Star Wars - Darksaber (by Kevin J Anderson)

DARKSABER

By

KEVIN J. ANDERSON

.lit creation 03/04 by DrB

First Timothy Zahn brought back the splendor of George Lucas's magnificent Star Wars films in

his New York Times bestselling trilogy. The adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and

Princess Leia Organa have continued in novels by such authors as Barbara Hambly, Roger

MacBride Allen, and Vonda N. McIntyre. Now Kevin J. Anderson, author of the New York Times

bestsellingStarWarsJediAcademy trilogy, brings the epic full circle, taking us back to Luke's home

planet, where it all began. ...

Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, cloaked by the Force and riding with the hostile Sand People,

have returned to the dunes of the desert planet Tatooine in hopes of finding what Luke so

desperately seeks: contact with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke is hoping the old Jedi Knight's spirit will

tell him how to help his love, Callista,regain her lost ability to use the Force.

Tormented and haunted, Luke cannot rest until Callista is a Jedi in the fullest sense, for only

then will the link between their minds and souls be restored. Yet brewing on Tatooine is news that

will shake Luke and Han and threaten everything they value.

The disturbing piece of information is that the evil Hutts, criminal warlords of the galaxy, are

building a secret superweapon: a reconstruction of the original Death Star, to be named

Darksaber. This planet-crushing power will be in the ruthless hands of Durga the Hutt--a creature

without conscience or mercy.

But there is worse news yet: the Empire lives. The beautiful Admiral Daala, still very much alive

and more driven than ever to destroy the Jedi, has joined forces with the defeated Pellaeon,

former second in command to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Together they are marshaling Imperial

forces to wipe out theNewRepublic .

Now, as Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, Artoo, and Threepio regroup to face these threats, they

are joined by new Jedi Knights and Callista. Together they must fight on two fronts,outshooting

and outsmarting the most formidable enemies in the galaxy. In Darksaber the Jedi are heading for

the ultimate test of their power--a test in which all the temptations of the dark side beckon. And

Luke Skywalker must draw upon his innermost resources to fight for a world in which he can not

only live, but dare to love.

KEVIN J. ANDERSON'SJediAcademy trilogy--Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, and Champions of

the Force-- spent twenty-two weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He is the author of

more than a dozen other novels, including the Nebula Award nominee Assemblers of Infinity

(written with DougBeason ). His other Star Wars projects include three anthologies of short

stories and The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, with artist RalphMcQuarrie . He lives in

northernCalifornia .

To Lillie E. Mitchell who does so much of the invisible work on these books, allowing me the

freedom and the energy to tell my stories as fast as they want to come out of my head

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to pass along my very special thanks to Barbara Hambly, for helping me with Callista and

for giving me such a perfect springboard for Darksaber.

I am especially indebted to the imagination and artwork of RalphMcQuarrie . Much of this novel is tied

closely to work we developed during the creation of The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, which provided

much inspiration.

Nar Shaddaa and Nal Hutta just wouldn't be the same without the work done by TomVeitch and Cam

Kennedy in their Dark Empire graphic novels.

Kenneth C. Flint helped with the Tatooine portion of the story; Timothy Zahn gave me guidance with

Pellaeon; Bill Smith and West End Games provided detailed background material on the Hutts and on

Crix Madine.

The Usual Suspects--Tom Dupree, Lucy Wilson, SueRostoni ,AllanKausch --made this project

possible in the first place and assisted along the way.

And my wife, RebeccaMoesta , helped far more--in ways both obvious and not so obvious-- than I

could possibly describe on the rest of this page. I love you.

The time is eight years after the battle of Endor.

Grand Admiral Thrawn and the resurrected Emperor have been defeated and their forces

scattered, leaving only bickering warlords to fight over the scraps of Imperial war machinery

deep in the Core Systems, far behind enemy lines. The renegade Admiral Daala is believed dead,

but with her lone remaining Star Destroyer she has limped back to the shelter of the tattered

Empire, where she hopes one day to return to the fight for lost Imperial territory. ...

On Yavin 4 Luke Skywalker has formed an academy to reestablish the Jedi Knights, former

guardians of theOldRepublic . He has already taught many students how to use their powers with

the Force; more candidates come, while others decide to go forth and help safeguard the fragile

alliance of the New Republic.

In recent months Luke has destroyed the automated Dreadnaught, the Eye of Palpatine, and

rescued the spirit of the Jedi woman Callista, who was trapped in the Dreadnaught's computer for

decades. Luke has fallen deeply in love with her, even as she inhabits the body of one of his lost

students.

Though Callista is now alive again and free to love Luke Skywalker, she has inexplicably lost all

of her Jedi powers in the ordeal.

