Star Wars: Legacy (Issue 21).
May 19th 2008 22:28
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
“Flying through hyperspace isn’t like dusting crops boy. Without precise calculations we could end up bouncing into a black hole or supernova and that’d end your trip real quick.”
Han Solo to Luke Skywalker aboard the Millennium Falcon escaping Tatooine.
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics.
Production Team: John Ostrander – script, Omar Francia – art, Brad Anderson – colours, Michael Heisler – lettering, Douglas Wheately – cover art.
Cost: AU $7.95/US $2.99
Camaas, one hundred and twenty nine years after the Battle of Yavin, the forces of the Galactic Alliance and that of the newly revived Empire are engaged in a no holds barred conflict. This particular world seems prone to bringing upon the galaxy tragedy in one form or another. In the days of the Old Republic it and its pacifistic inhabitants were brutally attacked by mysterious assailants whose identity was only revealed in the early stages of the New Republic. At this point in the galaxy’s history a document was discovered that revealed the identity of those who had laid waste to Camass, the very crisis that was prompted by the discovery almost threatened to tear the New Republic apart and allow Imperial forces to attempt a revival. Fortunately this never occurred but a century or so later Camaas once again became the focus of galactic affairs.
Acting on intelligence that Emperor Roan Fel would be meeting with delegates from the Hapes Consortium and the Chiss Ascendancy in orbit around Camass the Galactic Alliance decided to act on this and capture the emperor and hopefully force the Empire to the negotiating table. Jedi Master Kol Skywalker felt that there was something wrong with the Intel but had only a vague premonition in the force to go with, something that the Triumvirate which governed the Alliance wasn’t going to run with. Admiral Petan, commander of the Galactic Alliance forces pushed the need to strike with this Intel and hopefully capture the emperor and win the war for the Alliance. His view carried the day.
Unfortunately for the GA the whole piece of intelligence was exactly as Kol Skywalker said, a trap, the Empire was waiting in force at Camaas whilst the Sith in turn made a feint at Coruscant whilst the core fleet had been drawn away to Camaas in a misguided attempt to capture an emperor who was nowhere near the battle. You can just imagine various GA personnel on various cruisers enduring the carnage as their vessels are getting the living daylights pounded out of them and collectively saying “Well this sucks”. Naturally the Imperial forces have thought out their ambush, they have the Galactic Alliance against the planet and the hyperspace lanes are all mined to prevent escape. It looks fairly much as if there is no chance for the Alliance forces to live and fight another day; Admiral Petan offers his unconditional surrender to Grand Moff Veed and then contacts Admiral Gar Stazi to get him and his forces to stand down.
The Duros GA commander isn’t having anything to do with this; he intends to keep on fighting to the last, preferably with the ability to escape Imperial clutches. But how can he do this when everything seems absolutely hopeless, there is no chance of getting out of this whatsoever. After all flying through hyperspace isn’t something you can do by the seat of your pants but there are those who know of various other routes and lanes through hyperspace that are not employed in more conventional navigation computers and procedures. Gar Stazi is one such individual, rather than risk capture by the Empire he instructs his fleet to follow the navigation coordinates he is transmitting in the heat of battle.
Eight years later and once again Admiral Gar Stazi, the leader of the Galactic Alliance Core Forces (GACF) finds himself right smack bang in the midst of an Imperial trap sprung to destroy both him and his fleet. This time the location is the Mon Calamari system, the home of the species of the same name and a major shipyard vital to the Imperial Navy. Recently the Mon Cals have completed building the Imperious; the latest advanced Star Destroyer that the Imperials have commissioned for their fleets. Admiral Stazi knows that the GACF need to capture this vessel if they are to have any hope of waging a truly significant campaign against the Empire and their Sith allies. Thus he and those under his command embark on a mission to take the new vessel and add it to their own forces.
Admiral Valan knows precisely how Stazi intends to achieve this objective, he knows to well that the Imperious is far too tempting a target for him and his forces to pass up. Thus he makes sure that he has all the right counter measures in place ready to trap the wily Duros commander and his band of rag tag ‘rebels’ against the Empire and the Sith. The only trouble with this strategy is that Valan doesn’t truly have the measure of his opponent; he likes to think he does but its only conceit on the behalf of a bigoted Imperial officer. All plans and stratagems are fantastic when on paper but it becomes a whole different kettle of fish as soon as the big guns start firing and people start dying all over the place.
When the Imperial fleet drops out of hyperspace and stormtroopers retake the Imperious and the orbital dockyards with their substantial defence systems it would seem that the predicament of the GACF is up that legendary creek without either a paddle or a canoe. You can just imagine the words “Well this sucks” being bandied around by Alliance personnel again. It’s almost a repeat of the Battle of Camaas, with the Alliance fleet pinned into its location and no real hope or even chance of outgunning its enemies.
When I was perusing this particular issue the first thing that struck about the drama of the story was how very similar it is to that epochal battle around the forest moon of Endor. There the fleet of the Rebel Alliance was effectively pinned into the region around Endor and the Imperial fleet ready to be picked off one by one by Imperial fighters and “this armed and fully operational battle station…commander you may fire when ready” (feel free to insert insane cackle and funky power on sounds here). Pitched into what seemed to be a truly despairing situation did the Rebels turn tail and try to run to live to fight another day? Granted that was mooted by Admiral Ackbar but good old Lando using his wild card gambling charm urged a full frontal assault against the might of the Imperial fleet and its star destroyers.
