The Best Defense

The Best Defense was a story written during the waning years of the Galactic Republic by Osten Dal'Nay, a soldier in the Thaereian military, and depicted the killing of the Thaereian military commander Kulkis by the soldier Nightwing. During the Clone Wars, the story was circulated on the Cularin holonet node, resulting in speculation that it depicted true events and that Dal'Nay was the real Nightwing.

Description

The Best Defense was a story written by the young Thaereian military soldier Osten Dal'Nay.^[1] The story depicted the death of the Thaereian military officer Commander Kulkis in self-defense by the Thaereian soldier Nightwing.^[2] Though a work of fiction, The Best Defense was inspired by the death of the real Kulkis, who had a reputation for cruelty to his subordinates and died after being thrown out of the airlock on a starship. Dal'Nay had met Kulkis and had little regard for the Thaereian commander. Dal'Nay considered the tale a metaphor illustrating that that not every command should be obeyed, and that not all leaders deserve loyalty.^[1]

During the Clone Wars, an anonymous party distributed the story on the Cularin holonet node^[2] without consent from Dal'Nay.^[1] This led to holonet users speculating regarding the nature of the story, with many theorizing that Dal'Nay had written the tale and that he was the true Nightwing.^[3] Dal'Nay later admitted in an interview with the broadcaster Yara Grugara that he had written The Best Defense, but denied that the story depicted real events.^[1]

Synopsis

Sitting on his bunk, Thaereian soldier Nightwing obsessively tends to his malfunctioning MX9 blaster rifle. When the feared and enigmatic Nikto officer Commander Kulkis unexpectedly confronts him, a tense philosophical exchange about the nature of defense escalates into a deadly test. Provoked by a sudden knife attack, Nightwing kills Kulkis in self-defense, discovering too late that the attack was a brutal lesson rather than an assassination. As he jettisons Kulkis' body into space, Nightwing is haunted by the Nikto officer's cryptic final words.^[2]

Behind the scenes

The Best Defense first featured in the 2005 Wizards.com article The Best Defense by Morrie Mullins, a tie-in to Wizards of the Coast's Living Force roleplaying campaign. The article presented the text of the in-universe The Best Defense, though did not explicitly confirm The Best Defense to be the in-universe name of the story.^[2] The story was subsequently referenced in the Wizards.com Living Force tie-in articles Everyone's a Critic^[3] and Osten Dal'Nay,^[1] also both written by Mullins.^[3][1] The Osten Dal'Nay article confirmed the in-universe name of the story to be The Best Defense.^[1]

Sources

• The Best Defense on Wizards.com (backup link) (original site is defunct) (First mentioned)
• Everyone's a Critic on Wizards.com (backup link) (original site is defunct)
• Osten Dal'Nay on Wizards.com (backup link) (original site is defunct) (First identified as The Best Defense)

Notes and references