Welcome to the New Jedi Order. A series of books that Zyra was excited to get to, as was I until I realized that they are 19 novels in the series! Wholly moley, what were we thinking when we started this?! We've done so many of these, it seems impossible to have so many still ahead of us. But here we go. This book starts off with the introduction of the new enemy, a very strange, and utterly scary enemy. It also has a famous death. Spoilers ahead, you've been warned.
We start off with Leia, Jaina and Mara Jade flying in Mara’s
ship. They are heading toward twin
planets, Rhommamool and Osarian, to try and broker peace between them. We spend a good bit of time hearing Leia’s
thoughts on her growing daughter. Jaina
is sixteen and Leia is looking at her the way a mother does when their child
has seemingly grown up overnight. Leia
compares Jaina to her younger self, seeing the fire and determination that
defined the young Princess Leia Organa.
I didn’t necessarily have a bunch of quotes to share from
this first chapter, but it was really quite an enjoyable read for me. There was even some self-admitted jealousy
regarding Mara Jade’s relationship with Jaina on Leia’s part. Jaina picked Mara as her Jedi Master trainer
and Leia is all-at-once grateful for the relationship and role model that Mara
is to her daughter but is also jealous of it.
I thought this rang very true and is something that most parents go
through, wanting role models and friends for their children but also harboring
those protective and sometimes possessive feelings for them.
The chapter also touches on Mara Jade’s illness, a
mysterious disease that has no cure and has killed everyone else who contracted
it. Mara fights it with her Force skills
but it takes its toll on her even though she stoutly refuses to talk of it or
garner special treatment because of it.
A little bit of this bothered me but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Don't get me wrong, I like Mara, but some of the whole illness thing felt contrived - like they were trying to make us feel sorry for her, trying to make her a little more human and vulnerable after playing her up so much but at that same time keeping her awesomeness because she's fighting a disease that no one else can and refusing help or special treatment. ::shrugs:: IDK. What did you guys who've read it think?
Mara gives us an ominous overview of the political figure
that Leia is scheduled to meet and negotiate with on Rhommamool, Nom Anor. Mara has met him before and warns Leia that
he is not to be trifled with. As they
approach the Republic capital ship, the Mediator
that is stationed between the twin planets, some ships come in to intercept
them. It appears that the Osarians want
Leia to come and see them first, taking her scheduled visit to Rhommamool as a
slight. Leia orders the pilots to “lose
them” and Mara hands Jaina the controls.
And we have this to sum up most of what I’ve been describing in this
chapter:
It was the sight of
Jaina, the fire in her brown eyes, the determined set of her jaw, the sheer
concentration. At that moment, Leia knew.
Her daughter was a
woman now, and with all the grit of her father and mother combined.
Jaina does a fair bit of piloting (her superior skills are a
common theme throughout this book) but before she can lose the ships another
ship, X-wing class, comes to their ‘rescue’ and shoots the pursuers down. The Jade
Sabre heads to the Mediator and once
debarked, Leia dresses down the Jedi Knight that was flying the X-wing and had
come to their rescue uninvited, stating that had Jaina been allowed to simply
outmaneuver the pursuers they could’ve avoided a diplomatic incident. This is the first encounter we have with what
is also a common theme in this book: rogue Jedi. Basically they are fully trained Jedi Knights
that have been ‘released’ after their training and are flying around the galaxy
dispensing justice as they see fit and not always as maybe they should be had
they some hierarchy or direction. But
more on that later.
One last thing though, when Mara witnesses Leia chewing out
the Jedi pilot and the Commander of the Mediator
for the little stunt that was pulled, we have this:
As they all started
away, Leia did manage a bit of a smile when she heard Mara behind her tell
Jaina, "Maybe Nom Anor has met his match."
I especially enjoyed this because it is a rare sight that we
see the fabulous Mara Jade impressed with little, old Leia Organa, even though
we all know that she should be in total awe of her at all times. :-)
When they finally get to Rhommamool, we see that Nom Anor’s
followers are fanatics that are not only against the New Republic but also
against anything mechanical and there are pits in the streets where they beat
up droids and speeders and crush them.
Needless to say, C3PO is not a fan of this practice. Once again, Mara warns Leia against
underestimating Nom Anor and Mara indicates that the man has no Force presence
as if he is a black hole in the Force.
We have an entire chapter regarding a scientific outpost,
ExGal-4 on Belkadan. There is a
character called Danni Quee who diligently works there and basically they are
setup to look for incoming vessels or beings entering the galaxy from other
systems. There are other people there
(15 total); names don’t matter except for Yomin Carr. He is a bad guy masquerading as a human. He inserts a wormlike creature into his ear
to understand different languages. He is
a Vong and we get our first description of the enemies that basically wreak
havoc in the galaxy from this point forward.
They are tattoed with disfigurements and they consider self mutilation
some sort of point of pride. Vector
Prime (the name of this book) is identified as the “predetermined entry point into the galaxy” for the Vong invasion. Yomin Carr has been sent to ExGal-4 to
sabotage their communications and allow the Vong to enter the solar system unabated.
When the humans do notice a signal (something entering the
galaxy) and start discussing it, Yomin Carr thinks this:
Then, predictably, the
debate began. It never ceased to amaze Yomin Carr how endlessly these humans
could debate and argue about practically anything, an observation that merely
reinforced his belief in the strict hierarchical structure of his own society.
He would never question a prefect, a prefect would never question a high
prefect, as these fools were arguing with Danni now.
Never - and that, he
believed, was the weakness his masters would come to exploit.
I have to say, the Vong do end up being a crafty little foe
for the GFFA and a lot of this foreshadowing is probably lost on the first go
‘round when you don’t really know what the nine hells is in store just
yet. Anyway, by the time everyone on
ExGal-4 is sure an extragalactic vessel has entered space, Yomin Carr tries to stall
them from alerting anyone else (lest they discover they can’t anyway because
he’s sabotaged their communications) until they are sure it isn’t a malfunction
and don’t end up making fools of themselves.
He succeeds and the chapter ends with this:
Yomin Carr smiled
inwardly once again. If practical arguments didn't work against these often
stubborn inferior heretics, then appealing to their overblown sense of pride
always did. He looked about at the working scientists, at their excitement and
sense of relief and accomplishment. If only they knew.
More than halfway
across the galaxy, Nom Anor sat quietly in front of his villip, considering the
words of his agent, Yomin Carr.
It had begun.
Dunh. Duhn. Duhn!
A villip, by the way, is some sort of inter-stellar communication
device used by the Vong.
Later on, Danni Quee and her fellow co-workers witness something that they think is a comet or meteor crash into a nearby planet. It's the Vong, of course and they are doing something and it involves a warship, coralskippers (small ships) and
a yammosk and it’ll all make sense later.
Next we go to Luke and Jacen on Coruscant to speak to the
leaders of the New Republic about reinstating a Jedi Council. Luke is slated to meet with our old Bothan
friend, Borsk Fey’lya. Jacen Solo is not
a fan of the idea of the Council and there is much discussion between the two
(Luke and Jacen) about it. I’m sure
there is some brilliant foreshadowing regarding Jacen’s eventual fall in here
as well, but I mostly skimmed through this chapter. Suffice it to say, Luke thinks the Jedi need
some kind of leadership (the Council) and Jacen is against it. There is also some discussion about the rogue
Jedi that we mentioned earlier and how their actions are worrying Luke,
although he and Jacen don’t see eye-to-eye on that either.
Following their meeting with Borsk, Jacen and Luke meet up
with Han, Chewie and Anakin. Anakin had
flown the Falcon and during some “hot
dogging” had messed some things up pretty badly and everyone is working on
it. There were your typical rants about
teenagers and Anakin calls the Falcon
“just a stupid ship” and overall it was cute to see Han dealing with the
effects of having growing kids. Luke
briefs Han on the situation and tells him that he wants to investigate the
rogue Jedi on the Outer Rim and inquires about Lando who is rumored to be out
there. Lando is running some kind of
mining operation that includes a run through an asteroid field for fun and
profits. Everyone agrees
to head out that way to get some scoop from Lando and maybe a little vacation
as they plan to meet up with the girls as they return from Rhommamool.
