#Tarkin Rework

[gffa]

Aww, you're too nice to me, thank you!!  I’ve mostly seen commentary in the same vein and I understand why, so many of us are sitting here like :| and braced for the worst interpretations, because Ahsoka’s character is often polarized and Jedi discussion is often polarized.  Pitting them against each other, probably leaves a lot of people not wanting to touch it with a ten foot pole. For me, I think I have to establish my view of Ahsoka’s character in the first place and where she’s at at this point in time:  She left the Jedi Order because she couldn’t trust herself or the Council, she needed time away to consider what she wanted and she wasn’t ready to really deal with all of that. Out of all of the Jedi, I think Ahsoka has the strongest reason to be angry and hurt about the war and the relationship the Jedi have with the Republic, because she was such a victim of the whole thing.  She was the one who Tarkin set his sights on, she was the one who was framed and put on trial, she was the one who had the bonds between herself and her family ripped apart because the weight of the entire government came down on them. Everyone made mistakes in that arc, everyone did what they thought was best.  No one was perfect in that arc--Ahsoka didn’t trust anyone and that mistrust isn’t what saved her, it was Anakin’s actions that saved her.  Ahsoka immediately didn’t trust anyone to help her, didn’t even try to contact them, was hurt that Anakin didn’t come to see her, even when he pointed out that would have made it worse for her.  And he’s right, but that doesn’t negate that she was left all alone.  The Jedi tried desperately to keep everything with Ahsoka in house, but their hands were forced, the other road would have been worse, but that doesn’t negate that she was left all alone. Obi-Wan says in the Crystal Crisis arc that they all made mistakes, that Ahsoka let her emotions cloud her judgement in her most critical moment, and I think that’s both spot on (that’s why she left, because she realized she couldn’t trust herself, that’s why she was so hesitant to help with Maul because she still wasn’t there yet) and informs much of what Obi-Wan sees with her.

Ahsoka isn’t being fair in her treatment of Obi-Wan. She’s angry about what happened with Barriss, she’s angry about what happened with the Jedi, she’s angry about them being drawn into this war that hurt her so terribly on such a personal level, she’s angry that she feels obligated to work with the Jedi again when she’s not ready.

When you look at Ahsoka’s arguments, they tend to fall apart pretty quickly--she’s angry that the Jedi want to help the people on Coruscant?  The heart of the Republic?  Where trillions of people live?  Where Trace and Rafa live?  The two characters she just met who informed so much of what she wants to be as a Jedi?  Or how she entirely ignores that the Republic’s treaties with Mandalore mean that this is an invasion and politics have genuine consequences in Star Wars, you can’t just invade other countries!  And she’s being unfair about how she’s making it clear that she’s not a Jedi, she’s a citizen, but then turns around and wants to be privy to classified information that only Jedi agents should have. This isn’t to come down on Ahsoka, because these things make me like her more, these things make my heart ache for her, because I see her as a young woman who was thrown back into a situation she wasn’t ready for and she’s doing her absolute damnedest to be professional about it. But this is her family, these are the people she loves underneath it all, this is Anakin who so badly wants her to come back and is kind of stepping all over her boundaries--he even reworks her lightsabers to change the crystal’s color!  It’s such a sweet gesture!  But it’s also So Very Much before she’s ready for it.  It’s so clear that he thinks she’s coming back and everything will be like it was before and she’s just not sure, so she has to be the one to set down boundaries with him and that’s another thing that tears at her heart.

That’s why I think she’s so gentle when Mace lobs the “Citizen.” remark back at her, because I don’t think she was angry about that, she doesn’t respond angrily at all, but almost relieved.  It’s a tense moment, but he’s holding her boundary for her, it’s a reminder that she’s not ready to be back yet and I think part of her might have been grateful for it, because she’s so mixed up about what she wants and who she is at this point. Then you have the scene with Obi-Wan and I think she probably was angry with him, both because he was on the Council and she’s still mad at them, but also because this is Obi-Wan and she knows him, she loves him, he’s tearing at her heart and making her want to come back and that’s more confusing feelings.  And he probably seems so calm and collected, all the more so when this is dealing with something that has deeply personal meaning for him because of Satine, while she feels jumbled up and unsteady.  Her emotions are still threatening to cloud her judgment, and then he’s there saying he’ll refuse to do so, and it’s hard not to feel a riot of emotions about that. But also she knows he cares, she trusts him with her message to Anakin, she doesn’t even have to spell it out, because she knows that Obi-Wan knows.  And I think some part of her treats Obi-Wan the way Anakin does--she’s being unfair with him because she knows he’s a rock that will weather her storm.  Even when they’re clashing, she trusts him to understand her and her feelings and where she’s coming from.  She trusts him to be there even when they fight.

With Obi-Wan, he’s also having a really rough time of it because he’s got a real shitshow on his hands--he has everything with Satine’s memory here, he has a political shitstorm with the invasion of Mandalore they’re doing, he has Anakin’s unstable moods and Anakin emotionally zipping off to be like, “I knew!  I knew there was a reason why everything happened, it was meant to!” and undercurrent of mania, and he has his own guilt about what happened with Ahsoka, while also recognizing that the other roads probably would have been worse and that she’s allowed her upset feelings. I do think Obi-Wan is probably frustrated and disappointed with Ahsoka, because she’s coming from an emotional place in the sense of letting it cloud her view of the reality of the situation, and they can’t afford that right now.  And I think he’s frustrated that she’s not being fair about this, because what’s he supposed to do in response to her?  They’re in the middle of a war and this is why Jedi train their whole lives, because people’s lives are on the line, they have to be clear and focused or people will die.  They have to make hard choices because they’ve been put in a position of responsibility and wishing circumstances were less shitty doesn’t actually make the war any less shitty.  They still have to protect the trillion innocent people who live on Coruscant, they can’t just abandon them because it wouldn’t be the most popular decision. At the same time, he understands where she’s coming from, that she’s hurt about everything and she’s not ready for this and yet she still came to help anyway.  And I think he’s probably frustrated that she’s implying that he’s the one being obstinate and not helping, when the situation is nowhere near as clear-cut as Bo-Katan tries to say it is, he’s perfectly willing to compromise when offered an acceptable path to helping both Mandalore and Coruscant, after all. But also he loves her and he knows that she’s a caring, good person, he doesn’t even have to ask what her message to Anakin is, he knows.  He’s even willing to tell her about his concerns about Anakin and his mission to spy on Palpatine, he asks her to speak with Anakin, asks for her help, because he knows how important she is.

I don’t think Obi-Wan was as open or reaching out as much as he theoretically could be, but like Ahsoka, he’s going through A Lot right now and has a ton on his plate and none of them are really ready to deal with that while everything is still in flames around them.  But it’s also why they end on soft notes with each other, because they know that they’re both important to Anakin, that Anakin is important to both of them, that the Jedi are important to both of them, that they’re important to each other. And boy does it hurt that neither of them can see what’s coming with Anakin, that they’re both unable to see that he’s on the verge of falling.

But that’s how people who love each other are. That’s how family is with each other--they get frustrated and upset and needle each other and disappointed in each other because they love each other. And I think you see that all throughout Obi-Wan and Ahsoka’s scenes, they’re both characters who have made mistakes and aren’t at their calmest here, they’re tense with each other, but it’s coming from a place of deep caring about everyone in that room.

I think they both acted the way they did because they thought they would have time to sort it out, they trusted that their family would be there when they had that time. Ahsoka puts off catching up with Anakin because she’s not ready yet and there’ll be time later. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan needle each other because they’re frustrated and there’ll be time to come back together later. Ahsoka says softly, “Not yet.” when Yoda asks if she’s going to be a Jedi again, she looks so hopeful when talking to Rex about the end of the war and she can come back to the Jedi in a way she trusts, she really thought there would be more time. Obi-Wan says they’re close to the end of the war, he’s off to defeat Grievous finally, this was supposed to be the end, there would be time for the slow, long repair of their relationships. They act the way they do because they weren’t ready to let everything go just yet, not because they didn’t care.  They thought there would be more time.

[nerds-yearbook]

The final film of the devisive Star Wars prequel trilogy was released on May 19, 2005. Of the first 6 Star Wars movies, Revenge of the Sith was the first Star Wars movie to be rated PG-13. It was also the first Star Wars film to not recieve a nomination of Best Visual Effects. The original cut of the movie tied directly to the end of the Genndy Tartakovsky animated Clone Wars (2003 - 2005) shorts and showed Shaak Ti (Orli Shoshan) being executed after failing to protect Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). The animated shorts also introduced General Grievous (Matthew Wood) and explained why he had respratory problems. The title was simular to the original title of episode 6 Revenge of the Jedi (1983), which was turned to Return of the Jedi as Lucas felt revenge was not a Jedi trait. The title was changed late enough that it altered the title of Vengeance of Khan (1982) to Wrath of Khan as Star Trek producers felt Vengeance sounded too close to Revenge. Lucas finally worked in a Wookie planet battle that was originally in the script for episode 3 Star Wars A New Hope (1977) and reworked as Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. Originally, George Lucas planned to write and direct the first movie and then story and executive produce episodes 2 and 3, like he did with 5 and 6, but after the panning the first prequel got, he wrote and directed 2 and 3 himself. The movie had the key points of ending The Clone Wars, turning Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen and James Earl Jones) into Darth Vader, the fall of the Jedi and the Republic, the creation of the Empire, the revelation of the Emperor and his disfiguration, the duel between Vader and Obi Wan (Ewan McGregor) that disfigured him, the death of Padme (Natalie Portman), the birth of Luke Skywalker (Aidan Barton) and Princess Leia Organa (also Aidan Barton), Luke's adoption by Owen (Joel Edgerton) and Beru Lars (Bonnie Piesse), Leia's adoption by Bail (Jimmy Smits) and Breha (Rebecca Jackson Mendoza) Organa, Yoda's (Frank Oz) exile to Degobah and Obi Wan to Tatooine, and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) getting his memory wiped. The movie introduced the planets Utapau, Mygeeto, Felucia, Saleucami, Kashyyk (though technically this first appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special - 1978), and Mustafar. Action also took place on established planets Coruscant, Naboo, and Tatooine. Noteable deaths in the movie were Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), General Grievous, Padme, Agen Kolar (Tux Akindoyeni), Saesee Tiin(Kenji Oates), Kit Fitso (Ben Cooke), Mace Windu (Samuel L Jackson), Boga, Ki-Adi-Mundi (Silas Carson), Aayla Secura (Amy Allen), Plo Koon (Matt Sloan), Stass Allie (Nina Fallon), Zett Jukassa (Jett Lucas), Whie Malreaux (Coinneach Alexander), Bene (Olivia McCallum), Cin Dralling (Nick Gillard), Nank Tun, Passel Argente (Marty Wetherill), Po Nudo (Paul Nicholson), Poggle the Lesser (Richard Stride), Rune Haako (Jerome Blake), Rute Gunnay (Colin Ware), Nute Gunray (Silas Carson), Tikkes , Cat Miin, Shu Mai, San Hill, and Wat Tambor (Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood). Characters that continued on to the original trilogy were Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, the Emperor, Yoda, C-3PO, Tarkin (Wayne Pygram), R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Owen and Beru Lars, Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly), Luke Skywalker, and Leia Organa. Critically, Revenge of the Sith is often called the best of the prequel trilogy and was the highest domestic grossing film in year release of 2005. ("Revenge of the Sith", Star Wars Movie Event)

