From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back by various (Part 2/8)

 From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back by various (Part 2/8)

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The tales on Hoth continue in this 2nd set of 5 short stories. We hear from a Rebel propagandist, Zev Senesca, Admiral Ozzel (as he's being Force-choked), Dak Ralter, and a young man who realizes what the war really means "Beyond Hope." Such a fantastic selection of stories, each with their individual merits. No gayness in these 5 but there were plenty of Rogue One connections which was such a delight!! I'm really loving the different perspectives on war and what it means to all the various players, whether Imperial or Rebel. And in this section, as the Battle of Hoth is detailed, the stories are better than those during the Battle of Yavin in the first From A Certain Point of View collection. In that book, the space battle was convoluted and confusing with way too much going on for any normal person to follow. This, so far, is clear cut and understandable and simply a joy. Also, all the perspectives connect in different ways, but you don't feel like you're reading the same story over and over again. I have to say I am quite pleased with the incredible quality of this collection so far!!

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"Heroes of the Rebellion" by Amy Ratcliffe

Corwi Selgrothe is a Rebellion propagandist who's on Hoth to get holos of Leia, Luke, and Han. She begged Mon Mothma to get her this assignment and is desperate to not let the woman down, especially since Mon rescued Corwi from the Imperial Press Corps years previous. She intends to not only create propaganda vids, but also propaganda posters (working with her artist friend Janray) featuring the three. Her luck ends up being not so great in that she never gets in a good conversation with any of the three heroes...but then, she realizes, courtesy of L'cayo Llem--a soldier, that the true heroes are the everyday men and women who make up the Rebel Alliance. That the foot soldiers, technicians, and menial laborers are what allow the Alliance to continue going each day. And that their stories will be the ones that truly change the galaxy.

As she puts it in her thoughts, "Hope was about people--ordinary people that made a choice to join the fight and to stay in it." And "that was the way forward for the Rebellion. Not to focus only on the big, sweeping heroic deeds. No, it was to create more hope. And they would do that by honoring and championing the heroism people exhibited every day."

There's an exciting nod to both the comic books and Rogue One in this narrative chunk, "Sure the locale was rough, even by rebel standards, but all three of them [Luke, Han, and Leia] were in the same place at the same time. Given what she'd heard about one or more of them frequently dashing around the galaxy on missions, this was a rare gift. Corwi knew she could extract stories about their service to the Rebellion and that she'd find stirring quotes in them--quotes that would make others see the promise of the Rebel Alliance. Lines like, 'Rebellions are built on hope.' Capturing Jyn Erso's moving words before she took off to Scarif with the doomed Rogue One group was one of Corwi's greatest achievements as a rebel propagandist. And Corwi intended to find similar success on Hoth." Unfortunately, this story matched up with what I would have expected from the 3 heroes, they're so busy fighting the good fight, they don't have time to sit down for interviews. And I wonder how Luke and Leia would even feel about knowing there was a propagandist in the employ of the Alliance at all. Of course the Rebels have to recruit somehow. I certainly don't begrudge them hiring Corwi, especially since all she wants to do is the right thing.

The only person she really gets a chance to talk to is Han, but upon asking him about why he "flew into the battle above Yavin 4, what the Rebellion meant to him," his response was, "Listen sweetheart, I'm no hero. I saw a fight and pointed my ship at it." Yikes! But we all know he was in reality genuinely worried about Luke and swooped in to save his friend.

Trivia: Corwi reports in to General Bygar once she arrives at the base. She talks to Comms Officer Toryn Farr who gives her the lowdown on everything. 

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"Rogue Two" by Gary Whitta

This is Zev Senesca's story!! He's the guy who located Han and Luke out in the barrens of Hoth after their night spent in the storm. Zev loves his Commander (Luke) and looks up to him like no other. Part of that respect lies in Luke's considering himself a nobody who's just as important as everybody else around him--that definitely holds up to his character.

