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Welcome
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Nathaniel Reed's
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:: An ongoing episodic story of fan-fic set after Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and inspired by George Lucas' historical draft concepts ::
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| August 2021 |
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Mandalorian 2 finale revealed in BTS !
31st August 2021 |
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On the 25th of August, Disney+ released a special 'Making Of' for the final episode of Season 2, namely the one where Luke Skywalker, aged as a young Jedi Master, arrived on Moff Gideon's Assault Cruiser to invite Grogu to accompany him for training. SWNN has a summary of what this very detailed documentary revealed. Regardless of how one felt about the final version of this young Luke - personally, although it was technically astounding, I found it a little off in the appearance and the lip sync, and I questioned why the dialogue scenes seemed to require the actor(s) to be so still and wooden in their posture - the revelations of how the scene was created were fascinating : from the story conception to the secrecy of its execution (scripting that PT Jedi Master Plo Koon had 'returned from the dead' (!) to throw off any rumours), from the de-aging and AI-led 'deepfake' special visual effects to the sampling of OT character dialogue to create new lines. It was equally fascinating to hear Mark Hamill's take on it and the extent of his involvement, though I was saddened to hear the 'creak' in the aged actor's voice, and hoped that it might have been a temporary illness rather than a permanent change to his voice.
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The illustrated virtual edition of Episode VII : Plague of Doom continues, and Lando leads the freed prisoners from the mine complex ! Reaching the tunnel exit, he spots four cargo carrier sleds, and indicates the Star Destroyer parked nearby as their destination !
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| You can see the VE artwork in the 'Kessel' art gallery as well as in the online illustrated story, and you can discuss this in the forum here ! |
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My prose writing for virtual edition Episode X 'The Riddle of the Pirates' continues towards its epic climactic batle and conclusion, and Jedi Master Flo-Ra pilots an assault ship towards the pirate base......
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| Nathaniel Reed, 31st August 2021 |
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When the behemoth appeared, Master Flo-Ra had opened her eyes wide in shock. Recognising that it was futile to try and help the Grand Master – the mouth had yawned and lurched around the lead ship in an inescapable encompassing but slow-motion speed – she had leaned heavily on the piloting yoke and dived the ship to starboard. Her co-pilot, Biv Radian, having overcome her own shock, was frantically bolstering the deflector shields, the instruments tracking a huge rock encrusted tentacle coming their way !
Inspired by the Force, Flo-Ra suddenly pulled sharply back on the steering mechanism, and the ship climbed tightly, and then tilted to starboard once more : the tentacle swept below the MPV gunship, blindly searching.
Push on ! came Luke’s voice in her mind. Trust in the Force !
Flo-Ra banked the ship to port, and then to starboard, before accelerating towards the mission target.
All around the ship, smaller meteors and carbonaceous rocks flashed past. Like a huge tidal surf at the point of breaking, the unnatural arch of deflected asteroids that towered above them had begun to let slip the more diminutive constituents.
An alarm sounded in the cockpit, and Biv identified it immediately : “Vessel proximity alarm ! Three marks, coming in fast at point seven below !”
Flo-Ra pulled back sharply on the steering yoke, and barrel-rolled the ship. Two of the attacking mercenaries shot past, whilst the third turned with her, and stayed on target. The other two crossed paths, and arced back around to vector in once again on the Jedi vessel. With the artificially created cavern hollowing out the asteroid field, both combatants had enough safe space to manoeuvre... all be it inside a steadily dwindling area.
Green laser fire lanced across the cockpit view.
“Increase rear deflector shields, Biv !” she cried to her Twi’lek co-pilot.
“Yes, ma’am ! Drawing from the front...” came the response.
The ship bucked as the hull took a battering from their pursuers.
“Hold on !”
Jedi Master Flo-Ra leaned the yoke to starboard, thumbing open the cover concealing the firing switches, and at the same time glanced at the thrusters control. It remotely descended a few notches, killing their speed. First, one bandit shot past, and then the other two, but these pilots recognised their target’s intention, and banked to either side. That still left the lead bandit ahead and centre ! Flo-Ra thumbed the cannon trigger on the yoke, and the MPV opened fire on the luckless pirate. Green lasers caught the fighter craft on its port-side and the small ship exploded.
“They’re coming around....” noted Biv, a tense edge to her voice. “They’ll be ready for that again !”
“Uh huh,” replied the Jedi. “Bet they won’t expect this then !”
Accelerating once more, she banked sharply, and dived towards the wall of asteroids.
Biv yelled in terror, and shot a glance at her Jedi pilot.
