The New Republic Farstar

The Farstar is a heavily modified Corellian Corvette formerly in the possession of Moff Sarne on Kal Shebbol. It seemed he was outfitting the ship for an extended scouting trip deep into the uncharted reaches of Kathol Sector.

When Sarne escaped into Kathol Sector, the New Republic commandeered the ship to go after Sarne. The ship was not nearly complete, but the New Republic needed a ship to go after Sarne right away so they are forced to fix it on the way. As such, the ship is jury rigged to the hilt and it is a 24-hour a day job for the 75 technicians just to keep the ship running. The cramped hallways are filled with steam, leaking coolant, exposed wires and snaking cables. Sarne also made some modifications to the ship. It is packed with some of the most advanced sensor equipment in the galaxy as well as long-range communication equipment capable of sending and receiving messages from deep space. All of this causes a huge drain on energy so lighting all over the ship is dim at best and life support is kept at a chilly temperature and power conservation rules are in place and strictly enforced. Additional hull plating was also added as well as a fully functional docking bay.

All of these modifications and the jury-rigged systems means that there requires a larger crew complement than normal. This means that there are over 120 crewmembers on a ship designed for 60. As such, crewmembers actually have to share bunks with each other in 12-hour shifts. The ship also requires a lot of work so each crewmember works a 12-hour duty shift as well as 4 hours on secondary duty before getting 8 hours off to sleep. The secondary duties are ones that don't require a lot of physical or mental ability and most crewmember joke they get more sleep on duty than in their bunks.

Since the Farstar is heading into the unknown for what could be an extended period of time, the ship is stocked with supplies, spare parts, and essentials making the cramped ship even more cramped. Every available space is filled with boxes and crates of supplies.

Farstar Support vehicles

Farstar droids

Lieutenant’s Log – Lt. Keleman Ciro reporting
The trip from the fringes of Kathol Sector to the capital planet, Kal’Shebbol was slow but thankfully uneventful. I briefed my team as we hit the edge of the system and they made their final preparations. The council had sent us here to be the recon team for the liberation fleet. The fleet was coming to take down a renegade Moff named Sarne. Our job was to shut down his planetary defense shield and to rescue a New Republic spy. My team for this mission consists of our pilot Cipher, our advance scout Rico Rasputin, our field tech and medic Fxz’Et (a verpine), privates Vando and Danol, my second in command Sgt. Leilani Keona, and the force using Cerean, Zhon Quixote.

We set down in the capital city with a cover story that we were traders on our way to Gandle Ott with a shipment of repulsorlift parts when our hyperdrive went out. Zhon spoke to the customs officer and he bought our story with no problems. Once the ship was secure I split the team and sent them out.Cipher and Rico were sent to purchase transportation and to scout out a way into Sarne’s fortress. They purchased a used landspeeder and scouted out Sarne’s fortress. There they met a Defel named Kl’aal who said that he worked for Sarne but that he would show them a secret way into the fortress if they promised to take him out.

Meanwhile, Fx'zet, Zhon and Leilani headed into town to try and purchase weapons and armor for us. They questioned the locals and were told to head to a Twi’lek bar called the Dark Side and to ask for a Twi’lek named Loh’Khar. After a run in with the locals, they met Loh’Khar and arranged the sale of equipment. Vandro and I met with the local resistance movement who agreed to create a distraction that would hopefully allow us to get into the fortress undetected.

We picked up the equipment from Loh’Khar that night and headed to the fortress to meet Kl’aal. Cipher hid the transport and Rico deactivated the perimeter death fence and we snuck inside. Rico met up with Kl’aal who showed us a blasted out tunnel in the hills. The opening was covered by some kind of hologram although we found no holo equipment. The opening looked like it was hit with some kind of energy that was powerful enough to disintegrate a meter of durasteel but focused enough not to even warp the metal adjacent. We headed down the tunnel undetected and surprised a group of techs in a control room at the end. We took them out but not before they set off the alarm and set into motion Sarne’s omega code which flash cleared all the data on all the systems on the planet. Before we lost all computer data, we found the shield generator but it was too well protected. Further checking found a secret escape route that Sarne had, complete with a fully armed and ready capital ship. I figured he must have some means of shutting off the shield from there in the event that he needed to make a quick retreat. We also found the cell block were the New Republic spy was being held. After dealing with the stormtroopers that responded to the alarm, I sent Danol, Zhon, Cypher and Rico to the cell block to free the spy while I took Leilani, Fxz,Et and Vandro with me.

