or worse - that Jedi are uniquely ill-suited to keep.

Under most circumstances, a holocron requires someone using the Force to activate it, after all.

This is the reason Threshold Corporation's primary trade is in secure facilities; if we can secure our facilities against Sith-lead military forces, with their lack of compunctions against rampant violence and violation of the mind, then we can preserve the Jedi against even their own hubris.  They have tried to breach our vaults, before, in the aftermath of the Ruusan Reformation.

They did not succeed.

 

You are now part of the program that makes sure that no arrogant, high-handed Jedi, nor some resurgent remnant of the Sith long thought destroyed, will breach our security, let alone walk away with the dangers we contain.  We're glad to have you.

CL4-4A "Clara" Vaudelle

Chief Operating Officer, Threshold Corporation

CLEARANCE: ALDERAAN BLUE 3 // WARDING STAR 1

IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE NOT BEEN AUTHORIZED TO ACCESS THIS DOCUMENT, OR THAT YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AUTHORIZED TO ACCESS THIS DOCUMENT, CONTACT RAISA IMMEDIATELY.

---

Operation WARDING STAR: Introductory Briefing

---

Overview:  Secure sources [Further information requires TATOOINE VIOLET 4 // MILLENIAL PROSPECT 2] indicate the glassing of significant portions of the planet Manda'yaim/Mandalore by Republic 'Judicial' forces within the decade, as the culmination of a wider campaign against a perceived Mandalorian revanchism.  Threshold's resources cannot avert this.

WARDING STAR, then, is our attempt to mitigate the damage.

There are four parts to this campaign: Project ANUR'AMAN, Project BA'VIIN'ADE, Project HARANOV, and Project TAYLI'KAR'TA.

Those of you who know Mando'a will have already surmised what we are aiming to accomplish with these projects, but for those who do not:

Project ANUR'AMAN is an attempt to archive every extant species and varietal of Manda'yaim's flora and fauna, and to furthermore retain the capacity to repopulate them.

Project BA'VIIN'ADE covers plans to encourage emigration from Manda'yaim in advance of the conflict, and to emplace a support structure ready for the aftermath of the destruction.

Project HARANOV covers our work to build shelters that will, hopefully, be able to keep at least some people alive through sustained orbital bombardment that is not directly targeted upon them, as well as our work to - with consent - preserve significant cultural artifacts and records.

Project TAYLI'KAR'TA is an attempt to archive the teachings, practices, and history of the Mando'ade, both personally and on the stellar scale, as widely as possible, [CLEARANCE REQUIRED: TATOOINE VIOLET 2 // MILLENIAL PROSPECT 1] including those of their Force traditions.

THRESHOLD SECURITY SERVICES

You have things that are important to keep safe.  Heirlooms.  Beskar.  Heirloom beskar.

Let us help you secure them.

Our vaults' security has been tested by Jedi, Sith, and conventional forces - and turned all of them back before they breached the doors.

We can also facilitate home installations of secure outbuildings at reasonable rates.

Vault space is available on Manda'yaim, Concord Dawn, Anaxes, and in other systems.

Visit azr.com.threshold.security for more information.