Shatterpoint (novel)

Shatterpoint is a novel written by Matthew Stover. The first novel in the Clone Wars novel series, it was originally published by Del Rey in June 2003 in hardback. The paperback edition was published in April 2004, with a prologue by George Lucas and the short story Equipment, also by Matthew Stover. The eBook format of Shatterpoint was released in December 2005.

Summary
In 22 BBY Mace Windu's former Padawan and fellow Jedi Master Depa Billaba has been sent to Haruun Kal to start a revolution against the Separatist-allied government; however, all contact has been lost with her. A message is found on a voice chip inside a dead woman's mouth that indicates that Depa has fallen to the dark side of the Force or even gone insane. Since Windu taught her Vaapad, he knows he is the only one who knows how stop her, and so he is sent by the Jedi Council by himself to his birth world. He knows that Vaapad vulnerablizes being to the dark side of the Force.

While Haruun Kal was not much of a military target, the majority of the population had a relatively large amount of Force-sensitive beings, which the Republic wanted to keep away from the Separatists. Billaba was sent to train the people of the world to be allied against the Separatists. This was mostly successful already, but after a hologram was found with recorded data of Billaba killing an innocent civilian, Windu went to remove his former apprentice from the planet. Eventually, after a fight, he was forced to arrest his former apprentice. He later contacted the nearby Republic cruiser, the Halleck. At this time, tribes on the planet started battling amongst each other.

Halleck arrived in-system, and was quickly attacked by Vulture droids. It started deploying Republic gunships, which came under attack by the droid starfighters. Clone troopers with repulsorpacks started spilling out of the Halleck, and put themselves in front of the droid starfighters to destroy them. Some of the landing craft made it to the surface, but many were picked off. CT-6/774, a bubble-gun turreter on a LAAT, was blown off his gunship in space. Their DC-15 blasters did little to ward off the attacking Vulture droids. With the help of an RP trooper, he was saved, and destroyed the last droid starfighter.

On the surface, Windu used the gunships to blast apart the droid starfighters that pursued them onto the surface, then ordered the clones to take out a nearby droid command facility. Lorz Geptun was forced into surrendering to the forces of the Galactic Republic, and Billaba remained in a coma. All clone troopers on the surface were neutralized. A Republic unit stayed on Haruun Kal to manage the native Harunkalian tribes.

Immediately after his arrival on Haruun Kal, Windu met a few people such as Planetary Security Chief Lorz Geptun, smart-aleck korun soldier Nick Rostu, and untrained Force master Kar Vastor. Kar used dual-edged vibroshields made of superconductive material harvested from Jedi spaceships that crashed centuries before. The vibroshields well made that they are resistant to lightsabers but not to other vibro-shields. If held in contact with a lightsaber for a long time, the blade will melt the shields. Kar trained several people, usually referred to as the Akk guards, and Windu himself said that Kar has power on the level of a Jedi Knight. During the course of the book, Windu ended the Summertime War, a war that has raged between the immigrant Balawai and the native Korunnai for centuries, in a matter of hours, and took Kar Vastor into custody. Windu nearly fell to the dark side himself in order to defeat Billaba, who is possibly vegetative at the end of the book.

The natives of Haruun Kal, the Korun, including Nick, Kar, and Windu himself, are all able to touch the Force, some more than others. This is also one of the few Star Wars publications to offer much philosophy on the nature of the Jedi.

Editions

 * ISBN 978-0-345-45573-4 and ISBN 0-345-45573-8; Del Rey, June 3, 2003, 406-page hardcover
 * ISBN 978-0-553-71367-1 and ISBN 0-553-71367-1, Del Rey, June 3, 2003, Abridged CD
 * ISBN 978-0-345-45574-1 and ISBN 0-345-45574-6; Del Rey, April 27, 2004, 432-page paperback
 * ISBN 978-0-345-46423-1 and ISBN 0-345-46423-0; Del Rey, December 6, 2005, eBook

Hardcover
"I know you will come for me, Mace. You should never have sent me here&hellip;. I know you think I've gone mad. But I haven't. What's happened to me is much worse&hellip;."

- Back cover summary

"The Jedi are keepers of the peace. We are not soldiers."

- Mace Windu

''Mace Windu is a living legend: Jedi Master, senior member of the Jedi Council, skilled diplomat, devastating fighter. Some say he is the deadliest man alive. But he is a man of peace—and for the first time in a thousand years, the galaxy is at war.''

Now, following the momentous events climaxing in the Battle of Geonosis, Master Mace Windu must undertake a perilous homecoming to his native world—to defuse a potentially catastrophic crisis for the Republic&hellip;and to confront a terrifying mystery with dire personal consequences.

''The jungle planet of Haruun Kal, the homeworld Mace barely remembers, has become a battleground in the increasing hostilities between the Republic and the renegade Separatist movement. The Jedi Council has sent Depa Billaba—Mace's former Padawan and fellow Council member—to Haruun Kal to train the local tribesmen as a guerilla resistance force, to fight against the Separatists who control the planet and its strategic star system with their droid armies. But now the Separatists have pulled back, and Depa has not returned. The only clue to her disappearance is a cryptic recording left at the scene of a brutal massacre: a recording that hints of madness and murder, and the darkness in the jungle&hellip;a recording in Depa's own voice.''

