Issue 38, "Riders in the Void" is, without a doubt,
my favorite story of the Marvel series and one of my all-time
favorite comic books. Written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Michael
Golden, it features a simple and elegant plot and, for my money,
the best art ever to grace a Star Wars comic. "Riders in
the Void" can be found in "Dark Encounters", volume
2 of Star Wars: A Long Time Ago..., Dark Horse Comics'
trade paperback series reprinting the entire Marvel run.
After being flung outside the galaxy into a starless void by their ship's damaged hyperdrive, Luke and Leia encountered a massive and strange alien ship. Brought aboard, they became targets of the pilot's deadly games until the pilot realized that they were not simulations created by the ship's computer, but real people. At first the pilot tried to expel them out into space, but, touched by Luke and Leia's affection for one another, saved the pair. Luke and Leia learned that the rider was the sole survivor of a brutal war that left his home galaxy destroyed by plague. Merged with the ship and driven mad by guilt and loneliness, the rider fled the galaxy into the void. The rider returned Luke and Leia to their galaxy, dispatched some Imperials, but soon escaped back to his home in the void not wanting to experience another war which was "too real."
The Rider in the Void
The pilot sat alone. Damage control reports no longer flickered across the view screen. First clusters of stars and soon an entire galaxy vanished into the void. The pilot, the ship, for they were one-and-the-same, linked symbiotically to survive their long journey, no longer felt the pain of the battle with the strange, wedge shaped vessel. The organic, self-perpetuating repair and control systems had erased all signs of the ship's damage. Yet the rider couldn't help thinking about the two intruders, a boy and a girl, who seemed so real, so alive and who cared about each other in a way the rider had feared was forgotten. They had even talked to each other! It had been a very long time since the rider had talked to anyone.
Perhaps that was the point. The rider wondered if it wasn't another of the computer's games. A reminder of what was lost, of the war which only the rider survived and of the plague, which had destroyed all the pilot had ever known and cared about. It was all so long ago.
If was an amusement, then it had not been fun. The rider was supposed to win. Losing was too real. The rider could not bear to lose again.
The rider ordered the computer to delete that game. The computer did not respond and the rider laughed.
Lightsaber Dueling Droid
Type: Bio-mechanical Combat Proxy-Unit
DEX 4D PER *
Dodge 5D Sneak 4D
Lightsaber 5D
Melee Combat 5D
Melee Parry 5D
KNO * STR 2D
MEC * TEC *
* The Dueling Droid is an automaton controlled remotely by the pilot and has
the skills and attributes of the "player" using the droid.
Equipped with:
- Humanoid body
- Remote computer uplink
- Body armor (+2D to Strength to resist damage)
- Adaptive Combat Matrix (analyzes opponent's combat style and adjusts
tactics to exploit weaknesses: improve one relevant combat skill by 1D per
round until the skill matches the opponent's skill.)
Equipment: Lightsaber (5D)
Move: 10
Size: 1.6 meters
Cost: not available
The Ship
Craft: Bio-Mechanical Warship
Type: Alien warship
Scale: Capital
Length: 2400 Meters (vertical axis)
Skill: Alien capital ship piloting
Crew: 1 (the pilot and the ship are symbiots, fused into a single entity)
Passengers: Unknown
Cargo: Unknown
Consumables: Unlimited
Hyperdrive Multiplier: Uses unknown faster-than-light engines
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D
Space: 6
Hull: 5D*
Shields: 0D*
* The Ship's self-regenerative bio-matrix automatically repairs and seals
damaged areas. Each round, improve the damage rating by one level
(Heavily Damaged to Lightly Damaged, etc.) or restore one damaged or
destroyed system.
Sensors:
Passive: 40/1D
Scan: 60/2D
Search: 120/3D
Focus: 5/4D
Weapons:
Anti-Matter Pods
Fire Arc: n/a
Crew: 1
Skill: Capital Ship Projectiles
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-10/25/50
Damage: 1D*
* Hits by multiple Anti-Matter Pods combine damage into a single roll
(example: if 4 pods hit, roll a single damage of 4D). During the short and
decisive encounter with a Star Destroyer, the Ship released dozens of the
pods which seemed to home in on their targets.
Note: this information is based on data culled from the debriefing given by Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker and the sensor logs of the spice tanker piloted during their encounter. The alien vessel may have other unknown systems and equipment.
The Rider in the Void was created by Archie Goodwin and Michael Golden.