KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC: VINDICATION PARTS 1 & 2 (ISSUES 32 & 33)
December 23rd 2008 01:32
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics.
Production Team: John Jackson Miller – script, Brian Ching – art/cover art, Bong Dazo – pencils, Joe Pimentel – inks, Michael Atiyeh – colours/cover art & Michael Heisler – lettering.
Cost: AU $7.95/US $2.99
Within the ranks of the Jedi Order there exists a mysterious organisation known as the Covenant, a group whose remit seems to be watching the galaxy for the return of the Sith as well as removing any Sith artefacts or lore from where it may cause potential harm. Most of its operatives are known as shadows and their existence is unknown even to the members of the Jedi order, their existence being wiped from the various records kept by the Order in its enclaves and even the main temple on Coruscant itself. An easy feat when you consider that one of the luminaries of the Jedi Order, Krynda Draay, the mother of Lucien, is one of the founding lights of the Covenant. A hero of the Exar Kun War, one of the few surviving such figures from that dark time, Lady Krynda in addition to her revered status also has considerable wealth and connections which have been employed in achieving the Covenants agenda, what she has no idea is that the agenda of this secret group is not completely under her control. In fact it would seem that it is her aide that is really the driving force behind things.
For some reason the Covenant got it into its head that Zayne Carrick was a major threat to the galaxy at large as well as the Jedi order. Somehow they became convinced that Zayne would bring about a resurgence of Sith, himself ending up becoming part of the Sith and tossing the entire galaxy into a new dark age. Considering that he is one of the most inept padawan learners to make it into the ranks of the order such dire warnings would seem like the ravings of a demented lunatic or glitterstim addict. Still the Covenant elected to take such things very seriously and turned the entire Republic and Jedi order against him and his comrade Gryph. Still not bowing to despair or remorse the young Jedi embarked on a truly colossal effort to clear his name.
Finally after much travail Zayne managed to find the evidence he needed to clear his name with the Order and hopefully the Republic, he then set forth with his comrades to head to the very heart of the Republic to put his case before those who would hear him. Unfortunately even though he managed to evade the entire might of the Republic fleet through some skilled misdirection things managed to take a turn for the unexpected when he and his buddy Gryph were lugging off a crate of Sith artefacts from their vessel to carry to a pre arranged rendezvous with Masters Vandar and Vrook.
The force naturally moves in mysterious ways, and as Master Yoda is often noted for saying “Hmmm always in motion the future is…hard to see”, so it comes as no surprise that the learned seers of the Covenant and the various masters of the Order are in no way prepared for what will happen next. Certainly there has been a darkness hiding and concealing its presence within the order, but it is not the darkness that everyone was expecting and when it is finally revealed its nature and the resources at its command are truly phenomenal. And in the end all of this is all down to events from the past, a familiar theme within Star Wars be it the comics, games, novels and movies, events that occurred prior to and during the Exar Kun war have lead to the incidents that are have occurred on Coruscant.
Haazen, the family steward of the Draay family, was once very much like the hunted Zayne Carrick; blessed with some sensitivity in the force he never had the mustard to cut it as a Jedi knight. Also like Zayne he had a criminal that seemed to constantly be the bane of his existence, in Haazen’s case it was a female Nautolan smuggler who went by the name of Dossa. Where Haazen differed from Zayne was in the fact that he let the fact that he was unable to become a knight cloud his thinking, he let it become bitter and in the end his bitterness would shatter his life turning him into a mockery of what he once was.
Failing to become a knight yet still serving as the retainer of Barrison Draay, Lucien’s father and Haazen’s boss, the one time padawan ends up on the world of Toprawa ten years later, in the final days of the Exar Kun War. It is a time of victory for the Jedi order and Haazen on corpse cleaning detail makes an unpleasant discovery amidst all the bodies of dead and maimed Massassi warriors; the smuggler Dossa. It seems the enterprising purveyor of illegal disruptors has become a Sith and has managed to survive the conflict and is looking to rejoin the remaining Sith forces who are making their way back to the dark lords base on Yavin 4. Of course if Haazen blows the whistle on her it will put the kybosh on her schemes, still she attempts to turn the former padawan offering him blandishments in order to help her own plans.
“Treachery is the way of the Sith” and it seems that Haazen is only to happy to take this step, although he does not foresee the consequences it will have on his own life. Luring his former master, Barrison, and his Jedi fellows into an ambush Haazen himself is caught in the blast of a Sith incendiary device. Ouch that would have to hurt… but its nothing compared to what happens in the wake of the blast, Dossa has managed to convince a Sith ‘medic’ known as Doc Urbuluh, to do something for the grievously injured turncoat. This something has meant that Haazen has become more machine than man, sound familiar? His left arm and eye as well as both legs have been replaced by prosthetics of unusual design and his torso is connected into a device called the Yoke of Seeming, a Sith artefact that can affect the perceptions of the force in regards to the wearer of the Yoke. A handy device, and it seems that their might be other Sith artefacts that can unlock other powers of this device.
