JEDI HoloNet

Planetary Counsel for Torque, regarded as the highest elected law enforcement official on the world, recently filed suit against DE-series droid manufacturer Industrial Automation in the Courts. This move comes after the world was afflicted by a catastrophic failure of the aforementioned droid series that was under recall at the time.

The initial hearing of the case was held at the Galactic Courts of Justice building on Coruscant in a closed session, so the exact particulars of the suit will not be known until a later date. However, our investigative reporters have uncovered two clues suggest the suit is not related directly to the incident, but rather statements made by Industrial Automation employees leading up to the tragedy.

A discarded draft of the initial filings reveal that the Galactic News Network was also named in the suit. However, the final filing was amended to remove them from the list of involved parties. Secondly, a leaked excerpt from Industrial Automation’s motion to dismiss indicates their defense theory is the detailed statements were to “stress the dangers to our clients and dissuade them from delaying to engage with the recall process.”

These two items hint that the government of Torque is claiming the attack on their world would not have occurred if the droid manufacturer had not released the following statement to the HoloNews:

“One of our Lead Engineers found a potentially dangerous subroutine error that, if triggered, could cause a catastrophic meltdown in the unit. It’s highly unlikely, and we have no reports of the bug causing any damage, but we don’t want to trust that this error won’t cause serious troubles down the line. Effects could include a dangerous detonation of the unit, as well as even EMP bursts that could wipe out on-board electronics including life-support systems on freighters.”

We have reached out to both parties in the suit. Both sides have declined to comment, citing the on-going nature of the case.

Industrial Automation’s Kuat branch, a droid manufacturing firm specializing in cutting-edge astromech units, has announced a galaxy-wide recall of the last generation of their latest model the, DE series. Their public relations spokesperson gave this explanation to news outlets when asked about the recall for the droid model, popular with independent contractors and small business freight companies for their reasonable price tag and trusted reliability,

“One of our Lead Engineers found a potentially dangerous subroutine error that, if triggered, could cause a catastrophic meltdown in the unit. It’s highly unlikely, and we have no reports of the bug causing any damage,” the company spokesperson said as they continued, “but we don’t want to trust that this error won’t cause serious troubles down the line. Effects could include a dangerous detonation of the unit, as well as even EMP bursts that could wipe out on-board electronics including life-support systems on freighters.” The spokesperson finished by reassuring their consumers, “All clients will be issued a new DE series droid from our latest generation, free of charge, with reassurances that all issues with programming have been resolved.”

When asked why this glitch existed in the first place, IA’s spokesperson responded that programming is incredibly byzantine with astromech units of all types. They cited that in order to process intense cosmological calculations in the short time it takes requires an abundance of algorithms and subroutines to work complex tasks in tandem. Occasionally errors are bound to happen.

However, competitor manufacturing company Cybot Galactica, known for their historically popular C3 series protocol droids, issued their own statement on the recall,

“We have industry standards for a reason. Subroutines like this are extraordinarily rare, and the fact that it’s been embedded within these trusted and reliable machines for over a cycle now is something that no other company has had happen in living memory. It’s a miscarriage of safety and, in fact, we call upon the Galactic Republic to launch a full investigation into how this ‘bug’ was implanted anyway. Something this severe could indicate no less than sabotage.”

The Associated Presses have not found any evidence to support a theory that malignant intentions were involved with this programming error, however, the Galactic Republic’s Senatorial subcommittee on Business Ethics and Oversight did say that they would launch an investigation to clear the air. Industrial Automation responded saying they would fully cooperate with whatever the Galactic Republic required in order to clear their name of malfeasance.

More on this story as it develops, this is Quan Regal of the Associated Presses

A horrific tragedy occurred, earlier this cycle, in the KEF12 commercial district of Pols Anaxes, Anaxes. An automated cargo shuttle belonging to the logistics mega-corporation, Standiartha, erroneously landed in a plaza that was occupied by pedestrians. As of this report, twenty-three victims are reported deceased and another thirty were rushed to nearby med-centers with injuries ranging from severe to critical.

The shipping company was quick to blame outside interference with the shuttle’s guidance system, has stated an internal investigation is on-going, and expressed willingness to fully comply with Pols Anaxes Security. The plaza remains a restricted area and is abuzz with security and investigator activity. The company’s statements, and their damage control ad-campaign “I stand with Standiartha,” have done little to prevent backlash. In the Interstellar Stock Exchange, shares of the company have lost almost 40% of their value in the days after the accident. Barristers representing many families of the decedents and injured victims have already filed claims against Standiartha. Multiple activist groups and HoloNews outlets have compared this to the Ghorman Massacre, a war crime perpetrated by a high-ranking official of Emperor Palpatine’s Galactic Empire wherein said official ordered a shuttle to deliberately land on a crowd of peaceful protestors. Executives of the company have reportedly been receiving death threats from around the Galaxy. The validity of those threats are also under investigation.

This incident is perhaps the most terrible example of growing pains in business. Standiartha amassed incredible wealth in some risky derivative bets on the outcome of the Coruscant-Duneeden negotiations. This play lead to the company securing a near monopoly on trade rights in the area after Duneeden affirmed its independence. To capitalize on this, Standiartha’s founder and CEO, Briggs Tannis, began to rapidly expand and supplement his shipping armada with automated and droid-brain shuttles.

It remains to be seen if the courts will hold that this method of expansion was negligent on the part of the company, or if this tragedy will prompt new bills being brought before legislative bodies around the Galaxy. Bills that bar the use of fully-automated cargo shuttles.

Update: Another two victims of this incident succumbed to their injuries at nearby med-centers, bringing the death toll to twenty-five.

A ban on all non-essential travel has been placed on many major systems in the Arkanis sector and surrounding influential areas. The ban comes as a result of fuel shortages, catalyzed by the refinery explosion on Kemel Station several cycles ago. Though trade and public transport services remain unaffected, trips considered non-essential will be restricted until supplies stabilize.

The ban, exasperated by rising crude fuel prices, is expected to be temporary. Current stockpiles have been reserved and rationed. Several nearby refineries have promised to provide excess supplies to aid in the crisis, as promised by Senator Rovel.

If you live in the affected area and are worried about travel, consult your local government official for further details.