[SD.net Database] Lords of the Sith

[Balrog]

Mini-review: While an enjoyable read in its own right, this book could be alternatively titled "Lord Vader and the Emperor kick ass, chew bubblegum," which made it even more fun to read. The basic plot is a conspiracy unfolds which targets the title characters during a rare visit together to visit the planet Ryloth because, like Wayne Brady, sometimes the Emperor needs to choke a bitch. It goes without saying that in the end this conspiracy fails, no big spoilers there, and the Emperor purposefully allowed the attempt because it helped expose rebels, traitorous Imperials, and served as another teachable moment for Vader. Although there is no traditional suspense regarding the plot, it is still well-written and explores in more depth life under Imperial rule, the birth of nascent rebel movements which eventually become the Rebellion, and the relationship between the Emperor and Vader. Also, we get to see the both of them fight together and take on increasingly difficult odds where, as I said, they kick ass. In fact there are so many cool moments with these two that I'm sorta loath to spoil it for you, but I will include those bits which are important for debates and such.

In terms of historical context, Lords of the Sith takes place eight years after the end of the Clone Wars.

Because Ryloth was not free.

As Cham had feared during the Clone Wars, one well-intentioned occupier of Ryloth had given way to another, less well-intentioned occupier, and a Republic had, through the alchemy of ambition, been transformed into an Empire.

An Imperial protectorate, they called Ryloth. On Imperial star charts Cham's homeworld was listed as "free and independent," but the words could only be used that way with irony, else meaning was turned on its head.

Because Ryloth was not free.

Orn Free Taa, Ryloth's obese representative to the lickspittle, ceremonial Imperial Senate, validated the otherwise absurd Imperial claims through his treasonous acquiescence to them. But then Ryloth had no shortage of Imperial collaborators, or those willing to lay supine before stormtroopers.

A bit on the political status of Ryloth after the Clone wars, and the fat Twi'let senator is still putzing around 'representing' his people.

Cham had stashed the freighter in the rings of one of the system's gas giants. Metal ore in the rock chunks that made up the ring would hide his ships from any scans.

"Helm, take us above the plane of the rings," Cham said.

Even in an off-the-chart system, it was a risk to put the freighter outside the shelter of the planet's rings. The ship's credentials wouldn't hold up to a full Imperial query, and Imperial probes and scouts were everywhere, as the Emperor tried to firm his grip on the galaxy and quell any hot spots.

So we have material of unknown type which can block scans, and a bit on the exploratory efforts of the Empire to map new systems.

"Focus your fire on the aft shields," Vader said, his interceptor wheeling and spinning, sliding between the red and the green, until he was within range. He fired and his blasters sent twin beams of plasma into the aft shields. He angled the shot to maximize deflection. He did not want to pierce them and damage the ship, just drain them and bring them down.

Deflector shields actually deflecting. It would make sense given how many times people have mentioned angling the shields and whatnot, but in a way it's almost like physical armor; hitting head-on gives a better chance of penetrating than at an angle. This also explains partly how attacking ships can aim to specifically disable a ship and not destroy it.

"I'm going to board her."

"Sir, the docking clamp on that ship is too damaged, and there's no landing bay," said the squadron commander.

"I am aware of that, Commander," Vader said.

The sole remaining gun bubble - operated by one of the hijackers - swung around and opened fire on Vader. Still using the Force to guide him, Vader slung the ship side to side, up and down, staying just ahead of the blasterfire as he headed straight for the bubble. He could see the gunner inside the transparent canopy, feel his presence, insignificant and small, through the web of the Force.

"Sir...," the commander said as the V-wing squadron circled back around, but Vader did not acknowledge him.

Vader hit a switch and depressurized the interceptor's cockpit, his armor shielding him from the vacuum. Then, as he neared the transport's midline, still swinging his ship left and right to dodge the incoming fire, he selected a spot on the transport adjacent to the gun bubble, using the Force, took a firm mental hold on it.

His interceptor streaked toward the gun bubble, aimed directly at it. Content with the trajector, he unstrapped himself, overrode the interceptor's safties, threw open the cockpit hatch, and ejected into space.

Immediately he was spinning in the zero-g, the ship and stars alternating position with rapidity. Yet he kept his mental hold on the air-lock handle, and his armor, sealed and pressurized, sustained him in the vacuum. The respirator was loud in his ears.

His ship slammed into the gun bubble and the transport, the inability of the vacuum to transmit sound causing the collision to occur in eerie silence. Fire flared for a moment, but only a moment before the vacuum extinguished the fire. Chunks of debris exploded outward into space and the transport lurched.

.....

"Sir! Sir!" the squadron commander called, his voice frantic in Vader's helmet comm. "Lord Vader! What's happening, sir?"

Vader's voice was calm. "I'm docking with the transport, Commander."

Using the Force, Vader stopped his rotation and reeled himself in toward the large, jagged, smoking hole his interceptor had torn in the transport's hull. Loose hoses and electrical lines dangled from the edges of the opening, leaking gases and shooting sparks into space. A portion of his ship's wing had survived the impact and was lodged in the bulkhead. The rest had been vaporized on impact.

Vader pulled himself through the destruction until he stood in the remains of a depressurized corridor.

You think Vader needs a boarding pod to get into an enemy ship? Vader says fuck your boarding pod, he is one.

