Part II

    In an attempt to bring the Republican worlds more firmly under his control, Emperor Palpatine ordered suspension of exploratory activity.  Many of the exploratory companies went out of business while others elocated into the Corporate Sector or the areas less ‘enthusiastic’ about Imperial rule.

    Explorations Unlimited was one of the companies that decided to move its headquarters to avoid Palpatine’s restrictions.  It eventually settled on Bespin, which was uninhabited at that time.  Forming a partnership with some chemical companies and Coruscant crystal dealers lead to the construction of ADCC1 (Advanced City Concept 1), the forerunner of the famous Cloud City.  The Argo and its sisters were quietly up gunned but otherwise continued in the same role as before.The Council of Explorations Unlimited watched with growing unease as the abuses and ambitions of the Empire grew.  Finally, secret evidence provided by the Rebels verifying the destruction of Alderaan convinced the Council that a tentative understanding with the Rebel Alliance would be the wisest course of action.  They began secret negotiations soon after.
 

    It was the middle of the night shift on ADCC1 and Hank "Spook" Chiu was bored.  Very bored.  The Argo had been in dry dock for a week getting the latest upgrades and maintenance.  A week’s worth of shifts in the business department had left him itching to take his Headhunter out for a spin and blow something up.  He had already refurbished his armor and weapons, upgraded his survey suit’s sensors, replaced the shield lenses on his Headhunter, recalibrated it’s sensors package, cleaned the concussion missile alleys, and gone over his lasers with a fine-tooth comb.  With a sign, he stood back and regarded his battered Headhunter with pride.  Then his funk returned as he turned and saw the tantalizing swirls of cloud outside of the hangar bay.  "Well I guess I could recalibrate my rifle."  At this point, his Sullustan wingman, Manx call slgn Bat, walked in.

"Spook, come on.  Let’s get something to eat."
 

    A few more path finders joined them at the table bringing with them more gossip about the newly discovered planet, something about a ski resort from Hell, as well as the temporary lost of communications with the cruiser Mercury two weeks ago.  Apparently some little gizmo that was crucial to the operation of the communications systems had broken down and of course that was the one thing that Mercury didn’t have replacements for.  A BTL-S3 Y-wing was ferrying the spare part out to the Mercury.  By time some Ghost squadron members came in, Spook was starting to nod off.  Finally he took his leave and returned to his quarters for some long needed sleep.  As he nodded off, his mind kept drifting to the new planet that had just been discovered.  Maybe Argo will be assigned to investigate as well if it’s that bad.  That would be nice.  I haven’t done any ground missions in a while and it would be nice to see my parents again, he thought wistfully.
 

    Spook redlined the throttle and watched as the digital speedometer crept past 130 mglts.  He dipped the X-wing through a couple of clouds and then threw it into a few barrel rolls.  Through it all, the X-wing didn’t miss a beat.  Its quad pack of engines screaming behind him supplied him with plenty of power. Then he yelled in surprise as an enormous school of baleens surfaced out of the clouds right in front of them.  He shoved the flight stick to the side so hard his knuckles collided with the side of the narrow cockpit in order to avoid ramming a brightly colored one that surfaced about 50 meters in front of his X-wing.  Simultaneously, Bat howled as her X-wing dove between the wings and membranes of an enormous 20 meter long baleen and then immediately shot straight up to avoid one which surfaced just below her.  Spook swung his ship around one only to have another baleen surface directly in front of him.  He almost ripped the stick out of the control panel in his attempt to pull up.  Bat barreled through a small cluster twisting and diving madly.  One particularly violent turn sent her spinning into a loop.  Their
X-wings twisted and dodged their way out of the school after about what seemed to be an eternity of emergency avoidance maneuvers.
 

    Their luck held and both made it through the school without any damage to the X-wings and the baleens.  "Whew!" Bat mumbled as they both slumped in their cockpits.  "THAT doesn’t happen to you everyday."  "Was that cool or what!" Spook said.  "Very impressive", Bat said, "Especially when you get such a CLOSE LOOK AT THEM!"  "Do you think we can report that these ships are fully operational now?" Cat murmured.  Then they both started to chuckle as the adrenaline rush wore off.
 
 

    As they were landing in one of ADCC1’s hanger bays, Bat tiredly watched the sun set.  A river of lights flowed through the spires of the city and around the docking bays where the Argo and a few other ships were parked.  She could see the distant flares and sparks of the welders as they worked in the cavernous bays.  Distantly she heard Spook acknowledge the air traffic controller directing them into the landing pattern and she held formation easily.  Suddenly, they were surprised when the controller suddenly ordered them back out.  After an irritated inquiry, they were told hurriedly to contact the flight coordinator.  "The Artemis has entered the system and it’s not answering our hails!  Sensors indicate a large debris trail.  The rest of your squadron is scrambling right now and so are the Paladins.  They will be flying cover for you.  I want you to fly escort for the Artemis and talk them down out of orbit. Tugs have been dispatched.  Move it.  NOW!"
 

