~Omega-Warior

In 2013, Disney and Lucasfilm announced the release of a series of new Star Wars movies, to finalise the Star Wars saga. I know I mentioned that before, but this is important to know for what I'm talking about this week.


Until 2013, Star Wars had been a vast thing, with countless games from the age of Atari up to now and even beyond, with new games due for release this month I do believe, as well as comics, but more importantly, books.


When I was a kid, I went on holiday to France for a week. I needed something to read on the long car journey from Calais to Brittany, so we went to the local book store, and I picked up a book called Jedi Search. I didn't know it then, but this was the first in a trilogy of books within the wider expanse of the Star Wars universe. I would read others later, of course, but this was my first experience of Star Wars on the printed page.


These three books detailed things that I enjoyed; Luke coming into his own as a Jedi, Leia becoming an ever more relied upon stateswoman, and most of all, action and adventure in an easy to visualise manner.


While these books made up a tiny section of the Expanded Universe, I was to learn later that, within these works by other writers, anything was possible; Vast city-destroying droids, Battledriods that could more than surpass the abilities of mere humans, cloned bodyguards, new breeds of TIE fighters, extra-galactic foes that drew Empire and Rebel together to fight them off, a planet that eats people and actually chased the Millennium Falcon, resurected Emperors, a blue-skinned alien who was a Grand Admiral, the name escapes me, I wonder if they kept him around?


But it was these three books that wanted to talk about today. They are, to my mind, what a perfect sequel trilogy could have been, given that Disney themselves have said that they want to bring the Skywalker Saga to a close with this one.


I won't cover everything that happens in perfect order, because they're far better if you can find copies for yourself. But, I will be trying to cover all the important parts.



Jedi Academy, Jedi Search.


The war is over. The galaxy has been restored to democracy. And Corisaunt, is totalled. The Rebel plans to retake the world resulted in a fair amount of damage, and construction droids roam the vast cityscape, tearing down ruins and rebuilding new skyscrapers. And amidst those ruins, Luke Skywalker is searching through the old Jedi Temple, converted into the Emperor's palace when he was still alive. Luke has no hope of rebuilding the Jedi order on his own, and has also decided that having the main temple in the middle of the city is a bad idea as well. While searching through the ruins, he discovers sets of Jedi holocrons. These are small holographic databases, containing knowledge of the Jedi, recorded from Jedi masters. He also discovers the tools with which the Emperor hunted down the rest of the Jedi, a tool that allows him to sense out the Force Sensative and dispose of them.


With these, he decides to seek out new Force sensitive individuals, to create a new Jedi Order. To that end though, he decides to get the permission of the New Republic Senate first, not wanting to go behind their back, and be as open as possible, something that the Empire had never been. So, with the help of Leia, one of the New Republic's highest ranking politicians, he talks to Mon Mothma, the new Chancellor, who not only agrees, but also gives him somewhere secluded to do his new training, Yavin 4, former Rebel base and planet with a suspiciously high number of buildings for an uninhabited moon...


Luke offers Leia a place in the new academy, but she refuses, as she doesn't want to leave the capital, especially as two of her children are returning to the planet,the twins Jacen and Jaina Solo, from hiding. Given her position within the New Republic, and the levels of hostility that some worlds still show the new government, as they've gone from Imperial Lapdog to untrusted and hated by the worlds that were most under the Empire's heel , she and Han decided not to put their children in danger, and instead sent them into hiding, as Luke and Leia had been decades earlier. Only Anakin, her youngest, will remain in hiding, as the other two are now old enough to return to the planet.


Speaking of the Solo family, Han has been sent by the New Republic as one of their ambassadors to try and get some of the Outer Worlds and those that were under the controls of gangsters and see if they will be willing to join the New Republic. The world Han is on his way to, is Kessel. In the Expanded Universe books, Kessel is a little different to what it's like in the Main series. In this, it's a rock, a large asteroid if that, with a bairly breathable atmosphere maintained by huge generators that pump out new air to replace that which leeches away. The Maw, the area around Kessel, is also different, a vast cluster of black holes, grouped together some how despite that being incredibly unnatural.


