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"Dark Apprentice": Book 2 in the Jedi Academy Trilogy


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chapter 1:

On the living moon of Yavin IV, Luke Skywalker watches a shuttle approach while he ponders great things. He has a repository of Jedi lore that has made him realize how much Yoda and Obi-Wan did not have time to teach him.

Gantoris and Streen wander in from the jungle and mention the new Massassi temple they found. This one was obsidian. Gantoris thinks that they should learn as much as they can about the powerful Massassi who disappeared mysteriously ages ago.

They all sense the dark power here. Luke knows that its important to share information as a lack of it could cause one to fall to the Dark Side. Its one of his concerns, especially since Gantoris has been plagued with dreams of a dark man who offers him power only to destroy him.

When the shuttle lands, Luke greets Wedge who jokes about how he got tired of cleaning up debris in space, reconstructing on Coruscant and is now serving as a delivery driver. Hes an all-purpose general, after all.

Wedge lets Gantoris know he delivered materials to Dantooine where the evacuees from Eol Sha will begin a much better life.

Luke asks about his family and friends, especially when Kyp Durron will be arriving. Wedge explains that Han is giving Kyp some time to enjoy life after spending 8 years of his youth in the spice mines of Kessel.

Leia is facing an increasing workload since Mon Mothma started spending a great deal of time behind closed doors. That's got more than a few worried. Leia does a great job, but its too much for her on top of having two-and-a-half year old twins at home.

Wedge himself is being reassigned to guard Qwi Xux, the scientist who designed the Sun Crusher. With Admiral Daala flying around in her three Star Destroyers, there are concerns that Dr. Xux will be a target. They still havent decided what to do with the Sun Crusher.

Luke notes there's a need for more than a few Jedi Knights.
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  • I have to admit that, for a general, Wedge is doing unusual things. Would a general being doing what I would consider clean-up and construction work? Would he be allowed to just deliver supplies around? I know his work with the Wraiths would give him some experience providing security for Qwi Xux, but I cannot imagine the New Republic is so cavalier with its resources that it would continually misuse a General these days.
  • If even Luke’s new students can sense dark power on Yavin IV after only a short period of training, does it make sense then that this is not a good place to train Jedi?
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Dagobah had a dark side cave. Having something similar on Yavin would make a good testing place for padawans.

 

The authors of the EU in general wanted everything. They wanted to have the film characters be leaders -- generals and politicians -- but still wanted everyone to be in the thick of things, too. So we get generals doing delivery service and politicians with no staff who have to run around the Galaxy themselves. Ridiculous.

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chapter 2:


Leia and Admiral Ackbar are on their way to Vortex where the people are allowing the music from their magnificent crystal Cathedral of Winds to play again after years of silence in protest of Imperial policies.


Admiral Ackbar trusts no one else to pilot the Minister of State to this event. The ship was maintained by his own Calamari mechanics. Still, the turbulence veers the ship off course and Ackbar is unable to control it. Over the concerns of the ground control, Ackbar struggles to return to course. When power dies, he apologizes to Leia and ejects her before the ship crashes headlong into the Cathedral.

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  • Trust or no, is this visit to hear some music played so important that the Supreme Commander of the New Republic’s forces is reducing himself to pilot duty? Leia has gone many places before without Ackbar piloting her. It would seem that this series is determined to demote the Alliance’s highest-ranking officials to minor functions.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

I love this magical, indestructible space vehicle not much larger than a fighter capable of blowing up stars called the "sun crusher." It makes perfect sense to me that rather than building an entire fleet of sun crushers, the Empire instead wasted its resources and built two Death Stars. I mean space stations that are the size of dwarf planets and are only able to blow up planets, yet can be blown up by a single x-wing, was strategically the way to go!

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chapter 3:


Han takes Kyp Durron to the polar caps of Coruscant to engage in some turbo-skiing. After years laboring in Kessel’s spice mines, the 18-year old Kyp deserves some time to relax.


When they return from a wild trip downhill, Han is given a message from Mon Mothma. She tells him about the accident which claimed the lives of over 300 Vors. She wants him to come back to Imperial City at once as Leia will need him.


