Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy III: Champions of the Force

by Kevin J. Anderson

  The flying creatures flitted up and down the shafts of crystal, opening hatchways, covering small holes with their hands or bodies as they shaped the symphony, building it as the storm grew closer.

  The music seemed to tell Qwi’s own life story. It struck her emotional chords, blowing through the hollows and crevices of her heart so that she heard the feelings she had experienced through her life: her childhood loss, her agonized training, her brainwashed imprisonment for years in Maw Installation … and her sudden thrill of freedom as she met members of the New Republic who helped her escape … then Wedge Antilles, who had opened up more new worlds for her, bright dawns she had never before imagined.

  Now, after her time of healing, after she had returned to Maw Installation and walked along the old corridors, set foot in her former laboratory—Qwi no longer chose to mourn those lost memories.

  When the misguided Kyp Durron had erased her thoughts, it had been a violent act. But, in hindsight, she thought he might have inadvertently done her a great favor. She did not wish to remember her devastating weapons work. She felt as if she had been reborn, given a new chance to start a life with Wedge, unencumbered by dark thoughts of the deadly inventions she had helped to create.

  The music continued: hollow and mournful, then joyous and uplifting, in an eerie counterpoint like nothing she had ever experienced before.

  “Would you like to go back to Ithor with me?” Wedge bent close and whispered in her ear. “We can do our vacation right this time.”

  Qwi smiled back at him. The idea of returning to the lush jungle world sounded wonderful to her: the self-contained cities drifting over the treetops, and the peaceful alien people. The experience would do much to ease the pain from the memories she had lost there.

  “You mean we’d no longer have to hide from Imperial spies? From Admiral Daala?”

  “We wouldn’t have to worry about any of that,” Wedge said. “We could concentrate entirely on enjoying ourselves.”

  The Vors opened up all of the hatchways and windows in the Cathedral of Winds. As the storm center hurled its greatest gales at the structure, the music built to a spiraling crescendo, a triumphant finale that seemed to echo throughout the galaxy.

  44

  Sunrise on the fourth moon of Yavin.

  Artoo-Detoo trundled ahead up the flagstoned ramp, chittering and bleeping as the new Jedi Knights followed him. In silence they gathered atop the Great Temple to look across the mist-covered treetops. The orange gas giant glowed from behind as the system’s sun came closer to the limb, suffusing the upper atmosphere with light.

  As the jungle moon continued in its headlong orbit, Luke Skywalker took his position in front of the procession to greet the coming dawn. Beside him walked young Kyp Durron, still limping slightly from his newly healed injuries, but moving with an enormous inner strength. His entire attitude had changed in such a short time.

  But while Kyp had been through the greatest ordeal of the new Jedi, Luke’s other students had also proved themselves to be greater than he had foreseen, greater than he had hoped.

  Together they had overthrown Exar Kun, the Dark Lord of the Sith. Cilghal had saved Mon Mothma’s life with new techniques in Jedi healing. Streen had recovered his confidence and had shown remarkable adeptness at feeling and touching the weather.

  Tionne continued her quest to resurrect Jedi history, a job made more difficult now that the Jedi Holocron had been destroyed—but Luke knew there were other Holocrons to be found, though they might have been lost over the millennia. Many of the ancient Jedi Masters had recorded their lives and their wisdom in such devices.

  Others, such as Dorsk 81, Kam Solusar, and Kirana Ti had not exhibited their particular aptitudes yet, though their powers were broad and strong. Some of the new Jedi would stay on Yavin 4 and continue to train and grow; others would take their skills out to the galaxy, as knights to defend the New Republic.

  Artoo warbled an announcement, his prediction of when the first sunlight would strike the apex of the temple. The little droid seemed immensely pleased to be at Luke’s side.

  Luke gathered his Jedi Knights around him, sensed their growing power intertwined. They were a team, not just wild cards with powers and abilities they did not understand.

  The others stood on the chipped flagstones of the observation platform, looking out toward the hidden sun. Luke tried to find words to express his glowing pride and his high expectations.

