GemDiver Station

GemDiver Station was a space station that orbited the planet Yavin. It was constructed in 23 ABY by Lando Calrissian as a Corusca mining operation. Though there were previous space stations like it, GemDiver Station was the only operation of its kind at the time it was constructed, because financing such an operation was initially extremely expensive. Yavin was also the only planet where Corusca gems could be found.

Atmosphere
Despite its industrial nature, GemDiver Station's interior attempted to be pleasing to aesthetic sensibilities. The walls of the station were painted with soft pastels and were decorated with optical tubes that had been shaped into various designs. Additionally, sounds that occurred in nature were continuously played over the intercom, even during emergencies. It's likely that Calrissian intended to generate a "peaceful" atmosphere in GemDiver Station as a counterpoint to the Yavin's chaotic storms.

Upper levels and control bridge
The upper levels of GemDiver Station housed the control bridge, offices, and docking bays. The upper observation protruded from the main body of GemDiver Station. It housed the station's control bridge, from which command of the station's various functions was maintained. The bridge had an all-encompassing view, which was only somewhat abridged by narrow rectangular viewports. The deck of the control bridge contained a sealed armor case which held blasters for use in case of an emergency.

Corusca gem mining
GemDiver Station orbited Yavin as close as was safely possible to facilitate its Corusca gem mining activities. As a result of its proximity, the station was double-hulled. The lower levels (also known as the security level) housed its mining and shipping operations.

GemDiver Station utilized Fast Hand, a Submersible Mining Environment to mine Corusca gems in the lower reaches of the atmosphere of Yavin. The size of the gems had a positive correlation with the depth of the atmosphere. However, so did the strength of the Yavin's atmospheric storms, so in addition to having a thin sheet of quantum armor, Fast Hand was also attached at all times to GemDiver Station by an energy tether.

Calrissian employed a number of contractors known as corusca fishermen to mine the upper atmosphere of Yavin as well. Calrissian supported their operations in return for a percentage of what they caught. Despite the fact that they would only find smaller Corusca gems and Corusca dust there, he still considered it well worth the effort because even Corusca dust had a good value.

Shipping
In the shipping chamber of GemDiver Station, copper-colored, multi-armed droids would pack newly mined gems into automated cargo pods. Once they were packed, the pods were sent to Calrissian's broker on Borgo Prime. The broker sold them and collected a small percentage of the profit.

Had he not been dealing in Corusca gems, Calrissian's broker would have demanded a higher percentage, but the extremely high value of the gems helped Calrissian get him to settle for less. However, like many other brokers, Calrissian's broker was usually unwilling to divulge the identity of the people whom he was selling to, fearing that he'd lose his status as a middleman. He was not immune to bribes, however.

Security
Because of the high value of Corusca gems and the financial risk involved in mining them, Calrissian placed a premium on security in his operation. In addition to armed security personnel, he took a number of additional measures to protect GemDiver Station in case of an attack.

Before even docking with the station, a ship needed to pass through a perimeter of dozens of automated defensive satellites. Every ship that approached the station was greeted with the sight of the satellites powering up their weapons and training their weapons on the possible intruder. If the ship did not broadcast an access authorization code, the satellites would attack it.

The security level, where the shipping and mining operations were housed, was guarded by heavy, armored triple doors, which would only open with a person who had the correct code clearance. Droids were the only personnel which loaded the automated cargo pods, which were equipped with self-targeting lasers.

Despite all the security measures that Calrissian had put in place, they were proven to be useless during the Second Imperium's Raid on GemDiver Station. The perimeter of defensive satellites proved to be insufficient to deal with the ion cannons and lasers of four Skipray blastboats. The double-armored hull was breached by a modified Imperial Assault Shuttle sporting industrial grade Corusca gems, which somewhat ironically, had been mined at GemDiver Station.

The doors guarding the shipping chamber were breached by a heavy-duty laser. Additionally, the protestations emitted by one of the packing droids did not prevent it from being gratuitously blasted into scrap by a stormtrooper.

In the aftermath of the raid by the Second Imperium, Calrissian and his cyborg assistant Lobot attempted to find ways to improve GemDiver Station's security, one of which involved Corusca gems in some way. It is not known what the rest of these were, nor whether any of them were implemented.

Appearances

 * Young Jedi Knights: Shadow Academy

Estación Buscadora de Gemas