Lahara Patrol Attacked, Jedi to Send Aid

OUTER RIM NODE – Separatist extremists opened fire on a Space Rescue Corp patrol cutter on the borders of the Lahara sector yesterday, prompting an emergency Jedi taskforce to be dispatched to the area.

The Iron Tether was strafed by a quartet of Subpro C-73 Tracker starfighters backed by a modified Corellian freighter despite transmitting its identifying telesponder signal and flying its recognizable red and black hull colors.

“When the engagement began, there may have been the off-chance the Separatists didn’t recognize the vessel as a Rescue Corp ship,” said Corps Director Rowen Foce, “but once they closed to attack, there’s no way they could have missed the markings. An attack on an unarmed rescue ship is nothing short of barbaric.”

The Tether was on a routine patrol mission of a dense nebulosity known as the Cowl Crucible, a deep space phenomena that straddles the Lahara and Oricho sector borders. Ships often suffer unexpected hyperspace reversions by passing too close to the Crucible, becoming stranded and in need of aid.

As the Tether continued its survey, it traveled closer to the Lahara sector border, an area of space that has since seceded from the Republic. Apparently without warning, the Separatist vessels attacked the Tether.

“The cutter had its shields overloaded and sustained damage to its hull and hyperdrive. To hinder pursuit, its captain was forced to take cover within the Crucible. Because of the damage to the shielding, the crew was exposed to dangerous levels of radiation while in hiding. Thankfully, no one was killed by the exposure, but the crew is currently undergoing antirad treatment,” Foce told reporters today.

A taskforce led by Jedi Master Darrin Arkanian has been dispatched to the distant Oricho sector to patrol the border and offer security to travelers on the Republic-side of the border.