Kaarde was "played" by Zahn himself for a Decipher card.
That's Shannon Baksa as Mara Jade and Michael A. Stackpole as Corran Horn, too.
On the topic of SOTE, it'll always have a place in my heart as "good Star Wars", even though it really isn't the best. I played the game to death, and read the book dozens of times. I think the "multimedia campaign" really did a good job of sticking it in my head.