When Han and Chewie arrive at Kessel, they come under attack from a squadron of TIE fighters, before a number of X-wings wade in as well, also attacking the Falcon, and the ship is captured. Kessel is protected by salvaged fighters of scores of different types and factions, Republic, Empire, Independent, all captured or bought for scrap from other worlds.


Han and Chewie are interogated by the current administrator, Moruth Doole, who had been the administrator under the Empire's occupation of the world, and had retained control when the garison had been overthrown. He's paranoid that the Republic will try to take the world from him, and so, with the aid of the Spice mined on Kessel, he interogates Han and Chewie. He soon finds out his mistake, and now freaking out even more, throws the two into the slave barracks, to mine the Spice for the rest of their lives.


The mines are pitch black, as the spice breaks down in it's raw form when exposed to ANY light. It's created as a web by one of the two indigenous lifeforms on the planet, what is known as a spice spider, which feeds on the OTHER lifeform, an energy mass known as a Bogey, which are brilliantly illuminated by their energetic forms. That means that Han and Chewie are in trouble, until they're offered help by Kyp Durron, a young orphaned person who grew up in a harsh enviroment, which has made him into, a kind, person....


Ok, so he's a male Rey from the Sequel trilogy, but there are differences! For example, Rey was Force sensative, while Kyp, is ALSO Force sensative, and a prodigy, like Rey, and their names have 3 letters in each...


Hmmm, might be something interesting developing here.


Back with Luke, he's training Leia in a few Jedi skills, such as infiltrating the minds of others. With Wedge's help, he shows her how to get into the back of some-one else's mind without them knowing. However, when he tries it on Leia, she has a Force reflex action, pushing Luke out of her mind, and knocking him back as well. With this new way of detecting the Force sensative, he leaves on a long expedition to collect new students for his academy. I won't go into most of his students, as they're not all that important, apart from Kyp later on. He visits several different worlds, inviting hermits and loners to join him as he prepares to set up his new academy.


Back on Kessel again, Han and Chewie escape with the help of Kyp, stealing a shuttle as they're unable to reach the Falcon. They try to flee, but are soon forced into the Maw, Kyp guiding them through a route between the blackholes towards an area of calm in the heart of the Maw where they'll be safe.


Or they would have been, if it wasn't for the asteroid base full of Stormtroopers, and a quartet of Imperial Class Star Destroyers sitting in the middle of that safe zone.


This is the fleet of Admiral Daala, a protige of Grand Moff Tarkin, and one of the few ranking female Imperial Officers. Turns out that the human-centric Empire is also sexist, so keep slapping on more layers of sleeze there guys. Either way, she is protecting the Think Tank of the Maw Instilation, who are part of Tarkin's planning system. They create new weapons to be used by the Empire using slaves, specifically wookies, to build their new weapons and equipment, and their lead specialist is an avian-humanoid, Qwi Xux. She is, refreshingly innocent,and I'll talk more about her in a few minutes, but before we do, back to the capital!


Leia's eldest children are now back home with her, as she's finding it harder and harder to juggle diplomat, ambassador, amateur Jedi and mother at once. The main reason? The director of the Fortress world of Carida has been invited to visit the capital and join the New Republic. However, he doesn't want to, because during the rein of the Empire, his world grew immensly powerful and influential, given that they were one of the main Stormtrooper training locations for the Empire, but would be treated like the other worlds under the New Republic, resulting in a loss of their political clought. In fact, he is so insulted at the request of Mon Mothma, that he tosses his drink, taken from a flask at his hip, a further insult to the generosity of the Republic at a banquet in his honour, in her face.


Leia is also worried by the fact that Han is still missing, and asks Luke and Lando to find him. They head for Kessel, and after not much investigating, find the Falcon in a hanger, and steal it.


