TG Dedication
All Minbari belief is around three. Three castes: worker,
warrior, religious. Three languages: Light, Dark, and Grey. The Nine of the
Grey Council: three times three. All is three. And while I’m not a Minbari, I
have been known to be referred to as a bonehead. And so my dedication is three.
First to my late father, a man who worked hard his entire life, but was living
very happily his final year, because of his new pride and joy, my son, who is
my second dedication. My son…who I love more than anything in the world, who I
love more than I thought I could love anyone. And lastly, I dedicate this story
to our troops at home and abroad, defending our sovereignty from the forces of
darkness…may God protect you in this noble duty. My father was the one who was.
My son is the one who is. And the hopeful future our troops are preserving for
us is the one that will be.
Introduction: The Evolution of Sith Squadron
It’s funny how things happen.
The Face Inside and the two
stories preceding it—Mark of a Traitor and
Acts of Redemption—were never
supposed to happen. They were never
written into my original 20-year story arc for Sith Squadron. They were never supposed to be. However, as it turned out, they’re possibly
the most integral part of the series now.
And not only that, but in the immortal words of Ator (though slightly
modified) “It’s HUGE”. This is the
first full length Sith Squadron novel.
And boy does it have a story.
I’m not talking about the story itself, though. I’m simply talking about the strange
incidents that led to it’s writing.
Let me give you a little background here.
Changed my mind. Let me give you
a lot of background here.
In the end, this is all
Thunder’s fault. Not just the creation
of this story, either, but Sith Squadron in general. The original members of Sith Squadron consisted of me, Thunder,
Jen, Seven and Palin (hey, no fair trying to duck your heads, you know who you
are) and we all used to post on the New Jedi Order board on AOL, though that
number is a bet lessened these days (yeah, you‘d better be ducking this time,
and you know which of you I‘m talking to here). One day, before I knew any of the squad at all really, I tried to
be a little obnoxious and I wrote a post in response to something Thunder said
(which I sadly don’t remember, nor does AOL have a record of anymore). I tooted my own horn a bit and said I should
write a story about the great “Bounty Hunter Grand Admiral Sith Lord Baron
Reno”, which has since thankfully been shorted to “Baron Reno”, and mentioned
how it would be the greatest story ever.
My attempt to annoy the board with my huge ego backfired, though, and
Thunder thought it was a great idea.
And since everyone believes what Thunder says, soon everyone thought it
was a good idea. Since I had already
opened my mouth and stuck my foot in it, I figured I might as well just go
through with the story.
And so, thanks to Thunder, Sith Squadron was born.
Sith Squadron was a great
writing experience, and will always hold a special place in my heart, whether I
stop writing now or go on to become the greatest writer ever (the former
infinitely more plausible than the later).
I won’t go on to say that the first Sith Squadron adventure had a very
detailed story or even extremely developed characters. At the time of it’s creation, it was a one
shot deal that I was doing to have some fun.
It wasn’t intended to continue, nor was it intended to be taken
seriously, as is shown by the presence of Gungans, Ewoks and Jar Jar
Binks. I hate to sound all Lucas here,
but I kind of wish I could release a Super Ultra Mega Special Edition version
of the story and change all that stuff so it would flow better with the rest of
the series. It was a fun story, though
flawed as a true introduction. What I
see as a problem with the story as an introduction is that besides giving out
names, it doesn’t really set the tone of the characters that well. And even then, the original names of the
characters (taken directly from AOL screen names) eventually went through their
own little evolution, as you’ll see soon.
It introduced Reno (Originally the Bounty Hunter Grand Admiral Sith Lord
Baron Reno) and set his character as the guy in charge, even if he comes across
a bit flat and stereotypical. He really
didn’t do much except bark some orders and kick some ass. Besides being a badass Sith Lord, no real
character or motivation was established.
Truthfully, at the time I started the story, I really had no character
or past for him. I just took the mold
of a typical Sith Lord kind of character, slapped my name on him and threw him
out there. For me, though, Reno—despite
being in charge—was never really the focus of Sith Squadron. I was never interested in writing about him,
which is why the first few stories are mostly about other characters, with Reno
just another character.
Jace (Always named Jace Sidrona) came across with even less character
than Reno did, and was only given a few lines, most of which were just to agree
with whatever Reno said. He was a
totally bland character that had nothing remotely interesting about him at all,
a far cry from what he is now. Jace’s
character (and in the first story, I use the term “character” loosely) went
through some changes. Jace’s primary
reason for being in the first story simply came about because as a Master, Reno
needed an apprentice. Yes, everyone in
the squad was an apprentice technically, but Jace was the apprentice. The one
whose loyalty to Reno was so blind it was disturbing. One facet of his character that remained constant from the
beginning was that Jace was from Tatooine, seeing as how it‘s a law that every
story must have a character from Tatooine.
