29th day of Month 15 ABG
The Separatists' situation has grown increasingly dire in Selbar, with drinkable water now being the most precious commodity.
All around the town, soldiers of Babteer Pil are sickly and thirsty. The well water they had earlier was bad before, hard and full of toxins, but now the Republic has deposited even more poisons into the local water table, and Meerians have no particular resistance to the dissolved isonine-4. Because of the damage to the Valmin Water Treatment Facility, they don't have any way to remove it anymore. The tanks of clean water from aboard the Venture are running dangerously low, rationed out for those who need it most.
Outside the parked frigate Demask, which acts as a de-facto garrison, a few dozen Meerians civilians have been protesting the Separatist occupation and demanding a surrender so as to restore their necessities. Originally, Grievous had tried to send away dissidents to the Republic they wanted to be ruled by, but Republic guns have been shooting on sight whenever anyone leaves Selbar. The protestors consider Grievous foolish for destroying Valmin, ignoring the fact that the Republic would've sabotaged it regardless had he tried to take it.
Keldon's ultimatum is that no one and nothing get in or out of Selbar until Grievous surrenders, and she's more than willing to let the entire town die to get her way.
They have been given two mercies regarding water: They have benefited from a snowfall, and Separatist engineers did restore some basic pipes from a few wells into the city water system. The latter is by no means drinkable, but at least the refreshers are still working. Thus, the smell is tolerable while Grievous sits and contemplates the flimsiplast map on the table in front of him. He writes on it with one of his left arms, using the Kaleesh language for his notes as an added layer of privacy. His morning strategy planning is interrupted by Chiv, whose trunk wiggles anxiously as he knocks on the open door to let Grievous know of his presence. "Come in," Grievous tells him, and the technician makes his way into the room.
As usual, he carries with him a large, heavy-looking bag that is no doubt full of tools, but he doesn't move to use any of them. "Good morning, General," he greets, and he sits himself down in one of the chairs that's typically occupied by WanThir. If Chiv has been struggling with all of our water supply issues, it doesn't show. His health looks rather typical, other than the several layers of jackets.
He seems like he has something to say but is a bit reluctant to start the conversation, so Grievous acknowledges him with a nod and then asks, "Have you made any progress with repairing the cybernetics?"
"I think I've hit a wall in terms of my ability to get them connected to your nervous system," Chiv admits before continuing, "but I might have a possible use for your LX-44s." The LX-44s… are those my legs or arms? I think the arms are 42s.
"And what might that be?"
Chiv responds, "With your permission, General, I'd like to incorporate them into my project." Chiv certainly looks eager to get these high-end parts for his mysterious "project" that he often alludes to. Can we really be making toys when our lives are at the brink?
Grievous considers for a moment, then replies, "As much as I like pleasant surprises, Chiv, I need to see it. If your project is anything significant at all, we'll need to be incorporating it into our plans." In other circumstances, he isn't opposed to the engineer keeping himself productive with an odd job in his spare time, but right now, they are in need of any advantage they can get, so whatever Chiv is doing, it needs to be either used or set aside in favor of something more immediately practical.
"Of course, I can do that," he says, "Just give me a few minutes to grab it." With that, he runs off, showing much more enthusiasm than he usually does.
Perhaps three minutes later, he returns, pulling behind him a large cart, which has a cloth draped over to cover up whatever is on it. "Alright, General," Chiv announces, "this is what I've been doing for the past several months." The scale is a bit underwhelming. Given Chiv's area of expertise and the need for many cybernetic parts, he assumed it was some sort of combat droid, but he'd hoped its massive time investment and budget might yield something a bit more grandiose in size, perhaps at least matching a dwarf spider droid. The new droid doesn't look any bigger than Grievous himself.
Grievous cranes his neck to get a better look as Chiv pulls off the fabric and dramatically announces, "General Grievous, meet General Grievous."
