Princess Leia’s rebellion is about to cost Dantooine dearly – but two Rebels hope to salvage some data vital to the Rebellion before it’s too late! Join the Legendary Adventures as we excavate Galaxies: Ruins of Dantooine!
A few months ago, Rebel leader and Alderaanian Princess Leia Organa was held aboard the Imperial’s terrifying battle station known as the Death Star. As Princess Leia is being interrogated by both Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, Leia is asked about the location of the secret Rebel base! Rather then giving up the actual location, or secret Rebel sympathizers, Leia feeds the Imperials bad information: the Rebel base could be found on Dantooine. Unfortunately, it was too remote to satisfy Grand Moff Tarkin, and he directs the Death Star to open fire on the peaceful planet known as Alderaan.
The Death Star was soon destroyed at the Battle of Yavin, but Dantooine would still be of interest to both Imperial and Alliance forces. Unfortunately, Rebel secrets were left on Dantooine when the Alliance forces left the planet quickly. Most importantly? The Alliance left behind a holocron with the names of many Rebel sympathizers, putting them in the cross-hairs of the Empire! In the ruins of an ancient Jedi Temple, the Holocron lies safely…for now. As the Alliance wins more battles, and more allies, now is the time to collect their allies and rally for the coming counterattacks from the Empire. This leads Alliance leadership to send many of their best agents to the planet and retrieve the item.
For the Empire, Dantooine had aided the Rebels in their fight against the Empire, and will need to pay for it. (Dantooine also had a history with both the Sith Order and the Jedi Order, as Revan was retrained as a Jedi Knight there and Sith forces also led a battle there.) After the destruction of the Death Star, the Empire is having a hard time finding traction in the battle against the Rebel Alliance, and it seems like more and more Imperial governors are willing to game the system. The Hand of Judgment, still loyal to the Empire despite being AWOL, are forced to react to more and more Imperial officers abusing their offices and trying to line their own pockets or consolidate their own power. More officially, Mara Jade is sent to destroy officers who are willing to embezzle Imperial wealth or try to ally themselves with the Rebel Alliance. But now, with the ability to gain secret Alliance information, they might turn the tide and be able to regain the foothold they held against the Alliance.
With both parties’ intense interests, a representative for both the Empire and the Rebel Alliance travel to Dantooine to find the Jedi holocron. Dusque Mistflier, a xenobiologist, defected from the Empire shortly after the Battle of Yavin to join the Rebel Alliance. She teams up with another supposed Rebel sympathizer named Finn Daktrin, and the two plan to retrieve the holocron and return it to the Rebels to protect the identities of the potential rebel allies.
As the two navigate the planet, they are attacked by the native fauna of Dantooine. We haven’t seen a lot of creature horror on the Legendary Adventures so far, but we’re finally seeing a little more of that play out in the wilds of the galaxy. Thankfully, Dusque’s knowledge about animals and natural science saves their hides on more than one occassion. As the mission continues, and more animal attacks are avoided, the pair unites with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia, fresh from their missions to both Drunros and Poln Minor. The new squad of five are able to locate the holocron, but the mission goes south when a shocking and sudden betrayal rocks the team.
With the future of the Empire hanging in the balance, Finn turns on his Rebel friends – even Dusque, whom he had been growing more fond of. Finn’s turn to the Alliance was merely a ruse, designed to help Darth Vader get his hands on the holocron and root out any sign of Rebellion in the galaxy. Finn’s feeling for Dusque from the mission are inconsequential compared to his fear of Darth Vader, whose anger he did not want to invoke with failure. Finn turns his blaster on Dusque, trying to silence her, but he is stopped by Luke Skywalker. Finn does not get all of the information he seeks, forcing him to return to Darth Vader empty-handed. Thankfully for him, Vader is merciful, and does not kill Finn as we might have expected.
But the list of Rebel sympathizers is mostly forgotten when Luke and Leia are stranded, leading them to an object with immense power…and riddled with danger….
Legendary Travel Tips:
-The timeline on this book differs depending on your sources. For this article, this story takes place before Empire and Rebellion: Honor Among Thieves and Splinter of the Minds’ Eye. As far as I can tell, the tangled timeline in this block of books (Wookieepedia and the Essential Readers’ Companion have contradictory timelines especially between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back) don’t stem from any major story beats. For example, Han has the same ranking in this novel as he does in Honor Among Thieves.
-I have never played the Star Wars Galaxies game that inspired this spin-off title, but as far as I can gather, there is no major story connection between the game and the novel. Rather, the novel was designed to ask similar questions to the game about choosing sides and loyalty. In light of this, I understood enough of the story to understand it and like parts of it without having played the game.
You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisWerms, and of course, you can follow the Manor on Twitter @MynockManor!
Galactic Civil War Era: A New Hope | Scoundrels | Allegiance | Choices of One