A Moment, A Twinkling

[Caulder Dune]

So many great nobles, things, administrations, ​

So many high chieftains, so many brave nations, ​

So many proud princes, and power so splendid; ​

​

In a moment, ​

​

A twinkling, ​

​

All utterly ended.​

THE MACHINATOR
EN ROUTE TO LIANNA

Gone. As in, vanished. Poof. Like they were never even there. No notes, no security alarms being triggered as they left, everything still left in their corners. Dropped off the face of the galaxy itself. People vanished all the time, but they did not vanish from the factories of Hegemonic Automaton. They didn't do that because there was nowhere for them to leave. Every Hegemonic factory ever, outside of those special requests, had been erected in the middle of Ord Cestus' most inhospitable desert. There were no gates around his factories, only landing pads. And even then, a single employee vanishing into the desert was perhaps nothing to raise alarm over. Factory workers went mental all the time. Some even shot up their workplaces, so Gerion should've been grateful they all decided to hop the electric fences without triggering any perimeter alarms (not a single one of them).

Thousands of them.

Gone.

And it soon turned out this was no isolated incident. No, the riots that broke out on Ord Cestus and the subsequent collapse of the planet's government was testament to that. Gerion had also received initial reports from Coruscant before communications ceased. He had been on Hypori when all this erupted. Governments spearheaded by Gerion did not collapse. Not completely and never immediately. On Hypori, curfews were immediately put into effect. Droid armies and automated emergency response forces were mobilized. Impromptu censuses carried out to determine who was left, population.

More importantly, the "all looters will be shot and killed on sight" policy. Cruel? Yes. Disproportionate? Also yes. But the fact of the matter was that this was a crisis of unimaginable proportions and the only way to maintain order was through immediate, effective response. Attach any adjectives to his policies as you want, Hypori would stabilize long before its neighbors. He had made sure of that before he left the planet in the temporary hands of TD-18. Droids were apparently immune to this disappearing act. It would do wonderful things for Hegemonic Automaton's advertisement campaigns soon enough. Maybe when they were done losing money.

Zothustro Quill had already responded to the immediate threat to their factories. Assembly lines were shut down, the droid garrisons at each factory mobilized and defenses brought online. The employees remaining were prohibited from leaving, mostly for their own safety and also because flying shuttles was presently not a safe operation. Tragic that some of them had families with ambiguous fates, but until Ord Cestus got a handle on the situation, another necessity. The last he had heard from the X'Ting, he was going to help get the Cestian government back together. Also, the Fondorian that designed the droids Hegemonic Automaton peddled had failed to report in. Probably lounging in Fringe space or vanished.

There was no point in attempting to contact Hegemonic Automaton's distribution centers. Communications had blacked out across the galaxy, and they were far too removed from Hegemonic Automaton's Lianna headquarters to be monitored. There were protocols in place. With any luck, they were cooperating fully with the local governments to see that aid is tendered to the remaining population. Worst case scenario, looters were being mowed down in the streets and a tangible authority had failed to present itself. Given the current state of things, that sounded most likely.

With all this weighing on his mind, Gerion had departed from Hypori for Lianna as soon as he feasibly could. Emergency messages were transmitted to every member of the Hegemony he knew of, but insofar he had heard nothing in return. This, to say the least, made him nervous. Hypori was all well and good, but his true loyalties were to the Tion Cluster and the Hegemony that ruled it. He would do what he could to restore order here, but he couldn't do it alone.

[member="Sasha Santhe"] | [member="Darell Irani"] | [member="Selka Ventus"] | [member="Marek Starchaser"] | [member="Danger Arceneau"] | [member="Hion the Herglic"]

 

[Corey's OOC]

The one thing a casino business needed to run effectively was a client base. And with whatever the frak just happened, that wasn't looking so well. Sure, maybe Marek Starchaser should be worried about the disappearance of people, but hell, if anyone remembered when the former CIS dropped a station on a world, he was worried about the trade lines and profit before the civilians. Marek wasn't necessarily a bad guy, but he had a skew in his priorities.

