The tide has turned! Interregnum is the story of how with the death of Grand Admiral Thrawn, Councilor Leia Organa Solo guides the diplomacy of the battle-tested and confident New Republic as they take the offensive, and work to finalize the creation of the New Republic.The Empire, beset by corruption and divided amongst quarrelsome warlords, tries frantically to hold on to its remaining territory, while the Fringe elements of the galaxy take stock of the new reality. Some have sided with the New Republic, forming the Smugglers' Alliance, while others plot to gain power by exploiting the tattered vestiges of Imperial might.On Coruscant, the capital of the New Republic, Luke Skywalker, the galaxy's only Jedi Knight, and Mara Jade, a former Imperial agent with a troubled past, reunite while subtle foes plot from the safety of the shadows...
Found here
by Admiral_Byzantium, DrMckay, and Isabelinski.
Interregnum contains examples of:
- Action Girl: The majority of the female cast. The only real exception is Mon Mothma, who is a politician. Even our Establishing Character Moment for Tionne is this.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Brakiss and Exar Kun.
- Traest Kre'fey establishing his military career as the captain of the Lusankya.
- Unlike canon, General Etahn A'baht is presented as an already highly respected military officer during the height of the war with the Empire, as opposed to when the conflict had largely been over. Moreover, he is Ackbar's designated successor to head up the military.
- Action Politician:
- Bel Iblis was a legendary senator for Corellia, and very proud of his work there. With the rise of the Empire though, he was forced to become a soldier. After his highly successful career there, he retired back into being senator for the Corellians in exile. Despite his previous issues with Mon Mothma, he quickly proved he was as capable as ever, being the brainchild behind some radical changes in the planned Republic, and giving advice to Mon Mothma that she fully agreed upon. It also ultimately cost him his life, as he argued that it should be him, not Mon, to meet with Grand Moff Kaine to send the proper message, neither of them being aware of the assassination attempt planned against her and Kaine.
- Fey'lya personally leads the Bothan home fleet to Corellia in its defense, as does ex-Admiral Ackbar for the Mon Calamari.
- Adaptational Heroism: For all that Senator Fey'lya repeatedly serves as an obstacle for the protagonists, and is indeed very much self-interested, in contrast to canon he is also very much a patriot to the Republic. When faced with the threat of Silencer Station, he rallies the entirety of the Bothan fleets in defense of Corellia to wipe out that menace.
- Alas, Poor Villain: For all that Grand Moff Kaine played a key role in the rise of the Empire, and maintained its despotic cruelty, and frankly was trying to earn himself a pardon, you have to feel for him when he is dying a horrible death and realizing it was all arranged by his supposed best friend.
- Benevolent Boss: Karrde to his people, as are the Republic leaders that we see. Mara directly notes that key difference between their Undying Loyalty, and what was found with the Empire.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: As capable combatants as they are, Leia and Han actively keep their Noghri bodyguards around, fully aware of the necessity in protecting both themselves and especially their children.
- The Chains of Command: A burden Wedge keenly feels, especially upon becoming the commander of the Fifth Fleet. He prays that he will never come to consider the deaths carried out by his orders to be 'acceptable.'
- Curb-Stomp Battle: What the Battle of Carida becomes. Despite being an essential strategic point for the Empire, it collapsed with ease to Wedge. Even worse, despite the Republic's numerical advantage, the Empire might still have turned things around if not for the ISB making mistake after mistake. Refusing to sue for peace with Pellaeon's faction ensured they could not maintain a united front; ISB members were military neophytes, so unable to properly command a battle; by killing most of Reaper's bridge officers they could not use their strongest ship properly; and finally, instead of trying to counter Lusankya, they focused their efforts upon the symbolic victory of destroying Rebel Dream. Frankly, Wedge barely paid the entire ISB faction any attention, leaving it to his subordinates to handle what was essentially a mop-up.
- Both Battles of Pons Major, for opposite sides each time.
