Begun, the Attack of the Robo-Beetles Has

[Judah Dashiell]

Dinbar, Elrood | Salacia Consolidated



After waiting for their construction robots from Firemane, the day had arrived for them to actually start. The construction bots -- which Judah had said looked like overgrown "death beetles" -- had been programmed to their specific uses. A task that was no easy feat, even the shape and complexities of some of the green technology that was being used.


Technicians stood on the ground, datapads in hand. One of the first projects underway would be to skin the only remaining skyscraper with the green solarium glass from [member="Danger Arceneau"] and Arceneau Trade Company. While the construction drones could act autonomously, Salacia technicians brought in from Ceto would be handling much of the step-by-step processes until they were certain it would work.


The first "death beetle" picked up the expensive glass panel.....and promptly dropped it, shattered green glass littered the duracrete below.


"Uh....sorry?" A technician could only shrug at this point.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"Look, we attach more of that fancy glass to these robo-beetles and we're going to have the same problem. We keep having the same problem we're going to be fired. You heard the foreman. This is expensive, rare glass. As it is we're going to have to rush order a replacement piece."


The gravely-water voice of the Mon Calamari technician was trying to put some reason into the group. Someone wanted to try again, wanted to attach the glass to the construction bots and let 'em fly up. Talib wasn't interested in that happening again. What if the big boss showed up on the scene again?


"Listen here......I'm calling it. We're going to have to drag in more crews from Ceto to do this glass work by hand. We know the bosses wanted the skyscraper done first. We're going to have to scrap it for now..."


"Lets reprogram these things and get em working on the docking bars instead. They can't tear up too much over there."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Talib the Mon Calamari technician had rallied the others to reprogram the construction robots. Durasteel beams would have to be put in place, creating a type of skeleton city around the area. Closing the 'hatch' on the last of the droids, Talib held the datapad in his webbed hands. It took a minute for the program to reboot, the construction robots coming to life.


"Hey, whats with the glowing eyes on this thing Tal?"


"Hell if I know. Creepy as I'll get out though....Think I can bill the big boss for psychological trauma?"


"Yeah, good luck with that."


Coming to life with a hum, the construction robots lifted off into the air in the direction of the piles of durasteel beam. At least if they dropped the beams it wouldn't shatter like the glass. They would dip low and grasp a beam in their "claws" before flying off towards the leveled out bulldozed block that would become the docks.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Sparks showered the ground below, the construction robots moving back and forth with surprising accuracy. It seemed that durasteel beams and wielding them together were a better task than the delicate glass work. Sentient crews were moving in to pour the duracrete base around the beams.


Tailb yawned and sat down on a stack crate with his datapad. Other technicians were milling around talking or sipping caf. According to HQ the construction robots would speed up production. Tailb could see some advantages -- although he wasn't a construction expert. He was a technician that merely worked on the programming systems for Salacia Consolidated products. There really wasn't another division available to program and handle the construction robots, since it was a new branch of the company.


"Hope they don't drop those beams on the duracrete workers..."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"It looks like someone back at HQ was smart enough to listen to us."


Sentient workers had arrived from the southern edges of the 'verse, coming to lay the expensive glass in by hand. Humans, Zabraks, and a handful of Pantorans seemed make up the glass install crew. Although Salacia Consolidated was a massive company, Talib hadn't seen this group before. They looked a little rough around the edges.


"Where'd they get these band of luckies?" Bulbous head motioned discreetly towards the new arrivals, some of which were already setting up for the day.


"Yeah, I gotta buddy in HR..." Fellow technician swung his wrench, accidentally banging against the construction robot."...says the potential war has got labor in short supply. These guys are from the Tabaqui plant, the one with the contract to help Arceneau Trade make the glass..."


"Tabaqui plant...?"


"I know, never heard of it either. Apparently an abandoned planet....locals were forgotten about for years on end....explains their crazy look, don't it? At least, the humans are the locals. I heard during some restructuring with that Brentaal IV thing workers got shipped out there....Can't say I blame them. Probably hellish but at least we get paid in real credits."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Talib was beginning to think these construction robots were more trouble than they were worth. The bosses back at HQ didn't seem to care, Talib's supervisor told him to get on the train because this was the future. That Salacia wasn't used to the quirks in programming just quite yet. That the technicians would have to learn about some basics of construction.


"Hey Io, don't these things have adaptive learning?"


