Merrin

I kinda like it.

What do you think of Nightsister Merrin?

I dont play the video games but I read Jedi Battle Scars (an underrated book) and I just loved Merrin. I thought she was a cool character (lack of a better phrase).

But what are your thoughts on her?

My reaction was one of surprise. I honest to god didn’t expect them to actually make them an official couple. I initially didn’t want them to be an item but now I’m all for it.

SPOILERS

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I give it a 9.5 out of 10. It was a good book!!

•Cal and BD-1 are the immediate openers breaking into a Haxion Brood Base with him recalling being captured by them in the Game. Jumping from asteroid to asteroid he recalls the first time Jaro Tapal took him into space and the lesson he taught him. The crew chimes in once he landed. Merrin, Greez and Cere who was being “cere-ious” than the rest 😂

•Cal views the force as a deep pool. “blackest in its deepest fathoms, swallowing him whole as he dived down, down into it, emerging into a void where color and sound became muted, distant” not a bad description.

•Chapter 2 is from Merrin’s POV! Her thoughts of Greez Dritus as the best pilot, BD-1 being cute, and Cere being the closest thing to an older sister was nice. She’s been struggling with her powers. Her thoughts on Cal were amazing. Sometimes he was a hardened warrior leader of their crew. Sometimes he tried to hide it, but was a scared and lonely Jedi on the run. And she called him cute .. let’s see if they get together.

She burns one Haxion Brood member to a crisp. They find out why a section was so deserted. Stormtroopers were on the base drinking with Haxion Brood.

•Cal found then ends up fighting Haxion Brood members and Stormtroopers. Merrin joins him. She handles the Stormtroopers while Cal fights the Haxion Brood members. Worry’s about Merrin taking her anger towards the Separatists out on the Stormtroopers, he’d hoped she’d be further in her healing process. We meet the deserting stormtrooper.

•The deserting stormtrooper helps save Cere from the collapsing asteroid base so they save her. The Mantis is pursued by a TIE. We see the the bogling stowaway!!!

•The Deserter is an analyst , a female Keshiri, Chellwinark Frethylrin. Cere holds hers and Cal’s lightsaber to her throat saying to convince her that she’s a deserter and that the Empire doesn’t exactly employ non-humans often. She struggles but tells Greez how to lose their pursuers convincing them.

•So Merrin is bisexual. She’s attracted to Chellwinark. Damn here I was hoping her description of Cal meant they’d get together. Chellwinark’s family supported the Separatists. When the clones were phased out she joined as an analyst and never saw her family again. Nevermind Merrin is pansexual. Chellwinark knows Merrin is attracted to her. Chellwinark proposes a job with two different responses from the four crew members. It ends with Cal, Cere, and Merrin all for taking the job and Greez against it.

•We get a chapter from Greez Dritus’ POV. He is not happy at all that they took the proposed job of Chellwinark which brought them to Hosnian Prime. Yeaaaah I’d be anxious as well if I was him. His inner thoughts are great!! Cal really is the leader, despite fitting with the game and book and the future game, I’d still expect it to be Cere. Greez describing himself as Cal’s “own flesh-and-blood devastatingly handsome uncle” had me choking on my drink as I read it. The Stinger Mantis crew is a family that loves each others. Reminds me of the Ghost and their crew. His thoughts of himself are hilarious. His a A lady killer back home line made me laugh hard. His deep guilt of the cost his gambling cost Cere is sad. They’re meeting Qeris Lar, one of the galaxies wealthiest men. Used to be in politics but hated it. Accumulated contacts and more money. He’s the one who gave Chellwinark the info on the Stinger Mantis crew’s location telling her to bring them to him after for a job. Qeris Lar is Omwati.