A hatch on the far side of the hall slid open to reveal a purple-skinned Twi'lek man in makeshift armor. Seeing Vader, the Twi'let's head-tails twitched, his eyes widened in surprise, and he grabbed for the blaster at his belt. By the time the Twi'let had the blaster drawn and the trigger pulled, Vader had his lightsaber in hand and ignited. He deflected the blaster shot into the wall, raised his off hand, and with it reached out with the Force. He made a pincer motion with his two fingers, using the Force to squeeze closed the Twi'lek's trachea.

The Twi'lek pawed frantically at his throat as Vader's power lifted him off the deck, but to his credit he held on to his weapon, and gaging, dying, he managed to aim and fire his blaster at Vader again and again. Vader simply held his grip on the alien's throat while casually deflecting the blasts into the bulkhead with his lightsaber. Then, not wanting to waste time, he moved his raised hand left and then right, using the Force to smash the Twi'lek into the bulkhead. The impacts shattered bone, and Vader let the body fall to the deck. A voice carried over the comlink on the Twi'lek's belt.

"Tymo! Tymo! What is going on there? Do you copy? Can you hear me?"

Vader deactivated his lightsaber, picked up the comlink, opened the channel, and let the sound of his respirator carry over the connection.

"Who is that?"

Vader answered only with his breathing.

"Tymo, is that you? Are you all right?"

"I'm coming for you now," Vader said.

He crushed the communicator in his fist, reignited his lightsaber, stepped over the dead Twi'lek, and strode into the corridor beyond.

Yeah, there's more of that in this book.

[FTeik]

AFAIK, this is the first confirmation, that Vader's mask and armour also serve as space-suite (although that was the intention behind his original design byMcQuarrie).

Is there more information on what kind of Interceptor he is using? The Eta-Actis from RotS or a TIE-variant (which were starting to enter service five years after RotS according to Tarkin)?

[Borgholio]

AFAIK, this is the first confirmation, that Vader's mask and armour also serve as space-suite (although that was the intention behind his original design byMcQuarrie).

Yeah the original script had Vader boarding the Tantive by simply floating over there and boarding the ship directly. Nice to see they actually had him do that once.

[Galvatron]

I just started reading it, but I already saw something that was noteworthy:

Without the neural connection to his armor, he was conscious of the stumps of his legs, the ruin of his arms, the perpetual pain in his flesh.

Paul S. Kemp (2015-03-10T07:00:00+00:00). Lords of the Sith: Star Wars (Kindle Locations 92-93). Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey Spectra. Kindle Edition.

When man and machine were one, he no longer felt the absence of his legs or arms, the pain of his flesh, but the hate remained, and the rage still burned. Those, he never relinquished, and he never felt more connected to the Force than when his fury burned.

Paul S. Kemp (2015-03-10T07:00:00+00:00). Lords of the Sith: Star Wars (Kindle Locations 103-104). Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey Spectra. Kindle Edition.

Prior to that, I'd assumed that Vader was in constant pain, but that he harnessed it to fuel his anger.

[Balrog]

Is there more information on what kind of Interceptor he is using? The Eta-Actis from RotS or a TIE-variant (which were starting to enter service five years after RotS according to Tarkin)?

It is (or was) his modified Eta-interceptor. I wouldn't be surprised if he has spares or can have new ones built just for him if he treats them all like disposable missiles.

I just started reading it, but I already saw something that was noteworthy:
Prior to that, I'd assumed that Vader was in constant pain, but that he harnessed it to fuel his anger.

Well, it's a different kind of pain he harnesses now.

Next update.

She shook her head, her lekku squirming in agitation. "Not much. Second- and thirdhand stories. I've heard that the regular officers hate him, but the Stormtrooper Corps almost worships him."

Vader's reputation among the Imperials. Given his penchant for killing those who disappoint him, the feelings of the officers and the PBI are unsurprising.

"Take us deep in the rings. Make us a rock, helm. Minimal life support. Take everything else down. We float."

"If we go dark, we won't be able to run if they detect us," Isval said. "By the time we get the engines back online-"

"There's no running, Isval," Cham said matter-of-factly. "We hide or we die. Do it, helm."

Although the planet ring is suppose to hide them from scans, the Twi'leks aren't taking any chances, although as noted this leaves the ship dangerously vulnerable.

He deciphered it again, ensuring he had the right of it.

Orn Free Taa was returning to Ryloth. He would be accompanied by Emperor Palpatine and Lord Vader. They were coming via Star Destroyer in ten days.

This puts a hard limit on the travel time it takes to get from Coruscant to Ryloth, although as we'll see later it actually takes considerably less than ten days to actually get there.

Cham stared at the candle flame, thinking of Pok. "I don't know. To make an example of Mors, maybe? A show of force? Our attacks have slowed spice production to a trickle."

The Empire used spice - refined ryll, harvested from the countless mines that made Ryloth porous - and its derivatives for countless purposes, particularly in the Imperial science and medical corps.
.....
Isval was warming to her theorizing. "Bring more stormtroopers? They've got a bunch of conscripts and enlistees here now. Nubs looking for adventure, but not true soldiers. Maybe bring more troops, elite troops, and lock down Ryloth and spice production?"

The spice must flow...
On a more serious note, despite the importance of Ryloth making spice it is, in the opinion of our fearless freedom fighters, garrisoned by second-rate troops. Not unlike certain other Outer Rim planets I imagine.