His fellow technician looked up from his datapad, lost in some section of code for their construction bots.


"I suppose....How the hell am I suppose to know these things? Supervisor says we have to do so much tweaking because of the 'greener' construction practices going on. I think its just a BS explanation for something the higher ups can't even answer..."


Behind them, the bones of the new spaceport were taking shape. Durasteel was being bent and wielded into place, creating ghostly skeleton-like buildings.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

The breeze had picked up on Elrood. Talib could hear the surf smacking against the rocky shore, just half a kilometer or so from their location. Construction robots whizzed back and forth in the bright blue sky, durasteel beams hanging from their claws.


Kicking back on the pallet of supplies, Talib was enjoying his lunch break. Despite the perceived 'hardships' of getting the constructions robots to work for their applications properly, Salacia was still being fairly decent. Most meals were paid for, a food repulsor-truck was paid for by HQ and drove in everyday, offering up a small variety of foodstuffs, all on the house.


The Tabaqui local crew ate then it was back to work. Industrious group the supervisors had brought in. Already green solarium glass was shining in the bright sunlight, a stark contrast to the ocean blue of the sky. Scaffolding marked their progress, small little orb droids whizzing about their progress to help tack the glass into place.


With any luck, he'd be back on Ceto and at his comfortable desk in no time. Road assignments were for the birds.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Back at his datapad, Talib was busy reprogramming the construction bots for regular, standard glass for the other buildings. Starting to look like a skeleton city, shipments of durasteel plating and transparisteel were arriving on the empty spaces of the city blocks. HQ had given the go-ahead for the construction robots to be used with the transparisteel and contacted ARGH about upgrading the parameters the droids already had in place.


The team of technicians had already upgraded one as a test. The giant death-beetle went back and forth on its own, placing transparisteel with greater ease than the solarium glass.


"Guess they ain't a fan of over-priced glass, now are they? Got no problems with the regular stuff..."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Shrimp chips in hand, Talib munched on the crispy-salty delights as he surveyed the construction site. Most of the 'skeletons' for the buildings had been put into place, creating a ghostly looking city. Some of the materials they had needed were on a back order. War mongering and 'civil wars' tended to disrupt supply lines. Military companies were willing to pay over a fair market price for such materials, knowing their goods weren't going to sit on the shelf long.


Salacia saw no need to pay a high amount for durasteel and like. They were revitalizing a city, not creating a luxury resort. If needed they would drag in scrap and melt it down personally.


Some of Talib's work was at a standstill due to this. Currently he was eating shrimp chips and watching extremely huge movers dig trenches for some of the ocean-powered green energy.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Naboo, Lake Country


He was supposed to be away from work. Away from outside world so to speak. The retreat to Naboo's Lake Country had been his idea, a getaway with [member="Thessa Kai"] to reconnect. Their relationship was improving despite some underlying tension. Tension that seemed to be linked to one of his biggest business partners, [member="Danger Arceneau"] . Thessa seemed to think she was taking an inordinate amount of interest in their son, not trusting the redhead one bit. Judah found himself somewhere caught in the middle between the two, although Danger Arceneau didn't know of the distrust brooding within his wife.


Needless to say, it was all a little tiring. Being removed from the situation would hopefully allow the pair to catch up and not focus on the negative.


Despite all his efforts to stay away from work, work found him. Face down on a massage table, hands worked on tension in his once injured shoulder. Stress knots didn't help, or so the resort masseuse had said. Judah had given a little grunt of a reply just before his comm went off. He felt around his side for it, thinking it may be their son.


It wasn't.


On screen it appeared to be a incoming communication from Firemane Industries. [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] wasn't one to frequently call in to chat unless something had gone wrong. Or there was a pile of money to be made. Or they were meeting up for a family get together on Mon Calamari. After all, they were 'neighbors' of a sort on that planet.


"Hello?"


Naturally he should have expected what was next. A very chipper and cheery Representative from Firemane could be heard on the other end. She all but dripped with enthusiasm. If only Judah knew it was her very first important call for Lady Kerrigan.


"Mr.Dashiell! Your office told me to call you privately, Lady Kerrigan has been trying to get in contact with you."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Naboo, Lake Country


Eyebrow quirked slightly at the chipper attitude. It was...curious. All Firemane Reps seemed to be of two personalities, either extremely chipper and helpful or bitchy and as cold as a Hoth blizzard. Part of him found it extremely amusing, one would hate to see what conversations in the Firemane breakroom were like.


