Sapphire Guard Reads Star Wars Aftermath...

[Sapphire Guard]

Greetings, GITP. Awhile ago, I had a thread reading the Thrawn trilogy and the first half of the duology (and Outbound Flight)here. Since then, I've been waiting for my library to get me a copy of Visions of the Future, which seems to be in high demand. Eventually, I'll probably just give up and order it online, but in the meantime, by popular demand, I thought I'd try out the New Canon equivalent.

DISCLAIMERS: I have previously read Life Debt, but can't remember much about it. I won't commit to the whole trilogy yet, because I don't want this to be just a hate spewing thread, if we all dislike it enough I'll more likely just drop it, but I want to give this a fair shot, although I know this series isn't as well liked as TTT.

I had a lot of fun last time, hope it continues. Ch1 to follow. Incidentally, the trailer for 9 dropping just now was entirely coincidental.

[Peelee]

For reals, I'm very interested to hear your take on it. I think you do a great job of breaking down the chapters and voicing your opinions as you journey through the story.

[Sapphire Guard]

Prelude

The First thing we have a rather good speech from Ackbar about the fall of the Death Star being 'just the beginning.' I'm too lazy to type the whole thing.

Then we go to Monument Plaza in Coruscant, where a mob is tearing down a Palpatine statue. The police arrive in airspeeders and fire on the crowd, which pick up chunks of rock and fight back. A father and son in the crowd 'quick-duck', as the twelve year old complains that it should be over. The father explains that it's just the beginning, and hands him a chunk of rock as the riot spreads.

This is a promising start. I'd rather they just used the word 'duck', but apart from that, this is a good scene. If I had gripes, it'd just be that it seems unlikely the mob response would be so effective.

Chapter 1

A ship drops out of hyperspace, a one man Starhopper, favoured by pirates... and 'bookies?' As in bookmakers? Does that mean something else here, or do gambling establishments need their own starfighters for some reason?

The battered ship has arrived at Akiva (I've heard that name before somewhere.) Inside, Wedge Antilles is pleased to discover no one is shooting at him at this exact moment. There is a needless 'sand' joke. He's in the outer rim looking for the Imperial supply lines. He opens a channel back to command, and the signal is blocked. Bad news. Two ISDs show up. Also not great news. They hail him, and he gives false credentials, but the name he uses is recorded as dead. The tractor beam catches the ship.

On the bridge, Rae Sloane makes a Pelleaonlike complaint about the quality of Imperials these days. To be honest, I never really bought that, a galactic fleet would have more to it than the Executor and Death Star. They notice Wedge charging his torpedoes, and Sloane politely points out that they can shoot him before he could escape.

Wedge is aware that she's probably right, and that something of importance is happening at Akiva right now, so he needs to live.

Sloane is waiting for the ship to be in the hangar when it explodes. Her lieutenant buys it as a suicide attack, Sloane orders a search.

Well, that's a pretty good start. There's some important Imperial meeting on Akiva that she is invested in, Wedge needs to try to escape, everyone seems to playing things correctly. So far, this is looking good.

[Peelee]

Ya know, I do like Sloane a lot. Can't comment further without spoilers though.

[Fyraltari]

Aftermath was real "meh" for me. Sloane was one of the good things in it.

[Sapphire Guard]

Hi folks, welcome back.

Chapter 2

Norra bickers with the pilot she hired to land on Akiva, having failed to factor in the presence of ISDs in her trip home. The pilot, someone named Owerto with facial burns has commitments to meet and wants to run the blockade.

Aboard the Vigilance, Sloane figures out that Wedge escaped into the access ducts before he triggered the explosion. She calls the lieutenant, who interrupts with news of the smuggling ship.

Speaking of which, Norra is having flashbacks to Endor, while Owerto asks her to man the guns. What is the flashback? "It's a trap!" They intercut between the battle of Endor and being shot at on Akiva -Norra is one of the pilots that went into Death Star II. She takes the pilot's chair and starts making TIE's shoot each other, and then escapes by taking them through narrowc passages she knows, Akiva being her home.

Sloane isn't pleased to lose both Wedge and the smuggler ship, and mentally rants about how she hasn't been treated fairly and now has a second chance. She decides to go after Wedge personally and send her lieutenant after the mystery smugglers, because with this meeting due, nothing can be left to chance.

