When The Phantom Menace debuted in May 2000, its most popular character was the double-lightsaber-wielding Darth Maul, the centerpiece of Darth Maul: Saboteur and the newly written full-length hardcover novel Star Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, by Michael Reaves. Darth Maul: Saboteur introduces characters featured in Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, where Darth Sidious meets secretly with his Neimoidian contacts in the Trade Federation to plan the blockade of the planet Naboo. But Hath Monchar, a member of the delegation, is missing. Sidious does not need his Force-honed instincts to suspect betrayal and orders his apprentice Darth Maul to hunt the traitor down.