Protectorate Dominion of Duro

[Sarge Potteiger]

Duros Orbit

A trillion souls cried out in shock, and then silenced. No one knew how many were gone, only that they were. Worst of all for the Protectorate, their new Lord Protector was gone, vanished without a trace from his office... armor and all. Nothing remained except those lucky few, or unlucky, depending. First Captain Hastings was one of them, and it was he who stood at the head of this ragtag skeleton crewed fleet.

They needed to reestablish contact with their worlds, see what was going on. Influence would be destroyed by this mass disappearance, the ties that bind broken as politicians, soldiers, workers and builders vanished. Duros was a prime target, close to the space that formed the Protectorate heartland, it held both food processors and shipyards. Its orbital habitats would make it quite easy to figure things out.

After all, they need only dock to set up a meeting with those who remained. It would also be an important first step back to the Rimma Trade Route, a vital supply line that had long been the backbone of the Protectorate economy.

"Bring us around to their orbitals." Hastings says from behind his plumed helmet, bolter mag-clamped to his thigh with a palm resting on the butt. "Let's see who's home." He knew most of their far flung territories would be cleaning out their servers as best they could - scrapping datapads, experimental tech, anything that was potentially dangerous to be taken. No one wanted to take the chance of something important falling into enemy hands.

No one.

 

[Roth Tillian]

It was madness, to say the least. So many souls vanished and so much for the Force. He'd tried to reach to sense something and nothing. Then it was back moments later and threw a vase at him. Bizarre as all get out. With a hop, skip, and a jump, he was back home with the Suarbi Defense Fleet, or what was left of it, and then straight the remains of the Protectorate Navy in a Knight-class fighter with a ragtag squadron of combined Ring Defenders and OP pilots. Duros was their first destination.

The fleet was moving in on the orbitals and he nudged his throttle, sending his fighter arcing forward, serving as an escort to the flagship. For now, anyways. His studied the scanners. No threats so far. Nor could he use the Force to try and find any. It was too dangerous. Like travelling again. Keep it on the low down.

"Aurek squad," He said through the comms, "Anyone want to wager a round of drinks it was a One Sith super-strike?"

"Negative, Tillian," Janis replied. "You'd drink 'em all yourself like did back on Suarbi."

"Fair enough, Janis. But the offer stands," Roth paused mid-sentence, "Expect some pirates or looters at the minimum. ROE from the top as usual."

It was odd working as part of a government again. He'd spent enough time freelancing and rebelling that he was used to calling his own shots. Now there was a chain of command. Strange.

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]


The Rapture had happened. Or so some would say. In the ancient Eldorai legends it was said that at the end of days the Great Goddess Ashira would ascend all those who were pure of spirit, leaving the rest of them to experience an age of tribulations as the evil demons of Chaos arose once more for a last battle. Great battles would be waged, entire worlds plunged into cataclysm. At the end of it the righteous would enter heaven, the wicked experience eternal agony in the abyss...and the Eldorai would rule over all.



Caerys Argente was, you might have guessed it, wholly indifferent to such myths. Though she wore the face of an Eldorai, she was not one of them, but a machine. Designed to inflict carnage and murder, the result of organics' predeliction to murder. The humanoid replica droid had joined the skeleton fleet the Protectorate had assembled as a contractor, for like every nation, it had been touched by the great cataclysm. The Lord Protector, Government ministers, genenerals, captains of industry...all of them had vanished within the blink of an eye, along with millions more.


Caerys found this all...moderately interesting. Truth be told she was wholly indifferent to it, beyond experiencing a certain intellectual curiosity regarding what force could have achieved this. Myths about angels, demons and ascension did not appeal to her logical mind. Likewise empires and nations came and went, leaving naught but ash and ruins in the end. Nonetheless, she was here under contract, for she expected violence to happen. Unlike her 'cousins' such as Moira Skaldi, Caerys was not a genocidal droid obsessed with wiping out all organics. She simply...did not care about them.


Thus she stood there, ever-watchful, waiting for the order to land upon the surface of Duro to be given. Twin bolters, purchased from Firemane Industries, were mag-clamped to her thighs, though she carried plenty of other firepower. There was bound to be violence and it would be fascinating to see the effects of this unexpected event on the organic population.

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

To say that Protectorate space was a mess was an understatement. In an instant, their entire communication network came down. At the same time, trillions of souls suddenly vanished. No one knew what was going on. Was it an attack? Where did they go? What would happen to everyone else? These questions led many down a path of fear, and they could do little else but lash out at something, anything.

