Vortex: Star Wars Legends (Fate of the Jedi) by Troy Denning (English) Paperback

Description: Vortex: Star Wars Legends (Fate of the Jedi) by Troy Denning Jedi and Sith fight side by side against an even greater foe. But how long can enemies remain allies? And how high is the price of betrayal? FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description NATIONAL BESTSELLERJedi and Sith fight side by side against an even greater foe.But how long can enemies remain allies? And how high is the price of betrayal? In a stunning turn of events, Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, joined forces with the Sith armada sent to kill them—and used their combined might against the monstrous being Abeloth. But when the wounded creature escapes, the fragile armistice crumbles, and hostilities resume with the attempted assassination of Luke.On the hunt for Abeloth and on the run from the Sith, Luke and Ben find themselves trapped by a mob of angry Force adepts who care little for the difference between light side and dark side. With the Jedis most famous father-and-son team outnumbered and outgunned, the countdown to galactic disaster has begun—and time is running out. Author Biography Troy Denning is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss; Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost; Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Star by Star; the Star Wars: Dark Nest trilogy: The Joiner King, The Unseen Queen, and The Swarm War; and Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Tempest, Inferno, and Invincible—as well as Pages of Pain, Beyond the High Road, The Summoning, and many other novels. A former game designer and editor, he lives in western Wisconsin with his wife, Andria. Excerpt from Book Chapter One Beyond the forward viewport hung the gossamer veil of Ashteris Cloud, a vast drift of ionized tuderium gas floating along one edge of the Kessel sector. Speckled with the blue haloes of a thousand distant stars, its milky filaments were a sure sign that the Rockhound had finally escaped the sunless gloom of the Deep Maw. And after the jaw-clenching horror of jumping blind through a labyrinth of uncharted hyperspace lanes and hungry black holes, even that pale light was a welcome relief to Jaina Solo. Or rather, it would have been, had the cloud been in the right place. The Rockhound was bound for Coruscant, not Kessel, and that meant Ashteris Cloud should have been forty degrees to port as they exited the Maw. It should have been a barely discernible smudge of light, shifted so far into the red that it looked like no more than a tiny flicker of flame, and Jaina could not quite grasp how they had gone astray. She glanced over at the pilots station--a mobile levchair surrounded by brass control panels and drop-down display screens--but found no answers in Lando Calrissians furrowed brow. Dressed immaculately in a white shimmersilk tunic, lavender trousers, and a hip cape, he was perched on the edge of his huge nerf-leather seat, with his chin propped on his knuckles and his gaze fixed on the alabaster radiance outside. In the three decades Jaina had known Lando, it was one of the rare moments when his life of long-odds gambles and all-or-nothing stakes actually seemed to have taken a toll on his con-artist good looks. It was also a testament to the strain and fear of the past few days--and, perhaps, to the hectic pace. Lando was as impeccably groomed as always, but even he had not found time to touch up the dye that kept his mustache and curly hair their usual deep, rich black. After a few moments, he finally sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Go ahead, say it." "Say what?" Jaina asked, wondering exactly what Lando expected her to say. After all, he was the one who had made the bad jump. "Its not my fault?" A glimmer of irritation shot through Landos weary eyes, but then he seemed to realize Jaina was only trying to lighten the mood. He chuckled and flashed her one of his nova-bright grins. "Youre as bad as your old man. Cant you see this is no time to joke?" Jaina cocked a brow. "So you didnt decide to swing past Kessel to say hello to the wife and son?" "Good idea," Lando said, shaking his head. "But . . . no." "Well, then . . ." Jaina activated the auxiliary pilots station and waited as the long-range sensors spooled up. An old asteroid tug designed to be controlled by a single operator and a huge robotic crew, the Rockhound had no true co-pilots station, and that meant the wait was going to be longer than Jaina would have liked. "What are we doing here?" Landos expression grew serious. "Good question." He turned toward the back of the Rockhounds spacious flight deck, where the vessels ancient bridge droid stood in front of an equally ancient nav computer. A Cybot Galactica model RN8, the droid had a transparent head-globe, currently filled with the floating twinkles of a central processing unit running at high speed. Also inside the globe were three sapphire-blue photoreceptors, spaced at even intervals to give her full-perimeter vision. Her bronze body casing was etched with constellations, comets, and other celestial artwork. "I know I told Ornate to set a course for Coruscant." RN8s head-globe spun just enough to fix one of her photoreceptors on Landos face. "Yes, you did." Her voice was silky, deep, and chiding. "And then you countermanded that order with one directing us to our current destination." Lando scowled. "You need to do a better job maintaining your auditory systems," he said. "Youre hearing things." The twinkles inside RN8s head-globe dimmed as she redirected power to her diagnostic systems. Jaina turned her own attention back to the auxiliary display and saw that the long-range sensors had finally come online. Unfortunately, they were no help. The only thing that had