"Shadows of the Empire illuminates the shadowy outlines of a criminal conspiracy that exists in the background of the events in the movies, ruled by a character new to us. Prince Xizor is a mastermind of evil who dares to oppose one of the best-known fictional villains of all time: Darth Vader. The story involves all the featured Star Wars movie characters, plus Emperor Palpatine and, of course, Lord Vader himself."
"At the end of the twenty-fourth century, war is fought in a civilized manner: each side hires mercenaries to engage in combat in specifically designated areas. To the victor go the spoils—whatever they may be.
After a couple of assignments involving more intrigue and skulduggery than the Cutter Force Initiative ever wanted, the unit is looking forward to being part of a straight-up, short-term industrial war on Earth.
Cutter agrees to a support role offered by an old army comrade who's now a general in a larger military force. The pay is good, the unit happy. All they have to do is basic ranger stuff: sneak and peek, shoot and scoot.
But what starts out as a corporate fight to occupy a valuable piece of contested territory quickly goes sideways, and once again Cutter and crew find themselves in the middle of situations in which things aren't as they seem, and the unit must determine the truth—or lose more than just a battle."
"At the close of the twenty-fourth century, a series of revolutions has caused the galaxy to descend into chaos. With the Galactic Union Army stretched thin, mercenary units have arisen for those who have the need—and the means—to hire them.
Kay, the alien member of the Cutter Force Initiative, has returned to her brutal home world of Vast on a mission of mercy. Before she joined the merc team, she was a great healer. And now her skills are sorely needed. Hundreds of Vastalimi—including her blood-kin—are mysteriously dying. But is the plague a work of nature, or is it a bioengineered virus, purposefully unleashed? Kay and Doc Wink will have to find out the hard way.
With the Cutter Force light-years away, the two find the odds against them—and on a planet like Vast, where violence abounds and life is cheap, they may be facing a foe they can't defeat."
"At the close of the twenty-fourth century, a series of revolutions has caused the galaxy to descend into chaos. With the Galactic Union's army stretched thin, mercenary units have arisen for those who have the need—and the means—to hire them.
Captained by former Detached Guerrilla Forces Colonel R. A. 'Rags' Cutter, the Cutter Force Initiative is one of the best. A specialized team consisting of both aliens and humans, the Cutters offer services ranging from combat training and protection to extraction and assassination—as long as the target deserves it and their employer makes good on payday.
When they're hired to find and rescue Indira, the soon-to-be-married daughter of Rajah Ramal of New Mumbai, the teams' first task is to identify the kidnapper. The obvious suspects are insurgents who want to overthrow the rajahnate, but as other forces enter the game and an assassination attempt is made on Ramal, the Cutters realize that their in-and-out extraction job is about to get a lot more interesting—and a lot more lethal."
"As Civil War between the Republic and the Separatists rages across the galaxy, nowhere is the fighting more fierce than on the swamp world of Drongar, where a beleaguered mobile hospital unit wages a never-ending war of its own . . .
A surgeon who covers his despair with wise-cracks; another who faces death and misery head-on, venting his emotions through beautiful music . . . A nurse with her heart in her work and her eye on a doctor . . . A Jedi Padawan on a healing mission without her Master . . . These are the core members of a tiny med unit serving the jungle world of Drongar, where battle is waged over the control of a priceless native plant, and an endless line of medlifters brings in the wounded and dying-mostly clone troopers, but also soldiers of all species.
While the healers work desperately to save lives, others plot secretly to profit from the war-either by dealing on the black market or by manipulating the events of the war itself. In the end, though, all will face individual tests, and only those of compassionate hearts and staunch spirits can hope to survive to fight another day."
"While the Clone Wars wreak havoc throughout the galaxy, the situation on the far world of Drongar is desperate, as Republic forces engage in a fierce fight with the Separatists. . . .
The threatened enemy offensive begins as the Separatists employ legions of droids into their attack. Even with reinforcements, the flesh and blood of the Republic forces are just no match for battle droids’ durasteel. Nowhere is this point more painfully clear than in the steaming Jasserak jungle, where the doctors and nurses of a small med unit face an impossible situation. As the dead and wounded start to pile up, surgeons Jos Vandar and Kornell “Uli” Divini know that time is running out.
Even the Jedi abilities of Padawan Barriss Offee have been stretched to the limit. Ahead lies a test for Barriss that could very well lead to her death–and that of countless others. For the conflict is growing–and for this obscure mobile med unit, there’s only one resolution. Shocking, bold, unprecedented, it’s the only option Jos and his colleagues really have. The unthinkable has become the inevitable. Whether it kills them or not remains to be seen."
"Shadows of the Empire illuminates the shadowy outlines of a criminal conspiracy that exists in the background of the events in the movies, ruled by a character new to us. Prince Xizor is a mastermind of evil who dares to oppose one of the best-known fictional villains of all time: Darth Vader. The story involves all the featured Star Wars movie characters, plus Emperor Palpatine and, of course, Lord Vader himself."
