The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey

Dark Journey, the tenth book in the New Jedi Order series, is a novel by Elaine Cunningham, published in 2002. It contained an excerpt of The Approaching Storm.

Publisher's summary
The New Jedi Order continues as Jaina Solo struggles with anger and despair after the Jedi Knights' harrowing adventure behind enemy lines.

''Though the Jedi strike force completed its deadly mission into Yuuzhan Vong territory, the price of success was tragedy: not everyone made it out alive. In a daring getaway, hotshot pilot Jaina Solo stole an enemy ship, taking along her fellow survivors&mdash;and leaving behind a huge piece of her heart.''

''With the enemy in hot pursuit, Jaina is forced to seek haven in the unprotected, unfriendly Hapes Cluster, where the Jedi are held responsible for a past tragedy&mdash;and where the royal family has grim plans for their famous Jedi guest. Even more sinister are the intentions of the Yuuzhan Vong, desperate to capture Jaina for a hideous sacrifice.''

''Grief-stricken and obsessed with revenge, Jaina is blind to these threats&mdash;and to the overpowering evil dangerously close to consuming her. In the coming conflagration, Jaina will be fighting not for victory or vengeance, but for her very being&hellip;''

Plot Summary
Taking place just after Star by Star, Jaina Solo and the rest of the survivors from the Jedi strike team at Myrkr, including Lowbacca, Zekk, Ganner Rhysode, Tenel Ka and Tahiri Veila, escape the Yuuzhan Vong worldship they were sent to in order to destroy the voxyn Jedi hunters created by the Vong by Executor Nom Anor's coralskipper, the Kssstar. Along the way, Jaina's oldest brother, Jacen, gets captured by the Vong and delay his execution until Jaina is kidnapped due to how much the Vong take it seriously for twins to fight to the death in their culture. The survivors take Jaina's youngest brother's body, Anakin Solo, so he can have a rightful funeral. Meanwhile, back at Coruscant, the New Republic and the Yuuzhan Vong are still fighting, and during it, Kyp Durron's X-wing squadron and the Kssstar join the fray. When the battle is lost to the Republic, the survivors of that battle, including Kyp, Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker and infant Ben Skywalker escape, along with the Kssstar. The survivors from the battle escape to the Hapes Cluster, which had lost its major Fleet in the Battle of Fondor and is still recovering. The Cluster is now opening itself to refugees in the Yuuzhan Vong War, and on Hapes the planet itself, Prince Isolder has had several assassination attempts on him due to his leading of their loss at Fondor. Queen Tenenial Djo of Hapes is losing her will to live because of the loss of her unborn child during the Battle of Fondor, and former queen mother Ta'a Chume is seeking a replacement for Djo. As for the survivors at the strike team, they all feel that Jacen Solo is now dead from the Yuuzhan Vong, except for Leia, who is certain that Jacen is still alive. As for Jaina, when she finally begins to undertsand the Kssstar with Lowbacca, she contacts Warmaster Tsavong Lah of the Vong and when she discovers the coralskipper's nature, she realizes it is in tribute to Yun-Harla, the Trikster goddess of the Vong, since Nom Anor worships Yun-Harla. In an attempt to mock the Vong, Jaina renames the Kssstar the Trickster after Yun-Harla and how Eminence Harrar relates her deceptive talents to Yun-Harla. When the Trickster finally arrives to Hapes, Anakin is cremated and Jaina and Lowbacca begin to find ways to scramble the Trickster 's location. Ta'a Chume, seeing how much of a warrior Jaina is, plans to have Jaina marry Isolder so she can lead Hapes to war against the Yuuzhan Vong. During all this, Jagged Fel of the Chiss Fleet arrives to Hapes to support the Vong after his failure at the Battle of Ithor early in the war. Kyp Durron becomes a member of Jag's fleet and in order to understand the Force more, Jaina becomes Kyp's apprentice, despite her disregard for him. In the end, Tenenial Djo dies from poison from her drink and despite Ta'a Chume's attempts, Jaina refuses to become the next queen mother of Hapes and Ta'a Chume's granddaughter, Tenel Ka, becomes the new queen. Jaina's attempts at scrambling the Trickster 's location succeeds in defeating the Vong twice when Hapes is pitted against them, thus gaining the New Republic one of the first real victories it has ever got in the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Dramatis personae

 * Ta'a Chume; former Hapan queen (female Human)
 * Tenel Ka Djo; Jedi apprentice (female Human)
 * Teneniel Djo; Hapan queen (female Human)
 * Kyp Durron; Jedi Master (male Human)
 * Jagged Fel; commander, Chiss Squadron (male Human)
 * Trisdin Gheer; courtesan (male Human)
 * Harrar; priest (male Yuuzhan Vong)
 * Isolder; Hapan prince (male Human)
 * Khalee Lah; warrior (male Yuuzhan Vong)
 * Tsavong Lah; warmaster (male Yuuzhan Vong)
 * Lowbacca; Jedi apprentice (male Wookiee)
 * Han Solo; captain, Millennium Falcon (male Human)
 * Jaina Solo; Jedi apprentice (female Human)
 * Leia Organa Solo; ambassador, New Republic (female Human)
 * Zekk; Jedi apprentice (male Human)

Other Characters

 * Nom Anor
 * Benwick Chell
 * Chem
 * Crimpler
 * Soontir Fel
 * Corran Horn
 * Sinsor Khal
 * Hesha Lovett
 * Shawnkyr Nuruodo
 * Q9-01
 * Danni Quee
 * R2-D2
 * Octa Ramis
 * Alema Rar
 * Ganner Rhysode
 * Ian Rim
 * Tesar Sebatyne
 * Seth (Hapan)
 * Ben Skywalker
 * Luke Skywalker
 * Mara Jade Skywalker
 * Anakin Solo
 * Jacen Solo
 * Neeka Sot
 * Tekli
 * Ubris
 * Veema
 * Tahiri Veila
 * Vonce

Locations

 * Coruscant
 * Eclipse
 * Gallinore
 * Hapes
 * Hapes Cluster
 * Ithor
 * Myrkr

Events

 * Battle of Hapes (Yuuzhan Vong War)
 * Battle of Fondor

Miscellaneous

 * Adrenal gland
 * Force lightning

Cover gallery
This is a gallery of the different cover variations of Dark Journey.

Behind the scenes
There are several continuity errors in the book:
 * Page 287 of the first paperback edition states that Tenel Ka "held her mother's hands in both of hers". However, Tenel Ka has only one hand at this point in continuity.
 * The book describes the Yammosk jammer as being a series of comm units that vibrate on the hulls of Yuuzhan Vong ships, preventing the Yammosk from concentrating. In every other book, the jammer transmits the gravatic equivalent of white noise to the Yuuzhan Vong forces, and is based on a ship native to the galaxy.
 * Ta'a Chume says that Tenel Ka is older than Jaina, but Tenel Ka is one year younger.
 * Jaina says that the misson on which Jacen was implanted with a Yuuzhan Vong slave coral was mere months before, when it was over a year previous.