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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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| November 2020 |
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Dave Prowse - Darth Vader - passes away
30th November 2020 |
Sadly, it was announced a few days ago at the end of November 2020 that Dave Prowse, the original actor to wear the Darth Vader suit, passed away at the age of 85, following a short illness. Many sites responded to the news, and also subsequently carried colleagues' and celebrities' condolences. George Lucas and LFL also commented on the actor's death. I am aware of a falling out between LFL and Prowse, centred, I believe, around the "I am your father" revelation scene in TESB ; the media is reporting that Prowse was 'banned' from SW conventions since 2010.
I recall, in the 1980s, as a child meeting 'Darth Vader' twice at my local toyshop, and receiving a signed slip of paper each time.... but, sadly, with two different signatures - ah well :-)
Nevertheless, I do remember the sense of the character's over-powering and 'menacing' presence, and being in utter awe of him.
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The Mandalorian Season 2 continues, and four episodes in, we have seen some note-worthy and fan-exciting character appearances.... Cobb Vanth (Tatooine Sherrif), Boba Fett (old and battered, and without his armour or helmet), Bo-Katan Kryze (Mandalorian rebel, sister of the murdered Duchess Satine, introduced in the Clone Wars / Rebels animated shows), and Ahsoka Tano (Jedi Knight, also introduced in the Clone Wars / Rebels animated shows). And 'Baby Yoda'- aka 'The Child' - is now known as Grogu ?!
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The illustrated virtual edition of Episode VII : Plague of Doom continues, and, following Artoo-Detoo's swift lightsabre action, the two droids climb aboard the nearby conveyor barge. Threepio struggles initially to stabilise the hover boat and take control of the steering.
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| I have also finally got around to converting the three ST scripts from 'Word' docs to 'PDF' docs, for easier reading. I have re-linked to them from within their respective portal pages. |
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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' has continued, and here I present Governor Cassius Tagge discovering a veritable goldmine, and toyshop, in fact, in the form of a top secret deep space weapons research facility once utilised by Emperor Palpatine......
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| Nathaniel Reed, 30th November 2020 |
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Tagge, flanked by aides and an escort of four stormtroopers, strode through the newly-discovered weapons research facility, the deep space station XHT-8311. He revelled in the sight of the classic Imperial era architectural design that was on display all around him. The shiny blacks, the bright white pill lighting, the hexagonal bulkheads. This was the environment of his formative adolescent years, as he transferred between Academies gaining a wide experience of the whole Imperial machine, being knowingly groomed to succeed his father one day.
The lead aide carried a datapad, and was giving a running commentary of what the team of scientists had already found.
It appeared that the upper decks were all but a museum dedicated to the historical development of the war machine, while the lower decks and core sections held the laboratories and the machining rooms. They had already passed through a grand hall displaying every developmental and practical style of stormtrooper armour borne on mannequins, and amongst them the trooper’s ground vehicles were on show, from the boxy speederbikes to the bipedal AT-STs. Beside each exhibit was a small pedestal displaying rotating technical holo schematics. Beyond, Tagge had seen holograms of the larger assault vehicles such as the multi-wheeled HCVs and the multi-legged AT-AT lines.
Now, having descended a level, Tagge was in the presence of waist-height naval holograms, vessels ranging from the troop transport and TIE fighter to the Diplomatic Command Cruisers – the kind he currently travelled in – to the menacing Star Destroyers. Sadly, these latter were mostly lost to the Imperial Remnant : one functional ship existed and did so in secret, and this was Admiral Tyne’s cruiser that was now stationed outside in a primary defensive role, while another was under construction and almost completed.
Still, the technical data held here was a treasure trove ! The multitudes of hijacked refugees and re-furbished droid units now swelling the workforce meant that the labour could finally match the demands of his military architects !
These huge display halls not only re-energised Tagge’s appetite to lead the Imperial Remnant, the ability to return the battle to the Pan-Alliance and emerge victorious brought fire to his eyes ! The sheer power and resulting order that such an arsenal brought to his fingertips meant, without a doubt, peace and stability would reign once more. Individualism and independence only brought about chaos, Tagge was certain of that, whereas a strong singular leadership provided clarity.
Tagge turned to his aides.
“This, my friends, is what brings peace and stability to the Galaxy. Not divisive re-colonisation and never-ending trade deals.”