Meanwhile, the smuggler appreciates not dying due to Norra's piloting skill. She pays him, and goes to see her son.

Nothing very much to say. Setup.

Chapter 3

Akiva is not known for having an Imperial presence, which is why former loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus is hiding here in a bar, with an old one armed Mon Cal that doesn't speak basic making the drinks. As loyalty officer, he once broke a finger of a cadet trying to learn another language. A nearby Twi lek shows him a Holovid of rebel scum propaganda, predictably right before two Imperials show up with two stormtroopers in tow. They're unusual here, enough that the bar actually has a 'No Imperials' sign. Seems like an unhealthy policy.

The Twi'lek backtalks the Imps, and they start beating him up. Sinjir, against his better judgement (literally, he tries and fails to walk away) beats the Imperials up in return killing three. He tries to interrogate the survivor, but apparently the troops sent to poke around in random bars are not privy to high command meetings, so he knock him out and walks away.

So, a former Imperial loyalty officer gone rogue who was at Endor. That is a truly brilliant idea, and he's compelling so far. I'll have to see where it goes. Next, our first interlude in Chandrila.

[Sapphire Guard]

Interlude:Chandrila

Camera feed of a human and Pantoran. They're setting up for a broadcast for the New Republic, and the new PR person for the New Republic is nervous. The reporter reassures her.

Chapter 4

An interrogator droid is beating Temmin, Norra's son, at Galaxy Expansion, which sounds like Settlers of Catan. They're in a junk shop with pieces of droids around them and a collapsed B1 droid (of Phantom Menace fame) folded up in the corner under a blanket. The interrogator droid points out that customers are arriving, whereupon Temmin meets three armed thugs, and as one does, immediately starts cracking jokes. Since they're here to take him in for stealing from their boss, they are less than amused. Temmin tries to banter, mostly fails. They know about some secret hidden under the shop, so he pretends to try to buy them off with a B1,which unfolds and attacks. It takes down two of them, but the third order Temmin at gunpoint to call it off. The interrogator droid attacks her from behind, but its needle fails to penetrate her skin, and Temmin flees. Someone is in the doorway ahead and fires past him at the last thug. It is, of course, Norra, his mom.

Banter goes on for a bit too long, but overall a good action scene, the three thugs have names and personalities, and reasonable skills.

Chapter 5

Sloane is told that the shuttle is ready to take her to the surface, while the stormtroopers search for Wedge. She figures out that he never stopped here, and instead would have gone somewhere else.

In the comms room, Wedge is standing over the stunned bodies of three comms officers, which he regards as noncombatants and so didn't kill. He hurt his leg trying to jump out of his ship, he needs to get the message out. Long range comms are jammed, but he can send messages locally, so he gets out half a message with his location in it before being shot in the shoulder. For some reason, Admiral Sloane herself decided to apprehend him personally. He talks about negotiating a surrender, but she has him shackled in her shuttle with medical attention, taking him to Akiva, seeming a bit sad about it.

These are all pretty actiony chapters, there's not much for me to say.

[Sapphire Guard]

Chapter 6
Norra has cried only twice for years. The first time was after Endor, this time was holding her son, right now. Meanwhile, Temmin is organising the disposal of the fallen thugs (who are not dead, my mistake), and goes to his secret compartment, which is pretty well stocked for a single person business run by a fifteen year old.

Norra is having trouble adjusting to her teenage son being an arms dealer, but there's no time for that with bodies to be disposed of. They have an argument about his abandonment issues, which are not very interesting to me, to be honest. That's not a criticism, it's just not my thing. Wedge's message comes through mid conversation, and Temmin is upset at being abandoned again...and triggers a secret door...abandoning his mother in the building that the local mob boss will soon be coming for with armed locals. Wow, that's cold.

I have a lot of questions about how a random teen got all this gear, but I'll save them.

Interlude: Saleucami

Dav and Webb are awkwardly sitting across a table from their father, trying to suppress their differences given that one of them is a Rebel and the other is an Imperial loyalist. Thy start arguing. Eventually their father gets sick of their whining and brawling and breaks a plate against the wall to get their attention.