It is almost like staring into a mirror. Atop the table is a nearly complete cybernetic body, save for the legs. Its duranium armor exactly matches his own, and the head is a nearly perfect replica of Grievous's own mumuu skull mask. He can spot the vacuum-sealed synthskin used to enclose what appear to be his own Kaleesh organs, which look extremely organic. Even its synthflesh eyes are organic-looking, although without any movement, they seem very lifeless.
One of the chest plates, probably taken from the real Grievous, has some visible damage that Grievous remembered incurring not long ago. It had been replaced, and he assumed it was then discarded, but apparently Chiv had been keeping and repairing the damaged parts.
The only things clearly wrong are the cybernetic arms, which Grievous can tell are not his own. The duranium plating is correct, and Chiv clearly did his best to put reinforcements at the same spots, but the mechanics are all wrong. Perhaps another observer might be fooled, but Grievous has spent enough time with LX-42 arms attached to him to recognize them when he sees them. The doppelgänger doesn't look like it has the capacity to split its arms, but few save for the present company know that the real Grievous can do it either. He generally tries to reserve using all four arms unless it's absolutely needed, which has been rare so far. No one in the Republic has seen him do it and lived to talk about it.
Grievous is almost at a loss for words and he stares into its lifeless eyes. "It's all droid parts, of course," Chiv explains proudly, running his finger across one of the armor plates, "but I did my best to also replicate your visible organs."
"The arms aren't right," Grievous points out, lifting one of them up to get a better look at its underside.
Chiv nods and gives a sigh. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice. Their strength is only about half of yours, and they can't move as fast either. I think they might look similar to the untrained eye, though," he suggests.
"Indeed, they might. And which 'untrained eyes' exactly are you hoping to fool with this?" Grievous asks, still trying to figure out what to make of this strange creation. Could this truly be a droid that matches all of my capabilities? With the same cybernetics in its mind and body, matching armor, and perhaps the gift of a few lightsabers, how would its ferocity match up against my own? It has all the parts that are mine, but it lacks all that is me. If it is my equal… am I anything?
As Grievous ponders the question, he becomes increasingly eager to see its destruction. "Presumably, the Republic," Chiv answers, "since they've had such a hard time fighting one of you. Think about how much greater they'd struggle if there are two of you. Or even a whole army of Grievouses!"
"That is not me!" he retorts, a cool anger tinting his voice, "I am alive. I am more than a machine that can be re-created by combining and modifying some factory-made parts."
Chiv seems offended, but he doesn't dare contradict his general. He finally asks, "But surely, these parts amount to something?"
"They are something, alright, but it's not me. It's another mindless battle droid that may challenge a few clones, but quickly fall to the Jedi," Grievous predicts, turning away as if to end the conversation.
Chiv considers his response momentarily before suggesting, "If the Jedi are needed to defeat it, then perhaps it may be useful to redirect their focus away from the real you."
"A decoy?" That's something I've seen a lot of in Beezfitrar lately. The Babteer often like to create misdirection as to who has the ball, and it seems to have great effect. Chiv may overestimate this machine, so too could our adversaries.
"You can use him however you best see fit, Grievous," Chiv responds. "Do you want me to attach your legs to it?"
If I give it my legs, that will certainly be the last straw in me having any chance to fight personally on Bandomeer. But I probably can't use them either way. Still, if I truly am anything more than these cybernetics, then I should be able to conquer without them.
If he doesn't give anything to Chiv, he can fight with one lightsaber in his upper left arm and use his lower left arm to control the repulsorlift chair, but that's still a very fragile setup. He'd be much slower compared to his usual legs, totally at the mercy of Force pushes, and fighting with just one hand would limit both the strength and number of attacks. It would be a pathetic display if he ever had to fight. So why bother fighting at all? He turns back toward Chiv and gives a nod, saying, "You can go ahead and use them. And not just my legs, but give my arm as well to this decoy. Until I get new parts, it will be the only one personally fighting. I'll take whatever parts are left."
"Are you sure? Your left arms are the best we have, and all of the other ones, including the stuff on the decoy, are quite inferior until we resupply," Chiv explains.
"I am sure. When we next face the Republic, Grievous the machine and Grievous the Kaleesh shall be separated. And we shall see which is truly more valuable."