The Last Command By Timothy Zahn

The Last Command
By Timothy Zahn
Copyright 1994

Grand Admiral Thrawn has captured most of the fabled Katana Fleet and has in operation the emperor’s cloning device. He decides the time has come to move against the New Republic and bring full scale war to the galaxy. He takes his first system with nary a fight by blasting the planet’s defense force with a turbo cannon while a cloaked ship fires at the same point from under the shield, making the New Republic wonder how he has acquired such firepower. Thrawn soon sets his sites on Coruscant.

Leia gives birth to her two twins and cares for them in the emperor’s palace on Conruscant. Mara Jade is still a resident of the palace, staying there with Talon Kardde’s hacker, Ghent, who is working to find the mysterious Delta Source that is transmitting information to Thrawn from inside the palace. One evening, an imperial commando squad slips into the palace and attempts to kidnap Leia’s twins on behalf of Thrawn who wants to give them to evil Jedi Master, Jorus C’both. Mara is there to save the twins as well as Leia.

The lone surviving commando of the raid tells New Republic investigators that Mara Jade is Delta Source and assisted them with getting into the palace. Mara is put in prison. Han and Leia, knowing that Mara saved their lives and the lives of their children help free her. Mara then tells them where they can find the planet, Wayland and the emperor’s cloning device.

New Republic investigators determine that Delta Source must be a droid rather than human. Using all of the leaked messages, they determine that all of the conversations took place in a particular hallway inside the palace. They start their investigation of the hallway and the droids passing through, but Leia figures out the listening device is actually part of an ornamental plant in the hallway. Delta Source is shut down.

Talon Kardde tries to organize the smugglers into a coalition to fight the Empire. They hold a preliminary meeting that is interrupted by an imperial attack. The smugglers scatter and Kardde fears his efforts were for naught. He puts together another organizational meeting, but an uninvited guest shows up and accuses Kardde of setting them up at the last meeting so he can corner the market on smuggling. However, Kardde is able to turn the tables on the false accusations and win the loyalty of his fellow smugglers.

They decide to raid the imperial shipyards at Bilbringi. There, they hope to obtain a device that will allow the New Republic to locate and destroy cloaked asteroids surrounding Coruscant. Unbeknownst to the smugglers, the New Republic has the same plan and prepares for a sneak attack while feinting at the trap on another planet Thrawn has set for them.

Luke, Lando, Han, Mara, Chewbacca, the droids and a couple of their Noghri allies set off for Wayland. They arrive and find the mountain where the cloning device is housed to be heavily guarded by imperial troops. They find a back door and enter. Luke and Mara note right away that they are cut off from the Force. The place is full of the creatures, the Ysilarmi which have the ability to block the force.

Han, Lando and Chewbacca attack the imperial forces while Luke and Leia make their way to the imperial throne room in the top of the mountain. Han and his friends rig the cloning device to explode. Joined by Leia and Kardde, they head for the throne room to help Luke and Mara.

Luke and Mara arrive to find C’Baoth there and very much in touch with the Force. He demands that Luke and Mara join him as his pupils. When they refuse, Mara is stunned with an electric shock. Luke is forced to fight a clone of himself taken from the hand he lost on Bespin fighting Darth Vader. The clone (Luuke as he is called in the text) is armed with Luke’s old light saber. Luke wages a fierce battle with the clone. Han and Leia arrive on the scene and are immediately taken out of commission.

While C’Baoth is busy fighting all these battles, Mara attacks and kills him. She then kills Luuke – fulfilling her destiny set by the emperor during her time as the Emperor’s Hand to kill Luke Skywalker. The whole group flees Wayland as the cloning device is destroyed.

