The High Republic: Mission to Disaster

The High Republic: Mission to Disaster is a canon middle grade novel written by Justina Ireland with illustrations by Petur Antonsson. The ebook was released by Disney–Lucasfilm Press as part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project on January 4, 2022. The physical book was published on March 1, 2022.
==Publisher's summary==
Two hundred years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, in the era of the glorious High Republic, the Jedi are the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy!
The Jedi think the dreaded Nihil marauders have been all but defeated. Their leader is on the run and their numbers have dwindled. Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh hopes this means she will finally have time to really train her Padawan, Imri Cantaros—but reports of a Nihil attack on Port Haileap soon dash those hopes. For not only have the Nihil attacked the peaceful outpost, they have abducted Vernestra and Imri's friend, Avon Starros. The two Jedi set off for Port Haileap, determined to figure out where the Nihil have taken their friend. Meanwhile, Avon must put her smarts and skills to the ultimate test as she fights for survival among the Nihil—and uncovers a sinister plan. Can Vernestra and Imri find their friend before disaster strikes?
The New York Times best-selling series continues.... For light and life!
==Plot summary==
===Opening crawl===
===Kidnapped===
At her laboratory on Port Haileap, the student Avon Starros has spent several months creating a synthetic crystal based on Padawan Imri Cantaros's stolen kyber crystal with the reluctant support of her mentor Professor Glenna Kip. While heading for a lunch break, the Nihil pirates attack Port Haileap. She and a nine-year old Togruta student named Talia decide to hide inside the supply closets. While Talia is hiding, Starros returns to retrieve her Kyber crystal only to be captured and stunned by a Nihil raider. 
On the planet Kirima, Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh is training her Padawan Cantaros with Force jumping and leaping in a canyon. While waiting to catch Cantaros during a Force jump, Rwoh experiences a vision of Starros being kidnapped by the Nihil raiders on Port Haileap. Cantaros lands on her. After sharing her vision with Cantaros, the two decide return to their starship Wishful Thinking to warn the Jedi. There, they receive a recorded hologram message from Jedi Master Estala Maru warning them of a possible Nihil attack on Port Haileap and asking them to investigate. 
===Nihil captivity===
Later, Starros awakes aboard a starship cargo hold with other Port Haileap prisoners including the Umbaran boy Petri, the Kage girl Krylind and a boy from Hetzal named Liam. These captives were taken on various Nihil raids. While several of the captives are skeptical the Jedi will help, Starros believes that her Jedi friends will help her and enlists the younglings' help in gathering tools to slice into the ship's comm system. 
When a Trandoshan Nihil enters the cargo hold to distribute rations to the prisoners, Petri and Liam restrain the guard while Starros escapes. Tracing the wiring of the shipboard comm unit, Starros heads to the cockpit where she intends to send a distress message. However, she is quickly recaptured a green skinned female Shani Nihil named Deva Lompop. While walking through the corridor with her captor, Starros notices that the ship's interior walls have been removed, leaving the wiring exposed. Lompop brings Starros before the female Quarren Tempest Runner Kara Xoo, who informs Starros that she kidnapped her and the other children with the goal of recruiting them into her Tempest. After Lompop returns her to her cell, Starros briefs Petri and Liam about the Nihil's plans for them.
===After the storm===
Cantaros and Rwoh travel to Port Haileap, which has been recently raided by the Nihil. As they approach Port Haileap, they see a crashed Jedi Vector in the nearby marblewood tree forest. After landing the Wishful Thinking, they encounter the Delphidian Jedi Master Jorinda Boffrey, who tells them that five or six Nihil ships attacked the port. Jedi Knight Kohta Jarik had flown the downed Vector starfighter. The Jedi search for missing locals including Starros and Professor Kip with the help of the part childcare-part security droid J-6. While searching the wrecked former laboratory, Rwoh and J-6 find Talia, who believes the Nihil took Starros.