Luke is desperate to find some way for Callista to get her abilities back. No matter where the

search may lead him. ...

STAR WARS

DARKSABER

TATOOINE

CHAPTER 1

The banthas plodded in single file, leaving only a narrow trail of scuffed footprints across the dunes.

Twin suns hammered down on the procession.

Waves of heat rippled like cloaking shields, blurring the distance and making an oven of theDuneSea .

Indigenous creatures took shelter in whatever shadow they could find until the firestorm of afternoon

trickled away into the cooler dusk.

The banthas moved with no noise other than the muffled crunching of their footsteps in the sand.

Swathed in strips of cloth, the Tusken Raiders astride the shaggy beasts looked from side to side,

keeping watch.

Wrapped entirely in bandages, yet still uneasy about the disguise, Han Solo looked out through narrow

metal tubes designed to shield the eyes from blowing grit. His mouth was covered with a corroded metal

filter for the sand; the filter contained a small internal moisturizer to makeTatooine's fiery air more

breathable. The other Sand People had tiny ventilators studded around their desert coverings. Only their

strongest survived to adulthood, and they prided themselves on it.

Han rode on his bantha, hoping to remain inconspicuous in the middle of the procession. The hairy beast

swayed as it walked, and Han tried not to clutch its scalloped, curving horns more often than the other

Tusken Raiders did. The bantha's sharp back ridges were covered with matted fur, and the

disconcertingly thin saddle made the ride excruciatingly uncomfortable.

Han swallowed, taking another sip of his precious water and biting back a complaint. This had, after all,

beenhis own crazy suggestion.

He just hadn't expected Luke Skywalker would be so eager to agree, and now Han was stuck. The

mission was vital to theNewRepublic , and he had to follow through.

With a muttered command, the lead Raider urged his bantha to greater speed. The procession trudged

through fine sand, winding along the crest of a shifting dune that stood like a towering sentinel in the arid

ocean. Han did not grasp the dune's great size until they had ascended for the better part of an hour

without reaching the top.

The suns grew even hotter, if that were possible. The banthas coughed and snorted, but the Sand

People were focused on a mission.

Han swallowed, trying to ease his parched throat. Finally, he could remain silent no longer and

whispered into the short-range transmitter implanted in hisbreathmask .

"Luke, what'sgoin ' on?" he said. "I've got a bad feeling about whatever they're up to."

It took Luke Skywalker a moment to respond. Han watched the thin rider two banthas ahead of him sit

up straighter; Luke seemed far more comfortable in his disguise than Han felt. Of course, Luke had

grown up on Tatooine--but the young man's voice now sounded bone weary as it came over the voice

pickup in Han's ear.

"Nothing to do with us, Han," he said. "A few of the Sand People have vague suspicions, but they

haven't centered on us yet. I'm using the Force to distract anyone who pays too much attention.

No, this is something different entirely. A great tragedy ... you'll see." Luke heaved a long breath

through hisbreathmask ."Can't talk now. Have to concentrate. Wait until they'repreoccupied, and I'll

explain more."

Up ahead, Luke slumped forward in his Tusken disguise. Han knew his friend was expending an

incredible amount of energy to lull the Sand People into ignoring their two unwanted guests. Luke was

able to use his abilities to muddle the minds of weak individuals, but never before had Han seen his friend

manipulate so many minds at once.

The trick was to keep the Sand People from noticing them; then it was easy for Luke to divert a few

stray thoughts. If someone sounded an alarm and all the Sand People focused on the intruders, though,

not even a Jedi Master would be able to keep up the charade. Then there would be a fight.

Tucked under his tattered robes, Han carried his trusty blaster pistol. He didn't know if he and Luke

could take on the entire band of Raiders--but they would make a good accounting of themselves if

circumstances ever came to that.

The lead rider reached the peak of the sand mountain.

The bantha's wide feet trampled the wind-sharpened edge atop the dune. The air was still, as if stunned.

The sands glittered like a billion miniature novas.

Han adjusted the corroded filters over his eyes. The other banthas plodded up, surrounding their leader,

who raised his cloth-wrapped arm, brandishing a wicked-lookinggaffi stick. Behind the Tusken leader,

his single passenger sat slumped and sullen, though it was difficult to understand the body language of

these masked and alien people.

Han sensed somehow that this withdrawn passenger was the center of the ceremony. Was some kind of

honor being bestowed, Han wondered, or was this man being exiled from the tribe?

The passenger slid off the lead bantha, letting himself drop from the shaggy beast. He clung to the

woolly fur as if in desperation, but no sounds came from his bandaged face, not even the guttural grunts

and snorts theTuskens used as language. Head down, his eye tubes pointed toward the churned sand

where bantha footprints had trampled the pristine dune, the passenger stood dejected in front of the lead

rider.

