STAR WARS
Novel References


Jedi Knight

PAGE QUOTATION COMMENTS
9

The machine's sole occupant had a two-day growth of beard and eyes that peered from skin-draped caves. ... Grif Grawley patted the console.

character: Grif Grawley

9

creature: gra

10

location: Fort Nowhere


character: Carole Grawley
18

"The planet supports two cultures — the first consists of approximately 20,000 preindustrial sentients. They seem to be indigenous, although surface artifacts suggest that other species lived here as well, raising the possibility that they originated somewhere else.

....

"[the humans] There isn't much to tell ... Space trash mostly, mixed with dissidents. The probes kept their distance but were able to monitor and record their comm traffic. Content analysis, combined with call mapping, confirms that most of the humans live and work in the vicinity of a Class Two military installation.

....

"It appears that a gang of smugglers uses Ruusan to warehouse their contraband and built the fort to protect their property. They call it 'Fort Nowhere.' A rather apt name, all things considered."

Inhabitants of Ruusan, as described by Sariss.

20

Grif ... ignored the half-tamed bush runner that lunged at the end of its chain, and followed the well-worn path toward the fort.

....

Fort Nowhere was laid out in the shape of a six-pointed star. Blaster cannons had been mounted at each of the star's points — a strategy that would place attackers in a withering crossfire.

The cannons, plus hidden missile batteries, were a potent threat against anything short of an Imperial assault, the very thing he had come to warn them about.

creature: bush runner, undescribed, but obviously not a fully domesticated creature.


location: Fort Nowhere, the smuggler fortress on Ruusan, and its defences, described.
20-21

location: Rest, the public bar on Ruusan.

21

Mayor Byron Devo, his paunch hanging over his belt, was the first to recover. He came to his feet. A stubby index finger stabbed the air.

character: Mayor Devo.

22

characters: Marie Peeno; Captain Jerg.

23

characters: Lasko; Mayor Devo further description.

25

Mayor Devo, eager to reassert his authority and regain whatever credibility he might have lost, offered an obscene gesture. "That's for you and the Emperor!"

This abusive remark may have continuity implications. All other signs indictate that this book takes place after the Emperor's death at Endor. Perhaps Mayor Devo is unaware of this news; perhaps he actually is cursing the memory of the Emperor.

30

... the Hope was no match for newer vessel half her size and served as a mobile HQ. She'd been in orbit around Milagro for a couple of months now, where she had provided the Rebel command structure with a space-going platform.

That's why both women knew the Dreadnaught wouldn't stand a chance against a Star Destroyer, wondered why the Imperial ship hadn't closed with them, and were thankful it hadn't. TIE Bombers were one thing, but the massive weapons the Destroyer could bring to bear were something else.

starship: New Hope was a museum-piece ship, and is poorly armed for its size (possibly as a consequence of its recent mothballed state). It is implied to be roughly twice the size of an Imperial star destroyer.


location: planet Milagro.
31

Thje bridge crew, under the somewhat stoic command of a Mon Calamari named Captain Tola, acknowledged the reports ...

character: Captain Tola.

32

"A comm call for you, ma'am," the young man stuttered, "from your brother."

chronology: At this point in STAR WARS history, the relationship between Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia is public knowledge.

37

Imperial Naval Captain Purdy M. Trico watched holo screens, listened to the comm traffic, and wondered why the gods had decided to abandon him. .... The Imperial power structure frowned on gods, any sort of gods, especially those believed to have more power than the state. But that hadn't stopped Trico from worshiping the same entities his forefathers had, not at the Academy, where such worship could result in expulsion, and not during the subsequent years when discovery would have ruined his career.

So why had the gods deserted him during his hour of need? Why had Mugg, Bron, and the great Pula allowed the Rebel gunship to ram his Destroyer?

characters: Captain Trico; his gods Mugg, Bron and Pula.

39

"The Dreadnaught means to engage, sir," the weapons-control officer replied desperately. "I recommend we rejoin our escorts — or take the entire Task Force into hyperspace."

"And leave more than a hundred TIE pilots to die?" Captain Trico demanded coldly. "Have you lost your mind, or just your nerve?"

Trico's ship carries enough TIE craft for over a hundred pilots to be in battle at the same time. This is rather more than the seventy-two fighters which supposedly is standard.

