Let's Read: The Han Solo Adventures (1979)

[PontificatusRex]

Chapter 10
Overland march

Spoiler

Show

This wasn't all that uncommon in the 1960s. I read a memoir of a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and that was part of his training -- every once in awhile the instructor would simply cut the power to the rotors, forcing the student to perform an autorotation immediately. The end result was that the student gained an appreciation for the vehicle and would be constantly looking out, even on routine flights, for likely autorotation spots just in case the power happened to go out.

Classic SF author Jack Vance had a great story about this, "Sail 25". Some cadets go out an a multi-year training mission in the solar system on a ship propelled by solar sails, and the officer instructing them indulges in a whole lot of f*ckery , supposedly in order to train them hard. One of the things that makes the story so good is that the author makes it very ambiguous whether this was a good thing or not.

[pendell]

Doing this early so I can take the weekend off.

Chapter 12
Wasn't this in Return of the Jedi?

Spoiler

Show

When we last left off our heroes are in confinement, stripped of everything except their clothing, and have just received news from Bollux that they are to be sacrificed.

Skynx asks hopefully if this only means humans, but , no, he's on the menu as well. They're "discussing procedures" for the wookie and for Skynx, which implies they are at least taxing the religious ingenuity of their captors.

Time to question Bollux and find out how he learned all of this; we learn that these people speak the same Pre-Republic dialect Blue Max has on file from Skynx's data on Xim the Despot. Blue Max was able to translate their dialect for Bollux, who was careful not to reveal Blue's existence but nonetheless used him to understand and speak with our captors. They are called the Survivors. They were apparently left here centuries ago and have been waiting for pickup ever since. The signal Bollux picked up was their distress call. They wait for rescue and have nothing but contempt for the other Dellaltians, whom they avoid. They believe blood sacrifice will boost their signal and allow their deliverance from their plight. Hence the sacrifice. Which will occur tonight, on the landing field. Han makes a plan, which he tells the team but we , the readers, don't learn of yet. It's risky, but they literally have nothing to lose. They're dead if they do nothing anyway, so there is literally nothing they have to lose with any crazy stunt.

The day passes slowly, during which the Survivors bring them neither food nor drink, which Han loudly declares as evidence of their capture by a low-class outfit. Even the Corporate Sector feeds its captives. Han and Chewie resume their mental game of Dejarik, with Chewbacca taking reckless, aggressive moves. He's getting in the mood for tonight.

Show time. The Survivors come for their prisoners. They are carrying backpack-powered beam weapons, solid projectile throwers, and harpoon spears of the same type seen at the ferry. A mixture of ancient energy weapons and modern low-tech, but deadly enough.

Badure and Skynx speculate on their captors -- they take elaborate precautions to avoid detection by the rest of Dellalt, but they act like early explorers or stranded colonists. Their conversation is stopped by their guards, who are a humorless bunch.

On the way, Han and company notice the use of light patterns,
sound recordings, and other signs which indicated this group uses hypnotic conditioning
both to educate their children and to indoctrinate them; there is little free thought
in the society that has captured them.

To the landing field. There is a cage and a surgical table which will double as a sacrificial altar. The prisoner's weapons and other tools are in a pile nearby.

[adventurer] CONVENIENT. Thank you, DM! [/ adventurer]

The Survivors start a musical performance featuring flutes and a large gong; others keep an eye on the prisoners, aiming their weapons at their legs so that, if there is any funny business, the sacrifice can go on. They've done this before, seemingly.

They are brought before the leader of the Survivors and his aides. The man wears a military uniform with plenty of gold braid, and next to him on a stand is a thick circle of transparent material as big as a meal plate. Another log-recorder disk! Are these people also from the Queen of Ranroon? And if that is the disk, what of the one in the vaults?


The leader of the Survivors introducing himself as the Mission Commander , telling the other Survivors that they are faithful people and their signal will undoubtedly be received. The sacrifice is about to proceed.

At this point, Bollux breaks away from the "techs" assigned to look after him as he -- like 3PO in the films -- has semi- or actually divine status among these people. Han's plan was for Bollux to grab a weapon but this has not been possible, but Bollux feels things are at such a point he can wait no longer. He taps into Blue Max, who starts projecting holograms from his data files in as large a projection as he can manage. The sky above the field is filled first with the image of Xim's Star-eyed skull, then marching robots, then spaceships, all being narrated in the Survivor's dialect. It's quite a distraction.

Han and company seize on that distraction to make their move. They begin carefully, slowly, sneaking off to the edge of the field. Han warns that no one stops for anyone else; they have no time for rescues. But while they are doing this Badure goes the other way, attempting to grab their weapons. Han says they can't help him; either he makes it or he doesn't. It's time for them to leave. They'll wait at the edge of the landing field for as long as possible.

Then, it all goes sour. They stumble into a sentry whom Chewbacca kills quickly but not before he gives the alarm. Cue Metal Gear ALERT! sound and fast, furious music.

Han grab' the sentry's weapon -- a flame rifle -- and uses it as suppressive fire, forcing the Survivors to dive for cover. They begin firing back. They aren't used to open battle, preferring to rely on ambush, but their shooting is gradually becoming more accurate.

Badure is running back but trips over debris as someone fires a rocket pistol whose projectile explodes right at his feet. Survivor fire begins to converge on him. Despite Han's protests and warnings it is suicide, Chewbacca charges back to him -- life or death, Chewbacca has a Life Debt to Badure which will not go unpaid. Han looks around and notices that Hasti will go after Badure if he doesn't , so he sends them to cover while charging after Chewbacca to help in his rescue of Badure, recklessly spending the ammo in his flame rifle for cover fire all the while; he will soon be out.

Chewbacca has grabbed the gong and reaches Badure, placing it between them and the Survivor's fire; it is made of durable material and it easily absorbs or reflects the incoming fire. Thus protected, they hustle together, Chewie carrying the gong all the while , back to the rest of the party. Protected by the gong, they consider their options; there are no vehicles to steal and they'll never escape from the Survivors on foot. Han is now out of ammunition but Badure has recovered their weapons. In the cross fire, the great mast for the signal is knocked down and the log-recorder disk is destroyed in the falling ruin.

They find their way to the edge of the landing field to find themselves facing a steep slope; they can't climb down it, and if Chewie carries them individually they will be easy targets. It is at this moment Chewbacca has an inspiration; he throws down the gong and everyone piles onto it as an impromptu sled!

Yeah, Lucasfilm did something similar in a later movie as well -- but in Willow this time.

Fast forward through a very rapid, very scary ride until the gong hits something and they all go flying towards the bottom. They are bruised, battered -- but they're alive, they've escaped, and they have their weapons back. So now they're ready for their next move ... whatever that is.

Captured by indigenous, rescued by a droid revered as a god? This IS very close to the later movie. I still have to wonder whether that is mere coincidence, or if Lucasfilm actively mined Daley's stories for ideas? I suppose these could be common adventure tropes but the similarity still seems too great to be entirely unrelated.

So .. our heroes have escaped, and we're back where we were before capture. So what next? Find out next time!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[PontificatusRex]

I haven't read other Star Wars books so I don't know how it compares, but one detail I like about Daley's stories is that he keeps track of ammo. Whether it's charge on a blaster or fuel for a flamethrower, it's a limited resource and that fact influences the story and the characters' choices.

Another result of Daley being a veteran himself, I'm sure.

[TeChameleon]

Don't have anything terribly cogent to add, just wanted to say that I'm enjoying the trip down memory lane with you, and appreciate you taking the time for this Let's Read.

[tomandtish]

Doing this early so I can take the weekend off.

Chapter 12
Wasn't this in Return of the Jedi?

Spoiler

Show

When we last left off our heroes are in confinement, stripped of everything except their clothing, and have just received news from Bollux that they are to be sacrificed.

Skynx asks hopefully if this only means humans, but , no, he's on the menu as well. They're "discussing procedures" for the wookie and for Skynx, which implies they are at least taxing the religious ingenuity of their captors.

