The Essential Novels Read online

  Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, Star Wars: Republic Commando: Hard Contact, Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, Star Wars: Death Troopers, Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, Star Wars: X-Wing: Rogue Squadron, Star Wars: Heir to the Empire, Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Vector Prime, Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal, and Star Wars: Crosscurrent are works of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  A Del Rey eBook Edition

  Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived copyright © 2011 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Star Wars: Republic Commando: Hard Contact copyright © 2004 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader copyright © 2005 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Star Wars: Death Troopers copyright © 2009 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor copyright © 2008 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Star Wars: X-Wing: Rogue Squadron copyright © 1996 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Star Wars: Heir to the Empire copyright © 2011 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Vector Prime copyright © 1999 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal copyright © 2007 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Star Wars: Crosscurrent copyright © 2010 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

  Excerpt from Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation copyright © 2012 by Lucasfilm Ltd

  All Rights Reserved.

  Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Del Rey and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  The novels contained in this omnibus were each published separately by Bantam Spectra, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2011, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2008, 1996, 1999, 2007 and 2010.

  This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation by Drew Karpyshyn. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.

  Cover Design: Scott Biel

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-345-54264-9

  www.starwars.com

  www.delreybooks.com

  www.facebook.com/starwarsbooks

  v3.1

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Star Wars – The Expanded Universe

  Introduction to the Old Republic Era

  The Old Republic: Deceived

  Introduction to the Rise of the Empire Era

  Republic Commando: Hard Contact

  Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

  Death Troopers

  Introduction to the Rebellion Era

  Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

  Introduction to the New Republic Era

  X-Wing: Rogue Squadron

  Heir to the Empire

  Introduction to the New Jedi Order Era

  New Jedi Order: Vector Prime

  Introduction to the Legacy Era

  Legacy of the Force: Betrayal

  Crosscurrent

  Excerpt from Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation

  Star Wars Novels Timeline

  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.

  Introduction to the OLD REPUBLIC Era

  (5,000–67 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE)

  Long—long—ago in a galaxy far, far away … some twenty-five thousand years before Luke Skywalker destroyed the first Death Star at the Battle of Yavin in Star Wars: A New Hope … a large number of star systems and species in the center of the galaxy came together to form the Galactic Republic, governed by a Chancellor and a Senate from the capital city-world of Coruscant. As the Republic expanded via the hyperspace lanes, it absorbed new member worlds from newly discovered star systems; it also expanded its military to deal with the hostile civilizations, slavers, pirates, and gangster-species such as the slug-like Hutts that were encountered in the outward exploration. But the most vital defenders of the Republic were the Jedi Knights. Originally a reclusive order dedicated to studying the mysteries of the life energy known as the Force, the Jedi became the Republic’s guardians, charged by the Senate with keeping the peace—with wise words if possible; with lightsabers if not.

  But the Jedi weren’t the only Force-users in the galaxy. An ancient civil war had pitted those Jedi who used the Force selflessly against those who allowed themselves to be ruled by their ambitions—which the Jedi warned led to the dark side of the Force. Defeated in that long-ago war, the dark siders fled beyond the galactic frontier, where they built a civilization of their own: the Sith Empire.

  The first great conflict between the Republic and the Sith Empire occurred when two hyperspace explorers stumbled on the Sith worlds, giving the Sith Lord Naga Sadow and his dark side warriors a direct invasion route into the Republic’s central worlds. This war resulted in the first destruction of the Sith Empire—but it was hardly the last. For the next four thousand years, skirmishes between the Republic and Sith grew into wars, with the scales always tilting toward one or the other, and peace never lasting. The galaxy was a place of almost constant strife: Sith armies against Republic armies; Force-using Sith Lords against Jedi Masters and Jedi Knights; and the dreaded nomadic mercenaries called Mandalorians bringing muscle and firepower wherever they stood to gain.

  Then, a thousand years before A New Hope and the Battle of Yavin, the Jedi defeated the Sith at the Battle of Ruusan, decimating the so-called Brotherhood of Darkness that was the heart of the Sith Empire—and most of its power.