Fruun was one of Belkor's men, one of hundreds whose loyalty he'd bought through favors or secured through blackmail. Moff Mors - lazy, sloppy Delion Mors - left the running of Ryloth's occupation to Belkor, and Belkor had not been idle. He'd filled several Imperial units with commanders whose first loyalty was not to Mors, or even to the Empire, but to him, and the soldiers would do exactly as their commanders told them. The stormtroopers were a problem, of course, but there weren't very many members of the corps on Ryloth. In essence, Belkor had a shadow force at his disposal, and he'd call on it when the time was right.

So besides a glimpse into how bad things are for the Imperial hierarchy on Ryloth, this is one of the first indications I've seen of there possibly being Imperial Army troopers from the old EU, what with the separation in Belkor Dray's mind between soldiers and stormtroopers. The Imperial Army is one of those EU things which was criminally underused IMO and while the Rebels TV show missed a chance to use them (as they've missed many others), I certainly hope we see them more often in the future.

"The Moff was unable to greet you personally," the junior officer said.

Because she is in a spice haze, Belkor thought but didn't say. Or engaged with her Twi'lek slaves.

Not exactly grade-A Moff material this Mors is.

Mors held up a finger to forestall Belkor's advance while she concluded her business with the Hutt. Watching the exchange, Belkor was struck by the similarities between the two. Both woman and alien looked like overfilled sausages, only Mors was wrapped in a wrinkled uniform rather than leathery skin. Her watery eyes and vaguely slack expression showed that she was in a spice haze. The Hutt's watery eyes and slack expression showed that he was, in fact, a typical specimen of his kind.

"Who is that?" Belkor asked his escort softly.

"Nashi the Hutt, an envoy from Jabba."

Well, yet again we have a sniff of minimalism what with Jabba somehow finding his way into a story about Ryloth. I suppose if they're trying to make him out to be more important than he was in the old canon, it might make sense that he's sending envoys around, but still, would it kill them to use a Hutt besides Jabba?

Belkor shifted on his feet. "As you know, ma'am, an insurgency is hard to fight. The resistance blends in with the nonmilitant populace, and killing innocents indiscriminately would only increase the number of otherwise neutral Twi'leks sympathetic to the resistance. We've made progress, but this will be a lengthy affair."

What the hell man?! We can't have smart Imperials in this franchise, get the hell out of here Belkor!

He spotted a couple of Imperial patrol craft hovering low over the city. Belkor used Imperial craft judiciously when enforcing Imperial rule. The sight of Imperial ships sometimes upset the natives. So he left the day-to-day policing of the city to a Twi'lek security force, made up of Twi'leks co-opted by better living conditions and pay to enforce Imperial rule against their own people.
.....
Summer brought nighttime riots to Ryloth as surely as it brought high temperatures. The heat brought crowds into the streets and cantinas, and crowds brought anger, and anger brought riots. Belkor's policy, administered in Mors's name, was to contain the riots and, as best they could manage, prevent fatalities and extensive property damage, but never to squelch them. He considered them a useful venting mechanism. Most Twi'leks fell into the middle between the satisfied collaborators and the zealots of the resistance, but almost all were occasionally resentful of the Imperial occupation. They needed an outlet for their simmering anger.

This Belkor fellow is entirely too reasonable to be an Imperial. Additionally, we have a more nuanced view of Imperial occupations even among non-human populations.

[RogueIce]

Sounds like Belkor is a traitor, though. And thus he won't make it past the end of this book.

[Balrog]

Next update.

The tiny comlink implanted in his ear canal carried Isval's voice to him, as if she were speaking directly into his brain. She had a similar unit implanted, which allowed them to hear even each other's whispers but not be overheard by nearby listeners. Cham's communications engineers had created a comm subnet that rode on a group of old Clone Wars satellites orbiting Ryloth along with the rest of the war's detritus. The comsats gave the movement a secure, private network all over the planet and just beyond the orbit of the farthest moon.

Cybernetic implants are back, in this case small communication devices. As well a idea of the type of set-up Free Ryloth has set up around the planet.

"None." Cham paused, then said, "Two days, Isval. Our intel has the Perilous prepping."

The Perilous in this case being Vader's Star Destroyer and the ride he and Palpy will be taking to Ryloth. Although one could try to argue otherwise, it seems pretty clear that they haven't yet left Coruscant and that the travel time between the two planets is actually less than two days.

"Hyperdrive is online and course is set, sir," the helm called, and the information was echoed up to Luitt.

"I'd be honored if you'd give the order, my lord," said Luitt.

"Oh, no, Captain," the Emperor said, waving a hand. "I'm a political leader, not a military one. Proceed as you normally would."

"Engage the hyperdrive," the captain called, and the command caused a ripple of activity to flow along the bridge crew.

Vader felt the faint thrum in the deck as the Perilous's powerful hyperdrive engaged. Stars and the black of space disappeared, replaced by the blue churn of hyperspace.

"En route to Ryloth," called the helm.

"Dim the view," Luitt ordered, and the transparisteel darkened until hyperspace was no longer visible. He turned to the Emperor. "My lord, if you and Lord Vader would prefer to retire to your quarters, I will let you know the instant we arrive in Ryloth's system."

"I think we will remain on the bridge for now, Captain," the Emperor said.
.....
The two surveyed the bridge in a silence broken only by the rasping of Vader's respirator while the Perilous crossed parsecs in a blink. After a time, the bridge crew broke into a different rhythm as they prepared to return the Star Destroyer to normal space.

"Coming out of hyperspace," called the helm.

