Jedi Cool Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 chapter 1: One month after securing most of the legendary Katana fleet for the Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn launches several attacks at once, hoping to split the resources of the Alliance while he focuses on his real target. This operation requires the assistance of the mad clone of a dead Jedi Master, Joruus C’baoth, whom Captain Pellaeon goes to meet. Pellaeon puts little stock in C’baoth’s fixation on the Force as even the Emperor couldn’t save himself. The Jedi Master warns him that Thrawn will not always be right. He also uses the Jedi Mind Trick to tell Pellaeon to contact Wayland after the battle and have work begun on a special clone made from a sample held at the Mount Tantiss fortress. He is not to inform the Grand Admiral about this and will forget it even happened after he follows his orders. Pellaeon has every intention of disobeying all of them, but doesn’t realize that his will regarding that matter has already been influenced. Using the Force, C’baoth exhibits remarkable control over not only the cloaked ships, but the crewers themselves. When first beginning his work for the Empire, he had overexerted himself trying to direct the battle, now he barely bats an eye. Pellaeon muses that it was less than two months ago that Thrawn had assured him C’baoth did not have the ability to concentrate his powers on a long-term basis. This makes him very dangerous. After the cruisers make their way through the planetary shields of Ukio, Thrawn contacts the world and demands its surrender. When they don’t, the cloaked cruisers fire on two of its military bases. Not seeing the ships, the Ukians believe that the Star Destroyer in orbit was able to do so through the shield. They accept surrender terms, suspicious that Thrawn assures them that their portion of Imperial taxes will be small and that there will be no forced conscription of their young people. The Empire doesn’t need to do that now that the Spaarti cylinders are turning out clones. Pellaeon wonders if C’baoth’s control over the clones is due to the simplicity of their minds or because he is also a clone himself. This is something he should bring to the Grand Admiral’s attention, then remembers that he really shouldn’t be thinking this in front of C’baoth. The Master, however, is concentrating elsewhere. He announces that his Jedi are at Filve and isn’t interested in this campaign anymore. The Imperial forces are diverted there by C’baoth and battle the Millennium Falcon and Rogue Squadron before Han and Wedge work out an escape route using an old strategy of Pash Cracken’s. During the conflict, Leia feels something odd touching her mind. After the jump to hyperspace, Han notes his wife’s emotional state. Thrawn demands an explanation from C’baoth who diverted the entire task force to Filve and failed to capture Leia Organa Solo. C’baoth reminds Thrawn of his failure to deliver Luke Skywalker to him, but Thrawn points out that the Empire did everything it could to facilitate Skywalker’s journey to Jomark. It was C’baoth himself who failed to keep him there. C’baoth explains that he knows Leia wants to come to him in order to teach her children. Recognizing C’baoth is drifting into one of his mad dream states, Thrawn placates him. On the way to the bridge, Pellaeon is sure there was something he’d meant to tell Thrawn about C’baoth, the clones and the Mount Tantiss project, but can’t remember.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pash Cracken flew with Rogue Squadron in the X-Wing books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 chapter 2: Luke Skywalker is on the Imperial-held world of Calius which New Republic Intelligence believes is one of the transfer points of clones. Luke is here to confirm if that is true and to backtrack them to the site of the cloning tanks in order to destroy them. Along the way, he senses a mind aware of his and the owner of that mind is following him. He is surprised to find that it’s Talon Karrde. The man asks about Mara who is recovering slowly from her injuries at the battle to retrieve the Katana fleet. He also knows that Luke is here investigating the clones. He really isn’t selling information Luke can afford even if the Jedi is able to make it back to Republic space safely. Karrde himself has an arrangement with the governor here. Luke understands that to mean that Karrde sells him military equipment. Karrde reminds him that he is neutral in this war. Luke had hoped the events of the last month would have changed his mind. While not excited about the prospect of the Empire using clones to man their new Dreadnoughts, the smuggler points out that they can’t grow the clones too quickly or risk them being unstable. The old rule was at least a year; longer is more ideal. Luke tells him that the new clones are being grown between 15-20 days. That’s been confirmed and it, unfortunately, explains what happened at Ukio. Karrde provides Luke with the details of the Imperial attack on the world which provides a huge chunk of the food for the New Republic. It appears the Empire is going to launch a major offensive soon, but that still doesn’t change Karrde’s mind. With Admiral Ackbar restored to his position, the smuggler organizations are watching their backs again. Luke arranges to buy information from Karrde through a New Republic line of credit, but Karrde will determine what information they get. He is not willing to be turned into a branch of their Intelligence service. Luke shows him proof that clones are actually here by following a cargo carrier. He would prefer to get off-planet ahead of him so that he can follow them. Karrde will do his own work himself.Governor Staffa watches through macrobinoculars and has his aid, Fingal, inform the Chimaera that Luke Skywalker has been on the planet and that he was allowed to leave per the Grand Admiral’s instructions. His business relationship with Talon Karrde is too valuable to terminate at this point, so he declines to offer details to Fignal about the other man seen with Skywalker. At some point, he may have to end that for his own good. Fingal accepts his excuses as only a man without imagination and unbending loyalty would.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In this chapter, Karrde considers how the early clones were unstable. We all know that the Kamino-grown clones of the Clone Wars were, by and large, altogether. Perhaps, Karrde is thinking of earlier attempts at cloning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 13, 2015 Author Share Posted June 13, 2015 chapter 3: Mara Jade wakes up in a standard Imperial medical center and prepares to slip out of bed when she notices Ghent sitting nearby at a computer terminal. He tells her they are at the Imperial Palace on Coruscant where she’s been getting treatment for her injuries. She’d been forced to eject at the battle for the Katana fleet, had suffered some oxygen deprivation and a mild concussion. They’d had to reconstruct some of her neural pathways. She’s lost a month of her life. Further, she knows that there’s only one person who could have found her. The Emperor’s directive is still haunting her. She has to kill Luke Skywalker. Ghent tells her the New Republic has been chasing the Empire all over the place. He ended up solving the problem with Ackbar’s bank account after a couple of days. That was definitely Imperial work. Now they’ve got him working on determining the identity of Delta Source. Winter, the personal aide to Princess Leia, appears as her guide. On the way to her suite, Mara asks Winter how long she’s been with the Princess. Winter explains they’ve been friends since childhood and was assigned her personal assistant when she began her political career. Mara hadn’t read much about her during the war years, but is able to determine that Winter was the Rebel agent known as Targeter based on Winter’s description of her work during that time. Winter explains getting her a ship may take time as the Empire has aggressively taken several sectors with their new Dreadnoughts and bottomless supply of crewers. At her suite, Mara finds Karrde has left her personal belongings along with the data card of a contact she can communicate through. She changes clothes and heads to the library where she knows where to find a hidden blaster in an empty set of datacards on the history of Corvis Minor. She wonders what was meant by bottomless supply of crewers, but decides to concentrate on contacting Karrde first. Thrawn adamantly refuses C’baoth’s demand to attack Coruscant. C’baoth is enraged, reminding Thrawn that he rules the Empire. Thrawn points out the war will be lost if C’baoth kills him, to say nothing of losing the chance to get Leia Organa Solo. The Master argues that Thrawn would never have spoken that way to the Emperor only to be told that Thrawn did, in fact, do that a few times. The strategy they used on Ukio will not work on Coruscant. However, the world of Woostri should pose no difficulty. As for Leia Organa Solo, he is sending a non-Noghri commando unit to retrieve her. It’s only a matter of determining if C’baoth can handle her and her children who will be born any day now. Pellaeon isn’t sure they will successfully be able to penetrate the Imperial Palace. Thrawn knows a few secrets that only a privileged few were given. But they are not using the Noghri. With every communication he has with the dynasts on Honogrh, he knows there is something wrong. As for right now, they have other tasks to deal with. They will have to distract C’baoth from thinking he has the right to rule the Empire. Capturing the princess should suit that need well. They will also continue their campaigns which require maintaining the supply of clones. The Mount Tantiss project is safe on Wayland where no one but a few Imperial commanders could have known about it. Until he remembers Mara Jade. It’s possible she doesn’t know about it but it’s better not to take the risk. The commando team will have to deal with her, too. The report from Governor Staffa indicates that Skywalker left Calius and followed the decoy shuttle which is headed for Poderis. There is also another report from Staffa ’s aide, Fingal, who was placed there as a watchdog over the governor who has such casual loyalties. It would appear that Skywalker met with a man who could very well be Talon Karrde. They will head for Poderis now to see if they can grab Skywalker. For now, he’ll let the governor continue his business arrangement with Karrde so long as the latter doesn’t go poking around too much. Pellaeon asks what will happen if C’baoth is able to successfully turn Skywalker, his sister and her children. Thrawn thinks turning the adults will take a great deal of time and it will be years before the infants are a threat. By that time, they will have come to an understanding with C’baoth.