Dutch
Character
"Ark Royal to the Minstrel, how do you copy?" Flood lights panned across the vessel, bathing it bright light. Every feature was brought out in sharp detail across the Minstrel's unusual hull. Built from a collection of different ships, the Minstrel was a one of a kind specifically designed for retrieving wrecked vessels and other lost treasures. For years this vessel's crew told stories of their grand salvaging exploits, now the only song this minstrel sang was one of distress. "Ark Royal to the Minstrel, what is your status?" There was several seconds of silence before the pilot turned to Dutch. "Still no reply sir. I've attempted to run several scans of the ship, but there's heavy interference from the station." Ah yes, the station. A massive facility that screamed utilitarian in appearance that it was almost cartoonish. All sharp edges and no grace, painted an ugly gray that was fading with time. The station itself was dark, save for a few barely functioning antennas scattered about its surface.
Dutch carefully judged the station in front of him and the vessel attached to it. The Minstrel wasn't the only vessel docked here, makes and models he had never seen before, but a few he had, were docked at different airlocks. "What of the other vessels?" "Same story, but no distress beacons." He didn't like this, not one bit. Sure a lot had changed in the eight hundred plus years he had remained in a form of suspended animation and many things had changed, but there were a lot of things that hadn't changed. A distress call to an abandoned station in the middle of nowhere with no response from the crew? Yeah, that most definitely screamed trap. Not only that, but a station that had been a secret research facility for the Galactic Empire, that just added to the danger. Now the Empire was a completely different beast than he was familiar with, one he was glad he never became part of after the fall of the Republic. A beast he never really got the chance to read up on, but he heard enough to dislike them entirely.
The next option was the least favorable, but now inevitable. "Find us an airlock, we're going in." Pulling his new helmet, technically a new version of his old helmet, he made his way into the loading bay where where the rest of the team was waiting. "Alright listen up everybody. I've got good news and bad news. The good news, we've found our missing vessel. The bad news, it's attached to an abandoned Imperial research station and we have yet to receive word from the missing crew." Dutch tapped a few buttons on his wrist and a holographic image ofthe station appeared. "Imperial research station X-035, or the Block as the rebels used to call it. Originally it was designed to be a prison for the Confederacy of Independent Systems. After it's collapse at the end of the Clone Wars, the Galactic Empire got ahold of it. Not much is known about it other than some of the Empire's top scientists were sent here. Early reports indicate that the experiments conducted here were highly classified. Near the end of the Empire's reign, the station went silent for an unknown reason. The New Republic was never able to find the location of the facility itself and it was all but forgotten. Unfortunately the crew of the Minstrel is missing inside and now it's our job to go in after them. Any questions?"
Dutch carefully judged the station in front of him and the vessel attached to it. The Minstrel wasn't the only vessel docked here, makes and models he had never seen before, but a few he had, were docked at different airlocks. "What of the other vessels?" "Same story, but no distress beacons." He didn't like this, not one bit. Sure a lot had changed in the eight hundred plus years he had remained in a form of suspended animation and many things had changed, but there were a lot of things that hadn't changed. A distress call to an abandoned station in the middle of nowhere with no response from the crew? Yeah, that most definitely screamed trap. Not only that, but a station that had been a secret research facility for the Galactic Empire, that just added to the danger. Now the Empire was a completely different beast than he was familiar with, one he was glad he never became part of after the fall of the Republic. A beast he never really got the chance to read up on, but he heard enough to dislike them entirely.
The next option was the least favorable, but now inevitable. "Find us an airlock, we're going in." Pulling his new helmet, technically a new version of his old helmet, he made his way into the loading bay where where the rest of the team was waiting. "Alright listen up everybody. I've got good news and bad news. The good news, we've found our missing vessel. The bad news, it's attached to an abandoned Imperial research station and we have yet to receive word from the missing crew." Dutch tapped a few buttons on his wrist and a holographic image ofthe station appeared. "Imperial research station X-035, or the Block as the rebels used to call it. Originally it was designed to be a prison for the Confederacy of Independent Systems. After it's collapse at the end of the Clone Wars, the Galactic Empire got ahold of it. Not much is known about it other than some of the Empire's top scientists were sent here. Early reports indicate that the experiments conducted here were highly classified. Near the end of the Empire's reign, the station went silent for an unknown reason. The New Republic was never able to find the location of the facility itself and it was all but forgotten. Unfortunately the crew of the Minstrel is missing inside and now it's our job to go in after them. Any questions?"