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- "Long live Azzameen Home Base!"
- ―MK-09
Azzameen Station, also known as Azzameen Home Base, was the space station residence of the Azzameen family and the headquarters for its trading company, Twin Suns Transport Services, during the Galactic Civil War. Located in orbit of a volcanic planet in the Outer Rim Territories, the station hosted a number of amenities for the Azzameens and their company's employees, including a holosimulator and a hangar large enough to store and service several YT-series light freighters, including the family's twin YT-1300s, Sabra and Selu, and the YT-2000 Otana. Azzameen Station's design was unique in the galaxy, with its distinctive semi-circular arms flanking a tall central tower.
Shortly after the war's pivotal Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY, family patriarch Tomaas Azzameen thought it time to teach his youngest son, Ace, the family business. Assisted by his siblings throughout his piloting training, Ace conducted a number of missions from Azzameen Station. During Ace's training, Tomaas, sympathetic to the Rebel Alliance's cause, planned to covertly deliver a black-market supply of the healing substance bacta to the Alliance XQ2 Platform Hospital and requested his family's help. However, the delivery ended disastrously for the Azzameens, who lost Tomaas and his eldest son, Galin, in the ensuing battle; the Azzameens, labeled traitors to the Galactic Empire for their actions, were forced to flee the family's holdings, including Azzameen Home Base, which were captured and turned over to Viraxo Industries, a competing trading company allied with the Empire.
Later, the station was occupied by a collection of mercenaries who renamed it Falcon's Nest and erected a number of static defenses to protect the unarmed structure. After the mercenaries interrupted a meeting between the Alliance and the Bothan Spynet, the Rebels requested members of the Azzameen family to find the mercenary base. Ace, now a decorated starfighter pilot in the Alliance Fleet, and his sister, Aeron, tracked the mercenary bulk cruiser Redhawk to Falcon's Nest. Upon arrival, the Azzameens were shocked to realize it was their old home. Acting on this information, the Alliance launched a mission to liberate the station from the mercenary group, in which Ace participated alongside his civilian siblings, Aeron and Emon. After the destruction of the external defenses, an Alliance strike team captured Falcon's Nest, and Aeron thwarted the mercenaries' attempt to destroy the station. With the mercenaries routed, the Alliance took control of the station. As thanks for the Azzameens' continued assistance, Azzameen Station was returned to the family, who restored its original moniker.
Description
- "No place in the galaxy looks like our old home."
- ―MK-09
Azzameen Station was a unique[2] orbital space station produced by VenteX Construction Yards and suspended over a volcanic planet[1] in a star system[4] of the Outer Rim's[3] Garis sector.[4] The station was owned and operated by the Azzameen family, successful traders who often referred to the station as Azzameen Home Base. It functioned both as a home for the Azzameens and as a base of operations for their shipping company, Twin Suns Transport Services.[1] In all, the station housed 120 crew members and had a passenger capacity of 325 beings.[1] Members of the Azzameen family were quite fond of their Home Base and spent much of their time aboard it. Family patriarch Tomaas Azzameen's youngest child, Ace, spent his entire life on the station prior to his employment with Twin Suns Transport Services.[2]
Azzameen family transports Selu and Sabra parked in Azzameen Station's hangar
Measuring 1.45 kilometers, Azzameen Station's structure was largely semi-circular: A tall, steeply-sloping tower, located between the station's two flanking crescent-shaped arms, extended both dorsally and ventrally from Azzameen Station's central horizontal plane, forming a cross-like shape when facing the station's fore. The central tower structure's most prominent feature was a large hangar capable of holding the family's numerous YT-series Corellian transports as well as various types of cargo containers. The station's hangar was equipped to install various weapon payloads, warhead countermeasures, and other starship devices on landed ships. At the hangar's mouth sat a landing platform. On the top of the tower, flanked on either side by two thin spires, sat a docking port that allowed crew members to enter the station from a docked starship. Each of the station's two arms contained various mooring points that larger craft, such as a modular conveyor, could utilize to dock with the station. A tower was positioned at the end of each of the two flanking arm structures.[1]
The station was protected by a deflector shield generator rated at 1920 SBD and had a hull rating of 1664 RU. The station's communications systems allowed it to contact ships in the immediate vicinity.[1] The station itself was unarmed[2] and relied on static defenses and starfighter protection in an attack. A tractor beam projector assisted pilots with landing their ships in the station's main hangar. Azzameen Station included a central computer and a communications datacore, which stored all communications entering and leaving the station. In addition, a holosimulator was kept aboard Azzameen Home Base,[1] which Ace Azzameen frequently used to improve his piloting skills.[2]
As a result of the family company's longstanding feud with fellow shipping conglomerate Viraxo Industries as well as the Imperialization of Azzameen assets by the Galactic Empire following a failed Azzameen supply run for the Alliance to Restore the Republic, control of the station was turned over to a mercenary group, which renamed it Falcon's Nest.[1] Under mercenary ownership, the station's interior was kept unkempt,[2] and bombs were installed into the station's wiring to prevent it from changing hands again. These bombs could be dismantled by someone with knowledge of the station's systems.[1]
History
Azzameen Home Base
- "It was a cheerful day at Azzameen Home Base."
