Ragnell: Welcome back to Heir to the Jedi, starring Luke Skywalker, a galaxy where helping people actually makes things better for you, special guest quest-givers and Luke Skywalker’s subconscious.

Simple chapter this time, Luke gets back to the Rebels and a visit from Leia and Ackbar. They’re less interested in the catalogs and samples he brought back than that little detour he took a few chapters ago (which I completely glossed over) where he saved a transport from some TIE fighters. Luke had actually had two stores to visit on his shopping trip, and that little bout of heroism had made him cut one out. He apologizes for this, except wait! That was actually the right move, he saved a spy who had good information. They decide that Luke’s skillset as a pilot and extensive experience as a spy bodyguard kid sneaking out of the farm early in the morning is the right combination to rescue a skilled cryptographer from Imperial custody.

However, they need a fast ship and want to use the one Luke got off of Nakari Kelen (the hot heiress he declined to hit on in Chapter One.) Luke insists on upgrading it, which requires cash and leads (past any realization Luke might have about his own paycheck) to the brilliant idea of inviting Nakari along on a dangerous extraction because Luke respects her combat skills respects her espionage skills thinks she can help raise the money has a crush on her. Nakari reveals they can get the money by doing a teensy favor for her eccentric dad, and the chapter closes out with promises of another sidequest.

Kalinara:: Yay, Leia! Thankfully/sadly, it seems like Luke is mostly over his crush on Leia from the first movie. He notes her hair and outfit but without the more flowery description that Kelen had in chapter one. There is a particularly amusing bit where Leia makes a grousing comment about Han, which Luke resolves not to tell Han about because he would “interpret it to mean that she missed him.” Leia, for her part, seems to pick up pretty quick on the fact that Luke has a bit of a crush on Kelen. It’ll be interesting to see if that gets followed up on.

R: I like that he’s over it by now. It was clearly just a little thing, probably more to do with not having met many girls his age (and pretty much no girls or women like her). Also, it had to be gone by Empire Strikes Back anyway or Leia’s just being mean by kissing him. This dynamic, he was just helping her irritate Han rather than be someone she played with. (Yes, I always found the chance she was playing Luke as well as Han to be a greater sin than kissing someone you have no clue is a blood relative.)

K: I’ve never really understood why people get SO worked up about that kiss. It was a kiss. Two friends fucking with their third friend (...okay, unfortunate word choice there.) Since the rest of the movie was about Han and Leia getting together, it was clear that it wasn’t meant as some big romantic or sexual thing. The worst thing that could possibly have come of it is giving Han Solo material for a few inappropriate twincest fantasies. (And it’s Han, he probably would have had them anyway.)

R: Seriously. A lot of people don’t seem to understand there’s a scale for these things, and just because Leia wanted to mess with Han doesn’t mean they went the full Lannister here. (It is, however, one of several reasons there’s a “scale of Luke Skywalker to Jaime Lannister” out there.) Maybe I’m just blase about it because I’m so obsessed with King Arthur stories and he came off a lot worse when the old wizard who set him on his quest neglected to tell him he had a sister.

K: It feels like we need a new scale of “dishonest wizard mentors who omit important information about your sisters”.

Anyway, it was interesting to see this scene between Admiral “Moist Charisma” Ackbar, Leia and Luke, because we get to see more of what Luke brings to the table for the Rebel Alliance. As much as I love to make fun of the fact that his resume is basically just “apprentice moisture farmer”, it is pretty clear that he brings a lot to the table even if you don’t count the overt Jedi stuff. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with his instincts, which makes me think that the big mission later on is definitely going to be some kind of trap.

Speaking of traps, it’s always good to see Ackbar again, and he and Leia definitely come across as equals here. I enjoy seeing that.

R: Don’t get me wrong, I’m just enjoying myself when I make fun of Luke’s resume too. I can understand how the resource-strapped Rebellion would go for the guy who rescued Leia off the Death Star for this mission even though they read Leia’s report of the whole thing. I can even understand why they agreed to have Luke bring Nakari along on the dangerous mission, because they weren’t exactly offering him any other personnel.

That said, it was amusing seeing Luke have to reconsider why he asked this civilian contractor along for the ride and to have him go “I must have a crush on her.” I’m enjoying Hearne’s look into Luke’s logic and reasoning in this book, it’s in keeping with a guy who would make the decisions he made in the movies. And it’s just this pure innocent logic about things, like at this point in his life he’s already beyond letting his emotions cloud his thought process. He’s self-aware, and he notices when he’s making a decision or behaving in a way that doesn’t make sense. That sort of thinking is what gives Luke a leg up in defending against the Dark Side in the movies. Unlike Anakin, he’s in touch with reality and less likely to be deceived by his own pain and desires.