"Coming out of hyperspace. Aye," the call echoed up the bridge.

"And the test begins," the Emperor said.

Vader looked at his Master, head tilted in question, not taking his meaning until he, too, felt the disturbance in the Force.

While it is not explicitly made clear from where the Perilous began the hyperspace jump, it is highly likely that they started out at Coruscant given the way the scene is written out, in which case the journey from the Imperial Capital to Ryloth takes about as long as Vader and Palpy can hold their bladders standing around on the bridge.

"Maximum acceler-" began the Captain, but before he finished an impact sounded from starboard and the huge ship vibrated.

Heads came up from stations and looked questions at one another. A second impact followed hard after that, then a third, larger than the rest, caused the ship to list. Vader eyed the viewscreen, saw nothing. His Master stared at the floor, a strange half smile on his face.

"Situation!" the captain ordered, his voice calm.

"Sir, I'm..."

Another impact shook the ship, a fourth, another, another. The ship listed further. Alarms blared.

"We have electrical shorts and a few fires all over the ship," the duty officer called.

"Injuries reported."

"What is happening, Captain?" Vader asked, stepping forward and grabbing Luitt by the arm hard enough to elicit a pained grimace.

Luitt looked at Vader, at the Emperor, and barked at his scan officer. "Situation, scan?"

"Mines, sir," the scan officer said. "Hundreds of them everywhere."

"Mines?" the captain repeated. "Full stop. Weapons online."

More explosions shook the ship, and a dozen mines floated into the viewscreen's field of view - they came in all shapes and sizes, some huge square cubes with magnetic sensors, others spiked spheres with kinetic detectors. Vader recognized a few as modern in design, others from the Clone Wars era, others from still earlier.

"The shields will prevent any real damage to the ship, my lord," Captain Luitt said to the Emperor. "My apologies for the inconvenience."

"Perform a deep scan on this area of the system," said Vader. "Particularly on the asteroid belt. I sense something..."

The ISD runs into a minefield. While the shields are up and will apparently prevent any serious damage, the ship still takes some damage from the impacts. This would be odd, but then these explosions are powerful enough to cause a mile-long starship to violently shake, so presumably there would be some bleed-through.

Another series of explosions boomed against the ship's shields, sending tremors through the deck.

"No damage," someone on the bridge crew called. "Shields holding."

"Sir, there are still over three hundred mines out there," said the scan officer.

The size of the minefield in question.

They watched the screens, seeing through the eyes of the probes. Kallon had reengineered two dozen of the mines. When they contacted a ship's shields, they wouldn't explode but rather latch on to the shields' energy signature, set up a counter grid, and, in theory, weaken them enough for ships to get through.
.....
The area of space around the huge ship grew a series of glowing lines, veins in the shield's protective field that extended out from each of the bleeders toward the others. The shields visibly flickered as the lines expanded. The Perilous looked like it was trapped in a glowing net.
.....
The viewscreen showed a dense matrix of glowing lines, like bolts of lightning, tracing jagged paths along the shields.

"Shields at fifty percent," the scan officer said, his tone going from puzzled to alarmed. "Seventeen! Back to twenty-five!"

"Get them back up to full!" Luitt commanded.

"Full stop," Vader ordered, and Luitt did not countermand.

With the shields weakening, they couldn't risk slamming into the mines all around them.

The helm put the Perilous into a stop, and the scan officer tapped his screen. "Captain, some of the mines aren't mines. They're devices creating some kind of feedback loop in the shield matrix. They're not bringing the shields down, but they're weakening them. Opening holes in places."
.....
"Sir," said the scan officer, his voice pitched high with controlled alarm. "There are several hundred vulture droids swarming out of the asteroid belt. They're heading directly for us."

"Shield bleeders" are the devices' name, and they have a clearly noticeable effect on the ISD's shields. And the second part of the trap is sprung.

Eschewing the cockpit ladder, Vader used the Force to leap atop his interceptor and slide into his seat.
.....
The commander synced the fighters' identifications with the bridge comp, so they could easily be distinguished from the incoming vulture droids and mines.

Vader using the ol' Force-leap, and the existence of IFF tags in a galaxy far, far away.

Vader saw the shields flare and fail even before Luitt's frantic call came over the comm.

"Shields are down, Lord Vader."

Scores of mines, drawn by their attractor arrays, floated toward the ship, gradually picking up speed, and hundreds of droid fighters chewed up the space behind them, swarming toward the vulnerable ship.

The mines have propulsion and guidance systems, smart enough to detect when a ship's shields are down at least.

They'd been modified. All of them had bulges on their bellies, an added compartment or weapon of some kind. It made them awkward in flight, far less maneuverable than usual.

Curious, he closed on one, targeted it with care, fired, and sheared off one of its wing pods. It spun out of control, and the centrifugal force started to tear it apart. Vader stayed on it as the belly compartment tore loose to reveal its contents.

Hundreds of metal spheres spilled out and into space. Vader slammed on his stick, driving the interceptor down, but he could not avoid the shrapnel altogether. The spheres slammed into his ship and clung there, and he saw that they weren't shrapnel but buzz droids.
.....
He dodged fire from a pursuing vulture droid by veering hard left, fired on another, destroying it, then drew on the Force and caused a wave of kinetic energy to repel the droids from his vessel. Unable to resist the sudden blast, they flew off in all directions and, to his surprise, exploded with enough force for the series of blast waves to rock his ship and temporarily send him spinning.
.....
"The vultures are carrying a payload of explosive buzz droids," Vader glanced over the comm.