And that was why he was getting on the comm, he needed to see who was still alive. Sure, he made to reach out to the Abrion Sector but... he was aboard Bright Star One in low Lianna orbit. And the poodoo hit the fan here. He was worried about his ships and made sure to keep them flying and was running business control here. He knew that his former government was going to be fine, they were survivors.

What he needed to do was contact his partners, and see who was around still, see who survived the whatever. And hopefully Hegemonic Automaton was working on a fix for this. Droids were... not flesh. They seemed to be fine, after all, most of the maintenance crew, barring the leads, were droids purchased from the Cestus based company.

Comms were acting strange, but Marek was sitting in his ship, the Santhe Challenger named Flow and that was when the message came in. Right, there was at least someone alive out there. Typing and not even bothering to code a message, he reached back out. “Starchaser here, getting Bright Star figured out. We've got supplies for any workers that need such. Whats the play?”

Could land the frakking liners on Lianna or hell, even make it to Tion herself.

But for now? He was awaiting the next move.

[member="Sasha Santhe"] [member="Selka Ventus"] [member="Danger Arceneau"] [member="Hion the Herglic"] [member="Darell Irani"] [member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Sieb Tevv]

*Encrypted Channel | Incoming Transmission:
A solitary figure flickers to life, big eyes and a massive mouth. Hion of Giju, now Darth Orcus. He speaks.

"Greetings [member="Gerion Ardik"], I have received your message and have dispatched Darkwater Security to assist in maintaining order. We escaped the event with relatively few losses. The personnel should have arrived moments prior to yourself. Do feel free to make use of their services. I have other matters to attend to, hauum."

The figure flickers out.
End of Transmission*

Blood in sheets. Blood in ribbons. Blood in pennants and streamers. Cartwheeling through the air. Spurting. Gushing. A raw sheen of red. A mist of pink. A gurgle of scarlet. Blood running in violent rivers and tender trickles. Blood from stumps and throats and bellies.

Most people didn't know that the body came in so many different colors. There were the deep shades of scarlet from veins; the bright red of arterial spray; the brownish bracken hues of the bowels; the yellows and greens of the various organs; the grayish pink of brain matter. Sobek knew them all.

The Saurton stood in an empty lot of Hegemonic Automatons. Well, almost empty. Those who had attempted to loot the headquarters lay around him, in various pieces. Sobek wielded twin Ryyk blades. Their wickedly curved lengths of bronzium flashed as Sobek brought them up and down in repetitive hacks at a corpse.

One. Two. One. Two. One. Two.

Droplets flung from the blade made arcs of scarlet in the air. The sweet intoxicating sound of a razor's edge carving through flesh caused Sobek to pause in his grim work, shuddering with pleasure. Then he resumed with a crimson smile.

One. Two. One. Two. One. Two.

 

[Graze]

“Sobek.”

The word hung frozen in the air, its edges lined in steel and suspended by icy droplets of calm. Behind it stood the Foreman of Darkwater, his will exerted in the invisible bands of control and authority, his eyes hard as they gazed upon the monstrous savagery that was his team member. Slowly shaking his head, he again spoke, this time stepping forward and raising his free fin to Sobek’s shoulder.

“Now is not the time for games of scarlet,” he murmured, his voice gravelly with thinly veiled disgust. The crocodilian was effective, but his mania clouded his ability to pay attention to his surroundings. Graze needed him alert.

“You may have your blood and gore, my friend, but not at this moment. We must first establish order within the city. After that, any unclaimed corpses are yours to do with as you please.”

With the matter hopefully resolved, the Karkaradon turned to address the rest of his contingent. While Usar spared only a glance for the patterns of oscillating swirls which lay in glistening pools upon the pavement, Okeene’s gaze remained fixated upon the swirling patterns of arterial crimson, his mind hypnotized by the spatters which had erupted from the desecrated bodies with each descent of the maddened blades. A slight breeze swept over the carnage, assaulting the group’s senses with the smell and taste of copper and urine. Graze’s nostrils flared. The scent was a familiar one. Okeene had pissed his pants again.