•Switch to Cere Junda’s POV!!! Love her!!! She’s agrees with Greez but won’t give him the satisfaction. She’s getting older thinking what would be left behind for Cal and for Merrin, for the Galaxy “when she was no longer around to shepherd it forward.” Very Jedi Mother hen!! Woww Qeris Lar was an Alderaanian government official with the wrong idea of Bail & Breha Organa. Cere is paying real close attention, like how Qeris used Greez’s full name. The Shroud sounds cool. Cere’s thoughts on it is a scary yet true assessment. Hides you completely. Never know if you’re being chased and you’re forever hidden. The creator was who wanted Chellwinark out but was killed by the Empire. All it’s info to make it destroyed but kept on a data card. Theoretical testing of it is on Eadu. Cere refers to Cal as her Padawan 🙌🏼. Greez calls Qeris feathers 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

•Cere’s flashback to Murkhana with Eno Cordova, the Circlet of Saresh, a crown that radiated power. The Archives burning woww. So she was in the Temple with Trilla when Order 66 was carried out. She’s wanting to create her own Archives that will be “the coals on which the Empire will burn”. That fits with the trailer of Jedi: Survivor of what we see of her. Definitely interested on how this plays out.

Cere says they’ll discuss it and Qeris tells them to be quick because the Inquisitors are on their way to get it.

•Fifth Brother’s POV!!!! He’s from Artemesium. His views on the Jedi sound similar to Dooku with the thought of the Jedi being pawns of the Republic forgetting the people serving only the Politicians. Bitter of how the Jedi hadn’t stepped in when the Republic/Senate decided to strip Artemesium for its resources. I hope his POV parts give us his name. Cut back to the Stinger Mantis crew, everyone seems to have their own reason for wanting to do the job from Qeris except Greez who doesn’t want to do the job at all. Cal wants to do it so Qeris will help them stick it to the Empire and stop Darth Vader. Cere for the Circlet of Saresh. Merrin because of Chellwinark/“Fret”

•Merrin says Fret can stay in her room. The tension in their private convo is crazy 😜 ohhh I guess there’ll be no Cal and Merrin in this book 😂 Merrin seals the door to the engine room (Cal’s room) with a line of green fire.

•Cal tells Greez he can’t pinpoint why he doesn’t trust Fret. “Don’t blame me just cause you have no game” 😂💀 Greez is funny. This book has already expanded on him so much. Cal leaves Greez and wanders the ship then uses his psychometry on the armor Fret had stolen. Sees a Kadas’sa’Nikto named Irei kisses Fret and asks her to go with her and that they’ll kill her if she stays. It ends with Cal knowing Frets answer was no. Cal then talks to Cere about Jedi not being supposed to form attachments to be more specific romantic ones. Then points out how he and Cere have formed attachments when it comes to the crew. He asks how that doesn’t open him and her up to the dark side. She admits she doesn’t know. She asks what makes him ask he doesn’t answer so he asks the other reason she wanted to go to Murkhana and she doesn’t answer as well.

•Briefing before arriving on Murkhana. 😂💀 Merrin’s got a hickey. Cal’s clueless until Fret follows Merrin out of the Engine room. Yeaaah aside from, what I took as, the bit of jealousy I’d be a bit annoyed too if it was my room too. 😂

•Cere and Merrin scope out the prison on Murkhana. Merrin’s inner thoughts of light and dark are great! How the Jedi crave the light and how she loves the two Jedi even if in her eyes they were useless sometimes. Her description on how her and Cere work well together in contrast to Cal and BD-1. Cere brings up Merrin and Fret. Cere has noticed Merrin’s been struggling with her powers and tells her as much when she says if Fret helps her heal her pain even for a bit then it’s a very good thing. Cere asks what it is about Fret she likes. 😂 “she has very nice hands” 💀 While heading back to the Mantis talking, Cere takes a detour and gets the Circlet out of a fallen gutted AT-TE made into a makeshift den trading her mandolin she’d learned to play as a Padawan that she “rescued from the ashes of her former life”. I hope there’s a flashback of Cere and Trilla escaping the Temple! Wasn’t expecting it to be in there with a lone armored Sugi no less.

•Once Cere and Merrin return to the Mantis Cal has a hard time hiding that he was upset and worried. A little bitter of Cere’s mission that he didn’t know about. He thinks of Merrin and Fret sleeping together cuddling 💀 the jealousy had me laughing a bit. But made me stop when his inner thoughts are of how Fret is in love with someone else and Merrin will get hurt. Cal really doesn’t understand why Cere risked everything for the Circlet. Isn’t happy she kept it a secret. They break into the Imperial Compound without any problems then Cere on the comms who is slicing into the computer systems says they shouldn’t have been able to get in because the codes were changed that morning. Cal pins Fret against the wall asking how she got in and she reveals she never left the Empire.

