| Author | Timothy Zahn |
|---|---|
| Cover Artist | Tom Jung |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Era | New Republic |
| Series | The Thrawn trilogy |
| Galactic Year | 9 ABY |
| Canon | C |
| Subject(s) | Star Wars |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Bantam Spectra |
| Released | Hardcover: 1 June 1992 Paperback: 1 February 1993 |
| Media Type | Hardcover & Paperback |
| Pages | Hardcover: 376 Paperback: 439 |
| Size and Weight | Hardcover: 1.5 x 6.5 x 9.8 inches 1.9 pounds Paperback: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches 7.5 ounces |
| ISBN | Hardcover: ISBN 0-553-08574-3 Paperback: ISBN 0-553-56071-9 |
| Preceded by | Heir to the Empire |
| Followed by | The Last Command |
Dark Force Rising is a 1992 novel, the second book in the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn.
Contents |
Prior to the Clone Wars, the Old Republic had constructed a fleet of 200 Dreadnaughts (huge forerunners to Imperial Star Destroyers) that were highly automated. This reduced their crew complement from 16,000 to 2,000 without diminishing their firepower. The flagship of this fleet was the Katana and hence became known as the Katana fleet. Unfortunately, a virus infected the crews of the entire fleet and drove them insane. The madness caused the crews to "slave" the controls of all the ships in the fleet to the Katana and then send the entire fleet into hyperspace towards some unknown destination. The Katana fleet was never seen again.
Through a lucky accident, which occurred years ago, Talon Karrde may be the only person alive who knows where the Katana fleet is located. Unfortunately for him, he and his smugglers have double-crossed the Empire and are currently under a death threat. Will Karrde sell the secret of the Katana fleet to Grand Admiral Thrawn to save his life and the lives of his staff? Or will he be noble and turn the location of the Katana fleet over to the New Republic who also desperately need the warships?
Meanwhile, Thrawn works to make use of the storehouse of weapons and technology that the Emperor had hidden on the planet Wayland. The cache even includes a set of Spaarti cloning cylinders left over from the Clone Wars. No matter how Thrawn makes use of this technology, it will not bode well for the New Republic.
Elsewhere, Joruus C’baoth, an evil Jedi Master, uses the Force to summon Luke Skywalker. Luke responds to the summons and begins instruction with C’baoth. Will Luke recognize that C’baoth follows the path of the dark side before C’baoth can turn Luke down that evil path?
Leia shows the Noghri how they have been exploited by the Empire, and convinces them to support The New Republic.
A great deal is revealed about Mara Jade and her dealings with Palpatine. We also begin to see an attraction developing between Luke and Mara that will not be carried to its conclusion until the Hand of Thrawn Duology. Naturally, there are a great number of barriers to overcome in any such relationship since Mara is still pulled by the Emperor's final command, "You will kill Luke Skywalker."
Like the other books in the series, West End Games created for this novel a role-playing game sourcebook that expanded on Zahn's characters, locations, weapons, and other facts.
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