434.13 // Sabotage at Jovan Station leaves 80 Dead and Survivors Confused
Shown above: Jovan Station minutes before chaos broke out, killing 80 people and injuring over a hundred more.
Devastation today at Jovan Station, a deep space station and trade hub located at P6 subgrid C in the Gordian Reach. Abruptly, and for a second time in the last cycle, Industrial Automation’s line of DE units, ones that had been recalled, repaired, and vetted by Quality Assurance specialists before being reactivated; exploded and sent out EMP shockwaves that resulted in damage throughout the station. System failures and collateral damage from unit detonations caused 76 people to die during the events, as well as four others who succumbed to their wounds at a later time.
During the commotion, several storage bays opened and thousands of credits worth of goods were lost. Eyewitnesses spotted at least one freighter taking advantage of the chaos to recover several dozen crates that were adrift in space before departing and making a jump to Hyperspace. Due to the electromagnetic blasts that occurred throughout the station, flight control was unable to identify the transponder code of the freighter in question. The Republic is offering a 10,000 credit reward for anyone who has information that can help in identifying the thieves.
Industrial Automation’s spokesperson has not made any public or official comment yet. Anonymous sources from inside the business have reported that there’s mass chaos within the droid manufacturer as the leaders of the corporation hunt for people on the inside who may be conducting sabotage or other espionage inside the business.
Senatorial Candidate for the newly formed Independent Reach Party, Ralskun Direeb, had this to say on todays’ events:
It pains me to see my people, the noble and dignified people of the Gordian Reach, betrayed yet again by the incompetence of the Republic! Over the last several weeks all that my supporters, and future constituents, have been demanding is basic security and stability for their families! This is the problem with the bureaucracy of Democracy. These democratic elites on Coruscant care about nothing other than their re-election campaigns! When I’m elected to office, I will waste no time in using my voice to introduce a secession document for all systems so that we can create our own government that will reclaim how great the Gordian Reach used to be!
Of note, Candidate Ralskun Direeb was wearing an armband on his sleeve with the emblem of “The Roilers”, an ultranationalist group that has been holding, often violent, protests in the independent ‘Back Reach’ as well as on Torque after the terror attack there. The movement is gaining in momentum, and only time will tell how this latest incident impacts the radical movement in this sector of space.
Shown above: The logo of “The Roilers”, an often violent Ultranationalist group dedicated to creating an independent state for the Gordian Reach.
Reporting Contributed by the Associated Presses