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Informationen zum Autor Timothy Zahn Klappentext 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. Chapter Four “So,” Emperor Palpatine said, his eyes glinting from the shadows beneath the peak of his hood. “It is as I suspected. Moff Glovstoak is a traitor.” “He’s at least an embezzler, my lord,” Mara said. “I don’t yet know whether or not he’s committed actual treason.” “I consider theft of Imperial funds to be treason,” the Emperor countered. “Your part in this is now ended, my child–others will carry on from here. You have done well.” “Thank you,” Mara said, feeling the warmth of his approval ?ow through her. “Then unless there’s something more urgent pending, I’d like permission to do an investigation of the six artworks I found in Glovstoak’s safe. The ones I examined appear to be from a batch of ten that were stolen from a gallery ?ve years ago during an attack on a Rebel cell on Krintrino.” The Emperor’s face darkened. “So as well as being an embezzler, Glovstoak may also be connected with the Rebel Alliance?” “Or he may have a connection with the Imperial forces who carried out the attack,” Mara pointed out, a little cautiously. The Emperor was a wise and good man, but he had an odd tendency sometimes to see Rebels and Rebel conspiracies where they might not actually exist. “Or it could have been pirates or thieves who simply took advantage of the attack’s chaos to grab and run. The interesting point is that Glovstoak apparently bought them through an auction house, which suggests he and the sell...
