Shadow of the Sith

Shadow of the Sith is a canon adult novel by Adam Christopher. It was published by Del Rey on June 28, 2022 and focuses on Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, and the growing threat of the Sith Eternal.
An unabridged audiobook of the book was released on the same day.
==Publisher's summary==
Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian return in this essential novel set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
The Empire is dead. Nearly two decades on from the Battle of Endor, the tattered remnants of Palpatine's forces have fled to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. But for the heroes of the New Republic, danger and loss are ever-present companions, even in this newly forged era of peace.
Jedi Master Luke Skywalker is haunted by visions of the dark side, foretelling an ominous secret growing somewhere in the depths of space, on a dead world called Exegol. The disturbance in the Force is undeniable . . . and Luke's worst fears are confirmed when his old friend, Lando Calrissian, comes to him with reports of a new Sith menace.
After his daughter was stolen from his arms, Lando searched the stars for any trace of his lost child. But every new rumor only led to dead ends and fading hopes—until he crossed paths with Ochi of Bestoon, a Sith assassin tasked with kidnapping a young girl.
Ochi's true motives remain shrouded to Luke and Lando. For on a junkyard moon, a mysterious envoy of the Sith Eternal has bequeathed a sacred blade to the assassin, promising that it will give him answers to the questions that have haunted him since the Empire fell. In exchange, he must complete a final mission: return to Exegol with the key to the Sith's glorious rebirth—the granddaughter of Darth Sidious himself, Rey.
As Ochi hunts Rey and her parents to the edge of the galaxy, Luke and Lando race into the mystery of the Sith's lingering shadow and aid a young family running for their lives.
==Opening crawl==
==Plot summary==
===Fugitives in Wild Space===
Dathan, his wife Miramir, and their six-year old daughter Rey flee into Wild Space on a freighter they had stolen from Unkar Plutt's scrapyard. Though Miramir has managed to repair the ship's stabilizers, she estimates that the ship's hyperdrive motivator will only last two more jumps and that they need to find a new ship. Their freighter is soon pursued by three unidentified starships. Dathan and Miramir realize that the ships belong to hunters hired by the Sith.
Since the hyperdrive motivator is not working, Dathan does evasive maneuvers while Miramir prepares the hyperdrive. Before the pursuing starships can close in on them, three New Republic X-wing starfighters arrive on the scene and destroy the pursuing starships. The New Republic starfighter pilots direct the family to a New Republic gunship for inspection. Dathan and Miramir are questioned by Lieutenant Zaycker Asheron and Flight Sergeant Dina Dipurl of Halo Squadron, who are on a secret mission.
The couple plead for help, with Miramir telling them that they were being hunted by the Sith, showing Dathan's hex charm. Since Dathan and Miramir live outside the boundaries of the New Republic, Asheron is unwilling to help them and suggests that they travel closer to the Core Worlds. Taking pity on the family, Dipur offers to make some repairs to their starship and puts them in touch with a contact who worked with her father in the days of the Rebel Alliance. She also agrees to file a report on the Sith and their amulet.
===A new shadow===
While meditating in the dark side aboard a core ship, Kiza encounters a dark voice emanating from an ancient mask made from meteoric ore who repeats the words "soon." After awakening, Kiza contacts her Sith Eternal master via hologram.
Meanwhile at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Temple on Ossus, Skywalker is meditating when he is disturbed by his 16 year old nephew Ben Solo, who informs him that a visitor Lor San Tekka has arrived. By that time, the Jedi Order has grown to include the Twi'lek woman Enyo and several younglings. In private, Skywalker seeks Lor's help in interpreting several Force visions he has been experiencing recently. While meditating, Skywalker experiences visions of an enigmatic dark world that is strong in the dark side. Seeking Skywalker's help, Lor informs the Jedi Master about an archaeological dig on the planet Yoturba.
Elsewhere, the Sith hunter Ochi searches a junkyard moon in the Inner Rim for a Sith wayfinder to reach Exegol, believing that the dark side world will be able to heal his body and restore his eyes. Growing frustrated with his failure to find a route to Exegol, Ochi mistreats his data storage and retrieval droid D-O, whom had formerly belonged to a scholar that Ochi had murdered on Primus Cabru.
Returning to his starship Bestoon Legacy, Ochi is accosted by Kiza and several Sith Eternal cultists. Kiza offers to show him the way to Exegol once he has "earned" it. Ochi is skeptical and hostile to the intruders, prompting Kiza to raise her lightsaber at him. At that moment, Ochi's cybernetic eyes switch off and he experiences a spiritual encounter with Emperor Palpatine, who orders him to capture the "girl" in return for being shown the way to Exegol. Following the spiritual encounter, Kiza hands Ochi a blade inscribed in Ur-Kittât, the ancient language of the Sith. Ochi resolves to capture the mysterious girl in order to reach Exegol and gain his "reward."
Meanwhile, Landonis Balthazar Calrissian has spent the past six years looking for his missing two-year old daughter Kadara Calrissian. He visits a cantina called Sennifer's Beam and Balance at Boxer Point Station in the Janx system. There, he beats a Dressellian and a Muqularan in a game of sabacc. As a consolation, he offers to get them Red dwarf drinks. While waiting for the drinks, Calrissian eavesdrops on a conversation between Ochi of Bestoon and two mercenaries named Bosvarga and Cerensco.
In return for past favors, Ochi enlists their help in an expedition, telling them that a group of bounty hunters that he had hired earlier to kidnap a girl and her family were eliminated by the New Republic's Halo Squadron. Calrissian learns that Ochi is serving the Sith, who have "reactivated" him. Before Calrissian can learn more, he is accosted by the Muqularan gambler, who accuses him of "skipping out on them." Cerensco realizes that Calrissian is eavesdropping on their conversation and assaults him, triggering a bar fight that Ochi and his companions use as a cover to escape. After the bar owner Sennifer's Lasat bouncers restore order, Calrissian resolves to investigate Ochi, hoping that he might provide the key to finding his lost daughter.