Time to question Bollux and find out how he learned all of this; we learn that these people speak the same Pre-Republic dialect Blue Max has on file from Skynx's data on Xim the Despot. Blue Max was able to translate their dialect for Bollux, who was careful not to reveal Blue's existence but nonetheless used him to understand and speak with our captors. They are called the Survivors. They were apparently left here centuries ago and have been waiting for pickup ever since. The signal Bollux picked up was their distress call. They wait for rescue and have nothing but contempt for the other Dellaltians, whom they avoid. They believe blood sacrifice will boost their signal and allow their deliverance from their plight. Hence the sacrifice. Which will occur tonight, on the landing field. Han makes a plan, which he tells the team but we , the readers, don't learn of yet. It's risky, but they literally have nothing to lose. They're dead if they do nothing anyway, so there is literally nothing they have to lose with any crazy stunt.

The day passes slowly, during which the Survivors bring them neither food nor drink, which Han loudly declares as evidence of their capture by a low-class outfit. Even the Corporate Sector feeds its captives. Han and Chewie resume their mental game of Dejarik, with Chewbacca taking reckless, aggressive moves. He's getting in the mood for tonight.

Show time. The Survivors come for their prisoners. They are carrying backpack-powered beam weapons, solid projectile throwers, and harpoon spears of the same type seen at the ferry. A mixture of ancient energy weapons and modern low-tech, but deadly enough.

Badure and Skynx speculate on their captors -- they take elaborate precautions to avoid detection by the rest of Dellalt, but they act like early explorers or stranded colonists. Their conversation is stopped by their guards, who are a humorless bunch.

On the way, Han and company notice the use of light patterns,
sound recordings, and other signs which indicated this group uses hypnotic conditioning
both to educate their children and to indoctrinate them; there is little free thought
in the society that has captured them.

To the landing field. There is a cage and a surgical table which will double as a sacrificial altar. The prisoner's weapons and other tools are in a pile nearby.

[adventurer] CONVENIENT. Thank you, DM! [/ adventurer]

The Survivors start a musical performance featuring flutes and a large gong; others keep an eye on the prisoners, aiming their weapons at their legs so that, if there is any funny business, the sacrifice can go on. They've done this before, seemingly.

They are brought before the leader of the Survivors and his aides. The man wears a military uniform with plenty of gold braid, and next to him on a stand is a thick circle of transparent material as big as a meal plate. Another log-recorder disk! Are these people also from the Queen of Ranroon? And if that is the disk, what of the one in the vaults?


The leader of the Survivors introducing himself as the Mission Commander , telling the other Survivors that they are faithful people and their signal will undoubtedly be received. The sacrifice is about to proceed.

At this point, Bollux breaks away from the "techs" assigned to look after him as he -- like 3PO in the films -- has semi- or actually divine status among these people. Han's plan was for Bollux to grab a weapon but this has not been possible, but Bollux feels things are at such a point he can wait no longer. He taps into Blue Max, who starts projecting holograms from his data files in as large a projection as he can manage. The sky above the field is filled first with the image of Xim's Star-eyed skull, then marching robots, then spaceships, all being narrated in the Survivor's dialect. It's quite a distraction.

Han and company seize on that distraction to make their move. They begin carefully, slowly, sneaking off to the edge of the field. Han warns that no one stops for anyone else; they have no time for rescues. But while they are doing this Badure goes the other way, attempting to grab their weapons. Han says they can't help him; either he makes it or he doesn't. It's time for them to leave. They'll wait at the edge of the landing field for as long as possible.

Then, it all goes sour. They stumble into a sentry whom Chewbacca kills quickly but not before he gives the alarm. Cue Metal Gear ALERT! sound and fast, furious music.

Han grab' the sentry's weapon -- a flame rifle -- and uses it as suppressive fire, forcing the Survivors to dive for cover. They begin firing back. They aren't used to open battle, preferring to rely on ambush, but their shooting is gradually becoming more accurate.

Badure is running back but trips over debris as someone fires a rocket pistol whose projectile explodes right at his feet. Survivor fire begins to converge on him. Despite Han's protests and warnings it is suicide, Chewbacca charges back to him -- life or death, Chewbacca has a Life Debt to Badure which will not go unpaid. Han looks around and notices that Hasti will go after Badure if he doesn't , so he sends them to cover while charging after Chewbacca to help in his rescue of Badure, recklessly spending the ammo in his flame rifle for cover fire all the while; he will soon be out.

Chewbacca has grabbed the gong and reaches Badure, placing it between them and the Survivor's fire; it is made of durable material and it easily absorbs or reflects the incoming fire. Thus protected, they hustle together, Chewie carrying the gong all the while , back to the rest of the party. Protected by the gong, they consider their options; there are no vehicles to steal and they'll never escape from the Survivors on foot. Han is now out of ammunition but Badure has recovered their weapons. In the cross fire, the great mast for the signal is knocked down and the log-recorder disk is destroyed in the falling ruin.

They find their way to the edge of the landing field to find themselves facing a steep slope; they can't climb down it, and if Chewie carries them individually they will be easy targets. It is at this moment Chewbacca has an inspiration; he throws down the gong and everyone piles onto it as an impromptu sled!

Yeah, Lucasfilm did something similar in a later movie as well -- but in Willow this time.

Fast forward through a very rapid, very scary ride until the gong hits something and they all go flying towards the bottom. They are bruised, battered -- but they're alive, they've escaped, and they have their weapons back. So now they're ready for their next move ... whatever that is.

Captured by indigenous, rescued by a droid revered as a god? This IS very close to the later movie. I still have to wonder whether that is mere coincidence, or if Lucasfilm actively mined Daley's stories for ideas? I suppose these could be common adventure tropes but the similarity still seems too great to be entirely unrelated.

So .. our heroes have escaped, and we're back where we were before capture. So what next? Find out next time!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

A lot of tropes get duplicated in later movies. Willow had the shield. Temple of Doom's was similar in concept (life raft down the mountain).

[runeghost]

Doing this early so I can take the weekend off.

Chapter 12
Wasn't this in Return of the Jedi?

Spoiler

Show

When we last left off our heroes are in confinement, stripped of everything except their clothing, and have just received news from Bollux that they are to be sacrificed.

Skynx asks hopefully if this only means humans, but , no, he's on the menu as well. They're "discussing procedures" for the wookie and for Skynx, which implies they are at least taxing the religious ingenuity of their captors.

Time to question Bollux and find out how he learned all of this; we learn that these people speak the same Pre-Republic dialect Blue Max has on file from Skynx's data on Xim the Despot. Blue Max was able to translate their dialect for Bollux, who was careful not to reveal Blue's existence but nonetheless used him to understand and speak with our captors. They are called the Survivors. They were apparently left here centuries ago and have been waiting for pickup ever since. The signal Bollux picked up was their distress call. They wait for rescue and have nothing but contempt for the other Dellaltians, whom they avoid. They believe blood sacrifice will boost their signal and allow their deliverance from their plight. Hence the sacrifice. Which will occur tonight, on the landing field. Han makes a plan, which he tells the team but we , the readers, don't learn of yet. It's risky, but they literally have nothing to lose. They're dead if they do nothing anyway, so there is literally nothing they have to lose with any crazy stunt.

The day passes slowly, during which the Survivors bring them neither food nor drink, which Han loudly declares as evidence of their capture by a low-class outfit. Even the Corporate Sector feeds its captives. Han and Chewie resume their mental game of Dejarik, with Chewbacca taking reckless, aggressive moves. He's getting in the mood for tonight.

Show time. The Survivors come for their prisoners. They are carrying backpack-powered beam weapons, solid projectile throwers, and harpoon spears of the same type seen at the ferry. A mixture of ancient energy weapons and modern low-tech, but deadly enough.

Badure and Skynx speculate on their captors -- they take elaborate precautions to avoid detection by the rest of Dellalt, but they act like early explorers or stranded colonists. Their conversation is stopped by their guards, who are a humorless bunch.