[fandom-shitposter]

I'm still ridiculously pissed about the recent SW shows being nothing more than a remake that's pretending as hard as it can that that's not at all what it is

You can rework Maul living underground in a hole with a spider body made of scrap and sharing space with an alien snake into Mecha Spider Maul trying to eat Mando way below the surface of Mandalore but it'll always still basically be the same thing

You can kill Sabine's parents offscreen like Bail and Breha died, but without the context of why that originally happened it's just a meaningless waste of characters

You can rework Boba's life to use him as the non-Jedi Luke Skywalker stand-in right down to the adoptive Tatooine family (who die while he's off on a quest elsewhere in order to get the plot moving), swimming about in just his underpants in a bacta tank, and then have him hang out with a twink Jedi and his disreputable slacker friend (with or without his own shitty run down space ship). He's also not out of 'secret' sisters, and has his Big Bad Guy family reveal yet to come

Even Tarkin-lite Rampart gets to be exploded just like his counterpart

Don't even get me started on the amout of 'borrowed from elsewhere' material that they're relying on to support and conceal that they're doing this, and they're leaning HARD on their chosen franshises for plot to copy. But that isn't without some effort. I mean, Disney even own the IP on some of those properties

And I can't decide if it's just corporate laziness that has them recycling everything they possibly can rather than writing anything new or if Disney is just doing their best to stake their claim to George Lucas's work as being their own as much as they possibly can while it's still worth anything to anyone

As underperforming as Ahsoka was that can't be canned because it's the middle arc of the trilogy of shows timeline-wise, but the Acolyte can be dropped because cramming lore from the prequels into a show isn't going to affect the final outcome, whether some people want to see it or not

And we already know this won't be the end of it. Skeleton Crew's trailer shows that they've rehashed Explorers, but switching out a bicycle for a hover bike and adding a few aliens doesn't make that any different either

[superhusbands4ever]

The Chain - Chapter 4/15

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Full Work | AO3 Link

Fandom: The Bad Batch (Star Wars)

Characters: Crosshair, Hunter, Howzer, Rex, Wrecker, Tech, Echo, Omega, Various Clones

Relationships: Crosshair & Howzer, Crosshair & Rex, Crosshair & The Bad Batch, Crosshair & Omega, Hunter & Rex, Hunter & Omega

Additional Tags: Redemption, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Humor, Found Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Graphic Violence, Eventual Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending

Summary: One year after the events of The Bad Batch, Crosshair struggles to reconcile his choice with the harsh truth of the world around him. He finds enlightenment in the most unlikely of places and realizes he may have made the wrong decision. But is it too late to do something about it?

Two years after the events of The Bad Batch, Rex reluctantly agrees to allow Hunter and his squad to help him rescue a man who's been captured by the Empire, an Imperial double agent who's cover has been blown. What Hunter thought to be a simple extraction ends up having far greater consequences for their squad than he could have ever anticipated.

Chapter Warnings: None

Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.

Tryon Edwards

Rex never struck Hunter as the type to let his nerves get the best of him. That one attempted fist fight with Crosshair when rescuing Echo notwithstanding, Rex was always calm and level headed when they worked together in the past. Skako Minor, Anaxes, on Bracca - it was clear why Rex was the Captain of the famously wild Torrent Company and essentially the de facto commander of the infamous 501st Legion. His calm and steady presence along with his cool confidence made him exactly the kind of guy people naturally gravitated to, naturally turned to for leadership.

Which is why it was weird that Rex seemed fidgety in a way he’d never seen from the man before. Anyone who didn’t know him wouldn’t notice, but Hunter could see the way he kept fiddling with the buttons on the controls needlessly. He could hear the leather of Rex’s gloves squeak as he clenched and unclenched his hands periodically. And only Hunter would be able to hear the way Rex kept consciously making an effort to unclench his jaw and stop grinding his teeth.

After the fourth time in as many minutes that Rex flexed his fingers, Hunter finally spoke up.

“Are you alright, Captain?”

Rex glanced at Hunter, hands deliberately stilling in his lap as he sat up straighter.

“Yes,” he said. “Just restless, I suppose.”

Hunter nodded, staring out at the streaking blue and white light of hyperspace through the viewport of the freighter’s cockpit.

“This operative of yours,” Hunter said after a moment, “you two are close?”

Whatever response Hunter was expecting from the other man, it wasn’t for him to laugh. Even Rex seemed startled by the response, looking sheepishly over at the sergeant.

“Sorry,” Rex said, rubbing a hand over his head. “I just- I certainly never expected to be, but… yeah. Yeah. I suppose we are.”

“You don’t get along?”

“We didn’t at first,” Rex said, crossing his arms across his chestplate. “ Manda , I used to hate the guy. But… he’s a good man. The more I worked with him, the more I spoke with the people he helped, I realized that. He’s done a lot for our brothers.”

Hunter nodded slowly. “How did you two meet?”

“Oh, uh—“ Rex twitched again as he went to fiddle with the pilot controls. “We met back during the war.”

“You served together?”

“Ehh,” Rex hedged, “Only a couple of times towards the end.”

Hunter waited for Rex to elaborate but the other man was silent, continuing to mess with the controls. The ship was on autopilot, so he wasn’t actually doing anything. He listened as Rex’s heart rate slowly started gaining speed.

“So… who did he serve under? Maybe I’ve heard of—“

The navicomputer beeped and Rex’s shoulders slumped nearly imperceptively.

“Why don’t you go back and check on the others?” If Hunter didn’t know any better he’d say Rex sounded… relieved? “We should be arriving soon and we still need to rework the plan now that you all are here.”

Hunter frowned. Rex studiously avoided his eyes. He wasn’t ignorant to the fact that Rex was purposefully trying to get rid of him - the man was apparently as good at lying as Wrecker - but he wasn’t sure why.

Finally Hunter nodded. He tapped his bracer against Rex’s pauldron and made his way out of the cockpit.

Rex mumbled something under his breath as the doors slid shut, but the hydraulics were too loud over the man’s voice for Hunter to be able to make out what was said.

He found everyone in the hold, Tech, Wrecker, Boil, Echo, and Omega sitting around the floor in a circle, with Gregor on a bench in the corner cleaning his blaster. He walked in just as Echo laughed at whatever the reg had said.

“Still, I’m glad to see you,” Boil said as Echo’s laughter died down. “Cody mentioned that Rex had found you, but I didn’t get the chance to reach out before… well…”

Echo smiled sadly, resting his flesh hand on Boil’s shoulder.

“It was always entertaining to listen to Rex rant to Cody about all the shenanigans you and Fives got into.”

“Yeah,” Echo agreed, voice gruff. “Though from what I hear, you and Waxer certainly kept Cody on his toes.”

Boil laughed.

“True. Usually it was Waxer making the plans. I somehow always ended up getting dragged along.”

“Yeah, I know how that goes.” Echo sighed. “I’m sorry, by the way. I read about Umbara. I can’t even imagine--”

“Don’t be,” Boil sighed, rubbing at the red scar on the side of his shaved head. “It felt unbearable at the time, but… sometimes I… sometimes I’m almost relieved? Force, that sounds horrible but it’s true. Sometimes I’m relieved he was gone so he wasn’t forced to become monsters like we were. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if they were the lucky ones.”

“You’re not a monster, Boil,” Gregor piped up from the corner. “Whatever the chip made you do wasn’t you. You had no choice.”

Boil nodded slowly, fingers lingering on his temple.

“I still did it, though.”

“I know what you mean,” Wrecker said quietly, eyes on the ground. “When my chip activated I nearly killed my squad. If Rex hadn’t been there to stop me, I would have.”

Omega scooted closer to Wrecker and grabbed his hand, leaning her head against his shoulder. He smiled down at her.

Boil looked sympathetic. “It’s a good thing Rex was there, then. Rex was the one who picked up my ship when I left Corellia. I wish I could say I was surprised to see he’d made it out, but I don’t think I was, really. Cody always believed Rex would survive all of this.”

“Did you…” Echo trailed off, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “Did you… work with Cody while--”

“No,” Boil said firmly, shaking his head. “The GAR structure reorganized surprisingly quickly after the order went out. The 212th was recalled back to Coruscant and was divided up after that. Ghost Company went to Grand Admiral Tarkin while Cody and the other Marshal Commanders were sent to work directly under Palpatine. I haven’t seen Cody since we arrived on Coruscant after Uptapau.”

They were all quiet after that, heads bowed in remembrance of both their fallen and lost brothers. Besides Omega, everyone in the ship had worked under Cody’s command at some point and respected him for the great leader and big brother to all clones that he was. To imagine the strong willed, compassionate, selfless man under the direct control of someone like Palpatine was almost too much to bear.

