GENERAL NOTES ON THE OUTLINE:
There might be a few mistakes here and there -- I do a lot of changing around on this, with the end results that parts might not make any sense in context. If that's the case, just let me know. Also, I'd be more than happy to clarify any questions you may have regarding the plot.

 

BOOK 1 BACKGROUND:

6,000 years before ANH, there lived a Sith Lord named Eran Devalic. Unlike other users of the Dark Side, Devalic's aim was not to gain power -- rather, he devoted his abilities and skills to try and find a way to tap into and disassemble the energy field that comprised the Force. His studies, documented in a series of holocron-like journals, had almost reached fruition when his tower was assaulted by a group of Jedi Knights. Devalic's servants were killed short-hand and many of his journals destroyed, but the Sith Lord himself managed to discorporate himself before his body was slain, and as a spirit, he wandered the ruins of his tower for millenia.

Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, these journal were found by a young Jedi named Gev Valaris.

One of the members of Alderaan’s noble houses, Valaris was taken on by the Emperor as an apprentice, along with a number of other young, Force-sensitive children who would later become his Darksiders. However, Valaris did not show enough power to satisfy the Emperor, and he ordered him executed. He escaped narrowly, and was on the run from Imperial pursuers for many years, during which time he matured into a young man. He was informed belatedly of the destruction of his home, but believed that Bail Organa and the Rebellion were responsible for the death of his family and carried a life-long hatred for both. On Ronaat, he completed his education under Master Alsander Jessis, but the aging Jedi was killed by Imperial raiders tracking down Valaris. Valaris succeeded in evading the Empire's attempts on his life, and escaped off-world, eventually meeting up with two other Jedi. With the demise of the Empire, all intelligence on Valaris was lost, and the resurrected Emperor was far too busy to worry about his former apprentice.

Six years after the Battle of Endor, Valaris arrived on As'hala on a pilgrimage, having split ways with his companions. The nearly-deserted grasslands were the perfect site for a hermitage -- a place where the Jedi could finally find peace and insight.

But the planet was not as peaceful as it appeared at first, for deep in the plains lay the ruins of Eran Devalic's tower. The Sith Lord sense the newcomer's presence, and slowly, over a period of weeks, began to twist and corrupt the Jedi's mind as he slept. Eventually, he brought Valaris to the ruins, where he could begin to teach him in the ways of the Dark Side.

Devalic's ghost taught Valaris a great many things -- from mastering Sith powers of long before, to constructing a lightsaber of such technical intricracy that it had no equal in past or present. However, Devalic did not merely want a pawn, or a faithful servant. He saw in Valaris a chance to return to the material world, and in time, began to initiate him into his studies.

With Valaris' material powers and the remains of Devalic's journals, the duo managed to create a technique for drawing the souls of individual Jedi from the collective energy of the Force and containing them within crystal-like manifestations of the Dark Side called soulstones. It took many months to perfect the technique, but Valaris began to trap the souls of dead Jedi and use their knowledge and power to bolster his own – tenatively at first, but soon he had collected the souls of thousands, boosting his rather limited powers into nearly god-like proportions. Eventually, he decided that Devalic had outlived his usefulness, and dismissed the specter, travelling off-world once more. Armed with this power, Valaris passed himself off as the Emperor’s Military Executor – the Dark Jedi in command of the Imperial Fleet, intended as his instrument of vengeance against the Rebellion for the destruction of his homeworld. (See DARK EMPIRE II) However, Eran Devalic was not to be left behind that easily. He entered Valaris' mind, and as time passed, the long-dead Sith Lord began to supplant the Jedi's mind and spirit, taking over his body. The once-honorable Jedi Knight became a cruel, bloodthirsty warlord, increasingly falling to the clutches of the Dark Side.

However, his soul-siphoning had an unforseen side-effect – piece by piece, the Great Company of the Jedi, who were holding Palpatine prisoner on the plane of the Force, were captured, letting Palpatine regain access to the material universe.

The remnants of his Dark Empire – acolytes, trainees, apprentices, Dark Jedi, Emperor’s Hands, Inquisitors and Dark-side trained Imperial command staff -- had prepared for his return, waiting on Palpatine’s Sanctuary at the horizon of the Galactic Plane, and Palpatine willingly inhabited the body of one of his Hands, all of whom were in tune to some degree with the Emperor’s mind.

 

Shortly before RETURN OF THE JEDI, Grand Admiral Thrawn was involved in a long campaign against the rogue Admiral Zaarin, during the course of which, a TIE Defender scientist was captured by the Rneekii Pirates. Their leader, Ali Tarrak, mass-produced the craft and assaulted Imperial forces with it en masse. Thrawn, seeing strategic potential in Tarrak, convinced the Emperor that capturing the pirate was more worthwhile than killing her. During the destruction of Tarrak’s manufacturing facility, Tarrak attempted to escape in the Corellian Transport Dhoora, but was disabled and captured by the Imperials. Thrawn himself oversaw the breaking and training of the Emperor’s new servant. (See TIE FIGHTER)

Following their most recent defeats, the Imperial fleet has split into two main factions – those of the New Order, who still follow Palpatine’s basic tenets, and the less militaristic Second Empire, who have taken a more relaxed stance to the pro-human-male policies of the Imperial fleet (and also because those represent most of their personnel, giving them little ground for bias).

