Hi all.
Just want to be sure if I'm thinking it right.
The important part of the Independent Station objective that concerns me is this:
"...the armed station performs 1 attack against the first player's closest ship. If there are no ships at attack range , the station performs attacks against all of the first player's squadrons that are at attack range."

So here is the situation:
Lets say that the station is at attack range of only one of my ships, but the LOS is traces across a dust field, so the attack cannot be performed. If that happens can the station attack my squadrons at range? I'd say no, because there is a ship at attack range, the only thing is that it cannot attack it, so the station couldn't make any attack that turn, right?

Also, another situation:
The LOS to my closest ship from the station crosses a dust field, but there is another of my ships at attack range. The rulebook says that "A ship that traces line of sight across a dust field while attacking a ship or squadron cannot perform that attack (but may declare another target) "

So, what prevails here, the text in the objective that says that the station performs 1 attack on the closest ship at range (which in this case cannot be performed because of the dust field), or the text in the rulebook that says it may declare another target?

How does the dust field end up there?

In this objective you replace the 2 debris fields with 2 dust fields

EDIT: I was able to attach the image of the objective for reference

Can't attack the squadrons. It doesn't say "if you cannot complete an attack against a ship," it says "if there are no ships at attack range." There is a ship at attack range, you just can't attack it.

In the same vein, if there are two ships in range, the closer one obscured by a dust field and the further one a clear shot, I would say you can't attack the further one, since it specifies you have to attack the closest one.

Rewards you for clever flying. One ship distracts the station by dodging in and out of turbolaser-dispersing nebulae while the bombers swarm it.

What confused me was that both the objective and the description of the dust field in the rulebook use the word "perform".
The objective tells you to perform 1 attack and the dust field that you cannot perform the attack , so I thought that maybe there was a chance that as you cannot perform the attack through the dust field you could be able to make an attack that actually can be performed, as that 1 attack.

But I agree with your interpretation, just wanted to be sure what other people in the community thought about this situation.

Thanks