It was thanks to Cody that Hunter and the others had even been allowed off Kamino. He’d been able to pull rank and convince Nala Se and the other Kaminoan scientists and trainers that the Unit 99s, of which Hunter, Crosshair, Tech, and Wrecker had been the last of, could be useful in the war. If it weren’t for Cody, they would have spent the rest of their days toiling around in Tipoca City, completing test after test until they were finally deemed too “defective” and decommissioned like the others in their unit, or put on janitorial duty like 99.

“What about you guys?” Boil’s quiet voice sounded overly loud in the solemn silence of the ship's hold. “How did you survive the order? Did the Commander get you guys out too?”

“No,” Tech said, adjusting his goggles. “Our chips were never activated. They malfunctioned due to our deviant nature from the other, regular clones.”

Boil cast Wrecker a sidelong look.

“But I thought—“

“His activated later as an effect of repeated head trauma to the chip’s implantation site.”

“Well, I’m glad you guys didn’t have to experience that. Though, I imagine it must have been a very difficult situation for you surrounded by everyone else.”

“Heh, you could say that again,” Wrecker grumbled under his breath.

“We’ve essentially been on the run from the Empire for the last three years,” Echo said. “The vod’e pretty much attack us on sight.”

“You said the Commander helped you escape recently?” Omega piped up from under Wrecker’s arm.

Boil nodded slowly, gaze trained on the ground.

“I’ve only been on Yavin for about a day and a half,” Boil said. “The Commander got me out just a few days ago”

“And then he was discovered,” Tech said succinctly. Echo smacked his arm.

“Yeah,” Boil said quietly, running his hand over his hair. “Extracting me was a risk, from what Howzer said.”

“It was a different op than the usual extractions,” Gregor said from the corner. “Typically he just gave us foot soldiers that he could say were killed in action on missions. Two or three at a time, buried under flimsiwork and red tape. He’d splice the system and mark them as KIA. Apparently the Empire doesn’t care much if they lose one or two rank and file clones.”

“I was higher up in the command structure, though,” Boil added. “I was a lieutenant on Grand Admiral Tarkin’s security team. He was attending some diplomatic event in Corellia and I was assigned a protection squad. The Commander caught me as I was coming off my shift and took me to some tiny infirmary in the hotel. Stunned me and took my chip out. I barely knew what was going on when he told me that he was getting me out of the Empire and we needed to hurry.”

“A natborn Imperial officer helping clones?”

“No,” Boil shook his head, “he is a clone.”

Everyone was silent and Hunter frowned. A clone commander working from within the Empire?

Gregor paused his cleaning and looked up at the group, eyes flickering from them to Hunter, who still lingered in the doorway.

“A clone spy within the Empire?” Tech asked skeptically. “Without his chip?”

Boil nodded. “I wasn’t sure at first, either. He never took his helmet off and he didn’t sound like any clone I’d ever met. But he understood what it was like when I woke up freaking out, asking questions, getting angry. He talked me down, told me that he knew it was disorienting to wake up suddenly in control of your own body after so long but we didn’t have time for an existential crisis so I needed to get myself together.

“So what has he been doing?” Echo questioned. “Just… pretending his chip is active?”

“I guess so. Howzer confirmed it later. They’re pretty close, I guess  - I thought Howzer was going to lose it when the distress signal went off.”

“How did the Commander get his out?”

Boil shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”

The room fell silent at that.

Something about the situation prickled at the back of Hunter’s mind. Maybe it was just the similarities to their own brother. Crosshair had chosen to stay with the Empire as well, even when out from under the chip’s influence - though there was no denying that Crosshair’s motivations and this Commander’s motivations were extremely different.

Crosshair chose to stay, to leave the team, their family, behind for selfish reasons - ego and power and a place in the new galactic order. This Commander chose to stay not for himself, but to help those who couldn’t help themselves.

The knowledge burned something inside him, but Hunter buried it down.

This is who I am. .

“We all thought he was crazy when he reached out to Rex,” Gregor piped up, his blaster discarded on the bench next to him. “The whole thing was his idea. We warned him it was suicide, but he didn’t care. Rex thought he’d be dead within a month, but he’s been helping clones get out for nearly two years now. Howzer kept telling him it was time to get out before he got caught, but he wouldn’t listen. Now here we are.”

“I tried to get him to come with me. Told him if they found out what he’d done, they’d kill him.” Boil snorted. “You know what he said to me? He said ‘ stop being a noble di’kut and get in the ship before I stun you and put the chip back in. ’”

They all frowned at the threat, Gregor giggling from his place in the corner.

“I’m glad to be going back for the Commander,” Boil said. “Obviously I wish it were in better circumstances. I know it was his decision to stay behind, but it still felt wrong leaving him there, you know? Colt always said we never leave a man behind.”

“Yeah,” Echo said quietly, eyes meeting Hunter’s across the room. “I know the feeling.”

Hunter held Echo’s gaze, same as he always did when the topic came up over the last two years. And same as every other time, in the face of Echo’s admonishment, Hunter said nothing in return. There was nothing to say that hadn’t already been discussed at length.

Repeatedly.

Loudly.

Wrecker and Tech glanced at each other over Echo’s head while Omega averted her eyes to the ground.

The ship shook as it dropped out of hyperspace and Hunter took that as his que to get moving.

“Rex said we’ll be touching down soon,” he said, stepping fully into the room. “We should start getting ready.”

As the others moved over to Gregor to begin gearing up, Echo stood and held Hunter’s gaze a moment longer. Hunter shook his head and Echo sighed before moving to join the others.

He had a feeling they’d be having that discussion once again once this mission was over.

Hunter felt a hand in his and he looked down to meet Omega’s eyes. She smiled sadly at him, squeezing his hand. He squeezed back, but couldn’t quite drudge up the willpower to smile in return.

“C’mon,” he said instead, “let’s gear up.”

She nodded and walked over to the group, helping Echo loop his pack over his scomp arm. Hunter watched them all and tried not to think about the weird feeling lingering in the back of his mind.

~

“Alright,” Rex said as the ramp to the ship lowered. They’d landed in the forest, hidden at the bottom of the mountain the same as they had last time. Gregor helped Tech and Rex navigate the ship to an area below the mountain where there was a hidden entry point similar to the vents they had escaped through last time.

“Echo, Hunter, Tech, Boil, and Gregor - you’re with me. Wrecker, stay with the ship.”

“Wha- oh, come on!” Wrecker said, slipping his helmet up to stare at Rex with wide eyes. “I can help!”

“You will help,” Rex held his hands up placatingly, “we need someone to stay with the ship that can meet us at the exit. I get a feeling we’re going to need to make a quick get away.”

“Aww, why can’t Tech do it?”

“We need Tech to help Gregor and Echo hack the systems,” Rex explained calmly. “This is a stealth mission, Wrecker, and those aren’t your, uh… strong suit.”

Wrecker groaned, pulling his helmet off and slunking off to sit on a crate. Omega patted his hand.

“Sorry, Wrecker. But I just can’t take any risks with this.”

“Nah, I understand,” and to Wrecker’s credit, he did sound like he meant it.

Rex nodded and gestured for the others to follow him off the ship.

Before Omega could get far, Hunter grabbed her elbow.

“Omega.... I want you to stay on the ship with Wrecker.”

Omega frowned.

“Why? I can help!”

Hunter sighed. She stood with arms crossed as she leveled a glare at Hunter and her eyes filled with that stubborn indignation she’d been showing more and more since she’d reached her teenage years.

As she got older, every time she glared at him like that she looked more and more like--

“We’re walking straight into an Imperial base,” Hunter said, trying to keep his tone as even as possible. “You remember what happened last time.”

“It was my idea to help on this mission.”

“It was,” Hunter conceded. “Though, you didn’t exactly talk it through with us before offering.”

She had the grace to look a little chastised at that.

“This is dangerous, Omega. High level stuff, not what we usually do. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

He trailed off and the fire seemed to go out from under Omega with her disappointed sigh.

“Fine,” she said. “But I don’t like it. If you get caught again, we will be having words.”

Hunter chuckled. “Noted.”

Her eyes searched his face a moment longer before she flung her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest.

“Be careful.”

“I will,” he rested his chin on top of her curls. “I promise.”

Hunter’s commlink beeped and Rex’s voice filled the room.

“Hunter, let’s move out.”

Omega pulled back and crossed her arms as Hunter pulled on his helmet. She waved to him as he walked down the ramp, her and Wrecker both watching as the group started making their way toward the base of the mountain.

Hunter stared up at the mountain as they worked their way through the forest, his mind jumping back to the last time they had been on this planet, attempting a rescue from this exact base. Hopefully this time went better than the last. Hopefully no one was captured again. Hopefully they could get in and out without alerting anyone, though his squad was never that lucky.

Hopefully Crosshair isn’t here, Hunter thought as they climbed into the vent shaft. They hadn’t seen nor heard from Crosshair since the day they left Tipoca City. The Empire was large and the Galaxy even larger, so the chances were slim. He hoped. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with a family reunion today.

[anakinisvaderisanakin]

Mask of Death - Ashes and Embers

I’m reworking and retooling some of the older installments of tMoD with better grammar, and presentation, and this is still one of my favourite chapters of the series I have penned so far. Thus, I’m sharing it with you again, it might even be completely fresh to some of you. Link to full series is in the bottom notes!

--------------

Captain TL-440 - often called Teel for short - had never seen the man quite like this. It was an awe inducing sight, a sobering reminder of the fact that despite his Force powers; Vader was just as mortal as the rest of them.

Some people would believe Vader was nothing but an expertly crafted droid; that he was unbreakable and unstoppable. That he had no heart, no humanity, no soul. Teel knew better. Especially now, as the dust settled on the carnage of the battlefield. The air was polluted by thick black smoke, fire scorching what was left of blown up AT-AT:s, shuttles and speeder bikes. Bodies were everywhere. Some familiar squad members perished in the brutal fight. Some rebels with their uncovered faces locked in perpetual terror.

