Choices of One

"The choices of one shape the futures of all."

- Jedi saying

Choices of One is a novel by Timothy Zahn, released on July 19, 2011. It is set three months after Allegiance, and takes place before the events in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. Its first working title was Choices; this was changed to Hand of Judgment and then to the current title. The hardcover edition contains a preview of Riptide, while the paperback also contains a preview of Scoundrels. The paperback version was released on June 26, 2012. Choices of One took Zahn three months to write.

Back cover
The fate of the Rebellion rests on Luke Skywalker's next move. But have the rebels entered a safe harbor or a death trap?

Internal flap
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Timothy Zahn comes a brand-new Star Wars adventure, set in the time between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and featuring the young Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, and the beloved Mara Jade.

''Eight months after the Battle of Yavin, the Rebellion is in desperate need of a new base. So when Governor Ferrouz of Candoras sector proposes an alliance, offering the Rebels sanctuary in return for protection against the alien warlord Nuso Esva, Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie are sent to evaluate the deal.''

''Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand, is also heading for Candoras, along with the five renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment. Their mission: to punish Ferrouz's treason and smash the Rebels for good.''

But in this treacherous game of betrayals within betrayals, a wild card is waiting to be played.

Part One
8 months after the Battle of Yavin: Close to the Empire's border with the Unknown Regions, the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera takes on an illustrious passenger, Lord Odo, a member of the Imperial Court on a confidential mission for the Emperor. First Officer Commander Gilad Pellaeon is immediately suspicious: Lord Odo is masked at all times, his clothing is tagged with false bio-markers that deliberately obscure the ship's sensors as to his true species, and his "entourage" consists only of his shuttle pilot, Sorro. The Chimera ' s captain, Calo Drusan, says they have little choice but to accept Imperial Center's orders, but Pellaeon privately resolves to unravel the mystery.

On an unnamed planet, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia assist a Rebel commando team in a successful information raid on a mining operations center, hoping to identify an isolated system to locate the Alliance's next base (having been forced to evacuate the Yavin system after its discovery by the Empire). After the raid, Han complains to General Rieekan that he wasn't told about the true purpose of the mission until afterwards. Rieekan counters that Han was told as much as he needed to know, and if he wants greater responsibility, that will mean accepting an officer's commission - an awkward proposition, since Han still hasn't yet formalized his loyalty to the Alliance.

Rieekan invites Han and Luke to sit in on Leia's meeting with Vestin Axlon, a former regional governor on Alderaan, who confides that Bidor Ferrouz, the Imperial Governor of Candoras sector in the Outer Rim, is offering the Alliance a base in his sector's capital, the Poln system. A quick survey by Alliance analysts has confirmed that it is an ideal location, with enough activity to disguise any Alliance communications and movements in or out, a large set of unused caverns on the outer moons, and enough distance from the Core Worlds to give them advance warning of any approaching Imperial attack - so ideal, Rieekan remarks, that Ferrouz's offer is either "a great opportunity or an extremely obvious trap." As to Ferrouz's reasons, Axlon explains that he fears an imminent invasion by Nuso Esva, a warlord in the Unknown Regions who has been growing more and more aggressive, but his appeals to Imperial Center for reinforcement have been ignored. Axlon has already volunteered to meet with Governor Ferrouz and explore the possibility, and Rieekan asks Han and Chewbacca to convey him to Poln Major in the Falcon.

In private, Axlon asks Luke to come along on the mission, though separate from and unknown to Han and Chewie. Luke protests that he is attached to the Alliance's Starfighter Command, but Axlon insists that he needs someone with Luke's burgeoning Jedi abilities to help verify Governor Ferrouz's offer. Luke reluctantly agrees.

Elsewhere, Mara Jade, Emperor's Hand, completes her latest mission for her master, executing a corrupt Imperial judge. She reports to him through the Force, and he gives her next assignment: investigating Governor Ferrouz's suspected treason. Reviewing the data on the Poln system, Mara sees how defensible it is, despite Candoras Sector's limited resources, and reasons that she is going to need help, though she dislikes co-opting other Imperial personnel, especially personnel she has not worked with before. Smiling grimly, she realizes that she knows exactly the right men for the job...

Three months after deserting from the Star Destroyer Reprisal, the Hand of Judgment - former Imperial Stormtroopers Daric LaRone, Saberan Marcross, Joak Quiller, Taxtro Grave, and Korlo Brightwater - have visited a lot of planets and helped a lot of oppressed and needy people, but their resources of arms and money are starting to run out. LaRone, their unofficial leader, grimly accepts that they have enough left to manage one last vigilante mission, maybe two, before they have to find somewhere to settle down and hide. He decides to take the Hand to Pickerin. However, as soon as they step off the ramp, they are incapacitated by a stun gas grenade. They regain consciousness in binders, being gloated over by Bok Yost, the "victor" of a rigged election on Elegasso who guessed that the Hand was on its way and created the situation on Pickerin to lure them there. Yost's gloating is cut short when Mara appears, dispatches Yost's private mercenaries, and "suggests" that he step down and hold another election - an honest one this time. After Yost flees, Mara frees the Hand, takes them back to their ship and tasks them with her latest mission. LaRone and the others are aware that they have little chance of refusing, but, remembering their exposure of Barshnis Choard on Shelkonwa, realize that the mission to Poln Major is a chance to make their last mission a significant one for the people of the Empire.

In another part of the Outer Rim, Emperor Palpatine is reviewing the plans for his latest project with Senior Captain Thrawn, who suggests several measures to make the site of the project's shield generator impregnable. Slyly, Palpatine says doing so would defeat the whole purpose of the trap he is laying for the Rebel Alliance. Turning the discussion to other matters, Thrawn warns that Nuso Esva's growing aggression indicates a planned incursion into Imperial space, and he needs at least six more Star Destroyers to effectively deal with him. Palpatine says there aren't any to spare, but if the rumors that Esva is courting the Alliance are true, then Lord Vader may have some to spare from his fleet tasked with hunting them down. Thrawn's companion, Jorj Car'das, who is piloting their shuttle, privately does not wish to be anywhere near a possible confrontation between Thrawn and Vader.

Part Two
On the approach to Poln Major (and much to Axlon's consternation), Han quickly spots Luke's Z-95 Headhunter shadowing the Falcon, and the three meet up at the spaceport. While Axlon drags Luke to his first meeting with Governor Ferrouz, Han and Chewbacca decide to pose as prospectors and investigate some of Poln Minor's abandoned mines, to see if they will make a suitable base for the Alliance (or if the whole offer is just a carefully laid trap). To his surprise, they meet up with Leia, and Colonel Airen Cracken, who are leading an advance survey team sent secretly to Poln Minor for the same purpose. To their mutual surprise, one of the side caverns yields a cache of weapons, equipment and vehicles that will keep them armed and supplied for months, if not years.