•The next chapter flashes back to several nights earlier with Merrin and Fret laying in the cot in the Engine Room while on the way to Murkhana. Merrin is really falling for Fret. Merrin feels like the poison in her wounds from her past bleed out and she can heal with Fret. Fret wants to tell her something instead asks Merrin to tell her something about herself. Merrin had a pet Bramble Lynx name Teeno that she never saw after Grievous attacked Dathomir. As they talk Fret says she needs to tell Merrin something snapping Merrin out of her, I want to say, obsession thinking if it’s something that compromises the team that only she will be walking out of the engine room alive. Fret tells Merrin she never left but that the Empire thinks she’s on a data collecting mission in the Outer Rim. Merrin wants to believe her even though something feels so wrong. Sooo Merrin knew and put the team at risk. Woww. Flash forward to present time with Cal having pinned Fret against the wall. There’s no time to get a full explanation. Cal wonders if Fret has laid out a perfect trap for them. He’s upset Merrin didn’t tell them because of hot lady with a mullet 😂💀 as a gay guy reading this description it was this part that had me laughing harder than I was at the other parts that made me laugh hard. Cal’s trying to understand Merrin’s point of view and reasoning. Over the comms Merrin is conflicted admitting she doesn’t know if she trusts Fret. Merrin tells Cal to be reasonable as Fret uses her Imperial information just she uses her magick through the dark side. He’s upset Merrin prioritized Fret over the well being of the crew who loved her. Thinking it was selfish on her part. Cal switches to a private comm channel, strictly between him and Cere, telling her about Irei. Cere says they had their suspicions. Cal unlocks every cell in the prison with the hope of causing a riot. Merrin knows she should be more suspicious of Fret. A full riot begins. The plans are in a cell. In the cell is Irei!! The Inquisitors have arrived. Ohh I hope another Inquisitor is with Fifth Brother!

•Fret swears it’s a hologram of Irei. Fret says Irei is the creator of the Shroud and swears Irei is dead. Merrin is hurt already with everything clicking in her head without anything being said. The schematics for the Shroud haven’t been documented allegedly, Irei says it’s all in her head hence why the Empire didn’t kill her. Merrin pieced it all together by the look on Frets face and on Cal’s that he went through Fret’s things. Merrin is angry. They fight off prisoners and Stormtroopers as they make their way out. Irei is Force Sensitive. She created the Shroud to hide not just herself but other Force Sensitive people and people in general. Cere is on the comms directing them. Cal calls out that it was to hide Irei and someone who was too scared to run. Merrin pieces it all together. Cal yells at Fret asking if she was ever going to tell them. Fret responds with she thought Irei was dead. The mess hall has Stormtroopers and Purge Troopers fighting against prisoners. Cal incapacitates all of them with the Force. Cal promises Irei the crew will protect her. Fret promises as well but Irei responds that she’ll take Cal’s promises over hers. Cal and Merrin agree to take Irei but when they turn to update Irei and Fret they realize they’d ran off. Cere panicks over the comms, Fifth Brother has arrived and is approaching their position. Cal and Merrin prepare for a fight. Merrin reawakens the dead prisoners 😳 niceee. Of course right as she finishes Fifth Brother shows up. Cal’s sarcastic remarks about Fifth Brother’s helmet 😎. Cal presses Fifth Brother for his name. Ugh he doesn’t give it. Cal says Fifth Brother didn’t have much of technique but had brute force. Fifth Brother’s helmet is lightsaber resistant. Clever. But more to the point that if it wasn’t Fifth Brother would be dead. Fifth Brother eventually beats and pins Cal down. Cal prepares for death when Cere arrives ready for a fight!!!!! •The fight has turned, Cere and Cal vs Fifth Brother. Cere offers Fifth Brother redemption. We knew they wasn’t going to happen. Fifth Brother is getting outdone by Cere being able to predict much of his movements. Then Fifth Brother disconnects the two sides of his lightsaber using one in each hand. Cere was a fraction of a second too slow parrying a blow when one of his lightsabers burns into her shoulder. Cere reaches into the force. Feeling empathy for Cal, for the Inquisitor, for the Sith, for everyone in the Galaxy. Then she shatters Fifth Brothers lightsaber to mere components. Cere looks at Fifth Brother and sees awe in his eyes. Say to herself she can help Fifth Brother, that she can help them all.

