Jedi: Battle Scars

Jedi: Battle Scars is a canon novel featuring Cal Kestis set between the video games Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The novel was written by Sam Maggs and published by Random House Worlds on March 7, 2023.
==Publisher's summary==
Cal Kestis has built a new life for himself with the crew of the Stinger Mantis. Together, Cal's crew has brought down bounty hunters, defeated Inquisitors, and even evaded Darth Vader himself. More importantly, Merrin, Cere, Greez, and faithful droid BD-1 are the closest thing Cal has had to a family since the fall of the Jedi Order. Even as the galaxy's future grows more uncertain by the day, with each blow struck against the Empire, the Mantis crew grows more daring.
On what should be a routine mission, they meet a stormtrooper determined to chart her own course with the help of Cal and the crew. In exchange for help starting a new life, the Imperial deserter brings word of a powerful, potentially invaluable tool for their fight against the Empire. And even better, she can help them get to it. The only catch – pursuing it will bring them into the path of one of the Empire's most dangerous servants, the Inquisitor known as the Fifth Brother.
Can the Imperial deserter truly be trusted? And while Cal and his friends have survived run-ins with the Inquisitors before, how many times can they evade the Empire before their luck runs out?
==Plot summary==
===Infiltration of the Haxion Brood Base===
The book begins with Cal Kestis floating on a space rock in outer space near a Haxion Brood base. He and his team are trying to infiltrate it.  Cal is very happy with his situation and gets ready together with Bd-1. 
After a brief conversation with his crew via comlink, he then jumps from asteroid to asteroid. Meanwhile, he thinks about the Force and his crew. He finally reaches the inside of the base and fights his way through the facility to disable the shields so that the Stinger Mantis (Cal and his crew's ship) can land.  
The ship manages to land inconspicuously and Cere and Merrin turn to their respective tasks, while Greez remains on board as pilot to ensure a possible quick escape. 
We switch perspective to Merrin, the Dathomirian of the Mantis crew.  She is very unhappy with the situation and dislikes days like these, when the crew of the Mantis go on missions, the least. At the same time, she is still struggling with the extermination of her people and wants revenge on the Empire. 
After crawling through half the base, Merrin finally finds a weak spot in the base to plant the predetermined explosive charges.  However, she is discovered in the process by one of the bounty hunters, who she manages to take out with ease. She then hears a radio message from Cal, who has reached the base canteen where all the members of the Haxion Brood base are staying. The Empire is also present and is doing business with the aforementioned Brood.
==Development==
Author Sam Maggs resolved not to spoil details of her book online before its release other than confirming the bogling stowaway would appear.
==Media==
===Editions===
*; March 7, 2023; Random House Worlds; US hardcover
*; March 7, 2023; Random House Worlds; eBook download
*; December 5, 2023; Random House Worlds; US paperback
===Cover gallery===
File:BattleScarsNotFinal.png|Solicitation cover
File:Jedi_Battle_Scars_cover.jpg|Final cover
File:BattleScarsBNExclusive.jpg|Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition
File:BattleScarsBNExclusivePoster.jpg|Barnes & Noble exclusive poster
File:BattleScarsCoverArt.jpg|Cover art
==Appearances==
==Sources==
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==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Canon adult novels
Category:Star Wars Jedi