Part 15: Shadow Game - Novel

You know what I like about Dash Rendar? The image. The Shadows Of The Empire project makes him out to be a mysterious loner type. He's brash and arrogant, sure, but he's also a badass. Sure, he goes through a brief shell-shocked phase after the deaths of the Bothans, but that's understandable and he pulls himself together in time to be a big guddam hero. The game really sells his character. You feel like the best damn Corellian mercenary in the galaxy.

So after experiencing all Shadows had to offer (as questionable and horrible some of it was), I was left wanting more Dash Rendar. It never came. Sometimes whispers of Dash appeared throughout the EU, like what we saw in SOTE: Evolution, or sometimes he made a cameo here or there, such as his appearance in the Clone Wars expansion for Galactic Battlegrounds. It was never enough though. It was never what I wanted. I wanted another Star Wars property that had Dash Rendar as the leading man. I wanted another Shadows Of The Empire.

What I got was Shadow Games.





Shadows Games isn't a bad novel, persay, but it is an EU novel and by definition a guilty pleasure. It's fun enough, but serves as a character assassination of the Dash Rendar we know and love worship. The problem is Dash worked when we didn't know his inner thoughts and turmoils. Snippets of his tragic past were enough, but to be immersed in his own thoughts--it makes Dash come off as whiny, petulant, jealous, creepy, and unsure of himself, all aspects that are decidedly un-Dash-Rendar. I'll let the book speak for itself though...

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The first two chapters introduce us to our main characters. On the Outrider, Dash Rendar, Leebo, and his navigator, Eaden Vrill*, are in the process of making a delivery to Nal Hutta. Only Dash decided to take a detour to try and beat Han's Kessel Run record. One chapter in and Dash already has "Han Envy." The jump doesn't work as they get pulled out of hyperspace by an Imperial Interdictor cruiser outside the Maw. Dash makes a blind jump to wild space to escape, but breaks the Outrider in the process. They limp to Tatooine because the only mechanic Dash trusts is there. The repairs prove to be lengthy and expensive, so Dash and Eaden go to a cantina to subcontract the Nal Hutta delivery and find interim work.

Meanwhile, intergalactic popstar, Javul Charn, and her road manager, Kendara Farlion (aka Dara), are discussion what to do about the creepy stalker messages they've been receiving. They decide it's best to split up the tour entourage into two ships and hire bodyguards. They go to a Mos Eisley cantina to ask around--I WONDER WHERE THIS IS GOING!?!?!

No surprise, Charn and Dara hire Dash and co. to be their bodyguards. He flirts shamelessly with Charn because he's a fan, and doesn't get along with Dara. He starts referring to her as "Spike" because a) she has a spiky hair, and b) she has a spiky personality.

Good one, Dash.

Oh, and it turns out Leebo was programmed to be a bit of a horn dog:


Dash, Eaden, and Leebo join Javul and Dara aboard the Nova's Heart as the security crew. The stage crew and most of the equipment goes on another ship, the Deep Core. Thus, the adventure has begun.

Oh wait, who did they get to subcontract the Nal Hutta job? None other than Han Solo. Ridiculous. It's just Han, though, as Chewie is back on Kashyyyk with his wife and newborn son. Dash throws a fit (this will become a recurring theme), but Eaden negotiates the contract anyways.

*Eaden is a Nautolan, like Kit Fisto. He knows teräs käsi, which translates to "steel hands" in Basic, and is apparently based off of real-world silat martial arts. That makes him the super competent character in this novel. Why he's working with Dash is anyone's guess.

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So the Nova's Heart is a more advanced version of Lando's Lady Luck, which was a SoroSuub PLY-3000. Dash objectifies the ship, which is weird:


Dara/Spike gives Dash a tour of the ship, pointing out additional weapons, shields, and armour. He's also introduced to the crew (most of whom are unimportant to the plot). There's also a secondary fighter hidden in the ships cargo for escape purposes. It's Falleen design which triggers this response from Dash:


Being privy to Dash's inner thoughts is kind of horrible. Along with all the other things, we can add a case of space-racism against the Falleen to the laundry list.

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Leebo has some good moments:


While they were sleeping, Leebo acquired schematics to the Nova's Heart. Dash gets up and chats with the crew, but is interrupted by an alarm. Along with the cargo master of the ship, Mel (who is also Corellian, because of course), Dash and co. trace the problem back to a hull breach... only there wasn't any hull breach. The ship's computers were sabotaged to think there was.

