The High Republic: Quest for Planet X

The High Republic: Quest for Planet X is a canon middle grade novel written by Tessa Gratton. It was published as part of Phase II of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project by Disney–Lucasfilm Press on April 4, 2023.
==Publisher's summary==
A trio of adventure-seekers set off to find the legendary Planet X and save the galaxy as they know it!
Despite rumors of conflict between the Jedi and the Path of the Open Hand, two of the Republic's most powerful prospecting families announce a contest to chart new hyperlanes.
Under the guise of joining the competition, Dass Leffbruk and Sky Graf recruit Jedi padawan Rooper Nitani, only to reveal their real plan: find the mysterious and legendary Planet X. The trio's quest takes an unexpected turn when they meet members of the Path of the Open Hand, forcing the heroes to put their goals aside to help the Jedi—and the galaxy—before it's too late.
==Plot summary==
===Opening crawl===
===The Path prepares===
Shortly after the battle of Jedha and aboard the Gaze Electric, Fel Ix is comforted by Er Dal and Ferize as he prepares for a mission as part of the Path of The Open Hand. They remind him to beware of the Jedi he will encounter and he comforts them both saying he is sure they will be fine in his absence. Fel Ix then goes to meet with Marda Ro and The Mother to discuss the final details of his mission. Marda paints his forehead with three stripes of blue paint representing freedom, harmony, and clarity. He reassures the mother that he has memorized the Graffian slicer code. Once the mother leaves Marda playfully bumps his shoulder, reminding Fel Ix of how much she has changed since taking a leadership role within the group. As Marda leads Ix to the small unmarked ship he is to take on his mission, the Way of Clarity, he forces himself not to appear nervous. They pass many people busily preparing weapons and ensuring the Gaze Electric remains in peak condition. Before leaving, Fel asks Marda to look after his children while he is away. He is shocked to hear that she will not be aboard the Gaze Electric much longer as she has been sent on a mission of her own. She leaves him with another warning about how the Jedi will be after their group since the Battle on Jedha and that he should remain cautious. He leaves after assuring her that he does not fear the Jedi.
===Rumors and betrayal===
Meanwhile, Jedi Padawan Rooper Nitani spends her time helping Jedi Master Merak in the archives at the Jedi Research Facility on Batuu. While the work isn't as exciting as her previous mission to Gloam with her master Silandra Sho she believes the force gave her a gift soon after she began her work at the Jedi Facility. On just her second day there, Rooper had discovered a small compass within the archives that called her name. She showed the force artifact to Master Merak who suggested she keep the object and listen to the will of the force through it. Rooper continues to meditate on the will of the force until a week after her 15th birthday when begins to hear rumors of a battle on the moon of Jedha. Countless rumors surrounding the fighting come to Batuu including the fall of an ancient statue and a dangerous magical monster roaming the Jedha City's crowded streets. Knowing her master to be there on a pilgrimage, Rooper worries about the fate of her master.
Frustrated with how little facts she is receiving about the outburst of violence on the distant moon Rooper visits Black Spire Outpost to both say goodbye to her friend Dass Leffbruk and see if he knows anything concrete about the conflict. Dass was set to leave for a hyperspace chase. The chase was a race sponsored by both the San Tekkas and the Graf Family with the goal being to have hyperspace prospectors chart and sell to the two families as many safe hyperspace lanes as possible. Dass had told Rooper that he hoped to rediscover the legendary Planet X with his father during the upcoming race. After already crashing there once, the father and son had barely escaped due to their partner, Radicaz "Sunshine" Dobbs, betraying them on their return voyage from the planet. Dass hopes to help his father recover their stolen ship the Silverstreak which Dass believes to still be marooned on Planet X. Rooper thinks very little of the upcoming race as she believes all hyperspace routes should be free to the public and controlled by the entire Republic.
Arriving at Black Spire Outpost, Rooper heads towards a travelers' hostel near the spaceport where Rooper and his father are staying. The young Jedi worries about her friend but has wished him the best of luck on his search for the supposedly beautiful lost planet. She recalls that the first person to locate Planet X was Xirys Patri who came back from the planet miraculously healed of their injuries. They also brought back with them amazing treasures which have inspired many of the other prospectors to join the race due to the recent rumors surrounding Planet X's reemergence. Rooper's last stop before meeting with Dass is a stall selling Sweet Roasted Spider Acorns. Before reaching the hostel, however, she feels a disturbance in the force and rushes into a crowd where she runs into a panicked Dass. Rooper reaches for her lightsaber as Dass explains that his friend is being attacked by pirates.