changed inside its bronze frame was the color of the screen and a single symbol denoting the Rockhounds own location in the exact center. RN8s silky voice sounded from the back of the flight deck. "My auditory sensors are in optimum condition, Captain--as are my data storage and retrieval systems." Her words began to roll across the deck in a very familiar male baritone. "Redirect to destination Ashteris Cloud, arrival time seventeen hours fifteen, Galactic Standard." Landos jaw dropped, and he sputtered, "Tha . . . thats not me!" "Not quite," Jaina agreed. The emphasis was placed on the wrong syllable in several words; otherwise, the voice was identical. "But its close enough to fool a droid." Landos eyes clouded with confusion. "Are you telling me what I think youre telling me?" "Yes," Jaina said, glancing at her blank sensor display. "I dont quite know how, but someone impersonated you." "Through the Force?" Jaina shrugged and shot a meaningful glance toward a dark corner. While she knew of half a dozen Force powers that could have been used to defeat RN8s voice-recognition software, not one of those techniques had a range measured in light-years. She carefully began to expand her Force awareness, concentrating on the remote corners of the huge ship, and thirty standard seconds later was astonished to find nothing unusual. There were no lurking beings, no blank zones that might suggest an artificial void in the Force, not even any small vermin that might be a Force-wielder disguising his presence. After a moment, she turned back to Lando. "They must be using the Force. Theres no one aboard but us and the droids." "I was afraid youd say that." Lando paused for a moment, then asked, "Lukes friends?" "I hate to jump to conclusions, but . . . who else?" Jaina replied. "First, Lost Tribe or not, theyre Sith. Second, they already tried to double-cross us once." "Which makes them as crazy as a rancor on the dancing deck," Lando said. "Abeloth was locked in a black-hole prison for twenty-five thousand years. What kind of maniacs would think it was a good idea to bust her out?" "Theyre Sith," Jaina reminded him. "All that matters to them is power, and Abeloth had power like a nova has light--until Luke killed her." Lando frowned in thought. "And if theyre crazy enough to think they could take Abeloth home with them, theyre probably crazy enough to think they could take the guy who killed her." "Exactly," Jaina said. "Until a few weeks ago, no one even knew the Lost Tribe existed. Thats changed, but theyll still want to keep what they can secret." "So theyll try to take out Luke and Ben," Lando agreed. "And us, too. Contain the leak." "Thats my guess," Jaina said. "Sith like secrecy, and secrecy means stopping us now. Once were out of the Maw, theyll expect us to access the HoloNet and report." Lando looked up and exhaled in frustration. "I told Luke he couldnt trust anyone who puts High Lord before his name." He had been even more forceful than Jaina in trying to argue Luke out of a second bargain with the Lost Tribe--a bargain that had left the Skywalkers and three Sith behind to explore Abeloths savage homeworld together. "Maybe we should go back." Jaina thought for only an instant, then shook her head. "No, Luke knew the bargain wouldnt last when he agreed to it," she said. "Sarasu Taalon has already betrayed his word once." Lando scowled. "That doesnt mean Luke and Ben are safe." "No," Jaina agreed. "But it does mean hes risking their lives to increase our chances of reporting to the Jedi Council. Thats our mission." "Technically, Luke doesnt get to assign missions right now," Lando pressed. "You wouldnt be violating orders if we--" "Luke Skywalker is still the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. I think we should assume he has a plan," Jaina said. A sudden tingle of danger sense raced down her spine, prompting her to hit the quick-release on her crash harness. "Besides, we need to start worrying about saving our own skins." Lando began to look worried. "What are you saying?" he asked. "That youre sensing something?" Jaina shook her head. "Not yet." She rose. "But I will be. Why do you suppose they sent us someplace easy to find?" Lando scowled. "Oh . . ." He glanced up at a display, tapped some keys--no doubt trying to call up a tactical report--then slammed his fist against the edge of the brass console. "Are they jamming us?" "Thats difficult to know with the ships sensor systems offline for degaussing," RN8 replied. "Offline?" Lando shrieked. "Who authorized that?" "You did, ninety-seven seconds ago," RN8 replied. "Would you like me to play it back?" "No! Countermand it and bring all systems back up." Lando turned to Jaina and asked, "Any feel for how long we have until the shooting starts?" Jaina closed her eyes and opened herself to the Force. She felt a mass of belligerent presences approaching from the direction of the Maw. She turned to RN8. "How long until the sensor systems reboot?" "Approximately three minutes and fifty-seven seconds," the droid reported. "Im afraid Captain Calrissian also ordered a complete data consolidation." Jaina winced and turned back to Lando. "In that case, Id Details ISBN0345509218 Author Troy Denning Short Title SW FATE OF THE JEDI VORTEX Language English ISBN-10 0345509218 ISBN-13 9780345509215 Media Book DEWEY 813.54 Residence Geneva, WI, US Birth 1958 Year 2012 Publication Date 2012-03-27 Series Number 6 Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2012-03-27 NZ Release Date 2012-03-27 US Release Date 2012-03-27 UK Release Date 2012-03-27 Pages 480 Publisher Random House USA Inc Series Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Legends Format Paperback Imprint Random House Inc Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:44024416;

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