Random farmer patriarch accurately predicts the fall of the New Republic, and tells both kids that what they should care about is family. Then Imperials arrive hunting the rebel son, so he stuns one son and tells the other one to run while he can, and shoots himself (stun).

I like this man. Contender for most capable character in the book after mr ex loyalty officer.

Chapter 7

Jas Emari is clinging to the side of a tower on Myrra, waiting for an Imperial named Arsin Crassus to land, slaver and financier of the empire. The Satrap (local governor) is meeting him personally, but Jas isn't being paid to kill him. Crassus' guards are also slaves, which sounds like a dangerous practice.

She's about to take the shot when more shuttles arrive filled with high ranking Imperials, all of whom have bounties courtesy of the New Republic. With all these high value targets, Jas can't decide who to shoot. She goes on a random tangent about disintegrations even though there's no way she's collecting the bodies of her targets anyway, but why waste the chance for a random Boba Fett reference?

Jas knows she can take a shot, but the others will scatter if she does, and she won't get the others before they escape. She can take a shot now, or hold off and hope for a chance for all of them later.

She puts away the gun.

In Sloane's shuttle, she's brooding over the upcoming meeting which absolutely has to go the plan for the good of the empire. Wedge is shackled and unconscious nearby, by the way. She's about to arrive at the palace, where although she hates the Satrap, she finds him necessary. She's jeering at his palace when she spots a bounty hunter with a rifle in the skyline, just before her meeting that absolutely has to go to plan.

Mid zipline, Jas notices the shuttle firing at her, but she's too small to hit, so it shoots the tower her line is attached to. Oh well.

Hey, I finally have something to talk about! Because this is an epic fail for Rae Sloane's security forces. She's been stressing over and over how important this meeting is, how everything has to go to plan, and only sheer luck prevented a random bounty hunter from killing at least one of the participants as soon as they arrived. Even if Rae's plan is to kill them all and seize power, which would seem out of character, this would still mess that up. It's so important that patrols are randomly harassing bartenders to make sure they don't start trouble, but no one is watching the skyline?

If I'm in Imperial High Command, I get straight back in my shuttle and leave right now, because my security is evidently not being taken seriously.

[Sapphire Guard]

Chapter 8

Norra goes back downstairs and tries to remember how to play the musical instrument that opens the secret door, and eventually manages it, a bit annoyed that she never knew there was a secret door to the catacombs in her house. Temmin hasn't gone far, and they talk about his arms dealing business and how that went down with his aunts. Norra still doesn't really know what's going on, but she's against her fifteen year old staying here under imperial blockade. When Temmin refuses, she sedates him with the interrogator droid needle from earlier.

Chapter 9

The various Imperials are not entirely pleased about the shooting incident, and Moff Pandion is the most influential among them. Sloane lies about the nature of it, saying that the hunter was just some random local. She tries to distract them with food and conversation, but Pandion is still unaccountably interested in his personal safety, and mentions Wedge, which means he has a spy on the Vigilance. Sloane is forced to wheel him in on a gurney to placate them, as he can be a bargaining chip, and tries to distract them with food. The bounty hunter has not been found, and Pandion shows up making snarky comments about Sloane's push for power -she commands the last SSD in the Imperial forces. Pandion is oddly happy and says he's looking forward to getting to work.

So Jas is still missing. A bit surprising they didn't push further on that point.

Interlude: Naalol

Mon Mothma is walking down the wreckage of a war torn street, two attendants playing angel and devil on her shoulders. This place is strategically insignificant, until it was destroyed in this battle. Hawk adviser says that this is the price of war, and Mothma replies that she doesd't want this to be constant. Dove Adviser says theat they're still going ahead with the relinquishment of Mothma's power, and the New Republic will now be governed by a Council from now on. Hawk adviser says that this will slow their response time, and Dove adviser enjoys pointing out that they will downsize their army by 90 percent once the Empire is confirmed defeated. Hawk adviser obviously doesn't approve of this, saying that oppression will grow if the NR doesn't have a powerful central authority. Dove adviser makes a jab about him being an Empire sympathiser which Mothma really should slap down but doesn't. Hawk adviser accepts the judgement, and they have to go to the senate to 'return democracy to the galaxy.'