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Targeter was mentioned in Allegiance and Winter’s identity as that agent was discussed in Wedge’s Gamble.Corran Horn found a blaster in the datacard set for the same History of Corvis Minor in The Krytos Trap, chapter 33, after escaping from Lusankya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 chapter 4: Luke knows he’s being trailed on Poderis and avoids being caught by Imperial stormtroopers with ysalamiri on their backs. He does, however, find himself with nowhere to go. He uses the Force to pull his tail’s blaster to him and fire over the crowd of people and then slide down the shield barrier, hoping he’s put enough distance between himself and the Imperials. Thrawn is unhappy to learn that the shadower and stormtroopers failed to grab Skywalker. He asks if they have identified which ship is his, then orders all personnel at the landing field except clones to be pulled off. They’ll let Skywalker get to his ship and the Chimaera will capture him in space. They’ll leave the clones because Skywalker’s astromech isn’t too valuable and they should be able to allow it to escape in order to convince the Rebels that Poderis is the actual conduit for clone traffic. Jumping aboard the freighter he’d brought, Luke warns R2 to be ready for take-off. He tells the droid that the Imperials were waiting for him there. The stormtroopers had ysalamiri and there were clones at the landing bay. Delta Source is doing its job well. He is readying to leave the system when he’s confronted by a Star Destroyer, its tractor beams already activated. He sets the autopilot and the torpodoes launchers to fire automatically, then he sets the self-destruct before jumping into his X-Wing in the cargo bay. The tractor beam latches onto the freighter, the X-Wing flies out of the cargo bay and the freighter explodes. Settling for firing at him instead, they try to pursue but he makes the jump to lightspeed. Thrawn brushes off the escape, noting it was an interesting trick to use before he walks with Pellaeon to the crew pit where he questions the young officer in charge of the tractor beam. The man had tried everything in the manual but was unable to reestablish the lock after the freighter blew. Thrawn confirms that Skywalker’s particular maneuver really has no solution. He does think the young man was innovative in his approach, though, so promotes him and assigns him to come up with a way to counter this situation in the future. Pellaeon is in awe, knowing that the crew of the Chimaera would now die for the Grand Admiral if they had to. In space, Luke thinks about where to go, considers Kessel, but would rather not deal with Moruth Doole, before deciding to head to Honoghr. After all, Leia, Chewie and even 3PO did alright there.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Really? Die for him? Not hero-worshipping much, are we, Captain? Considering that the last time a tractor beam maneuver failed, Thrawn had a guy executed because his superior didn’t train him properly, I’m not convinced I would swear eternal loyalty to the guy just because he promoted someone else. If anything, I would think of the Grand Admiral as mercurial as Darth Vader and want to get far away from him.Rogue Squadron dealt with Moruth Doole in Wedge’s Gamble when they arranged for the release of several prisoners from the spice mines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zerimar Nyliram Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 This is the true Episode IX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 chapter 5: The Woostri system is attacked using the same Imperial feint from Ukio. Leia doesn’t believe the Empire has a superweapon that can shoot through planetary shields. It must be some kind of trick. Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar agree, but they will have to convince the other members of the Council. Ackbar thinks there might be way to focus nonvisible energy against a shield that would weaken it long enough to get a turbolaser blast through it. But it would cause stress on the shield that their data doesn’t reflect. Ackbar suggest the data could be wrong or manipulated by the Empire as they have been known to do. He shoots a glance at Borsk Fey’lya. The Bothan Councilor does not reply to this reminder of his failure at the Katana fleet retrieval operation. For the time being, his tongue seems to be in some kind of self-enforced containment. Leia is not feeling particularly well. It’s bad enough when Fey’lya is wasting time with outrageous accusations, but they need everyone’s imput right now. Leia suggests using Talon Karrde which Ackbar isn’t enthusiastic about. He would prefer they utilize General bel Iblis. They are already incorporating his intelligence contacts into theirs, but the General himself isn’t here and Ackbar wants to know why. Though Mon Mothma had welcomed him back, she sent him to the outer sectors of the New Republic. She assures Ackbar that the General will be put in charge of tactical planning once the situation has stabilized. That upsets Leia’s stomach more as she has no idea when that will be. Then she realizes that the political debating isn’t what’s bothering her. She’s going into labor. After ten hours, she gives birth to a daughter named Jaina and a son named Jacen. Rogue Squadron is trying to help Mon Calamari cruisers survive an onslaught by Imperial forces. They are urged to pull out before General bel Iblis has them stand by. A-Wings join them to clear off the TIEs attacking the cruisers, but he orders them to retreat afterwards. They’ve lost almost 1/3 of their attack group. They escape into hyperspace with yet another system lost to the Empire.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The chapter specifically states Leia was pregnant for nine months. She was three months pregnant in Heir to the Empire, it’s been a month since Dark Force Rising, which means she went through five months of pregnancy in the past three books. There was at least a one month wait from Heir to the Empire to Dark Force Rising because Leia met Khabarakh above Endor after one month.Of course, this is the first appearance of Jaina and Jacen Solo.One other thing, in reading these books, I find it so weird reading about Wedge and the Rogues when none of the other pilots are identified by name. They are all identified by their call sign – Rogue 3, Rogue 5, etc. Since Rogue Squadron has changed members between The Bacta War and now, we can’t really tell who is actually flying some of those ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 16, 2015 Author Share Posted June 16, 2015 chapter 6: Karrde brings his ship into the Chazwa system hoping that the Imperial garrison there will have records of whether or not the Empire’s clone transport route runs through the Orus sector. Aves thinks that getting involved in the New Republic’s war shouldn’t be their business. Karrde agrees but doesn’t really trust the Republic to be able to solve the problem themselves. The Old Republic would have grown clones this fast if they could, but Karrde’s only seen information on pre-war cloning techniques. Most everything from the Clone Wars-era seems to be missing. A freighter belonging to an old associate named Samuel Tomas Gillespee who had retired to Ukio until the Imperial attack forced him out arrives, He has some data on his macrobinoculars from the attack. Two Imperial frigates show up with Karrde certain that he’s the target. He makes arrangements to meet with Gillespee in the Trogan system. It becomes clear, however, that the Imperials are after Gillespee, not Karrde. Not willing to leave an associate in danger, the Wild Karrde attracts attention until the rest of his people arrive. Gillespee turns out to have people out there, too. Before long, they are able to leave the system with Karrde extending an invitation to any of their old friends who might be interested in coming to Trogan. On board the Chimaera, Thrawn gives instructions to Major Himron and his commandoes regarding penetrating the Imperial Palace . Then he turns to his examination of Mrisst art and determines it would be a perfect place to draw out the Rebel forces for their final defeat. If not, they’ll at least have a base closer to Coruscant. For now, there’s the attack on Ord Mantell to consider, as well as their need for tibanna gas and certain metals, such as hfredium. Thrawn’s intelligence people have located a convenient stockpile on Nkllon. They can send three of their Dreadnoughts after it. Pellaeon recommends doing so soon as Calrissian might be moved to sell his stockpile to the New Republic. Thrawn tells him the raid began ten minutes ago.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 17, 2015 Author Share Posted June 17, 2015 chapter 7: Luke lands on Honoghr, noting the terrible condition of the land and knowing that they would have to have a team of specialists to determine how likely recovery is. He tells the scout ship who he is and that he has some damaged power cells. He is told that the random arrival of Imperial ships makes his arrival quite dangerous. However, since Leia risked much to help them, they will try to help him in return. Luke is guided into the mountains where he is told the future of the Noghri people lies. Along the river, amid the shadow of cliffs, he finds a green world. He is greeted by Khabarakh and Ovkhevam who tell him that Leia’s gift allows them to cleanse the land of the poisoned plants. They give him a place to stay while they send to Nystao for the replacement parts. Ovkhevam is the caretaker here, while Khabarakh is in hiding. There are many commando teams out searching for him, ostensibly, when, in fact, they are spreading word of what the Empire did here. Khabarakh comes to him later to tell him an Imperial ship has arrived for minor repairs. Luke apologizes for putting them in danger. Khabarak asks if the work they’ve done here is enough to save their world. Luke praises them for what they’ve accomplished, but he’s not convinced it is. Many Noghri feel the same way. Khabarakh leaves to get food, while Luke relaxes and focuses on Leia, wondering if her children have been born and hoping to get a look at them through the Force. Instead, he has a vision of her, Winter, Han, Lando and Chewbacca in danger. The Noghri offer to seize the Imperial ship, but Luke will not put them in that much danger, knowing that rushing off to rescue them may cause more harm than good. The vision was of the future, though he does not know when. He will have to wait until the Imperial ship has gone. After the Imperial attack on Nkllon, Lando hopes to get the transmitter fixed so they can call for help before they all burn up here. Fortunately, General bel Iblis arrives. There’s one functional shieldship and he can help evacuate them to another world. He recommends Lando send a formal request for assistance to Coruscant, especially since the Empire got all of his stockpiles. Lando would rather go himself than risk his request getting lost in the shuffle. He begins the evacuation, knowing he’d rather be on Coruscant, seeing Han, Leia, Chewie, possibly even the children, where there’s not much likelihood of an Imperial attack.