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Nathaniel Reed's
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:: An ongoing episodic story of fan-fic set after Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and inspired by George Lucas' historical draft concepts ::
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| April 2026 |
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'Maul Shadow Lord' appears,
and Gana, Corsa, and Benji take flight !
30th April 2026 |
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April saw the release of the latest ten-part animated show from LFL, Maul : Shadow Lord ! Overall, I've really enjoyed it. Set on Jannix about a year after Order 66 [Episode III ROTS], we follow Maul and a small crew as he muscles in on local criminal gangs, following his defeat on Mandalore and - I believe - earlier attempts at lording it within the criminal underworld. The erstwhile Sith Apprentice divines a fugitive Jedi Padawan and her Master also hiding on the planet, and resolves to turn her allegience to his dark ways. There is also a local law enforcement agency, and an officer named Lawson who we follow, along with his son and his enforcer droid-partner, and discover how all the characters' paths come to intersect. And then the Empire arrives, with SIth Inquisitors.....
With eight episodes in, my only criticism has been the near-frustration that all the action, for the most part, takes place within the primary city of this one world ; Maul briefly visits Obah Diah - the Pyke homeworld - to usurp that criminal syndicate, but the plotting of this in concurrence with other action beats confused me with the timing of how they would synchronise and where the homeworld is in astro-geographical relation to Jannix. The eighth episode has quite a revealing and intriguing mental breakdown of doubt and remorse and anger on the part of Maul.... which is exciting to see... but my first impression was that such depressive thoughts should either have been fomenting and seen over a longer time frame, or played out much earlier in Maul's arc - in the sense that 10-15 years previously he had been cut in half and left for dead and mad, and resorted to relying on cybernetic spider legs to transport him.
The show had re-invented the lightsabre duelling visual style, and it's certainly impressive and 'angry', an appropriate visual cue for the tone of the show. I'm looking forward to watching the last two episodes on 'Star Wars Day', May the Fourth !
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| As I did with the progression of the Virtual Edition Episode X, I will post below sections of the prose for Episode XI as I draft it.... here, following on from the previous month's drafting, the children, Gana and Corsa Solo and Benji Skywalker, caught up within the hangar bay network of the Imperial Star Destroyer, finally make it to a long-range shuttle.... thanks to the supernatural intervention of the Twins' mother, Leia Solo....
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In the adjoining hangar bay, the children had used the Force to push away the technicians and supervisors. As the assorted crew were climbing to their feet, the youngsters called upon the Force to propel them to the nearest shuttle that sat in a line of transports. It was a small boxey personnel carrier with stubby lambda wings, sitting on chunky landing struts. Its overly large engine cowls correctly implied hyperdrive thrust capability.
The children re-materialised from the blur that had carried them to the shuttle, and raced up the open boarding ramp.
Corsa paused to cycle the ramp closure, and then ran through the cabin to join her brother and cousin in the cockpit.
Gana was already flicking activator switches and engaging pre-flight thruster prep. As the engines began to whine, Corsa slipped into the co-pilot’s chair, and initiated the steering yoke. Benji held on tightly to the back of the pilot seat with his left hand, his right arm still numb and hanging loosely at his side.
“Ready ?” asked Gana curtly.
“Uh huh,” nodded his sister. “Punch it !”
“Then let’s get outta here !”
With more alarm klaxons blaring around the bay, the shuttle lifted a little unsteadily, but held its balance, and then pushed out towards the primary central egress bay. As it cleared its own smaller bay, the shuttle dived sharply down and exited the Star Destroyer, and then banked hard left and right, before climbing back up towards the ventral hull.
Inside the cockpit, Benji, who was swaying side to side despite gripping the seat, asked his cousin what she was doing.
“They’ll activate their tractor beam soon. I don’t want them to get a target on us,” she explained through gritted teeth.
“And it’ll be harder for them to nail us if we’re against the hull !” added Gana.
The shuttle skimmed perilously close to the underside of the gargantuan ship, racing past stations of turbo-laser cannons. As they swept past, the first set of central cannons began to crank into life, swinging around to find the fugitive.
