Shev disobeys the order and continues the search. They are en route to Phaeda and order Colonel Shev to stand down. The cantina incident has attracted the attention of General Wessel and the reigning Imperial lord, Carnor Jax.

As they leave, Merkon promises to sidetrack Shev's investigation. After a tense incident in which Kanos threatens Mirith and Sadeet with a blaster, Mirith offers him a place among the Phaeda rebels. Merkon brings Sadeet and Mirith Sinn to Kanos's hiding place. He seeks to capture Kanos and turn him in before the murders bring undue attention to his corrupt activities. Meanwhile, in present day, Colonel Shev, the corrupt bureaucratic ruler of Phaeda, investigates the cantina murders. Kanos recalls this as the moment he realizes that mere perfection is not enough in the service of the Emperor. Vader crushes him mercilessly in combat and kicks him into the abyss. Darth Vader challenges the most talented recruit, Burr Danid, to a duel in the Squall, a terrifying arena suspended over a bottomless pit. Time jumps forward several years to his first meeting with the Emperor and Darth Vader during one of their inspections of the guardsmen-to-be. Their fighting skills impress their commanding officer, who transfers them to Yinchorr, the secret training grounds for the Emperor's red guard. He is fighting on a faraway world alongside his onetime ally Carnor Jax.

While he waits, Kanos recounts his first experiences as a royal guardsman. A man named Merkon offers him a place to hide and rest before reinforcements arrive. After a group of drunk off-duty stormtroopers start a cantina brawl, Kanos is forced to violence, killing the entire group and revealing his presence. Kir Kanos finds himself on a remote Imperial planet called Phaeda. Upon the closer inspection, the dwelling is revealed to be empty except for a time bomb that Kanos left behind, which detonates, killing every troop in the strike team. On the planet of Zaddja in the Trilon sector, General Wessel's men have tracked down former Imperial Royal Guardsman Kir Kanos. For Kir Kanos, the last royal Imperial Guard and the final threat to Jax's rise to power, there are no alternatives-loyalty never dies. Devoted to the last, Kir must nonetheless ally himself with Rebel forces to help him attain his retribution in the face of the Empire's full might brought down to destroy him. But when Carnor Jax-the most formidable of this elite brotherhood-betrays the Emperor and orders the murder of the Guard, Kir must escape to carry out his duty to avenge his master. In all the Empire, there are no more fearsome warriors than the Emperor's Imperial Guard, and none is more loyal than Kir Kanos.

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