    The X-wings swung out of their approach heading and lit their afterburners.  A star field quickly replaced the reddish sunset.  "This is Lieutenant Chiu speaking.  Come in Artemis. Artemis please respond."  The communications mystery resolved itself as they drew closer to the mute cruiser, silence fell over the two when they saw the condition of the ship.
 
 

    A gaping hole resided in the communications section’s former location.  "Holy cow!  What happened to her?!" Spook spoke after he finished gaping at the damage.  The Artemis had been badly damaged. Half of its port wing was missing.  The left hanger bay was a blackened mess.  Laser burns scarred most of the ship turning the ship’s formerly white, pristine hull into an ugly mess.  As they watched, one of the Artemis’ five laboring engines gave out.
 

    Seeing that the ship’s hull was compromised in far too many positions to enter the atmosphere without help, Bat radioed ADCC1 and recommended that they also dispatch several heavy lifters. Spook managed to maneuver his X-wing into visual distance of the bridge, which was thankfully intact. Inside, the bridge was lit with the red general quarters lights and a few figures could be seen moving about.
 

    Spook managed to signal the bridge that help was on the way and Bat took the opportunity to circle the ship to catalog the damage.  Her unease grew as she noted the precision with which the laser burns had been applied.  Imperials?  What have we done to attract their attention?  We’ve avoided contact with the Rebellion and minimized our normal activities.
 

    After a few minutes, the heavy lifters arrived along with a squadron of tugs.  With a delicacy that was incongruous for ships their size, the lifters maneuvered over the crippled ship and activated their powerful tractor beams.  The tugs attached themselves directly to its hull to contribute their engine power to the effort of landing the Artemis.  After the tugs linked their flight computers with those of the heavy lifters, they began the slow, nerve-wracking descent. After a few tense moments when a tug lost its engines due to the stresses, the ensemble finally moved into one of the dry-docks.  Through the whole event, the Paladins and the rest of Ghost squadron flew a racetrack pattern first in space above the Artemis and then above ADCC1 itself.  The com. channels were silent as the pilots watched the battered wreck ease into dry dock.
 

    As the heavy lifters and tugs detached themselves and headed in, Ghost and Paladin also headed to their docking bay.  A steady line of the Paladin’s shiny, new Y-wings preceded the Ghost’s sturdy, old Headhunters into Docking Bay 5b.  The docking bay began to fill with disembarking pilots and the smell of exhaust as the frustrated pilots disembarked in silence.  The normal good-natured bantering was absent and the mechanics watched mystified at first but with mounting edginess as the reason for their hasty departure was laid out before them.
 

    The Artemis settled into dry dock with a moan of stressed metal and plastic composites.  In the sudden silence left by the departure of the tugs and lifters, one could hear the sound of electrical short sand makeshift supports giving way.  The crew was unable to disembark from the main hatches because they had all been jammed or melted shut.  After repeated attempts to open the doors failed, repulsor transports were flown into the one barely functional hanger bay and the crew flown out in shifts.  The wounded and the dead were the first out and flown to the main hospital.  Engineers shook their heads over the damage and then begin to plan repairs.  Technicians and repair droids swarmed over the ship.  It would take weeks of work before the ship began to look like a ghost of it’s former self.
 

    As the remaining crewers were slowly and carefully debriefed, a terrifying episode began to slowly reveal itself.  The Artemis had been surveying the Beta quadrant for about one and a half years.  (The average survey mission for the Company is about 4 years.)  They had already discovered one solar system with a possible habitable planet when they discovered yet another solar system in a heavily ionized nebula.  They literally stumbled upon it as the Artemis dropped out of hyperspace so the science teams could study the nebula. This system was not suitable for colonization without substantial terraforming.  However as they surveyed the outermost planet, it was discovered that it was very rich in iron ore deposits and other useful minerals. The Company itself used systems like this to guarantee a steady source of income so the crew was understandably delighted about the find.  In the excitement and due to the distortion from the nebula, no one noticed at the time that the system had several unfriendly guardians.  Unfortunately, the Imperial system patrol craft stationed in the system spotted them first and launched a surprise attack
supported by a wing of TIEs.
 
 

    Lieutenant Franz Richards stood at one of the observation bays overlooking the dry dock where the Artemis was presently interred.  He watched in a state of shock as the stream of wounded and dead trickled off and the repair chiefs began examining the hull to see if it was worth repairing.  Even from his rather distant vantage point, he could see a whole lot of head shaking going on.  It’s not fair.  It’s just not fair.  We didn’t do bantha poo-doo to them and they had to go demolish my ship.  That fateful mission
had started out so quietly…

    What a booorrriiinnng shift, I wonder if I should run another turbo laser optimization test?  That way I might be able to go the entire shift without falling asleep.  Franz was the chief turbo laser officer aboard the Artemis.  He watched as Tomas fidgeted restlessly at his sensor station across the quite bridge of the Artemis.  It was late at ‘night’ and the sensor officer, Tomas Dalgren, stretched as he fought off a yawn.  He’s been trying unsuccessfully to focus his attention on the sensor screens for several minutes
now, Franz noticed in amusement. With a groan of frustration, Tomas turned to his friend at the nearby science station, "What’s up Sam?"
 

