Summary
The classic Star Wars heroes are featured in an all-new adventure. Here, young Luke Skywalker realizes the path his life must take: to revive the Jedi Order to protect the galaxy from evil.
Author Notes
Matthew Stoveris the New York Times bestselling author of the Star Wars novels Revenge of the Sith , Shatterpoint , and T he New Jedi Order: Traitor , as well as Caine Black Knife , The Blade of Tyshalle , and Heroes Die . He is an expert in several martial arts. Stover lives outside Chicago.
Excerpts
CHAPTER 1 The Corellian Queen was a legend: the greatest luxury liner ever to ply the spaceways, an interstellar pleasure palace forever beyond the grasp of all but the galaxy's super-elite--beings whose wealth transcended description. Rumor had it that for the price of a single cocktail in one of the Queen 's least- exclusive dining clubs, one might buy a starship; for the price of a meal, one could buy not only the starship, but the port in which it docked, and the factory that had built it. A being could not simply pay for a berth on the Corellian Queen; mere wealth would never suffice. To embark upon the ultimate journey into hedonistic excess, one first had to demonstrate that one's breeding and manners were as exquisite as would be the pain of paying one's bar bill. All of which made the Corellian Queen one of the most irresistible terrorist targets ever: who better to terrorize than the elite of the Elite, the Powers among the powerful, the greatest of the Great? And so when some presumably unscrupulous routing clerk in the vast midreaches of the Nebula Line corporation quietly offered for sale, to select parties from Kindlabethia to Nar Shaddaa, a hint as to the route of the Corellian Queen 's upcoming cruise, it attracted considerable interest. Two pertinent facts remained concealed, however, from the winning bidder. The first pertinent fact was that this presumably unscrupulous routing clerk was neither unscrupulous nor, in fact, a routing clerk, but was a skilled and resourceful agent of the intelligence service of the New Republic. The second pertinent fact was that the Corellian Queen was not cruising at all that season, having been replaced by a breakaway disposable shell built to conceal a substantial fraction of a star fighter wing, led by--as was customary in such operations--the crack pilots of Rogue Squadron. It was approximately the moment that R4-G7 squalled a proximity alarm through his X-wing's sensor panel and his HUD lit up with image codes for six TIE Defenders on his tail that Lieutenant Derek "Hobbie" Klivian, late of the Alliance to Restore Freedom to the Galaxy, currently of the New Republic, began to suspect that Commander Antilles's brilliant ambush had never been brilliant at all, not even a little, and he said so. In no uncertain terms. Stripped of its blistering profanity, his comment was "Wedge? This plan was stupid. You hear me? Stupid, stupid, stu YOW-- !" The yow was a product of multiple cannon hits that disintegrated his right dorsal cannon and most of the extended wing it had been attached to. This kicked his fighter into a tumble that he fought with both hands on the yoke and both feet kicking attitude jets and almost had under control until the pair of the Defenders closest on his tail blossomed into expanding spheres of flame and debris fragments. The twin shock fronts overtook him at exactly the wrong instant and sent him flipping end- over- end straight at another Defender formation streaking toward him head- on. Then tail- on, then head- on again, and so forth. His ship's comlink crackled as Wedge Antilles's fighter flashed past him close enough that he could see the grin on the commander's face. "That's 'stupid plan, sir, ' Lieutenant." "I suppose you think that's funny." "Well, if he doesn't," put in Hobbie's wingman, "I sure do." "When I want your opinion, Janson, I'll dust your ship and scan for it in the wreckage." The skewed whirl of stars around his cockpit gave his stomach a yank that threatened to make the slab of smoked terrafin loin Excerpted from Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover, Matthew STOVER All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.