The New Order is led by Valaris and a council of Admirals, and is based around the hollow planet of Ord Venard, whose interior is large enough to house Star Destroyers and complex manufacturing facilities. Their de-facto headquarters, the SSD Malignant, represents the last known Super-class Star Destroyer in Imperial hands, but even it remains unfinished, with large sections of the superstructure trimmed away for sake of efficiency. Internal manufacturing facilities churn out war materiel for the forces of the Second Empire by converting free-floating space debris and stellar matter into usable material through a 'harvester' mounted at the bow of the craft.

The Second Empire only consists of a handful of systems, but is little concerned with conquest -- rather, their time and effort is devoted to civil administration and development, ensuring that the few planets under their control are productive, prosperous and loyal. Composed of idealists like Admiral Gilad Pellaeon and ex-Admiral Daala, they remain strictly neutral in the conflict between New Order and New Republic. The Second Empire's cornerstone is Jhunat, the ‘second Coruscant’ whose well-developed military academies and excellent defence net makes it the crown jewel in what remains of the Empire’s worlds.

 

BOOK 1: SECOND EMPIRE

 

On Nar Shaddaa, Tarrak is tracking down a 'corpsejagger' -- an illict medical technician by the name of Ormwaw Trasort. Trasort, an Ithorian renegade, possesses many black-market skills, but most importantly, he possesses the Ithorian secrets of cloning....for a price.

Tarrak's reason for tracking down the Ithorian is simple -- her aim is none other than the ressurrection of her mentor.

Prior to the Battle of Endor, Tarrak had received a sample of blood from Thrawn, in the hope of cloning her mentor, should he meet an untimely demise. However, lacking the technology or support to do so, the vial containing his blood became little more than a good-luck talisman.

Upon finding the Ithorian, however, she is confronted by an old associate: Chavva Palsapadi Toranjalic, known to his underlings as 'Great Chavva'. A minor Huttese crime boss, Chavva nonetheless has managed to obtain a number of brain-imprints of Imperial personnel from an Imperial physician named Nordula. The imprints were part of a vast and detailed set of medical records located in a secret vault on Coruscant, and when combined with a tissue or blood sample, could be used to create a fully-concious and self-aware replica. (On the other hand, just the sample would create an individual identical to the person, but lacking their memories or experience).

Chavva planned to resurrect an Imperial leader as part of a grand coup d'etat to gain control over the other kadijics, and kept Trasort on retainer for just that purpose. Now, with Tarrak's arrival, he has the second piece he needs. Unfortunately, Tarrak is unwilling to make a deal with Chavva, leaving the Hutt lord with no choice but to let his henchmen take the sample from her by force.

Tarrak manages to dispatch every Hutt underling, but is tranquilised by Trasort in the process.

Meanwhile, the New Order is fighting a losing battle. For once, the New Republic faces no threats from outside forces, leaving it to fully concentrate on 'mopping up' the Imperial forces. Valaris' navies, underequipped and overwhelmed, are falling back piece by piece, and now the New Order's base at Ord Venard itself is in danger. While Valaris is content to randomly execute Admirals who report failure and threaten the survivors with an even worse fate, a group of command personnel conspire behind his back to undermine his position. The group consists of Valaris' Lord Admiral, a crippled man by the name of Lindxyc Hern, and three others -- Ulrik Geldan and Sart Darisome, both Admirals under Hern, and Avingar, the commanding officer aboard the Malignant.

Meanwhile, Chavva's flagrant misuse of kadijic funds has not gone unnoticed. Under pressure from his grandfather, the patriarach of the Palsapadi, he urges Trasort to accelerate the clone's growth rate -- and at the same time ensure that the clone is made weak and submissive, to ensure its loyalty.

Hern is summoned to a private meeting with Valaris, who has becoming increasingly suspicious of the Lord Admiral. Using a mental probe, he is able to find evidence of his treachery, and brainwashes him into rooting out his fellow conspirators.

On Coruscant, Luke is woken up in the middle of the night by the desperate specter of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who tries to warn Luke of a terrible danger, but before he can complete his warning, he suddenly flashes out of existance.

Now, the action shifts to Tatooine, as Boba Fett sets out to track down Garindan, the Kubazian information broker. Fett is still on a crusade for revenge against Han Solo -- the man who literally destroyed him. Equipped with the credits to repair his ravaged body and provide him with a new ship, a state-of-the-art Incom Hunter christened Slave III, Fett is now able to indulge in more personal matters. However, Solo remains distant and unassailable on Coruscant. So, instead, the bounty hunter resolves to strike at him in another way -- through his children.  

Coruscant: Hours away from a long-delayed execution, Death Star designer Bevel Lemelisk is freed from imprisonment by a mysterious, shape-shifting alien. That alien is none other than the Emperor’s Reach, Y’reen – not force-sensitive, but the most efficient and ruthless assassin and spy the Emperor could find in his lifetime. A member of the Ibethii species, Y'reen has self-regenerative abilities, limited ability to change shape, superb reflexes and incredible accuracy -- as well as knowledge of all of the Emperor's back doors on Coruscant.

The reason for Lemelisk’s ‘liberation’ is soon apparent – the reborn Emperor needs another superweapon to gain dominance over the galaxy, and who better to design it than Lemelisk?

In the meantime, Mara Jade is returning to the high-profit lure of 'independent cargo transfer' after a long time absent, complete with partner Niklas Liason, a Corellian smuggling overlord. Arriving on Coruscant with Liason in tow, she finds Luke in a disturbed state. The Jedi Master has grown more and more worried over Obi-Wan's warning, and has become clearly agitated. As disturbing visions assail him, he withdraws to Yavin IV, where he attempts to find some peace of mind.