Hmm. Mon Mothma makes reference to compensating for their own reduced military by training up local forces. Hope this actually happened. She also want to relinquish her power, but not her power to decide on the future fate of the military? Okay then.

It's very obvious where Mothma's sympathies lie here, and it seems like Hawk adviser is supposed to be the villain, but he's also a lot more calm and polite than his counterpart.

I don't seem to have a much to say here as the TTT. There's nothing obviously wrong, I'm just not as engaged. Maybe it's just that I know how this turns out.

Apologies if this makes for boring commentary.

[Fyraltari]

I like this man. Contender for most capable character in the book after mr ex loyalty officer.

Don't get too invested in the interlude characters none of them show up twice. At least in this book.

I don't seem to have a much to say here as the TTT. There's nothing obviously wrong, I'm just not as engaged. Maybe it's just that I know how this turns out.

Yeah, that's basically my take-away from this book, nothing is egregiously bad but there's nothing really great either. It's just a completely mediocre Star Wars book. Also some interludes look like they belong to more interesting stories than this one which is kind of frustrating.

[Peelee]

Also some interludes look like they belong to more interesting stories than this oen which is kind of frustrating.

Agreed. It seems like Wendig would have done way better in a compilation book where you just have a bunch of short stories that do more worldbuilding than anything else. Then again, didn't help in From a Certain Point of View.

[Fyraltari]

Hey, do you know of any work that continues the

Spoiler

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Tatooine interlude with Bobba’s Armor and the prospective vigilante who gets it?

Or are they saving it for later?

[Peelee]

Hey, do you know of any work that continues the

Spoiler

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Tatooine interlude with Bobba’s Armor and the prospective vigilante who gets it?

Or are they saving it for later?

Not offhand; at a guess, they may touch on it in The Mandalorian, but honestly I'd be surprised if they did.

[Fyraltari]

Spoiler

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I thought so, as well: I mean that may be the title character in a case of mistaken identity/cultural identity theft.

By the way there seems to have been a teaser of that that came out but all I can find are video of people filming a screen.

[Peelee]

Spoiler

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I thought so, as well: I mean that may be the title character in a case of mistaken identity/cultural identity theft.

By the way there seems to have been a teaser of that that came out but all I can find are video of people filming a screen.

Huh, surprised they didn't go ahead and release it. Also, why does everyone cheer when the Lucasfilm logo pops up? They're at Star Wars Celebration and the title character was onscreen for a good half minute before that popped up, this should not have been a surprise!

[Sapphire Guard]

That's the 'I know what this is!' cheer.

I'm not expecting to see Interlude characters again, they're just 'the wider galaxy reacts' segments.

A Certain Point of View by one author might have worked, because there'd be fewer redundancies if the previous content was known ahead of time.

Chapter 10

Sinjir wanders through the streets of Myrra, trying to divest himself of the Twi'lek from the bar who is following her around, assuming he's a rebel. Sinjir plays up to this in an effort to get him to go away, which backfires as the Twi'Lek now wants to sign up to his cause. Two stormtroopers notice them...somehow, and Sinjir fends them off and tells Twi'Lek, whose name is too long to type.

Jas has a flashback to having Leia in her sights... on Endor. WHAT? Why are you bounty hunting in the middle of a battle? How did you get here in the first place? How did you know the rebels would be here in advance? Why do you keep thinking you can only claim a bounty if you recover the body?

There are so many reasons this makes no sense.

For some reason, the scene tries to create tension over whether Jas will shoot Leia or not. Maybe she did, and ST Leia is a clone?

She wakes up in Wexley's shop, having found it empty, and went to sleep in the back,after which the boss of the thugs (Surat Nuat) Temmin was attacking earlier turn up for revenge. She says she was looking for parts for her gun, which I assume is a lie,and there is a pointless **** joke. Surat, under the circumstances, reasonably assumes she was employed by Temmin to kill him, although that theory takes a dent by the assassin deciding to take a nap while waiting for her target.

Jas contemplates killing him, but instead decides to try to negotiate his help in her hunting. Unfortunately, Imperials are useful to him, so he doesn't bite, forcing her to attack...and be stunned by his guards.