Meanwhile, in the Maw, Han is being interogated REALLY nicely, and I do mean that, by Qwi, who found out that one of her pet projects was destroyed with his help. That project? A mining vessel, designed to remove dead worlds, break them apart into managable chunks, and process them into new building materials IT'S THE DEATH STAR! She designed the Death Star as a mining ship!The prototype of it is in orbit of the Maw even now, a huge wireframe sphere with a dish on one side, and she thinks it would only ever be used for harmless reasons. It's part of her innocence, the fact that she can't conceive that Tarkin, the person who bombarded her homeworld from orbit for years as he put children from that world through tests and creativity contests to get their greatest inventor, would BLOW UP INHABITED WORLDS WITH IT! Well, fortunatly, her next project is nice and innocent, and no-one could turn it into a weapon. It's an indestructible starfighter that can fire torpedoes that can destroy an entire star system at once!


As I said, she's too innocent, not thinking how some-one could ever turn these things on other living beings. Han manages to convince her that they ARE being used for evil, and she takes him to the fighter, the Suncrusher, so they can make their escape. The 4 escape, Han trying to avoid the Imperial ships, but eventually resorting to flying the Suncrusher, and it's invincible hull, diagonally up through a Star Destroyer in order to escape, the capital ship loosing power and getting dragged into a black hole with the loss of all hands!


Escaping from the Maw, they find the Falcon coming the other way. The two ships make a run for it, as Daala's fleet emerges from the field of black holes and engages the rag-tag fleet of ships defending Kessel, and the two New Republic crews escape.


Returning to the New Republic, Luke is officially given Yavin 4 as his new base for the new Jedi Order, and he leaves with all of his new students, bar Kyp, to establish their new temple.



So, in this first book, we get our old heroes moving on with their lives, we get our NEW heroes and their issues, and we meet our new villains.


I like Qwi. She's a wonderfully kind person who only wants to see the good in the universe, despite everything she's been through. Her kind heart and great intellect, combined with making death machines that ravage entire worlds without thinking remotely about how they could be used for evil, is some-what endearing.


Kyp, in this first story is underdeveloped. He's strong with the Force, yes, but beyond that we don't know much about him other than his family is long gone, except maybe his brother, who was taken away by Stormtroopers when they were both young, so, at this point, he could still be alive.


We don't see much of Daala in this book either, but we do find out a lot about the racism and sexism of the Empire. In order to get where she is, she had to work 100 times harder than male officers to get to the same position as them, and receives a fraction of the recognition. The fact that she's Tarkin's protige is even more impressive. It makes it odd though, it gives Tarkin a glimps of humanity, in respecting others for their actual abilities rather than the politics. It also makes her a weirdly strong female character, that she refused to let the weight of the order of things slow her career down.


Now, let's move on to the next book!



Jedi Acadamy, Dark Aprentice.


On Corisaunt, the New Galactic Senate is in session. The Sun Crusher is basically the only thing on the books, it's raw destructive power an issue that needs to be removed from the galaxy. The issue? It's practically indestructible! No conventional weapon can dismantle it, and just taking it appart won't help, as all the bits will still be around. If you know the story of Killdozer, you know that they need to destroy this thing, permanently. The choice finally falls on dropping the entire ship, with all hatches open, into a gas giant, specifically Yavin.


It's going to be dropped off when Kyp goes to attend the Jedi acadamy, though as we start the book, Han is showing him a good time in the skies of the city, showing him the sights. It's been a few days since the escape from the Maw, and Han is relaxing, splitting his time as best he can between Kyp, Leia and his two eldest children, much like how Leia is splitting her time.


Speaking of Leia, she and Admiral Ackbar have been invited to an event on the planet Vortex. The locals had an ancient cathedral, built of crystal and glass, that sang when the wind passed over it. This structure had survived the Clone Wars AND the Empire. However, as Ackbar and Leia are on their final aproach, their shuttle, a modified B-wing, suffers a fatal fault, and crashes, the two Republic spokespersons surviving, but many of the locals dying as the cathedral is demolished. Ashamed, beliving this to all be his fault, Ackbar retires, and returns to his homeworld to go into self imposed exile.


Qwi, in the mean time, is under the protection of one of the finest generals in the New Republic, Wedge Antilles. In order to protect her, the two go into hiding, heading for the world of Ithor, a jungle world with huge floating cities to allow visitors to see the world, even though they were forbidden to set foot on it.


