Dark Force Rising (star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, #2)

The second installment in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, set in the Star Wars universe several years after Return of the Jedi, follows multiple storylines as the Galactic Empire's remnants, commanded by Grand Admiral Thrawn, wage a strategic campaign against the fledgling New Republic.

The novel opens aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera, where Thrawn, a blue-skinned, red-eyed alien tactician, and his second-in-command, Captain Pellaeon, orchestrate a raid on smuggler Talon Karrde's abandoned base. Aboard the hidden Wild Karrde, Mara Jade, Karrde's lieutenant and a former agent of the Emperor, senses through the Force, a mystical energy field granting extrasensory powers, that the Empire is about to strike. She fires the engines before any threat is visible, narrowly escaping Thrawn's trap. Mara is shaken: Her dormant Force abilities are returning, along with a recurring voice commanding her to kill Luke Skywalker, the New Republic's only Jedi Knight, a Force-wielding guardian.

On Coruscant, the galactic capital, Han Solo, a New Republic hero and former smuggler, returns to find the New Republic in political crisis. Councilor Borsk Fey'lya, of the Bothan alien species, has seized on a suspicious bank deposit to accuse Admiral Ackbar, the Mon Calamari Supreme Commander, of treason. Thrawn secretly planted the deposit to sow confusion. Leia Organa Solo, Han's wife and a Council member pregnant with twins, has agreed to visit the homeworld of the Noghri, deadly alien commandos serving the Empire. A captured Noghri named Khabarakh, recognizing Leia as the daughter of Darth Vader, offered safe passage. Han reluctantly agrees, insisting Leia take the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca, Han's Wookiee copilot, and the protocol droid C-3PO.

In the Senate Library, Luke researches Jorus C'baoth, a master of the Jedi, an ancient order of Force-wielding guardians destroyed by the Empire. C'baoth departed on the mysterious Outbound Flight expedition and vanished. On Rishi, Karrde reveals a secret: Years earlier, he stumbled upon the lost Katana fleet, roughly 200 Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruisers that vanished before the Clone Wars, an ancient galactic conflict, after a hive virus killed their crews. Its slave circuitry reduced each crew from 16,000 to about 2,000. Karrde memorized the coordinates but has never exploited the find.

Han and his friend Lando Calrissian travel to New Cov to meet Luke. An Imperial raid forces them to flee; Dreadnaughts from an allied group provide cover. Han and Lando are brought to a hidden camp commanded by Senator Garm Bel Iblis, a legendary Corellian politician long believed dead, waging a private war against the Empire with six Dreadnaughts. Lando discovers these ships came from the Katana fleet. Bel Iblis's chief adviser, Sena Leikvold Midanyl, confides that the Senator left the Alliance fearing Mon Mothma, the New Republic's leader, was amassing too much power, but those fears never materialized and he is too proud to return. Han agrees to advocate for Bel Iblis's return if Sena identifies their ship supplier, a gambler who operates aboard the Coral Vanda, a subocean casino on Pantolomin.

Leia arrives at Honoghr to find a devastated brown landscape and the Chimaera in orbit. Khabarakh presents her to the maitrakh, his family's female clan elder. When Thrawn investigates Khabarakh's suspicious return, Leia and Chewbacca hide inside the clan dukha, a circular meeting hall. Thrawn discovers evidence of deception and has Khabarakh arrested. Leia realizes the devastation occurred 44 years earlier during the Clone Wars, meaning the Empire has held the Noghri in servitude for decades. She confirms the kholm-grass is an Imperial bioengineered variant that inhibits all other plant growth. The Empire's decontamination is deliberately slow, designed to maintain Noghri dependence.

On Jomark, Luke meets Joruus C'baoth, whom Thrawn has stationed there as bait, and whose connection to the historical Jorus remains unclear. C'baoth demands Luke complete his training and insists Leia's twins be brought to him. When a villager reaches for a weapon, C'baoth blasts him with dark side Force lightning. Luke suspects C'baoth has a mental health condition rather than being evil, even as C'baoth subtly drains his energy through the Force to keep him compliant.

When an Imperial warship captures Mara's freighter, she reveals herself as the Emperor's Hand, one of the Emperor's personal agents, and offers the Katana fleet's location to lift the bounty on Karrde's organization. Thrawn agrees but secretly places a homing beacon on her ship. Mara accesses classified intelligence using a code the Emperor hardwired into Star Destroyer computers. Thrawn betrays the agreement: When Mara returns to Karrde, stormtroopers guided by the beacon capture him before her eyes. Mara escapes the Chimaera and flies to Jomark carrying an ysalamir, a creature that creates a bubble where the Force cannot function. When she arrives within the ysalamir's range, Luke's fatigue vanishes, revealing C'baoth's manipulation. C'baoth attacks but is knocked unconscious. Luke agrees to help rescue Karrde.

Han and Lando travel to the Coral Vanda but are outmaneuvered by Niles Ferrier, a spaceship thief now working with the Empire. Ferrier's crew seizes the fleet's supplier, Captain Hoffner, and delivers him to the Imperials. The Empire wins the race for the fleet's coordinates. Mara and Luke infiltrate the Chimaera, free Karrde, and escape aboard the Millennium Falcon, which Thrawn had seized. Karrde reveals he intends to give the Katana fleet's location to the New Republic.

On Honoghr, the maitrakh mobilizes Noghri from surrounding villages. At the Grand Dukha of Nystao, Leia uses the Force to levitate and ignite her lightsaber, declaring herself the Mal'ary'ush, heir to Vader's authority. She demonstrates that the engineered kholm-grass can be destroyed, and the clan leaders agree to call a full convocate.

On Coruscant, Karrde presents the fleet's location to the Council, but Fey'lya insists on a verification mission and takes personal command aboard the Escort Frigate Quenfis. Leia dispatches Luke with Rogue Squadron, an elite starfighter unit, to reach the fleet first. Han and his allies board the flagship Katana. When an Imperial Star Destroyer attacks, Han fires the Katana's turbolasers in a devastating surprise volley. Fey'lya orders retreat, but Karrde manipulates him into voicing contempt for his supporters while Leia broadcasts his words throughout the fleet via the intercom. Fey'lya's pilots abandon him, and Leia takes command.

Bel Iblis arrives with his Dreadnaughts, formally joining the New Republic. When a second Star Destroyer appears, Han uses the slave circuits to ram another Dreadnaught into it. Luke rescues Mara, whose starfighter was disabled during the battle. The victory is bittersweet: Only 15 Dreadnaughts remain, as Thrawn has already claimed the rest. Among the dead, Han discovers all the soldiers share the same face. They are clones, confirming the Empire has activated the Spaarti cloning cylinders, rapid-growth chambers from Mount Tantiss. Thrawn could crew his captured Dreadnaughts in months.

The novel closes as Thrawn confronts C'baoth, whose power now includes remote mental control of individuals. C'baoth declares he will assume command of the cloning operation on Wayland, the planet housing Mount Tantiss, proclaiming himself the Empire's true ruler. Thrawn allows the demands but privately tells Pellaeon to reconsider their arrangement. The New Republic holds 15 Dreadnaughts while Thrawn controls nearly 200 with cloning technology. Fey'lya's influence has been shattered, C'baoth's power and instability continue to escalate, and the story continues in The Last Command.