The leader waited beside his mount, holding the upraisedgaffi stick; the other Sand People climbed

down from their banthas. They thrashed their own weapons in the air. Han and Luke copied the gestures,

trying to blend in.

In his disguise Luke moved slowly and wearily. This mission was taking a heavy toll on the Jedi Knight,

and Han hoped they would reach their destination soon.

The forlorn passenger hesitated at the edge of the dune, gazing across the sweeping ocean of loose

sands that spread to the horizon. The Sand People stood at attention and raised theirgaffi sticks high.

While they concentrated on the intensity of the moment, Luke's voice buzzed in Han's ear.

"All right, they're distracted," he said. "I can explain. The lone Tusken Raider lost his bantha three days

ago. A krayt dragon killed it, and unfortunately our friend there got away."

"What do you mean, unfortunately?" Han mumbled, hoping his voice wouldn't carry over the

restlesssounds of the Sand P.

"The Tusken Raiders have a very close relationship with their banthas," Luke said. "It is a mental

bonding, a symbiosis, almost like a marriage. They become part of each other, bantha and Tusken. When

one member of the pair is killed, the other is incomplete--like an amputee." Unconsciously, Luke flexed

hiscyborg hand. "He has no place in Tusken society, though he is more an object of pity than of hatred.

Many believe he should have died beside his bantha, no matter what the circumstances."

"So, are they just going to kill him?" Han asked.

"Yes and no," Luke said. "They believe the spirit of the dead bantha must decide. If the spirit wishes for

him to bond with another mount, our friend will find a free wild bantha in the desert, join with it, and

return in triumph to the tribe, where he will be fully accepted--even highly revered.

However, if the bantha's spirit wants his rider to join him in death, then the outcast will wander

hopelessly in the desert until he dies."

Han barely shook his head."Doesn't sound like his chances are too hot."

Luke said, "Probably not--but that is their way."

The Sand People waited for the exile to make the first move. Finally, with a single anguished cry that

might have been triumph or challenge, he plunged down the steep and shifting slope of the dune. The

Sand People tilted their heads toward the burning sky and let out a loud ululating cry that made Han

shudder.

The Tusken Raiders thrashed theirgaffi sticks to wish their companion well. The banthasraised up their

squarish, shaggy heads and bellowed in unison, a rumbling, growling cry that shook theDuneSea .

The lone Raider waded down the steep slope.

Dusty golden sand flew up around him as his feet and legs sank in. His robes flapped behind him as he

plodded on. He tripped and tumbled, flailing his arms, and finally jabbed hisgaffi stick deep into the

uncertain surface, one arm thrust out to gain balance, leaving a swath of disturbed sand behind him.

The exiled Raider heaved himself to his feet again. Sand trickled from his flowing cloaks, but still he

marched ahead, not looking back. A few of the banthas bellowed again. The sound was swallowed up in

the empty vastness. The outcast's drab garments soon made him fade into the landscape.

The lead Raider turned and, with a single energetic leap, mounted his bantha. The other Sand People

climbed intotheirthe saddles. The banthas snorted and stomped on the loose sand.

Han got back to his seat. Luke was the last to balancehimself again, and by that time the lead Raider

had already turned the hairy beast to the side and began to plunge down the shallower slope at the back

of the dune. The other Sand People followed, marching closely in line to mask their tracks.

Han risked a glance behind him. He could just make out the single exiled Raider dwindling in the

distance, moving with slow determination as ripples of heat blurred his tiny figure. Soon he was

swallowed completely by the unforgiving jaws of theDuneSea .

The heat of the day seemed to last forever, and Han rode in a fugue state, barely aware of his

surroundings, self-hypnotized by a litany of rocking footfalls. Ahead, Luke continued to sit upright on the

bantha saddle, though he wavered from time to time. Han wondered what sort of energy the Jedi Knight

was tapping into.

The group camped in a thick maze of rocky badlands punctuated by pockmarked stone needles rising

out of the windblown sand. Darkness fell quickly with the double sunset, and the temperature plummeted.

For a while the rocks continued to throb with stored heat, but they quickly cooled.

Grunting and chuffing to each other in their baffling language, the Sand People pitched camp. Each

knew his or her own duties--Han could not tell whether the individualTuskens were male or female. Luke

had said that only assigned mates were able to see each other with faces unwrapped.

Two of the younger people encircled a flat area with smaller rocks, and piled bricks of what Han

realized must be dried bantha dung, the only fuel source available out in the barrens.

Han and Luke moved about, trying to appear busy. The banthas, not corralled or tied in any way, were

simply led to a side canyon where they could rest for the night. Other Raiders broke out packages of

stringy dried meat. Han and Luke took their share and squatted on boulders.