Silently hoping that it remained unnoticeable by all but those with the keenest senses, Graze cleared his throat.

Hmmm Mmm

“Men, we’ve been called here for an important mission. Darth Orcus has requested that we aid [member="Gerion Ardik"] with maintaining order in the wake of the galaxy’s mass disappearance of citizens. Our orders are to prevent all looting and other matters of confusion, but we must first report for duty. Stay alert, stay alive and stick together. We don’t wish to be caught unaware.”

[member="Marek Starchaser"] | [member="Sobek"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] | [member="Sobek"] | [member="Graze"]

Already things were looking grim. Starchaser was the only one present, which Gerion could only assume meant that everyone else was either in some sort of trouble or had vanished to some unfathomable location along with the rest of the galaxy. With the exception of Hion, who at the very least was alive and somewhere with a reasonable signal. Very well. Darkwater Security was reporting in on the ground and the CEO of Bright Star was accounted for. All was not lost. Yet. Upon arriving in system the Machinator was immediately bombarded with a torrent of scrambled radio transmissions. People requesting orders, announcing defections, declaring that one god or another was the source of all this, etc. They would be dealt with later, for now some semblance of order needed to be restored.

The first step would be reestablishing order in the capital city of Lianna City. Why was it named after the planet? Whose idea was that? It sounded terrible. Once this was over, the Hegemony would rename the smoldering ashes something else. Possibly Ardiktopia, or Starchasopolis, or Darkwatersylvania. They'd have the city council vote on it. All two of the ones left.

"Give me a map of the city. Update it to reflect preliminary reports of the situation."

On the Machinator's bridge, a map of Lianna City was projected. Areas where color coded on a scale of green, blue, yellow, orange, and red in terms of how much chaos was unfolding. As expected, every sector of the city was listed red or orange. Typical. Portions of the city that had their power stations knocked out were criss-crossed with dark grey lines. Again, as expected, most of the areas were criss-crossed with dark grey lines. There were going to need to be some serious infrastructure reforms in the wake of this. Never mind that now, however. The first step in restoring order would need to be with re-establishing communications among law enforcement personnel that remained alive and operating. Naturally, Lianna City's central law enforcement headquarters, the one building capable of doing so, was located in a zone that was both criss-crossed and a deeper shade of red than Gerion originally thought possible.

Typ. I. Cal.

But no one ever said this was going to be easy. Or pretty, for that matter.

"Begin transmitting to Foreman Graze."
"Patching you through, sir." Announced one of the OOM pilot droids running the bridge.

"Foreman Graze, I have a task for you. If we're to have any hope of restoring order, law enforcement must be re-coordinated from their headquarters. The central command for Lianna's law enforcement is under siege and in danger of destruction. I need you to move your detachment there immediately, link up with whatever law enforcement personnel remain, secure the immediate area, and await further instructions. It would appear various criminal are taking advantage of the chaos and intend to prolong it as much as possible. They will succeed if you do not. I am transmitting the coordinates to you now and will keep you abreast of any further developments. Also, take care to avoid civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure. We're going to need both of those as intact as possible in the coming days. Good luck."

With that handled, Gerion had something else that needed doing.

"I need a line to TD-00182."
"Establishing."

TD-182, the one-hundred and eighty-second TA3 Tactical Droid manufactured by Hegemonic Automaton, was one of five Tactical Droids charged with the defense of Hegemon Towers. Today, however, had something different in store for him. TD-182 would be leading a detachment of Hegemon Towers' droid garrison to the nearby power plant with the intent of securing it so that workers, engineers, whoever, could be moved in to repair it to working condition. The city was going to need electricity if it were to survive.

"Radio Flow, please."
"The insurance woman?"
"You know damn well what I mean."

These droids probably needed memory wipes. Regardless, it hadn't been a problem so far. Once a signal was established to Starchaser, Gerion started talking again.