At Bilbringi, the New Republic forces come out of light speed to find that Thrawn has not fallen for their feint attack and has deployed his defenses at the shipyard. They prepare for a long, hard battle when they learn that the smugglers are already on the inside of the shipyard and ready to fight. Things still do not go well for the New Republic and their allies as the fight goes on. The tables are turned, however, when Thrawn and his second in command, Captain Palleon, receive word of the destruction of the cloning device on Wayland. When the forces there tell Thrawn that Noghri were part of the attacking force, Thrawn’s Noghri body guard kills him in revenge for the Empire’s mistreatment of the Noghri people. With Thrawn dead, Captain Palleon orders the withdrawal of Imperial troops from the shipyard.

When they return to Coruscant, Luke give Mara his old light saber and invites her to train as a Jedi.

This trilogy was a lot of fun, much like the original movies. The books predated the prequel trilogy and unlike those rather average movies, did not take itself too seriously. There are plenty of coincidences and ex deus machina to keep the fun and action flowing. But that really isn’t the point of these books.

As I stated: these books were fun. The original trilogy was fun. One went to see the movies to have fun and one picks up these books to have fun. To analyze them with the same strict parameters as one would serious science fiction or general fiction is to destroy the fun.

Fans of Star Wars overlook the many plot inconsistencies in the three original movies and prequels. We overlook the sappy story. We wallow in the Saturday matinee serial cliffhangers and ex deus machina plot resolutions. Would we have done this for something as deep as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, or E.T.? No. Those were serious science fiction. When the author and the material aren’t taking themselves too seriously, it is easy to just go along for the ride with the simple plot devices.

This is not to say that Zahn did not write these books well. He certainly did. I have not read any other Timothy Zahn, so I have no other work with which to compare. But I get the sense that he must write military fiction and write it well. The battle scenes and fight scenes were well paced and told with precision. Clever strategy and grand schemes were laid out and explained in detail. While the plot was fun, don’t dismiss how seriously Timothy Zahn took his subject matter in these books.

The Thrawn Trilogy, even with its simplistic plot and science fiction clichés, still made it onto NPR’s list of best science fiction books. It is there with lofty titles such as The Lord of the Rings, Dune, Childhood’s End, and the other paragons and cornerstones of the genre. That is lofty company indeed.

At the time these books were published, Star Wars nostalgia had not yet developed. Star Wars toys were no longer available in stores. There were no other Star Wars books. The movies remained very much fixed in popular culture, but it had not yet achieved the status it holds today. These books were the first next thing.

I recall first seeing them in a bookstore and thinking they could not be good. As a serious fan of genre fiction, I knew the movies were great movies. But I’d also read the novel adaptations of them as well as Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. They were great when I was in sixth grade. I’m not sure I would enjoy them as much today.

My initial impression was wrong. These books are good. They are well written, well plotted, and fun, fun, FUN! They should be enjoyed by fans of science fiction and savored by fans of Star Wars.

Dark Force Rising By Timothy Zahn

Dark Force Rising
By Timothy Zahn
Copyright 1992

Timothy Zahn’s 1991 Star Wars sequel, Heir to the Empire was a huge hit at a time when Star Wars nostalgia was not yet vogue. He followed up in 1992 with the sequel, Dark Force Rising and picked up right where the previous book left off.

As Heir to the Empire closed, Admiral Ackbar was under arrest for treason. Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and Lando spread out across the galaxy to find evidence to exonerate him. First, Leia decides to undertake a diplomatic mission to Honoghr to meet with the Noghri who have pledged their allegiance to the Empire because of the earlier aid of Darth Vader when their planet was devastated.

Meanwhile, smuggler Talon Karrde has learned the location of the legendary Katana Fleet – a fleet of more than 200 dreadnought ships created by the Old Republic and lost when the crew was infected with a disease that drove them insane. The fleet, which is highly automated through a central control ship, is a valuable prize sought by both the Empire and the Alliance and could tilt the balance of power if found.

Han and Lando learn of the Katana fleet when they encounter Senator Bel Ilbis, a former Old Republic official who split from the Rebel Alliance after disagreements with Mon Mothma and has been waging his own independent war against the Empire. He is flying three of the dreadnoughts. Han, Lando, and Ben Ilbis’s people set out to capture the Katana fleet.

