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Author: Aaron Allston
Cover Artist: Jason Felix
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: February 27, 2007
Media Types: Paperback,
abridged audiobook, e-book
Pages: 337
ISBN: 0345477537
Era: Legacy
Timeline: 40 ABY |
The novel starts off several weeks after the Battle of Hapes with Jacen Solo alone in his office aboard the Anakin Solo, unable to sleep not because he feels guilty about firing on the Millennium Falcon near the end of the aforementioned battle, but because he feels like he should feel guilty. Then his mother, Leia, appears and uses a Force wave to shatter the viewport of Jacen's office, sucking them both out into the vacuum of space. Then Jacen wakes up, finding out that it was just a dream.
Later, a group of smugglers led by Captain Uran Lavint try to run the blockade of Corellia, but they are easily captured even after the plan they made was supposed to have been fullproof against the Galactic Alliance forces making up the blockade. Afterward, Lavint meets Jacen for her money in return for betraying her comrades, but takes her ship, the Breathe My Jets as an Alliance asset, assigning Lavint a new ship, the Duracrud. For this, Lavint asks Jacen what it was like to once be a hero, and in retaliation, after she leaves, Jacen assigns for the Duracrud to have a hyperdrive malfunction so that she will be stranded in the middle of nowhere when she gets out ofhyperspace. This will be just for her to learn a lesson about insulting others, assuming that she survives. One hour later, Jacen meets up with Corellian Admiral Wedge Antilles to discuss terms of ending the Second Galactic Civil War. But the meeting goes nowhere as Wedge refuses Corellia's surrender, but tells Jacen, as a friend, something that Wes Janson once told him back when they were fighting in the Rebel Alliance - when you have lost your sense of humor over something, you have become a fanatic, reflecting on Jacen's recent personality in the course of the war. With that, Wedge leaves, leaving Jacen to wonder how he changed from a warm, humorous boy to that of the cold, logical man that he has become. He correlates this with his captivity with the Yuuzhan Vong and the lateVergere, which changed him from a thoughtful, positive young man to that of the Sith he will become. With that, Jacen finally rests, knowing where the previous Jacen has gone, and that he will not miss him.
On Coruscant, as the remainder of the GA fleet dispatched at the Battle of Hapes returns, Jedi Master Kyp Durronmeets up with Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker to bring them to see Chief of State Cal Omas and Supreme Commander Cha Niathal to discuss promoting Jacen to be a Jedi Master. When the Jedi trio discuss this matter with Omas and Niathal, the latter two say that it will boost public opinion and relations between the GA government and the New Jedi Order, and this idea had been inspired by something that Kyp said back in Bloodlines. Kyp tells Omas and Niathal that it was a part of taras-chi, a form of debate among Jedi Masters where they throw in potential solutions for certain problems, and then the opposing Masters would counter that suggestion with their own arguments. They would then argue until they find a solid solution that they could all agree on, and Kyp suggesting Jacen become a Master was just that - a suggestion. Regardless, the three Jedi do tell Omas and Niathal that they will consider promoting Jacen to a full Master, and then leave. Afterward, Kyp reveals to Luke and Mara that taras-chi is just a bug in the space mines of Kessel. Regardless, Luke still thinks that taras-chi, as a form of debate, is a good idea and that they will actually ingrain it into the actual New Jedi Order.
On Coronet City, the capital of Corellia, Wedge meets up with Five World Prime Minister Dur Gejjen and his cohorts to discuss Corellia's recent actions of trying to assist the Heritage Council with overthrowing Hapan Queen MotherTenel Ka Djo. Wedge had not been apprised of the failed coup, and questions the morality of the Corellian government trying to kill foreign rulers rather than fighting for its own freedom and independence from the Galactic Alliance. So Gejjen and his cohorts decide to downgrade Wedge from Admiral to a civilian volunteer in the Corellian military, and he will be replaced by someone younger, who had led the Corellian forces with the Heritage Council fleet to the Battle of Hapes, Admiral Genna Delpin. But rather than being humiliated like this, Wedge decides to quit altogether from the Corellian military, and agrees to send a farewell address to the people of Coronet. However, now knowing what lengths that the likes of Gejjen will go through for Corellia to be a sovereign state, Wedge prepares himself to escape Corellia following his farewell address so that none of Gejjen's assassins will be able to kill him.