"Mr. Starchaser. I'm in the process of coordinating relief to one of Lianna City's districts. I'm transmitting the relevant information now. Resources and manpower are scarce, I'm afraid. How many ships and personnel do you have accounted for?"

 

[Corey's OOC]

Marek was waiting for something to do. He had been putting out reports, since Ryan was still around, but Alana was no where to be found, he was sticking to the office, and sticking to Bright Star. Maybe after he got things handled at Lianna and Tion he'd make a run out to check on the Abrions. That would be the right thing to do, make sure his friends, if they still would accept that term, were okay, and bring them online, if they suffered as badly.

He was checking reports on the rest of the liners and recalling them from their routes back to either Tatooine or Lianna. That also meant deploying their compliments of droid starfighters, a Haor Chall upgrade. Each of the now two dozen liners that Bright Star owned and operated were escorted by a small carrack cruisers with upgraded Vulture Droids ready to be deployed. Because frak pirates.

Frak them in their backside.

With droids.

Droids didn't get raptured. That was the thing. And it meant all the ships, the liners and escorts would be in good repair, and most of the food could be processed and prepared. Sure, there were organic chefs on board, and servers, because who would you rather look at? Scantily clad Twi'leks or droids serving cocktails and drinks?

Marek's thought exactly.

Get half the liners to the Cluster and the other between Hypori and Tatooine and that should do good. He even prepared a bit of a message for [member="Raziel"], to be sent from Bright Star's newest liner Tachyon Jewel. The message was that the food, and rooms were free to those that needed them. Of course, the Jewel was for the higher ups, and the rest... well, it'd keep people safe, fed, clothed and cleaned. And it may or may not scan for bank accounts.

Probably not.

Maybe.

Even Rio Vivo was in shambles. Not that Marek made that area even destined to be safe from this sort of thing. Reports on the entertainment borough of Lianna City were grim, looting and the like. They'd get to that. VIPs were under armed Hegemonic Automated droid guard. He didn't purchase enough for this. Just... next time.

And that was when the Droid King himself... Maybe King of Droids? Technophile. Lets go with technophile appeared. Right, only a few people had direct lines to Flow, and that was basically Raziel and Tion's inner circle.

“Ah, my favorite....” Right, talking. Marek nodded as [member="Gerion Ardik"] went on. “We're looking at somewhere in the ballpark of 40 percent capacity of our staff. That includes the Rio Vivo district. I've recalled the majority of the liners and their automated escorts back here. I can get the liners in low orbit, we can at least get civilians and VIPs off the streets. The liners are safe.” Because Marek didn't allow any type of criminal records to show up on his liners. They'd rob the place.

Paranoid?

Smart.

“Any chance of getting some droid assists into Rio Vivo? Can use the resorts there to house people until the liners arrive? And any word on anyone else?”

[member="Sobek"] [member="Graze"]

 

[Raziel]

A prompt response so was sent to [member="Marek Starchaser"]. It thanked him for the aid provided, but came with additional requests.

He wanted Marek to get in touch with all Techno Union companies to find out what they could provide in terms of resources to investigate the rapture and start reactivating any communications systems that had fallen over during the event.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] [member="Gerion Ardik"]

A careful eye would note the undercurrent of in flagrante and general dishevelment that lay beneath her hastily assembled decorum. Time, however, was of the essence. She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, adjusted her skirtsuit, and jumped into the holocall.

"Lord Ardik, Mr. Starchaser. I've secured contact with Silk's assets in and around Lianna City. Assets include two bacta/kolto/kolcta distribution facilities, both secured, one in the northeast quadrant and one in the southeast by Raith Starport. Both are running at functional skeleton crew status. Distribution is out of the question without droid facilitation, but over three million litres of bacta and kolto are available onsite. I'd imagine you can find uses for it, in terms of stabilizing Lianna and the neighbours. We've prioritized automation and ensuring that coordinative spots are filled, so the distribution centres have a functional command and coordination structure. Silk also has a refit yard in the southwest quadrant, and we've enacted similar processes there: the yard is at diminished capacity, but we've got it operational enough to provide repair and refueling services to law enforcement and security operators."