  One Sith Lord survived—Darth Bane—and his vision for the Sith differed from that of his predecessors. He instituted a new doctrine: No longer would the followers of the dark side build empires or amass great armies of Force-users. There would be only two Sith at a time: a Master and an apprentice. From that time on, the Sith remained in hiding, biding their time and plotting their revenge, while the rest of the galaxy enjoyed an unprecedented era of peace, so long and strong that the Republic eventually dismantled its standing armies.

  But while the Republic seemed strong, its institutions had begu
n to rot. Greedy corporations sought profits above all else and a corrupt Senate did nothing to stop them, until the corporations reduced many planets to raw materials for factories and entire species became subjects for exploitation. Individual Jedi continued to defend the Republic’s citizens and obey the will of the Force, but the Jedi Order to which they answered grew increasingly out of touch. And a new Sith mastermind, Darth Sidious, at last saw a way to restore Sith domination over the galaxy and its inhabitants, and quietly worked to set in motion the revenge of the Sith …

  If you’re a reader new to the Old Republic era, here are three great starting points:

  • The Old Republic: Deceived, by Paul S. Kemp: Kemp tells the tale of the Republic’s betrayal by the Sith Empire, and features Darth Malgus, an intriguing, complicated villain.

  • Knight Errant, by John Jackson Miller: Alone in Sith territory, the headstrong Jedi Kerra Holt seeks to thwart the designs of an eccentric clan of fearsome, powerful, and bizarre Sith Lords.

  • Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, by Drew Karpyshyn: A portrait of one of the most famous Sith Lords, from his horrifying childhood to an adulthood spent in the implacable pursuit of vengeance.

  Read on for The Old Republic: Deceived, by Paul S. Kemp.

  Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2011 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or TM where indicated.

  All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.

  Excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast by Aaron Allston copyright © 2009 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or TM where indicated. All Rights Reserved.

  Used Under Authorization.

  Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  This work contains an excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast by Aaron Allston, originally published in hardcover by Del Rey, an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2009.

  Jacket design and illustration by ATTIK

  eISBN: 978-0-345-52988-6

  www.starwars.com

  www.starwarstheoldrepublic.com

  www.delreybooks.com

  v3.1

  For Jen, and Riordan, and Roarke

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My thanks to Shelly, Sue, Leland, and David, for all their help and encouragement.

  Contents

  Master - Table of Contents

  The Old Republic: Deceived

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Dramatis Personae

  Day One

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Day Two

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Day Three

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Other Books by This Author

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  Adraas; Sith Lord (human male)

  Angral; Sith Lord (human male)

  Arra Yooms; child (human female)

  Aryn Leneer; Jedi Knight (human female)

  Eleena; servant (Twi’lek female)

  Malgus; Sith Lord (human male)

  Ven Zallow; Jedi Master (male, species unknown)

  Vrath Xizor; mercenary (human male)

  Zeerid Korr; smuggler (human male)

  A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.…

  Fatman shivered, her metal groaning, as Zeerid pushed her through Ord Mantell’s atmosphere. Friction turned the air to fire, and Zeerid watched the orange glow of the flames through the transparisteel of the freighter’s cockpit.

  He was gripping the stick too tightly, he realized, and relaxed.

  He hated atmosphere entries, always had, the long forty-count when heat, speed, and ionized particles caused a temporary sensor blackout. He never knew what kind of sky he’d encounter when he came out of the dark. Back when he’d carted Havoc Squadron commandos in a Republic gully jumper, he and his fellow pilots had likened the blackout to diving blind off a seaside cliff.

  You always hope to hit deep water, they’d say. But sooner or later the tide goes out and you go hard into rock.

  Or hard into a blistering crossfire. Didn’t matter, really. The effect would be the same.

  “Coming out of the dark,” he said as the flame diminished and the sky opened below.

  No one acknowledged the words. He flew Fatman alone, worked alone. The only things he carted anymore were weapons for The Exchange. He had his reasons, but he tried hard not to think too hard about what he was doing.

  He leveled the ship off, straightened, and ran a quick sweep of the surrounding sky. The sensors picked up nothing.

  “Deep water and it feels fine,” he said, smiling.

