About the Book
Never before has the incendiary mix of action, politics, and intrigue
that has become Timothy Zahn’s trademark, been more 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.
