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8348cd1
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Seated in the copilot's chair, Tarkin watched Vader expectantly as the Predator emerged from hyperspace. "Full ahead," the Dark Lord said. Tarkin was glad to oblige, though he saw nothing through the viewports but star-strewn space and nothing on the sensor screens but background noise."
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James Luceno |
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ee23d34
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Thank you, Sheev," Tarkin said, with obvious sincerity, and using Palpatine's given name. "I will do what's best for my homeworld, and for the Republic--in any manner you deem fit." Palpatine's words about Naboo and Eriadu turned out to be prophetic."
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James Luceno |
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a4767b8
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They stood together at the base of a sheer wall four meters high without ledges or toeholds and with nowhere to go. Below, battle droids advanced from both ends of the street, killing the few Lokori that remained standing, painting the street green with their blood and joining forces at the bottom of the fall. Everyone Galen and Lyra had run with was on the ground, dead or wounded.
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James Luceno |
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d4b814b
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Tarkin was surprised when Mas Amedda charged the car to descend. "I would have expected the Emperor to reside closer to the top," Tarkin said. "He does," the vizier allowed. "But we're not proceeding directly to the Emperor. We're going to meet first with Lord Vader."
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James Luceno |
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7a64c8f
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In a hushed but serious tone, she said: "Galen, you know where these came from." "Mygeeto, perhaps," Galen said, distracted and still fascinated by the colorless kyber. "Possibly Ilum or Christophsis." "Not their source world," she said. "The size of them, the shape..." He finally turned to meet her wide-eyed gaze. "These could only have come from Jedi lightsabers."
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James Luceno |
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c47eb01
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No matter what, it was unlikely that he would ever have crossed paths with the Emperor--when he was still known as Palpatine. It was while Tarkin was attending the Sullust Sector Spacefarers Academy that they met--or rather that Palpatine had sought him out.
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James Luceno |
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be66421
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Wilhuff had had ample time to grow accustomed to the sight, scent, and taste of blood, but he had never seen so much human blood spilled in one place.
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James Luceno |
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50ec230
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Excuse me for asking, sir, but are we expecting trouble?" "Always, Captain," Tarkin said, without levity."
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James Luceno |
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5542e85
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Good." The Emperor sat back. "And, tell me, what is your opinion of Lord Vader's handling of the occupation of Kashyyyk?" "He proved very capable, my lord. No one involved in the operation will soon forget his ... sense of commitment, shall we say?" --
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James Luceno |
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84a19dc
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Abruptly the destroyer lurched and began to nose about toward Kashyyyk's crescent of bright side. "The brain wants to complete the task it was in the middle of when the ship was shut down," Filli said. Starstone turned to him. "What was the task?" "It thinks that the Separatists are losing Kachirho. It's converting itself into a giant bomb!"
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James Luceno |
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79426ff
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Chewbacca woofed in agreement.
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James Luceno |
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d34c5fa
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The Sith are not placid stars but singularities. Rather than burn with muted purpose, we warp space and time to twist the galaxy to our own design.
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James Luceno |
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7011337
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Vader approached, drawing and igniting his Sith blade. Shryne blinked blood from his eyes; lifted his lightsaber hand only to realize that he had lost the sword during his fall. Slumping back, he loosed a ragged, resigned exhalation.
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James Luceno |
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efafff2
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To her horror, Starstone realized she was suddenly alone with Vader, who immediately signaled his stormtroopers to leave her to him, and to devote themselves to slaughtering the few Wookiees who remained on the tier.
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James Luceno |
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14bacb2
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They're interested in knowing why you're so interested in knowing whether any Jedi were here during the battle," Cudgel explained to Starstone and the others while the quartet of armed Wookiees glared down at them."
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James Luceno |
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c650a44
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For the moment it was enough that his advisers and minions respected him-for reestablishing peace, for eliminating the group that had posed the greatest threat to continued stability-but eventually those same advisers would need to fear him. To understand the great power he wielded, as both Emperor and Dark Lord of the Sith. And to that end, Sidious needed Vader.
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James Luceno |
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d34a0db
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I think it's leading us on a wild gundark chase.
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James Luceno |
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3b91d91
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You are Lord Vader?" Organa asked. "Senator," Vader said, inclining his head slightly "I demand to know why you've come to Alderaan." "Senator, you are in no position to demand anything."
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James Luceno |
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c0d20e0
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R2-D2 zithered, then buzzed.
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James Luceno |
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12f7530
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In the throne room, he had tried to puzzle out which among the Emperor's cabal of advisers, human or otherwise, were aware that Palpatine was a Sith Lord who had manipulated the entire war and eradicated his sworn enemies, the Jedi, as part of a plan to assume absolute power over the galaxy.
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James Luceno |
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bf7f4d8
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The Jedi Order's homespun cloaks announced: I want for nothing, because I am clothed in the Force; the cloaks of the Sith: I am the light in the dark, the convergence of opposing energies.
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James Luceno |
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38c079d
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Accompanying her were distinguished Jedi Masters Dooku and Sifo-Dyas, and a tall, powerfully built Jedi Knight named Qui-Gon Jinn, who remained standing while the rest took their designated seats at the circular table.
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James Luceno |
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928b2dd
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Sidious rejected outrage and intimidation for rankled curiosity. "Is this the point where I'm expected to ask why I've been abducted?"
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James Luceno |
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28435ec
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Teem showed him a bitter smile. "Perhaps you had no direct hand in Kim's death, but I suspect that you were complicit." He paused, then added, "That little speech you gave in the Senate ... I understand that it succeeded in attracting the attention of the Supreme Chancellor. Clearly you have all the makings of a career politician. Unfortunately, we plan to cut your career short."