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 chapter 8: Lando arrives and begins negotiations to get some help. Han returns to Leia who is up late feeding the babies. She assures him he doesn’t have to stay up late as she and Winter can get the children up just as easily. Right now, though, Winter is down in the archives, looking through Alliance records on some project of her own. When she returns, Han leaves and Leia spends some time talking to her. Winter explains that she is looking through the records because she may have a line on an Imperial agent who may not necessarily be Delta Source. Leia realizes she’s talking about Mara Jade. Winter explains that Mara was able to identify her as Targeter, a code name she used for only a few short weeks. She was checking to see if Mara was with the rebel cell on that world but few cells kept membership rosters for their own safety. Winter offers to help put the babies to bed while Leia finds something to change into so she can go ask Mara herself. Right now, Mara is having another dream about the Emperor’s death before waking up. Leia Organa Solo appears at her door. Mara claims to be reviewing the details of the most recent Imperial attack. This leads to a discussion about Grand Admiral Thrawn. Mara claims not to know much about him as she didn’t interact with him on Myrkr. Leia actually would prefer to know if she knew him during the war. There’s speculation she was once an Imperial agent and Leia would like to know if she has information that might be useful. Mara confirms that he has no patterns, favorite strategies or weaknesses. He analyses the enemy and tailors attacks to their psychological blind spots. He doesn’t overcommit and isn’t afraid to pull back when he’s losing which isn’t often. Leia thinks they might be able to determine what weaknesses he finds to figure out how he will attack. For now, Mara’s free to move around as she’s obviously still not working for the Empire. Mara is, however, planning to kill Leia’s brother. She explains what Luke apparently did not, that she was the Emperor’s Hand, doing his bidding across the galaxy, hearing his voice, having respect and how all of that was taken away. Leia knows what it’s like to have her life destroyed. Mara points out that she had friends and allies to turn to. Leia thinks that Mara has given up too many opportunities to kill Luke and she’s not convinced that Mara herself actually wants him dead. She describes her encounter at Endor and believes there’s some residual effect of the Emperor’s presence there. After she leaves, Mara tries to get ahold of Karrde’s contact man in order to get her and Ghent out of here but the long-range communications system is down. Frustrated, she finds it hard to shout down the voice commanding her to kill Skywalker. His sister has to be wrong. It’s not the Emperor, but Mara herself, who wants Luke dead. She tries to go to sleep, but a sense of danger alerts her. She spots Palace security on the floor, but recognizes the pace and gait of the men as those of Imperial Intelligence. She grabs her blaster and slips out to alert someone when a blaster is pulled on her from behind.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 19, 2015 Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 chapter 9: Lando and General bel Iblis try to convince Admiral Drayson to reconsider the Assault Frigate, but the Admiral is too stymied by the thought of how the Grand Admiral will handle that. Lando reassures him that Thrawn does not control everything that happens in the galaxy. He’s still not biting, so it’s up to possibly convincing Mon Mothma or Admiral Ackbar. As bel Iblis and Lando head back to the latter’s quarters, they discuss the matter. The problem with Delta Source makes arrangements more difficult. Thrawn may indeed have no use for Nkllon unless he gets wind they are planning something there. But Delta Source isn’t any more omniscient than Thrawn is. Along the way, the general notices the lack of palace security. He’s armed but Lando isn’t. Though it’s probably nothing, Lando decides to check his comlink anyway only to find communications jammed. They decide to grab Lando’s blaster from his room when they run into Mara Jade. She tells them she saw Imperials dressed as palace security. Lando guesses that they are after the babies. Mara knows that Thrawn promised them to C’baoth. Bel Iblis will try to find reinforcements. Lando heads back for his blaster before taking a look at Mara and can’t get past the idea that she is familiar to him somehow. Through the Force, Leia receives a warning telling her to wake up. Everyone’s asleep but she senses six individuals outside their door. When she hears an electronic lockbreaker, she knows someone is trying to break in. She grabs her blaster as the door opens and fires two shots which cause the security door to close. As the intruders try to blow the door, Han sends her to call security while he tries to slow the attackers down. Lando and Mara can hear the noises from above. Lando has an idea and leaves Mara to handle the rear guard left behind before bel Iblis arrives with security guards. They can’t do much more than hold the stragglers off here. He makes the decision to send the men up anyway to slow them down until reinforcements arrive. They won’t have time to stop the intruders from getting into the family, but there’s hope that fewer of them will be left by the time they can take hostages. The family, plus 3PO and Winter, are barricaded in Winter’s room with everything they can shove against the door when the security door fails. Winter is holding the babies, trying to keep them quiet in the hopes the attackers will pick the wrong door. Leia considers using her lightsaber to cut into the next suite or up or down. The problem is that the Grand Admiral has probably considered that step. She insists he’s not infallible and decides to cut out the window. Han reminds her there’s nothing out there to climb on. Leia suggests cutting hand and footholds. The window lights up with the headlights of a ship at their window. C-3PO recognizes the flickering of the lights as that of professional sabaac players but the others have already determined that it’s Chewie. Leia begins cutting through the window when the security door of the bedroom breaks down. The firefight starts and, fearing a stray shot will hit one of her children, she surrenders. The battle on the staircase is furious. Bel Iblis tells Mara that they’ll have to be careful when the hostages come down. That’s the only way the Imperial team will be able to get out of here. He ran into Calrissian on the way up and told him to scramble fighters up to the roof. This staircase is it. She knows he’s right because this plan has Thrawn all over it. Except she knows that he hasn’t considered everything. He doesn’t know she’s here or, if he does, he doesn’t believe she was the Emperor’s Hand. She ducks around and finds a secret passageway left over from the Empire and makes her way to the Solos’ floor. She sends Leia a message in the Force telling her to surrender. She hears Leia shout to the intruders who stop shooting and pause long enough for them not to notice Mara behind them. She takes about five seconds to handle the problem. The one survivor is identified as Major Himron and he’s unconscious. Chewie is helping Leia and Winter set up another suite. He thanks Lando for trying to help, but it was Mara who really made it happen. Lando reminds Han about how he recognized her on Myrkr and just can’t place her. Inside the ICU, Himron is given a stimulant and told he may not live. The rest of his team is dead so it can’t hurt anyone to answer questions. He’s asked how he got in. Himron tells them an Imperial contact named Jade let them into a secret backdoor. She was once called the Emperor’s Hand. Bel Iblis makes arrangements for Mara to be detained over Han’s protests. The general explains they have to take this precaution based on the accusation. Han hopes they get it straightened out when he sees Lando’s face. His friend remembers where he saw her. She was a dancer at Jabba’s palace. She was begging him to let her go on the Sail Barge. For Han, this is too much information. They will have to get Leia and the children settled in and then go find out what’s going on.------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 20, 2015 Author Share Posted June 20, 2015 chapter 10: At a café on Trogan, Talon Karrde meets with Gillespee and notes some of the names on the list of smugglers who are coming here. He spots names from Billey’s group and is unhappy to see Niles Ferrier’s name. He tells Gillespee that Ferrier works directly for Grand Admiral Thrawn. When he learns the Imperial garrison has no activity at all, he gets concerned. There are two hours before the meeting and he doesn’t want to take the chance that they could pull something. On the other hand, he doesn’t want all the smugglers thinking he’s jumpy at the thought of Imperial trouble, so he decides to meet as scheduled. The smugglers aren’t interested in Karrde’s sales pitch. Dravis warns him that Solo’s already tried it and no one wants to haul New Republic cargo while the Imperials are attacking so many of their freighters. Even if Grand Admiral Thrawn gets his hold on the galaxy, he will still need smugglers. Niles Ferrier speaks up and warns them about that attitude. He explains how the Grand Admiral confiscated his ship on New Cov and rigged it to explode if he didn’t perform some job for him. While some smugglers are worried about their prospects under Imperial rule and the clone situation, most would rather make that the New Republic’s problem. That’s when the wall bursts in and Imperial stormtroopers arrive. Karrde looks at Ferrier who has his eye on a section of wall next to the hole where his Wraith is. The shock of this turns to anger as the smugglers prepare to fight. The Wraith throws one trooper off his feet before the weapons come out. They all work together at different targets until the Imperials are