===Dathan's escape===
In a flashback scene, the boy who would become Dathan takes steps to escape from the Sith Citadel on Exegol. As a failed Strand-Cast created from the genetic template of Darth Sidious, Dathan is shunned by the Emperor's Sith Eternal acolytes, who refuse to give him a name and instead call him the "Abomination." However, his "father," the Emperor, has preserved Dathan's life for reasons unknown to him.
Dathan was raised by the administrator Dathan, a Symeong slave who enjoys a limited degree of autonomy. Dathan showed him how to find food and survive on the barren world of Exegol. He also educated the boy by hooking him up to teaching machines. Taking pity on the boy, Dathan arranges for him to be smuggled offworld on a visiting starship carrying Darth Vader and Ochi. Before leaving, Dathan gifts the boy with a hex charm that renders him invisible during the journey. Vader and Ochi's ship travels to Koke Frost. After arriving, the boy finds work with a sun-scooper's engineering team. In honor of his Symeong friend, the boy adopts the name "Dathan."
===Evil stirring===
While resting aboard his luxury space yacht Lady Luck, Calrissian is contacted by an old friend in the New Republic military named Shriv Suurgav. Suurgav has received Sergeant Dipurl's report from Halo Squadron rescuing a family traveling on a battered starship in Wild Space. Dipurl's report also contains an attachment with an image of a Sith amulet. Dipurl takes an interest in the family after learning that they had a young girl about the same age as his missing daughter. Dipurl's report also contains an addendum stating that she had sent the family to a safe harbor and that Dipurl had contacted a local contact for assistance on the family's behalf. Departing Boxer Point Station, Calrissian decides to seek help from an "old friend."
On Yoturba, the archaeologist and academic Beaumont Kin leads an archaeological dig sponsored by the Lerct Historical Institute. Though Kin is a junior research assistant, his research on Maleinatori table inscriptions and their relationship to the constellations over Billaron and contemporary star charts had won the favor of Professor Re-Bec Arclarka. Kin is visited by Lor-San Tekka and Master Skywalker, who are interested in investigating the presence of a former Jedi temple at the Yoturba dig site. The archaeological team uncovers an ancient Sith holocron, which alarms Professor Arclarka who believes that the Sith and occult have no place at the Lercht Institute due to their malevolent connotations.
The Lercht archaeological team, Lor, and Skywalker are disturbed by the screams of the archaeologist Mico Haswell, who has been possessed by a dark side entity inhabiting the broken shard of a kyber crystal he had uncovered within a wrecked starship. The possessed Haswell goes on a rampage, attacking a fellow archaeologist named Kirs, damaging furniture and disintegrating a dig droid. Master Skywalker uses his Force powers to wrap Haswell in the light side of the Force and suspend him in mid-air. In the process, Skywalker experiences Mico's shared vision of Exegol and the Sith Citadel.
After a medic has sedated Haswell, the archaeologist relates his vision of Exegol to Skywalker, who also finds the crystal shard embedded in the man's hand. Luke recognizes that the crystal has been "bled," corrupting it with the dark side. After visiting the site that Haswell had been excavating, Skywalker finds more dark side crystals within the wrecked starship chamber. He believes that they were part of some ancient Sith ritual. Seeking to investigate the source of this impending darkness, Skywalker departs for Tython and tasks Lor San Tekka with leading the dig around the wrecked Sith starship.
While traveling aboard Bestoon's Legacy, Ochi experiences a flashback of attempting to hunt Jedi Padawan Depa Billaba on the Expansion Region world of Malathon IX during the Clone Wars. Ochi pulled out his beskar blade but he is stopped by Jedi Master Mace Windu, who defends his apprentice. Back in the present, Bosvarga and Cerensco suggests several associates whom Ochi can call upon including Pysarian, Krastan, the Sphox and her crew, Repreever, Stiper, and Plo Mandrill. Ochi rules out calling for reinforcements and instead suggests posting a bounty on his quarry. D-O informs his master that he has received an encrypted channel code.
Meanwhile, Master Skywalker travels to the ancient Jedi world of Tython with the dark side holocron and crystals that he obtained on Yoturba. Traveling to the site of the Force-henge (which was formerly a Jedi Temple), he meditates on the site's seeing stone. Skywalker finds himself instantly transported to the hidden Sith world of Exegol. While exploring the bleak landscape, he is attacked by nine wraiths. Skywalker is unable to hurt the spirits with his green lightsaber. The wraiths are driven away by the Force ghost of his father Anakin Skywalker, who uses his Force powers to transport Skywalker back to Tython. Anakin warns his son about a disturbance in the Force, which he attributes to an old shadow from an ancient time. Anakin counsels Luke to let the Force guide and flow through him.
Meanwhile, Kiza meditates aboard a core ship meditation chamber in the presence of the mask of Viceroy Exim Panshard, an ancient Sith Lord. Her chamber is surrounded by several reprogrammed battle droids from different eras in galactic history. To Kiza's surprise, the mask speaks to her and tells her to listen to the "discord of the Force." Exim's spirit commands her to wear the mask and to pick up a lightsaber. Under Exim's control, Kiza departs on her modified TIE Defender starfighter.