Sinjir is in a gambling establishment looking for Surat, having failed to lose his new friend, and gets drinks at the bar, and information on how to find Surat Nuat...just as the man himself walks in the door, with Jas in tow. Who he recognises...also from Endor.

He dressed himself as as Rebel -unlikely to be of use, as they only had a small team, and the survivors likely knew each other, but anyway- where he spotted her getting on a speeder. What was a loyalty officer doing in the middle of a battle, wouldn't he be near command somewhere?

On Akiva, he downs his drink and starts trailing their crew.

Jas' scene in the junk shop was actually pretty good, but I'm questioning how everyone here meets at Endor.

Chapter 11

Ackbar is playing video games and reflecting on the b is attle of Endor too. He's beating holograms of stormtroopers with his traditional Mon Cal bladed stick, when he is interrupted by an ensign with information that Wedge Antilles has gone dark. They know where he last checked in, but not where he went since. There are five possibilities, Mustafar, Geonosis, Dermos, Akiva, and Tattooine.

There's also a further source from a mysterious, top secret intelligence agent called the operator. It's not specified to the reader, but is probably to do with Akiva.

Ackbar smells a rat, but they can't really not act on it. He feels like this is trap, because we wouldn't want to get through an Ackbar scene without referencing the meme, huh?

He orders scouts sent to each of those systems... but two sent to Akiva. Demilitarisation must have hit the intelligence wing hard if they're that short staffed.

[Peelee]

A Certain Point of View by one author might have worked, because there'd be fewer redundancies if the previous content was known ahead of time.

Eh, the old EU's Tales Of books worked pretty well, but they also were decidedly less silly (not to say they weren't silly. Just decidedly less so). Plus, it's not even canon. What's the point of wiping canon and putting out new books if the new books aren't going to be canon, Disney?!?

Jas has a flashback to having Leia in her sights... on Endor. WHAT? Why are you bounty hunting in the middle of a battle? How did you get here in the first place? How did you know the rebels would be here in advance? Why do you keep thinking you can only claim a bounty if you recover the body?

There are so many reasons this makes no sense.

If you think of it in the context of "these are the bestest characters in the galaxy, man they're just so cool."

Spoiler: The rest of the trilogy

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Jas contemplates killing him, but instead

Yeah, that is pretty much an overarching theme.

[hamishspence]

Eh, the old EU's Tales Of books worked pretty well, but they also were decidedly less silly (not to say they weren't silly. Just decidedly less so). Plus, it's not even canon. What's the point of wiping canon and putting out new books if the new books aren't going to be canon, Disney?!?[/SPOILER]

As is sometimes described for 40K books - "just because it's canon, doesn't mean it's always true".

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Fro..._Point_of_View

Continuity

Although From a Certain Point of View forms part of the Star Wars canon, it presents several contradictions. As such, Lucasfilm Story Group's Matt Martin confirmed that the contradictions present in the stories were intentional, as that was the sort of the project's nature.[7]


Most of the stories in FaCPoV are very serious - only a very few are silly.

[Peelee]

As is sometimes described for 40K books - "just because it's canon, doesn't mean it's always true".

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Fro..._Point_of_View

Continuity

Although From a Certain Point of View forms part of the Star Wars canon, it presents several contradictions. As such, Lucasfilm Story Group's Matt Martin confirmed that the contradictions present in the stories were intentional, as that was the sort of the project's nature.[7]


Most of the stories in FaCPoV are very serious - only a very few are silly.

A.) I call bullhonkey on that. "Intentional contradictions" my butt.
2.) Only are few are intentionally silly, I would argue.

[hamishspence]

And the intentionally silly ones like the comic by the writer of the Darth Vader & Son book, can be fun in their own way.

[Peelee]

And the intentionally silly ones like the comic by the writer of the Darth Vader & Son book, can be fun in their own way.

Oh, I totally agree with that. I wasn't expecting a comic at all in there, it was a delightful little surprise.

[Sapphire Guard]

I don't expect perfect continuity in a canon this big, it's just too difficult to keep straight. Multiple versions of events actually helps me believe it a world, because that's what happens in real history.

