Floating complacently in the darkness, surrounded and covered by a blanket of stars, is an undesignated asteroid in the field listed on star charts as only AN-21G. Roughly in the center of the 200SU wide asteroid field, the undesignated asteroid, slightly over one kilometer wide and two kilometers long, is a craggy oval in shape. Though not the largest, it is among the larger asteroids in the field. Though not a widely known, and in a system with a red giant star and no planets, AN-21G conceals a hive of activity. The only overt sign that it is not a simple asteroid is the 150-meter diameter hole drilled into it, covered by a painted blast door made to conceal it. Inside is the main base of operations of the pirate gang whose symbol and ship coloration is known throughout this stretch of the Corellian Run Trade Route: the red fist gripping a pair of blazing yellow lightning bolts, superimposed on a bleached white skull - all painted on black ships. Welcome to The Gauntlet.


The Approach  |  The Hangar Bay  |  The Bridge
The Armament  |  The Armory  |  Security
The Vault  |  Medical Facilities  |  Sensors
Crew Quarters  |  Cargo Holds  |  Power & Utilities

The Approach

Anyone who 'just shows up' unexpectedly is watched from a distance by the base's mine-mounted sensors. Most are simply allowed to leave - if they have no idea what they have stumbled upon. If they show any sign of realizing that they are not alone, or make a hostile movement towards the asteroid field, a message is sent to the defensive squadron waiting a microjump away. The squadron hypers in, disables and boards the target ship, then calls in to The Gauntlet to have the ship taken away. It then proceeds to load everyone aboard into a holding ship. Once all passengers and crew have been removed, a prize crew is sent to the target ship and it is hauled into The Gauntlet's cavernous hangar bay. Here the ship is repaired and put into service or sold. If it is too damaged, it is disassembled for spare parts and junked. The ship's passengers are hypered to an inhabited system and released unharmed, completely unaware of what they had just stumbled upon.

If a 'business associate' hypers in, and shows amiable intent, he is given directions on a direct and safe approach. The ship is kept in constant tracking and communications, allowing the pirate space controller to track each asteroid, predict its path and direct the ship. Approach must be done at low speed (2 SU/round maximum) to avoid collision with asteroids, and usually takes nearly four minutes.

STATS: The Gauntlet
STATS: Parry Squadron

The Hangar Bay

After making it through the asteroid field, gaining entry into The Gauntlet itself is a simple task: the one hundred meter diameter blast door, painted a rusty metallic brown to match the rest of the asteroid, irises open, its eight claw like sections retracting into the walls surrounding the door. One meter behind the first blast door is it's exact duplicate - turned 180 degrees from the outer door. The inner door's 'claws' point in a counterclockwise direction, while the outer door's 'claws' point in a clockwise direction. This doubling of the door provides added protection from asteroid impacts, uninvited guests' weapons, and the like. Behind the pair of blast doors is the hangar bay. From the 150-meter diameter bottleneck at the blast doors, the hangar bay expands to 500 meters in width, and 400 meters in height. At nearly the full 2-kilometer length of the asteroid, it is cavernous by anybody's standards. It is capable of housing the entire Iron Fist fleet, capital ships and all. In each corner of the hangar bay is one tractor beam projector. These four units are used to move ships lacking a repulsorlift drive around inside the hangar so that the use of ion engines and thrusters is kept to a minimum.

Access tunnels and refueling pipes criss cross the hangar bay, winding their way to each ship. Artificial atmosphere has been left out for the sole reason of maintenance and refueling costs: keeping a 400 million cubic meter hangar bay pressurized and oxygenated is a logistics nightmare. Artificial gravity, however, has been included. This makes maintenance of the ships, as well as loading and unloading, much easier - and safer. The tractor beams are used sparingly because of the tremendous power they draw. They are usually delegated to maneuvering the capital ships, specifically ones without repulsorlift drives, in and out of the hangar bay - the smaller ships - the freighters and starfighters - are allowed to use their thrusters and repulsorlift drives, but not their ion engines, to move around inside.


