The Rebellion is over, but the war is just beginning.
We’ve heard a lot about the upcoming book, Star Wars: Aftermath recently including plot details and the fact it’s going to kick off a post-Return of the Jedi book trilogy. However, we now have our first real look at the book and its events thanks to Entertainment Weekly.
What does the except show?
It starts with a speech from Admiral Ackbar, which plays like a transmission to not only the New Republic forces, but also the entire galaxy:
“Today is a day of celebration. We have triumphed over villainy and oppression and have given our Alliance—and the galaxy beyond it—a chance to breathe and cheer for the progress in reclaiming our freedom from an Empire that robbed us of it. We have reports from Commander Skywalker that Emperor Palpatine is dead, and his enforcer, Darth Vader, with him.
“But though we may celebrate, we should not consider this our time to rest. We struck a major blow against the Empire, and now will be the time to seize on the opening we have created. The Empire’s weapon may be destroyed, but the Empire itself lives on. Its oppressive hand closes around the throats of good, free-thinking people across the galaxy, from the Coruscant Core to the farthest systems in the Outer Rim. We must remember that our fight continues. Our rebellion is over. But the war … the war is just beginning.”
And the rest of it?
Remember the partying we saw on Coruscant in the Return of the Jedi Special Edition? It apparently didn’t last long. It shows Imperial police cracking down on the rioting.
Cut to: the one and only Wedge Antilles on a recon mission to the planet Akiva. It’s his belief that the Empire is still holding a lot of power in the Outer Rim that is fueling their war effort. If they can take it out, then it’ll help end their war much sooner.
That’s when Wedge comes across Star Destroyers jumping into the system and grab him with a tractor beam…
Aboard the Star Destoyer, we see the character of Rae Sloan, who was an Imperial Naval officer in last year’s A New Dawn. By the time of Aftermath’s events, however, she is now an Imperial admiral commanding her forces from a ship called Vigilance… which is towing Wedge’s ship in. She also calls Wedge out on a tactic used by Luke in Heir to the Empire: using torpedoes to disrupt a tractor beam. It’s a shout out to the old EU.
Wedge, of course, finds another way to elude Imperial capture… but we won’t spoil it for you.
If you want to read the whole excerpt, you can check it out here.
When is the book coming out?
September 4th, 2015.
