## Chapter 3

1 “Sturm und Drang” (storm and stress) was an eighteenth-century German romantic literary movement emphasizing struggles of the individual against society. I thought those names would appeal to Karrde, whom I saw as being an educated, pun-loving sort.

This one didn’t get me nearly as much grief as the hot chocolate reference. My assumption is that those who caught the reference were more amused than annoyed by it.

—TZ

2 I wrote this scene long before we had any cats of our own. Little did I know just how true-to-life it was.

—TZ

3 In some ways, Karrde is my vision of how Han might have ended up if he hadn’t dropped into the Mos Eisley cantina that afternoon for a quiet drink. Both men have a code of honor, especially toward their friends, and both are willing to be part of a larger group, though Han admittedly dragged his feet a long time before getting to that place.

—TZ

4 Not sure Imperial ships (or Rebel ships, for that matter) had their names or operating numbers anywhere on their hulls. Still, it is something most Earth navies do, so I figured it was reasonable here, too.

—TZ

5 At the time of Heir, we had no idea what the common honorific was in the Star Wars universe. C-3PO called Luke master, but that might have been a droid thing. Other people were typically addressed by rank or title.

Still, I think this is the only time I used Mr. in the book. Even Karrde is later referred to as captain, though I’m not sure that’s really accurate. (He owns and runs ships, but doesn’t usually captain them.)

Now, thanks to the prequels, we know that master is indeed the universal term.

—TZ

6 One of the tricky things about writing Star Wars (or any other shared media work) is to not only keep track of what was done in the movies, but also keep track of what wasn’t done. If something that could have been useful wasn’t done, it means there must have been a good reason why not.

The ysalamiri are a good example. A creature that can block Jedi abilities should have been used all over the place throughout the movies by anti-Jedi forces…unless they were unreliable, difficult to find, difficult to use, et cetera. To be on the safe side, I invoked two of those limiting parameters: the creatures are relatively unknown (the Jedi would hardly broadcast their existence, after all), and they’re hard to get off their trees without killing them.

—TZ

7 Early on, I set up Karrde to be more than just a smuggler, but also a seeker of information. That would turn out to have useful ramifications here as well as in several other books down the line.

—TZ

8 Karrde’s not alone here—there are many readers who also want to learn Mara’s backstory.

On the other hand, there are also many readers who want that backstory to remain shrouded in mystery. Whatever I end up doing on this one, I’m going to be in trouble with somebody.

Still, there are a few things we do know about Mara’s past. We’ll get to those in a bit.…

—TZ