On the way, Han and company notice the use of light patterns,
sound recordings, and other signs which indicated this group uses hypnotic conditioning
both to educate their children and to indoctrinate them; there is little free thought
in the society that has captured them.

To the landing field. There is a cage and a surgical table which will double as a sacrificial altar. The prisoner's weapons and other tools are in a pile nearby.

[adventurer] CONVENIENT. Thank you, DM! [/ adventurer]

The Survivors start a musical performance featuring flutes and a large gong; others keep an eye on the prisoners, aiming their weapons at their legs so that, if there is any funny business, the sacrifice can go on. They've done this before, seemingly.

They are brought before the leader of the Survivors and his aides. The man wears a military uniform with plenty of gold braid, and next to him on a stand is a thick circle of transparent material as big as a meal plate. Another log-recorder disk! Are these people also from the Queen of Ranroon? And if that is the disk, what of the one in the vaults?


The leader of the Survivors introducing himself as the Mission Commander , telling the other Survivors that they are faithful people and their signal will undoubtedly be received. The sacrifice is about to proceed.

At this point, Bollux breaks away from the "techs" assigned to look after him as he -- like 3PO in the films -- has semi- or actually divine status among these people. Han's plan was for Bollux to grab a weapon but this has not been possible, but Bollux feels things are at such a point he can wait no longer. He taps into Blue Max, who starts projecting holograms from his data files in as large a projection as he can manage. The sky above the field is filled first with the image of Xim's Star-eyed skull, then marching robots, then spaceships, all being narrated in the Survivor's dialect. It's quite a distraction.

Han and company seize on that distraction to make their move. They begin carefully, slowly, sneaking off to the edge of the field. Han warns that no one stops for anyone else; they have no time for rescues. But while they are doing this Badure goes the other way, attempting to grab their weapons. Han says they can't help him; either he makes it or he doesn't. It's time for them to leave. They'll wait at the edge of the landing field for as long as possible.

Then, it all goes sour. They stumble into a sentry whom Chewbacca kills quickly but not before he gives the alarm. Cue Metal Gear ALERT! sound and fast, furious music.

Han grab' the sentry's weapon -- a flame rifle -- and uses it as suppressive fire, forcing the Survivors to dive for cover. They begin firing back. They aren't used to open battle, preferring to rely on ambush, but their shooting is gradually becoming more accurate.

Badure is running back but trips over debris as someone fires a rocket pistol whose projectile explodes right at his feet. Survivor fire begins to converge on him. Despite Han's protests and warnings it is suicide, Chewbacca charges back to him -- life or death, Chewbacca has a Life Debt to Badure which will not go unpaid. Han looks around and notices that Hasti will go after Badure if he doesn't , so he sends them to cover while charging after Chewbacca to help in his rescue of Badure, recklessly spending the ammo in his flame rifle for cover fire all the while; he will soon be out.

Chewbacca has grabbed the gong and reaches Badure, placing it between them and the Survivor's fire; it is made of durable material and it easily absorbs or reflects the incoming fire. Thus protected, they hustle together, Chewie carrying the gong all the while , back to the rest of the party. Protected by the gong, they consider their options; there are no vehicles to steal and they'll never escape from the Survivors on foot. Han is now out of ammunition but Badure has recovered their weapons. In the cross fire, the great mast for the signal is knocked down and the log-recorder disk is destroyed in the falling ruin.

They find their way to the edge of the landing field to find themselves facing a steep slope; they can't climb down it, and if Chewie carries them individually they will be easy targets. It is at this moment Chewbacca has an inspiration; he throws down the gong and everyone piles onto it as an impromptu sled!

Yeah, Lucasfilm did something similar in a later movie as well -- but in Willow this time.

Fast forward through a very rapid, very scary ride until the gong hits something and they all go flying towards the bottom. They are bruised, battered -- but they're alive, they've escaped, and they have their weapons back. So now they're ready for their next move ... whatever that is.

Captured by indigenous, rescued by a droid revered as a god? This IS very close to the later movie. I still have to wonder whether that is mere coincidence, or if Lucasfilm actively mined Daley's stories for ideas? I suppose these could be common adventure tropes but the similarity still seems too great to be entirely unrelated.

So .. our heroes have escaped, and we're back where we were before capture. So what next? Find out next time!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Not just Return of the Jedi! Han Solo and the Lost Legacy was published in 1980,

Spoiler: Just in case, I guess

Show

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom came out in 1984, with story discussions starting in 1982. It's opening sequence (in Club Obi-wan), includes Indiana taking cover from enemy weapons fire, while rescuing someone, behind a giant metal gong.

As far as the similarities to RotJ, Empire came out in 1980, with RotJ in 1983, so the time frame on both Temple and Jedi is right for Daley's published book to have been floating around during development of the films. I don't know how closely Lucas et al supervised these novels, but he certainly would have been presented with copies of the published books themselves.

[pendell]

So here we go.

Before we start, why don't I throw this on the fire:
Star Wars Droids are Literally Just Slaves.

Chapter 13
Judgement Day

Spoiler

Show

So here we are at the base of a cliff, picking ourselves off the ground from a very wild sled ride on the back of a roundish piece of metal -- very thick, sturdy metal -- the Survivors were using as a gong in their ceremony. Skynx has a closer look to see that this is, in fact, the outer covering of an airlock hatch on a ship. He becomes very excited when he translates the inscription on the surface -- Queen of Ranroon! This is an artifact of the ship they are searching for! Perhaps these "Survivors" are descendants of the ship's crew?

They have little time to think on the matter, however. Flashlights are visible in the distance, search parties are on their way and they won't deal kindly with the infidels who desecrated their ceremony. So the party starts on its way. They make considerable distance, and he is beginning to think they are in the clear when a heatbeam stabs out of the darkness , sizzling the snow at their feet.

Everyone dashes to cover and, sighting carefully, returns fire, doing their best to aim for a hit lest stray fire betray their position. Silence on the other end. Did they get him? Only one way to be sure. Skynx, who is becoming more brave by the minute, heads off into the night to stealthily check on the origin point of the heatbeam.

Success; they find the sentry, a glowtorch, guarding a small parking area where two hover-rafts are parked. Apparently he was assigned to guard this little motor pool, got warning of the disturbance, and happened to see our party. But it didn't end well for him.

The vehicles have been partially stripped but at least one is still operable. They get in, Han takes the controls, and they light out of there as quickly as they can as the rest of the Survivors respond to the firefight. They get some close shots but the team gets clean away. As they drive, they notice the vehicle has a RWR and a sensor package for detecting aerial surveillance, as well as a camouflage net for hiding quickly. This is how the Survivors evade the other Dellaltians perhaps. Certainly they are more sophisticated than they first appear.

When they have a spare minute, Skynx begins putting the pieces together; The hatch. The log-recorder, seemingly taken from the vaults and with the Survivors. It seems likely Lanni, who was a scout and a pilot, may have seen a Survivor ceremony or perhaps the landing field from the air, investigated , and taken the log recorder. That log recorder is now dust, smashed to pieces in the firefight, but perhaps they don't need it; it's likely that this group is the same group which possessed both the log-recorder originally and the hatch. Therefore the most likely place for the rest of Xim's artifacts -- including the treasure -- is right back under that mountain we just fled from.

So, two orders of business: Getting the Falcon back, and then raiding the mountain. Plot hook set, let's get on with the adventure!

So, first stop is the mining camp to get our ship back. On the way, Bollux , still acting as ESM, detects cybernetic control signals -- someone's operating machinery nearby. The team goes to investigate. Once they get close, the vehicle is parked, Han and Chewie scout ahead to see a cluster of camouflage covers and a lone sentry, wearing standard Dellaltian clothes but carrying a Kell Mk II heavy assault rifle, guarding it. Chewie sneaks up and expertly taps the sentry in the back of the head with the butt of his bowcaster, freeing the rest to examine what he was guarding. Han acquires the rifle.

