The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance

The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance is a novel by Sean Williams, based on the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, that was released on July 20, 2010. It was first mentioned on November 10, 2008, when Sue Rostoni stated: "A novel will come out sometime around the game release time and that's all that's been determined so far." A preview of the book was published in Clone Wars Gambit: Siege. The audio version of the book is performed by Marc Thompson.

Back cover
"Everything I have seen confirms my worst fears."

Internal flap
''Tassaa Bareesh, a matriarch in the Hutt crime cartel, is holding an auction that’s drawing attention from across the galaxy. Representatives of both the Republic and the Sith Empire are present, along with a Jedi Padawan sent to investigate, a disenfranchised trooper drummed out of the Republic’s elite Black Star Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian with a private agenda. But the Republic’s envoy is not what he seems, the Empire’s delegate is a ruthless Sith apprentice, the Jedi Padawan is determined to do the right thing and terrified that he can’t, the trooper hopes to redeem her reputation, and the Mandalorian is somehow managing to keep one step ahead of everyone.'' ''None of these guests—invited or uninvited—have any intention of participating in the auction. Instead they plan to steal the prize, which is locked inside an impregnable vault: two burned chunks of an exploded star cruiser, one of which may hold the key to the wealth of an entire world.''

''But the truth about the treasure is dangerous and deadly. And in the end, Sith and Jedi, Republic and Empire, must do something they’ve never done before, something that all the agents of good and evil could never make them do: join together to stop a powerful threat that could destroy the galaxy&hellip;''

Plot summary
The novel starts out in Wild Space aboard the Auriga Fire, which has just captured a ship called the Cinzia. The Auriga Fire's Captain Jet Nebula is undergoing a mutiny led by his Rodian first mate Shinqo, but Nebula is able to quell this mutiny and get Shinqo and his followers back under his control. The crew of the Auriga Fire attempt to board the Cinzia after warning the crew on the other end of the communications net of their intentions. However, Nebula manages to pilot the Auriga Fire away from the Cinzia after detecting an energy surge in the opposite ship that results in its destruction. The Fire crew begin to scan the debris and hypothesize that whoever blew up the ship thought that the cargo must have been really important to sacrifice their ship, and their lives, over. During the debris scan, they notice something.

In the lower levels of Coruscant, Jedi Padawan Shigar Konshi, recently disgruntled after being rejected by the Jedi Council from testing himself in the Trials in order to become a Knight, is on a mission for the Order. He notes a violent confrontation taking place inside a nearby warehouse, and decides to check it out. Meanwhile, also approaching the warehouse is former Republic trooper Larin Moxla, and she confronts the sole survivor, and instigator, of the conflict, Mandalorian warrior Dao Stryver. Konshi and Moxla get into a brief fight with Stryver from which the Mandalorian escapes. But the Padawan and former trooper decide to combine forces in order to find Stryver and figure out what he was talking about regarding two things he mentioned to Moxla; the Cinzia and Lema Xandret.

Approaching the Sith world of Dromund Kaas and heading to Kaas City is Sith apprentice Eldon Ax, who had recently failed a mission for her master Sith Lord Darth Chratis. This failure was based on Ax's confrontation with Dao Stryver, who caught her, asked her about the Cinzia and Lema Xandret, and then released her and let her live as he left to continue on with his business. Ax informs Darth Chratis about this, and Chratis takes her to Dromund Kaas's Imperial data mine to inform her of what Stryver was talking about. Chratis reveals that Lema Xandret is actually Eldon Ax's mother who tried to hide her from the Sith when it was discovered that Ax, who was then named Cinzia Xandret, had Force-sensitivity. The ship's name was obviously based off of Ax's real name, and, as revealed in the prologue of the novel, was destroyed back in Wild Space. From what information that the Sith could gather on the Cinzia itself was that it was involved in some kind of auction that the Hutts were holding on Hutta; whatever was going to be sold at the auction itself remains unknown, especially since the ship's destruction leaves very little to gain information from. As a result of this, Chratis decides to remove the memory block that he placed in Ax's mind when she was younger that was meant to block out any memories that she had of her family. This is to further Chratis's investigation regarding the whereabouts of Lema Xandret herself. Unfortunately, despite the flood of memories coming back to Ax, she can discern no real recollection of where her mother or other family members could be hiding, or what could be so important aboard the Cinzia before it blew up.

Meanwhile, a spy within the Republic working for the Sith Empire, Ula Vii, learns about the word going around about Lema Xandret and the Cinzia. He gets this information because the Hutts have managed to recover whatever was thought lost in the explosion of the ship, as well as information to its planet of origin. Its cargo may very well be just as or less important than where it came from, as it could tip the balance between the Republic and the Empire in terms of planets and resources. Vii passes this information along to his Imperial masters. This helps Ax and Chratis, meanwhile, who are also wanting to find out what could be so important that is now being auctioned by the Hutts.

Thus, four journeys are made to Hutta for the cargo from the Cinzia&mdash;one made by Shigar and Larin, one made by Vii and his Republic entourage of guards, one made by Ax and Chratis, and the last made by Dao Stryver. These four parties meet in a violent clash of interests that ends up with a small group of hexagonal droids that attack them. Though the droids are destroyed, Stryver makes his escape with the Cinzia&rsquo;s navicomputer. Ax makes do with memory hardware from one of the defeated hexagonal robots, which could very well lead back to the Cinzia&rsquo;s origin point. Shigar and Larin have to deal with the primary Hutt auctioneer, Tassaa Bareesh, in the aftermath of the violence that spilled over in her palace because of all the interests of the Cinzia&rsquo;s contents. Shigar makes a deal with Bareesh that allows him and Larin to leave and continue with their journey. With a compliment of Bareesh's own guards, Jet Nebula, and Ula Vii, Shigar is able to retrace the origin of the hexagonal droids by feeling their history through the Force via touching one of their destroyed corpses.

These three parties locate the origin planet of the hexes, Sebaddon, located near a black hole on the very edge of the galaxy. The hexes seem too powerful to stop, so the present fleets of the Republic and the Empire, who came with the other parties, have no choice but to team up and destroy the droids; otherwise, the hexes could very well multiply to a point where they would easily take over the galaxy. In spite of the problems that ensue between the two fleets, the alliance succeeds in defeating the hexes as Ax and Shiagar's master, Satele Shan, unintentionally kill a clone of Ax who had been unknowingly allowing the hex army to take countless lives. Ax takes control of the hexes herself, commands them to successfully kill her hated master Darth Chratis, and then allows the remnants of her dead mother to lead the droids to destroy themselves in the lava of Sebaddon. The alliance is broken, the Republic and the Empire go back into conflict, and the primary characters' lives change all the better for each of them.

In the epilogue, Dao Stryver catches up with Jet Nebula in a cantina on Tatooine after having searched for him ever since the Sebaddon incident. Jet reveals that he knows that Stryver had intentionally led all parties involved towards the conflict at Sebaddon in order to assess the strength of both the Republic and the Empire. Stryver is revealed to be a female Gektl Mandalorian at this time. She intended to take Jet's droid, Clunker, away from him due to Clunker's ability to decode both Republic and Imperial codes. Before Stryver has a chance to try and take Clunker, Nebula, with the help of other patrons in the bar, subdues Stryver and disappears. Stryver awakes later and realizes that she respects Nebula and admits to herself that she believes him to be a worthy opponent.

Behind the scenes
The eight main characters in the Dramatis Personae are based upon the eight character classes in the 2011 video game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

In the 18th page of Fatal Alliance, Nautolan is misspelled as Nawtolan. On page 37, Bimmisaari is referred to as Bimmisaarian.