On Yavin 4, Luke welcomes Kyp, and starts training him, along with the other new Jedi. Things aren't going smoothly, people are hearing whispers, and feeling something disturbing the Force around them. And when, during a lightsaber training session, one of the aprentaces tries to kill Luke, using an unusual lightsaber trick that doubles the length, Luke starts to realise that something is VERY wrong! Determined to keep his new charges safe, Luke starts looking into what is going on, his investigation only getting more urgent when one of the new charges is killed.


To top things off, Mon Mothma has fallen deathly ill. The phasicians can't work out what's killing her at first, but it becomes clear later that this was the work of the director of the world of Carda, Furgan. Worried that this will leave the New Republic with little to no real authority with only one high ranking member left, Leia heads to Mon Calamari to beg Ackbar to return with her and help lead the New Republic. He is, however, still shaken by what has happened, but offers his niece, Cilghal, to help show Leia around the world, and especially the orbital docks, were new New Republic warships are under construction.


Back on Corisaunt, C-3PO and Chewie have been left looking after the two Solo children, who quickly give them the slip in a holographic museum to extinct animals, and take an elevator to the lowest levels of the city, where vagrants and the outcasts of society dwell. The two are unable to return, as the lift has no call button this low down, and they start wandering, soon accosted by vagrants, but rescued by an unusual character.


They're returned to the top by King Onibald Daykim, leader of a group of more organised slum dwellers, who, turns out to be a rouge banker who was tired with the system, and was unaware that the Empire had fallen. But he and his group decided not to return to the surface, instead returning to the Undercity, to resume their lives.


Back to Mon Calamari, and as Leia has been trying once more to convince Ackbar to return, Daala and her now 3 Star Destroyers show up in orbit with every intention of pounding the already crippled world. Ackbar, unwilling to see his people suffer further from the Empire, takes command of the new ship, and, drydock included, pilots it remotely towards the Imperial fleet.


It's slow, and the Star Destroyers take every opertunity to pound the aproaching, unarmed ship, but it's too late when Daala realises what's about to happen, as the Mon Cal cruiser and one of her ships collide, tearing each-other to chunks of debris as they smash into one another at, OK, THAT'S awefully familiar! It feels again like the bits I really like in the Sequel trilogy are lifted from these books...


With the loss of half her fleet, Daala retreats from the system, unwilling to engage any longer incase the Republic Fleet shows up in force. And while the victory was great, Ackbar is still unready to return to office. But it's not a total loss, as Leia discovers that Cilghal is Force sensative, and send her to join the other students on Yavin 4.


At the acadamy, things are starting to come to a head. Kyp has fallen to the same dark powers that claimed one of the other students, and has come under the influence of the Force ghost of Exar Kun, one of the earliest Sith lords, and it turns out, puppet master behind the Emperor. Luke, soon becoming aware of the Sith himself, confronts Kyp, and with Kun's help, Kyp tears Luke's soul from his body, leaving him a comatose husk, while using his strengthening powers to draw the Sun Crusher from deep under Yavin's surface, and takes it, abandoning the temple and Luke to serve a new, darker master.

We start with Daala's fleet hiding in a nebula. Ok, it's two Star Destroyers, and both are now fairly banged up from the fighting they've been involved in. She's come up with a plan to decimate the New Republic. After the actions of Ackbar at Mon Calamari, she's put together her own plan; Empty one Star Destroyer of basically all but a skeleton crew, and fly it at high speed directly into the surface of Corisaunt. It'll kill almost everyone on the planet in one go, and any survivors will die out from the debris from the explosion. The other Destroyer will give it covering fire as it makes it's death dive.


This is one of the things I like about Daala, because after laying out her plan, her subordinates don't argue, but instead, volenteer to be the one to do it. She's gained the respect of her officers over the last decade and a bit of service, and it shows. However, as they start to finalise their plans, the Sun Crusher drops out of hyperspace and engages them, Kyp taunting them the entire time. Daala is of course confused, because even with it's invulnerability, the Sun Crusher can't do enough damage like this to stop her. Then, she realises, it's a trap, that several of the local stars within the nebula have started to collapse from Kyp using the Sun Crusher's main weapon, the Resanance Torpedo, on them. She orders the fleet to dissengage, but it's too late, and the fleet is swallowed up by the roaring, broilding mass of exploding stars, as the Sun Crusher heads to it's next target, and then onwards to Carida


And lastly, in the cool of the evening on Ithor, Qwi encounters Kyp in person. He tells her that he won't allow such a weapon to exist in anyone's hands but his, and using the Force, tears the knowlage from her mind, leaving her half-wiped, and heads out into space to continue his new work...