They ran into some resistance but made it to the cell block. Danol was severely wounded on the way, but they freed the spy, a Wookiee tech named Lofryyhn. They also found an imperial officer named Jessa Dajus who claimed to be a former shuttle pilot for Sarne. She also showed some kind of sixth sense which she claimed was intuition but might be the force.

My group also met some resistance but we made it into the escape tunnel. There we ran into Sarne himself and 6 of his troopers. Although we lost Vandro, we had just about run through the troopers, when Sarne used some kind of strange device on us, knocking us out. Leilani recovered quickly, and revived the rest of us. We headed after Sarne where we saw more evidence of this strange new technology where he used it to burn firing ports into the meter thick durasteel. We found several crystals there which we hope we can get analyzed. We got to the secret hangar just in time to see Sarne escape in his ship. But luckily, Fxz’Et was able to access the shield controls and shut it off, allowing the fleet to bombard and then occupy the planet.

We rested up while the New Republic set about establishing a new government and restoring Kal’Shebbol. I was eager to go after Sarne and discover what his new technology was but the Admiral turned me down. He said if I could find my own capital ship, he would scrape together a crew and equipment for it and allow us to go after Sarne. Luckily, Lofryyhn and Dajus knew of a ship Sarne was modifying to take on a trip to the unknown reaches of Kathol Sector. The ship was a total mess, but at least it was a ship. We had a week to get it flying before the fleet headed back to the core. The admiral gave us about half of what we needed for a crew complement so we were forced to recruit from the civilian populace. I was promoted to captain, Leilani is to be my first mate and the rest of my team (minus Danol, who was still recovering from injuries) were made part of my command crew. We worked all week but we at least got the ship to fly. I christened the ship the NRSS Farstar. I plan on taking it for a shake down cruise around the system tomorrow and then head out the next day after Sarne.

Captain’s Log – Captain Keleman Ciro reporting
We were on our shakedown cruise around the system when we got a distress call from the Kolatill system. After hearing of the liberation of Kal’Shebbol, the planet revolted and overthrew the imperial governor. In retaliation, Sarne’s fortress bombed them and leveled the capital city. They were requesting emergency aid. I passed the info on to the new governor of Kal’Shebbol but she said it would take them 8 days to get everything together and to get transports there. Since we could get there in half that time, I ordered the end of the test flight and ordered a course be laid in for Kolatill.

When we got there, we found the city in ruins but no imperial forces in sight. I had my first mate prepare a landing party with supplies and medical assistance and they headed down to the planet. There she met the current planetary leader, a councilman named Krause. He said that that rescue efforts were still being made to find survivors and supplies were running low. He also said that the remnants of the imperial occupation force were holed up in a fortress outside town. I ordered my crew to give them whatever assistance they could. From reports I’ve received from the surface, most of the team is helping with rescue efforts while Jessa and Zhon negotiated the surrender of the imperial forces. Commander Keona reported that they had some problems with the local predators as well as looters, but that the rescue effort was going well. She also reported that they ran into some problems with a rogue repair droid while recovering supplies from a local hospital.  I am anxious to read her formal report.

Ground caravans are supposed to be coming in tomorrow so that should free us up until the rest of the New Republic forces can arrive. A ceremony is also being planned for the day after tomorrow where the new government has asked me to come down and officially welcome them into the New Republic. I hate political functions like this but I guess that goes with the promotion.

Captain’s Log – Captain Keleman Ciro reporting
I got word from Commander Keona that a caravan of hovertrucks laden with supplies for the capital city was coming in from the outlying towns. I sent down a squad of our soldiers to assist my command crew in escorting the caravan. It was attacked by a swoop gang called the Flaming Skulls. My crew took them out easily and the caravan made it safely to the capital.Upon further questioning of the gang members they said that a renegade crime lord was making a bid to take over the planet due to the power vacuum caused by the empire ouster. My crew surrounded his fortress in the old council building and tried to negotiate his surrender. The whole thing was just a ruse on his part to try and escape. Luckily they discovered his trickery and he and his commanders were captured without a fight.