This is precisely the response of Admiral Gar Stazi, faced with seemingly overwhelming odds and facing the possibility of being attacked on two fronts what does he do? Does he cave in? Does he surrender? No he outlines how the situation stands to his enemy and then informs him of his intent; “Very well, I shall attack”. Its stirring stuff and the battle that unfolds is akin to almost being a cinema and watching it unfold on the big screen so cinematic is its scope and pace. Kudos to the production team, I could almost hear the strains of dramatic music playing away as I read, the sounds of blaster fire and what not (yeah I know that sound cannot be heard in space… but if we followed the laws of physics my god how boring would sci fi movies be?). Once again great story and great atmosphere, showing that Dark Horse and its production team have done another fantastic job in bringing to life the Legacy era and its ongoing unique saga that adds a fresh chapter to the Star Wars universe.
Han Solo to Luke Skywalker aboard the Millennium Falcon escaping Tatooine.
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics.
Production Team: John Ostrander – script, Omar Francia – art, Brad Anderson – colours, Michael Heisler – lettering, Douglas Wheately – cover art.
Cost: AU $7.95/US $2.99
Camaas, one hundred and twenty nine years after the Battle of Yavin, the forces of the Galactic Alliance and that of the newly revived Empire are engaged in a no holds barred conflict. This particular world seems prone to bringing upon the galaxy tragedy in one form or another. In the days of the Old Republic it and its pacifistic inhabitants were brutally attacked by mysterious assailants whose identity was only revealed in the early stages of the New Republic. At this point in the galaxy’s history a document was discovered that revealed the identity of those who had laid waste to Camass, the very crisis that was prompted by the discovery almost threatened to tear the New Republic apart and allow Imperial forces to attempt a revival. Fortunately this never occurred but a century or so later Camaas once again became the focus of galactic affairs.
The Duros GA commander isn’t having anything to do with this; he intends to keep on fighting to the last, preferably with the ability to escape Imperial clutches. But how can he do this when everything seems absolutely hopeless, there is no chance of getting out of this whatsoever. After all flying through hyperspace isn’t something you can do by the seat of your pants but there are those who know of various other routes and lanes through hyperspace that are not employed in more conventional navigation computers and procedures. Gar Stazi is one such individual, rather than risk capture by the Empire he instructs his fleet to follow the navigation coordinates he is transmitting in the heat of battle.
Eight years later and once again Admiral Gar Stazi, the leader of the Galactic Alliance Core Forces (GACF) finds himself right smack bang in the midst of an Imperial trap sprung to destroy both him and his fleet. This time the location is the Mon Calamari system, the home of the species of the same name and a major shipyard vital to the Imperial Navy. Recently the Mon Cals have completed building the Imperious; the latest advanced Star Destroyer that the Imperials have commissioned for their fleets. Admiral Stazi knows that the GACF need to capture this vessel if they are to have any hope of waging a truly significant campaign against the Empire and their Sith allies. Thus he and those under his command embark on a mission to take the new vessel and add it to their own forces.
Admiral Valan knows precisely how Stazi intends to achieve this objective, he knows to well that the Imperious is far too tempting a target for him and his forces to pass up. Thus he makes sure that he has all the right counter measures in place ready to trap the wily Duros commander and his band of rag tag ‘rebels’ against the Empire and the Sith. The only trouble with this strategy is that Valan doesn’t truly have the measure of his opponent; he likes to think he does but its only conceit on the behalf of a bigoted Imperial officer. All plans and stratagems are fantastic when on paper but it becomes a whole different kettle of fish as soon as the big guns start firing and people start dying all over the place.
When the Imperial fleet drops out of hyperspace and stormtroopers retake the Imperious and the orbital dockyards with their substantial defence systems it would seem that the predicament of the GACF is up that legendary creek without either a paddle or a canoe. You can just imagine the words “Well this sucks” being bandied around by Alliance personnel again. It’s almost a repeat of the Battle of Camaas, with the Alliance fleet pinned into its location and no real hope or even chance of outgunning its enemies.
When I was perusing this particular issue the first thing that struck about the drama of the story was how very similar it is to that epochal battle around the forest moon of Endor. There the fleet of the Rebel Alliance was effectively pinned into the region around Endor and the Imperial fleet ready to be picked off one by one by Imperial fighters and “this armed and fully operational battle station…commander you may fire when ready” (feel free to insert insane cackle and funky power on sounds here). Pitched into what seemed to be a truly despairing situation did the Rebels turn tail and try to run to live to fight another day? Granted that was mooted by Admiral Ackbar but good old Lando using his wild card gambling charm urged a full frontal assault against the might of the Imperial fleet and its star destroyers.
This is precisely the response of Admiral Gar Stazi, faced with seemingly overwhelming odds and facing the possibility of being attacked on two fronts what does he do? Does he cave in? Does he surrender? No he outlines how the situation stands to his enemy and then informs him of his intent; “Very well, I shall attack”. Its stirring stuff and the battle that unfolds is akin to almost being a cinema and watching it unfold on the big screen so cinematic is its scope and pace. Kudos to the production team, I could almost hear the strains of dramatic music playing away as I read, the sounds of blaster fire and what not (yeah I know that sound cannot be heard in space… but if we followed the laws of physics my god how boring would sci fi movies be?). Once again great story and great atmosphere, showing that Dark Horse and its production team have done another fantastic job in bringing to life the Legacy era and its ongoing unique saga that adds a fresh chapter to the Star Wars universe.
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