Star Wars Insider Review | Tales From The Occlusion Zone: Survivors
Share the Force:
Max Nocerino 
Max detours into the galaxy far, far away to review the latest short story from the pages of Star Wars Insider
STAR WARS INSIDER 224 was scheduled for release on March 12, 2024, but it was released on the Libby app several days ago. I was pleasantly surprised when Insider 224 was uploaded to the Libby app. So let’s chalk it up as a Leap Year Surprise and spoiler alerts for all those going forward.
Star Wars Insider 224 gives us the second part of the Tales from the Occlusion Zone story. It features our favorite background characters, Joss and Pikka Adren, who have been in the “background” since “The High Republic: Light of the Jedi.” They had previously set off on a mission to investigate a mysterious ship at the edge of the sinister Nihil Occlusion Zone. But soon, they find themselves trapped in its expanding volume. Also, Pikka is pregnant with her husband Joss’s baby. Yikes
INTO THE OCCLUSION ZONE
So, Joss and Arden were stranded in the Occlusion Zone and took refuge in an asteroid belt. They then were captured by Nihil and the story ended in a dramatic cliffhanger. Honestly, I wasn’t super immersed in this tale. I wasn’t enthusiastic to continue but Part Two by Lydia Kang picked up and galvanized my attention level. The Nihil that captured the couple are RDC officers like them and revealed that they took a Nihil ship. They also killed its inhabitants but have been stranded for several months. We are introduced to Elping, a young human, Visma, his stern and robotic Arkanian commanding officer, and Six-En, a protocol droid so annoying that she makes C-3P0 look like a cool cat.
Even though we are given very little time with these new characters, I find them dynamic and captivating. Elping was originally an ecologist and was very uncomfortable with war and killing. Visma is robotic and has her feelings guarded by duty. She is the officer any captain would dream of serving them; it is a good foil to Elping’s naive and friendly nature. They have been stranded for several months. But as they get to know each other, they must decide the next course of action with another harrowing mission ahead.
VERDICT
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this short tale. Pikka going badass and disarming the seasoned Arkanian soldier so effortlessly still sits in my mind’s eye. I am very interested to see Part Three which should arrive in a few months in Insider 225.
Join me next time for my next Star Wars Insider review, and be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already!
FORCE FACTS
-
Elping discovered a cool piece of tech that scrambles the dreaded scav-droid’s sensors, granting them potential immunity from these swarms of “first-gen” uber buzz droids. I have a feeling this device will be used in Part 3, (per Chekov Gun on the Wall) and think it would be a very valuable asset to the toolbox of those brave souls locked in the Occlusion Zone
-
Sublight engines apparently can get from this unidentified asteroid belt they are into the nearest planet-Ryloth in about a month. While a month is quite a long time, interstellar distances are thousands of years separated in speeds slower than FTL and this has my brain whirring. Just how far is this asteroid belt from Ryloth, and how the heck do sublight engines work? I’ve been questioning this since Mandalorian Season 2.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
