Of Men And Machines (Republic Dominion of Loronar)

[Kyrana Gould]

With the Republic in need of fortresses, shipyards and machines, Loronar was the perfect site. Once owned by the Protectorate, the planet was now lawless and seeking some stability.

With this in mind Admiral Stahlmann set forth with the Star of Alderaan, the Ebbing Heart and several escorts to deliver troops and supplies to the planet.

Objectives:

1. Restore order on the planet.
2. Secure the droid factories.
3. Get the shipyards operational.
4. Whatever else you wish.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]


The location: Archangel's office on Loronar. Whilst the new headquarters was being built on Denon, Nalia Alderana, respected droidmaker and co-owner of Archangel Research and Design, was using this building as her temporary centre of operations. Archangel had come to the planet comparatively recently, but had by now become a well-established droidmaker, which had also possessed ties with the Republic.


Word had reached her that the Republic intended to take the planet, which was no surprise really. Loronar was well-positioned and wealthy, even with the chaos caused by the great cataclysm. Its droid factories and shipyards would be invaluable, especially now that so many critical shipyards had been lost to the One Sith. So it was logical to get in touch with the potential new rulers. Especially before they tried to seize her property, namely her droid factories and shipyard, due to emergency laws or something like that. So she drafted a message to the commander of their forces.


"Dear Admiral Stahlmann,


my name is Nalia Alderana and I am co-owner of Archangel Research and Design. As I believe is known, my company maintains droid factories and a shipyard on Loronar. I understand that you are very busy man given your responsibilities, so I shall come straight to the point.


It is my understanding that the Republic seeks to take Loronar, a great asset in its campaign to rid the Galaxy of the Sith menace and restore peace - congratulations on proving how mortal the 'Immortal' truly is. Suffice to say after the horrible war crimes perpetrated by the Protectorate's former leader on Corellia, we are not enthusted with that nation and have no desire to hinder a regime change, especially if it can prevent the Sith from taking over. As I believe you know, we have been supplying the Republic with machines of war in the past and are eager to continue to do so. Provided our interests are respected and our property remains in our hands. At present Loronar is defined by lawlessness and chaos has broken out in many areas, we can offer the Republic the full support of our droid units in restoring order. Likewise we can aid in repairing damage to the shipyards and getting them functional.


If you desire a personal meeting, I am willing to oblige once possible.


Yours respectfully,
Nalia Alderana.'

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Ma'am, Admiral Stahlmann has exited hyperspace. His fleet is currently entering Loronar space." Kayleigh leaned forward in her chair, raising an eyebrow to the lieutenant. "Are you certain this information is accurate? I received no word on this operation." The female officer shrugged, her response disinterested in the situation. "Accurate as it can be, Ma'am. Perhaps you missed it in all your paperwork?" The tone the Lieutenant used was mildly insulting, as if she were insinuating that the admiral were now nothing more than a paper pusher who sat behind her desk filing reports and receiving a cushy paycheck.

How wrong that statement would be. "That will be all, lieutenant." The blonde dismissed the officer and scrambled to look through the paperwork that she had yet to get a chance to read. Finding the document that had been forwarded by Stahlmann she sighed. Keeping up with all of this is a daunting task. She stood from her desk and looked out the window of the Caledonia into space. The massive void was captivating. Sighing she sat back down and continued shuffling through the papers.

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

Orick jumped into Loronar and smiled, he was behind the fleets this time. He hated when he arrived before the fleets or in a bad position. He wasn't a fan of combat in The Ranger. It wasn't meant for much else but cargo and decoy work, whic his what it seemed like he did all the time. He pulled up his sensors and registered the ships that were in the area. his scanners weren't registering much other than the republic fleet, he didn't have the high grade military stuff that the warships had. He had to hope that the fleet would keep anything that happened to pop up busy enough for him to run away.

" Good day admirals, Aimless Ranger here for whatever insanity you need me to handle today." He turned off his coms and wondered how long the
republic would put up with him. Sure they always needed more supply ships, but eventually they would get tired of his antics. He had a feeling a showdown was inevitable.

