From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back by various (Part 7/8)
From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back by various (Part 7/8)
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"No Time for Poetry" by Austin Walker
Apparently Boba Fett didn't just give dummy coordinates to Bossk and Dengar, he supposedly gave dummy coordinates to all the bounty hunters, which is kinda disappointing because I really liked the idea that he was singling out those from his old group Krayt's Claw--oh well. Regardless, IG-88 and Dengar found coordinates beneath the dummy coordinates (The wily Boba Fett had not only "provided false information directly, he'd seeded his own ship's data banks with decoy coordinates.") and have followed these instead...only to find a YT-1300 light freighter!!!...that's...not the Millennium Falcon "hiding in the desolate shell of a Trade Federation Lucrehulk-class battleship." They realize it's not the Falcon when they notice it isn't highly modified. In fact, "Solo's craft was a heavily modified YT-1300f, a cargo hauler transformed into a well-armed smuggling starship. But this was a much more slightly modified YT-1300p, designed for passenger transit" called the Deadnettle, an independent pleasure vessel.
But let's back up for a second, IG-88 and Dengar have decided to team up because two have a greater chance of finding the Falcon than just one. But as Dengar puts it, reassuring IG-88 that he understands the terms of their arrangement, "When we get him, our truce is over. You and me, we'll have a prizefight fit for the dueling arenas of Nar Shaddaa. And only one of us will walk away with the purse." Unfortunately...or fortunately, the two never get to battle it out since the freighter they capture is owned by none other than a Hutt!! And the ship acts as a super secretive gambling den for high profile clients to vie for the wrecks in the debris field. Love this extra bit of connectivity and lore!!
I am a little confused on one point. The narrative says, "The coordinates Fett had provided Dengar with had led the duo to a debris field in the Outer Rim, one of the few reminders of the Clone Wars' massive starship battles." But they specifically say earlier in the story that they used the coordinates hidden beneath the coordinates Fett outright gave them. So is this sentence just badly worded and they're referring to the hidden coordinates and not the dummy coordinates?? I ask this because the rest of the story takes place in the debris field...
Trivia: I'm not sure if this is real or if IG-88 is trying to reason things out, but supposedly Dengar's bandages are due to "a poorly installed cybernetic modification." I really wouldn't have pegged Dengar for the type to go through something like that, he seems too brutish--not really the intellectual type... The Deadnettle is piloted by a Mirialan woman named Sunnari Khall and her boss is a Hutt from the Besadii clan.
Overall, this was a fun story with several surprises sprinkled in for good measure. And I really did get a kick out of getting to know IG-88 and Dengar just a bit more intimately!
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"Bespin Escape" by Martha Wells
The two main characters are Beetase and Lonaste, Lonaste being the only one of the family who knew such an evacuation order was coming! She is awakened violently by her cousin Beetase as she proclaims, "You were right. It's happening." The two burst into the room where the rest of their family is gathered and everyone is cool and calm, citing Yoxgit as having said not to worry. Of course, Yoxgit has already sold the other Ugnaughts out, but Beetase and Lonaste's family don't know that. Lonaste had been preparing for this eventuality for most of a year and had just, two days previous, booked passage on a Duros cargo ship in exchange for scraps saved from the reclamation center. But with the call having already gone out and the whole city frantic as hell, the Duros pilot had already left, leaving Lonaste's Ugnaught clan high and dry. When one of the other Ugnaughts, Jamint, goes and checks on another clan, he discovers they have already left... So, Beetase and Lonaste run off to the docking bays to see if the Duros ship is still there...or if they need to/can find another way off Bespin.
They end up coming across an abandoned ship with a marooned droid that is the answer to their prayers and although Yoxgit tries everything in his power to stop the clan from escaping on it, Aunt Moloste "whacked him with a calibration bar" and the clan is free to board the ship. But they don't even get to the ship before the story ends...so we really have no idea if they made it away safely or not... And that is incredibly frustrating to me. I feel like this story needed a little more pizzazz and having them zoom off to safety might have provided that...
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"Faith in an Old Friend" by Brittany N. Williams
The story itself takes place before, during, and after the Falcon's arrival on Cloud City, beginning with its journey inside the Exogorth. At one point, Han and Leia get close to each other and ED-4 says "the rear sensors are very--chatty." After L3 asks about what, V5-T says, "ELEVATED HEART RATES DETECTED IN THE COCKPIT." And after shifting to the cam to get a visual on the situation, L3 thinks, "She remembered how Lando's heart rate would change whenever they were in close proximity. Something like sadness shoved against her awareness." This is followed by ED-4 asking, "Is this organic courtship?" Hahaha!! And interesting about Lando's heart rate--L3 is a droid and probably really could detect differences in his heart rate, but I don't honestly think he had a thing for her. P.S. Being pansexual does not mean you are also attracted to inorganic beings!! The misunderstanding of Lando's pansexuality and the way the movie Solo portrays it is incredibly disheartening to me, a person of that particular sexual orientation. Ugh!
