Darth Vader and the Emperor are no more. The Alliance has officially become the New Republic. As Han Solo, Princess Leia and new Chief-of-State Mon Mothma emerge triumphant against the diminishing Empire, the Imperial Remnant fights on until the long-silent Imperial Senate rises up to call for peace. But not everyone wants peace, and High Admiral Tharkus has made plans to ensure the Empire reemerges under his rule. And at his side stand the mysterious Dioskouroi, beings of rare and deadly powers! For Luke Skywalker, exhausted from years of fighting, the time has come to depart upon a journey of discovery, a journey that will lead him to a secret long ago hidden by Obi-Wan Kenobi. -1- The vast silence of that planetless sector of space was pierced through with the sizzling noise of laser fire as a huge craft glided suddenly into view. It was a Victory-class Star Destroyer of the Empire, and it was engaged in a savage fight. The powerful battleship was a massive, sharply angled wedge of metal. The keen spear-tip of its long prow thrust far into the empty dark ahead. The sides of its broadening hull bristled with rows of turbolaser batteries. These were all firing frantically now, spewing out a blazing network of ruby colored bolts. But those bolts were not directed at some target ahead. They were all being fired toward the rear, and other bolts of a brilliant emerald hue were being returned, crisscrossing the Imperial fire. And then the source of this other fire hove into view close astern. The Star Destroyer was not giving chase. It was being hotly pursued. The pursuer was an MC80 Liberty type Mon Calamari Star Cruiser, another battleship, but one of pelagic design with a blistered oval hull. Though an organic-looking and well-designed craft in contrast with the hard- edged bulk of the Imperial ship, it was still a fair opponent for the other man-of-war. In fact, as the two dreadnoughts sailed on, locked in furious battle, it became quickly obvious that the Star Destroyer was vastly overmatched. The intersecting exchanges of broadsides that wove a brilliant latticework across the blackness caused many more blooming flashes of hits upon the Imperial than on its foe. And the pursuer was slowly but relentlessly closing in. The frequency of its hits was soon creating a constant fireworks display across the Star Destroyer’s sides and rear. They were inflicting much damage, destroying systems and power supplies, their accumulated effect crippling the Imperial ship. A particularly well-aimed bolt from the hunter’s forward battery struck home squarely on the rear of its prey’s upthrusting command tower. A great flower of sparks erupted there as the strike’s impact shook the whole superstructure. Within it, on the ship’s main bridge, the dark-uniformed command crew was sent reeling. Its captain, a lean and hawk-nosed man, grabbed the edge of a console barely in time to keep himself from falling. Face flushed as much by frustration as by rage, he turned to shout out at his crew: “Where are those shields? Full power to the bridge shields!” Another, younger officer stepped up to him. “Captain, they are overreaching us,” he said in a voice that could not hide his alarm. “Their fire is breaking through. We cannot win.” The Captain turned to him in disbelief. “You suggest we surrender, Commander?” he snarled out. “To that scum? You sound a coward, man. Back to your post! Keep all fire at maximum!” The young officer, clearly stung by the rebuke, snapped a salute and wheeled away, but staggered as yet another, even more massive laser strike rocked the craft. Outside, the entire stern of the great warship was engulfed in a spectacular blossom of flaming debris, spreading outward from the explosion of the ship’s central engine cone. The intense fire of the attacker had found a vital point at last. On the Imperial’s bridge, a second junior officer checked the damage report on his view screens and looked to his captain in consternation. “Captain, our main drive systems have failed!” he reported. “We’re losing headway!” The young commander consulted the indicators on his own console. A rearview monitor above him showed the pursuing ship, its size swelling very fast now as it moved in. “They’re closing, sir!” he all but shouted to the captain in his fear. “Grappling beams are locking on!” The captain’s face drew into grim but determined lines as he rapped out the ominous order: “Prepare to repel boarders!” Through the stark, grey corridors of the Imperial ship the harsh sound of a klaxon blared. From everywhere at once swarms of armed men swiftly appeared, forming a swirling torrent of black-uniformed crewmen and white-armored stormtroopers, all rushing purposefully