Crucible (novel)

"Denning says he's doing a novel about a year after Apocalypse ends. It stars the Big Three, and starts in a cantina, "and yes, Han shoots first." It'll be set in a new part of the galaxy, that's new to readers. Lando is involved, no grandkids."

- Newsarama.com reporting an interview with Troy Denning during the SDCC 2012

Crucible is a novel set to be written by author Troy Denning and is scheduled for release on July 9, 2013. Characters include Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo.

Publisher's summary
''Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia have spent a lifetime fighting wars, bringing the Jedi back from extinction, raising families, and saving the galaxy more times than they can count. They've earned the right to rest on their laurels and let the younger generation shoulder the burden--but fate has another adventure in store for our heroes, a quest only they can tackle and hope to survive...''

Plot summary
The novel opens up aboard Brink Station in a cantina called the Red Ronto where Han and Leia Organa Solo are waiting for Lando Calrissian. Lando had called Han and Leia down here because he wanted to discuss with them as to how best they could solve the pirate problem plaguing the Chiloon Rift where he had established his latest asteroid refinery. Instead, they are met by a mysterious young man named Captain Omad Kaeg of the Joyous Roamer, an asteroid-tugging ship in the Rift that is currently undergoing repairs from a recent pirate attack. Kaeg informs the Solos that Lando sent him and he offers himself as a guide inside the nebula. Han and Leia are suspicious, as they ask him several questions, one of which is why Lando didn't come or inform the Solos of it ahead of time himself. Kaeg tells them that he is just as in the dark as they are. Before they can come to any agreement, however, three members of the exotic species known as the Nargons walk into the cantina with two Mandalorians. Kaeg informs Han and Leia that the Nargons and Mandalorians were hired by Galactic Exploitation Technologies, or GET, a giant conglomerate looking to rob the business of the independent miners, like Kaeg, in the nebula, to act as security against the pirates. The Solos and Kaeg are met by the Mandalorians, Scarn and Jakal, and one of the Nargons, Qizak, and it turns out that Kaeg owes them a massive debt of one million credits from a sabacc tournament he participated in. Scarn informs Kaeg that he can easily settle the debt by signing away all of his shares in the mining cooperative he's involved in to Galactic Exploitation Technologies, something that Kaeg refuses to do. When Qizak threatens Kaeg to do so, Han and Leia determine that Kaeg had been deliberately set up by GET since the pirate attack that crippled the Joyous Roamer; Kaeg had been manipulated into participating in that sabacc tournament and Scarn had cheated since he has a prosthetic eye that could help him win just so that Kaeg would end up in this situation. In spite of Scarn's insistent protests to the contrary, he agrees to leave Kaeg alone and refund him the money he owed. However, Qizak calls Scarn out as a coward for not standing his ground, and it all eventually devolves to violence when Qizak kills Scarn and seriously wounds Jakal before attacking the Solos and Kaeg. During the brief fight, Leia cuts off both of Qizak's arms and seriously wounds him, and Han notes that the Nargon's insides are composed of machinery. He manages to steal one of Qizak's arms as he flees with Leia and Kaeg from the other two Nargons for later investigation as to what a Nargon is.

On Sarnus, the world where Lando's asteroid refinery is based, he is going through a deal with the Qreph brothers, who want his refinery, much to Lando's chagrin. The Solos' arrival with Captain Kaeg complicates the deal, so the Qrephs decide to let Lando "think about the deal." In the meantime, however, as Lando leads the Solos on a tour of his refinery, the Qrephs plot to destroy the refinery itself via sabotage thanks to the part of Lando's assitant, Dena Yus, who is actually an artificially-constructed organism created by one of the Qrephs' genetic engineering companies. The sabotage and destruction of the refinery is successful, albeit resulting in the deaths of thousands of employees rather than the few hundred, as thought by Dena. The refinery's destruction also results in severely injuring the Solos and Lando, and a day later, Luke arrives just as Han and Leia wake up from their comas. In the meantime, Dena, who is now questioning her own loyalty to the Qrephs because of the catastrophe that occurred, gives the samples of Han and Leia's blood, which she gained from when they fell into their comas, to Marvid's personal mercenary, Savara Raine. To cover up her suspicion, Dena tells Luke, the Solos, and Lando that her ex-lover may have been responsible for the destruction of the refinery, which prompts Han to come up with a plan to go to Valnoos to get more leads on the Qrephs for their actions. They're soon confronted by Mirta Gev and a group of her Mandalorians, who capture Han and take him back to the Qrephs. However, the Jedi in the group manage to get a tracking beacon aboard the Mandalorians' escape vessel, which allows Luke and Leia to track them down.

