Novel References

Anakin Skywalker: The Story of Darth Vader

PAGE QUOTATION COMMENTS

37
The Dark Lord smiled, switched off his saber, and bend down to retrieve Obi-Wan's fallen weapon from the crumpled pile of brown cloth. A fine trophy, and a fitting one. He would have it transferred immediately to his private fortress on Vjun.

Vader intended to store Kenobi's lightsabre in Bast Castle on Vjun. Unfortunately, he left this item in his quarters when the Death Star exploded. The wreckage of this section of the battle station was later recovered by Ugor scavengers and brought to their home system. Adventurous agents of the Rebel Alliance eventually found and souvineered Kenobi's blade while exploring the debris [in the RPG adventure Scavenger Hunt].
In the "Junior Jedi Knights" book Vader's Fortress a lightsabre formerly owned by Kenobi was found on Vjun. Either this was a different weapon (lost by Kenobi somewhere prior to the Death Star duel), or else Vader eventually retrieved the one scavenged by the Ugors and rebels.

39
The tiny snubfighters appeared maneuverable enough to slip unmolested through the battle station's defensive screen, which hadn't been designed to repel anything smaller than a capital ship assault.

Presumably "defensive screen" means the defences of the battle station in general, including turbolasers and other ground-space weapons. Otherwise the quote would have peculiar implications for the dynamics of deflector shields.
The writer, Dan Wallace, indicates that the former meaning was his intention.

40
Y-wings were slow and ungainly, but they made excellent precision bombers; Vader expected the Rebels to send more of that particular craft back into the trench. Surprisingly, a group of three X-wing fighters took their place. The better-armed X-wings were faster and presented their own set of challenges. Vader slipped his deadly TIE back into the trench. He enjoyed a challenge.

Lord Vader's tactical assessment of the capabilities of the various rebel fightercraft deployed at Yavin.

42
Vader was having a difficult time getting a targeting lock. Frustrated, he snapped off a few ranging shots, one of which hit the head of the X-wing's astromech unit. Smoke boiled from the damaged droid and the TIEs moved closer. Vader checked his computer readout. The X-wing's silhouette jumped to the center of the targeting box, and a high-pitched warbling tone indicated a weapons lock.

Could R2-D2's destruction have made Luke's fighter easier to target, or was that just coincidence? Perhaps R2 was operating a sensor jamming suite? Perhaps the droid's efforts improved the maneuvrability of the damaged fighter?
As Dan Wallace suggests:
I've assumed that there was a link. Artoo does seem to be capable of several beneficial things, including greater speed ("Artoo, try and increase the power!") and on-the-fly repairs ("Artoo, that stabilizer's broken loose again, see if you can't lock it down!") His sudden destruction might cause a momentary lag in the X-wing's response time, at least until Luke can manually compensate somehow (which he doesn't have time for at the moment).

48
All Star Destroyers, including the Executor, were diverted into the swirling asteroid storm. Turbolaser gunners blasted the largest rocks; those they missed impacted against the bow shields like multi-megaton compression bombs.

Indication of the kinetic energy of the asteroid impacts upon the Imperial ships in The Empire Strikes Back. This is one of the few official and explicit indications of a lower limit on the capabilities of warship shields in STAR WARS. One megaton yield equals an energy of about 4.19x10¹⁵J.

Anakin Skywalker: The Story of Darth Vader
PAGE	QUOTATION	COMMENTS
37	The Dark Lord smiled, switched off his saber, and bend down to retrieve Obi-Wan's fallen weapon from the crumpled pile of brown cloth. A fine trophy, and a fitting one. He would have it transferred immediately to his private fortress on Vjun.	Vader intended to store Kenobi's lightsabre in Bast Castle on Vjun. Unfortunately, he left this item in his quarters when the Death Star exploded. The wreckage of this section of the battle station was later recovered by Ugor scavengers and brought to their home system. Adventurous agents of the Rebel Alliance eventually found and souvineered Kenobi's blade while exploring the debris [in the RPG adventure Scavenger Hunt]. In the "Junior Jedi Knights" book Vader's Fortress a lightsabre formerly owned by Kenobi was found on Vjun. Either this was a different weapon (lost by Kenobi somewhere prior to the Death Star duel), or else Vader eventually retrieved the one scavenged by the Ugors and rebels.
39	The tiny snubfighters appeared maneuverable enough to slip unmolested through the battle station's defensive screen, which hadn't been designed to repel anything smaller than a capital ship assault.	Presumably "defensive screen" means the defences of the battle station in general, including turbolasers and other ground-space weapons. Otherwise the quote would have peculiar implications for the dynamics of deflector shields. The writer, Dan Wallace, indicates that the former meaning was his intention.
40	Y-wings were slow and ungainly, but they made excellent precision bombers; Vader expected the Rebels to send more of that particular craft back into the trench. Surprisingly, a group of three X-wing fighters took their place. The better-armed X-wings were faster and presented their own set of challenges. Vader slipped his deadly TIE back into the trench. He enjoyed a challenge.	Lord Vader's tactical assessment of the capabilities of the various rebel fightercraft deployed at Yavin.
42	Vader was having a difficult time getting a targeting lock. Frustrated, he snapped off a few ranging shots, one of which hit the head of the X-wing's astromech unit. Smoke boiled from the damaged droid and the TIEs moved closer. Vader checked his computer readout. The X-wing's silhouette jumped to the center of the targeting box, and a high-pitched warbling tone indicated a weapons lock.	Could R2-D2's destruction have made Luke's fighter easier to target, or was that just coincidence? Perhaps R2 was operating a sensor jamming suite? Perhaps the droid's efforts improved the maneuvrability of the damaged fighter? As Dan Wallace suggests: I've assumed that there was a link. Artoo does seem to be capable of several beneficial things, including greater speed ("Artoo, try and increase the power!") and on-the-fly repairs ("Artoo, that stabilizer's broken loose again, see if you can't lock it down!") His sudden destruction might cause a momentary lag in the X-wing's response time, at least until Luke can manually compensate somehow (which he doesn't have time for at the moment).
48	All Star Destroyers, including the Executor, were diverted into the swirling asteroid storm. Turbolaser gunners blasted the largest rocks; those they missed impacted against the bow shields like multi-megaton compression bombs.	Indication of the kinetic energy of the asteroid impacts upon the Imperial ships in The Empire Strikes Back. This is one of the few official and explicit indications of a lower limit on the capabilities of warship shields in STAR WARS. One megaton yield equals an energy of about 4.19x10¹⁵J.

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