gone. The café is shot up, several have injuries and one of their fellows has been killed. By that time, even the most hardened smuggler is ready to listen to Karrde. But no one knows where the troopers came from. The garrison is still quiet. At the spaceport, they encounter no difficulties. Dravis offers to help track down the clone pipeline, Par’tah puts in to assist while Ferrier will try to get some fighting ships. Meanwhile, the cynical Mazzic is so angry that he and the Duros Ellor are going to do something more eye-catching. The Brubb Brasck is too afraid of the Empire to help them, but he will not interfere or tell the Imperials. Karrde and Aves prepare to take off, wondering how to get Mara off of Coruscant and what tipped the Imperials off to this meeting. More puzzling than that is why they did such a poor job against a group of smugglers. On the Chimaera, Niles Ferrier is taken before Thrawn who confronts him about persuading a small unprepared task force to hit a smuggler’s meeting. That attack cost the lives of four stormtroopers and 32 Imperial army troops, on top of equipment. He is not like Darth Vader who spent lives recklessly. Ferrier explains it was part of his plan to get Karrde’s trust. Thrawn already knew about the meeting days ago and had instructed the Imperial garrison to leave them alone. He knows how these smugglers work and is certain that they would’ve walked away from Karrde determined to be neutral. All Ferrier’s plan did was unite them against the Empire. However, he can still be somewhat useful. Thrawn wants to know what the smugglers are doing now. Ferrier explains that Karrde, Part’tah and Clyngunn are meeting in three days at Chazwa because they are hoping to find out where the clones are being shipped from. He also explains the general feelings of the other smugglers. Karrde instructs him to take an assault shuttle to Karrde as a gift and claim he stole it. Karrde will find the ship in perfect condition and that will go some way toward Ferrier’s credibility. In the meantime, Ferrier will continue to report on Karrde’s activities and follow Thrawn’s instructions to the letter. After Rukh escorts Ferrier out, Thrawn tells Pellaeon that the smugglers will eventually get tired of following the decoy trail already set for the Rebels and start missing the profits from Imperial businesses before giving up. Some of them will realize how unconvincing the Trogan attack was and will start asking questions. Thrawn plans to have evidence leading them to Karrde. They’ve heard nothing yet from Major Himron but he had wanted to carefully insert himself on Coruscant first. Even if the attack on the Solos doesn’t work, he should be successful in discrediting Mara Jade.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Billey was mentioned in The Bacta War, too. In fact, I think I remember Karrde putting him and Dravis in charge of some operations on Coruscant. That was a couple of years ago, wasn’t it? Though Mazzic’s first appearance is here, we met him in Scoundrels, his first chronological appearance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 21, 2015 Author Share Posted June 21, 2015 chapter 11: Han confronts Colonel Bremen in the corridors of the Imperial Palace about Mara Jade still being held in custody. Amid the red ch’hala trees, Bremen reminds him that she knew about the backdoor and secret passageways and was on the scene before any alert was sounded. She is not like Calrissian or bel Iblis who have histories supporting the Alliance. He has a job to do protecting New Republic lives, such as those of Han’s children. He cannot dismiss the chance that the raid was a set-up by the Grand Admiral to get them to trust Mara. If Leia wants to object, she can bring it up in a Council meeting. Luke approaches after the encounter is over and is sorry he wasn’t here to help. He starts to talk about his trip but decides to save it for later. He asks about Mara. Han grouses that the security forces won’t budge on letting her go. Luke explains that it will be difficult to clear her since she really was the Emperor’s Hand. He hadn’t brought it up before because he didn’t think it was important. She doesn’t work for the Empire anymore and they all have parts of their past they don’t want people knowing about. Luke gets a feeling of surprise or shock coming from Leia. He tells Han they should walk faster. Leia has gone to see Mara to let her know they haven’t gotten much further in their efforts to free her. Mara thinks she should have gotten Winter to get her a ship sooner and left. Leia reminds her that, if she had, the children would be captives on their way to Master C’baoth. They owe her a great deal for that. Mara reminds her to remember that when she kills Luke. Leia asks if she’s still sure she wants to do that. She’s interested in knowing why Mara helped her in the first place. Mara explains that she doesn’t know why but suspects it had something to do with the idea of Thrawn trying to steal someone’s children. Leia asks where she came from. Mara admits she doesn’t know. She remembers the first time she met the Emperor, the ride here and the knowledge that she was coming to live with him. She doesn’t remember her parents but has the feeling they didn’t want her to go. She knows Leia thinks that this is just about her not wanting the Solo children to be taken from their family the way Mara was. But she insists that she just didn’t want that crazy C’baoth to get his hands on them. Leia offers to let her talk about her life anytime. Mara won’t admit it but it feels good to talk to someone. In the meantime, Leia mentions she has to leave and find out what Thrawn’s fighting clones are up to. Mara asks what she means. Since she was in the medical wing for a month being patched up after her ejection issue, she missed that the Dreadnoughts Thrawn captured are now being manned by clones he’s growing from some Spaarti cylinders somewhere. An image comes to her mind of a storehouse in a mountain. It was a trust that few knew about, the Emperor had told her. But the Grand Admiral could be waging the Clone Wars all over again. She tells Leia she thinks she knows where the cylinders are. She explains that the Emperor once took her to a world he called Wayland where he kept souvenirs, private mementoes and bits of technology he found useful. She saw an arena-sized cloning facility that had about 20, 000 cylinders in it. Leia is stunned that one clone every twenty days is coming from each of those. Mara reminds her that the time period is impossible. Somehow, though, Thrawn is doing it. Leia cautions her to tell no one as there’s a leak in the palace. In Leia’s office, they wait until Lt. Page does a complete counterintelligence sweep and Luke stretches out his senses to confirm they are alone. She tells the group, Luke, Han, Lando, Winter, Chewie and the droids, what Mara told her. Lando still finds the whole thing suspicious. Luke thinks having Mara take them there is the fastest way to stop the clone production while Han is worried it’s a trap to reunite him with C’baoth. Leia doesn’t think Mara’s setting a trap. Besides Thrawn trying hard to convince them she’s a traitor being a plus in her favor, her mind also touched Leia’s twice during the battle. She may not like them but even she understands the dangers of a new round of Clone Wars. Getting her out will be a problem. If they go through official channels, the leak might compromise them. They’ll have to break her out. Luke insists he and Mara can take care of it alone, but Han wants to go because Luke can see that neither he nor Leia want him going off alone with someone who wants him dead. Lando offers to come, too. Chewie is upset about being left behind to guard Leia and the children, but she has an idea that Han isn’t happy about. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------So what was Leia’s surprise or shock that caused Luke to want to walk faster? Was it something during the conversation between her and Mara?And I’m going to disagree with Luke here. The fact that Mara Jade was once a personal messenger for the Emperor is a very important fact. Just because he trusts her doesn’t mean anyone else should. Luke isn’t always on the mark when he decides to trust someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 chapter 12: At Bilbringi, Aves wonders if Skywalker was sure about spotting clones. Karrde thinks it’s possible it could have been a setup. After all, Governor Staffa has an understanding with him but it did seem they got out of the system too easily. He still isn’t convinced Ferrier hasn’t been lying to them which is why he had that assault shuttle taken off to the Roche system to have the Verpines look at it. They’re here because Par’tah contacted them with a message from Mazzic recommending they stop by to look at the eye-catching lesson he and Ellor are cooking up. They arrive at the Imperial shipyards at Bilbringi where they ask permission to dock and are told to prepare to receive a boarding party. Karrde notices some irregular dark spots near the center of the yards. They look like midsize asteroids with workers moving around them. It’s possible they’re related to whatever Thrawn used to hit Ukio and Woostri with. While determining how much trouble the boarding party will be, they spot an almost-finished Star Destroyer at the yards which has some activity around it. Then it blows up. The Imperials respond quickly after Mazzic’s freighters. Karrde doesn’t really want to reward sloppy tactics, but they have to help somehow. Then several Corellians freighters show up which must be Ellor’s people. They decide to comply with the boarding party as this incident has nothing to do with them. They might get to see what the Imperials do in the aftermath of this mess. Privately, though, he knows Thrawn will trace this to Mazzic and then to Karrde himself. They won’t last like this; they’ll have to organize. Thrawn asks General Drost why he shouldn’t be relieved of command. The General has nothing to offer. The Chimaera will arrive at the shipyards in 30 hours and Thrawn expects a new security system in place. Pellaeon remembers what the Empire, especially Darth Vader, would have done, but Thrawn reminds him that Drost’s problem was just complacency. He learned an expensive lesson, but it’s one that shouldn’t have happened at all. This is why Thrawn didn’t want the smugglers stirred up. He has an idea which ones are responsible, but they don’t have the time or resources to go after them now. He is interrupted by Joruus C’baoth who storms past two stormtroopers lying on the floor to tell him the commando team has failed. Thrawn is aware of this. C’baoth demands he be taken to Coruscant immediately. Thrawn surprises him by agreeing. As soon as the special cargo is brought aboard, they will leave at once. C’baoth notes the asteroids around the shipyards and asks what he’s up to. He believes Thrawn is planning to destroy the capital world and will not believe Thrawn’s assertions that he’s not. C’baoth raises his hands and the moment Pellaeon dread is now here. He uses the Force to take control of the ship and crewers. Thrawn remains calm and reminds him how long it will take to get to Coruscant during which time he will have to maintain control of the entire ship and crew on top of any other ships he plans to bring along, not counting any expectations of them actually doing any fighting. C’baoth knows nothing of Coruscant’s defenses to even begin to launch an assault. It’s not time for him to govern the galaxy yet. C’baoth knows that Thrawn will never hand it over to him willingly. However, he concedes to an assault on Coruscant so long as it’s not destroyed. Thrawn orders Pellaeon to have Captain Dorja of the Relentless provide a caretaker crew of 500 for the next six hours. They are on the move and will not tolerate those who stand in their way.