Timothy Zahn 1998 – Bantam 19 Years After The Battle of Yavin Site Rating =  Buy Now from Amazon.Com

SPOILER ALERT: This Will Spoil The Plot of the Book!

Imperial Admiral Pellaeon is still hoping to meet with General Bel Iblis of the New Republic in hopes to putting an end to the war.  He has reached the location that he said they two should rendezvous, but there is no sign of anyone else.

Meanwhile, Moff Disra, Major Tierce, and the Flim, the Thrawn impersonator, begin receiving word from several systems that they would like to rejoin the Empire now that Thrawn has returned.  Tierce tells Disra about someone called The Hand of Thrawn who may be the key to Thrawn’s master plan.  He hopes to lure The Hand into the open by parading Thrawn around the galaxy.

Bothawui, the Bothan home world, has been under attack since the news of their hand in the destruction of Caamas.  A Star Destroyer lies cloaked waiting to pounce once the planet and those attacking it have both been sufficiently battered.

Luke Skywalker is headed to find the missing Mara Jade.  He and R2D2 land near the cave in which she disappeared.  Luke speaks to some creatures, called Qom Jha, who agree to take him to Mara Jade.  They say they have been protecting her from “the Threateners from the High Tower” since she crashed.  Once they are reunited, Luke fills her in on the issues that have been plaguing the galaxy.  The Qom Jha agree to take them to the High Tower.

At the same time, Admiral Ackbar tells General Bel Iblis to cease his current mission over Bothawui and instead move to find the Caamas document by invading the Imperial base on Yaga Minor.  Neither is happy with this decision, but both know that the New Republic will not withstand an all out war.

Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo arrive at their diplomatic destination in hopes of enjoying some restful times.  Little do they know that an assassination attempt on them has been scheduled for the following day.  On the trip, the Falcon is attacked by several ships.  Using some fancy flying techniques, but one of the ships smashed into the Falcon injuring it badly.  As they begin to descend to certain death on the planet, they are intercepted by a four TIE fighters who attach to the ship slowing its decent into the planet.

Pellaeon receives some confirmation that the attack on his fleet earlier (see “Specter of the Past”) was indeed made by an Imperial directive.  He also learns of the return of Thrawn and that Thrawn has chosen Moff Disra as his new confidant.  Moff Disra is from the planet that his attackers originated from.

On the Wild Karrde, Talon Karrde updates Shada D’ukal on the history of Jorj Car’das, the smuggler they are seeking out.  During the Clone War he started a smuggling operation.  After a run-in with several Dark Jedi, he suddenly began taking over many of the other smuggling runs and amassed a huge organization.  Then, at the height of his power, he simply vanished.  Karrde took over in his place.  After Luke unknowingly found a beckon call from Car’das ship on a trip to Dagobah, Mara and Lando spent a few years tracking him down.  Once the trail ended on Exocron, Karrde never got the nerve to go and see if it was really him.  He just hoped now he could talk him into giving him the Caamas document.

The Falcon lands on the Pakrik Minor and Han and Leia are greeted by Sabmin and Carib Devist.  Han and Leia notice a resemblance between the two men and all the others that are currently looking over the Falcon.  Carib admits that they are all Clones leftover from Thrawn’s cloning facilities.  They are no longer interested in fighting and want only to be left alone.  They tell Han and Leia that all they ask for saving their life is that they never reveal that this Clone community exists.  The Noghri bodyguards eventually find Leia and Han.  They bring a message from Bel Iblis telling them to await his arrival.

After a few days, a ship arrives carrying Elegos A’kla of the Caamasi Remnant and requests to meet with Leia.  Ghent, a systems expert for the New Republic, is with him and is actually the one that sent the message posing as Bel Iblis.  He tells them that Bel Iblis is currently missing, but the message he had couldn’t wait.  He hands her Pellaeon’s message seeking a treaty.  She decides that she will go instead.  She takes A’kla and Ghent along.  Han attempts to find President Gavrisom.

Meanwhile General Bel Iblis meets with Captain Booster Terrik of the Errant Venture and requests to use his ship to search for the Caamas documents on Yaga Minor.  Terrik agrees only if he can remain as Captain.

Pellaeon has now been waiting for two weeks for Bel Iblis to arrive.  Leia arrives and the two agree to speak onboard the Falcon.  Pellaeon states that he believes the war is indeed over and has been authorized by the Moff’s to discuss peace.  Leia is reluctant because if Thrawn is really alive, than he’s calling the shots not Pellaeon.  They agree to continue talks very soon.

After Leia leaves, Pellaeon heads off to investigate Moff Disra’s potential treason. Upon their meeting Disra, of course, denies playing any part in the attacks.  Inside Disra’s office, Pellaeon uncovers several hidden data cards that incriminate Disra in countless acts of wrong doing.  He takes them with him for later use.

Karrde and Shada land on Exocron in hopes of speaking with Jorj Car’das.  They are lead into a very shabby home that is actually a front for Car’das’s magnificent underground palace.  Car’das proclaims he is no longer the man he used to be.  He leads them into a huge library filled with thousands of data cards that he has amassed throughout his lifetime, but says he does not have a copy of the Caamas document.  Discouraged, Karrde wants to leave, but is convinced to spend the night.  Car’das tells the tale of his kidnapping at the hands of a Dark Jedi.  After killing the rest of his crew, Car’das is taken to Dagobah.  They encountered Yoda who, after a long battle, destroyed the Dark Jedi, then using the Force he healed Car’das.  Car’das felt that he had picked up some abilities of the Force and used it to vastly expand his smuggling empire.  Unfortunately his health began to fail and he returned to Yoda demanding to be healed.  Yoda told him that he would die for his selfishness and that he could no longer help him as he was preparing for a new student to arrive.  He did point him towards a group of monks that were able to help him survive.

R2D2, Mara and Luke are being carried by Qom Jha towards the palace.  From the aerial view they realize that it appears to be giant hand sticking out of the earth – The Hand of the Thrawn!  They are dropped off near a tunnel that allows them to enter the fortress.  Once inside they see a hologram that shows a vast area of space that is labeled as Imperial territory.  Luke has never seen this area, but knows that if is many times larger than the current Imperial territory.  In fact, they realize, no one knows it exists at all otherwise it would have been used before.  They also discover a huge cloning facility, inside of which is a nearly completed clone of Grand Admiral Thrawn.  He had left this area hidden for his triumphant return. They notice that one wall is nearly ruined from the lake pressing against the other side.  R2 attempts to download all the information for them, when suddenly they are attacked by two sentinel droids.

While on the Errant Adventure, Bel Iblis tells everyone that their task is to get the Caamas document and transmit the information to the New Republic.  Their survival is secondary.

In the middle of the night, Shada creeps into Car’das’s database room looking for information about her people and the destruction of her planet, Emberlene.   Car’das interrupts her and tells her that what she seeks is vengeance not justice.  He tells her that, in fact, her people had spent two years conquering all the nearby planets.  Those planets then banded together to hire a mercenary group to destroy her world.  She is emotionally wrecked.   She has no clue where to go with her life saying only that she needs a higher cause to work on.  Karrde walks in and Car’das thanks them for staying with him.  He offers them a choice between the history of Emberlene or information that will be critical to the entire galaxy.  Karrde allows Shada to choose and she chooses wisely.  The information they receive is indeed astounding.  Karrde decides not to take it directly to Coruscant, but somewhere even more effective.

Pellaeon learns that Disra, Tierce, and Thrawn are headed towards Yaga Minor.  He is also contacted by Talon Karrde who is looking to make a deal with some important information.

Bel Iblis tells his troops that the main fleet will be a diversion while they pilot the Errant Adventure into Yaga Minor using phony identification posing as an Imperial ship fleeing the New Republic ships.  As they make their approach, Moff Disra learns of the incoming ship and realizes what Bel Iblis is up to and prepares to trap them within the perimeter of the planet.  Thrawn contacts Bel Iblis and tells them their plan is hopeless.  While Bel Iblis tries to break through the tractor beam, Admiral Pellaeon arrives onto the ship to speak with Disra and the others.  He accuses all of them of treason and identifies Thrawn as an imposter named Flim.  He also reveals that the real Major Tierce died ten years earlier.  The new Tierce is a hybrid clone of Thrawn and Tierce.  Clone Tierce mocks Disra for allowing him to pull his strings throughout this entire mission.  When they try to arrest him, he attacks violently.  From nowhere, Shada appears and kills him.  Pellaeon tells Flim to order all Imperial ships to stand down, he then asks Bel Iblis to do the same thing.  Karrde arrives and Pellaeon thanks him and tells him a treaty with the New Republic is close at hand.

Mara and Luke are still in a fierce battle with the sentinel droids.  During the attack, the two fight back to back and Mara realizes her soul is open to Luke, just as his is open to hers.  She has never felt such a connection.  She races passed the droid and uses her saber to destroy a portion of the wall allowing water to pour in knocking the droids out of commission.  Mara and Luke eventually make it up to a railing with R2.  They are almost of out options.  They share a brief moment together, and with water rushing in to seal their fates, Luke Skywalker asks Mara Jade to marry him.  Luke suggests blowing up the cloning facility and riding the blast to safety.  Mara, using a lightsaber technique she learned from the Emperor, succeeds and they escape the now destroyed fortress.  Once off the planet, they turn to R2 regarding the information he was collecting.  The droid tells them that among the information retrieved is Thrawn’s copy of the Caamas document!

Two weeks later, Pellaeon and Gavrisom sign the treaty between the Empire and the New Republic.  Talon Karrde convinces both sides to share his talents and he becomes the central intelligence agency for each.  He has asked Shada to join this new venture.

Luke and Mara discuss their future together.  They will both teach the more advanced Jedi students as they travel the galaxy defending the New Republic from whatever evil it faces.

Comments

In my review for the first half of this duology, I complained that despite an intriguing premise, the book opened so many stories that never were completed.  While I knew this book was available, I was upset that nothing was settled.  Honestly I even put off reading this second part.

I’m certainly glad I got around to it.

Most Star Wars novels make valiant attempts to weave their storylines together like the films did.  Zahn appears to be one of the few masters that actually make all of the stories come together in ways that are satisfying for everyone.

One of the things I looked forward to in this novel was the character of Car’das, and he was more than I expected.  His back story, including his encounter with Yoda, was mesmerizing and he became a favorite character for me.  With so much build up in finding him, the payoff worked very well and his piece in the puzzle worked brilliantly in the overall plot as well as for the story arc of Shada.  In fact, up to this point I was not particularly interested in her character at all.

Admiral Pellaeon’s story is more of a slow burn.  He spends the majority of both books sitting in space waiting around.  For some reason, however, I was always interested in what was going on with him.  There is something noble about his character and the fact that wants to attempt a treaty despite opposition from Disra.  The revelations on Yaga Minor were made even better because we were allowed to experience them from him instead of from our standard heroes.

Since I hadn’t followed the EU all that closely, I knew that Luke and Mara got together, but had no idea at what point that would happen.  While I still found some of the scenes a bit awkward, the pairing of these two is really ideal.  She’s more action oriented and he is more emotional.  Their storyline since their first meeting in the original Thrawn Trilogy is clearly satisfying and their match shouldn’t upset and fan.

Han and Leia are not usually my favorite EU characters.  Perhaps it’s that Harrison Ford’s charm was such a part of the character that I can’t always accept him in the books.  This book is no different.  They just simply aren’t given too many things to do that interested me.

Overall, this was an excellent conclusion to the duology.  It’s too bad some of the bulk of the first couldn’t have been excised to put the two together into a monster novel, but overall this was a great read.

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