The Republic Commando series started as a video game
where players followed the story of Delta squad. While a second game was
planned, it never saw the light of day. Meanwhile, the tie-in book dealt with
another squad of clones – Omega. The book series – written by Karen Traviss –
continued following the events of the game and expanding the world of the Republic
Commandos.
Hard Contact – the first of the novels – released in 2004,
and while I didn’t own it on release [after all, my first introduction to Star
Wars was the tail-end of 2006] it became one of the first novels in my Star
Wars collection. Just like with Battlefront 2, you could say there is some
nostalgia clouding my thoughts. This review should say why that isn’t the case.
Four clones who have lost their squads in battle are
formed as a new squad – Omega. Their mission is to sabotage a nanovirus
research facility located on a Separatist-held planet – operating with no
backup and a limited supply of weapons. Help comes in the form of a Jedi
Padawan, though she isn’t the best and is unable to call on her experience when
she needs it most.
Darman and Niner are the two clones who have their
points-of-view explored. As squad leader, it is Niner’s job to keep his squad
alive and well. And it is with Niner’s POV that we see the squad bonding
together. There’s the feeling that the hard times are forming them into a squad,
and it’s the same thing we see with Darman and Etain.
Etain is the Jedi Padawan – stuck on Qiilura when her Master
accepted a mission on the planet and then got himself captured. While she might
lack Jedi experience, she was able to use her other qualities to source a
massive amount of intelligence that Omega needs to complete the mission. Her
point-of-view deals with her coming to terms with her own inexperience, being
thrust into a new situation all Jedi now find themselves in, along with her
growth into becoming the Jedi Darman sees in her.
All three viewpoints are written well, dealing with the
situations with the right amount of pacing and the right amount of maturity.
While it isn’t as apparent with Hard Contact, there are still areas where the
realities of war make themselves known. And it works. What also works is the
way it goes about introducing the Mandalorian philosophy.
The story is effectively Mandalorian versus Mandalorian.
We learn that the clones were trained by Mandalorians all hired by Jango Fett
himself, and the fourth viewpoint in this story is a Mandalorian by the name of
Ghez Hokan – the chief enforcer on the nanovirus project. Here we see how effective
the squad’s tactics work, as Hokan makes tactical guesses about what he is
facing and how best to deal with the situation.
The story wraps itself up nicely with the final battle forcing
yet more creativeness on the squad’s part, showing how much Etain has grown in
a short amount of time, as well as having all the characters here face the
reality of the cost of war and showing how each of them deal with that.
Hard Contact sets up quite a bit of stuff to come in the
future, showing characters who will become an important part of the story,
along with more ideologies of Mandalorians. It creates a team in Omega who the
reader wants to see succeed, as well as Etain’s growth. Also here is something
that becomes even more of a focus in the future as the clones experience more
of the outside world and start to question their existence.
Hard Contact is a great start to a series. It is
definitely worth a read to those who are interested in a more mature take on a
Star Wars story – Rogue One aside. While I can’t really do a sum-up of the
entire series yet, I can say that the same style of writing carries on through
all the novels, with a nice flow from book to book.
Star Wars Republic Commando Review Series