Eventually we get the conversation between C-3PO and the Millennium Collective and boy is it funny! I feel sorry for poor 3PO trying to figure out what in the heck is going on as he gets barraged by three different personalities all coming from the same location. He is utterly confused.
Turns out it was L3 who "adjusted the information on the star map, sliding Bespin into prominence and pushing that name forward. She hoped Han remembered as she did. Because she'd never forget, no matter how long she spent in the brain of the ship he'd lost." *my heart!!* And then once they've been on Cloud City for a bit, Lando makes his way onto the ship much to L3's delight! "'God, I miss this ship.' His eyes shifted over to the empty copilot's seat, L3-37's old seat. He brought his right hand up to his forehead and flicked two fingers at the empty seat in a casual salute. He sighed and let his hand drop to his lap. 'It's just not the same without you, Elthree.' He laughed, the sound harsh in the silence of the cockpit." L3 admits/laments that "Han might've been the better pilot, but Lando had been her partner."
Unfortunately, L3 discovers that Vader has Lando under his thumb and she is not happy one bit!! "Vader? The Empire's monster? L3-37 shouted. She knew only the rest of the Collective could hear her but she needed the release just the same. You're working for Vader? Lando, what have you done?"
But of course, Lando ends up escaping with Chewie, Leia, R2, and 3PO on the Falcon and he is redeemed in L3's eyes, "Lando might be a hedonistic, self-serving scoundrel, but he always did the right thing in the end. That was the man she'd known and the man he still was even without her by his side to remind him. And that's who she'd put her faith in." D'awww!!! This story really did pack a heartfelt punch!! And I loved learning more about the other two droids that were part of the Falcon's droid brain!
Trivia: Han owned a Treadwell repair droid...strange...and ED-4 loved talking to him! "Han had acquired the WED-15 Treadwell droid three years ago. Treadwell said he'd been with some Jawas, and before that he'd worked repairs on a Republic cruiser during the Clone Wars." I find this utterly fascinating...and weird because unless I'm totally missing something, you never see this droid in either A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back...
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"Due on Batuu" by Rob Hart
Willrow works in the gas mining operations center "overseeing pressure levels in the reactor stalk." "Every day, Willrow sat at his console, monitoring pressure levels, venting gases, doing little more than watching lights and pressing buttons." Unfortunately, his work doesn't pay him very much and he's trying to find a way out of his current rut of a life, "Even though gas mining was the biggest industry in Cloud City, Willrow wasn't paid very well. The big money was reserved for the people who owned the machinery but didn't actually know how to operate it. Willrow was exhausted, killing himself to make someone else rich." He'd found a way out in the form of his "sometime drinking buddy Faron, a Rodian smuggler." The idea of the smuggling lifestyle greatly appeals to Willrow as you can "be your own boss, visit different planets, wear your own clothes instead of a stupid orange jumpsuit." Haha! So he makes a deal with Faron to ferry an undisclosed item contained in a camtono to a terrifying woman named Tropos on Batuu, with an up-front payment of 10,000 credits and a payment on receipt of 40,000 credits. Willrow lets his excitement and some drinks and his attraction to Bexley (see below) get the better of him and he reveals the whole scheme to her. Thinking she'll be good with payment of 10,000 credits to pilot him to Batuu, Willrow is incredibly distraught when he discovers the camtono is missing from his living quarters.
To back up a second, the story starts off with Willrow making a short cut to his job through the cloud car shuttle bay which is rife with "the ambassadors of factions considering business in Cloud City, to be ferried on sightseeing trips through the surrounding skies of Bespin." Unfortunately, the place is over full and bustling with activity on this day and he shortly finds out why... He comes upon his friend and crush, Bexley, a female cloud car driver, who might not be the most trustworthy person in the galaxy... She reveals that Vader is on Cloud City--"Willrow tried to respond and found he couldn't, the muscles in his throat paralyzed. He felt a surge of fear that made him think of being a child, trying to fall asleep in a pitch-black room. That utter terror that there could be monsters just beyond the edge of his vision. 'He's...here?' Willrow finally managed to get out, dropping his voice to a whisper. 'I mean...he's real. And he's here?'" This is the second story (see "But What Does He Eat?") in which the main character didn't believe before now that Darth Vader was an actual real person and thought instead he was just a bogeyman to keep good Imperial boys and girls in line. I guess the galaxy is a very big place and not everyone would have had the unfortunate opportunity to cross paths with the Dark Lord.
For the rest of the tale, Willrow and Bexley battle it out over the camtono as they run into a plethora of stormtroopers. Luckily the two get away, but Faron comes back on the scene and attempts to take back the camtono, saying, "You think you're a smuggler? You're barely a messenger." Poor Willrow!!! In the commotion though, whatever's in the camtono breaks apart (it used to not make a sound and now it rattles), leaving Faron to proclaim that Willrow's on his own with the broken merchandise. Now with the smuggling gig no longer on the table, Bexley and Willrow decide to head off away from Cloud City to anywhere but Batuu.
A super cute story with some real depth to it, but I'm left nervous for Willrow in regards to Bexley...can she be trusted?!?
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"Into the Clouds" by Karen Strong
Jailyn Cirri is the main character and she is the daughter of a Tibanna gas merchant (who also dabbles in more discreet areas of commerce). The Cirri family has enough money to even have a swimming pool at their living quarters! "Despite her father's gambling habits and his constant need for opulence, the family still had immense wealth. At least for now. As long as Jailyn kept cleaning up her father's messes." Already we see that Jailyn is neck-deep in covering for her father and his business. And below we see where her true interests lie.
We start off at The Lioness, a super fancy clothing boutique on the Plaza Concourse level in the shopping district of Cloud City that is only open by appointment. Neshee, the saleswoman, is admiring (while playing the perfect sales person) Jailyn in a gorgeous cloak of dark greens and deep blues that mirrors (except for the colors) the cloak given to Leia which we see her wearing in the movie. Apparently the Lioness was the clothier that provided Leia with her Bespin-wear, and the looped braids that hang down are of the Bespin-style. Also, Neshee was the one who interacted with Leia and strangely enough saw her as demure and gracious...Leia?!? Demure?!? That I'll believe when I see it lol. Neshee continues, "'I was most disappointed with her companions. A Wookiee and another man, less refined. But the baron administrator seemed familiar with them both, which given his history isn't a surprise.' Neshee huffed at the scandal of it all. Everyone knew how Lando Calrissian had been able to obtain his current position through the opportunities of luck and chance." Jailyn is completely the opposite of Neshee, "But Jailyn frowned at the stylist's disapproval. The princess was a part of the Rebellion, and the Empire had destroyed Alderaan. A rogue and a Wookiee probably made better allies than stodgy Bespin merchants." This made me fall in love with Jailyn from the very beginning!! We see that she's not a typical member of the elite, but instead wishes for something more real and meaningful. As the story progresses, we see this desire play out!
Jailyn goes to the Royal Casino to pretend to be Leia for awhile, although only in her mind, anything to not be who she really is day in and day out. She comes across her father's pilot-on-retainer (for his ship the Velker), Dresh Lipson--"His long brown hair was tied in a tail, and he wore loose trousers with a thread-bare shirt barely hidden under a dusty black jacket. Roguish as he was, she tried not to stare. He was an offworlder and avid lover of the sabacc tables. Dresh boasted loudly of his wins, but he always slipped a few credits to his comrades for future luck." He also had Rebellion sympathies. It's clear from the description of Dresh that, try as she might, Jailyn can't deny her feelings for the man.
She begins to question herself and what she's doing with her life as Dresh and her converse, "At least he was making a living. What was she doing? Imperial forces were now in the Outer Rim. She was sure that Princess Leia Organa wouldn't be in some casino sipping a frothy drink, pretending to be a rebel. Jailyn glanced at Dresh's teasing eyes. She knew what he saw. A naïve socialite, the daughter of a wayward gambler, a girl playing make-believe. She turned and stormed out of the Royal Casino, the truth burning in her chest." As I said, character development!! Jailyn is grappling with her reality and disappointed in who she currently is, wanting desperately to change and be a person that can make a true meaningful difference!
Once Lando's call goes out over the city intercom for all to leave before more Imperial troops arrive, Dresh and Jailyn race to her father's ship in a desperate bid to escape. But along the way they come across Leia and Chewie and Jailyn can't help herself in trying to aid the princess. Luckily, Dresh knocks some sense into her and they manage to get aboard the Velker.
Trivia: Velker are predators of the jellyfish-like beldon (see "Beyond the Clouds").
Although fairly disconnected from the movie proper, I greatly enjoyed this story's thoroughness in telling a complete tale with development and change and depth!
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So another fairly fantastic set of 5 stories!! I'll admit though, the call going out over the Cloud City intercom courtesy of Lando is wearing a bit thin...problem is, there's not much more story to pull from. I honestly never realized how streamlined Empire Strikes Back was. We have the Battle of Hoth, Luke's training on Dagobah, and Cloud City...and that's really it. I've always thought of A New Hope as the streamlined movie but I think my calculations were off...more on this in the next review which will cover the final 5 short stories of the collection!!
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