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  * JEDI SEARCH *

  * The Jedi Academy Trilogy *

  Volume 1

  By

  Kevin J. Anderson

  As the war between the Republic and the scattered remnants of the Empire

  continues, two children--the Jedi twins--will come into their powers in a

  universe on the brink of vast changes and challenges. In this time of

  turmoil and discovery, an extraordinary new Star Wars saga begins....

  While Luke Skywalker takes the first step toward setting up an academy to

  train a new order of Jedi Knights, Han Solo and Chewbacca are taken prisoner

  on the planet

  Kessel and forced to work in the fathomless depths of a spice mine. But when

  Han and Chewie break away, they flee desperately to a secret Imperial

  research laboratory surrounded by a cluster of black holes--and go from one

  danger to a far greater one. ...

  On Kessel, Luke picks up the trail of his two friends, only to come

  face-to-face with a weapon so awesome, it can wipe out an entire solar

  system. It is a death ship called the

  Sun Crusher, invented by a reclusive genius and piloted by none other than

  Han himself. ...

  _ About the Author _

  For the past ten years Kevin J. Anderson has worked as a technical editor

  and writer at the large government research lab, Lawrence Livermore National

  Laboratory ... which he insists has nothing to do with the large Imperial

  research lab, Maw Installation, in Jedi Search. He is also the author of 18

  science fiction or fantasy books, including three co-written with Doug

  Beason for Bantam--Lifeline, The Trinity Paradox, and Assemblers of

  Infinity. His works have appeared on numerous Best of the Year lists, as

  well as preliminary or final ballots for the Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards.

  In addition to the three novels in the "Jedi Academy" trilogy, he is also at

  work on various other Star Wars projects, including The Illustrated Star

  Wars Universe, an art book featuring 25 new paintings by artist Ralph

  McQuarrie showing daily life on the planets in the Star Wars Universe. He is

  also editing three anthologies of short stories, the first of which--Tales

  from the Star Wars Cantina--tells the stories of all the bizarre characters

  from the Cantina scene.

  * OTHER BOOKS BY *

  * KEVIN J. ANDERSON *

  Resurrection, Inc.

  Gamearth

  Gameplay

  Game's End

  Star Wars: Jedi Search

  Star Wars: Dark Apprentice

  Star Wars: Champions of the Force

  * by * * Kevin J. Anderson and *

  * Doug Beason *

  Lifeline

  The Trinity Paradox

  Assemblers of Infinity

  * by * * Kristine Kathryn Rusch and *

  * Kevin J. Anderson *

  * Acknowledgments *

  Lucy Autrey Wilson of Lucasfilm Licensing for keeping watch over a million

  things at once and for suggesting new things faster than I could possibly

  implement the old ones; my wife Rebecca for all her brainstorming and her

  sharp editing skills--and her love; Bill Smith for his suggestions and the

  invaluable Star Wars source material available from West End Games; Ralph

  McQuarrie for his wild ideas and imagination that sparked more than one

  avalanche of possibilities; Dave Willoughby for his help in alien geology

  and the other Star Wars authors Tom Veitch, Dave Wolverton, Timothy Zahn,

  and Kathy Tyers for helping my story fit in with theirs.

  * Dedication *

  To my editor

  Betsy Mitchell,

  for giving me the opportunity to play

  in such a vast and entertaining universe

  and for helping shape my work into

  the best it could be.

  * JEDI SEARCH *

  * *

  The black hole cluster near Kessel reached out for the Millennium Falcon

  with jaws of gravity, drawing it close. Even in the mottled blur of

  hyperspace, Han Solo could see the huge distortion as a bruised whirlpool,

  trying to suck them down to infinity.

  "Hey, Chewie! Don't you think that's too close?" He stared at the Falcon's

  navicomputer, wishing they had chosen a course that would take them a safer

  distance from the Maw. "What do you think this is, an old smuggling mission?

  We got nothing to hide this time."

  Beside him, Chewbacca looked disappointed and grunted an excuse, waving his

  hairy paws in the stifling air of the cockpit.

  "Yeah, well we're on an official mission this time. No more skulking about.

  Try to act dignified, okay?"

  Chewbacca groaned a skeptical reply, then turned to his navigational

  screens.

  Han felt a pang at returning to his old haunts, reminded of when he had been

  just on the other side of the law, running spice, being chased by Imperial

  scout ships. When his life had been free and easy.