"No problem.  I’ll be right back, Sam."
 

    He made his way to the dispenser located near the rear of the bridge and punched up two stim teasand then walked back to his station.  Suddenly he gasped, dropped the two steaming cups he had been carrying on an unsuspecting technician, and lunged for the alert button at the sensor station.  The cause for his alarm was displayed rather prominently on his primary display, a squadron of system patrol craft converging on the Artemis from all directions escorted by a wing of TIE fighters.
 

    Franz quickly turned to his station and begins to alert the gunners in the laser turret clusters.  Dimly someone could be heard yelling for a medic to assist the poor, burned technician.  He soon became immersed in the task of coordinate the gunners against the patrol boats.
 

    "Launch the fighters, get the weapons and shields up, and someone get the captain up here!"  To the technician who was screaming in agony, Tomas said "Hey relax it’s just some fresh, pipping ... hot........stim tea…oops."
 

    Commotion broke out over the ship as the General Quarters lights and sirens went off. Crewmembers rushed to their battle stations blearily pulling on their clothes.  Orange suited pilots raced towards the hanger and the sound of activating star fighter engines could be heard in the hanger bays.
 

"Very good. Thank you Mr. Damon.  Order all ships to concentrate their fire on the three patrol craft in front of the Artemis.  After that, they are to attack targets of opportunity.  The last thing we want is to be caught in a crossfire."
 

    Even as he finished speaking, the blue vapor trails of proton torpedoes sped out in front of the bridge view port and converged on the three shiny dots in the distance.  The Headhunters came in to view as they sped towards the same targets in a tight, orderly formation closely followed by the Y-wings.
 

    The first torpedo salvo blew one patrol craft out of space in a spectacular explosion but a significant number of the torpedoes were shot down or decoyed away by jammers and chaff.  The patrol craft launched their own salvo of concussion missiles and both sides engaged in a brief spasm of evasive maneuvers.  A few unlucky Y-wings and two Headhunters were destroyed and their pilots cast adrift in the vacuum as they waited for the rescue shuttle.  The unshielded TIEs uniformly fared worse.  A full
quarter of the wing was destroyed in the first pass.  Then the fighters entered laser cannon range and space lit up with laser bolts crisscrossing in space as the two sides closed in on each other bent on destruction.
 

    As the fighters methodically took apart the remaining two patrol craft with a few more torpedoes, the Artemis came under attack by the remaining squadron of patrol craft. In an attempt to exploit the hole in the patrol craft screen left by the fighters, she redlined her engines.  Her turbo laser batteries opened up on all of the attackers at once in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics as the return fire pounded her shields.  The TIEs buzzed about the barrage impotently taking pot shots at the fighters.  Slowly the tide began to turn against the patrol craft as the superior shielding of the Artemis began to show.  But the Artemis took damage as well.  Every once in a while, a laser blast got through a hole in the shielding blowing away a laser turret or vaporizing some armor.  The situation for the Artemis was fast becoming untenable as more and more laser blasts made it through the weakening shields taking out a laser turret here and a shield emitter there.
 

    A hail of torpedoes against one of the patrol craft heralded the return of the remaining fighters triumphant over their three targets.  Missiles exhausted, they threw their ships against the remaining patrol craft in a brave attempt to shield their mother ship.  One by one the remaining patrol craft fell but the fighter squadrons paid a steep price for it as the patrol craft began to target them.  Only the rescue shuttles were exempt from the patrol craft’s attack due to the fact that they were picking up Imperial life pods as well as their own.
 

Finally there were only two patrol craft left but the Artemis’ systems were beginning to fail.  Suddenly the tables turned against the embattled Artemis as an additional squadron of TIEs came into sensorrange and threw themselves into the fray with zeal.  By this time, the Artemis had finally reached the hyper limit and began to pull away from the battered patrol craft.  After the few surviving Company fighters were ordered to jump out to a recovery point, the Artemis jumped into hyperspace with a flicker of pseudo-motion leaving behind the shattered remains of a patrol craft squadron and some pissed off TIE pilots…
 
  ***

    A detailed analysis of the Artemis and its fighter’s sensor logs was undertaken in an attempt to discover the reason behind the unprecedented attack in a recently discovered solar system. Although the Empire had outlawed exploratory activities, it had never taken military action against Explorations Unlimited before.  This had everyone wondering what was in that solar system that was
so important to the Empire that they would have orders to destroy all non-Imperial, incoming ships. Finally the sensor logs of one of the surviving Long Probe Y-wings yielded pay dirt of sorts.  As the fighters had finished off their three patrol crafts, the Y-wing’s sensors caught a brief glimpse through the interference of an enormous artificial construct approximately the same size as the Death Star. Because the Y-wing’s computer could not decide whether to classify it as a planet or as a ship, the anomaly was not brought to the attention of the pilot immediately.
 

An emergency meeting of the Council was called and lasted for 2 hours.  As soon as the meeting was over, the Athena was sent on a top secret courier mission to their rebellion contact.
 
 

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