We head back to Rhommamool and Leia’s visit to Nom
Anor. Nom Anor is awaiting Leia and he
is discussing the visit with his accomplice.
Through their discussion we find out that Mara’s disease is a Vong
creation and Nom Anor himself infected her when they had met previously. They are stunned that she is not dead yet and
consider her a powerful adversary, chalking Leia and Jaina up as lesser,
not-fully-trained Jedi. I’ll share this
bit of description of the Vong’s self-mutilation just to give you a taste:
He had taken the eye
out with the sharpened end of a burning stick. Of course, he had filled that
hole in his face with yet another marvelous organic innovation, a plaeryin bol,
a creature that looked much like a normal Yuuzhan Vong eyeball, but its pupil
was really a mouth, and one that could spit a venomous glob accurately across
ten meters at the command of its host, by a simple twitch of Nom Anor's eyelid.
In keeping with their hatred of all things mechanical,
you’ll find that the Vong utilize organic creatures such as the villip and the
fake eye described above as well as for their spacecraft and weaponry. We find out that Nom Anor only set this
meeting up with Leia to see how Mara Jade was faring with her illness and also
to size up the competition and look for weak links. Nom Anor was wearing a mask that he knows
makes him look like Darth Vader and takes pleasure in the reaction that it gets
from Princess Leia. The meeting consists of Nom Anor making impossible demands
and Leia and company leaving having accomplished nothing.
We see the Jade Sabre
returning to Coruscant. Leia catches
Mara crying and Mara confesses that the disease is attacking her womb and she
worries she may never have children. The
two share some time together and it’s nice to see Leia get a girlfriend and do some
bonding. Then we cut over to Jacen and
Anakin in the Falcon on
Coruscant. Jacen lectures Anakin about
always practicing with his lightsaber and the pair disagree. Anakin feels the Jedi should uphold the law
and that the lightsaber is a tool for that, Jacen feels that a Jedi must search
from within himself to uphold his own code.
Jaina returns and brags to her brothers about her
flying. Mara and Luke talk about the
rogue Jedi and there some cute interactions between Chewie and all the Solo
children in one place. They are still
working on the Falcon and Chewie
decides to take a break from arguing with Han to accompany Leia to a debrief
meeting. During the meeting a councilor begins
to lecture Chewie on some Wookiee negotiations that are taking place and having
had enough of humans for one day he hangs the man in a closet on a hook by his
jacket. Leia comes out of her meeting
exhausted and fed up and although she scolds Chewie at first for his actions
she actually leaves the man hanging there and walks away.
We then finally get a Han and Leia reunion and of course
I’ll have to just paste it:
Leia's mood improved
immediately, and greatly, when they finally reached the Falcon, when she saw again that glimmer in her
husband's eye. After all these years, the fire remained between Leia and Han, a
deep and honest love and respect.
Yes, that's the small, simple stuff that now make the EU that much better.
They talk a little bit comparing notes since they were
apart. Luke is there and they discuss
the rogue Jedi, a problem Leia had personally dismissed until her recent
encounter. Han tells Leia about their
plans to go ‘far away’ and Leia seems to like the idea of getting away until
Han divulges that the trip involves seeing Lando.
So much for any
thoughts of vacation, Leia realized, for anytime Lando was involved, even
peripherally, situations seemed to get very complicated, and usually dangerous.
In truth, she wasn't particularly thrilled with her husband having any dealings
with Lando; the man always seems to pull Han into something on the very edge of
disaster. Of course, that only strengthened her resolve to go along.
Always nice to see Leia worrying about who her husband was
hanging around with and not wanting him to get into trouble.
Leia and Mara share some more girl time during their trip to
see Lando.
After C3PO calls Leia “Lady
Vader” imitating her Noghri bodyguard, Leia says this:
"You call me that again and I'll send
you into an oil bath with an open flame," she promised C-3PO quietly.
And then:
Leia turned and
nodded. "I don't know," she said with a shake of her head.
"Maybe I've reached a point in my life where I want to think of myself as
Leia. Not Princess Leia, not Councilor Leia, not Chief of State Leia, and
not," she finished, turning to stare pointedly at C-3PO, "Lady Vader.
Just Leia."
When she turned back
to Mara, she found the woman nodding her agreement.
"Do you think
that selfish?" Leia asked Mara.
Mara smiled all the
wider. "I think it human," she answered. "Once we're past saving
the galaxy, we have to spend some time saving ourselves."
Mara and Leia briefly discuss Mara’s desire to have children
and how, although they are the same age, she and Mara are at different points
in their lives. And then this:
Leia paused a moment
to consider the truth of those words, to consider her own perspective of the
universe around her, how she had willingly, eagerly, run away from her expected
responsibilities at the Core, even leaving her bodyguard far behind, of how she
wanted, truly desired, to turn down the dial of her life's work, to sit back
for a while and enjoy all the prosperity that her actions and sacrifices had
helped bring about in the galaxy.
Really? Leia thinks
that she ought to be able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of her labor for a
bit? What a novel idea. Just not what this novel is going to give
her, unfortunately. :-(
Back at that scientific outpost, a contingent of scientists
(led by Danni Quee) leave the planet to check out the apparent meteor crash on a
nearby frozen world.
After they leave,
Yomin Carr kills one of the scientists left behind and talks on his villip
about a deadly poisonous gas (produced by beetles) that will soon overtake the planet of Belkadan and
kill everyone anyway.
Then, on
Rhomammool, Nom Anor attacks the nearby planet of Osarian leaving it ‘in
flames’.
Back on Belkadan, the noxious gas storm is
overtaking the planet and some of the remaining scientists decide to go out and
investigate it.
When they encounter what
they think is a storm and find that it is poisonous air, they don their oxygen
packs and began to hi-tail it back to the compound.
Unfortunately, they can’t all make it and as
each one surrenders their oxygen to the survivor only one makes it back to the
compound to return to a waiting Yomin Carr who then kills them.
Danni Quee and the other scientists reach the frozen world
and are confused by what they see.
Expecting to see the remnants of a meteor crash they don’t quite know
what to make out of the Vong landing.
They do decide to send out a general broadcast since their fellow
scientists continue not to answer any communications. Then, as what they think are asteroids
approach them, they only realize too late that they are actually rock-like
flying ships that are attacking them (coralskippers). All of those scientists are killed except for
Danni Quee, who is kept alive as Yomin Carr had considered her a worthy
inductee and she is ‘spared’. We see her
enveloped by some weird living armor as she struggles in vain and is told by
the Vong to prepare to witness the destruction of her galaxy.
Meanwhile, the Skywalker and Solo clans arrive at Lando’s
base. We do get this as the greetings
are taking place:
"Ha-ha!" he (Lando) laughed, moving over to wrap Han in a great
hug, and then put one over Leia - one that pointedly lasted a little bit
longer, drawing a jealous scowl from Han.
Lando explains his game “Lando’s Folly” which basically
consists of pilots running through an asteroid field in modified TIE fighters
with enhanced shielding generated from a nearby station. When Lando sees the looks on Han and Leia’s
faces at his choice of spacecraft he explains that they are able to take a
beating, to which Han comments: “Don’t we know that?” I thought that was cute.
Of course, the Solo kids want a chance to fly
and get the high score, currently held by Kyp Durron, one of the rogue Jedi
Knights and they all suit up after Leia’s reluctant agreement and get ready to
run the route.
Jacen goes first and then Anakin with Jaina suited up in her
TIE waiting to go next. Anakin’s run
ends with a small collision and him spinning about for awhile, which totally freaks
Leia out.
"Anakin?"
came the frantic call from the ground station, Leia's voice.
Of course, he comes out okay but obviously shaken up which
prompts this:
"That's
enough," Leia said, apparently catching on to the same thing. "Bring
it in, Jaina."
"Ready to
fire!" Jaina called, clicking to a different channel and pretending she
hadn't heard. She wasn't about to let Anakin's misfortune slow her down - she
knew she should have gone first! "Am I cleared for entry?" she asked
the air controller on Belt-Runner I.