Dossa and Doc Urbuluh are naturally interested in recovering some more of these ‘goodies’ and so it seems is Haazen, although as he swiftly makes it known he has no intention of sharing. Looking something like a cross between General Grievous and Darth Vader you have to wonder if Haazen would be the inspiration for the various machinations of Darth Sidious some four millennia down the track. Now in the presence of Zayne Carrick who has been handed over to Lucien Draay Haazen unleashes his own agenda as it seems that Xamar has turned on the Covenant and the Jedi Order are moving to take matters into their own hands. What was meant to be the removal of a suspected Sith instead leads into a full on schism between Jedi complete with an orbital bombardment by the Republic fleet, all orchestrated through the efforts of Haazen and the Covenant…
Production Team: John Jackson Miller – script, Brian Ching – art/cover art, Bong Dazo – pencils, Joe Pimentel – inks, Michael Atiyeh – colours/cover art & Michael Heisler – lettering.
Cost: AU $7.95/US $2.99
Within the ranks of the Jedi Order there exists a mysterious organisation known as the Covenant, a group whose remit seems to be watching the galaxy for the return of the Sith as well as removing any Sith artefacts or lore from where it may cause potential harm. Most of its operatives are known as shadows and their existence is unknown even to the members of the Jedi order, their existence being wiped from the various records kept by the Order in its enclaves and even the main temple on Coruscant itself. An easy feat when you consider that one of the luminaries of the Jedi Order, Krynda Draay, the mother of Lucien, is one of the founding lights of the Covenant. A hero of the Exar Kun War, one of the few surviving such figures from that dark time, Lady Krynda in addition to her revered status also has considerable wealth and connections which have been employed in achieving the Covenants agenda, what she has no idea is that the agenda of this secret group is not completely under her control. In fact it would seem that it is her aide that is really the driving force behind things.
The force naturally moves in mysterious ways, and as Master Yoda is often noted for saying “Hmmm always in motion the future is…hard to see”, so it comes as no surprise that the learned seers of the Covenant and the various masters of the Order are in no way prepared for what will happen next. Certainly there has been a darkness hiding and concealing its presence within the order, but it is not the darkness that everyone was expecting and when it is finally revealed its nature and the resources at its command are truly phenomenal. And in the end all of this is all down to events from the past, a familiar theme within Star Wars be it the comics, games, novels and movies, events that occurred prior to and during the Exar Kun war have lead to the incidents that are have occurred on Coruscant.
Haazen, the family steward of the Draay family, was once very much like the hunted Zayne Carrick; blessed with some sensitivity in the force he never had the mustard to cut it as a Jedi knight. Also like Zayne he had a criminal that seemed to constantly be the bane of his existence, in Haazen’s case it was a female Nautolan smuggler who went by the name of Dossa. Where Haazen differed from Zayne was in the fact that he let the fact that he was unable to become a knight cloud his thinking, he let it become bitter and in the end his bitterness would shatter his life turning him into a mockery of what he once was.
Failing to become a knight yet still serving as the retainer of Barrison Draay, Lucien’s father and Haazen’s boss, the one time padawan ends up on the world of Toprawa ten years later, in the final days of the Exar Kun War. It is a time of victory for the Jedi order and Haazen on corpse cleaning detail makes an unpleasant discovery amidst all the bodies of dead and maimed Massassi warriors; the smuggler Dossa. It seems the enterprising purveyor of illegal disruptors has become a Sith and has managed to survive the conflict and is looking to rejoin the remaining Sith forces who are making their way back to the dark lords base on Yavin 4. Of course if Haazen blows the whistle on her it will put the kybosh on her schemes, still she attempts to turn the former padawan offering him blandishments in order to help her own plans.
“Treachery is the way of the Sith” and it seems that Haazen is only to happy to take this step, although he does not foresee the consequences it will have on his own life. Luring his former master, Barrison, and his Jedi fellows into an ambush Haazen himself is caught in the blast of a Sith incendiary device. Ouch that would have to hurt… but its nothing compared to what happens in the wake of the blast, Dossa has managed to convince a Sith ‘medic’ known as Doc Urbuluh, to do something for the grievously injured turncoat. This something has meant that Haazen has become more machine than man, sound familiar? His left arm and eye as well as both legs have been replaced by prosthetics of unusual design and his torso is connected into a device called the Yoke of Seeming, a Sith artefact that can affect the perceptions of the force in regards to the wearer of the Yoke. A handy device, and it seems that their might be other Sith artefacts that can unlock other powers of this device.
Dossa and Doc Urbuluh are naturally interested in recovering some more of these ‘goodies’ and so it seems is Haazen, although as he swiftly makes it known he has no intention of sharing. Looking something like a cross between General Grievous and Darth Vader you have to wonder if Haazen would be the inspiration for the various machinations of Darth Sidious some four millennia down the track. Now in the presence of Zayne Carrick who has been handed over to Lucien Draay Haazen unleashes his own agenda as it seems that Xamar has turned on the Covenant and the Jedi Order are moving to take matters into their own hands. What was meant to be the removal of a suspected Sith instead leads into a full on schism between Jedi complete with an orbital bombardment by the Republic fleet, all orchestrated through the efforts of Haazen and the Covenant…
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