The Bridge

Though The Gauntlet is not a ship in the purest sense of the word, it does have a bridge. The bridge is the central nervous system of the base: it has feeds from every place in the asteroid - and beyond. The asteroid's powerful sensors array is routed in here, giving the officer of the deck up to date information about anything within 600 SU, though it is rare when anything other than the passive array is used. Control The Gauntlet's own weapons, communication with Parry squadron, and the twin blast doors are all controlled through the bridge.

The bridge is actually a highly modified Ghtroc 720 freighter suspended inside the hangar bay, above the twin blast doors. Access tubes attach to the ship's airlocks, enabling crew movement back and forth. The suites of K'tar and V'lk - the pirate leader and his XO - as well as those of the fleet's officer's are located in close proximity to the bridge. The quarters of vital crew members, such as sensors operators and communications officer, are also in close proximity to the bridge, allowing them to get there at a moment's notice.

If the need arises, the area in the vicinity of the bridge is designed to be totally self sufficient: blast doors can seal off the area in the event of depressurization, recyclers can provide clean air and water for up to one week, and a small fusion generator can provide power for up to two weeks. If, past the one week of supplies, the rescue teams still have not reached them, the entire Ghtroc 720 can detach from it's mountings and fly to safety.

The bridge proper is actually built into the cargo hold of the Ghtroc. Nearly all available space was used, with comscan equipment, computer systems, consoles and display panels crowding the hold. Since the ship's power generator would have a tough time powering the multitude of equipment, most power is drawn from the base's power generators. The bridge is no different from the bridge on a capital ship, with the exception of viewports. It is usually run in near blackout conditions - easier for the crew to read their consoles. Ambient light comes in the form of faint red lights in the ceiling, providing just enough light to prevent people from tripping, but not enough to read by. The constant red ambience gives the bridge a spooky atmosphere - most crew members avoid the bridge.

STATS: The Bridge

The Armament

If an enemy manages, through whatever twist of fate, to get through the asteroid field, it still has one major obstacle to contend with: The Gauntlet's own defensive weaponry. Placed strategically around the asteroid are sixteen quad laser cannons specially calibrated for fast moving starfighters. The sixteen quads were salvaged from a Lancer Frigate that had been destroyed by a Rebel task force and had gone unsalvaged for some time. They are mounted on tracks, allowing them to be completely retracted into the asteroid and concealed by a blast door - hiding the asteroid's true nature. Being specifically calibrated to shoot at starfighters, the quads were the perfect weapons against starfighters. To keep the considerable fire arcs they had on the Lancer frigate, the quads were kept attached to their pylons, which were then attached to the turrets themselves. Inside the turret, the gunner has three monitors that keep him in constant awareness with his weapon. The center monitor displays the target tracking display - essentially the view from the weapon itself crossed with a targeting array and lock on sequence. The left monitor is a touchpad and displays the weapon information, including power usage, damage sustained, system integrity and the like. The right monitor is also a touchpad. It displays the sensor reading of the immediate area, allowing the gunner to choose his next target with a simple touch of the screen, and keep him informed about the battle in the vicinity of his turret. A moving chair allows the gunner to access the multitude of dials and gauges in his turret.

Though not technically considered weapons, the tractor beam projectors inside the hangar bay do serve an important role. Without them, moving around the hangar bay would be an extremely hazardous task for anything larger than a freighter.

A passive form of defense utilized by the base comes in the form of space mines. Fifty modified pellet mines are scattered not-so-randomly outside of the asteroid field. They serve two purposes - both described in detail elsewhere in this document.

STATS: The Listening Posts

The Armory

About the size of one of the base's cargo holds, the armory is where all weaponry is stored. It is guarded around the clock by two modified Rim Securities K4 security droids and manned by a quartermaster droid. Getting a weapon from the armory is a relatively simple process. You walk in to the armory, past the two K4 security droids, and up to the quartermaster. Here you make your choice, and depending on whether you have the required clearance, you are given your weapon. Most pirates and crew members can not request anything larger than a blaster carbine. Only boarding party officers can requisition repeaters, explosives and grenades. The armory contains a little bit of everything: from holdout blasters to a pair of 100-Kiloton nuclear warheads. Of course, the nukes require the highest clearance to remove: namely that of Commander K'tar.