He gets to the children in enough time to save 3PO from having to endure anymore snowy indignities on their part.


While Ackbar’s chief mechanic, Terpfen, wanders through the hangar, Lando and Chewbacca work on the Falcon. Han shows up, upset, and jumps down Lando’s throat for touching his ship. An argument ensues that results in them debating who really owns the Falcon and whether or not Han cheated in the sabaac game in which he won the ship. This leads to another game to determine the winner.


Lando assures him he doesn’t have to do this, but Han insists that he has to so that he can take the Falcon and go get Leia who’s been in an accident. Upon hearing this, Lando tells him to forget the game and go get her. Han is adamant that they continue this. With constant changes in the game moderated by 3PO, Han’s hands change value constantly until Lando ends up winning.


Lando isn’t serious about winning the Falcon, but Han admits he won her fairly and leaves.

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  • Why is Mon Mothma still calling Coruscant Imperial City?

  • Kyp Durron, according to Jedi Search, was 8 years old when he was taken to Kessel and spent 8 years working there, which means he was liberated at age 16. This chapter says he’s 18. The math doesn’t work out unless it’s been two years since Jedi Search…which it hasn’t.

  • What a stupid digression, putting Lando and Han into a sabaac game over who owns the Falcon! Han deserved losing her that way for being so bull-headed.

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chapter 4:


On board the Gorgon, Admiral Daala receives a status report on repairs to her three remaining Star Destroyers. She explains to Commander Kratas that, with the Emperor and Darth Vader dead, a power vaccum was left that Warlord Zsinj and Grand Admiral Thrawn attempted to fill only to be killed themselves. With the remaining officials fighting each other, she assumes she is the highest-ranking officer of the Fleet still left. Carida appears to be stable, but she will not enlist the help of the Academy which had brutalized her as a cadet because she was a woman.


She plans to remind the warlords who their real enemy is and begins searching for a place to hit the Rebels.


They find that information in the form of a supply ship they tractor in commanded by a Sullustan who insists he is ferrying supplies to a colony on Dantooine made up of no more than 50 refugees not allied with the Rebellion.


After pulling information from his systems, Daala commandeers all of his cargo and lets him leave. Kratas is surprised that they are resorting to simple piracy, but Daala explains there were weapons and communiations systems on board the ship, too. She waits until the Sullustan’s ship moves out of the hangar bay and immediately sends a transmission to the New Republic warning them of what has happened before she has the ship destroyed.


It’s time to visit Dantooine.

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chapter 5:


On Yavin IV, Luke considers his students. Gantoris, the hardened refugee from Eol Sha who has troubling dreams. Streen who struggles to suppress the inner thoughts of everyone around him. Kirana Ti who had helped Luke on Dathomir. Kam Solusar, son of a Jedi, who had been twisted by Dark Jedi. Dorsk 81 who comes from a world of clones and is an aberrant who can sense the Force. Luke hopes to add Kyp Durron and Mara Jade.


For now, he shows them the Holocron. An image of ancient Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas who tells them of the Great Sith War caused 4000 years ago by his student, Exar Kun, who crowned himself the first Dark Lord of the Sith and partnered with warlord Ulic Qel-Droma. Vodo warns Luke to caution his students about the dangers of conquest.


Luke decides that’s enough for today and urges the students of his praxeum to take time to consider what they’ve heard.


Late that night, Gantoris works on building a lightsaber. Every Jedi builds his own, but Master Skywalker hasnt had them do this yet even though Gantoris is the best of his students. He has broken into areas of the temple abandoned by the Rebels and cobbled the parts together. He gets the image of a dark figure in the room, but it’s only for a moment and does not speak.


By the time he’s finished, he has completed his lightsaber.

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  • According to what we’ve been led to believe, about a month has passed since Jedi Search. If that’s the case, then it would appear that both Gantoris and Streen have made remarkable progress during that time. Additionally, a month is not a very long time for an apprentice to start getting testy about getting a lightsaber. On the other hand, we are also told that the twins are two-and-a-half. I was pretty sure they were two in Jedi Search. This could mean that about 6 months have past which is a long time for Kyp to be playing around, not long enough for him to be 18 instead of 16 and still not soon enough for any of Luke’s trainees to be building a lightsaber!