Teel himself had come out fairly unscathed. He’d been assigned to a defensive position at the back, rather than the usual offensive front. Thinking about it now, he couldn’t see any traces of the commander who had executed the order to advance. Sure, Teel was very aware of the fact somebody had figured it’d be a good idea to stab a vibro-blade into his side. It stung like a bitch, but it wouldn’t kill him.

Unlike several of his fellow troopers, who laid strewn about all around him in bits and pieces, Teel would heal. The gaping holes in his comrades chests were disheartening; their missing limbs impossible to relocate. He could hear someone coughing in the distance; the hacking gulps of dying man suffocating on his own blood.

In the beginning, the aftermath of battle had made Teel sick. Overwhelmed by nausea, cold sweat had wet his forehead. Sometimes he’d found himself throwing up, wondering how he was ever going to get used to the sight of his friends torn to shreds. These days, after all carnage he had witnessed, Teel felt little more than pity for his fallen peers. Pity for the poor bastards who weren’t lucky enough to get a swift shot to the head.

How many survivors were there, even?

Teel had counted ten plus two so far.

Was that it?

They had been a thousand men strong when they left the cruiser for the DX transport shuttle. The officers and admirals paid them little attention at any given time, thinking them to be disposable and easily replaced. Teel despised the stuck up, spoilt Imperial overheads; despised them and how little regard they had for their subordinates. Vader was different. Vader had always been different.

Vader was on their side, Teel had realized early on. Vader fought alongside them, got down in the trenches and trudged without complaint through the warzone. He was often up ahead, leading the troops on by inspiring them. Vader seemed fearless, pressing on and never faltering. Never wavering. It was no secret that Vader shared the same contempt towards the Moffs who preferred to sit in their pampered palaces and beach houses as Teel and his men did. The high society would be sipping wine as their slaves saw to their needs while their troops were mowed down by enemy Rebellion forces. Vader, for all that he was, seemed to accept the soldiers as self serving individuals. Vader seemed to recognize that they were people, and even seemed to respect some of them.

Teel himself had done battle alongside Vader enough times, that he knew that they both appreciated the other’s efforts. That’s what made him dare to approach Vader in this moment. While the rest of the surviving squad members withdrew in retreat, keeping their distance out of fear, Teel persisted. He knew as well as his comrades that in this state, Vader may be lethal even to his own men.

Still, the captain had faith in the only man of the Imperial army who would dare gamble with his own life alongside theirs. The man who was - despite what governor Tarkin and his fellowship might think - second only to the Emperor in power. Highest command; and yet here he was, on the bottom of the ladder fighting beside the ground forces.

Vader’s majestic cape was in tatters. Not much remained of it; gaping still sizzling holes left by blaster shots and vibro-blade slices lining the ruined fabric. Vader's boots were caked with mud and drying blood, shrapnel digging into the shin guards. Wires hung exposed from his chest monitor; electrical bolts sparking on and off in uneven intervals. His hands were curled into tight fists, one of which still clutching the hilt of his crimson light saber - he other exposed for what it was; cybernetics and metallic prosthetics. The man's chest armour was cracked; his robes in ragged shambles.

But there was one thing that Teel noted above all as unusual. Among the embers of charred bodies, and fizzling equipment; he noted the tear in the side of Vader’s bodysuit. But above, he spotted blood. Deep red, humanoid blood soaking through Vader’s clothing; through the left side of his upper torso.

What more, beneath the mass of torn fabric and red smudges there was skin. Deathly pale skin, injured human flesh. Teel didn’t comment on it, but simply watched in amazed silence. He listened to the still rhythmical, still steady breathing mechanism of Vader's. It was a small wonder that that seemed to have taken miniscule damage.

“Are you ready to retreat, Lord Vader?” Teal finally allowed himself to ask.

“In a moment.”

Vader’s booming vocals were as imposing as ever, an undercurrent of suspicion and wariness seeping through the deep bark. Teel relied on his judgment, he knew Vader’s powers as a Force wielder granted him almost superhuman senses and prowess. It had helped save their lives when traditional tactics failed several times in the past.

Still, Teel let his dark eyes hidden behind the visor of his own helmet linger on the oozing, dark blood. Vader was merely a mortal man. Mighty, unstoppable like a hurricane. But then more than ever, the thought that Vader could die crept up on Teel. Vader could be bested and defeated. He didn’t want to dwell on that scenario. Instead, the captain waited patiently beside the dark, towering figure.

Vader appeared focused on something far off in the distance, standing perfectly still as if he hadn’t even noticed he’d been injured. As if he was unaware of the fact that he was bleeding rather heavily. As if he had no clue that he was wounded,and battered, and bruised, and probably needed a pretty good repair job done on both his suit and his body. The deep gashes in his chest piece just above the wound bore telltale scratches created by vibro blades. And direct blaster fire hits. Smudges of ashes, and dust, and mud linger along the indentations. Meanwhile, dark blood lazily making its way down towards the exposed cybernetic arm in a steady stream; the crimson fluid clinging to mechanic silver making for a jarring contrast.

“Whatever survivors there are have departed. They have lost more men than we have,” said Vader finally; tone meticulous.

Now that was a good omen.

Vader never seemed to care for his own safety, always seemed to want to get the job done no matter the cost. Still, Teel figured that even Vader must be feeling the exhaustion, the fatigue, and the pain of his injuries as soon as the adrenaline rush of combat wore off. He didn’t doubt that Vader could have gone on for far longer, had another wave of rebels attacked; but Teel still released a heavy sigh of relief. There was always a possible what if scenario, and he didn’t particularly enjoy the idea of trudging on without Vader at the helm.

Slowly, Vader began to turn his back on the setting sun ahead; as the crackling flames little by little became the only light in the dark of early nightfall. Switching off his light saber to clip it to his belt he stood tall, not as much as a limp to his step. Perhaps Vader's movements somewhat sluggish when compared to his usual gait, but otherwise he came across as resolute as ever.

Teel watched Vader pause and bring his gloved fingers up towards the thoroughly soaked side of what remained of his robes and chest piece. The captain watched him withdraw his hand, the stench tang of iron and scorched flesh thick in the air. Its sickly aroma was coming from everywhere around them; from the tattered and dismembered corpses. Vader’s hand came back drenched in blood as it withdrew; and the man appeared to contemplate something as he studied it.

“It appears you will be sleeping in your own bunk tonight.”

It was then that Vader finally turned to face Teel head on, and the stormtrooper had to fight back a gasp of shock, biting back the startled noise that wanted to slip out.

The entire left side of Vader’s face plate was mangled, misshapen and cracked. What lay beneath was now exposed as the lense of the same side had shattered and fallen out. The deathly pale, twisted and scarred flesh Vader's torso had displayed carried over to his face. The features were grim and distorted, little more than shadows in the dark of night; but the fires all around cast just enough light to reveal an eye.

One single, deep set ember eye.

The eye was bloodshot, its socket hollowed, and dark rimmed, and sunken. Light reflected off of it like a predator stalking its unwitting prey in the early morning hours. Teel almost believed the eye was generating its own light, and glowing all on its own.

“Yes, milord,” he finally managed to choke out, giving a curt nod of acknowledgement and obedience.

The single burning golden eye fixed his gaze, even through the visor Teel felt it bore pry itself deep into his conscious mind. He couldn’t look away even if he wanted to. He was suddenly freezing, despite the heat of the furnace the battle field had turned into, and the many flames in the close proximity. He felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end; his fingertips going inexplicably numb. How many men had seen Vader unmasked and lived to tell the tale? Teel feared he may have brought ruin onto himself by simple exposure.

Then, the glowing eye broke the stare and with it, the stalemate. Its attention shifted to cast one final glance behind them.

“How many survivors have you accounted for?”

“Twelve, milord,” Teel responded, mostly on autopilot.

“Very well. Round them up and bring them back to the hangar bay.”

“Yes, Lord Vader.”

For a brief tense moment; their eyes met once more and the piercing golden iris made Teel’s stomach sink with dread seemed to convey an unspoken warning. Feeling a freezing cold chill pass through his very bones, the soldier nodded and complied with its demand. He was never to speak of what he had seen.

"I expect you to handle your promotion better than your predecessor, commander."

Then, Vader simply turned on his heel and began to make his way back towards the landing site. Perhaps, there was a tiny wobble to his steps? Teel squinted but couldn’t say for sure, and it took him longer than it should to realize Vader had just made him the new commander. The responsibility was more than he had grown accustomed to, but he would never refuse or question Vader's decisions.

Perhaps his concern was unfounded, but he deliberately remained a few paces behind Vader as they walked. Just in case.

Then again Teel thought, as he the look in that one exposed eye remained superimposed onto his inner vision; that one eye only added to the mystery of Vader. The sense of dread it had inspired within seconds, that was not human.

Vader may bleed, but he had the eyes of a beast.

---------

The Mask of Death chapter index:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24049894/navigate

[grndmoff]

this thread truly out here making me think again about father daughter camping trip but survivalist. how dare you.

l i s t e n!!!!! rory..... it is a rite of passage really. only this time instead of being forced to literally survive on her own like wilhuff was made to do, he would actually be there to aid her and ensure that no harm befell her. tradition doesn’t die of course, but tarkin sure as hell will rework it for Kalma.

[goingnerdyofficial-blog]

SWGOH - New Characters and Reworks

  Radio Free Tatooine interviewed two of the lead game designers for our favorite Star Wars Mobile game. Galaxy of Heroes will be releasing a new character as part of the latest marquee event. While we don't have the details on what this event will look like, we do have the information on the newest character in the game: Rebel Ahsoka Tano. But the former Jedi isn't the only good news we've heard from this update. In addition to these new characters, reworks are happening for Grand Admiral Tarkin and possibly the Ugnaught. The video below outlines what this new information means to holotable heroes everywhere.