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus pointed Raven 2 at the planet's surface. It was one she was familiar with - given her heritage. Like its neighbour Byblos, Loronar was colonized by Corellian settlers before the founding of the Galactic Republic. Both worlds later declared their independence from Corellia - but there was a bond there that could never be broken. And news that her home planet was undergoing some sort of destabilisation only fuelled her desire to help people that - however distant - were her kin.


Of course - unlike Corellia, this planet had become an Imperial fortress world, complete with TIE interceptor squadrons, and AT-PT walkers. The Rebel Alliance attacked the planet on at least one occasion and the famous X-wing using Rogue Squadron provided air support during a famous and successful raid that destroyed a small base used for critical Imperial operations.

But that was then and Loronar joined the New Republic after its liberation and contributed to the Galactic Civil War by producing starships for the New Republic. Most recently under the stewardship of the Omega Protectorate, the planet was plunged into lawlessness like so many and needed their help.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]


Needless to say the Admiral would be accompanied by his absolutely reliable sentinel, an implacable machine guardian. After all, it would be unfortunate if something happened to him. More to the point, there was plenty of chaos and lawlessness on Loronar, which had been left to its own devices by the weakening Protectorate, so she might get to shoot things.


Coincidentally, Archangel was the company that had 'built' Callisto. A good while before the great cataclysm she had been constructed in an Archangel droid factory, given some of the most sophisticated programming money and high-tech could provide, then later sold to Aurelia Saelari, Chief of the Republic. Pardon, Consul of the Republic! Her time with Saelari had been fairly uneventful and after the woman had vanished along with trillions of others, she had entered into Stahlmann's services. Another cog in the massive machinery that was the Republic military, another resource to be used. That was one tale, but the truth was...more complex.


And very well-hidden. Having spent her time aboard the Admiral's flagship analysing intelligence, preparing the materiel for the Republic military on Loronar defences, major factories and industrial areas along with the known factions upon the planet, she would soon appear at the side of the Admiral. Probably at the same moment he received the message from Ms. Alderana.

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
“Sir, a message from a ‘Nalia Alderana’ on the surface.”
The Admiral took and read the message, grunted. “So it begins. The crawlers wanting to get in good with us. Very well, send her a reply that we welcome her assistance. Property protected, sanctity of private enterprise, the usual. Tell her to mark out on a map which facilities are hers. What do we know about this Nalia anyway?”
“Intel suggests she runs this ‘Archangel’ with an Anna Comnena. Rich capitalists, hints of a past in the Protectorate hierarchy, other than that, not much.”
“Cover story then. Well, so long as they cause us no trouble. Send that message, make it as polite as possible.”

The Admiral turned next to the commander of his marines. “Major, get your troops landing on those shipyards, and from there establish order in the civilian centres and factories. If you run into resistance give them a chance to come peacefully first. I’ll feed in more troops as needed.”

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]


Archangel prided itself on being very efficient and so the Admiral's aide would soon receive a response from 'Nalia Alderana'. Suffice to say, it would be to the point, concise and contain a map that showed where all the Archangel facilities were located on Loronar, along with their property on the shipyard the company possessed. Once it had been owned by Loronar, but unfortunately that company had suffered a critical hit after cowardly terrorists attacked its headquarters and cruelly murdered most of the board.



Suffice to say, when Republic forces landed upon Loronar and moved to assume direct control, Archangel would give them no trouble. Republic officials would be free to inspect Archangel facilities to convince themselves that production would flow and the corporation would accommodate their needs. Everything would be above board and no more suspicious than in any other rising corporation, given how cutthroat the world of capitalism was.

