In the EoE core book under Drive/Fly, (page 232) under each speed value it starts off, "One starship maneuver to move with close range of a target or object, or..." But they don't state from which range band you are coming from. If you eleminate the above text from each speed value, they all make sense, but that first half of every first sentence makes no sense, or am I reading it wrong?

speed 1 later says it cost 2 maneuvers to move from short to close range, contidicting the beginning statement which said it cost 1 maneuver.

It means moving around "within" the close range band. It's partly narrative based. Like let's say the GM says you're at close range of a capital ship and an enemy fighter. You could use that one maneuver to say you flew behind a piece of the capital ship to get cover from enemy fire. It would only take one maneuver because it's within close range.

So basically, moving within close range allows you to move to places that are already established as being within close range. Think of it as a sort of "interact with the scenery" maneuver.

Edit:

And moving from short range to close means that you're switching range bands entirely. If a GM wanted to be really technical, he could say that you can't actually interact with scenery (such as ducking into an asteroid field, flying behind a skyscraper, or jumping off a sweet ramp) unless you get to close range and then spend a maneuver to move over to it. Its a good idea for a GM to set a scene by establishing the range different environmental things are at so vehicles can know how many moves it takes to interact with them. In some cases, like a dogfight in he middle of a city, the "city" and it's buildings may always count as being at close range and thus always be available to be utilized with different maneuvers.

Tldr; the maneuver to move within close range is basically a maneuver to interact with the scenery by moving around or within it. This is not a hard and fast rule, but can add some tactical flair to your ship combat.

Nim's correct. It's not saying "Move from one range band to the Close range band" it's say "Move around inside the Close range band"

To put it in actual in game context:

Remember when engaging Capital craft or other Sil 5+ objects, you are supposed to track rough positioning (unlike Sil4-) and use that to control where your shots land. So if you're on the port side of the Star Destroyer in the close range band, and it puts all it's shields on port, and you wish to fly to the Starboard side before attacking with your torpedoes, you'll need to "move within close range" of the star destroyer to get to the other side of it.