  “You are the first of the new Jedi Knights,” he said, raising his hands as if in a benediction. “You are the core of what will become a great order to protect the New Republic. You are champions of the Force.”

  Though his students did not speak or respond, he felt the upsurge of their emotions, their swelling pride.

  There would be other students, new trainees who would come to his Jedi academy. Luke had to face the fact that he might lose a few to the dark side—but the more defenders of the Force he could train, the stronger would be the legions of the light side.

  With a collective gasp the gathered Jedi on the rooftop watched as the sun burst from the fringe of Yavin. Brilliant white rays gleaming like firefacet gems sprayed across the jungle moon, reflecting and refracting from the swirling atmosphere.

  Artoo whistled; Luke and the other Jedi simply watched in awed silence.

  The rainbow storm cast its glow over all of them as the dawn continued to brighten.

  About the Author

  Kevin J. Anderson is the author of nearly 100 novels, 48 of which have appeared on national or international bestseller lists; he has over 22 million books in print in thirty languages. He has won or been nominated for the Nebula Award, Bram Stoker Award, the SFX Reader’s Choice Award, and New York Times Notable Book.

  Anderson has coauthored eleven books in the Dune saga with Brian Herbert, as well as the new original novel, Hellhole. Anderson’s popular epic SF series, The Saga of Seven Suns, is his most ambitious work, and he has completed a sweeping fantasy trilogy, Terra Incognita, about sailing ships, sea monsters, and the crusades. As an innovative companion project to Terra Incognita, Anderson cowrote (with wife Rebecca Moesta) the lyrics for two ambitious rock CDs based on the novels. Performed by the supergroup Roswell Six for ProgRock Records, the two CDs feature performances by rock legends from Kansas, Dream Theater, Asia, Saga, Rocket Scientists, Shadow Gallery, and others.

  His novel Enemies & Allies chronicles the first meeting of Batman and Superman in the 1950s; Anderson also wrote The Last Days of Krypton. He has written numerous Star Wars projects, including the Jedi Academy trilogy, the Young Jedi Knights series (with Moesta), and Tales of the Jedi comics from Dark Horse. Fans might also know him from his X-Files novels or Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Prodigal Son.

  By KEVIN J. ANDERSON

  Star Wars:

  The Jedi Academy Trilogy

  Darksaber

  Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina (editor)

  Tales from Jabba’s Palace (editor)

  Tales of the Bounty Hunters (editor)

  The Young Jedi Knights series (with Rebecca Moesta)

  Dune series (with Brian Herbert)

  The Prelude to Dune trilogy

  The Legends of Dune trilogy

  The Road to Dune

  Hunters of Dune

  Sandworms of Dune

  Paul of Dune

  The Winds of Dune

  The Sisterhood of Dune

  X-Files:

  Ground Zero

  Ruins

  Antibodies

  DC Universe:

  The Last Days of Krypton

  Enemies & Allies

  Original Novels:

  The Saga of Seven Suns series

  The Terra Incognita trilogy

  Hellhole (with Brian Herbert)

  The Star Challengers series (with Rebecca Moesta)

  The Crystal Doors trilogy (with Rebecca Moesta)

  Frankenstein: Prodigal Son (with Dean Koontz)

  Captain Nemo
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  The Martian War

  Hopscotch

  Blindfold

  Resurrection, Inc.

  Climbing Olympus

  Ill Wind (with Doug Beason)

  Ignition (with Doug Beason)

  Assemblers of Infinity (with Doug Beason)

  The Trinity Paradox (with Doug Beason)

  Virtual Destruction (with Doug Beason)

  Fallout (with Doug Beason)

  Lethal Exposure (with Doug Beason)

  Landscapes (collection)

  Dogged Persistence (collection)

  Blood Lite (editor)

  Blood Lite II: Overbite (editor)

  Blood Lite III: Aftertaste (editor)

  STAR WARS—The Expanded Universe

  You saw the movies. You watched the cartoon series, or maybe played some of the video games. But did you know …

  In The Empire Strikes Back, Princess Leia Organa said to Han Solo, “I love you.” Han said, “I know.” But did you know that they actually got married? And had three Jedi children: the twins, Jacen and Jaina, and a younger son, Anakin?