•Cut to Greez who’s stressing with Merrin. He’s considering leaving the ship and going after Cere and Cal but Merrin reads his mind telling him no. Then Fret screams for help, Irei is hurt from “a couple of smoking holes that she probably wasn’t supposed to have”. Greez sees the gory blaster wounds and electro-weapon wounds. Greez says they don’t have a medbay. That’s surprising. As Merrin tends to Irei with Frets help, Greez runs down the ramp to help Cere and Cal.

•Cut to Merrin. She’s never had the gift of healing. Inner thoughts she says she’d always been better at taking life than giving it. Merrin’s thinks they’d not be in the situation had Fret and Irei not ran off and that it had be a very long day. She manages to stable Irei. Calm her and numb her pain but she’d need proper medical attention soon. Merrin exhausts her power and her fire needs time to recover and recharge.

•Greez runs through the prison with none of the Stormtroopers paying him any mind. He admits to himself that being on the battlefield was not his thing and that being in the sky was more his arena. He finds Cal looking like he’d been smacked around based on the bruising on his face with BD-1 trying to wake him. He sees Cere has Fifth Brother pinned against a door with her lightsaber at his throat. He’s more scared of how Cere looks than he ever has seen before. He’s seen her cry, laugh, elated, etc but never absolutely desperate as she tried to get Fifth Brother to listen to her as she tried to turn him to the light. She pleads with Fifth Brother offering him help. Ugh Cere, I commend you but ugh still as readers we know it doesn’t work. Greez begs Cere to let it go. Fifth Brother sends Cere flying across the room, calling her lightsaber to his hands. Fifth Brother prepares to strike down an unconscious Cal when Greez runs and launches himself in front of Cal. Then he screams.

•Merrin walks out of the engine room expecting to Greez running up the ramp and see everyone ok. But Greez is unconscious and missing one of his four arms. Merrin yells for Fret to fly them out of Murkhana. Greez’s top right arm is sheared off right about the elbow. A clean cut. Cere takes Greez to the back to look after him. So much tension on the ship. Merrin asks Cal what happened and he says he doesn’t know. 😳 soo he didn’t see Greez try to save him.

•Cere recounts the events that long night in the Mantis. She watched her lightsaber cut into Greez then used Fifth Brother’s momentary surprise to call her lightsaber back to her just in time to save Cal from the same fate. She then screamed using the force to wrench every piece of metal to cage Fifth Brother in long enough for her to get Cal and Greez to their feet to get them to the Mantis. She feels responsible. She sees the same potential for darkness in Cal that she sees in herself. Fears that in her turning from the dark she’s trying too hard to right her wrongs of the past. Cere’s “tiring of the fight”. The skirmishes with the Empire won’t impact everything how she wanted. There were times she wasn’t sure if she was the right person to lead the Stinger Mantis crew anymore 😳 he heart was moving in another direction, one not in alignment with Cal’s 😫. She wants to build a legacy, a foundation for the next generation of fighters. When Greez wakes up she’s planning on delivering him the “news and explanation”. You already know she’s going to end up leaving to fit with her scene we see in the Jedi: Survivor trailer.

•Merrin helps Cal strip off his shredded clothes applying bacta to his wounds. They discuss Fret and Irei and how Cal knew of Irei. The tension between Cal and Merrin 😍 is it too much to hope that they’ll get together?!