42

"Kyle, I'd like to introduce my sister, Leia Organa Solo"

Since Han Solo has already married Princess Leia, Jedi Knight must take place sometime after The Courtship of Princess Leia. Since the New Republic is not based on Coruscant at this time, it probably occurs between Dark Empire and Empire's End. That would also be consistent with the revived use of the term "Rebel Alliance", which was used throughout the Dark Empire series in reference to the displaced New Republic forces operating within the freshly expanded Imperial territory.

New Hope may be based at Pinnacle Base, or else this story may take place after the moon's destruction in Dark Empire II. That would account for Mon Mothma's willingness to venture so far from what (in the comics) seemed to be a vital secret base.

47

Sunlight rippled across a sea of shimmering glass. Glass that had once been part of iridescent domes, towering minarets, soaring archways, vertical towers, and all the other structures that constitute a city. A city reduced to a sea of manmade lava, as Imperial laser cannon carved swathes of destruction through the once-beautiful metropolis.

The resulting slag was thicker were buildings had been clustered and thinner out toward the suburbs, where the military base had been established.

....

Prisoner 272-20-136 released the T-shaped handlebars and waited for the impact hammer to fall silent. .... Milagro had a thin atmosphere, which was why he and the other prisoners were allowed to work without leg irons. There was nowhere to go — not without air.

location: A devastated city on Milagro.


character: Prisoner 272-20-136.
49

".... You are Alfonso Luiz Obota, service number 272-20-136, originally from the Adega System. You graduated fourth in your class from the Merchant Academy, qualified as third officer on a freighter, and resigned to join the Alliance. That was for than a year ago. You accepted a commission as second lieutenant, became second officer on a Special Operations transport named the Pride of Aridus, and led a mutiny six standard months later. ...."

Obota remembered Captain Nord's face, the beads of sweat that dotted his forehead, and the way his hands shook. The Aridus, now bearing the name Spirit of Solaris ....

characters: Alfonso Obota = Prisoner 272-20-136, a mutinous army officer of the lowest commissioned rank. Captain Nord, who was either Obota's commanding officer or the captain of the Pride of Aridus.


starship: Pride of Aridus = Spirit of Solaris a Rebel Alliance freighter used for ground forces. Aridus was a desert world in the Classic Star Wars comic series.
53

".... We were on a run to Byss when the Rebels jumped us. ...."

chronology: Byss is known to the forces of the Empire at large at this point in time. This may mean that the story is set sometime after Dark Empire, or it may be that the existence of Byss was never a secret, but its precise coordinates and hyper-routes were.

58,60

"Land fifty-six kilometres due south of Fort Nowhere."

....

It took less than fifteen minutes to reach their destination. It consisted of a flood plain located between two ancient riverbeds. One thing was for sure, there was very little chance of an ambush, since there was nowhere to hide.

Speed of the Moldy Crow in atmosphere is somewhat greater than 62m/s, which is distinctly subsonic. Presumably this low speed was used to reduce atmospheric disturbance, in order to avoid notice from the Imperial ships in orbit.

64

character: Luther Pardy, a belligerent settler.

68

The officer in charge of the patrol, a Lieutenant Aagon, saw the explosion, knew his stormtroopers would be less vulnerable on the ground, .... His helmsman, a sergeant named Forley, and the gunner; a rating named Leeno, were still aboard.

characters: A patrol of bored stormtroopers on Ruusan.

69

The teenage girl had been left to watch Jan's back. The girl's name was Portia. She had dark skin, white teeth, and intelligent eyes.

character: Portia, one of the surviving settlers of Ruusan.

73

the face of Nij Por Ral, a somewhat portly professor of linguistics looked up at him and begged for mercy.

character: Nij Por Ral.

78

Major Vig was a big man, with short red hair and a handlebar mustache. It was nonreg, and a constant source of frustration to his superiors, but ultimately tolerated because of his courage and almost legendary competence. Competence that translated to respect....

character: Major Vig, a noteworthy stormtrooper officer supervising excavations on Ruusan.

80-81

".... They brought down supplies, stacked them along the walls, and sprayed preservative on them. Interestingly enough, the sealer is so much better than what we use for the same purpose that it might be worth duplicating. ..."

Yun accepted the object, peeled the last bits of malleable gel off the bottom of the box, and turned it over. It was made of plastic or something very similar.

....

Ten seconds passed before anything happened. Then, just as the Jedi was about to lsoe interest, the lid popped open, steam billowed into the room, and a yeasty odour filled the air.

....

