Part 5: Gall Spaceport
It's up.
Gall Spaceport: Searching For Fett
Gall Spaceport: Finding Fett
: : :C H A P T E R 6: : :
[Luke]
Luke switches to his X-Wing while Lando and Chewie helm the Falcon. The Rogues show up and they go to the camp on Kile, a moon in the planet's shadow opposite of Gall.
[Leia]
They enter the Rogue's base and meet the man, the myth, the legend, Dash Rendar. He's like Han, only more arrogant and abrasive. Luke recognizes him from Hoth and compliments his work. Rather than take the compliment, Dash is an ass about it.
Leia doesn't like Dash:
Chapter 6, Page 60 posted:
Leia shook her head. What was it with men? It was a wonder they didn't knock themselves down, patting themselves on the back so hard. Did she really need to get involved with another hotshot braggart?
[Luke]
Luke doesn't like Dash either:
Chapter 6, Page 60 posted:
Luke watched as Wedge began showing them the holographic maps and recorded images of the moon where Boba Fett's ship was supposed to be docked. If they could believe this Dash Rendar. He was pretty good at shining his own light, that was for sure, and yeah, he had done okay during the fight on Hoth, but Luke wasn't so sure about this guy.
Though he notes that he felt the same way when he first met Han. However, it was only a cover. Han was the thief with a heart of gold. He wonders if there is more to Dash.
Queue Dash being a dickhead:
Chapter 6, Page 61 posted:
Wedge said, "...moon has some bad atmosphere conditions, big cyclone storms that get real mean, mostly in the southern hemisphere. You wouldn't want to try to fly through one of those."
Dash laughed. "Maybe you wouldn't want to, Antilles, but I eat thunderstorms for breakfast."
Or maybe there isn't more to him, Luke thought. Maybe he's just crazy.
[Xizor]
Xizor researches some information, puts two and two together, and figures out Vader put the assassination attempt on him.
[Leia]
Thinks Luke's plan is stupid. Luke and Rogue Squadron are to engage the Imperial Enclave, some hundred-odd TIE fighters and two Star Destroyers, while Dash leads the Falcon to where Fett's ship is docked.
Quick aside: why the heck wasn't this a mission in Rogue Squadron or X-Wing Alliance? It would've been perfect!
Ahem
Anyways, Dash comes in, is a dick about the Falcon, and talks about how great the Outrider is. We also get to meet LE-BO2D9, aka Leebo, his droid. According to Dash, Leebo think himself to be rather funny as he was programmed by a failed comedian. Problem is, Leebo never fucking talks in the book and we never see him again. Such a great non-character.
Chapter 6, Page 65 posted:
"The Outrider," Dash said. "And my droid, an LE-B02D9--he answers to 'Leebo,' when he bothers to answer at all. He thinks he's funny."
: : :C H A P T E R 7: : :
[Vader]
Practices his lightsaber skills on some dueling droids. Kicks their metals butts, impresses his aide, and leaves.
[Luke]
Luke and Artoo head out with the Rogues. They spend this chapter engaged in combat with the Imperials above Gall.
[Leia]
On the surface of Gall, they are flying uncomfortably close to the trees to avoid Imperial detection. Lando is nervious. Dash flies even closer to the trees just to show off how great he is. Lando drops closer too, so as not to lose face. (Way to go, Lando, caving into Dash's schoolyard bullying). Meanwhile, Lando tells Leia a bit about Dash's tragic past involving the death of his brother and the banishment of his family--because the accident that claimed his brother's life destroyed the Emperor's private museum. It's a rare and insightful look into Dash Rendar's pathos:
Chapter 7, Page 72 posted:
"You never heard the story of the Rendars?" [Lando asked.]
"Should I have?" [replied Leia.]
[...] Lando continued. "Dash was at the Imperial Academy, a year or so behind Han. His family was wealthy and highly placed. Dash's older brother was a freighter pilot working his way up through the family shipping company. There was an accident. A control system blew out, not the pilot's fault, and the freighter crashed on liftoff from the Coruscant spaceport. Killed the crew, destroyed the ship."
Leia nodded. "Terrible. So?"