===Friends reunited===
Shortly later, Lando Calrissian arrives on Tython aboard his pleasure yacht Lady Luck. Skywalker warns him to leave because he is danger. Calrissian tells Skywalker that Lor San Tekka sent him and that he fears that the Sith have returned. Aboard Lady Luck, Calrissian tells Skywalker about the fugitive family, hex charm, and the Sith assassin Ochi. Lando tells Skywalker that Ochi was tasked with kidnapping the family by the Sith. Using his knowledge of the Sith language, Skywalker translates the Sith proverb on the amulet as "the tides of power ebb and flow as the wheel of fate turns."
Skywalker also confides in Calrissian about his visions of Exegol. He explains that the only way to travel to Exegol is with a Sith wayfinder and that only two were made. Lando tells Skywalker that Ochi was obsessed about finding the way to Exegol and speculates that the family might own or have knowledge of one of these wayfinders. Lando convinces Luke to help find the family, stop Ochi from capturing them, and in the process find the wayfinder. The two depart on the Lady Luck to find Calrissian's New Republic contact Shriv, who is the only one who knows the family's whereabouts.
Lando and Luke travel to the New Republic staging post in the Adelphi system, seeking to speak with Flight Sergeant Dina Dipurl. However, Commander Xarah Blacwood and her adjutant are uncooperative and unwilling to listen to their concerns about the Sith. Lando turns to his informal contact Shriv, who tells them to meet in Hangar Seven. Shriv reveals that Sergeant Dipurl and Lieutenant Asheron were killed in a skirmish with pirates in Wild Space.
Shriv also provides Calrissian and Skywalker with the coordinates that Dipurl supplied to the family: the Nightside mining operation in the rings of the Therezar system. Calrissian believes that Dipurl's contact Zargo Anaximander, the administrator of Nightside, is trustworthy since he aided the Rebel Alliance. Shriv believes that Nightside contains repair facilities that would allow the family to get a new ship.
===No safe haven===
Following the hyperspace coordinates provided by the later Sergeant Dipurl, Miramir and Dathan travel on their battered old freigher to the Nightside space station, which orbits the mining world of Therezar. Using the clearance code provided by Dipurl, the couple are able to dock their ship at dock 817-4174 in the station's upper level. When contacted by Nightside Flight Control, Dathan and Miramir seek an audience with Zargo Anaximander, the station's administrator and "Regent-Captain." The couple and their daughter Rey are detained in a holding cell where they are provided with a high-density ration bar.
Shortly later, Anaximander arrives and apologizes for their frosty reception, hosting the family in his opulent living quarters. After exchanging pleasantries, Dathan and Miramir seek Anaximander's help in providing their family with new identities and a new spaceworthy starship. Anaximander is reluctant to help since his guests are poor and have nothing to offer. Under the pretext of adjourning their "negotiations," Anaximander allows the family to stay in their guest quarters. After realizing their door is locked, Dathan and Miramir soon discover that they are prisoners in a "gilded cage."
Anaximander travels on a cable train to Nightside's Station Seven, which hosts a high-power auxiliary communications center. During the train journey, he meets with his three security droids, who present biometric data showing that the family has a 90% match to the bounty submitted by Ochi. The bio scan identifies Miramir as a 27 year old human woman; Rey as a six year old child who is the offspring of Dathan and Miramir; and Dathan as a 33-year old hybrid Strand-Cast. The droids have also searched the family's ship including their meagre possessions and rations. Realizing that the family are fugitives, Anaximander disintegrates the three droids with his blaster in order to maintain the secrecy of the information.
At Station Seven, Anaximander contacts Ochi by hologram. After Ochi confirms the identity of the fugitives through the bioscran readings, the Sith assassin informs Anaximander that he will dispatch his associates to collect the fugitives. Ochi tells Anaximander to prepare the "captives" for transfer. Believing that this is an opportunity to negotiate the sale of the family to Ochi's underlings, Anaximander orders the protocol droid D-85 to move the family to his pleasure yacht Goldstone for "negotiations " and transfer. D-85 ushers the family into the Goldstone, claiming that Anaximander has provided them with fresh identities, transportation, and transit to a secure site. While suspecting something amiss, Dathan and Miramir comply with the droid's instructions.
===Raid on Nightside===
Skywalker travels with Calrissian and R2-D2 to Nightside space station. Using the clearance code that Anaximander had given Calrissian years earlier, they are able to land their ship in the VIP hangar. They track down the family's ship but find it empty. Through the Force, Skywalker senses that the family is aboard Anaximander's personal yacht Goldstone. R2-D2 taps into the station's surveillance systems and discovers Dathan and Miramir are planning to escape with their daughter Rey. Lando deduces that his "old friend" Anaximander has been holding the family captive against their will.
Before Luke and Lando can reach the family, the space station is raided by the Droid Crush Pirates of Bestoon, Ochi's droid associates. In addition, Skywalker senses a disturbance in the Force and realizes that the raiders are the same hunters who have been pursuing the family. While Luke heads out to deal with the new threat, he tasks Lando and R2-D2 with helping the family escape. On the way to Anaximander's private hangar, Lando uses his blaster to shoot the leader of the Droid Crush Pirates.
Reaching the hangar, R2-D2 uses his circular saw to free the Goldstone from its landing restraints while Lando speaks to Dathan and Miramir, reassuring them that he is a friend. He tells them to fly the ship into the rings of Therezar and hide until he and Luke can reach them. Before leaving, he obtains their transponder indent and tells them to set their receiver to the coordinates 7-7-0.
Meanwhile, Skywalker uses his Force powers to track the Sith presence to a floating cable train station. Shortly later, the possessed Kiza lands her modified TIE Defender and engages Skywalker in a lightsaber duel while wielding Darth Noctyss's lightsaber. Under Panshard's control, Kiza demands that Skywalker hand her the shards of the bled Kyber crystal from Yoturba. Realizing that Kiza is possessed by a Sith spirit, Skywalker offers to help free her while warning that he will defend himself.
