501st

The Clone Wars are over, but for those with reason to run from the new galactic Empire, the battle to survive has only just begun. . . . The Jedi have been decimated in the Great Purge, and the Republic has fallen. Now the former Republic Commandos–the galaxyвЂTMs finest special forces troops, cloned from Jango Fett–find themselves on opposing sides and in very different armor. Some have deserted and fled to Mandalore with the mercenaries, renegade clone troopers, and rogue Jedi who make up Kal SkirataвЂTMs ragtag resistance to Imperial occupation. Others–including men from Delta and Omega squads–now serve as Imperial Commandos, a black ops unit within VaderвЂTMs own 501st Legion, tasked to hunt down fugitive Jedi and clone deserters. For Darman, grieving for his Jedi wife and separated from his son, itвЂTMs an agonizing test of loyalty. But heвЂTMs not the only one whoвЂTMll be forced to test the ties of brotherhood. On Mandalore, clone deserters and the planetвЂTMs own natives, who have no love for the Jedi, will have their most cherished beliefs challenged. In the savage new galactic order, old feuds may have to be set aside to unite against a far bigger threat, and nobody can take old loyalties for granted. About the Author Karen Traviss is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of three previous Star Wars: Republic Commando novels: Hard Contact, Triple Zero, and True Colors ; three Star Wars: Legacy of the Force novels: Bloodlines, Revelation , and Sacrifice ; as well as City of Pearl, Crossing the Line, The World Before, Matriarch, Ally, and Judge . A former defense correspondent and TV and newspaper journalist, Traviss has also worked as a police press officer, an advertising copywriter, and a journalism lecturer. Her short stories have appeared in AsimovвЂTMs, Realms of Fantasy, On Spec, and Star Wars Insider . She lives in Devizes, England. Excerpt. В© Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One Malcontents and troublemakers will always be with us. They exist to dissent. A galactic cease-fire is exactly what most of them donвЂTMt want, because it takes away the cover for the small and implacable grievances that give their lives meaning. If they happened to win—they would be lost in aimless despair. —Emperor Palpatine, on being told that opposition to Imperial rule was continuing on a number of worlds, despite the end of the Clone Wars. Commercial freighter Cornucopia, Mezeg Sector freight terminal; third week of the new era of the Empire Ny Vollen had never broken her word to anyone, but now seemed like a sensible time to start. I must be out of my mind. This is going to get me killed. And them, too. What was I thinking? She didnвЂTMt even dare imagine the word; her two passengers were just them. The brief time sheвЂTMd spent with Force-sensitives had made her nervous at a gut level, and she was now irrationally afraid that her thoughts, feelings, and anxieties were somehow broadcast to anyone with the skills to detect them. It was crazy, she knew . . . but she didnвЂTMt know. She couldnвЂTMt be sure her mind was still private territory. And that was what bothered her. Just keep your heads down and shut up, both of you. Is that so hard? You can do your Force stuff to make guards go away, right? Well, do it. The Mezeg terminal smelled of lube oil, blocked drains, and those sickly sweet hot buns that were sold with near-undrinkable caf wherever freight pilots gathered. She gnawed unenthusiastically on a bun, trying not to imagine what the hard chewy bits were made of. The scent of artificial vannilan always made her feel sick. Now it added to the turmoil in her stomach, threatening to overwhelm her as she stood under CornucopiaвЂTMs fuselage waiting for her vessel to be inspected. She rehearsed a convincing reaction in case her hidden passengers were discovered. Never seen them before in my life, trooper. These refugees get everywhere, donвЂTMt they? Thank you, trooper—now get them off my ship. But none of those lines would have convinced her, so she doubted they would persuade any of the Imperial stormtroopers searching vessels entering and leaving Mezeg. If the stowaways were discovered, then at least they had no idea where Cornucopia was headed. And she hadnвЂTMt yet programmed a course for Mandalore, so there was no data to extract from the new computer and lead the authorities to Kyrimorut. At least the worst wouldnвЂTMt happen. But I know exactly where weвЂTMre heading, all the names, all the places, so the worst that can happen . . . will happen to me. She was far too old to be embarking on a life of lawlessness. If she was caught and interrogated, she had no idea how long she would hold out before she revealed what she knew of Kal SkirataвЂTMs refuge for clone deserters. Her chances of escaping from the search team of four fit troopers, a civilian guard, and an akk hound looked close to zero. Come on. Are they really going to suspect me of anything? IвЂTMm a woman. IвЂTMm old. My shipвЂTMs even older than I am. As to which of us is in worse shape . . . “Waste of kriffing time.” The Rodian pilot in the line next to her had a tiny courier shuttle that couldnвЂTMt have concealed a jackrab, let alone stowaways. He kept checking a chrono hanging from a fob on his jacket. “This is costing me.” “CanвЂTMt argue with the Empire,” Ny said. “Suck it up.” The white-armored stormtroopers didnвЂTMt scare her. She knew they should have. They werenвЂTMt Kal SkirataвЂTMs adopted sons, the special forces clones she knew, like AвЂTMden, Mereel, and Corr. They might have looked identical under those helmets, but if she thought they were friends—that was all wrong, deadly