Star Wars: Tales from Jabba's Palace

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Star Wars: Tales from Jabba's Palace Page 51

by Kevin J. Anderson


  A short time later Predator set down in the midst of ancient structures. Lightning illuminated weathered pyramids, towers of pitted stone, crystalline domes, all of them the temples and tombs of the Sith, all of them the geometry of the dark side. Black clouds roiled and jagged runs of lightning formed a glowing net in the sky.

  Kell rose, slid into his mimetic suit, checked the twin cortosis-coated vibroblades sheathed at his belt, and headed for Predator’s landing ramp. Before lowering it, he took a blaster and holster from a small-arms locker and strapped them to his thigh. He considered blasters inelegant weapons, but preferred to be overarmed rather than under.

  He pressed the release button on the ramp. Hydraulics hummed and the door lowered. Wind and rain hissed into Predator. Korriban’s air, pungent with the reek of past ages, filled his nostrils. Thunder boomed.

  Kell stared out into the darkness, noted the clustered pinpoints of red light that floated in the pitch. He shifted on his feet as the lights drew closer—a silver protocol droid. He attuned his vision to Fate, saw no daen nosi. Droids were programming, nothing more. They made no real choices and so had no lines. The false sentience of the droid unnerved Kell and he cut off the perception.

  The anthropomorphic droid strode through the wind and rain to the base of the landing ramp and bowed its head in a hum of servos.

  “Master Anzat,” the droid said in Basic. “I am Deefourfive. Please follow me. The Master awaits you.”

  The droid’s words rooted Kell to the deck. Despite himself, Kell’s twin hearts doubled their beating rate. Adrenaline flowed into his blood. The feeders in his cheeks spasmed. He inhaled, focused for a moment, and returned his body to calmness, his hormone level to normal.

  “The Master? Krayt himself?”

  “Please follow,” the droid said, turned, and began walking.

  Kell pulled up the hood of his suit but did not lower the mask; he strode down the ramp and stepped into the storm. Korriban drenched him. With a minor effort of will, he adjusted his core body temperature to compensate for the chill.

  The droid led him along long-dead avenues lined with the ancient stone and steel monuments of the Sith Order. Kell saw no duracrete, no transparisteel, nothing modern. On much of Korriban, he knew, new layers had been built on the old over the millennia, creating a kind of archaeological stratification of the Sith ages.

  Not here. Here, the most ancient of Sith tombs and temples sat undisturbed. Here, Krayt wandered in his dreams of conquest.

  A flash of lightning veined the sky, painting shadows across the necropolis. Kell’s mimetic suit adjusted to account for the temporary change in lighting. As he walked, he felt a growing regard fix on him, a consciousness.

  Ahead, he saw a squat tower of aged stone—Krayt’s sanctuary. Spirals of dark energy swirled in languid arcs around the spire. Only a few windows marred its otherwise featureless exterior, black holes that opened into a dark interior. To Kell, they looked like screaming mouths protesting the events transpiring within.

  The droid ascended a wide, tiered stairway that led to a pair of iron doors at the base of the spire. Age-corroded writing and scrollwork spiraled over the door’s surface. Kell could not read it.

  “Remain here, please,” the droid said, and vanished behind the doors.

  Kell waited under Korriban’s angry sky, surrounded by the tombs of Korriban’s dead Sith Lords. Checking his wrist chrono from time to time, he attuned his senses to his surroundings and waited on Krayt’s pleasure.

  Footsteps sounded behind him, barely audible above the rain. He changed his perception as he turned, and saw a thick network of daen nosi that extended through the present to the future, wrapping the galaxy like a great serpent that would strangle it.