- ―MK-09, after the Azzameen assault on Viraxo 54
The Otana and one of the family's YT-1300 freighters leave Azzameen Station.
Built by VenteX Construction Yards,[1] Azzameen Station entered the Azzameen family's possession sometime significantly prior to 3 ABY.[5] The space station was placed into orbit over a volcanic planet, located in a system of the Garis sector[4] in the Outer Rim Territories.[3] The Azzameens—family patriarch Tomaas and his four children, Galin, Emon, Aeron, and Ace—used Azzameen Station as their home, earning the orbital station the moniker Azzameen Home Base, as well as the headquarters for the family's successful trading company, Twin Suns Transport Services. The Azzameens stored and serviced their two YT-1300 light freighters, the Selu and the Sabra, as well as the YT-2000 light freighter Otana, in the station's main hangar.[1] These duties as well as general upkeep and cleaning often fell to the family's maintenance droid, MK-09, known as Emkay. Some of the Azzameens used the station as a permanent residence. Ace, the youngest of Tomaas's four children, had lived his entire life aboard Azzameen Station prior to his employment with Twin Suns Transport Services.[2] The family often used the station as a rally point for deliveries, ferrying cargo to and from their home base.[1]
After narrowly escaping from the ice planet Hoth[1] in 3 ABY at the outbreak of the Battle of Hoth[6]—a pivotal engagement in the Galactic Civil War, fought between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic—Tomaas used Azzameen Station to repair the Otana, which had sustained some damage while fleeing the Hoth system, as his brother, Antan, had denied the ship access to Twin Suns Transport Service's repair facility, Twin Suns Station. Shortly after his escape from Hoth, Tomaas decided it was time for his youngest son to learn the family trade. Azzameen Station served as the staging ground for a multitude of training missions for Ace, including a delivery to the XQ1 Platform Harlequin Station and a combat exercise.[1]
During Ace's training, his sister, Aeron, accidentally deleted records for three of the family's cargo storage areas and had to rebuild them by inspecting the containers manually. She and Ace departed Azzameen Station to perform the inspection, eventually discovering a container filled with illicit spice left by Viraxo Industries, a rival shipping company, in order to frame the Azzameen family. Aeron retrieved the contraband and brought it back to Azzameen Station. Using the container of spice, Antan devised a plan of retribution against the Viraxo for their continued meddling in Azzameen affairs. He dispatched Ace, Aeron, and Emon to the Viraxo cargo facility Viraxo 54 to instigate a feud between the Viraxo and their Imperial allies. Antan's mission was not fully completed and cost the family the Selu,[1] though the Azzameens managed to escape back to Azzameen Home Base and considered the day a success.[2]
A family dispersed
- "Our involvement with the Rebellion has cost us dearly. The Empire has declared the Azzameen family to be traitors and issued warrants for our arrest. Imperial authorities have ordered the forfeiture of all Azzameen family assets. Before the Empire can seize everything, we will try to save what we can."
- ―MK-09 shares grim news with Ace
A later mission, led by Tomaas, to supply the Rebel XQ2 Platform Hospital with a black-market supply of the healing substance bacta also failed. During the cargo transfer, an Imperial task force led by Admiral Garreth Holtz arrived and engaged the Alliance and Azzameen forces present at the hospital. The resulting battle proved disastrous for the Azzameens, as the family lost its GR-75 medium transport, Vasudra. Tomaas and Galin, who were aboard the ship, were presumed to have perished. The surviving Azzameens involved in the battle, Ace and Emon, escaped the system and returned to Azzameen Home Base with the news of the family's apparent loss.[1]
A squad of spacetroopers enters the booby-trapped hangar.