"I've been out of the office."


"I know, I contacted your secretary. Lady Kerrigan is trying to get in touch with you about the Dromund Kaas incident."


There was a long pause on his end. Dromund Kaas incident? What happened now?


"Incident?"


"Surely you are aware of the potential alien invasion that was defeated by Lady Kerrigan." Of course, [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] had help. The overly cheery Rep failed to mention that of course. Only the dear Lady mattered in her eyes. "Lady Kerrigan wants to inform you of valuable salvage. More than she had seen in some time."


"Thank you...and thank Lady Kerrigan for me." A pause. "Could you do me a favor? Contact my secretary back and have her send this message to the salvage crews so they could head out?"


"Of course Mr.Dashiell! Its been a pleasure to assist you."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Ceto, Salacia Consolidated Offices


Following the retirement of Judah's last secretary, Shera had taken over ever since. A middle-aged woman she had officially been in the position for the last four months. It was quite a learning curve from her last job down in the lower offices, where she had been secretary to several junior engineers, managing their projects and paperwork. Being up with the owner and CEO was quite different. So many different things to juggle at once, Shera was still struggling to find her stride.


The comm buzzed and a neatly painted fingernail depressed one of the array of buttons.


"Mr.Dashiell's office."


"Shera? This is Kara. We just spoke, remember? You directed me to Mr.Dashiell's personal comm."


"Oh yes, Kara. Did you get ahold of Mr.Dashiell?"


"I did. He informed me to return a call back to the main office. I'm going to assume you're the main office. Either way, Mr.Dashiell wants you to inform the salvage crews to head to Dromund Kaas and begin work."


"Thanks Kara. If I have any questions I'll be in touch with you."


Now all Shera had to do was figure out which salvage crew to send out. And how many.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Town of Kaa, Tabaqui


Tabaqui was typically a planet dotted with primitive villages and outposts. The planet once ruled by corporations had fallen with the Gulag Plague, turning into ruins. The natives had survived and made their way on the planet for hundreds of years before being noticed.


Until the Levantine Sanctum and Salacia Consolidated had come knocking at their doorstep.


Now a small town had been turned into a 'corporate town' of sorts. Manufacturing and salvage reclamation facilities had been set up on the otherwise rural landscape. Salacia and Arceneau Trade had partnered together to build a space station to keep sprawl off the planet in agreement with the locals.


Ships flowed in and out daily, carrying goods to the galaxy at large. Now they seemed to be flowing in at a higher rate of speed. Salacia had been working on the Dromund Kaas project, collecting salvage for the Elrood city project, slightly stalled due to a lack of durasteel.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Town of Kaa, Tabaqui


Slipping on gloves, Rax looked at the pile of scrap that had just come in. Rumor had it the big bosses closer to the core were going to be extending their shifts or bringing in extra workers. An entire group of native Tabaqui had been sent to Elrood to help with the spaceport reconstruction, several hoping to move up in the company had volunteered. Rax wasn't interested in seeing the galaxy right now, he had heard many legends from the local elders. Flying around in metal spaceships didn't seem like something high on his bucket list.


Metal screeched and groaned and workers picked through the pile, sorting various metals into large bins on tracks. Rax picked up a piece of a durasteel databank panel, pulling wires off to throw in one bin while the durasteel went into another, eventually off to be melted down and reused.



"You hear anything from the crew that went out Rax?" Another worker, Vena, asked as she continually tossed durasteel.


"Heard they are waiting on materials. Still can't believe old Hol went out there, whats he up to? Guy won't know what to do when he gets back to the real work."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Town of Kaa, Tabaqui


"You know Hol. Has to be involved in everything. Everything. They could have been asking for test subjects to launch into orbit and he would have been first in line."


Chuckling echoed throughout the second shift crew. A high pitched creaking sounded through the sorting floor for a moment before the carts on fixed tracking moved, laden down with scrap metal. Wire bins were heading in a different direction to be melted down in smaller sections and resold on the market.


Rax hit a control button and pushed a new load of carts up to the group. The open doors to the melting area was letting heat in, fans kicked in the sorting floor in a small attempt to regulate the temperature. Rax had feeling that today it was going to get a little stuffy no matter how much the fans ran. Word with the melting crew was that it was nothing but overtime to be had.