A brief list of the contents of the armory, sorted by category:

Blaster: Hold out - 50 pieces
Blaster: Pistol: Small - 175 pieces
Blaster: Pistol: Medium - 175 pieces
Blaster: Pistol: Large - 150 pieces
Blaster: Carbine: All - 500 pieces
Blaster: Repeater: Light - 25 pieces
Blaster: Repeater: Medium - 25 pieces
Blaster: Repeater: Heavy - 5 pieces
Slugthrower: All - 4 pieces
Explosives: Grenades: All - 250 pieces
Explosives: Thermal Detonators - 250 pieces
Explosives: Other - 25 pieces
Explosives: Nuclear - 2 pieces
Missiles: Anti tank/speeder - 15 pieces
Missiles: Anti aircraft - 5 pieces
Speeder Weaponry: All - 40 pieces
Starship Weaponry: Torpedoes: All - 150 pieces
Starship Weaponry: Blasters/Lasers - 25 pieces
Ammunition: Blaster Pistols: All - 2500 pieces
Ammunition: Blaster Carbines: All - 2750 pieces
Ammunition: Blaster Repeaters: All - 150 pieces
Generators: Blaster Repeaters: All - 5 pieces
Blaster Gas: Pistols: 500 pieces
Blaster Gas: Carbines: 500 pieces
Blaster Gas: Repeaters: 500 pieces
Other: 500 pieces

Nearly all of the weapons were 'acquired' during numerous attacks on shipping. If their hyperspace vectors were known, shipments that carried weapons and supplies were intercepted, yielding the greatest profit. This put a large hurt on the Rebellion, as most of their weapons and supplies shipments through the pirate's operating section of the Corellian Run Trade Route were 'liberated.' The Empire also hurt from shipping seizures in this region, but to a much lesser extent than the Rebellion.


Security

Security is one of the crucial elements in The Gauntlet since pirates and mercenaries aren't known for their devotion. With money on the line, the chance to make a lot of it is sometimes too much to resist. As such, property and assets must be protected. A squad of four six-man teams assisted by numerous droids provides this safe environment around the clock. Working on six-hour shifts, the squad stays mainly in 'the station' - the nickname for the centrally located security room. Patrols are performed by the twenty PSD-104 sentry droids - the security teams and the security droids do not patrol, they only respond to 'situations'. The sentry droids are designed to give new meaning to nosy: the stick their noses into everything, from someone spitting on the ground to robbery and murder, they float around making sure nothing out of the ordinary is going on and reporting everything they see. They send an activation code back to the station every five minutes, notifying it that they are functioning. If, for whatever reason, the activation code is not received, one of the K-4 security droids is sent to the sentry droid's last reported position to investigate. If a 'situation' is discovered, it is reported and the human security personnel, aided by more K-4's, respond quickly and decisively.

The K-4 security droids, while not delegated to patrol duty, have minimal patrol programming. The eight units assigned to 'exterior' duty - duty somewhere other than inside the station - patrol from room to room in their assigned area, interfacing with the PSD-104's and making their steady presence known. If attacked, or if they notice a crime in progress, they are empowered to interfere - with deadly force if need be. They are not unknown to dole out the maximum punishment for an infraction.

The security officers themselves are veteran boarders selected by K'tar himself for their loyalty and dedication. To keep their loyalty unquestionable, they are also the highest paid members of the Iron Fist - second only to the command crew of the capital ships. They wear black pants and shirts and carry a Merr-Sonn M-44 in a holster tied down to the thigh, so they can run after 'violators' without losing their weapon. A MilTech Back & Breast is standard equipment and worn whenever the officers are on duty. A patch on their left shoulder, the Iron Fist logo overtop of a six pronged star, and a gold stripe running vertically down the left side of their armor identifies them as security personnel. Besides the standard issue sidearm, security personnel also wear a utility belt. It contains, among other things, tie-tie's for prisoner restraint, a stun baton, two energy packs for their sidearm, a comlink, and a flashlight. Heavier weaponry and equipment are issued only in certain situations, with blaster carbines, gas grenades and masks, and MilTech helmets stored in the station's lockers.

