In the prequel to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Darth Sidious discovers that one of his Neimoidian allies has betrayed him and sends his apprentice, Darth Maul, to kill him, and the fate of the Republic lies in the hands of Darsha Assant, a young Jedi Padawan, and Lorn Pavan, an opportunistic information broker. 250,000 first printing.