•A full, tense, quiet, day passes. Greez emerges and looks bad. He asks where is she and everyone assumes Cere, Cere included, but he meant Fret. He blames her saying she left them. Cal sides with him. They all demand and explanation from Fret. Everything is so tense. Merrin won’t meet Fret’s looks; Cal wouldn’t meet Merrin’s; Greez and Cere acted like the other didn’t exist. Wowww. Merrin demands an explanation. TWICE. Fret thought Irei was dead. Met while she was training to be an analyst and Irei was apprenticing at her parents droid repair shop. They fell in love. They kept it a secret as the trainees free time was limited and discouraged fraternization including people on the outside. Irei admitted she was Force-Sensitive not enough to be trained but enough to stand out. Irei made Fret see what and how the Empire is. Irei wanted Fret to leave the Empire and they’d go hide while she completed the Shroud. Fret didn’t because she was scared. Irei mad that Fret chose the Empire over her in her eyes when Fret figured she could hide Irei easier from the inside. She alters recordings of Irei swapping her out for someone else, a different name for hers, caught the attention of the Empire. They captured Irei and burned her parents droid repair shop to the ground even though aurei’s parents worked for them. Fret says it tools Irei’s death to make her “leave”. Fret then started running counter-intel which led her to Qeris. She spent an age and a small fortune to get herself out, which Greez points out the record that she didn’t. Says she had to appear as the perfect Imperial or she’d disappear. Qeris gave her the intel on the Stinger Mantis and its crew, lied about being well known and a beacon of hope for others but that they were a beacon of hope to her. Only way to help the Mantis Crew get the Shroud was to remain and active Imperial. She planned it well. Empire doesn’t expect her back for another month. Qeris told her of Cal, and when she comes to say Merrin her shame gets the best of her and she refers to Merrin as “the Witch” which Cal takes some satisfaction in. Cal, while sympathizing with Fret and Irei mainly Irei, feels they put the whole crew in danger believing Fret. But he now believed Fret. Cal tells Fret that while she did what she did for Irei out of fear, everything would have been the same, on the run as they are now. Greez gets mad and blames Fret for his arm to which Fret snaps back with from her understanding it was Cere’s fault causing Cere to snap back as well saying Fret doesn’t understand a thing prompting Greez to start on Cere on how she wouldn’t make the move she needed to make trying to help redeem Fifth Brother much to Cal’s shock. Cal begs Cere to say he’s wrong but when Cere won’t meet Cal’s eyes he knows it’s true. Cal asks if Cere’s the reason Greez is missing an arm to which Greez says the Inquisitor is the reason, prompting Merrin to say Fret is the reason. Fret brings up how they need to bring Irei to Qeris to which the crew has the united line of thought of they never said they’d bring it to him until Greez says they need to lay low and drop off Irei and Frets at the first breathable-air planet they find to which Cere says they can’t abandon them. Cal asks if that’s really her talking or her guilt about Trilla to which Cere takes responsibility for Greez’s injury. Wowww and here I was putting them up there with Kanan and Ezra and the Ghost Crew nopee. Greez wants to get out of the line of fire to which Cal responds that their purpose was to fight the Empire making Cere tell him he’s wrong and that they’re establishing a future for the Jedi. It wasn’t meant to be funny but Fret chiming in with them being there for the Shroud was funny. Then Merrin said she really had no idea why she was there and her purpose causing Greez to join her side. Cere says they’ll never be able to help targets of the Empire if they can’t help this one only to be cut off by Cal asking how are they not all there to bring down the Empire. Thankfully all shut up by Irei who apologizes but says the Empire will always hunt her but that they were in the same situation. Cere agrees that Irei is right and that Greez is right in laying low.