wrong. These men had their orders. They probably didnвЂTMt include being kind to old women who thought they were all nice boys at heart. Anyone aiding fugitive Jedi was an enemy of the Empire by definition. And why am I doing this, anyway? The freight port security guard held his search akk on a choke chain as he went from vessel to vessel, letting the animal snuffle around cargo bays and hatches. Four stormtroopers waited to pounce if the akk reacted to a scent or a sound. “I suppose theyвЂTMre bored now they havenвЂTMt got a proper war to fight,” the Rodian said. “Nothing better to do with their time. And how much has Palpatine spent on all that new armor? What was wrong with the old style? More taxpayersвЂTM credits wasted.” “TheyвЂTMre looking for Jedi,” Ny said. And my friends, like AвЂTMden . . . and Ordo . . . and Kal. She wondered if the Rodian actually paid any taxes at all. “We donвЂTMt know how many escaped the Purge. Enough to worry Palps, obviously.” But Etain Tur-Mukan was one of the many Jedi who didnвЂTMt get away, although she hadnвЂTMt been executed in the Purge. SheвЂTMd died stupidly. She got herself killed. Ny was used to the angry phase in bereavement, and the guilt that followed blaming the dead for being dead and leaving you so lonely that it wasnвЂTMt worth taking the next breath, but she hadnвЂTMt even known Etain before she took her body home to Mandalore. Crazy kid. If sheвЂTMd just walked by instead of getting in the way, defending that clone trooper, then sheвЂTMd be alive now. And Darman would have a wife to come home to, and their baby would have a mother. What a waste. What a terrible, terrible waste. A war for absolutely nothing except a corrupt old barveвЂTMs ambition. Or a whole bunch of corrupt barves, if KalвЂTMs right. My Terin should still be alive, too. Stang, I miss you, baby. The pain was at a manageable level these days, although she wished she hadnвЂTMt found out the details of how her husband died. But if she hadnвЂTMt, she would have imagined worse. Her old man was dead, gone in a matter of minutes, and that was all there was to it. He wasnвЂTMt the only man in the merchant navy to die in the war; she wasnвЂTMt the only war widow in the galaxy. Her grief was nothing special. “I hope they find all of them, fast, and then we can get back to normal business,” the Rodian muttered. “Who?” Ny was miles away, walking with the dead and trying to resist asking them why theyвЂTMd done such uselessly brave things that hadnвЂTMt made the slightest difference to the course of the war. “What?” “Jedi. I never trusted them anyway. My buddy—he lost his ship once, no compensation, nothing, when one of their fancy Masters commandeered it for some getaway. No please, thank you, or hereвЂTMs some creds to tide you over, friend. Just took it. Higher authority. Mystic and righteous work. Piracy, more like—government-backed thieves. Well, they got theirs. Good riddance.” Ny thought of Jusik and Etain, and bit back a defense. “Would you turn them in if you found any?” she asked. “Even without a reward.” The Rodian snapped his fingers. “Like that.” Ny wondered what he would have thought if he knew that it was another Force-user still running the show anyway. But she wasnвЂTMt even sure she could blame it all on this . . . Siff? Shith? Sith, that was it. Whatever kind of saber-jockey Palpatine was—if heвЂTMd engineered the whole war, like Skirata said—then he hadnвЂTMt needed to encourage some worlds to fight each other. Old enemies were just waiting for an excuse to start. Ny hadnвЂTMt even heard of Sith before she met the renegade clone clan. Bardan Jusik had explained the ancient feud between Sith and Jedi, as pointless as the sectarian war on Sarrassia, where two factions of a religious cult had been fighting for thousands of years over the proper ritual for handling some holy relic—a goblet, a statue, a set of bones, Ny forgot which. They just seemed to define themselves by not being the other faction. She didnвЂTMt understand any of it. Osik. That was the word. Mandalorians knew how to cuss, all sibilants and explosive consonants. It was all a load of osik. There were plenty of other things Ny didnвЂTMt know or understand that were much closer to home. She hadnвЂTMt known Etain, so she couldnвЂTMt fathom the depth of SkirataвЂTMs guilt about the girl. She hardly knew Darman, come to that. She didnвЂTMt understand why Mandalore had allowed an Imperial garrison on its home turf. And she didnвЂTMt know how she fitted into the gathering of misfits that was Clan Skirata, only that she now thought of Kyrimorut as her home base and that it had happened almost overnight. But that didnвЂTMt matter now. She was doing this for two reasons, two good reasons, but the second one was starting to trouble her more the closer she got to Mandalore. I gave my word. And . . . stang, why do I trust Kal Skirata so much? “At last,” said the Rodian. The akk handler was heading his way. The Rodian turned to her and nodded in a way that seemed to transcend species, the gesture of an exasperated pilot on a tight schedule whose timetable had been messed up by idiots. “IвЂTMm going to lose my on-time bonus thanks to this.” Ny stood with CornucopiaвЂTMs manifest in one hand. That was the drill; to have your admin data ready on your вЂTMpad for inspection, stand clear of your vessel, and wait for the security guy to talk to you. Speak when youвЂTMre spoken to. Some things never change. “DonвЂTMt point that out to them, will you?” she said. “Or else theyвЂTMll keep you here until Mustafar freezes over.” She realized her pulse was racing. If the akk got a whiff of her two passengers, sheвЂTMd be fini...