On Gyndine, where Lando Calrissian owns a refueling and repair station, the heavily damaged Millennium Falconlands with Lando welcoming Han and Leia Organa Solo, but dispenses with any humorous greetings when he sees how wounded Han is and how distressed both the Solos are. He takes them in and treats them after they tell Lando what happened several weeks before. He then decides for the Falcon to be repaired free of charge for old times' sake and to help the Solos return to Corellia to find out who in the Corellian government gave the authorization for a Corellian fleet to try to overthrow Tenel Ka. They, under assumed names, take Lando's new ship, the Love Commander, to Corellia for that purpose, which coincides with Wedge declaring his retirement from the Corellian military. After his speech is over, he sneaks out of Prime Minister Gejjen's company with the help of his wife, Iella. But Wedge is soon attacked by figures who appear to be Jedi Knights who are easily defeated by those helping Wedge and Iella escape - Wedge's younger daughter Myri and Corran and Mirax Terrik Horn. However, they are unable to actually escape the planet, but take refuge in the Elmas private spaceport. Back with Han, Leia and Lando, they finally arrive in Coronet and meet up, in a bar, with the secret turncoat in Gejjen's company, Denjax Teppler. Teppler reveals that it was Gejjen himself who issued for the Corellian fleet to help the Heritage Council try to overthrow Tenel Ka. After providing that information, the foursome are attacked by the Corellian police, and a blaster fight ensues while Leia cuts a hole in the bar floor with her lightsaber. They drop into that hole to evade the police, and Teppler discreetly leaves their company to rejoin Gejjen, seeing as how he came disguised to provide them the information. Han, Leia and Lando retreat back to the Love Commander, which is at the Elmas spaceport with Wedge, his family and the Horns. Both parties join up with each other to evade the police in their respective ships and escape Corellia, even penetrating the GA blockade to meet up with Booster Terrik. With Booster as an ally, they would be able to use his Star Destroyer known as the Errant Venture as a base of operations for GA soldiers and use what they can find of them to discover who is pulling the strings behind the war. This had been influenced by the vague idea that most of the characters have that the nature of the war extends beyond the political and ideal differences between the GA and Corellia.
Back at the Home, Lumiya returns, heavily wounded from her duel with Luke at Roqoo Depot. Despite this, she is able to gradually heal and communicate to Jacen via the Force about her survival and his plans to further his development into a Sith Lord. They discuss the potential that Ben Skywalker has that can make him his apprentice rather than Jacen's sacrifice to become the Dark Lord of the Sith and bring peace to the galaxy. But they agree that Ben needs to be tested. So Jacen and Lumiya plan a mission for Ben, sending the information to him in secret via a Jedi apprentice named Seha Dorvald. Ben is tasked to retrieve the Amulet of Kalara, which has the power to turn auser of the Force invisible from others, from the moon of Almania known as Drewwa in the offices of Tendrando Arms. This is to prevent any dark side user from claiming this object for his/her potential gains. Without anyone else knowing, not even his parents who continue their search for Lumiya, Ben arrives at Drewwa to accomplish his mission. However, when he finds that he needs to eat, his credits somehow have no value to get the food that he needs. So he is forced to steal credits via his Force abilities and is not caught. Then, after being fed, he goes about his mission to find the Amulet of Kalara, but instead of finding the Amulet, he finds a note from an individual namedFaskus Olvidan from the planet Ziost that claims that he had taken the Amulet. Ben then steals a Y-wing, making sure that no one catches him, and flies to Ziost with an R2 unit named Shaker. And all this time, Ben is being observed by a Bothan named Byalfin Dyur, who is under Lumiya's payroll, and his shipmates, so that when Ben begins his search for Faskus, Dyur's party destroys the Y-wing, stranding Ben and Shaker on Ziost.
Regardless, Ben and Shaker continue their mission and find the campsite set up by Faskus. Ben attacks him and manages to take the Amulet of Kalara. However, he finds that Faskus has been mortally wounded when his ship was shot down by a TIE fighter, and that he didn't steal the Amulet, but it was given to him by a Bothan (Dyur) who told him to take the Amulet to a cave. Faskus dies from his injuries, leaving his daughter, Kiara, an orphan. Ben decides to leave Kiara behind to fulfill his mission of bringing the Amulet to Jacen by finding a shuttle on Ziost, but his conscience, and a voice of reason from Shaker, has him take Kiara along after they bury her father. But during their trek to find a ship, Ben begins to hear voices that tell him to eat Kiara so that he could survive long enough to fulfill his mission. However, he refuses, and this furthers his starvation as the trek continues. And what makes the journey all the more difficult is Dyur's party trying to kill him via the TIE fighter which brought Faskus's ship down. This is because, after Dyur reported that Ben is making inadequate progress to leave Ziost, Lumiya finds that Ben is unworthy to be Jacen's Sith apprentice and orders Ben's death. But he manages to fend off Dyur's machinations to make it inside a mountain where he finds a peculiar ship that runs not on technology or navigation, but by thought and feeling alone. Ben takes pilot of the ship, uses it to blast off of Ziost with Kiara and Shaker and defeat Dyur's forces with the ship's weaponry. Afterward, Ben tells the ship to take them back to Coruscant, and it disappears to hyperspace for the destination.
