Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 02_ Dark Apprentice - Kevin J. Anderson [0]
Luke hesitated for a fraction of a second, then moved through the doorway.
Inside the small stone chamber, he saw what was left of the Jedi candidate. The body lay crisped and blackened on the floor, rising wisps of steam curling from the remaining fabric of a Jedi robe.
On the floor, the newly constructed lightsaber lay where it had been dropped, as if the student had tried to fight something—and lost.
Luke caught his balance by leaning against the cool stone wall. His vision blurred, but he could not tear his gaze from his student sprawled in front of him.
By now the eleven other trainees had gathered. Luke turned, trembling, and grasped the worn stone bricks at the edge of the door until even the rounded corners bruised his fingers. He applied a Jedi calming technique three times before he felt confident enough to trust his voice. The words tasted like wet ash in his mouth.
“The dark side is always with us,” he said.
DARK APPRENTICE
A Bantam Spectra Book / July 1994
SPECTRA and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Bantam Books,
a division of Random House, Inc.
TM, ® and Copyright © 1994 by Lucasfilm Ltd.
Cover art by John Alvin.
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.
For information address: Bantam Books.
eISBN: 978-0-307-79612-7
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, New York, New York.
v3.1
Dedication
To LUCY AUTREY WILSON, of Lucasfilm Licensing … who gets thrilled just to see her name in the acknowledgments of a book; no telling what she’ll do when she sees a dedication! Lucy has always been enthusiastic, willing to listen to ideas and offer her own, and a pleasure to work with on all my STAR WARS projects.
Acknowledgments
I’d like to shower thanks upon: Lillie Mitchell for transcribing piles of my microcassettes with lightning speed; my wife, Rebecca Moesta Anderson for just about everything, from brainstorming to copyediting to personal support to helping dialogue make sense; the exhaustive Star Wars expertise of Bill Smith at West End Games (not to mention all the wonderful source material available from West End); Tom Veitch for helping me create the entire history of Exar Kun (so much, in fact, that we are writing his story and the Great Sith War in twelve issues of Dark Lords of the Sith to be published by Dark Horse Comics); Ralph McQuarrie, whose imagination and original painting inspired the temple of Exar Kun; my editor Betsy Mitchell, who helped develop this story, and her successor Tom Dupree, who came aboard the starship when we were already leaping into hyperspace; Heather McConnell, who helps keep all systems under control; Karen Anderson for custom-designing the word “praxeum”; Sue Rostoni at Lucasfilm for helping things run smoothly; Rose Guilbert for the sentient mollusks; Dave Wolverton and Timothy Zahn for their invaluable assistance and cooperation; David Brin for the Startide; my agent Richard Curtis; Rita Anderson; Chuck Beason; and of course, George Lucas, for creating such a marvelous universe in the first place.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
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
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
About the Author
Also by This Author
Introduction to the Star Wars Expanded Universe
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