  • We met Kirana Ti in The Courtship of Princess Leia.

  • First appearance of Dorsk 81.

  • Exar Kun, Ulic Qel Droma and Vodo Siost Baas appeared in Dark Horse Comics’ Tales of the Jedi. Kun has been name checked in many novels since then, including all of the Bane books. He wasn’t the first Dark Lord of the Sith ever, though.

  • And, if it’s known that Jedi build their own lightsabers, why didn’t Leia get to build her own?

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chapter 6:


Admiral Ackbar sits outside the Council chambers, disturbed by the Sith hieroglyphics Palpatine had put into the decorations in the corridor, and ponders his failure. His chief mechanic, Terpfen, appears. Terpfen, like Ackbar, had once been an Imperial slave. However, Terpfen had been tortured incredibly during his time as a captive and still shows the scars on his head. He was freed during a Rebel raid and has been Ackbar’s most loyal assistant.


The mechanic explains he went over Ackbar’s ship before and after the crash and has found nothing wrong with it. He apologizes for not being more helpful, but Ackbar knows he tried. He has known since the crash that it was his fault.


He enters the Council Chambers where the members are hotly debating how to handle the situation with Hrekin Thorm suggesting Ackbar be sent with the repair crews. Mon Mothma notes Ackbar’s arrival and explains that these proceedings are closed.


Ackbar thinks he can save them a great deal of time by resigning as Supreme Commander.


On his way out, he asks Terpfen to prepare his ship. After a tearful farewell from his crewers, he heads back to Mon Calamari.


Terpfen, on the other hand, heads out to space where he is greeted by a ship on which is Ambassador Furgan from Carida. It turns out that Terpfen was conditioned while he was a captive to act as an agent. He explains that the accident may not have killed Ackbar or Leia, but it’s serving to cause problems anyway as there is no immediate replacement for him. When Furgan asks about Mon Mothma, Terpfen confirms she’s fading fast.


He’s not yet been able to determine the location of the baby Anakin Solo. Only Luke Skywalker and Admiral Ackbar know the world and neither is likely to drop it. He’s put a plan into motion to try to find it.

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  • I have to wonder about the Sith pictographs in the Imperial Palace. In the last book, we learned that the palace was being rebuilt after the attacks on Coruscant during the Thrawn and new Emperor campaigns. I’d wondered why they would rebuild such a thing as it was a symbol of the Empire. I assumed it had just been damaged and repairs were being made. This book says it was revamped…so why not take the Sith stuff out?

  • I assume the chapter means Threkin Horm and not Hrekin Thorm, the obese Councilor from Alderaan? We met him in The Courtship of Princess Leia, but didn’t he die in Tatooine Ghost?

  • Could Terpfin have been the agent causing trouble in Isard’s Revenge? We never did find out how they were getting information.

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Originally submitted by pavonis:

 


The authors of the EU in general wanted everything. They wanted to have the film characters be leaders -- generals and politicians -- but still wanted everyone to be in the thick of things, too. So we get generals doing delivery service and politicians with no staff who have to run around the Galaxy themselves. Ridiculous.

 

I agree. Why have random shuttle pilots delivering supplies and ferrying the Minister of State if you can just slide in Wedge or Ackbar. This need to insert familiar characters into roles that don't make sense was kind of annoying.

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chapter 7:


Luke takes his trainees into an underground cavern deep in the temple and has them relax in a pool of warm water. He shows them the galaxy through the Force until the water heats and they start to panic. Luke reminds them what they can accomplish through the Force. Gantoris helps Dorsk 81 ride the heat until it leaves.


Luke congratulates him on his assistance. Gantoris reminds him there are worse things than heat. He knows that Luke is not the dark man from his dreams, but walks off before Luke can ask further.


The next morning, Kirana Ti and Tionne use the Force to lift up R2-Detoo before their exercises start. Gantoris arrives and shows Luke his new lightsaber. Luke is surprised as none of the trainees have mastered the technique yet for building one. Gantoris wants to battle Luke and threatens to cut him down now if he doesn’t.