[...] "So, the building the freighter hit was the Emperor's private museum. Had a lot of his mementos in it. Most of them were lost in the ensuing fire.
"The Emperor was not happy. He had the Rendar family's property seized, then had them banished from Coruscant. That included Dash. They kicked him out of the Academy on Carida and off that planet, too."
[...] "I can see why he wouldn't have any love for the Empire," Leia said. "Why isn't he working for the Alliance?"
Lando shrugged. "He doesn't want to owe anybody, doesn't want anybody to owe him. He works for whoever pays the most. He's downright magic with anything that flies, and he can pick wing nuts off a tabletop with a blaster without scorching the finish. He's a good man to have at your back when the going gets hot--as long as your money lasts.
Leia nodded. The Empire has ruined a lot of good people. Looked as if Dash Rendar was one more casualty.
: : :C H A P T E R 8: : :
[Xizor]
We get to listen to Xizor prattle on about how he's such an enormous hit with the ladies while he visits a private dining establishment. Oh, we also get to hear about how he's soooooo patient.
[Luke & Leia]
The chapter bounces back and forth between Luke and Leia's perspective to build tension. In short, Luke spend the whole time in combat. Things are going swell until they lose a pilot. Then he finally decides to take things seriously and use the Force to win. However, it continues to get more difficult, so they note that they have to leave soon.
On the surface, Dash starts doing corkscrews to show off how great he is at flying.
What a dick.
Dick Rendar.
Anyways, he announces that they're nearing their destination. He neglects to warn them of a sudden cliff face. Lando barely clears it, and Dash laughs cause he's a dick.
Seriously, Dick Rendar.
Once they arrive at the location, Dash basically shouts, "See you later, jerk-ass!" and leaves. Why? Because he got paid to guide, not to shoot:
Chapter 8, Page 83 posted:
"Been fun, people," Dash said. "See you around."
Ahead of them, the Outrider pulled up in a hard climb and rocketed towards space.
"Where are you going?" Lando said.
"Hey, you didn't pay me to shoot, only to guide. I'm outta here."
"Dash, blast you!"
Welp.
Dick Rendar, indeed.
So Leia and Chewie man the guns to prepare for the Imperial countermeasures.
: : :C H A P T E R 9: : :
[Luke & Leia]
Again, this chapter bounces back and forth between Luke and Leia's POVs to build tension.
As the battle intensifies, Wes, from Rouge, has his X-Wing taken over by his R2 unit and it tries to kill Luke. They disable Wes's ship, attach a magnetic cable to it, and leave. On the surface, the Falcon is too busy with Imperial forces to find Slave I, so Fett takes off without any trouble.
Luke and co. return to Rogue's Moon Base, restrain the malfunctioning R2 unit and have R2-D2 analyze it. Turns out it was specifically hacked to attack Luke. While there, Dash Rendar reports over the comms that he's arriving. Luke is concerned that Leia and Lando weren't mentioned.
But not to worry, Lando gets them out of dodge. Leia is understandably upset that Boba Fett got away.
Luke is pissed at Dash. He almost 'gives into his anger' and hits Dash. He probably should have. If nothing else, it gives us this great line:
Chapter 9, Page 95 posted:
He would be able to bring Dash Rendar to his knees with a gesture--
Oh, Luke, I think you underestimate Dash Rendar.
The Millenium Falcon signals its imminent arrival, so Luke calms down a bit. Wedge and Luke go back to the malfunctioning R2 unit to get more info only to find out it has been destroyed--and that the female crew chief, who made a single sentence appearance in the last chapter, is pointing a blaster at Luke!
: : :C H A P T E R 1 0: : :
[LUKE & LEIA]
Wedge draws quicker and shoots the chief dead, much to Luke's dismay--he wanted to interrogate her. Leia, Lando, and Chewie arrive. They didn't get Han.
Leia is sad, but the news of the droid an assassin scare her out of her funk. The Rogues do a bit of digging and find out that the chief received a bunch of money from a known Empire dummy corporation. Luke isn't convinced--he knows Vader wants him alive.