Back at Port Haileap, Cantaros uses his Force powers to repair a damaged noodle cart belonging to the business Koko Noodle. An anxious Rwoh returns with J-6 and news that their friend Avon Starros has been kidnapped by the Nihil. The two Jedi are soon joined by Master Boffrey and the Gran administrator Rico, who have been doing a headcount of the casualties and missing. While Cantaros and Rwoh want to rescue their kidnapped friend, Boffrey and Rico are preoccupied with responding to the aftermath of the Nihil attack. 
Boffrey promises to inform the Jedi High Council and Starlight Beacon that the Nihil have been taking hostages in the frontier. J-6 also volunteers to accompany Rwoh and Cantaros since his charge Starros had promised him a galactic map update. After returning to the Wishful Thinking, Rwoh updates Master Maru about the situation on Poart Haileap. After learning about kidnappings on the nearby planet Dalna, Rwoh agrees to investigate the situation. Cantaros sets a course for Dalna.
===Intrigue on Dalna===
While travelling to Dalna, Rwoh mediates in the Force. During a hyperspace vision, she catches glimpses of Starros concealing her identity from her Nihil captors by passing as Avon Sunvale. She also hears the name Kara Xoo. Following her meditation, Rwoh relates her vision to Cantaros. After landing near the Dalna temple, they meet with the local Twi'lek Jedi Master Nyla Quinn and human Jedi Knights Yacek Sparkburn and Lyssa Votz. While Sparkburn brings food and refreshments, Quinn informs Rwoh and Cantaros that she believes the local Dalnan authorities have been covering up the recent disappearances. While Rwoh wants to rescue her friend Starros, she decides to assist with the Dalnan investigation since they have few clues about Starros' location.
Despite their concerns about Starros, Cantaros and Rwoh decide to remain on Dalna to assist Quinn, Sparkburn and Votz's investigation into the local disappearances. As part of their investigation, the Jedi agree to meet with the Vice President Hackrack Bep and an old friend Honesty Weft, whom Rwoh and Cantaros befriended following the Nihil attack on the Steady Wing. Together with Sparkburn, Rwoh and Cantaros travel to the town of Saludad where they meet Weft outside the Vice President's office. During their reunion, Weft recommends that the Jedi listen to Sha'nai Plouth's story and warns that someone powerful is interfering with the investigation into the Dalnan disappearances. 
During the meeting with the Jedi, Vice President Bep denies that there are missing families on Dalna and claims that the Nihil do not have a presence on the planet. Rwoh and Cantaros senses that Bep is being evasive. Sparkburn explains to Rwoh that the Dalnans are suspicious of the Jedi following a historical incident involving a Jedi who had come to build a temple on the planet. 
===Unwilling recruit===
Meanwhile aboard Xoo's starship Poisoned Barb, Starros and her fellow captives feast on the rations provided by their Nihil captors. Using parts from discarded game systems, Starros builds an improvised slicer which she manages to use to unlock the door lock to their cargo unit cell. However, she is quickly recaptured by Lompop. Seeing potential in Starros' technical skills, she assigns "Avon Sunvale" to work with the Siniteen engineer Royce, who dragoons her into helping him maintain the ship's sublight engines and to calculate jumps for the Path drives. Under duress, Starros complies with her captors' demands.
Using her technical skills, Starros reluctantly helps Royce man the Poisoned Barb engines, which she learns is the sole survivor of Kara Xoo's Tempest. The Nihil warship travels to a grassy world with twin moons where they are joined by other Nihil ships. Starros and the other children are herded to a camp, where they are joined by other children who have been kidnapped by the Nihil. Xoo says that the children have been recruited into the Nihil and warns that those who refused to submit will remain captives in a block building under the supervision of Yeet and Squib. Due to her knowledge of ambivalent crystal resonations, Starros is recruited as Dr Zadina Mkampa's lab assistant.
The cyborg scientist Dr Mkampa introduces Starros to her laboratory and her research, which seeks to utilise the power of crystals. Starros learns that the scientist was a munitions expert who survived a devastating civil war on her homeworld of Soika. After briefing Starros about her work at the laboratory, Mkampa tasks her with assembling Nihil gas bombs. Later Starros takes advantage of her privileged position as Mkampa's assistant to infiltrate the Poisoned Barb and send a distress transmission on several frequencies. In the message, she says that the Nihil have kidnapped her and several children with the intention of forcing them to join them or enslaving them. She mentions that they are located on an unknown planet with two moons. Though she manages to send her message, Starros is recaptured by Lompop.