There's an interesting side tidbit about the ecosystem of Hoth, "a planet so cold it was barely capable of sustaining any kind of life save a handful of indigenous creatures, most of which lived deep beneath the surface, closer to the planet's still-warm core." Throughout these stories it becomes clear that the Rebels' diet on Hoth consists mostly of fungus and lichen. ...yum...

The "snow-speeders," as we know, are actually air speeders, not built for the severe cold of Hoth. "they had been designed to operate in temperate climates and their engines immediately froze up here, rendering them grounded and useless until they could be adapted to the cold--if that was even possible. Last Zev heard, the engineers reckoned that was a fifty-fifty prospect at best." The morning Rogue Squadron went out looking for Luke and Han was the very first time they were even able to use the speeders in the crazy cold conditions!!

We get more bets going on for whether Han will convince Leia to be with him romantically! Haha! "Zev had even secretly started a squadron betting pool, and every pilot had a wager placed on what day she would finally tire of his school-boy attempts to show off and tell him exactly where he could shove them." 

In regards to the formation of Rogue Squadron, "As the squadron's founder [Luke] had the task of naming it, and though there were many delightful color choices available Skywalker had decided instead to dedicate his new outfit to some fellow heroes of the Rebellion. He had heard the story--as everyone had--of the heroic sacrifice made by Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, and dozens of other valiant rebels in stealing the closely guarded Imperial plans that revealed the Death Star's critical hidden flaw and giving the Alliance a fighting chance at survival. Rogue Squadron it was, then." It even discusses how Luke retired the callsign Rogue One in honor of Jyn's crew, leaving Luke to be Rogue Leader and the next in line to be Rogue Two--Zev himself. I am over the moon at these authors' abilities to sneak in Rogue One references every chance they get!! It makes me so incredibly happy!!

Trivia: Wedge is Rogue Three and Hobbie is Rogue Four.

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"Kendal" by Charles Yu

This entire story is Ozzel reflecting back on his life as he's being choked to death by Vader! He even has a crisis of faith and realizes the evils of the Empire...although this realization comes too late to make a difference in his life. Ozzel hails from Carida and grew up among the mountains. He once had a fiancée who wished to join up with the Rebellion. They parted ways after a long night of mourning their opposite paths in life.  

The comic books get referenced again, "It wasn't long ago when it was Tagge being held up, dangled like a rag doll for everyone to see." I am loving these acknowledgements of the comics so much!! True canon connectivity!

In a morbid turn, Ozzel thinks, "Always on pins and needles. The dread of knowing it was just a matter of time before the next eruption. Not if but when. For the choking to finally be here was, in a way, cathartic even if blindingly painful." Although he also has a fleeting moment in which he thinks Vader is just trying to teach him a lesson. And as he puts it, "To be Force-choked in person is at least somewhat honorable. Doing it by holoconference was just sad." Poor guy! I mean...I agree with Vader in that the man made some pretty dumb decisions, but he's right about the holoconference Force-choke just being humiliatingly sad.

His crisis of faith plays out like so, "an act of resistance. It was too late for that. He had lived his life in the service of the dark side. Killed innocents. Given the commands to destroy peoples, families, cultures. Worst of all, he had been a tool, an instrument. Admiral Ozzel. The vanity of it. The high rank nothing now. He was a foot soldier, a body, just another stormtrooper marching in lockstep. Marching for the Empire." Not all the showcased Imperials have a crisis of faith though--as we'll see in my review of the next 5 short stories--many are still very much staunch Imperials even as the end closes in. 

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"Against All Odds" by R. F. Kuang

This is Dak Ralter's story. He's the guy who was Luke's snowspeeder gunner during the Battle of Hoth. Apparently "he was born into a family of rebels--merchant traders and loyalists to the Republic who refused to bow when Emperor Palpatine assumed power; who were caught smuggling Jedi Knights to sanctuary on their transport ships and sentenced to a lifetime in prison. [...] Dak was born in chains." He "was born and raised in the Scargon region of Kalist VI, a penal colony in the dregs of the Deep Core where the Empire sends its political prisoners to rot." And there's another reference to the Deep Core being a bad place to be!! I'm still so confused by this. (See my review of "Eyes of the Empire" from part 1/8.) On Kalist VI, he grew up with prisoners being made to shoot at other prisoners in firing squads...making him an incredibly good shot. 