  On most planets, the moment he cleared the atmosphere he’d have been busy dodging interdiction by the planetary government. But not on Ord Mantell. The planet was a hive of crime syndicates, mercenaries, bounty hunters, smugglers, weapons dealers, and spicerunners.

  And those were just the people who ran the place.

  Factional wars and assassinations occupied their attention, not governance, and certainly not law enforcement. The upper and lower latitudes of the planet in particular were sparsely settled and almost never patrolled, a literal no-being’s-land. Zeerid would have been surprised if the government had survsats running orbits over the area.

  And all that suited him fine.

  Fatman broke through a thick pink blanket of clouds, and the brown, blue, and white of Ord Mantell’s northern hemisphere filled out Zeerid’s field of vision. Snow and ice peppered the canopy, frozen shrapnel, beating a steady rhythm on Fatman’s hull. The setting sun suffused a large swath of the world with orange and red. The northern sea roiled below him, choppy and dark, the irregular white circles of breaking surf denoting the thousands of uncharted islands that poked through the water’s surface. To the west, far in the distance, he could make out the hazy edge of a continent and the thin spine of snowcapped, cloud-topped mountains that ran along its north–south axis.

  Motion drew his eye. A flock of leatherwings, too small to cause a sensor blip, flew two hundred meters to starboard and well below him, the tents of their huge, membranous wings flapping slowly in the freezing wind, the arc of the flock like a parenthesis. They were heading south for warmer air and paid him no heed as he flew over and past them, their dull, black eyes blinking against the snow and ice.

  He pulled back on the ion engines and slowed still further. A yawn forced itself past his teeth. He sat up straight and tried to blink away the fatigue, but it was as stubborn as an angry bantha. He’d given the ship to the autopilot and dozed during the hyperspace run from Vulta, but that was all the rack he’d had in the last two standard days. It was catching up to him.

  He scratched at the stubble of his beard, rubbed the back of his neck, and plugged the drop coordinates into the navicomp. The comp linked with one of Ord Mantell’s unsecured geosyncsats and fed back the location and course to Fatman. Zeerid’s HUD displayed it on the cockpit canopy. He eyed the location and put his finger on the destination.

  “Some island no one has ever heard of, up here where no one ever goes. Sounds about right.”

  Zeerid turned the ship over to the autopilot, and it banked him toward the island.

  His mind wandered as Fatman cut through the sky. The steady patter of ice and snow on the canopy sang him a lullaby. His thoughts drifted back through the clouds to the past, to the days before the accident, be
fore he’d left the marines. Back then, he’d worn the uniform proudly and had still been able to look himself in the mirror—

  He caught himself, caught the burgeoning self-pity, and stopped the thoughts cold. He knew where it would lead.

  “Stow that, soldier,” he said to himself.

  He was what he was, and things were what they were.

  “Focus on the work, Z-man.”

  He checked his location against the coordinates in the navicomp. Almost there.

  “Gear up and get frosty,” he said, echoing the words he used to say to his commandos. “Ninety seconds to the LZ.”

  He continued his ritual, checking the charge on his blasters, tightening the straps on his composite armor vest, getting his mind right.

  Ahead, he saw the island where he would make the drop: ten square klicks of volcanic rock fringed with a bad haircut of waist-high scrub whipping in the wind. The place would probably be underwater and gone next year.

  He angled lower, flew a wide circle, unable to see much detail due to the snow. He ran a scanner sweep, as always, and the chirp of his instrumentation surprised him. A ship was already on the island. He checked his wrist chrono and saw that he was a full twenty standard minutes early. He’d made this run three times and Arigo—he was sure the man’s real name was not Arigo—had never before arrived early.

  He descended to a few hundred meters to get a better look.

  Arigo’s freighter, the Doghouse, shaped not unlike the body of a legless beetle, sat in a clearing on the east side of the island. Its landing ramp was down and stuck out of its belly like a tongue. Halogens glared into the fading twilight and reflected off the falling snow, turning the flakes into glittering jewels. He saw three men lingering around the ramp, though he was too far away to notice any details other than their white winter parkas.

  They spotted Fatman, and one waved a gloved hand.

  Zeerid licked his lips and frowned.