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Knights of the Old Republic 10: Flashpoint, Part 3

What is it ? : At Flashpoint the Mandalorians are guarding the station while discussing the experiments being performed on the Jedi kept here, when they receive a communication from Rohlan Dyre who tells them he has a Jedi for delivery.
They allow him to land, and he escorts the prisoner, Zayne, into the bunker.
Inside Squint has just finished a fresh set of testing and is wounded and bleeding, Jarael tells him that he can't keep taking the tests for her, but the Mandalorian scientist in charge of the experiments takes an interest in Jarael and wants to take her next. However Rohlan Dyre enters with Zayne and demands that he be next as he wants to see him hurt, so the three enter the testing area.
Inside Zayne attempts to mind trick the Mandalorians and it appears that it works on Rohlan, and the scientist demands he snap out of it, but then discovers that Rohlan isn't affected, but is instead working with Zayne.
Outside, Jarael sees the two armored Mandalorians leaving discussing how the Jedi didn't last very long and is now dead, and she leaps at the Scientist attempting to throttle him, but hears Zayne's voice in her head so stops.
Rohlan and the Scientist exit and tour the station, but as they walk around, the Scientist flips his hand around behind his back, and the mining charges from those that Gryph found on Vanquo levitate out of a bag and begin attaching to other ships and parts of the installation.
Suddenly they receive a communication from an unknown source, it claims to be Admiral Hierogryph of the Republic Cruiser Glomkettle, who orders his crew to begin bombarding the station. Explosions rock the base, and the mining charges detonate, and the Mandalorians flee the base as they are under attack from a vessel supposedly at the edge of the system which can bombard their base through it's shields.
After the Mandalorians have fled, Zayne disguised as the Mandalorian Scientist Demagol asks Gryph what kind of name is Glomkettle and Gryph tells him it's his mothers name. They free the Jedi, who take the remaining ships, Zayne asks Squint to remember what Zayne and his friends did here when he gets back to the Republic and hears stories about them. And Squint tells Jarael his real name is Alek, while Rohlan takes the unconscious Demagol to get some answers.
Zayne, and Jarael board the Last Resort and as they leave Flashpoint say they've heading back to the Republic as they've seen enough of Mandalorians for a while. . . .

High Points : While there's a certain amount of comedy to Zayne planting explosives and then Gryph conning the Mandalorians that he's got a Republic Cruiser that can shoot through their shields. This actually reminds me of Admiral Thrawn's plans from the Heir to the Empire trilogy, where he plants a cloaked ship inside the shields of a planet, and then times his blasts from his Star Destroyer with blasts from the cloaked ship so it appears the blasts are passing through the shields instead of being harmlessly absorbed. So the government surrenders as they think their planet is undefended against a new technology. And it amuses me a lot to thing that Zayne and Gryph has managed to come up with basically the same plan as one of the supposedly greatest military tacticians ever.

Low Points : While their plan is great, it does all seem a little easy, the Mandalorian's which are this looming threat which needs the Jedi to counter, are scared away from one of their most secure bases by a Padawan, and a conman. Although admittedly they've got inside information and help from a Mandalorian.
And Jarael while made out to be this ultra badass warrior in previous issues, is mainly ineffectual here, needing protected from the testing by Squint, and then rescued by Zayne. It would have been nice if she had some plan of her own, which had aligned with Zayne's, so she played a vital part in the Jedi jailbreak.

So what do you really think ? : I really thought that Flashpoint would last 5 issues, and even if you include last issues Interlude, it's only 4. And it's perhaps that expectation which makes the story feel rushed, but the entire plan is started and completed in just this issue, without any cliff-hanger's to put the team at risk, the biggest danger they face is whether while masquerading as Demagol that Jarael will throttle Zayne.

Final Words : There's a great story in here, but as mentioned above it just feels a little rushed, I just hope that whatever they're rushing onto will be just as entertaining.

Score : 8.5/10

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