Ahsoka (Fulcrum) Abilities

This information was put together and posted on Reddit and it outlines  Ahsoka's abilities. TAGS: Rebel, Attacker, Light Side Description: Enduring Rebel attacker that shrugs off debuffs and consumes buffs to deal extra damage Basic: Balanced Strike: Deal Damage to target enemy and gain Protection up (Up to 40%) for 2 turns, and grant the same amount to a random ally (This cannot affect the same ally multiple times) (This MAY refresh the amount on Ahsoka, not 100% positive) Special 1: Meditate: Ahsoka gains Foresight and all other non-unique buffs on allies for 2 turns (Does not copy taunt), and gains up to 15% turn meter for each buff received. 4-3 turn cooldown Special 2: Whirlwind: Ahsoka consumes all buffs and deals damage to target enemy, for each UNIQUE buff consumed, attack once more up to 10 times. ZETA: This attack cannot be evaded And the target has -50% armor against this attack. Unique: Perseverance: Ahsoka is immune to Damage over Time debuffs and has 30% Crit Evasion, and dispells all debuffs on her at the end of each turn and takes 14-10% damage for each debuff (Non-lethal damage) Then gains 1-5% HP for each buff that Ahsoka has.

Tarkin Rework

When Omegaed, Basic grants 50% potency, stacking until Ultimate Firepower is used. Ultimate Firepower: Deal special damage to all enemies, with 100% chance to remove 50% TM. Gains Offense equal to double Tarkin's Potency. Intimidation Tactics: Gain Potency Up for 1-3 turns, inflict critical chance down and offense down for 2-3 turns on all enemies. Cannot be resisted by rebels. Gain bonus TM for each debuffed enemy. Tighten the Grip (Leader): Empire allies gain 30 speed. Inflict Defense Down for 2 turns on enemies that fall below 100% health during Empire allies' turns. This cannot be resisted. Zeta upgrade: Also inflicts Expose. Callous Conviction (Unique): Gains Defense equal to 100% of his Potency. Zeta: Gains 20% Potency per debuffed enemy.

Ugnaught (Super-sized)

We don't know anything about this character's rework, but if I were to guess, he would have some connection to Lando and Lobot. He may have even gained a leader ability that boosts droids on the team. Currently, the little pig-man is all but a loner. He doesn't effectively fit on any real team. The Ugnaught can be a strong character when geared and modded properly, but he doesn't have many synergies that make him a character most people will put on their team. At best, he plays the role of fodder when people can't beat the final node in Galactic War.

Note

One important thing to remember about this update is that these new characters and reworks are not part of the new game mode that has been teased. Ahsoka is part of the next marquee event and the others are just reworks. We are still going to get a new character in June and that character may also come with a new game mode. So if you were upset that we didn't get Jedi Luke, Thrawn, Revan, or Jabba, then there is still hope that we will. So what do you think of the latest updates to the game? Are you looking forward to the new characters and reworks? Leave a comment in the section below. Click to Post

[shadowsong26fic]

Precipice Deleted Scene!

So, I have an AU outline coming up, sometime in the next couple of days depending on how quickly I finish it. But since that is a) Spite Fic(tm); b) not Star Wars and, in fact, based in a fandom I left a while ago that I’m pretty sure none of you are in; and c) a niche crossover on top of that...

Uh. Yeah. As a thank you to y’all for sitting through my self-indulgent nonsense later, I thought I’d post this! Which I’d been kind of thinking about sharing anyway, even before the Spite Fic(tm) came up.

Below the cut is an early version of Anakin’s half of the most recent Precipice chapter. Parts of this were written back during NaNo, and then bits and pieces over December and January. It’s also part of why this chapter took so long (almost a month as opposed to the 1-2 weeks I’d been shooting for)--the bulk of Padme’s half was actually complete last November, I just had to rework the opening and add a conclusion and a few other editing details. But the original version of Anakin’s half just...wouldn’t come together. And I think part of that was because it ended up feeling kind of redundant--it was Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, and Ahsoka meeting up and debriefing, so while some of the information was news to them, pretty much none of it was news to the reader. Also, braiding together the bits and pieces I’d written wasn’t working/the conversation wasn’t really flowing. Plus, the Anakin and Beru scene fit better with what was going on in Padme’s part. I actually made the decision to switch...I wanna say three days before I posted? And it just...flew. So, yeah, there’s that.

Anyway, there are a couple bits in here that I really like, and...well, if any of y’all wanted a look at my Process, so to speak, this actually might give some insight? It’s all pretty rough, and I’m leaving in my notes to myself so you can maybe get an idea of the kind of piecemeal ways I put together chapters.

Feel free to comment/ask questions/offer insights about your own process, if you wanna use this post as a jumping-off point for that!

Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Leia didn’t meet Ahsoka and Rex at Dr. Naar’s--in the interest of protecting their emergency medic, as a rule, none of them went there unless they actually needed his help.

Instead, beyond a brief coded “all-clear,” they waited to properly check in until they were all back at the farm.

[Which was not easy, waiting that long to really confirm that Rex was okay. Not that Anakin thought he wasn’t, exactly--even with everything else that had gone on this week, he’d’ve sensed it if his friend were in serious trouble--but, yeah, there was a difference between knowing and knowing, even with the Force to help. And he had lost too damn many friends over the years to be comfortable waiting for news.] [POSSIBLY CUT. PROBABLY CUT.]

Rex looked more or less okay, which was a relief. He was leaning pretty heavily on a set of crutches, but upright and moving more or less under his own power.

“You all right?” Anakin asked, quietly.

“Yeah,” he said. “Back to normal in a week or two, probably. As long as I don’t do anything stupid.” This last, he said with a somewhat pointed look that was probably supposed to be a Hint, which Anakin blissfully ignored.

“Glad to hear it, Captain,” he said, with a brief hand on his good shoulder.

[TRANSITION]

“How’d everything go?” Ahsoka asked, settling in on the floor, cross-legged.

“Pretty much as well as we’d hoped,” Anakin said. “Padme and Luke are--they’re--amazing. And Padme sends her love.”

Ahsoka nodded. “Good.”

“And with Saw?” Obi-Wan asked.

“About as well as we’d expected,” Rex said, and Ahsoka nodded.

“He’s holding back a little, not interested in a full commitment right now, but he’s keeping lines of communication open,” she added.

“We also ran into a massive hyperdrive, half-built. We blew it up, and managed to pull some data on our way out,” Rex said. “It might tie into some of the leads you’ve been chasing down?” [REWORD A LITTLE]

“Possibly,” Obi-Wan said. “Likely, even. I’m still working on fitting the various puzzle pieces together, but this will probably help. It’s certainly something we should keep an eye out for. If we’re looking at a question of scale…”

“I agree,” Rex said. “I’m not as up on the latest capital ship tech as I’d like to be, but the drive I saw was bigger than anything that’s probably coming out for the next generation or two. Unless it’s not for a capital ship at all, but for something different.”

Not good. Whatever the Chancellor wanted to move en masse probably meant bad things for the rest of the galaxy.

“We should have Artoo sift through the data,” Anakin said. “We still might not have enough for the full picture, but if anyone can get there, he can.” Besides, they had left him with Owen and Beru while they were off on Alderaan, and Artoo had made it very clear that he had been hopelessly bored by the tasks the Larses had found for him, and was looking forward to having something more interesting to do.

Well, that hadn’t been exactly how he’d put it, but that was the gist, anyway.

[EHHHH REWORK A BIT. ANOTHER TRANSITION]

“Anything about the bombing?” Anakin asked. He’d promised Luke he’d find out as much as he could, after all.

“Saw knew who was responsible,” Ahsoka said. “He wouldn’t give us a name, said his friend was probably dead so there wasn’t much point. He wasn’t involved directly, but he was invited along.”

“That’s something, at least,” he said.

“Bail’s network didn’t have much, either,” Obi-Wan added, “other than a possible break-in at ISB around the same time. He wasn’t sure whether the kidnapping or the break-in was the feint.”

“That ties to what Saw was telling me,” Ahsoka said. “And from what he said, the kidnapping was the distraction. Or added bonus, or something. He said he told them to try for an actual target, one that was worth their time. Tarkin or somebody, not the kid.”

“Gerrera doesn’t have many limits,” Rex said. “And it’s even odds or better there’s gonna be a point where even those go away. But at least for now, he has a thing about kids. Pretty sure he’s concerned about setting a precedent.”

Ahsoka nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “He has a kid with him,” she added, for Obi-Wan and Anakin’s benefit. “Couple years older than Leia. He focused on her every time the bombing came up.”

[EHHHH, SOMETHING ALONG THOSE LINES.]

[SOMEWHERE IN HERE GOES THE FOLLOWING:]

“We ran into Infernalis,” Ahsoka said, and the room stilled a bit.

Anakin found himself absently resting a hand on his left thigh, where the prosthetic met what was left of his natural leg. It hadn’t bothered Padme--which he hadn’t really been worried about, except that it bothered him more than his arm ever had. Not for any physical reason, exactly; while it wasn’t quite as high-quality as the arm, the neural mapping in the leg Bail had found for him was good enough that he didn’t have too many issues with phantom pain or other problems that lower-end prosthetics couldn’t help. But there was a difference.

Maybe it was just that there had been problems he hadn’t had the first time--complications, delays, accidentally terrifying Leia the way he had--and he couldn’t completely get those fuzzy, awful days out of his head. Or maybe it was just that Specter bothered him more than Dooku ever had.

It didn’t really matter, anyways. Generally speaking, it wasn’t enough to really cause him problems, except when he let himself start brooding about it. Which happened less and less often.

He shook it off pretty quickly--he didn’t think the others had noticed he’d gotten distracted, or that he’d missed any of the conversation. Good. I’m getting better at this. […NOT SURE ABOUT THIS ONE. ALSO MAYBE MOVE IT?]

“Did you engage?” Obi-Wan asked.

She shook her head. “Not directly. Ship-to-ship combat only. Rex took out his hyperdrive and we left.”

Which was what they were supposed to do, as bitter a pill it was to swallow. They had all agreed, after…after Specter, not to engage any of the Chancellor’s apprentices without backup, if at all possible. And, while Rex would have counted on a good day, he was hurt. Pursuing Infernalis, if they hadn’t been able to shoot him down and take him out that way, might have gotten one or both of them killed. Ahsoka had made the right call.

