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Star Wars: Rebel Force #4
Firefight
All new stories featuring classic Star Wars characters
Deadly assassin X-7 has never failed to complete a mission--until now.
Unmasked and unarmed, he narrowly escapes from the Rebels with his life and little else. His cover may be blown, but he's not returning to Commander Rezi Soresh until his target has been eliminated. This time, he has a new plan. He'll gather six of the best pilots in the galaxy-all of them roguish mercenaries who care nothing about money-and turn them loose on Red Squadron.
He counts on his pilot's mercenary instincts to keep them in line. But one of them has a secret that could cost X-7 his victory.
Deadly assassin X-7 has never failed to complete a mission--until now.
Unmasked and unarmed, he narrowly escapes from the Rebels with his life and little else. His cover may be blown, but he's not returning to Commander Rezi Soresh until his target has been eliminated. This time, he has a new plan. He'll gather six of the best pilots in the galaxy-all of them roguish mercenaries who care nothing about money-and turn them loose on Red Squadron.
He counts on his pilot's mercenary instincts to keep them in line. But one of them has a secret that could cost X-7 his victory.
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 2009
38 people are currently reading
551 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
February 4, 2021
Most people think that all there is to Star Wars is the movies...but they couldn't be more wrong! Even before television shows such as The Mandalorian or Clone Wars, there were plenty of other stories set in a galaxy far, far away that were only available in prose, comic, and/or computer/video game format. If you've never bothered with the Expanded Universe, you may be surprised to know that there was already a Lucas-approved sequel trilogy in book form several years before The Phantom Menace came out...but, Disney had to ruin the franchise by releasing the dreck that was The Last Jedi.
Despite the fact that the House of Mouse made Star Wars jump the shark big time, before they took over, the franchise was a force with which to be reckoned! That's why I still read Expanded Universe novels from that era; though not always amazing, they had some wonderful stories! This is a good example; despite being intended for younger readers, older fans of Lucas' space opera will enjoy this, too.
Despite the fact that the House of Mouse made Star Wars jump the shark big time, before they took over, the franchise was a force with which to be reckoned! That's why I still read Expanded Universe novels from that era; though not always amazing, they had some wonderful stories! This is a good example; despite being intended for younger readers, older fans of Lucas' space opera will enjoy this, too.
May 22, 2025
Star Wars: Legends: Rebel Force 04 Firefight by Alex Wheeler (Robin Wasserman)
adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense
Fast-paced
Plot or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters are a main focus? Yes
3.75 Stars
Alright, I believe I understand the way these stories are written.
I had fun with this one, but is wasn't amazing. I love the "galaxy", love the characters...and how the author has woven this story around the KNOWN plot points in the movies.
Love the banter of the characters. The stakes are fairly low, since whe know the character's trajectories, so no one is truly in peril.
There are obviously new characters and situations that they've been put in...with minor setbacks, but nothing too worrisome.
I will be picking up Star Wars: Legends: Rebel Force 05 Trapped...soon.
adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense
Fast-paced
Plot or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters are a main focus? Yes
3.75 Stars
Alright, I believe I understand the way these stories are written.
I had fun with this one, but is wasn't amazing. I love the "galaxy", love the characters...and how the author has woven this story around the KNOWN plot points in the movies.
Love the banter of the characters. The stakes are fairly low, since whe know the character's trajectories, so no one is truly in peril.
There are obviously new characters and situations that they've been put in...with minor setbacks, but nothing too worrisome.
I will be picking up Star Wars: Legends: Rebel Force 05 Trapped...soon.
November 26, 2025
3,5 stars
wdym luke falling into dark side without even jedi training???
wdym luke falling into dark side without even jedi training???
January 20, 2025
An enjoyable quick read.
December 5, 2015
This book ends the series and is just a fun way to do so. It had plenty of action to keep things moving and make you want to read. Your favorite characters finish their adventures with X7. Good way to end.
September 11, 2015
This book was really slow because (I think) it was introducing new characters for the next two books. I did like Leia's entrance at the end of the book.