Mara Jade is captured by Admiral Thrawn who is also seeking the Katana fleet. She presents herself as the Emperor’s Hand and a loyal member of the Empire. Thrawn enlists her to meet with Talon Karrde and ascertain the location of the Katana fleet. She finds Karrde, but Thrawn betrays her and takes Karrde prisoner. He learns the location of the Katana fleet and sets out to get there before the Alliance.

Luke goes to Jomark to meet with the Jedi Master, Joruus C’baoth. C’baoth wants to train Luke and is eager to bring Leia and her unborn twins to Jomark as well. Luke becomes C’baoth’s pupil, but finds the old Jedi master full of darkness and prone to treating people harshly. While Luke is training, Mara Jade arrives to plead for Luke’s help in rescuing Talon Karrde from Admiral Thrawn. C’baoth tries to keep them both there, but Luke and Mara effect escape.

Leia and Chewbacca are pinned down on Honoghr when Thrawn shows up looking for her to turn her over to C’baoth in exchange for his assistance. She learns that the droids assigned to restore the planet’s environment are making little progress and are actually spying on the Noghri. When Thrawn departs, she and Chewbacca are allowed to leave, but there are no promises of future diplomatic relations. She returns to Coruscant to fight on behalf of Admiral Ackbar.

Luke and Mara are able to effect Karrde’s escape from the Imperial star destroyer and the three head for the Katana fleet. On Coruscant, Leia debates Ackbar’s political nemesis, Counselor Fey’lya who tries to downplay the importance of capturing the Katana fleet. When Leia heads an independent mission and takes off for the Katana coordinates, Fey’lya leads a competing mission.

Han and Lando, with Bel Ilbis, are also heading to the Katana fleet. All of the groups arrive nearly at the same time. Luke, Lando, and Han are aboard the Katana flagship and find it deserted except for maintenance droids. When the Imperials arrive, they board the ship and a shootout ensues.

Leia and Fey’lya arrive and Fey’lya orders Luke, Han, Mara, and Lando placed under arrest. When Leia protests, he pulls a blaster on her and orders her arrest as well. Meanwhile, the Empire is deploying its fighters to engage the rebels and take the fleet. Leia is able to expose Fey’lya as a traitor and unite Bel Ilbis’s rebels with the alliance. But it is too late. Thrawn makes off with all but 15 of the dreadnoughts.

Mara Jade is nearly killed in the battle, but ejects from her ship at the last second. Luke and Han, still aboard the flagship, note with dread that all of the Imperial troops are the same person. Admiral Thrawn has located and used the Emperor’s cloning device and is building an army and crew to man his new ships.

Having dispensed with the need to deploy every tagline, catch phrase, and clever gimmick from the original moves, Zahn moves forward with what amounts to a pretty good piece of militaristic science fiction in Dark Force Rising.

Unlike Heir to the Empire, Zahn is able to stay true to the characters established and developed by George Lucas without using those trite catch phrases that made portions of Heir to the Empire a bore to read. Each main character acts as you would expect them too while undergoing further development at Zahn’s hand. While it is less important now with three prequels and a sequel out, in the mid-1990s, it was heartening to see these old friends again and watch them become deeper and richer.

New characters also undergo further development. Karrde comes across much less shrewd and much more wise. Mara Jade, who sometimes appeared to be a caricature of hatred in the first book, is revealed as much more emotionally complex and smarter than she appeared earlier. The major new edition in this book, Senator Bel Ilbis, promises to be an interesting character as well as it looks as if he will be a major player in book three.

The book evolves much as the movies did. Characters are constantly on the move from place to place. Luck – or the Force depending on your point of view – plays a major part in their success. There is quite a bit of ex deus machina, but we’re not talking about Bradbury or Asimov here. It is space opera in the tradition of the Saturday matinee with lucky breaks and cliffhangers abound.