Meanwhile, Lumiya continues to manipulate the course of the war, this time on Corellia's side. She tricks such worlds as Bothawui and Commenor, once avid supporters of the Galactic Alliance, into betraying the GA and siding with the Corellian Confederation, in particular using Alliance Admiral Matric Klauskin as a key figure in her machinations; Klauskin later retires from the military service after completing his actions for Lumiya. In what commences as the Battle of Corellia, the Corellians and their new allies destroy the blockade of Corellia and scatter the GA forces out of the system, and then plan to hold a vote as to who should be the Supreme Commander of the Confederation forces. For this, Jacen, who was tricked by the Skywalkers into using the Errant Venture as an information hub on the GA's side, encounters Captain Uran Lavint again, who survived from being stranded thanks to the help of Alema Rar. Jacen tasks Lavint again with the promise of no treachery on his part to find out where the Confederation meeting to elect their new Supreme Commander will take place. Elsewhere, the Skywalkers come across evidence in their search for Lumiya that suggests that the woman who took Jacen, Ben and the late Nelani Dinn to the Home wasn't Lumiya herself, but rather her daughter, Brisha Syo. When they confront Jacen about this, Jacen lies by giving an estimated guess that it was Ben who fought Lumiya's daughter when he thought he was dueling the dark side apparition of Mara. And now aboard the Venture, thanks to Lavint, Alema continues her revenge plot against Leia by locating Han so that she can kill him and bring great sorrow to Leia.
Concerning Leia's position in the New Jedi Order, as she has sided with Corellia in the war, the Jedi Council agrees that she is still a recognizable Jedi Knight despite her turncoat decisions. And besides, the Skywalkers go aboard the Venture to reunite with the Solos to get the information that they, the Antilles family and the Horns have found. Meanwhile, Jagged Fel arrives on Coruscant to meet up with the Skywalkers to set up a task force to hunt down and neutralize Alema Rar. Jaina Solo and Zekk become Jag's teammates in hunting down Alema, and while Jaina and Jag gradually rekindle the old flame of their relationship that ended prior to the Swarm War, Zekk becomes the jealous lover and tries to impose his way through the relationship, despite setting aside his feelings for Jaina in theprevious novel. Regardless of hard feelings between the three, they all agree to work well enough to take down Alema. An opportunity arises when they are notified of her presence aboard the Errant Venture. Teaming up with Leia and Corran Horn, the Alema Rar Task Force tracks down and tries to eliminate her while she evades them all throughout the ship. Despite her pursuers' efforts, Alema escapes by taking the Duracrud with her, stranding Lavint aboard the Venture. She is promised a new ship by Han and Leia when she provides the information that the Confederation forces are setting up their election of their Supreme Commander at Gilatter VIII, which she also passes on to Jacen for the GA.
The GA forces arrive in secret to Gilatter VIII with Jacen and Lumiya acting as spies to sabotage the election of the Supreme Commander. But it turns out to have been a trap set up by the already-elected Supreme Commander Turr Phennir who used the election meeting to lure Jacen and the GA forces into an obliteration. Jacen manages to warn the Jedi in the GA fleet about the trap, and the Jedi in turn send this information to the rest of the fleet as the Confederation forces attack. Between the two forces, it becomes an all-out brawl that results in the Battle of Gilatter VIII. Meanwhile, despite all that he has done throughout the war, the Skywalkers and Solos feel obliged to save Jacen from the Confederation guards attacking him. Lumiya, still in disguise as an obscure partner to Jacen, meets up with Alema and the two women decide to attack the Skywalkers and Solos. Alema fights Leia, who is assisted by Han as he shoots at the Twi'lek, Mara fights the guards with Jacen and Luke duels Lumiya again. But this time, Lumiya shows that she is not doing anything to get revenge on Luke, but wants to save the galaxy. She even holds out her hand peacefully for Luke to touch, and nothing happens, indicating no animosity from Lumiya to Luke. However, as the battle proceeds, Alema uses an autopilot in the Duracrud to smash into the false election meeting room. Lumiya and Alema escape, and so do the Skywalkers and Solos. However, they are shocked to learn that, even when they risked their lives to save him, Jacen abandoned them for the GA fleet. He returns to the Anakin Soloto be in the battle, and when it is over, the Battle of Gilatter VIII turns out to be a stalemate between the GA and the Confederation, despite the Confederation looking upon it as a victory.
The novel ends with Jacen meeting with Lumiya again in his office aboard the Anakin to think about the ultimate sacrifice that he will need to make in order to become a Sith Lord, and he considers his parents; whether he loves them or not, Jacen figures that the galaxy will be better off with both of them dead.
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