Jedi Padawan Ram Jomaram's new friends are on their way -- even if he doesn't know it yet.
In Daniel José Older's Star Wars: Race to Crashpoint Tower, the latest middle-grade book in The High Republic publishing initiative, Ram finds the planet Valo under siege by the Nihil, a roving band of marauders who have caused much trouble for the Jedi. Fortunately, he'll get a little help from fellow Padawan Lula, as she finds herself on a collision course with Ram, Valo and the Nihil themselves.
"Lula is determined to be the greatest Jedi ever, even though that's not exactly the most Jedi approach to being a Jedi -- she's working on that part," Older explained to CBR. "She's also a loyal friend, and along with a cohort of other Padawans and her friend Zeen, she's been traveling the galaxy, helping fight the Nihil."
A CBR-exclusive excerpt from Star Wars: The High Republic: Race to Crashpoint Tower, which appears in full below, sees Lula step out of the pages of IDW's The High Republic Adventures series and into the novel. Here, she finds herself experiencing some decidedly un-Jedi-like feelings when a young Knight contacts her Master Kantam Sy and asks for their help. As Lula soon discovers, though, this mission's stakes are incredibly high:
Jedi Master Kantam Sy paced back and forth on the deck of the Star Hopper as PZ1-3 navigated them closer and closer to Trymant IV. Sy was tall and slender, with sharp cheek-bones and an impressive topknot. They seemed older than their actual age, in part because they often walked startlingly slow as a form of meditation. But Lula had seen Master Sy in action, and that gentle easygoing demeanor was nowhere to be seen when lives were on the line.
Lula and Zeen slid into the seats at their stations. It was strange to be the only two young people on the Hopper. The bridge was normally alive with chattering and laughter, Farzala cracking jokes and Qort explaining something complicated while the others gossiped or traded tips. But everyone else was off fighting an army of carnivorous plant creatures called the Drengir, and only Zeen and Lula were left.
Stars shimmered in the darkness outside the transparent dome covering the whole top level of the Hopper. Lula and her friends would sometimes take their sleeping bags up and lie on their backs late at night, watching the galaxy spin past.
"Listen up, listen up," Master Sy said, already in action mode. "We'll be landing in a moment. The last time we were here, things were very different, of course. We had some confrontations --"
"Almost died a whole bunch," Lula added helpfully.
"And made a new friend!" Sy said, flashing a winning smile at Zeen. "Now we're here for a very specific reason, and that's to follow up on a lead from Jedi Vernestra Rwoh. I'll let her fill you in."
The small blue image of a girl not much older than Lula flickered up from the holo. This was Vernestra Rwoh? She had a slender, kind face and long straight hair. She wore the traditional temple robes, both simple and ornate, and stood with her back very straight. But how could she be so young? A prickly fl ash of emotion rose within Lula, and she tried to push it away. Envy. A very un-Jedi-like feeling indeed. She crinkled her nose with the strain of getting her emotions under control.
Ever since she could remember, Lula Talisola had been determined to be the greatest Jedi of all time. She knew this ambition wasn't very Jedi-like, either, but she figured she had time to get that part under control amid all her other training. And anyway, if she trained hard enough and excelled at every possible skill, she wouldn't have to worry about becoming the best; she just would be the best!
So she studied and trained and meditated, at least twice as much as all the other Padawans she knew. And she stayed at the top of her clan. She figured she was on track, for the most part. Meeting Zeen, seeing what she could do with the Force, even without training -- that had thrown Lula at first, sure. But Zeen had quickly become one of her best friends, and Lula found she couldn't be bothered to wonder how amazing a Jedi Zeen would've been if she had been raised in the Jedi Order instead of suppressing her Force sensitivity -- not when they were having so much fun together.
But Vernestra had already become a full Knight and she was so young! Who was this girl?
A sharp nudge from Zeen ripped Lula from her spiral of overthinking.
"Ow! What?" she whispered.
"You're doing it again," Zeen hissed back.
"Doing what?"
"Thinking too hard about something and not paying attention to what's going on around you!"
Lula was extra annoyed because her friend was right. "How do you know?"
"You're grinding your teeth."
"And so," Vernestra was explaining, "I looked deeper into the files from the Trymant IV disaster and discovered the story of your cohort and Zeen Mrala." She nodded at Zeen, who acknowledged her with a shy wave. "The Nihil raiders you came into contact with might have something to do with the ones I faced on Wevo. From what I understand, their attack on Trymant IV didn't follow their usual raid patterns."
An awkward moment passed; the young Jedi looked directly at Zeen. She was waiting for Zeen to say something, Lula realized. But Zeen's head tendrils pointed directly down, tensed, and her brow was furrowed. The whole mess with Krix and everything that had happened since was too much to get into, especially with a strange Jedi on a flickering hologram.