Twenty flatbed cargo vehicles, all empty now. This seems odd. Adventurer's instincts pinging, the first step they take is to demolish the communications equipment on the trucks. They press on; Bollux identifies the signals he is detecting as test sequences. Finally the find an awe-inspiring site: What appears to be an amphitheater with a view close to the mining camp, in which a thousand battle droids are seated. There is no mistaking their markings even from this distance; these are the war-robots of Xim the Despot, most likely the very battalion which had been assigned to the Queen to guard her cargo of treasure. They are massive machines one and a half times Han's height, mirror-finished to reflect energy weapons. Survivor technicians run through the group, activating the robots, which must have been transported here on the flatbeds, and running final checks.

When all is complete a man steps up to a gleaming golden podium from which a transmission horn projects; Hasti recognizes him; he's the #2 at the treasure vaults. Much, then, is explained. The Survivors had a sleeper agent at the vaults. When Lanni dropped off the Flight-Recorder there, this person promptly stole it back, then set up this "voice-coder" box which would never open for anyone to cover the theft. And that is how the Flight-Recorder taken by Lanni wound up at the Survivor camp to be destroyed in the firefight.

The Corps Commander is called forward. From the ranks of robots steps one with a golden insignia on its breastplate. It asks, like a demon summoned from the abyss: "What do you require of the Guardian Corps?"

The Survivor goes into a religious harangue. The Corps Commander is completely unmoved, discarding the rhetoric as verbal noise, and reiterates: "What do you require of the Guardian Corps?"

What the Survivors require of the Guardian Corps is that they destroy the mining camp, everything and everyone in it. They do not explain why; the robots do not care. I surmise the miners are getting a little too close to the Survivor base and a little too curious.

The Commander responds: "You occupy the control platform; The Guardian Corps will obey. We will pass in review, as programmed, then go forth."

Signals issue from the commander. As one the robots form up into a massive phalanx and parade before the podium. It is an awe-inspiring, majestic sight; no one who sees it is unmoved. But after it is over Han has his next plan ready: They must get to the mining camp first. The droids will destroy the Falcon if they are not stopped, so their best hope is to tip of J'uoch and then either make off with the Falcon in the confusion or else perhaps strike a bargain. But whatever the later issue, the immediate problem is a thousand war-robots, which seem much closer to the capabilities of the Super Battle Droid than to the brain-dead B1 model the Trade Federation used so frequently during the Clone Wars.


They head off, Bollux drops back, prompted by Blue Max for a conversation. When it is just the two of them, Blue Max speaks: He knows how to stop the robots, but that means destroying them all, to the last and least. He wanted to talk it over first.

Bollux inquires Why not bring this up with the others, where Captain Solo could hear?

"Because I didn't want him to decide!" Blue Max responds. "Those robots are doing what they're built to do, just like we are. Is that any reason to obliterate them? I wasn't even sure I should tell you; I didn't want you to blow your stacks in a decisional malfunction."

At this, Bollux turns around and approaches the war-robots. "Seeking alternatives", Bollux explains to Blue Max.

As he approaches, he signals using the recognition codes from the recordings Skynx had collected . They are accepted. The Commander halts and demands they state their purpose.

Bollux pleads:
"You mustn't attack. You must disregard your orders; they were improperly given."

Response: "They were issued through command signalry of the podium. We must accept. We are programmed; we respond."

Bollux tries again: "Xim is dead! These orders of yours are wrong; they do not come from him; you cannot obey them!"

The Corps Commander replies: "Steel-brother, we are the war-robots of Xim. No alternative is thinkable."

Bollux tries a third time: "Humans are not infallible. If you obey these orders, they will lead to your destruction. Save yourselves!"

The Commander is unmoved: "Whether this is true or not, we carry out our orders. We are the war-robots of Xim. The waiting time has elapsed. Stand aside; No further delay will be tolerated."

At this he signals his troops and they step off , fully prepared to walk over Bollux if he doesn't get out of the way, but he does. As they watch the war robots pass, Blue Max asks: "What do we do now? Captain Solo and the others will be down there, too."

Bollux replies, sadly : "The war-robots have their built-in programming. And we, my friend, have ours."

Well ... that was ... quite a chapter. Towards the end the interplay of machine with machine, the "steel-brothers", as they call each other, is extremely well-written. I daresay it's worth comparing with Asimov. And now it appears that events are reaching a climax as all three parties in the story appear headed for a major clash.

Tune in next time, for what may be the final battle!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[PontificatusRex]

Great chapter, great synopsis.

mirror-finished to reflect energy weapons

Wait, what the hell? This is a thing? Do we see this anywhere else in the Star Wars Universe?

[TeChameleon]

Great chapter, great synopsis.

Wait, what the hell? This is a thing? Do we see this anywhere else in the Star Wars Universe?

Agreed on both chapter and synopsis... as to the mirror-finish... maybe that's what the deal is with the... Naboo-ians(?) excessive chrome? Other than that, I can't recall it coming up in my readings and watchings, which are... well, not particularly obsessive, but reasonably extensive.

[The_Snark]

It might be something that doesn't work on modern energy weapons? These robots are many thousands of years out of date; I think the text references their own weaponry being a lot clunkier and more primitive.

Alternatively, it might be that the book is very early in Star Wars history, and Daley thought it might work like this but later writers didn't run with it.

[pendell]

Great chapter, great synopsis.

Wait, what the hell? This is a thing? Do we see this anywhere else in the Star Wars Universe?

Sure it is. Stormtrooper armor. I admit I had to shop around between multiple questions to find this answer, but this is my interpretation of why the storm troopers wear bulky, uncomfortable, head-to-toe brilliant white armor with roughly the camouflage value of a traffic cone. And I have seen it happen in legends -- I think in the novelization of one of the Kyle Katarn adventures -- that it does reflect , or at least disperse, energy weapons fired at it.

Granted, this is an informed ability and not one we see on screen. But then, we're also supposed to take on faith in Ep. IV that Imperial stormtroopers are some of the best shots in the galaxy ("Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise") when , if we were to go off on-screen evidence, they must have recruited only blind people for their ranks.

The way I lampshade this is to assume that Stormtrooper armour is most effective against glancing hits from older weapons but does nothing against a direct hit from the latest military weapons such as the those carried by the stormtroopers themselves, the Royal Alderaanian bodyguard, a royal holdout blaster, or Han's custom weapon.

There are other explanations, but that's the one I'm going with.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[The Glyphstone]

Obligatory reminder that the only times we see Stormtroopers shooting on-screen at non-named protagonists in the OT, they are devastatingly accurate.

[Velaryon]

Obligatory reminder that the only times we see Stormtroopers shooting on-screen at non-named protagonists in the OT, they are devastatingly accurate.

Followed by the obligatory reminder that during the firefight on the Death Star in ANH, the Empire deliberately allowed the heroes to escape so they could track the Millennium Falcon back to the rebel base on Yavin IV, and that therefore the stormtroopers were most likely missing on purpose at least some of the time.

[runeghost]

Sure it is. Stormtrooper armor. I admit I had to shop around between multiple questions to find this answer, but this is my interpretation of why the storm troopers wear bulky, uncomfortable, head-to-toe brilliant white armor with roughly the camouflage value of a traffic cone. And I have seen it happen in legends -- I think in the novelization of one of the Kyle Katarn adventures -- that it does reflect , or at least disperse, energy weapons fired at it.

Granted, this is an informed ability and not one we see on screen. But then, we're also supposed to take on faith in Ep. IV that Imperial stormtroopers are some of the best shots in the galaxy ("Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise") when , if we were to go off on-screen evidence, they must have recruited only blind people for their ranks.

The way I lampshade this is to assume that Stormtrooper armour is most effective against glancing hits from older weapons but does nothing against a direct hit from the latest military weapons such as the those carried by the stormtroopers themselves, the Royal Alderaanian bodyguard, a royal holdout blaster, or Han's custom weapon.

There are other explanations, but that's the one I'm going with.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

My headcanon (no idea where I got this, maybe Lensmen? Ralph McQuarrie concept art?) is that it's space armor. As in, it lets you breathe and otherwise not die in space. And its white for the same reason astronauts' space suits are white: because the problem in space (beyond needing to breath, and decompression) is keeping cool (dissipating heat in vacuum is non-trivial). It's lighter and more maneuverable than any historical or current space suit.

