Legacy of the Force: Tempest

Tempest is the third novel and the second paperback in the Legacy of the Force series. It is written by Troy Denning and was released on November 28, 2006. It begins one week after the end of the events in Bloodlines. The audio version was narrated by Marc Thompson. The cover features Hapan Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo.

Editions

 * ISBN 0345477529, November 28, 2006, Del Rey, 405-page paperback
 * ISBN 9788324130108; Amber, 320-page Polish paperback (Dziedzictwo Mocy III: Nawałnica)

Publisher's summary
Forty years after the Battle of Yavin a dangerous new era in the Star Wars epic begins–the revelations are shocking, the stakes desperate, and the enemy everywhere.

''As civil war threatens the unity of the Galactic Alliance, Han and Leia Solo have enraged their families and the Jedi by joining the Corellian insurgents. But the Solos draw the line when they discover the Corellian's plot to make the Hapes Consortium an ally - which rests upon Hapan nobles murdering their pro-Alliance queen and her daughter.''

''Yet the Solos' selfless determination to save the queen cannot dispel the inescapable consequences of their actions that will pit mother against son and brother against sister in the battles ahead. For as Jacen Solo's dark powers grow stronger under Dark Lady Lumiya, and his influence over Ben Skywalker becomes more insidious, Luke's concern for his nephew forces him into a life-and-death struggle against his fiercest foe, and Han and Leia Solo find themselves at the mercy of their deadliest enemy. . . their son.''

Plot summary
The novel starts out in the underworld of Coruscant, which is still ravaged by the lifeforms created and implanted by the Yuuzhan Vong more than a decade earlier. Now deformed from the spidersloth attack in her last duel with Leia Organa Solo, former Night Herald Alema Rar of the now dead Gorog is hunting down Leia's son, Jacen, in revenge for their duels on Woteba, the Admiral Ackbar and Tenupe during the Dark Nest Crisis. But Alema finds herself being similarly stalked by someone else, and manages to elude her stalker and finds it to be Lumiya. Alema follows Lumiya back to Jacen, who is conversing with the World Brain because of the latter's helpfulness with the Galactic Alliance Guard's raids against Corellian terrorists on Coruscant. Alema tries to kill Jacen via a blowgun, but she misses and strikes the World Brain. Jacen tries to kill Alema, not knowing who she is because of the unclear haze created by the Brain, but Lumiya reminds Jacen not to be a servant to his emotions and concentrate more on his responsibilities than his friends. With that, Jacen spares Alema, who is in hiding from Jacen and Lumiya using the dark side of the Force to cloak her presence.

Several light years from the blockaded Corellia, in the Kiris Asteroid Cluster where a Corellian battle fleet lays in wait to conquer Galactic Alliance forces, Han Solo and his wife Leia are sent to come aboard the Thrackan Sal-Solo to meet Dur Gejjen and his Corellian party members in order to discuss persuading Hapan Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo into having Hapes help Corellia's cause for independence and turn away from the Galactic Alliance, which will be difficult because of Hapes' loyalty to the GA. The Solos accept and depart for Hapes. But before they go into hyperspace, their daughter, Jaina, and her friend, Zekk, manage to get an approximate reading of their destination from the Kiris Asteroid Cluster, considering that it is difficult to get exact hyperspace coordinates thanks to the Transitory Mists, which Jaina has to report to Admiral Nek Bwua'tu. Despite that Jaina conceals her parents' identities, Bwua'tu figures it out anyway.

Later, after the World Brain has died from the poison shot by Alema Rar, Luke Skywalker fears that his son, Ben, and nephew Jacen, are being corrupted to the dark side of the Force by Lumiya. So he sends Jedi Master Tresina Lobi to spy on Jacen and Ben as they approach Fellowship Plaza, and Ben leaves after they discuss Ben's position in the Galactic Alliance Guard and the faltering relationship between him and his father. Jacen and Lumiya meet for Jacen to give Lumiya a list of suspected Bothans in the True Victory Party, who Jacen suspects of being responsible for the World Brain's death. But before Lobi can transmit the information about Jacen and Lumiya's partnership, just as Jacen leaves Lumiya, Alema, also spying on Jacen and Ben, stops Lobi, figuring that the best way to get back at the Skywalkers and Solos for the misdeeds that they have brought upon her is by furthering Jacen's fall to the dark side. Alema duels the Chev, and Lumiya helps Alema fight Lobi when Alema falters in her duel against the Jedi, and the Twi'lek decapitates Lobi, thus entering into a partnership with Lumiya.

