‘Star Wars: The High Republic – The Fallen Star’ First Excerpt Released

The final wave of stories in phase 1 of the High Republic inches ever closer day by day. News has been slowly coming out about what’s on the way, and fans have been preparing their emotions for the climactic events. Kicking things off is Claudia Gray’s The High Republic: The Fallen Star. This is Gray’s second entry in the High Republic saga after Into the Dark was released earlier this year. Today, StarWars.com released the first excerpt for the novel, giving us an early taste of the story.

 

The excerpt details Padawan Bell Zettifar, his Master Indeera Stokes, Padawan Burryaga, and Master Nib Assek as they go on a mission to track down the Nihil. One of the more interesting plotlines heading into this novel is Bell and his internal struggles as a Jedi after the events of Cavan Scott’s The Rising Storm. This excerpt does some work in addressing that.

 

 

Here is a piece of the excerpt:

 

The Longbeam cruiser slipped into the Nefitifi system as smoothly and silently as a sharp needle piercing black cloth. Only a few million years before, a star in this previously binary system had exploded, leaving behind a nebula of extraordinary scale. Trails of deep-purple and dark-blue gases laced between the planets, radioactive and opaque, hiding the entire system within swirls of mist.

Many smugglers had, in the past, taken advantage of that mist.

The Jedi now believed the Nihil were using it, too. It was their last place to hide.

“Any signals?” Master Indeera Stokes asked her Padawan.

Bell Zettifar, next to her, shook his head. “Nothing on any frequen­cies. It’s completely quiet out there.”

“It shouldn’t be.” Master Nib Assek shook her head, her gray hair painted silver by the shadows in which they stood. (When a Long­beam ran on half power to avoid attention — as this one now did — lighting dimmed accordingly.) “Gunrunners have used this part of space for a long time. You’d expect beacons, tagged cargo in asteroids, something of that sort. Instead . . . nothing.”

Bell glanced over at a fellow Padawan, the Wookiee Burryaga, who stood by Master Assek’s side. Their shared look confirmed that they understood what was implied: The Nefitifi system was too quiet. Find­ing no activity here was like landing on Coruscant and finding it de­serted: proof positive that something was very wrong.

Here it could only mean that the Nihil were near.

“They must be using silencers,” Bell said to Master Indeera. “Satel­lites or shipboard?”

“Shipboard, I suspect. We’ll soon find out.” His Master squared her shoulders; her Tholothian tendrils rippled down her back. Bell felt the shiver of anticipation that went through the Jedi cohort aboard; the Force was warning them of what was about to come. Master Indeera put her hand on her lightsaber hilt. “The other Longbeams report sim­ilar readings — or lack thereof. The Nihil must be very near.”

Finally, action. A chance to move on the Nihil. Bell had wanted this — needed it — ever since the loss of his former Master, Loden Great­storm. Not for vengeance. Greatstorm would never have wanted that. For the knowledge that Bell had done something, anything, to counter­act the evil that had robbed his Master of his life. The Nihil were al­ready beaten, it seemed — Master Avar Kriss seemed on the verge of capturing their leader, the Eye, at any moment — but neither Bell nor the rest of the galaxy would be at peace until the threat had been laid to rest forever.

The debacle at the Republic Fair months ago could’ve damaged con­fidence in the Republic — and in the Jedi — past repair. Instead the Nihil were now on the run. The corner had been turned. This entire part of the galaxy would soon be wholly safe once more.

Once everyone else had regained their confidence and security, maybe Bell would, too.

As the Longbeam passed through another thick golden cloud of gases, Master Indeera was the first to say, “They’re above us. Almost directly overhead.” Burryaga growled in assent.

Ship sensors almost immediately began to flash, but the true warning came to them through the Force. Bell’s senses heightened; his muscles tensed. Readiness galvanized him on every level.

Here it comes, he thought as he looked out the cockpit. The dark, swirling nebula gases became translucent as the Longbeam rose, re­vealing the underbelly of the Nihil ship. Bell imagined the warning alarms on that ship’s bridge, the frantic rush of activity as they pre­pared to fight — for by this point, surely, the Nihil had realized that the Jedi had come to fight.

But the Jedi had been ready from the instant they left Starlight Beacon, and their moment had finally come.

For Master Loden, Bell thought, and that no one else may ever suffer at the Nihil’s hands as he suffered.

 

You can head to StarWars.com for the full excerpt. You can also check out the stunning cover art on the exclusive Out of Print edition of The Fallen Star here and pre-order it today.

 

Star Wars: The High Republic – The Fallen Star arrives January 4th, 2022, alongside Justina Ireland’s Mission to Disaster.

 

+ posts

Nate uses his love for Star Wars and movies in general as a way to cope with the pain of being a Minnesota sports fan. When he's not at the theater, you can usually find Nate reading a comic, listening to an audiobook, or playing a Mario video game for the 1,000th time.

Nate Manning

Nate uses his love for Star Wars and movies in general as a way to cope with the pain of being a Minnesota sports fan. When he's not at the theater, you can usually find Nate reading a comic, listening to an audiobook, or playing a Mario video game for the 1,000th time.

LATEST POSTS ON MOVIE NEWS NET