And it's armor because stormtroopers are supposed to be something like "space marines", and you don't want your vacuum-suit tearing while you're fighting in and around spaceships that are themselves getting blasted. And it's probably better against energy-weapons and melee than no armor, but its primarily job is to let the stormtrooper survive fighting in space.

[pendell]

My headcanon (no idea where I got this, maybe Lensmen? Ralph McQuarrie concept art?) is that it's space armor. As in, it lets you breathe and otherwise not die in space. And its white for the same reason astronauts' space suits are white: because the problem in space (beyond needing to breath, and decompression) is keeping cool (dissipating heat in vacuum is non-trivial). It's lighter and more maneuverable than any historical or current space suit.

And it's armor because stormtroopers are supposed to be something like "space marines", and you don't want your vacuum-suit tearing while you're fighting in and around spaceships that are themselves getting blasted. And it's probably better against energy-weapons and melee than no armor, but its primarily job is to let the stormtrooper survive fighting in space.

The reason I disagree is because there is such a thing as the dedicated Spacetrooper and the Zero-G Assault Stormtrooper .

Spoiler

Show

and

versus the ordinary Stormtrooper. These are seen in the Legends novel Last Command and in the game X-wing Alliance. Possibly other places as well.

I believe we see ordinary stormtroopers with Darth Vader at the end of Rogue One, so I will definitely concede a limited capacity to operate in vacuum but it's not the intended fighting environment. Because the standard Stormtrooper outfit is missing two critical components:

1) Significant onboard oxygen, which the Tie Pilot suit has.
2) A maneuvering jet/thruster/repulsor, allowing them to do something in space besides tumble helplessly if they aren't standing on the deck of a ship using magnetic boots. I suppose they could use their blasters to impart thrust, if blasters have recoil, but equally that would make them useless for fighting unless they're already braced against something; the first shot would send them tumbling away from the battlefield, out of control.

I also don't think it's temperature because, as much sense as that makes in the real world, TIE pilot suits are intended for use in vacuum and they're black as coal at night in a windowless cellar. You would think this would be a poor choice and result in them heating up, especially since TIEs of the Civil War era don't have any other onboard life support to compensate. Maybe there's some other reason the Empire is willing to make the suit's climate control work harder, or maybe they have some way of bleeding off heat into the fighter itself?

So: I believe the standard stormtrooper has a limited ability to survive in space, but the standard scenario would be if they are suddenly exposed to vacuum aboard a ship -- this would give them some five, ten minutes to get to a habitable area or be rescued by a friendly ship, as opposed to dying in seconds. But I don't think the bog-standard storm trooper armour is intended for serious zero-g combat.


Respectfully,

Brian P.

[tomandtish]

It's not that uncommon a sci-fi trope.

The old Star Frontiers game had reflective armor. Battletech has it as well. And it has shown up in some books.

[pendell]

On to what may be the book's climactic battle!

Chapter 14
I, for one, welcome our War-Robot Overlords

Spoiler

Show

The party approaches J'uoch's mining camp. There are three spacecraft on the pad:
the Falcon, the Cargo lighter which doubles as a capital ship, and a small
scout-type vehicle which no one recognizes. The team realizes they are detected when
sirens start going off. There is a flurry of activity in the camp; Noncombatants are sent off to the barracks and ordered to shelter, weapons are issued to trusted employees, the bunkers
on the perimeter are occupied and armed, and a four-being response team starts heading up
the slope.

This reads a lot like a Vietnam war memoir at this point.

Han positions the rifle , which is a Kell Mark II. It is designed for use by
high-gravity humanoids, like Chewbacca's bowcaster. It packs a heck of a recoil but it
still serves the purpose of suppressive fire, causing the response team to hit the dirt.

Now that he's bought a little time, he yells out to J'uoch for parley! J'uoch replies: Give me the log recorder and throw down your guns. Those are the only terms you're going to get, Solo.

No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.", eh? I see
Ulysses S. Grant has returned to the battlefield.

Han yells out a warning they are about to come under attack -- but why anyone would believe
someone as renowned at bluff as Solo is I have no idea, especially since he didn't specify
who would do the attacking. The response is a wave of fire which melts part of the mountain but, happily, our team is still alive.

At this, a well-known voice rings out: It's Gallandro, offering to deal. He's struck a
bargain with J'uoch and wants to strike one with Solo as well. However, the response team is
still attacking so negotiations are difficult. A boat detaches from the lighter and goes in for an assault run, spraying the party with flechettes but, in this first wild pass, no casualties.

We hear Gallandro and J'uoch arguing; Gallandro wants Solo alive and this is not their bargain.
J'uoch disagrees; the boat is using anti-personnel rounds, so the flight recorder will be undamaged. All they need is for her brother R'all, who is flying the boat, to kill the party and then take the recorder from their corpses.

Gallandro warns it may not work out as she expects; Solo is armed and quite good.

So it proves. Despite wrestling with the heavy weapon, Solo is able to brace it for use, sets it for max power, and on the third pass fires a beam directly into the cockpit on its third pass.

The vehicle goes out of control and crashes in fire; after the battle we can give J'uoch
what's left of her brother in a shoe box.

J'uoch goes berserk. Gallandro says that now they should re-think their approach and capture the
party alive but J'uoch is uninterested; her brother has been killed! She will have all their
scalps dangling from her signal aerial. She orders Egome Fass, her bodyguard, to get the lighter
active and warm up the batteries; she'll bring down the whole mountain if that's what it takes.

It is at this point the the war-robots of Xim arrive and launch their attack.

"So", Gallandro muses, "Solo was telling the truth after all."

No one's paying any attention to our party any more; there is now a serious pitched battle between a regiment of battle droids and the mining camp.

What makes this even a contest is that the robots are taking their orders literally, devoting as
much time to destroying warehouses or unoccupied forklifts as to killing the miners.

The other thing is that the miners are putting up a very hard fight.

At one section, 12 of J'uoch's people have formed a three-deep firing line and are holding their own; elsewhere miners are climbing up steel slopes and rocks, where the robots can't reach them. But in the camp itself, miners who are alone or surrounded are running into teams of robots; here the fighting is hardest and most desperate.

A series of vignettes; Here a tall alien uses a welder on the neck of a robot, destroying it at the cost of his own life. There a pack of three Wii'ri swarm a robot and, though the robot kills them, it falls over itself a second later. Dozens of flashing images going past in the blink of an eye.

But what get's Han's attention is the fact that the droids have reached the landing pad and are headed for the Falcon. We must save it!

On the pad, the bots smash the scout -- Gallandro's ship, no doubt -- and shove it into a ravine. The lighter is warming up for an escape. More and more robots gather and fire on it with their integral weapons built into their hands. The batteries of the lighter retaliate; each blast destroys ten of the robots, but still more robots gather. Finally, just as it looks like the lighter is about to escape, the shield fails and it explodes in a ball of fire, scattering burning wreckage into the robots, "and the number of droids killed in her death was more than in her life". And now the Falcon stands alone.

The robots converge, but there is a single being opposing them; a creature of metal, weak and
insignificant compared to the might of the least war-bot. It is Bollux; he and Blue Max have salvaged the command podium and now send electronic signals through it, augmented by Blue Max's library.

The robots are puzzled for a minute, and their commander comes over and speaks to Bollux and Blue Max: "Stand aside; everything here is to be destroyed."

Blue Max replies through the command podium: "Not this vessel. This one is to be spared."

The commander is unmoved: "Those were not our orders."

Blue Max rejoins: "Orders may be amended!"

A long moment passes, and the commander's arm comes up, finger outstretched. Bollux braces for
some form of horrible annihilation, but the finger comes to rest on the Falcon and the
commander speaks: "Spare that vessel."

Dilemma resolved, the other robots break contact and move on to destroy the rest of the base.

The commander speaks a minute longer: "I still am not sure about you, machines. What are you?"