''Mace Windu trained her. Only he can find her. Only he can learn what has changed her. Only he can stop her.''

''Jedi were never intended to be soldiers. But now they have no choice. Mace must journey alone into the most treacherous jungle in the galaxy—and into his own heritage. He will leave behind the Republic he serves, the civilization he believes in, everything but his passion for peace and his devotion to his former Padawan. And he will learn the terrible price that must be paid, when keepers of the peace are forced to make war&hellip;.''

Paperback
'''Mace Windu is a living legend: Jedi Master, skilled diplomat, and devastating fighter. But he is also a man of peace—and for the first time in a thousand years, the galaxy is at war.'''

'The jungle planet of Haruun Kal, the homeworld Mace barely remembers, has become a battleground for the Republic and the renegade Separatist movement. The Jedi Council has sent Depa Billaba—Mace's former Padawan—to the planet to train the local tribesmen as a guerrilla resistance force to fight against the Separatists. But Depa has vanished. The only clue to her disappearance is a cryptic recording that hints of madness and murder&hellip;a recording in Depa's own voice.''

''Mace Windu trained her. Only he can find her. Now Mace must journey alone into one of the most treacherous jungles in the galaxy—and into his own heritage. He will leave behind the Republic he serves, the civilization he believes in, everything but his passion for peace and his devotion to his former Padawan. And he will learn the terrible price that must be paid when keepers of the peace are forced to make war.''

Plot summary
The story centers around Jedi Master Mace Windu as he attempts to rescue his former Padawan, Depa Billaba, from his homeworld of Haruun Kal. Caught up in the Summertime War, Mace found himself dealing with, among other things, the religious consequences of war and the toll it takes on people. However, he was too late to save the one person who was like a daughter to him. Lured to the dark side of the Force by Kar Vastor (the last of Gösh Windu, aside from Mace), Depa attacked and was defeated by her former master. Upon being returned to Coruscant, Billaba remained floating in bacta in an insane status. Though her physical wounds would heal, she would remain in a comatose state until her end.

Characters

 * Anakin Skywalker
 * Besh
 * Depa Billaba
 * Colonel Lorz Geptun
 * CC-8/349
 * CRC-09/571
 * Iolu
 * Jango Fett
 * Keela
 * Lesh
 * Terrel Nakay
 * Nykl
 * Palpatine
 * Pell
 * Phootie
 * Prouk
 * Pule
 * Pek Rankin
 * Nick Rostu
 * Major Stempel
 * Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * Phloremirrla Tenk
 * Thaffal
 * Captain Trent
 * Liane Trevval
 * Commander Urhal
 * Urno
 * Kar Vastor
 * Mace Windu
 * Yoda

Creatures

 * Akk dog
 * Fever wasp
 * Grasser
 * Ankkox
 * Bantha
 * Krayt Dragon
 * Akk wolf
 * Jacuna
 * Tusker
 * Rancor

Events

 * Battle of Haruun Kal
 * Summertime War

Locations

 * Al'Har system
 * Gevarno Cluster
 * Gevarno Loop
 * Haruun Kal
 * Grandfather's Shoulder
 * Korunnal Highland
 * Pelek Baw
 * Ventran system

Organizations

 * Akk guard
 * Gösh Windu
 * Grand Army of the Republic
 * Jedi Master
 * Jedi Order
 * Upland Liberation Front

Species

 * Balawai
 * Human
 * Korun
 * Kitonak
 * Kubaz
 * Pho Ph'eahian
 * Hutt 

Vehicles and vessels

 * Halleck
 * Jadthu-class landing ship
 * Droid starfighter
 * LAAT/i

Weapons and Armor

 * DOKAW
 * vibroshield
 * BC7 Medium Blaster Carbine
 * Merr-Sonn Devastator
 * Merr-Sonn Thunderbolt
 * Graylite armor
 * MM(X)
 * Krupx MiniMag proton torpedo launcher
 * EWHB-10 heavy repeating blaster
 * DC-15
 * Tisyn-C
 * Caltrop-5 chaff gun
 * Sunfire 1000
 * Power 5
 * Glop grenade

Behind the scenes

 * Shatterpoint was the first book released in the Clone Wars multimedia campaign.
 * The plot of Shatterpoint was highly influenced by both Joseph Conrad's book, Heart of Darkness, and the movie based on it, Apocalypse Now. This was chosen to give a grittier feel to the story, and Matthew Stover describes the concept as arising in a brainstorming session, encapsulated in a single sentence "Apocalypse Now with Jedi".
 * The events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and the events of the New Jedi Order series book, Star by Star are foreshadowed in this book. After defeating Depa Billaba and Kar Vastor, Mace experiences a moment of disorientation, where he does not remember where he is. He thinks "He could have even been in the Jedi Temple. But the Temple would never smell like this. Would it?" This moment foreshadows the execution of Order 66 and the subsequent slaughter in the Temple halls. Earlier in the novel, Mace has a nightmare, where he envisions "Coruscant shattered by immense ships of impossible design&hellip;the center of galactic civilization has become a jungle more alien than Haarun Kal's," foreshadowing the bombardment and Vongforming of Coruscant.

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