Concerned for his safety, Leia convinces Luke to go to Tatooine; someone has to keep an eye out for Boba Fett. Luke leaves with Artoo in his X-Wing. After he leaves, Leia approaches Dash. She's concerned for Luke's safety after the assassination attempt. She hires Dash as a bodyguard for Luke, and asks him to stay out of sight so Luke doesn't get mad. He agrees and also leaves. Leia asks Lando how to contact Black Sun. She wants to see if their spynet can inform her who attacked Luke. Lando has connections--of course.
[XIZOR]
Speaking of Black Sun...
Xizor is in his personal quarters. He is bored. Martial arts and exercise bore him. How does he solve this problem? Why, he literally has a machine to work out for him and keep him super fit.
Guri arrives and informs him that the first attempt on Skywalker's life failed. He also takes care of some rival business with an Ororo Transportation before calling up Vader.
[VADER]
Vader receives Xizor's call and agrees to meet later at the Emperor's skyhook. He is suspicious of Xizor. He doesn't like him. He wants to seek out Luke in person, but is constantly distracted by his duties. His hands otherwise tied, he puts out a bounty of his own to capture Luke Skywalker alive.
The Gall encounter hits the same plot beats as the novel. It begins with a wonderful splash of Rogue Squadron, the Outrider, and the Millenium Falcon all approaching the moon:
[Leia]
Leia's POV plays out much the same, with Dash being a general tool before ultimate abandoning them. However, the graphic novel cuts out Lando talking about Dash's backstory. Unfortunately, this takes away a lot of the character's depth, making comic Dash a rather uninteresting addition to the story.
[Boba Fett]
Parallel to the canyon run, Boba Fett finds himself invited out to a cantina on the moon in order to discuss bounty business with his compatriots. Well, not so much discuss as coerce--
Of course, Fett isn't going to take that lying down, so we get some sweet action poses--
--while Fett makes a break for it.
That means Leia and co. are out of luck.
[Luke]
Meanwhile, Luke has his own troubles. Again, I wish this was a mission in Rogue Squadron or something.
Using the Force, Luke evades the attack and manages to disable Wes's astromech unit with a well-placed laser shot.
And in an interesting move, the comic does the whole "tell, don't show" thing. Instead of actually showing the assassination attempt, we just get Lando quickly glossing over it in a few sentences.
Poor X-Wing tech. Or crew. Or whatever her job was. No mention at all. It's not in the book, but she does have a name, interestingly enough--well, no, I shouldn't say that, this IS the Star Wars EU we're talking about. Anyways, her name is Viera Cheran. That's about all I could find out about her, though. I really have nothing else to say and neither does the EU. I think she was drawn in some rough sketches, but ultimately she wasn't important enough to appear here.
So she doesn't.
Track 2 - The Battle Of Gall
Joel McNeely posted:
One of the hallmarks of the Star Wars films was the epic space battles and dogfights: the battle of Hoth, the battle of Endor and the asteroid field are some of the most exciting scenes in film history; Shadows of the Empire contributes action and battle scenes that rise to the precedent set by the original films.
Lando learns from an old gambling buddy named Dash Rendar that Boba Fett's ship, Slave I, has been spotted on the moon Gall and that Fett carries a very precious cargo indeed - the carbonite-encased Han Solo. Luke and Artoo in Luke's X-wing, and everyone else in the Millenium Falcon, leave Tatooine to rendezvous with Rogue Squadron at a makeshift Rebel base. They are going to rescue Han! Though Gall is known to be a dangerous Imperial Enclave, Luke and Rogue Squadron attack the Imperials and somehow occupy a hundred TIE fighters and two Star Destroyers while Dash leads the Falcon to Fett's ship. To avoid Imperial detection the Falcon is forced to maneuver only a few centimeters above the treetops on Gall, while the first Star Destroter picks up the dozen X-wings on its sensors and unleashes and armada of TIE fighters to intercept them. The battle of Gall is underway.
After a short introduction, we join Luke and his forces preparing busily to engage the Empire. With a fast allegro, we cut to Lando cruising perilously low over the trees on Gall. Back to Luke as all preparations are finished, we pause for a musical battle hymn before entering into the fray.
