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Knights of the Old Republic 16: Nights of Anger, Part 1

What is it ? : Jedi Master Raana Tey finds herself back on Taris but she is a child, she sprints to the main chamber only to find Zayne and the other Padawans standing over red training space suits all holding Red Lightsabers. She realises that she is dreaming, but Zayne tells her that it is his dream not hers, and as the Padawans advance on her, holding her and putting one of the Helmets on her head, she awakens.
She's on a starship, and we discover she has not been able to sleep more than an hour for weeks due to the nightmares, and she declares the only way to stop them is to kill Zayne and Jarael.
Meanwhile, Jarael is in disguise and has just arrived on Arkana her homeworld, even if she has never visited it before. She is confused as to the customs, but as she tries to board a shuttle to a medical facility she is caught by guards. They recognise her pale skin as being an Arkanian Offshoot, and put her on a shuttle to an old mining camp which is where the offshoots are allowed to live.
A flashback shows us that she and the Mandalorian, Rohlan Dyre, trying to treat Camper who has collapsed. Rohlan claims to have some medical training, but no experience with Arkanians, so suggests their homeworld, which Jarael agrees to, but will hail a transport and make her way there discretely.
In the current day, Jarael has befriended an Arkanian Offshoot family, who have invited her home for some food, and she finds out more about her homeworld from them, and reveals that her original name was Edessa. They tells her that genetic engineering made the Offshoots, and gave them hands and eyes more useful for work like mining. But it reduced their immune systems against Arkanian diseases, which is supposedly why they are kept segregated.
She discusses with some of the younger members how they slip into the city by using makeup to disguise their skin and gloves to disguise their hands among other things.
The next day, she is disguised and at the medical facility, she tries to bribe a technician, but when she goes to leave he reveals that he has been ordered to delay her, and guards charge in, which she skirmishes with, until an unseen figure enters and tells her that he knows who and what she is.
About the Last Resort, Camper awakens very weak, when alarms begin to blare that a ship has come out of Hyperspace nearby. And the massive Arkanian Legacy starship emerges right next to them, capturing the ship with tractor beams and initiating a holo communication. Which is Jarael along with Lord Adasca who offers to save Camper.
Camper is distressed from possibly being betrayed by Jarael but becomes lightheaded and passes out . . . .

High Points : The high point of this one is the reveal of Arkanian society, where we see the older generation believing that the government is doing it's best for them, while the younger generation are finding ways around the restrictions forced on them.
The way the offshoots were engineered for the use of society, which has now abandoned them when they are no longer useful, and indeed segregated them from the unaltered. Apart from the casual human-first nature of the Galactic Empire, this is the first time we've really encountered racism in the Star Wars universe, and it's pretty disgusting to behold.

Low Points : While the story is ongoing, we know that Jarael hasn't betrayed Camper, so this cliffhanger really doesn't work. We're not on the edge of our seats, we're just waiting to have it explained. The cliffhanger would have worked better if we'd ended a page earlier with the colossal Arkanian Legacy coming out of hyperspace next to the Last Chance, without us having any idea who is aboard.

So what do you really think ? : A solid issue, and it's interesting to follow Jarael for once, showing us bits of what she and Camper are hiding from, and moving us towards finding out some of their history. There's loads of information in this issue, although not too much action, but it doesn't drag and keep the interest going by giving us a glimpse into a very different culture.

Final Words : I find myself wondering if the dream sequence showing Jedi Master Raana Tey is leading up to something within this story arc, or whether it is just a reminder that the Jedi Masters are still there, without actually progressing the story line. Raana Tey does seem to have it out for Jarael in particular because she helped Zayne, but we've been teased with a return to the main story arc for so long now, and I just want them to get on with it.

Score : 8.5/10

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