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 chapter 13: Ten Noghri dressed as Jawas slip into the secret entrance of the Palace that Luke unseals. Cakhmaim greets the Lady Vader and offers the services of his honor guard. Khabarakh is with the group. Han still isn’t convinced, but Chewie trusts the Noghri to protect Leia. Luke suggests the Wayland group take off now in darkness as no one is likely to miss Mara until morning. Mara wakes up from her dream of the Emperor shooting lightning at Vader and Skywalker to no avail. She hears the guard droid outside being cut off from sounding an alarm before the door opens. She throws a datapad at the dark figure which just turns out to be Skywalker. She thinks Wayland is his problem, but knows that she was in on this the moment she told his sister about it. Outside, she finds Calrissian waiting, marveling that the man she has promised to kill is trusting her enough to defy the entire New Republic to free her. She’s not very confident once she finds out it’s just her, Skywalker, Calrissian, Solo and the Wookiee. Plus, of course, the droids. The task force is building up when C’baoth shows up on the bridge and tells Pellaeon he wants a ship to take him to Wayland now. He’s changed his mind about being involved with the Coruscant operation. Thrawn can’t get any reason out of him either, but accedes to his demand, detaching a Star Galleon to take C’baoth plus General Covell and his men to Wayland. He tells Pellaeon that he doesn’t think Tantiss is in danger but it’s possible C’baoth may have seen something in the Force. Pellaeon is still bothered…something about C’baoth and the clones…but admits that he doesn’t like this situation. Thrawn tells him not to worry. This may actually be a solution.-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 chapter 14: Leia dreams of Mara and Luke battling someone before waking up and hearing an alarm. At first she thinks that another commando team has gotten in, then realizes Coruscant is under attack. She heads toward the war room with Winter and the Noghri watching the children. Inside, she finds personnel running around. She also finds Ghent. He was bored so he cut himself a top-level access code. She drags him into another room and hands him over to an officer who puts him to work slicing the Imperials’ battle code. Back in the war room, Drayson is shouting orders because Ackbar is on an inspection tour. General Rieekan tells her that they sent a distress signal out but don’t know if it’s gone anywhere. Leia knows Drayson can’t do much against Thrawn. She looks around, hoping to find Mon Mothma and persuade her to put Rieekan in charge when she spots Sena, one of Garm bel Iblis’s associates. Sena warns her that the General will not intervene until or unless Mon Mothma herself asks him to. Leia finds him and he tells her to warn Drayson about the two Interdictors. Her comlink calls go unanswered as everyone in the war room is busy. She implores bel Iblis to come with her but he won’t until Mon Mothma asks him. He explains that he always thought she was in love with power but he was wrong. Mon Mothma is responsible for so many lives that she’s terrified with trusting others with them. Leia understands why she and Ackbar and the very few others have been so burdened. They’re the only ones Mon Mothma trusts. He cannot go down and take command until she is willing to trust him to make the right decisions. Until she can keep herself from hovering over him, he cannot go into that war room and make things more tense. Leia offers to persuade her, but he tells her it won’t count. Mon Mothma has to decide for herself. She has. Mon Mothma appears and admits it’s difficult for her to admit that she needs his help, but they can put aside their difference. Knowing how embarrassing this is, bel Iblis asks her permission to take command of the defenses. She agrees and they go together to the war room. Thrawn already knows when the transfer of power happens. Fortunately, he has a surprise in mind for the Corellian. Bel Iblis is told the Chimaera is doing something like activating its tractor beams but is pulling too much power. The bays are empty. As the ships in space keep firing, bel Iblis wonders if the Empire is launching cloaked ships. One of the Republic vessels collides with something invisible in space. It could possibly be a ship fitted with a cloaking shield but it would be flying blind as well. Bel Iblis orders the ion cannon to shoot at the point of impact. He’d like to take one whole…but he doesn’t believe it’s actually a ship. In fact, Thrawn is launching asteroids with cloaking shields around them. In that way, the New Republic thinks there are ships out there but doesn’t know where. Additionally, they are shunting power from the tractor beam projector to fire hundreds of times so the Rebels will think there are more than the 22 actually out there. On Coruscant, the war room as stunned that 287 firings have occurred, but bel Iblis doesn’t believe it’s nearly so many. They determine that a large number of firings could have been faked. Mon Mothma asks if there’s a way to tell the difference between a fake firing and an actual asteroid. There really isn’t and it doesn’t even matter how many are up there as their orbits will decay and even one falling on Coruscant would be a disaster. Fortunately, they can get their relay stations back online which is timely as Colonel Bremen reports that Mara Jade has escaped. Believing that the break out coincided with the Imperial attack, they start a search. Leia, however, explains what has happened. No one is happy with it, but she insists that she couldn’t tell anyone because it would risk Mara’s life at least and, if the Empire thinks she’d gone to Wayland, they would send reinforcements there. It’s possible that it could be a trap but she couldn’t chance taking the plan to the Council until the leak was found. Mon Mothma tells Colonel Bremen to find everyone who knows Mara is gone and make sure they tell no one. They will send reinforcements to Wayland once the location is known. For right now, they must concentrate on defending Coruscant and locating the cloaked asteroids. Ghent appears at Leia’s side. She walks him out as he explains he really couldn’t do much with Imperial battle codes as the military types don’t like the way he does things. However, he did manage to find the encrypt code from the pulse transmitter Delta Source has been using. He gives it to Leia. She asks if he’s told anyone yet, but he hasn’t had the chance. She swears him to secrecy and decides she must find a way to use it.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How’d the Alliance leaders find out the cloaked things in space were asteroids? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 chapter 15: In his new hideout, Karrde discusses with Gillespee how the clone trail has dried up. It’s possible that it was never really here in the first place. Gillespee tells him that he and the others are having some trouble. Karrde can probably afford to lay off smuggling for a time, but the rest of them can’t. They’ve found nothing the New Republic can use, so they aren’t getting paid. They have expenses that require an influx of credits. Further, there haven’t been any more Imperial attacks so the rest of them think the Empire is leaving them alone. Karrde points out that Thrawn could be hoping to lull them into a false sense of security. Eventually, he believes the Grand Admiral will turn his attention to them. Gillespee knows that and hasn’t forgotten the clones that kicked him off his home on Ukio. That doesn’t get him the funds he needs. As it is, Par’tah is negotiating a transport contract with the Imperials which is exactly what Karrde expected Thrawn to do. Instead, Karrde offers to have Ghent slice into the sector fleet records at the Imperial Palace on Coruscant and arrange for privateer rates to be paid out for those looking for the clone facility in advance. They arrange to discuss the matter with the others in four days. In the Chimaera’s hangar bay, Pellaeon and Thrawn meet with Captain Mazzic who has been brought to them in manacles. Thrawn explains that he knows Mazzic and Ellor were behind the destruction of the Star Destroyer at Bilbringi. He’s letting it go because he knows the hit was in retaliation for the attack at Trogan. Thrawn had Mazzic brought here because he wants the man to know that he had nothing to do with that attack. He’d given the garrison instructions to leave the smugglers alone, however, it appears someone else got the troopers to attack. He has an idea about who was responsible for it, but is not dropping hints to Mazzic. Pellaeon wonders later if the conversation was sufficient. Thrawn tells him that, if Mazzic isn’t smart enough to finger Karrde, one of the others will. Niles Ferrier is there and he is instructed to attend whatever meeting Karrde decides to hold next, keep his mouth shut and arrange to have his Wraith plant a data card in Karrde’s office which is probably where Mazzic will look first. Thrawn has already had evidence inserted into the records of the Imperial officer in charge of the Trogan attack to substantiate the data card’s implication of Karrde as the originator of it. In the meantime, he will wait until Decrypt has gone over Karrde’s latest transmission and found the location of the meeting which he will be given.