Lit Books Cynically Reliving the X-Wing Series

Finished listening to Wedge's Gamble Audiobook (Love it. Has some of the best descriptions of Coruscant imo)., and now listening to the Mercy Kill audiobook.
Haven't read the book since it came out. Didn't care for it as much as I did the first 9 books, but I'm liking it a lot now.

 

I started with Wedge's Gamble, all those years ago - my first Star Wars novel. I had a big distrust with 'tie-in' media, but the novel was just great.

 

I remember first seeing a copy of Wedge's Gamble, of all places, at church. Another kid had just left it there on a bench, and I picked it up, read the synopsis on the back cover, and it sounded interesting. Back then, before I knew anything about it, the Star Wars EU seemed much bigger and more mystical.

 

The Krytos Trap Audiobook approaches soon. Three weeks and counting! Can’t wait to hear Marc Thompson narrate the Lusankya’s escape from Coruscant.

 

Miss those days! And not even just for nostalgic purposes although there is that. When I was a kid first getting into Star Wars there was a kind of ignorance about how it all worked behind the scenes. I see a Star Wars book and I'm not seeing it as a cash grab tie-in or worrying about its status in Canon. It was just Star Wars and as much Star Wars as the movies. The thought that Star Wars was too big to be contained in film was awesome and gave (what I didn't know yet as) the EU a sense of mystique.

Now its all conversations about Canon and second guessing creative decisions and analyzing the purpose behind a book or a comic rather than just experiencing it.

 

I actually have very fond personal memories of the time i was reading these books, i read Wedge's gamble around the time me and my girlfriend started dating, i remember going back home the day after we became a couple and went back to reading X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble, in the chapter where Corran and Mirax are infiltrated in the Imperial Palace, it's really vivid.

Those were the times, it certainly helped that every book from the series was incredible, i honestly can't decide if the best book is Wedge's Gamble, Krytos Trap or Bacta War, they all have unique strenghts very different from the others, i can't decide.

This series is very dear to me, it's really hard for me to be cynically critical about it lol, but if i have to point out a flaw... The spy among the rouges is really obvious, especially after Mirax is introduced, and Bror Jace being revealed alive was out of left field, and i don't get why Stackpole did it, because by that point his role as Corran's petty rival is no more, so bringing him back was kinda pointless.

But honestly any flaws they have are meaningless to me compared to all the good they have.

I have to say that having read the X-wing comics before this book series actually enhanced the experience, because i already had an emotional connection to Tycho before he was suspected as a traitor, so i was vehemently rooting for him to clear his name, i knew he was innnocent!

These books also had the best Wedge Antilles characterization ever, especially at the time, some of the NJO books came very close, tho, like Enemy Lines, Final Prophecy and The Unifying Force, but those were all after this characterization was established, and one of those examples is an X-wing author.

I actually think Fliry Vorru is an underrated character, he made for a great foil to the rouges in their mission, i love chaotic characters like him, but i also like Gavin in here, he's so adorable.

Oh, and these are the books that introduced Booster, such a great character, it's hard to describe why he's so great, he's just a cool old smuggler dad, he feels real.

Generally it's hard to find a character from these books that isn't golden, and that is their main strenght, not even the dogfights, military feel, spy games, political themes, or court drama, it was the characters and how genuine they were, they all felt like real people you could talk to, real people living in a real world, one that didin't shy away from being wacky, but remained extremely relatable.

 

There's a lot of reasons why I like those books so much, but one of them is that I've only read the Rogue Squadron quadrilogy twice, about fifteen years apart, but both times (quite by accident) I was kind of at a rock bottom point in my life, and it was one of the few things I had cheering me up, so I have even fonder associations with the books than I otherwise might.

Agree with everything you said, but especially Vorru. He was one of the more pleasant rediscoveries when I read the books the second time around: I really wish we'd gotten more stories with him than just these ones. Imagine seeing him at the height of his power.

 

Vorru is a fantastic character of a type that isn't seen nearly enough. He's a fun mirror to Booster (Refined, physically small vs massive and deliberately unrefined, but both are whip-smart) and just a fascinating character to delve into. I was amazed that Legends never used him again.

Not to beat my own drum too hard, but @Bel505 and I used Vorru as a main antagonist in a continuation fic set just post Isard's Revenge with the conceit of "What if there was no clone emperor/Dark Empire, and what if the JAT era was... better with the benefit of hindsight). Mara is arguably the story's central character, but the Solos and Wedge and the Rogues of course make frequent appearances as well.

 

Oh, thank you. I need to read this. (I also need to read more fanfic in general, really).