What he discovers in his meditations is enough to confirm his worst fears -- the fabric of the Force itself is beginning to weaken, subtly but surely.

Fett, having gotten the information he needed from Garindan, has plotted an elaborate trap. Burrowing Slave III into an asteroid to avoid Republic security, he waits patiently – unbeknowst to Leia, who is in the process of sending the children off to Hapes to visit Prince Isolder, along with Chewbacca (for protection). Once their craft and escort have left the Coruscant atmosphere, Fett strikes without warning, destroying the X-wings guarding the ship and using a powerful gas to knock out all guards. Furthermore, he has a ysalamiri to protect him from the childrens’ Force Powers, and succeeds in taking the three prisoner and crucially injures Chewie.

Valaris, together with Hern, is making quick strike-and-fade raids on New Republic worlds, causing extensive collatoral damage, but the New Republic fleet is not yet mobilised. Meanwhile, the Thrawn clone reaches maturity and is given command of the Wrath of Chavva, a modified garbage scow once belonging to the Dacchu scavenger clan, who used the craft to ply Nar Shaddaa's debris field, and Chavva’s dilapidated and antiquated warfleet. Thrawn’s reasoning capabilities are stretched to the limits by his traumatic re-awakening and low-quality troops, but he formulates an attack plan to increase Chavva’s power.

Leia, learning of her children’s loss, dispatches several Republic agents to find Fett, but the slippery bounty hunter manages to evade them and disappear.

Thrawn begins his first offensive to take the weakly-defended Kessel. Using the Maw Cluster to his advantage, he neatly destroys the forces stationed there and secures the planet and its spice mines.

Hern attempts to contact his fellow conspirators, exposing their identities to Valaris. The Dark Jedi executes Darisome and Hern, but Geldan is nowhere to be found.

Unknown to Valaris or any of his co-conspirators, the Malignant's commander was actually one of the Emperor's Hands, and having received the call of his master, departed only hours before.

In the meantime, Valaris receives a message from the Dark Empire, asking for a meeting. He eventually is guided to the Sanctuary, travelling in the hope of making new allies who will respect his power. Meeting with the Chief Inquisitor, he is presented with an unusual gift in the form of Y’reen, to ‘strengthen ties’ between the two groups. Sensing a chance to wreak havoc on the New Republic, Valaris gladly accepts. Even more importantly, the Inquisitor has found a way for channeling energy from the force through a fixed system, creating a number of unique, force-powered weapons with which the Dark Empire’s ships are armed. The Inquisitor reveals this secret, and even offers to merge the two fleets. What Valaris does not know is that the reborn Emperor is using all of these gifts as parts in his own downfall.

Returning, he forms a small infilitration cell composed of Y'reen; an ISB agent, Ari Derral, and a precocious young slicer, Prestige. The three are sent to infiltrate Coruscant, Y’reen using his abilities to carry out assassinations and the like, and Derral and Prestige to relay Valaris’ instructions.

In Valaris' absence, the New Order continue with their own agenda. Breaking off a warfleet, they set out to establish a new base on the ocean world of Chad.

Luke falls under Valaris' direct control, who sends him to Coruscant to attack Mara. Palace Security succeeds in driving him off, but nonetheless, he runs away to the pole of Coruscant, where the ruins of his hermitage remain, and remains there alone, in a dark gloom.

Meanwhile, Tarrak has become an indentured serving girl in Chavva's palace on Nal Hutta, and chances across her mentor's clone. Appalled at the state of the clone, she springs him free.  

The two formulate an escape plan, and abduct Thrawn's 'command ship', the Wrath of Chavva, from its moorings, launching into Nal Hutta's atmosphere with such force that a whole side of Chavva's palace is reduced to rubble. The duo manage to gain control of the craft's systems, and with Hutt craft in pursuit, decide to lose them in the bustle of nearby Nar Shaddaa. The thick tangle of girders and walkways causes significant damage to the ship, but also wipes out their pursuers one by one. Unfortunately, in the process, Nar Shaddaa suffers significant collateral damage. After a direct stand-off firefight with a Hutt Corvette, the scow's hyperdrive systems cut in, taking them toward Jhunat -- and safety.

Mara recovers from the attack, but has to have reconstructive surgery to repair her body. In a rage, she leaves Coruscant with Liason. However, Liason has been instructed by the Emperor to bring Mara to him in exchange for a princely reward. Liason drugs her,but the only reward he gets is an excruciating death. The Emperor is disappointed with Mara’s lack of faith, and as a punishment, hers is his next body to inhabit as the one he currently holds is growing weak.

The reborn 'Empress' decides that a suitably powerful apprentice is in order -- preferrably one from the Skywalker line. Both Luke and Leia are too enshrined in the Light to convert, and Jacen and Jaina are already well on the right path. This leaves only Anakin, who shows far greater power than his siblings. However, Anakin is now in the hands of Boba Fett....

Furiously, (s)he dispatches Bounty Hunters and Darksiders against Fett. Though he desperately attempts to elude them, he is captured and alternatively probed and tortured to reveal the child’s location. Though Fett is a tough and controlled individual, even he cannot resist forever, and the planet is revealed to be....Urrios, the last sanctuary of the Mandalore warriors. Hidden from the galaxy, Urrios’ existance remained a closely-guarded secret. And now the Imperials know its location....

Having secured the support of the New Order, the Empress travels to Jhunat to reaffirm the loyalty of the other half of the former Empire. Through a combination of demagogery and coercion, s/he unites the Empires and affirms his/her position as ultimate leader of the Empire.