March 4, 2020
The fourth book in Alex Wheeler’s Star Wars Rebel Force series targeted for middle school readers, “Firefight”, continues the fun and action-filled suspense of the first three books as Imperial assassin X-7 compiles a mercenary band of smugglers and guns-for-hire to find Luke Skywalker and kill him.
Luke and Han, leading a small squadron of X-wings, have been given a mission to the planet Kamino. In case the name doesn’t ring a bell, Kamino was the planet where Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered that a former Jedi had commissioned scientists to create an army of clone soldiers of Jango Fett. (See “Episode II: Attack of the Clones”) This basically precipitated the whole Clone Wars.
Anyway, now, Rebel intel has confirmed that Kamino scientists have been working with the Empire to build another superweapon, Luke and Han’s mission is to find out what it is and destroy it, if they can.
Easy peasy. Except they don’t count on an ambush by X-7’s mercs. A firefight ensues, leaving Luke and Han crashlanding on Kamino, along with the surviving mercs. It seems that Kamino is deserted, but, after a quick investigation, they realize why: the superweapon is an unstoppable multi-tentacled creature that eats everything in its path, including the scientists who have created it. Now it’s after Luke, Han, and everybody else.
Luke teams up with one of the bad guys, a smuggler named Div, to get off the planet. Div, it turns out, isn’t a completely bad bad guy. He also harbors a pretty big secret about himself, one that could be useful for the Rebels.
Excellent writing makes this a winner of a series, and I look forward to reading the last two books in the series.
Luke and Han, leading a small squadron of X-wings, have been given a mission to the planet Kamino. In case the name doesn’t ring a bell, Kamino was the planet where Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered that a former Jedi had commissioned scientists to create an army of clone soldiers of Jango Fett. (See “Episode II: Attack of the Clones”) This basically precipitated the whole Clone Wars.
Anyway, now, Rebel intel has confirmed that Kamino scientists have been working with the Empire to build another superweapon, Luke and Han’s mission is to find out what it is and destroy it, if they can.
Easy peasy. Except they don’t count on an ambush by X-7’s mercs. A firefight ensues, leaving Luke and Han crashlanding on Kamino, along with the surviving mercs. It seems that Kamino is deserted, but, after a quick investigation, they realize why: the superweapon is an unstoppable multi-tentacled creature that eats everything in its path, including the scientists who have created it. Now it’s after Luke, Han, and everybody else.
Luke teams up with one of the bad guys, a smuggler named Div, to get off the planet. Div, it turns out, isn’t a completely bad bad guy. He also harbors a pretty big secret about himself, one that could be useful for the Rebels.
Excellent writing makes this a winner of a series, and I look forward to reading the last two books in the series.
September 6, 2020
Action packed
Book 4 of this series sees X7 still after Luke. This time he hires 6 of the best pilots in the Galaxy, or at least the 6 best that can be bought. Div is sure that he is up to the task, but soon it all goes awry. Midstory we find Han, Chewy, Luke, R2, and Div fighting for their lives against giant sea monsters, a subplot that feels superfluous though its intended to fill in Div's backstory. Meanwhile though Luke still struggles to control his lightsaber, he's finding ways to connect with the force. He also has to decide if X7's betrayal was enough to stop him from trusting again.
Book 4 of this series sees X7 still after Luke. This time he hires 6 of the best pilots in the Galaxy, or at least the 6 best that can be bought. Div is sure that he is up to the task, but soon it all goes awry. Midstory we find Han, Chewy, Luke, R2, and Div fighting for their lives against giant sea monsters, a subplot that feels superfluous though its intended to fill in Div's backstory. Meanwhile though Luke still struggles to control his lightsaber, he's finding ways to connect with the force. He also has to decide if X7's betrayal was enough to stop him from trusting again.
April 24, 2019
More the same greatness from Wheeler. 4 straight 4-star books in this series.
Firefight might not have been as dense of a story as the others (which is saying a lot since these books are short and to the point), but that doesn’t change a thing as far as I’m concerned. This one was probably the most action packed and fun of the series.
And, once again, Wheeler incorporating more of Watson’s original characters makes for a much more linear feeling to the entire novel side of the Star Wars universe.