Corsa jinked the shuttle left and right to prevent the cannons from fixing on them, and Benji nealy lost his footing. With a flash of white light the secondary forward hangar bay swept past above their heads.
From inside the cockpit, the children saw a salvo of green turbo laser fire burn past below them, just a few degrees off the shuttle.
“That was close !” Gana called out.
“Yeah ?!” retorted his sister. “If I get any closer, we’ll have to shave our heads !!”
“Watch out !” Benji called, gesturing his chin forwards.
A ventral comms tower was directly in their line. Corsa leaned on the yoke, and the shuttle banked to the side. Suddenly another flash of green cannon fire flared by and the tower antennae exploded.
“Woah !” cried out Gana.
The nose of the Star Destroyer could be clearly seen now, and the shuttle raced towards it.
Corsa leaned left and right on the yoke, trying to confuse the cannons’ targetting.
“We’re going to be like a dozing loth-cat soon !” exclaimed Benji, through gritted teeth, his shoulders rocking back and forth.
Unbeknownst to the children, four TIE fighters had dropped out of the primary hangar bay behind them, and were accelerating towards the shuttle.
“Gana, can you remember how to set a hyperspace course ?!” cried out Corsa.
“I-I think so... ?”
“We’re gonna be worse than a dozing loth-cat if you don’t !!” his sister shot back. “Get on to it right now !”
Her brother nodded, and shifted in his seat. To his side were the navi-comp controls, linked in with the hyperdrive.
He began tapping buttons, and a partial Galactic map appeared on a side screen, restricted to the local sectors within their fuel range. It wasn’t wide and didn’t look promising. Coruscant was no where to be seen within the extent available.
“Where in icy Hell are we ?” he exclaimed.
The nose of the larger ship skimmed overhead, and the tapestry of stars was suddenly unveiled.
“The cannon have stopped firing...” muttered Benji, and he cast out with his mind. His eyes opened wide. “Four TIE fighters, coming in fast !”
“Oh no...” muttered Corsa, and, closing her eyes, she jinked the transport again.
Narrow green lances flashed past them.
Gana started panicking.
“I don’t know where to go !” he wailed. “And, anyway, I can’t remember what order to set this !”
Another streak of green laser fire flickered by.
Leia materialised behind Benji. She put her hand on the youngster’s shoulder, and leaned forward towards her oldest son. Benji’s numb arm began to warm up as feeling returned to it.
“Gana,” she instructed softly and calmly.
“Mom !” he and his sister both gasped.
“Input two jumps.” She pointed over his shoulder. “Select Bogano and then Japeal. We can re-fuel at the second one.”
“Are you okay, mom ?” asked Corsa.
Leia smiled, and turned to face her daughter.
“I’m fine, darling, don’t worry about me. I’ll be with you from here on in.”
She returned her attention to the navi-comp console and screen.
“Press that button to initiate,” she directed Gana. “And that one to task it. When it goes green, push those levers forward,” she pointed to a set of levers in the centre of the instrument panel.
Inside the Star Destroyer hangar bay, Leia Solo was still twirling her lightsabre and deflecting the stormtroopers’ gunfire back at them. Several more squads had arrived, but she stood calmly in the middle of the bay, surrounded by the white shell armoured uniforms, many standing and firing, but just as many lying motionless on the decking.
With an oscillating buzzing hum, the blue blade flashed around and above the still figure, to the front and to the back, and even though she was surrounded, none of the troopers’ red laser bolts had penetrated her defence.
In the midst of the melee, she cocked her head to one side. She smiled softly, and then faded away.
“Cease fire ! Cease fire !”
The deck officer who shouted ran forward waving his arms. The Jedi warrior’s disappearance might have been unexpected and incongruous, but there was no need for yet more soldiers to be cut down in cross-fire.
The second deck officer stepped out from behind a wall of canisters, and wondered out loud where their assailant had gone.
“Review the security footage !” instructed the first officer into his comlink.
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| Nathaniel Reed, 30th April 2026 |
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