And yes on Vorru and Booster (good point that they make great foils to each other). I'll never stop beating this drum, but my favorite story-that-was-never-told in the old EU was the story of Rostek and Hal living their double life as CorSec detectives by day, Jedi Underground Railroad runners by night. But part of why I really wish we'd gotten a book series about that is that it wouldn't have been just about the Horns. The Corellia/Dark Times setting would inevitably mean that you'd get to see all kinds of guest stars that we never saw enough of. And first in line for that treatment would have been both Flirry Vorru and Booster Terrik, who would have been in their primes during this time period. (With their respective falls being obvious story points that might be covered).

 

I just wanted to say thanks for the Interregnum stories as I greatly enjoyed them and apart from the story premise they align very well with the EU and in many ways are better than some of the official works. I hope it doesn't come across as pushy to ask, but when might Interregnum II be finished and Interregnum III commenced? I'm really looking forward to seeing more!

 

Funny you should mention it. the Interregunumverse is best found here on AO3 for ease of navigation. And FFN, but really... I know Bel has to post more slowly here due to older forum architecture and formatting, but Interregnum II is done sans Missing Moments, which should trickle out when our lives get a bit less busy. Each story took most of a year to outline, plot and write, and we want to do our best, so we'll take our time.

 

I’ve been meaning to leave some well-deserved reviews for both those fics. I’ve read them both in full and they are top-quality works! You and your co-author have a true love for the Expanded Universe. I’m actually starting my re-read of Interregnum. You do such a good job with all the characters and storylines, it’s truly a pleasure to read. But this isn’t the place to fully enumerate it’s many good qualities. Thank you for creating and sharing those amazing works.

 

Aw thanks. One of the big reasons I like writing Rogue Squadron into fic or playing around with them is that it reminds me of being younger and finding a series of books about a group of fairly regular, if skilled people. It's also not a "Mundanes do it better" but it's nice to read about great characters in an extraordinary setting where not everyone is a princess or a Jedi.

I think the X-Wing books really opened that up a bit more for fandom and fanfic alike.

 

*winces* Interregnum II has been done and posted for months, I just kind of lost patience with keeping it going here since it's a pain to post and I had no idea if anyone was reading it. I should really finish posting it here ...

 

One of the things I liked best about the X-wing series and what it did for the worldbuilding is the whole citizen-soldier feel of the protagonists. Most of them have no military experience prior to the Rebellion, even fewer have any military heritage, several of them have previous careers while others have family backgrounds and/or dreams of their own that don't mesh at all with their current role as Rebel fighter pilots. The sense you get is that if this were a better time for the galaxy, they'd all be perfectly happy doing something else: the only reason they're all here is that they think this cause in particular is important enough (including and especially for ordinary people like themselves) to be worth fighting for.

It makes a nice contrast not only with Jedi and princesses but also from the Mandos and clones that eventually became the main military POV characters thanks to Karen Traviss.

 

Agree. Like that he is cunning, but quite affable and charismatic. Although, speaking of later EU, IMO, the consequences of the New Republic's "deal with the devil" by freeing Black Sun's members from Kessel were not as drastic as they could've been.

 

I get the Mando thing, but is the clones becoming the default Republic military POV Traviss' fault? We didn't exactly get many differing views from other sources either. Out of all the books, comics, etc there's a few officers in the Clone Wars TV series, the private army in Jedi Trial, locals in Shatterpoint, and some support personnel in the Medstar books. Only the CW and Medstar ones were actual Republic personnel too.

I think it might have been a case of the franchise pivoting to new material being largely built around "Clone Wars" and writers defaulting to the titular clones when a POV character was needed. I wish we had gotten more variety but I don't think it was the fault of any particular author either.

 

True, it is one of the biggest missed opportunities, that they didin't flesh out his backstory in other books or short stories, we got some of Booster's younger days, but nothing of Vorru outside these books, it's really weird, but, tying into this:

I think we might have gotten that transition had the old EU kept developing the Dark Times era, with many of these elements that would come into play in the Dark Times being finally explored, making all of it feel more connected, but sadly it was cut short, and also partially distracted by the TCW series' multimedia focus, if that didin't happen, i can definetly see Zahn (who was still making short stories and books), Stackpole, and other older authors coming back with books or short stories detailing a lot of what Karrde's youth was like during the Imperial reign, the Corellian Jedi, etc.

@SnubJockey That's awesome! I wasn't even aware that story existed, i will check it out, maybe i'll re-readthe Zahn trilogy, then read (or listen to) Isard's revenge, and see how it flows.