Shortly after the battle at Hospital, the Empire issued warrants for the arrests of Azzameen family members[2] and the seizure of all Azzameen assets due to the family's ties to the Rebellion as well as its multiple altercations with the Imperial-aligned Viraxo Industries, including the mission at Viraxo 54. Antan Azzameen, now the chief officer of Twin Suns Transport Services,[1] ordered both Azzameen Station and Twin Suns Station evacuated.[2] Antan also instructed Ace and Aeron to fetch a container of warheads and the contents of the family safe aboard the emptying Twin Suns Station, while he and Emon left Azzameen Station to retrieve supplies from one of the family's storage yards. The family parted ways at Azzameen Station, intending to regroup there before leaving for a safe place that Antan had arranged.[1]
While Ace and Aeron were able to successfully collect the materials and return to the rally point at the evacuated family base, Antan was captured by the Viraxo.[1] Emon escaped and made his way back to Azzameen Station, where he relayed the news.[2] The trio argued the best option to take—as Antan never revealed the location to where he had planned to escape—while opportunistic Viraxo ships arrived near Azzameen Station, intending to capture the station themselves. Though the family managed to keep Azzameen Home Base secure from the Viraxo starfighters, the entry of Admiral Holtz aboard the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Corrupter forced the Azzameens to finally abandon the system and seek asylum with the Alliance Fleet.[1]
After the Azzameens' flight, a boarding party of Imperial Zero-G assault stormtroopers approached the station's hangar, where they fell prey to the Azzameen family's final stand: The hangar, rigged with explosives, detonated upon their entry. Despite the sabotage, the station itself was largely unscathed and fell under Imperial control nonetheless.[1] Upon their capture of Azzameen Station, the Empire deemed it and its sector off-limits to civilian traffic[2] and gave provisional control of Azzameen Station as well as the Azzameen's other facilities to Viraxo Industries. During Azzameen Station's occupation, the family's communications datacore was removed from the station and sent to Junkyard Control, though a later Azzameen mission recovered it for the data stored within.[1]
Falcon's Nest
- "Okay, we're here. There's the Redhawk…and there's…our home. This can't be right…Emkay?"
"I've double-checked the coordinates, there is no doubt."
"Our home has become a base for mercenaries?!" - ―Aeron and MK-09, shocked at the fate of their former home
Sometime between the Imperial capture of Azzameen Station in 3 ABY[7] and the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY,[6] a collection of mercenaries took control of the former Azzameen home and renamed it Falcon's Nest. To protect the station, the mercenaries erected a number of static defense platforms around Falcon's Nest and employed a starfighter complement of Preybird-class and IRD starfighters. The mercenaries also hardwired a number of explosive devices into the station's wiring. These bombs were set to detonate if Falcon's Nest changed ownership again and could only be deactivated by someone with existing knowledge of the station's onboard systems. The bulk cruiser Redhawk, under the mercenaries' employ, occasionally visited the space station, as would Antan Azzameen, who had been rescued from his earlier Viraxo capture by the surviving Azzameens. Without the knowledge of the rest of his family—with whom he had been conducting missions since his escape—Antan made contact with Falcon's Nest in an attempt to restore Twin Suns Transport Services to its former standing by cooperating with the mercenaries and their Imperial connections. During these proceedings, Antan docked his ship, the Action IV transport Big Score, with Falcon's Nest.[1]
Mercenaries renamed their newly acquired space station Falcon's Nest.
The Imperials had noticed an opportunity to sow distrust within the Rebel Alliance based on damage caused by the Hurrim, a pirate group that betrayed a brief alliance with the Rebellion. The Empire contacted the mercenaries at Falcon's Nest shortly after the destruction of the Hurrim and instructed them to interrupt a key meeting between the Alliance and a contact from the Bothan Spynet, an intelligence agency operated by Bothans with key information that the Alliance needed. Though the mission's main focus was the capture of Borsk Fey'lya, leader of the Bothan Spynet, the Imperials were more focused on the mission's potential to strain relations between two species whose contributions to the Rebel Alliance were crucial: the Bothans and Sullustans, the latter being the supposed employers of the mercenary group. The mercenaries failed to capture Fey'lya. However, the Alliance managed to apprehend one of the mercenary operatives, who claimed to be working for the Sullustans, thereby creating the desired tension as the Empire instructed.[1]
The Alliance, frustrated with the constant involvement of mercenary groups in its affairs but unable to allocate the necessary resources into finding their base of operations, requested Ace, now a decorated Alliance pilot; Aeron; and MK-09 to locate the base in an unofficially-sanctioned mission. The Alliance gave the Azzameen duo, flying together in the family's Otana, the coordinates to the Redhawk's last known location, gathered from the captured operative, who claimed that the bulk cruiser contained the location of the mercenary base known as Falcon's Nest in its navigation computer. The Azzameens successfully intercepted the Redhawk at the cargo platform Cargo Station and downloaded the suspected coordinates before heading off to what they expected to be the mercenary base. However, the coordinates had been falsified and led the Azzameens instead to a weapons testing range in the Carida system. Soon after the departure of the Azzameens' ship, the Redhawk departed for the correct location of Falcon's Nest.[1]
After narrowly avoiding the live fire of five Star Destroyers located in the Carida system, the Otana returned to Cargo Station to find that the bulk cruiser had left. Figuring that the Redhawk would have returned to the mercenary base, the Azzameens sliced through Cargo Station's departure records and discovered the location of the Redhawk's flight. The Otana followed the trail and emerged from hyperspace just out of range of Falcon's Nest—which the Azzameens immediately recognized as their former home.[1] After processing the shock of seeing their home converted to a mercenary base and verifying the station's identity with a quick scan,[2] the Azzameens left as the mercenaries of Falcon's Nest began to scramble their defense force. When the Otana returned to the Alliance Fleet, Ace and Aeron reported their findings.[1]
Azzameen Station once more
- "Let's go, Azzameens! Homeward bound."
