Eight months have passed since the Death Star was destroyed, and Rebel and Imperial forces race to secure now wavering loyalties across the galaxy – all while a shadowy figure behind the scenes is revealed. Join us as we reach the latest outing of the Legendary Adventure, Choices of One!
Senior Captain Thrawn waits in the Unknown Regions, watching the events of galactic history unfold. Ever since the ill-fated Outbound Flight, he and Jorj Car’das have been watching the Galactic Civil War play out while giving advice to Emperor Sheev Palpatine. Some tips? The Rebels might be looking for an ice planet, and would be outfitting their gear accordingly soon. Thrawn also tells Palpatine that the next place where the Death Star battle station rests should be covered by a shield generator. Sheev thanks him for the advice, but hints that he might be working toward a different type of trap for the rebels.
The question on everybody’s mind across the galaxy is now: to whom will you be loyal? The now-struggling Empire, who is reeling after the loss of the Death Star and two disastrous losses against the Alliance? Or the Alliance to Restore the Republic, who destroyed the Death Star, but now lives on the run from system to system? This causes individual crises of allegiance and identity, a lot of which unspool when a far-out governor appears to be turning against his Imperial orders…
Deep in the galaxy, Admiral Pellaeon is joined by a mysterious Imperial dignitary, whose entire existence is shrouded in mystery. This man, who introduces himself as Lord Odo, wears clothes that mask his body shape and bio-hacks that hide what species he truly is. This triggers a wealth of alarms in Pellaeon’s mind, as we would expect from a veteran of the Clone Wars, especially someone who worked so closely with Jedi, both orthodox and un-orthodox. For the time being, the Chimeara is happy to follow Odo’s commands, but answers will be found, one way or another.
The destruction of the Death Star is shaking Imperial leaders to their core. Planets and systems crumble without Imperial support, causing some Imperials to seek other avenues for help, or create an opportune moment for them to gain extra power of their own. Three months after their forced joint mission, both Mara Jade and the Hand of Judgment track down Imperial turn-coats across the galaxy. Mara Jade uses her training in stealth missions, and her acumen in the Force, to sneak into Imperial palaces, parties, and other offices to figure out whether Imperial forces are remaining loyal to their cause or not. The Hand of Judgment is running low on supplies, but is still committed to solving problems that crop up across the galaxy that the Empire does not seem willing to address.
While the Imperials deal with their wildcard on the Destroyer, the Alliance has its own wildcard to worry about: Captain Han Solo, who has yet to formally join the Rebellion. Despite his informal membership, the captain and his Wookiee co-pilot are more than happy to do missions for the rebels, at a price. General Rieekan tells him that if he wants to know more about what the Rebellion is doing, and specifically what they’re asking him to do when he runs these missions, he would have to take some sort of position within the Rebellion.
All of these questions come to bear with a single man: Bidor Ferrouz, governor of Poln Minor. Ferrouz has secretly offered the Alliance to Restore the Republic safe haven on his system. Ferrouz fears that a warlord, Nuso Esva, who has been terrorizing the Outer Rim, would aim his military might at Poln Minor next. When his calls to the Imperial Center for reinforcements are ignored, he turns to the Alliance for help. If they can turn away Esva’s forces, they can plant themselves on the planet, which is the perfect spot for their next base: it’s remote, off the beaten trail, and would give the Alliance plenty of heads up if an attack were imminent.
Parties across the galaxy move into position to take advantage of the offer. Princess Leia and General Rieekan go ahead to scout the planet’s defensive system and see how well a base would function there. Alderaanian dignitary Axlon and Luke Skywalker travel to the system to discuss moving plans with Ferrouz directly, with Chewbacca and Han Solo as their pilots. Mara Jade and the Hand of Judgment infiltrate Ferrouz’s palace to get to the core of their corruption. Finally, Lord Odo directs the Chimeara to the system to quell this growing unrest. Then, all nine hells of Corellia break loose as all of the double-crossing, secret identities, and hidden agendas come to the forefront.
First, a case of mistaken identity causes issues when Luke is accused of murdering the governor! Trouble brews outside as a mob grows due to the unrest on the system. A trap is sprung, leading to an attack on Ferrouz and the palace guard. A message goes out that the governor has been killed by a lightsaber, and Luke becomes the prime target for the newly ensuing manhunt, as he brandished his lightsaber in an earlier fight. The Hand of Judgment helps him escape the crowd, but they try to get back into the palace as Luke and the rebels arrange an extraction from the system.
Second, an identity is made known when Lord Ordo is revealed to be Esva, a known loyalty is revealed when Axlon’s true allegiances are shown, and a shadowy force is revealed when the hand of Thrawn is unmasked as the driving force behind galactic events. When Mara Jade gets her face-to-face meeting with Ferrouz, she is surprised to learn that he has been secretly supporting the Rebellion, but because he was constrained by Esva. Ferrouz’s support of the Rebellion is genuine, but not because he wants to see the downfall of the Empire. Rather, his family has been captured by Esva, and Ferrouz is desperate to get them back safely. But he has already been forced by Esva to start channeling weapons and materielle to the Rebellion, which Leia and Rieekan have started to take advantage of and load onto their freighters. In a surprising turn, it is Axlon who reveals all of this information to the Hand of Judgment as Mara figures it out on her own.
But why is Esva working with the Rebellion? And why is Axlon working to aid him in this goal? Both have the same target: Senior Captain Thrawn. Thrawn has been a menace to Esva for years, working from Outbound Flight to help the Empire rout the pirate and disrupt his supply lines. Axlon wants revenge on the Chiss captain because, in a surprising turn, Thrawn was the one who convinced Tarkin to destroy Alderaan using the power of the Death Star.
Finally, the hidden agenda becomes reality as Imperial, rebel, and pirate forces are drawn into battle. As Mara infiltrates the facility, she searches out the governor’s family, identifying people within the palace who are working for Esva and against Ferrouz. Turns out, the rebellion went far deeper than initially expected: not only was the system looking to turn to the Rebellion, but it fell under the grip of a warlord looking to unseat one of Emperor Sheev Palpatine’s top advisors. The Rebels are delayed in leaving Poln Minor as loading the weapons takes longer than expected. Their new plan? To punch through Imperial forces using newly acquired T-47 speeders, not yet outfitted with cold weather gear. The Rebels join an ongoing space battle between Esva and Thrawn, where Esva thinks he has the upper-hand on Thrawn. Of course, Thrawn has foreseen every single eventuality, using Vader’s forces and Car’das’s help to emerge as the victor.
As the Rebellion races to their current base, players shift across the board to new positions, taking on more responsibilities for the war that is heating up. Han Solo becomes a Lieutenant in the Rebellion, finally accepting responsibility within the structure. LaRone and the Hand of Judgment are re-organized as the 501st, secretly aligned with Thrawn’s Empire of the Hand. Darth Vader gets a technical read-out of the weaponry that the Alliance took, which Thrawn suggests points toward an icy system. Finally, Mara Jade becomes closer with the Emperor after a successful mission.
Both sides will need all of the people they can get, because the race is on again to find a list of informants for the Rebels on Dantooine…
Legendary Travel Tips:
-This novel is the first time we see Thrawn engage in military action, and sets up almost the entirety of his remaining stories.
-This novel is preceded by Allegiance, and followed by the children’s book Galaxy of Fear: Eaten Alive.
–Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker get a glimpse of each other before a cave collapses on them, preventing them from meeting – they will finally meet in about nine in-universe years.
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Galactic Civil War Era: A New Hope | Scoundrels| Allegiance