Star Wars / Tales Series / Tales from the Empire / Peter Schweighofer

From the desperate escape of a civilian mail courier transporting vital Rebel intelligence through an Imperial blockade, to a suicidal commando raid on an impregnable Imperial prison, to a Corellian smuggler mysteriously hired by an actor who goes from Jedi Knight to Imperial assassin to transform himself one last time, these stories capture all the great adventure, ingenuity and non-stop action that characterise the Star Wars saga.

The centrepiece of this superb collection is the short novel Side Trip, the first collaboration between Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, in which a freighter smuggling weapons for the Rebels is commandeered by an Imperial Star Destroyer led by a mysterious helmeted figure claiming to be the notorious bounty hunter Jodo Kast. It’s all part of a devious plot also involving Hal and Corran Horn, who are working undercover to arrest the notorious Corellian warlord Zekka Thyne. But one mistake can get them all killed.