Speaking of, another load of salvage was dropped onto the sorting floor, adding to their already large pile.


"Fine times, ain't it Rax? Guess we don't have to worry about being bored today."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Town of Kaa, Tabaqui


Dromund Kaas was proving to have no shortage of salvage for the crews to use. Floor crews were starting to get larger pieces in, structural supports for once looming alien space ships. Sparks flew as they were cut into smaller pieces only to be immediately pushed away by labor droids. Rax couldn't help but yawn as they space starting to clear on the floor, walking towards the large open bay doors as he took out a earplug. Twilight had begun on Tabaqui, starting to color the sky in dusky hues, lighting some of the clouds ablaze with the last bit of light. Breaking the otherwise peaceful scene was the line of incoming vessels, either to drop off more scrap or to come haul away the recycled sheets being manufactured.


Despite the steady stream of vessels that had been incoming all day, Rax was surprised to see a middle aged Mon Calamarian step off one of the freighters. Rax had seen the sentient once before. Vice President of Salacia Consolidated. Second in command of everything under the Salacia banner, Chalu often traveled to the far flung operations to check in. Being a divorced father of two college aged girls, Chalu had a lot of free time on his hands. Time he spent traveling in place of his boss and friend.


"Excuse me, are you the floor supervisor?"

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Town of Kaa, Tabaqui


"Y-yes sir." Rax was a little taken aback. None of the on-site managers had mentioned anything about a visit from the higher ups of the company. Maybe it was a surprise. Perhaps the VP was in the area and merely dropped by to see how operations were going. Those extra shifts and workers and what not.


Without missing a beat, Chalu continued to stride towards the slightly confused and nervous worker. He offered a handshake before his bulbous eyes peered in at the growing scrap piles, the work being done inside.


"Excellent, care to take me on a tour? I'd like to learn more about your operations since the large salvage haul. Some on Ceto want to see some changes made to your operations out here. Bit hard to see what needs to be changed if you're sitting behind a desk, wouldn't you say...?"


"Rax. Rax Delan, sir."


"Pleasure to meet you Rax. Lead the way, I'll pick up a hardhat on the way in."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Town of Kaa, Tabaqui



Finding a hardhat as he darkened the entrance bay, Chalu perched the protective gear on the top of his smooth skinned skull as he followed the floor supervisor. Bright, golden eyes looked about on the main floor, the preperation area for the salvage. It was dingy, crowded to the max, and loud. None of it was particularly surprising to Chalu but what was surprising was the amount of work being done in a short amount of time. Output was exceeding their expectations, although it was a mere drop in the bucket. Discussions had been had about expanding salvage recycling operations in Silver Sanctum territory. Land was cheap and plentiful. Galactic unrest was bringing in refugees looking for work. Salvage wasn't glamorous work but it was steady and plentiful.


"Tight quarters in here Rax. Everyone getting their job done alright? Any complaints?"


Rax slowly looked at the Mon Calamarian. The Vice President was asking him for advice? This didn't seem possible. Barely five minutes in and the visit wasn't even going the way he had expected.


"I would say things are well."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Chalu nodded then gave a knowing smile. Or the best smile a Mon Calamarian could muster anyways.


"Everyone has complaints. Even myself. If it makes you feel better, don't view it as complaints. Look at it as....improving the facility. Headquarters is already interested in pouring credits into the area."


Rax still wasn't sure. There were quite a few improvements that needed to be done to the Tabaqui facility. Perhaps if he framed them more as suggestions that just another worker griping to the management.


"I...well....there are improvements that could be made."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Booted feet shuffled across the prepping floor as the pair continued on. Curious workers would look up every so often, their eyes taking in the rather unsual sight. Murmuring would occur once Rax and Chalu had passed, rumors passed onto the next shift about the presence of corporate in the salvage operations. It didn’t help matters that Chalu was a Mon Calamarian, alien species of non-near human types were rarely seen.


“Well…” Rax rubbed the back of his neck, the can of worms already open so to speak. “…We need more space on the salvage floor. We’ve seen an increase of thirty percent but our floor space remains fixed. It gets tough to move around.”


Chalu nodded, taking notes.


“So, tough to move around means tough to actually break down scrap, correct?”


A nod from Rax.


“What if we – in the short term – put on an extra shift? Operations would run non-stop instead of ending in the late evening as they do now. Do you think that would clear the floor before the new shipments arrived?”