Origins

The actual birth of the Morning Star goes back to before the Battle of Endor and the establishment of the New Republic. It had been obvious for some time that the Mon Calamari cruisers, while formidable craft, were limited by their original construction as luxury liners. There was only so much that could be done to make them battleworthy. Furthermore, the shipyards would soon run out of vessels to convert. Admiral Ackbar and the other leaders of the fleet decided that a new standard had to be set. The new ships would look much the same as the other Mon Calamari cruisers, but the interior would be built to military specifications. The weapons and other systems would be designed into the spaceframe from the start.

The Battle of Endor only increased the Alliance's need for new capital ships; several of the old-style cruisers, including the renowned CRS Liberty, were destroyed or severely damaged in that battle. The Morning Star's keel had been laid only days before. Five months later, the victory at Brentaal IV and the completion of work on Morning Star's sister ship, CRS Vigilant, allowed more resources to be allocated to her construction. Three weeks later the Morning Star was launched and set out on a shakedown cruise before its commissioning.

The new cruiser proved to be difficult for the shakedown crew. Previous ships had been patched-together refits; here, the Mon Calamari designers had been asked to fully integrate modern military technology with their traditional shipbuilding techniques, with varying degrees of success. Some systems performed to their rated spec, but were difficult for non-Calamari to operate. After a few weeks of testing, the engineers managed to get all the major systems working properly and the rest of the crew had mostly adapted to the ship's quirks. Morning Star was declared fit for duty and ordered to Sluis Van to take on her regular crew.

New Home

The Battle of Tynna marked a dramatic change for both Red and Blue Squadron. Following the loss of their command ship, the ISD Happy Jack, Blue had to temporarily share the same hangar with Red aboard the battered FRG Regis. The Regis was itself in need of some dock time. So, per orders from Admiral Ackbar, the Morning Star was named the new command ship of both Red and Blue Squadrons. When the Regis' repairs were complete, the frigate - now fully dedicated to training new pilots - joined the cruiser as an escort.

Many of the shakedown crew were permanently assigned to the ship, with the remaining spots filled by survivors of the Happy Jack and a few transfers from the Regis. Dave Ru'kaart, former skipper of the Happy Jack, was given command of the Morning Star.

The Morning Star - outfitted with a full crew, an army contingent, and starfighter squadrons - awaited its first mission in service to the New Republic. No one knew for sure just what lay ahead, but with the power of an advanced Mon Calamari starship at their command, the odds of success looked very good.

Joining the Fleet

The Morning Star, along with its support ships the Frigate Regis and the Corellion Corvette Summer, where assigned to the Third Fleet under the Command of Vice Admiral Corben Ull. The Third Fleet’s primary duties have been to safeguard the shipyards captured from the Imperials at Anaxes. The bulk of the Third Fleet maintained a defensive presence near the shipyards and its surrounding systems. The Morning Star and her support ships, however, carried out roaming patrols that often take them away from the fleet for long periods of time.

On a few occasions, elements of the Third Fleet have backed up the Morning Star on certain missions but for most occasions the Morning Star along with Red and Blue Squadrons have been more than able to handle themselves.

Uncertain Times Ahead

For over a year and a half the Morning Star and those aboard her have been fighting the Imperials. There have been many casualties along the way, most of them being in the starfighter squadrons. At times the squadrons have had to run below squadron strength due to pilots either being killed or being reassigned.

Recently both squadrons were made up to full fighting strength with new recruits filling the empty pilot slots; however, this didn’t last for long.

Imperial forces invaded the planet of Balfron in the Dolomar Sector. The Imperials were trying to reoccupy the planet after being forced off six months earlier by Alliance forces and the local population.

Fierce fighting in space and on the ground left both squadrons with casualties, with Blue Squadron suffering the highest numbers. Command deemed that Blue Squadron was no longer combat effective and disbanded it. Several survivors from Blue Squadron transferred over to Red Squadron to help replenish their numbers.

For now, Fleet Command has left Red Squadron onboard the Morning Star. There are no plans for re-activating Blue Squadron at this time.