Welles Hartley

He may have washed-out as a pilot at the Imperial Academy, but Lt. Janek Sunber has found a new home in the infantry. Hoping for a post on a world where he could see some action against the Rebels, he instead finds himself on the jungle world of Maridun as part of a regiment overseeing the construction of a new base. But just when he’s resigned himself to a long, uneventful tour of duty, things heat up. The alien natives are restless, and on the hunt for human skulls! Sunber is about to learn one of the truths about the infantry: all service is sacrifice, and in the infantry that sacrifice is usually in blood!

Imperial Lt. Janek Sunber wanted to see action, and now his wish has come true--in spades! Sunber's infantry regiment on the jungle world of Maridun is cut off from the rest of the Empire. Their communications have been destroyed, and their way out of the jungle is blocked by thousands of hostile native Amanin. Hopelessly out-numbered, they must choose between combat or surrender--but either decision may mean death!

Thousands of angry alien Amanin versus less than sixty Imperial troops. So much for being "the glue that holds the galaxy together." The Imperials are doomed, but newly promoted Captain Janek Sunber is determined that they will sell their lives dearly. If only some of his fellow officers exhibited the same courage, they might have a chance. But is it bravery, or foolhardiness that drives Sunber? And, if they all die, who will tell the story of their sacrifice? Who will record the glory of their final stand?

She was the catalyst that helped to turn a rag-tag rebellion into the Rebel Alliance. She provided the impetus for the "Heroes of Yavin" in their attack on the Death Star. And she was the spark that ignited the flames of passion in one of the galaxy's most notorious rogues. "She," of course, is Princess Leia, the leader-and heart-of the Rebellion against Palpatine's galactic Empire. The four stories in this volume follow Leia from the weeks just before the events in A New Hope, to the time just before The Empire Strikes Back-from her first transforming experience with armed rebellion, to facing the ramifications of consequences of the destruction of her home planet, to the beginnings of true love. This volume collects the Star Wars: Valentine one-shot, plus issues #5-#6 and #20-#22 of the ongoing Empire series.