Firefight might not have been as dense of a story as the others (which is saying a lot since these books are short and to the point), but that doesn’t change a thing as far as I’m concerned. This one was probably the most action packed and fun of the series.
And, once again, Wheeler incorporating more of Watson’s original characters makes for a much more linear feeling to the entire novel side of the Star Wars universe.
December 29, 2019
Firefights and Imperial Secrets
This was an action packed chapter of the series and a pivotal turning point. The assassin X-7 has disobeyed his master and hired pilots to kill Luke Skywalker. If you haven't already, this series is wrapping up character story arcs that began in Jedi Apprentice series, continued for some others and began for some in the Jedi Quest series, continued for more in the Last of the Jedi series. Many are heartbreaking. This series is building to an explosive conclusion. One of the most action oriented of the series.
This was an action packed chapter of the series and a pivotal turning point. The assassin X-7 has disobeyed his master and hired pilots to kill Luke Skywalker. If you haven't already, this series is wrapping up character story arcs that began in Jedi Apprentice series, continued for some others and began for some in the Jedi Quest series, continued for more in the Last of the Jedi series. Many are heartbreaking. This series is building to an explosive conclusion. One of the most action oriented of the series.
January 14, 2023
Firefight is a rather repetitive and boring book. It's short enough for those problems to not be too bad, but in all honesty it's not worth reading.
It's an attempt at horror in a story where none of the main characters can die, leaving it to be pretty uninteresting. It also doesn't commit fully to the horror so it ends up feeling like the cheesy mediocre kids book it is.
For a book that gives us the fate of the main characters from the much better previous series, I only wish it was a better book, and a better end.
It's an attempt at horror in a story where none of the main characters can die, leaving it to be pretty uninteresting. It also doesn't commit fully to the horror so it ends up feeling like the cheesy mediocre kids book it is.
For a book that gives us the fate of the main characters from the much better previous series, I only wish it was a better book, and a better end.
November 30, 2020
Starfighter combat, Imperial activity on Kamino, and buried personas...
I love continuity nods like OT characters interacting with PT characters and settings, so this Rebel Force entry hit a few sweet spots. Add to that some fun horror elements, villain escalation, and another character I didn't expect to see again, and thus was probably my favorite volume so far!
Post-Clone Wars Kamino is pretty freaky.
I love continuity nods like OT characters interacting with PT characters and settings, so this Rebel Force entry hit a few sweet spots. Add to that some fun horror elements, villain escalation, and another character I didn't expect to see again, and thus was probably my favorite volume so far!
Post-Clone Wars Kamino is pretty freaky.
December 5, 2017
A pretty solid series I know its written for a younger audience which is made obvious by the publisher and the book length but it really isn't that childish and its written at about the same reading level as most Star Wars books. They almost make me wish that this series was combined into a full length novel.
June 3, 2018
While this book could definitely be considered a filler for Mr. Wheeler's series, it was still a lot of fun! The pacing was great and I enjoyed seeing Han, Luke, and Chewy work along side an enemy to fight the monsters of Kamino. Again, the characters where written well and there was a lot of tie ins for the movies and other EU books.
December 22, 2018
Likes after story
Its cool to see a new story on three life of the rebels after "A New Hope."
This fills in where we were left off from the movie. Yes out was written years later, but i believe out allowed for a writer's imagination too be creative inn their story. Good read, as has been the whole series so far.
Its cool to see a new story on three life of the rebels after "A New Hope."
This fills in where we were left off from the movie. Yes out was written years later, but i believe out allowed for a writer's imagination too be creative inn their story. Good read, as has been the whole series so far.
January 8, 2020
This book is just okay. It's got some good action scenes in it, and I'll admit I liked finding out a bit more about Div and his history. And Han being Han made me chuckle a few times. I liked the space battle at the end, and it was a quick read as well. Overall, it was not bad, but it was not amazing.
Check it out.
Check it out.
November 6, 2021
Thwarted in his plans to assassinate Luke Skywalker, X-7 gathers a crack team of mercenaries to target the young pilot, but one of the mercenaries is not who he appears to be and he has a different task to focus on.
Wheeler's 'Firefight' continues the 'Rebel Force' series well, keeping the characterisations close to that shown in the 'Star Wars' film.