  Luke Skywalker was trained as a Jedi by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. But did you know that, years later, he went on to revive the Jedi Order and its commitment to defending the galaxy from evil and injustice?

  Obi-Wan said to Luke, “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.” Did you know that over those millennia, legendary Jedi and infamous Sith Lords were adding their names to the annals of Republic history?

  Yoda explained that the dreaded Sith tend to come in twos: “Always two, there are. No more, no less. A Master, and an apprentice.” But did you know that the Sith didn’t always exist in pairs? That at one time in the ancient Republic there were as many Sith as Jedi, until a Sith Lord named Darth Bane was the lone survivor of a great Sith war and created the “Rule of Two”?

  All this and much, much more is brought to life in the many novels and comics of the Star Wars expanded universe. You’ve seen the movies and watched the cartoon. Now venture out into the wider worlds of Star Wars!

  Turn the page or jump to the timeline of Star Wars novels to learn more.

  ONE

  None of us liked waiting in ambush, primarily because we couldn’t be wholly certain we weren’t the ones being set up for a hot-vape. The Invids—the pirate crews working with the ex-Imperial Star Destroyer Invidious—had so far eluded the best efforts of the New Republic to engage them. They seemed to know where we would be, when we would get there, and in what force, then planned their raids appropriately. As a result we spent a lot of time doing battle-damage assessments on their efforts, and they really pushed to give us plenty of BDA work.

  Rogue Squadron had gone to ground to wait on several of the larger asteroids in the K’vath system. This location put us in close proximity to K’vath 5’s primary moon, Alakatha. We powered down our engines and had our sensors in passive mode only to avoid detection by the folks we wanted to trap. According to our mission briefing, New Republic Intelligence had gotten a tip they considered reliable that at least part of Leonia Tavira’s pirate fleet would be hitting a luxury liner coming out of the resort coast on Alakatha’s northern continent. Mirax and I had actually honeymooned there three years ago, before Thrawn turned the New Republic inside-out, so I had fond memories of the place and could well remember the wealth dripping in jewels and precious metals from the throats and hands of the New Republic’s elite.

  I glanced at my X-wing’s chronometer. “The Glitterstar is still on schedule?”

  Whistler, nestled behind my cockpit, hooted with just a hint of derision in his voice.

  “Yes, I know I told you to let me know if there was a change and, no, I didn’t think it had slipped your circuits.” I forced my gloved hands open, then rotated my wrists to get rid of some of the tension. “I’m just anxious.”

  He blatted a quick comment at me.

  “Hey, just because patience is a virtue, that doesn’t make impatience a vice.” I sighed and turned the latter half of it into a piece of a Jedi breathing exercise Luke Skywalker had urged upon me when trying to recruit me as a Jedi. Breathing in through my nose to a count of four, I held the breath for a seven count, then exhaled in eight beats. With each breath I let more tension flow out of me. I sought the clarity of mind I’d need for the coming battle—if the Invids materialized—but it eluded me with the ease the Invids had shown in escaping the New Republic.

  Things kept seeming to happen fast. Mirax and I married fast, and while I did not at all regret having done so, events conspired to make our married life extremely difficult. Grand Admiral Thrawn and his antics ruined our first anniversary, and rescuing Jan Dodonna and the others who had once been imprisoned with me on the Lusankya had called me away during the second. And then the reborn Emperor’s assault on Coruscant dropped a Star Destroyer on what had been our home. Neither of us were there at the time, which was standard operating procedure far too often.

  In fact, the only benefit of being assigned to go after the Invids was that their leader, ex-Moff Leonia Tavira, seemed to have a taste for a life of leisure. When her Invidious vanished between raids, we usually had a week of down time before having to worry about another attack. Mirax and I put this free time to good use, rebuilding our home and our relationship, but with that came some consequences that I saw as incredibly disruptive—on the scale of Thrawn disruptive.

  Mirax decided she wanted children.