"Fire away,"
he came back.
"Jaina!"
Leia's voice came in, her mom-sense easily finding her daughter's new channel.
But Jaina throttled up
quickly, speeding for the entry point of the belt. Most pilots went in at a
virtual standstill, coming against the flow of the asteroids and using their
drives only for dodging maneuvers. It wasn't a distance test, after all, but
merely a duration challenge.
Jaina, though, fearing
her mother would find a way to call it all off, hit the belt running ... and fast.
I liked this. First
Leia’s worry and then Jaina’s feistiness and the mention of Leia’s “mom-sense”
being able to quickly find her new channel.
Total fun to read, in fact, this entire chapter was pretty fun since it
revolved most solely around the Solo offspring and Han and Leia. Speaking of, we get this little exchange
between mom and dad a little further down as we read about Jaina’s run through
Lando’s Folly:
Han heard a low growl
escape Leia's lips as Jaina soared into the asteroid belt. He draped his arm
about his wife's shoulders.
"She heard
me," Leia remarked quietly and coldly.
Han tightened his
grip, pulling Leia closer. Of course Jaina had heard her, and of course Jaina
had pretended differently, had gone after the run that had consumed her
thoughts these last days. Leia would get over it, Han knew, but if Jaina had
acceded to her mother's demand, had lost the challenge she had so desperately
wanted, the chill between mother and daughter would have been lasting.
"She'll be all
right," he remarked, but even he winced as Jaina's TIE, clearly visible on
the great screens in the central control room, broke into its three-quarter
roll and burst out at the very last instant. "She's the best flyer of the
three."
I love the “she heard
me” from Leia and can just feel her fuming “mom-sense” and totally relate
and sympathize. I like Han’s insight,
too and how it implies how in tuned he is to not only his children’s strengths
and personalities but also of the delicate relationships between mother and daughter.
Jaina does remarkably well and even Leia calms down and
begins to root for her and as she spectacularly finishes her run knocking Kyp
off of first place we get an oft-used “the
kid can fly” from proud poppa Han.
Back to the scientific outpost. Yomin Carr is steadily killing the remaining
scientist as the noxious cloud is overtaking the
planet. Meanwhile, Nom Anor is heading
over to the Mediator to talk to the
Commander there about a peace agreement.
It is a planned farce, however, and he sends a fake escape capsule into
the docking bay to explode and destroy most of the Republic ship. Nom Anor and his accomplice escape amongst
the confusion. During their trip, they
recap their status and are happy to hear of Yomin Carr’s progress and success
on Belkadan and the frozen planet. I’ll
paste this here to provide an nice overview of the situation and what the
yammosk does (it’ll be important later):
Nom Anor nodded his
approval - and relief. The Praetorite Vong would be vulnerable for a while,
with only the one frozen planet as a true base. There was great advantage in
using a war coordinator, a yammosk, for the attack. In addition to its own
powerful energies, and true to its title as war coordinator, the creature could
bring the forces of the three expeditionary worldships into tight focus and
purpose, could allow the coralskippers to fly in perfect unison, thus making
them many times more efficient. But there was a downside to such an endeavor,
for if the New Republic somehow managed to bring all of their considerable
firepower to bear on that frozen base planet and, impossible as it seemed,
managed to destroy the yammosk, the resulting chaos among the Praetorite Vong
could bring about complete disaster. The Praetorite Vong had to move slowly at
first, allowing the yammosk to put all the base defenses in place, and to allow
for the arrival of the next two fighter-packed worldships.
Yep, they are pretty well organized and ready to destroy
everything. Their next target? Sernpidal.
Back at Lando’s Folly: everyone is talking about Jaina’s
victory and Kyp even comes to tell her that he’ll be working to get his first
place spot back. The kids talk, there is
more debate about the role of the Force and of the Jedi and then we cut over to
the adults. Lando is trying to get some
of the older members of the Skywalker/Solo clan to fly the Folly (he makes
money of the betting). Mara, Luke and
Leia refuse, so Lando turns to Han and Chewie (there is a twin-seater they can
fly). I make it a point to include most
any mention of contact between Han and Leia so I’ll point out that Han and
Chewie replied thusly:
"I'm too old and
slow," Han replied, draping an arm across Leia's shoulders.
Chewie just gave a
howl.
The kids walk in and:
Jaina looked around
curiously, focusing on Lando and her parents, then on Chewie, who seemed rather
agitated, and then, finally, settling her gaze on her aunt.
"Lando wants
Chewie and Han to take a run at the belt in a two-seater," Mara explained.
"It sounds like a good idea to me."
Leia pulled away from
her husband, who gave her one of his typical plaintive smirks. In truth, she
wasn't crazy about the idea of Han running into a such a game - even if Lando
had guaranteed that there would be minimal danger. Her protective instincts
couldn't stand up against that smirk, though. Han obviously didn't want to go,
or didn't care enough to bother, and she was unable to resist the urge to prod
him. "Me, too," she agreed.
Chewie issued a series
of howls this time, telling them that he was intrigued by the idea.
"That's a kid's
game," Han replied with a snort. "I'm too old and too slow and too
sore."
Lando eggs him on further by telling them who owns the
current record: a pair of two-bit smugglers that Han knows and that if they
don’t fly it, they’ll be acknowledging the other pilot’s superior flying
skills.
"Yeah,
yeah," Han admitted. He looked around at the others, to see them all
staring at him, all smiling. "What?" he asked innocently.
Those smiles were even
wider when Lando's crew worked to squeeze Han and the giant Chewie into the
twin shock couches of a TIE bomber. One unfortunate attendant twisted Chewie's
leg the wrong way, and the Wookiee responded with a backhand slap - not a hard
one, just enough to send the man tumbling a few meters. The crew finally
managed to get the two into place; Chewie looked somewhat ridiculous, with his
legs bent at such an angle that his knobby, hairy knees were nearly as high as
his chin.
"Ready
away?" came the call.
"How are we
supposed to fly like this?" Han protested, looking doubtfully at Chewie.
The Wookiee howled.
"Well, you don't
look fine!" Han retorted.
"It won't
matter," Lando replied. "You won't get near to Moss and Twinge's mark
of four forty-one anyway."
Chewie roared.
"Ready
away!" Han cried.
"Always appeal to
his pride," Lando whispered to Leia and the others with a wink, and as
soon as Han and Chewie blasted out of the dock, they all headed back to the
control room to watch the show.
And quite a show it is, really. I recommend reading this part in total, it’s
a blast. Han and Chewie are breaking
things and making mistakes but, as always with their luck, they are making it
look as if they planned it and flying beautifully. That is until halfway through their run the
shields go down and they are flying without shields. Luke tears off to go after them as Han and
Chewie’s ship careens out of control and loses signal.
"Find them,"
Leia whispered under her breath, aiming the words and the prayer at her
brother, Luke, the pilot of that soon-to-be-belt-running TIE fighter.
The book leaves you on a cliffhangar, so I will do the
same. We cut to Kyp and his band of
rogue Jedi named: the dozen-and-two Avengers.
<insert eye roll here>
They're flying about and catch some of the Belkadan scientists’ broadband
communication. They see that Belkadan is
a scientific outpost and that it seems as though some of the scientist have
evacuated due to a storm. They decide to
follow the direction of the evacuees to the Helska system and put out a
communication of their own for anyone else with time to check up on the
deserted scientific outpost on Belkadan.
Cut back to Han and Chewie.
Luke finds them. Of course. But
not before he almost writes them off as gone and goes through some reminiscing
of how much he and Han’s relationship has gone through over the years and how
much he would miss the both of them. All
the while he has Leia in his ear demanding and pleading for updates until he
just decides to cut off the speaker so that he can concentrate. He finally spots them:
There sat Chewie and
Han, arguing as usual, Han pointing one way, Chewie another, and both shaking
their heads at the same time. Han had some blood on his forehead. Chewie
noticed Luke in the TIE fighter then and gave a great Wookiee roar - Luke could
tell because of the way Han grabbed at his ears.
