Imperial Cruiser Vulture drops out of hyperspace at the rally point, meeting up with a convoy of four Action IV heavy freighters. In command, Lt. Commander Bulloch orders it's flight of TIE fighters into space, taking up a patrol pattern around the larger vessel. Contrary to popular myth, space is not empty. It is full of wondrous things - dust clouds, gas nebulae, radiation-emitting stars as small as a house plant and as large as the mind can imagine. And pirates. There're also pirates. "...zzzzttttchhh..." A com-signal, badly degraded broadcasts over a wide band a full light-minute out.