I was doing some light reading today, and learned about some Star Wars characters that made Human Replica Droids (HRDs) for the purpose of espionage. Apparently the droids were so convincing, they could even fool most medical scans. Two characters in particular made them, and split ways... One wanted to produce an army of them, while the other wanted to replace top government officials with them.
One was an expert on droid brains and programming, and developed some droids that were so advanced that they were declared sentient beings. They rejected their original programming and fled to Hoth rather than become the assassins they were programmed to be... They were replicas of a general and his daughter.
The other HRD developer was the one responsible for making them so convincing they could thwart medical exams, and he began working on All Species Replica Droids (ARDs). He claimed he could produce them faster than clones, thus an army of virtually any species, or comprised of multiple species could be delivered quite quickly.
I found these stories to be quite intriguing... But I couldn't imagine an easy way to replace a powerful political figure or deliver an army... I mean, imagine trying to sneak a fake Hutt into a castle, and sneaking a dead/incapacitated Hutt out... Fuck that...
Then I remembered another book I'd read, when someone was poisoned with nanobots, and a Jedi was tasked with finding each nanobot and force shoving them out of the poisoned character's sweat glands.
It suddenly clicked... Those nanobots were programmed to cause side effects common to an untreatable disease. What if they were programmed to rewire brains... Effectively turning a living creature into a droid, perhaps overnight.
So my imaginary character's "job" would be to fly around the galaxy and roofy people's drinks, turning them into my personal spies. Rather than targeting the politicians and whatnot, as the HRD developer did... I'd target their servants and slaves. Perhaps I'd contaminate a water supply and have an entire village programmed to report back to me... In fact, I don't think my nanobots would necessarily rewire their brains... No, I'd rather they kept their personalities, and simply tap into their thoughts... Record and transmit whatever they see and hear back to me...
I'd have a nearly constant stream of information, and would have a team of droids sorting and prioritizing the information for me, formulating a strategic business plan...
It's creepy, but I imagine the knowledge gained would be almost as powerful as Jedi mind tricks.