Chapter 12

Temmin has a flashback dream of the day his father was taken away by the imperials, and wakes up in the back of a cargo bay. The smuggler that brought Norra here is lying dead nearby. Stormtroopers are doing another sweep of the area. They argue for a bit, then Temmin sas toys he has a plan, which involves slamming open the bay doors and riding a pallet down the ramp, shielding himself against the blasterfire.

Sinjir offers to buy Jas off Surat, which is actually a pretty good play in these circumstances. Unfortunately, the empire has deeper pockets than most, and when he pretends to be an empire representative he is outed (Surat hasn't spoken to the empire yet.) So Surat's people open fire.

Sloane is on her way to the meeting when her aide interrupts with the news that two rebel scout ships were found in orbit (and destroyed before they escape). This is not good news, but at least Ackbar has no intel. She considers what to do, but realises she has no choice but to be truthful to the others.

Norra, held up by three stormtroopers, is contemplating drawing on them when Temmin bursts back in aboard a speeder. A chase ensues.

Wedge isn't responding to interrogations, and when Sloane delivers news about the destroyed scouts the imperials do not respond well. Crassus wants to flee, Pandion wants to fight, Sloane wants to hide. Jylia Shale, noted strategist, says they're not ready for a battle and makes what sounds like a chess analogy, although in universe it's chatta-ragul, although if the Empress is the Queen, then not moving it until you have no other choice is an inaccurate analogy. But I digress.

Point is, Jylia says, Akbar will most likely send a drone or droid as follow up to the missing rebels, so moving the ships is a decent choice. Pandion disagrees, and threatens to not move his ship, at which point Sloane says she'll destroy it. She backs him into a corner where he has to follow her orders or admit to cowardice, but knows it's a temporary victory.

Sinjir hops a table and is knocked out by the bartender.

Imperial Councils are always fun, could wish their personalities weren't so straightforward, though.

Interlude:Uyter

Pade is onboard a bus headed for the Imperial Academy, which is now in smoking ruins. The bus driver has no clue what to do with the kids, and neither do the Rebels. Pade asks if the Rebels killed the cadets, and on being told no, signs on with the New Republic -he has nowhere else to go.

Oddly, he says 'May the Force be with you', which I wouldn't have thought a random orphan trainee would say.

Chapter 13

Norra is displeased that her fifteen year old son is driving a speeder away from armed stormtroopers. He cuts in and out of alleyways and eventually shoots himself a ramp up to the rooftops. He then has her take the controls and meet her back at his aunts, jumping off, swinging around a pole and kicking the stormtrooper off the other speeder and driving it away.

Norra is not very pleased, but can't catch him now.

Car chase. Explains itself, pretty much.

[Sapphire Guard]

Chapter 14

Norra, at her sister's is furious about how they've been taking care of her son. Esmelle blames Norra and Temmin's father for it, and Esmelle's wife has to head off an argument. Then Norra realises that Temmin has gone bacdk to his shop, and bolts.

Temmin is on the roof, watching his shop, which Surat's thugs are ransacking. He can see Mr Bones, but he's locked in his folded up position, so won't be much help. That means he has to sneak into the shop from the catacombs, but before that can happen monkey lizards give away his position and knock him off the roof for capture.

...It's official. I'm rooting for Surat. In most books he's be a cheap starter villain, but here he's kicking all the leads' asses. Mostly because they keep screwing up, but still.

Sinjir has another dream about Endor, and is woken up by Jas throwing a pebble at him. They're in birdcages suspended over a drop. Jas doesn't remember him from Endor, and tells him that his Twi'lek friend is dead. Sinjir still can't remember his name, but doesn't feel good about it.

Jas breaks off one of her horns and uses the lockpick inside to release herself, nearly leaving Sinjir behind until she realises he's an ex loyalty officer and so might be useful in getting her close to her targets.

A thug wandering in Temmin's shop loiters around complaining about his life, and accidentally triggers the secret door. He doesn't call it in because he wants to loot the place first and ends up being shot by Norra for his trouble.

Temmin is being tortured, and Surat goes on a monologue about how he killed his family and froze his brother in carbonite. He decides on removing Temmin's tongue, then leaves like a classic bond villain.

