Fate of the Jedi: Backlash

Backlash by Aaron Allston is the fourth novel in the Fate of the Jedi series and was released on March 9, 2010. At the end of the book, it has an introduction to Allies. The audio version is narrated by Marc Thompson.

Back cover
Locked in a war of wills and weapons, the Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance must come to terms&mdash;before the Sith's army of darkness enacts revenge.

Internal flap
''Repercussions from the dark side's fatal seduction of Jacen Solo and the mysterious plague of madness afflicting young Jedi continue to wreak havoc galaxy-wide. Having narrowly escaped the deranged Force worshippers known as the Mind Walkers, and a deadly Sith hit squad, Luke and Ben Skywalker are in pursuit of the now Masterless Sith apprentice Vestara Khai. It is a chase that leads to the forbidding planet Dathomir, where an enclave of powerful dark-side Force-wielders will give Vestara the edge she needs to escape&mdash;and where the Skywalkers will be forced into combat for their quarry and their lives.''

''Meanwhile, Han and Leia Solo have completed their own desperate mission, shuttling madness-stricken Jedi from Coruscant to safe haven in the Transitory Mists and beyond the grasp of Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala. But the bold maneuver has intensified Daala's fury, and she is determined to shatter Jedi Order resistance once and for all.''

''Yet, no greater threat exists than that which still waits in the depths of the distant Maw Cluster: A being of pure, ravenous dark-side energy named Abeloth calls out across the stars to Jedi and Sith alike. For some, it may be the ultimate source of answers crucial to their survival. For others, it could be the ultimate weapon of conquest. But for all, it is a game-changing&mdash;and life-altering&mdash;encounter of untold magnitude, and a tactical gambit with unimaginable consequences.''

Plot summary
The novel begins shortly after the ending of the previous book, with Luke Skywalker and his son Ben narrowly surviving an attack by a Sith assassination squad while exploring Sinkhole Station in their quest to learn what caused Jacen Solo to turn to the dark side. The lone survivor of the Sith squad, Vestara Khai, escapes to the planet Dathomir to send a message to the Sith fleet. However, she unknowingly leads Luke and Ben to her location (Luke having used a blood trace technique on her when she wounded him at Sinkhole Station); Luke is eager to locate Vestara immediately but Ben is worried about his father as he hasn't recovered yet from the previous battle.

Meanwhile, Chief of State Daala is encountering more and more public resistance regarding her treatment of the Jedi after she sent in a Mandalorian attack squad to capture a recently stricken Jedi whom the Order captured before the military could. With public and military dissension growing and growing comparisons to Palpatine cropping up, she reaches out to Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo in hopes of repairing the relationship between the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi Order. Daala's problems are further exacerbated by an assassination attempt on Imperial Chief of State Jagged Fel by an Imperial faction hoping to depose Fel and replace him with Admiral Lecerson.

On Dathomir, Ben and Luke encounter two tribes who are attempting to unify their groups; one is a tribe of Force-sensitive females and the other is a group of former male slaves who escaped from their owners. It is among the Force-users that they find Vestara, who claimed she crash-landed and wandered through the forest before being found. Ben is intensely suspicious of Vestara's motives, apparently favoring being with the tribe rather than returning to the Sith. However their attention is diverted when Nightsisters repeatedly attempt to sabotage the unification summit with repeated rancor attacks. Ben and Luke aid the tribes in repelling the attacks, despite suffering many losses. During the fight Vestara takes Ben's lightsaber and rushes off to Luke. To Ben's surprise, she assists him in fighting off the Nightsisters.

It isn't long before Vestara's true motivations are revealed, when the Sith arrive and abduct the remaining Nightsisters despite the attempts of Ben and Luke to stop them. With Vestara in custody, Luke and Ben return to the spaceport but before leaving, Luke confronts the local dockworker with the accusation that Vestara's ship didn't crash, but was given to him in exchange for credits to make a hyperspace transmission to the Sith fleet. Vestara acknowledges this, and the dockworker is severely fined for numerous violations. Upon leaving Dathomir, the Jade Shadow is stopped by a fleet of Sith warships. Having no choice, Luke and Ben kill the engines and prepare to be boarded by the Sith.

Behind the scenes
On page 188, Galactic Alliance Defense Force is erroneously spelled "Galactic Alliance Defense Forcce".

On page 6, it incorrectly says that Jacen Solo was the oldest child of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, when in fact Jaina Solo was born a few minutes before Jacen.