Thrawn, along with a few other 'traitor' personnel including Tarrak, is sent off on a suicide mission to reclaim an Imperial biological weapons vault on Ilmorren-II. Unknown to the Imperials, the vault has already been seized by a contingent of Bothans working for Borsk Fey'lya, who intends to bring the weapons to the New Republic as a power ploy. While the small handful of ships defending the planet are easily swept aside, on the ground the Imperials are in an entirely different playing field. The Bothans retreat to the heavily-armored and defended vault, and await the Empire's attack.

Thrawn and Tarrak lead the ground attack, while a single VSD provides orbital support. With pin-point turbolaser bombardment, the Imperials succeed in downing the vault's defences, but the spooked Bothans have a contingency plan -- unleashing the vault's entire viral payload into the atmosphere.

The Imperials, caught without any protective gear, are slowly slaughtered by a deadly array of diseases, while more Bothan ships emerge from orbit to blast apart the VSD. As a last act of bravery, the Victory's captain sets the ship on a direct collision course with the vault, wiping out the remaining Bothan ground forces.

However, the substantial amount of ship movement to the planet alerts the rest of the New Republic's senate, who suspend Fey'lya and send a small detachment of craft to rescue survivors.

The New Republic mercy mission comes too late, however. Save for Thrawn, every other Imperial on the planet has been killed. Tarrak was the last to go, dying only a few hours before the transports arrived.

 

BOOK 2 BACKGROUND

Urrios is an idea I used for explaining Fett’s background. As far as I know, Fett was originally a Journeyman (type of policeman) who was exiled for killing a fellow Journeyman, then joined the Imperial Stormtroopers, where he ‘murdered’ a superior officer (see DARK EMPIRE II). After that, there is a long lapse period, and then we have Boba Fett. Note that this means Fett could not have fought in the Clone Wars, as the Empire did not even exist at that point.

Urrios is the last bastion of Mandalorian warrior society, composed of those who are still loyal to the ideals of the ancient warrior culture.

Fett's connection to Urrios is tenuous at best, as the bounty hunter has his own agenda and works for profit, not for any gain to the warrior society. However, as they furnished Fett with replacement armor following the Sarlacc debacle and have helped him in the past, he holds a measure of loyalty towards them, taking care of others who would tarnish their name, such as when a would-be bounty hunter stole a Urriosian Mandalorian's armor and took the name of Jodo Kast.

Urrios, is a rough desert world, governed by many clans, one of whom, Clan Prime, is the ruling body. Each clan has a clanhead, usually the eldest and most powerful. The others are part of one of three main groups – Warbond Clans, Seafarer or Starfarer Clans. Each Clan is a single, specialised fighting unit, so in times of war, the clans are freely intermixed to produce versatile and powerful combat units.

The Clans are enemies of the Jedi due to a period in Urrios past, where Mandalorian Jedi used their powers to establish themselves rulers. Only after a prolonged and bloody war were the Jedi ousted, and all force-sensitive individuals born to the Clans are either banished or killed. This was the case with one of the current trainees at the Jedi Academy, a woman named Eleina.

A daughter of a Clan Prime warrior, her favored status spared her life and led to exile instead.

 

The Urrios Clans use a complex system of ritual scarring to show status. Each scar is made by a special knife carried by the clanhead, and bears both his and the warrior’s blood. The knife leaves distinctive marks that can only be made by a clanhead, hence this makes sure that the scars are authentic. Jewelry and pieces of bone are also used.

 

BOOK 2: DARK SIDE ECLIPSED

 

Buoyed with success, Valaris organises a meeting among those Imperial Warlords who still battle amongst themselves and delivers an ultimatum – either accept him as a supreme lord and new Emperor, or perish. The few that resist are excruciatingly killed with Sith magic, while the rest pledge their allegiance and warfleets to his cause. Meanwhile, Bevel Lemelisk presents his plans for the newest in a long line of superweapons – a collosal starship, quantum-armored (see the JEDI ACADEMY TRILOGY) which employs a device called a Soliton Wave -- a powerful wash of anti-matter that strips a planet clean of all surface life, leaving only a barren husk behind. With fast drives and hyperspace capabilities, this weapon, which he calls the NEBULA SWORD, could wipe out entire systems in an matter of hours, without need for recharging. However, in order to create this starship, Lemelisk needs two things: enough resources to build the monstrous craft, and quantum-armor designer and Death Star designer Qwi Xux. A cadre of Emperor’s Hands is sent to capture her, and succeed. The Empress, using her immense Dark Side powers, manages to recover the knowledge torn away by Kyp Durron (again, the JEDI ACADEMY TRILOGY)  and twist her mind to make her think the Rebellion is responsible for the execution of her family on Omwat.

Meanwhile, on Coruscant, Y’reen kills Senator Garm Bel Ilbis in the middle of a senate meeting, using the Palace’s extensive network of secret tunnels. Colonel Bremen (see THE LAST COMMAND) himself takes command of the sweep operation to find the intruder, but only the Emperor’s most trusted servants know the true extent and location of these secret passages. Y’reen snipes at various New Republic senators and security personnel, and with great reluctance, the Senate votes to evacuate the Palace.

Wedge attempts to mount a rescue operation with some members of Rogue Squadron, but ends up being captured by one of the Empire's elite fighter groups, Avenger Squadron, in the process.

With all hell breaking loose and the loss of her children weighing heavily, Leia travels to Coruscant’s pole in order to reason with Luke and to convince him to return to the Imperial City to help retrieve her children. Luke, still lost in the Dark, attempts to kill her, but she manages to talk him down, and Valaris’ mind-manipulation fall apart. He realises that he is directly responsible for Mara’s capture, and sets off in the Lightside Explorer to rescue her.

