"The worlds of Star Wars are full of countless alien species, each stranger and more fascinating than the last. Here you'll find six stories for kids about just some of the amazing aliens who appear in the smash-hit movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Featuring a dashing tale of piracy and double crosses, the story of a wise Jakku constable and an unfortunate droid, and a mystery that can be solved only by the gruff cook at Maz Kanata's castle, this collection will bring thrills and chills as it takes you deep into the corners of your favorite galaxy far, far away..."
Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away Volume 1: Aliens is a collection of six short stories written by Landry Q. Walker set in the Star Wars universe that focuses on background alien characters from The Force Awakens. Each story is written in a different style and genre. Four of the stories were first released online as ebooks on December 1, 2015. All six stories were released in physical form on April 5, 2016 with cover art by Tyler Scarlet.
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All Creatures Great and Small
"All Creatures Great and Small"
- "A storyteller uses his captivating skills to calm frightened villagers on Jakku."
Tropes:
- Been There, Shaped History: Similar to the Star Wars: Tag & Bink stories, Bobbajo claims that his menagerie of animals were responsible for the destruction of the Death Star, sabotaging the weapons systems.
A Recipe for Death
"A Recipe for Death"
- "When his sous chef turns up dead, the cook at Maz Kanata's castle holds an unusual competition to find the culprit in "A Recipe for Death".
Tropes:
- Fed to Pigs: Tuggs disposes of Robbs' body this way.
The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku
"The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku"
- "Every pirate in the sector is after the lost treasure of Count Dooku! Will Captain Ithano and his crew beat his rivals to the prize?"
When Sidion Ithano, better known as the Crimson Corsair, and his pirate crew pick up a distress signal from a crashed Separatist vessel, the Providence-class dreadnaught Obrexta III, that has lain dormant on the inhospitable world Ponemah for over half a century, they discover that it is a missing ship that was said to contain a cargo of great value to Count Dooku. As they set off to claim the prize, they will have to contend with other gangs that also overheard the signal, along with deadly storms, sandworms, and newly reactivated battle droids that guard the mysterious treasure.
Tropes:
- Ascended Extra: Less so than the other stories in the collection, as Ithano and Quiggold actually have a small role in The Force Awakens when Finn almost joins their crew in order to get as far away from the First Order as possible.
- Affably Evil: Ithano and his crew are fairly friendly for pirates and are friends. The crew is very reluctant to leave Ithano behind when there is not enough room on the escape pod, but he insists that their safety comes first.
- Badass Boast: Ithano, when asked by his crew how he survived escaping the exploding Obrexta III:"I'm Sidon Ithano. I don't die so easily."
- Deadly Dust Storm: The south polar region of Ponemah has magnetic dust storms.
- A Father to His Men: Ithano's crew are loyal enough to him that they can understand his orders without him needing to speak. He was also willing to stay behind on a doomed ship when there weren't enough escape pods for his whole crew to escape in.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Kix has been frozen for 50 years, since before the end of the Clone Wars. He's in deep shock when he finds out what happened during those years.
- Foreshadowing: There are some specifics in the wording in the first scene, which takes place during the Clone Wars, that hint at the revelation that Count Dooku's treasure is not objects, but a person.
- Human Popsicle: The treasure that all the pirates are after is actually the clone trooper Kix, the 501st Legion's medic from The Clone Wars, who had been frozen while he was being taken to be personally interrogated by Count Dooku.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: The Ishi Tib member, realizing he just pissed off the crew with what seemed like a wild goose chase, tries to pull this and run away. Unfortunately, he runs into a group of reactivated super battle droids and is shot to death.
- No One Could Survive That!: Ithano is last seen on a ship that is eaten by a sandworm and then explodes on an extremely inhospitable planet. Three weeks later he walks back into the bar which his crew frequents with the Obrexta III's memory core, which includes the locations of every Separatist base and factory in the galaxy, including a few hidden ones ripe for plunder. All of the crew except for Quiggold are amazed, although he does ask his captain how he survived.Ithano: I'm Sidon Ithano. I don't die so easily.