- Dance Battler: Mara Jade's fighting style, as her cover was that of a dancer for the Imperial Palace. Given how light a lightsaber is, this suits her for making quick movements and precision strikes.
- Deconstruction: In canon, General Madine goes on a high-risk mission of critical importance which leads to his death. Here though, when a critical incident pops up with no time for back-up, he fully acknowledges how his civilian superiors do not want their head of special operations doing field work. While he provides essential help to Mara, his near-death concerns his subordinates who care deeply for him, and you can tell he jokingly knows he is going to get into serious trouble for it from Mon Mothma herself.
- Dirty Cop: A significant portion of the Coruscant Constabulary in truth answers to Black Sun, providing them a private militia hidden in plain sight, as well as allowing all sorts of corruption to occur. When their leader disobeys Vorru's explicit orders and helps the Empire, the man concludes that the entire branch is tainted, and provides everything the Republic needs to kill or arrest everyone.
- The Dreaded: Luke is this to the Inquisitors, and even Exar Kun refuses to confront him unless on his home turf.
- Everyone Can See It: Regarding Luke and Mara as a couple. Karrde has to resort to a few inventive threats to keep his subordinates from telling Mara when some of their supposedly 'private' moments have been spied upon, ending with the promise that then he would hand them over to her.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: When faced with the threat of Silencer Station, another world destroyed, and the knowledge Corellia was the next target, Leia sends out a broadcast across the galaxy calling for everyone who could to lend aid in stopping the Imperial superweapon and saving the people of Corellia. The galaxy answered.
- Heel–Face Turn:
- The first book focuses strongly upon Mara completing the transition and revelations she had made in "The Last Command." Particularly her acceptance that Palpatine worked so hard to make her believe in the supposed 'justice' of the Empire, so that it would make others who she met as his agent believe it was real as well. Instead it never really existed.
- Many individuals who defected from the Empire are also shown continuing to struggle with what they had done before, as well as touching upon what made them decide to do so.
- For Kam Solusar. In canon, this happens off-screen, despite the significance of his achievement, accomplishing which historically only very few Jedi have ever done, to the point by Obi-Wan's time it was considered impossible. Indeed, he had even killed five Jedi beforehand. Here we see it play out, as well as him living with the consequences of his actions. By the second book he has reached the point where he is no longer seeking atonement, but regardless will continue to strive to do good in the galaxy.
- Pellaeon spends the third book struggling to accept the truth of what the 'real' Imperial regime was like, and working to support an Empire actually worthy of service.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Plenty, but the most prominent in the narrative is Agonizer, and with her Admiral Rogriss, buying time for refugees during the Second Battle of Poln Major.
- Honor Before Reason: Despite the risk of Tavira acquiring a replacement, or that Luke and the Republic could help, Kam Solusar refuses to reveal the location of the Jensaarai, feeling he owes them too much for taking him in to betray them like that.
- Idiot Ball: What the ISB and Inquisitorious' grand scheme in the second book amounts to, so blinded by their arrogance, fanaticism, and grasping need for control. Despite the fact they are actively losing the war, they sabotage the peace conference, intentionally provoking the New Republic into a full-scale assault that quickly starts to overwhelm the Empire. Then they and the moffs decide to double down by undermining and turning against the military commanders who might have a chance of stopping them, thinking they themselves are adequate replacements. Predictably, things only go even more off the rails. By the third book, Han notes they have learnt none of the lessons of what really happened after events like the destruction of Alderaan. By this point though, only the die-hard loyalists with no true grasp on reality are left, as their saner counterparts have either defected or died.
- Killed Off for Real: Palpatine/Sidious according to
Word of God, making this a storyline where none of the events from Dark Empire or The Rise of Skywalker will occur. - Let Them Die Happy: Admiral Rogriss pretends to see a flaw in Silencer Station's shields to convince a teenaged Lieutenant that their sacrifice will help destroy it.They hadn't found a weakness, of course. But better to let the boy die happy.