•Crew arrives at the Outer Rim moon Zimara with a backwater village with people who escaped one dangerous life or another in the Core. With one side constantly having daylight and another side constantly in darkness. After the arguement everyone scattered. Cere and Greez to the cockpit, Irei and Frets to the Engine Room, Merrin to the galley, with Cal staying in the same room they argued in. Cal watches Greez struggle and knows he’ll have some trying years ahead of him. He knows the feeling of loss, loss of a connection to something like being a Nightsister without a planet or power, like being a Jedi with an Order. He hated it. Wowww this book is has taken a turn. Cere gives everyone 48hrs to get their heads on straight then the minute the 48hrs is done everyone better be on the ramp to figure out what to do next. Cal thinks Merrin looks scared of who may not return and who they may lose or if he’s just projecting because he’s scared of who he’ll lose. Everyone, for the most part, went their separate ways. Cere to what passed as the local library. Fret and Irei follow her to the village in search for medical help for Irei. Merrin towards the Market Square. Greez towards the light-side border. Cal walks off for some solidarity reflection which takes him through the market square on the moon’s scorching light side letting the heat build up his own hot temper. The more he walked the more his pain turns to frustration. Cal’s upset because he had been mistaken about his crew this entire time. He sent BD-1 with Greez. Cal admits he’s frustrated and scared. He finds a repair shop and fixes his rebreather bringing him peace. He finds a hotel and rents a room. Woww. In his hotel he meditates he hears Jaro Tapal’s teachings: Do not make hasty decisions based only on your emotions.

•When he wakes up he feels he’s not alone and being watched. Cere is there and asks him if he’s going to be mad at him or can they talk. Says he isn’t mad at her but then admits he is a little to which Cere says they need to square everything because Greez, Merrin, and BD-1 look to them to lead and breaking down like that jeopardizes their whole mission. Cal then asks what is their mission. She responds with she may as well tell him because he won’t agree with it. Says their mission is to guarantee that the wisdom of the Jedi Order lives on. To establish a legacy. Cal knows she’s right. Cere tells him the life they lead is no kind of real life. Says she worried about him that in all is determination to topple the Empire he’s fail the see the good they’ve done. Tells him that single-minded obsessions can lead to the dark side. Says she knows he’s scared and that she is too. Cal recalls doing something piece by piece as Jaro Tapal taught him. Cere and Cal patch things up with Cal saying he won’t end up like Trilla then asking her if she knows that. Prods her twice in which she says sure twice but didn’t sound too sure.

•Merrin hasn’t seen any crew members since they all left. Got a room at the sulfur baths and sulks wanting Fret. Then Fret arrives. Let’s Fret do the hard work seeing as she showed up and that Merrin didn’t know what to say. Fret explains and Merrin understands even though it hurts. Merrin asks if Fret loved Irei, she says yes. Merrin then asks if Fret still loves Irei, she hesitates then says yes. Fret mentions what Cal and Merrin have and how they are but Merrin dismisses it not realizing!! Merrin needs to figure out what to do when it comes to the crew as does Fret with Irei. Both decide to remain friends.

•Cere walks back to the Stinger Mantis worried of who will be back. She knew Cal would be back but not so sure about Merrin and Greez. Irei shows up alone. Merrin and Fret together although 5min late. Greez hasn’t arrived. They go through all the pre-flight checks and prepare to leave when Greez comes yelling. Ohh that part was sad to read even if it was a good assumption he’d be back.

•They all plan what to do. They all agree giving Irei to Qeris Lars is a no. Giving the schematics is a no. They don’t trust him. Agree to give him a fake because being on the run from the Empire and him would be difficult. Arrive on Hosnian Prime with Greez landing on the landing pad lowering the ramp practically into Qeris Lars’ living room. They noticed a lot of Haxion Brood ships in Orbit. Merrin makes Cal promise to never ask her to leave him alone to fight again. He explains why he did it while expertly dodging the promise which she knows but says it’ll have to do for now. Cere and Greez watch from cameras Irei installed into everyone’s clothes and the top of BD-1’s head. As soon as Cal, Merrin, Fret, and Irei arrive Qeris Lars yells “she lives” to which Cere says Lars knew Irea was alive to Greez who agrees. Irei gives him a fake disk. Fret asks that he guarantee hers and Irei’s safety of course he says that wasn’t part of the deal and says Fret and Irei will stay with him and work for him. I love how Cere and Greez are watching from the Mantis holotable eating a snack like it’s a movie. 😂 Cal says that Fret and Irei leave with the Stinger Mantis.