Trandoshan Bounty Hunter, Bossk
In his native language, his name means "Devours His Prey." He was one of the bounty hunters originally seen on the Executor. He has a particular dislike of Chewie and Han. See, early in his career he tried to capture a bunch of Wookies. Oh, Trandoshans are notorious for enslaving other species, and Wookies are a favoured target. Anyways, he was about to capture a bunch of Wookies when a young Han and Chewie showed up and rescued them. They also destroyed Bossk's ship by landing the Falcon on top of it.
He's held the grudge ever since.
Protocal Droid turned Assassin, 4-LOM
In a fit of, oh god, I don't even know what--who cares, damn this EU anyways...
One day 4-LOM, who was a protocol droid, reprogrammed himself to be an assassin because.
Part of his programming was done by Jabba the Hutt for whatever reason, and 4-LOM went on to become a successful bounty hunter, often working with Zuckuss. Problem is, though, combat droids never tend to fare well in the Star Wars universe unless they're named "HK-47." So 4-LOM tended to lose more than he won. His encounter with Boba Fett? Yeah, just another day in the life of 4-LOM being blasted to pieces.
Bounty Hunter Zuckuss, "The Uncanny One"
A bounty hunter with "uncanny" tracking skills. Though it turns out some of that skill is because Zuckuss is Force-sensitive. He primarily worked with 4-LOM but also allied himself with other Bounty Hunters as occasion called.
Turns out the two of them are turncoats working for the Rebel Alliance. After they were nearly killed at some point after Empire Strikes Back, the received medical aid from a Rebel frigate and switched sides in gratitude. They were working covertly to intercept Han from Boba Fett before he could be taken to Jabba. I guess they were just going to betray Bossk and co. at some point.
After 4-LOM was destroyed, Zuckuss repaired him, but a full memory wipe was needed, changing the droid's personality. The two parted ways not long after.
Oh, and he is also diagnosed with schizophrenia and multiple-personality disorder.
Ace Starfighter Pilot, Wes Jansen
Wes first fought at the Battle of Yavin and later served as a member of Rogue Squadron. As a member of Rogue, he saw action at Hoth and Endor. Much later, he would serve in Wraith Squadron. He would lead a long life eventually retiring before being brought back in to fight the Yuuzhan Vong and serve in the Second Galactic Civil War.
He was a friend of fan favourite, Jek Porkins. There's not much else to say about him. He doesn't really have much of a role in Shadows except to get his ship taken over and nearly kill Luke. There's no clear shot of him in the comic, so here's a picture of him after "spending the night" with a female Bothon from some other EU nightmare.
Courtesy of nine-gear crow.
Slave I
Perhaps the most infamous KDY Firespray-class patrol ship in the entire galaxy. Slave I is the personal starship of the infamous Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett, a keepsake inherited from his father, the equally infamous bounty hunter Jango Fett. Fett has rebuilt, repaired, repainted, and reconfigured Slave I multiple times over the course of the last decade and change, making the ship ever more deadlier with each new round of upgrades.
Notable for its distinctive profile, like all Firespray-class ships, Slave I flies in a ‘standing up’ position, coming in to land on its ‘back,’ featuring a rotating cockpit and stabilizer system. Originally designed for interstellar law enforcement activities, Firesprays like Slave I are almost the perfect choice of craft for those looking to break into the bounty hunter trade. Slave I itself is equipped with all sorts of equipment designed to give Boba Fett the edge in combat situations. Among its armaments are a pair of swivel-joint twin-linked laser canons mounted on the bottom of its forward, concealed ion canon and concussion missile turrets, military grade shielding and armour, and an illegal sensor jammer, in addition to many other still unknown pieces of equipment.
Slave I is currently docked on the moon of Gall in the Zhar system undergoing repairs at the Imperial Enclave after a skirmish with IG-88s C and D and the IG-2000 over Tatooine. And it’s gonna be there for a little while longer now… Assuming Dash Rendar can be believed (which he can’t).
Lambda-class Shuttle
Lambda-class T-4a shuttles are the armoured black Cadillacs of the Imperial Navy’s personnel transportation corps. Highly maneuverable and modestly armoured, Lambdas see the most use as short range ship-to-ship or ship-to-shore transportation craft and light weight cargo transports. They are notable for their distinctive collapsible triple-wing profile seen on several SFS/CSW shuttles, such as the Delta-class JV-7 escort shuttle, a heavily armoured and armed variant of the Lambda-class intended for combat zones and boarding operations.