Luke humors the man. It turns out that Gantoris has not only managed to build a saber, but one that can adjust its length. This is certainly a measure of skill. But he also fights viciously and with a great deal of fury. When Luke is finally forced to end the fight with a distraction, he congratulates Gantoris on his accomplishment but warns him about his anger.

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  • First appearance of Tionne who is described as a Jedi scholar/historian.

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Oops. Deleted previous post from the previous book and posted the correct chapter 7 above. :blush:


chapter 8:


Kyp Durron stops for a look at the Sun Crusher and chuckle at what the supposed experts have failed to learn about it before he’s ushered out by security.


In the Council chambers, Wedge waits with Qwi Xux while 3PO waits with Chewbacca. Qwi has petitioned to address the Council. She urges them to destroy the Sun Crusher as soon as they can. Bel Iblis reminds her that it’s supposed to be indestructible and would rather they not give up a tactical advantage over the Empire.


Mon Mothma, looking tired, disagrees. The Emperor might have been willing to use it, but she will not endorse any further research. It’s decided to fly the thing into a sun. Bel Iblis grudgingly agrees, but does remind the Council that the Maw Installation is still a haven for research scientists doing dangerous work, as well as at least one Death Star prototype.


This leads toPO who translates in more diplomatic language Chewbacca’s desire to have the Wookiee slaves rescued. It’s decided to have a team go back to the Maw to retrieve the scientists, rescue the slaves and eliminate any further threats.


Excusing herself, Mon Mothma leaves and Wedge looks concerned.

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  • Is it just me or did bel Iblis seem quite the aggressor in this chapter?

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chapter 9:


When the Star Destroyers strike Dantooine, they hit the old Rebel base first from above, then send AT-ATs down to take out the settlement. The refugees from Eol Sha run for cover while New Republic engineers set up an ion cannon and get off a couple of shots.


Faced with superior firepower, though, the effort is limited. The Imperial forces destroy everything before leaving to find a bigger target.

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chapter 10:


Luke is awakened by a vision of his father who urges him to study the teachings of the Ancient Sith. Obi-Wan Kenobi had not been truthful with Luke about many things. He’d held Luke back just as he’d held Anakin back. Determined to learn the forbidden knowledge, Anakin had been consumed.


Had Obi-Wan allowed him to learn, he would have done so at a slower pace and been stronger. Luke can learn the power to get rid of the remnants of the pitiful Empire, free himself of service to a weak government and the knowledge to teach his students. He can rule benevolently.


Luke knows he’s being tricked. He says his father was a good man in the end and wants to know who this vision is really of. The dark figure laughs and Luke sees the ancient Massassi hard at labor building the temple.


Gantoris waits with dread. The dark man appears and taunts him for thinking he can fight him with a lightsaber. He is relegated to spirit, but with enough Sith followers, he can be powerful again. He wants to use Gantoris’s anger.


Gantoris will not allow him to have it. He recites the Jedi Code until the image shows him what is happening to his friends on Dantooine. The devastating destruction of all of those lives angers him enough to ignite his lightsaber and lunge.


R2 wakes up Luke who gets a transmission from Han. Kyp is coming soon, but not in the Falcon as he doesn’t own that anymore.


Dorsk 81 rushes in and calls for Luke. He finds the others at Gantoris’s door. Looking in, the burned and singed form of his student is all that’s left beyond the lightsaber. Luke has to calm himself first, telling his students to beware the Dark Side.

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  • You’d think Luke would have sensed the trouble going on in the temple.

  • The chapter tells us there are 12 trainees. We’ve been told of Gantoris, Streen, Dorsk 81, Kirana Ti, Kam Solusar and Tionne. Who are the other six?

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chapter 11:


Using a starfighter Terpfen had borrowed, Ackbar lands on Anoat to meet with Winter and see Anakin one last time.


He explains what happened. She invites him to stay longer but he doesn’t want to risk suspicion if he doesn’t arrive on Mon Calamari soon. He is welcome to return if he reconsiders. It is lonely for her here with just the baby.


Terpfen tries to resist the Imperial conditioning, but it makes him sick. He finally uses Ackbar’s diplomatic security code to send a message to Ambassador Furgan regarding the location of Anakin Solo.

