Achilles

Achilles

She don't look like much, but she'll hold together - Captain Jack Harding regarding his ship.

The Achilles was a former cargo and transport ship that had been converted into a smuggler ship. It was among the first ships to be purchased by someone from Earth, and was used frequently during the turbulent years of Earth's involvment in the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War.

History
The Achilles began its long life as a cargo ship for the Trade Federation named the Aquila. Shortly after the events of The Invasion of Naboo, the ship's crew abandoned her in a system in Wild Space, where she would sit for the next several years.

Late into the Clone Wars, Jack Harding, the younger brother of Colt Harding was sent into slavery from his home planet by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. When the transport he was aboard reached Wild Space from the Unknown Regions many of the slaves revolted and took control of the ship.

They quickly navagated to the nearest system that wasn't under CIS control and landed. Jack, stranded on a strange world, discovered the Aquila rusting in a scrap yard. With a skeleton crew of his fellow former slaves, Jack managed to get the ship running again. He renamed her Achilles and set out to help his homeworld in anyway possible.

For the rest of the Clone Wars, the Achilles and her crew smuggled people out of slavery, provided information on the Confederacy's shipping routes, and in general raised hell in Confederate Systems.

Shortly after Order 66 and the reorganization of the Republic into the Empire, Captain Harding recived a message from his brother Colt. Due to his time in slavery and sailing aboard the ship, Jack had been unaware of his brother becoming a Jedi. However he quickly realized the danger his brother was in.

Under orders from Colt, the Achilles returned to Earth, which was now a full blown Imperial Planet. After dropping off Colt, the Achilles sailed to the Outer Rim, where the Empire had little rule. The Achilles became one of the first ships in the Rebel Fleet.

Despite her new found status, the crew of the Achilles returned to Imperial Space, helping to sabatoge any Imperial ships heading to the Sol System.