On Hapes, Han and Leia are waiting for their scheduled appointment with Tenel Ka to discuss turning Hapes's allegiance to Corellia from the GA. But they figure out via Tenel Ka's secretary that an appointment was not scheduled, and discern that they have been setup for a coup against Tenel Ka. They try to reach Tenel Ka to warn her of such a trap before a group of assassins decide to act upon Han and Leia's arrival at Tenel Ka's latest party and they battle the honor guards. Han and Leia flee with a mysterious assassin named Nashtah helping them. Following this event, eyewitness accounts wrongly state that Han and Leia were involved in the assassination attempt against Tenel Ka because of Nashtah helping them escape. When Jaina and Zekk investigate this with Tenel Ka, they find that the eyewitnesses have all mysteriously died, most likely from some poison or another assassin hired to silence them on giving any indication as to who wanted Tenel Ka dead. Tenel Ka then hypothesizes that someone within the Hapes Consortium wants her dead, and that someone may be trying to gather up a fleet to overthrow the Hapan Queen Mother to establish a new Hapan order. In order to counter such a coup, Tenel Ka plans to gather up all of the Hapan nobles loyal to her, and sends Jaina and Zekk to round up one such noble - the Ducha Galney of Terephon, whose sister is a close consort of Tenel Ka's.

When Jaina and Zekk, the latter who states that he has lost interest in Jaina as a girlfriend, which makes Jaina feel like she lost something and comes to respect Zekk more, arrive at Terephon, they find that the Villa Solis hunting retreat has been abandoned by Galney and her household. Though an annoying woman named Entora Zar, who is a consort to Galney, tells the Jedi that the leader of Terephon left because she was disgusted by Jaina and Zekk's rapid reentry into Terephon's atmosphere, they find out anyway that Galney left because she did not want to be questioned by the Jedi over the assassination attempt on Tenel Ka's life. Therefore, Galney is a traitor to Tenel Ka. To confirm this conclusion, two YVH droids attack Jaina and Zekk, accidentally killing Zar, but the Jedi defeat their robotic opponents. However, following this, Ducha Galney's fleet then proceed to burn down the whole planet's capital city in order to kill Jaina and Zekk, seeing as how they are Jedi who are very hard to kill. But, being who they are, they manage to survive.

Back on Coruscant, Luke and Mara investigate Lobi's death and trace it back to Fellowship Plaza, finding Lumiya's apartment. Though she is not there, they find that she has been accessing GAG files in order to kill Bothans across Coruscant. The Skywalkers suspect that Lumiya has been working with GAG and is not just manipulating Jacen, but working with him. Knowing that at least Ben is not being directly corrupted, they find out that he has joined Jacen and GAG aboard the new Star Destroyer, the Anakin Solo, on its shakedown cruise toward Hapes in order to help Tenel Ka against whatever traitors want to overthrow her.