Much like in Empire Strikes Back, this story is the bridge between an almost stand-alone book, and the end of the trilogy. Everything steps up in this book, everything is at stake, the New Republic, the new Jedi order, the very souls of Kyp and Luke!


Ackbar loosing his faith in himself is natural. Here we have an officer that has won spectacular battle after spectacular battle, only to find himself at the heart of a disaster. Seeing him come out of his funk to protect his world is just as realistic, because while the New Republic may be too huge for him to help save, his own world is of vital importance to him.


Kyp's turn to the Dark Side is interesting. Like Anakin before him, Kyp is a prodigy, able to use the force far more affectivly than Luke, even after such little training. His use of the force, helping to tear Luke from his body, drawing a ship to him from such a great distance, and finally, tearing thoughts and memories from Qwi's living mind are all impressive, and disturbing for different reasons.


Speaking of Qwi, she's not as important a character in this book, but is still in it a fair amount, as we see her and Wedge grow closer as the book goes on. What happens to her is horrific, but I can see the logic. It's hard to say if this is the act of some-one truly evil, or someone who's moral ideals are a little different to others, given what she's created, and how many she's indirectly responsible for killing.


But enough of that, on to the last book!



Jedi Academy, Champions of the Force


We start on Carida, where plans are afoot! It turns out Furgan has a spy close to the high-ranking officials that he hates so much, specifically Terpfen, Ackbar's chief mechanic, who has an implanted chip in his head that makes him work against his will for the Empire. He sabotaged Ackbar's B-wing, he's been keeping an eye on Mon Mothma's continuing spiral towards death, and now, he's fed the location of the remaining Skywalker child to Furgan, who intends to capture him, and in doing so, hopes to create a new Dark Enforcer, like Vader was, to help lead the Empire back to a place of power.


That is, until the Sun Crusher arrives in orbit. Through the force and investigations, Kyp has learned what happened to his brother, Zeth, who was taken away by the Empire so long ago. He was brought to Carida to be trained as a Stormtooper! Kyp wants him back. Furgan tells him that no, he can't have his brother back, because he's dead, so there, hopeing to keep Kyp distracted long enough to ensnare the Sun Crusher, capture it, and turn it into a weapon for the Empire. The ploy fails, and in fury and hatred, Kyp fires another torpedo into Carida's star, causing it to start collapsing.


Realising this is NOT going his way, Furgan orders an evacuation, highest ranking officers first, and flees to a ship headed for Anoth, the current home of Anakin Solo. Others are not so lucky, as the planet's few ships start to leave in a hurry, one lieutenant called Dauren manages to find out that Zeth is still alive, and there may be hope for him to get off the planet! He calls Kyp, shows him his brother, and the Sun Crusher speeds back to the planet. But, as Kyp tries to rescue his brother, Dauren demands to come along, to be saved as well. When Kyp refuses, Zeth is stabbed. Kyp tries anyway to save his brother, but before he can, the star explodes, and the planet is destroyed, only the Sun Crusher's impregnable hull allowing it to survive the blast. Driven further to the Dark Side by his own failure and anger, Kyp heads for the Core Worlds to continue his rain or terror against the Empire.


Meanwhile, the New Republic are sending out a taskforce, lead by Wedge and Chewie, to liberate Kessel and take the Maw facility. Lando has been in conversation with the Smugglers Guild, lead by a former Imperial Enforcer and ex-sith aprentice, Mara Jade, who will help bring Kessel into the New Republic, while Lando's co-pilot from the run on the Second Death Star, Nien Nunb, will be taking over as administrator once Doole has been disposed of.