"Is it, ah, true," Vernestra said, her voice suddenly gentle and uncertain, "that one of your closest friends ran off with the masked raiders?"
Zeen nodded once, her whole face a frown.
"We believe that the elder the Nihil rescued from the Emergence on Trymant IV --"
"Elder Tromak," Zeen said.
"Yes." Vernestra looked solemn. "We think he may have had some ancient information that the Nihil were after. . . . Master Yoda went to investigate -- we think --"
"Still no word from him?" Lula asked, trying not to sound too worried. Lula thought Master Yoda was the greatest Jedi the galaxy had known, and he'd been with her and the other Padawans for most of their adventures on the Star Hopper. Nothing had felt the same without him around, but she always figured he'd come back.
"Nothing," Vernestra said. "But in the meantime we must keep investigating." She turned to Master Sy and nodded respectfully. "We were hoping you and your Padawans could investigate for us, Master Sy. And with Zeen's help, maybe you could get some answers from the elders who weren't taken by the Nihil."
"We'll do our best," Master Sy said. "Right, Zeen?"
"Yes, Master Sy."
"I'm sure you already know," Vernestra said, "that these raiders are ruthless, unpredictable, and extremely dangerous. We don't think any are still in the Trymant system, but that doesn't mean they won't come back."
"We do know," Master Sy said, with perhaps an edge of pride in their voice. "My Padawans have already faced them down several times."
"Entering Trymant system," PZ1-3 announced from the pilot seat.
Vernestra nodded at Sy, then turned to Lula and Zeen. "May the Force be with you all." And she was gone.
"Oh, dear," PZ1-3 said, and everyone looked over to him. The droid swiveled in his seat and fixed his glowing eyes on Zeen. "We heard reports that the disaster had caused severe damage to the ecology of the planet, but we had no idea of the extent of that disruption."
"What?" Zeen cried, running to the front viewport. She gasped, one hand on PZ1-3's shoulder.
Lula was right behind her. Trymant IV had been a lush forest planet, its cities perched amid towering trees and gigantic lakes; whole networks of rivers had stretched across the surface, shimmering blue veins that you could see from kilometers above.
Now it looked like nothing more than a dusty red desert.
Regarding his decision to bring Lula out of the comics and into his novel, Older said, "The crossover piece is one of the most fun parts of the whole High Republic initiative. It's great because I get to write my own characters both in comics and prose, but also bring in some favorites from other people's work, like Vernestra in Crashpoint, and we'll see Leox and Geode and Affie from Into The Dark pop up in The High Republic Adventures in July."
"As far as favorites, I'd say Lula has been the most interesting to explore so far, as she has such a complex interior life and relationship to the Force and the Order, and I know there are lots of twists and turns up ahead for her," he teased.
"With a prose novel, there is a lot more time to go deeper into a character's mind and explore their inner thoughts and histories," he added. "You can do that in comics, of course, but space is much more limited and the visuals are really the primary narrative engine. With a novel, we are really seeing the world through their eyes in so many ways, and each moment of the story reflects that."
"This format has also allowed me to slow down and really spend some time with some moments that probably would've gone by much faster in a twenty page comics issue," he continued. "There are several conversations about the nuances and challenges of using the Force and being part of the Jedi Order that are some of my favorite parts of the book. They all happen amidst space battles and exciting chases, of course, because that's the Star Wars way!"
"It's so much fun writing stories for and about young people," he shared. "I've been a Star Wars fan since I was three, so it makes it very easy to check in with younger me -- in this case, eleven-year-old me, and see what kind of adventures I would've wanted to go on if I was reading a High Republic book back then. This is a unique time in the galaxy, and young people in particular experience it in very real, visceral, sometimes scary ways, so I wanted to write a book that spoke to that changing world and all the fear and excitement that would entail."
According to the official synopsis for Star Wars The High Republic: Race to Crashpoint Tower,
Long before the Clone Wars, the Empire, or the First Order, the Jedi lit the way for the galaxy in a golden age known as the High Republic!
The Republic Fair is coming! Visitors from all over the galaxy are traveling to the planet Valo for a massive, awe-inspiring festival celebrating the Republic. While his fellow Valons prepare for the fair, Jedi Padawan Ram Jomaram is hiding out in his favorite place: a dingy garage filled with mechanical parts and tools. But when a security alarm goes off on the nearby hilltop nicknamed Crashpoint Peak, he ventures out with his trusty droid V- 18 to investigate. There he discovers that someone has knocked out Valo’s communications tower -- a frightening sign that Valo, and the Republic Fair, are in danger. Sure enough, as Ram races to warn the Jedi, the dreaded Nihil unleash a surprise attack! It's up to Ram to face down the enemy at Crashpoint Tower and send a call for help to the Republic. Luckily, he's about to get some assistance from unexpected new friends….
Star Wars The High Republic: Race to Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older goes on sale from Disney Books on June 29.