Centrally placed in the base, the station room is about the size of the vault and has monitors on every wall, showing views from the one hundred or so security cameras in the base. Next to the vault and the armory, the station is the most heavily protected area in the base - six troopers and two K-4's tend to make it so. Of the three doors to the station the main one on the southern wall is open and unlocked at all times. The 'employee' entrance on the eastern wall is kept locked. The third door, on the western wall, leads to the brig and is also locked. The brig consists of five two man cells and one larger holding cell with a ten person capacity.

STATS: K-4 Security Droid
STATS: PSD-104 Sentry Droid
STATS: Typical Security Officer

The Vault

The vault is where all items of considerable value are kept: everything from cold hard credits to jewels and precious valuables. A sophisticated retinal, palm and voice scanner keeps the 10m wide, 15m long and 3m high vault secure. It is filled floor to ceiling with shelves and racks. In the back of the room is a smaller room containing actual credits. An electronically locked blast door helps three modified K4 security droids keep unauthorized personnel out. The lock is linked into a closed circuit datapad concealed in the wall beside the door. Whenever someone enters the vault, the time, date and the identity of the person entering is recorded in the datapad, allowing easy identification of who entered and when. In addition to the datapad, the three K4 droids are programmed to remember who entered and when, and also what they were carrying at entry and at exit. This makes it easy to identify the culprit when something goes missing. At present time only K'tar, V'lk and the Captains and XO's of the capital ships in the fleet have access to the vault.


Medical Facilities

The sick bay on The Gauntlet is nearly identical to ones found in Rebel bases. A half dozen bacta tanks line the western wall. A surgical unit, complete with prep and recovery room is through a door on the nothern wall. Two cybernetics stations are along the eastern wall, and four multipurpose stations (used for dental, minor surgery, etc) line the southern wall. In the center of the room is the control area: four 2-1B droids and two human doctors are always stationed here. A door on the eastern wall leads to the non-critical care ward: a room twice as large as the dormitories where the troops sleep. Separated into twenty 'rooms' by floor to ceiling cloth 'walls', the ward usually maxes out at 20 beds, though in an emergency the number can be nearly quadrupled by removing the walls and putting the beds side to side. A 2-1B droid is permanently stationed here, keeping an eye out on the patients. If needed, another droid or doctor is called in.


Sensors

Having knowledge of everything that goes on around you is extremely important, and The Gauntlet knows this fact well - being hidden inside a large asteroid field does wonders for incoming sensor signals, namely makes the base nearly impossible to detect for everyone except the most skilled. Like for incoming signals, asteroids also wreak havoc on outgoing signals: inside the asteroid field, The Gauntlet is nearly blind. This would not do, a solution had to be found. It was found in the form of space mines. At first it was decided to use escape pods with starship sensors installed inside them - until a crewer brought up a question: what if some Good Samaritan decides to pick up and 'rescue' the pods? They would immediately be privy to the fact that there is something not right in this system. After further brainstorming, another idea was proposed: use space mines with added starship sensors. This proved to be the ideal solution: space mines were extremely unlikely to be 'rescued' as most people turned and ran at the first sign of a mine, plus the sensor signals produced by the mines would be interpreted as targeting sweeps for the mine's weapons. After extensive research, it was decided to use low-tech mines instead of the new high-tech multi-use kind.

Each mine is essentially stock, with the only addition being the sensor array from a Koensayr Y-Wing and a tight band encrypted transmitter, which it uses to report activity to the base. They are set to scan in passive mode, with a search scan performed once every five minutes. The individual mines are timed so that there are at least five mines scanning the area at any given moment. If a target is detected, a focus scan is done to determine the identity of the ship. Reports are transmitted to base after every search scan, regardless of activity - or lack thereof.

