John Jackson Miller - Star Wars: Knight Errant

ABOUT THE BOOK

An original adventure featuring Jedi Kerra Holt -- star of the hot new Dark Horse Knight Errant comic series

A thousand years before Luke Skywalker, a generation before Darth Bane, in a galaxy far, far away ...

The Republic is in crisis. The Sith roam unchecked, vying with one another to dominate the galaxy. But one lone Jedi, Kerra Holt, is determined to take down the Dark Lords. Her enemies are strange and many: Lord Daiman, who imagines himself the creator of the universe; Lord Odion, who intends to be its destroyer; the curious siblings Quillan and Dromika; the enigmatic Arkadia. So many warring Sith weaving a patchwork of brutality -- with only Kerra Holt to defend the innocents caught underfoot.

Sensing a sinister pattern in the chaos, Kerra embarks on a journey that will take her into fierce battles against even fiercer enemies. With one against so many, her only chance of success lies with forging alliances among those who serve her enemies -- including a mysterious Sith spy and a clever mercenary general. But will they be her adversaries or her salvation?

Includes a special, full-colour excerpt from the Dark Horse Star Wars: Knight Errant !

Contents

This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781446457047

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published in the United Kingdom by Arrow Books in 2011

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Copyright Lucasfilm Ltd. 2011
All rights reserved. Used under authorisation.

Excerpt from Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived copyright 2011 by Lucasfilm Ltd. where indicated. All rights reserved. Used under authorisation.

This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived by Paul S. Kemp. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.

John Jackson Miller has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the authors imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

First published in Great Britain in 2010 by
Century
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9780099562450

To Meredith,
intrepid and wise

B Y J OHN J ACKSON M ILLER

Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith *
Precipice
Skyborn
Paragon
Savior
Purgatory

*ebook only

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Knight Errant began life when Dark Horse Comics editor Randy Stradley suggested I develop a comic-book series following a lone Jedi Knight in Sith space during the Dark Ages of the Republic a thousand years before The Phantom Menace . At the same time I was developing Kerra Holt and her world, Lucasfilm fiction editor, Sue Rostoni, approached Del Rey editor Shelly Shapiro with the idea of my creating an original novel using the same character and milieu. The resulting comics and prose novel developed in parallel; while this original novel follows the events of the first comics story line, both works stand alone.

In addition to Randy and Shelly my appreciation goes to my comics editor, David Marshall, who helped hone the original concept, and artists Federico Dallocchio and Michael Atiyeh who influenced the design of many characters. At Lucasfilm, the advice of Sue Rostoni, Leland Chee, and Pablo Hidalgo proved invaluable; my appreciation also goes to Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace, for their cartographic assistance. Finally, I owe special thanks to my wife, Meredith Miller, and assistant, T. M. Haley, for their proofreading (and patience).

If you are interested in more of Kerra Holts adventures, check out the Knight Errant comics and collected editions available from Dark Horse.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

PROLOGUE

With each stroke of his pen, the old Sullustan discovered the creator of the universe.

Lord Daiman was relatively young, as humans went. And yet Gub Tengo found his liege again and again as he worked through the stack of crumpled flimsiplast cels. Shipping invoices. Engineering schematics. Restaurant receipts. Gub couldnt read the words, but he could sometimes tell what they were about from the pictures. All were dated long beforesometimes centuries beforeDaiman came to power on Darkknell. Yet all, somehow, presaged His Lordships rise.

It was an amazing thing, Gub thought, riffling the thin sheets of acrylic, stuck together from age. Documents on such mundane mattersand yet they all were part of creation: Daimans creation. Gub shook the glow lamp he had been allotted and brought it nearer to the text. Yes, the prophetic symbols were there again, hiding. It was Gubs job to make them apparent to all.

He quietly thanked Daiman for that. At sixty, Gub was lucky to be of any serviceespecially after losing the use of his legs in a vat collapse during Lord Chagrass reign. That should have been the end of his usefulness. But years earlier, Gub had worked in a bioweapons factory, injecting spores with poison. It had been a short step from that meticulous work to using a chemical stylusand such a skill was always handy on Daimans capital world.

On taking power, Daiman had ordered the Aurebesh letters that spelled his name altered to reflect his mark on existence. Two flag-like strokes would be added to the characters not just when they were written in the future, but also everywhere they had previously appeared. And altered wasnt the right word, becauseas Daiman had put itthe new characters had always existed. Mere organics simply couldnt see them. Making them visible now wasnt alterationit was revelation .

The change was instantaneous for the vast majority of written words in Daimans domain, all electronically stored. But manual attention was required for signs and labelsas well as for the relatively few physical documents the culture had generated. Thus, Gub and thousands of craftsbeings like him on Darkknell and elsewhere had been tasked with revealing the letters that had always been there.