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Hard Contact by Karen Traviss


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The Joiner King


Troy Denning - 2005
    Now the alien Chiss have angrily lodged a formal complaint, accusing the missing Jedi of meddling in a border dispute between the Chiss and an unidentified aggressor. Luke has no choice but to head to the Unknown Regions for serious damage control. Han and Leia follow, intent on protecting their children from what could be grave danger. But none of them are prepared for what they find when they reach their destination.A colony of mysterious aliens is expanding toward the edge of Chiss space. The leader of the alien nest is resolute. Adept in the Force, he is drawing old friends to his side, compelling them to join the colony and meld their Force-abilities with his, even if it leads to all-out war. . . .

Star Wars: The Mandalorian Armor


K.W. Jeter - 1998
    He is Boba Fett, and even the most hardened criminals tremble at his name. Now he faces the deadliest challenge of his infamous career--an all-out war against his most dangerous enemies.As the Rebellion gathers force, Prince Xizor proposes a cunning plan to the Emperor and Darth Vader: smash the power of the Bounty Hunters Guild by turning its members against each other. Only the strongest and most ruthless will survive, and they can be used against the Rebellion. It's a job for the fiercely independent Boba Fett, who jumps at the chance to destroy his rivals. But Fett soon realizes the game is rigged, as he finds himself the target of murderous factions, criminal conspiracies, and the evil at the Empire's dark heart. Boba Fett has always finished first. And in this game, anything less is death.

Ambush at Corellia


Roger MacBride Allen - 1995
    One thing is clear: the five inhabited worlds of the sector are on the brink of civil war and the once peaceful coexistence of the three leading races -- human, Selonian, and Drallan --  has come to an end.

Star Wars: The Approaching Storm


Alan Dean Foster - 2002
    . . This book is pure class all the way. . . . The final page is a great climax.”–StarburstThe Republic is decaying, even under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who was elected to save the galaxy from collapsing under the forces of discontent. On the tiny but strategic planet of Ansion, a powerful faction is on the verge of joining the growing secessionist movement. At the Chancellor’s request, the Jedi Council sends two Jedi Knights, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luminara Unduli, along with their Padawans Anakin Skywalker and Barriss Offee, to stabilize the planet’s population. To succeed, the Jedi will have to fulfill near-impossible tasks, befriend wary strangers, and influence two great armies, stalked all the while by an enemy sworn to see the negotiations collapse and the mission fail. . . .

Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories


John Jackson Miller - 2012
    . . along with the explosive, never-before-published finale, Pandemonium—more than one hundred pages of new material!Five thousand years ago. After a Jedi ambush, the Sith mining ship Omen lies wrecked on a remote, unknown planet. Its commander, Yaru Korsin, battles the bloodshed of a mutinous faction led by his own brother. Marooned and facing death, the Sith crew have no choice but to venture into their desolate surroundings. They face any number of brutal challenges—vicious predators, lethal plagues, tribal people who worship vengeful gods—and like true Sith warriors, counter them with the dark side of the Force.The struggles are just beginning for the proud, uncompromising Sith, driven as they are to rule at all costs. They will vanquish the primitive natives, and they will find their way back to their true destiny as rulers of the galaxy. But as their legacy grows over thousands of years, the Sith ultimately find themselves tested by the most dangerous threat of all: the enemy within.

The New Rebellion


Kristine Kathryn Rusch - 1996
    It is a deed that rivals the terrifying power of the Death Star, the long-destroyed weapon of the defeated Empire. But where did it happen? And how? And why? Then death comes to Coruscant itself. As Leia, head of the New Republic, prepares to address the Senate, a massive explosion rocks the meeting hall, decimating the Senate's ranks. Leia survives and recovers, only to be faced with calls to resign from office. Even worse, some of the Senators lay the blame for the attack on Han Solo.As Leia works desperately to clear Han's name, Han and Chewbacca journey to the lawless asteroids of Smuggler's Run to track down rumors of a secret plot against the New Republic. And Luke goes in search of Brakiss, a former Jedi student who has turned his considerable talents to the dark side of the Force and might well have been involved in the unexplained deaths of millions that so disturbed Luke and Leia.But Brakiss is only a small part of the carnage taking place on Coruscant and elsewhere. Luke is being stalked by a master of the dark side who is determined to rule as the next Emperor. Luke, Leia, and Leia's Jedi children are targeted to die. Then billions will follow, in a holocaust unequaled in galactic history.

Han Solo at Stars' End


Brian Daley - 1979
    So when the Authority demands that the Millennium Falcon be brought in for "inspection," Han knows he has to prepare for ulterior motives. And when the best illegal ship rebuilder in the galaxy disappears, Han and Chewbacca must find him. After all, the Falcon's overhaul will require very special talents.Their search pits them against powerful and ruthless enemies out to destroy them, and leads the loyal pair through a dramatic series of twists and turns. It takes them to an Authority Data Center on Orron III, and even to the uncharted, airless speck of desolate asteroid that is the Authority prison planet known as Stars; End...

Before the Storm


Michael P. Kube-McDowell - 1996
    In the blockbuster bestselling tradition of Heir to the Empire comes this thrilling addition to the Star Wars(r) saga, as peace gives way to a new threat...It is a time of tranquillity for the New Republic.  The remnants of the Empire now lie in complete disarray, and the reemergence of the Jedi Knights has brought power and prestige to the fledgling government on Coruscant.  Yesterday's Rebels have become today's administrators and diplomats, and the factions that fought against imperial tyranny seem united in savoring the fruits of peace.But the peace is short-lived.  A restless Luke must journey to his mother's homeworld in a desperate and dangerous quest to find her people.  An adventurous Lando must seize a mysterious spacecraft that has weapons of enormous destructive power and an unknown mission.  And Leia, a living symbol of the New Republic's triumph, must face down a ruthless leader of the Duskhan League, an arrogant Yevetha who seems bent on a genocidal war that could shatter the fragile unity of the New Republic...and threaten its very survival.

