Seven cramped days later, and you are all on the bridge. Juno cuts the hyperdrive, and you revert. The starlines explode, and you find yourself not far from a large moon orbiting a larger planet. The moon glitters and twinkles with uncountable lights, and the space all around is filled with ships coming and going. Several large stations orbit the moon. This is a busy place.
Juno checks her consoles and says, "Cloaking systems are activated. No one will see us. Where to?"
General Kota punches something into his console. "There's a derelict fuel station floating in the southern hemisphere. My men have a base there, or did."
Juno glances at Kota. "You had a base here the whole time." Kota smiles. "Where better to hide? The station's fuel tanks had a blow out about ten years ago. The original owners deemed it not worth repairing, and not worth salvaging, so they abandoned it. We've used it as a headquarters for my militia ever since."
Juno shakes her head, but says nothing.
You draw closer to the moon, being careful to dodge traffic that has no idea you are there. You can see a Victory-class Star Destroyer and a couple of bulk cruisers on the other side of the moon, but they appear to be keeping station between the planet and the moon, and are a long way off.
The ship begins to buffet a little as you enter the atmosphere, and Juno says, "Sorry for the bumpy ride - the inertial dampers are overdue for maintenance." You sink down into a thick cloud layer, and emerge a couple of minutes later over a moon-sized city. Bright lights twinkle everywhere, combined with floating palaces, massive holographic advertisements, and more ships than either of you have ever seen in one place.
Kota points to the horizon, where thick smoke rises into the air. "The industrial sector. The platform was towed there and moored out of the main corridors."
You move into a dark, gritty area of the moon, and instead of bright signs and flashing lights, all you see below you is industrial manufacturing, and thick pollution. General Kota gets on the comlink, does something with the encryption, and speaks. "Castle, this is King's Pawn. Do you read me?" He repeats himself once before you hear an answer.
"King's pawn? What's your code clearance?" The voice sounds tense.
"Transmitting now."
While you wait for the code to be confirmed, you hear an explosion over the comlink, and faint voices shouting.
After a moment, another voice comes on the comlink. "King's Pawn, this is Rook. Your clearance is old, but it checks out, but that can be tortured out of you. Tell me, what's the name of my son?"
Kota chuckles. "Maximus Devon, you old coot."
The voice changes tone, a little more relaxed. "General, am I glad to hear you! We could use your help right now." You hear the unmistakable sound of blaster fire.
Kota looks grim. "I'm not as much help as I used to be, Gaven. What's the situation?"
"We've been made. They've moved in turbolaser platforms, but our shields are holding. They've landed ground troops. Imperial Army, looks like battalion strength, maybe a company of Stormtroopers. The barricades are holding, but we're losing ground. To make matters worse, intelligence says there's a Star Destroyer moving into position. We've got maybe thirty minutes until they have a firing solution. Our shields won't hold against that."
Kota considers. "Got an evacuation plan?"
"We lost the frigate earlier - the turbolasers took it out. The corvette is still spaceworthy. We can button up and evacuate, but she won't last long against those turbolasers. If you can take out those guns, we can make orbit."
Another pause. "Assets?"
"I've got three hundred commandos, well-equipped, and a hundred wounded. Veshta-flight is standing by, but I was holding them back to escort us to orbit. They're carrying one torpedo each. General, if you can take out or reduce those guns, I might be able to get us out of here. But the clock is ticking - once that Star Destroyer has a firing solution, it's game over."
General Kota looks grim. "Understood. I'll see what I can do. King's Pawn Out."
As he finishes speaking, you cruise over a massive floating factory of some sort, and against the glare of the setting sun, you see a scarred badly damaged floating platform. Flashes of light and the shimmering of shields tell the story. The station is surrounded by a dozen floating turbolaser batteries, spaced regularly around the ruined station, are hammering at the shields. Smaller flashes show ground troops assaulting the platform, meeting stiff resistance.
Kota takes in the scene a moment.
"Suggestions?"
[The platform is perhaps 500m on a side. The turbolaser platforms are little more than a cannon strapped to a repulsor - there can't be more than 20 troops on a cannon.]