Even if it meant leaving Saw and his people, plus a planet full of civilians, at risk.

“There are too few of us left,” Obi-Wan had said; and Master Yoda had agreed. And they weren’t wrong, but at the same time… [MAYBE MOVE THE BIT ABOUT LEG/PHANTOM PAINS/SPECTER/WHATEVER HERE?]

“Were you able to warn the others?” Anakin asked.

She shook her head. “We didn’t want to draw attention with a beacon,” Ahsoka said. “But he had a couple evacuation plans already in place, and he’s not stupid. I think he’ll be okay.”

“He knows how to reach out to us,” Rex said. “We’ll find out sooner or later.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “We will hope for the best.”

There wasn’t much else they could do, other than head back as a group and try to hunt Infernalis down, but Anakin didn’t bother to suggest it. At best, heading back would accomplish exactly nothing other than wasted time. At worst, Infernalis had had time to set a trap for them.

[THAT…WENT SO MUCH BETTER IN MY HEAD UGH. POSSIBLY JUST REWORK IT FOR ONE OF THE OTHERS’ POV? AHSOKA MAYBE?]

[thedjmusic]

Traxsource New Breaks / Breakbeat / UK Bass 2022-10-15

DOWNLOAD: https://thedjmusic.com/music/traxsource_new_breaks_breakbeat_uk_bass_2022_10_150

DATA: 2022-10-18 TOTAL: 55 GENRE: Breaks / Breakbeat / UK Bass

-Urbano-, Raverman - I Wanna Feel It (Original Mix)

A Psychic Yes - Moss (Original Mix)

Alex Attias, El Mustang - Dream Drumz (Original Mix)

Atønal - See me no more (Original Mix)

BIICLA - Getting High (Original Mix)

Borai - Get On Down (Original Mix)

Closet yi - Revolver (Original Mix)

Corbi, Anna Wall - Take A Moment (Original Mix)

DJ Icey - Rhythm & The Flow (Club Mix)

Danny Goliger - Are You Shy? (Original Mix)

Danny Goliger - FYT (Original Mix)

Danny Goliger - Her Eyes (Original Mix)

Danny Goliger - Need U 2 (Stones Taro Remix)

Danny Goliger, Choopsie - Questions Why (Original Mix)

Dawan - Serious Affair (Original Mix)

Dip - February Evening (G-Day, Dima Bigulaev Remix)

Ella - ПYЛИ (SYMBOL Remix)

Guau - Rave Train (Original Mix)

Hassan Abou Alam - Lost In A Jar of Thyme (Original)

Hassan Abou Alam - Shmoolaire (Original)

HearThuG - Children Of The Night (Original Mix)

Ineffekt - A Blackbird Rose (Original Mix)

Ineffekt - Catch The Sun (Original Mix)

Jezebell - Dumbell (ADJ Rework)

Left, Right, Lowco - Lift Me Up (Original Mix)

Locked Groove, Gacha Bakradze - Variation 3 (Original Mix)

Luigi Madonna - CNTMP 3.03 (Original Mix)

Mani Festo - Night Drive (Original Mix)

Mario Liberti - Natural High (SOi) (Original Mix)

Mizzo - Bringin' '88 Back (Original Mix)

Moff & Tarkin - Great Tan

Moff & Tarkin - Sting

Muska (AUS), Coşkun. - Polybzerk (Original Mix)

Ondamike, DJ DIlect - Hold Up (Original Mix)

Orlando B - Soul Shift

Pan-J - Eternity Is Past (Original Mix)

Rochelle Jordan - Next 2 You (Sinistarr Remix)

Run The Breaks - A.C.A.B (Shade K Remix)

Same O - Jaaj (Original Mix)

Stenny - Permission

Stenny - Wipe Out

Stratton - Badboy (Original Mix)

Talik - Cold Silver (Martyn's Time Freeze Mix)

Thought Trails - 4am Kitchen Waffle (Original Mix)

Thought Trails - Energy Crew (Original Mix)

Thought Trails - Feel This Way (Original Mix)

Thought Trails - North Laine (Original Mix)

Toro, Polocorp - Hidden Treasure (Original Mix)

Toro, Polocorp - Temps suspendu (Original Mix)

Toro, Polocorp - To the Sun (Original Mix)

Toro, Polocorp - Yellow Car (Original Mix)

Tripmastaz - RTC (Original Mix)

X-Coast, XHOSA - Push It (X-Coast VIP)

Yo Speed - 2 AM (Extended Mix)

minds&machines - Close (Original Mix)

[fireflyfish]

Hi, do you have any advice for this unable-to-make-decisions GoH newbie? I'm level 62 atm and just developed 7-star Luminara, and I can't decide what to invest in. (7-star Mace is almost there as well.) I want an actual squad (right now my A-team is Mace, Luminara, Tarkin, Chewie, Jedi Consular), which one do you recommend?

Hello there and Welcome to the Madness! We are super glad to have you with us on our long trek to Rancor/Tank/General Kenobi Domination! 

First of all, Congratulations on getting 7* Luminara! YAAAAAY! 

She’s fabulous and she stays fabulous for a good long while. She was my first 7* character and I still love her. She’s a character you can level up to a certain point and she stays competitive with everybody else for a good long time. Unlike some characters I am looking at you JK Anakin you pretty, squishy thing you she’s pretty good on her own and mods just make her even better. 

Since your Arena team has three Jedi I’m going to make two Suggestion Lists, one based on what you’ve already got and can easily level up and then another Suggestion List based on what’s going to be easy and successful in the long run. I’m not super skilled and well versed in what’s Meta (i.e. what’s popular and super successful in the arena right now.) because I love my Jedi and Clone Sons too much.

But I will try to keep the Meta Game in mind so that later on you haven’t managed to craft some kind of Lovecraftian Horror Zeta Ewok Scout or whatever. XD 

I’m also tagging my guild officer @silvergryphon, and my GOH sempai @gffa as well as anyone else who wants to join in the fun! @tygermama, @resistancepilots, @generallkenobi, @dendral, @teapirate, @loverofcake And anyone else who wants to help out and has Thoughts! XD

So without further ado… here’s my suggestions!

JEDI

Jedi are fun because they have lightsabers and do fun flippy things and also LIGHTSABERS ARE PLASMA CHAINSAWS! How is that not cool? 

Easy Jedi to Farm

Ahsoka Tano - Hands down Ahsoka is one of the easiest Jedi to farm for. She shows up in the Cantina Store and she has two nodes where she can be found Dark Side 4-C and Light Side 5-D (which has come choice gear on it). Ahsoka can supplement healing for Luminara and she’s also a must have in Fleet Battles. She plays well with others and I’ve often won arena battles where I was down to her and Fives and they made hash of my opponents. Ahsoka is great in mid-game and an excellent addition to your Jedi team. 

Ezra Bridger - After Ahsoka, Luminara and Mace, Ezra is probably the second easiest Jedi to farm for. He’s on a low Cantina Node (2-B) and he pops up in the Fleet Store with an annoying regularity. No, Game! I wanted Chirrut Shards! I don’t want Emo Blueberry Shards! Of the Phoenix Squad characters, he’s the one I kill first when I face a Phoenix team and he’s very useful wherever he goes. His bonus attacks can kill Baze and Fives and that takes some serious doing. He also has a ship (Phantom II) so that’s nice for your Fleet arena. 

Kanan Jarrus - Okay so with Kanan you’re going to have to balance his availability with whoever else you’re going for in the Squad Arena store but he’s another useful Jedi who can taunt, add protection and debuff your characters. He’s not super easy to get but if you’re going to get the Phoenix Squad he’s tied for second place with Hera after Ezra. 

Qui-Gon Jinn - *sighs* Get him. You’ll need him if you want to run a Jedi team. His leadership gives your team speed and he can call assists as well as debuffs. Don’t let my lackluster recommendation of everyone’s Neglectful Hippie Space Dad dissuade you. He’s useful and not hair-pullingly difficult to get.

Difficult to Farm but Worth It

Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker - Oh my precious Rage Baby! So beautiful, so angry, so… squishy? If you’re going to have a Jedi team, you need to have Anakin on it. He does serious damage and he can also inflict healing and buff immunity for 2 turns. He plays very well with clones and Ahsoka. When Luminara gets her heal over time ability, that really helps shore Anakin up. He also has an AOE attack which I don’t think any other Jedi has. He’s only on four nodes (Dark Side 5-B, 7-D, Light Side 5-C and Cantina 7-G) so he’s not impossible to get I am looking at you Aayla Secura but he’s not easy either. Probably just the way Padme and Obi-Wan like it. 

Barriss Offee - Eh. Get the murderous wench. She’s the best healer in the game, for a back-stabbing-jedi-turned-terrorist. Like Anakin, she’s not in a store but she’s got four nodes (Dark Side 5-C, 5-E, 8-A and Cantina 6-A). She’s a popular for Zeta when you get to that (and that is still a long ways off for you so don’t worry about it.) 

So… uhmm… TL:DR

Ahsoka

Ezra/Qui-Gon

Whoever you didn’t go for last time in the Ezra/Qui-Gon mashup

Jedi Knight Anakin/Kanan Jarrus

Whoever you didn’t go for last time JK Anakin/Kanan Jarrus

Back-stabbin’ Barriss Offee

Holy Crap I went on forever! But onwards and upwards my dear! Here is part two!

REBELS

Because you will need Rebels to compete in all sorts of special events (Empire Themed events, Emperor Palpatine events, the new Territory battles) you are going to need Rebels. 

The good news is THERE ARE LOTS OF REBELS. SO MANY REBELS. LIKE MORE THAN WE NEED AND I AM AN AVOWED DISLIKER OF THE SITH/EMPIRE/FIRST ORDER CHARACTERS.

Right now your Squad Arena team is tilted in the direction of Jedi which is fine! I have had my butt handed to me by many a Jedi team before. I swear to the Force Yoda if you don’t leave my precious Wedge alone I am going to reach through the screen and strangle you! But a Rebels team is pretty much required to advance in the game and EA has given you a MYRIAD of options to chose from.