"Cut the dramatics, Emon, and stick with us, okay?" - ―Emon and Aeron, en route to recapture their old home
The Alliance was determined to strike back at the mercenaries and cease their operations after receiving the data on Falcon's Nest. Due to the Azzameens' familiarity with the station, they were asked to join the Rebel strike force, though Ace was the only Azzameen enlisted. The civilian Azzameens agreed, offering their own ships in the battle.[1] Ace joined them, flying for the Alliance in a brand new B-wing starfighter.[2] The strike force, consisting of a group of B-wings; a group of X-wing starfighters; Emon's Firespray-31-class starship, Andrasta; the Otana; and the assault transport Storm Unit, departed from the MC80 Star Cruiser Liberty and began the assault on Falcon's Nest after a brief trip through hyperspace.[1]
The liberation of Azzameen Station
The mercenary Preybird and IRD starfighters as well as the present Redhawk moved to engage the approaching Rebellion forces. As the X-wing starfighters intercepted the mercenary ships, the B-wings targeted the station's static defenses in order to clear a path for Storm Unit's approach. As they engaged enemy forces, Aeron and Emon noted the presence of their uncle Antan's Big Score docked at the mercenary base. Antan, seeing the upcoming battle, fled the system without replying to any of his relatives' inquiries. The Azzameens were unable to pursue their uncle due to their mission, though Aeron assured her brothers that she would be contacting him after the battle was over.[1] Ace destroyed the gun emplacements,[2] and the B-wing group disabled Falcon's Nest, allowing Storm Unit to begin its approach. As Storm Unit entered the system and moved to Falcon's Nest, the mercenary group's Marauder-class corvette Plague and another group of IRD starfighters arrived and began attacking the assault transport. Ace piloted his B-wing to intercept the incoming starfighters and destroyed them, allowing Storm Unit to land in the hangar of Falcon's Nest.[1] As a team of Alliance commandos disembarked from the assault transport and fought its way through the station, the Alliance strike force destroyed the Redhawk, the Plague, and the rest of the mercenary starfighters.[2]
The commandos took control of the station soon after. The capture triggered a countdown to the destruction of Falcon's Nest due to the mercenary group's efforts to keep the station from falling out of its possession, which the commando team reported to the rest of the Alliance strike force. Aeron piloted the Otana to a dorsal access port and docked her YT-2000 freighter there just as a group of GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats entered the system and began attacking the docked freighter. As Aeron moved swiftly to the commando team to assist in disarming the explosives in Falcon's Nest's wiring, the Rebel starfighters engaged and dispatched the oncoming Skipray Blastboats, giving Aeron the time needed to reach the commandos.[1] Due to her knowledge of the space station's internal systems, Aeron managed to stop the station's destruction with merely seconds remaining.[2] With the mercenary force defeated and the station in Alliance hands, the group returned to the Liberty. As a way of saying thanks for the family's continued service, including its actions against the mercenary base, the Alliance gave control of the freshly liberated station back to the Azzameens.[1]
Returned to its former moniker,[2] Azzameen Home Base served as a meeting place for the Azzameens as signs of mercenary occupation were removed from the station. Eventually, Antan called a family meeting with Emon, Aeron, and Ace to discuss his reasons for appearing at the station during the Alliance's assault. After a tense argument, Antan revealed that he was working with the mercenaries to secure the freedom of Tomaas and Galin—whom Antan claimed had not perished in the Vasudra's destruction and instead were being held at Kessel Station, a maximum-security space prison orbiting Kessel—even though working for the mercenaries, and thus the Empire, meant working against the Rebel Alliance. Using the knowledge of the pair's supposed location, Antan pitched a rescue attempt; though reluctant, Tomaas's children agreed that family was most important, and, at Antan's insistence, the group left Azzameen Station and made its way to the Kessel system. However, once there, they found that Antan's claim was a lie and that he had led them into an Imperial trap. The Azzameen children barely managed to escape Antan's treachery with the help of family friend Dunari and fled to the sanctuary of the Rebel Fleet.[1]
Inhabitants
- "In the name of Emperor Palpatine, the personnel on this station and all ships in the area are under arrest. Cease your flight, and return to the platform at once…or be destroyed."