Han has returned to the Capital after dropping Cilghal off at the academy, Han finds out from Leia what Kyp has just done. In the same way that Obi Wan felt the destruction of Alderan, Leia has sensed the destruction of the entire Carida system. Han leaves once again, heading off to try and stop Kyp from doing any more damange in any way he can.


Speaking of the Force trauma that was created when Carida was destroyed, Luke's spirit has been sent back to the proximity of his body, though none of his students can see him. In fact, the only person who can, is the Force Spirit of Exar Kun, who tells Luke more about how he came to be trapped here. Once a Jedi, he had turned on his master, killed them, and fled to Yavin 4, where he manipulated the locals into serving him. The Jedi, fearing that he would rise to become a powerful threat to the entire Galaxy, so the Old Republic sent an entire fleet to level the planet. With his body destroyed, Kun had become a Force Spirit, not like a Force Ghost like a Jedi, more manipulative, more powerful with the Dark Side than his Jedi equivalents, beyond their ability to sense him, which is why he'd been able to pass unseen by the Jedi over the years.


Kun then decides to rid himself of Luke all together, possessing one of Luke's students and sending him to destroy Luke's body. He's stopped by Cilghal, who can finally start to sense Luke's own spirit. She, Leia and the other students start to realise what is truly happening, and start working to destroy Kun's force spirit.


At the same time, Han tracks down Kyp amongst the Core Worlds, and tries to talk him down. Kyp doesn't want to listen, and readies a Resonance Torpedo to destroy the Falcon. Though not as massive or as dense as a star, the chain reaction will be just as terminal. As he readies to fire, Kun's Force Spirit is finally destroyed, the students saving Luke in the process, and Kyp is finally freed of the influence of the Dark Side, and surrenders to Han.


Speaking of freed of influences, Terpfen arrives on Yavin 4. Freed of the Imperial influence when Carida exploded, he can finally tell Leia what he's done. Knowing that Anakin is in danger, Leia heads to Mon Calamari, and asks Ackbar to come out of exile to help her. They take a battleship, and rush to Anoth, a fractured moon that is the perfect hiding place for the Jedi child.


Arriving in orbit of the moon of Anoth, the Imperial forces deploy a force of experimental walkers called MT-AT's, Mountain Terrain Armoured Transports, based on the design of the Crab Tanks used by the Confederacy during the Clone Wars. Basically, giant mechanical spiders, with the cab under the centre point where the limbs meet, and the troops stored in the abdomen. It's a cool design, and allows the transport to move over just about any terrain faster than even a skimmer can do. With these, Furgan's forces should be able to easily take the Solo child.


However, Anakin isn't defenseless. Along with his nanny, a former soldier in the Rebel Alliance, the child is protected by a droid called FIDO, or Foreign Intruder Defence Organism, a huge slim droid over 20 foot across, fitted with 2 dozen platesteel claws on cables that can tear apart a walker in seconds!


While FIDO puts up a good fight, Furgan's forces manage to destroy it, and capture Anakin. Before they can retreat, the New Republic Battleship arrives in orbit, and devastates most of the Imperial forces, and Leia, Ackbar and Terpfen arrive on the planet. Terpfen manages to pursue Furgan, and after recovering Anakin and killing Furgan, Terpfen tries to kill himself in shame for what he's done. Ackbar stops him, reminding the mechanic of what he can offer to the New Republic, and Ackbar realises that he still has more to offer as well, returning to the New Republic.


Han and Lando head to Kessel to join the Smugglers Guild in freeing Kessel. Doole has walled himself up in his office, trying to hold on to power for as long as possible. Eventually, he's forced out, and flees into the caves, where he is sadly torn apart by spice spiders (and there was much rejoicing!)


With Kessel liberated, the New republic forces head to the Maw, only to find it almost deserted. The liberation goes well, but, wait, wasn't there a sod-off massive battlestation in orbit? Oh, THERE it is, coming out of the Maw and BEARING DOWN ON KESSEL EVERYBODY RUUUUUN!


