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| Author: Karen Traviss Cover Artist: Jason Felix Publisher: Del Rey Release Date: May 29, 2007 Media Types: Hardcover, abridged audiobook, e-book Pages: 367 ISBN: 0345477405 Era: Legacy Timeline: 40 ABY |
Ben returns from his mission to Ziost piloting the Sith Meditation Sphere aboard the Anakin Solo and giving theAmulet of Kalara to his cousin, Jacen Solo. With the ship put under restriction by Jacen's crew, Lumiya decides to take the ship under his supervision and reminds him that the time for his sacrifice is nearing.
On Mandalore, Boba Fett declares the nation's neutrality in the war before he sets out with his granddaughter, Mirta Gev, to find the clone with the gray gloves that she mentioned when she first met him. They find the clone, Jaing, and ask for a sample of his blood so that it can be used under experimentation in order to find a cure for Fett's cell degeneration. Jaing refuses, leaving Fett and Mirta empty-handed as they return to their home planet. But they are greeted by the discovery of new lodes of beskar that was revealed thanks to the Yuuzhan Vong's attack during thewar against them. The Mandalorians decide to make new invulnerable ships called with the new lodes, and thanks to Fett, they decide to side with the Verpines on Roche against Murkhana, as Roche declared Murkhana to be selling similar products in the market. What the Mandalorians want in return is trade with Roche. And because Murkhana is a Galactic Alliance state, it appears as though that the Mandalorians will be siding with theConfederation in the war. In the meantime with Fett, he meets the man nicknamed Kad'ika, whose real name is Venku, and he gives him the cure to his degeneration for reorganizing Mandalore as a true leader. Fett's arc in the novel, after being cured, comes to an end when he realizes that his ex-wife, Sintas Vel, was not dead, but frozen in carbonite for 38 years.
In the Galactic Alliance, Jacen decides to cement more of his power in the government by improving weaponry conditions for the Galactic Alliance Guard. He also assigns Ben with fellow GAG agents Jori Lekauf and Lon Shevuto the planet Vulpter in order to assassinate Corellian Prime Minister Dur Gejjen while he is on a meeting. But GAG also finds out that the nature of Gejjen's meeting is to discuss terms of peace with GA Chief of State Cal Omaswithout the consent of the Alliance government. Jacen and his military ally Supreme Commander Cha Niathal decide to plot a coup against Omas and take over the government for the sake of Coruscant and the rest of the GA until the war ends. Then, on Vulpter, Ben assassinates Gejjen by shooting him in the head, but before he is able to escape with Lekauf and Shevu, Vulpter Security begins to check everyone in the area for weapons to root out Gejjen's assassin. Lekauf takes the weapon that Ben used to kill Gejjen from him and acts as a Corellian terrorist who was against Gejjen. He backs up to a Corellian shuttle with an innocent woman as a hostage, and after letting the hostage go as Lekauf enters the shuttle, he blows himself up to Ben's horror. Ben and Shevu escape. Then, following the assassination, Jacen arrests Omas after he returns to Coruscant, and he and Niathal formally declare their takeover of the government, though neither of them are formally the Chief of State.
Ben, still grieving and blaming himself for Lekauf's death, eventually finds out that Jacen and Lumiya are working together after overhearing a conversation between them (the only reason that Jacen did not sense him in the Force was because he taught Ben to hide in the Force like he does). Ben then tells his mother about this, and she confronts Jacen to try to coerce him into coming back as a genuine Jedi. But Jacen refuses, prompting Mara to plan his death, as she follows him through Lumiya and her Sith ship via a tracking beacon placed upon the latter. Jacen visits his lover Tenel Ka Djo and his daughter Allana on Hapes, and Lumiya, through the Force, finds out about Jacen's love for them. Despite this, she does not prompt him to choose either of them as his sacrifice, though he does try to kill her for this knowledge, and then Mara attacks Jacen in a StealthX X-wing starfighter duel while Ben captures Lumiya and the Sith ship. However, Mara's StealthX is shot down and she lands on Kavan, luring Jacen to hunt her down. They fight each other in a sewer tunnel and Jacen wins by killing Mara via a poisonous dart in the leg. Mara accuses Jacen as being as bad as the late Emperor Palpatine, despite Jacen's claims that he is trying to improve the galaxy, before she dies. Her death is sensed by both Ben and Luke, and they are thrown into shocked grief. Lumiya, meanwhile, feels a turning point in the Force which wordlessly tells her that Jacen has made his sacrifice, and he is now powerful enough to be a Sith Lord. Luke immediately blames Lumiya for Mara's death, tracks her down onto Terephon and duels her. He wins the duel by decapitating Lumiya, believing that he has avenged Mara. The Sith Meditation Sphere is stolen, and Ben later takes Mara's corpse back to Cilghal for evidence as to her death, where Ben tells Luke that he was with Lumiya at the time Mara died, therefore, Lumiya could not have killed Mara. With that, Luke falls into even deeper grief, for not only is Mara dead now, but he killed the wrong person, and he killed Lumiya for the wrong reasons. In conclusion, Lumiya has hurt Luke more than she ever could have in life.
In the aftermath of Mara's death, Jacen acquires new Force powers that allow him to direct GA battles with precise accuracy. He then names himself Darth Caedus, the new ruler of the Sith.
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