The story is now set for a mystery saboteur, everybody-is-a-suspect, kind of story. Oh, and Javul reveals that she is in trouble with a Black Sun Vigo, because of course she it.

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Charn's story: The Vigo had a girlfriend named Alai Jance. She was a small-time singer on the Corellian circuit, but then hooked up with the Vigo and made it big. She later dumped the Vigo and got out of sight. Apparently, Charn looks like Jance. She occasionally gets mistaken for her, and has had to do PR campaigns to stop it, but she is still being stalked. She believes it might be a rival of the Vigo or a sublieutenant who is looking rise in Black Sun's ranks.

Anyways, they go the first tour stop, which is on Rodia. Turns out there are two Vigos on planet, one of them Dash knows.


"Dash-Rendar-ese?"

Dash scouts out Charn's performance arena and starts snooping around Rodia to find the source of the information packet that triggered the false alarm on the Nova's Heart. Meanwhile, Charn practices her performance. The lyrics blow. Seriously:


wut

Then the holograv unit she was using acts up and she almost dies. Yeah, she flies during all her performances. Eaden Vrill catches her.

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Since Javul had multiple redundancies to prevent holograv failures and they all failed, Dash rightly assumes this was another sabotage attempt. Charn refuses to cancel the show and gets upset when Dash starts accusing her crew. Dash pushes her about the Black Sun question and Charn breaks down and admits that she was originally Alai Jance, that the Vigo in question is a Mandalorian named Hityamun Kris (aka Hitch), that he's on Rodia, and that she was once his bride-to-be. Apparently she left Hitch when he started using her tours as cover to transport illicit Black Sun materials.

Uh, ok.

The performances go off without incident, but Kris shows up after the third night to talk to Charn.


God, Dash, you're so fucking petty.

Dash mentions the attempts on Charn's life and Kris shows surprise. He asks Charn to come back to him. He also offers Dash a job with quadruple the pay if he brings Eaden Vrill with him because of his martial prowess. Oh yeah, and it turns out Vrill can use his head tresses to ascertain what people's emotions are. Hitch's emotions were "complex." After all, if Hitch wanted to scare Charn into coming back to him, why were some of the sabotage attempts nearly deadly?

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Dash goes to check on Javul that evening and finds she's gone. They find her in like, I dunno, some kind of undercover fetish bar. Everyone dresses up and pretends to be someone else. She is "Night Cat."

Dash throws a fit.

They leave Rodia. Next stop: Christophsis. On their way out, a small unmarked vessel attacks them. They escape, but their hyperdrive is blown out. Dash investigates and realizes that the explosion went outward, not inward--it was a bluff to cover up an inside sabotage. The mole strikes again!

They need a new ship, Dash offers the Outrider. Javul agrees to pay off the remainder of its repairs so it can take them the rest of the tour. So they return to Tatooine. Unfortunately, it'll still take a week to get the Outrider repaired. He goes to the cantina to meet with Javul and her contingency plan: turns out Han is back from the Nal Hutta gig for Dash, and now he's been hired to be their transport.

Dash throws another fit:


Dash goes to sulk and Javul speaks to him.


He grills Javul about Kris and discovers, surprise surprise, she was lying again. She fed information on Black Sun to the Imperial Security Bureau that resulted in a lot of arrests and may or may not have annoyed Prince Xizor himself. Anyways, most of the crew go on the Deep Core. Those on Nova's Heart that transfer to the Falcon include Dash and co., Javul, Dara, and the cargo crew, including Mel, his assistant Nik, and the maintenance droid, Oto. The rest stay with the Nova's Heart while it repairs.

And the chapter ends with an annoying retcon. I can believe that Dash could've known about Xizor sabotaging RenTrans. What I am annoyed with is that they have suddenly made what Vader did to Xizor's family basically common knowledge. I mean, the whole plot of Shadows hinged on Vader discovering this well covered up fact:


Afterwards, Dash muses that they are now more vulnerable on the Falcon, cut off from the rest of the entourage. Man, I just can't handle all these "shadow games."

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Dash waits, nervously.


Han interrupts to shamelessly flirt with Javul, so Dash does a security sweep of the ship and winds up getting locked in a cargo hold. The gravity field shuts off, leaving him floating with a bunch of containers that could easily crush him. The grav panel reads that gravity is still on and the cargo bay door refuses to open despite reading that it's opening. Dash calls for help and Eaden gets him out before a container kills him. The rest of the ship was unaffected--Dash was specifically targetted by the saboteur.