The Governor allowed himself to be led to the far end of the hall and to Palpatine’s masterpiece, the Death Star. Even in the form of a greatly scaled holographic model it was awe-inspiring and truly humbling.
“Amazing,” he muttered to himself, “Truly amazing,”
Tagge took a moment to reflect on the battle-station’s legacy and its huge potential ; and the sheer bad luck of it, and its successor, falling foul of the wretched rebel scum. And instead of feeling sad that its demise had also taken his father, he instead bore a raging pride that a Tagge had strode across its decks.
The aide with the datapad cleared his throat and broke the reverie.
“Governor, sir,” he spoke in an obsequious tone. “If you would just come this way, I’m sure you’ll be delighted by what is on the decks below.”
Tagge and his trooper escort followed the aides into a large elevator, which smoothly descended to the next level.
“Below us, Sir,” said the aide by way of preamble, “you will find the laboratories and testing chambers where the latest research had been taking place.”
Disembarking, the group stepped out into a smaller collection of hallways and glass-walled cubicle rooms that radiated from the elevator atrium.
To their left was an open space that led off to its own sub-section of separate rooms. In the middle, as an exhibit similar to the ones above, was a physical scaled version of the infamous Death Star super-laser. From where he stood, Tagge could see one of the rooms held a similar scaled model, but pared down to its working components and accompanied by trailing cables. A firing chamber projected beyond it, finishing at a heavily worn and blasted target shield. The adjacent rooms to either side held mechanical apparatus elements, such as the firing mechanism and the power reactor ; one room held green crystals and refraction mirrors.
“The Death Star super-laser was always being refined and improved upon, apparently, sir,” explained the lead aide. “In fact, the second battle-station’s primary weapon had been made more efficient in its power-drain to recharge ratio.”
The aide gestured to a nearby hallway and its set of chambers.
“But if you step this way, you will find what might have been the successor to the Death Star.”
The group moved into the indicated hall, and Tagge glanced into the first set of opened rooms.
Again, scaled models dominated the chamber, but they were all contained inside a set of vacuum tubes. Several discharge points were directed at corresponding mirrors, that all appeared to angle towards two vertically mounted pedestals one above the other with a gap in between.
Tagge turned to the aide with a quizzical look.
“From what we can surmise, sir, this was to have had the ability to pre-nova a star. To destroy the host star of a planetary system.” The aide indicated the pedestals and Tagge could see that their facing edges narrowed into cones. “Between those cones, the scientists would have blended the chemical elements to create a star. As yet, we don’t know if the star would have exploded or been drained away, but either way it would have meant total annihilation for any planet reliant on its light and warmth.”
The aide turned to Tagge, and said, “Interestingly, we have found other super weapons here, but from a slightly different paradigm. If you’d like to come this way...”
The aide led the group to another hallway and to its rooms. Here, Tagge could see more vacuum chambers, this time containing organic material : one chamber presented soil and rock strata superimposed with ground and tree vegetation ; another, similarly occupied with geological strata, but all the vegetation had been reduced to brown stains ; another bore rock and soil only ; and another, similar to the first, but with obvious skeletons of small mammalian and reptilian critters. Piping connected these rooms to a variety of pumps and gas tanks.
“These appear to show experiments that would have targeted certain aspects of a planet’s flora and fauna,” the aide explained. ”We believe there was research into the remote exploitation of valuable minerals and ores.”
The aide pointed to the far end of this hallway, and some rooms to the right.
“At the far end are examples of the aura gas drones that the Second Emperor had commissioned.”
Tagge couldn’t help but snort in derision. It was the premature disclosure of this project to the galaxy at large that had forced Amedda to swiftly retreat from the Imperial Palace on Coruscant.
The aide gestured to another hallway, where vertical tubes could be seen penetrating through the floor and ceiling. “Here we have hyperspatial experiments. These range from supra-lightspeed velocities, to a hyperspace-transferrable plasma bomb, to hyperspace-compatible laser cannons. The tubes allowed for scaled displacement tests between way-stations.”
Tagge looked around him. He couldn’t believe his eyes. This really was a treasure lode ! Even right up to his untimely demise, Palpatine had been pushing the boundaries of weapons technology and mass subjugation. With such examples and technical specifications, he could bring the Imperial Remnant out of the shadows, and return it to the glory of Galactic dominance that it had enjoyed for so long.
