Foreward

I couldn't leave the Explorer series as it was. Not with a ship that had finally made a name for itself that stood out in everyone's minds when they thought of UNSF, along with names like Stealthlon, Force, and DaNastie.  So I decided that an Explorer-A was in order, with a whole new cast of people, and not a single recognizeable character from the previous series. This time, just for a change of pace, I decided to award the Explorer-A to a person no one would readily think of-- a pilot.  Captain Matt Vaughn-- an amalgamation of 2 different names-- was the Executive Officer of the 177th Stealth Squadron, a fighter/commando squadron.  I quickly whipped up a new crew of people, once again mostly friends or those with friednd's personalities, and sent them off on a dangerous journey to go and face the Imperials. While the Vol. I series didn't see much Imperial action (the crew did in other unmentioned series, though), Vol. II is jam-packed full of it.  The Explorer-A is awarded the task of helping to bring the Imperial Armada down once and for all. This series was much more serious and self-relfective than the Vol. I series.  It shows the horrors of war and what it can do to even the best trained of people psychologically. ~Darryl Mansel, co-creator, UNSF

HOW they are provided for upon the earth, (appearing at intervals,)   How dear and dreadful they are to the earth,   How they inure to themselves as much as to any -what a paradox      appears their age,   How people respond to them, yet know them not,   How there is something relentless in their fate all times,   How all times mischoose the objects of their adulation and reward,   And how the same inexorable price must still be paid for the same      great purchase.    -Walt Whitman, Beginners