"This entire expedition is pointless! If we continue this much longer, we will be in the red! 5 planets with minimal value to be extracted."
"The next planet shows promise on long range scanners. It is in a habitable zone and promises that we can create a large scale mining project along with logging, exotic resources that can be harvested and sold at a premium. The land itself can be used to create industrial scale farms."
Jith Kumvi, Nemoidian of the Trade Federation, was scouting out a unknown regions. This system found a reasonably large system that had very little promise. The 3rd planet from the sun showed more promise than any other, even the 4th planet had such a thin atmosphere that habitats would be needed to try and create a suitable atmosphere.
As the Lucerhulk reached behind the moon of the planet, probes were launched, 20 chosen at random spots across the globe. It took a while, but eventually, the probes began to transmit images back. One deactivated, must have been more damaged than expected, it's last image was in some town, with buildings of sand stone. A second was in a forest, the image was fuzzy in both, before a loud bang ended the transmissions.
The various probes showed a planet with some evidence of minor industrialization, however, with no satellites in orbit. It was obvious they were so behind that they have never left their atmosphere yet, so they could easily have the natives of this world beaten, enslaved, and be used as labor to harvest resources, have them use old and barely functioning equipment, only pay them 1/10th of the value of their resources they'd sell on the galactic market before the mark ups.
"Prepare scans. Once we get close, find the largest settlement that is powered, that will be the capital of their world." Jith ordered.
The scans would come back, with the largest city being found to be on a small island on a peninsula from the mainland of this world. There was clear signs of middle industrialization that could be used to their benefit, they were on a large river where they could eventually use as a docking area.
A second candidate was a city just to the south of the first option. Both showed signs of being connected by large rail networks, but the Island had a higher density.
The island would seem better, if that was their capital, they would be able to prevent their leaders from escaping, and they could force a surrender. They had done this before, the Mid Rim was one of many places they had done this, and they had done it before the Republic could be involved.
A small grin spread on Jith's face, having an entire planet of cheap labor and resources would make him a possible candidate for the role on the board of directors! Or maybe, even a chance at being made the Next Viceroy after Nute Gunray was removed for failing in the position.
"I will need to call more ships for resources, 10 should be enough."
— — — — —
An astronomer from Sproul Observatory in Pennsylvania claimed that in his observation of the moon, they claimed they saw something in the night. They claimed they saw a craft, not an asteroid, but a craft, one that was not like any ship, but like a building.
Before they could confirm, the craft was behind the moon. A message routed to the Kirkwood Observatory in Indiana was made, in the hopes of a second opinion, with Winfree in Virginia, and Chamberlin Observatory in Denver had messages sent, the chances of the discovery of life beyond their planet was close.
This could be a great discovery, the next step, the next Columbus discovering the indies, the second great age of exploration may be on the verge of being reached! The next frontier to be explored, the sea of stars.
— — — — —
Something crashed in to the city of Tripoli. Italian soldiers would rush out, believing it was an attack by the Ottomans or the Libyans guerrilla.
The streets slowed them down a bit, as people crowded at a distance. Soldiers pushed their way through the crowd, one officer ordering them to disperse, shouting as he fired a set of shots into the air.
Slowly one of the soldiers approached the impact site, seeing smoke rising from it. A strange sound began to come from the pit. From the smoke something rose. The soldier, in fear of what this was, shouldered his Vetterli rifle and fired.
"What was it!?" The officer asked, before the soldier was knocked off his feet, his chest burned.
Slowly rising from the pit was some strange, many armed object, with a large eye. The soldiers raised their rifles and started to fire, the officer pulling his pistol and joined the soldiers as they shot the thing. A blast of red light impacted against another, his clothes burned as they were shot. It took well over two dozen shots before it fell, and exploded in the pit that it rose from.
"The devil has found a mechanic, and their creations have risen from the pits of hell." one soldier muttered.
Soldiers climbed down, and pulled out what they could, arms, the head, parts of the body that weren't destroyed in it's explosion. 5 soldiers were dead, all having large wounds to their bodies, burns that reached into their organs, flash cooking them.
— — — — —
In the coming days, the Trade Federation would have 10 of their massive lucerhulks make their way to the newly discovered system. Loaded with over 2 million battle droids.
Across Earth, slowly the news spread of "the devil's machine of Tripoli" with the parts were shown in a photograph. Some radio messages crossed the Ocean, sharing news of how a group of Italians in Tripoli had found a machine that "scorched the bodies with beams of light, and took a volley of fire from a dozen Italians before it fell dead".
A report also came from the remote Appalachian Mountains of the United States, a man reported that while out hunting, they heard the crash of what he believed to be a meteor. Upon investigating, he was met with a many eyed, squat black creature, with many arms that hung below their body.
He claimed to have shot it in the big eye, before the head exploded. Scientists and engineers were going out to see if the remains of the object.
— — — — —
High above the world, the Lucerhulks arrived, loaded with droids, all so they could takeover this planet.