through the ship to their assigned positions. While they moved to defensive spots within, without the attacking warship was drawing close. It slid up alongside the Star Destroyer which was now little more than drifting ahead in space. Soon it was running parallel, the side hulls of the two craft only a few hundred yards apart, their turbolaser batteries still exchanging pounding barrages of fire. The overwhelming majority of that fire, however, was coming from the attacker’s side. By this time many of the Imperial guns had been blasted to silence. Their few answering bolts were all but ineffectual. The hunter matched speeds with its prey, seeming for a moment to hang suspended, motionless beside the other ship. Then it began to slip sideways, closing the gap between. Inside the Star Destroyer, the troopers and crewmen were reaching their positions. One company formed up in a corridor’s end before a large outer bulkhead door. They moved into a defensive perimeter, creating a formidable barrier, the heavier armed stormtroopers at the front. Not far beyond the wall they faced, the side of the attacker’s ship was just drawing within a few score yards of theirs. As it did so, its turbolaser batteries fell abruptly silent. At the same moment, several round hatches spaced along the sleek curve of the ship’s hull slid open. From within, menacing looking appendages popped forth and grew rapidly outward, swelling into long, flexible conduits which stretched across like monstrous, groping tentacles to touch, then grab onto the Imperial ship’s side. As one of them made contact right atop an outer door, the troopers and crew now poised in defensive perimeter within it heard the loud “clang” of the conduit locking on. They all looked sharply toward the sound. Apprehension showed briefly in the faces of some of the crew. But all quickly steeled themselves and prepared for battle. Blasters were raised and held ready. The click of safeties being snapped off and the rising hum of weapons being loaded sounded loud in the narrow space. For a dozen tense heartbeats the ready men stared expectantly at the bulkhead door. Nothing happened. But, in the next instant, the door was gone, blown inward by a compact but efficient explosion that rent it to flaring debris and sent smoke billowing forward, filling the corridor. The Imperials winced back from the blast but stood stalwartly fast, peering through the pall of smoke into the new blackness behind the ragged opening. Figures appeared there, only vague shadows at first. One moved forward. The first defenders, the stormtroopers, began to fire, their bolts angling into the roiling grey. In response, an odd, angry buzzing sound suddenly arose. At the same time a short, green beam of light came into being, one figure sweeping it around within the smoke, swinging out to parry the blaster shots with astounding speed, sending them bouncing away. The troopers stared, ceased firing, momentarily nonplussed. In the brief lull the one figure acted, rushing forward from the smoke into full view. It was a man in jet-black uniform, a helmet with lowered blast-visor over his head. He leaped swiftly and agilely into the first rank of the waiting troopers, The long blade of green light he held swung about from side-to-side with great swiftness and unerring aim, drawing glowing arcs in the hazy air, crackling with power as it struck opponents, slashing some foes down, throwing the rest into a panic. Other helmeted figures clad in light blue began to pour through the breech behind the first, firing about with blasters at the rest of the now-disorganized defenders. A few stormtroopers tried to stand their ground but were shot down. The others turned and ran. The boarding party clambered across the bodies of the slain and started in pursuit, the black-clad one at their head. As they began their push into the body of the ship, other doors in the outer bulwarks were being blown at several points, and other companies of soldiers were pouring in to engage the Imperial crew in vicious combat. The separate parties of boarders blasted their way along the ship’s corridors, smashing any resistance. Hundreds of Imperials were soon streaming through the ship in wild retreat, knocking down each other in the panic, trampling on helpless little cubes of service droids that squealed fearfully as they tried to scramble from the way. At a central point where many corridors joined, several of the streams became a massive flood, pouring away to more remote, safer innards of the ship. From two of the corridors pursuing groups of the boarders appeared, driving the fleeing men ahead of them at a full charge, all but colliding together at the crossing point.