Wheeler's 'Firefight' continues the 'Rebel Force' series well, keeping the characterisations close to that shown in the 'Star Wars' film.
September 28, 2022
An excellent continuation of the Rebel Force series. Here we see Luke and Han teaming up to get to safety. Characterization was excellent, light easy read.
Only reason for 4 stars is that the story became redundant. Overall it did not impact the larger narrative and could have easily been shortened.
But as a YA adventure, it's always nice to see the original gang in action.
Only reason for 4 stars is that the story became redundant. Overall it did not impact the larger narrative and could have easily been shortened.
But as a YA adventure, it's always nice to see the original gang in action.
March 17, 2023
A fun horror/monster movie styled chapter in the Rebel Force story. For that is what it is, a single story delivered in 6 parts.
This part would have been given another star, however, there were way too many mistakes in the book; missing words, additional words, and wrong words. Quite disappointing considering the publisher. The ball was definitely dropped on this one
This part would have been given another star, however, there were way too many mistakes in the book; missing words, additional words, and wrong words. Quite disappointing considering the publisher. The ball was definitely dropped on this one
February 21, 2019
This book was a bit of a mess with way too much action just to fill the pages. This aeries is definitely not quite for adults. It was partially interesting seeing Han in a small fighter again however.
May 12, 2024
A delightfully creepy story with an unexpected appearance by a Jude Watson character. I haven't liked Wasserman/Wheeler's treatment of Watson's characters in other books in this series, but I think the tragic life she gave Div is very believable.
March 5, 2018
X-7 is really annoying like omg give up already!
March 8, 2020
My son wanted me to read a Star Wars book with him. Not bad, flows easy, and is a good quick read.
October 16, 2020
Star Wars Legends Project #232
Background: Firefight was written by Alex Wheeler and published in September 2009. It is the fourth in the 6-book Rebel Force series, following Renegade (my review). Wheeler wrote all 6 books in the series and no other Star Wars books, but this is definitely a pen name and it's likely there are other Star Wars books by this author. Maybe even a lot . . . (see my review of book 2 for more).
Firefight takes place a few weeks after the Battle of Yavin, beginning shortly after the end of book 3. The main characters are Han, Luke, and Chewie, plus the Imperial assassin X-7, and a familiar face from another series. The story takes place mostly on Kamino.
Summary: His cover is blown and his mission has failed, but X-7 does not accept defeat. On the run from both the Rebels and his Imperial masters, it's time for a new plan to kill Luke Skywalker. Meanwhile, Luke and Han get a mission to investigate a mysterious new Imperial project on the planet Kamino. They have no idea they're flying right into an ambush, but even their ambushers aren't expecting the dangers that await beneath the planet's watery surface.
Review: So, X-7, the deadliest assassin in galactic history is still with us, and still can't kill his one target. Because reasons. So he outsources the job to other, presumably less deadly killers, but there are more of them so maybe it will balance out. Of course, the plan here is that they'll kill Luke in a dogfight, because if there's one thing that X-7 knows about the hero who blew up the Death Star, it's that he's no good in a space battle.
Just, again, the whole premise of this series is that they're going to send in this lone assassin to learn the identity of the pilot responsible for the destruction of the Death Star and then kill him. Of course, they know exactly where ALL of the surviving people responsible for the operation are, but they don't-- You know, I'm not going to spell this out again. I don't have to complain about it in full every review. It's still a plot hole, is the point, and it's even more prominent here, because that initial plan, however nonsensical has failed, and now rather than call in the fleet, X-7 hires a couple of mercs to try and do what he couldn't.
Aside from that, I kind of like the rest of what's going on here. Luke and Han are forced down onto the surface of Kamino along with some of the people trying to kill them, and find that . . . "something" has gone terribly wrong with whatever the Imperials were doing. It's a device that has served countless horror movies well, and it's deployed effectively here. I just wish the set-up made sense. The actual execution weaves in and out of deeply implausible territory here and there, but overall, it's not terrible.
Mediocre but moderately entertaining, and I guess we've given up hope at this point that the series will break out of the rut of its ill-conceived arc.
