Death Troopers

A somewhat Darker and Edgier Star Wars horror novel by Joe Schreiber that utilises one of the horror genre's most beloved elements - zombies. Aboard the Imperial Prison Barge Purge, the engines break down in the middle of nowhere. Only place to repair them is a seemingly-deserted Star Destroyer nearby. After a team is sent over to find the parts half of them go missing, and the other half bring back a deadly and seemingly-incurable plague to the rest of the guards and inmates. Zombies ensue.

The story follows six characters - young brothers Trig and Kale Longo, resident doctor and sole female occupant Zahara Cody, sadistic Captain of the Guard Jareth Sartoris and Han Solo and Chewbacca, who are found halfway through the novel locked in solitary confinement. Together they attempt to escape Purge without succumbing to the ravenous horde of the undead that is roaming both the barge and the nearby Destroyer.

Tropes used in Death Troopers include:

• Always Save the Girl: Appears to be subverted when it is assumed that Zahara has died, but it then turns out the corpse they thought was hers just belonged to an underfed, girly-looking Imperial cannibal.
• And I Must Scream: Pretty much everything that happens once the security team returns from the Star Destroyer. Screaming is also used by the zombies as something of a communicative measure between them.
• Apocalypse How: Initially a Type 3, with everyone except the six protagonists either dead or zombified, but then moves into a Type 3A when it turns out the virus was manufactured as a bioweapon by the Empire.
  • Typical. Though possibly justified, since the Empire can just make more.
• Apocalyptic Log: The Twitter accounts used in the novel's marketing, including one used by an eventually-zombified stormtrooper as he describes each step of the virus infecting his body.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Used with Warden Kloth, who is, quite simply, a nasty bastard.
• Army of the Dead: Duh.
• Asshole Victim: Everyone except for 6 people end up dead. The people who die are the warden, the inmates, and the guards. A number of these people were assholes who totally deserved what they got.
• Asskicking Equals Authority: It is inmplied that Sartoris's unbridled brutality is part of the reason he leads the guards on Purge.
• Axe Crazy: The zombies, to the point that they learn how to use rudimentary weapons and even get as far as flying X-Wings before they're halted.
• Badass Normal: Han Solo.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished / Beauty Equals Goodness: Played straight with Zahara Cody, with the former being subverted right near the end.
• Better to Die Than Be Killed: Several officers on Purge commit suicide after being infected with the virus, in order to avoid the painful death that awaits them.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Sartoris. He turns on both his own boss and on the men he finds in the Freebird, although with the latter this is understandable since they did try to eat him.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Sartoris's trademark.
• Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: Used in the chase between Trig and a zombified Kale.
• Cool Old Guy: Von Longo was apparently one of these.
• Darker and Edgier: In every way possible. This is not your average Star Wars novel.
• Death Is Cheap: Well we are dealing with zombies here...
• Defiant to the End: Sartoris.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Zahara.
• Finish Him!: Trig is forced to do this to Kale after he becomes a zombie.
• Five-Man Band: Han is The Hero, Chewie is The Lancer and The Big Guy, Zahara is The Smart Guy, Sartoris is The Other Big Guy and Trig and Kale take turns being The Chick.
• Heel Realization: Gorrister, right before Sartoris throws him to the zombies, gets a horrified My God, What Have I Done? look on his face.
  • Later on, Sartoris invokes the trope: "Your father was a good man. I'm not."
• Heroic Sacrifice: Sartoris jumps off the lifter used to save Trig, Han and Chewie, down to a hoard of literally thousands of zombies, just so the lifter has enough weight and thrust to escape.
• Kick the Dog: Trig and Kale find the only escape pod remaining onboard. Just as they are about to enter it they are cornered by Sartoris, who threatens both of them (keeping in mind Trig is merely 13 years old) with a mouthful of blaster bolts if they take the pod. He then uses it to escape himself. First he kills their dad, then he leaves them to die at the hands of the ravenous undead. What a dick.
• Killed Off for Real: Seemingly done at least three times with Aur Myss. Eventually it sticks.
• Meaningful Name: Meta example: The writer is Joe Schreiber.
• No Party Like a Donner Party: This is what happened aboard the Freebird before Sartoris arrived. They later try to include him.
• Not Using the Zed Word: Averted. Han Solo uses it once, but it's within the last ten pages after everyone's escaped.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Oh boy is there ever. Major spoiler alerts ahead: While not nessessarially fast, they are by no means slow. Unlike most zombie outbreaks, this one is airborne, and it seems less than 1 in 100 are immune, as in a prison barge with 500 prisoners and an unknown amount of crew, only 4 people are immediately immune. Get bitten and immunity means jack. Shooting them in the head does not kill them. The zombie does not need to have to have died from the virus to reanimate. The fact the virus seems to be SENTIENT, alluding to a virus that is possibly force sensitive. Last, but not least, they LEARN. Oh boy do they learn, seeing as how they go from not knowing how to fire a blaster to deadly accurate within minutes. An antibody can actually be made, preventing you from getting infected from the airborne virus (though possibly immunity from bites as well, we never see someone with the antivirus get bitten). Finally, unlike most outbreaks, if they get too far from the source of the virus, they die.
• Redemption Equals Death: Sartoris.
• Redshirt Army: The crews of both the Purge and the Star Destroyer.
• Shout-Out: A few real-world examples - for starters, the vessel that the cannibal Imperial officers find is called the Freebird.
  • The penultimate chapter of the novel is called Death and All His Friends. This also ties into the soundtrack listing Schreiber put on his website, where it is one of the tracks mentioned.
• Took a Level in Badass: Trig, right after he kills a zombified Kale.
• Vasquez Always Dies: Rare gender-flipped example: Kale, the more spirited, proactive, generally pretty Badass Longo gets his face half blown off and turned into a zombie; Trig, the more useless, tag-along brother, survives
• Villain Protagonist: Sartoris.
• The Virus: The reason all but six of Purge's occupants become undead. Turns out to be a new bioweapon developed by Imperial R n D that gets way out of hand.