"Talking doorstops, if you believe our captain", responds Blue Max.

"Humor? Was that not humor?" The commander marvels. "What have machines become? What kind of automata are you? "

"We are your steel-brothers", replies Bollux.

In a thoughtful frame of mind, the Commander turns away to oversee his battle.

And so the Falcon is saved, at least for now, but the party is in trouble;
they've made combat with a robot combat team. Chewbacca blasts one with his bowcaster, but is pinned as it topples. Han's blaster is almost out of power , so Chewbacca throws him the bowcaster. Han gets off one shot at the last approaching robot, but it isn't enough. He tries
to jack the bowcaster, but finds he doesn't have the strength to work the action any more
than J'uoch's searcher back in town. The others are out of power or ineffective as well. As the robot appraoches, Han realizes he can't run away because the pinned Chewbacca is right behind him. He reverses the bowcaster and prepares to engage the 'bot in melee ; it is hopeless, but Han has never been the sort to give in without a fight.

THE END.

Just kidding. Two chapters left. Granted, it looks like a hopeless situation but Han has been in those before.

Again, the most interesting part of this story is the interaction of the robots -- the puzzlement of the commander, the cheekiness of Blue Max, the stolid patience of Blue Max. And, of course, our droids get a chance to be heroes again.

It will be difficult to wait for the next installment, but it must be done. See you then!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[pendell]

Chapter 17

Han Solo's Last Stand

Spoiler

Show

When we last left off, our heroes are cornered by a war-robot. Badure has a pair of blasters but they are not powerful to penetrate the armour. Hasti has a dart-thrower which does no damage. Skynx can't fight, Chewie is prone, and Han is standing in front of him with a discharged bowcaster he lacks the strength to cycle. The ponderous robot approaches. Is this it...?

Then, just at that moment, the creature's head asplodes.

Han looks up to see Gallandro, who is giving him a smile that isn't reassuring in any way.
He apparently made a 60-meter (196 feet) shot with a hand blaster set to needle beam to hit JUST the critical spot on the robot's head where it was vulnerable for Massive Damage. This guy is scary, but he's saved Solo's life.

Perhaps Gallandro is saving Solo for himself?

By instinct, Han draws his gun only to remember it is drained of charge. Then, he sees a robot
coming up on Gallandro. Without conscious thought, he shouts and points, warning Gallandro, who
gracefully pivots, grabs onto the droid's arm, takes two shots into the head as he is swung,
takes a third shot on the back end of the swing, then alights just as the robot falls to the ground, wrecked.

Time to kick this guy from the server; he's cheating big time.

And that more or less is what happens as more robots approach Gallandro's position and he is forced to make a strategic withdrawal, lost in the field of battle. Our party has a momentary pause.

Bollux comes up to them; he is delighted to see them, and tells them the Millenium Falcon is safe for the moment. Bollux and Blue Max have a way to save them but they MUST get across the bridge to the residential barracks RIGHT NOW.

Han doesn't have a better idea, so he and the party begin to move out. Bollux doesn't follow. After the obligatory scene where Han begs him to come and not be destroyed, while Bollux insists he has absolutely no plans for termination but he MUST stay on this side of the bridge to enact his plan, Han at last bows to the inevitable. As said, there's nothing else he can do anyway.

The party joins the retreating, tired miners who are also limping their way across the bridge. I mentioned before that the bridge leads to the residential barracks, where the noncombatants were evacuated when Solo's party was first spotted. However, this area is a dead end. Even so, the robots have eliminated all other resistance so the miners are travelling there for a last, final stand, determined to protect their ... families? To the bitter end.

However, while they are crossing the bridge someone sees and takes exception to their presence.
J'uoch, also crossing the bridge, screams in anger and tackles Solo with her bare hands , determined to kill him and avenge her brother R'all, whom Solo shot down last chapter. Chewbacca is about to help but before he can he is blindsided by Egome Fass, Juoch's enforcer. This is the SECOND time he's sucker-punched Chewie from behind, and Chewbacca is now thoroughly enraged. The two engage in a brutal, savage melee.

Badure is trying to get a shot at J'uoch but is worried that he'll hit Han in the process. Hasti is faster; she has her own bitter reasons to hate J'uoch for the death of her sister Lanni. She charges in and uses her body weight to ram into J'uoch and send her over the bridge rail, down a multiple hundred meter drop without benefit of a bungee cord. This isn't a Disney death -- J'uoch is killed for real by this fall.

So violent is the impact Hasti nearly follows her over, but Han pulls her back just in time. This, by the way, is a pre-1980s trick. In the old days of Patriarchy, when it was considered unseemly and churlish for a male hero to kill or harm a female villain, it was necessary to write in a female heroine who could do the job herself, allowing the male lead to retain his
chivalrous good-guy image; it's never a good look for a man to beat up a woman even when it is
strictly necessary for the story. At least, not in the 1970s.

Now that their fight is over, Badure turns his gun to aim at Fass, but Han stops him. "Chewie wouldn't like that", he says, and he allows Chewbacca to take revenge on his opponent.

The brawl degenerates into a raw contest of strength: Each of the two combatants has something to prove. They engage in a lethal no-homo bear hug which ends when Chewbacca cracks Egome Fass' back, and that's the end of him. I guess he forgot the safety word.

They resume the retreat while Han teases Chewbacca for becoming geriatric, since it took him two whole tries to put Egome Fass away. Their good-natured argument is interrupted as the robots come marching onto the bridge. All seems hopeless.

It is at this point Blue Max, riding inside Bollux and concealed just on the other end of the bridge, triggers the command podium signals, commanding the battle droids to enter parade/review mode.

They march into the bridge , marching in thunderous, heavy step, as Max carefully adjusts their pace to a specific vibration frequency the bridge can't stand. Seconds later, a timber bends, twists in its molding, which can't take the strain, and the entire bridge gives way, sending the entire regiment of robots into the abyss!

That must have been quite a fall, or perhaps these war-robots aren't built with withstanding this kind of stress; they are smashed to pieces on the ground far below, alongside J'uoch's corpse. Bollux and Blue Max instantly gain hundreds of thousands of XP and level up x10 for the exploit.

Han notes to himself "From now on those two are full crew members."

None of the surviving miners seem interested in a fight, so the battle is over. The Falcon lifts off, flies over the crevasse and lands before them. Out steps Gallandro, with the Falcon's dorsal battery under his remote control. He offers a deal: He came here hunting Han Solo, but Xim's treasure is a far greater prize. Who cares about revenge when this haul will allow him to buy his own planet and leave the hunter's racket behind forever? Cut him in for a full share, Han can have his ship back, and bygones will be bygones. The alternative is that he opens fire with the Falcon's guns and kills them all right here. Han , seeing no option and trusting Gallandro's greed, agrees.

The Falcon takes off in pursuit of the Survivors who had activated the droids and who were observing the attack from a nearby vantage point to accomplish, in the anodyne language of military euphemism, "direct collection of intelligence data; interrogation of indigenous personnel for tactical information."

...

I don't really need to spell out what that means in plain language, do I?

Of course, a squeaky clean hero can't rip the fingernails out of a suspect's fingers and remain a hero, not in the lone-ranger grumpy-with-a-heart-of-gold 1930s serials this book is channeling. So, again, it's a good thing we've got Gallandro along to be the token Evil teammate. Use a villain to do a villain's job, same as a 70s author would write in women to kill female antagonists.

Soon enough, they catch up with the survivors who are escaping in a land vehicle. One pass by the Falcon and a warning strafing run causes the vehicle to stop and the Survivors to come out with their hands up, including the person who was #2 at the vaults. He tells the team he couldn't tell them anything even if he wanted to -- he's been conditioned against revealing information to outsiders.

Han scoffs. "Just good old-fashioned hypno; nothing we can't overcome if we scare you enough."