•Qeris shoots Fret in the chest. Haxion Brood members arrive. Some look like the ones there when they first came to Hosnian Prime. Cal and Merrin fight against them. Until is Merrin dealing with Haxion Brood Members and Cal dealing with Qeris Lars. Qeris Lars “pivoted” and is going to work with the Empire to make the Shroud. The Shroud requires one crucial ore to make and Qeris owns every mine and the Empire will work with him. Qeris shoots shot after shot at Cal. Cal deflects them all. One deflection catches Qeris in the arm. Cal calls over the comms to Greez and Cere making sure they’re getting it. They’re recording everything with plans to show the galaxy especially if he’s gone full Imperial. Niceee. Greez and Cere are taking out the reinforcement ships.

•Fifth Brother arrives uninvited by anyone even Qeris but apparently tracked Irei. Fifth Brother kills Qeris. He freezes Merrin in place. Cal and Fifth Brother fight but Cal can’t match the brute strength of the Fifth Brother. Fifth Brother freezes Cal in place. Shocker Merrin disappears and appears in front of Cal as Fifth Brother prepares to deal the death blow. More shocking, Merrin stopped it!!! But not for long. Fifth Brother had landed a blow on Cal’s arm before he froze him and they both fall down on the floor with Irei and Fret. Ok combined with this book and the Obi-Wan Kenobi Series, Fifth Brother is becoming a cooler Inquisitor. Cal force shoved him back then plans use the fake Shroud to blow everything up. Unsurprisingly he tries to send Merrin away. She kisses both his hands and says they’re in it together. Not his hands!! I wanted her to kiss his face not his damn hands!!!! Cal runs to Irei and the fake Shroud while Merrin reanimates Qeris’ body. I swear it’s weird to read and picture everytime she does that, even though I’ve seen it done on the Clone Wars episode so many times. Cal has Irei turn the small bomb into a big bomb as him and Merrin fight Fifth Brother to buy her time. In the fight Fifth Brother grazes Cal across the nose which Cal knows will scar. Cal gets the shroud bomb from Irei force throws it at Fifth Brother who attempted to deflect it with his lightsaber only for it to explode.l causing the room to crumble. This books is crazy amazing!!!

•Cal wakes up. No Fifth Brother but Merrin is unconscious as is Fret still. Moments later Cere and Greez come charging in. Fret wakes up saying someone shut Greez up. 😂 niceee. Fret goes to Merrin kissing her forehead ordering her to wake up. Bit corny but yeah she wakes up after Fret says that’s an order. Cal rushes to the floor hugging her. 😍 maybe the game will make them a couple 😂.

•Back on the Stinger Mantis Frets attempts to take care of Merrin while Irei fixed Fret’s leather jacket. Poor Merrin. She asks when they’re leaving. Fret says Greez is dropping them off back on the moon Zimara. Irei tracker has been taken care of. The Empire thinks everyone died in the explosion. Irei and Fret offer Merrin to come with them into hiding. Fret says she and Irei will always love each other but not like that. When Merrin asks why Fret says she met this girl. Merrin says she’s staying. Cere, Cal, and Greez talk as Merrin helps Irei and Fret leave. Cere says that their purpose is getting up everyday and making the choice to survive. Greez makes a joke about his arm. Cal worries for the day Greez has had enough, the day Cere realized she wanted to put down roots for the Jedi than tear down the Empire, and the day Merrin realized her destiny waited out in the wild reaches of space and not on the Stinger Mantis. Man this book is will take you through a lot of moods. Irei and Fret tell them they’ll be there if they need help. Greez says they better contact them if they need to. Irei says in building the fake Shroud she realized it’s impossible to make the Shroud at all. The technology isn’t there yet. I’d be a little mad lol like waitttttt whaaaa we just did all that but they rescued Irei so ya. Merrin grabs Cal’s hand as Irei and Fret leave saying they’ll never see them again. Both know the crew will be ok. That’s all they could ever do for now.

I give this book a 9.5 out 10!!

Everything was amazing. I literally felt the moods of the characters in this book. The only complaint I have is we could’ve gotten more of Fifth Brother like his name!! A flashback not just one small snippet in a chapter!!! Other than that loved it!!!! I feel it set up the game from what we see in the game trailer.

I’m torn between who my stand out character is!!

Where is Greez From JFO? Is he safe? Is he Alright?

Is Merrin doing ok too? Neither of them appear to be present in Cal's life anymore