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Selka Ventus"], [member="Marek Starchaser"], [member="Gerion Ardik"]


Time was of the essence, and so the holographic shape of Moira Skaldi manifested as she entered into the holocall. "Archangel's factory and base on Lianna are secure. I can dispatch battle droids and a contingent of HRDs to assist with security. We have assets on the planet, including a squadron of droid tanks. More assets can be deployed to the Cluster over time. Our labour droids can assist in the distribution of the kolto etc."


Silk had a refit yard, so Archangel vessels could call upon it for repair and refuelling services. Archangel had been a bit tied up because apparently space stations had dropped on Corellia, but there was an advantage to only employing droids since HRDs did not need to be paid. Nor did they have trade unions. Or families and loved ones who demanded you pay out pensions. Undoubtedly many a robber baron from the Gilded Age would turn green with envy at such oppressive and frankly downright racist labour management. Still, shame about the Archangel building, it had looked rather nice and provided a nice view. Good thing nothing truly important had been in it!

 

[Corey's OOC]

And that was always one voice Marek never got tired of hearing. It was good to see that [member="Selka Ventus"] was alive and kicking. Sure, maybe there were one or more people in her head, but she was still pleasant enough to him, and to look at. Couldn't fault the man. And she knew how to run a business, that was for sure. Bigger and more complex than what he was doing, but a lead starship manufacturer AND bacta? Yeah, she had to have brass ones.

Sending a message to both Silk and Archangel, Marek was doing what he could. “Well, all organics are welcome to take leave, shelter or use any secured Bright Star facilities as a base of operations. Though we will need protection to the Rio Vivo entertainment district.”

Not quite red light, but... close.

[member="Moira Skaldi"] [member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Sieb Tevv]

Sobek paused mid-stroke at Graze's words. A throaty hiss emanated from half-open jaws, while yellowish eyes with depths like acidic swamps flicked from the mutilated corpse to the Karkarodon and back again. Sobek wavered, but the promise of future fresh meat had the intended effect.

"Bah," rasped the rancid reptilian, lowering his blade at last.

The shark might be in charge for now, but one day he would fall out of favor, or make a misstep. The bit of soul he still clung to would be his undoing. No amount of cold calculation would be able to save him then, not from a foot of razor-sharp bronzium in the back.

The Saurton listened to the Foreman's speech in silence, thoughts macabre as he stood there, blood dripping in long strands from the ends of his wickedly curved blades. When Graze had concluded, Sobek half-hazardly wiped his blades on the mostly-clean shirt of a corpse, then sheathed the weapons in the twin scabbards on his back. He took up his modified Geonosian sonic blaster and moved to stand next to Okeene with the sort of lazy slouch that the most savage of predators seemed to possess.

[member="Graze"] | [member="Gerion Ardik"] | [member="Marek Starchaser"]

 

[Graze]

Bzzz Bzz Bzzzz

A vibrating staccato emerged from the recesses of Graze's pockets, alerting him to an incoming message. Pulling out his communicator, he stepped away from the blinding rays of midday and into a nearby shadow. A low grunt emerged from a jaw crisscrossed with scars of past battles and filled with teeth sharper than blades. It appeared that he and his men wouldn't need to check in after all. He typed a quick reply, letting the world leader know that his message had been received.

"The mission is underway. We will begin our trek to the given coordinates and alert you if any events should transpire between now and our arrival."

Replacing the device within his pocket, Graze turned to relay the message to his team. "We have our orders. We're to head to the headquarters of Lianna's law enforcement and rendezvous with survivors. Civilian casualties and structural damages are to be kept to a minimum. If there are no questions, then let's move out."

So long as his men maintained the ease with which they typically worked together, they could handle whatever came next.

