Scott's Rating:   3.5 out of 4

Tash, Zak, and Hoole hitch a ride aboard the luxury space liner STAR OF THE EMPIRE in order to sneak their way to Dantooine. The ship is run by a new program called SIM which is semi-intelligent and can learn. As they enjoy themselves onboard , an alarm sounds telling everyone to abandon ship. Tash and Zak are left behind along with Dash Rendar and some of the crew. They soon discover that the ship has been taken over by SIM, and it turns out it's an infiltration program being tested by the Empire to destroy a ship with it's own systems and droids. How can they survive when SIM controls everything?

Scott:

    This story was kind of a cross between 2001, Wargames, and Speed 2. I've always wondered what would happen if technology turned on the inhabitants of the Star Wars Universe, and this answers my question: total chaos. Dash Rendar was handled very well and seemed to be in character. Overall, an enjoyable story.

Scott:

    When an enemy is TOO powerful, it can kind of take away from the story. Fortunately, the program's instability makes it vulnerable. I felt that the droid attack scenes got a little bit redundant, but they fit in well by the end of the story. I also thought that Zak was an idiot, even though he's a kid. At one point, SIM tells Zak that Dash Rendar is the one causing all the problems, and Zak believes the computer despite the fact that Dash has almost been killed along with them multiple times. Finally, they call Dash's ship the "Outrunner", not the "Outrider". They also describe it as "sleek and black". Does Dash have two ships?

Scott:

    Having a crab droid chew your face off.