Manufactured jointly by Sienar Fleet Systems and Cygnus Spaceworks, Lambda shuttles are used primarily by the Galactic Empire, though a few Lambdas have been appropriated by the Rebel Alliance.
The standard armaments for Lambda-class shuttles are two pairs of twin-linked laser cannons on forward swivel points of their wing mounts as well as two pairs of twin-linked blaster cannons on their forward wingtips and a rear-facing pair of retractable twin-linked laser cannons. Cygnus offers customized aftermarket variants of the Lambda-class shuttle to select buyers which feature increased armour and weapon configurations. Emperor Palpatine’s personal Lambda shuttle is also equipped with a cloaking device in order to evade enemy detection and travel to various locations in secret… most likely to continue his thus far unabated streak of trolling his subordinates.
What I’m trying to say is Palpatine is a dick.
Jetpack
The preferred method of transport for badasses everywhere. …And Dash Rendar. Jetpacks were popularized as a means of combat equipment by the Mandalorians, particularly the Mandalorian terrorist group Kyr'tsad or ‘Death Watch,’ as well as by the Mandalorian bounty hunters Jango and Boba Fett.
For whatever reason, presumably because Emperor Palpatine is a goddamn troll, Imperial soldiers are required to traverse across the chasms of Gall via jetpack.
And then Dash Rendar came along, stole said jetpack and stranded all the poor Imperial troops he didn’t end up killing on Gall with no other means of transportation.
Repulsor Skiff
Skiffs are often open compartment short-range cargo or passenger craft held aloft and propelled by repulsorlift engines. They are often used in cities and starports and serve as a midpoint between swoops and full size speeders. There’s not a whole lot to say about these things. I’m just including them for the sake of posterity.
There are at least two skiffs on Gall, and surprisingly, Dash Rendar did not manage to break either of them.
REPEAT OFFENDERS
● The Outrider
● The Millenium Falcon (Novel only)
● AT-ST
blind sally posted:
I can't get over the fact that none of Gall happened. Dash didn't even get off the Outrider. No. He was just a dick. Dick Rendar. Han Solo would have stayed and fought. Or at the very least, returned at the very last second to clear out the TIE fighters dogging his friends so that they had a clear shot at their target--well, whatever, you've all seen A New Hope, you know what Han would have done.
Han Solo gets the point.
.
.
.
Dick Rendar.
nine-gear crow posted:
Oh, I’m so torn. This is another one of those Echo Base “didn’t actually happen” levels… And yet Dash flies around on a goddamn jetpack. The only time the words ‘Han Solo’ and ‘jetpack’ appear anywhere near one another in the Star Wars canon, ‘catastrophic failure’ and ‘tumbled into the Sarlac pit’ are equally close by.
You know what, I want to believe.
I’m calling this one for Dash. Because of the jetpack.
Dash Rendar - 6
Han Solo - 5
Here is the only image I could find of Viera Cheran, the late Chief Technician for Rogue Squadron and failed Black Sun/Imperial assassin:
(She's on the right, that's Wedge Antilles front and center--I'm not certain of the source).
EDIT:
Arschlochkind posted:
That "AT-AT driver" nine-gear crow mentioned in part 1 of the Gall videos is actually one of the Imperial Army Troopers I mentioned earlier in this thread.
One of their standard uniforms is what the poor guys driving the AT-ST Chewie steals in Return of the Jedi were wearing. The lucky ones (mostly officers) get chest armor like General Veers wears on Hoth.
What this means is that in Dash Rendar's totally fabricated story about all the cool stuff he totally did on Gall including jetpacks and fighting Boba Fett (for real you guys, stop rolling your eyes), he toned it down for some reason and "just" killed a couple dozen chump Imperial ground forces instead of all Stormtroopers. Maybe that's the part that is supposed to make it more believable?
I just like it when Star Wars stuff actually has Imperial Army and Naval troopers in it.