"They're all
right!" Luke called, clicking on the communicator.
"Where are
they?" Leia cried.
They drag the pair out and we get an ominous thought from
Luke that this is just another example of a
long series of amazing dodges against the claws of the grim specter of death. We even get a “they always seem to find a way” from Leia. If you don’t know what is about to happen in
this book, none of this seems really notable but these are the kinds of things
(along with all the wonderful family moments) that during a re-read take on
their own kind of thoughtful consideration.
"That tin can you
sent to get us hit every asteroid in sight on the way out," Han
complained, but the others, too relieved to see the pair alive, merely smiled.
Chewie, though, wasn't
finished with the complaining,-and with a Wookiee, complaints usually took the
form of action. He headed straight for Lando, arms outstretched as if he meant
to choke the life out of the man. Luke and Mara, Leia and the three kids, all
stepped in between, but all started sliding back as Chewie continued his stalk.
Finally, though, with
Lando retreating to match the Wookiee's progress, Chewie backed off.
"Did we beat Moss
and Twingo?" Han asked, breaking the tension.
A true competitor to the bitter end, old Han. Their communications went out just before
they got the record but Lando gives them a few extra seconds and Han and Chewie
are firmly in first place and everyone begins to congratulate them.
Han was going to
explain that Chewie deserved the credit, that the blow to his head had knocked
him senseless for those few critical seconds, but the Wookiee interjected a
long wail, a confirmation of their teamwork effort. They were a unit, comrades,
the closest and most trusted
of friends, and by
definition of that bond, the credit for either one's exploits would be
deservedly shared by the other.
Han took it all in
with a wink to his Wookiee counterpart. "No problem," he assured
them, his face twisting into a wry smile.
Later, Lando wants Han to do a supply run to none other than Sernpidal – you
remember?
The place where, unbeknownst
to our heroes, Nom Anor wanted to destroy next?
Anyway, Han reluctantly agrees to go while Luke and Mara agree to go to
Belkadan in response to the Kyp Durron communication that something was going on over
there.
Leia begged off going,
but suggested, strongly, that Han take Anakin along for the flight, and even
suggested that Han might want to let Anakin take the helm again.
He just looked at her
helplessly, his expression one of surrender. She was the ultimate mediator, and
he had known all along, of course, that she would find a way to sort out the
problems between father and son concerning Anakin's wild piloting near Coruscant.
Seems like Han isn’t the only one that is keeping tabs on
parent-child relationships. ;-)
We cut back to Kyp and his team as they arrive in the Helska
system and are attacked by coralskippers.
They, at first, think that the strange attackers are easy prey but find
that they have some kind of creatures that attach to their ships and disable
their shields. One-by-one his team is
taken down and Kyp is the only one to
make it out alive as he makes a quick jump to hyperspace with a few of the
strange creatures in tow. Kyp is able to
fight them off and once freed begins to limp toward the closest planet he can
identify: Sernpidal.
We then head back to Danni Quee kept inside of that big
yammosk thing. One of Kyp’s Jedi, Miko,
is brought to her banged up and beaten from the space fight. Danni and Miko talk and try to escape only to
be caught. Danni is once again spared
and the more time she spends inside the yammosk the more she begins to
understand and dread their intentions for her galaxy. She is forced to watch as Miko, the Jedi that
tried to help her, is ingested by the strange creature. But later we find that he not dead but is slowly being tortured over and over again as Danni Quee is made to
watch.
Things aren’t looking much better for Han, Chewie and Anakin
as they arrive on Sernpidal to find everyone in a panic. It seems one of their moons is on a collision
course with the planet (the Vong’s doing).
"Never seem to
have a Death Star lying around when you need one," Han muttered. He
glanced over his shoulder at Chewie, who was busy checking readings and working
some calculations.
The Wookiee stared
intently at the screen, scratched his hairy head a couple of times, then issued
a wail, poking the screen.
"Look at
what?" Han protested, swiveling his chair about.
Chewie roared
emphatically.
"Seven
hours?" Han echoed, stunned. "Let me see that." He slapped the
Wookiee's hand away, but his scolding ended abruptly as he read the line Chewie
had been indicating.
"Our day just got
better," Han said, looking back to Anakin. "Sernpidal's got seven
hours."
And that’s Han’s new task, to get as many people evacuated
off the planet in the next seven hours.
First they try to find out why the moon is falling and Anakin figures
out that it keeps dipping closer at the same point during its orbit indicating
that there is some sort of gravity well or interdictor. Flying around on the Falcon, they are unable to find the cause. They land and begin to organize an evacuation
with too many people and too few ships.
Anakin tells Han that he can find the cause of the gravity well and Han
reluctantly agrees to let his son go, along with Sernpidal’s quirky mayor, in a
landspeeder and find the cause so that he and Chewie can then come and blast it
with the Falcon.
We go back to Luke and Mara.
They land on Belkadan, confused by the devastation there. Mara’s illness seems to worsen on the planet
and they find the dead beetles that they think may have something to do with
the noxious gas. Mara and Yomin Carr
fight a brutal battle in which Mara barely wins. Artoo downloads all he can and as the pair
leave they piece all of their information together. Mara recognizes the similarities between
Yomin Carr and Nom Anor with their lack of Force presence. They also pick up a pair of villips and
witness a message, determining them to be communication devices and hearing the
word “Vong” for the first time.
Chapter 17, Vector Prime.
You might want to read the entire thing, I don’t know. I can still remember how I
felt as I read it. Like so many other
things, though, it now kinda pales in comparison. But
anyway, here’s the synopsis: Anakin and
the mayor find the source of the gravity well, a living thing that buries
itself underground when Anakin shoots it.
Han comes in the Falcon to
pick them up and the mayor jumps into the crater after the weird creature with
a thermal detonator in tow. They return
to get Chewie in the last moments before impact.
I don’t know exactly which parts to share.
Really you should just probably read it all.
But Chewie and Anakin are working feverishly
to rescue some citizens that have been buried in debris.
While returning with a small child, Han
standing on the
Falcon’s ramp:
They were near, so
close that Han could almost grab Anakin's extended hand, when a barrage of
debris swept past. Chewie held his ground and turned his powerful body to
protect the toddler, but a piece of stone clipped Anakin's head, costing him
his concentration and launching him far in a rolling, bouncing tumble.
Han's eyes widened
with horror; Chewie thrust the toddler into Han's arms before he could begin to
move, and then the Wookiee turned about and half ran, half rode the wind to
catch up to the fallen Anakin.
Han handed off the
toddler and rushed back for the cockpit, knowing the two could never get back
to the Falcon against this mounting
storm. He brought the Falcon in fast
but steady, moving to the spot even as Chewie lifted Anakin in his arms.
Han locked her in
place and rushed back to the landing ramp, pushing aside those who had moved
into position to help. But the Falcon
couldn't hold position now, and she drifted up and to the side - or maybe it
was the ground dipping down and to the side - her engines roaring in protest.
"Chewie!" he
cried, hanging right off the ramp now. Several others crowded about Han,
holding him in place by the legs. He reached desperately for the Wookiee, but
the Falcon was up too high.
Chewbacca gave his
friend a resigned, contented look, then threw Anakin up into Han's waiting
arms.
The ground rolled and
bucked, and suddenly, Chewie was far, far away.
Han cradled Anakin to
the floor just inside, and the boy was conscious again, struggling to his feet
as his father rushed back to the cockpit.
They can’t see Chewie but Han follows Anakin’s direction as
the boy uses his Force connection to locate the Wookiee. The deteriorating planet and maelstrom of
rocks and wind make their job nearly impossible and each time they creep closer
to Chewie, something happens to rock them or him further away. Knowing they are running out of time before
the impending explosion, Han leaves Anakin to pilot the Falcon while he goes down to the boarding ramp to try and reach his
old friend.
Anakin worked
furiously over the controls, the ship vibrating so violently that he thought it
might just shake apart. He turned her up on her side to get down one alley, and
swooped around another teetering building.
"Oh, no," he
breathed, for there stood Chewie, his back to the Falcon, and in front of the Wookiee, a fiery
Dobido (the moon) was streaking down.