While the most recent Lord Protector had vanished, Ayden was left in his office on Corellia. Since he had semi-retired down to the position of Exarch, he spent almost all of his time on the planet. He quickly began to work on reestablishing their network and defenses. Martial law was declared and the military was being deployed into the streets to keep the peace. People needed a beacon to rally behind, to help them keep a sense of security and to create a hope that the future would not end in death. As much as he hated to have to step up again to do that, it was what was needed.

"Roland, get me a shuttle prepped. We're heading up to FLEETCOM-1."

FLEETCOM-1 was the first FLEETCOM station constructed, and served as the headquarters for the Protectorate navy. It was critical then that they get it back up and running. Dozens of sitreps were coming in at a time. Ayden left the task of compiling all that data into a single report to the AI. Instead, he focused on the immediate future. They needed to get a comm line back to Fondor. Duro was the most immediate major hub between Corellia and Fondor. Their first task then was to establish a connection to Duro.

"What do you mean they just vanished?"

Ayden was walking off the shuttle when he overheard a conversation between two deck hands. One of them looked furious, the other looked terrified. "I mean one second Chief Yrtol was there, the next he was just gone. Corporal Estrea was reported missing as well."

"That dirty whore... I bet she ran off with him!" The larger deckhand began to blow a gasket as he knocked several crates aside. "I always knew-"

"Hey!" Ayden's voice effortlessly boomed in the hanger. His talents were varied and unconventional, but one thing he had never struggled was to be heard. Instantly all eyes on the hanger deck were on him. Immediately a sense of relief could be felt as they all saw the former Lord Protector, and current Supreme Commander of FLEETCOM. "This not the karking time for this. Stow your issues and do your job. Those are your orders. Don't have a superior or department head anymore? Find one! This is our new reality, boys and girls. We might find those who disappeared, they may be gone. That's not our concern right now. Our concern is securing our worlds and safeguarding the helpless."

As Ayden marched out of the hanger to a flurry of activity, Roland appeared on a projected visor over one eye. "I'm sure you don't mind, but I took the liberty of broadcasting that message across the military in-system." The AI knew what it was doing, even if Ayden wished it would ask for permission more often. "So far, we have a total manpower loss of close to forty-percent in-system. Still no final confirmation on that number. It could climb higher still."

"Any other good news, Roland?" The Corellian's temper was a bit thin right now, given the circumstances.

"Just that we repaired our long-range communications array and are about to attempt to contact Duro now." Light, but Roland liked to keep the important details until the last second.

"Patch me in the second we make contact."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Ayden Cater"]

"...Captain Merrill. Sarge, Cater, I don't know if you'll get this. Comms are down all over. I've had to bounce the signal through a node off Teth and..."

"...kyrika..."

"...erify the Protector..."

"...vantine space until further..."

"...I can do..."

"...be with..."

 

[Rhen Qel-Droma]

Things are not always what they seem.

Corellian Green Jedi Knight Rhen Qel-Droma would approach Duros when he was suddenly befallen by a sharp pain in his chest. He would shudder, hunching over the cockpit as a massive disturbance in the Force would sear through him.

It would crash like a white hot wave; as if millions of voices would scream aloud only to suddenly be silenced.

By the Force, what was this?!

He took a deep breath, the pale green eyes staring up into his piloting viewport. There, before him lay Duros. Something had happened.

He had to find out exactly what.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

"Sir, we're picking up multiple signals. Trying to clean them now." Hastings squat body turned, marching towards the viewport as they came in along the orbital that housed the government of Duros. Somewhere out there more Protectorate soldiers were attempting to make contact with home and were failing, others would and would find their morale plummet. Lord Protector gone...

How used to that they must be by now.

What a sad thought, that. His back straightened, steel lining his vivid green eyes as the ship slowed and the connected to a docking spine.

"I could clear one; sounds like it's coming out of Corellia. Former Protector [member="Ayden Cater"]."

There was a pause. "I can't puzzle out the other. I'll spend a few more minutes trying to clean it up." Hastings had never met [member="Jorus Merrill"], but once they figured out the message he'd likely be wishing the man was here.

A command was sent out, giving permission for [member="Roth Tillian "]to hit the surface and check on the status of the food processors. [member="Caerys Argente"] could go aboard the orbital with him. "Tell Cater we're making contact with Duros and will be headed his way with all due speed. We will be some time, however. We must secure these worlds before moving on. All forces are to disembark. Get me the ranking politician around here."

