Last Call at the Zero Angle by Jason Fry
"Last Call at the Zero Angle" written by Jason Fry, illustrated by John Van Fleet
This short story was released in issue #156 of the Star Wars Insider Magazine in April of 2015. In an exciting turn of events we get a story from the point of view of Imperials who are confused and out of the loop after the Death Star has been destroyed, having no idea the orbital platform even existed. Apparently missions have become more and more dangerous and haphazard with intel that's seemingly spotty. While some pilots are anxious to know what exactly is going on since their lives are on the line, others are unwilling to speak up, saying it's "Rebel Talk."
So let's set the scene: The Zero Angle is a cantina that serves both ground-hogs (pilots that fly in atmosphere for the Imperial Army) and vac-heads (pilots that fly in space for the Imperial Navy) located on Bright Jewel Oversector Flight Base on Axxila III. This co-mingling is unordinary within the Empire and fights tend to break out frequently though they get quickly stamped out by Florn, the cyborg bartender. As he puts it, "We all fly suicide sleds--no shields and no defenses. Except for the skill of the hand on the stick. Rack up half the flight hours I had before the crash and you can talk as much trash as you want. Or get turned into a fireball--that means you go on the wall and we'll speak well of you. But until you do one or the other, you mind your manners." No one above the rank of squad leader is allowed in, so pilots can do pretty much whatever they want without risking a black mark on their record.
We have a wide cast of characters who were a little difficult to keep track of, but who still all had their own personalities and tendencies. First, the ground-hogs of Nashtah Squadron. Tana Chellaine worries that her fellow squad mates are going to start an incident. Sax Hastur is the squad leader. Huck Trompo starts bellowing out the ground-hog anthem to stir up trouble. Sully Olvar pipes in right along with him. Artur Essada predicted that Sully would do so and is apparently right an annoyingly good bit of the time. Second, the vac-heads of Banshee Squadron. Heiwei Akrone knows some of Hastur's old classmates. Bruiser praises Trompo for the punch he threw against him and the two begin talking "about the finer points of brawling." haha.
Then Commander Weller enters the cantina and he has something to share...everyone is extremely surprised to see an officer in the place and they are all at rapt attention. "I apologize for invading sacred territory, but these are not normal times. There's something you all need to know--because pretty soon the whole galaxy will have heard the news. The DS-1 platform. It's been destroyed." Turns out, no one believed the Death Star actually existed in it's spherical, planet-destroying glory. They thought it was either a code name for another kind of technology or something created for propaganda purposes. Everyone in the cantina is aghast at the news and the revelation that the DS-1 was real.
Because of this surprising and damning news, Weller announces that all the pilots' Army and Navy assignments have been rescinded for the sake of meeting the enemy anywhere they might be found.
I really enjoyed this view into an Imperial pilots' cantina--definitely not something we get to see everyday in Star Wars canon. The characters were well drawn out and interesting and the story was set during a time that is so important for galactic history...on both sides of the coin. A worthy read.
So let's set the scene: The Zero Angle is a cantina that serves both ground-hogs (pilots that fly in atmosphere for the Imperial Army) and vac-heads (pilots that fly in space for the Imperial Navy) located on Bright Jewel Oversector Flight Base on Axxila III. This co-mingling is unordinary within the Empire and fights tend to break out frequently though they get quickly stamped out by Florn, the cyborg bartender. As he puts it, "We all fly suicide sleds--no shields and no defenses. Except for the skill of the hand on the stick. Rack up half the flight hours I had before the crash and you can talk as much trash as you want. Or get turned into a fireball--that means you go on the wall and we'll speak well of you. But until you do one or the other, you mind your manners." No one above the rank of squad leader is allowed in, so pilots can do pretty much whatever they want without risking a black mark on their record.
We have a wide cast of characters who were a little difficult to keep track of, but who still all had their own personalities and tendencies. First, the ground-hogs of Nashtah Squadron. Tana Chellaine worries that her fellow squad mates are going to start an incident. Sax Hastur is the squad leader. Huck Trompo starts bellowing out the ground-hog anthem to stir up trouble. Sully Olvar pipes in right along with him. Artur Essada predicted that Sully would do so and is apparently right an annoyingly good bit of the time. Second, the vac-heads of Banshee Squadron. Heiwei Akrone knows some of Hastur's old classmates. Bruiser praises Trompo for the punch he threw against him and the two begin talking "about the finer points of brawling." haha.
Then Commander Weller enters the cantina and he has something to share...everyone is extremely surprised to see an officer in the place and they are all at rapt attention. "I apologize for invading sacred territory, but these are not normal times. There's something you all need to know--because pretty soon the whole galaxy will have heard the news. The DS-1 platform. It's been destroyed." Turns out, no one believed the Death Star actually existed in it's spherical, planet-destroying glory. They thought it was either a code name for another kind of technology or something created for propaganda purposes. Everyone in the cantina is aghast at the news and the revelation that the DS-1 was real.
Because of this surprising and damning news, Weller announces that all the pilots' Army and Navy assignments have been rescinded for the sake of meeting the enemy anywhere they might be found.
I really enjoyed this view into an Imperial pilots' cantina--definitely not something we get to see everyday in Star Wars canon. The characters were well drawn out and interesting and the story was set during a time that is so important for galactic history...on both sides of the coin. A worthy read.
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