Luke and Leia, along with Lando and Kaeg, track the Mandalorian ship down to the Qrephs' mobile headquarters, the Ormni. However, the Qrephs, knowing about the arrival of Han's friends and family thanks to Savara, take Han with them aboard their personal ship, the Aurel Moon, and they set off for Base Prime. Luke and Leia, in their bid to save Han, end up in a dogfight against the defending Mandalorian ships, which ends up with them crashing their ship through the Ormni after blasting its hull with a proton torpedo. There, Luke and Leia, with R2-D2 at their side, fend for themselves against enemy forces until they encounter Dena Yus again, who was abandoned by the Qrephs and was left to die aboard the Ormni. She admits to her involvement in the destruction of the refinery on Sarnus, and while Luke and Leia are taken aback by her, they still agree to work with her if she can help them escape the Ormni, help them save Han, and stop the Qrephs in exchange for getting the enzymes she needs to survive. They all manage to escape by having R2-D2 create a false evacuation order which they take advantage of and escape to be picked up by the Millennium Falcon, piloted by Kaeg and Lando.

During all this time, Lando and Kaeg pick up Ben Skywalker and Tahiri Veila, who were on an assignment from the Jedi Order to find Jedi Knight Ohali Soroc. Ohali had gone missing searching for the Mortis monolith necessary to prevent Abeloth from returning. At this point, Ben and Tahiri managed to find the distress beacon from her StealthX, which was a trap set up by the Qrephs, but which was foiled thanks to help from the Millennium Falcon. The crew of the Falcon manages to determine from the remnants of Ohali's astromech droid, Ninette, about the Qrephs' Base Prime and its location. With Luke and Leia joining them at this point, and with Dena's knowledge of Base Prime, they all plot to locate the Qrephs' Base Prime and storm it using Lando's YVH droids in all-out assault against the enemy.

At Base Prime, which is stationed on top of what appears to be the Mortis Monolith itself, Han is being tortured physically, mentally, and emotionally by the Qrephs as part of one of their cruel experiments. They also want to know whether or not he put their mother into a coma decades before, something they've done to several other people throughout the years in addition to destroying everything and everyone their victims cared about. During this time, Han also notes the presence of Barduun, a psychotic Mandalorian who has Force-abilities; it turns out that Barduun had entered the monolith that Base Prime is stationed above with Savara, as no one else can enter it without a Force-sensitive on hand. The Qrephs still consider entering the monolith in spite of Barduun's insanity and Savara's warnings. As well, Ohali is also a prisoner being experimented on by the Qrephs, who happens to have a mentally deficient clone created by the brothers. Han soon makes an escape attempt with Ohali and Barduun just before the Millennium Falcon attacks Base Prime, using the Chiloon Rift's plasma covering to hide them from scanners, which allows the Jedi and their YVH droids to storm the Qrephs' headquarters. Craitheus is rendered half-dead in the attack thanks to Vestara Khai, who is actually Savara Raine, which prompts Marvid to betray her and leave her for dead with crippling wounds thanks to his power chair. Vestara manages to convince Mirta Gev to go back on her contract with the Qrephs by convincing her that the brothers never intended to honor their contract and come up with the cure to the nanokiller virus plaguing Mandalore's atmosphere; with that, she and Mirta escape in the attack with the help of the Sith Meditation Sphere known as Ship.

The Qrephs, meanwhile, proceed to the monolith that Base Prime is stationed above to gain the Force, with a human-Columi hybrid clone of Vestara, Savara Two, acting as their entrance to the monolith. Luke, Han, and Leia all follow them inside and after Luke kills Savara Two with the Force, they all enter a fierce mystical Force-battle against the brothers, who gain Force powers after accepting them from strange shadow beings that promise them such things. After they destroy their powerbodies, the Qrephs try to escape so that they can roam free throughout the galaxy, but in the end, Leia manages to kill Craitheus with the Force as Luke also manages to kill Marvid with the Force. From this moment, they nearly become one with the Force, along with a real understanding of it. Han manages to pull them back from truly joining with the Force, and soon, they manage to leave thanks to Lando and Ben calling them out from the gate between Base Prime and the monolith. Luke, Han, and Leia all agree to settle down after their experience in the monolith and state that they will allow the next generation to take the reins in the battle against darkness and evil in the galaxy.

In the aftermath, Base Prime is destroyed and a cordon is established around the area surrounding the monolith, which the Jedi are careful not to conclude it being the Mortis Monolith. Three months later, Luke, Han, and Leia reaffirm their stance and agree to take vacations. They celebrate this in the Red Ronto, and the novel ends as they have a toast with Lando, Ben, Tahiri, Kaeg, Ohali, Jaina Solo Fel and Jagged Fel.

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