 

[Artemis Vahl'Nyx]

Usually she didn't like flying. Scratch that- she never did. The whole 'no real gravity in space' and 'there is no up' really messed with her senses. Her completely irrational astrophobia definitely didn't help in that regard. So while the ship traveled towards Loronar's surface she had decided to do the least stressful thing she could think of: Meditate. Maybe it wasn't the best idea she'd ever had, considering her reputation as a tough woman who lived aggressively. Surely people couldn't be that wrong about her, right? Then again they probably were. Nyx had spent weeks in a row, at times, waiting to line up the perfect shot. In total (during her time as an Imperial Sniper) she had waited, doing nothing, for a year. Two decades of military service did that for you. That was another thing people didn't realize! She was roughly forty years old. Not a youngster whatsoever! Time had, for the most part, brought her a sense of maturity that some of the others lacked (the others being the Jedi Padawans and Knights she was so used to seeing around on Ossus). Overall, relaxing for a few hours would be an easy task for her. Or so logic dictated! The Zorren had quietly made her way from the mess hall to the crew quarters about ten minutes ago. A few soldiers greeted her along the way, one even inviting her to get drinks with him after their mission was complete. Naturally she had declined. Though she had done so in a surprisingly polite manner! Those Jedi were sure rubbing off on her... Briefly she thought about that before punching in the code for her room. What she saw inside wasn't terribly odd. One half was a complete mess, papers everywhere, dirty sheets spread unceremoniously across the bed, with a few loose articles of clothing draped on a desk chair. On the other side things were as neat as can be... though it was quite empty. Nothing felt personalized or unique in any way. This was her 'section' (as she referred to it). Her roommate was a young Zeltron soldier who had a habit of inviting others to her bed in the middle of the night. Nyx wouldn't usually be angered by that... but sometimes she just wanted to sleep, and hearing the squeaking of mattress springs made that quite difficult.

Good thing the girl wasn't here right now.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]


Callisto had waited with typical machine patience whilst the Admiral responded to the message from Ms. Alderana and then gave the orders to his subordinates. Part of being an HRD was that you were good at being terribly patient, unobtrusive and good at not drawing unncessary attention to yourself. That was always a useful quality for a bodyguard...for an assassin.



"What are my orders, sir?" she asked calmly. She tended to use her more 'human' tone when dealing with Republic personnel these days. Of course, the Admiral knew what she was, but apparently most organics responded better when you gave them the illusion of being more humane. Not that she had any desire to become some sort of ridiculously human robot.

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]
The droid…she looked very real, sounded it too. Yet he knew what she was for, what she could do. Useful, undoubtedly, but not a confidante.

“Go to the shipyards and secure control of them for the Republic. Do not open fire unless fired upon yourself. Do you understand?”

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The Caledonia would be unable to participate in this excursion. The flagship was undergoing repairs necessary to continue their operations on the front line. Instead, the Admiral sat in her quarters, sorting all of the necessary paperwork requested by the Senate as to the current expenses, casualties, progress, and setbacks thus far.

Denon - Secure. Manaan - Secure. Cato Neimoidia - Secure. Nubia - Secure. Kashyyyk - Secure. She continued her list, adding to each one the number of deaths, lost ships including fighters and bobmers, expended munitions, as well as anything of particular importance that would fall outside of the norm for a battle. She included her personal observation that thus far there appeared to be no logical reason behind the disappearance of so many people.

What she was dealing with right now though, was the flak being fired her way by the Senate. The excursion to Loronar had not been ratified and thus, officially, the fleet advancing on the planet was illegal. What was done was done however, and Kayleigh would stave off most of the criticism for now, while she could. This was war after all, and sometimes things just had to be done to secure that which was vital to the Republic in the here and now. The Senate would simply have to accept the judgement and move on. The planet and its shipyards were in fact very critical to securing the southern border of the Republic's influence.

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

 

[Artemis Vahl'Nyx]

"We are experiencing a minor engine issue. Our arrival will be delayed slightly. ETA three hours."

