Darth Plagueis - James Luceno [0]
and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2012 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated.
All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.
Excerpt from Star Wars: Shadow Games by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn
Bohnhoff copyright © 2011 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated.
All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.
Published in the United States by Del Rey,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey
colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-345-53255-8
www.starwars.com
www.delreybooks.com
Cover art: Torstein Nordstrand
v3.1
For Howard Roffman, whose intelligence, critical acumen,
and stalwart direction helped shape this story
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Part One: Enlistment - 67–65 Years Before the Battle of Yavin
1: The Underworld
2: The Inner Landscape
3: Woebegone
4: The Meaning of Death
5: Homecoming
6: The Hunters’ Moon
7: There Where They Used to Stand
8: Victims of Their Own Device
9: Untapped Reserves
10: The Cycle of Violence
11: Avatar of Mortality
12: Seduced by the Dark Side of the Force
Part Two: Apprenticed to Power - 54–52 BBY
13: Riders on the Storm
14: The Shape of His Shadow
15: Quantum Being
16: Bold as Love
17: Days of Wine and Impropriety
18: Artful Dodging
19: The Trials
20: The Canted Circle
21: Investiture
Part Three: Mastery - 34–32 BBY
22: Ordinary Beings
23: Under the Midnight Sun
24: Sith’ari
25: The Discreet Charm of the Meritocracy
26: Their Baser Nature
27: Calibrations
28: Chain of Command
29: The Force Strikes Back
30: Taking the Future from the Now
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by this Author
Introduction to the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Excerpt from Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
Introduction to the Old Republic Era
Excerpt from Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived
Introduction to the Rise of the Empire Era
Excerpt from Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Introduction to the Rebellion Era
Excerpt from Star Wars: Death Star
Introduction to the New Republic Era
Excerpt from Star Wars: Heir to the Empire
Introduction to the New Jedi Order Era
Excerpt from Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Vector Prime
Introduction to the Legacy Era
Excerpt from Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
Excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast
Star Wars Novels Timeline
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….
PROLOGUE
A tremor took hold of the planet.
Sprung from death, it unleashed itself in a powerful wave, at once burrowing deep into the world’s core and radiating through its saccharine atmosphere to shake the stars themselves. At the quake’s epicenter stood Sidious, one elegant hand vised on the burnished sill of an expansive translucency, a vessel filled suddenly to bursting, the Force so strong within him that he feared he might disappear into it, never to return. But the moment didn’t constitute an ending so much as a true beginning, long overdue; it was less a transformation than an intensification—a gravitic shift.
A welter of voices, near and far, present and from eons past, drowned his thoughts. Raised in praise, the voices proclaimed his reign and cheered the inauguration of a new order. Yellow eyes lifted to the night sky, he saw the trembling stars flare, and in the depth of his being he felt the power of the dark side anoint him.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, he came back to himself, his gaze settling on his manicured hands. Returned to the present, he took note of his rapid breathing, while behind him the room labored to restore order. Air scrubbers hummed—costly wall tapestries undulating in the summoned breeze. Prized carpets sealed their fibers against the spread of spilled fluids. The droid shuffled in obvious confliction.