Jas and Sinjir rescue him, then walk into thugs and stormtroopers on the way out. They charge for the back door, which is locked. Dammit, Surat, you lock your escape doors, how could you? A thug shoots at them and accidentally opens it for them. That was handy.

They run outside and try a storm ladder, but it collapses. They're cornered, and this is game over. Then the B1 droid Mr Bones goes on a killing spree, complete with silhoette against a rooftop. He's a little too effective, I think, no matter what upgrades he has.

Norra turns up and shoots a thug, then takes them all away on a speeder. There's no room for Jas so she rides a corpse tied to the back. Yes, really. Nice and inconspicuous, but at least there's a storm.

So. The tables have begun to turn, but I'm still rooting for Surat. He locked his back door, they needed to work really hard to escape and be saved by Super B1.

[Peelee]

I gotta say, I am enjoying this immensely. I get a refresher on the plotbut in a writing style I actually enjoy reading. I honestly hope that you are much less put off by the author than I am, because id love for you to go through the other two similarly.

[Sapphire Guard]

I don't hate the book, but there's very little to talk about. When I finish narrating, I basically have to go 'so yeah, that happened,' rather than the long spiels I had back in TTT. Present tense isn't as jarring as I expected, although I think I remember not being very fond of Life Debt when I read it before.

[Sapphire Guard]

Chapter 15

A Carrack class light cruiser, the Oculus, loiters in a debris field left by a comet the Jedi willed to break apart to save planets some time ago. Sounds like a good story, that. Also Carrack class cruisers survived the transition to newcanon.

Ensign Deltura looks over at his science officer, a Togruta woman, and orders the probe launched. It will take six hours before it arrives, so they have time for a romantic dinner before Ackbar reports in again.

My navy ranks are hazy, but is it normal for an Ensign to have command of a ship? Back in Thrawn, it was the lowest officer rank in the imperial hierarchy.

Headcanon ruling: This guy was demoted for misconduct with his subordinates, he's considered expendable.

On Akiva, the Imperials are arguing endlessly. Crassus believes in money, but Jylia Shale goes on a Thrawn style rant about how everything would have been so much better if everyone only listened to her back in the day, and adopts his role of nitpicking everyone else's plans, although she offers nothing herself. Sloane and Pandion unite against Crassus' habit of knocking on the table, but this moment of solidarity doesn't lead to a momentous breakthrough.

Shale continues complaining about Palpatine's leadership and Tashu , a Dark side advocate, points out that he could get stuff done. On asked to contribute, he says that they can cleave to the path of the Dark side by leaving into the Unknown regions.

More arguments kick off, and Sloane gets sick of the whole charade and leaves.

Wedge wakes up when Sloane pats him. She considers interrogating, realises it's pointless, then asks why he joined the rebellion. He says it's because of the losses inflicted on him by the empire, she accept the answer and leaves.

Ensign Deltura failed to find Imperial ships, but found the debris of the scouts. Something shot them down. The Operator, for some reason allowed in to this call, asks about pinging communications planetside, and comes back empty handed. Comms are blocked. Operator says this means the Imperials are present, but Ackbar suspects he's up to something.

Having read Life Debt, I know who this informant is, but he'd be suspicious anyway.

Interlude: Chandrila

A fruits hits Olia Choko in the face off camera. She looks for the thrower and asks him to voice his concerns.When the rebels removed the Imperial base at his home, pirates took over. She invites him to speak to the Senate, and they're about to cut when they notice a line of Imperial prisoners marching past.

[hamishspence]

My navy ranks are hazy, but is it normal for an Ensign to have command of a ship? Back in Thrawn, it was the lowest officer rank in the imperial hierarchy.

It is unusual, yes. Lieutenants sometimes command very small ships, but not usually Ensigns. Characters being promoted extremely rapidly sometimes happens in time of desperation though (Lost Stars makes the point that Captain Ciena Ree, being in her early twenties, is far too young to be as high-ranking as she is - but the Empire really needs command officers).

[Peelee]

It is unusual, yes. Lieutenants sometimes command very small ships, but not usually Ensigns. Characters being promoted extremely rapidly sometimes happens in time of desperation though (Lost Stars makes the point that Captain Ciena Ree, being in her early twenties, is far too young to be as high-ranking as she is - but the Empire really needs command officers).

