Inferno
| Inferno | |
| Legacy of the Force [6] | |
| Denning, Troy | |
| Random House Publishing Group (2008) | |
| Tags: | Star Wars, Legacy of the Force, 40-41.5 ABY Star Warsttt Legacy of the Forcettt 40-41.5 ABYttt |
Luke Skywalker wanted to unify the Jedi order and bring peace to the universe. Instead his wife Mara lies dead at the hands of an unknown assassin, his wayward nephew Jacen has seized control of the Galactic Alliance, and the galaxy has exploded in all-out civil war.
With Luke consumed by grief, Jacen Solo works quickly to consolidate his power and jumpstart his plan to take over the Jedi. Convinced he's the only one who can save the galaxy, Jacen will do whatever it takes, even ambush his own parents.
With the Rebel confederacy driving deep into the Core to attack Coruscant and the Jedi under siege, Luke must reassert his position. Only he can lead the Jedi through this crisis, but it means solving the toughest problem Luke's ever faced. Does he fight alongside his nephew Jacen, a tyrant who's illegally taken over the GA, or does he join the rebels to smash the Galactic Alliance he helped create?
Features a bonus section following the novel...
Contents
preview of star wars: legacy of the force: fury
For Jeffrey Olsen
Neighbor and friend
acknowledgments
Many people contributed to this book in ways large and small. I would like to thank them all, especially the following: Andria Hayday for her support, critiques, and many valuable suggestions; James Luceno, Leland Chee, Howard Roffman, Amy Gary, Pablo Hidalgo, and Keith Clayton for their fine contributions during our brainstorming sessions—initial and otherwise; Shelly Shapiro and Sue Rostoni for
everything,
from their remarkable patience to their insightful reviewing and editing to the wonderful ideas they put forth both inside and outside of the brainstorming sessions—and especially for being so great to work with; to my fellow writers, Aaron Allston and Karen Traviss, for all their hard work—coordinating stories
and
writing them—and their myriad other contributions to this book and the series; to Laura Jorstad for her attention to detail; to all the people at Lucasfilm and Del Rey who make being a writer so much fun; and, finally, to George Lucas for letting us take his galaxy in this exciting new direction.
dramatis personae
Alema Rar; Jedi Knight (female Twi’lek)
Ben Skywalker; Junior GAG member (male human)
Han Solo; captain,
Millennium Falcon
(male human)
Jacen Solo; Sith Lord (male human)
Jae Juun; intelligence operative (male Sullustan)
Jagged Fel; bounty hunter (male human)
Jaina Solo; Jedi Knight (female human)
Leia Organa Solo; Jedi Knight (female human)
Luke Skywalker; Jedi Grand Master (male human)
Saba Sebatyne; Jedi Master (female Barabel)
Salle Serpa; GAG major (male human)
Tahiri Veila; Jedi Knight (female human)
Tarfang; master spy (male Ewok)
Tenel Ka; Hapan Queen Mother (female human)
Zekk; Jedi Knight (male human)
prologue
The scream and roar of combat began to reverberate through the empty grashal, and wisps of battle smoke materialized in the green beams of their helmet lamps. Jacen—now Darth Caedus, he reminded himself—continued to pull into the past, one glove clamped around the arm of Tahiri’s pressure suit, the other anchored to the rim of a blaster-pitted gestation bin. The brown stains on the bin’s exterior grew wet and red, and crouching forms started to manifest in the surrounding darkness.
As he drew more heavily on the Force, the sallow light of glow-lichen began to shine down through the thickening smoke, revealing the cloning lab in which Jacen’s brother, Anakin, had died. Where there had been only barren vacuum a few moments before, now a pulsing jungle of white nutrient vines corkscrewed up from the gestation bins that lined the grashal floor. Streaks of color and darkness were flashing past in both directions, the air swirling with razor bugs and the floor shaking with grenade detonations.
“I hope I’m ready for this,” Tahiri said. Over the suit comm, her voice sounded brittle and uncertain. “Maybe my first flow-walk shouldn’t have been into the middle of a battle.”
Jacen knew it was not the battle that made Tahiri nervous, but he saw no advantage in forcing her to admit it. “We’ll be fine,” he said. “We’re ghosts here. Even if a Yuuzhan Vong sees us, he can’t do us harm.”
“It’s
us
doing harm that worries me,” Tahiri replied. “What if we change something we shouldn’t—something that alters the present?”
“That’s unlikely.” Actually, Jacen should have said
impossible.
Any change they made in the past would be corrected by the Force, and the flow would return to its present course. But he did not explain that to Tahiri. He needed her to believe they were taking a small but terrible chance, risking temporal catastrophe to deal with her unresolved grief. “I won’t let you do anything wrong. Just relax.”
“
Unlikely
isn’t very relaxing,” Tahiri replied. “Not when you’re talking about the fate of the galaxy.”
“Trust me,” Jacen said. “I’ve been flow-walking for years, and the galaxy hasn’t come to an end yet.”
“Not that we know of.”
Tahiri turned toward the back of the grashal, where Anakin and the rest of the strike team were fighting through a breach in the wall. Their brown jumpsuits were blood-crusted and tattered, and their faces were haggard with fear and exhaustion—yet also tight with determination and resolve. This had been the objective of their mission, the cloning lab where the Yuuzhan Vong created the voxyn that had killed so many Jedi, and they would not leave until it was destroyed.
The Force began to hum with Tahiri’s anger and sadness, and her hand drifted toward her lightsaber. Jacen could sense how she ached to do more than give Anakin the final kiss she had denied him at the time—how she longed to ignite her weapon and somehow prevent his approaching death.
A trio of thermal grenades detonated overhead, filling the dome with orange brilliance and spraying hot shrapnel in all directions. Nutrient vines fell in ropes of fire, and Yuuzhan Vong dropped to the floor in writhing heaps. Tahiri cringed and turned to dive for cover, but Jacen jerked her back. Shrapnel flew past without striking the pair, and flames licked at their pressure suits without melting anything.
“I
told
you we can’t be harmed here,” Jacen said.
“You also told me it was a coincidence we crossed paths on Anakin’s anniversary day,” Tahiri replied. “That doesn’t mean I believe you.”
Jacen frowned behind his visor. “You think I
arranged
to bump into you?”
“Come on, Jacen,” Tahiri said. “I’m a smart girl.”
Jacen hesitated, wondering how much she knew about what he had done a week earlier, whether she had linked their trip here to his aunt’s murder on Kavan. It was foolish to think he could kill the wife of
Luke Skywalker
and avoid discovery indefinitely, yet he
had
to. Jacen had foreseen that the Confederation’s boldness would soon put victory within the Alliance’s grasp—but only if the Jedi did not interfere with his plans.