Star Wars_ Planet of Twilight - Barbara Hambly [0]
They were there.
Luke froze, lying under the pitted steel belly of the speeder. Listening.
No sound.
But they were there, watching him. He knew it. Even through the silent trumpets of the Force in the deep stillness of the wastelands, he could sense their presence.
The invisible watchers.
The planet’s unseen original inhabitants.
Luke lowered his eyelids, trying to call the shape of them within the Force. But such was the interference of the Force on this world, the sheer magnitude of its presence in alien guise, that he could get no clear picture of those invisible ones. Maybe, he thought, that was the point of the interference to begin with.
Nor could he tell exactly when they had begun to dog him, or feel whether their interest was beneficent, malicious, or merely inquiring.
They were only there.
“Who are you?” he called out, aware of his vulnerability. “I mean you no harm. You don’t need to be afraid to show yourself to me. Can you show yourselves to me?”
Their presence drew closer—or something drew closer, a distinct awareness of their awareness of him. He wondered how he knew it was they and not he, she, or it.
This edition contains the complete text of the original hardcover edition.
NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.
PLANET OF TWILIGHT
A Bantam Spectra Book
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Bantam hardcover edition published May 1997
Bantam paperback edition / May 1998
SPECTRA and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
®, TM, and © 1997 by Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.
Cover art by Drew Struzan, © 1997 by Lucasfilm Ltd.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-46341
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
eISBN: 978-0-307-79640-0
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.
v3.1
For Ole and Nedra
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
About the Author
Also by this Author
Introduction to the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Excerpt from Star Wars: The Crystal Star
Introduction to the Old Republic Era
Introduction to the Rise of the Empire Era
Introduction to the Rebellion Era
Introduction to the New Republic Era
Introduction to the New Jedi Order Era
Introduction to the Legacy Era
Star Wars Novels Timeline
1
The first to die was a midshipman named Koth Barak.
One of his fellow crewmembers on the New Republic escort cruiser Adamantine found him slumped across the table in the deck-nine break room, where he’d repaired half an hour previously for a cup of coffeine. Twenty minutes after Barak should have been back to post, Gunnery Sergeant Gallie Wover went looking for him, exasperatedly certain that he’d clicked into the infolog banks “just to see if anybody mentions the mission.”
Of course, nobody was going to mention the mission. Though accompanied by the Adamantine, Chief of State Leia Organa Solo’s journey to the Meridian sector was an entirely unofficial one. The Rights of Sentience Party would have argued—quite correctly—that Seti Ashgad, the man she was to meet at the rendezvous point just outside the Chorios systems, held no official position on his homeworld of Nam Chorios. To arrange an official conference would be to give tacit approval of his, and the Rationalist Party’s, demands.
Which was, when it came down to it, the reason for the