===Uncovering a conspiracy===
Later, Weft brings his Pantoran friend Sha'nai Plouth, who is a member of the Dalnan Protection corps, to the Dalnan Jedi Temple to assist with the Jedi investigation. She tells the Jedi that she saw a Nihil ship while gliding near the volcanic Maawat Mountains. She and Weft tell the Jedi that the adults covered it up by claiming the ship sightings were storm lights or volcanic gases. Master Quinn stays behind while Rwoh, Cantaros, Plouth, Weft, Sparkburn, J-6, and Votz depart on the Wishful Thinking to investigate the Nihil sighting. After consulting his databank, J-6 reveals that a Republic survey team conducted a geological survey in the Maawat Mountains 200 years ago. 
After landing the Wishful Thinking in the mountain range, the Jedi are caught up in a stampede by a herd of boolsa beasts, who are fleeing a pair of blue predatory ice gators. The group also find a ramshackle hut in the area where Plouth had sighted the Nihil. Traveling to the site, the group discover several ice gators attacking the hut. While Cantaros flies the shuttle, Rwoh, Sparkburn and Votz use their lightsabers to drive away the ice gators. Beneath a trap door, they find a Theelin boy Theo, the son of Vice-President Hackrack Bep.
After rescuing Theo, the Jedi, Weft and Plouth bring the boy to Vice-President Bep's house. There they are met by Bep and his husband Zian, who are relieved that their son has been rescued. Bep apologizes to Rwoh for initially lying that there was no Nihil presence on Dalna. He explained that the Nihil had kidnapped Theo a week ago and threatened to detonate charges on the Bensha Fault if they tried to find the boy. Though the Dalnan Council and the President had advised them to wait for the Nihil to issue an ultimatum, the Nihil were silent.
When Cantaros asks about the Bensha Fault, Votz explains that Dalna is a relatively young planet with frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The Bensha Fault is a buffer between tectonic plates that shifts regularly and intersects the Maawat Mountains. Due to the region's geological instability, Bep explains that a series of explosions could trigger several natural disasters, forcing the planet's population of 1 million to evacuate. Bep also informs the Jedi that Dalna's relay satellite was disabled yesterday. Their meeting is interrupted by J-6, who brings news that Starros has sent an emergency announcement that she was kidnapped by the Nihil, who are also holding children captive. Since Dalna's relay satellite has been disabled, Rwoh deduces that Starros has been held captive on Dalna the entire time.
===Rising stakes===
As punishment for defying the Nihil a second time, Xoo orders that Starros be sent to the holding pens with the intention of selling her to Zygerrian slavers. Starros however manages Xoo to give her a second chance by claiming that she had gone into the Poisoned Barb to obtain a file about Murphis Sewellis' theory on the radiant energy of cross crystal focus. Though Dr Mkampa and Xoo are initially reluctant, they change their mind after Starros convinces them that Sewell's theory is compatible with Mian San's research into the equal distribution of energy in a crystalline matrix. Despite her outward display of submission, Starros is still determined to resist the Nihil. 
After the Jedi question Theo, they learn that the Nihil may be operating from a large farm village in the Maawat Mountains. With the Dalnans and Jedi unable to make any offworld communications due to the damaged relay, Rwoh sends Cantaros, Votz and Vice-President Bep offworld to request Republic aid. 
Rwoh and Master Quinn meet with the Dalnan President Sachary Jeffington, her Toydarian aide and security chief Tracer Lore to take action against the Nihil threat in the Maawat Mountains. However, Jeffington is more concerned that the fighting would hurt the gnostra berry plants that are Dalna's main economic resource. Rwoh however finds a more sympathetic ear with Lore, who thinks that negotiating with the Nihil is pointless. Lore believes that the Nihil have a base in the Maawat Juncture, which intersects with the Maawat Mountains and the Luftall River. Rwoh and Quinn learn from Jeffinton that Maawat Juncture is on the tip of the Bensha Fault, which is vulnerable to natural disasters. While the Dalnans are reluctant to allow Republic military forces to be deployed in the Maawat Juncture, Lore agrees to provide the Jedi with reptilian trappu steeds to reach the area. 
