Quest for Planet X

© & TM 2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Disney • Lucasfilm Press, an imprint of Buena Vista Books, Inc. 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 written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney • Lucasfilm Press, 1200 Grand Central Avenue, Glendale, California 91201. First Edition, April 2023 Print ISBN 978-1-368-08287-7 eBook: 978-1-368-09512-9 Design by Soyoung Kim and Scott Piehl Visit the official Star Wars website at: www.starwars.com. Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction Star Wars Timeline Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Ninteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Chapter Thirty-two Chapter Thirty-three About the Author About the Illustrator “Beware the Jedi,” Er Dal said to his partner Fel Ix as he buckled the straps of Fel Ix’s leather gauntlet around his gray left wrist. They stood in their family quarters deep in the belly of the Gaze Electric, tucked beneath the central hall of worship along with the rest of the members of the Path of the Open Hand. The ship had been a good home to Fel Ix and his family. It was all long lines and jagged edges, with streaks of bright blue here and there. Alone in a pocket of the frontier without any charted hyperspace lanes, the starship cut silently through the galaxy like a huge, sleek shark. But as dangerous as the warship looked, it kept them safe, and Fel Ix was reluctant to say goodbye. He and his family were Kessarine, from a swampy planet in the Outer Rim, and since the day Fel Ix had met his partners, Er Dal and Ferize, he had never left them. For the past three years they had lived on the small planet Dalna, making a home with the Path of the Open Hand. They had been happy and safe enough to have their first clutch of babies only a month earlier. But the leader of the Path, the Mother, had a vision of the Path traveling throughout the galaxy, fighting to keep the Force free, and the Mother was sending Fel Ix on an important mission of his own. “Er Dal speaks truly,” said their other partner, Ferize. “Beware the Jedi. You will certainly encounter them.” Silently, Er Dal and Fel Ix faced her. She sat on a low sofa, their newly hatched babies curled on her lap in various states of sleep. Ferize smiled grimly at Fel Ix, who knelt beside the babies and carefully picked up the little one called Fe Fer. The baby’s tiny scales were beginning to show along the edges of his miniature cheek frills, and Fel Ix nuzzled his child, wishing he could remain with his family. But the Mother had chosen Fel Ix for this mission specifically. It was an honor to be chosen by their spiritual leader, and as much as Fel Ix loved his family, they wanted him to go. They believed in the Path of the Open Hand. They trusted the Mother. Wasn’t the Path their family, too? After putting Fe Fer into Er Dal’s hands, Fel Ix leaned toward Ferize. He let his cheek furls touch hers, feeling the tension in them, and his own. Fel Ix breathed deeply. He hissed and popped in Kessarine, “I know you will be well without me.” “Well, but not happy,” Ferize hissed and popped back. The language of their home planet allowed them to speak in either air or water. A long time before, his people had been amphibious, but now they could not breathe underwater. Their green or gray skin still had tiny scales in places, their cheek and head furls looked like sea kelp, and they still had an inner set of eyelids to protect their eyes, as well as three strong tails. Fel Ix kept his tails wrapped around his waist and thighs when he had to wear a jumpsuit instead of Path robes. “The Force will be free,” Er Dal said in Galactic Basic. It was one of the mottos of the Path of the Open Hand. They believed that the Force should not be used, and tried to live in harmony with its will. Er Dal raised a long-fingered greenish hand and tugged affectionately on one of Fel Ix’s cheek frills. He said, “It is an honor to help the Mother’s mission. Especially after . . .” “Yes,” Fel Ix said. Er Dal meant the battle on the moon Jedha the day before. The battle had been violent and scary, especially because it had begun during peace talks involving all kinds of people who believed in the power of the Force. But the Jedi had fought against the Path, and the Mother had unleashed the glowing blue creature she called the Leveler. The Leveler had defeated the Jedi and returned balance to the Force, but not before one of the great stone statues of Jedha fell. And even worse, the Path’s Herald—a strong Nautolan who used to share the role of leadership with the Mother—had betrayed them and been left behind on Jedha. The whole situation was uncomfortable and frightening. But they trusted the Mother to take care of them. Fel Ix stood. He blinked his inner and outer eyelids as he studied his immediate family, curled together and soft-looking in their gray-and-blue Path robes. Fel Ix opened his hands, palms up, and bowed. “The Force will be free,” he said. Then he left their quarters. As Fel Ix moved out of the living space of the Gaze Electric, the wide-open rooms and spacious corridors with their soft curtains and blue-and-gray decorations gave way