Never before has the incendiary mix of action, politics,
and intrigue that has become Timothy Zahn’s
trademark, been mmore evident that in this new Star Wars
epic. On the heels of the stunning events chronicled in
Star Wars: A New Hope, the newly minted heroes of the
Rebellion–fledgling Jedi Luke Skywalker, smuggler turned
reluctant freedom-fighter Han Solo, and Princess Leia
Organa, a bold leader with a world to avenge–must face the
harsh realities of the cataclysmic conflict into which they
have so bravely plunged. From this point forward, legends
will grow, treachery will abound, and lives will be
irrevocably altered, in the long, hard fight to counter the
fist of tyranny and restore hope to a galaxy too long in
darkness.
The destruction of the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance was
a decisive blow against the Empire, but Palpatine and his
monstrous enforcer, Darth Vader, are no less of a threat.
The brutal extermination of Alderaan not only demonstrated
the magnitude of their murderous power, but served as a
chilling testament to their resolve to crush the Rebel
uprising. Standing against them, Skywalker, Solo, and the
Princess remain uncertain opponents. Luke is gifted and
brave, but unschooled in the power he possesses. Han has
doubts about waging someone else’s war–and his
contentiousness is one more burden for Leia to bear as she
struggles to help keep the Rebellion alive. The three have
been sent to mediate a dispute between Rebel Alliance
factions in Shelsha Sector–agitating matters by forcing Han
to deal not only with pirates, but with his more dreaded
enemy, politics. At the same time, Mara Jade–all of
eighteen and years away from her fateful meeting with Luke–
is serving her evil master, Palpatine, well in her role as
the Emperor’s Hand: tracking suspected treachery in the
Empire to what may be high places–while trying to stay out
of Darth Vader’s way.
But the Rebels will prove to be only one of the Empire’s
concerns. For Imperial Stormtrooper Daric LaRone, his faith
in the Empire shaken by the wanton destruction of Alderaan,
will commit a sudden and violent act of defiance, and take
four other enforcers with him, in a desperate bid to elude
their masters’ wrath.
Each of these fateful actions, whether sanctioned, secret,
or scandalous, will expose brutality and corruption, spur
upheavals destined to shake the Empire to its core, and
shape momentous events yet to come.