Leaving his operations with Hern, Valaris sets out to gather his erstwhile companions from whom he parted many years ago. However, this turns out to be a mistake, as Hern is working for the Empress, and with Valaris gone, (s)he takes complete control of the combined Imperial fleet. Her/his next consideration is to secure cloning technology to grow new bodies, and so the Imperial fleet attacks Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa, blasting through the Hutt Lords’ fleets and causing devastating damage to the Vertical City. A distress signal is sent out to the New Republic, but intercepted and destroyed by Imperial jamming starships. The Hands and Royal Guard rampage through Chavva’s palace, killing his followers and finally blasting the bloasted Hutt into fleshy chunks. Trasort and his rudimentary cloning facility are sent back to the Maligant, which the Empress intends to convert into a fully-fledged clone-growing lab. Nar Shaddaa’s citizens are either killed or taken as slave labor, and the girders of the city become the framework in which the Nebula Sword will be constructed. The Vertical City itself is stripped with molecular furnaces to provide the raw materials for the project. Using scraps of the first Thrawn, another clone is grown, but this one is on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum – cold, ruthless, emotionless, and slightly mentally unstable to boot, due to the Empress’ haste.

Valaris arrives on Virbe, a storm-whipped planet where the first of his companions, Zarr, lives in seclusion. Zarr, a combat-minded hybrid with a natural streak of aggression, demands that Valaris must defeat him in lightsaber combat before he follows – Valaris, to the last of Zarr’s knowledge, is still incompetent in all matters of the Force. However, with generations of Jedi and Eran Devalic behind him, he easily defeats his old friend, who agrees to follow him. The two set off to find the last member of their fellowship.

Luke, reaching out in space to find Mara’s mind, touches upon it and manages to triangulate her location – into the center of the Emperor’s Sanctum.

Meanwhile, Leia and Han have to part, as Han is fulfilling his duties as a General by joining Drayson and Ackbar at the gathering New Republic fleet, poised for a new offensive by the Empire.

However, the Imperial Fleet is set to a new objective – the Mandalorian sanctuary on Urrios. Daala, Pellaeon and a few others desert, realising that the Empress is only concerned with personal gain and would not hesistate to have them all slaughtered to capture Anakin. Faced with growing instability from Thrawn, now the Emperor’s supreme commander, they decide to desert.

Leia, on the other hand, receives help from an unexpected source. After travelling to Yavin IV to assemble a team of Jedi to sweep the Palace, she tells them of her children’s capture. Eleina, normally quiet, tells Leia the story of her banishment, and offers to help her retrieve them by travelling to Urrios. Leia assembles a ‘strike team’, composed of herself, Eleina, Winter and members of Rogue Squadron, and sets off, leaving a flustered Senate in charge.

Y’reen, however, is no fool. He instead travels along with Drayson and Ackbar to the fleet, disguised as an officer. Derral attempts to stop him, but tightened New Republic security manages to trace the ISB agent's frantic transmissions and kill him, as seriously injuring Prestige, who is captured.

Before departing, Daala and Pellaeon infiltrate the Malignant with the help of Daala's husband, Liegeus. Once there, they threaten Trasort into growing another clone, one combining Thrawn Alpha's DNA with the more stable Tarrak to create a semi-offspring to serve as a new military leader. The cloneling, a girl they call Kaeryn, is given Thrawn's brain-imprint, but they are forced to abandon the plan and flee to Coruscant, where they attempt to mount a rescue operation for the original clone instead.

Valaris, in the meantime, arrives on Chandrila, where the final member of the trio, Misa has settled down and become a healer. However, due her past, intimate, connections with Valaris, she reluctantly agrees to follow him. Valaris heads off to the Maligant at high speed to resume control of ‘his’ fleet, unaware that the tide has turned against him.

Luke arrives on the Sanctuary after nearly having his ship torn apart by the force of the galaxy’s gravity and infiltrates the Emperor’s palace to find Mara. Still enraged, he cuts through the throng of Inquisitors, Hands and so forth until he comes across Boba Fett. Fett, devoid of armor and badly injured, is more than willing to put aside past differences and lets Luke free him. Luke, unaware of the prisoner’s true identity, questions him. Fett notes that Mara is ‘impersonating’ Palpatine, and gives Luke directions before hobbling off to the Slave III and rushing back to Urrios to warn the Clans of the impending Imperial attack.

Leia and her little strike force land on Urrios, disguised as Mandalorian warriors. Splitting up, they manage to catch Fett as he arrives. Fett, still recovering from his interrogation, relents and reveals the location of the children.

On the Sanctuary, Luke fights his way to the inner sanctum to find Mara, only to come across the Empress. He realises what has happened and that he cannot kill the Emperor without also killing Mara in the process. Unwilling to make that decision, he runs from the chamber and flees the Sanctuary to return to the New Republic.

As the New Republic fleets gather to lead a counterstrike against the revitalised Empire, mysterious deaths of key command personnel dog the fleet officers. Things come to a head when Admiral Ackbar is nearly killed (but crippled instead), and intelligence teams run amok trying to find the assassin. Meanwhile, the Senate on Coruscant declares the Palace safe and moves back in.