"Closer!"
came Han's voice.
Chewie turned about
and took one step toward Han and the Falcon, and then a burst of tremendous, hot wind blasted through, tossing him
to the ground, toppling buildings. One pile of rubble crashed atop the Falcon - her shields groaned in protest - and sent
the nose of the ship up, up.
Anakin fought her back
to level, started to turn her about to find the Wookiee, but saw instead, in
all her devastating glory, the last descent of Dobido, the arrival, to those
faithful natives still praying in the ruined streets, of Tosi-karu.
They were out of time.
Anakin knew it immediately. If he turned for Chewie, if he did anything other
than take her straight up and out, the explosion of the crashing moon would
tear the Falcon apart.
He heard his father's
pleading cry to get him back to Chewie.
He pointed the Millennium
Falcon skyward and punched the throttle.
Han saw.
A battered and bloody
Chewie regained his footing, stood up high on one pile of rubble, and faced the
descending moon with arms upraised and a defiant roar.
The scene receded
quickly, but Han kept his eyes locked on the spot, burning that image of the
very last moments of his friend's life indelibly into his consciousness. And
then he saw the beginning to the final cataclysm as Dobido plowed into the
city.
The landing ramp rose
suddenly, locking into place - Han knew it to be the doings of his son - and
then the Falcon went spinning away as
the shock wave hit her.
Han didn't even
consider the danger to him and the others, not even to his son at that critical
moment. He just thought of Chewie, of that last tragic image, the Wookiee
shaking his fist at the great, unbeatable enemy.
A fitting last pose of
defiance, but one that did nothing to mend the tear ripping through Han's
heart.
Very, very sad stuff.
It was hard to read this again, even knowing what was coming. The entire book was so different this time
around as I said, every scene, every word seemed to be a harbinger of this
eventual end. It's really just heart-wrenching. Boo.
New rule: main characters should just never die.
But really, Chewie does die in a heroic way, saving Anakin
and all the others before that. It was
fitting, so to speak and I guess that makes it better or easier. But man, it still sucks. And the picture painted of Chewie’s last
stance and Han’s reaction, oh man. The
feels. :-(
But there’s more. In
the theme that will carry on into the following books, we begin to experience
the effects this tragedy has on Han Solo and his family and here we thought the
death itself was hard to read. Double boo.
Han Solo stared at the
wobbling planet for a long, long time, his eyes registering the truth that his
heart could not.
"We've got a
hundred and eleven ships in the convoy," Anakin said, coming up behind his
father nervously, not really knowing what to say or do, whether to hug Han or
run away from him.
Han turned to face his
young son, his face blank as if he had not heard.
"A hundred and
ele -" Anakin started to reiterate.
"You left
him," Han said quietly, calmly. The accusation hit Anakin as hard as any
punch ever could.
Anakin stuttered over
several replies; he wanted to shout out at his father for even saying such a
thing. He had saved the Millennium Falcon and the scores of people crammed aboard her. "We had to get out
of there," he finally managed to reply. "The moon was coming down
-"
"You left
him," Han said again, more sharply.
Anakin swallowed hard
in the face of that glare. He had been given no choice on Sernpidal, he
reminded himself, and surely his father had to know that logically. They were
too far from Chewie, with the moon too close and falling fast. They could not
possibly have reached Chewie and gotten him aboard. Anakin wanted to say all of
that, wanted to rush back and get the logs of the incident, certain that they
would back up his reasoning.
But he couldn't. He
couldn't give any answer at all, other than to stare helplessly against the
reality of the most despairing, empty expression he had ever seen on the face
of his father. Always his father had been his hero, the great Han Solo. Always
his father had been his strength and his answer.
And now ...
Now the great Han Solo
seemed a pitiful, broken thing, an empty shell.
"You left
him," Han said again, and though his tone had gone back to quiet and calm,
this third time he uttered the accusation, with the element of surprise gone,
it cut Anakin even more deeply. "You turned and ran away while Chewie
stood his ground and died."
"I couldn't
-" Anakin started to reply, and he was biting his lip now and blinking
back the tears.
"Chewie, who had
just done everything to save you," Han said with a growl, poking his
finger into Anakin's chest. "You left him!"
Anakin turned and ran
off.
Han looked all around,
as if conscious only then of the fact that a dozen sets of eyes had been on him
and his son the whole time. Offering nothing more than a scowl in explanation,
he stormed back to the Falcon's
bridge and took his seat.
How alone he felt when
he turned and saw the empty seat beside him.
Geesh. You feel for
Anakin, you feel for Han and you mourn Chewie. Grief is a terrible thing
and I think everyone has acted out in ways they regret when dealing with severe
situations and loss. Poor Han. His interactions with Anakin here and their
eventual repercussions will only intensify the impact of this traumatic event
for him. But I don’t want to start
weighing in on my feelings of all that’s to come, that’s what the next book
reviews will be for.
All-in-all, a truly sad day in galactic history for the
GFFA.
Han does contemplate turning around to find Chewie, I was
going to paraphrase it, but why the hell not, I’m pasting it in full:
I'm going back, Han
told himself. Chewie found a way to get off planet.
Logically, it seemed
impossible. Han had seen the Wookiee standing resolute, the moon descending,
and there was no doubt that Sernpidal itself had died only a moment later.
But logic could not
play here, in Han's emotional turmoil. Chewie had escaped, somehow, he told
himself repeatedly, and so he believed.
He called to the next
ship in the long line, a freighter, and offered the coordinates for Dubrillion,
then he brought the Falcon about hard, turning back for Sernpidal, turning back
for Chewie.
But then he’s called away to answer a distress signal first
of some unidentified bugs attacking a ship and then from Kyp Durron (remember
he was heading to Sernpidal).
He clicked off the
external communicator, then, after a moment's pause, turned on the ship's
internal intercom. He sat staring at it for a long, long while, then blew a
sigh. "Anakin," he called. "I could use a copilot up here."
A few moments later,
his son walked tentatively into the control room and quietly slipped into the
seat beside him.
"We've got a
distress call," Han explained, his tone cold and calm, offering no clue if
any forgiveness was being extended, or if the interaction was just pragmatism.
"I think it's Kyp. Got himself into some kind of trouble. Maybe with the
bug things."
Anakin looked at him
quizzically.
"If you'd been up
here, you'd have seen them," Han replied, his words as much as his tone
reminding his son that his childish tantrum had cost the Falcon a copilot for the last hour.
Anakin wanted to yell
back, to tell his father again that he had flown off Sernpidal to save the Falcon, that they had run out of time, that there
was nothing they could have done to save Chewbacca. Even to determined Anakin,
those words seemed hollow indeed in light of the reality, in light of the fact
that Chewie was gone, was dead, and that the Wookiee had died saving him.
The burden of that
awful truth bowed the boy's head.
Again. Very sad for
Anakin and for Han.
"It is Kyp,"
Han noted as the familiar, and obviously wounded, XJ X-wing came into clearer
view. "Oh, no," he added, for the instruments were screaming at them,
and a glance to the side told him why.
A swarm of insects,
zooming in for the X-wing and for the Falcon.
"They baited
us," Han insisted. "They used Kyp to lure us in."
"You think
they're intelligent?" Anakin asked skeptically.
"I think it
worked," was all that Han replied. "Get ready for some hot flying,
kid!"
Anakin set to work
with his instruments.
"Get to the top
guns," Han instructed, referring to the pod of quad laser cannons atop the
Millennium Falcon. The old ship had
two such pods, one above and one below, along with a single gun on the front
that could be controlled from the cockpit.
As he started to rise,
Anakin heard his father quietly add, "Be alive, Kyp."
I like that little muttering overheard by Anakin at the
end. I think it shows how Han is
teetering for control here and knows that he couldn’t handle another death
right now, that maybe rescuing Kyp will help somehow. But I also think that it was hard for Anakin
to hear. That this entire interaction
with Han following Chewbacca’s death is just so hard and so sobering (and
defining) to young Anakin. And there’s
more, as Han directs his son during the rescue:
"And don't blow
Kyp out of the universe!" Han added suddenly, and Anakin winced, as if
that had been a direct reference to his other recent failure. He heard his
father mumbling then, and perked up his ears.