A few affirmatives were heard as Hastings made for the airlock and then the docking collar. The first step, that's all this was.

Cater was able to talk to Hastings directly, and was free to do so. But they had to keep moving. No stopping.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]


As a droid, Caerys was deaf to the Force and blind to its currents and streams. Thus, unlike for instance [member="Rhen Qel-Droma"], she would be unable to feel the massive disturbance in the Force. Likewise she would not have the ability to hear millions of voices suddenly scream aloud, only to fall silent. Forever? Perhaps.



The Protectorate soldiers were professionals, though the empire they served now looked back on better days when it had been a superpower with a feeling of nostalgia. Even the best soldiers and crewers could not fully hide the uncertainty they felt. Many among them were veterans, who had fought Eriaduan dictators and Bando Gora Reavers, held off Sith legions at Roche with Kerrigan and followed the 'Chaos Goddes' into the hellish caverns of Gehenna to end the Bando Gora menace forever.


Then there were those who had stood at Druckenwell and lived to tell the tale after charging into the jaws of death of Coruscant. Along with the common troopers of the ODF, one could even find Jensaarai and Kro Var, yet many were inexperienced and green behind the ears, for it was a skeleton fleet that had been put together, basically grabbing anyone who could be found at short notice. Many might have still been doing garrison duty on Fondor or Abregado-Rae before the disaster.


None of them would have faced something as...bizarre and frightening as this. A Galaxy suddenly gone...as if someone had turned back the clock four hundred years. Only rather then unleashing a devastating virus, people were simply...gone. To Caerys it was all very fascinating. Mass panic might break out on worlds, actually this was certain. Perhaps there would even be waves of suicide as people gave in to despair. Conversely, several worlds might turn inward and close themselves off, believing galactic governments had failed them. Crisis precipitated change. The wheat was separated from the chaff. Alll life was weighed and if found wanting, went the way of evolution's losers. There was plenty of comms chatter, it seemed the former Lord Protector Cater was on the planet. Word reached Caerys and she gave a nod of acknowledgement and then followed Captain Hastings as he made for the airlock and then the docking collar. Steps measured, controlled, calm, though her weapons were ready to be drawn if hostile contact occured.

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

"Captain Hastings." Roland had acted quickly and brought up the man's dossier once the signal was cleaned up enough to establish a positive ID. There was a large part of Ayden that wanted to make a joke, something to ease the dread bearing down on them all, but he couldn't find the words. Instead he pressed on with business as usual. "Corellia's mostly secure. We're down a lot of men, but defenses and military posts are all still at the ready. Until we can get things settled here, I'm afraid I'll be staying put. There's too much the Protectorate has invested here for me to leave."

He paused for a moment before asking the obvious question. "What's the status of the Lord Protector?" The question wasn't really needed. Ayden already knew the answer. If Sarge was still around, he'd have already gotten a message off. There were enough hidden comm relays out there, many placed by himself or Sarge, it wouldn't have been hard to do. So if there had not been a message yet, that could only mean one thing;

That the Lord Protector was missing.

That was going to make a lot of people panic, especially the civilians. Military-types had their chain of command to follow. They'd adapt and move on. Civilians did not adopt change so quickly or readily. Now, more than ever, they'd want things to be as stable and normal as possible. But to give them that...

"Captain Hastings, I'll be deploying what ships we can to Duros to aid in securing the planet. It won't be much. With the threat of the Sith looming on our front doorstep, I can't spare much. In the meantime, I hope you like long hours. Because as of this moment, I'm granting you a field promotion to Vice Admiral. The Protectorate needs strong leaders right now. Let nothing stop you."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

If anyone could get any information from the wiped dossier of Hastings, it would be [member="Ayden Cater"]. Even so, it was clear the man was Sarge's right hand in a manner similar to how Sarge had been Cater's. "I will do what I must. Your assistance is appreciated. If the Sith arrive, hold them off until either we get there or the Republic do. Force be with you." There was a pause as Hastings stepped out of the docking collar to a small delegation of very confused looking Duros.

Bowing at the waist, Hastings looked among then. "Who is in charge?" They looked between each other. "We are a committee. I was the head of agriculture." Their leader spoke, a frail Duros who looked quite old. He gestured to the man on his right. "This was the shipyard workers union leader. That's the highest level we can find there."