  I have nothing against kids—as long as they go home with their parents at the end of the day. Expressing this opinion in those terms to Mirax was not the smartest thing I had ever done and, in fact, proved to be one of the more painful ones. The hurt and pain in her eyes haunted me for a long time. Deep down, I knew there would be no dissuading her, and I wasn’t even sure, in the end, I wanted to.

  I did try, however, and employed most of the standard arguments to do so. The “this is an unsettled time in the galaxy” ploy lost out to the fact that our parents had faced a similar choice and we’d turned out pretty well. The “uncertainty of my job” argument wilted beneath the logic of my life insurance and then withered away when Mirax gave me a glimpse at the accounts files—the real ones—for her import/export business. She pointed out that she could easily support the three or four of us and I’d not have to work a single second, outside of caring for the children. And, she noted, that carrying a child for nine full months meant she would already have 3.11 years of forty-hour weeks of child-care logged and that I would owe her.

  Over and above all that, she said I’d make a great father. She noted that my father had done a great job with me. Having learned from him the skills of being a father, she just knew I’d be wonderful with kids. In using that argument, she turned the love and respect I had for my father around on me. She made it seem as if I was dishonoring his memory by not bringing children into the world. It was a most persuasive argument, as she knew it would be, and hammered me pretty hard.

  In retrospect, I should have given up at the start and saved the two of us a great deal of grief She makes her living—a very good living, it turns out—convincing all sorts of folks that junk no one else wants is absolutely vital to them. While she engaged me in logical discussions-focusing my defenses on that avenue of attack—she slipped past my guard on a purely emotional level. Little comments about what kind of child our genetic lottery would produce got me investing brainsweat in solving that puzzle. That went straight to the detective training in me—the training that wouldn’t let me drop a case until I had an answer.

  Which, in this case, meant a child.

  She also managed to flick on the HoloNet monitors when some event featuring news about Leia Organa Solo’s three-year-old twins was being shown. The children were frighteningly cute and their very existence had been blamed for a baby-binge in the New Republic. I knew Mirax was not so shallow as to be wanting a child out of envy or to be
trendy, but she did note that she was Leia’s age, and that it was a good time to have a child or two.

  And that cuteness factor really can get under your skin. The New Republic media avoided showing the twins drooling and dripping the way children do, and they really maximized the appealing things about the toddlers. It got so that when I did remember dreams, they were of me cradling a sleeping child in my arms. Oddly enough, I stopped thinking of those dreams as nightmares pretty quickly and did my best to preserve them in my mind.

  Realizing I was lost, I began to bargain for time. Mirax flat refused to accept fixed time dates, mainly because I was thinking in years, so I made things conditional. I told her once the Invids were taken care of, we’d make a final decision. She accepted my decision a bit better than I expected, which started preying on me, and making me feel guilty. I would have thought that was a tactic she’d decided to use, but she thought guilt was a hammer and she’s definitely a vibroblade fan.

  I exhaled slowly again. “Whistler, remind me when we get home, Mirax and I need to make a decision on this baby thing, now, not later. Tavira’s not going to dictate my life.”

  Whistler’s happy high staccato sailed down into a low warning tone.

  I glanced at my primary monitor. The Glitterstar had lifted from Alakatha and another ship had appeared insystem. Whistler identified it as a modified bulk cruiser known as the Booty Full. Unlike the liner’s sleek design, the cruiser was studded with warty protrusions that quickly detached themselves and began to run in on the liner.

  I keyed my comm. “Rogue Lead, three flight has contact. One cruiser and eighteen uglies heading in on the Glitterstar.”

  Tycho’s voice came back cool and calm. “I copy, Nine. Engage the fighters with two flight. One has the cruiser.”

  I flicked over to three flight’s tactical channel. “Light them up, Rogues, we have the fighters.”

  I started the engines, then shunted power to the repulsorlift coils. The X-wing rose like a ghost from a grave and came about to point its nose toward the liner. As Ooryl’s X-wing pulled up on my left and my other two pilots, Vurrulf and Ghufran, arrived on the right, I punched the throttle full forward and launched myself into the fight.