Yeah, i'm timeline obsessed like that

 

I'm sure they'd have been happy to come back (although maybe not Stackpole, IIRC he had a falling out with Del Rey for some reason), but, yeah, the biggest missed opportunity in the old EU was the fact that the Dark Times were so comparatively underdeveloped. There were huge casts of characters from both the Bantam Era and the prequel era that we know were alive and in some cases at their peak during this time period; it would have been nice to see the EU finally sink its teeth into that era. (Outbound Flight/Survivor's Quest was a taste of how it could have been).

 

Booster Terrick, Hal Horn, Roster Horn, Neeja Halcyon, Tarkin, Seti Asgard, When was that Yoda/Bpfassi incident supposed to be anyway? Aruk, Durga, Jillac, the Bounty Hunter/Smuggler crew from The New Rebellion, Roa, Shug Ninx, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Garm Bel Ilbis, the Naberries, Armand Isard, Freedom Son's, And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Just to single out one person on your list, Garm Bel-Iblis is one that I'd have loved to see interact with Flirry Vorru. They were at the very top of Corellian politics (Senator, Governor/Moff) at around the same time. They definitely would have been political enemies before they were even military ones, but they also have a lot in common in that in their own ways they're almost as big a pain in the ass to their own side as the other (Vorru's rivalry with the Emperor, Bel Iblis' falling out with Mon Mothma), which goes well with the strongly independent streak running through Corellian politics. I also imagine there were a few times, when they were still political figures, when they managed to hold their noses and cooperate when it came to preserving the Corellian System's autonomous status as much as possible.

 

Well, I've now read both the Interregnums. Thank you very kindly for posting that. I've really missed having stories with those characters to read.

 

Thanks! Us too, which is why we wrote them. Character progression first is important, and I had a really good time writing the brief "no Decor" scene between Wedge and Ackbar in II

 

I finished listening to the Krytos Trap with Marc Thompson’s usual top quality narration and I have some new insights into the conquest of Coruscant and the initial months of New Republic rule.

The Krytos Virus isn’t as virulent as Isard wanted, and instead of inheriting a pandemic-laden world, the New Republic conquered an endemic one.

The Provisional Council is able to treat many of the ill and is able to maintain a semblance of order instead of the rampant chaos Isard had hoped for. The numerous bacta shipments they get from Thyferra help a lot as does the ryll kor that Rogue Squadron obtains.

The Conquest of Coruscant backfires horribly on Ysanne Isard. The New Republic takes the capital relatively intact, without any major fleet or troop losses and in doing so, they also inherit the working government structure. They become the legitimate government of the Galaxy, albeit a cash-strapped and overstretched one.

There’s a moment where Wedge actually thinks to himself that the war is over at that point. He’s clearly wrong, but it’s interesting to ponder what the Fall of Coruscant meant for all the Warlords and surviving Imperial territories and worlds.

It’s not mentioned in Wedge’s Gamble but the remnants of the Imperial Ruling Council fled Coruscant as it fell. Sarcev Quest, Ars Dangor and the few others Isard didn’t purge were able to escape to Orinda, where they set up the new Imperial Capital.

It’s unstated but very much implied that Ysanne Isard lost her control over the Empire on the night Coruscant fell to the New Republic. Moreover, by giving away the capital, she lost the tenuous confidence and support of the Imperial Fleet and the surviving Moffs. This cost her the Regency as well as her official position and standing within the Empire.

The Liberation of Coruscant didn’t end the Empire as a galactic power. The Ruling Council still existed on Orinda and many sectors still answered to it. On the last day that Coruscant belonged to the Empire, Ysanne Isard was still in command of it. On the day after, she was nowhere to be found by anyone and while we don’t know exactly what the days and weeks following the Liberation were like for Isard and Imperial High Command, we do know that when Isard finally re-emerged six weeks later, virtually no Imperial Forces answered her call.

I’m very interested to know what the days leading up to the Liberation were like for Imperial High Command. What line did Isard feed the Council about the weakened defences of Coruscant and the plans for relocating the capital, if any?

What happened to the Imperator and Emperor’s Will? Isard sent them away from Coruscant prior to the New Republic Fleet’s arrival along with several TIE wings. Given this preemptive action, the Council must have been told about Isard’s plans, at least on some level.

Presumably, the Council evacuated on those two ISD’s along with many top government officials. Whether they headed straight to Orinda or ended up there eventually is unknown. But we do know that Isard didn’t go with them.