As Nightside's droid security forces gain the upper hand over the raiders, Kiza retreats in her TIE Defender. Shortly later, the cable train station is hit by enemy fire, causing it to descend into Therezar's atmosphere. While Luke struggles to hold on to a tether linked to a cable train, Lando contacts him via comlink. Lando ferries Luke to safety aboard the Lady Luck before the cable train crashes into the planet's atmosphere.
Dathan and Miramir take the Goldstone to the ice field around Therezar's system. Miramir asks Dathan if the Jedi Skywalker will help them. While the New Republic did not help them, Miramir reminds her husband that Dina Dipurl helped them indirectly by helping them acquire a new ship and people who could help them. While waiting in the coordinates provided by Lando, their ship is pursued by two starships. The couple decide to flee into hyperspace but not before Dathan convinces Miramir to transmit their coordinates to Lando.
Back at the Nightside station, a furious Anaximander confronts Ochi, chastising him for apparently allowing his Droid Crush Pirates to attack Nightside. While Ochi is furious that the pirates attacked Nightside against his orders, he instead blames Anaximander for letting the fugitive family escape in his own ship. When Anaximander demands payment, Ochi threatens to kill the regent-captain. Anaximander attempts to "renegotiate" their agreement by revealing that he has a tracking device aboard his stolen yacht. Ochi instead kills Anaximander with his Sith dagger, which drains the blood out of the fallen regent-captain.
After retrieving Anaximander's data card, Ochi returns to the Bestoon Legacy where he reunites with D-O, Bosvarga, Cerensco, and their associates Krastan and Stiper. They are joined by the droid captain of the Droid Crush Pirates, whom Ochi castigates for attacking Nightside against his orders. The droid says he regrets not killing Ochi during an earlier encounter in Zee-Nine City Seven and attempts to kill Ochi. However, Ochi deflects the droid's blaster bolts with his Sith dagger. He and his minions then eliminate the rogue droid.
Ochi then kills the Balosar Stiper with his Sith dagger as retribution for letting the droid aboard his ship. He then warns his other associates about the consequences of "crossing" him. Continuing his hunt for the fugitive family, Ochi departs Therezar aboard his ship. Later, he is contacted by a Sith Eternal cultist who expresses frustration with his unsatisfactory progress in capturing the family. Ochi convinces the cultist to give him another chance by sending organic soldiers instead of droids. The Sith Eternal cultist instructs Ochi to travel to Basta Core to meet an agent known as Steadfast who would provide him with reinforcements.
===Flight to Torrenoteer Minor===
Meanwhile, Lando and Luke follow the Goldstone transmissions aboard the Lady Luck. Luke also tells Lando about his encounter with the Sith acolyte Kiza on Nightside. He recalls that Kiza was channeling the power of a Sith through a Sith mask and wielding Darth Noctyss' lightsaber. Luke believes that the female acolyte was linked to a group of dark side enthusiasts known as the Acolytes of the Beyond, who collected Sith relics and artifacts.
Tracking the Goldstone coordinates, Lando and Luke find the stolen yacht being pursued by two starships in the edge of the Therezar system. Before the Goldstone jumps into hyperspace, R2-D2 deduces that the family is fleeing to the Torrenoteer system. Lando and Luke decide to follow the family there and take the Lady Luck into hyperspace.
Elsewhere, a Sith Eternal cultist chastises Kiza for not aiding the hunt for the fugitive family. Shortly later, Exim Panshard's spirit speaks to her through his mask and tells her that the Sith crystals will guide the way to Exegol. Under Exim's influence, she takes the Sith crystals to the droid forge where she melts them into smaller shards. She then fits the shards inside the chest compartments of her droids, animating them with the power of the dark side.
Following the trail of the Goldstone, Lando and Luke land Lady Luck on the desert world of Torrenoteer Minor, which is orbited by three moons. The two continue their search on two Stacker Polaris Stormwolf speeder bikes. While scouting the surrounding area, they discover that Ochi's associates Bosvarga, Cerensco, and Krastan have landed their starship and are also hunting for the fugitive family. When the bounty hunters split into two parties, Lando and Luke also decide to split up in order to track the hunters. Lando later stumbles upon two bounty hunters attempting to breach the Goldstone. He is quickly captured by the hunters.
While riding his speeder bike through a ravine system, Luke is ambushed by the two bounty hunters, who are also riding speeder bikes. During the ensuing skirmish, Skywalker uses his lightsaber to deflect the blaster bolts of one of the hunters, causing his speeder bike to crash in a ravine. Luke pursues the second speeder over a lake. As before, he uses his lightsaber to deflect the hunter's blaster bolts, causing the hunter and his speeder bike to fall in the lake. Skywalker attempts to free the Weequay hunter from his wrecked vehicle for questioning. However, the Weequay fights back and subsequently dies from being impaled by his speeder bike's steering vane. While examining the hunter's bike, he discovers a message indicating that the hunter's associates have found something "nice and juicy."
Using the coordinates transmitted by the hunter's associates, Luke discovers that the Gran hunter Krastan has captured Lando, who is being held in the prisoner clamp of a CAP-2 walker. Skywalker fights Krastan and his associates with his lightsaber. After taking out Krastan by using his lightsaber to deflect his blaster bolts back at him, Luke battles with the CAP-2 walker's pilot while Lando manages to break free of the prisoner clamp. Luke uses his lightsaber to slice the CAP-2's left leg, causing the machine to stumble. Luke then uses the Force to throw the machine to the ground. After taking out the pilot, Luke attends to Lando, who tells him that the hunters had followed him to the Goldstone but that the ship had fled before they could breach it.
