Lando Calrissian flirts with Rebellion as the galaxy learns Vuffi Raa’s greatest secret! Join today’s Legendary Adventures as we wrap up the Lando Calrissian Adventures!
In some books, the main plot is the least interesting thread that a book can follow. In the Legendary Adventures, we’ve learned that continuity can come from the B-plot rather than the A-plot. We’ll see a lot of that here with Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka. But first, the main plot, where we’ll have some fun. Now, what could be more fun than what we’ve seen before? Because, as followers of the Adventures know, we’ve seen some wild stuff in the past two novels. On Rafa IV, Lando encountered a strange temple which played with space, time, dimensions, and other dimensions. He then encountered the terrifyingly dangerous Flamewinds of Oseon. Now, we encounter one of the strangest creatures the galaxy has ever seen. Unfortunately, they are in danger, and only our heroes Lando Calrissian and Vuffi Raa can save them!
In era of the Empire, we’ve already seen how certain smugglers and criminal syndicates can find ways to rise to power. A separate governing body from the Empire, the Centrality was a swath of space outside of the Hutt territories that mostly represented dead space and dead spacers. Most smugglers and pilots died in the space between planets because there weren’t enough places to stop and refuel. The Centrality, despite being a competitor the Empire, was mostly left to reign on its own. Part of that comes from the fact that the Centrality rules over just useless space, space so ugly even Sheev couldn’t desire it. One such example is the Starcave nebula. It’s an oddly shaped, almost in-transversable nebula in the middle of the galaxy. A government with mostly useless space would seem content to mind its own business, right?
Unfortunately, they were at times just as evil as the Empire. At one point, they moved to blockade and destroy a sentient race of beings known as the Oswaft there. The Oswaft are giant, winged-looking gas feeders who were gelatinous and also at times amorphous. But they presented two major obstacles to the Centrality. First, they were sentient and extremely intelligent; they could communicate through imagery, but could pick up languages quickly. They were also space faring, which the Centrality saw a means they could use to rebel against their government.
Lando Calrissian befriends one of the Oswaft. They communicate via the Millennium Falcon as the ship has the ability to send images to the Oswaft, and a young Oswaft is able to transmit these images back and hold a communication between the two. This helps Lando gain empathy for the poor creatures, and he offers to do whatever he can to help them. At first, it means smuggling through the Centrality blockade to bring them supplies. Soon, it becomes outright offensive maneuvers.
Thankfully, the Oswaft have even more abilities beyond traveling through space and their intelligence: strangely, they can shed an outer coat of their body and create essentially a doppelganger of themselves. On the offensive side, they have the ability to “shout” mega-sonic-waves which can, conveniently, rip through anything that they are aimed at; this ability comes in handy as Lando teaches the Oswaft to fight back against the Centrality.
We also see two major stories wrap up: the mystery of Vuffi Raa and the rivalry between Lando Calrissian and Rokur Gepta comes to a close! At the end of the adventure, we learn that Vuffi Raa was created by an ancient race of sentient, saucer-looking creatures. These creatures, identified in secondary material as the Silentium, were also some of the first space-faring sentient beings. Earlier in the Adventures, we saw a sort of hyperspace race in the galaxy as the Celestials, Je’daii, Tung, and Gree raced to find ways to colonize the galaxy by hyperspace travel. We now see that the Silentium could have been a part of this hyperspace race, which might have brought some unfortunate side-effects. The Silentium, however, managed to avoid war with the Celestials as they raced through the stars. Unfortunately, they were caught in a war with a race of droids known as the Abominor. (Keep those beings in mind – they’re a huge component to the upcoming Yuuzhan Vong invasion!) To keep their species safe, they exiled some members of the species to the wilds of space, hoping for their survival and eventual reunification.
Remember how I said that Vuffi Raa was recognized across the Centrality in the past two novels? Well, Rokur Gepta used to control a man named Osuno Whett. Whett, in fact, was the previous master of Vuffi Raa! At one point, as Rokur was planning his domination of the galaxy, he sent Whett and Vuffi Raa to a planet full of humans in the Renatasia system. There, Osuno oversaw a massive genocide that wiped out the humans in the system. A lone survivor has been chasing Vuffi Raa his whole life, only to learn in this novel that Vuffi is a droid, unable to commit genocide on his own. Vuffi Raa’s safety assured from destruction by accidental allies, Lando and Vuffi Raa plan on finding new adventures together as pilot and co-pilot. The Silentium have different plans though, as they finally come to pick up the separated Vuffi Raa and start to reunite the Silentium.
And finally, while we’ve been watching the rivalry between Lando and Rokur Gepta shake out…we’re left with an underwhelming display here. First, we’ve seen his tenacity in chasing Lando and his drive to get his hands on anything that can give him extreme power. Second, we’ve seen his strong command of the Force. Now…we see an anti-climactic end. Lando faces whom he thinks is Gepta one final time before realizing the dangerous sorcerer was in over his head, far too arrogant to see where he lost. Lando and Gepta battle in space suits, a simple battle where they shoot each other with blasters rather than Gepta’s command of the Force. Lando ends up shooting Gepta, a blow that proves fatal. Gepta t provs to his normal form, a black slug, and is immediately crushed by Lando’s hands. Gepta would bother Lando no more and the galaxy is now free of the Sorcerers of Tund.
But as this saga comes to a close, a smuggler we’ve met before gets his hands on a certain YT-1300 freighter, and a new slew of adventures open up….
You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisWerms, and of course, you can follow the Manor on Twitter @MynockManor!
Dark Times Era: Republic Commando – Order 66 | Kenobi | Dark Lord: Rise of Darth Vader | Coruscant Nights I – Jedi Twilight | Coruscant Nights II – Street of Shadows | Coruscant Nights III – Patterns of the Force | The Last Jedi | Han Solo Trilogy #1 – The Paradise Snare | Han Solo Trilogy #2 – The Hutt Gambit | The Force Unleashed | Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu | Lando Calrissian and the Flamewinds of Oseon