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Why do they need to wait around to find out the location of the next meeting? Won’t Ferrier get an invitation just as he has to the previous ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 chapter 16: The Falcon flies over Wayland where Mara directs them to Mount Tantiss . She knows only what defenses were here the first and only time the Emperor brought her, so they cannot discount that the Grand Admiral might have upped the security. Han also would prefer to get inside himself rather than take her word as to what they’ll find there. He remarks to Luke that she and the Jedi work so well together, but Luke takes the comment in stride. Han warns him that she’s still planning to kill him. Luke isn’t so sure. Someone intent on murder generally doesn’t keep announcing it to everyone. He’s already staked his life on that belief. Han would rather leave her behind on the Falcon, but Luke knows she won’t go for it. Besides, he has a feeling that she needs to see this whole situation through. They’d planned to use speeder bikes to get to the mountain, but the repulsorlifts sound like a local predator’s prey so, after one altercation with one of the beasts, they decide to walk. With the unlikelihood of help from the locals, with predators on the loose and no transporation they can use, it will take them a considerable amount of time to get to the mountain. They cannot transmit off the planet or risk the Imperials intercepting it. The walk is as hard as they figured. As Luke uses the lightsaber and the Force to move bushes into the path of any pursuers, Mara watches him and asks how the Emperor died. Luke explains that Palpatine had tried to turn him to the dark side and almost succeeded. Filled with anger, Luke had swung his lightsaber at the Emperor but Vader stopped him. The battle was between Vader and Luke. Mara had seen the battle in her mind but had seen it as the two of them battling the Emperor. Luke tells her that, after he was incapacitated by Force lightning, Vader was the one who killed the Emperor by tossing him down the reactor shaft. She isn’t sure she believes that. He tells her that believing him probably doesn’t change anything as, if he hadn’t been there in the first place, Vader wouldn’t have killed the Emperor. From a certain point of view, Luke does bear some responsibility for his death. Mara tells him she won’t forget that.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 chapter 17: In the Grand Corridor of the Imperial Palace, Leia and Winter walk along, speaking casually about a bounty hunter’s offer to give them information about the Imperial shipyards at Ord Trasi. Colonel Derlin is looking into checking the story out. They head to the small supply room where Ghent is headquartered, slicing through the latest transmissions. Delta Source seems to pick up everything, from the trivial to the significant. They find the planted conversations among the transmissions then cross-reference those with whoever was present for them. That narrows it down to about 130 beings, but there’s a possibility a group is working together. This process will only be beneficial if only one is the leak. Bel Iblis arrives and tells them they’re needed in the war room. Along the way, he admits he’s always thought Delta Source was some kind of exotic recording system that managed to get past the counterintelligence sweeps. In the war room, the Alliance tactical team tries to expose the asteroids in space so that they can eliminate them. It’s a slow process that could be sped up if they had a CGT array, but the only ones they know of are in Imperial space. One asteroid is exposed before it destructs on its own. The ships in orbit have to watch for collisions so the work is dangerous, too. Both Leia and Winter are frustrated about the loss of resources and risk to lives this is costing. Ghent returns with his analysis. There is no one person who could have heard all of this material that’s been transmitted. For a group to be involved, there would have to be fifteen. Alliance security isn’t that bad. The leak could be picking and choosing what to send, but some of what is sent is trivial and some of it is irrelevant personal information. It’s possible the leak is onto them, so they consider going over the transmissions from the first couple of days of their operation. However, they cannot allow this leak to continue to hear conversations. They''ve all taken place in the Grand Corridor. A sophisticated system that counterintelligence sweeps would have trouble picking up would have to be able to turn on and off. This implies something like a droid. They decide to watch the Grand Corridor during the next sweep and see which droid does what. They all watch as the security team sweeps the corridor. Leia hadn’t noticed how many protocol and maintenance droids were here at any given time. After the sweep is clear, there are no results. Leia sits and watches a maintenance droid trim a ch’hala tree while contemplating how they’ll have to add more droids to the mix. It’s frustrating, not because Imperial Intelligence is getting information, but because of the divisiveness this will cause the New Republic to experience. She watches the little droid go about its work, clucking to itself while trimming the ch’hala tree. She also sees the tree gain bursts of red every time the droid clucks. She calls for Colonel Bremen at once. Several meters and hours later, the security team finds a tube with transmission fiber buried in the side of the tree’s root. A very sophisticated organic means to transmit data that would bypass any security sweep. Mon Mothma had always wondered how the Emperor had been able to get the information he used against the representatives in the Imperial Senate. Bel Iblis orders the rest of the trees dug up.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I wonder if Colonel Derlin is the Major Derlin that we saw in Empire Strikes Back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 chapter 18: At the meeting place, Karrde and Gillespee note that Mazzic is coming with several ships. Ferrier is anxious to get this underway. Gillespee had thought Karrde hadn’t invited Ferrier. It turns out he didn’t but he supposes that another smuggler passed the word on. Karrde’s contacted by Torve who wants to see him quickly. Gillespee is advised to keep an eye on Ferrier while Karrde goes to the hangar where something flickering near the wall was spotted. The searchers have found no intruder yet, but that doesn’t mean whoever it is isn’t still here. Likely, though, it was just an imagination running wild. Still, Karrde wants the others warned and a search of the ship to make sure a bomb hasn’t been left. Returning to the meeting, he notices that Mazzic not only brought more ships but several of his men, too. He wants the meeting held on the Wild Karrde which is still being scanned for signs of intrusion. Karrde realizes there’s something going on here and, noting Ferrier’s slightly amused look, wonders if the Wraith was what was spotted. Only the smuggler heads themselves go into the wardroom where Karrde’s datacards are divided up between a couple of them to search. Mazzic explains that the attack on Trogan was staged and that it appears an Imperial squadron was tipped off to attack them. Thrawn had him brought aboard the Chimaera to give him the news and then let him go. Mazzic believes that Karrde is the only one to gain by this. Karrde reminds them all that Thrawn is known for his convoluted strategies and also has a personel vendetta against him. Mazzic isn’t just taking Thrawn’s word for it. He has a friend who got him the details from the Imperials records which he understands can be forged which is why they are searching here, too. Karrde realizes what the Wraith was doing down here. He supposes they won’t believe that an intruder was spotted right before they arrived. Ferrier tells him it’s too late to try to throw suspicion on someone else by indicating a datacard had been planted. Ellor is the one who finds it. Gillespee points out there really was an alert. Karrde admits that they didn’t find anything but he hadn’t considered how many shadows were there. Ferrier takes the bait and accuses him of suggesting the Wraith was the guilty party. Karrde, realizing that Mazzic and Ferrier aren’t working together, understands that Mazzic really does believe Karrde is betraying them. He explains to Mazzic that he believes someone else ordered the assault at Trogan and that Thrawn is using this as an opportunity to plant evidence that will discredit Karrde to his associates. Ferrier doesn’t obey Thrawn’s orders to stay quiet, however. He continues to dig a hole for himself once they realize the Wraith was in a good position on Trogan to act once the Imperial troops arrived. He accidentally uses the name of the squad commander when no one else knew, implying he knows more about what’s on the datacard than he should. Then he cannot come up with a good answer as to how he knew about this meeting despite his lack of an invitation when no one else will admit to passing the word onto him either. He finally resorts to pulling a thermal detonator. He has the Wraith come in to guard the others while he forces Karrde to the bridge and lift off to give Ferrier a ride to his ship. Then he leaves, abandoning his associate. The Wraith has other problems as he turns out not to be a good jailer for several hardened smugglers. As Ferrier’s ship leaves, Karrde gives Mazzic the honor of pursuit. The other has his enforcers, led by his able associate Shada, launch fighters. In the meantime, they all need to get off this world before the Empire realizes they’ve failed.