Star Wars: Trials of the Jedi (The High Republic) (Star Wars: The High Republic)

Star Wars: Trials of the Jedi (The High Republic) (Star Wars: The High Republic)

In this epic conclusion to  Star Wars: The High Republic, the Jedi face a final confrontation against the Nihil and Marchion Ro. The Force is everything. A single life connected to all life. All things connected to all other things. This is what the Jedi believe, and this is why they fight. For life . . . and the light. For too long, the light has been threatened by Marchion Ro, a sinister despot who will stop at nothing in his quest for power. The conflict with Ro and his marauding Nihil forces has left scars across the galaxy and held the Republic hostage. Countless lives have been lost, beacons of hope have fallen, and the collective courage and resolve of the Republic have been tested like never before. Through it all the Jedi Order has endured, an unwavering candle against the encroaching darkness. But the Jedi have yet to solve the mystery of the Nameless creatures who feed on the Force. Ro has loosed them upon the galaxy, striking fear into the heart of even the most stalwart Jedi. And yet with every life saved and world freed from Nihil control, the all-consuming blight, which devours everything wherever it appears, threatens to wipe it all away. Everything now depends on nine brave Jedi, led by Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann, who embark on a treacherous journey to the Nameless homeworld. Their quest: to finally solve the mystery of the Nameless and their connection to the Force, and to stop the blight before its damage becomes irreversible. But a final confrontation with Marchion Ro awaits. Ro, who is willing to sacrifice everything he’s achieved to secure a final victory against the Jedi and carve his name into the very stars for all time. Nothing less than the fate of everything, perhaps even the Force itself, is at stake. Charles Soule is a #1 New York Times bestselling novelist and comic book author. He has spent over a decade creating stories for some of the most enduring characters in popular culture, from Superman to Darth Vader, with much of his work adapted for film, television, and video games. He is the writer of numerous bestselling, critically acclaimed original comic series such as Eight Billion Genies and Undiscovered Country, as well as three original novels for HarperCollins, the latest of which is The Endless Vessel . Charles is a creative consultant for Lucasfilm, Ltd., and is one of the founding architects of Star Wars: The High Republic, a multi-platform Star Wars saga kicked off by his bestselling novel Light of the Jedi . He lives in New York City. Chapter One The Jedi Temple Bree went down into the dark, to a place she was not supposed to be, as she had been told to do. She was only nine years old, a member of the Jedi Order, on the older side of the youngest group of students being trained in the Jedi’s great temple on Coruscant—appropriately called younglings. Bree descended another step, then paused to look back. Behind her, an arch of light awaited—the path back to the main levels of the Temple. She wanted to go back—to her friends, to her studies, to the sun, to the light. But Bree had a job to do. She sighed, turned her eyes back to the stairs, and continued on her way. The stairs were old. Everything in the Jedi Temple was old, but it didn’t look like it. Maintenance droids kept everything shining and clean. These steps were different. They were crumbled at their edges, with wisps of dust and dirt, even little dead bugs. Bree didn’t mind bugs. Her friend Toko was a different story, but Bree didn’t care so much. Creatures were creatures, big or small. The staircase wound down, down, down, light provided by illumination globes strung along the walls. Most of the time, Jedi didn’t need lights for something like this—they carried light with them—but the globes had been installed here when it became clear that this route would need to be used more frequently. Is it getting hotter? Bree wondered. She put her hand against the wall. Yes. She wasn’t imagining it. The wall wasn’t hot, not like a flame—more like a sun-warmed patch of stone in one of the Temple’s many terraces high above her. But there was no sun, not down here. Bree pulled her hand away, frowning. She continued down, moving faster, wanting to be done with this task. They shouldn’t have made me do this, she thought. They’re all so much stronger and older than I am. I’m just a kid. They could have found another way. But there was no other way. Bree was just a kid, that was true, but she had eyes, and she had ears. The grown Jedi were too busy with all the terrible crises that had landed upon their Order, one after the other. Jedi Knights were . . . Dead , she thought. They’re dead, killed and eaten by the monsters. The Nameless. Not a good thought while deep beneath the Temple, descending a rapidly narrowing staircase that seemed to be closing in on her, the walls changing now from rough-cut stone blocks to a different kind of surface that looked like the roc