"Dammit,
Chewie," Han was saying quietly. "How am I gonna get that thing in
tow without you?"
Anakin pulled back,
feeling as if he had intruded in a place where he did not belong, and tried to
regain his focus on the situation at hand, though Han's plea to his dead friend
stung the boy profoundly. He took a deep breath, his wounded expression
solidifying into a determined scowl. He swung the rotating cockpit around,
sighted a group of incoming insectlike creatures, and locked on. Then he
waited, waited, holding his shot, keeping his calm.
"Trying to hit
them as they pass?" his father cried out to him.
Anakin ignored the
sarcasm and kept his cool, waiting, waiting. They were almost on the Falcon now - Anakin could see their bulbous eyes
and the absolute ferocity reflected in them.
Anakin isn’t able to shoot them all down but then does some
quick thinking as he hooks to Kyp’s crippled X-wing and shocks the insects off
the Falcon’s hull. This gets him a “Nice move, kid” from his
father as they slowly tow the X-wing to the nearest place they can land and see
if Kyp is alive.
Meanwhile, I forgot where I left off with Luke and Mara but
they arrived at that frozen planet where Danni Quee is being held and Luke took
his X-wing in for a closer look, nearly crashed and then did some maneuvering
and was rescued by Mara in the Jade Sabre. And now they know that something not right is
going on. Also of note, they really try
to play up the Jade Sabre, in my
opinion and not just in this book but as a consistent theme. Always describing how beautiful
it is and how many people are impressed by it.
Even the mechanical-hating, Vong Yomin Carr reluctantly admired it. IDK why I felt like mentioning it, I guess
just wondering if anyone else noticed that and if it bothered them?
Okay, so let’s see.
Kyp is alive and Han is studying the weird insects flying around and
then everyone is heading back to Lando as they have apparently figured out that
that is where the bugs plan to hit next.
But first, Lando, old buddy, has some ‘splaining to do. As you recall, the entire trip to Sernpidal
was done as a favor for him:
"We got your cargo unloaded," he (Han) snapped.
Lando stared at him,
confused.
"On Sernpidal, I
mean," Han went on. "We got your cargo off right before the moon
fell. You think your business connection will be satisfied with that?"
"Hey, buddy, it
wasn't my fault," Lando said, patting his hands in the air.
"It was your
fault that we were there!" Han growled at him.
Lando does a fairly
good job of reminding Han that thousands of lives were saved because they happened to be there,
including Kyp’s.
Han chewed his lip,
his fists clenching and opening at his sides, unsure of whether he should let
this inevitable battle with Lando explode now, or put his pain and anger aside
until the danger had passed.
"We can't look
back at any one decision that brought us to this place," Lando said
quietly, shaking his head. "If I hadn't asked you to go to Sernpidal, you
wouldn't have, and Chewie would still be here. But a lot of other people would
be dead right now, probably including Kyp, and we'd have no idea of what was
coming against us. In that case, all of us, Chewie included, would be in
serious trouble."
The logic was sound,
Han had to admit privately, but still, it did little to hold his broken heart
together. "They'll be coming at us in swarms," he said. "How
many fighters can you put up?"
Han and the words broken heart – not a fan of them being in
the same sentence. But this begins Han’s
ability to put all that aside and rise to the occasion. They have an invasion coming and Han
performs. He and Landon begin to
strategize, planning to utilize all the pilots they have on base to form a
defense fleet for the planet. During
these talks, Leia returns:
"Han!" came
a shout from down the corridor, and Leia came rushing out a door, C-3PO right
behind her. "Oh, I heard!" she cried, running up and wrapping her
husband in a tight hug. "Anakin told me."
Han buried his face in
Leia's dark hair, buried his expressions and let his inner turmoil remain a
private thing. His frustration with Anakin and the evacuation of Sernpidal had
not abated, not completely, even with his son's quick-thinking heroics against
the insect creatures. Nor had he even begun to come to terms with the loss of
his closest friend, his trusted companion and copilot for decades. And he
couldn't begin to talk about it now, not without the weight of it defeating
him, rendering him useless for that which was to come. His family was here,
Leia's hug pointedly reminded him, his wife and his three children. If he
wasn't sharp now, if he wasn't at his very best, they might all be killed.
Leia broke the hug and
pushed her husband back to arm's length. "He died saving Anakin," she
remarked quietly.
Han nodded, his
expression stern.
"Anakin's feeling
horrible about it," she said with concern.
Han started to
respond, sharply, that the boy deserved to feel horrible, but he bit it back.
Still, that edge found its way onto his face momentarily, long enough,
apparently, for perceptive Leia to catch it. "What is it?" she
prodded.
Han looked away from
her, to Lando. "Hurry up with that search," he instructed, and Lando
took the cue, gave a curt bow and a wink, and rushed away.
"What is
it?" Leia prompted again, staring hard at Han, even reaching up to gently
push his chin so that he was looking at her directly.
"Just some search
to secure the planet," Han answered.
"With Anakin, I
mean," Leia clarified. "What is it?"
Han blew a long sigh
and stared at her hard. "A disagreement over our retreat," he
explained.
"What does that
mean?"
"He left
him," Han blurted, ending with a sputtering growl. He shook his head and
gently but firmly moved Leia aside. "We've got to get ready for the
attack," he said.
Leia held on to his
arm, forced him to turn back.
"He left
him?" she echoed suspiciously.
"Anakin left him,
left Chewie," Han spat.
Leia, too shocked to
respond, just let go, and Han stormed away, leaving her full of questions and
fears.
You know how you can hold things together when you aren’t
with those that are closest to you. I
imagine seeing Leia for the first time, her hugging him, was so difficult for
Han as he tried to maintain some modicum of control. I still think that his reactions here were
handled as well as can be expected and my heart just goes out to all of
them. Leia presses him here, but not too
much and she listens and you can tell she is trying to read between the lines
to decipher all that happened and how is affecting the man that she loves. :-(
The children all discuss the loss together and Jacen
comforts a distraught Anakin telling him that their dad’s anger is over losing
his best friend and not with Anakin.
Jacen also makes Anakin describe what happened and reasons with Anakin
that it was the only thing that he could do to save all the lives that he
onboard the Falcon and that Chewie
would’ve been more mad had Anakin sacrificed everyone to save him.
The adults are forming up battle plans, seeing no other
options than to fight until more help can arrive. Lando asks about Han’s intentions:
"I'll be up there
fighting," Han promised, and there was indeed the promise of death in his
eyes, a cold, hard stare, as chilling a look as Leia had ever seen on his face.
He was transferring his grief into anger, she knew. He was intending to make
every enemy pay for the loss of his closest friend.
A shudder coursed down
her (Leia’s) spine.
Jacen, Jaina, and
Anakin walked into the control room then, their expressions equally solid and
determined. "We'll be up, too," Jaina declared.
"Oh, no,"
Han started to argue.
"We're Jedi
Knights," Jacen interrupted. "You can't keep us out of the
fight."
"I don't need
three copilots," Han shot back.
"And you've
already got one, because I'm coming with you," Leia declared. Everyone in
the room turned to regard her curiously. Leia had long ago traded in her
warrior garb for one of diplomacy. But she steeled her gaze, an expression that
offered no room for compromise.
"There you have
it," Han agreed. "Your mother's flying beside me."
All three of the kids
were shaking their heads, telling Leia clearly that Han was missing their
intention.
"I'm not your
copilot," Jaina agreed. "I fly better in a starfighter."
There's some resistance by Han and Leia to let their kids fly
in battle, but Lando promises that the shield’s from the planet’s surface will
protect them as long as they stay low enough.
All is settled and everyone heads out as the first enemies enter the
system. Kyp is flying with Han and Leia
and in one of the gun pods. Quickly
overwhelmed by the enemies’ numbers, Han and Leia realize that they’ll need
both gun pods manned:
Han took a deep and
steadying breath. He expected Leia to tell him to go to the lower gun pod, that
she could take the helm, but he knew that his place was up here, flying the Falcon. "Just feed me the data as it comes
in," he said to preempt any requests. To his surprise, though, Leia stood
up. He looked at her curiously.
