Chapter 2 - The Wheel

The lights of Hyperspace disappear as you enter the Besh Gorgon System, you are approaching The Wheel.

The Wheel is an enormous, circular hub-and-spoke style space station located on the Perlemian Trade Route near the outer edge of the Mid Rim. It is the center of an "immunity sphere," making its status under the Empire unique. Nominally, Imperial ships are not allowed at the station, and there is no formal Imperial presence. This makes the Wheel a popular destination for anyone avoiding the gaze of the Empire. It is a hub of economic activity, above board and below. It is also a major tourist destination, with popular casinos and entertainment zones.

There is plenty of space traffic, but a standard request for landing get's you a berth and in relatively short order you have landed and are secure to enter the station.

The Wheel looked massive from the outside, leaving your landing pad and entering into walkways you realize it is even more expansive. The population is mostly human, but a good 20% of the crowd is non-human with a noticable number of droids, if your the type who notices droids.

Dancy consults a hallway terminal for directions and then motions for you to follow her.

IsoTech is located deep in the Wheel’s cargo levels in the outer ring. The rented office is well-worn and well-used. It consists of several small rooms and the office suite is attached directly to the company’s two enormous cargo bays. A double-door cargo turbolift connects the two bays with one of the larger hangar bays several levels below.

Visitors to the office are greeted by the droid receptionist, CZ-13. "Cees" is friendly and efficient, but spends several minutes verifying your identities. The droid also pointedly closes and locks all of the doors until he completes Dancy's idenity check. He then leads you into Reom's office.


Reom is a blue-skinned Twi’lek male of supremely average, nondescript appearance.

Good of you to show up. Please, take a seat. Have you ever heard of the Sa Nalaor? It's a ship of legend out here, especially among smugglers, salvagers, and treasure seekers. Some say it's a Separatist treasury ship filled with cash or precious metals or secret technology, but it disappeared while fleeing Imperial pursuit to the edge of the Outer Rim at the end of the Clone Wars. Treasure hunters chase rumors occasionally, but no one has found it. Some never return.

As it happens, one of the Sa Nalaor's hyperspace message pods was recently found long dead near the Wheel and delivered to me. I'll understand if you think this is some kind of con game, but I want you to find the ship for me.

Here's the deal. This pod appears to have the last known location of the Sa Nalaor and limited information as to its condition. The ship is at the outer fringe of the Outer Rim. At a minimum, I want you to find the ship, assess its condition, and bring back all the information you can to our secret salvaging base on Raxus Prime. However, I also believe there’s some special technology aboard that would really boost IsoTech. If you find that and bring as much as you can back with you, I'll double your reward. Maybe triple it if it's really good.

You're to take IT-3PO with you,- he'll arrive shortly. Starting pay is 10,000 credits. If you skip out on me, and there was something to find, I've got the connections to make your life very difficult out here.

Remember to purchase equipment and supplies for yourself and possible survivors before you leave, here's a 5,000 credit voucher for that. The Wheel has plenty of shops, so you should find most everything you need. I’d also recommend asking around for more information, but be careful who you ask and how loudly. You never know who’s listening...

Well, to be honest, we're a Tech company. Sure, I've got a ship I might spare, but none of the staff are really trained for searching unknown planets beyond the Rim. Looking toward Pergano, I'm sure there are other interests after the ship, it's been a treasure hunters wild dream for nearly 15 years. Even though it's only been a few days since the Sa Nalaor's message pod was delivered to me, I'm sure someone has mentioned it on the station. We've increased our internal security but still, I'd be careful who you speak with.

To Ken he says, The rumors of 'special technology' are as varied as each hunters dreams. To be honest though, my father new the commander of that ship during the war. He said Captain Rel Harsol's last post was a Separatists R&D base. If they ran from the Empire, chances are they loaded what they could before taking off.

Pulling a data chip from his pocket he lays it on the table.

The message pod we received was sent from the Cholganna system, it's an uninhabited system just beyond the outer rim. The message was from Captain Harsol to my father Ropok. He was requesting rescue and survival gear, assuming they would survive a crash landing, apparently the ship was damaged fleeing the Empire. The data chip contains images of the the ship and Captain Harsol and the location of our base on Raxus Prime. The base is hidden from the Imperials, so please follow the indicated flight plan to keep from leading them to us. Reol, took a breath as he allowed what he'd just said to sink in.

My sister will be arriving this evening with IT-3PO, he's been functioning since before the Clone Wars and has met Captain Harsol. Hopefully that will help gain the Captain's trust that your really friends and not some random treasure hunters. Anything else before we end?

Reol shakes his head, Alas, we organics do not last as long as you Droids. Otherwise, I'm sure my father would run off to find Harsol. Sliding the data chip over toward Blih, Yes, the original message is on the chip as well. Standing up he motions toward the door.

As I said, my sister will bring IT-3PO to your hangar as soon as she arrives this evening, hopefully you will have everything in order and be ready to depart. Good hunting.

The group leaves the Iso-Tech offices and Reom to begin their preparations. Traveling 'inward' from the cargo and shipping area where Iso-Tech keeps it's offices, they are greeted with a bustling station. While most of the individuals are human, at least 20% are other species. They maneuver around and among each other creating a cacophony of sound and motion. You plunge into the crowd and soon reach Farlander's. Pulling up one of the Kiosk order screens, you quickly page though and select the gear you want.