The intercom brought a sense of discomfort to the Zorren. Was she going to have to put up with space for that much longer?... Now relaxing seemed even more important than it had before. Once she arrived there would be plenty to do. Getting all riled up before work wasn't a good idea. No, she'd want to be calm for this. Unless she wanted a repeat of Alderaan... Good job Nyx. Reminding yourself of your biggest feth-up in the bast week is the absolute best way to chill out. With a big of an angry huff she took off her shoes and set them down in front of her desk. Then she quietly pulled out a thin mat from underneath her bed. It was a fairly simple piece of 'furniture' meant for exercising or meditating. Guess which one she was going to use it for? Congrats! You stated the obvious! Our not-so-heroic heroine sat down with her legs cross, placing her hands in the center of her lap, palms upward, on one top of the other. Holding the pose was fairly easy as long as you kept your breathing in check. Keeping your back straight was another key element of that particular stance. Nyx had learned this from- you guessed it- Dr. Stone as a way for her to recover from the sometimes-vigorous treatments she had to undergo.

Having Sith Poison in your veins wasn't exactly fun. Nor was it particularly easy to fix.
But that was a thought for another time. Slowly the woman closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in...

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Prison duty. With all of the upheaval, resources were stretched pretty thin and Corvus had been asked to help out at the planets high security prison. Maybe it wasn’t an assignment she would have chosen - but then she was here to serve.

She declined the offer of a blaster - so uncivilised - and instead wandered around in her Jedi robes - knowing full well that the inmates would be unable to use her sabers, even if they got their hands on them. But of course news of the Force’s instability had reached even this establishment and she’d received enough jeers about the subject already.

The inmates were kept locked up for as long as possible but meal-time was one of the only reasons they were let out - and she’d arrived just as lunch was being served. She moved across the prison mess hall with grace, passing sleekly through the mob, parting it with scarcely a glance.

Despite the rumours, some of the inmates took an uneasy step back to allow her to pass, while others simply froze in place. Heads swivelled to watch her as she went. Loud voices dropped to whispers and then whispers in turn became a watchful, estimating silence as she made his way among them.

And then the fight started. Two inmates had clearly been in the middle of an argument—one a pallid, frightened-looking human, the other a Rodian that wore an eye-patch and had fewer than the requisite number of fingers.

Corvus stood motionless, observing everything around her without giving any indication that she was doing so. In an instant, her Teräs Käsi training kicked in and she’d separated the two and had both in an arm-lock behind their backs before anyone had a chance to move.

Of course the whispers started - it seems the Force wasn’t wonky after all. She suppressed a grin. She was not about to correct them from their misconception.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]


Callisto was indeed not the confidante sort. Well...she was a highly intelligent super computer, but if you listen too much to an amoral death machine you might get...disturbing ideas! Regardless, Callisto acknowledged the Admiral's orders and gave him a curt nod.



"Yes, sir. I am more refined than a primitive Baktoid construct." Apparently even an HRD had her pride! "Apologies for the snark. I shall inform you when the shipyard is taken," she spoke softly, snapping to attention and delivering a bonecracking salute, then heading out. Her path would eventually take her to the hangar bay of the great battleship, where a dropship filled with a contingent of troops awaited her. Orders were passed on and the heavily armoured transport ship, along with some escorts, shot out of the belly of the warship and towards the shipyard.


Callisto was impassive as they began their approach. There were a number of soldiers who knew what she was. There were even some amongst them who remembered the horrors unleashed by thinking machines during the Clockwork Rebellion. The older ones might have been on Coruscant or Kuat when they fell to the droids and organics were carted off like cattle to be processed, serving as more fuel for the machinery of war. If some of them distrusted her because of this, it did not affect her. Communication were sent to the Loronar shipyard, stating their intent and desire to board.