  On one of those frantic missions, he and Chewbacca had practically shaved

  the bottom plating off the Falcon, taking a shortcut and skimming closer to

  the Maw cluster of black holes than had ever before been recorded. Sensible

  pilots avoided the area, using longer paths that kept them clear of the

  black holes, but the Falcon's speed had carried them to safety on the other

  side, making the Kessel run in under twelve parsecs. But that "guaranteed

  sure thing" mission had ended in disaster anyway; Han had dumped his load of

  spice just before being boarded by Imperials.

  This time, though, Han was returning to Kessel under different

  circumstances. His wife Leia had appointed him an official representative of

  the New Republic, an ambassador of sorts, though the title seemed somewhat

  honorary.

  But even an honorary title had its advantages. Han and Chewbacca no longer

  had to dodge scout ships, or duck under planetary sensor nets, or use the

  secret compartments under the deck plates. Han Solo found himself in the

  unlikely, and uncomfortable, position of being respectable. There was no

  other word for it.

  But Han's new responsibilities weren't just quaint annoyances. He was

  married to Leia--who could have imagined that?--and he had three children.

  Han leaned back in his flight chair and locked his hands behind his head. He

  allowed a wistful smile to cross his face. He had visited the kids as often

  as he could, in their protective isolation on a secret planet, and the twins

  were due to come home to Coruscant in a week. Anakin, the third little baby,

  had filled him with wonder as he tickled the tiny ribs, watching an

  expression of amusement cross the infant's face.

  Han Solo, a father figure? Leia had said a long time ago that she liked

  "nice men"--and that was exactly what Han was turning into!

  He caught Chewbacca looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

  Embarrassed, Han sat up straight and frowned down at the controls. "Where

  are we? Shouldn't it be about time to end this jump?"

  Chewie growled an affirmative, then reached out with a furry paw to grasp

  the h
yperspace controls. The Wookiee watched the numbers tick away on his

  control panel; at the appropriate moment he hauled backward on the lever

  that dropped them back into normal space.

  The mottled coloring of hyperspace fanned into starlines with a roar that

  Han felt more than heard; then they were surrounded by the expected tapestry

  of stars.

  Behind them the spectacle of the Maw looked like a garish finger painting as

  ionized gas plunged into multiple black holes. Directly in front of the

  Falcon, Han saw the blue-white glare of Kessel's sun. As the ship rotated to

  align them with the ecliptic, Kessel itself came into view, potato-shaped

  and maned with the tendrils of escaping atmosphere, orbited by a large moon

  that had once housed a garrison of Imperial troopers.

  "Right on target, Chewie," Han said. "Now let me have the controls."

  Kessel looked like a wraith coasting along its orbit, too small to hold on

  to its own atmosphere. Huge generating factories constantly processed the

  raw rocks to release oxygen and carbon dioxide, making it possible for

  people to survive outside with simple breath masks instead of total

  environment suits. A good portion of the newly manufactured atmosphere

  escaped into space, wisping behind the small planet like the tail of a giant

  comet.

  Chewbacca barked a short, nasal comment.

  Han nodded. "Yeah, it looks great from up here. Too bad it's so different

  when you get a closer look. I never liked the place."

  Kessel was a major planet for spice production and seat of heavy smuggling

  activities, as well as the site for one of the toughest prisons in the

  galaxy. The Empire had controlled spice production except for what smugglers

  managed to steal from under Imperial noses. But with the fall of the

  Emperor, the smugglers and the prisoners in the Imperial Correction Facility

  took over the planet.

  Kessel had laid low during the depredations of Grand Admiral Thrawn and the

  recent resurrection of the Emperor, keeping quiet and trying hard not to be

  noticed, answering no one's request for help.

  A low growl rumbled in Chewie's throat.

  Han sighed and shook his head, "Look, I'm not happy about going back there

  either, buddy. But things are different now, and we're the best people to do

  it."

  With the civil war ended and the New Republic once again firmly seated on

  Coruscant, leaving scattered groups of Imperial warships to fight each

  other, it was time to reopen negotiations. Better to get them on our side

  than to let them sell out wherever they can, Han thought, which is what

  they'll probably do anyway. As representative of the new unified smugglers,

  Luke's old nemesis Mara Jade had tried to contact Kessel and been flatly

  rebuffed.

  The Millennium Falcon approached Kessel, firing aft thrusters to help them

  catch up with the planet's motion, preparing for insertion into orbit. On

  the helm's scanner screens, Han checked their approach. "Vectoring in," he

  said.

  Chewie made a quick comment and pointed at the screens. Han looked down to

  see blips already in orbit around the planet, emerging from the blanketing

  clouds of the atmosphere. "I see 'em. Looks like about a half dozen ships.

  Too far away to determine the types."

