Scott's Rating:   2.5 out of 4

This short story was published in the Star Wars Gamer magazine.

Fenig Nabon is a tough smuggler following in her deceased father's footsteps. Ghista Dogder is a con woman from Coruscant with a lot of valuable hidden information. Together they form an unlikely team to help carry out a job for Talon Karrde. He wants to set up a base of operations (just after the death of the Emperor) and needs a planet to put it on. Using their skills and knowledge, the two women set out to accomplish the task. Unfortunately they must first settle some unfinished business with a very angry Gran that Dogder conned.

Scott:

    Ghista Dogder and Fenig Nabon have been features in Star Wars short stories before. This story tells their origins. The authors do a good job of intertwining the story within the established Star Wars universe. There are aliens we're familiar with, cantinas that have a Mos Eisley feel, and cameos by such character as Talon Karrde. This gives it a bit of autenticity that some fan written short stories don't have.

Fenig and Talon have an amusing game of trying to top each other in the information department. Reminds me of the competition among websites for prequel news. :) Anyway, this story is a fun side to Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy and sets up how he learned about the ysalimiri. It's a nice story that fills in the gaps.

Scott:

    While the exchange between Karrde and Fenig is fun, it only recaps the events from Return of the Jedi and doesn't offer much new. A little too much time was spent on that.

This was a very well written story, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I prefer more action driven stories while this was more of a character driven story. But that's the nice things about these Gamer short stories - they allow a wide range of styles and types of stories to be written.

Scott:

    Fenig twists the horns of a Gotal in a bar fight and gives him a blinding headache. Remember that for your next self defense class.