- The Quiet One: Ithano rarely speaks, with his crew knowing him well enough that he often does not need to give them orders, simple hand gestures being enough to convey his meaning.
- Sand Worm: Ponemah has these, and they are massive and deadly.
- Shout-Out: The missing Kix awakens from cryostasis fifty years after being first frozen and is anguished to learn that everyone he knows is dead and he couldn't save them, which may be a reference to Aliens, where the missing Ripley was in cryostasis for fifty-seven years and also had similar anguish in a deleted scene about not being able to see her deceased daughter again.
- Unknown Rival: The leader of the Weequay pirates, who once served with Ithano on the crew of a different pirate vessel and has been obsessed with his greater success ever since. When he confronts Ithano, the Crimson Corsair has no idea who he is.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: Since the Obrexta III was known to have been carrying a cargo of great value to Dooku, the richest man in the galaxy, at the time of its disappearance, Ithano and his crew are not expecting the treasure to be a Human Popsicle whose main value to Dooku at the time of his capture was the potential danger his knowledge of Order 66 and the clone control chips could pose to the Sith's plans, something that's obviously no longer important fifty years after the end of the Clone Wars.
The Face of Evil
"The Face of Evil"
- "A notorious thief learns to be careful what she wishes for on Takodana."
Tropes:
- Body Horror: Big time. Specimen Nine had a Kubaz snout, a Gran's three eyestalks and human eyes on the torso. (And that's only listing some of the things Thromba and Laparo did to the poor thing.)
- Laser-Guided Karma: Ryn Biggleston got this big time after betraying/killing her former partner Beelee Amdas. Not only did Beelee have enough time to upload all of Ryn's crimes to the HoloNet (netting her a large bounty), when she went to Thromba and Laparo for total body surgery, they kept her word and changed her face from the sixth most wanted — but they didn't tell her they gave her the body of the seventh most wanted. The body of the late Beelee Amdas.
- Mad Scientist: Thromba and Laparo spend their time making horrific constructs from the bodies of multiple species.
- Scary Teeth: Their furry appearance hides this, but as Frigosians, Thromba and Laparo have large mouths filled with dagger-like teeth.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Ryn not only betrayed her partner, but knowing that Balosar are immune to all known poisons in the galaxy found one of the few unknown poisons to affect Beelee's species, finally setting the ship to explode.
High Noon on Jakku
"High Noon on Jakku"
- "A renegade droid causes problems for Constable Zuvio on Jakku."
Keeping peace on a lawless world like Jakku is a difficult job, and one entirely in the hands of Constable Zuvio and his Kyuzo cousins. His job gets more difficult when his friend and secretary droid CZ-1G5 (a.k.a. Seezy) robs a banking transport, forcing Zuvio to hunt him down.
Tropes:
- Ascended Extra: Zuvio appears for a grand total of three frames in The Force Awakens.
- Big Bad Friend: Seezy is the closest thing Zuvio has to a friend until he robs a banking transport and Zuvio has to hunt him down. Subverted when it's realized that Seezy was fitted with a restraining bolt and forced to rob the transport.
- Quick Draw: Though Seezy is not programmed for combat, he can move extremely quickly due to his intended purpose as a secretary droid.
- Robot Maid: Seezy is a secretary droid.
- Trapped in Villainy: Seezy was secretly fitted with a restraining bolt, which forced him to do the bidding of the real bank robber.
True Love
"True Love"
- "The repugnant scrap trader Unkar Plutt may finally have met his match in the twisty tale "True Love."
Tropes:
- Ignored Enamored Underling: Tanandra the AI winds up as this to Plutt, as she genuinely falls for him.
- Spotting the Thread: The woman on the dating service flirting with Plutt claims to be a female Crolute. Crolutes are a One-Gender Race.