===Danger at Starlight Beacon===
At Starlight Beacon, Cantaros and Vice-President Bep meet with Jedi Masters Avar Kriss, Estala Maru and Avon Starros' mother Senator Ghirra Starros. Kriss is shocked to learn that the Dalnan communications relay has been disabled and asks about the relay near Haileap. Maru says that he has asked Rodor Keen and his Republic engineers to run a diagnostic and sent another team to check the Dalnan satellite. Concerned about the safety of her daughter Avon, Senator Starros says she has asked the Republic to send an envoy to assist with the situation on Dalna. 
After escorting Vice-President Bep to his suite, Cantaros goes to his own quarters to shower and rest. Through the Force, Cantaros senses that Bep is in distress. He finds the Vice-President lying unconscious in his suite with a bump on the head. Cantaros also smells the scent of perfume in Bep's quarters and recalls that Senator Starros used a similar type of perfume. 
Following the assassination attempt, the Republic officials Ghal Tarpfen and Velko Jahen search for the culprit. While Bep is undergoes treatment from Dr Gino'le, Cantaros and Votz meet with Jahen, who reveals that someone with a high clearance had deliberately turned off the hallway cameras near Bep's room. They inform Master Maru about the news. Maru in turn informs the three that security chief Tarpfen has apparently fled Starlight Beacon under suspicious circumstances. Jahen is surprised at Tarpfen's departure while Votz asks if Tarpfen is a Nihil infiltrator. Maru is unsure and fears the Nihil still poses a serious threat. When Cantaros asks about the Dalnan relay, Maru says that the repair teams have restored the relay but are unsure whether it was caused by space debris or sabotage. While awaiting messages from Rwoh, Cantaros and Votz decide to meditate to deal with the stressful situation. 
===Resisting the Nihil===
The following day, Starros uses the machines in Dr Mkampa to make several copies of Cantaros's kyber crystal with the goal of sabotaging the scientist's plans. Later, Dr Mkampa shows Starros' her new earthquake machine, which is powered by several kyber crystals. Mkampa thanks Starros for coming up with the idea of combining both Sewellis and San's principles. She intends to generate groundquakes in the Bensha Fault, which will unleash destruction on Dalna. Starros pretends to cozy up to the cyborg scientist and asks if she could speak with the other captive children. While Starros claims that she wants to show off how great she is doing with the Nihil, she intends to recruit Krylind, Liam and Petri to help her stop the Nihil's plan.
While travelling on their trappu steeds towards the Maawat Juncture Rwoh, Lore, Master Quinn, Sparkburn, Weft and Plouth encounter Liam, one of the kidnapped children who managed to escape the Nihil base. Liam confirms that Avon Starros is also at the base and that the Nihil forces are led by Tempest Runner Kara Xoo and Deva Lompop. The Jedi and their Dalnan friends share food with the hungry and exhausted Liam.
Dr Mkampa allows Starros to visit the Nihil mess hall, where the other kidnapped children are being held in squalid conditions. Among the 50 children, Starros finds Krylind but is unable to find Liam or Petri. Krylind tells Starros that Petri decided to become a Nihil fight and that the Meerian pirate Yeet took him on a Strike run. She reveals that Liam escaped after stealing some food. Starros tells Krylind to get herself and the other children aboard the Poisoned Barb when the groundquakes begin. Following the meeting, Mkampa invites Starros to a demonstration of her earthquake machine. 
After a replenished Liam shares all the information that he knows about the Nihil encampment with the Jedi. While Weft and Plouth accompany him back to the Saludad, the Jedi and Lore decide to infiltrate the Nihil camp and rescue the kidnapped children. To avoid arousing the attention of the Nihil sentries, they leave their trappu steeds in a nearby clearing and consolidate their packs.