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  • Was Winter hitting on Ackbar? The impression I got from this conversation is that it was between two beings who are attracted to each other. Yet, we know Winter has been seeing Tycho Celchu. How long has she been on Anoth anyway? Surely, she hasn’t been sequestered with the Solo children for two years away from Tycho!

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chapter 12:


Before Kyp leaves with Wedge, who is piloting the Sun Crusher to Yavin, Han gives him a fancy black cape that Lando had given him as guilt-gift for winning the Falcon.


Fancy clothes aren’t Han’s thing, so he thought Kyp might like something nice to wear. Afterwards, he heads down to the Cantina where he runs into Lando. Lando thinks it might be a good idea for both of them to get away for awhile, take the Falcon and go to Kessel to see what Doole left behind.


That’s when Mara Jade appears, ignores Lando’s solicitous persona completely and passes on some news. Admiral Daala has been sending out feelers for assistance from smugglers. Most of them won’t budge after what she did to Doole, though.


She also wants him to know about Dantooine. He’d heard about the supply ship being destroyed, but he didn’t know the whole colony along with the New Republic communications base had been wiped out.


She wanted to keep up her side of the smuggler’s coalition agreement on the exchange of information before heading off to Luke’s training center on Yavin. She figures that she should at least learn how to use the Force to protect herself.


Han thought she hated Luke. Mara tells him they’ve reached a type of truce and takes off. Lando laments how he could have missed her at Jabba’s palace, still not believing she could resist his charm.

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  • First off, Mara still hasn’t relearned how to use the Force, so to speak? I mentioned in my summaries of the Thrawn trilogy that I had no doubt Mara used the Force in Allegiance and Choices of One. Yet, after the Emperor’s death, it seemed that she somehow lost the connection or maybe it was never really hers to command anyway. Now, she’s going for teaching from Luke.

  • It’s been over two years since the Thrawn trilogy and Han still didn’t know that Mara dropped the idea of killing Luke? I guess they don’t talk much in that family.

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chapter 13:


Dinner as a family is rare for the Solos. C-3PO serves the meal while Jacen and Jaina use the Force to play with their table settings and argue about the food. Han and Leia struggle to keep up with children who can move objects placed high up or open doors without reaching the handles. After Jaina drops her dishes, the children start to cry.


A messenger droid appears and asks Leia to meet with Mon Mothma at once. Han tells her to go. She marches down to Mon Mothma’s quarters, intending to insist that she be given more family time when she finds the room dark, a medicinal smell in the air and Mon Mothma herself in a bed tended by a droid. The Chief of State tells Leia there are things she needs to know.


Leia returns to tell Han that Mon Mothma is dying. The medical droids cannot diagnose the problem beyond a wasting disease that even bacta has not been able to cure. She could be dead within a month.


If that happens, there will be no moderating influence on the Council since Ackbar has resigned. They need to make sure that the more aggressive members don’t go blasting after the Empire. Han has no doubt that some of the generals would like to relive their glory days that way.


She has to go find Ackbar and urge him to return.


Before she leaves, though, they spend a little more time as a family as Han reads the children the story of the Little Lost Bantha Cub who got separated from his parents and wandered the sands of Tatooine asking for help before being reunited with them.

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  • The chapter mentions how Han and Leia are amazed at their children’s ability to speak short but complete sentences. See? Even they think it’s weird! As for using the Force in the way they are, this speaks to a great deal of power and control over their abilities already. Are we to believe that Luke and Leia might have been toddlers running around and moving objects with their minds?

  • Han reacts bitterly when he considers the generals on the Council are likely the ones who want to be more aggressive. Which generals would he mean? We’ve seen Dodonna, Madine and bel Iblis, all of whom Han has shown a certain amount of respect for in the past. Rieekan is another.

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chapter 14:


With Qwi providing instructions, Wedge and Kyp fly the Sun Crusher into the gas giant Yavin. Wedge drops Kyp off on the moon before he and Qwi take off to visit the repair work on Vortex.

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  • The chapter once again describes Kyp as 18 when the information provided in Jedi Search would make him 16.


chapter 15:


On Mon Calamari, Leia is met by Ambassador Cilghal who agrees to take her to see Admiral Ackbar.


