Dark Horse invasion storyline Prior to the publication of Del Rey ' s , Bantam Spectra and Dark Horse Comics had been planning their own alien invasion storyline . History . There are rumors that Brian Daley and James Luceno developed a plot for an extra - galactic invasion storyline prior to Daley ' s death in 1996 ( and prior to Luceno ' s involvement in " Star Wars " ) . Lucy Wilson first came up with the idea of an extended story - arc spanning more than just a trilogy worth of books in 1997 . In March 1998 a Bantam story conference was held at Skywalker Ranch , with a follow - up that May ( with Luceno attending both ) . However , Shelly Shapiro claims no knowledge of any of those events , and Sue Rostoni has stated that none of these events ever took place . However , " The Essential Reader ' s Companion " , published in 2012 , does state that a " working outline " by LucasBooks , apparently separate from the Dark Horse storyline , existed in 1998 . As of then , the LucasBooks invasion plot would involve Luke Skywalker sending Jacen Solo , Jaina Solo , and Anakin Solo on an " epic quest " , during which they would encounter a female infiltrator from an extragalactic species attempting to invade the galaxy . These aliens would be " perhaps the source of the original Sith " who would use the dark side " more out of necessity and for survival than with evil intent . " They would have been able to observe the Star Wars galaxy as a beacon of light in the Force for a thousand generations , fearing it as the source of a " light - bringer " who was prophesied to destroy their own civilization . The Great Jedi Purge would have dimmed the galaxy , and they would have decided to invade when the New Jedi Order began to restore its brightness . During the invasion , the female infiltrator would nearly corrupt Anakin to the dark side , but would be redeemed after falling in love with him . However , Jacen and Jaina would still attack Anakin due to " a fit of intense sibling rivalry " , resulting in Jacen ' s death . This version of the outline was scrutinized by George Lucas himself , who rejected the concept of the invaders being dark siders due to his belief that no dark side society could be established , as they would inevitably turn on each other ( a concept he would later use in his Sith backstory for " " ) . On September 1 , 1998 , Bantam published " Vision of the Future " , in which it was revealed that Thrawn had encountered an unimaginable threat to the galaxy within the Unknown Regions . Shortly afterwards , on November 11 , Dark Horse began to publish " " . The authors , Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley , intended it to be a prologue into Dark Horse ' s planned invasion storyline . The comics story would be told in a series of smaller arcs similar to the later Clone Wars comics . Shortly after , Del Rey took over from Bantam as the Star Wars book publishers , and Lucasfilm canceled the " " comic , which was expected to continue the run - up to their invasion . Del Rey and Dark Horse representatives met to discuss their respective invasion ideas , and the majority of the storyline was given to Del Rey , who took it in directions that Dark Horse did not intend . Stradley stated that following the decision , the team at Dark Horse Comics was " pretty soured " about releasing material set during the New Jedi Order era . A comic prologue to the New Jedi Order entitled " The Hatred Vector " was never produced . The tie - in and " Equals & Opposites " , however , were subsequently published by Dark Horse . Evolution . In 2009 , six years after the conclusion of Del Rey ' s New Jedi Order series , it was revealed at the New York Comic Conference that Dark Horse Comics would be releasing " " , a comic series set contemporaneously with series . In subsequent interviews following the initial press release , Stradley elaborated on the previous decisions made by Del Rey and Dark Horse Comics . Stradley stated that the idea of a comic series set during the events of " The New Jedi Order " had remained a point of discussion , among other concepts , since 2002 . Eventually , the decision was made that the Rise of the Empire era and the Rebellion era were constricting in terms of continuity and that releasing a comic series in the New Jedi Order era would allow the Dark Horse Comics team to focus on a grand galactic event that was not subject to frequent continuity changes and in which there was still a significant amount of " uncharted territory " . Plot points . The storyline shared some elements with what eventually became the " New Jedi Order : " However , other elements were different :