‘Star Wars: Path of Deceit’ Prologue Marks the Beginning of The High Republic Phase 2
Just like that, phase 2 of the High Republic publishing initiative is almost here. Path of Deceit by Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton arrives next week, on October 4th. Taking place 150 years before the events of phase 1, the young adult novel will introduce a lot of new elements, including the Path of the Open Hand and their leader, known only as “the Mother,” who has an interesting view of the Force.
StarWars.com has revealed the prologue for the upcoming novel, giving a big taste of the dynamics at play as phase 2 begins. The excerpt returns readers to Dalna, a planet whose loyalties to the Jedi will be tested. We also meet the Mother, who is looking for objects tied to the Force.
Here is a piece of the excerpt:
Radicaz Dobbs, known as Sunshine to his friends and far worse to his enemies, landed his decrepit pleasure yacht in the docking yard on Dalna, a nothing planet in a nowhere part of space. The frontier was full of hardship and scarcity, but Sunshine had never seen such a terrible docking yard. The area was little more than a mudhole, and the dockmaster hadn’t bothered giving him coordinates but instead mumbled through the staticky comms something that sounded like “Set it down anywhere” as Sunshine cleared the upper atmosphere. “Anywhere” being a large open area that looked like the aftermath of a bantha herd migration. As Sunshine set down his ship, the Scupper, he wondered just how there could be a collector of rare Force-related artifacts in such a miserable outpost. But he did not think on it too long. Credits were credits, no matter where they came from.
The ship touched down without incident, and thanks to its decrepit appearance it wouldn’t attract much attention, not even in the most pitiful excuse for a dockyard Sunshine had ever seen. And if the dockmaster did a random inspection, they would find nothing amiss. The inside of the Scupper was no more impressive than the outside. The deck was old and scuffed, and there was a peculiar smell that never really came out, no matter how many times Sunshine had his maintenance droid, DZ-23, scrub the walls. But the disrepair hid powerful sublight engines, a number of coded safes, and a cutting-edge databank and navicomputer. Sunshine liked to keep ahead of the competition, no matter the role he was playing.
Once Sunshine had landed the ship and tucked away some of the rarer artifacts destined for better buyers, he packed up the remaining items and wrapped them carefully before placing them in a knapsack. He wouldn’t take in all his loot at once, only a few items at a time. He might be rather new at fencing items, it being just one of the many things he did to get by, but he was a quick study. It was a rathtareat-rathtar galaxy, and Sunshine was determined to stay off the menu.
He was just about ready to go when there was a sudden pounding on the outside of his ship. Sunshine punched in the code and the boarding ramp lowered, the stabilizing legs at the end settling with a squelching sound that made Sunshine shudder. When he peered down to see who had been hammering the side of his ship, he saw a massive Nautolan dressed in strange blue-and-gray robes, blue paint smeared across his brow and decorating his hands and bare arms. But that wasn’t the most noticeable thing about the man: his head tentacles had been shorn away, leaving behind blunted and unnatural stumps. It was a brutal reminder that despite the man’s kind smile, the galaxy, and its citizens, could be very, very violent.
“You must be Sunshine,” the Nautolan said, holding his palms to the sky and bowing low. “I am delighted to make your acquaintance. You may call me the Herald.”
Sunshine felt a deep sense of unease. “How did you know who I am?”
A smile tugged at the man’s lips briefly before disappearing, and when he straightened, his large liquid black eyes held not a bit of guile. “The Mother asked me to meet you here. She dislikes Ferdan and avoids the city as much as possible. Being around so many living things can sometimes affect her ability to commune with the Force. If you’ll follow me?”
Sunshine did not want to follow the Nautolan, but the woman he’d exchanged messages with had promised quite the payday if he was able to provide interesting artifacts. So Sunshine, who had a very large bill coming due to the Hutt Cartel for some gambling debts, touched his waistband to ensure his blaster was still there before following the Herald.
“Our compound is not far,” the Herald said, leading the way to a slightly less muddy road out of the small settlement.
“We’re leaving Ferdan?” Sunshine asked.
“Yes. Our people’s compound is outside of the city.”
“This is what passes for a city here?” Sunshine said, looking at the people watching them go. For the most part the residents did not seem to mind their passing, but there were a few who stopped and made a sign Sunshine recognized from the rykestra tables as meant to ward away bad luck. He hefted his knapsack and glanced at the Herald.