Yes, the scientists of the Maw, the administrators and few remaining Imperial officers, have taken the Prototype Death Star, and after a few tweeks, have decided to take revenge on the New Republic, starting with the small world just inside arm's reach. What they weren't expecting, however, was a fleet of smuggler ships of all makes and sizes sitting there waiting for them, who launch a huge assault on the battlestation as soon as they realise what it is. Quickly, they force the battlestation back into the Maw, and back towards the the New Republic forces that are occupying the Maw Installation.


Luke and Kyp arrive at the Maw Instilation, realising the only way to truly put the Sun Crusher out of use is to drop it into a black hole. And who else should turn up, but Daala, in her one remaining, basically half crippled Star Destroyer. Then the Death Star turns up, with the Falcon hanging off it like it had once done to a Star Destroyer. They soon realise that the Prototype Death Star is if anything a greater threat than the original Death Star, as it has no exhaust port weakness like the first and is basically finished bar the armour plating that the original had. It turns into a battle, the Prototype readying to fire as Daala pounds the instillation, trying to kill the New Republic forces before they can retreat.


Kyp takes the Sun Crusher and engages the Prototype, only to find that the superweapon's frame is so low on mass that there's not enough to create a chain reaction. The director of the Maw is incensed that the small superweapon is being used against him, and tries to destroy it, before reaising that he's been tricked, the Prototype falling too close to a black hole to escape, and the two superweapons are drawn into the singularity, both destroyed.


However, before the Sun Crusher is destroyed, Kyp crams himself into a communication probe and ejects it, which is grabbed by the Falcon. The New Republic forces have also managed to withdraw from the Maw, just in time as the entire facility starts to go up, enguplhing Daala's Star Destroyer in yet ANOTHER huge explosion, with no sign of it having survived.


Kyp and Luke return to Yavin 4, and then head with Cilghal to the Capital, and the young Jedi Healer manages to remove the poison from Mon Mothma's system. Once in recovery, she confides in Leia that she doesn't want to return to being the Chancellor, and hands the possition to Leia, as long as the rest of the Senate agree.


Leia, Han, Ackbar, Wedge, Chewie, Qwi and Mon Mothma attend the reopening of the Cathedral of Winds on Vortex, Lando and Mara head to Kessel to help establish the new governance there, Luke, Kyp and Cilghal return to the now Sith Free Yavin 4, and everyone continues with their lives happily...


OR DO THEY?

Heading into the Inner Core, a sole Star Destroyer limps on it's way to join the fractured, hiding forces of the Empire. On it's bridge, Admiral Daala laments the loss of her fleet, the failure of her mission, and the destruction and loss of the Maw Installation, and all of it's research. She'd ordered the Star Destroyer to leap to hyperspace before the explosion, and now she's left with almost nothing, except an ever burning hatred for the New Republic and a desirer to destroy it.



I love these books. I've read them, ooh, 4 times? Most recently during my holiday this year. But as I did this review, I started to realise something; All the things I really love in this series, the terror threat that the Sun Crusher is by being hard to see, impossible to destroy and capable of killing a star system, Leia's kids, Luke taking on new Jedi and having to sacrifice himself to try and save someone that's fallen to the Dark Side? These are all things that happen in the Sequel Trilogy, and these are often things people hate about those films!


The Expanded Universe, or Legends as they're nowerdays known, contain a lot of stuff that has been added into the main movies. In the Legends, Luke marries Mara Jade, and they have a child. That child, who grows into an adult with long, black hair? BEN Skywalker! Interesting, isn't it?


Star Wars is one of the biggest sci-fi francises in the world, with countless games, legions of books, tens of thousands of comic book series, and toy lines up the wazoo. Sure, the current movies aren't quite the seat fillers the original one and the Empire were, but Star Wars is still endlessly popular, and will likely be for decades to come.


I love Star Wars, and I always will, no matter what changes, no matter who's producing it. I'll get angry at the way it's being treated some times, but that's what makes a fan, some-one who is endlessly passionate about a product, be it a series of movies about samurai space wizards, a beloved TV show featuring pastel talking horses, a series about a sceptical wearing wizard fighting a guy with no nose, or comics that feature a rich kid dressed as a bat, we love them all, in our own unique ways.


So, I hope you enjoyed these reviews of my favorite franchise, and will join me when I do this again.


Until then


TTFN

Omega