Valaris returns to the fleet, only to be declared a hostile target and is shot at. He receives an encoded transmission from his personal accountant, Klinze Ruriksen, who tells him what has passed and of the new superweapon. Realising his game is up, he orders Klinze to travel to Nar Shaddaa and wipe certain portions of the Nebula Sword's computer core, and then speeds off to Yavin IV to strike at the Jedi Academy. He lands and begins to butcher the trainee Jedi with his companions. However, Zarr is overwhelmed and felled. Misa attempts to use her healing powers to save him, but is killed as well. Attempting to save his companions, Valaris siphons their souls before they can join the Dark Side, hoping to restore them later. That moment of distraction is enough. A lucky strike by Streen severs his amulet, leaving him powerless, and he is ‘killed’ – but thanks to the work of his servant, his conciousness is transferred to the framework of the Nebula Sword. His last commands complete, Ruriksen heads off to Coruscant to join the other Imperials in exile.

Luke returns to Yavin IV, only to find the results of Valaris’ handiwork. From the descriptions gleaned from his students and sensing the residual power, he figures out that Valaris is the only one with enough power to help him free Mara.

Meanwhile, the Senate, pending a vote from Leia, who is currently on Urrios, puts Thrawn ‘on ice’ – in cryogenic suspension.

 

BOOK 3 BACKGROUND

The Death Star-esque Nebula Sword went through a few changes before its final form. In its original incarnation, it literally rammed into a planet, ripping it apart, but this seemed a little too Saturday-morning-cartoonish, so that was discarded in the favor of another projectile weapon. A number of different weapon designs were drawn up before I settled on the Soliton Wave -- a nice, unoffensive weapon of mass destruction.

 

BOOK 3: EMPIRE’S FALL

 

Book 3 opens with a bang – the Imperial assault on Urrios. Though the Mandalorians are powerful warriors and superior to the Imperials, they are badly outnumbered. Leia, Winter and company, in the process of getting her children back, are caught in the middle and let Fett go while they head to his hiding place. However, only Jacen and Jaina are there – Anakin, unbeknownst to Fett, has been taken by the Clanhead, who has become enamored with the child, seeing in him the Great Warrior of prophecy. With the attack growing in intensity, Leia opts to remain behind while the rest of the team heads back to Coruscant.

Meanwhile, the Nar Shaddaan workers have been busy, and the almost-complete Nebula Sword is ready for a trial run. As a punitive strike, Bothawui is selected as the test target. Guided by input from Thrawn at a remote terminal, sending impulses directly to the weapon's advanced artificial intelligence, the Nebula Sword looks set to turn the tables on the scattered New Republic fleets.

Thrawn, however, is not aware that Valaris has supplanted the AI, and now is in complete control of the vessel. Though Thrawn preprograms targets, Valaris has several of his own – Ord Venard, Jhunat, Palpatine’s Sanctuary and finally Coruscant. Emerging from hyperspace, the Sword flies past the Bothans’ defences before heading into hyperspace again.

The New Republic fleets realise that the Imperial fleet is occupied, and that the Sword is a far more dangerous opponent. Immediately, they decide to converge on the next target in an attempt to stop it. Fortunately for them. the next target is pended in a holo-conference with the fleet commanders, which they manage to intercept. However, they do not realise that the ship is completely invincible, and that the Empress put the transmission on such an insecure band to lure the Rebels into certain doom. Leia is informed of these matters, and is forced to make the decision between her child and her duty.

Reaching out with the Force, Luke detects Valaris’ conciousness on the vessel and realises that he isn’t quite as dead as he thought. In one of his most intelligent decisions, he sets out with a group of trainee Jedi in order to reason with Valaris.
Stopping by Coruscant, he persuades the Senate into letting him take Thrawn's cryogenically-suspended body along -- to offer to Valaris as a new body.

The fleet arrives at Bakura, the Sword’s next test target, just in time to see the Sword emerging. Heavy fire patters off the quantum-armored hull and the Sword sweeps through the fleet, destroying countless ships. Bakura is destroyed (though thanks to the early warning, evacuation had been underway). The New Republic gathers its ravaged fleet and realises the Empire is going after its old war wounds...and assumes the next target will logically be Mon Calamari, long a thorn in the Empire’s side.

Intercepting the self-same holotransmissions, the Urrios Mandalorians realise that the Sword is en route to destroy another planet already, and that it is only matter of time before Urrios will be targetted. Taking the initiative, they gather twenty warriors -- including Fett – to infiltrate the weapon and destroy it while the rest of them fight off the Imperials.

The New Republic meanwhile begins to deck out their craft with all manner of experimental weaponry in the hopes that some of their equipment is capable of blasting through the armor.

However, the Sword’s next target is not Mon Calamari, but Balmorra (see DARK EMPIRE II), now a prominent New Republic manufacturing facility. Luke senses the Sword’s progress through hyperspace, and sets out in his ship to intercept and board the craft. Meanwhile, the Mandalorian strike team is doing the same, through tracing the low-band Imperial transmissions directing the weapon. As the Sword ploughs through the advanced Balmorran defences, Valaris seizes complete control and finishes Balmorra off before heading towards the first of his own targets -- Ord Venard.

On the Maligant, Trasort decides to revive Kaeryn, having grown her to a certain maturity. With the aid of the child, he hopes to escape. However, the child is far more self-aware than he predicted, and proceeds to knock the Ithorian out and flee the Super Star Destroyer by firstly using the complex security system to take out the Emperor's servants piecemeal, and then reaching and jettisoning an escape pod towards Ord Venard.