“Yes. Dalna is peaceful and sparsely populated. That is why we, the Path of the Open Hand, chose this place as our home. There is very little in the way of distractions. You’ll want to hurry, though. This is the rainy season, and during this time of year you’re likely to get soaked if you dally outside too long.”
Sunshine tried to walk faster, but he was short and stout, and the Nautolan was tall and massively built. By the time the first buildings belonging to the Path came into view, he was huffing, and despite the Herald offering a number of times to take his knapsack, Sunshine still gripped it tight. There was something about this strange man and the odd reactions of the people of Ferdan that had set Sunshine on edge.
When Sunshine and his guide rounded a gentle curve in the muddy road, a knot of people waited for them, all of them wearing garments similar to the Herald’s. Sunshine realized there was a pattern to their garb, with some wearing more blue than gray and the older members having more ornamentation, including oddly beaded necklaces and rich blue face paint. The lone human among the group, a brown-skinned woman with soft curls and bright eyes, wore silver, the cut of her robes noticeably better than the others. Her smile was calm and welcoming.
“Sunshine Dobbs, the Force welcomes you freely,” she said, doing an abbreviated version of the Herald’s bow: hands open, palms held to the sky. She did not bend at the waist or close her eyes. Instead she merely inclined her head toward Sunshine, her eyes locked on his.
Sunshine blinked, forgetting himself for a moment. His wariness melted away. “Ah, you must be the Mother.”
“Please. Call me Elecia. The Mother is a title, not the name I go by.” She flashed a smile, and a warm sensation began to spread through Sunshine, like when he’d had a bit too much to drink. “These are some of our Elders. They assist me in making difficult decisions.”
“Ah, there are no hard choices to be made here,” Sunshine said, sensing an opportunity. He hefted his knapsack and grinned. “Every artifact I have is a delight to behold, and resonates with the Force in every imaginable way.”
Elecia’s smile widened. “Oh, I certainly hope so. Come, you must be exhausted after such a long trip. We have some refreshments in our main hall.”
They made their way through the compound, and Sunshine only vaguely noticed the children playing in the grass, all of them smaller copies of the adults: robes in blue and gray, blue face paint. There were older kids lying around, boys and girls talking to one another, and a group of younger kids played a complicated game of keeping a small sack aloft within a circle without using their hands. It would seem so utterly normal if it wasn’t for the strange clothing and face paint. But despite the novelty of it all, Sunshine found his gaze returning again and again to the Mother. So much so that one of the Elders, an elderly Twi’lek woman with wizened lekku, noticed and smiled at him.
“She is beautiful, is she not?” she said.
“Uh, I, yes. Yes, she is.”
“It is because the Force shines through her,” the woman said. “She speaks for it, and in exchange the Force blesses her with poise and beauty.”
Sunshine frowned. “Is she a Jedi?” he asked. He didn’t much care for Jedi and their mind tricks. The old woman hissed and drew back. “No! The Mother is a prophet. She understands the Force must be free, not wielded as a weapon.”
“Here we are,” Elecia said, turning back over her shoulder to smile at Sunshine. “Elders, I would ask you to join us but you should see to your meditation. The Herald will brief you on what is decided after, if that is okay?”
One by one the Elders nodded and peeled off from the group, walking toward the entrance to a cavern. Elecia turned back to him.
“I hope you don’t mind. I figured it would be nice to have some privacy.”
“Oh, um, yes,” he said, words failing him. There was something quite intoxicating about the woman, so much so that he found it difficult to hold a thought in his head. Perhaps it was the planet. The air smelled sweet and fresh, and flowers bowed their heads in the breeze. It was an idyllic setting, to say the least, and Sunshine found his attention wandering. He wanted to stay here, in this lovely place with this lovely woman. Just the thought of leaving seemed impossible.
But then the Mother touched the back of his hand, and the strange sensation disappeared, bursting like a popped bubble. “Mr. Dobbs, are you okay?”
“Sunshine, Miss Elecia,” he said with an uncertain smile.
“Sorry, I wasn’t myself for a moment.”
“Sun sickness,” the Herald said with a definite nod. “It happens sometimes. The dual suns of Dalna can be a bit strong to those who haven’t lived in such an unrelenting light.”
“Let us hurry inside to conduct these matters,” the Mother said. “There are some refreshments that should help you feel better.”
For the whole prologue, head over to the official Star Wars website. The High Republic: Path of Deceit will be released on October 4th in all formats. You can pre-order it here.
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.