One thing that changed, though was his heritage. Jace was originally a descendent of some
characters in the Tales of the Jedi comics: the Jedi Knight Sidrona Diath, and
his son Dace Diath. And, seeing as how
they were black, so was Jace originally.
Eventually, though, I just decided against using the old clichéd
“ancient ancestor” thing and dropped the Diath connection, though I kept the
name similar. And, with the connection
gone, like Michael Jackson, Jace went from black to white. For such a bland character who did nothing
much in the first story, a lot went into his character.
Seven (originally SevenUpperRoom) and Palin (originally PalinKD) really
get short changed in the first story (though I promise it’ll be made up
for). Again, if I could pull a Lucas,
there would be some added scenes with them in the Special Edition. I wish I could write more about them in this
section, but there isn’t anything else.
At this point, they were just two other characters in the story who I
didn’t plan to elaborate on, who only survived the story by sheer luck. Truth be told, I kind of sacrificed their
scenes in favor of more stuff with Rogue Squadron. Oh, if only I could do that Special Edition...
Thunder (originally ThunderingSilence) and Jen (originally JeniViolet)
are another matter, as their stuff makes up the bulk of the story. In the original story, they are the stars,
hands down. In something not known for
it’s brilliant plot, these two characters carry the entire story with their humorous
antics and off-beat shenanigans. Both
of the histories of their characters were created by them, though I tweaked
some a bit, so I really can’t take credit for some of it. If Sith
Squadron was good for anything as an introduction, it was good for them. Read any story now and you will see the same
character in those two as they showed in the first story. And why?
Frankly, because they were just such fun characters (as are the people
who inspired them) that they just wrote themselves. I had a hard time trying to stop once I started writing for
them. I still do.
On a funny side note, the Jen/Thunder storyline in Sith Squadron took a fairly dramatic turn from what was in my
original notebook (yes, early Sith Squadron stories were all outlined in a
notebook before ever making it to the computer, a practice that I do not do
anymore as I have become lazy). As it
was in the original story, after Jen told Thunder to go back to the ships,
Thunder was going to mess with Janson’s head and make him think that he was in
love with her. She would then convince
him to marry her and then they would go some nearby chapel and try to get a
quickie wedding. Jen, however, would
catch on to this, much the same she did in the story. She would interrupt and you would basically have the same scene
you have in the story, just inside of a chapel. The more I thought about it, though, the more it
sounded...well...stupid. Ditch the
wedding thing, toss it in an empty warehouse, and you have a much better scene.
They at least survived the story, though, which not all people can
say. Several Sith did not make it
through Sith Squadron, and one didn’t
even make it to the first story. EternalFlame (original Sith Twelve...sorta)
was the poor, unfortunate soul who died in a dogfight above Taloraan shortly
before the first story came out. Poor
Flame. We knew so little of him. Or not at all. EternalFlame was the brother of another temporary squadron
member, LifeFlame (original Sith Ten), who was lucky enough to be blown up by
Narska in the story. If memory serves
me correct, LifeFlame was an actual poster on the NJO, while EternalFlame was
created by me. The brothers Eternal and
Life certainly didn’t live up to their names.
Sharpedges (original Sith Nine) was an old screen name of mine and used
only for cannon fodder in the first story.
I needed a body count and figured “hey, who betta than Reno?” Sharpedges got a nice death, though, as he
was shot in the back by everyone’s favorite Wraith, Ton Phanan. RS Schone (original Sith Five) had perhaps
the most original death I remember writing as he (a she in real life, but
that‘s what happens when you don‘t properly fill out your entire profile) was
annoyed to death by Jar Jar Binks. It
was Schone’s one and only appearance, and there isn’t much more to say about
he/she. Sir SL Mck (original Sith Six)
was blown up in a building on Endor in a trap set by Ewoks, Gungans and
Rogues...how embarrassing. Another NJO
poster who was around the boards for a very short while, much like in the
story. And last we come to Artoo
(original Sith Three). No, not the
droid, of course. This Artoo was just a
person....but a person who has a distinct honor that no one else in Sith
Squadron has. You see, Artoo is the
only character in Sith Squadron who was ever executed by Reno for cowardice (or
any reason, for that matter). A
distinct honor, to be sure.