On Ord Venard, the Imperial forces scramble, having received word that the Nebula Sword is heading their way. The space forces attempt to slow down the Sword's progress by screening the planet en masse, forcing the Sword to slow down while it settles into a prime, clear firing position. The delay, in turn, would allow the ground personnel to evacuate before the Soliton Wave's impact. Avenger Squadron, short a few personnel due to recent losses, free Wedge and set him up with a crash course in the TIE Advanced.

Valaris, meanwhile, is aware that others seek to kill him. To protect himself, he summons a host of Darkside warriors, shaped from the very material of the Dark Side. Soon, Luke and company find themselves bogged down by hundreds of opponents. They battle onwards, but all looks lost – until the Mandalorians, who entered on the opposite side, meet up with them and inadvertently helps them out by providing covering fire. The two decide to settle their differences another time, and combined, they surge toward the command center. Meanwhile, the Sword emerges from hyperspace and heads straight for Ord Venard. The first casualty of the day is the former command ship, SSD Malignant, which is directly in the Sword's path as it exits hyperspace. Trasort and everyone else on board is killed near-instantly, while the destruction of the the ship also means the loss of Valaris' cache of soulstones. Without the power of the Jedi souls to support him, his abilities in the Force are reduced to nothing, and his guardians are dispelled.  Beta Flight narrowly completes their shielding and swarms out, even as the planet is destroyed. They begin their attack, but the Sword manages to make it into hyperspace. Avenger Squadron and Wedge give chase, and barely catch up as the Sword begins its attack on Mon Calamari.

The New Republic, desperate to destroy the Sword, opens fire with its fleet, to no appreciable effect except to slow down the Sword’s inexorable charge. Even with Avenger Squadron attempting to penetrate the Sword's perceived weaknesses, no damage is done.

Inside, Luke and his companions reach the command center, and Luke attempts to reason with Valaris, appealing to his hatred of the Emperor, and offering to give him a new body for his essences in exchange for his help and stopping the Sword. Valaris reluctantly agrees, but the Sword’s course is locked, and even he cannot alter it, having lost his powers! Luke, sensing danger, drags his trainees and Valaris back, while the Mandalorian warriors prepare to finish what they came for in the first place -- the superweapon's destruction.

Fett himself descends into the Sword's reactor network, battling fatigue and injury to plant sequencer charges on the main reactor and then make good his escape. As both boarding parties depart, the charges detonate, sending a roaring explosion through the ship and detonating the whole inside of the quantum-armored ‘blade’, even as it prepares to unleash the Soliton Wave on the unprotected planet. The force of the explosion throws the blade into orbit, where it remains.

Valaris and Luke head back to Yavin IV, where Valaris shows him the solution – though he has lost his powers, he still knowns the techniques – and he explains that the only way to save Mara is to confront Palpatine on the plane of her mind and forcibly remove him. He begins training Luke.

Meanwhile, Leia commands the fleet back to Urrios, where the Mandalorians and New Republic work together to drive back the Imperials. Afterwards, some of the fleets head off to Coruscant to stave off the assault there. The strike team that infiltrated the Sword returns, with the badly-injured Fett. His wounds are too grevious for treatment, however, and shortly after his arrival he succumbs to the weight of his injuries.

The Clanhead Clan Prime, though recovering from the loss of his people, is grateful for the New Republic's help, and returns Anakin to his parents. Han and Leia remain on Urrios for the funeral ceremonies, reunited once again with their children.

The remaining Imperial survivors from the Battle of Mon Calamari make their respective escapes, reuniting in the Coruscant underground to organise a de facto 'resistance cell' in the heart of the New Republic.

Valaris and Luke head off to the Sanctuary, where the Imperial Fleet is dispersed enough for them to pass the defences and onto the palace. Passing by the Inquisitors and Hands, they reach the Throne Room, where Valaris challenges his former master to a duel. The Empress gleefully accepts, realising that he is powerless. As the two duel, Luke takes advantage of the Empress’ lowered defenses to enter her mind, even as Valaris is cut down. On the mental plane, he finds himself attacked by personifications of the Dark Side, ‘Aspects’ of the Dark. He is overwhelmed and flees deeper into the recesses of Mara's mind. Eventually, he finds her – her conciousness, at least – enveloped in strands of spiderwebs. He cuts her loose, and two of them confront Palpatine’s demons. Together, they manage to drive the last vestiges of the Dark Side from Mara. The Emperor is once again banished, and with Valaris’ soulstones gone, the Great Company is once again in place.

However, the triumphant homecoming to Yavin IV raises another ghost from the past -- Callista, who awaits Luke upon his return.

Callista, it seems, lost her powers not due to the body-transfer, but to one of Valaris' early soul-siphoning experiments, one that was only half-successful. With the destruction of the soulstones, she regained her powers and returned to Yavin IV to be with him. Luke, though still a little hurt at her unwarranted departure many years ago, is more than willing to forgive.

Mara leaves the two behind and heads back to Karrde, attempting to find a little peace and quiet.

 

BOOK 4 BACKGROUND

 

THE NAMI UPRISING originally wasn't even planned, originally, but after I finished off the outline for EMPIRE'S FALL and actually attempted to settle down and write the blasted thing, I managed to once again come up with a whole flock of good ideas -- ones that couldn't be possibly integrated into the existing story. So, out of all of that, I decided to carry on the saga for yet another installment. Since Book 4 has only been in gestation for three months, compared to four years for the rest of the series, it still has many gaps in it. I have the elements I want, I know how it will end, but the path from A to B is still unclear. In writing terms, Book 4 is the one with the most leeway, plot-wise. At this point, literally anything goes.