The major drawback – or attraction if you are so inclined – is The Thrawn Trilogy and Star Wars in general is science fiction junk food. There is nothing intellectually nourishing here. The language is simple. While there are many subplots, there are few twists or hidden motivations. In other words, its true to George Lucas’s vision.

Zahn’s vision of the post-rebellion galaxy comes to a head in book three titled, The Last Command. Admiral Thrawn, with his new fleet and clone crew, will launch what he hopes will be the decisive offensive in his effort to wipe out the nascent New Republic.

Heir to the Empire By Timothy Zahn

Heir to the Empire
By Timothy Zahn
Copyright 1991

It was almost 10 years since The Return of the Jedi was released and seven years before the prequel was released. It would be 24 years before a sequel would be released. In between, Hugo Award winning sci-fi writer Timothy Zahn gave us an idea of what happened to Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and the gang after the defeat of the empire at the Endor Moon.

It is five years after the destruction of the second Death Star and the New Republic is trying to form a new government amid political rivalries. Han Solo is trying to recruit his old smuggler buddies to help the budding government with its shipping shortage. Leia, pregnant with twins, is assisting with setting up the new government. Luke isn’t doing much of anything except bidding goodbye to the ghost of Ben Kenobi who is finally moving on to the great beyond. Han and Leia are married and she is expecting twins.

Meanwhile, what was left of the empire after their defeat has coalesced around Grand Admiral Thrawn – a blue-skinned, red-eyed master of military tactics who was at the far reaches of the galaxy at the time of defeat. He is the complete opposite of Darth Vader. He is conversational, engaging in conversation, and much more apt to see the long game. His first move is to recruit a fabled Dark Jedi to his cause.

Before Thrawn can confront a Jedi, he must neutralize the Jedi’s access to the Force. To do this, he acquires several Ysalamiri – creatures who have the natural ability to block the Force in the immediate vicinity. The Ysalamiri are natives of the planet Myrkr which is the current home to smuggler Talon Kardde. Kardde and his new subordinate, Mara Jade, assist the Empire in gathering the dangerous predators. Kardde is doing his best to stay in favor of both sides of the war.

Thrawn and the imperial fleet, led by flagship Chimera, travel to the planet Wayland where the Dark Jedi is said to reside, standing guard over a weapons warehouse that belonged to the emperor. Deploying the Ysalamiri, Thrawn and the imperials are able to capture Joruus C’Baoth, the last of the Dark Jedi. Promising C’Baoth two new recruits in the twins Leia is carrying, Thrawn is able to enlist him in the imperial cause.

Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca undertake a diplomatic mission to the planet Bimmissaari. There, an attempt is made to kidnap Leia. Luke, sensing a disturbance in the force, decides to visit Yoda’s old home on Dagobah. There, in the cave where he met with failure in confronting his darker half, he finds a small metal cylinder. He decides to look up his old friend Lando Calrissian to see what he knows about the artifact.

After a second failed kidnap attempt on Leia, Han decides to take her to Lando’s new home planet of Nkllon where he owns a mineral mining operation. While they are there with Luke, the empire launches a brief attack and steals several of Lando’s mole miner machines. Han decides to send Leia into hiding on Chewbacca’s home planet of Kashyyyk. He and Lando go to visit Talon Kardde to recruit him for the New Republic. Luke is on his way back to the home base on Coruscant when Thrawn nearly captures him. Luke escapes, but his X-Wing fighter is crippled and he is stranded in space.

When Luke is starting to lose hope, Talon Karrde’s ship, The Wild Kardde, happens by and rescues him. Once his brought aboard, he is drugged and taken back to Myrkr where he and R2D2 are held prisoner. There, he meets Mara Jade who he finds out hates his guts and wants to kill him.

Kardde, Jade, Solo, and Calrissian are discussing Han’s offer when Thrawn arrives again. He says he needs more Ysalamiri and he asks Kardde to be on the lookout for ships for sale as the empire wants to acquire more. As Kardde and Thrawn are talking, Han and Lando are hiding in guest quarters away from the compound. Luke and Artoo make their escape and steal a small ship. Jade takes off after them. Unable to tap the Force because of the Ysalamiri, Luke crashes and Jade crashes behind him.