[member="Gerion Ardik"] | [member="Sobek"] | [member="Marek Starchaser"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] | [member="Selka Ventus"] | [member="Moira Skaldi"] | [member="Graze"]

"I'd refrain from sending anything into low orbit until at least one of Lianna's districts becomes stable." Gerion replied. "As for the others, I'm receiving a few transmissions now."

Not the answer he wanted to give, obviously. The longer this whole operation took, the more people would be lost in the aftermath of the rapture, already compounding the number of people lost by the rapture itself. Time, as probably had already been mentioned, was of the essence. Fortunately, Selka Ventus and Moira Skaldi were now reporting in. How sad that a total rapture of half the galaxy was what was necessary to bring balance to the Tionese Gender Ratio. Then again, one of them was a droid and the other was Velok, so in reality, nothing had changed.

Frankly, if it weren't for the fact he was in a deeply committed relationship with the Galactic Standard Credit, Gerion would have a lot of trouble waking up in the morning.

"Move the droid tank squadron to help fortify the Silk bacta distribution facilities for now. Keep the labor droids on standby, we'll send them to assist in distribution once some semblance of order has been restored. If you could also dispatch a portion of your HRDs to Mr. Starchaser's Rio Vivo District and assess the situation there, I am sure he would be appreciative."

Gerion checked the status of the detachment he sent to the nearby powerplant. They were still en route, and the sight of such a large amount of battle droids moving through the streets had scattered some rioters. If only he had an army of them at his disposal, then he'd simply drop them through the streets and have them bludgeon anyone acting suspiciously. Or, really, just acting. Why couldn't people just stay inside for the apocalypse?

 

[Corey's OOC]

Monitoring the situation from where he was, Marek was making a few notes. It wasn't like there were crazed technobeasts, or zombies. There were scared people, and not that many of them. He was hoping that they could be reasoned with. That would possibly calm them down, right? If not he could always summon fire winds, an earthquake and electric rain (patent pending).

Though that'd probably melt the skin off the people instead of stun them, and rip this wonderful world in half.

How about we not try that yet?

“If we can clear the Rio Vivo District, get the civilians and people under fire there. Hell, try to work the looters near Bright Star Seven, its the most empty. Maybe we can talk them down, give them shelter and collect weapons?”

It was an idea. They needed these people, and instead of gunning everyone down on the planet, saving them would look better. Much better.

[member="Gerion Ardik"] [member="Graze"] [member="Sobek"]

 

[Sasha Santhe]

A crack appeared in Sasha’s face forming a smile as smooth hands felt their way up her body, It was a good day, as far as things went. The masseuse worked his magic on her naked form. She let out a sigh of relief. Tension gone. Jared Ovmar could use a good massage, she decided, and that Tyrin character. Both of them were way too tense. The massage stopped as the man left to get more oils and then he never returned.

Sasha stood up and looked around and noticed a lack of masseuse. Grumpily she walked out of her office and looked for her receptionist. Gone. They would be fired as soon as she could. From there she walked down the hallway to visit the head of the offices Human resources department. Also gone. What fresh hell was this? She grumbled to herself and looked out the window to the streets below. Riots…

Something clearly was amiss.

Using her technopathy Sasha tapped into local communications. No masseuse, no receptionist, and riots. What a bad day. Sasha returned to her office and got dressed throwing on a silk robe. Over the intercom she announced to the building that they would be locking down for everyone's protection. Santhe Security was placed on alert and Sasha was preparing to use her nobles privilege on Lianna to deploy riot police.

Damnit, Lianna security was a mess. Then again what else was new? Sasha started barking orders into the comlinks at the various peace officers ordering them to rally. Idiots, then again if they had any brains they would have probably found a better way to make a living.

[member="Marek Starchaser"] arrived on the scene. Kinda… Sasha sighed, he was in orbit, talking and not really helping. Typical male, utterly useless except when using his mouth. “Marek, contact the spaceport, I’m authorizing you to use any Santhe Passenger and Freight ships to evacuate any VIPs or move riot control assets into place.” Sasha wished [member="Jared Ovmar"], or [member="Gerion Ardik"], was with her. She needed someone to belittle and bring down.