The Adventures of Lando Calrissian


L. Neil Smith - 1983
    You know him as a gambler, rogue, and con-artist; Lando's always on the frontier scanning his sensors for easy credits and looking for action in galaxies near and far.

Into the Void


Tim Lebbon - 2013
    And at the feet of its wise Masters, Lanoree Brock learned the mysteries and methods of the Force—and found her calling as one of its most powerful disciples. But as strongly as the Force flowed within Lanoree and her parents, it remained absent in her brother, who grew to despise and shun the Je’daii, and whose training in its ancient ways ended in tragedy. Now, from her solitary life as a Ranger keeping order across the galaxy, Lanoree has been summoned by the Je’daii Council on a matter of utmost urgency. The leader of a fanatical cult, obsessed with traveling beyond the reaches of known space, is bent on opening a cosmic gateway using dreaded dark matter as the key—risking a cataclysmic reaction that will consume the entire star system. But more shocking to Lanoree than even the prospect of total galactic annihilation, is the decision of her Je’daii Masters to task her with the mission of preventing it. Until a staggering revelation makes clear why she was chosen: The brilliant, dangerous madman she must track down and stop at any cost is the brother whose death she has long grieved—and whose life she must now fear.

Star Wars: Rogue Planet


Greg Bear - 2000
    . . so strong that the Jedi Council, despite misgivings, entrusted young Obi-Wan Kenobi with the mission of training him to become a Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan, like his slain Master Qui-Gon, believes Anakin may be the chosen one, the Jedi destined to bring balance to the Force. But first Obi-Wan must help his undisciplined apprentice, who still bears the scars of slavery, find his own balance.Dispatched to the mysterious planet of Zonama Sekot, source of the fastest ships in the galaxy, Obi-Wan and Anakin are swept up in a swirl of deadly intrigue and betrayal. They sense a disturbance in the Force unlike any they have encountered before. It seems there are more secrets on Zonama Sekot than meet the eye. But the search for those secrets will threaten the bond between Obi-Wan and Anakin . . . and bring the troubled young apprentice face-to-face with his deepest fear--and his darkest destiny.

Stealth


Karen Miller - 2010
    Among warriors and generals, among ordinary beings living in far-flung worlds, the fear will not go away: We are losing this war. Anakin Skywalker feels it, too. The Separatist Alliance, with ruthlessness and treachery, is beating the Republic to every strategic target. But after a costly clash with General Grievous for the planet Kothlis, Anakin has a mission that will focus his anxious mind. Alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, he is posing as a long-lost native of Lanteeb, an impoverished world on the Outer Rim. This seemingly unimportant planet has drawn the interest of the Seps—and Anakin and Obi-Wan soon discover the disturbing reason: A scientist enslaved by General Lok Durd is drawing on Lanteeb’s one natural resource for a devastating bioweapon. Now Anakin and Obi-Wan have entered the eye of a storm. Their presence has been exposed, Lok Durd’s plans unveiled, and a fight has begun for survival behind enemy lines—and a chance of winning a war that must be fought at any cost.

The Way of the Apprentice


Jude Watson - 2001
    Destined for conflict.Fourteen-year-old Anakin Skywalker is strong in the ways of the Force. His lightsaber skills are exceptional, and his piloting is legendary. He should be an ideal Jedi apprentice. And yet, there is so much he still has to learn.It is up to Obi-Wan Kenobi to teach him these things. But on a mission to a planet threatened by toxic disaster, Obi-Wan and Anakin are separated. Anakin and three other apprentices—one of them his rival—must work together in order to survive. Anakin's instincts are clear…but are they right?Anakin Skywalker's destiny will determine the future of a galaxy. These are the events that form his fate

The Phantom Menace


Terry Brooks - 1999
    Now the dark side of the Force threatens to overwhelm the light, and only an ancient Jedi prophecy stands between hope and doom for the entire galaxy.On the green, unspoiled world of Naboo, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, arrive to protect the realm’s young queen as she seeks a diplomatic solution to end the siege of her planet by Trade Federation warships. At the same time, on desert-swept Tatooine, a slave boy named Anakin Skywalker, who possesses a strange ability for understanding the “rightness” of things, toils by day and dreams by night—of becoming a Jedi Knight and finding a way to win freedom for himself and his beloved mother. It will be the unexpected meeting of Jedi, Queen, and a gifted boy that will mark the start of a drama that will become legend.

Razor's Edge


Martha Wells - 2013
    Harassment by the Empire and a shortage of vital supplies are hindering completion of a new secret base on the ice planet Hoth. So when Mid Rim merchants offer much-needed materials for sale, Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo lead an Alliance delegation to negotiate a deal.But when treachery forces the rebel ship to flee into territory controlled by pirates, Leia makes a shocking discovery: the fierce marauders come from Leia’s homeworld of Alderaan, recently destroyed by the Death Star. These refugees have turned to pillaging and plundering to survive—and they are in debt to a pirate armada, which will gladly ransom the princess to the vengeful Empire . . . if they find out her true identity.Struggling with intense feelings of guilt, loyalty, and betrayal, Leia is determined to help her wayward kinspeople, even as Imperial forces are closing in on her own crippled ship. Trapped between lethal cutthroats and brutal oppressors, Leia and Han, along with Luke, Chewbacca, and a battle-ready crew, must defy death—or embrace it—to keep the rebellion alive.