Still within the Hapes Cluster, Han and Leia trick Nashtah into thinking that they were hired to assassinate Tenel Ka so that Nashtah can take them to her employer and find out who is plotting to overthrow the Queen Mother. Nashtah takes them to a dingy bar in Nova Station to meet with her employer, and they come across Jagged Fel, who is in exile from the Chiss because of releasing Lowbacca following the Second Battle of Qoribu early in the Dark Nest Crisis, and Lowbacca caused much damage to the Ascendancy during the subsequent Swarm War. This had his family pay for the damages that Lowbacca personally did, and while his family can be redeemed in the eyes of the Chiss, Jag is forever banned from the species. But prior to his exile, when the Chiss were trying to find him on Tenupe for two years after Leia shot him down during the battle, he came across a clue that supports the fact that Alema Rar is still alive - a Twi'lek memory cord, which led him to hunt Alema down across the planet for the entirety that they were in the jungle for those years. Jag then advises Han and Leia to watch over themselves because of what Alema may be feeling - vengeance against the Skywalkers and Solos - and leaves just before Han, Leia and Nashtah fight the Hapan soldiers hired to kill them in the bar. They are slightly drugged thanks to their drinks, but manage to defeat their opponents. However, Han is wounded in the shoulder thanks to a blaster shot, having Leia take over as pilot of the Millennium Falcon temporarily, and the trio come across Nashtah's employer, Lady Lalu Morwan. Morwan tells Nashtah that in order to earn her fee, she will have to kill Tenel Ka's daughter, Allana, while Tenel Ka herself will be dealt with. Nashtah takes her leave via Morwan's ship to assassinate Allana while Han and Leia take Morwan with them, in the guise of a courtesy, to find out who she is working for, because who she is working for wants Tenel Ka and Allana dead. They do extract from Morwan that Nashtah's real name is Aurra Sing, the infamous Jedi killer in the dying years of the Old Republic, and when they learn that Morwan worked aboard the Hapan Battle Dragon known as the Kendall during the Second Battle of Qoribu, they also learn that she is working for Ducha AlGray. Therefore, AlGray wants to kill Tenel Ka and Allana, and Han transmits this information to Hapes.

Orbiting over Hapes, aboard the Anakin Solo, Ben is sent by Jacen to Terephon to pick up Jaina and Zekk, as they had been gone for too long to gather Ducha Galney, and Luke and Mara arrive soon after to learn this. With Tenel Ka joining the conversation, they learn that Jacen has sent out search and detain warrants on his parents not only for their fighting on the Corellian side of the war, but also for their suspected involvement in Tenel Ka's failed assassination. Luke also discusses about Lumiya's involvement with GAG and Lobi's death. Though Jacen denies any knowledge as to Lumiya's involvement with GAG, Luke's suspicions about Jacen falling to the dark side have not faltered, considering that Jacen showed some genuine shock at Lobi's death. Luke is doubly worried that Jacen would be so harsh against his parents. They are later shown the transmission from Han that reveals AlGray as a traitor to Tenel Ka, Aurra Sing is going to kill Allana and that Han and Leia are innocent in the assassination attempt. Though he does not cancel out the arrest warrants on his parents, Jacen does give them the benefit of a doubt as to their involvement against Tenel Ka's life. He then sends out an order for Ben to rendezvous at Roqoo Depot following his mission to collect Jaina and Zekk at Terephon. Luke and Mara go to Roqoo to pick up Ben, and Jacen then double-crosses the Skywalkers and Lumiya by sending the latter to Roqoo to turn the Skywalkers' fears of Lumiya stalking Ben against them when Ben arrives from his mission. This would make Jacen look innocent to them, assuming that they survive. Lumiya is aware of this treachery, but as she tells Alema, she is proud of Jacen for doing it, as she was beginning to have her doubts about training him to be a Sith if he wasn't willing to take the proper sacrifices and betray those closest to him.

At Terephon, Ben and his accompanying shipmates pick up Jaina and Zekk. But after Jaina and Zekk tell Ben and his shipmates about Ducha Galney being a traitor to Tenel Ka, they deliberately disobey Jacen's orders of rendezvousing at Roqoo Depot and head straight for the Anakin Solo at Hapes to apprise Tenel Ka of this information. This then foils Jacen's plan of using Luke and Mara's fears of Lumiya stalking Ben when she attacks them. Chaos ensues as Luke duels Lumiya while Mara is brought away from her husband when she is forced to fight Alema. She knocks the Twi'lek unconscious, but instead of killing her, as it goes against her principles of killing an unconscious opponent, she searches Alema for any weapons that she could use when she would wake up. She finds that Alema has a proton bomb strapped to her chest set to go off if her heart stopped beating, and considering that Alema hit her head when she was knocked unconscious, the concussion could be fatal, and thus, set off the bomb. Mara disarms the bomb while Luke is weakened in his fight with Lumiya. However, just as Lumiya has Luke beaten, Luke takes a blaster from one of Lumiya's victims in the fight and shoots her. Though Lumiya does not die from the shots, Mara comes back from disarming Alema's proton bomb and shows Lumiya's bomb to Luke. Seeing as how she is dying, they rush for the exit of the depot and barely escape with their lives before Lumiya's bomb detonates. Despite the explosion, the Skywalkers doubt that she had perished.