I believe Pellaeon similarly noted that for the reader in the old EU.

[hamishspence]

I believe Pellaeon similarly noted that for the reader in the old EU.

Yup. The relevant scenes:

Spinning around with a reasonably good imitation of a proper military turn, the lieutenant headed back toward the communications console.
The young lieutenant... which was, Pellaeon thought with a trace of old bitterness, where the problem really lay. In the old days—at the height of the Empire's power—it would have been inconceivable for a man as young as Tschel to serve as a bridge officer aboard a ship like the Chimaera. Now—He looked down at the equally young man at the engineering monitor. Now, in contrast, the Chimaera had virtually no one aboard except young men and women.
...
Pellaeon himself, taking command when the Chimaera's former captain was killed, had done what he could to hold things together; but despite his best efforts they had never regained the initiative against the Rebels. Instead, they had been steadily pushed back...until they were here.
Here, in what had once been the backwater of the Empire, with barely a quarter of its former systems under nominal Imperial control. Here, aboard a Star Destroyer manned almost entirely by painstakingly trained but badly inexperienced young people, many of them conscripted from their home worlds by force or threat of force.

[Sapphire Guard]

Bridge crew on the Chimaera where they can be monitored is one thing.This Ensign Deltura seems to be in command of (or at least, in direct communication with Ackbar) what's described as a 'light cruiser', words which make me imagine a substantial ship with couple of hundred crew. This is an important and dangerous mission (two previous scouts have gone missing), so the unusually low ranked commander who uses his three pages of screentime to unprofessionally romance his direct subordinate is standing out to me.

It's not really worth talking about for as long as I just did, It's just making me wonder if Ackbar is the Captain Canady of the NR.

Chapter 16

Norra wakes up from her Death Star dream again, and goes to get tea to clear her head. Jas and Sinjir are awake, badly trying to hide that that they are plotting an infiltration. Norra sees through it instantly, and Sinjir tries to bluff, but Jas shrugs and brings her up to speed, as she can tell Norra is a Rebel pilot. Norra objects that she has to take care of Temmin, who wanders in.

"I know you people think you're not being loud, but you're totally being loud."

Our heroes, folks.

Temmin also wants to help with the raid, for a price, and wants to know when his droid is back. Jas and Sinjir takes jabs at B1s and stormtroopers respectively, which is referencing memes from our world, not something people in universe should be thinking.

With her son joining up (for half of Sinjir's cut), Norra gives in and signs up in exchange for passage off planet.Suddenly, there is a knock on the door. The downside of discussing your plans really really loudly? Find out next time.

Chapter 17

NR Command Meeting. Admiral Ackbar, Commander Kyrsta Agate, and Captain Saff Melor are present, General Crix Madine and Mon Mothma are attending via hologram.

Madine wants to know if they can trust their informant, Agate says it appears so, Ackbar is suspicious. Melor wants to send "Two light cruisers and a contingent of fighters from Gold Squadron" to investigate, which seems like too small a force to me, but anyway. Mothma doesn't want to use military force, and Ackbar is cautious of another trap, so he asks if they can organise a small strike team of 'five to seven Republic soldiers.'

The general:

"I think that's doable."

This is before demilitarisation. I know it's short notice, but we're talking seven people here, in a galactic war. Whoever is in charge of staffing in the New Republic needs to answer a few pointy questions.

It's actually pretty good characterisation of Ackbar here, he was badly rattled by the near catastrophe at Endor, so he's determined not to walk into another trap. It's using the meme without defining him by it.

Chapter 18

Jas rips open the door, blaster in hand. Mr Bones the droid gives her a thumbs up. One of his hands is missing and his robot brain is exposed to the rain, so he conks out immediately.,

Wedge wakes up to Tashu, the torturer Dark side acolyte, who has given up on physical torture and has resorted to chatting instead. He talks about how undefeatable the dark side is, how it will inevitably bounce back no matter what happens, as long as practitioners have faith. Wedge says he has faith in the NR, Tashu responds with 'that faith will be tested' and Wedge threatens him.

Tashu is delighted, because anger leads to the dark side. He can't wait to see what happens next.

Well. That seemed unnecessary.