He spotted a double door to one side, black and sealed closed. Power cables trailed out from the activation mechanism to a cluster of small boxes and generators on the floor nearby. Having been witness to the now-opened vaults, Tagge’s curiosity was piqued. He nodded towards it with his chin.
“What’s through there ?”
The aide stepped over to the boxes, leant down, and flicked a switch. The double doors slid open.
“This was an area kept off-limits except to only a few. There were... rumours... that Emperor Palpatine shared the dark arts that his deputy, Lord Vader, visibly demonstrated. Furthermore, the Second Emperor, his Highness Amedda, overtly declared his... preference... for such measures. Through here we have examples of, shall we say, less militaristic resources and projects...” The aide began to stumble in his previously clear diction. “B-but there’s something about the... the chamber that...”
“Show me !” commanded Tagge.
The aide nodded submissively, and led the way into a corridor of subdued dark red lighting. The group followed, and soon found themselves in a dimly-lit dodecagonal chamber.
Tagge shivered involuntarily. He wondered why, for the ambient temperature, automatically controlled throughout the station, had not changed. But he was very aware that a chill had just run down his spine.
Even in the dim light, he could discern that most of the twelve walls held singular cubicles, and many of those contained objects. Small rotating holograms on looping sequences hovered in the bottom right corner of these cubicles, and the flickering soft blue light only added to the eerie atmosphere.
Tagge could not help but gasp, for in one he could clearly see the ever-imposing figure of Darth Vader himself – but thankfully he soon realised it was simply a copy of the black leather and metal armoured life support suit.
As his eyes adjusted, he could make out, in another cubicle, a tall shape slightly bent over and partly encased in a shroud. Already suspecting the identity of the vile creature within, Tagge stepped forward and peered closer. The inert body of a bogan, partially wrapped in its leathery wings, appeared to be in a permanent slumber, floating in a thick fluid. He couldn’t help himself, but, steeling himself for the worst, he tapped a fingernail on the glass. He audibly breathed out a sigh of relief when the creature remained undisturbed.
“So Amedda definitely knew about this station, then,” muttered the Governor.
At the foot of the case, beside the corresponding mini hologram, was a cylindrical tube, about the length of a human forearm, with activation and adjustment buttons and an open emitter at one end.
He looked to his left, and another enclosed exhibit displayed a human figure, child-sized, naked, and curled in a foetal position, and suspended in a similar gloopy fluid.
Tagge looked beyond Lord Vader’s suit to another cubicle. In contrast to the other items, this one appeared quite discrete and mundane. He stepped over to take a closer look.
Short cylindrical metallic handles were displayed, one prominently on a central pedestal, while others were sat on plinths radiating around. Tagge was not so uneducated that he did not recognise these as variants of lightsabres, but all were markedly shorter than the one in the bogan’s case. The centrepiece was a little longer than the others near it, and at the opposite end to its blade emitter appeared to be a glass sphere. He glanced enquiringly at the small hologram in the corner. As he watched the short loop, he surmised that the opponent’s blade seemed to drain of its colour, and be transferred to the bauble.
He cast his eye over the other lightsabre hilts : they were all of standard length, except for one, which was about half the size, with clean lines making up two black collars. Another was distinct in that it added gold fin styling to the black collars and metal tube ; another was a little longer, more stream-lined, and had only minimal black ring styling and no distinct collars ; there was a similar slim design, with less black styling, but the emitter end and activator collar were a little larger ; and another, plainer in colour and chunkier in design, with a pinched neck below the emitter.
Tagge had no idea who these swords belonged to, but had the impression they were trophies, won in duels long past.
Tagge straightened from his perusal and glanced around. One other cubicle held a sharp-pointed polygon, a stylised star-shape, the size of which could be comfortably held between two hands, its small facets made of a glass material bound by thick black lines. For an inert object it exuded what could only be described as malice. Some other gadgets, less evil looking, similar in size and more mechanical in appearance, were displayed about it.
The aide quietly moved to the Governor’s shoulder, and, his voice hushed in what appeared to be a fear-fuelled deference, said, “As yet, we have no idea what these objects are, but our investigations continue. They clearly are significant for their presence to be here.”
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