- Never a Self-Made Woman: A serious issue within the sexist Imperial military, to the frustration of decent officers like Rogriss and Pellaeon. Advancement comes with a lot of pressure to commit sexual favours with senior male officers, and even if you do not, it is assumed you are. The shining example of this is Admiral Daala, who became Grand Moff Tarkin's mistress and went from a nobody at the academy to an admiral in no time flat. For many this is proof of how it is supposed to go. For men like Rogriss and Pellaeon, they remain furious at the precedent Tarkin set, and his failure to live up to his responsibilities, seeing Daala as more of a victim in this given Tarkin's towering power and authority.
- It is noteworthy that once Pellaeon gets the time to actually know Daala, he acknowledges she is actually very competent and deserves her rank. It is just that her advancement was still unrealistically fast.
- Rogriss' own daughter suffers from some of this discrimination to his frustration, but it is also thrown into his face how with his backing she is protected from the worst of it.
- Later we see her perspective on matters, and she was well and bitterly aware of what other women endured in the service.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: What happened with Admiral Daala. Instead of being sent to guard a prestigious, absolutely classified research and development facility which she could take pride in like canon, she was sent to guard backwater areas of the shrinking Empire until they had no choice but to call her up, due to her being seen as little more than Tarkin's mistress and (inaccurately) undeserving of her rank.
- Pragmatic Villainy:
- Admiral Rogriss treats his prisoners well, and does not resort to crippling interrogations for the chance of valuable intelligence, because he is painfully aware that given the odds against him, there is a very good chance that he and his own men will end up in Republic custody shortly.
- Admiral Pellaeon may be a xenophobe, but given the widespread shortages of ships and personnel for the Empire, he is willing to accept that some of his ships have non-Human crews aboard. So long as they are kept properly in line.
- The Strategist: Once he is freed of any political restraints, and darkly furious in his own right, Wedge quickly proves himself to be this, presenting a proposal that quickly sways and impresses even master strategists likes Admiral Ackbar and A'baht. The basis of which is to undermine the Empire's logistics wholescale while simultaneously wiping out their entire fleet, as opposed to conquering planets and seizing territory, all while taking advantage of the cold calculus that the New Republic can afford such losses. Notably, while he labels even battles which end as draws as 'victories,' he never considers them 'acceptable losses.'
- Shout-Out: When offered surrender by a vastly stronger foe, Admiral Rogriss replies that he hasn't the facilities to take them all prisoner.
- We ARE Struggling Together:
- Actually averted despite how Imperial propaganda paints the Republic as being on the verge of collapse from its own internal struggles, only held together by the likes of Mon Mothma and Leia. In reality, as much as they can have vicious disagreements, they are unified in their desire to create a new government of liberty and actual justice. Moreover, when sufficiently provoked, their absolutely unified focus is devastating to behold.
- And with dark irony, it is actually the Empire which increasingly struggles with matters of unity, as tensions dig deeper between the corrupt civilian leadership, arrogant ISB, and the military officers struggling to keep everything afloat.
- We Have Reserves:
- What the Empire's military philosophy was in the height of its power, which becomes a major hindrance when they no longer have the resources to maintain it and lack the logistics for the necessary absolute overhaul to their war machine while facing the Republic. Their TIE's are generally inferior snubfighters compared to the New Republic, whose military doctrine heavily emphasizes them, so they face serious losses which also leave the Empire's capital ships vulnerable. In addition, their Imperial-II Star Destroyers were intentionally designed to be high-maintenance by Palpatine, so as to restrain the ambitions of their commanders, which makes it very hard to keep them in service.
- Ironically, this becomes the Republic's strategy in crushing the Empire in the second book. It is especially noteworthy given Wedge's historic aversion to losses, but he lays out that they can crush the Empire once and for all if they fully commit themselves, as they frankly have more ships to spare than their enemies.
- Worf Had the Flu: Mara is fully aware that she cannot defeat Exar Kun herself, as she is still a novice as a Jedi, while he was one of the most powerful Sith Lords and duelists in history, but he was hobbled by having to rely upon Kyp Durron's body.