 

BOOK 4: THE NAMI UPRISING

 

ROUGH PLOT OUTLINE:

Book 4 will, again, focus on a number of different plot threads. Here's the set-up:

Three months have passed since the destruction of the Nebula Sword, and the New Republic has gotten on with life. However, other things have happened since then.

Though most of the Imperials' centers of operation have been smashed, a few ships continue to hang around one of the Empire's secret staging points, code-named 'Shade'. 'Shade' is a gigantic, ultra-heat-resistant solar sail base deployed in the corona of a supergiant. There, the remains of the Imperial fleet, led by an increasingly unstable Thrawn, wait for the moment to strike.

The New Republic has other problems, however. Worlds on the Outer Rim are 'disappearing', with only blasted-apart ships and ruined civilisations to mark their advent. Luke is off with Callista, fixing the date for their marriage, so Han and Lando are sent to investigate, along with some of the Rebel Intelligence staff.

Meanwhile, on Coruscant, the remnants of the Second Empire's leaders brood in the shadows, quietly sabotaging their way through the lower reaches of the city. Transit tubes are demolished, buildings are bombed, and the perpetrators cannot be found.

Thrawn Alpha clonling, meanwhile, is still on the Sanctuary, where Luke and Valaris fought their last stand against the Emperor. While the Emperor's demise created a powerful force shock which slew every adept and inquisitor on board the station, he managed to survive as the Emperor killed Valaris' spirit, not his borrowed body. However, one of the stabilisation veers of the massive fortress has blown, sending the whole construction toppling into the galaxy. With all communications down, no ships to use and all the crew dead, Thrawn is confined to a life alone aboard the station.

Elsewhere in the inner core systems, , facing mounting losses due to the gradual destruction of the Empire, need help. The wily Head of Directors, Pall Sombari, realises that unless an organised military resistance to the New Republic is found, they will go out of business. Therefore, they pitch their products to a third party -- the numerous criminal organisations scrabbling to get a piece of the criminal empire left behind by the destruction of Nar Shaddaa and the invasion of Nal Hutta. The remaining Hutts are struggling to defend themselves from the predations of the newcomers, but most of the area around the Hutts' ill-gotten territories has turned into an all-out war zone. With Sienar equipment to back them up, the factions cause devastation on a massive scale, both among themselves and on New Republic worlds.

Han and Lando, investigating one of the devastated worlds, make a chilling realisation. A gigantic Ssi-Ruuvi warfleet (see THE TRUCE AT BAKURA) is sweeping through the Outer Rim, attacking and enteching everything in sight. However, Y'reen, the Emperor's Reach, is still lurking in the ranks of the fleet.....

The insane Thrawn-clone begins to launch small but decisive strikes against the New Republic's outlying systems, seizing advantage of the confusion caused by the events on Coruscant.

Mara Jade, meanwhile, has re-joined Karrde's organisation. However, when reports of a monumental, abandoned space station in the Outer Rim surface, she and Karrde head out to investigate.

Meanwhile, the New Republic fleet is in complete chaos. Split between protecting neutral worlds hit by the criminal elements battling out and the threat of the Ssi-Ruuvi, the fact that many major Admirals are being assassinated at a moment's notice is causing turmoil throughout the fleet. A team of Jedi is brought from Yavin IV to find I'reen.

The Ssi-Ruuvi masterplan becomes apparent at that point -- they intend to attack the Jedi Academy in order to use the Jedi to use their entechment process at an unlimited range (see TRUCE AT BAKURA), much like they planned for Luke Skywalker. Luke, meanwhile, is jostled out of an extended vacation on Ottega by news of recent developments, and reluctantly returns home to take command of the fleet.

Mara and Karrde, meanwhile, arrive at the spacestation after a battle with other groups attempting to stake a claim on it. They find that the station is, in fact, the crushed remains of the Sanctuary, and meet Thrawn , who has taken to wandering through the corridors talking to himself, growing increasingly unhinged.

THE REST OF THE STORY:

A few other plot points I've worked out:

n      Thrawn's 'daughter' Kaeryn surfaces on Coruscant, searching for her 'father'.

n      Thrawn Alpha embarks on a crusade across the galaxy to restore Tarrak to life. However, in the recesses of his mind, the spirit of Eran Devalic lurks, waiting for an opportunity to jump bodies. That opportunity arrives when the clone arrives on Tatooine to seek assistance from the B'omarr monks now inhabiting Jabba's Palace, leading to a run-in with the crime lord's former right-hand man Bib Fortuna.....

n      Y'reen decides to once again switch targets, and assumes Callista's form, hoping to get close to Luke in order to kill him. The real Callista and Mara manage to uncover the deception in the nick of time, and kill the Assassin before he can fulfill his mission.

n      Avenger Squadron play a flipside of 'Wedge's Gamble' by planning a take-over of Coruscant. A simultaneous ground and air assault, using a combination of ground troops, TIE Crawlers and TIE Advanced, succeeds in taking over the Imperial Palace.

n      Another Thrawn-related plot thread: his family makes an appearance -- more specifically, his father, brother and sister, all of whom have been exiled from their home world.

n      As if the New Republic didn't have enough problems, the Nami of the title make an appearance. The Nami, a warrior race who dominated the galaxy millenia ago, have chosen this moment to make an appearance, causing even more difficulty to the beleagured New Republic.

n      The whole shooting match ends with a monumental five-side space battle between the New Republic, Nami, Ssi-Ruuvi, Imperial remnants and neutral Imperial forces, one that results in horrendous casualties and Coruscant ending firmly in Imperial hands.