Golan 2 Station:

Telos IV

45 minutes before

Vice Station Commander Ltje Brüwa glanced at the screens. Today, like the days before it the system was secure. She let out a sigh of disappointment, this assignment had been important during the Clone Wars when this sector of space had seesawed between the Confederacy, planetary forces making a bid for secession from both major combatants, and the Republic. When she had arrived there only a short while before, it was a trainee dumping ground for the Empire.

A sudden thought struck her, she checked all messages and transmissions that had been sent to her.

Her hopeful smile turned into bitter disappointment as no messages regarding the transfer she made for an Outer Rim Golan position appeared. Sourly, she put her personal computer pad down and laid back in her chair. Before she could fall into her usual sulk when a sensor technician announced

"Vice-Commander, a freighter has arrived in the sector." She raised her eyes and said, "Comms officer, demand the freighter lowers its shields for scanning."

"Aye, aye." The Comms officer sent a message and after a few minutes, he got off looking cross. His reply was professional though, "I apologize for the delay. The ship is complying with our demands." The Vice Commander then said, "Report on the delay." The Comms officer replied, "Blasted Telosians, that is a droid only ship. It has B1s running it!"

Her eyes widened in a bit of horror as she asked "B1s?"

The Comms officer, a native of the region for a decade, said "I forgot you arrived only a year ago. There is a booming droid industry here but most can't afford newer droids so the droid producers here have been retrofitting old droids of any type for civilian work. They're built to be slow to assuage fears of attacks. In the case of the B1, this made the droid too stupid to work with for anything but shipping on the safest of routes."

The Vice Commander chuckled and said, "Very well, scanners, target the ship once the shields go down."

A minute after she said this, the shields dropped and the scanners went through the aged mishmash of shapes that called itself a ship. A minute later the Scanner Chief turned to the Vice Commander.

"Freighter is called Unitas. 8,520,000 tons of fertilizer, 40000 tons of farming machines, and 2030 tons of weather control parts as cargo. Farming cooperative purchase." He gave the results of the scan.

"Anything out of order chief?" The Vice Commander asked.

"None. It's approaching spring on the northern continent and this is about the normal size of a purchase. Cargo load is a bit smaller than usual, especially in fertilizer but the soil has been doing better due to treatments so that explains that." The scanner chief replied.

"Do they have the proper security codes?" She asked.

"As always, yes." The chief responded.

"Let them through." The Vice Commander replied bored.

After 10 minutes, the ship started to move and slowly advanced to the planet. The Vice Commander began to sulk at this delay until after a few minutes, the sensor chief said "Commander? The freighter is off course."

"Really? How far?" She replied.

"It's heading right for us." The chief responded. His eyes widened in horror as the potential implications came into his mind.

"Hail them and prepare the tractor beams." She called.

"They're raising the shields!" The chief responded.

"Red Alert. Shields up, power to weapons. We'll sort out what happened once we sift through the debris." She called.

The freighter's engines, refitted at a secret Rebel base, roared to full power. Before the station's shields could raise, the freighter crashed into the long-range communication array. The B1 droids aboard then detonated the reactor and fertilizer.

The explosion, though the full force was contained by the shields eradicated the communications array, obliterated several turrets and one of the hangars.

The Golan itself was intact but the side of the station not facing planetside was heavily damaged.

Inside the control room, the Vice Commander called out for status as the last of the tremors from the explosion died.

The damage control officer, an aged man who had survived conflicts dating back 70 years gathered status reports calmly. As the last damage control station reported back, he turned to the Commander who had been shouting at him as he failed to respond.

"Long-range communications destroyed, hangar 4 is currently unusable due to the explosion cratering the area, several turrets are gone, and we have fires in several crew areas. They do not seem to be plasma-based. Once damage control evacuates the surviving crew from the areas with fires, flame starvation protocols will go into effect." He responded.

The Vice Commander growled as the other Vice Commander, having gone to bed two hours before after finishing his 12-hour shift, stumbled in. The situation was relayed to him, as this was finished the sensor chief said "Sirs? There is a large group of ships approaching the station through hyperspace."

Before anyone could respond, he said, "The ships have dropped out of hyperspace near the space docks where the system defense fleet is. I read, 3 Star Destroyers, 1 Tector-' The two commander's suddenly looked fearful at the thought of a Fleet Admiral reporting to Sylaks until the chief continued, "2 Lucrehulks, 2 Providence Dreadnoughts, 8 Corvettes, and a Venator frigate. From personal experience, I'd estimate around 1500 starfighters and bombers."

The faces fell even more as they realized the strength of the small armada running loose in the system.

"Is there any way to contact the Grand Moff?" Vice Commander Brüwa asked.

"The enemy fleet has begun jamming, the source is one of the Lucrehulks. The vessel has possibly been converted to an Electronics Warfare vessel. Furthermore, our out of system communications systems are destroyed" The chief responded.

The other Vice Commander spoke, "Begin rotation procedures, close the shield gate, contact the garrison and have them launch starfighters and launch all craft from the remaining hangars. Fighter Operations!" He barked the last statement. The woman turned and replied "Yes?"

"Do we have that TIE V1 and its pilot on-premises?" He asked. The Operations chief looked perplexed before she realized what he was thinking of, "I see where you're going with this. Do you want me to summon him for a briefing?"

"Immediately." He turned to the fleet and scowled, "This can't be the Rebellion that destroyed the Death Star. Lord Vader destroyed them all. It must be a new group that somehow seized 4 of our ships. Probably Separatists."

"The enemy Tector is sending a message." The communications chief spoke.

All in the room turned to the screen and to their shock and horror, there was a Phoenix symbol on the screen and a stark message underneath.

Like the Phoenix, we burned on Hoth

Like the Phoenix, we rose from the ashes. We shall not fall until our flames devour your Iron Hand. Surrender and good treatment shall follow.

"It is them." Vice Commander Brüwa spoke in a mix of horror and admiration. "We must get Sylaks. If they succeed here, then that boast might become a reality. Where is that pilot?!" The other Vice Commander nearly shrieked.

The pilot in question's voice rang over the intercom nearly a minute later. "Anyone there? I was called for?"

Vice Commander Brüwa reached the Comms panel first and began to communicate. Outside of the station, the system defense fleet crumbled under volleys of turbolasers.