More than halfway through Sith
Squadron I realized that I was on to something. I really liked what I was writing, and I thought others might,
too. So I decided to do a little set up
into what could become a sequel story.
I created the Bothan Rogue Narska Plo’kre, and hinted in the first story
that he was Force sensitive. By the
time the first story was done, so sure was I that they would want a sequel,
that when the story was released I included a brief outline summary for the
next story.
Rogue Elements I was much
happier with as a story than Sith
Squadron. It tells the story of the
Sith finding out Narska is Force strong, kidnapping him, and recruiting him,
all the while wondering if a former Rogue—especially a Bothan—could be
trusted. It’s a much different story
than Sith Squadron, with a lot less
action in it, and more character. The
first story featured a lot of fighter pilot stuff, and very little Force stuff
(excepting some really strong A/C!). I
used that as a plot point in Rogue
Elements, and had Reno kind of reforming the squad and putting a heavier
emphasis on Force training.
Although not the stars of this story, Seven and Palin’s scenes really
stole the show here, and are what most people seem to remember it by. Seven was strongly established as that horny
young male who tried to hit on all the women, while Palin was established as
that strong willed woman who spent her time hitting Seven. They produced some classic scenes that to
this day are some of the best in the series.
Rogue Elements also had the
first mention of something that was little, yellow and different (that being a
Naboo N-1 Starfighter). And who can
forget the one and only appearance of Gre’van?
The primary motivation in Rogue
Elements, though, was to establish more characters that didn’t get time in Sith Squadron, and to continue the
storyline with Narska. Much to my
surprise, both were achieved and Rogue
Elements ended up being more popular than the first story.
Questions of Honor was the
third story in the series, and the first to focus on only one character. In this case, Lord Pilot Thunder (at the
time known as ThunderinSilence) and her trip back to her home planet of Adumar
to confront a brother whom she through was long dead. As I said before, Thunder herself created a lot of her back
story, though I tweaked and added to it.
In the end, of all the characters back stories, I think Thunder has one
of, if not the, best. It’s a
complicated story about family, love, betrayal, and most importantly,
honor. This story was really designed
to put Thunder in the spotlight, and as a break from the two previous stories,
which had so many characters in them that there wasn’t much focus. In a story with just her, Thunder’s
character could really take shape.
Because I never dated stories, I’m afraid that at about this point, the
order of some stories gets a bit fuzzy, as not all stories from this point on
were done in chronological order, nor not all done by me. I wrote several small stories during this
time. Glimpse of the Future was written as a tease of the eventual New
Sith Order storyline, and because I promised Jen that in the next story I
wrote, I would kill off Tyros Dakon, who was her character’s...um, well,
manslave. And as I promised, I did kill
him off...only in a glimpse of a possible future, that won’t happen for twenty years.
Family Affairs came about because
of my sudden love of X-wing Alliance, a great Star Wars flight simulator
game. I still plan to write a
full-length story with more detail on some of those characters, including the
one I introduced in this story, Arnot Viraxo, son of the head of the Xiraxo
smuggling family, and a founding member (in story only) of Sith Squadron.
The Hour of Judgment was to be
a series of short stories that, when connected, would form the history of Jace,
Xanthis and Reno. To this day, only two
have been written. It is an incomplete
story and will probably remain so, as I have much more important stories to
tell at the moment, and would rather move forward in time than backward.
Jen wrote a story about her character called Loss and Renewal around this time, which dealt with her character
and the loss of her X-wing. It was good
that she wrote this story, as my proposed Jen story (which never even got to
the point of having a story) never came about.
So her writing her own story made me feel a little better about
that. Jen, along with me, was also the
co-writer of Racing Through the Dark,
a round robin story we decided to do one night. I expected nothing of this story, since we were writing without
knowing where the other was going, or even if the other had a place they were
taking their story towards. I certainly
didn’t have a goal in mind when I started.
Nevertheless, the story came across great and introduced Sith Squadron
to one of it’s current members, Sky. It
also was the first story to give Palin, Seven, Rick and Star a bit of
spotlight, with the emphasis on Palin, as well as furthering the Xanthis/Jace
storyline. On a funny note about the
writing of this story...I did get a bit lazy around then, as I was taking a bit
long to finish. To this end, Jen
promised me a nice cleavage shot if I finished before the end of the day. Suffice to say, I worked my ass off to
finish that story, and by god, I got it done.
To make things better, much to my surprise, Jen was true to her
word. So while writing this story I
found the key to inspiring me to get work done. Just fork over cleavage shots and I’ll write anything you want
and have it done whenever you want!
Note: This does not work for males who offer to show cleavage.
Leave was actually the second
story penned by Thunder. The first
we’ll get to in a minute. Leave is a short story that introduces
the squadron to Fox, a hybrid Bothan/Ryn created in a lab. It immediately follows the events of Questions of Honor, and immediately
precedes the events in the “Where in the Hell is Reno?” trilogy. It is also the second Thunder-centered story
in the series, making her the most featured character in the squadron, which is
fitting, since in real life she thinks she’s the most featured person that
exists, or that at the least she should be.
Where Loyalties Lie took both
a long time to write, and a very short time.
I wrote the first eighteen pages in two days, took like a year off, then
wrote the rest in two more days. So
depending on your point of view, it either took a year to write, or four
days. Where Loyalties Lie is widely regarded as the best Sith Squadron
story, and it is certainly my favorite.
Without trying to sound too egotistical here, I think it presents the
best action scenes I’ve ever written (specifically the Jace v. Skate fight) and
has the most emotional story overall.
It tells the final story of the Rogue agent Narska Plo'kre, his
short-lived alliance with Jace Sidrona, and the only obstacles standing in
their way from destroying Sith Squadron: Seven and Palin.
This is the story that made Seven and Palin, perhaps Seven a little more
so. Before this they were funny,
secondary comedy characters. They were
there for laughs, not to really advance the story. The story of Seven and Palin in Where Loyalties Lie, that of twp growing up, confronting their
feelings for each other, putting aside their old ways, is one that came across
way better than I had ever hoped for.
Despite not having much of a character in the earlier stories, I always
saw Seven as the “Hero” of the group.
Reno is not a good guy...Jace thinks he is, but isn‘t...Jen and Thunder
aren’t evil as most define evil, but they are no angels either...Palin is
somewhere in between them. Seven,
though...he is kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum. He isn’t someone who enjoyed killing, or
even stealing or looting. He has a
certain naive innocence to him that I think a lot of people find appealing,
especially among a crew who certainly wouldn’t be described as innocent. He was a guy who came from a broken home,
with a father who despised him, and he just wanted a place where he could
belong. He fell into Sith Squadron. But despite that obviously dark influence,
he retained his innocence and heroic attitude.
I used to think that in writing Sith Squadron I wasn’t writing good v.
bad guys. I thought I was writing bad
guys v. bad guys. However, this story
really made me realize that I was wrong.
I may not have a squadron of good guys, but I had at least one, and in
the span of one story, he became my favorite character.
So at this point you might be asking yourself how this current story is
Thunder fault?
Due to an accounting error on my part, AOL shut down my account
temporarily and I lost my screen name, and AOL refused to give it back. I was forced to abandon my infamous
BaronReno name and use my back up name, Jace Sidrona, for a while. During this time, Thunder decided it would
be funny to write a little Sith Squadron post on the NJO board about how I was
captured by TOS, to coincide with the departure of my AOL name. She also wrote a story called Web of Power, which was about what some
of the Sith did on the SSD while Reno was gone, and showed leadership being
passed around from Thunder to Jen to Jace.
Although they had been posting on the boards for a while, it was also
the first story to show Skate, Rick and Star, though they weren’t really
introductions for them, as the characters were already with the squadron when
the story started (Skate and Star were mentioned as having joined the squadron
at the end of Questions of Honor,
while Rick just materialized out of nowhere).
It also featured a little story that she wrote in response to a story
that Darth Ane wrote before Web of Power. Ane, you see, liked to write duels. So he wrote one where his character and mine
dueled (and mine had a scarf on for some reason, a joke which sadly still lives
today). Of course, I did the job and he
walked away victorious. Like it
could’ve happened any other way, huh?
In response to this, and in response to an issue where Ane created a
fake BaronReno screen name and pretended to be me, Thunder wrote a story where
a Human Replica Droid of Reno (sent by Ane) tried to infiltrate the SSD. The ploy was seen through immediately and
the HRD’s head was promptly cut off.
Take that Ane. One point for
Thunder. “Silly Darth Ane, you cannot
take over Sith Squadron.”.
Correction.....two points for Thunder.
Mostly, though, Web of Power just
involved a lot of drinking and belching.
However, because of that story she wrote, and the message board post of
Reno being captured, over two years of my life would be spent tying up the huge
plot hole she had just put in my story.
You see, I hate loose ends and plot holes, and she had just put
something in my story that I hadn’t intended.
She had Reno captured with no explanation of him getting back (since at
the time she wrote it my screen name hadn’t been restored). I couldn’t just let that huge plot hole stay
open, even if I didn’t create it and it wasn’t officially a part of my
story. So, with that in mind, I took it
upon myself to fix that plot hole and make it officially part of my story,
unaware of the really, really....really, really, really long path it would take
me down.
Mark of a Traitor is the first
story in this trilogy, and has the unique feature of being the only Sith
Squadron story to be handwritten before being on a computer. I wrote it in my spare time while on a
camping trip with good old pen and paper.
Since Reno was missing, I figured the first logical step in the story
would be for his loyal apprentice, Jace Sidrona, to go looking for him. However, in writing this story, I also
complicated things a bit. Okay, not a
bit. A lot.
Suddenly, instead of just Reno missing, we also had Vanicus (the captain
of the SSD), Gimmer (the head mechanic) and Nuprin (our little, yellow,
different quartermaster) to look for.
They weren’t the only problem, though.
In her post about Reno’s capture, she said that TOS had him (at the
time, obviously a reference to AOL’s Terms of Service). So now I had to figure out who the hell TOS
was. To that end, the Terror of Space
was born.
The Terror of Space was a group that basically held true to the same
principles of AOL’s Terms of Service (i.e., the suppression of thoughts and
ideas, etc...). I couldn’t just have
Reno captured by some pirate force, though.
How lame would that be? So some
new characters needed to be created.
And from this came about Zarin and Xanthis, the first people who would
really be considered arch-nemeses for Sith Squadron. So instead of a simple story that I had to resolve about Reno
being captured by some group called TOS, we now had a story about two Sith
Lords who had set a trap for Reno with a ship that rivaled Sith Squadron’s own
SSD, and who each had a personal agenda for wanting Sith Squadron dead, not to
mention the fact that several crew members had also been captured. Yikes.
By the end of this story, although Nuprin made it back safely, I further
complicated matters by splitting up the captives, with Gimmer and Vanicus being
sent to one planet, and Reno to another.
That meant two different rescues would be needed.
All because Thunder wrote that post.
It still remains one of my favorite stories, though. Although shorter than I would’ve liked, it
was at the time the darkest story in Sith Squadron (though that mantel know
applies to The Face Inside), and
introduced several storylines which played out in the rest of this trilogy, as
well as the rest of the series. It
introduced Zarin, who I grew to like, and Xanthis, who is one of the most
essential characters in the entire story arc of Sith Squadron. It set the seeds for stories that would take
place twenty years down the line, assuming I ever get that far. All in all, for a story written on a camping
trip and in only a couple days, it turned out pretty darn well.
Acts of Redemption is the
second story in this trilogy and is the first to feature Rvyo Lorell (current
Sith Three). Sadly, though I cannot
give you any real insights into the creation of that story, as I didn’t write
it. It was written by the infamous
Tommy G., creator or PWG, and co-author of the very story you’re about to
read. I gave up the reigns of Sith
Squadron several times before (to Jen for Loss
and Renewal and half of Racing
Through the Dark and Thunder for Leave
and Web of Power), but never
before for such an important task. He
would be writing a huge part of the story, and tying up a lot of loose
ends. It was a daunting task, but he
did it in grand style, and surpassed all expectations. In addition to creating some of his own
characters, who are great additions to the myth of Sith Squadron, he excelled
with characters who were not created by him, which can actually be more
challenging than writing your own characters.
In fact, between Acts of
Redemption and The Face Inside, I
daresay he knows some characters better than even I do. I’m afraid, as far as insights go on Acts of Redemption, that is as much as I
can give.
Onto the final story in what is known as the “Where the Hell in the
Galaxy is Reno?” trilogy: The Face Inside.
This story went through a lot of changes even before it was
written. I had conceived the basic idea
for this story long before I temporarily lost my account, and long before
Thunder had made her infamous post. It
was actually one of the original stories in my arc and almost by sheer luck,
her post made the story as it was impossible, but made it work in another
capacity.
The original story was called Shadows
of the Past, and also dealt with Reno’s past, though in a totally different
way. It kept many of the elements that
you’ll see in the following story (assuming I ever let you get past this introduction),
but the entire story was changed. In
the original version, there was no Xanthis, no Zarin, no TOS, nor was Reno ever
captured by anyone. In the original
version, Reno was sent a message by someone he thought was long dead and left
the SSD to meet this person on a planet from their past. He would go, and on the trip there he would
have flashbacks to his past explaining his history with this person. While Reno was having his flashbacks, the
denizens of the SSD weren’t exactly going to be lying around. Since Reno left without any word, they were
going to argue and fight over who was left in command (which is rather ironic,
since it unintentionally ended up being part of the basis for Thunder’s Web of Power). They were going to decide to settle their problems with a mock
snubfighter duel, with the winner being in charge. The only person who wasn’t going to be involved was Smiley
(another poster at the NJO for a while), a character who never actually made it
to the series due to some more random events.
Smiley was going to take command of the SSD while everyone else was out
dueling, and then take charge when Ysanne Isard’s forces led a surprise attack
on the SSD. Sith Squadron would, of
course, fight back Isard and win the night, and they would all accept Smiley’s
command for the time being.
Back to Reno...once he got to this planet from his past it would be
revealed that the person from his past was...drum roll please...Darth Ane, who
some of you are very familiar with.
They would eventually fight, and Ane would win, but not kill him. Ane would then leave the planet with this
device that could make him look like Reno, and he would go and take over the SSD
in Reno’s absence. Meanwhile, Reno
would be busy fighting a Mandalorian on the planet—I believe I had it planned
to be Jodo Kast—while Ane—under the guise of Reno—changed everything in SS to
fit his liking. Eventually Reno would
escape and return to the SSD, Ane would be exposed, and all would be well. And, actually, in an even earlier
draft—before Ane was involved—the event that caused Reno and the nameless Sith
to fight was over the death of a woman they had both loved. After reading this original plan, and as you
read the story as it ended up, I hope you can truly appreciate how much better
this all turned out.
By the time TG was done with Acts
of Redemption, I had already started The
Face Inside (which at the time was known as Secrets of the Soul). To be
perfectly frank, I just wanted the story done.
Due to Thunder’s post, I had been working on this storyline for well
over a year, and damn it, I wanted it done.
I told him that I just wanted to write a quick little story about Reno
being rescued, just to tie up the loose ends.
The thing is... I don’t know how to do things “little”. I try to, I really do. I start things out thinking “little”. But every time I try to write, it always
ends up like Ator...huge. Plus, there
was so much to tie up. There was no way
it could be done without it feeling like a cheap, rip off conclusion to this
trilogy. Reno was on one planet and he
needed to be rescued. The other
captives were on another planet and they needed to be rescued. There were so many storylines and angles
going on at this point that I knew I would never be able to finish it all. At least not before our sun went nova in a
couple billion years. So once again,
the fate of Sith Squadron fell into the hands of Tommy G. And once again, he took the ball that was
handed to him and ran with it.
It was decided upon that he would write everything that involved Sith
Squadron’s hunt for all the missing people, while I would write everything
concerning Reno and Zarin. We figured
that was the best way to get this thing done with quickly. And, like a year or so later, we finished. It went from being my “let’s just wrap this
up quickly” to Wedge’s “look at the size of that thing”.
All because Thunder wrote that post.
In some ways, I suppose she should be thanked. I think this story was quite an achievement, at least for
me. I’ve never before invested so much
time, thought, and energy into something as I did this story, and I like to
think that it shows. So praise be to
Thunder, in all her glory. Through no
intention of her own she was directly involved with not only the creation of
this story, but Sith Squadron in general.
Over the last few years, Sith Squadron has evolved from being a one shot
deal I did almost more as a joke than anything else to something that I’ve
devoted a good part of my life to. And
the great thing is that I’m not even done yet.
I have no doubt that means that Sith Squadron will go through even more
changes as time goes by, but that is the nature of things. If something doesn’t evolve, it will
die. And Sith Squadron will not die. Someday, eventually, stories will stop. Nothing goes on forever. But Sith Squadron, whether stories continue
or not, will live on. It will live on
in our hearts, our minds, and our memories.
I am reminded by a quote from Tennyson‘s poem Ulysses, one that I find both fitting for the characters of Sith
Squadron, the series itself, the authors, and even the readers.
Though much is taken, much abides: and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are—
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
I really do hope you enjoy The
Face Inside. It’s a great story
where the past is explored, secrets are revealed, motivations are uncovered,
truths are shattered, and we see who people truly are. Enjoy.
I command it.
And thank Thunder on your way out.
Or smack her for me. Either will
work.
Michael Damm
Pinole, California
January 25, 2004
Continued...