“I trust you !” she wailed, eyes wide, and long-fingered hands gripping the arm-rests tightly.
The MPV sped across the surface of one asteroid and jinked between two smaller ones. The pirates kept up their pursuit, matching her moves.
Jedi Master Flo-Ra accelerated her ship across one cratered surface after another. She kept the ship low, avoiding any of the ‘tumblers’ out there at a higher altitude, but still needing to adjust for the change in height of not only the rugged landscape but also the subtle movement of the rock below them. Her eyes were tight shut now, one less distraction from the Force. The energy field guided her evasive actions and directed her towards the pirate base and updated her as to where her two pursuers were.
They were close. They had ceased firing, no doubt to allow them to focus on the tight pursuit. They surely knew where she was headed, but were relying on her to provide a safe path.
The Force tingled and her brow furrowed in concentration as she focused on the new information : two additional starfighters were racing towards her from the base. Unsurprisingly, her pursuers had messaged ahead.
Beyond the fighters she could sense the lights of the pirate base.
“Can you boost our speed any more, Biv ?” she asked through gritted teeth.
The co-pilot muttered that she’d try and turned her attention to the engineering and auxiliary power controls.
Just then, Flo-Ra sensed a small meteor above them on a collision course with the large asteroid she was skimming across. Its fate would be to add to the innumerable pock-marks scattered over the grey landscape.
“I can get you another point four, Master, but it’d be off the forward shields,” Biv updated her.
“Do it !”
Biv nodded, and her fingers flicked switches and adjusted dials.
As the additional power was re-routed, they were both pushed back into their seats.
Flo-Ra tilted the steering yoke, and the ship angled a few degrees off course. She sensed the two behind them change their course too.
She held the new course a few seconds longer, and then leaned the yoke the other way to correct her course and return to the vector that would lead them to the hidden base.
There was a sudden flash behind them, and she was aware that one pirate had been blind-sided by the falling meteor !
The second pirate had swerved to avoid the explosion, but was now holding to their tail once more.
Ahead, the two other fighters were closing fast. Green laser fire splashed across the ship, announcing they were in range. An alarm began to sound heralding the failing forward deflector shield. Flo-Ra responded in kind, but with fire directed at the carbonaceous landscape. Splinters of rock and dust exploded ahead of her, facing the pirate ships. They both peeled off to either side, and the Jedi ship zipped through the dispersing cloud, followed hard by the original pursuer.
Aware that the two were coming back around but dismissing them because of the distance, Flo-Ra throttled the ship towards the open hangar of the pirate base !
“We’re coming in too fast !” cried Biv. The co-pilot flicked the internal comms, and announced to their passengers to hold tight !
Flo-Ra cut the engines and spun the MPV one-eighty degrees, relying on the momentum to throw the ship inside the hangar. With the Force, she activated the landing cycle. She slapped the braking thrusters, and the craft crashed to the deck, careening through crates and small one-man fighters, with pirate crew leaping out of the way, and sliding to a hefty bump up against the far wall.
Flo-Ra had drawn on the Force to cushion the blow as the ship careened into the hangar wall, and had wrapped Biv in its safe embrace too. She glanced across to her twi’lek co-pilot, who was shaking her tentacled head to clear the dizziness.
“You okay ?”
Biv nodded, and rubbed her forehead.
“Yeah... next time, let me do the landings, okay ?”
“Nice !” grinned the Jedi.
Flo-Ra spotted movement outside as the pirates began picking themselves up off the deck. Some were already shouldering rifles. She leaned over to the comms board and opened the hold channel.
“Everyone okay in the hold ?” she asked. Muffled and indistinct, but affirmative, noises came back. “Get ready to evac, we’ve got company outside !”
As the Jedi MPV opened its boarding hatch and lowered its ramp, the tensed pirates rained gunfire into the yawning space. Corresponding flashes erupted and sparked, and some laser bolts ricocheted randomly back out towards the defenders. A pause as the pirates instinctively ducked in response, and then a responding volley of gunfire from the ramp as the Pan-Alliance marines stepped forward. A team of Jedi Knights were among them, holding their lightsabres at the ready to deflect the next round of fire. Some soldiers and knights jumped off the edges of the ramp on either side, and began to fan out.
Seeing the glowing laser swords, some of the pirates grabbed their own trophy sword handles from their belts, and lit their blades. Though they were untrained, the dark side of fear and anger swept through them all, energising and empowering them.
With a yell, the pirates swung and spun their swords and light-whips, and leapt at the invaders, their comrades behind supporting them with fresh gunfire.
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