Meanwhile, Miramir disables the Goldstone hyperwave transponder in an attempt to prevent the bounty hunters from tracking them down. While Rey rests on the flight deck, Miramir tells Dathan that he does not need to apologize for his past, explaining that he is not defined by his Sith legacy and genetic makeup. She reassures Dathan that he is doing a good job protecting them. Since they are running low on fuel, they decide to break open Anaximander's strongbox in order obtain his medallion, which wealthy individuals use to obtain goods and services.
Back on Torrenoteer Minor, Lando and Luke search the bounty hunters' two ships but are unable to find any information about who they are working for. While attempting to access one of the ship's navigation computers, Luke activates a self-destruct mechanism that destroys the ship's systems, preventing them from tracking down the family's ship Goldstone. After returning to Lady Luck, Lando expresses frustration about not being able to find his lost daughter. Luke reassures Lando by telling him that he knows an ally who can help them track down Ochi: a former Acolyte of the Beyond whom he saved from the dark side. Meanwhile, R2-D2 obtains the Goldstone drive signature and discovers that the fugitive family is traveling to the Aubreeyan Cluster.
===Reinforcements===
Ochi travels to the frigid scrub-covered world of Basta Core on Bestoon Legacy. During the descent, he mistreats his droid D-O. "Steadfast" turns out to be High Colonel Enric Pryde, a member of an hidden Imperial remnant in the Unknown Regions. Pryde has been seconded with a contingent of Corporate Sector Authority (CSA) troopers led by Viceprex Coromun. The two officers have received superior orders to aid Ochi's mission. After arriving, Ochi requests that they provide three platoons of CSA troops and a starship. Despite Coromun's disapproval, Pryde provides Ochi with the forces that he needs. Before departing, Pryde notices a CSA trooper planting a homing beacon beneath their starship; exposing the CSA's desire to keep a close watch on their "involuntary investment."
===A bold plan===
In a flashback scene, a 26-year old Dathan finds work as an engineer maintaining an agridroid on the forested world of Hyperkarn. He meets a 20-year old human woman named Miramir, who lives in a local village with her grandmother "Baba." The two become friends after Miramir repairs Dathan's agridroid. Developing feelings for Miramir, Dathan invites her out for lunch. However, Miramir declines his lunch date invitation and instead invites Dathan to have lunch with her and Baba.
In the present, Miramir manages to unlock the late Anaximander's safe and unlock his strongbox, which is full of medallions. Dathan tells Miramir that they have to hide Rey somewhere safe until they have found Lando and the Jedi. Since the two have resolved never to return to Hyperkarn, Dathan decides that they should steal Ochi's ship Bestoon Legacy once they have refueled the stolen Goldstone.
While the Goldstone is berthed at the Taw Provode Imperial facility, Miramir reflects on her family's life on the run. Following Rey's birth on Hyperkarn, she and Dathan had fled with Rey to the desert world of Jakku. For the past five years, they had lived as scavengers, selling salvage to the junk boss Unkar Plutt and using the proceeds to establish a moisture farm. However, bounty hunters had tracked them down. While their moisture droids put up a valiant last stand, Miramir and her family had fled aboard a freighter at the Niima Outpost scrapyard.
Miramir enters the Goldstone main cabin where Dathan and Rey are playing with a toy happabore. Miramir raises the topic of hiding Rey while the couple embark on their mission to steal Ochi's starship. She suggests that they place Rey in the car of Unkar Plutt. Though hesitant initially, Dathan relents but points out that they must pay Plutt. While refueling the Goldstone, Dathan puts their plan to lure Ochi to them into action and tells Miramir that he needs her help.
With Dathan's encouragement, Miramir inserts a datachip into the control computer that processed Zargo's medallion. This caused it to transmit a longer frequency that would attack bounty hunters. With bounty hunters approaching, Dathan proceeds with the second phase of their plan.
===Finding an ally===
Elsewhere, Luke calls in a favor with an old friend Lina Graf, a former Rebel commander who has become a senior New Republic Intelligence officer. Luke convinces Lina to lend him, Lando, and R2-D2 her starship Star Herald. After parking their ships at a New Republic hangar, Luke and his friends travel on the Star Herald to the remote radioactive planet of Polaar, which is cut off from outside communication by an impenetrable interference field. After landing their ship, the trio encounter a former Imperial mouse droid and sword-wielding humanoid droid named KB-68, who serves as Komat's sentry. Shortly later, they are greeted by Komat, who warns them about the planet's radioactive environment.
After outfitting Lando and Luke with masks and ponchos, she agrees to help them on the condition that they accompany her in her truck. During the journey, Luke and Lando also encounter Komat's feline pet targon Sekhmet. Reaching their destination, Komat reveals that she harvests radiation emanating from a wrecked Mon Calamari cruiser that crashed on Polaar during the Galactic Civil War. Since the shield's overloaded, its fusion core meltdown continued, contaminating the planet with distronic radiation that rendered it uninhabitable for most lifeforms. KB-68 sells the distronic radiation on a market moon in the Pirsen system, using it to obtain supplies.
In return for helping repair Komat's particle capture grid, Luke and Lando seek her help in tracking the fugitive family's stolen starship Goldstone. Seeking to return a favor to a friend, Komat agrees to help. Since the radiation disrupts transmissions offworld, Komat obtains permission from Skywalker to fly his ship offworld so that she and R2-D3 can use its long-rage scanner and antenna array to initiate a tracking algorithm based on top-secret Imperial military research. When Luke tells Komat about his encounter with the mysterious Pantoran Sith acolyte, Komat reveals that the acolyte is her former friend Kiza.