The Imperial Palace on the eve the invasion must have been very interesting. I wonder just who Isard took with her to the hidden Lusankya and who was left to the New Republic’s mercy. The invasion didn’t quite go as planned and we know that the planet fell earlier than Isard had planned. With that in mind, I’m picturing a mad scramble to evacuate the Palace, with II agents purging everything they could from the Palace mainframes while trying to carry off as many files and secrets that they could.

We never actually see Isard in the Krytos Trap save for a few short interrogation scenes with Corran. We don’t see her interacting with any of her subordinates at all. We know she did speak regularly with Vorru, Loor, Erisi and many others. It’s quite conspicuous that such scenes absent only in this novel and none of the others.

I think that’s meant to make the reveal of her having been on Coruscant the entire time more impactful. We do know that her retreat to Lusankya and her subsequent six weeks of skulking on Coruscant were quite harrowing for her. In her final communication to Vorru, mere hours before the Lusankya’s launch, she’s in a full-blown panic at Corran and Derricote’s disappearance.

She thought it was Derricote and not Corran who was going to turn information to the New Republic and she likely thought his defection would be the end of her Krytos gambit. This implies that her vision didn’t go as planned.

I imagine that in the days after the Liberation, Isard tried to communicate with the Ruling Council on Orinda, only to have her commands ignored and perhaps outright rejected. The fall of Coruscant, particularly the way it fell so easily, must have caused many high-ranking Imperials to lose their faith in Isard as a leader.

I can see the days turning into weeks and the realization that she’d lost a vast majority of her power and control over the Empire being very difficult for Isard to come to terms with. Between that and the failure of the Krytos Virus to spread as she’d envisioned, Isard’s sanity began to slip. Corran’s escape compounded that fracture and lead the moment where she contacted Vorru in panic, trying to ensure Derricote (really Corran) did not make it out of the Lusankya egresses alive.

This tells us that her escape from Coruscant was very rushed and definitely earlier than planned. We know that the Xucphra Coup was already complete before Lusankya arrived at Thyferra, which means Isard was working on it during those six weeks of self-imposed exile.

So much gets glossed over in the Krytos Trap and it’s a bit of a shame. The New Republic becomes the galactic power after it takes control of the capital and the impact that has on the surviving Imperial Sectors is very interesting.

It’s quite telling that with Coruscant in Rebel hands and Isard MIA, Zsinj begins to take swift and aggressive action, likely in the hopes of rallying the remaining Imperials in a show of strength. This must’ve infuriated Isard and contributed to the loosening of her brain-welds.

The premature flight from Coruscant leaves Isard in a furious state at the collapse of so many of her plans, and while she manages to achieve a soft landing at Thyferra, it’s only temporary.

Ysanne Isard’s plummet from the heights of Coruscant’s spires to absolute rock bottom began the night Coruscant fell and only ended when Thyferra was taken and the Lusankyawas captured. She went from the Ruler of the Galactic Empire to being presumed dead with no forces, no influence and a fraction of the resources she’d once commanded.

She never manages to recover any of that power and perishes in a pitiful attempt to regain it two years later. It’s as Mon Mothma says at the end of this novel.

“Stolen power evaporates and when it does, the empires that were built on it and of it collapse, never to rise again.”

 

Funny story, but there's a theory about what might have actually happened to Isard. While it is a theory, I'll spoiler-tag it anyway.

Spoiler

There is actually some evidence that suggests Isard didn't die after Iella shot her at the end of the book, but is instead entombed within the Lusankya itself.

Isard is soon shot afterwards and presumably dies after being shot in the stomach by Iella. Then later on, in the last chapter, after we have a comment from Corran about how "[...] if there's a spark of life, bacta will keep you going." there's this bit:

What's more, no one who was a part of the team preventing Isard from taking over the Lusankya ever directly state that she is dead. The closest anyone does is Iella stating somewhat ambiguously that "[...] Eliminating her won't bring [Diric] back, but she'll never do that to anyone else [....]" She also states that she has "no doubt part of [Isard] will always be with the Lusankya."

To sum this up: Isard is told there will be no trial for her to stir up trouble one last time, and that she'll go to a max security prison. Iella insinuates that the plan is to have her imprisoned on the Lusankya itself, something Isard fears more than death itself. She manages to hit Iella with a holdout blaster, but she is blasted by her and soon afterwards blacks out.

Later, after the reader is reminded of the healing properties of bacta, Iella states that there is indeed a section of the Lusankya serviced only by droids, and that any breach will vent that area into space, ensuring that anything living will never leave that area alive. Which hypothetically could include the former head of Imperial Intelligence that is imprisoned there for the rest of her natural life.