The Mon Calamari had built floating cities with the help of the Quarren who had chosen to remain underwater as the former headed into space. There are rumors that the Quarren had betrayed the world to the Empire but then had been treated just as badly by the Imperials. Tensions between the two species remain.


They swim underwater to a mollusk where Cilghal finds where Ackbar is staying. She and Leia remain still when a krakana predator approaches, feeding on fish. Cilghal seems to be able to tell which ones it will get before they are free to move on to find the Admiral.

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  • There was a Quarren in the Separatists and we’ve seen them involved in chicanery during the Clone Wars, too.

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chapter 16:


Leia explains Mon Mothma’s predicament. Ackbar sympathizes but he feels that he should stay on Mon Calamari to help rebuild the world after the Imperial attacks. He’s also concerned that the planet is becoming unstable due to the attacks. He is planning to set out some seismic sensors which both Leia and Cilghal offer to help him do.


While dispatching the sensors, Leia tries to explain the important things Ackbar has been responsible for. Ackbar tells her that he was the one piloting the ship. She cannot know what it is like to be responsible for the deaths of so many.


They find the wreckage of a ship and decide to place sensors there since it appears to have been down here for some time. Leia urges him to come back and at least speak with Mon Mothma before allowing the New Republic to just crumble.


The find an Imperial probe droid in the wreckage and it’s still active. They tangle with it before it self-destructs as they are programmed to do. But Leia knows that it would’ve sent a coded signal out. An old droid like that would be using a code of at least a decade earlier. Even if the Imperials could decipher the code, it’s unlikely there’s anyone out there to get it.

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  • Has Leia not been told about Admiral Daala and her ships which have been sitting in the Maw for 11 years with no new updates?

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chapter 17:


Commander Kratas reports that they’ve intercepted a broad-banded code from a probe droid on Calamari, one of the New Republic’s major shipbuilding centers. It’s not likely to be a trap as the code is old and was difficult to decipher.


After Dantooine, they need a bigger world to hit so it appears that Mon Calamari will be next.


When the Imperial attack comes, Ackbar insists on going up to command. The other Mon Calamari defer to him as he watches the Imperial strategy. Two Star Destroyers are in orbit. Leia sends a message to the New Republic, calling for help.


Ackbar orders the B-Wings to attack the Star Destroyers and leave the shipyards undefended. Leia asks if that’s wise. He tells her it isn’t. It’s a trap.


Daala is pleased that the Calamari have been misled by her attack and orders the shipyards to be taken.


On the planet, Ackbar explains that he recognizes Grand Moff Tarkin’s strategies when he sees them. There’s a third Star Destroyer behind their moon. It is being held in reserve to attack the shipyards. He had the B-Wings pulled off because he is going to use the new battle cruiser Startide via remote.


Leia watches Cilghal look at the display screen and pick out which B-Wings will be destroyed next. This is surely another candidate for Luke.


In the meantime, Ackbar remotes the skeletal hull of the Startide around the moon where the Star Destroyer Manticore is powering up. It fires on the cruiser but Ackbar doesn’t care.


It is a transmission from the Manticore’s captain that shows Daala the cruiser headed right into its path. She realizes what’s happening and yells at him to get out of there. The Startide crashes into the Star Destroyer and rips it up.

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chapter 18:


Luke has the candidates balance themselves on one hand. Kyp continually presses his abilities to see how far they stretch, giving himself harder assignments. Luke uses the Force to slow him down somewhat, but he does congratulate Kyp. He’s not sure Yoda or Obi-Wan would have known what to do with him.


As much as Kyp wants more to learn, Luke says that enough for today. Patience is another lesson they all must learn as they grow to understand their power and how to make it their own.


That night, Kyp continues to practice when a cold rip in the Force appears and the image of a dark man appears. He offers to teach Kyp lessons that Master Skywalker would not dare to teach, lessons that will make him strong.


Kyp won’t accept anything from someone nameless. The image answers that he is Exar Kun.