Which brings me to… Easy to Farm Rebels

Biggs Darklighter - Popular recently is a combination of Wiggs (Wedge Antilles + Biggs Darklighter) and Chaze (Chirrut Imwe + Baze Malbus). Now here’s a thing, or two, you need to know about these two combos. 

It’s REALLY effective.

It’s kind of a pain in the ass to get. 

The good news for you is that Biggs Darklighter is not only in the Galactic War Store (where if you defeat the table you have a chance to purchase up to 15 of his shards a day!) but he’s also located on Cantina Node 3-G and Dark Side Node 4-A. Biggs also has an X-Wing that taunts (I LOVE YOU, BIGGS) and he has amazing synergy with Wedge Antilles. If you can get an omega mat on his Comrade-in-Arms Super-Mega-Killshot attack, he can perform that every other turn. WHICH IS SO AMAZING. 

SO. 

AMAZING. 

So I highly recommend Biggs. Even if you don’t want to run a Rebels squad right now, he is worth it for his ship and that Comrade-in-Arms ability. 

Stormtrooper Han Solo - ST Han Solo has the advantage of being both a Rebel and a Scoundrel, which are ANNOYINGLY important in this game. It may not seem like it now but trust me, when you start Mod farming, you are going to need those credit heists desperately. Where is my Dave Chapelle Meme with the white powdery lips and “Y’all got any more of ‘dem Credit Heists?” ST Han is in the same boat as Kanan Jarrus as he’s only available in the Squad Arena store so if you have to pick between the two, go for ST Han while you’re going after Jedi elsewhere. 

ST Han can taunt and his taunt is particularly insidious because every time he takes a hit, his allies gain turn meter. I’ve seen him work well with all sorts of teams and I’ve seen him in the top level squads as well. 

Princess Leia - Her Royal Highness, the Crown Princess of Alderaan is a beast. On top of her stealth move (which apparently can cleanse some debuffs. *o*) her basic attack “Hair Trigger” allows her fire up to three times in one attack. Remember when I mentioned that Phoenix squad earlier? About the only person I have that is really capable of taking them down to size is Princess Leia. (And Fives, because Fives is indestructible.) She’s also an excellent counter to Grumpy Secessionist Grandpa Count Dooku. She got reworked when they introduced Commander Luke Skywalker so she should be even better now! 

Sadly, Our Lady of Sass and Cinnamon Rolls is only located in the Squad Arena store so you’ll have to juggle her against everybody else. I’ve also heard she’s great against Part 4 of the Tank Raid and works well with a team of Clones to form the fantastic portmanteaux of Princess Zody (Princess Leia + Zeta Cody). 

Last but most definitely not least is the Baron Administrator of Cloud City…

Lando Calrissian - To call Lando easy to farm is kind of misnomer. He only shows up on two Cantina nodes (1-E and 5-F and for me 5-F had a better drop rate than 1-E) but he’s on Cantina nodes and if you chose to use your crystals that way, you can get probably four to five shards a day for him as opposed to the limits placed on Light Side and Dark Side Battles. I have gotten more but that wasn’t until I opened up 5-F. 

Lando is, to put it bluntly, a stone cold mass murderer. Sure he looks all suave and charming and you think, “That man in the open neck blue shirt and that disco-tastic seventies gold lined cape looks charming and harmless! I’ll leave him alone and concentrate my forward power on Darth Vader or Jedi Knight Anakin or something like that. 

And then two, maybe three, Lando turns later you’re dead, your party is dead. Your neighbor is dead. EVERYONE IS DEAD. 

Not only does Lando have great leadership and a pretty good basic attack, his AOE attack will slaughter YOUR WHOLE TEAM. ALL OF THEM. I’ve seen my Lando take out an entire teams protection in one go! POOF! GONE. ALL OF IT. And then? If he scores a critical hit? (which he does with terrifying regularity when he’s on the opposing team) HIS COOL DOWN RESETS AND YOU ARE DOOMED TO BE PERFORATED BY BLASTER FIRE YET AGAIN.

See? Lando Calrissian: Stone Cold Mass Murderer. 

If Lando is paired up with Admiral Ackbar and Ackbar uses his Tactical Genius before Lando, you can perform his ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT OF DOOM TWICE IN A ROW. Lando is the Dread Pirate Roberts of Galaxy of Heroes. 

There will be no survivors.

Not only does Lando work great with your Rebels but like ST Han he’s a Scoundrel too so he’ll play well with a Scoundrel team in Credit and Droid Heists. 

TL;DR 

Biggs Darklighter

Stormtrooper Han Solo

Lando Calrissian 

Princess Leia

And then maybe Admiral Ackbar for cleansing and assisting Lando in his mass slaughter of your opponents.

I hope that was helpful, my dear! I wish you all the best in your galactic conquest! Have a great Wednesday and may the Force and RNGeezus be with you!

[jasonfry]

Author’s Notes: The Secret Academy, Pt. 2

WARNING: These notes will completely spoil Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy. Haven’t read it? Stop and go here.

(Go here for notes for Edge of the Galaxy, here for Rebel in the Ranks and here for Imperial Justice. And here’s Pt. 1 of The Secret Academy. )

All right! It’s our last go-round for Servants of the Empire author’s notes. Thanks to everybody who’s followed along this far – I’ve had a blast writing these notes and hope they’ve been useful, whether you’re a budding author or an interested reader.

Part 2: Merei

At the end of Imperial Justice, Merei Spanjaf escaped her service to the crime boss Yahenna Laxo and her mother Jessa’s investigation of her intrusion into the Imperial data network. Yet Merei then immediately used her forged credentials to resume her snooping, discovering that Zare Leonis was sent to Arkanis at the Inquisitor’s orders.

I did that in Imperial Justice so the reader would go into The Secret Academy worrying about Zare and suspecting that Merei wouldn’t be able to leave well enough alone – in Godfather-style, she thinks she’s out but they pull her back in.

What pulls her back in is her determination to save Holshef, an elderly poet endangered by Laxo’s demise. She’s worried about Holshef himself, but also frustrated by her inability to help Zare and guilt-ridden about Laxo’s death. Holshef becomes her way of turning that frustration and guilt into something positive.

Originally Holshef’s rescue had more moving parts: Merei enlisted his daughter to help and played a game of cat and mouse with the bounty hunter trying to apprehend him. But I realized I didn’t have room to weave another strand into the plot. In fact, I was worried I didn’t have enough room to do everything necessary to wrap up book and series properly. So Holshef’s daughter got pared down to a quick reference and the bounty hunter was reduced to a briefly glimpsed antagonist. 

I had to economize elsewhere too, sometimes to a fault – I agree with reviewers who found the last two sections of The Secret Academy a little rushed. This book taught me that while wrapping up a series is easier than constructing a middle chapter, the little grace notes needed for a satisfying ending require more words than you think. Live and learn. 

One dynamic I liked in Merei’s story was how Jessa turns cool and resourceful once Merei reveals the truth about the Empire. Rather than waste time mourning misplaced loyalties, Jessa swings into action and becomes an effective partner for her daughter. Which makes sense -- apple and tree and all that. But I wish I’d seen the dramatic possibilities earlier and played up the conflict between Jessa and Merei in Rebel in the Ranks and Imperial Justice. That would have made the payoff from Jessa’s turn more satisfying. 

An unexpected complication was how to get Holshef, the Spanjafs and the Leonises from Lothal to Garel. My original idea was that Merei would call in a favor from the Spectres via Old Jho, with Ezra insisting that his compatriots pay their debt to Zare by joining the raid on Arkanis. But at that point in the Rebels timeline the Spectres were laying low and avoiding Lothal. I could use them for the raid, but not the rescue.

Plan B was using Lando Calrissian, but I hated the idea – Lando had played no role in the series and I felt a cameo would distract readers and slam the story to a halt. At that point I needed readers to be biting their nails, not going, “Hey neat it’s Lando!”

Plan C was using Old Jho himself, and I disliked that idea too. But I warmed to it out of necessity since there was no Plan D. At least I liked the character – his trolling the Imperials in “Idiot’s Array” was pretty funny – and I’d already decided to pair him with Holshef as another elegiac voice for Lothal. Expanding Jho’s role from go-between to rescuer wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t the end of the world, either. So I added some light comedy about whether or not his ship would fly, dropped a few The Force Awakens Easter eggs and moved on. 

Some notes on Part 2:

“Wox ho uffdon comda,” mutters a speeder truck after Merei cuts it off in traffic. That’s Bocce, derived from the Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide. An approximate translation would be “You go shut down now.”

Merei and Holshef talk about jogan blossoms, with the old poet musing that scent can unlock memory. This is, of course, exactly how Zare will cut through Beck’s brainwashing around 60 pages later. I’d woven the theme of scent and memory through all four books, but needed to double down on it now that I was so close to the story’s climax.

The events of Chapter 14 tie in with the Rebels episode “Call to Action.” I liked that Tarkin’s toppling the tower creates problems for the Empire that insurgents can exploit – I thought that was a realistic consequence, and one it would be natural for Jessa and Gandr to comment on.

Operation Guiding Light, the directive that Holshef ran afoul of, is another fascist strategy designed to mesh with Imperial Justice. Its directive that nostalgia should be suppressed as “a product of dissatisfaction and anger” is an homage to a line I love in Don DeLillo’s White Noise.

On a less highbrow note, Old Jho’s sorrowful note that the forests of his youth have been “turned into mines and machines” is right out of Lord of the Rings. Which makes sense, as Ithorians are basically the Legends version of Ents.

Merei’s long speech to her parents recounting everything she’s done behind their backs was meant as a bit of domestic comedy, with Jessa and Gandr staring at their daughter in disbelief as this treasonous chronicle rolls on and on. There’s a similar scene with Tycho and his family in Jupiter Pirates: The Rise of Earth, which was written at much the same time. In both books, a few readers missed the joke and complained about getting a big chunk of exposition about things they already knew. Oh well.