"I'll be in the
lower gun pod," she explained, and Han's expression turned even more
incredulous.
"I feel like
shooting something," Leia said, and though it was obviously a joke, a
statement made to alleviate the tension, neither Han nor Leia even cracked a
smile.
Han stared at his wife
for a moment, at her grim expression. Then he nodded and Leia kissed him on the
cheek and headed for the lower gunnery pod.
The fight ensues until the shield generator protecting the
kids is rendered non-functional. And then
this:
"Dad told us to
stay low because of the shields," Jaina called to her brothers, and before
they could answer, she turned her nose to the sky. "Shields are gone
anyway," she explained. "Let's go and join the bigger fight."
"We can't ...
," Jacen started to protest, but his voice trailed away.
Jaina smiled. She knew
that her father wouldn't quite see things the way she had put them to her
brothers.
But that was a fight
for another day.
The girl is Han’s daughter, which is why Han needs/deserved a
daughter! I’m copying a lot here, but
I’m sharing what I liked. The Falcon is becoming overrun with enemies
and is saved by some incoming friendlies:
Han and Leia's elation
at the rescue lasted only the few seconds it took them to discern the source of
the reinforcements: three modified TIE fighters.
"Break back to
the planet!" Han cried to his children. "Use Lando's shields!"
"Belt-Runner I's
down," Jaina replied. "No shields there, either."
"Break
back!" Han screamed.
"Too many up
here," Leia added. "We're all heading home. Let the surface guns take
them!" Even as she finished, the three TIEs zoomed past the Falcon.
"Go ahead,"
came Jaina's voice. "We'll fight the retreat."
"Break
back!" Han screamed again, trembling with a fit of rage.
Leia called out to him
over the comm, sensing, and sharing in, his distress. She knew it was worse for
Han, though, understood that he was on the very edge of control here, his grief
and horror for Chewbacca wrapping itself around his fears for his children,
elevating his sense of loss and dread to the breaking point. He put the Falcon into a tight turn - Leia wasn't surprised -
bringing her around to follow the TIE fighters, and already the two parents
could hear the banter of their children as the three intercepted a host of
enemy fighters.
Mostly it was
coordinating banter, the you-break-left-I've-got-the-right sort of calls that
pilots always shared, but there was something else, something that unnerved and
bolstered Leia all at once.
It was their tone.
For the kids were into
it with all the passion of seasoned warriors, flying heart and soul, full of
energy, full of spirit. Han and Leia heard the whoops of delight as enemy
fighter after fighter went away in a burst of sparkling pieces.
But both parents held
their grim countenance, for both had seen enough battles to understand that
those whoops of delight would become cries of despair in an instant if one of
the three got blown apart. And now, by their instruments and the visible
streaking lines before them, it seemed as if the element of surprise had flown,
as if the enemy fighters were converging in an orderly and devastating fashion
on the three hotshots.
I liked that part.
Han clinging to control, Leia watching her kids take the torch, so to
speak. Really bittersweet. Good stuff. The kids really come into their own in this book and of course all the ones following. It's enjoyable (mostly - at least at first).
They fight on until the Falcon
loses its shields. Finally admitting
that there are just too many, everyone decides to pull back. Except Anakin, he proposes that the children
run through Lando’s Folly and with their skill from practice, they could
eliminate a few more enemies who would follow and perish.
Leia's eyes popped
open wide. "They've got no shields " she whispered, more to herself
than anyone else. But she heard Han's groan and realized that he had heard her.
A series of whumps
from the top laser cannons reminded them that their children were beyond their
reach, that they, too, had no shields and there were simply too many enemy
fighters between them and the kids, between them and the belt, for them to get
anywhere near the three TIEs.
Han pulled the
microphone from the console and roared into it, "Break back!"
No response, just
static - the kids had already entered Lando's Folly.
The kids fly through and everything was going as planned to
the very end. Anakin hit an asteroid and
careened out into space and disappeared in a wild hyperspace jump while Jacen
and Jaina exited the belt.
Han and Leia,
returning from the gunnery pod, watched it all from the cockpit of the Falcon,
sitting in stunned silence. They could hardly believe what they had just
witnessed, the beauty and the precision, and the loss of their youngest child.
The twins return to the surface and the Falcon goes off in search of Anakin, hoping against hope that he
somehow survived.
"How could he
take a chance like that?" Han scolded, aiming his ire at Leia and ignoring
Kyp completely. "How could any of them? I thought we had raised our kids
with more sense than to dive into an asteroid belt with a bunch of fighters chasing
them!"
"The odds of such
an adventure actually succeeding -" C-3PO began, but Han cut him off with
a scowl.
Despite the grim
situation, the very real possibility that their son was in serious jeopardy,
Leia couldn't help but smile, even chuckle, and shake her head incredulously.
"I wonder where they get that from," she remarked.
Han looked at her
curiously.
"I know another
couple of reckless pilots who took unbelievable chances," Leia reminded.
"I know of one who once flew into an asteroid belt with a host of Imperial
fighters on his tail."
Han couldn't miss the
reference: he had indeed done exactly that. "That was different," he
insisted.
Leia shook her head
again at the absurdity of it all, but Han just scowled at her profoundly. Leia
let it go at that, understanding the deeper emotions at work on her husband,
his fears for his children and not his own safety, and an even deeper feeling
of guilt concerning Anakin, considering the last few confrontations between the
two, the entire dialogue between father and son since Chewbacca's demise.
Old Threepio’s comment here was priceless. And once again: Poor Han. Leia “hears” Anakin calling for her, much
like Luke’s call on Bespin and she and Han find him and dock with his crippled
TIE.
They docked soon
after, and once Anakin had boarded the Falcon and run into his mother's waiting arms, Han put the TIE in tow and
turned back for Dubrillion.
Somewhat more
tentatively than he had rushed to his mother, Anakin, with Leia hovering
behind, walked onto the Falcon's
bridge, where his father was waiting.
Han turned and stared
hard at his son, and then his stern edge melted away and he bolted from his
seat, wrapping Anakin in a bear hug. He jumped back almost at once, though, and
slugged his son in the shoulder. "You ever do that to me again, kid, and
I'll kick you from here to Coruscant!"
The scolding hit
Anakin's ears like the sweetest music ever played.
Han hugging Anakin here: priceless. Whew! What a roller coaster ride.
So some wrap up stuff.
We had a little with the retreating Vong. They weren’t too upset about
losing at Dubrillion, using it more as a case study of the enemy than anything
else. Luke and Mara return and have
their own grief period as they learn about Chewbacca. They also share what they found on the frozen
planet and begin to think that the key to this new enemy lies someplace within
it. They begin working with Lando to
concoct a plan using some technology Lando has utilized in some of his many
mining exploits called an iceborer. They
also have Threepio decipher some of the message from the villip and everyone
puts a name to this new enemy: The Vong.
Some reinforcements arrive and the Commander of the Republic
ship wants to take the fight to the Helska system and not wait for
reinforcements. While Leia, Han and Luke
try to convince him that this new enemy is a force to be reckoned with, the
children discuss the iceborer and her mission.
Luke and Mara are supposed to take her, but Mara is feeling very ill. Jaina and Jacen decide to go themselves to
save their aunt from overextending herself.
Just as the Republic Commander tells all the adults that he
will not wait to go on the offensive, Luke notices the Merry Miner (the ship
carrying the iceborer) streaking out to space.
Not long after that, Threepio delivers a message from Jacen outlining
their intentions.
"I'm gonna kick
his -" Han started to say.
"Jacen's
right," Luke interrupted, and both Han and Leia, and Lando, as well,
stared at him in disbelief. "I wish they had come to me first," Luke
went on. "I wish they had better coordinated their intentions."
"But you think
that sending Jacen down into the planet is the right choice," Leia
finished for him.
