On Sullun, one of the moons of Sullust, a Rebel uprising is violently put down by Captain Thrawn’s Imperial platoons. But Thrawn’s superior, a dark Jedi named Lord Jerec, has a mission of a more personal nature as he searches for a Rebel named Morgan Katarn. Katarn’s latent ability with the Force – and his steadfast refusal to use it for fear of misusing the power – has earned him the label of a coward in Jerec’s eyes, and when Katarn refuses to give up any information about the Rebellion, Jerec murders him in cold blood.
Ironically, Morgan Katarn’s son Kyle is enrolled in the Imperial Academy, on the fast track through officer training. But Kyle’s disastrous cadet leader mission reveals two things which could be his downfall in the Empire: he too has a latent ability to use the Force, and his distaste for meaningless killing has no place in the take-no-prisoners war the Empire is waging against the Rebels. Despite the high rate of casualties among Kyle’s own Imperial platoon, he’s decorated as a war hero for seizing a Rebel communications outpost and graduates from the Academy with honors – just before his commandant informs him of his father’s death, supposedly at the hands of Rebels. Kyle books a cruise in what little leave time he has between his graduation and reporting for duty, and on the cruise ship he spots a woman who he remembers as being among the Rebels from the outpost against which he led the assault. He’s eager to speak to her again, but he’s caught off guard when he discovers that she’s just as eager to speak to him – and to reveal the true nature of his father’s fate.
written by John Whitman
based on the book by William C. Dietz and Dean Williams
inspired by the video game Star Wars: Dark Forces
directed by Peter Moore
music by John WilliamsCast: Randal Berger (Kyle Katarn), Mo Collins (Jan Ors), Bob Davis (Skorg Jameson / Lando Calrissian), Chris Forth (Mon Mothma), Christopher Bloch (Rosco Ross), Virginia Burke (Courier), James Cada (Sergeant Major Hong), David Chase (Morgan Katarn), Patrick Coyle (Nathan Donar), Gary Groomes (Governor Donar / Major Horst), Allen Hamilton (Jerec), Peter Moore (Meck Odom / Slyder), Tim Russell (Captain Thrawn, A-Cee / General Mohc), Ken Hiller (Narrator)
Notes: Recorded at Tom Voegli Productions (run by the producer of the original NPR Star Wars radio dramas), the Dark Empire audiobooks are full-cast adaptations – in a similar style to the radio dramas – of a series of novellas based on the popular first-person shooter video game Star Wars: Dark Forces. The game’s popularity was such that it even added a few action figures to the Star Wars toy line. The adaptation scripts were written by John Whitman, who generated “additional material” added onto the late Brian Daley’s scripts for the Return Of The Jedi radio series. Narrator Ken Hiller is the only voice common to the cast of the original NPR radio dramas and the Dark Forces audio plays.
LogBook entry by Earl Green