The return of the loveable buzz droids, modified to be arguably more dangerous than what we saw in RotS. Similarly Vader had a much easier getting rid of his than Obi-wan did. Besides the usual dark-side-clouding explanation, it could simply be Obi-wan, not exactly a fan of flying as he's want to tell, simply isn't as well prepared to call on the Force while simultaneously flying.

Vader accelerated and flew directly toward a cloud of them, using his free hand to focus his use of the Force as he approached. A gesture, an exercise of will, and he slammed several of the free-floating buzz droids into one another, where they exploded, clearing his way.
.....
As he'd expected, the vulture droids fired as they approached the Star Destroyer, but they did not reduce speed to increase maneuverability. Instead they stayed at maximum acceleration, obviously intending to crash into the ship and release their cargo. Vader destroyed another, then another. But he couldn't get them all, and the surviving vultures slammed into the ship at full speed.

Enormous towers of flame rose from the Perilous's superstructure. Vader veered hard left and wheeled around, cutting down another vulture droid as he turned. He could imagine that the damage to the interior of the Star Destroyer was worse than he could see, as the vulture droids would have ejected their buzz droids into the corridors. The tiny bombs would run deeper into the ship and explode.

Vader again using TK while in flight, but it's not enough as the vultures go head-first into the ISD. Presumably the vultures would have ejected the buzz droids before the kamikaze attack, since these things explode on contact with each other quite easily. We also see unsurprisingly that going at maximum acceleration comes at the expense of one's ability to maneuver.

When Vader got within weapons range of the vultures, the entire swarm broke in all directions and opened fire on him. Enmeshed in the Force, he intuitively calculated angles, velocities, and vectors, his interceptor rising, falling, spinning, wheeling, navigating the firestorm of blasterfire where the margin of error was millimeters. He didn't return fire. His weapon was not blasters. Instead, he fixed on the leading vulture droids and reached out with the Force.

With an effort of will and a slight gesture, he tore open the belly compartment of three vultures. The tiny, explosive buzz droids they held poured out into space. Many of the trailing vulture droids, unable to dodge, collided with the scattered buzz droids, and explosions turned dozens of vulture droids and buzz droids into debris.

Vader took hold of another vulture droid's belly and tore it open, then another. Clouds of buzz droids filled space with countless small explosions, wreaking havoc on the vulture droid swarm. Vader flew through and past them, still dodging blasterfire. He wheeled hard about and pursued them as the surviving vulture droids - perhaps only a score - made their way toward the Perilous.

Vader taking on a hundred vultures by himself and kicking ass, Force-style. The rest get caught in the crossfire between him and some other V-wings.

[Balrog]

Opps, double post.

[NecronLord]

You just sold me this book Balrog.

[Balrog]

And finishing it off with one last update.

Eshgo piloted them out of the mouth of the landing bay and into Ryloth's winds. As soon as he hit open air, he accelerated to full in-atmo speed. Ryloth's dry, rocky terrain feel away below them. In moments the dying light of a planetside day gave way to the dark of outer space.

"We're clear of the outer atmosphere," Eshgo said, checking the instruments. "Accelerating to full. ETA in under an hour."

Examples of both atmosphere and space velocities. The repair ship is able to get clear of the outer atmosphere in moments and will rendezvous with the ISD, currently on the outer edge of the star system, in an hour. Granted the ISD is still under power and making full steam for Ryloth itself, so it and the repair ships will meet somewhere closer to Ryloth, but still.

The curious thing is why none of the ships coming to the ISD's aid are using hyperdrive to shorten the time; presumably the ISD can't or doesn't want to risk it due to damage. Microjumps within a star system are things which have already been reconfirmed, so there must be some other reason.

"Frequencies are buzzing with the revelation that they were aboard, but no certain word on whether they're still alive. The Perilous is heading fast toward Ryloth. It's already pass the asteroid belt."

The ISD and repair ships eventually meet up here, somewhere between the asteroid belt and Ryloth's furthest moon. If we knew exactly how the Ryloth system is laid out we could get a pretty good idea of how much distance they crossed in the hour.

The moment the doors closed, Isval drew the blaster she kept in the holster in the small of her back and fired into the back of Grolt's head. He collapsed without a sound. The shot from the small blaster left his head intact, and the entry wound, cauterized by the blaster bolt, didn't even bleed.

Blaster firepower.

As they approached [the hyperdrive chamber], the corridors narrowed and become somewhat less filled with activity. Most of the bustle was in the main halls. Side passages were almost deserted.

"Could've saved a lot of time by putting a vulture droid and its payload right here," Faylin said.

"Too deep in the ship and too hardened," Isval said.

A Star Destroyer's hyperdrive chamber, impervious in this case to kamikaze vulture droids and explosive buzz droids.

Vader stepped from the lift and used to the Force to augment his speed, sprinting through the smoky, crowded corridors.

Vader using Force-Speed.

He took his lightsaber in a two-handed grip, channeled the Force, channeled his rage, and slammed the blade into the hatch. It sank an arm's span into the metal. The heat from the weapon made a red-hot circle in the hatch around the blade. Vader held on to the hilt and poured in his power. The metal started to surrender to the heat of his weapon, the heat of his wrath.
.....
A sizzle from the direction of the hatch through which they'd first entered turned all their heads. The hatch was reddening with heat, at first a small circle, but expanding.
.....
"Nothing should be able to cut through that door," Eshgo said.