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------So it turns out that Ferrier got no invitation but Karrde brushed it off initially, thinking someone else told him. I suppose Thrawn might’ve considered that would happen when he went ahead and got Ferrier the location. He took a chance, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 chapter 19: The team on Wayland struggles every step of the way through acidic plants and dangerous animals. They haven’t been attacked by predators for a couple of days, though, and no natives have appeared. Mara tells them about the Myneyrshi who are good at close combat and didn’t like humans even before the Empire showed up. A dead bird felled in flight by one jab of a spear proves they’re around here somewhere. Luke can sense several alien minds nearby. They take off quickly. Mara notes that he seems to be good at sensing diverse kinds of minds. He mentions it’s just a matter of training which is what’s been bothering him lately. Training in the Force is more than about lightsabers and moving objects. It’s about teaching compassion and wisdom so that wielders will not abuse their power. It is one thing to be teaching Leia this, but now he’s expected to teach her children, too. He wonders how much Jedi training the Emperor gave her. She got the basics. He thinks she should practice before they reach Mt. Tantiss. He sees things that he doesn’t understand so he thinks it would be good for her to be as prepared as possible for whatever they encounter there. Wedge encounters Pash Cracken who tells him about the fall of Generis. The clones Thrawn is using must be made from the best templates to do what they have been able to accomplish. Ackbar calls the meeting together and explains the basic problems of going from a mopping up action against the Empire to a full-fledged defense. General Madine elaborates the situation plaguing Coruscant right now. In order to get the asteroids cleared as fast as possible, they need a crystal gravfield trap which can be had in several places, all Imperial-held. Tangrene would be the simplest place to go. It’s also the most obvious place for a trap, so they are going to the Imperial shipyards at Bilbringi. It’s big, well-defended and the last place the Imperials think will be hit. Success solves not only the Coruscant asteroid problem, but damages both their shipbuilding capability and belief in Grand Admiral Thrawn’s infallibility. Colonel Derlin is going to create an illusion that Tangrene is their target, while Ackbar and Madine will be plotting the real attack. Leia wakes up which catches the notice of Mobvekhar the Noghri. He asks if she’s troubled. She tells him she had a dream that seemed like a piece of a puzzle trying to fit where it belongs. He expresses his confidence that she will determine the answer.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There’s a brief mention of Wing Commander Varth in this chapter. Pash Cracken served under him before his brief stint in Rogue Squadron during Wedge’s Gamble, after which he returned to Varth’s command. The chapter doesn’t paint a flattering picture of the man, though.Mara says Palpatine gave her basic Jedi training which we should probably interpret as training to use the Force. It would appear then that, despite what this series has been implying, Mara was not just really good at communicating with the Emperor, but was indeed taught the ways of the Force. But, like we determined in Allegiance and Choices of One, nothing sectarian was conveyed to her in terms of Jedi versus Sith doctrine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 chapter 20: Thrawn’s forces finish their seizure of the Xa Fel system and he receives a report that more Rebel ships have been seen scouting and secretly entering the Tangrene system. It would appear that the Rebels are willing to commit a great deal in order to get a CGT array. Something about it seems to trouble Thrawn, though, so he retires to his command room to think about it. Karrde, Gillespee and Mazzic discuss Karrde’s findings. Obviously, the Rebels have decided to return to the tactics they were once known for, but, if they’re willing to fight to get a CGT array from Tangrene, they might be willing to pay for one instead. Karrde thinks, before the fight starts at Tangrene, they should sweep through Bilbringi and grab one to sell. It will be helpful to know the Alliance’s plans, so he’ll have Ghent slice into that. Even if Thrawn has upgraded security since Mazzic’s attack, they wouldn’t have had time to find the holes in it. On Coruscant, Admiral Drayson demonstrates from a recording how what they feared was an Imperial superweapon is just a ship inside the cloaking shield. They need to make sure their planetary defense teams on each world know what to look for so they can avoid surrendering worlds needlessly. The timing of these attacks are still impressive which prompts bel Iblis to ask Leia if the insane Jedi Luke met on Jomark might have been responsible. Leia notes the same type of coordination in other attacks coupled with Mara’s claim that the Jedi is working with Thrawn makes that assumption reasonable. The recording came from a pair of macrobinoculars that Talon Karrde got from someone he knew on the ground at Ukio. Drayson isn’t convinced that Karrde is particularly helpful otherwise. Besides being involved in the Katana fleet debacle, he’s also liberally using a New Republic credit account Luke set up for him. All in exchange for this recording and some other minor pieces of information. Mon Mothma puts a stop to any suggestion of cutting Karrde off. Despite being a smuggler, Karrde has been useful and the New Republic needs all the allies it can get. She trusts Luke Skywalker’s judgment. Winter arrives with the location of Wayland, which she obtained from a source she will not identify. Regardless, the New Republic cannot send any backup, even if it isn’t a trap, until the Bilbringi operation is over. Bel Iblis reminds Leia that, if Luke’s team landed undetected, they could be exposed if another ship enters the system. Fey’lya suggests the Bilbringi attack be postponed. It’s really the first time he’s spoken since his embarrassing failure to seize the Katana fleet. He explains that the asteroids in orbit are not doing any real harm beyond making travel difficult. The planet has supplies, communications and their shield. He rejects the notion that they have to bring the asteroids down just so they won’t look weak and helpless. The Bothan people know the type of person the Emperor was. There are things in that storehouse that Thrawn should not be allowed access to, to say nothing of safeguarding Captain Solo and Luke Skywalker. Mon Mothma assures him they will do what they can to assist the team and destroy whatever is in the mountain but not until after they’ve drawn the Grand Admiral to Tangrene. Leia notices Fey’lya’s agitation and wonders what’s in the mountain that he doesn’t want Thrawn to find. Pellaeon enters the command room to face Rukh again, hoping to someday persuade Thrawn that he doesn’t need a personal bodyguard. Thrawn is looking at holographic displays of Tangrene and asks Pellaeon what news has arrived. Pellaeon confirms the Rebel forces are still moving in, about to fall into the trap. Thrawn directs his attention to Mon Calamari art on display, including two pieces created by Admiral Ackbar himself. He also has displayed pieces once favored by General bel Iblis. He questions whether the Rebels really are falling into their trap. They are making all the right moves, as though Tangrene was the real target. But he doesn’t think it is. In fact, he thinks it would be just like his adversaries to hit Bilbringi. Pellaeon suggests they confirm that first before moving any forces. When he wonders if Delta Source could help, Thrawn admits that source seems to have been silenced. But he knows this is their plan anyway and and will not give them a reason to think he knows it------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 chapter 21: Luke uses the last of daylight to give Mara instruction in using the Force while handling a lightsaber. He notes she has techniques he wasn’t taught. She secretly wonders what will happen if she ever decides to ignite the saber against him, but they are interrupted by R2’s finding of a bunch of vines cut through already. Lando, remembering the dead bird they found earlier, thinks someone out here is trying to help them. Luke admits he’s sensed the natives in the area, but not close enough to get anything else from them. He wonders if they are fascinated by the droids the way the Ewoks were. It’s after sundown when Luke and Mara sense two groups of them coming near the camp. They can’t get any sense of a particular emotion. When Luke catches a shadowy movement, he ignites his lightaber. Han pulls his blaster, but Chewie knocks it astray when he recognizes the aliens. The Noghri identifies himself as Ekhrikhor. He leads them to a group of Myneyrshi and the other Wayland natives, the Psadans, who have both been wanting to confront the group. They haven’t decided yet whether or not to fight but it might be a good idea to hash this out. Ekhrikhor explains that Cakhmaim sent him and some other Noghri secretly because he sensed Captain Solo wouldn’t accept Noghri help. There are eight them following in front of, behind and on the sides of the group each day to clear paths and eliminate predators. Mara doesn’t believe they do not still follow Thrawn. Nevertheless, 3PO will translate for the Myneyrshi and Psadans. The human colonists who arrived drove the natives from their lands until the technology they brought with them stopped working. The Empire followed and dug into the mountain, enslaving the natives to help them. The Guardian followed the Empire and tried to control them until the Jedi Master fought for supremacy and killed the Guardian. He forced all the inhabitants of this world to live in subjection to him at the foot of the mountain. The Alliance team is just the next in a long line of would-be liberators. They really don’t see the newcomers as any different. However, the fact that Chewbacca is armed, too, makes an impression. The only Wookiees that would have been seen here were slaves, too. Luke explains that they are not asking for help in the fight but they would like to travel unimpeded and that the Empire not be notified of their presence. C’baoth has been slowly manipulating the mind of General Covell until the man’s thoughts are no longer his own. The Jedi tells him that Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker are here. He’s seen visions of Jade kneeling at his feet so she will fall certainly. Skywalker will take longer but will be affected by what waits for him in the mountain. That night, the Noghri stand guard and one assures Mara that she can sleep. He knows she doesn’t trust them, but he is not looking for approval, only to clear the debt they owe his family for helping them. She guesses they’ve finally figured out how the Empire has been manipulating them all these years. She’d heard rumors and jokes, but never really knew how much of it was true. The Noghri explains they will convince the Empire that being amused by the enslavement of a world is a mistake. There are teams all over the galaxy, on worlds and ships, ready to overthrow their Imperial masters. Some of them are coming here to make sure the Emperor’s presence is wiped from Wayland. They will leave the destruction of the cloning facilities to her and the son of Vader. She asks who that is and he reveals that she serves him as they do. Mara realizes he means Luke. She’d thought the Emperor wanted her to kill Skywalker because of what had been done to him, now she realizes it is just an attempt to exact revenge on Vader. Everything about her life becomes confused. She cannot get the voice out of her head compelling her to kill Skywalker. Then she gets a summons from C’baoth before the contact cuts off. Luke felt pressure, but saw or heard nothing. She wonders if they should abort the mission in case the Empire knows they are here, but Luke isn’t sure they do. She asks him if he knew C’baoth was going to be here. He didn’t, but the chances they would face him again were good, so he wanted her to be prepared. Neither of them want that, but it may not be a choice. He sends her to get some sleep which she does after one last command orders her to kill Luke Skywalker.