The Light You Bring (A Star Wars: Squadrons short story) by Joanna Berry

 The Light You Bring (A Star Wars: Squadrons short story) by Joanna Berry

This was a really fun little story that showcased two New Republic pilots, Keo Venzee and Frisk and one Imperial Lieutenant, Relkin (all detailed more below). It sets up something that at the end of the story is referred to as Project Starhawk...something to do with remaining Star Destroyers. Very interesting! But the main thrust of the story is a race between the three main characters on an icy moon of Navlaas called Laanen. It's an action-packed, humorous, and engaging adventure that is getting me a bit more excited for the "Squadrons" game...I'm terrible at flight simulators so wasn't all that stoked originally.

Keo Venzee is the character whose point of view the story is essentially told from and they are non-binary!!! "A Mirialan with yellow-green-skin, mid-twenties at most, they didn’t look old enough to be an experienced pilot." They pilot an A-wing with incredible skill and used to be a famed racer, most notably winning the Socorro Sunset Grand Prix. Side note: we've been getting a number of non-binary characters lately, but it seems to be only in their pronouns. We haven't gotten much about how they dress for one and the non-binary-ness seems to be more about being genderless rather than gender fluid. I wish we would get more non-binary characters whose LGBTQ-ness is more fleshed out and that outwardly embrace both the masculine and feminine. Don't get me wrong, Keo as a character is quite well fleshed out in this story, I just wish their non-binary-ness was addressed a little more head on. Using "they" pronouns and leaving it at that just feels like a cop out to me...

Frisk is a Trandoshan Y-wing pilot who sees himself as a Rebel above all and is having a really difficult time fitting in with the more bureaucratic and logistical style of the New Republic. As he puts it, "Frisk’s big shoulders slumped. 'I’m a rebel, Keo. Always have been. Never fitted in at home, so I lit out and did my own thing. The Rebel Alliance let me take a swing at the biggest bullies in the galaxy—my way.' He sighed. 'But now we’re a New Republic. We gotta go legit. But that’s not me.' Frisk pulled a fuse out of the control panel and stared at it. 'You know where I belong in a legit government? Prison ship or community service, pick one.'" The title, "The Light You Bring" actually refers to Frisk as he's struggling with these doubts and frustrations. Frisk also used to deal in "collector's pieces" and once sold a fake to an Imperial governor...who bought the piece for Thrawn! Love this connection and it's so perfect.

Keo and Frisk start off on the edges of the Ringali Nebula in the Bormea Sector. "Far behind them was a small fleet of New Republic corvettes, a Nebulon-B frigate, and the mighty MC-75 star cruiser Temperance, along with an assignment of starfighters that made up Vanguard Squadron. Their squadron." And they get called in by Ardo Barodai, Vanguard Squadron's Intelligence Chief and a Mon Calamari, to complete a new discreet mission to the Navlaas Triad, a trio of stations in the Inner Rim that once mined clouzon gas. Now they're a backwater smuggler's refueling station. The two pilots are tasked with going to Triad Station Daralto to retrieve some intel that was delivered by a New Republic agent. "Navlaas was a deep-blue gas giant streaked with electric green clouds of clouzon gas. Its eight moons were pitted with craters from asteroid strikes."

When they land at Triad Station Daralto, they run into an Imperial Lieutenant, Relkin, who's running the station...and he seems to recognize one of the two pilots... Turns out, he used to be a racer too and lost the Socorro Sunset Grand Prix to Keo!! And he is bitter as hell about it--blaming his being a logistical officer instead of a starfighter squadron leader on the Mirialan's win.

To get out of a tricky spot, Keo makes a deal with Relkin to race him on Laanen while secretly picking up the intel in a dropped off astromech. Things don't go as planned for Keo, as things rarely do for our heroes, and this makes for a truly engaging read!!

We get several familiar species including: Zabrak, Chagrian, Mirialan, and Trandoshan which is always a delight to see!!

Trivia: Sissubo is a planet.

I'm super excited to check out the second short story that came out, hoping it will get me amped up enough to go ahead and purchase the game!!