Hastings audibly sighed, turning towards [member="Caerys Argente"]. "Go with the Union Leader. Find out the status of the shipyards."

With [member="Rhen Qel-Droma"] appearing from Hyperspace, however, he was hailed by the Protectorate fleet and ordered to identify himself.

There was a pause as Hastings addressed Cater again. "He's gone." That was that.

 

[Kalinai Soluza]

So…Kalinai had been LEFT BELOW. Or behind, or whatever.

Didn’t matter. What was important was that she was here, the Flying Pineapple hadn’t been confiscated by the gods, and she was…crashing?

Problem was, of course, that when a stack of people vanish, they might vanish whilst doing important things.

Like piloting!

And so the Flying Pineapple was on an unpleasant trajectory towards the surface of Duro. The pilot had vanished.

And so Kalinai did something she loved but her crew didn’t. She took control.

“Right, let’s see what this hunk of junk can do!”
“Captain, this ship isn’t designed for this. We’ve got no chance…” Elayne said nervously. Her first officer hadn’t vanished, which was good.
“Never tell me the odds!” Kalinai rasped. The corvette heeled over, and there was a bang. “That wasn’t a laser blast, something hit us!” she said, unaware she was speaking in Han Solo quotes. Or maybe she was…she was a bit odd.
“Pull up!” Elayne cried.
“Relax, sweetheart. Watch this!” she pulled a lever and the ship…did nothing!
“Watch what?”
“We’re in trouble…” Kalinai muttered. However, she pulled out a comically large mallet and smacked the controls as Duro’s cityscape grew larger…. She pulled the lever again repeatedly, and finally the ship responded. There was a roar of engines and they were back into space. “See? I told you…no problem!” she said with a grin.
“Captain?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know whether you’re the stupidest, luckiest or craziest person in the galaxy.”
Kalinai smirked. She had one more quote in her. “Hey…it’s me!”

 

[Roth Tillian]

A new command from the captain then. Hit the surface to check the food processors. Excellent. Mechanical work was something he loved and excelled at. It helped he had a sonic servodriver and an astromech droid. Between the two of those, he could almost build himself a full blown capital ship with enough spare metal and wiring. Oh, and time. Loads of time.

"Aureks, on me. Set coordinates for the food processors. Let's see if they're still running. I want three of you on overwatch, that'll be Aureks five through eight. Other three with me on security and maintenance." He looked out through the cockpit towards the planet below and rolled the fighter to start its descent. "Keep checking your scopes. Don't want any more surprises here today."

He switched over to a private channel with Janis.
"What's the Saarai-Kar think of this?" There was a silence for several uncomfortable moments before Janis responded.

"She doesn't care for losing half of her people."

Roth inhaled sharply. Half of the Jensaarai gone. What about his father? While they had clashed quite often, he had no desire for the man to disappear. What about Jeela? Nobody had heard from her in years. Was she still alive?

"What about my dad?" Roth paused to adjust his craft as they slipped into the atmosphere, the hull and shields beginning to light up under the friction. Wisps of cloud raced past his canopy as they continued to descend further and further.

"He's her assistant right now." A bit of tension slipped from his shoulders as their landing zone appeared far below. Roth switched back to the squadron channel.

"Get ready, Aureks. Don't know what we're getting into here."

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]


Skeleton crew was an accurate term to describe things. In any case, Caerys gave Hastings a nod of acknowledgement before heading over to the Duros Trade Union leader. "I am with the Protectorate. What is the status of this shipyard?" she asked, modulating her voice so that it sounded more human. In her experience, organics tend to react better and were more cooperative if she did that.



After all, in this case it was unlikely that she would have to beat anything out of the man. "It sustained structural damage. Just when the...disappearances began a ship was coming in and the docking mechanism was not enacted in time, so the ship crashed into part of it. Several of the crew are in the medbay and we're short-staffed with doctors," the Duros wiped some sweat from his bald forehead. He seemed tired and stressed. In all likelihood he had not slept since the crisis had began. "In addition, life support systems are offline in the central command area."


It sounded grim, though Caerys looked as calm as ever. "Hostile forces?" she queried.


"Some of the private contractors the Shipwrights hired for security have mutinied and are looting. They managed to break into the armoury and steal many of the weapons."


