Outbound Flight (Star Wars) (Paperback)

In Survivor's Quest, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker are brought in to explore the remains of Outbound Flight after being thought destroyed for fifty years. In Outbound Flight, we see the beginning of the expedition, spearheaded by Jedi Master C'Baoth. The Senate is cutting funding for the project, which brings C'Baoth to the office of the Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine, to demand that he fight for it. Palpatine, with his own motives for getting the expedition off the ground, lures him to the planet Brolf to solve a trade dispute. Events on that planet will enhance his stature and make Outbound Flight almost a certainty. However, he doesn't foresee Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker being added to the Jedi crew by the Jedi Council. Meanwhile, a smuggler on the run from an infuriated Hutt is forced beyond known space by a hyperdrive malfunction, and they stumble upon a Chiss warship, commanded by a very intelligent Commander Thrawn. All of this comes together in a battle of wills and intelligence, with three sides all facing off against each other. Who will win? And how does Outbound Flight end up where Luke and Mara find it?

Outbound Flight is an interesting story, and it dovetails nicely with the events of Survivor's Quest. It was also enjoyable seeing Thrawn for the first time, when he's still unfamiliar with the area of space we're all familiar with. They've never heard of droids, so he's fascinated by the warrior droids that the Trade Federation has (which are obtained in a fight with the Trade Federation ship sent to destroy Outbound Flight). He demonstrates his superior intelligence many times in this book, and while we don't see the invitation to join Palpatine (I believe that happened after he became Emperor), we do see what most likely prompted it. Thrawn, as always, is a fascinating character, keeping plans within plans, so nobody is ever sure exactly what's happening until things go his way. The only problem I have with him (and it's one I've had with him from the beginning) is that he's almost too perfect. He never seems to miss anything, and if things seem to be going against him, you know it's a trick.

The part of the story dealing with the smugglers and their interaction with Thrawn is what keeps the book going. Unfortunately, the story of Outbound Flight itself isn't nearly as interesting. C'Baoth is an arrogant fool, and while it's nothing that we haven't seen before with him, he just didn't hold my attention. An attempt to humanize most of the C'Baoth scenes is made by including his Padawan, Lorana Jinzler, but that doesn't work. While she is a nice character, she doesn't help. The beginning of the book has Obi-Wan and Anakin (who is 14 years old and still quite impulsive) keeping an eye on him, and they help somewhat. Zahn does capture their relationship wonderfully and I could almost hear Ewan McGregor speaking Obi-Wan's lines.
However, they bring up one of the other problems with the book. First is a bit of false advertising on dust jacket. It implies that Obi-Wan and Anakin are around for the entire book and that they're involved in the inevitable confrontation between Outbound Flight and the Chiss. That's not the case, as would be obvious to anybody who's read the first book. They can't be on the ship when disaster strikes, as they have to be around for the subsequent movies. No, they're dumped off before Outbound Flight leaves Republic space and the scenes on the ship slow down even more. Their role in the book feels extremely forced, as if we need them around to make the story interesting. The problem is that it ends up being true.

It's also sad that when the action moves to the ship, it's just Obi-Wan and Anakin reacting to C'Baoth's obvious descent to the Dark Side. It's treated like a revelation toward the end, but all of the prideful statements, arrogant boasts, accumulation of power by C'Baoth, there's no doubt that's what's happening. The fact that this is considered a startling development is just annoying.

The book culminates in a thrilling climax that makes the rest of the book worth getting through. Three sides face off and C'Baoth's arrogance finally gets the best of him. Thrawn's plans are finally revealed and we see exactly how things finally work out. It sets up Survivor's Quest beautifully. My only problem with the ending was the misdirection Zahn employs by hiding the thoughts of one of the characters. We see his thoughts, and his thoughts seem to point to events occurring one way, but then Zahn reveals that he was part of the plan to begin with and everything's the exact opposite. I know this can be an effective writing technique, but it annoys me all the same. Otherwise, though, the last one hundred pages are wonderful.

It's too bad that it took so long to get there, though. The book moves quickly, however, which makes it an easy read, thus making getting to that ending a lot more enjoyable than it might have been otherwise. For those of you tired of Thrawn, it's not a good thing that he's the main reason to read the first three-quarters of the book, but that's what Zahn excels at. Just for the further information in the Star Wars universe, Outbound Flight is well worth reading.

David Roy