Star Wars (2020) #30
NO-SPACE
Hoping to solve the Rebellion’s dire fuel shortages, Amilyn Holdo took a desperate gamble.
Centuries ago, tankerships known as the Kezarat Convoy vanished into hyperspace. Dismissed by many as legend, the Kezarat Convoy possessed an abundance of fuel supplies. With a garbled transmission from the Kezarat as her only clue, Amilyn decided to track the long-lost convoy.
Locating the convoy required a Nihil Path engine, a unique piece of hyperspace technology used by a now-defunct gang of marauders, Amilyn gathered her allies on Spira to purchase a surviving Nihil strikeship. Having lost the auction to the Empire, the heroes of the Rebel Alliance stole the Path engine. As an Imperial squadron overwhelmed the rebels, the Path engine provided them a dire rescue, thrusting them into the mysterious No-Space….
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Andrés Genolet
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover artist: Stephen Segovia
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: January 4, 2023
We’re back with our Rebel heroes aboard the Skyfarer as Luke, Leia, Holdo, Chewie and Lando try to comprehend the mystery that is No-Space, and it’s somewhat perturbing ability to stop ships jumping to hyperspace. Apparently frozen, Lando suggests turning off the Path engine ‘doohickey’ that’s powering their vessel and so they land in a protected pocket of air to effect repairs and while they wait for the ship to cycle down, Holdo suggests looking around. With little else to do they begin to walk and stumble across a young kid who speaks in a slightly odd manner and gives Leia sparse information about where they are in exchange for basic ration sticks. Spooked, the kid runs and following him they see the boy leapo off the edge of the platform and jet off on a rocket pack. Opting to return to their ship they see it surrounded by a dozen huge droids. Luke ignites his yellow-bladed lightsaber and dives in, quickly learning the droids are resistant to lightsaber attacks, and despite Lobot trying to communicate they are pushed to the edge of the precipise as a mysterious vessel seemingly cobbled together from spare parts swoops in.
With little option they have to dive for the now open ramp, across a couple of meters of icy void, but as Luke, Leia, Holdo, Lobot and Chewie make the leap, Lando trips on a root and begins to spin away until Luke uses the Force to catch Calrissian and bring him onto the ramp, much to Chewie’s relief. Lando can’t thank Luke enough, and Luke frets, his connection to the Force not as it should be. We head inside as Leia and Amilyn discuss their predicament, Holdo concerned that her plan to give Leia a break from the rigours of leading the Rebellion have collapsed but Leia pleased that she has indeed had a break. Suddenly a tannoy instructs the group to dispose of their weapons out of the airlock, and as they watch their weapons float away the kid with the jet pack returns, grabbing the lightsaber and igniting it.
They’re now guests of the Kezarat colony, the exact fuel fleet they were hoping to find out here, and we end with a simple statement from a tall Abyssin who tells them that no one has escaped No Space in 200 years – this is now their home.
New endeavours like Galaxy’s Edge, the Halcyon or Maz Kanata’s castle can occasionally feel like they’ve been shoe-horned into current storylines, and with the era of the High Republic two centuries prior to the current timeline it might feel incongruous for threads from that time to drift into such an important flow of storytelling as the years between Empire and Jedi. Thankfully, Charles Soule has managed to avoid that, presenting the concept of No-Space as an obstacle to be tackled rather than a plot point to raise eyebrows at, and with some beautifully 2000AD evoking art from Andrés Genolet and the requisite spot-on characterisation we now expect from this title, it makes for another engaging read as we arrive finally in the 40th anniversary year of Return of the Jedi and the final few issues before we presumably step beyond Episode VI and start to traverse the years to The Mandalorian.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Soule, Charles (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 20 Pages - 02/15/2023 (Publication Date) - Marvel (Publisher)
