Phase III of the High Republic publishing initiative is already underway from a sure perspective. Marvel’s Shadows of Starlight #1 already kicked open the door on what has modified within the galaxy after the Nihil took down Starlight Beacon. But the celebration is basically about to start out in rather less than a month when George Mann’s Star Wars: The Eye of Darkness hits bookshelves on November 14th.
StarWars.com has the primary excerpt forward of the discharge of Phase III’s first grownup novel. In it, the lack of Stellan Gios nonetheless hits near residence for one Elzar Mann. The Jedi Master visualizes the Force as a wave, however proper now it’s trying like a puddle of disappointment and sorrow as he tries to dwell as much as his buddy and what he provided to not simply him, however your entire Order. Making issues worse isn’t having anybody to share his emotions with. The excerpt offers perception into the Nihil’s “stormwall” and the way it’s chopped the galaxy in two — and Elzar from his solely remaining true buddy, Avar Kriss.
Here is a bit of the excerpt:
Elzar closed his eyes and allowed the breeze to ruffle his unkempt hair, as if hoping that the nippiness wind might in some way sweep away the reminiscences, carry them off into the streaming lanes of visitors and away by way of the spires and domes till they had been gone. He’d observed that just a few grey strands had appeared round his temples in latest months. He’d misplaced weight, too, and whereas he was nonetheless toned — he’d taken to working towards lightsaber drills late into the evening, most nights — he’d grown skinny. He’d tried to persuade himself that it was a results of the work, of conserving himself so busy attempting to determine an answer to the Nihil drawback, however he knew he was permitting issues to fret away at him.
How Stellan would have laughed at him. Nudged him within the ribs and informed him to stop dwelling on issues that had been accomplished. To concentrate on the right here and now. To do what wanted to be accomplished, and settle for that the Force guided his hand, now because it at all times had.
But Stellan was gone. He was one with the Force. He had been for a 12 months. Elzar knew that his outdated buddy had discovered peace. And but his absence was nonetheless marked. Not only a gap within the Jedi’s hearts and minds, however of their management, too. Especially now that the Nihil had received, had shattered Starlight Beacon and subsequently annexed dozens of worlds, a whole sector of the Outer Rim, from the remainder of the galaxy. This space was being known as the Nihil Occlusion Zone, and was separated by an invisible barrier that made all of it attainable.
The Stormwall: an unlimited internet that disrupted hyperspace journey, inflicting any vessel that tried to cross it to be wrenched violently again out of hyperspace, both destroying it instantly or inflicting it to vanish with out a hint. There’d been a lot debate about what precisely occurred to these lacking ships, provided that communication throughout the Stormwall was additionally impeded, however the assumption was that any ships that weren’t destroyed within the try had been being corralled by Nihil patrols on the opposite aspect, and deposited into so-called kill zones. Certainly, they had been by no means heard from once more.
Worse, the community of relays and buoys — or “stormseeds” — that powered the Stormwall was so massive that touring throughout it with out lightspeed was equally out of the query. Any ship attempting to breach such an unlimited gulf of area at sublight speeds must journey for 100 years earlier than reaching its vacation spot. Not solely that, however any try at sublight ingress was being met and destroyed by Nihil patrols or swarms of scav droids, alerted by the automated programs that managed the Stormwall expertise. Patrols that might traverse the Stormwall and ship a killing blow earlier than the goal was even conscious it had occurred.
It was ingenious, in its personal means, and it had up to now pissed off all Jedi or Republic makes an attempt to bypass it, normally with disastrous outcomes. Ships flown by droids. Electromagnetic pulses. Data slicing. Sustained assault on the well-shielded stormseeds. Nothing had labored. Nothing in any respect.
With the Stormwall, the Nihil had carved out their very own area, difficult the Republic at each flip. And with the Nameless — or “Force Eaters,” as they had been additionally identified — they’d unleashed a weapon that even the Jedi couldn’t cease. A weapon that focused the very essence of who the Jedi had been. A weapon designed to obliterate them.
Elzar exhaled.
This would all have been a lot simpler if Avar had been by his aspect. Instead, she was someplace deep within the Occlusion Zone, as distant to him as Stellan was.
They’d stood collectively on Eiram, watching the final vestiges of the Beacon slip beneath the chilly, crushing waves, carrying all of the Republic’s hopes and goals down with it. It had been a logo of power and unity, of sunshine at midnight, of hope. And the Nihil, led by Marchion Ro, had turned that image in opposition to them. Now it was a logo of nothing however failure and loss.
Head over to StarWars.com for the remainder of the excerpt. Star Wars: The Eye of Darkness will probably be out there wherever books are bought on November 14 and is accessible for pre-order now.
Before diving into The Eye of Darkness, be at liberty to take a look at every little thing else coming quickly from Lucasfilm Publishing, as revealed throughout New York Comic Con.
Nate makes use of his love for Star Wars and films on the whole as a means to deal with the ache of being a Minnesota sports activities fan. When he is not on the theater, you may normally discover Nate studying a comic book, listening to an audiobook, or enjoying a Mario online game for the 1,000th time.