Everyone meets up and is mistrustful. They plan to jump back to hyperspace, so Han asks Leebo to scan to ship for any other tampering. Leebo is a smart-mouth as usual, but this time Han rises to the droid's challenges instead of Dash. It's cute.




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They get to Christophsis and play the shows without further incident. They pack up for Falleen. While prepping, Dash overhears Javul talking to someone: it's Kris! He asks for her back, etc. etc. Admits that some of the sabotage was his work to get her in line, but that the threats on her life weren't his. Kris is worried about her. Dash also overhears that Javul did more than just upset a few Vigos. Turns out Xizor is pissed at her because she somehow crippled Black Sun's grip on the Corellian Trade Spine.

Javul refuses to go with Kris. Kris moves to take her. Dash steps in room, blaster drawn. Kris gets one out quickly too. Mandalorian standoff! Er, ambush. A Trandoshan and Shistavanen step into the room and level blasters at Dash. Kris gets cocky. But then Han shows up with Eaden and Mel, all armed with heavy blasters. They retreat back to the Falcon and escape. Han insists Dash never tells anyone he crossed a Vigo, ever.

Dash confronts Javul in the ship and gets huffy again about her concealing facts from him.


She admits that the information she gave ISB actually really screwed over Xizor. Then they start talking about how Vader screwed over Xizor and how Xizor screwed over Dash. Again, this is a retcon I don't like, and I'll explain it in a few chapters from now...

They go to Falleen. No problems. As they prep to leave, Dash sees Javul leaving in disguise again. He follows her to a temple. He's surprised that she is religious. The Falleen monk she meets gives her a data wafer. On her way back, she calls out to Dash--she knew he was there. When pressed, she claims the wafer is a digital copy of her holy book, but it's total bullshit.

But then they are attacked by an Anomid assassin! They escape up a gravlift and meet up with Han, Mel, and Eaden, who provide covering fire while Dash and Javul run for the ship. The Anomid has a personal shield and tanks most hits, though Han gets a lucky shot and injures his knee. They flee.


(Left to right: Dash Rendar, Eaden Vrill, Edge, Han Solo, Javul Charn)

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They are a bit shocked. Anomids are usually pacifistic, so an Anomid assassin is weird. Surprise, surprise, one of the crew is connected to him. Eaden Vrill's teräs käsi master was killed by this assassin. Eaden was a part of the Hidden Hand order, all Force sensitive. When Order 66 was given, they were hunted down and most were killed. Only three initiates and the master remained afterward. The master was Neaed Fisto, the uncle of Kit Fisto (everyone is connected). Anyways, the assassin's name is Edge. Eaden wonders if Edge was targeting him.

Han is upset and plans to ditch them at their next stop on Bannistar Station. Dash grills Javul AGAIN, and she lies, AGAIN. Mel interrupts and tells Javul to spill the beans: Javul is a Rebel! She uses her fame as a cover up to move sensitive Rebel materials and information. Her relationship with Hitch was a cover to get Black Sun and Imperial information. When he used her entourage to funnel Black Sun materials, it risked the Alliance's cover, so she broke it off. Also, Mel is Commander Yanus Melikan of the Alliance.

Okay, so here's my problem from earlier: it's no good that Vader's connection to the death of Xizor's family is common knowledge. If Javul knows this information, then surely the Alliance knows this. If the Alliance knows this, then surely Leia or someone near to her would have known it. Yet in SOTE, this information is treated as the ultimate reveal of the book. No one, not even the Bothans, glean onto it because Xizor has buried the facts so well. Not until the very end does Vader's personal spy discover this knowledge.

Eh, whatever.

So if Kris is the "scare-tactic" saboteur, then the Empire is probably trying to kill her. The Rebs also admit to sabotaging themselves after Rodia: the detour to Tatooine to hire the Falcon was on purpose so that they could surround Javul with only the known Rebel operatives of her crew. Makes sense.

Anyways, Han agrees to take them to Bannistar Station and off again, but not to their final destination on Alderaan. Too risky.

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They get to Bannistar Station. Turns out the Imperial Commander there, Arno D'Vox, is a huge Javul fan. Good thing too because they need to drop off some Rebel cargo and need a specific cargo bay to do it. She hopes she can persuade D'Vox to let them switch bays.

Javul goes to have dinner with D'Vox to charm him. He gets frisky, but she signals Dash and ducks out when D'Vox's underling, Rishyk interrupts. Rishyk seems to be gunning for D'Vox's position and is openly hostile to Dash and co.