Aboard the Anakin Solo, Jacen finds out that Aurra Sing is aboard the Star Destroyer and is hunting down for Allana. He races for Allana's room just as Sing arrives as well. They fight, and Sing is beaten when Allana injects a drug into the assassin's thigh via a sleep stick. Sing is then taken to a detention center aboard the Anakin, thus ensuring Allana's safety.

The Millennium Falcon meets up with the Hapan usurping fleet, who go by the identity of the Heritage Council, which Ducha AlGray is part of, and they all travel to Hapes to overthrow Tenel Ka with the help of a Corellian fleet, thus confirming Corellia's involvement in trying to overthrow Tenel Ka. But before they do travel with the usurping fleet, Han transmits a signal for the Galactic Alliance to come to Tenel Ka's aid in order to defeat the Heritage Council. And after the hyperspace jump, the Battle of Hapes begins with the usurping fleet getting pounded by Tenel Ka's prepared fleet. But the usurpers manage to fight back, and the battle is equalized just as Lady Morwan realizes that Han and Leia betrayed Ducha AlGray by sending the information about AlGray being a traitor to Tenel Ka. She points a blaster into Han's ribs to make him a hostage to convince Leia to turn the Falcon back to the battle and help AlGray. But Han fights back by braking Morwan's nose, despite having his hand burned by a blaster scorch and frying the ship's control circuits. Regardless, Cakhmaim and Meewalh take Morwan prisoner and place her in a detention center aboard the Falcon. Then the Galactic Alliance forces led by Admiral Bwua'tu arrive, but so does Ducha Galney's fleet. And just as Jacen sends an assisting fleet to help Tenel Ka's forces battle against Galney's fleet, Alema comes aboard the Anakin to warn Jacen that his ploy against the Skywalkers at Roqoo Depot failed and that Lumiya is dead. The only reason that Jacen did not kill her for the shared knowledge that she had from the Dark Nest that revealed that he was Allana's father was because doing so would reveal such information anyway. So Alema told him this with that blackmail hanging over him, and this gives Jacen time to find out what to tell the Skywalkers when they confront him over the incident at Roqoo Depot. Alema leaves just as the GA and Tenel Ka's forces destroy the usurpers and win the Battle of Hapes. However, before the battle is over, the Falcon picks up Jaina, Zekk, Ben and a Twi'lek shipmate, Gim Sorzo. Despite the fact that who the Falcon picked up were Galactic Alliance members, Jacen orders for the Falcon to be fired upon. Cakhmaim and Meewalh are killed during this attack, and Ben tries to arrest Han aboard the Falcon, accidentally wounding Zekk with his lightsaber. Jaina takes Ben and the other two with her off the Falcon while it escapes the Hapes system via hyperspace.

After the battle, Luke and Mara discuss with Jacen and Ben about their actions recently, and Luke further asserts his suspicions of Jacen falling to the dark side, which Jacen vehemently denies. The novel ends with Jacen and Tenel Ka saying goodbye to each other as lovers, and Jacen disappears from her life once more.

Behind the scenes
This novel marks the return of both Alema Rar and Tenel Ka Djo since their last appearances in Troy Denning's previous Dark Nest III: The Swarm War. This book also introduces Allana as a character, since her first technical appearance, and her only other appearance before this novel, was as a baby in Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen, also by Denning.

Cover gallery
This is a gallery of the different cover variations of Tempest.