Luke and Jade make their way through the jungles of Myrkr. Jade reveals that she hates him so because he destroyed her world when he destroyed the Death Star. Jade was the mysterious figure known as the Hand of the Emperor and when the emperor died, she became a nobody. Jade makes it clear that she’d like to kill Luke, but does not do so out of loyalty to Kardde.

They find their way to a nearby city where Luke poses as a bounty hunter and Jade and Artoo as prisoners. Luke turns them over to the imperials when Han and Lando launch a surprise attack and free them.

Leia is on Kashyyyk and another attempt is made to kidnap her. The would-be kidnapper is a Noghri. His planet was decimated in a battle between the rebellion and the empire. After the battle, it was Darth Vader who came to his people and promised aid in their recovery and he became a revered figure to the Noghri. When the Noghri smells the scent of Darth Vader on Leia, he declares her royalty and swears allegiance. Leia asks him to take her to his home planet so that she might enlist them in her cause. First, she returns to Coruscant.

Thrawn and the empire attack the New Republic’s Sluis Van shipyard in hopes of obtaining several freighters. They deploy the mole miners they stole to disable and take the ships. Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron are there when the attack begins and are able to engage the empire. Han and Lando show up on the scene and Lando is able to disable the mole miners. Thrawn breaks off the attack, convinced that he can return and fight another day.

The book ends with Leia telling Han, Luke, and Lando that their ally in government, Admiral Ackbar, has been arrested by his political opponents. The fate of the nascent New Republic is in jeopardy.

It is surprising that it took so long for someone to write an authorized sequel to the Star Wars trilogy and, given the caliber of writers who choose to write in the Star Wars world, it is surprising that it was a Hugo Award winner like Timothy Zahn. Most who write books in the Star Trek and Star Wars worlds are great fan fiction writers, but lack the talent to write really good science fiction.

Zahn can write good science fiction as evidenced by his Hugo Award. However, in Heir to the Empire, he falls into the fan fiction trap and he really loses credibility as an accomplished writer. It was painful to read Zahn recycling the cute dialogue from the Star Wars films. No catch phrase or witticism from the first three films went unrepeated by Zahn. Fan fiction writers do this because they have trouble coming up with original material. That shouldn’t be a problem for Zahn.
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Yes, Zahn was working with clearly established characters and fans expect those characters to speak and act in a certain manner. Star Wars fans are particularly rabid in their fandom and would be repulsed by any drastic deviation. But that is no excuse for recycling word for word the movie dialogue.

Despite working every uttered catch phrase into his dialogue and narrative, Zahn reveals his strengths as a writer. Heir to the Empire is a well plotted science fiction novel. Dispense with the Star Wars characters and insert original characters and you would still have a good, working science fiction story.

Zahn writes battle scenes quite well and in great detail. This goes for both hand to hand combat and the great campaigns such as the attack on and defense of Sluis Van. One has to believe that Zahn was able to see his plan laid out on the screen just as Thrawn did to write so vividly.

Zahn successfully captures the space opera feel of the Star Wars films. He delves deeper into the nature of the Jedi and expands the Star Wars universe with some interesting locales. Despite some unoriginal and horrid dialogue, give Zahn credit for that as well.

I remember this book and trilogy being much better than it was this time. Perhaps I’ve become more sophisticated in my reading in the last 24 years. Perhaps some of the luster has worn off the Star Wars mystique for me after the release of the prequels. Once upon a time, I rated this book quite highly. Now, I see it as quite average.

Heir to the Empire was Zahn’s first book in a trilogy. The next book, Dark Force Rising, sees the empire and the New Republic chasing a mysterious missing fleet of ships that will tilt the balance of power in their favor. I recollect the action being quite good in that book and the political intrigue gets ramped up. Perhaps the reread of the second novel will raise my appreciation of the first. We shall see.