[LTC][T15 - Rothana - AI] Dark Legacy

Imperial Era – The Pact in the Shadows
The air around the back entrance to Rothana Heavy Engineering was damp with the tang of coolant lines and oil, a forgotten service passage far from the main shipyards. There, Ard Garlon, head of ARGO Industries, stood cloaked in the harsh neon spill of security lights, his expression unreadable. From the facility emerged a towering figure—half-man, half-machine. The scientist’s upper body was grotesquely enlarged with cybernetic reinforcement, and his disfigured head half-hidden inside a green transparisteel dome filled with nutrient fluid. His mechanical voice rasped through the night as datapads changed hands, outlines of secret contracts and research grants signed under the newly formed Galactic Empire. Ard said little, but his silence spoke volumes—ARGO’s fate now hinged on the bargains struck with the new Galactic Empire, in these hidden corners of Rothana.

Present Day – The Plea for Intervention

Decades later, the same rusted back entrance was still in use, though the signs above now bore the mark of the ARGO Industries. In the gloom, Jerro Garlon, son of the late Ard Garlon, arrived draped in a hooded cloak, his face drawn with fatigue. Waiting for him were a New Republic agent and two New Republic soldiers. From his cloak, Jerro produced encrypted data-drives and documentation—ARGO-Rothana assets surrendered as collateral, evidence of corporate dealings he prayed would earn the Republic’s favor. Then, with a steady hand, he pulled out a portable holoprojector, its blue shimmer revealing the schematics of a retrofitted ARGO-Rothana starship—one of several he had secretly secured for the New Republic. His voice carried a rare urgency as he pleaded for action: an investigation into the arrest of his mother, Lady Hagathela Garlon, taken by Imperials under circumstances no one would publicly acknowledge. Where his father once surrendered their fate to the Empire, Jerro now bargained for truth and for his family’s freedom.

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This one proved to be a good excuse to expand a bit on the lore of ARGO Industries, and the family drama behind the scenes. I'm definitely going to expand on Ard Garlon in the future. More photos below.