===Escape and cataclysm===
During a Nihil meeting at Dr Mkampa's laboratory, the scientist attempts to convince Tempest Leader Kara Xoo to deploy the earthquake machine. While Xoo wants to wait, she changes her mind after a Toydarian Nihil informs the group that his cousin and President Jeffington have fled to No-Space after the Jedi repaired the communications relay and have begun investigating the Nihil presence on Dalna. Before their planned evacuation, Xoo authorises a raid on the Dalnan capital Saludad. Most of the Nihil depart in their ships, leaving behind the cruiser Poisoned Barb, which Starros intends to evacuate the children in.
Unknown to Dr Mkampa, Starros has secretly grown a batch of flawed synthetic crystals designed to explode when loaded into the earthquake machine. Putting her plan into action, Starros convinces Mkampa they should ready the earthquake machine to aid the Nihil raid on Saludad. Under the pretext of synthesising more Sunvale crystals, Starros goes to the children's holding pen and attempts to convince the guards to evacuate. When they don't buy her trick, Starros incapacitates them with a gas bomb. At the same time, the flawed crystals cause Mkampa's earthquake machine and lab to explode. 
A vengeful Mkampa survives the explosion due to her cybernetic implants and attempts to kill Starros. Rwoh arrives and fights the cyborg scientist with lightsaber and Force powers. Unable to match Rwoh, Mkampa flees into the forest. Starros, Rwoh, the other Jedi and Tracer Lore proceed to mop up the remaining Nihil and free the captive children and evacuate them aboard the Poisoned Barb. They managed to evacuate the children before an earthquake and lava flows engulf the Nihil encampment and surrounding forest. Starros tells the Jedi that Dr Mkampa's crystalline power matrix had triggered the earthquakes and lava flows. 
Starros, the Jedi and Lore evacuate the kidnapped children aboard the Poisoned Barb to the Dalnan Jedi Temple, where Sparkburn and J-6 prepare food and supplies for them. In response to the earthquake and lava flows triggered by Mkampa's machine, the Dalnan Council issues a planetwide evacuation order and call upon the Republic and Jedi Order for help. While Rwoh departs with Lore on a landspeeder to warn Saludad of the impending Nihil raid, Sparkburn contacts Starlight Beacon for help in evacuating Dalna's population.
===Starlight to the rescue===
At Starlight Beacon, Cantaros and Votz discuss Senator Starros' claim that it will take several days for the Republic to dispatch peacekeepers to Dalna. Cantaros is puzzled since it only took hours for the Republic to respond to the Great Hyperspace Disaster. After Vice-President Bep awakes from his coma, the two Jedi question him about the assault. Bep recalls entering his room and the lights were out and being knocked unconscious. He was unable to identify his assailant. Bep is also unaware of the Mon Calamari security chief Tarpfen, who is believed to have fled following the assault. 
The two Jedi also brief Bep about distress call from Dalna saying that the planet has becoming unstable. After being briefed about the situation, Bep urges a full-scale evacuation of Dalna. He briefs the Jedi about the unusually thin planetary crust in the Maawat Mountains. If explosives are placed there, he says that it would trigger earthquakes that would lead to volcanic eruptions and more earthquakes worldwide. Bep tells the Jedi that Dalna has a population of one million and that it would take a long time to organise ships to evacuate everyone. Votz and Cantaros agree to inform Master Maru.
Lore and Rwoh reach Saludad, which has recently been raided by the Nihil. They learn that Dalna's president and her aide were secret Nihil who have fled the planet, with the rest of the Dalnan Council. They are joined by Weft and Plouth, with the former revealing that he had sent a request for emergency aid to the Republic. After Lore briefs Rwoh, Weft and Plouth about the situation, they decide to evacuate the Dalnan population to the emergency shelter on Hansibel Island, which is surrounded by the Bragh Ocean. The shelter can accommodate a hundred thousand people. Rwoh departs for the Dalnan temple to evacuate the Jedi and the rescued children. 