Violence was good. "Tell me more about them."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

[member="Roth Tillian"]

The reports filtered in, and he would receive a somewhat modified objective - address the crashed ship of [member="Kalinai Soluza"]. Any people who could be saved, would, and with Duro mostly a polluted world and therefore not one that was pleasant to be on without life support. It was even deadly in some areas with regards to what long term exposure could do to your health. He could go to help her, or he could go straight to Food Processing.

Choices.

[member="Caerys Argente"]

Caerys was swiftly surrounded by Protectorate forces spreading out and into the station. Combat medics were setting up small triage stations, officers were setting up command posts. "Well, you see, we didn't anticipate this. At least not their looting. They told us they had served in the OmegaPyre; we thought they were honorable." His voice was rushed, hurried, almost panicked.

They very well might have been former Pyre contractors. The Bando Gora had affected everyone differently. It was hard to say. "Excuse me, sir, where's your medbay?" A passing soldier, massive and covered in armor not disimilar to Hastings' had come to a halt. His armor, however, was bone white, and a gauntlet of syringes was set on his right hand. A surgical symbol was painted onto his breastplate.

The Duros blinked, then muttered a few directions. There was a nod, and the Apothecary moved off. Sporadic gunfire was heard from deeper in the orbital, replaced by the bark of bolters. Fighting had started without her.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]


And so there was violence, bloodshed and mayhem. Caerys would have reported back to Hastings, but down the corridor deeper inside the orbital, gunfire could be heard. Then the loud, very familiar bark of bolters. Now that was more like it. Omegan soldiers and what was left of the security force were moving to engage, Caerys went along with them. Now she was more in her elemenet. After all, violence was what she had been designed for. The reasons for why organics fought one another were insignificant to her. Territory, riches, religion - none of it really mattered to her in the greater scheme of things. As long as they fought, which they would do until life ceased to exist, she had a purpose.



And so she followed the sound of gunfire. Down the corridor renegade contractors had sought cover, using what they could to provide makeshift barriers. The flat crack of her bolter was heard as the deadly weapon spewed out APE rounds. Powerful anti-armour, explosive bullets that in effect resembled miniaturised HEAT rounds. A cry of pain was heard as a renegade was taken out by the round, which punched through his armour, then another likewise fell.


A grenade tossed her way detonated prematurely when it was shot out of the air by her shattergun, the droid being able to follow and calculate its trajectory. However, though a good deal away from the blast she was still peppered with peppered with hot shards of shrapnel. Her duraplast battle armour withstood this easily, but some shards cut into her face and pierced her synthflesh, displaying the metal beneath it. Smoke coiled off her body as she advanced, with Omegan soldiers joining the fray as they rained down a hailstorm of rounds upon the renegades, taking down many.



Able to concentrate on two separate enemies while moving she advanced and fired, jumping over a broken table that had been used as cover. Blaster bolts struck Caerys or glanced off her, but she kept advancing, inexorably, still firing. A detonation from the explosive bolt of an MK2 bolter badly dented her armour, but she pressed on.


When she came in close she batted aside attacks with her guns and by clubbing or kicked each attacker in turn. At one point she seemed swarmed by four enemies, but she plain and simply rammed an attacker and as he fell grabbed his arm, using his own weapon to fire upon her attackers one by one in rapid motion. While this happened one had snuck upon her from behind and rammed his blade down her back, for had been caught off-guard. The droid flinched at the attack and was knocked back somewhat, then abruptly spun almost in a blur and, as he sought to follow through with another blow, grabbed him by the throat and smashed him into a wall with such force that blood was splattered across it.

 

[Roth Tillian]

[member="Kalinai Soluza"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"]

Roth checked his comm again. Updated comms. Investigate a crashed ship. That took priority. Always. Every spacer knew that. When a distress signal or search and rescue operation was initiated, you respond. Except, according to his scans, the ship hadn't crashed. He sent them a comm message.

"Your ship seems to be in distress. Do you require assistance or an escort to the surface?"

He pulled back on the throttle, settling into an orbital flight pattern to keep them above the food processors but still able to jump to the crazed ship in case they were needed. He tapped a pattern on his control panel, impatient for a reply. The longer they hovered, the worse things would get.

"Aureks five through eight, continue to the food processors for initial recon. We'll wait here for S&R."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

"All right, I found a better node off Nar Chunna. Sarge, you wouldn't believe where I've been if I told you. There was this blue girl and...I was one of the disappeared. I made it back, Sarge. Fell through a puddle and wound up on occupied Alderaan. Real angry, too, unnaturally angry. It only went away once I'd...killed some Vong. Look, if anyone starts popping back into existence and killing people, don't hold that against them. There's some kind of immense mindfrackery at work. I'll report in if I find out more."