Against Rishyk's strict insistence to regulations, D'Vox moves the containers for Javul. They deliver the Rebel goods. Awesome. Dash and co. patrol the catwalks while Charn performs, when Edge shows up. The droid, Oto, seems to be helping Edge. Dash tries to stop Edge but is overpowered. Eaden joins Dash, but gets grievously wounded by Edge. Eaden tells Dash to save Javul. Edge has damaged Javul's flying equipment and pinned her down. Dash fires at Edge, but only succeeds in delaying the Anomid's advances, so he dives off the catwalk and onto the tall stage structure below.

As Dash climbs towards Javul, the audience starts getting excited and shoots at them. This is the scene where Dash tries to holster his blaster but drops it. Poor timing. Presumably this is why Dash wears a wallet chain for his gun in the future. He gets his hold-out blaster and fires. He hits the Anomid, but Edge is too armoured to suffer and real damage. At the last moment, Eaden swoops in and saves them. He tackles Edge off the giant structure and they tumble to their deaths.

Afterwards, D'Vox and Rishyk interrogate Dash and Javul. She claims Black Sun and Xizor sent the assassin--you know, deflect the fact that Imperials are after them. Han and co. show up in time to rescue them again. Back on the Falcon, Han takes Dash aside. Says he's changed his mind and will take them to Alderaan. He's shaken up at Eaden's death, and is thinking what would happen if he ever lost Chewie.

Dash is about to go to sleep when Leebo stops him. Leebo has disabled Oto. Turns out when Dash was making his daring rescue, Oto was trying to shoot his lifeline.

Also, Dash's eye was injured in the firefight, so he has to wear an eyepatch until it heals.

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They get the crew together and turn on Oto to interrogate him. Oto isn't programmed to lie, so they get a lot of info from him. It turns out that he's been reprogrammed by multiple saboteurs, independently of each other and without each other's knowledge, to attempt various sabotages on them. First Kris got to Oto, then an Imperial soldier, then Xizor himself. Kris wanted to scare her back to him, the Imperial's wanted to spy on her and obtain knowledge about her movements and deliveries, and Xizor wanted her dead. They also figure out that Xizor hired Edge.


Of course no one suspected the droid! He can't lie, you just have to ask him the right questions. It was the perfect crime! Dash and Han get an idea: wouldn't it be funny if an Imperial Destroyer and a Black Sun frigate both appeared in the same place looking to blow something up?

They skip the next tour stop, warn the Nova's Heart captain of Oto's saboteur (the First Mate), and drop out of hyperspace to get Oto to fire the signal. Once it's done, they prepare to jump again when Kris arrives, begging for Javul back. Also, he tracks Imperials and notes there are other Black Sun on the way. They check Oto... turns out he also had an independent transponder attached to him by Kris. Of course. They call Kris's bluff and escape to the Mimban system. There they meet up with the Nova's Heart, and put the transponder on it to act as decoy. Xizor arrives shortly in his frigates and hails them.


Dash has a moment where he seriously considers firing all the missile salvos at Xizor's frigate. He holds of, Han steers them out of the way just as two Imperial cruisers and a Star Destroyer show up. Han wants Dash on the guns, but Dash can't go because the eyepatch is messing up his depth perception. He convinces Han to instead let him fly the Falcon.

The Imperials hail them.


Dash ignores them.

Then Hitch shows up and hails them... but this time he helps them escape. D'awww. Anyways, the Imps are busy with Black Sun. Xizor is mistakenly chasing the Nova's Sun because Oto has been reprogrammed to hail him by the Rebs. Hitch says goodbye and strikes out on his own. Dash is wore down, goes to sleep.

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Dash wakes up feeling better. Goes to cockpit where Leebo and Mel are piloting. Mel tries to recruit Dash to the Alliance. Dash refuses. Dash also correctly surmises that they still have that secret container, as Mel left his apprentice, Nik, on the Nova's Heart. Meaning he'd be safer there than with them. They stop by Commenor to refuel. But Imps are waiting for them. Jump to hyperspace!

Damaged and limping, they just barely make it to Alderaan space. They are brought in by friendlies and land.
Mel and Javul try one more time to recruit both Dash and Han. They turn it down. Dash's heart is torn in two, but he still refuses. Poor Javul.


When Dash and Han go back to the Falcon,the find all the cargo gone. Well, they didn't take Han's stash of goods from Bannistar Station, but they did take the secret container they'd pretended to dump there. Also, Han rightly pointed out that the Rebel troops who escorted them were elite guards of Bail Organa's household.

Anyways, they are quickly hustled off the planet. But then Dash notices Leebo is missing. Flight control insists he's on board and makes them get off planet. While Han pilots them away, Dash looks for his droid.