C
Background: Firefight was written by Alex Wheeler and published in September 2009. It is the fourth in the 6-book Rebel Force series, following Renegade (my review). Wheeler wrote all 6 books in the series and no other Star Wars books, but this is definitely a pen name and it's likely there are other Star Wars books by this author. Maybe even a lot . . . (see my review of book 2 for more).
Firefight takes place a few weeks after the Battle of Yavin, beginning shortly after the end of book 3. The main characters are Han, Luke, and Chewie, plus the Imperial assassin X-7, and a familiar face from another series. The story takes place mostly on Kamino.
Summary: His cover is blown and his mission has failed, but X-7 does not accept defeat. On the run from both the Rebels and his Imperial masters, it's time for a new plan to kill Luke Skywalker. Meanwhile, Luke and Han get a mission to investigate a mysterious new Imperial project on the planet Kamino. They have no idea they're flying right into an ambush, but even their ambushers aren't expecting the dangers that await beneath the planet's watery surface.
Review: So, X-7, the deadliest assassin in galactic history is still with us, and still can't kill his one target. Because reasons. So he outsources the job to other, presumably less deadly killers, but there are more of them so maybe it will balance out. Of course, the plan here is that they'll kill Luke in a dogfight, because if there's one thing that X-7 knows about the hero who blew up the Death Star, it's that he's no good in a space battle.
Just, again, the whole premise of this series is that they're going to send in this lone assassin to learn the identity of the pilot responsible for the destruction of the Death Star and then kill him. Of course, they know exactly where ALL of the surviving people responsible for the operation are, but they don't-- You know, I'm not going to spell this out again. I don't have to complain about it in full every review. It's still a plot hole, is the point, and it's even more prominent here, because that initial plan, however nonsensical has failed, and now rather than call in the fleet, X-7 hires a couple of mercs to try and do what he couldn't.
Aside from that, I kind of like the rest of what's going on here. Luke and Han are forced down onto the surface of Kamino along with some of the people trying to kill them, and find that . . . "something" has gone terribly wrong with whatever the Imperials were doing. It's a device that has served countless horror movies well, and it's deployed effectively here. I just wish the set-up made sense. The actual execution weaves in and out of deeply implausible territory here and there, but overall, it's not terrible.
Mediocre but moderately entertaining, and I guess we've given up hope at this point that the series will break out of the rut of its ill-conceived arc.
C
January 1, 2018
Ugh. Just ... ugh. Wheeler takes us to Kaminoa, where a showdown takes place between our main characters and the Empire, and the whole thing is just a ridiculous mess. The main tension of the story comes from a "Is Luke alive?" plot, which is dumb, since we all know he is. I find it odd that authors choose to go this route, and this is the second time in this series alone that Wheeler uses this as a plot point. I can see a different writer managing to successfully work this kind of point against the reader's expectations, but here it doesn't work.
It also doesn't help that Wheeler drops characters and items into the story to serve no other purpose than to move the plot forward. First, we get a Kaminoan who tells Han, after he's given Luke up for dead, how Luke could still be alive. Later, the characters have to solve a problem, and Han has the solution, which is something that he noticed about 30 pages ago, but neglected to mention. It's sloppy, and Wheeler still doesn't seem to have a good grasp of the main characters. They sound right, but they don't act right, and they all make pretty dumb decisions.
This might be a good time to point out that I'm reading these books so you don't have to. Skip over this series all together. Yes, I'm only four books into it, but I can already tell you these aren't worth your time. They don't seem to add much to the Expanded Universe, either, so I'm not sure why anyone would want to read these.
It also doesn't help that Wheeler drops characters and items into the story to serve no other purpose than to move the plot forward. First, we get a Kaminoan who tells Han, after he's given Luke up for dead, how Luke could still be alive. Later, the characters have to solve a problem, and Han has the solution, which is something that he noticed about 30 pages ago, but neglected to mention. It's sloppy, and Wheeler still doesn't seem to have a good grasp of the main characters. They sound right, but they don't act right, and they all make pretty dumb decisions.
This might be a good time to point out that I'm reading these books so you don't have to. Skip over this series all together. Yes, I'm only four books into it, but I can already tell you these aren't worth your time. They don't seem to add much to the Expanded Universe, either, so I'm not sure why anyone would want to read these.