 

[Orick T'ane]

Orick wandered through the city aimlessly, he really didn't have anything to do since this wasn't a big operation. the Republic Navy was handling all of the traffic to and from the planet pretty easily. He wasn't even really what made him respond to the call this time. He saw Republic marines all over the place, in two's and threes, patrolling the streets and keeping a vigilant eye out for trouble. He stopped at a fruit cart and bought a couple off hanava fruit and smiled as he walked away. He quickly ate the first one and stared at the second one carefully. He wondered who had smuggled it to Loronar... It wasn't usually transported because of the dangers of termites infesting a new planet. He smiled and shook his head. profit margin on these were outrageous, someone had dursteel in their veins to want to risk the prison sentence this fruit would bring if you were found smuggling it.

 

[Geneviève Lasedri]

Geneviève was on the line.

The Chief of Senate was getting a bit of an earfull about this latest advancement in reclaiming union of the Republic. She was not entirely keen of it, herself. No one had given permission for this, and as such, the Chief of Senate was required to contact the military leaders immediately and demand answers. This was out-of-line, and they knew it.

"What the hell. You mean you don't have the Chief of Staff present? Get me the Aide, then." She was not going to let the government be undermined. Not at this time.

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"]

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]
The Admiral raised an eyebrow at the droid's comment. Clearly they were not as indifferent and unemotional as they claimed.
"Do so," he said sternly.
Order given he returned to work in securing the planet.

To him, the Chief of Senate's response was bordering on hysterical. The Republic had allowed Jedi to push their recent re-aquisitions without complaint, so why was it a problem now?

 

[Corvus Raaf]

'And if there's anybody left in here
That doesn't want to be out there
I predict a riot
I predict a riot.'

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hamKl-su8PE

No sooner had Corvus managed to calm down a small incident than a much larger one came along and smacked her around the head. A small debate over the quantity of portions developed into a food fight and before you knew it, they had a riot on their hands.

Blaster shots were fired, two inmates went down and then – if it was humanly possible – things escalated. A group of six prisoners grabbed a guard and his weapon and dragged him to one side of the mess hall – the remainder the prisoners all behind them. On Corvus’ side were half a dozen prison warders, who seemed to have arranged themselves in single file behind her!

Shaking her head, she wandered forward. “OK, who thinks they’re in charge?”

A man with either dark blue skin or more tats than were feasible on human skin spoke up. His teeth were metallic and even his gums had tattoos. “I’m it.” He glanced around to see if anyone would challenge him and almost seemed surprised that nobody did. Maybe their thought process was yes – you take on the Jedi!

“I demand you let us all go, now.” Even some of his own sniggered at the foolishness of his demands.

“Hand him over, give me the gun and then you pick up the food and carry on eating. No debate, no discussion, no negotiations, just do it.”

“No way sweet cheeks, you see-“

He didn’t get the rest of the sentence out. In a flash, Corvus used her steel hands training to close the gap, disarm the prisoner and put the gun into the ring-leader’s mouth. She shook her head. “So uncivilised, but practical I guess. Now I shall repeat myself only this once. You pick up the food and carry on eating.”

One by one they complied and finally Corvus handed the blaster back to the guard. “I think this belongs to you. Try to keep better care of it next time, eh?”

 

[Kian Karr]

Droid Factor

Kian crept ever so quietly along the top rafter of the factory. He had to move slower then he would have liked. In the past he would have been running along, using the force to conceal his presence from those below....but now he had to rely solely on his non-force stealth skills. Luckily for Kian, the droids below were not focused up, they were too preoccupied with the small explosion he had detonated a few moments before with a thermal detonator placed out of harms way. It had been an necessary distraction and nothing had been destroyed save a cleaning droid and some minor equipment.

Kian was on his way toward his goal. The central command center of the facility housed the computers that controlled not only the security droids at the facility, but many of the droids on the planet. If he could seize control of that terminal station he would have control of the factory. That was the goal today. Kian was never the type to blindly rush into fighting, but he was being especially cautious today. Without the force to guide him in combat, he wasn't as fast as a droid trained for combat. Any fighting he did would have to be done cautiously.

Kian couldn't help but silently curse the fact that the force wasn't working right. He had spent his whole life with it by his side and to lose it now was....well it was like loosing a family member.....again.