Star Wars_ Coruscant Nights III_ Patterns of Force - Michael Reaves [110]
They’d reached their new domicile while he’d been thinking, and when they entered, they found someone waiting in the front room, talking to Den and I-Five.
Den introduced the newcomer, who seemed to be a Mirialan, judging by his facial markings. “This is Chan Dash. He’s got a problem that we might be able to help with.”
Jax nodded. But as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt the Force surge within him, higher and stronger than he had ever felt it before. It was as if those threads which some believed vibrated throughout all of time and space, forming the fabric of reality itself, had suddenly seized him and lifted him, almost instantaneously, above—no, outside the world that he knew, and carried him to some metaphysical vantage point. For one timeless moment, Jax beheld the spectacular galactic whirlpool itself, which simultaneously being connected, somehow, to each and every being within it.
It lasted a millisecond; it lasted an eternity. Then, just as abruptly, he was back.
Was this what Barriss Offee had experienced when she had taken the bota? Had he been, for the length of a heartbeat, connected to the greater, unifying gestalt that the wisest of the Masters called the Cosmic Force? If so, how? Vader had used the last of the bota; there was nothing he could think of that could possibly have triggered this, except—
Except the Force itself.
Jax felt a sense of great contentment, of purpose. He didn’t know why the Force had elected to grant him that vision, but he suspected a reason. He suspected that it had been to show him without a doubt where, in the immensity of the galaxy, that Jax Pavan belonged.
Tell me something I don’t know, he thought.
He realized that Chan Dash, as well as his team, were beginning to regard him strangely. The silence was beginning to stretch.
Jax shook the Mirelian’s hand and gestured to a chair. “Sit down, please,” he said. “Tell me how I can help you.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Reaves received an Emmy Award for his work on the Batman television animated series. He has worked for DreamWorks, among other studios, and has written fantasy novels and supernatural thrillers. Reaves is the New York Times bestselling author of the Star Wars: Coruscant Nights novels Jedi Twilight and Street of Shadows, and Star Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, as well as the co-writer (with Steve Perry) of Star Wars: Death Star and two Star Wars: MedStar novels: Battle Surgeons and Jedi Healer. He lives in the Los Angeles area.
By Michael Reaves
THE SHATTERED WORLD
THE BURNING REALM
DARKWORLD DETECTIVE
I—ALIEN
STREET MAGIC
NIGHT HUNTER
VOODOO CHILD
DRAGONWORLD (with Byron Preiss)
SWORD OF THE SAMURAI (with Steve Perry)
HELLSTAR (with Steve Perry)
DOME (with Steve Perry)
THE OMEGA CAGE (with Steve Perry)
THONG THE BARBARIAN MEETS THE CYCLE SLUTS OF SATURN (with Steve Perry)
HELL ON EARTH
MR. TWILIGHT (with Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff)
BATMAN: FEAR, ITSELF (with Steven-Elliot Altman)
STAR WARS: DARTH MAUL: SHADOW HUNTER
STAR WARS: MEDSTAR I: BATTLE SURGEONS (with Steve Perry)
STAR WARS: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (with Steve Perry)
STAR WARS: DEATH STAR (with Steve Perry)
STAR WARS: CORUSCANT NIGHTS I: JEDI TWILIGHT
STAR WARS: CORUSCANT NIGHTS II: STREET OF SHADOWS
STAR WARS: CORUSCANT NIGHTS III: PATTERNS OF FORCE
Anthologies
SHADOWS OVER BAKER STREET (co-edited with John Pelan)
Story Collection
THE NIGHT PEOPLE
STAR WARS—The Expanded Universe
You saw the movies. You watched the cartoon series, or maybe played some of the video games. But did you know …
In The Empire Strikes Back, Princess Leia Organa said to Han Solo, “I love you.” Han said, “I know.” But did you know that they actually got married? And had three Jedi children: the twins, Jacen and Jaina, and a younger son, Anakin?
Luke Skywalker was trained as a Jedi by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. But did you know that, years later, he went on to revive the Jedi Order and its commitment to defending the galaxy from evil and injustice?
Obi-Wan said to Luke, “For over a thousand generations,