Back in his 2015 Star Wars: Lando Marvel Comics miniseries, writer Charles Soule introduced a new bounty hunter character named Chanath Cha, who was then given an origin story in Soule’s 2017 run on Star Wars: Darth Vader.
Now Chanath Cha is working for Crimson Dawn and Lady Qi’ra, and she’s been tasked with rescuing the Archivist and Kho Phon Farrus from the clutches of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Hidden Empire #3, also written by Charles Soule.
As Hidden Empire #3 begins, the Archivist continues her tale told to an unseen audience of two hooded figures, while in the flashbacks that follow Darth Vader has cornered her younger self alongside Farrus and the ancient piece of Sith technology known as the Fermata Cage on an unnamed planet. As has been established in previous issues of this miniseries, Qi’ra wants these two historians to activate the Fermata Cage in order to resurrect a Sith Lord to combat and bring down Vader and Emperor Palpatine. But Vader isn’t about to let that happen too easily, and he’s willing to cut through just about anyone who gets in his way, including Chanath Cha, who makes it clear that killing Vader became her life’s goal after he slaughtered her parents two decades earlier in the timeline. Cha and her teammates, collectively known as the Orphans, have some fun tricks up their sleeves in their battle against the Dark Lord of the Sith, but as we know from having seen Return of the Jedi (the events of which take place after this comic book) Vader isn’t just going to go down without a fight– or at all, really. The bulk of this issue depicts a fun– not to mention deadly– back and forth between Vader and the Orphans, while the droid Ladybright helps the Archivist and Kho Phon Farrus escape the planet with the Fermata Cage and return to Qi’ra’s secret Crimson Dawn base.
I like the Orphans as a ragtag team, and if their ranks hadn’t been (SPOILER ALERT) severely reduced by the end of this installment of Hidden Empire, I would say I’d definitely be up for seeing their further adventures expanded upon in a spinoff comic. But this being Star Wars, I suppose anything’s possible– it’d even be cool to explore their backstory and adventures leading up to this climactic turn of events in some form. But as far as this issue is concerned, it’s really just a showcase of Vader’s fighting abilities and determination for survival as he hacks and slashes away at his enemies. There isn’t too much else going on here in the way of forward momentum for the ongoing story, except for the fact that the Archivist and Kho are headed to the so-called Dawnfall base. I do really like the devastatingly dark final-page conversation between Qi’ra and Cadeliah (the star-crossed heir to two warring Corellian crime syndicates, as seen in the pages of Marvel’s Star Wars: Bounty Hunters title) where the embattled Crimson Dawn boss dismisses Chanath Cha as simply being a character in Qi’ra’s story. It just goes to show how ruthless Qi’ra has become, and has me that much more excited to dive into more of her narrative as the gaps are filled in via future comics and the upcoming Star Wars: Crimson Climb novel from author E.K. Johnston. But for now, I’m hoping we get more of the Fermata Cage and the end results of its activation in the next issue of Hidden Empire.
Star Wars: Hidden Empire #3 is available now wherever comic books are sold.