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As we saw in Allegiance and Choices of One, Mara had a very naïve view of the Empire and what it was supposed to be. I have a hard time thinking that she would listen to rumors or jokes about the Noghri being manipulated into serving the Empire without being bothered by them.As we’ve discussed, as has been confirmed in this book, Mara was given training in using the Force. We’ve been going under the assumption that either her power was propped up by the Emperor or that her psychological and emotional state has inhibited her use of the Force to any controllable degree for the last few years to explain why she seems to be unable to harness it the way she most certainly did in the previous books we’ve read. I guess Luke’s refresher course is intended to help her do just that. It’s the same thing we saw Ferus Olin doing in the Last of the Jedi series when the whole Use-It-Or-Lose-It situation came up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Chapter 22: The next morning, Pellaeon and Thrawn receive the news that General Covell is dead. Colonel Selid explains that Master C'baoth was at Covell's side from the moment they landed on Wayland, muttering the entire time. Covell sequestered his troops for a private meeting, then assigned them outside of the mountain for unknown reasons. Later that night, large sections of Covell's brain shut down and he died. Selid wasn't all that impressed with Covell anyway; he'd seemed far more distant for a man of his reputation. C'baoth is up in the old throne room. Thrawn surmises that C'baoth tried to replace Covell's brain with his own, which worked until they hit the ysalamiri bubble and the connection was lost. By then, there wasn't much left of Covell's brain. Pellaeon privately fumes that he had warned Thrawn something like this would happen. Thrawn contacts the throne room to confront C'baoth who dismisses him. He explains he's foreseen that Thrawn's destruction will come with his own. As for Covell, he belonged to C'baoth to do what he pleased. That's sufficient for Thrawn. He orders C'baoth put under arrest. He may not leave the throne room and all control circuits must be disconnected on those floors. He also wants Selid to determine where Covell's troops were before they left the mountain. Since he cannot know whether or not they can be trusted, those troops cannot come back inside. He is sending another transport that will retrieve them. They should be told that their orders were false. For now, C'baoth has one last role to play before his usefulness to them has run out. After all, it's just his body that's gone wrong, not his mind. Pellaeon can't believe that Thrawn is considering cloning the master again. Thrawn explains that they can't use the flash-cloning they've used on the new pilots and troopers, but allowing him to mature over a space of 10-15 years should work. They'll find a place to work on that after the trap at Bilbringi. Pellaeon reminds him that all evidence still points to Tangrene as the likely place of attack. Thrawn understands this, but he is sure it will be Bilbringi instead. At a tavern, Wedge, Hobbie & Janson decide it's time to leave. A drunk stumbles into them, then presses them to take him out with them. It's Aves, who points out that they aren't being too careful around an Aqualish who was a known Imperial agent. Wedge doesn't mention that they're presence here was supposed to get the attention of Imperial spies to bolster the appearance of Tangrene as their target. Aves suggests they can pay back the favor by helping them out with a job that he hints would be beneficial to all of them, considering what they suspect General bel Iblis is up to. Wedge doesn't have time to appreciate the irony of Aves offering help here. He tells Aves that he will be in contact within 28 hours or not at all. The Rogues head off, Hobbie suggesting anything they tell Karrde's people will end up being sold to the Imperials anyway. Wedge wonders if Karrde's people really are just fringe scum, but their actions at the Katana battle don't really speak of mercenaries.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Considering that Wedge spent some of his young adult years with Booster Terrick, it's odd that he would even think of categorizing Karrde's people as fringe scum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Chapter 23: On Coruscant, Leia struggles to run a search on Clone Wars era cloning techniques. Winter arrives and tells her that no new asteroids have been found. Neither Admiral Drayson nor Mon Mothma believe they've gotten them all. Leia expresses her frustration that she hasn't been able to find much in her research. Winter reminds her that she does have the Force. Leia doesn't think it is much help to her. Her comlink blinks with a report that Wild Karrde has arrived. Either Karrde has come to pick up his people or he just wants to poke around for information. Or both. Leia admits that the information the New Republic has gotten from him has been useful. He wonders if she might be interested in some semi-rare technology he may be able to arrange for her. Unfortunately, nonessential traffic has been restricted. Karrde asks about Mara and doesn't want to get evasive answers. Leia would prefer not to discuss this on an open channel. Karrde tells her to find Ghent and have him plug in one of their personal encrypt codes so they can speak privately. Leia can't help but think there is something she's missing here and that it involves what Luke and Mara are up to. She tells Winter that Karrde is here to help Mara. He won't be happy to find out she's gone. Down in the control room, Ghent gets the encrypt code set up, but Bel Iblis still urges them to be careful what is said since they do not know if the Imperials can listen in. Over the comm channel, Leia explains to Karrde about the abduction attempt and how one of the team members implicated Mara. They know she'd once been on the Emperor's staff. Her past loyalties are not as important as concerns about her current ones. She's not being allowed external communications so Karrde cannot speak with her directly. Leia admits that there are cloaked asteroids in orbit which is why the planetary shield has to stay up. Karrde explains that rumors are circulating that the planet suffered severe damage and the government is trying to cover it up. Leia tells him they've found 22 asteroids, but there could be almost 300. Karrde doesn't think it's significant enough of a risk that he shouldn't be able to land. He offers to get through in a five-second window since they're concerned about an asteroid making its way in through an opening in the shield. When Leia and the High Command won't budge, he offers them a trade: Information for a few minutes with Mara. Leia wants to know what he has first. Karrde admits that all the asteroids are gone. His team has been at Bilbringi and observed the work on 22 asteroids. He sends the data feed to them to verify. Bel Iblis is fairly certain that Thrawn wouldn't have used another facility to create others, lest he risk the New Republic finding one. Karrde wants to speak with Mara, mostly because he knows what it's like to be locked up and feeling like one has been abandoned. Remembering that Karrde had been imprisoned aboard the Chimaera, the cloning suddenly falls into place. Leia asks that Karrde be allowed to land. She explains to Bel Iblis that a clone's mind cannot resist the pressure of being grown quickly due to the Force connection between the clone and the original being. Thrawn is using ysalamiri to block the Force from the cloning tanks. Mara told them that Thrawn had taken five or six thousand of the creatures from Myrkr, but Luke had no problem using the Force when he went to rescue Karrde on the Chimaera which means the ysalamiri weren't there. Bel Iblis realizes that the creatures were sent to Wayland which means that Luke's team will be helpless when they arrive. Leia knows this is the meaning of the dream she had. Luke and Mara will walk into a trap. There aren't enough resources to hit Bilbringi and Wayland at the same time. Bel Iblis will try, but Leia knows there's only one person who can help the team now. When Karrde lands, he finds Leia with Ghent and a figure in a brown cloak that he assumes is a Jawa. He's surprised when the Noghri Mobvekhar introduces himself. Leia explains that Mara isn't here. She'd determined that the cloning facility was on Wayland and has gone with Luke and Han to destroy it. That team is in danger and Leia would like Karrde to take her there. Karrde sees his plans falling to pieces. He is intended to be at Bilbringi with the other smugglers, but only tells Leia they were trying to grab a crystal gravfield trap for the New Republic to use. He has commitments to the people he's put together. He will not abandon them to do the job for him and there is the awkward matter of the funds he promised them for their help. Mobvekhar suddenly takes off and reappears, clutching Borsk Fey'lya. The Bothan protests the accusation that he was eavesdropping. He'd been told by Bel Iblis what was going on and came her to urge Karrde to help Leia. The Emperor's storehouse likely contains a great many secrets, some of which could be weapons that would be devastating if released. Karrde, however, suspects there's something more personal to the Bothan people contained there. He extorts the funds from Fey'lya that he can use to pay off the other smugglers in return for his helping Leia. Along the way, Karrde admits to Leia that they are too rushed to check to make sure that Fey'lya is actually paying them, but she shouldn't think that means the money isn't important. He has obligations to meet. Leia doesn't say anything, but remembers someone else who talked big about money, but who ended up helping save her life. She hopes they will arrive in time so she can save them all.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas1138 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Got all caught up tonight. Good stuff, as always! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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