The big ceremony where I am to officially welcome Kolatill into the Republic is tomorrow. Zhon (my diplomatic liaison) wrote a very stirring speech for me tomorrow and helped me with the local customs and bureaucracy. The council is sending a shuttle for me along with a TIE fighter escort. I just hope being escorted by those TIEs does not rattle me too much that I mess up my speech.At times like this I wish the republic had sent a diplomat instead of a soldier.

Ship's Log – Lt. Commander Quixote reporting
Personal note: it has taken me a while to come to the point whre I could sit and write about the events of this day, events that have reshaped what I am and what I want -- what I need -- to do with my life. I regret the delay, nonetheless.

Unfortunately, shortly after Captain Ciro boarded the shuttle for the ride to the planetside ceremony, an Imperial Escort Cruiser dropped out of hyperwarp just beyond high orbit of Kolatill. Sarne had come back to dispense some more punishment, it seemed. Within minutes, the Escort Cuiser had launched 12 flights each consisting of 1 TIE bomber with 2 TIE fighter escorts, with vectors that indicated they were dispersing globally. This came off as odd, as some vectors didn't even carry their flights over heavily populated areas.

Nonetheless, all 8 XWings from the Farstar were scrambled, one each sent against 8 of the 12 flights. The 3 TIEs escorting the captain's shuttle were ordered into pursuit of another 3 flights while I quickly boarded the AEGIS which was ordered to take out the final flight. Fortunately, the Aegis is as fast a TIE bomber in the apmosphere. The FarStar itself beat a quick retreat, as the enemies capabilities were unknown, and the FarStar itself wasn't battle ready

Fortunately, each of the 12 bombers were shot down befre any could deliver their payload, but each of the XWings as well as the Aegis were badly damaged in the effort. All 3 of the Kolatill's Aero defense force had also been destroyed. The Farstar was not pursued and sustained no damage. The worst blow of all, however, was that the Escort Carrier had swooped in and tractored in the hapless and unescorted shuttle in which Ciro was riding, and had shortly thereafter jumped out of the Kolatill system leaving their remaining TIEs behind. There was no warning, no indication that Sarne had any reason to capture the shuttle, but there it was, stunning all of us and leaving us numb.

Over the next 24 hours, we went ahead with the ceremony. I managed to choke out the speech that was to have been given by Ciro while the crew reorganized itself and placed itself under the command of Leilani Keona, named acting commander by a long range dispatch from the admiral of Republic fleet. Leilani didn't seem happy about this promotion, but Gorak Khzam seemed to make up for her lack of enthusiam, gleefully reading the news in the same dispatch that he had been named First Officer.

Personal Note: isn't a captain usually given the option to select his or her own XO? Perhaps it is the nature of the beast - the dispatch clearly denoted that Keona is to become the 'acting' captain. Clearly, they want Ciro back every bit as much as we do.

Shortly before we were able to get underway once again and begin pursuit of Sarne (and hopefully Ciro as well), a complete report from the Farstar sensor logs was made available. It turns out that each of the 12 TIE bombers was carrying a payload of radioactive substances and other toxins that would not only have killed every living thing on the planet, but also made the planet uninhabitable for many centuries to come.

Personal Note: It was this particular revelation that has shaken me to my core. Genocide? This Sarne was so vile, so despicable, that Genocide was palatable. It was inconceivable to me. I had always believed that men valued life, and that while their was always a price to be exacted by those who held it with a low value, but still...it could be negotiated. That was ultimately what I had been sent here to do - to negotiate with the failing/retreating Imperial forces. But i the Imperials pursued Genocide as casually as I might squash a blood-fly between my fingers, then what was I to do? What hope could I have to make a difference? Was slaughter and death all that mattered, the only thing that would quell this retreating force? I was not prepared for this -- but when I came to my senses I vowed to become prepared for it. If death and destruction were the only bargaining chips they'd recognize, then by the 2 gods I would be prepared to deliver it to them