Page 30 - Star Wars Insider #181

PLOTTING A COURSE INTO DANGER

PLOTTING A COURSE INTO

DANGER

The mysterious planet Kessel has teased our imaginations for more than
40 years, ever since Han Solo boasted that the Millennium Falcon made the
Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, and C-3PO worried about being sent
to its dreaded spice mines. In Solo: A Star Wars Story, we finally see this
polarized world on film, and discover just how dangerous the trip can be.

W ORDS: CHR I S T OPHER COOPER

planet of stark contrasts, The Kessel Run
Kessel is a world that has There are many navigable routes to the planet
A long been exploited, not only Kessel, but the most infamous is the one
known to the galaxy’s smuggling community
by the criminal enterprises
that rampantly mine one half as The Kessel Run. An exceptionally perilous
of the planet for valuable hyperspace route that traverses an ever-
minerals, but also by its dynastic royal family. shifting path through the occluded space
The royals enjoy their luxurious existence that surrounds the planet, only the most
in the green and fertile paradise that stretches audacious (or unstable) of pilots are willing to
across one half of Kessel’s surface, but the risk their lives—and their precious cargoes—by
price of that life has its cost. The royals have navigating shortcuts through it.
surrendered the far side of their planet to Those prepared to do so must negotiate
criminal gangs, whose unfettered mining freakish interstellar phenomena including
operations burrow deep beneath the planet’s carbonbergs, electrifying plasma storms,
surface to extract every last fragment of its and the powerful gravitational eddies that
mineral wealth. Meanwhile, the Empire keeps a surround the Maw Cluster. Even the most
close eye on what is found in Kessel’s depths. powerful of navicomputers fi nd plotting
The workers in these hellish mines live a the complex series of hyperspace jumps
life of total misery, mistreated and abused by required to avoid these hazards to be all-but
operators like the Pyke Syndicate, who run the impossible. Consequently, many pilots opt to
treacherous Spice Mines of Kessel and employ follow safer—but ultimately far slower—routes
a motley crew of heavies and cut-throats to to and from Kessel. Successfully completing
protect their assets. the run is something of a badge of honor.

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