The doors protecting the ISD hyperdrive chamber are impervious to cutting tools, at least those not called lightsabers.

Vader ignored them. He sensed the danger and leapt down to the bottom of the hyperdrive well. Immediately he saw the dozen charges attached to the drive and its adjacent field amplifiers. The timers on each showed a mere twenty-seven minutes before they exploded.

He knelt and examined the charges more closely, saw the fail-safes. If engineers attempted to move or disarm the charges, they'd explode. If they did nothing they'd explode.

Vader can sense the explosives immediately, however they're apparently wired in such a way as to make them impossible to disarm, at least in the length of time given.

Vader was forty meters from her. He stood up straight, towering over the crew near him. He was looking right at her, his lightsaber held at his side, and she could feel the weight of his regard pressing against her like a punch. He exploded into motion, moving toward her at preternatural speed, his strides devouring the deck space between them. Crew scrambled out of the way of his approach, his dark form knifing through them.

She raised her blasters and took aim, shooting as fast as she could pull the triggers, scribing the air between them with lines of red energy. Vader didn't slow his sprint and his lightsaber was a blur as he cam on, deflecting her shots in all directions. A few came back at her. One hit the pallet and sent tools skittering along the deck. Another scorched the bulkhead beside her, but still she fired.

The crew in the corridor panicked, scrambling in all directions. An officer got in Vader's way, slowing his approach for a moment, and Vader tossed him aside with his free hand as if the man weighed no more than a child.

Vader being Vader, although this time the rebels do manage to escape at the last moment.

The explosions spread rapidly, one after another. The aft section blossomed into a single, huge ball of fire, vaporizing the engines, though inertia kept the Star Destroyer moving for Ryloth. Debris and flames flew in all directions. The blasts raced along the length of the ship, one section after another vanishing behind an orange curtain.

Isval's escort ship bobbed on the blast waves. Even with her naked eye, she could see some of the escape pods hit by the waves starting to spin uncontrollably.
.....
The vacuum killed the flames almost as quickly as they blossomed, and for a moment the Star Destroyer slid along in space, quiet, dark, and still, blackened by fire, torn by explosions. It looked almost peaceful, like a relic from a long-ago war. But the moment ended when the chain reaction set off by the dying hyperdrive turned the Perilous into a miniature star.

A white-hot explosion engulfed the entire remaining superstructure and shredded the ship. Isval squinted and shielded her eyes. Flaming, twisted debris flew in all directions.

"Brace! Brace!" Eshgo shouted, and clutched hard on the controls.

The blast wave, visible as a ripple in space, expanded out in all directions from the ragged corpse of the Star Destroyer. It tore through a few escape pods outright, turning them into scrap, and sent other pods and V-wings skipping along like pebbles in a torrent.

The wave hit the escort ship like a rock wall. The impact drove the ship backward and sent it spinning.
.....
The blast wave slammed into the side of the shuttle, knocking it sideways, carrying it along for tens of kilometers, and causing it to list sharply. Vader and the Emperor, seated, used the Force to hold their position.....

The death of the Perilous. The final blast wave is clearly hyperspace influence, probably similar to the one we saw when the Death Star went up, but the earlier blast waves are harder to account for since they were still in a vacuum and these weren't the ones attached to the hyperdrive.

Mors's ship would have to swing around Ryloth, but that would take only a minute or two.

Minutes for an Imperial shuttle to travel around a planet, at least while still out in space.

Mors sagged back into her seat and swallowed hard. To her knowledge, an Imperial Star Destroyer had never before been destroyed.

There's a first for everything, though IIRC we don't know when exactly ISD first went into service. It would make sense that they hadn't been destroyed before though, if their primary opponents are pirates, smugglers, and a few Separatist stragglers.

The scanner chirped, indicating that it had detected the ident of the second ship Cham had identified. They were tens of thousands of kilometers apart.
.....
The pilot's voice came over the comm. "My lords, it appears an Imperial escort boat is heading toward us on an attack vector. She's not answering hails."
.....
The escort boat slashed the distance between it and the shuttle.

An escort boat covering tens of thousands of kilometers in space. We don't know exactly how long it took them to do this, but events during this time are happening pretty fast, so they didn't exactly have hours to make a leisurely stroll through the stars.

She looked up through the canopy of the escort boat, eyes wide with disbelief, to see the shuttle, merely tens of meters distant and flying upside down. The ships' cockpit viewports faced each other. Isval could see Vader, and Vader could see them. Vader made a gesture with his gloved hand, as if he were pinching off a bleeding artery, and Isval felt her throat constrict. Instinctively she reached for her neck, but there was nothing there, just pressure, just the squeezing. She couldn't breathe! She pawed at her neck, panicked now, legs kicking. Beside her, Eshgo was behaving the same way. She fought to draw breath, couldn't.
.....
She was failing, she knew, dying, but she wouldn't go alone.

She lowered her hands from her throat and seized the stick. She jerked it back, and the escort boat went nose-up for the shuttle. Everything went black.

Vader sensed the danger a fraction of a second before the dying Twi'lek flew the escort boat into the shuttle. He slammed on the stick hard right and back, but the shuttle was not as maneuverable as his Eta-interceptor and responded too slowly.

Vader goes for the slow kill, which happens to bite him in the ass in this case.