- ―The Imperialization of Azzameen Home Base
The Imperial Star Destroyer Corrupter approaches Azzameen Station.
Azzameen Station primarily served as a home for the Azzameen family, comprising Tomaas Azzameen and his four children: Galin, Emon, Aeron, and Ace, as well as Tomaas's brother, Antan. The family's MK-series maintenance droid, MK-09, known as Emkay, lived with the Azzameens aboard the station as well.[1] Acting as the station's caretaker, the droid formed a close bond with the youngest of Tomaas's children, Ace, and spent enough time with the Azzameens that he considered himself a part of their family.[2] Due to its use as the family's home, the station was often referred to as Azzameen Home Base. The Azzameens' residence was also used as the headquarters for the family's trading company, Twin Suns Transport Services, and housed 120 crewmembers with a capacity of over 300 passengers.[1]
When arrest warrants for the Azzameens were issued, they left their home as the Empire descended upon it and their trading facility. The Empire turned over the abandoned and captured station to the Viraxo. Sometime later, the station ended up in the possession of a mercenary group that renamed it Falcon's Nest. These mercenaries used the former Azzameen Station as their base, striking out from it while conducting a mission for the Empire against the Rebel Alliance. Their actions spurred a counterattack against the mercenaries, who were eventually driven out of their base by a joint Alliance and Azzameen assault. Once the space station was liberated, the Alliance gave it back to the Azzameen family,[1] who returned it to its former name.[2]
Behind the scenes
- "Hope you've gotten comfortable living away from home, Ace. There's no reason to ever come back here again."
- ―Aeron Azzameen laments a non-canonical mission failure, such as the destruction of Azzameen Station, during the station's liberation
Azzameen Station appeared in Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance,[1] the fourth installment in the X-Wing series of computer games,[8] released in February 1999.[9] The station serves a twofold purpose in acting as a menu for players to access parts of the game as well as featuring in missions as a setting and goal.[1] Aside from the game's accompanying Prima strategy guide,[2] the station would not be referenced again until the online companion to[4] the 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas[3] established Azzameen Station's location in the Garis sector.[4]
In each mission in which Azzameen Station appears, the player can attack the station. While most missions restrict the player from outright destroying it, some missions, including the station's liberation, allow the destruction of Azzameen Station.[1]
Appearances
- Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance (First appearance)
Sources
- Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
XWA: Characters on LucasArts.com (content now obsolete; backup link) (Picture only)- The Essential Atlas
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.37 1.38 1.39 1.40 1.41 1.42 1.43 1.44 1.45 1.46 1.47 1.48 1.49 1.50 1.51 1.52 1.53 1.54 1.55 1.56 1.57 1.58 1.59 1.60 1.61 1.62 1.63 1.64 1.65 1.66 1.67 1.68 1.69 1.70 1.71 1.72 1.73 1.74 1.75 1.76 1.77 1.78 Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Essential Atlas
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6
Star Wars: The Essential Atlas Online Companion on StarWars.com (article) (backup link (atlas) not verified!)—Based on corresponding data for Azzameen Station system
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The events of Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance begin shortly after the Battle of Hoth, which The New Essential Chronology dates to 3 ABY. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance: Prima's Official Strategy Guide states that Ace Azzameen lived his entire life aboard the station. As Ace is old enough to enlist in the Alliance to Restore the Republic by 3 ABY, the Azzameens must have owned the station long enough for Ace to reach an appropriate enlistment age.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The New Essential Chronology
- ↑ The events of Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance involving the capture of Azzameen Station take place after the Battle of Hoth but before the Battle of the Bajic Shipyards. This time period corresponds to the year 3 ABY, according to The New Essential Chronology.
- ↑
Star Wars X-Wing / Tie Fighter series on MobyGames
- ↑ Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance for Windows (1999) on MobyGames