August 20, 2016
This is much better than the third book in the series. It ties in quite well to the Last of the Jedi series.
X-7 hires mercenary pilots to help him get Luke. He puts 10 of them through a test; five survive. One of them is named Lune Divinian and I was going to wait to look him up. On page 96 I remembered the kid. I can see him becoming a merc! These things happen!
It's a bit eerie how Luke, Leia, and Han call X-7 by that name and not by Tobin Elad.
The Imperial base on Kamino was the most annoying thing. Bringing in this planet was unnecessary, IMO. The next annoying thing was that it seemed like everyone was disgusted with the clones, as if those men could have helped their conditioning (and, ahem, some did). Yet they weren't disgusted with the Kaminoans themselves until later. Thank goodness Han & Chewie learned the truth of the aiwha bait.
And that's a phrase I understand now that I know what an aiwha is.
X-7 hires mercenary pilots to help him get Luke. He puts 10 of them through a test; five survive. One of them is named Lune Divinian and I was going to wait to look him up. On page 96 I remembered the kid. I can see him becoming a merc! These things happen!
It's a bit eerie how Luke, Leia, and Han call X-7 by that name and not by Tobin Elad.
The Imperial base on Kamino was the most annoying thing. Bringing in this planet was unnecessary, IMO. The next annoying thing was that it seemed like everyone was disgusted with the clones, as if those men could have helped their conditioning (and, ahem, some did). Yet they weren't disgusted with the Kaminoans themselves until later. Thank goodness Han & Chewie learned the truth of the aiwha bait.
And that's a phrase I understand now that I know what an aiwha is.
August 1, 2011
My lackluster response to this book proves that I need to switch genres for a while. I found myself hoping that this book would be the last in the series. Unlike other readers, I appreciate the connections that are drawn between the "Last of the Jedi" series and the Star Wars universe we are all familiar with in "A New Hope." It was good to see Lune Divinian again, but I didn't feel that the book addressed his storyline well. In fact, the development of each character seemed only partially done. I hope that future volumes get back to the quality I enjoyed in books 1 and 2.
October 22, 2013
So the assassin, X-7, is at it again looking to kill Luke. The gang head to Kamino. Of course Han didn't want to go and not sure why he would have gone since he has been trying to get out the Rebel base for awhile... But X-7 hires some people to do his job that he was supposed to do...ummm not sure about that. He would have tried to do it himself. I don't buy it.
This was alright, but the series is starting to go downhill. He makes Luke out to be more of a clumsy person, Han this expert marksmen, etc. Chewie gets some action. Not much more to say...
This was alright, but the series is starting to go downhill. He makes Luke out to be more of a clumsy person, Han this expert marksmen, etc. Chewie gets some action. Not much more to say...
July 19, 2016
Amazing. Further bridging the gap between the prequels the story takes its turn on the planet Kamino where the Alliance does its work to destroy a vicious project for the Empire. The planet's cloning works no longer appear to support the clone troopers that once supported the Republic/Empire during the Clone Wars. Most likely due to the invasion committed buy Starkiller in Force Unleashed II. But even more unique is the involvement of Rogue Squadron in the fray. I also find it neat that they bring in a character from Jude Watson's "Last of the Jedi" series. C+
June 17, 2015
So, after escaping from the Rebels, X-7 (who is having some identity issues) decides to farm out the task of actually killing Luke to a group of crack pilots that he hires.
Things don't quite work out as planned and the majority of them crash on Kamino.
This one reads more like a horror story for most of the middle as the crew tried to avoid being eaten by the new monster that was developed by the scientists on Kamino. Luke has to work with his erstwhile enemy Div, the only surviving pilot from the crew hired by X-7.
Not a whole lot happens to further the overall plot, such as it is.
Things don't quite work out as planned and the majority of them crash on Kamino.
This one reads more like a horror story for most of the middle as the crew tried to avoid being eaten by the new monster that was developed by the scientists on Kamino. Luke has to work with his erstwhile enemy Div, the only surviving pilot from the crew hired by X-7.
Not a whole lot happens to further the overall plot, such as it is.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews