Shadows
of the Empire
By: Steve Perry
Published by Bantam Books
May 1996
His
name is Xizor, Underlord of a galaxywide criminal orginization called Black
Sun. He seeks to displace Darth Vader as Emperor Palpatine's right
hand. To do so, he will hatch a brilliantly evil plan to discredit
Vader in the Emperor's eyes. But in the meantime he will join the
Dark Lord in an unholy alliance whose common target is the young Rebel
hero, Luke Skywalker.
While Vader and Xizor bait their
trap for Luke, Han Solo is being held captive, flash-frozen in a carbonite
slab. Mourning the loss of the man she loves, Princess Leia mounts
a rescue mission to free Han. She enlists the aid of Luke, who is
sharpening his skill in the Force at Ben Kenobi's home on the edge of Tatooine's
Western Dune Sea. Skywalker organizes a crack fighting force, including
Wedge Antilles and his famous X-wing squadron; Lando Calrissian; and the
mercenary Dash Rendar. Yet the fierce battle that ensues to rescue
Han will not go according to plan. For the Empire's spies are everywhere.
What's worse, though he is cold
and reptilian, Xizor has a certain predatory charisma that not even Leia
can totally resist. Against the judgment of Chewbacca, who has promised
Han to keep her from harm, Leia walks willingly into Xizor's lair in a
dangerous play of passion and willpower to get the information she needs
to defeat him. At the same time, Luke stands in the crosshairs of
a conspiracy of assassins and bounty hunters recruited by Xizor's lieutenant,
the beautiful but lethal human replicant Guri. As the struggle between
Xizor and Vader intensifies, Luke finds himself the potential prize of
the two most evil entities in the galaxy--one who wants him alive, and
one who wants him dead.
In a final, explosive showdown,
the Rebels must infiltrate Xizor's impregnable stronghold and fight the
combined forces of Black Sun and the Empire in deep space. With death
and betrayal looming on every side, Luke, Leia, Lando, and Chewie must
use every weapon and resource at their disposal, including the Rebel fleet
and some interesting new allies, if they are to prove victorious.
Excerpt
He looks
like a walking corpse, Xizor thought. Like a mummified body dead
a thousand years. Amazing he is still alive, much less the most powerful
man in the galaxy. He isn't even that old; it is more as if something
is slowly eating him.
Xizor
stood four meters away from the Emperor, watching as the man who had long
ago been Senator Palpatine moved to stand in the holocam field. He
imagined he could smell the decay in the Emperor's worn body. Likely
that was just some trick of the recycled air, run through dozensof filters
to ensure that there was no chance of any poison gas being introduced into
it. Filtered the life out of it, perhaps, giving it that dead smell.
The viewer
on the other end of the holo-link would see a close-up of the Emperor's
head and shoulders, of an age-ravaged face shrouded in the cowl of his
dark zeyd-cloth robe. The man on the other end of the transmission,
light-years away, would not see Xizor, though Xizor would be able to see
him. It was a measure of the Emperor's trust that Xizor was allowed
to be here while the conversation took place.
The man
on the other end of the transmission--if he could still be called that--
The air
swirled inside the Imperial chamber in front of the Emperor, coalesced,
and blossomed into the image of a figure down on one knee. A caped
humanoid biped dressed in jet black, face hidden under a full helmet and
breathing mask:
Darth
Vader.
Vader
spoke: "What is thy bidding, my master?"
If Xizor
could have hurled a power bolt through time and space to strike Vader dead,
he would have done it without blinking. Wishful thinking: Vader
was too powerful to attack directly.
"There
is a great disturbance in the Force," the Emperor said.
"I have
felt it," Vader said.
"We have
a new enemy. Luke Skywalker."
Skywalker?
That had been Vader's name, a long time ago. Who was this person
with the same name, someone so powerful as to be worth a conversation between
the Emperor and his most loathsome creation? More importantly, why
had Xizor's agents not uncovered this before now? Xizor's ire was
instant--but cold. No sign of his surprise or anger would show on
his imperturbable features. The Falleen did not allow their emotions
to burst forth as did many inferior species; no, the Falleen ancestry was
not fur but scales, not mammalian but reptilian. Not wild but cooly
calculating. Such was much better. Much safer.
"Yes, my master,"
Vader continued.
"He could
destroy us," the Emperor said.
Xizor's
attention was riveted upon the Emperor and the holographic image of Vader
kneeling on the deack of a ship far away. Here was interesting news
indeed. Something the Emperor perceived as a danger to himself?
Something the Emperor feared?
"He's
just a boy," Vader said. "Obi-Wan can no longer help him."
Obi-Wan.
That name Xizor knew. He was among the last of the Jedi Knights,
a general. But he'd been dead for decades, hadn't he?
Apparently
Xizor's information was wrong if Obi-Wan had been helping someone who was
still a boy. His agents were going to be sorry.