"As good a choice
as any," Luke replied without hesitation. He grabbed Han by the arm, as
the man started away - and from the look on Han's face, it was obvious that he
was heading straight off for the Millennium Falcon.
"You're raising
Jedi Knights," Luke said to him in all seriousness. "Warriors,
explorers. They can't turn away from the duty that is before them just for our
peace of mind."
"They're just
kids," Han argued.
"And so were we
when the Empire unveiled the Death Star,"
Luke reminded.
"Speak for
yourself," Han growled. He narrowed his eyes as he stared hard at his
friend. "I just went halfway across the galaxy pulling one of them back,
and now I've got the other two running off in another direction," he
muttered through gritted teeth.
Luke looked to Leia
and managed, with his expression, to coax a smile onto her face. "Get used
to it," he said to Han. "And enjoy it while you can. You won't be
able to keep up with them much longer."
Han pulled roughly
away and muttered a stream of curses, and only then did Luke begin to
understand the depth of his anger and frustration. He had just lost Chewbacca,
and he wasn't about to lose anyone else!
Han forces Lando (in a cute little exchange) to come with them to assist the Republic Commander in
the fight following his two oldest children. Jaina and Jacen arrive at the frozen planet
and Jacen ends up inside and finds Miko (the Jedi) and Danni Quee. Meanwhile, Jaina is running out of time up
above:
"Hey there, Merry
Miner," came a familiar voice, and
Jaina had never imagined that she would ever be this happy to hear Kyp Durron.
"You need a little help?"
A squadron of X-wings
roared past, the lead ship waggling its wings at her.
"You're going to
need more help when I get you back home," came another voice, her father's
voice, and the Millennium Falcon, and
then the Jade Sabre, came into view.
A fight ensues. There's
some expert piloting of the Falcon by
Han and Leia. But the bad guys are
beating up the good guys pretty bad. Anakin thinks that the enemies are somehow
melding like he and his siblings do to fly and fight synchronized in
battle. The Commander that insisted on
going before they could get reinforcements is being overwhelmed and the Falcon
is called upon for assistance.
"Great," Han muttered sarcastically. "Now I'm running
bodyguard for a Star Destroyer." He turned a sly eye on Leia. "You
see anything crazy about that?"
The Republic ship is destroyed and everyone starts to
retreat but Jacen is still on planet and Jaina is on the Merry Miner. Jacen has met
up with Danni Quee and the pair are trying to escape, having lost the Jedi,
Miko.
"Lock in
coordinates for hyperspace!" Luke called repeatedly.
"... not leaving
him!" came a portion of Han's reply.
Luke reiterated his
instructions, in no uncertain terms. "We'll jump as soon as Jacen blasts
free," he explained, but again, Han came back with a determined,
"We're not leaving him!"
Jaina's screech
followed. "I'm hit!" she explained.
"Jaina!"
Leia cried.
Everyone gets out though and they all regroup and decide
that they need to take out this warcoordinator thing (the yammosk). Anakin comes up with a plan about absolute
zero and evaporation and freezing the damn thing and as they go back with
something Lando had they are all fighting again and Lando describes it best when
he says this:
"What's taking
them so long?" Han growled, aiming his frustration at Lando.
Lando held up his
hands helplessly. "I don't even know what we're trying to do," he
insisted.
You're not alone, Lando, old buddy. You're not alone.
Anway, Mara passes out leaving Jaina to helm the
wonderful Jade Sabre. They manage to freeze the yammosk thing to death and
then begin killing all the uncoordinated fighters. Luke plunged down in his X-wing following
Jaina as she wrestled with control of the Jade
Sabre. Jaina recovered but everyone
watched Luke disappear down near the planet.
Jacen warns that the freeze is only temporary and that the thing wasn’t
killed and the freeze won’t last.
"And what happens
when the planet starts up again?" Han asked ominously.
"Well, with the
expansion created by the ice ... ," Jacen began, and that was enough for
Han, who got a typically bad feeling about this.
"Luke," Leia
whispered breathlessly.
"Get out of here!
Get out of here!" Han cried through all channels. "Full
retreat!" And despite Leia's continuing plea for her missing brother, Han
brought the Falcon screaming around, pointed her nose away from the fourth
planet - which was beginning to rotate faster again - and punched the throttle,
slowing only long enough for the Jade Sabre to come zooming by.
It hit Han then, and
hard. The reality of what he was doing, of his retreat, so much like the
retreat Anakin had pulled on Sernpidal, leaving Chewie behind. He almost turned
the Falcon back around, plunging toward the planet in a desperate search for
Luke.
Almost.
But he could not. If
he had been alone, then there would have been no hesitation, but he was not
alone, was responsible for more lives than his own.
As Anakin had been.
Oh my.
But no,
everyone makes it out alive, including Luke.
Everyone begins to contemplate the future and what their jobs will be in
the face of this new enemy. Luke has his
own ideas as Leia thinks of her children who will now be in the thick of it, of
her ailing sister-in-law and of her grieving husband. But also, that her role in the New Republic,
to ensure that they understand the nature and the urgency of this invasion and that it will
be priority one to ensure the future of them all.
We get one last look at the Vong as they, too regroup and
make plans for their future.
Lastly, Chapter 26 titled “Eulogy”. Another one you might want to read in
total. Han and Leia take the Falcon and go back to Sernpidal to say
their final goodbyes.
Leia stood beside Han
on the bridge, saying nothing, allowing him this moment of solitude and
reflection.
And he needed it. He
had spent the last days keeping himself too busy to face this inevitable
moment, had tried to avoid it in the hopes that time would lessen the pain.
It hadn't. Not a bit.
Looking down there, at the last place he had seen Chewbacca alive, Han could
find no escape and no reprieve. Now he did think of his friend, fully. He
pictured so many of the moments he had spent with Chewie, mostly expressions on
the Wookiee's face, or a particular, peculiar howl, and no specific events. The
events didn't seem important. Just the inflections in Chewie's voice, the looks
he gave to Han, often argumentative, always with respect and honest love.
Han glanced over at Chewie's
empty copilot seat, seeing his friend there again in his mind's eye, picturing
him clearly, so vividly, and forcing it even deeper, focusing a mental image of
Chewbacca so crystalline clear that he almost fostered the sudden belief that
he could will the Wookiee back from the dead, that because he, Han, couldn't
accept the loss, it couldn't be so.
But it was, and Chewie
was gone, and Chewie wasn't coming back.
Han goes through some memories of Chewie. And then he thinks to the children and how he
had helped them deal with loss in the past and how all his comforting words
sounded shallow. Even so, he yearns for
an adult or protector to whisper those words to him now:
He had that source,
somewhat, in the person of the woman standing next to him, in his wonderful
wife. Leia had loved Chewie as much as he had, and though she was not as often
physically close to the Wookiee, and though she didn't have as many particular
memories of Chewie as Han did, her grief was no less, he knew. And yet she had
buried it within her, had put her own feelings back for now so that she could
help Han attend to his.
He knew that.
It goes on as Han describes to Leia that he felt that all of
his loved ones had been surrounded by a bubble of protection that made them
invulnerable and that he had never truly believed anything bad could ever
happen to any of them no matter how impossible that sounded or seemed and how
Chewie’s death had bursted that notion.
The bubble was gone.
The alien threat had
been all but eradicated, so it seemed.
But to Han Solo, the
galaxy suddenly seemed a more dangerous place by far.
And that’s the end.
Literally, the very last words of the novel. Very poignant, very sad. I have to say it was even harder to read this
book on the second go ‘round. The first
was all shock and disbelief, the second time was a resigned ickiness. I don’t know a better way to describe
it. Yes, it happened and there a far
worse things to follow. Sigh.
Han and Leia factor for this book? Damn, that’s a tough one. As a Han and Leia fan, I think this book is
pivotal and a must read if you care to understand the Han (and his family) that
grows and lives in this EU. No fade to
blacks, not many kisses and nothing of a sensuous nature for them, but a very monumental part of their history
as a couple, as characters and as a family. As I mentioned before, it's the book that really brings the kids to the forefront as lead characters and not just props any longer. So for that, I’ll give it a 4 star rating.
