::Galactic News System - Star Wars Combine::

Your Holoscreen bursts into life again and you are greeted by the friendly looking HK Protocol droid HK-42. “Today we bring you news that has just reached us of a new craze captivating chefs in the Western Reaches of the galaxy, the Horned Melurun fruit. Hailed by the finest chefs across the galaxy as the greatest new taste sensation discovered in years. This unassuming oranged skinned, slightly spiky fruit can be used in a number of ways. It can be eaten raw and has a citrusy, sweet flavour. Chefs love it because you can use every part of the plant, the tubers can be boiled and eaten like any other root vegetable, the leaves can be consumed as part of a salad along with the seeds. You can scoop out the green, gel-like interior and serve it as a delicious dessert, speaking of the interior it can also be made into a thick tasty jam or jelly to be spread on bread. I am also told that it can be blended with your alcohol of choice to make a very pleasant cocktail.“

“There are however a few minor issues plaguing the fruit. Firstly there are no major commercial growers, secondly it is quite a rare fruit and can only be found on three or four planets in any great numbers, thirdly and this may be its downfall, it is mildly addict..”

The droid pauses for a moment as a green skinned arm passes the droid a datapad and it began to read its contents. “Oh,” the droid began, “Oh my. I have some very concerning news to bring you.” The droid pauses for a second, checking the datapad again, “It seems that a little over two hours ago a large group of heavily armed vessels entered our asteroid field, HM 278-226HW. I also bring a request for aid from our leader, Bram Dupol. He asks you to help us, we need forces to repel these evil attackers and he calls on any friends to come to our help. We are outnumbered and he does not think we will last much longer.“

“At first our attackers seemed to be pirates, however they seem to be using a selection of ships, both fighters, gunboats and corvettes, which all seem to be of recent manufacture and be in a decent state of repair. Certainly if these are pirates, they are pretty well connected ones.”

“They have overwhelmed our valiant defence squadrons and begun to land on our asteroid, 24-T-131 Theta. From the report, just handed to me it seems that a surgical strike by Y-wings armed with Ion Bombs has breached our city’s shields and are now making strafing attacks on our landing pad and other infrastructure.” The droid looked back at the datapad. If it could have looked worried or nervous, it would have.

“Latest reports show that troops now seem to be moving through the streets firing indiscriminately at both our defenders and civilians alike. The head of our organisation has ordered a complete evacuation and is currently leading the effort to get as many civilians as possible on shuttles and out of the asteroid field to our nearby staging area.”

Your picture begins to shake and sporadically cut out. A handful of dust falls through your field of view and the droid seems to be looking around the room towards the ceiling. In the background you hear a loud explosion. The picture fades out and is replaced by advertising footage. After ten minutes the picture returns along with HK-42, the anchor droid. “The Whisperer’s Network apologies for the break in transmission, it seems the Y-wings returned and taken out a good chunk of our power generators along with our landing facilities. Fortunately, this facility has it’s own back up powergrid and we are able to continue this transmission. Right now our unknown enemy has breached the walls of both our HQ and this Holonet Communications Center. Things do not look so good right now for our forces who are heavily outnumbered. Our Chief Broadcasting officer, Bram Dupol, is currently leading the last of our troops in the defence of our Faction headquarters in the North of the city where the fighting is at it;s most intense. “ Another datapad is passed to the droid just as you hear a large explosion that seemed to be very close to if not inside the building. “I don’t know what to tell you all, it seems that despite a very spirited defence of our Faction’s HQ, it has fallen to the overwhelming strength of the aggressors, right now how many of our personnel have survived is uncertain, but we will continue to broadcast until the last moment to bring you the facts as we are presented with them.” The droid looks around as if desperately trying to make some sense of the situation. Another loud explosion rocks the camera and the droid, this one however was followed by shouting and heavy blaster fire. A second explosion, this one fills the studio with smoke and debris as the door of the large open blew inwards accompanied by a large amount of blaster fire. The Rodian production assistant pulls an E-11 blaster from under his desk, upturned it and begins to return fire. The droid turns away from the door and begins to speak to the camera as if the situation was unchanged, “Oh my, it seems we have interlopers in our studio, please bear with us until we can return to our normal programming.” More blaster fire pours through the door, two bolts hitting the Rodian, one in the head and the other in the shoulder, knocking him back onto the studio floor. “Oh my, poor master Trepling, he will be missed,” the droid says forlornly to the camera. The room begins to fill with white clad figures. “Silence that droid,” One of the figures, seemingly the leader, a figure wearing crimson armour wielding a red bladed saber, loudly calls out, “the rest of you, take out their equipment and stop this broadcast.”

One of the figures raised his Dlt-20 and shoots the droid in the chest immediately destroying it in a shower of sparking electronics. You watch in shock as others take vibro-axes to the various banks of equipment and computers until suddenly the picture bursts with light and then ceases to be replaced with static…