The "mine" aspect of the mine is fully functional, albeit a little modified. Originally, any ship within 20 SU would trip the mine and cause it to detonate. This resulted in minimal damage to the target ship, as the pellets had a maximum effective range of 10SU - anything past that was easily absorbed by navigational shields or hull plating. With the addition of the sensors, the mines were modified to hold off detonating until the target was within a range designated by the targeting computer. The targeting computer uses the sensors to determine the type and size of the craft, the vector it is travelling at, it's current speed, and estimated distance it will close to. If the target is estimated to close to a certain distance, the mine will not detonate until that distance. If the pilot of the craft notices the mine and attempts to get away (and he is already closer than 10SU), the targeting computer will inform the mine that the distance to target has changed from decreasing to increasing, and the mine will detonate.

The mines have been described by crewers as a 'sand panther waiting for the perfect moment to strike.' It is not far from the truth. Despite this seemingly predatory instinct, the mines are set to not detonate unless the target closes to within 10SU - though the mines will wait if at all possible.

The mines perform two functions - both very well. They serve as the sensors of the base, and act as a passive, unmanned and expendable defense system.

STATS: The Listening Posts

Crew Quarters

Crew quarters are divided into clusters, or 'stacks' as the crew have taken to calling them. There are ten clusters, five on each side of the hangar bay. An access tunnel - actually a pressurized walkway through the hangar bay - connects the two sides. Each cluster contains fifteen dormitories capable of holding ten men each, a cafeteria, and showers and toilets. Each 'side' shares one recreation complex, with amenities such as a workout room, a small shooting range, sparring rings, as well as holovid players and computer access.


Cargo Holds

Huge rooms built alongside the hangar bay, the cargo holds are actually four huge 400m long by 50m wide and 25m tall caverns (two on each side of the hangar bay) with dividing doors built in. There are four dividing doors built into each room, creating five smaller (80x50x25m) rooms. These doors can be opened and closed at will, allowing items of variable length to be stored. In a pinch, the two "western" rooms can also serve as docking and repair bays, since their loading doors are large enough to accommodate nearly all freighters and some smaller capital ships. All of the twenty rooms are individually adjustable for gravity, pressurization and atmosphere. This allows the storage of nearly anything - including the most delicate of items such as computer cores.


Power & Utilities

A trio of Quadrex fusion generators powers The Gauntlet, though only two are used at a time - the other serves as a redundant backup in case the other two go down. Each of the generators run on a month-long cycle. Each generator is online for a maximum of two months before it is it's turn to be shut down. This alternating makes sure that all reactors are in working condition, and that the backup generator will not fail at an inopportune time because it has been idle. The fusion generators can use anything as an energy source, and the crew makes liberal use of this fact: garbage is thrown in and turned into energy - recycling in a sense. If more fuel is needed and garbage and other waste byproducts are not readily available, a mining ship is sent out into the asteroid field to bring back ore, which is then used for fuel.

Water and oxygen is recycled extensively on the base, with 'fresh' additions being made on a regular basis. Water is separated into two categories: drinking water and gray water. Drinking water is exactly that - clean, fresh drinking water. When recycled, drinking water is not turned into drinking water again. Instead, when it is recycled it is turned into gray water. Drinking water has to be replenished about once a month. Gray water is used for showers, toilets, and the like. It is cleaned thoroughly, and turned back into gray water. Though not actually 'gray' in appearance, it is said to be gray because it is not as 'pure' as drinking water - even though all traces of chemicals, soaps and bodily wastes are removed. About 95% of water is recovered during cleaning. The 5% waste produced in the cleaning of the gray water is sent to the reactors, where - like garbage - it is used as fuel.

Oxygen is scrubbed and reinserted into circulation just like gray water. Oxygen scrubbers, like water scrubbers, also leave a waste product - pure carbon. After the oxygen atoms are separated from the carbon atom in carbon dioxide, the carbon is pressed into sticks about 1cm in diameter and 10cm long. These sticks are then used as fuel rods in the fusion generator. Oxygen supplies slowly deplete, despite the scrubbing, and additional oxygen must be inserted into the system once a month to keep levels at an optimum.


Creator's Notes

Main

This is an original work by Ross Hedvicek