Fate of the Jedi: Vortex

Vortex by Troy Denning is the sixth novel in the Fate of the Jedi series and was released on November 30, 2010. At the end of the book, it has an introduction to Conviction. The audio version is narrated by Marc Thompson. The paperback is set to be released on November 29, 2011.

Back cover
'''Jedi and Sith fight side by side against an even greater foe. But how long can enemies remain allies? And how high is the price of betrayal?'''

Internal flap
''In a stunning turn of events, Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, joined forces with members of the Sith armada sent to kill them&mdash;and turned their combined might against the monstrous being Abeloth, whose power was causing young Jedi Knights to go seemingly insane. But with Abeloth gone and the Knights sane again, the Sith reverted to form, making a treacherous attempt on Luke's life.''

''Luke and Ben have no time for retaliation. A new and even more insidious threat is rising, one that endangers not only the Jedi but the entire Galactic Alliance. Unless the Skywalkers survive to sound the alarm&mdash;and to pass along the secrets they have learned about Abeloth and the Sith&mdash;the galaxy will suffer as it has never suffered before. But the reinforcements they need remain grounded on Coruscant, where the political battle of wills between the Jedi Council and Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala has reached a boiling point.''

''Now Luke and Ben must go on the run, taking along the inscrutable&mdash;and dangerous&mdash;Sith apprentice Vestara Khai. With a host of Sith warriors in hot pursuit, the Skywalkers soon find themselves trapped on the moon Pydyr, caught between their former allies and a mob of angry Fallanassi. A new truce may be their only hope. But can a Sith ever be trusted?''

With the Jedi's most famous father-and-son team outnumbered and outgunned, the countdown to galactic disaster has begun&mdash;and time is running out!

Plot summary
The novel starts out aboard the Rockhound. Jaina Solo and Lando Calrissian are traveling back to Coruscant to inform the New Jedi Order of Luke and Ben Skywalker's whereabouts. However, they find themselves nearby Kessel, which wasn't any of their intended destinations. Jaina and Lando soon find that the ship's droids are being manipulated by an unknown source to ruin their plans. Jaina goes to her damaged StealthX wing against Lando's wishes and finds that the StealthX's weapons are being dismounted by one of the droids. Jaina then learns that on the Rockhound's stop at Klatooine, the ship had received a mouse droid as a new delivery. Jaina, in conclusion, determines that whoever is manipulating the droids&mdash;she suspects the Lost Tribe of Sith&mdash;is using that mouse droid to maneuver the Rockhound toward Kessel instead of Coruscant. She then tells Lando to look for the mouse droid while she goes out in her StealthX wing, now equipped with only four shadow bombs, to ward off anyone trying to tae hold of the Rockhound. Several skiffs arrive in the system, and Jaina fights them off, using up all four of her shadow bombs to destroy most of the skiffs and their "mothership." But because there are still a few left, Jaina pilots her StealthX back to the Rockhound, hearing from Lando that he located and destroyed the manipulative mouse droid, and telling him to get the Rockhound into hyperspace for escape.

On the mysterious planet where the Skywalkers and the Lost Tribe of Sith fought and killed the mysterious entity known as Abeloth, Luke Skywalker is working with High Lord Sarasu Taalon and Gavar Khai to find out of Abeloth's origins via her lair. Meanwhile, aboard the Jade Shadow some distance away from Abeloth's lair, Vestara Khai tells Ben Skywalker that the Sith Meditation Sphere known as Ship has contacted her through the Force, telling her that he is coming back to serve the Lost Tribe. They agree to take this to Luke, but Vestara has Ben check in on their patient, Dyon Stadd, where she locks him up in the Jade Shadow's medical bay with Dyon so that she can go directly to either Taalon or her father rather than Luke to inform them of Ship's impending arrival. However, Ben gets out of the medical bay via his lightsaber and catches Vestara before she can make it to Abeloth's lair, making her promise not to betray him or Luke nor tell either Gavar or Taalon of Ship coming to the planet. With that, they continue on to the lair where, despite the presences of Gavar and Taalon, Ben is able to communicate to his father about Ship while Vestara, even under the threat of punishment, does not inform either of her masters about why she and Ben left Dyon alone back on the Jade Shadow. Knowing that the Jedi-Sith alliance would crumble if either Taalon or Gavar got this knowledge, Luke proceeds to save Vestara from abuse from Taalon while Ben tries to take Abeloth's body so that they can get her back to Coruscant for examination to her form and species by Cilghal. Vestara and Taalon see what Ben is up to and Taalon nearly kills him before Vestara stops him by showing everyone present the form covered beneath the sheet that was supposedly Abeloth's body: Dyon Stadd's corpse. Therefore, the supposed illusion that Abeloth had conjured up in the appearance that she had killed off Stadd at the climax of her battle against the Jedi-Sith alliance was real, while her death and Stadd's recovery was the real illusion.

On Coruscant, Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala continues her Mandalorian siege on the Jedi Temple to take away Jedi Knights Sothais Saar and Turi Altamik for being victims of the Force psychosis. Han Solo acts as intermediary between the Jedi and Daala as he convinces the Chief of State that it is safe for Saar and Altamik to step out, as the Force psychosis is now gone. Daala's Bith surgeon, Thalleus Tharn, looks them over for a brief preliminary test to confirm that they're not impostors. Tharn tests to make sure that they are not impostors by kneeing Saar in the groin, which prompts Altamik to stop the surgeon by raising him up in the air with the Force to prevent any further attacks from the Bith. Using this action as basic evidence that Saar and Altamik are not impostors, considering how the latter Knight controlled herself in the event of the attack, it appears to be a foregone conclusion that the Force psychosis is indeed gone, and the Knights are sane again. Despite this, Daala says that until she knows that the Jedi are holding nothing back from her, the siege will be kept in place, if only as a blockade, and that Valin and Jysella Horn will remain in Galactic Alliance Security's custody.

Later, the Masters' Council hold a meeting over how they can persuade Daala to thaw Valin and Jysella out of carbonite, with acting Grand Master Kenth Hamner insisting that they confront Daala through non-violent means while the rest argue to go into an all-out war against the Chief of State in order to reclaim the Horns.