Remnant: Force Heretic I

VECTOR PRIME by R. A. Salvatore

DARK TIDE I: ONSLAUGHT by Michael Stackpole

DARK TIDE II: RUIN by Michael Stackpole

AGENTS OF CHAOS I: HERO’S TRIAL by James Luceno

AGENTS OF CHAOS II: JEDI ECLIPSE by James Luceno

BALANCE POINT by Kathy Tyers

RECOVERY by Troy Denning (eBook)

EDGE OF VICTORY I: CONQUEST by Greg Keyes

EDGE OF VICTORY II: REBIRTH by Greg Keyes

STAR BY STAR by Troy Denning

DARK JOURNEY by Elaine Cunningham

ENEMY LINES I: REBEL DREAMS by Aaron Allston

ENEMY LINES II: REBEL STAND by Aaron Allston

TRAITOR by Matthew Stover

DESTINY’S WAY by Walter Jon Williams

YLESIA by Walter Jon Williams (eBook)

FORCE HERETIC I: REMNANT by Sean Williams & Shane Dix

FORCE HERETIC II: REFUGEE by Sean Williams & Shane Dix

FORCE HERETIC III: REUNION by Sean Williams & Shane Dix

THE FINAL PROPHECY by Greg Keyes

THE UNIFYING FORCE by James Luceno

We would like to thank, for their help in many different areas: Greg Bear, Ginjer Buchanan, Chris Cerasi, Leland Chee, Richard Curtis, Sam Dix, Jeff Harris, Nick Hess, Greg Keyes, Jim Luceno, Midge “McCool” McCall, Christopher McElroy, Ryan Pope, Michael Potts, Sue Rostoni, Shelly Shapiro, Walter Jon Williams, and Lucy Wilson. The Mount Lawley Mafia and the SA Writers’ Centre provided, as always, valuable support. Our debt to all the previous authors in the series—and everyone whose creativity has ever enriched both The New Jedi Order series and the
Star Wars
universe—cannot be expressed in words. The warm reception we received upon joining the team is a tribute to the vibrancy of the community that has grown around these stories. We would particularly like to thank George Lucas for starting the story in the first place, and the fans for making the daunting task of continuing it not only easier but also incredibly enjoyable.

There are three ways to defeat your enemy. The first, and most obvious, is to better him in a trial of force. The best way is to have him destroy himself … The middle way is to destroy your enemy from within. Judicious application of the middle way shall make your blows more effective if you later take the way of force. From the middle way it is also possible to push your enemy onto the path of self-destruction.

—U
UEG
T
CHING
of Kitel Phard,
Fifty-fourth Emperor of Atrisia

Saba Sebatyne knew the moment she emerged from hyperspace that Barab I was burning. Where the planet normally displayed a cloudy, gray face lit by the glow of its primary, a sullen red dwarf, her infrared sensitive eyes now saw a fiery inferno. Smoke billowed high into the planet’s atmosphere as the surface below boiled in outrage at some recent violation.

Wanting to suppress the dread welling up inside of her, wanting to deny what she was seeing, Saba banked her X-wing into a steep dive toward the surface so she could take a closer look.

This couldn’t be happening, she told herself. There
had
to be someone left alive down there, surely.

But her monitors were empty. There were no ships in orbit; no transmission sources; no signs of life.

“This iz Saba Sebatyne,” she spoke into the comm unit. “If anyone can hear this broadcast, please respond.
Anyone.
”

Silence was her only answer, scratched with static.

She shook her flattened, leathery head, hoping in vain to lose the vision, the thought, the truth. So many worlds had fallen since the Yuuzhan Vong had first invaded the galaxy—but not Barab I. While a part of her had always known it was a possibility, she hadn’t really imagined that it would ever actually happen to her homeworld.

She clicked the comm to try again—not because she seriously expected a response, but because there seemed nothing else
to
do.

“Reswa?” Her voice broke on the emotions rising at the thought that her hatchmate might have perished in those cruel fires. It was for Reswa she had been returning to her home planet in the first place. Her hatchmate was to embark on her coming-of-age ritual shenbit bone-crusher hunt, and she had asked Saba to be her witness in this. It was an honor to be asked, and a rejection of the invitation was regarded as highly insulting—especially when the one asking was a close family member.

Family
 … the word had never sounded so empty as it did now. Friends, family—they were all gone. Nothing could have survived the flames that now ravaged her homeworld. And the closer she came to the surface of the planet, the more horror she saw. Alater-ka Spaceport was a smoldering crater; the shenbit reserves were now nothing but bubbling lava plains; the Shaka-ka memorial was sliding inexorably into a steaming sea …

She guided her X-wing through the upper reaches of the atmosphere, the ship buffeted by the upthrust of hot gases rising from the smoking ruins of her homeworld.