His armor compensated for the darkness by activating the light amplifiers in his helmet lenses.
.....
Motion flashed in Vader's field of view for a moment: the escort boat. It still had power but was heavily damaged from the collision. It spiraled toward Ryloth, smoking, burning, coming in at too steep an angle; it would break up in the atmosphere

Vader's got night vision, and SW small craft can't just willy-nilly enter a planet's atmosphere without the threat of destruction.

Their shuttle was coming in on the night side, opposite the face of the planet where the Perilous had been destroyed. A dozen more ships flew nearby, all of them packed with rebels and as much materiel as they'd been able to load rapidly and remove from the moon base. They flew at low power and low speed, the output of their engines diffused by bafflers, all in an effort to minimize their sensor profile.

The size of the Free Ryloth movement, and a bit on ways SW ships try to disguise themselves from detection.

The freighters completed a slow flyover, then turned and head back toward the campsite. As they did, they accelerated and descended at a flat angle.

"I think perhaps they've seen what they want to see," the Emperor observed.

Noses down, the freighters began firing from blaster cannons mounted on the top and bottom of the ships, long red lines that exited the ship in superheated pusles. Trees one hundred meters from Vader and the Emperor exploded into splinters under the onslaught, and the lines cut a rapid path along the clearing toward them, putting a patchwork of smoking holes in the earth, closing in on Vader.

One with the Force, Vader held his ground and tensed for impact. Then he exploded into motion, his lightsaber humming as he spun it rapidly left and right, deflecting the powerful blaster shots off into the forest, shattering still more trees, destroying the tents, but sparring the communications array. The kinetic energy from the shots drove him backward, his boots putting furrows in the soft soil.

The Royal Guards, momentarily taken by surprise, recovered enough to plant blaster rifles against their shoulders. They fired at the freighters as the large ships sped over and past them, but the personal weapons did no harm to the shielded and armored ships.

"We should take cover in the trees, my lords!" said the captain.

"I think not," the Emperor said softly, watching the ships wheel about.

"They will come in lower this time," Vader said.

"I believe you are correct," the Emepror said. He removed his robe, took the elaborately crafted hilt of his lightsaber in hand, and ignited the blade.

Vader looked on in surprise. He seldom saw his Master so publically demonstrate his power. And he understood what it meant, of course. There must be no survivors who could bear witness. Only the Royal Guards could be allowed to live - only they could be trusted never to reveal what they'd seen, or even to talk about it among themselves.

The freighters completed their turn and accelerated back toward the clearing, their engines screaming in the otherwise quiet air. The Royal Guards shifted position to stand before the Emperor, partially shielding him with their bodies, and fired as rapidly as they could at the oncoming ships. They hit the ships again and again, but the tiny bolts did no damage.

Vader sank more deeply into the Force. Beside him, he felt his Master's power gather. He reveled in the moment, in the combined pool of their collective, unadulterated might.

The freighters opened fire, writing thick lines of plasma onto the air. The shots churned the ground, destroyed trees, heated the air of the clearing; one slammed into the chest of a Royal Guard and vaporized all of him save for his helmet.

Lost in the Force, Vader anticipated the shots that would have hit him, saw the appropriate angles of impact and deflection, and used the rapid spinning of his lightsaber to turn first one, then a second, and then a third shot not into the tree line but back at the ships, the heat and energy of the blaster shots driving him backward, warming the hilt of his weapon, a heat he could feel even through his glove. His Master did the same with his lightsaber, the graceful arcs of its red line weaving a protective shield around him and turning the second ship's shots back at it. Both ships tried to turn out of the way of the redirected shots, one turning hard left, the other hard right, but they only exposed their underbellies and engines to the deflected bolts.

Engines exploded into flame and spit smoke. His Master raised his hands, forming one into a claw emitting jagged bolts of Force lightning that connected him for a moment to the ship. Vader imagined the interior of the craft lit up with the bolts of his Master's power, the pilots screaming and writhing in pain as the dark side seared their flesh. The Emperor clenched the other hand, taking a mental hold on the ship with the Force. Vader, too, lifted a hand and reached out with the Force toward the other ship.

Vader enmeshed himself in the Force, in his seething, ever-present wrath, and used it to take hold of the freighter and drive the entire ship toward the ground. He grunted with effort, his respirator increasing his rate of breathing to account for the exertion.

The ship, its damaged engines unable to compensate enough against the downward push of Vader's power, went nose-down and streaked into the ground. Vader imagined the screams of the pilots as they watched the forest race toward them. The ship disappeared behind the tree line and exploded into a fireball that reached above the forest's canopy and caused the ground to vibrate. A cloud of black smoke rose into the darkening sky. A second boom sounded behind him, his Master having driven the second ship into the ground the same way.

So...yeah, that just happened.

Vader's armor allowed him to see in the infrared and several other spectrums, and the Royal Guards' armor, too, could compensate for low light, but the Emperor...

Vader spared a glance to his left, at his Master, who walked confidently through the darkness.

The Emperor saw clearly, saw everything, as ever.

More about Vader's low-light vision, as well as the Royal Guards, and Palpy not giving a shit about the dark.

Belkor looked out the glass canopy of the craft. Much of the bubble was lit with the heads-up display of the craft's elaborate sensor array. The bubble itself provided light amplification, so he could look out and down on the terrain as if it were dusk.

Specs on an Imperial search-and-rescue craft.

The lyleks burst through the trees, huge insectoid creatures that bounding over logs, the pair of tentacles near their mandibles squirming. Seeing Vader, the Emperor, and their guards, they hissed and rushed forward.