The box contained fifteen or twenty grub-like things. They wiggled and squirmed with such vigour that the thick, brown sauce lapped the edges of the container.

....

"The heat mods in our field rations have a shelf life of about twenty years. These have been sitting around for a thousand or more."

....

The Jedi followed the officer into a succession of storerooms where even more treasures were revealed. There was a tractor beam projector no bigger than a wand, and a fusion reactor so small it could be carried in a backpack. All of which would endear Jerec to his corporate sponsors. A political dynamic that Yun had never considered before.

Lost devices unearthed in the ruins on Ruusan are indicative of the waxing and waning of the (generally quasistatic) level of galactic technology over the age of the Old Republic.

85

Yun ... opted for an AT-ST and an AT-AT instead. Partly because the machines made excellent platforms from which to observe the surrounding countryside, partly because they had enough firepower to level anything he was likely to encounter, and partly because he liked the lumbering machines. Not just for the way they looked, like slab-sided monsters, but the sense of power they conveyed. He rode in the two-man, seven-metre-tall Scout — while the larger and more heavily loaded machine brought up the rear.

Tactical and physchological advantages of walkers. The statement about the height of the AT-ST is interesting, since the dimensions of these vehicles are in dispute in other sources and references.

86

The AT-ST pilot was a second lieutenant by the name of Momo. He preferred "Mad Dog Momo" but had been unable to plant the nickname among the troops. Perhaps because of his choirboy face, a rather engaging grin, and the fact that he had never fired a shot in anger.

Character: Second Lieutenant Momo.

89

The walkers came to a halt just south of the rock pile. The AT-ST stood guard while the massive AT-AT knelt to disgorge a pair of crawlers and a company of stormtroopers. Corporal Niko Smith cleared the ramp, sprinted for some cover, and fell on his belly. His sergeant, a grizzled veteran named Zonka, glanced over his shoulder, saw who it was, and nodded. "Gee, Sarge, it seems like we've scrambled over every boulder, rock and pebble between here and the tower. What's the deal?"

"About a hundred credits a week and the Empire's heartfelt gratitude," Zonka replied.

characters: Corporal Niko Smith; Sergeant Zonka.


Zonka's reply suggests that the pay for a stormtrooper in action is a hundred credits per week. This can be compared with prices of goods indicated in other sources to gain an understanding of a soldier's spending power.
The fact that this walker contains two smaller ground vehicles constrains their possible size. Presumably the hatch through which the crawlers exit is on one of the flanks of the AT-AT's main hull — possibly one of the hatches seen to move during the tripping of a walker on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. Considering the internal layout of the AT-AT seen in STAR WARS incredible Cross-Sections, it seems likely that Yun's AT-AT is modified for a different passenger capacity. A company of stormtroopers is much larger than the platoon (40 soldiers) an AT-AT is described as carrying in other references.
98

A tower soared hundreds of feet into the air. Landing platforms sprouted to either side, as did retractable loading arms. Jan watched as a heavily laden freighter broke contact, dropped fifty metres, caught itself, and lumbered away.

An Imperial mooring tower and landing platform at the excavation site.

106-107

characters: Lord Hoth; and Tal — great Jedi of the past who died on Ruusan roughly a thousand years before Palpatine's era.


Description of the campaign against the Brotherhood of Darkness on Ruusan.
108

Kaan sat at the point where the lines came together on a throne made of bones. He had white hair, a prominent forehead, and a finely pointed chin. Power radiated away from the Jedi like heat off a sun-baked rock. It caused the air to shimmer, sent static through pocket comms, and hurt unprotected minds. His eyes were filled with hatred and probed the beings in front of him. ....

Kaan's second, third, and fourth in command were dead, killed during hellacious battles of the past few weeks. Number five, the Jedi known as LaTor, stepped forward and bowed.

.... LaTor, half his face obscured by a blood-stained bandage, shook his head.

characters: Kaan, leader of the Brotherhood of Darkness; and LaTor, his fifth in command.

113-114

Each lightsabre was as unique as the sentient who built it — and Yun's was no exception. It came equipped with what Kyle's fencing instructor would have called a "modified pistol grip" — meaning that carefully cast projections echoed the human hand and gave his index finger a place to rest.

Not only that, but the grip was made from a highly malleable "live" polymer that explored Kyle's hand and morphed into a solid, highly customised grip. Kyle never dreamed of such a thing but immediately fell in love with it.

technology: Details of the handle of Yun's lightsabre.


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