 

[Rhen Qel-Droma]

Rhen would arrive at Duros Spaceport to chaos.

The Corellian Green Jedi Knight would land his ship; but what would greet him once he'd stepped outside into the hanger would be the cries of the desperate and confused.

His thick brows would furrow.

What was first required is to determine exactly what was the situation. Was what he felt distinctly on Duros or was there a far more greater overarching plan?

He felt cut off himself from the Force. Confused. As if it was... not quite corrupted but unsettled.

Yes, this would require further clarification.

 

[Uriel]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

The shuttle arrived, carrying Uriel Squad to the surface of the planet below. At its helm was the Brother-Sergeant, as usual - carrying a bolt pistol and, strangely, a two-handed force axe instead of his normal force sword. Upon his face-- helmet also uncharacteristically mag-locked to his thighs-- was a visage so grim that it seemed he had been through something terrible.

They were a little late to the party. It happened.

Uriel reached up to the comlink in his earpiece, axe temporarily slung over his shoulder as he spoke to his commander. The Lord Inquisitor was gone; this they knew. Therefore, command of the Inquisition passed to the Captain of its First Company, Brother-Captain Hastings.

"Brother-Captain," growled the Sergeant. "Uriel Squad is on-planet. I require orders. Or a target. A target being preferable."

Murderlust reigned. The Galaxy had to be drowned in an ocean of blood.

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Roland popped into visibility once more, his blue frame holding what looked to be a datapad. "Sir, I just picked up a partial message from Captain Merrill." Ayden stopped what he was doing and looked straight at the AI. Jorus was still around? Some good news. "Unfortunately the message is badly degraded. There's not much to it." So much for good news. "I'll play what I can."

"...Captain Merrill. Sarge, Cater, I don't know if you'll get this. Comms are down all over. I've had to bounce the signal through a node off Teth and..."

"...kyrika..."

"...erify the Protector..."

"...vantine space until further..."

"...I can do..."

"...be with..."

Ayden stood there with his brow furrowed, trying to sort out the message. He began to pace back and forth, tapping his chin in thought. "If I had to take a guess, I'd say that Jorus is waiting for some sort of verification that the Protectorate is still standing and functioning. He was probably out on the other side of the galaxy when all this chaos hit. If so, he'll go to ground in Levantine space until he hears back from us."

The AI raised a digital eyebrow. "That seems like a reasonable assumption, I suppose, but how do you intend on getting a message to him? Most of the comm buoys are still down, and the ones that aren't are likely choking with datastreams right now."

Ayden sighed and bit his lip in frustration. Gods, but did Roland have to be right all the gods-damned times? "I've got my own set of buoys left over from previous operations. It'll only get the message out to maybe the edge of the Mid Rim, but that should get it clear of most of the comm traffic. From there it should bounce off the normal system easily enough." He pulled up a command interface on his desk and began typing out a serious of complex commands and access codes. Some of these buoys hadn't been used in decades. Hopefully they were left unscathed in the chaos.

"Jorus. It's Ayden. I don't know how much of this message you'll here, so forgive me. The message will rebroadcast every galactic standard hour for three days. Jorus, Sarge is missing. Whatever all this is, he's been swept up in it. It's chaos for the Protectorate right now, Jorus. With Sarge gone, I'm left to put our territory back together. I wish I knew more, Jorus, but we're blind over here. It's going to take months to sort this mess out unless someone else can tell us what's happening. As much as the Protectorate could use you here, Jorus, I think the Protectorate and I would be better served if you could dig up anything on what happened. You're good at digging up secrets. Find out what happened and who did this. That could be our only lead on finding Sarge again."

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

Over Duro, three squadrons of Guardian fighters flanked a squadron of Eharl-class assault starfighters and a B1 Avenger bomber squadron. A single Unyielding-class command cruiser dropped out of hyperspace behind them. They sent out a message to Hastings, declaring their arrival and requesting orders. They also sent out a report on their readiness and relayed information regarding Corellia's status, as well as what other reinforcements that could be expected. Truthfully, they weren't really sure what it was they were supposed to do as there had not been any report of an attack. Regardless, they had their orders and they would follow them for the good of the Protectorate.