At this point Gallandro steps in to do the "scaring" but Blue Max interrupts; he has a better idea that doesn't involve "enhanced interrogation", another euphemism. While he was in the Survivor lair, he made note of the patterns being used to condition the children. Set him up in the Falcon's sickbay with some strobe lights, he can reverse the pattern and subvert the conditioning that way -- in fact reverse it, make our tight-lipped Survivors eager to tell all they know. Even Gallandro agrees to that; he isn't evil for the fun of it, simply ruthless and amoral in pursuit of his ends; this is more efficient than what he had in mind originally, so of course he's for it.

We'll review the results of their conversation next chapter.

Heroes out of dodge and a rather unlikely new ally. How long will that last?

Tune in next time for the final chapter!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[tomandtish]

I'm quite convinced that Han and he will become lifelong friends.

[PontificatusRex]

Man, these are so good and I'm sorry we're so near the end. Brian Daley was such a great writer. So much character and story in so little time - I feel like we get more stuff in a single chapter of these books than we do in an entire SW movie.

[pendell]

By the way,

Spoiler

Show

I assume it's obvious , but I'll acknowledge it anyway; the reason J'uoch and Egome Fass engage the party in melee is because they've also been fighting the robots. They are out of ammunition and retreating to the final defense line, just like the party. But seeing the man who killed her brother right in front of her is enough to goad J'uoch into a berserk attack, ignoring the other three party members standing nearby, which include a massive wookie.

This was a no-win battle for J'uoch and Fass; the only reason the battle went as long as it did, since Badure still had power for his blasters, was because Han waved him off. Even if Egome Fass had won his fight with Chewbacca he'd have been shot just as soon as there was a clear angle to do so.

I suppose J'uoch wasn't thinking clearly ... or perhaps she figured the robots were going to kill them all anyway and, if the heroes WERE going to die, she'd just as soon it was by her own hands.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[pendell]

I'm ready to finish this.

Chapter 17: Final

Treasure?

Spoiler

Show

The Falcon is traveling and our heroes are discussing the outcome of the interrogation, which went quite smoothly once Blue Max was able to repurpose their hypnoconditioning
into people eager to tell their story.

There are two tiers to Survivor society. There is the mass bottom run which hides in
the wilderness and enacts religious ceremonies. But on top of them is their leadership,
who are fully aware of events in the larger galaxy, and are heirs to Xim. Their
intent has always been to revive the Despotism using the wealth of the Queen
as their foundation. They have lain dormant for centuries, as the Republic was
beyond challenge. Still, now that the Empire is starting to fall apart, perhaps
now is the time to act on long-held ambitions?

If that's the way they're thinking, they're not the only ones. Even
Imperial Admirals
are prepared to depose the Emperor or set up their own fiefdoms through armed force. Plus,
there are no Jedi to act as mediators and keep the lid on things.

So robbing the Survivors will not only enrich our heroes, it'll be a public service because it
will cripple a neo-fascist group who would otherwise cause grief to many neighboring systems
until either the Alliance crushes them or the Empire rolls in with enough Star Destroyers to Base Delta Zero every planet in the Tion Confederation.

The real treasure? They're actually underneath the existing vaults, another level down. The Survivor captives warn that they are guarded by an automated defense system. They are marked out by flashing warning lights which denote no-weapon zones; anyone entering these zones with a
weapon such as a blaster will be shot down without warning.

We see the gameboard from the Survivor's vantage point: Lonni had spotted their ceremony and taken the log recorder. What she didn't know is that the Steward at the vault, not just his #2, is part of the Survivor network. He sent the log recorder back as soon as he acquired it, then set up the phony voice-coder to prevent access to the now-empty safe deposit box. Things were becoming difficult for the Survivors; they had no way of dealing with an armed starship but knew that J'uoch did, so they tipped J'uoch off to the presence of the Falcon in the hopes that J'uoch would solve the problem for them.

J'uoch, however, was just as greedy for the treasure as Han was. She started asking very pointed questions at the vaults, and while the Steward was able to put her off he realized the next step would be to take him for interrogation and thoroughly search the Vaults. When the Lighter left the city of the mining camp with the Falcon , the Survivors revived the war-robots, maintained for centuries against just such an emergency, in the hopes of destroying all their enemies in one blow. They came very close to doing exactly that.


On to the present and our public-service robbery. There isn't going to be any subtlety here; this is going to be a straight-up smash-and-grab. We're going to blast through the vault entrance with the Falcon's guns and secure the treasure in an act of straight up space piracy. After this is done, they will unship one of the Falcon's turret mounts and repurpose it as a defense position at the door. They will then load the Falcon up with as much as it can carry, then Han and Gallandro will hold down the fort while the Millenium Falcon, Chewbacca in command, sells off the first portion and uses the proceeds to rent a larger starship, about the size of a cargo lighter , to carry the rest away.

Hasti is a little bit nervous and squeamish about this plan, but there's no other way.

Zero hour. The Millenium Falcon sweeps in, blaring sirens and lights and all kinds of noisemakers to disorient the locals, who keep their heads down and get out of the way. The
vault doors were impenetrable in the day of Xim, but Xim's day was more than a thousand years ago; the Falcon's turbolasers tear their way through in minutes. Then Han, Gallandro, and Skynx enter the vaults while Chewbacca and the others crew the Falcon and keep any
interlopers away.

They enter. All is quiet ... or almost. Gallandro turns and fires almost faster than the eye can see at a movement he had just caught out of the corner of his eyes. It is the vault Steward, blaster in hand, who had waited in last-ditch attempt to ambush them. He has some piteous last words, bemoaning the loss of the trust he and his have kept for generations. Gallandro mocks him as he dies, but Han stays silent.

Now they are underneath the vaults and in a maze of side passages. Both have a copy of the markings indicating the passage to the real vaults, and it is here Gallandro parts ways from Han and Skynx. Skynx, the expert, is there to decipher any clues they come across. He is an academic authority and the most qualified to lead an archeological expedition of this kind, so
he walks just behind Han.

Soon enough, they find the indicated markings. Han brings out a fusion torch. Again, this area
was designed to be impenetrable to any human-portable devices but, again, the technological differential is too great. Han is able to cut through the false wall , revealing a corridor beyond. Han and Skynx travel down this corridor and around a bend until they come to an antechamber in which lights blink -- warning lights. So this is one of the no-weapons defense zones we were told about.

Han hesitates; he doesn't want to go forward without a weapon but he doesn't want to risk the defenses. He turns and heads back up the corridor, to the fusion-torched opening he created, and finds Gallandro waiting for him. He jerks a thumb over his shoulder to discuss the treasure but notices Gallandro staring at him, very still. He's taken off his jacket, the better to free up his gun arm.

Uh oh.

GALLANDRO LEAVES THE PARTY.

Now is the time for the two of them to follow up on that duel Gallandro was forced to back out of in the last book. Why take a share of the treasure when he can take all of it, and get revenge at the same time? "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" He shouts at Solo. "Truth to tell,
you're nothing but a common place outlaw. Your luck has run out. Now, call the play!"

So this is the moment we've waited for. The Duel . Two pairs of eyes stare at each other. No tumbleweeds blow by , but that's only because we're inside. Skynx comes upon this scene, and watches quietly.

Han's hand blurs for his gun.

FLASH
FLASH

Han spins half around, in shock; he can smell his own burned flesh. The pain starts an instant later. He realizes that he's been shot in the shoulder. There is a puddle of melted floor where his own shot struck at Gallandro's feet. He has barely time to think about this when a second shot hits his forearm and his blaster is gone.

:rereads that section:

The pain starts a moment after being knocked down and a feeling of surprise...?

Brian Daley knows what it feels like to be shot.

Back to the story.
Skynx runs back down the corridor towards the treasure. Gallandro, meanwhile gloats. He says that Solo came closer than anyone has come in a long time -- but now he is going back to the
Corporate Sector as a bounty. Not that Gallandro cares at all about justice , but there is an
example that needs to be set for those who cross him. But Solo's the only one he can afford to take alive; Han's friend's lives are forfeit. He concludes: "You were never the amoralist
you feigned to be, Solo, but I am. In a way, it's too bad we didn't meet later, when you
were salted and wiser. You're pretty good in a fight; you might've made a useful lieutenant. "

Leaving an incapacitated Han behind he stalks down the corridor until he finds the Rurrian cowering in an open, empty room. Your luck has run out, he says to Skynx as he steps in, promising to make this as painless as possible.