At Kriss' office, Votz and Cantaros brief her and Master Maru about the situation on Dalna. Cantaros advocates using Starlight Beacon to evacuate Dalna's population due to the space station's hyperspace abilities. When Rodor Keen points out that Starlight's hyperspace engines are not yet operational due to administrative obstacles, Votz suggests a tandem jump, which involves using a fleet of starships to pull Starlight Beacon into hyperspace using their hyperdrives. After some deliberation, the Jedi and Republic leadership agree to Cantaros and Votz's evacuation plan. 
Kriss assigns Votz and Cantaros with overseeing the attachment of the tow cables. They manage to convince several ship captains including Captain Gol Ponk of the Halcyon to assist with the tandem jump operation. Cantaros uses his Force powers to help attach the two cables. The operation is completed by the following morning with dozens of starships attached to Starlight Beacon. Putting Votz's plan into action, the fleet conducts a tandem jump, which takes them to Dalna. 
===Evacuation and aftermath===
Over the next several days, the Jedi assist local authorities with evacuating Dalna's population to Hansible Island, where the evacuees await evacuation offworld. The volcanic eruptions in the Maawat Mountains trigger a wave of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that engulf much of the planet's surface. By the third day after the first eruption, Dalna's temperature has become unbearably hot and smoky. 
Rwoh meets with Weft, who tells the Jedi Knight that he and Plouth plan to emigrate from Dalna to find work in offworld protection forces such as the San Tekka clan. Shortly later, Starros informs her that Starlight Beacon has arrived, which brings much joy and reliefto the evacuees. Jedi and Republic officials work together over the next two days to evacuate the population to Starlight Beacon. 
While departing Dalna on a shuttle, Starros tells Rwoh that she stole Cantaros' kyber crystal on Wevo for her research. She admits that the crystals that Dr Mkampa used for her earthquake machine were based on Cantaros' stolen crystal. Rwoh reassures Starros that the Dalnan cataclysm is not her fault and tells her to tell Cantaros in person. While J-6 disapproves of Starros' actions, Cantaros revealed that he knew and allowed Starros to "borrow" his kyber crystal because he knew of her willingness to help other people. 
Starros also has a reunion with her mother Senator Ghira Starros, who is relieved that her daughter was not harmed by Xoo, Lompop and Dr Mkampa. She says that she will catch up with her mother but says that she has to debrief the Jedi. In private, Starros speaks with Cantaros and the two discuss how her mother learnt about her time with the Nihil since she had only confided in Rwoh. Starros suspects her mother is hiding something. Cantaros says that he will help her investigate the matter. 
Rwoh meets with Master Kriss, who thanks her for helping with the Dalnan evacuation. While Master Maru is interviewing security chief Tracer Lore about the fugitive Dalnan President, Kriss tells Rwoh that they have received intelligence that the Nihil are gathering at one of their old hideouts. She invites the younger Jedi to take part in the operation. Due to the recent events on Dalna, Rwoh volunteers for the mission.
==Continuity==
After the attack on Vice President Bep, it is mentioned that Ghal Tarpfen and Velko Jahen are both searching for the culprits. The security chief is subsequently suspected of the attack after being discovered to be missing the day afterwards. This contradicts the short story "Starlight: Shadows Remain," which depicts Tarpfen being abducted by Senator Ghirra Starros and her Nihil allies after happening upon the injured Bep, prior to Imri Cantaros discovering the scene as depicted in Mission to Disaster.
==Media==
===Editions===
*; January 4, 2022; Disney–Lucasfilm Press; US eBook
*; March 1, 2022; Disney–Lucasfilm Press; US hardcover
*; February 2, 2022; Hardie Grant Publishing; Australian paperback
===Cover gallery===
File:The_High_Republic_Mission_to_Disaster_preliminary_cover.jpg|Preliminary cover
File:The High Republic Mission to Disaster Australian preliminary cover.jpg|Australian preliminary cover
File:HighRepublicMissionToDisaster.jpg|Final cover
File:The High Republic Mission to Disaster unlettered cover.jpg|Final cover art
==Appearances==
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Mission to Disaster