He's also another Luke worshipper, seeing in him the ability to find "faith in the impossible" and saying "he's the hope of the rebellion incarnate." Being Luke's gunner means the world to him. Even after his side of the snowspeeder is shot and he's left mortally wounded, Dak knows what's happening around him and cares about the Rebels' success, believing with all his heart that they will eventually succeed.

Trivia: There were 30 transports on Hoth that had to get past the blockade! Luke called for "attack pattern delta" against the Imperial walkers.

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"Beyond Hope" by Michael Moreci

Private Emon Kref is a Rebel foot soldier in the Hoth trenches who wonders why he even joined up with the Rebellion...he sees the Alliance as a lost cause against the Empire, but he also has an incredibly unique perspective on the prospect of war. He had been born into a war on Koshaga with his father as the general of the Koshagan People's Movement. "He'd battled arm in arm with his own people against the tyranny of the ruling class and those who supported it. That fight was Emon's life. But then the Empire came. In one single, swift operation, the war was over." 

A week after the Empire invaded Koshaga, Rebel recruiters arrived. "Still in a state of grief and shock, he couldn't conceive how anyone could topple the Empire. But war was all Emon knew, and the Rebellion was offering him just that." He despairs at the fact the Rebellion is so much more underfunded than the Koshagan People's Movement ever was. As Emon puts it, "That was the Rebellion, though. Elastic bands and good intentions." I adore this quote so much! It's a perfect encapsulation of the Rebels' near constant predicament.

As Andry, a fellow soldier, tries to get through to Emon, to keep him fighting in the midst of the raging battle, he says, "I've heard some people say that the Empire is a dark shadow spreading across the galaxy. But you know what? Shadows pass. The Empire's darkness pushes down on you relentlessly; it smothers you until darkness is all that's left. Think about Koshaga, Kref. Now picture what happened to your home happening everywhere. [...] None of us want this war, Kref. [...] We want what comes after the war." And this is when it hits him! "Emon paused. After. It seemed so strange, but he'd never really  considered an after to the conflict on Koshaga. The war always was, and everyone assumed it always would be. They didn't fight to win, Emon realized--they fought not to lose." "The Alliance was different. The conflict wasn't some grim destiny passed down across generations. These people from all over the galaxy chose to be here, in this Alliance, on the frozen plains of Hoth, fighting against a nearly insurmountable enemy. And that choice gave them strength. It gave them the power to hope, and Emon was beginning to feel what that meant. He was coming to understand the power of after." This is his unique perspective on war. Before he'd seen it as a way of life and a thing that needed to be won, but then Andry finally gets through to him and he realizes that it's so much more than that, it's about resisting, not losing the day, and looking toward a better future without war. It's about looking beyond hope. I absolutely love this metaphor.

As Emon sees his life flash before his eyes with a walker's guns staring him down, he thinks, "He was a rebel, and that meant he was more than his weapon, his uniform, or his rank. He was an idea, and ideas couldn't be snuffed out, not even on the desolate, frozen plains of Hoth." So many fantastic quotes and perspectives in this story!!

Trivia: Other soldiers in this story include Andry Ked (a man in his 40s which is apparently old for Rebel grunts), Sergeant Trey Callum, Cally Pon (carries an A280), and Su Torka. Emon carries an A295 blaster rifle.

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Another great set of short stories!! Plenty of Rogue One to keep me satiated and tons of unique perspectives to keep my brain mulling over interesting ideas. I've already read the next 5 and am super stoked about my upcoming review on them!! The stories continue to be SO good!!