Komat explains to Lando that she and Kiza were members of a dark side cult known as the Acolytes of the Beyond, who were led by Yupe Tashu, an adviser to the Emperor. Tashu had gifted the Mask of Exim Panshard to Kiza during an attack on a New Republic outpost on Devaron. Like the Sith Lord Momin, Panshard had preserved his consciousness within his mask, allowing him to remain in the world of the living through a host. While Tashu had coveted Panshard's power, he did not dare to wield the power himself but had hope to use Kiza as a weapon.
Komat recounts that the Panshard's mask had taken over Kiza, destroying the sisterly bond between the two. Fearing the loss of her friend, Komat had attempted to free Kiza from Panshard's mask, leading to a fierce battle. Tashu returned during that battle and Komat believed that he was killed by Kiza. Kiza then fled with Panshard's mask for parts unknown. Believing that Kiza posed a threat to the galaxy, Komat had sought Darth Noctyss' lightsaber. However, she instead met Master Skywalker who guided her to the "path of salvation".
Lando tells Komat that he believes Kiza is working with Ochi to hunt down a fugitive family in order to obtain a wayfinder. Komat explains that only two wayfinders were made and that they act as navigational guides to Exegol, the hidden Sith world. Komat is determined that Kiza and Panshard's mask do not discover Exegol's location. Since Lando is tired from his travels, KB-68 ushers him to his quarters. There, Lando experiences a flashback of playing with his lost two-year old daughter Kadara Calrissian.
After sleeping for several hours, Lando awakes to find Luke waiting for Komat to return from her mission to track the Goldstone whereabouts. Skywalker explains that Komat is using hyperwave signal interception technology, which involves using a network of Imperial beacons to map the energy signatures of starships entering and exiting hyperspace. Lando suggests using the technology to track down Kiza's TIE Defender. Shortly later, Komat returns in the Star Herald but she has been followed by two landers carrying battle droids dispatched by Kiza.
Lando and Luke join Komat, KB-68 and the mouse droid in fighting off the droid invaders. They are aided by Komat's pet targon Sekhmet. After defeating the droid invaders, they discover that the droids' chests were fitted with red kyber crystal shards. Luke realizes that these shards are part of the same crystal and deduces that the droids were sent by Kiza and her Sith. Luke seeks Komat's help in stopping Kiza and Exim's mask. However, Komat refuses to have anything to do with her former "sister," whom she considers "dead" to her. While Lando and Komat leave to find the fugitive family, Luke and R2-D2 depart to stop Kiza.
===Escaping Taw Provode===
Lando and Komat travel to the Taw Provode Imperial fuel dump where they find that Ochi and a contingent of CSA troopers have landed and converged on the Goldstone. While scanning the perimeter with a rifle, Komat finds that the fugitive parents have disguised themselves as Espo officers and hid their daughter Rey inside a bagpack. Dathan had earlier knocked out two Espos who were searching the Goldstone.
Disguised as Espos, Dathan and Miramir head towards Ochi's starship Bestoon Legacy. To help the family escape, Komat initiates a gunfight with the CSA troopers. She convinces Lando to draw the CSA troopers towards them and away from Ochi's ship so that they family can flee offworld. Working together, Komat and Lando inflict casualties on the CSA troops, who lack combat experience. Lando finds the family sheltering near a fuel pump. While Komat provides covering fire, he tells the family to flee. When a pair of Espos emerge from a side route and recognize the family, Lando shoots them. This allows the family to board Bestoon Legacy and flee offworld.
===Pursuing Kiza===
Using coordinates retrieved from the droid lander's navigation computer, Skywalker and R2-D2 track the attackers' origin to an asteroid at the edge of the Red Honeycomb Zone. On the asteroid, they locate Kiza's base which turns out to be a former core ship. While exploring the wrecked starship, Skywalker discovers a droid forge and a meditation chamber displaying the mask of Viceroy Exim Panshard. While gazing into the mask, Skywalker experiences visions of the late Panshard's past life including forging his mask from a meteorite and slaughtering his subjects under the influence of the dark side.
Shortly later, Luke is confronted by Kiza, who adores Panshard and wants to help resurrect the fallen Sith Lord. Unwilling to kill Kiza, Luke attempts to reason with the Acolyte by telling her that she can choose to be free of Panshard and the dark side. Luke warns Kiza that the dark will bring nothing but suffering and death but Kiza is too enamored by the dark side. Encouraged by the spirit of Panshard, Kiza attacks Skywalker and the two engage in a lightsaber duel.
During the duel, the possessed Kiza uses the Force in attempt to pour hot molten onto Skywalker. The Jedi Master uses his Force powers to escape the ensuing molten fire in the droid foundry. As the fire spreads into the meditation chamber, the Jedi and Sith continue their duel. While moving among wrecked droids, Kiza's mask falls off. Luke makes a final plea for Kiza to join her but she chooses to remain loyal to Panshard. Before she can resume the fight, she is impaled to death by a jagged metal shard from a fallen piece of the upper hull.
Believing Kiza to be dead, Skywalker retrieves several ancient texts from the meditation chamber but is unable to find Panshard's mask. However, Panshard's spirit is able to animate nine droids which retrieve Kiza's body, his mask, and the lightsaber of Darth Noctyss. They bring these objects to the damaged furnace and used the bubbling slag to add Sith crystals into Kiza's helmet. To replace Kiza's broken arm, the droids amputate the crushed limb and replace it with a mechanical one. With the droids having outlived their usefulness, Panshard abandons them and possesses Kiza's corpse.
Returning to the Star Herald, Luke receives news from R2-D2 that Lando needs help. Using Lando's coordinates, R2-D2 sets a course for Taw Provode. Unknown to the Jedi and R2-D2, Panshard and the possessed Kiza follow in her TIE Defender.
===Rescue and showdown===
Following Dathan, Miramir and Rey's escape, Komat and Lando continue their attack on the CSA troopers. Komat uses her rifle to blow up the Goldstone and a fuel tank, taking out several CSA troops. Before they can track down the stolen Bestoon's Legacy drive signature, they are captured by Ochi and the surviving Espos.
Ochi interrogates Lando and Komat about the location of Rey and her family but Lando refuses to cooperate and dares Ochi to stab him. Before Ochi can stab him, Skywalker arrives and kills the remaining CSA soldiers with his lightsaber. Ochi also fights Luke with his Sith dagger, which is impervious to lightsaber attacks. Master Skywalker gains the upper hand over Ochi but the Sith assassin escapes by firing on a fuel tank, creating a distraction that allows him to escape offworld on the CSA transport.
Following the skirmish, Lando tells Luke that Dathan and his family escaped on Ochi's stolen ship. Luke also updates his friend about his fight with Kiza and Panshard but is unsure if they are dead. Believing that Ochi is pursuing the family, Luke and his friends decide to continue the chase. Before they can depart, the possessed Kiza arrives in her TIE Defender and strafes them. Lando and R2-D2 depart aboard the Star Herald while Skywalker, Komat and KB-68 leave on Komat's ship Warglaive. Lando pursues the CSA transport but it flees into hyperspace. He is frustrated upon learning that it will take R2-D2 time to track the CSA transport's signature drive.
Flying the Warglaive, Komat under Skywalker's guidance leads Komat's TIE Defender on a chase around Taw Provode's solitary moon. Under Komat's orders, KB-68 uses the ship's laser cannons to damage one of the TIE Defender's wings, causing it to break off and the starfighter to spiral out of control. The damaged TIE Defender crashes on the solitary moon's surface, which is covered by thin diamond sheets floating over a subterranean ocean. Possessing Kiza's corpse, Panshard demands that Skywalker show him the way to Exegol, believing that he will be reborn on the planet. He intends to use the Sith crystal shards that Skywalker has obtained to plot a safe hyperspace route to the planet.
Skywalker engages in a lightsaber duel with Panshard. Komat aids Skywalker, armed with one of KB-68's swords. The lightsaber duel attracts the attention of two large maritime serpents, who break through the diamond sheets and cause the ground to shape. One of the serpents drags Komat underwater while another attacks Panshard. The Sith Lord manages to break the creature's upper front teeth with his lightsaber. Luke and KB-68 also fall underwater when the ground beneath them disintegrates.
While underwater, Luke uses his Force powers to pull Panshard's mask from her face. Armed with both his green lightsaber and Darth Noctyss' lightsaber, he breaks the mask into four pieces, banishing the Sith Lord's spirit from the world of the living and ending its control over Kiza's body. Luke attempts to retrieve Kiza's body but one of the serpents drags it beneath the sea. KB-68 helps Komat to her feet.
===Race to Jakku===
While aboard the CSA command ship Emchen, High Colonel Pryde and Viceprex Coromun receive a transmission from Ochi of Beestoon. Due to Ochi's failed attempt to capture Dathan's family on Taw Provode, neither Pryde nor Coromun are willing to speak with him. Ochi persists and drops out of hyperspace in the CSA transport. When Ochi demands more troops and ships to continue the hunt, Pryde rejects his request and threatens to blow up his ship. Pryde subsequently relents and reveals that he had installed a tracking device aboard Ochi's ship Bestoon Legacy. Pryde tells Ochi that his ship and the fugitives are on Jakku. Following their meeting, Coromun offers to shoot down Ochi's CSA transport but Pryde opts to let Ochi "dig his own grave."
On Jakku, Dathan reluctantly strikes a deal with the junk dealer Unkar Plutt to shelter his daughter Rey while he and Miramir fly away on Ochi's stolen ship. Plutt agrees to look after Rey temporarily in return for the hex charm amulet but warns that the child will have to earn her keep in the event that her parents do not return. Following a tearful farewell with their daughter Rey, Miramir also obtains a set of Aki-Aki beads from Plutt's ceramic urn. Since Aki-Aki beads originate from the desert world Pasaana, Miramir hopes that they can mislead Ochi into believing that Rey is not on Jakku. A distraught Rey watches as her parents depart on Bestoon Legacy.
Meanwhile on the Star Herald, R2-D2 works on tracking the hyperspace trajectory of Ochi's stolen ship. While Calrissian waits, he reminisces about his daughter and plays back Chapter 73 of the Calrissian Chronicles. R2-D2 soon completes his hyperspace tracking and reveals that he has identified 23 locations for Bestoon Legacy. To narrow down the search, Calrissian flips three cards which generate the figure "Zero-two-three." Taking a gamble, Lando decides that they should investigate the planet Jakku.
Elsewhere, Ochi and his associates Cerensco and Bosvarga arrive in the Jakku system where they quickly spot the stolen Bestoon Legacy in space. Before Dathan and Miramir can respond, Ochi's CSA transport latches onto the stolen freighter. Ochi and his associates force their way aboard Ochi's stolen ship and confront Dathan and Miramir. When the parents refuse to reveal Rey's location, Ochi stabs Dathan to death with the Sith dagger before turning his attention to Miramir, who remains defiant even to the end.
Ochi discovers Miramir's Aki-Aki beads, leading him to believe that the parents have hidden Rey on Pasaana. To cover their trail, Ochi orders Cerensco and Bosvarga to dump Dathan and Miramir's bodies into a crate with the second tracking beacon. After disconnecting the CSA transport from Bestoon Legacy, Ochi is driven by his Sith dagger to murder Cerensco and Bosvarga, whom he stabs to death. Later, Lando and R2-D2 arrive in the Jakku system aboard the Star Herald. They find the abandoned CSA transport as well as a crate and the corpses of Ochi's minions.
Meanwhile, Ochi travels on the Bestoon Legacy to Pasaana's Forbidden Valley. Despite D-O's pleas, Ochi scouts the surrounding area on his speeder bike. He is haunted by visions of the fallen Miramir and Dathan, whom he believes are taunting him. Using his Sith dagger as a guide, Ochi flies his speeder bike over the Sinking Sands. However, the vehicle's rear repulsorlift breaks down, causing it to descend with its rider into the quick sand. Ochi struggled but was sucked beneath the Sifting Mires to his death.
===Unfinished business===
On the frozen world of Neftali, a distraught Calrissian along with Luke, R2-D2 and Komat bury the fallen Dathan and Miramir inside a cavern. Lando is still determined to find their missing child and stop Ochi, unaware that the latter has perished. Komat counsels Lando to rest on her homeworld of Polaar. While Lando is stubborn, Luke convinces him to rest with Komat on polaar while he works on finding new leads on Ochi.
After returning to the Jedi Temple on Ossus, Luke reunites with his nephew Ben Solo, who offers to help his uncle. Luke declines Ben's offer and suggests that he spend time training the younglings to spar with their blades. Ben complies with Luke's instructions but tells his uncle that he is stronger than he thinks. After examining the fragments of Panshard's mask, Luke decides to consult with Lor San Tekka about disposing of the Sith artifact. He and R2-D2 then depart to continue their search for Ochi, the Sith wayfinder, and the missing girl Rey.
Lando spends several days resting at Komat's hermitage on Polaar. During that time, Lando helps his host and KB-68 harvest plates from the practical array. Though his mind and body have healed, Lando is still haunted by his failure to protect the girl's parents. Lando convinces Komat to land him her Wind Raider armor and starship in order to continue his search for Ochi. Using Komat's notes about Ochi's ship, Lando contacts Nikka Xizen, one of his former Bespin Wing Guard commanders, who sends him information that Ochi's ship is on Pasaana. Lando transmits Pasaana's coordinates to Luke and R2-D2.
On Pasaana, Luke and Lando find Ochi's abandoned ship Bestoon Legacy. Though they find no sign of Ochi, Luke finds documents describing a Sith wayfinder. Based on these clues and Ochi's missing speeder bike, Luke deduces that Ochi has not yet found the fugitive girl. The two explore the nearby Sinking Fields of the Forbidden Valley but find no sign of Ochi. The two friends then conduct a second search of Ochi's ship but find no clues apart from his seemingly deactivated droid D-O. Since Skywalker is busy managing his Jedi Temple, Calrissian decides to remain on Pasaana to keep watch for any sign of Ochi and also to search the quadrant for his missing daughter Kadara. Lando concludes his story by updating the Calrissian Chronicles with his recent adventures around Ochi.
==Development==
Shadow of the Sith was known as Iceberg during production.
Adam Christopher had previously worked on The Mandalorian: An Original Novel, but that novel was canceled in March 2021, with Del Rey stating he had been given the opportunity to write a different book and that they were excited to share the details in the future. Shadow of the Sith was formally announced by StarWars.com on October 7, 2021 along with other upcoming titles.
==Continuity==
The novel contains an epigraph that is stated to be "a warning from a darker time," reading "And, in the end, you cannot touch the shadow. In the end, you do not even want to. In the end, the shadow is all you have left. Because the shadow understands you. The shadow forgives you. The shadow gathers you unto itself. And within your furnace heart, you burn in your own flame." This warning originates from the narration of Matthew Stover's Star Wars Legends novelization of the film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and refers to Darth Vader's anger and rage at Darth Sidious regarding the death of Padmé Amidala and his own helplessness.Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith novelization
The novel reveals that the scene from the the novelization of the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens where Rey hears the lines "Stay here, I'll come back for you." and "I'll come back, sweetheart, I promise." during her Force vision on TakodanaStar Wars: The Force Awakens novelization were in fact spoken to her by Miramir during the scene where Miramir and Dathan say goodbye to her.Shadow of the Sith The novel also recontextualizes Rey's backstory, changing it from a matter of Rey being "sold to be protected," as theorized in Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, to Miramir and Dathan paying Unkar Plutt to hide her. Plutt further threatens to put Rey to work to pay off the debt of staying on Jakku if Miramir and Dathan could not return in time, which ultimately comes to be the case after both are killed by Ochi.
In the novel it is stated by Kiza and Komat that Yupe Tashu was killed by Kiza at some point after he gave her the mask of Viceroy Exim Panshard in Aftermath: Empire's End fifteen years prior, which would place the novel in 6 ABY. However Empire's End has Tashu stabbed and pushed down a chasm by Gallius Rax during the Battle of Jakku, therefore placing it in 5 ABY. The author has commented on Twitter about Tashu's dual deaths and if he could clarify it saying "Yes...but not yet." He later clarified that in-universe "someone is wrong. Or someone... is lying." When asked if this meant Komat was the one who was lying or wrong, Christopher initially claimed that was the case but then implied it was not, leaving the question for the future. 
==Media==
===Cover gallery===
File:Shadow-of-the-Sith-Cover.jpg|Cover by Juan Esteban R.
File:Star_Wars_Shadow_of_the_Sith_preliminary_cover.jpg|Preliminary cover
===Editions===
*; June 28, 2022; Del Rey; US hardcover
*; June 28, 2022; Del Rey; eBook download
*; March 28, 2023; Random House Worlds; US trade paperback
==Appearances==
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==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Canon adult novels