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While looking, Dash is surprised by Edge. The Anomid had been hiding in the cargo hold of the Falcon. He's really beat up but Dash doesn't stand a chance--the Alderaanians had confiscated and disarmed his blaster, and he hadn't reloaded it. A blaster bolt comes out from the main hallway and hits Edge. He drops. But is not dead. the shooter blasts the hydraulic controls, disabling them. They drop, crushing Edge's lower body and killing him. Dash goes to thank Han but--it was Leebo! Dash is surprised because droids are programmed to not be able to kill sentient life. Like, for serious.

Leebo claims he missed and that he was aiming for the hydraulics the whole time. Oh Leebo. Leebo doesn't want to talk about the "glitch" that allowed him to shoot a sentient. Calls it humiliating.

When they get back to Tatooine, it turns out Edge had a bounty on him. Seems he knocked out a rogue Black Sun Vigo who happened to be the favourite nephew of the Mandalore. Han and Dash split the reward. Also, it makes me wonder if Kris was the one assassinated. That's too bad. Anyways, Han and Dash part on better terms and Dash goes to get the Outrider... Only it's gone!

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Turns out Javul got a message to the repairman and had it moved. Good thing too, as Imperials came looking for it. He follows the clues left for him and gets a coded message from Javul. The message thanks him for helping to deliver the package to her cousin on Alderaan. As well, she gives the coordinates of the Outrider on Tatooine. He also recognizes Javul's cousin beside her: it's Princess Leia Organa.

Dash is shocked.


Hyuk, hyuk!

That's it!

I didn't think Shadow Games was necessarily a bad EU book. It was innocuous enough, and I had fun reading it. However, it really damaged the image of DASH RENDAR that was built up by SOTE. Therein lies the problem with this book.

As a concession to Dash, remember him not as the lying, dirt-bag, braggart whom we learned to love hate worship in this LP, nor as the whining, petulant, man-child that Shadow Games portrays him as. Instead, remember him as the legend he was meant to be.

Remember Rainbow Dash Rendar.





Do you like maps? I like maps. I snagged one of the "Official Star Wars Galaxy Maps" and charted to the best of my abilities where characters travelled throughout their various stories. This map includes the path Dash and co. took for Shadow Games, where Jix went in Shadow Stalker, where Dash went in Shadows Of The Empire, Mara Jade's route in By The Emperor's Hand, and Guri's path in SOTE: Evolution.





That's honestly about it. There are a few other Dash appearances, but they aren't worth much but a passing mention. Dash appeared in the Star Wars Galaxies trading card game in the Shadow Syndicate campaign, so there's that. He also appeared in the written-for-younger-reader's book Galaxy Of Fear: The Doomsday Ship, in which a couple of kids, with the help of Dash Rendar, try to survive a space yacht that has been taken over by the Star Wars version of HAL-9000. That book incorrectly called the Outrider the Outrunner, so the EU made a retcon that said Dash purchased the Outrunner. a ship identical to the Outrider, at some point in his later career. The Star Wars Insider magazine had a short story called "And Leebo Makes Three" which chronicled Dash and Eaden's acquisition of Leebo. And according to Wookieepedia, Dash's encounter with Guri on Hurd's Moon led to them forming a mercenary team. At one point, they teamed up with Kyle Katarn in one of the many Star Wars comics. In another Star Wars Insider short story, "Or Die Trying," we find out that Guri and Dash worked together to create new Human Replica Droids--ones that could have human memories implanted into them using Ssi-Ruuk technology. They establish Onadax Droid Technologies and essentially resurrect Stanton Rendar as one of their first projects. Dash and Guri parted ways after this, but Stanton was left in charge of ODT. Stanton worked on creating replica droids for all species of aliens, but got involved in some plot during the Yuuzhan Vong war. Jania Solo took him to town and blew up the factory, but Stanton escaped. As for Dash, sightings of him continued throughout the Yuuzhan Vong war, as he was seen sabotaging the efforts of the Peace Brigade, a group of Yuuzhan Vong sympathizers.

But mostly he lives on in memory, as the legend he is.

Oh, and Xizor gets name dropped all the time in the EU. He was even the villain for Boba Fett in Slave Ship or something, but who cares about Xizor anyways.

I'm about wiped out on Shadows Of The Empire, at this point.

Thank you so much to everyone who stuck it out this far with nine-gear crow and myself. This LP has been a blast, and you are all wonderful human beings.

I'm a sick person who can't leave Dash alone, so here's a teaser for a future LP project: