Thrawn: Alliances #2 centers around the mastermind villain, Thrawn, working with Darth Vader in the present and Anakin in the past! #2 Re:cap - Thrawn: Alliances #1; Thrawn is teamed up by the Emperor with Darth Vader and investigates Black Spire Outpost. They are looking for a disturbance in the Force. Thrawn and Vader has reached the outpost on speeder bikes. The duo are searching for what happened to Padme Amidala. The grand admiral wonders if the bartender will remember him from his earlier appearance. This was with Anakin Skywalker! Vader finds the disturbance to be elusive. He also sees unknown aliens, pale and thin, in face masks. Thrawn identifies them as Darshi who travel in Wild Space and the Unknown Regions. A connection with Thrawn’s people, Chiss, and a new alien race! They enter Oga’s Cantina filled with aliens like the Star Wars cantina.
The bartender, Nodlia, recognizes Thrawn and notes that the Darshi are taking up buisness at the outpost. Nodlia is suspicious about this group of Darshi who arrived ten days ago with ten coffins! At the side of the cantina, Thrawn gets a message from his Star Destroyer Chimaera of freighters and ships heading towards them. He orders Commodore Faro to only observe. Vader orders an attack, but Thrawn counters his order, and has the first legion to be ready. Their dispute has to be delayed since they are surrounded by the Darshi! In the past, Anakin is about to order mercenaries to stop, but they open fire with blasters. This is deflected by Anakin’s lightsaber. This connects with the present in a splash page, Thrawn fights a Darshi as Vader uses The Force and his lightsaber hilt to club a Darshi! I like that Vader doesn’t quickly use his lightsaber, but instead uses it as a club!
In the past, Commander Thrawn halts the mercenaries and starts discussion with them. Thrawn tells Anakin that they are smugglers who discovered Padme’s ship. Thrawn is checking signs of another ship that he suspects Padme left in. They go to check Black Spire Outpost and to the cantina. The Gamorrean bartender is shown a hologram of Padme and her handmaiden Duja. Anakin says their father is dying and wants to see his daughters. Closeup of Thawn’s hand sliding over credits, but there is an explosion! Anakin knows it is gas and ignites his lightsaber. Thrawn leaps to the bar and starts blasting as if fades to black! The cover of Thrawn: Alliances #2 by Rod Reis has Thrawn turning as we see the reflection of Darth Vader with his lightsaber in the bridge window of the Chimaera!
The creative team of Timothy Zahn and Jody Houser, writers, and Pat Olffie and Andrea Di Vito, artists, continues the comic adaptation! At the cantina, Vader faces the Darshi, Thrawn at his side notices that they are coordinating through click codes. He says they are looking for prisoners. Thrawn uses a bottle and club to attack. We see the Darshi reflected in Vader’s lenses. Then, the Darshi about to strike with their clubs. Vader shatters their clubs with his lightsaber hilt. Thrawn is also efficient in his attacks. This shifts to the cantina after the gas attack. Artoo’s whirring wakes Anakin. He should be able to control his breathing to a point, but maybe was surprised. Anakin thanks Thrawn who is casually sitting with his blaster.
The commander says that the gas would go downwards and went to the bar to be safe. Thrawn recognizes Anakin as a Jedi and has analyzed the attackers as trying to manuever to attack a Jedi. We see this in the closeup of Thrawn’s eyes. He has also determined that another stayed outside to report. Anakin says that he wants the messenger to report, I like the contrast of Anakin to Vader, and has Artoo jam the fighter’s transmission. Back in the present, the Darshi have their blasters on Vader, but he has the Force. He throws a table at them and then forces a Darshi to shoot at the floor. He starts to run and Vader reaches out, but then is struck with the disturbance in the Force. This is seen as anguished, red faces in the dark, surreal. Trapped Force spirits? There is a thunderous sound and now the faces gasp in fear!
Then, another, Vader tells Thrawn that the houses of the Darshi are the source of the disturbance! Thrawn has noted that the houses are to the east. I really like the two villains working together. There is a waves of grey headed towards them, Vader uses his lightsaber, Thrawn blasts at it. Vader says the waves are too much for them! The time of the Clone Wars, Anakin is using the Force to puppet the surviving mercenary, he has an eyepatch and bandolier. Anakin checks on Thrawn who says his armor “dispersed” the blaster attacks, but not entirely. Anakin takes the survivor in his ship with Thrawn determining that he should go back to Padme’s ship. We see a closeup of Anakin as he wonders if Thrawn can find the spotter. Suddenly, his ship’s engines are struck!, the prisoner falls, and Anakin finds out that they have to return to Black Spire Outpost.
In the present, Vader finds that the waves of the attack is a permacrete, trying to trap them! Thawn says that it is being controlled with someone with a personal cloaking shield. He blasts one of the controllers! Thrawn fires up at the ceiling, they are being sealed by the permacrete except their heads! The three controllers deactivate their cloaking shields. In the past, Anakin heads to the landing field, he sees Thrawn pinned down by an enemy. Anakin pulls up his fighter to leap away! He is freefalling igniting his lightsaber! An awesome action scene! The droid blasts at Anakin who deflects the blasterfire! The blasterfire rains down on the droid as Anakin lands! This leads closer to a mystery to who is behind Padme’s disappearance! This story convinced me that the only Thrawn canon story is by Timothy Zahn, others are Thrawn canon 2! Thrawn: Alliances #2 brings us a mismatched duo of characters we know as villains, new aliens, and some more clues to the mystery of Padme!
Five Lightsabers out of Five!
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