Star Wars - the Middle Trilogy

Star Wars Episode IIIa - The Lost Hope

It is a dark time for the galaxy.  The Jedi Knights have fallen and the Republic has been transformed into the oppressive Empire.  Emperor Palpatine holds countless worlds in his grip, and uses a fearful fleet of Star Destroyers to keep the locals in check.

Mindless of the danger to his own life and career, Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan has proposed an emergency recall of the Emperor.  His adoptive daughter Princess Leia has failed to publicly support him, however, far more interested in the glamour of publicity for a care-free life.

Little does she know that her late mother Padme Amidala's trusted handmaidens have sent an envoy to set her back on track.  The evil Sith Lord Darth Vader has learned of these plans, and has personally dispatched his own loyal lieutenant to intercept her...

Toro Whill, Darth Vader's Imperial adjutant, has a change of heart when he is kidnapped by the handmaiden Teckla Minnau and her allies in the budding Rebel Alliance.  Confronted with the realities of inequality and oppression, he decides to take the risky path of defection, taking with him a small fleet of ships and their pilots.

Vader is furious, but he is held personally responsible by the testy Governor Tarkin, who wants no distraction as he prepares the construction of the Death Star.  They take their combined frustrations out at the negotiating table of Senator Organa.

The young Princess Leia meets Toro for the first time, and finds him charming, even though she knows she can't acknowledge any relationship with him.  Through him she accepts an invitation to hear out Teckla's thoughts on the Rebellion, and learn more about her late mother Amidala's own devotion to the cause.

As Vader and Tarkin put the pressure on Organa, they reveal an unexpected ally, Senator Whill, Toro's father, a staunch Imperial loyalist.  Little does Vader know, however, that Tarkin is in secret communications with the Emperor, who reveals the presence of Darth Victus, who is meant to ensure that Vader does not lose track of his true objectives.

Victus proposes a bold counterattack before the Rebellion can utilize its new weapons.  Soon an attack is unleashed on the Rebel base on Naboo.  Toro is forced to demonstrate the full extent of his new loyalties in an impressive campaign that ends in a brilliant victory.  But the war is far from over...

Star Wars Episode IIIb - Rise of the Bounty Hunters

Despite new momentum, the Rebel Alliance is on the run, now without a permanent home and desperate for supplies to keep the fighting alive.

Imperial forces have driven the last remnants of freedom to the brink, and are looking for the killing blow against the defector, Toro Whill, who embarrassed them at the Battle of Naboo.

It is now up to a wretched hive of bounty hunters to track down and eliminate these brave heroes...

Looking for results, Darth Vader has turned to forces outside the Empire's direct control.  Still smarting from the Emperor's lack of faith in him, he has turned to the fringes of the galaxy, the rough edges where soldiers of fortune like Boba Fett, the son of the man whose DNA created the clone army, can be found.  Fett is more than eager to build himself a reputation.

Toro is struggling to find a comfortable place within the Revel Alliance.  With Teckla taking Leia under her wing while still protecting her cover, the rogue has to fend for himself and is finding that to be a tall order.  He sets out on his own, having become aware of Darth Victus's existence, deciding that if he can take the Sith Lord out he can still have something useful to contribute.

Vader, meanwhile, is still embattled within the Imperial hierarchy.  Likewise isolated, he takes to training deeper in the Dark Art of the Sith, where he confronts an emerging impulse to reject what he's become.  In a violent encounter with the backstabbing Senator Whill, the Sith Lord commits the first murder of a colleague since his turn.

Fett has discovered the truth of Leia's allegiances, though he doesn't care enough to report back what he's learned.  It becomes a desperate flight on the part of the princess and Teckla to survive the bounty hunter, who rouses the interest of the Wookiee known as Chewbacca, who soon begins a search for allies of his own, remembering the days when he fought for the Old Republic under the Jedi Knights.

Toro's clash with Victus ends with an unexpected revelation, that they are brother and sister...He barely survives the encounter.

Star Wars Episode IIIc - Siege of the Force

The Empire has renewed its efforts to eliminate the threat of the Rebellion, starting with executions of known Senate sympathizers.  Bail Organa survives only with the intervention of his daughter, the willful Princess Leia.

But the peril grows worse.  One by one the star systems of the galaxy are forced to sign a treaty of nonaggression, until more and more ground is consolidated under the grip of the Emperor.

Toro Whill, hero of the Rebel Alliance, has at last been captured, and has been personally assigned to the gallows by the betrayed Governor Tarkin...

Teckla leads a dramatic rescue of Whill with the help of Chewbacca and the fleet of rogue pilots originally cultivated in the first act of the trilogy.  It is their first real victory in months, but the fighting is far from over.

Vader has had enough of the rivalry with Victus, meanwhile, and has decided to eliminate this threat to his position personally.  But this is easier said than done.  He has not faced a fellow practitioner of the Force in years, and there are many Imperial officers who are calling for his ouster after repeated humiliations at the hands of the Rebellion.

Senator Organa is making one last push for autonomy within the Empire, and he needs his daughter's public support.  Should Leia give it, she will do more harm than good to the Rebellion.  She is forced to give her father something she hasn't achieved yet, and that's a decisive victory in the ongoing conflict.

Teckla has learned of the plans for the Death Star, whose construction has already begun, but only in the very earliest stages.  If they can sabotage it now, the threat could be ended permanently.

As the Rebel fleet heads toward this goal with Toro at the lead, Vader at last confronts Victus, and defeats her in a thrilling duel.  The Rebels are successful as well, but Tarkin has already begun construction of a second one, and Toro dies in the effort to destroy the first...