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| In spaace! |
The time has come for the galaxies rebels to unite. To… ally, perhaps,
in some sort of 'Rebel Alliance' if you will.
The catalyst for this movement is Senator Mon Mothma, who has stood up
and given a gloriously fuck you final speech before going into hiding. Hera,
Zeb, Ezra and Chopper have been entrusted with a secret courier mission which
one of Thrawn's probe droids stumbles on, and when their rendezvous with the
Y-wings of Gold Squadron and their transporter is busted up by Imperial
cruisers, they have to offload the cargo – former Senator Mon Mothma – onto the
Ghost.
With Ezra joining the escort wing, Hera leads the small convoy away
from the danger, but Grand Admiral Thrawn discerns their likely course and
dispatches Governor Pryce and Admiral Konstantine to intercept them, along with
a special surprise in the form of 'the prototype.' This prototype turns out to
be the first TIE Defender, which along with a pair of TIE Interceptors is more
than a match for the Ghost and three aging Y-wings. In a desperate gambit, Hera
heads into a nebula and loses the Interceptors by scraping across a forming
star, but Ezra and Gold Leader are forced to stay behind to delay the Defender,
while two Star Destroyers ambush the Ghost.
Ezra leads the Defender into Gold Leader's sights, and with his shields
stripped by the Y-wing's ion cannon the pilot is forced to pull out of the
nebula(1). Hera then directs Gold Squadron to fire into the edge of the nebula
with proton torpedoes, causing an eruption which seriously damages the two Star
Destroyers, allowing the badly mauled rebels to escape to a first mustering of
rebel forces in orbit around the remote planet of Dantooine.
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| Alliance Assemble! |
'Secret Cargo' is, to borrow a phrase from the world of sportball, liquid Star Wars. It brings the Rebels crew to the forefront of
formation of the Alliance and delivers the first round of the clash of
commanders between Hera and Thrawn that I've been looking for since they first
exchanged the stink eye in 'Hera's Heroes'. It makes it clear that our rag-tag band - even including Commander Sato and Phoenix Squadron - is just one among many, and that their differing styles can lead to a certain friction(2). It cements the series' place as
both canonical and integral to the greater story of the Empire and the
Rebellion. It has proper, gripping space battles and an intellectual cat and
mouse conducted with neither participant coming within sensor range of the
other. I adore it.
(1) Yes, even the straight dogfight is resolved by clever use of available resources.
(2) Gold Squadron remark on their tactics and suggest that blowing up Tarkin's Star Destroyer has just raised security for everyone else.
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