Compiling what has come before and adding new bits here and there...

WEEK 1

Strip 1: We're on Ord Mantell, and this is the same Imperial tower we saw Barezz land on in the first Rookies story-arc. The Empire supposedly has a light presence on the planet, so this building must be a relative rarity in the Ord Mantell skyline. Barezz's Lambda-class shuttle is still visible docked on its platform.

Strip 2: Barezz's fervor is consistent with the ISB creed of loyalty to the state above all. Of all the various aspects of the Galactic Empire, I find that the ISB and its methodologies is the one that best fits Orwellian molds.

Strip 3: Barezz is holding the datapad that Tiree gave to Kestrel in Rendezvous, which she inadvertently left aboard the Old Timer's freighter when she was forced to take cover inside Raal's ship.

Strip 4: Imperial prison blocks are modular enough to crib the design from A New Hope. Many old West End Games source books encouraged gamemasters to approximate familiar Imperial designs when developing their own locales.

Strip 5: Throwing Darth Vader into a webstrip is the equivalent of a famous cameo during sweeps. It makes for a memorable week.

WEEK 2

Strip 6: The holographic "booth" that Barezz is talking to Vader in is meant to be similar to the booth that Vader uses to talk to his captains in Empire. To explain some of Barezz's dialogue, the "last" lead he gathered through "different channels" resulted in the off-screen death of the six Rebel recruits which got the ball rolling in Rendezvous. These were the six Tiree was to escort back to Home base, but he found them dead, necessitating the search for our Rookie characters.

Strip 7: We are looking at a subspace relay station here. There are two primary forms of faster-than-light communications in the galaxy. The HoloNet and hyperradios use the domain of hyperspace to provide near-instantaneous communication throughout the entire galaxy. Subspace radio, conversely, uses a subspace domain and achieves a transmission radius of a dozen light years or so. With the rise of the Empire, the HoloNet has been completely nationalized, and is closely monitored by the New Order. As such, I figure relay stations linked every few light years offer a workable alternative that is slower and covers lesser territory, but at least keeps the Empire from reading your mail. The Bothans, with their vaunted Spynet, would be all over such communications.

And yes, that is a Bothan clan sigil, of the Clan Alya, on the side of the relay station. Docked on the far side of the station, opposite the primary transmission mast, is Raal Yorta's Sienar starship.

Strip 8: Everyone is back, and this time, I have the luxury of introducing the characters all at once, rather than having to start them off on their own separate threads. As you can see, the relay station is very small. That central pillar where Sammie is emerging from is the escape pod shaft, as he describes. The door behind Kestrel is the airlock connecting back to Raal's ship. Raal mentions the Bothans, confirming that they are indeed in Bothan space. In fact, they are over the planet Bothawui, which I'll comment on further a little later.

Kestrel notes that Tiree pointed them to this locale, so that must mean that the datapad both she and Sammie received led them to this Bothawui relay station. And note that we get a taste of Smiley's skewed priorities.

WEEK 3

Strip 9: Staging tip: If you ever need to completely diffuse a tense argument scene, have a Squib look directly at "camera," like on panel 3. It works like a charm.

In the first panel, Kestrel is kicking over some crates in frustration, in case it's not clear. The datapad that she mentions is the one that is now in Barezz's possession. What sparks Smiley into action will become apparent in Strip 11.

Strip 10: Sammie and Kestrel aren't exactly getting along, but to be fair, I doubt any one of these folks are really trying. Kestrel has a price on her head, if her relationship with Skorr in the last story is any indication, so she does have reason to not like bounty hunters.

Strip 11: Smiley comes running back; he went to Raal's ship to fetch Sammie's version of Tiree's datapad - or Tireepad, as he calls it. He plugs it into the station's computer, hoping that searching through the datapad might unlock any clues left behind by Tiree. He's not all blur fur and buckteeth. There is a brain in there.

Strip 12: I love writing Squibbish dialogue. I know the Squibs in the novels don't talk with this peculiar accent, but all the Squibs I write do - King Ebareebaveedee in HoloNet News, Macemillian-winduarté in "Spare Parts" and Smiley here. It's based on the way they were first presented in Scavenger Hunt, the 1989 adventure module that introduced the Squibs.

Smiley, with the largest ears, has the most sensitive hearing, so it's likely only he could have picked up the droid signal.

Strip 13: What I'm trying to get at here is that when the Rookies manage to stop bickering and work together, they can actually get a few things done. It's all about having fun with staging, really.

With the saga complete, I'm free to pepper in prequel references into a classic trilogy-era story with abandon, hence I think I'm the first to use "roger roger" in such a way.

Kestrel has a good idea. If the droid transmission could only be acquired with the datapad, then telling the droid to stop transmitting will stop the Empire from following them. At least, that's the plan. Little did she realize she was too late, as is evident in the next strip...

WEEK 4

Strip 14: That's Raal's starship getting obliterated by some rather heavy firepower.

Strip 15: The source of said firepower, the Star Destroyer Aggressor, which is the same Destroyer that Barezz was throwing his weight about in the first story. Barezz's call for a surgical strike against Raal's ship shows that he means business and is not about to let these Rebels escape.

Strip 16: Or, I guess I should say Raal's father's starship. The nature of their relationship was hinted at during the sabacc game in Rendezvous, and Raal's immediate concerns of being in trouble with dear-old-dad speaks volumes.

Strip 17: Everyone's strapped in and crammed into the escape pod. When Smiley talks about coordinates, he's talking about where the droid signal came from.

Strip 18: The escape pod launches; this nice wide panoramic shows the stakes involved. I usually avoid motion blur filters, but what the hey.

WEEK 5

Strip 19: Barezz's boarding shuttle changes course to follow the escape pod. Once again, Barezz is taking no chances, ordering a TIE element on the ready to deal with anyone who may want to interfere.

Strip 20: The escape pod on the surface of Bothawui, and a sign identifying the condemned mine, Mesa 291.

Now, a bit of background. When this scenario was first printed in 1987 as the Rebel Breakout adventure, it was set on "Bothan's Planet." For a long time, there was an assumption that this wasn't necessarily Bothawui. Remember, Bothawui didn't exist at the time. Bothan's Planet was again mentioned in The Game Chambers of Questal, a sequel-of-sorts to Rebel Breakout,

When Game Chambers of Questal was reprinted in a more modern collection, references to the Bothan's Planet caper were changed to Bothawui, suggesting that Bothan's Planet was Bothawui all along. That means that Mesa 291 is in a rather barren stretch of the planet.

The Rookies here are seem marching overland towards the mesa, which has a series of catwalks up its side. The sign is warning people away from the condemned mine.

Strip 21: The catwalks stop at a certain elevation, and the Rookies are forced to climb. I admit, the perspective may be overly dramatic here. Perhaps it's not that sheer below the cliffside entrance they're trying to reach. Kestrel, being directly above Raal, has reason to voice her concerns, which finally manage to elicit a laugh from stone-faced Staable.

Strip 22: This is more or less where Rebel Breakout begins. In fact, some of this dialogue is based on the old script that began the adventure. Mesa 291 is indeed a lidium mine, though what lidium is has never fully been explored. Raal is reacting to animal bones on panel #2.

Strip 23: Barezz is not far behind. He has landed his shuttle atop the mesa. From the looks of it, he's brought 12 stormtroopers with him. He orders two teams of three to check the topside entrance, and the remaining six to rappel to the side entrance the Rookies just used. He plans to accompany one of the two three-man teams.

And that brings us up to date. I may start these weekly again, with the warning that I am taking some time off in August, but I do hope to continue blogging.

ph