Mist Encounter is a short story written by Timothy Zahn that first appeared in Star Wars Adventure Journal Volume 1 Issue Number 7. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only way this story has been released, as it was not reprinted in the short story collections. This story was the reason I bought the Journal, and I was not disappointed. It was a very entertaining read that had a few firsts.
This is the first chronological appearance of a certain Grand Admiral, and also the first chronological appearance of Booster Terrik. Considering that the Journal also has the story "Missed Chance", which featured the introduction of Corran Horn, this may also be the very first appearance of Booster anywhere. With these two in the story, how can anybody NOT read this story?
The story centers around an Imperial ship (a Victory-class Star Destroyer) chasing a ship suspected to be smuggling weapons to a Rebellion in its very early stages. One of the smugglers is, of course, Booster, who is doing everything in his power not to be caught. He ends up going to ground on an uncharted planet in Unknown Space, and the Imperials send a team out to look for him. The Imps end up spending the night being attacked by what at first appears to be a bunch of primitive savages, but what ends up being Thrawn. He ultimately ends up being introduced to the leader of the Imperial forces, Parck, and decides to join with the Imps. Parck, happy with his prize, leaves the planet, letting Booster and his partner escape.
One thing I loved about this story is that we are allowed to see a different perspective on some well-known characters. Thrawn's genius is once again allowed to shine. Using only the planet's resources and what little he was left with after his exile from his people, he is able to make an Imperial task force quail in fear in the night. The end of this story also has quite a bit of foreshadowing for events in the Hand of Thrawn duology. This is the first time we hear of some of the story behind Thrawn's exile and his reasons for joining with the Empire. I had read the Hand of Thrawn books before reading this story, but I feel I understand Thrawn's position even better now that I have heard him explain his own point of view.
I also found this a very interesting take on Booster. As I said earlier, I believe this to be the first appearance ever of Booster, so his character had not been fully developed at this point. I was shocked to see him flying something other than the Pulsar Skate. He must have ditched both the ship and this partner not too long after the events in this story. Maybe it was too hot for him, and he wanted something less conspicuous. Or maybe he wanted to get rid of his partner badly, and giving him the ship was the only way he could do that. Or, wildly speculating here, the Starwayman is the Skate, and Booster changed the name when he got sole ownership of it. I wish there was a description of the Starwayman or a mention of what kind of freighter it is.
I was also surprised to see that he was smuggling supplies and such to the fledgling Rebellion. Not saying that Booster never did that during his career, it's just that he was portrayed as being a guy who more or less worked for the Rebellion and covertly supported them. It's difficult for me to picture this Booster being the hardcore smuggler who would trade in glitterstim and other nefarious items. Either he hadn't started dealing in those kinds of goods yet, or he never did and the warrant for Booster's arrest had a few extra charges added to it to get CorSec riled up about arresting him.
All my speculation aside, however, the one thing about this story I find most fascinating is the fact that Booster Terrik inadvertently introduced the galaxy to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Presenting a very large what if...what if Booster and his partner had decided to contact the alien and spoken to Thrawn before the Imps did? One has to wonder how things might have been different had he done that.
Again, a very entertaining read, and also a few tidbits to mull over. Now all I need to do is to find the other Zahn short story with Thrawn...
Reviewed March 14, 2000 by Kelly M. Grosskreutz.
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