Something went awry with the bit about the locator in Chapter 17, or else I’ve forgotten what I was trying to do. Jessa tells Merei to leave it with Gandr, but then tells Gandr she’ll send him their location. Huh?

Some readers have asked what happened to Jix. Beats me – I assume he went to prison. An experiment I tried in Servants of the Empire was letting things be a bit messy. Merei forgets to tell Zare about Project Unity, we don’t find out what happened to Oleg or Jix, and Chiron makes a promise to Penn that he winds up unable to keep. I think a certain amount of messiness is realistic – certainly more so than having every single plot thread tied off neatly by the end of a series.

Merei stunning Leo – and Tepha’s reaction to it -- was a scene I had in mind from the very beginning of the series. It’s Merei’s Indy in the Casbah moment. Auntie Nags was supposed to then lecture Merei that it’s bad manners for guests to shoot people, but I unthinkingly used that joke in The Weapon of a Jedi and so had to drop it here. I wish I’d done the reverse – C-3PO has plenty of good lines already. 

Part 3: The Tower

This section brings everything together and so moves quickly, reuniting Zare and Merei and then Zare and Dhara, sacrificing Beck, then getting everybody off Arkanis for a pair of emotional reunions.

I worked hard on Zare’s speech, reading it out loud to myself until I thought it was right. I like it both as an emotional recitation of the journey he’s been on and a call to arms -- an indictment of the Empire that could only be made by someone who’d once believed in it.

Three books’ worth of work on scent and memory pays off with Beck’s turn, but I also brought grav-ball back as a reference point. I overdid the grav-ball references -- Zare and Beck talking about a center-striker sneak would have been enough -- but think it works. That last image of Beck’s hand with the jogan blossom clutched in it is a little cheesy, but I figured I’d earned it.

Another scene I polished obsessively was Zare’s long-awaited reunion with Dhara. I mulled including brief interludes in the series from Dhara’s point of view, but decided it was more dramatic to reveal nothing about her fate until we see her here. As for why Dhara was kidnapped, there are clues in what she tells Zare in her cell and aboard the Ghost. That’s all I’ll say for now.

Chiron’s death was another part of the endgame that I had in mind from the very beginning, complete with Dhara’s burning eyes and Zare swearing Merei to secrecy about her Force tantrum. I liked that there’s no real villain in Chiron’s demise – he follows his misguided sense of duty to the very end, Dhara acts out of self-preservation, and you can’t really blame either of them. A nice bit of tragedy, if I do say so myself. The logistics were a pain, though – I had to isolate Zare, Merei and Dhara, figure out how the auxiliary elevator came into play and then get everybody to the roof.

The scenes aboard the Ghost were reworked at the very end of the process. My editor Jen Heddle asked for a quiet scene between Zare and Dhara, which was a great call, giving them a moment that Zare had worked so hard for. As for Zare and Merei’s vow to make use of the data she’d stolen and keep fighting, it was another late addition. Once again, that’s all I’ll say for now.

Thanks so much to everyone who’s begged, cajoled or campaigned for further adventures of Zare and Merei. There are no plans that I know of, but I’d love to bring them back for another story. I want to know what became of their campaign against the Empire, where their relationship went, and if Dhara recovered from her ordeal at the Inquisitor’s hands. (And yes, I have ideas about all of those things.) But if that never happens, it’s fun to think of Zare and Merei continuing to fight the good fight, as they learned to do so capably over four books. 

Quick notes on Part 3:

The other cadets stripping Zare’s uniform and breaking his saber was borrowed from descriptions of Han Solo’s expulsion from the Imperial Academy in Han Solo at Stars’ End and the Dark Empire Sourcebook. To keep the reader from being distracted by a new uniform, I made sure the cadets wore their dress blacks in an earlier scene.

Beck mentioning that he stopped taking his medication was a quick add to reinforce the idea of the jogan perfume cutting through his brainwashing. I think little buttressing details like that are effective provided they neither stop the narrative nor give the game away.

I liked that Zare doesn’t really have a plan once he and Beck break out. Zare’s a smart kid who’s cool under fire, but he’s in a facility he knows nothing about so he’s just improvising wildly. Hey, when you’ve got a date with a firing squad any plan is better than nothing.

Where’s the rest of the Ghost crew? I left Kanan out because he would have sensed Dhara’s dark-side tantrum and started asking questions. Story Group’s Pablo Hidalgo also taught me a good trick from TV: leave out a member of an ensemble cast in case you need to explain what happened in some later project. That way you can handle the needed exposition through conversation. 

I enjoyed writing Dhara’s reunion with Tepha and Leo – after so much tension and anxiety, it was satisfying to craft a scene that was just pure love and joy. But if Servants of the Empire is ever collected into a single volume, I’m campaigning to edit out that last line. After everything the Leonises had been through, Dhara telling the rest of her family not to let go said it all.

If you enjoyed these notes and are going to Orlando for Star Wars Celebration 2017, I’m leading a Star Wars University session about writing and storytelling on Friday April 14 at 6:30 pm. Come on out! 

Thanks for coming along on the journey with me, and here’s to new adventures ahead.

[stylophone-pet]

Latest deep and underground mix blended Tracklist below: Session Victim - Dawn (Nebraska Mix) - 00:00 Jimpster - Burning Up (Charles Webster Remix) - 03:30 Karol XVII & MB Valence - Aqua (Jimpster Remix) - 07:30 Luis Junior - Connecting Flight - 12:00 Kotelet & Zadak - Roadhouse (Whitesquare Remix) - 17:00 Bruce Loko - Sunset Over Water (Fka Mash Glitch Dub) - 22:30 6th Borough Project - Right Next Time - Frederick Remix - 26:00 Moff & Tarkin - Takk! (Jonbjorn Remix) - 31:00 6th Borough Project - Back Where It Began (Layfar remix) - 35:00 Sebo K - Politics of Dancing X - 39:00 Patrice Scott - Be Free - 43:00 Hector Moralaz & Jon Lee - Eastside Lincoln Park - 46:30 Mr. G - Praise - 49:30 Denis Shubin - Hsjn - 53:00 Terrence Parker - Unconditional (Crackazat Rework) - 56:00

[yesdeepestnightbouquetworld-blog]

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[goingnerdyofficial-blog]

SWGOH May Updates

In preparation for May the 4th, the powers that be have done everything they can to keep holotable heroes excited about the latest event. Last week they introduced the newest character in the game, the fan favorite R2-D2 and the event that he will be associated with. In tonight’s update, they continued to outline what changes players can expect to launch as part of the SWGOH May updates. In this post, I will outline what players can expect to see from these updates.

R2-D2’s Legendary Event

So we’ve already done a post about R2 but I wanted to talk about what to expect from the event. There are 7 tiers to this legendary event where players will take their Empire teams and face off against Rebels. You will specifically face Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Old Ben, and R2. Since this event takes place on the Death Star, it’s meant to be an homage to the original film. The video below shows you what you can expect from the event. NOTE: Turn Meter Reduction is nullified in the final Tier of the event. You may want to lead with Emperor Palpatine, Grand Moff Tarkin, or the new and improved General Veers. You’ll see from the video below that I did well with Darth Zader.

Trooper Updates in Place

All Empire Troopers are all classified as having the “Imperial Trooper” tag. In addition to this tag, many of the troopers got some pretty drastic updates. These updates take these formerly fairly worthless characters and turned them into at the least viable and at best incredibly useful. Snowtrooper, Magmatrooper, and Stormtrooper have been completely reworked. The basics of each have become more powerful, with the first two having increased damage added to their maxed basic and the third exposing anyone that doesn’t suffer a critical hit. And this is not where the changes end. For more information on the adjusted imperial abilities, check out the Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes Forums. In a brilliant way to make more money, Imperial Trooper packs are available in the Shop for 19.99 per character. Players who buy these packs get 80 character shards and enough gear and ability mats to level their characters to Gear 5 and level 3 in the each ability. There is also a Power-up Bundle available with multiple Imperial Characters, gear, and mats. This bundle is 59.99 and not worth it for those who already have 1 or more of the characters in the pack maxed out.

Ship Updates

You may have noticed that you can now see the pilots of ships react to actions they take during the battle. Also, it’s easier to see which ships have target lock as the abilities which perform the debuff are now clearly marked with its symbol. This is a nice change if you are like me and forget which ships have the ability and which don’t.

Crystal Sale!!!!

Crystals are on sale until May 12th. If you have ever planned on buying crystals, now is the time. Packs range from as low as 1.99 to 100 bucks. Of course, the more you spend, the more you get. Use prudence when buying these packs and make sure to plan how you are going to spend your crystals.

Event Schedule

Finally, May is going to keep holotable heroes challenged with some much needed and even new events. Daring Droid (The R2 Event) Runs from May 4th until May 10th. Emperor’s Demise Runs from May 11th until May 17th Omega Battles Jakku: May 6th; Requires Nightsisters and Jawas Hoth: May 7th; Requires Scoundrels and First Order Empire: May 20th; Requires Resistance and Clone Troopers Endor: May 21st; Requires Sith and Droids Assault Battles: Military Might: May 13th until May 14th; Requires Rebels and Clones Forest Moon: May 27th until May 28th; Requires Empire and Droids Upcoming Event Series Starts May 25th We don’t know much about this new event. We’ve been told that this new event will have multiple facets to it and incorporate some form of player interaction. In the May 1st release notes, we were told that EA will be launching many new event modes that will keep players interested. Some of these include player level appropriate events and bonus reward events. The player level appropriate events are meant to actually challenge players skill and strategy. Hopefully, we will see these as a difficult addition to the game that really does what it sets out to do. The bonus reward events will be limited time events that add bonus rewards to specific battles and/or tables. While they haven’t said what these rewards will be, I expect that we could see additional crystals, character shards, ship blueprints, and credits. What I am hoping to see is a ship credit heist so that players can start to build out their fleets more effectively. Since the developers have seemingly pushed the ships more in the last few months, I wouldn’t think this is too random an idea.   What do you think about May’s updates and event calendar? Is this anything you are looking forward to specifically? How have you or did you fair in the Daring Droid event? Leave a comment in the section below.   Click to Post