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chapter 19:


Han bursts into his home and begins throwing together supplies, while things get knocked over, Chewie is in a frenzy and the children start crying. Han tells Threepio to have Lando get the Falcon ready. He is going to Mon Calamari to rescue Leia. He wants Chewie here to watch the children.


In the docking bay, Lando grouses about the repair state of the ship when Han comes down, tells him he has to go rescue Leia and Lando agrees to let him take the ship so long as he can pilot.


As the Vors continue to work on their Cathedral. Qwi walks with Wedge, finds a shard of crystal and puts it to her lips. She had used musical notes to access her systems in the Maw. She plays a small tune before a Vor takes the crystal and tells her no more music until they are done.


Han is driving Lando crazy in hyperspace so they decide to sit down and play sabaac for the Falcon again.


This time, Han wins.

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chapter 20:


Kyp and Dorsk 81 walk through the humid forest. Dorsk 81 admits he’s not used to this. Kyp doesn’t understand how Khomm cannot change. Dorsk 81 said that his people thought they’d reached the pinnacle of their civilization a millennia ago so they froze everything as is and just cloned everyone. He is the 81st clone but he ended up being a failure.


Kyp doesn’t think having the potential to be a Jedi Knight is a failure. It’s not wrong to want to rise above those lower than you. He tells his friend how he and his parents were sent to Kessel while his brother was sent to Carida. After a few years, his parents were killed and Kyp was left alone. Even after the change from Imperial to smuggler-run mines, the slaves remained slaves. Doole let some go but not Kyp.


The Empire has ruined his life. Dorsk 81 tells him he cannot fight the Empire alone. Kyp notes that he can’t do it yet.


He leads Dorsk 81 to a temple that Exar Kun had shown him. Inside, it is cool. He urges Dorsk to sleep. Then he and Exar Kun speak. Kun tells him that Skywalker limits himself too much. Kyp has already learned more than he ever will.


Kun’s shadow drifts across the pyramid as he explains how he enslaved the Massassi, constructed this temple and ruled until he was betrayed. The Jedi were responsible. The shadow drifts over the sleeping Dorsk 81.


Kyp calls Kun’s attention back to him. He’s learned enough cynicism from Han Solo to not let himself be ignored. He wants to learn the power needed to crush the Empire.

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  • Kyp says he thinks Zeth was five years older than he was. Around 14. This would make Kyp 9 when they were arrested. Jedi Search said he was 8, but we’ll not quibble there. However, it also said that the Durrons died a little over a year after they got to Kessel. This chapter said it was a few years.

  • Kyp said Doole let some people go. Maybe he’s referring to the release negotiated by the New Republic during Wedge’s Gamble?

  • Did Kyp know the Forges, btw?

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chapter 21:


Chewbacca and 3PO take the children to the Holographic Zoo of Extinct Animals where Jacen and Jaina grow bored very quickly. They run off to play hide-and-seek instead, ending up in a turbolift with an Out-of-Order sign that takes them down into Coruscant’s lower levels.


In the meantime, Chewbacca uses the wrong methods to persuade a Bothan zoo attendant to help find the missing children.


Inspired by the tale of the Little Lost Bantha Cub, the children move being piles of junk, asking various underworld creatures for help.


A droid finishes repairs on the turbolift, removes the sign and is prepared to move on when Chewie insists on asking it if it’s seen the children. 3PO thinks it’s a waste of time and frets over what Captain Solo will do to him.


Jacen and Jaina find a repair droid that has been replacing lightless bulbs in street lights for decades, but it doesn’t know how to help lost children.

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chapter 22:


Daala doesn’t understand how she could have lost two Star Destroyers already. She prepares to have TIEs launched to lay waste to the planet below when New Republic battle ships arrive.


She tells her ships they are moving on to their next target.


The Millennium Falcon lands on Mon Calamari where Han reunites with Leia. There is a lot of damage. Cilghal the Ambassador walks among the wounded and tells the medics which ones will not survive.


Ackbar appreciates Leia coming to see him. He has realized he cannot hide from the galaxy, but he’s not returning to Coruscant. His people need him now more than ever to recover from this attack, as well as the World Devastators.


With Mon Mothma failing, this leaves the bulk of responsibility on Leia.

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