  The STAR WARS Novels Timeline

  OLD REPUBLIC 5000–33 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope

  Lost Tribe of the Sith*

  Precipice

  Skyborn

  Paragon

  Savior

  Purgatory

  Sentinel

  3650 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope

  The Old Republic: Deceived

  Lost Tribe of the Sith*

  Pantheon

  Secrets

  Red Harvest

  The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance

  1032 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope

  Knight Errant

  Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

  Darth Bane: Rule of Two

  Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil

  RISE OF THE EMPIRE 33–0 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope

  Darth Maul: Saboteur*

  Cloak of Deception

  Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter

  32 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope

  STAR WARS: EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace

  Rogue Planet

  Outbound Flight

  The Approaching Storm

  22 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope

  STAR WARS: EPISODE II: Attack of the Clones

  22–19 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope

  The Clone Wars

  The Clone Wars: Wild Space

  The Clone Wars: No Prisoners

  Clone Wars Gambit

  Stealth

  Siege

  Republic Commando

  Hard Contact

  Triple Zero

  True Colors

  Order 66

  Shatterpoint

  The Cestus Deception

  The Hive*

  MedStar I: Battle Surgeons

  MedStar II: Jedi Healer

  Jedi Trial

  Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

  Labyrinth of Evil

  19 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope

  STAR WARS: EPISODE III: Revenge of the Sith

  Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

  Imperial Commando 501st

  Coruscant Nights

  Jedi Twilight

  Street of Shadows

  Patterns of Force

  The Han Solo Trilogy

  The Paradise Snare

  The Hutt Gambit

  Rebel Dawn

  The Adventures of Lando Calrissian

  The Force Unleashed

  The Han Solo Adventures

  Death Troopers

  The Force Unleashed II

  REBELLION 0–5 YEARS AFTER STAR WARS: A New Hope

  Death Star

  Shadow Games

  0

  STAR WARS: EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE

  Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina

  Tales from the Empire

  Tales from the New Republic

  Allegiance

  Choices of One

  Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine

  Splinter of the Mind’s Eye

  3 YEARS AFTER STAR WARS: A New Hope

  STAR WARS: EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

  Tales of the Bounty Hunters

  Shadows of the Empire

  4 YEARS AFTER STAR WARS: A New Hope

  STAR WARS: EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI

  Tales from Jabba’s Palace

  The Bounty Hunter Wars

  The Mandalorian Armor

  Slave Ship

  Hard Merchandise

  The Truce at Bakura

  Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

  NEW REPUBLIC 5–25 YEARS AFTER STAR WARS: A New Hope

  X-Wing

  Rogue Squadron

  Wedge’s Gamble

  The Krytos Trap

  The Bacta War

  Wraith Squadron

  Iron Fist

  Solo Command

  The Courtship of Princess Leia

  A Forest Apart*

  Tatooine Ghost

  The Thrawn Trilogy

  Heir to the Empire

  Dark Force Rising

  The Last Command

  X-Wing: Isard’s Revenge

  The Jedi Academy Trilogy

  Jedi Search

  Dark Apprentice

  Champions of the Force
/>   I, Jedi

  Children of the Jedi

  Darksaber

  Planet of Twilight

  X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar

  The Crystal Star

  The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy

  Before the Storm

  Shield of Lies

  Tyrant’s Test

  The New Rebellion

  The Corellian Trilogy

  Ambush at Corellia

  Assault at Selonia

  Showdown at Centerpoint

  The Hand of Thrawn Duology

  Specter of the Past

  Vision of the Future

  Fool’s Bargain*

  Survivor’s Quest

  NEW JEDI ORDER 25–40 YEARS AFTER STAR WARS: A New Hope

  Boba Fett: A Practical Man*

  The New Jedi Order

  Vector Prime

  Dark Tide I: Onslaught

  Dark Tide II: Ruin

  Agents of Chaos I: Hero’s Trial

  Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse

  Balance Point

  Recovery*

  Edge of Victory I: Conquest

  Edge of Victory II: Rebirth

  Star by Star

  Dark Journey

  Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream

  Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand

  Traitor

  Destiny’s Way

  Ylesia*

  Force Heretic I: Remnant

  Force Heretic II: Refugee

  Force Heretic III: Reunion

  The Final Prophecy

  The Unifying Force

  35 YEARS AFTER STAR WARS: A New Hope

  The Dark Nest Trilogy

  The Joiner King

  The Unseen Queen

  The Swarm War

  LEGACY 40+ YEARS AFTER STAR WARS: A New Hope

  Legacy of the Force

  Betrayal

  Bloodlines

  Tempest

  Exile

  Sacrifice

  Inferno

  Fury

  Revelation

  Invincible

  Crosscurrent

  Riptide

  Millennium Falcon

  43 YEARS AFTER STAR WARS: A New Hope

  Fate of the Jedi

  Outcast

  Omen

  Abyss

  Backlash

  Allies

  Vortex

  Conviction

  Ascension

  Apocalypse

  *An eBook novella

 

 

 


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