  Han brushed aside Chewie's uneasy growl. "Well, then we'll just tell them

  who we are. Don't worry. Why do you think Leia made such a fuss about

  getting us proper diplomatic ID signals and everything?"

  He switched on the New Republic beacon that automatically pinged out their

  identification in Basic and several other languages. To his surprise, the

  orbiting ships changed their vector in unison and increased speed to

  intercept the Falcon.

  "Hey!" Han shouted, then realized he had not switched on the audio pickup.

  Chewie roared. Han toggled the switch on. "This is Han Solo of the New

  Republic ship Millennium Falcon. We are on a diplomatic mission." His mind

  raced, wondering what words a real diplomat would use. "Uh, please state

  your intentions."

  The two closest ships raced in, first growing indistinct points of light,

  then taking on shapes. "Chewie, I think you'd better get our forward

  deflector shields up. I've got a bad feeling about this."

  He reached for the communications switch as Chewbacca brought up the

  shields, but then he looked through the front viewport. The two incoming

  ships roared toward him at unbelievable speed, spreading out on either side.

  The sight of their squared-off solar panels and central pilot compartments

  turned Han's blood to ice water.

  TIE fighters.

  "Chewie, get over here. I'm taking the laser cannon." Before the Wookiee

  could reply, Han hauled himself up the access tube into the gun well. He

  grabbed on to the gunner's chair, trying to reorient himself in the new

  gravity field.

  The TIE fighters came in for a two-pronged attack, spreading above and below

  the Falcon and firing their lasers. As the ship lurched from the impact, Han

  managed to throw himself into the gunner's chair, grabbing for the harness

  buckle and strapping himself in. One of the attacking ships swooped

  overhead, and the Falcon's sensor panels howled with the sound of Twin Ion

  Engines, from which the TIE fighter took its name. The enemy vessel fired

  again, but the beams streaked harmlessly through space.

  "Chewie, take evasive action! Don't just fly straight!" The Wookiee shouted

  something from below, and Han yelled back. "I don't know--you're piloting,

  you figure it out!" Obviously Kessel had not rolled out the welcome mat for

  them. Had some vestige of the Empire taken over the planet? If so, Han

  needed to get that information back to Coruscant.

  Other ships were approaching now, and somehow Han didn't think they were

  coming to help. Up ahead, the two TIE fighters swooped up in a tight arc,

  executing a complete one-eighty and roaring back for a second attack on the

  Falcon.

  But this time Han had managed to strap himself in and power up the laser

  batteries. On his scope the TIE fighter made a digitized target, growing

  larger. The enemy ship came closer and closer. Han tightened his grip around

  the firing levers, knowing the TIE pilot would be doing the same. He waited,

  feeling sweat build up on his neck. He realized he was holding his breath.

  One more second. One more second. The targeting cross showed dead center on

  the starboard wing of the fighter.

  The instant Han pressed the firing button, Chewbacca threw the Falcon into

  an evasive roll. The laser blasts went wide, spraying toward the distant

  stars. The TIE fighter's shot also missed, streaking in the opposite

  direction and coming perilously close to striking the second TIE fighter.

  The second fighter managed to readjust his aim quickly enough that his two

  shots scored the Falcon's shields. Han heard sparks spraying from the

  control panels. Chewie bellowed a preliminary damage report. Aft shields

  gone. Forward shields still holding well. That meant they had to take the

  TIE fighters head-on.

  As the first fighter swung around for a third pass, Han swivele
d his gun

  turret as far as it would go and stared at the targeting screen again. This

  time he would forget about finesse and perfect accuracy. He just wanted to

  blast the sucker. His lasers were fully charged, and he could afford to

  waste a few shots, as long as this wasn't going to be a prolonged battle.

  As soon as the targeting cross touched the image of the fighter, Han

  squeezed his firing buttons at full power, strafing his deadly laser across

  the path of the incoming ship. The Imperial fighter swooped in but could not

  change its course quickly enough, plowing through the shower of laser bolts.

  The ship erupted into a flame-flower of exploding fuel tanks and expanding

  atmosphere.

  Han and Chewbacca shouted their triumph in unison. Even euphoric, Han didn't

  sit around patting himself on the back. "Let's go after the other one,

  Chewie." The second TIE fighter swerved outward in a long trajectory, then

  headed back toward Kessel. "Hurry, before those reinforcements can get

  here." He wondered if perhaps he and Chewbacca shouldn't turn and flee

  immediately. But part of him refused to let anybody take potshots at the

  Millennium Falcon and just walk away from it.

  Chewbacca increased speed, closing the gap between the Falcon and the TIE

  fighter. "Just get me one good shot, Chewie. One good shot."