Carefully, Han lifted his metalbreathmask and jammed a piece of the meat into his mouth. He chewed

and wasted several drinks of water as he tried to make the jerky palatable enough to swallow. "What is

this stuff?" he muttered into the voice pickup.

Luke answered without looking at him. "Dried and salted dewback flank, I believe."

"Tastes like leather," Han muttered.

"It's more nutritious than leather ... I think," Luke said. He turned his metaleyetubes toward Han, who

could detect no expression on the wrapped-up face. Han became disoriented if he swiveled his head too

fast while looking through the small holes in theeyetubes .

As the Sand People finished their meal, they gathered around the blaze as a tall Raider hunched near the

brighter part of the fire. From the careful way he moved, the slow placement of limbs--not to mention the

silent reverence the otherTuskens granted him-- Han got the impression that this was a very old person.

"The storyteller," Luke's voice said in his ear.

Other Raiders brought out long poles and unfurled bright clan banners marked with jagged slashes,

some sort of violent written language. These must be totems, symbols not seen by the outside world at

all.

A young, wiry Raider sat next to the storyteller. Others came back from their bantha saddles with

trophies, visual aids for the story. They held out scraps of rough cloth, a bloodied banner. Han saw

battered and cracked stormtrooper helmets like the skulls of fallen enemies; a luminous milky gem the

size of his fist, which Han recognized with a start as a krayt dragon pearl, one of the rarest treasures ever

to come from Tatooine.

The old manraised up his bandage-wrapped hands and began to speak. The other Raiders sat

enraptured as stories spilled out in low grunts and barely recognizable sounds that might have been

words.

Luke translated for Han. "He's telling of their exploits, how they took an entire stormtrooper regiment

many years ago. How they slew a krayt dragon and took the pearls out of its gullet. How they defeated

another Tusken clan, slaughtered all their adults, and adopted their children into the clan, thereby

increasing their numbers."

The storyteller finished his tale and squatted lower, gesturing to the young apprentice who glanced

around. Two Tusken Raiders stood on

eitherside of the boy, holding theirgaffi sticks with theaxheads pointing down at the apprentice. The

storyteller raised a trembling hand and turned it sideways like a knife blade. The apprentice hesitated for

a moment and began to speak slowly.

"Now what?"Han said.

Luke answered. "That boy is being trained as the clan's next storyteller. TheTuskens believe very much

in inflexible tradition. Once a story is set down as an oral path, it must remain forever unaltered. This boy

has learned the story: he is now telling about a raid on a moisture farmer who attempted to bring peace

between humans and Jawas and Sand P."

"But why the weapons?"Han said."Looks like they're ready to snuff the poor kid."

"They will, if he makesso much as one mistake. If the boy alters a single word, the storyteller will chop

down with his hand, and the Raiders will kill the apprentice immediately. They believe that speaking the

stories in any manner other than the way they were originally told is great blasphemy."

Han said, "Not much room formistakes, is there?"

Luke shook his head. The otherTuskens were concentrating completely on the boy's speech.

"The desert is a hard place, Han. It allows no room for mistakes. The Sand People are a product of that

environment. They have harsh ways, but such harshness has been forced upon them."

The boy finished, and the old storyteller raised his other hand in a congratulatory gesture. The young

apprentice slumped with trembling relief, and the other Sand People muttered their appreciation.

After a while, the fire was banked and began to burn low. The Tusken Raiders settled down for the

night.

"I'm going to get some rest," Han said. "You haven't slept in two days, Luke. Can't you wait until they

all go to sleep, then catch a nap yourself?"

Luke shook his head. "I don't dare. If I stop monitoring their thoughts, if I release my hold on their

minds, they might suddenly realize we're not supposed to be with them. If somebody sounds an alarm,

we're lost. Besides, a Jedi can go a long time without rest."

"Whatever you say,buddy ," Han said.

"We should reach Jabba's palace by tomorrow," Luke said with weary hope.

"I can't wait," Han said. "I mean, we had so much fun the last time we were there."

CHAPTER 2

The Sand People roused themselves in the frigid darkness before the first ofTatooine's twin suns crept

over the horizon. Han shivered, finding no warmth in his bandage wrappings. Luke moved more

sluggishly than ever.

Han was worried about his friend. In addition to exhaustion, Luke was suffering from deep frustration at

his inability to help Callista--the Jedi woman he loved--regain her lost powers.

And now, after days without sleep on the razor's edge of peril, hiding among ferocious desert nomads,

Luke's stamina was wearing dangerously thin.

The Tusken Raiders saddled their banthas, and the shaggy beasts stomped impatiently, as if anxious to

Star Wars - Darksaber (by Kevin J Anderson)

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