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James Luceno |
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2edd088
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Palpatine, she has only just turned thirteen!" Palpatine spread his hands. "Naboo has elected younger Queens, m'lady. And hers could be a reign that will last fifty years."
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James Luceno |
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b29860c
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What now?" Plagueis asked the moment Palpatine broke the connection. Sidious shook his head in disbelief. "Valorum somehow managed to persuade the Council to send two Jedi to Naboo."
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James Luceno |
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7c93d6e
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As I told you on Naboo, Anakin," he said finally, "we will continue to follow your career with great interest." And assure that it culminates in the ruination of the Jedi Order and the reascendancy of the Sith!"
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James Luceno |
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f33f0a4
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the red-haired aesthete politician flashed a welcoming smile and extended a hand in greeting.
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James Luceno |
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318e391
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A SAYING EMERGED during the early years of the Empire: Better to be spaced than based on Belderone. Some commentators traced the origin to the last of the original Kamino-grown soldiers who had served alongside the Jedi in the Clone Wars; others to the first crop of cadets graduated from the Imperial academies. Besides expressing disdain for assignments on worlds located far from the Core, the adage implied that star system assignment was a..
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James Luceno |
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8f740d9
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On the landing field were two wind-blasted shuttles, along with Tarkin's personal starship, the Carrion Spike.
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James Luceno |
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f8d42ac
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Computer modeling showed the lasers' twin collimating beams racing away from the Star Destroyer. Then, captured by gravity, the beams become one, changing vector and accelerating beyond lightspeed as it disappeared into the mask's churning accretion envelope. Krennic watched the monitor in naked awe, wishing there was some way he could screen the results for Galen without sending him into cardiac arrest or fleeing for the farthest reaches o..
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James Luceno |
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0c13bad
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Still, there was prosperity for a few; quick credits to be made in ore processing, local and deep-space transport, and usury. For the Tarkins, wealth came by providing security. Their climb to the top had been hard won. Among Eriadu's earliest pioneers, the ancestral Tarkins had had to function as their own police force and defenders, countering attacks first by the ferocious predators that thrived in Eriadu's forests and mountains, then by..
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James Luceno |
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bd924de
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The Goliath could have been carrying a squadron of the new--and seemingly disposable--TIE fighters.
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James Luceno |
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25e3c4a
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Palpatine laughed without merriment. "What could you possibly have to offer someone like me?" "Just this." She opened the soft shoulder bag to reveal a humanoid infant of less than a standard year in age. The infant's hairless head was stippled with an array of short but still pliant horns, and its entire body had been garishly and ceremonially tattooed in red and black pigments."
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James Luceno |
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be93657
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The order of future events was transient. In the same way that the past was reconfigured by selective memory, future events, too, were moving targets.
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James Luceno |
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469cfe2
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After much reflection, I came to realize that the years I spent at Sentinel Base were as formative as my years of schooling on Eriadu's Carrion Plateau, or as significant as any of the battles in which I had participated or commanded. For I was safeguarding the creation of an armament that would one day shape and guarantee the future of the Empire. Both as impregnable fortress and as symbol of the Emperor's inviolable rule, the deep-space m..
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James Luceno |
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9d1e431
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The Carrion Spike may already be in motion," Tarkin said, squaring his shoulders. As if in echo of Tarkin's posture of readiness, Vader planted his fists on his hips. "Then we have no time to spare."
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James Luceno |
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f6e4b29
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It was Supreme Chancellor Palpatine himself who had presented the schematic to the Strategic Advisory Cell at the second briefing. But in fact the battle station wasn't a product of Republic research and development; it had originated with the Separatists. The captive Geonosian leader, Poggle the Lesser, maintained that Count Dooku had provided Poggle's hive with the basic plans, and that the Geonosians had merely refined them.
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James Luceno |
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fb17031
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on an actual kyber, which Zerpen had gone to great lengths and cost to acquire. Relatively rare, the so-called living crystals were almost exclusively the property of the Jedi, who seemed to regard the kyber as sacrosanct. Finger-sized ones powered their lightsabers, and larger ones were rumored to adorn the ornate facades of their isolated temples.
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James Luceno |
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555069c
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The synthetic gem had been modeled on an actual kyber, which Zerpen had gone to great lengths and cost to acquire. Relatively rare, the so-called living crystals were almost exclusively the property of the Jedi, who seemed to regard the kyber as sacrosanct. Finger-sized ones powered their lightsabers, and larger ones were rumored to adorn the ornate facades of their isolated temples.
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James Luceno |
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a363eed
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The only humans among the research group, they were a long way from the Core, and even farther from the conflict that had recently erupted between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the so-called Separatists.
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James Luceno |
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22a94db
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He might have remained a Judicial were it not for a growing schism that began to eat away at the department's long-held and nonpartisan mandate to keep the galaxy free of conflict. On the one side stood Tarkin and others who were committed to enforcing the law and safeguarding the Republic; on the other, a growing number of dissidents who had come to view the Republic as a galactic disease. They detested the influence peddling, the complace..
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James Luceno |
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ef62b2d
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Space was more appropriate for the Sith than for the Jedi. The invisible enslavement to gravity, the contained power of the stars, the utter insignificance of life ... Hyperspace, by contrast, was more suitable to the Jedi: nebulous, neither here nor
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James Luceno |
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b136d5f
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The central command computer," he sputtered, his eyes leaking tears. "Republic forces took it out. That's the only explanation." Lyra pressed herself against his back while Jyn cried softly in the carrier. "I don't even need an explanation." What neither of them knew or could have known was that the war, so abruptly begun three years earlier, was just as suddenly over."
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James Luceno |