Then there is a brilliant hail of light and Gallandro is dead.

This is the no-weapons antechamber, you see. Skynx had taken the liberty of pulling the warning lights out of their sockets. When Gallandro stepped in carrying his blaster, the automated defense system immediately responds with multiple blasters all around the room. Gallandro
is inhumanly fast, but he doesn't have Jedi precognition. Caught flat-footed by fire from multiple aspects, there's nothing Gallandro can do but die.

Cut to a short time later; Han is receiving preliminary treatment from the others with the help of the Falcon's medpacks and considering the blackened skeleton that is all that is left of Gallandro. No one has any interest in testing the defense system any further. Thus unarmed,
we enter the vaults to a sight beyond the dreams of avarice. Stacks upon stacks of ingots, gems, boxes of various makes. And this is only the first of the treasure rooms.

Hysterical celebration! We're rich! We're rich! We're rich! We're ... wait.

These ingots aren't gold, or platinum or any precious metal. They're Kirrium . Once priceless, now ... well, imagine you had discovered a bronze age king's horde of copper.

Fun fact: Everybody thinks the Iron Age occurred because Iron is better than Bronze. That's actually not true. Bronze is actually superior to iron-- so much so that the mines in the near east were exhausted . Iron was turned to , at first, because although inferior it was still available. Copper , once , would have been invaluable war material for the armies of Leonidas and the Spartans. Today ... well .. it's worth some $8000 per ton .

It's not nothing. But it's not wealth beyond wildest dreams.

The gems turn out to be Mytag crystals . Again, they are turned out synthetically by the carload so there's no value even in lifting it off the planet.

Han is puzzled; where's the real treasure?

It's Badure who figures it out first: This IS the treasure. All of this was valuable war material in Xim's day. Kiirium was used as shielding material; mytag crystals for subspace communications. The same with almost everything else as well; these stocks would have been used to build warships , invaluable in the day of Xim, but today ... well, metaphorically,
congratulations. You have the resources to outfit a thousand triremes. This would have tipped the naval balance in the days of Ancient Greece, but they'd be fodder even to an eighteenth century frigate, let alone a modern warship.

Skynx is elated -- the artifacts and records here guarantee him his own department at the University of Rudrig , so HE is set. And not everything here is valueless -- there's an entire section devoted to records, artwork, and collectibles.

Han is crestfallen. He can't exactly sell them to legitimate dealers like the Imperial museum. Still, I think he's not thinking this through -- there's always the black market for collectibles.

But he doesn't think like that. Skynx is able to find some items of intrinsic value -- not many, but enough for a small profit. It will pay for the cost of this venture, medical bills, repairs, perhaps a bit left over. Enough to keep Han and Chewie in space, but nowhere near enough to retire on.

With a shrug, Han and Chewie prepare for their next adventure. Skynx will stay and parley this haul into academic fame and fortune. Badure and Hasti he offers work as his assistants at the university which they gratefully accept; Bollux and Max likewise decide that this is their stop to get off; academia sounds interest to them, and both want to explore the legacy of the Survivors and the War-robots more thoroughly.

Skynx bids Han goodbye: "I have much to do here; all too soon I'll be called way by my blood, when it's time to go chrysalis, then live a brief season as a chroma-wing. If you wish
to see me then, Captain, come and look on Ruuria for the flyer whose wing markings are the same as my own banding. The chroma-wing won't recognize you , Captain, but perhaps some part of Skynx will."


Apparently Skynx believes some part of him will survive after metamorphasis, which is a very different belief from the aliens in Rogue Powers. Like the aliens in this story, they have an intelligent infancy which becomes a non-sapient adult butterfly creature. They are a lot freaked out by this than Skynx's people are, and assume this means their souls disappear before the body does; they envy humans who remain lucid until death, and therefore have the belief that the soul out lives the body. But the Ruurians don't think like this at all; maybe its' because in the GFFA there is such a thing as the Force and the idea of life transcending the body is a lot more well-known and accepted. Hard not to think like that, when you have Force Ghosts or their equivalent running around.

Han and Chewbacca set off and Han is already making his next plan -- it's time to try another
Kessel Run. The last one wasn't so good, but maybe they can get it to work this time. They'll
get Jabba the Hutt or someone like that to stake them in exchange for a cut, and they'll get into the money that way.

As they walk off, Badure notes: "There go the real Survivors".

THE END.

Gotta give Brian Daley full props for putting the Chekhov's gun on the table repeatedly
over the course of the series in this chapter. We repeatedly saw that there was a
vast technological gap between the pre-Republic Xim and the era of the Galactic Civil War.
Somewhat at odds with the rest of Star Wars , as KOTOR makes clear that technology
in the Old Republic has been almost static for centuries, but I reconcile this by noting that Xim was even earlier than the Republic, so there was plenty of room for
technological innovation before the later Republic ossified.


And the story ends back where it began -- our heroes are still in space but still scrambling , still looking for the big break that will get them ahead of the game. Our other party members have got their happy-ever-afters. Skynx will get a statue at the University of Rudrig. Bollux and Blue Max will still be active decades after these events pursuing Xim artifacts on behalf of the university.

All in all , a well-told little adventure serial, and I hope you all enjoyed it!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[The_Snark]

The ending twist here is almost the only thing I remember about this last installment. It's still a pretty good one.

I think my favorite is probably the first book in the trilogy: it gives us our recurring cast of Bollux and Blue Max, there's a solid murder mystery in the middle, and I'm a sucker for any adventure where the heroes have to pose as a traveling circus. The middle book is probably the weakest, as much as I enjoy Spray. Which is a shame, as the title is fantastic.

[Lord Ruby34]

One of the things that I really appreciate about these books is that Han doesn't win the final duel. Without his friend there, he's off to jail, simply because the villain was better than him in a gunfight. I can really appreciate that.

[tomandtish]

Pendell, thanks for doing this!

I always liked the way the duel ended. it's a nice lesson in humility.

[pendell]

One of the things that I really appreciate about these books is that Han doesn't win the final duel. Without his friend there, he's off to jail, simply because the villain was better than him in a gunfight. I can really appreciate that.

It's a nice turnaround. Normally in stories like this it's the villain who does all the thinking, carefully manipulates the heroes until Team Good wins the day through sheer muscles and grit. Having the good guys win by outsmarting the villains is a nice change of pace in the Star Wars Universe.

I gotta agree that the second book is the weakest in the series, but I think it's a close run between the first and third books. In the first, we're introducing characters and we have the infiltration sequence which is hilarious. This one, on the other hand, treats its robots and other intelligent species very thoughtfully. And of course we have our sometimes-friend/sometimes-enemy Gallandro to add tension. I think I like the last book a touch better, but only because it builds off of the characterization of book 2. Book 1 is probably the best standalone work.

Someone mentioned Lando Chronicles? Link? I don't own them, but I'd be willing to at least consider it.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[AMX]

Someone mentioned Lando Chronicles? Link? I don't own them, but I'd be willing to at least consider it.

This I think?

[DataNinja]

God, the Lando Calrissian Adventures were weird. Even for Star Wars. At least, that's how I remember them.

[tomandtish]

God, the Lando Calrissian Adventures were weird. Even for Star Wars. At least, that's how I remember them.

Yeah, I read those and didn't enjoy them. Lando works best as a supporting character, not as the star.

[The_Snark]

The Lando adventures were pretty strange, but I did enjoy them, on the whole. Will definitely follow along if pendell decides to try them, it'd be fascinating to see what you make of them.

This I think?

Yep, looks like the right set.

Those titles are really something. It's kind of fun to contrast them with the Han Solo book titles, which are very pulp-y but in a restrained sort of way - Han Solo and the Lost Legacy is much more down-to-earth than Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka. Which is truth in advertising.