The guards fired, their rifles writing red streaks in the air. The bolts struck the lyleks but bounced off their carapaces, deflecting into the trees.

Vader raised a hand, seized one of the leading lyleks with the Force, and flung it sideways into the trees. It struck a tree trunk as thick around as a man, and its ridged, spiked carapace cracked open, leaving it squirming helplessly at the base of the tree.

Besides Vader, his Master gestured with both hands and jagged lines of Force lightning shot forth, striking two of the foremost lyleks, lifting the creatures from the ground and driving them backwards, tumbling, hissing, screaming in agony, dying.

More Force badassery, though in comparison to what happened earlier...

Vader raised a hand, fell into the Force, and loosed a blast of power that slammed into the lyleks on the ravine's floor, driving them backward, partially back up the ravine's side, and into those that came behind, turning the creatures' advance into a chaotic scramble of limbs and agitated clicking.

Vader unleashing a Force Wave.

Both guards immediately activated and tossed grenades; five seconds later the tunnel behind them reverberated with the sound of the explosions, lylek screams, and the rumble of falling stone. The blast wave roared from the confines of the tunnel. Vader and the Emperor used the Force to deflect the bulk of the wave from them, but the power of it drove the two Royal Guards face-first into the floor, their armor scraping along the stone.

Both Vader and Palpy forming telekinetic shields to protect themselves from physical attack.

[Vader] fell deeply into the Force and loosed a wave of power from his outstretched hand that filled the circumference of the tunnel. The blast slammed into the charging horde, cracking exoskeletons, shattering stalagmites, and driving a score or more of the lyleks in the lead backward in a shower of broken bodies and broken stones.

An even more powerful Force Wave from Vader.

Vader extended a glove hand and loosed a blast of power that blew apart two of the lyleks rushing toward him, showering those behind with gore and chunks of carapace.

See above.

Bounding off its back, he rushed among the seething mass of lyleks, heedless now of their stabbing limbs and biting teeth, his lightsaber severing legs, tentacles, heads, mandibles, covering the floor in ichor-soaked body parts. Impacts from the tentacles and legs and hulking bodies barely moved him. None penetrated his armor, and what little pain they managed to inflict could not surpass the pain he carried always within him.

Vader's armor being quite resistant to physical attack.

As if on command, the lyleks surged toward them from all sides. As one, Vader and his Master channeled the Force and unleashed blasts of power that slammed into the advancing creatures, shattering several and casting six or seven hard against the wall.

Palpy gets in on the fun of blasting lyleks to bits with TK.

Below, an explosion of Force lightning shredded a handful of lyleks and left his Master standing in the center of a circle of charred, dead creatures.

Of course he can also blast them to bit with electricity, 'cause the Emperor rolls like that.

He threw his lightsaber at her open mouth, guiding it with the Force, causing it to spin as rapidly as a rotor as it flew into her gullet. She gagged, recoiled, one good eye wide with pain and confusion, as Vader maintained his mental hold on his spinning blade, cutting her apart from the inside out. Desperately, instinctively, she drove the spiked, poisoned tip of another tentacle at his chest.

Enmeshed in the Force, he caught the spike in his gauntleted fist and stopped it before it reached his armor. He grunted with pain, with exertion, the thick, muscular appendage of the giant creature straining against his Force-fueled strength. He was the stronger, and stared into her face as his lightsaber tore through her innards and his Master's lightning charred her flesh.

She screamed again in a final burst of agony, and the hulking remains of her body collapsed to the floor, taking Vader, clutched now in a limp tentacle, with her. He hit the floor in a crouch along with the bulk of her carcass, shook off the tentacle, and recalled his lightsaber to his hand. The blade cut through her carcass and returned to his hand, slick with fluid.

Vader simultaneously controlling his saber with TK, inside the huge creature's body no less, while using the Force to increase his strength to fight it off.

[Abacus]

There was a moment there in the book where, during the part where Vader and the Emperor were being attacked for the first time after crash landing, one of the two surviving Royal Guards is hit by a ship laser. Then a few paragraphs later the Royal Guard is back to being alive; as if the writer forgot he'd killed one off. I'll have to go back and re-read to find the exact paragraph, but it struck me as odd when I was doing my first read through.

Highly enjoyable book overall.

[Galvatron]

I appreciated Vader's seeming reluctance to casually murder an innocent Twi'lek girl. I enjoy seeing occasional glimmers of morality under his facade of evil from time to time.

With preternatural speed the Emperor drew, ignited, and slashed at the girl with his lightsaber, but Vader had sensed his Master’s intent and moved with greater speed, igniting his own blade and intercepting his Master’s blow before it could land.

Paul S. Kemp (2015-03-10T07:00:00+00:00). Lords of the Sith: Star Wars (Kindle Locations 4669-4670). Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey Spectra. Kindle Edition.

[Vance]

Examples of both atmosphere and space velocities. The repair ship is able to get clear of the outer atmosphere in moments and will rendezvous with the ISD, currently on the outer edge of the star system, in an hour.

Hey, how do you know the ISD is at the outer edge of the system?

[Balrog]

Examples of both atmosphere and space velocities. The repair ship is able to get clear of the outer atmosphere in moments and will rendezvous with the ISD, currently on the outer edge of the star system, in an hour.

Hey, how do you know the ISD is at the outer edge of the system?

As the Perilous emerged from hyperspace on the outer edge of Ryloth's system.....