Rooper quickly follows Dass through a crowd surrounding the spaceport. She stops Dass before they reach their destination and he explains that three goons are attempting to board Sky Graf's ship. Arriving at Sky's expensive-looking silver-and-black minicruiser it immediately became clear that a human woman with brightly colored hair, a Lutrillian, and a human man were attempting to commandeer the ship. Pointing out her lightsaber Rooper resolves the conflict before violence can break out and allows Dass to bring her into the ship.
The extravagant Sky Graf welcomes Rooper into their ship, the Brightbird, and offers her some expensive green tea from Chandrila. Sky explains to Rooper how their family profits off of leasing hyperspace lanes and she becomes aggravated while explaining why she believes hyperspace lanes should be left open to the public. Sky and Dass then explain that they believe Sunshine Dobbs is the key to locating Planet X again. Rooper is also shocked to hear that Dass won't be entering the race with his now untrusting and, Dass believes, overly cautious father but will instead journey with Sky to try and locate Planet X. Dass then convinces Rooper that her coming along with them will ease his dad's worries and offer them protection should they need it.
It is then revealed that Sky Graf is not the actual owner of the Brigtbird and that they "borrowed" the ship from their older brother Helis Graf who was distracted by his courtship of Precoria San Tekka. The three goons who Rooper had just scared off were in fact hired mercenaries contracted by Helis in order to bring back his ship before the race began. The ship also contains Graffian family codes which needed to be entered by hand by Sky's brother.
Sky goes on to explain to Rooper that they have a superluminite-powered compass that can resonate with Dass, who has already been to planet X, to relocate the hidden planet. They believe Rooper can use the force to amplify the resonance to allow the compass to operate more precisely. Sky also promises to let her contact Jedha during their trip as well as drop her off on the moon after they have located Planet X.
===The Path Narrows===
Meanwhile, Fel Ix tampers with a captured comms buoy using the Graffian codes he'd memorized. Altering the buoys will allow the Mother to shut down all communications along the frontier any time she wishes. So far the Mother has used the reprogrammed buoys to control the flow of information around both Jedha and the path's former home of Dalna. The mother had spread misinformation related to the Battle of Jedha stating that the Herald had started the conflict and, as was actually the case, that the Path would be supplying aid to the survivors of the battle.
Fel Ix and Chal are called to the bridge of the ship by the third member of their team, Severn. The passing republic starship Felicitations inspects the work they are doing on the buoys and buys their cover story that they are simply repairing it. They then receive a message from the Mother warning them that Jedi will soon be coming to Dalna En Masse and that they should send her a warning when the Jedi arrive.
===On Your Marks===
Back aboard the Silverstreak Dass enjoys piloting the ship and wonders if his mother may still be alive if his father's ship was this responsive. The ship leaves hyperspace near Travyx Prime where the hyperspace race is set to begin. As the Silverstreak line up at the starting line Rooper confirms that she can contact Jedha before making Dass tell his father that he is joining the race with Sky and her. Dass' father is immediately upset but Sky cuts off the communication before things can escalate. As soon as the race began the Silverstreak dashed ahead to avoid the ships of both Dass' father and Precoria San Tekka's.
The other contestants attempted to gain a head start by dropping mines, smoke, and flares at their fellow prospectors. Avoiding another round of flares, this one in the shape of a silver Wookie, the crew of the Silverstreak then had to escape Helis' attempts to hack their ship's codes. Sky was able to briefly avoid Helis' hack long enough for Dass to bring the ship into hyperspace.
Rooper then confronts Sky on their true intentions for wanting to find Planet X. They admit that they are doing it for glory to impress their family but Rooper senses they have other motivations. Rooper explains that she is motivated by the need to protect all life just as her master acts as a shield for those that can't protect themselves.
As the three young adventurers attempt to get the device to work before their first stop, Sky explains that their father had discovered the device on the Ice planet of Thelj over five years earlier. Sky hooks up the device to the ship's navicomputer so Rooper and Dass can use it to locate the hidden planet. Rooper holds Dass' hand with his other placed on the device and she instructs him to recall what he can of Planet X. Through the use of the force Rooper is able to activate the device and get the first set of coordinates just as Helis' ship enters out of hyperspace. The crew makes a quick getaway into hyperspace but not before Sky hits their head while evading their brother's ship and gets a concussion.
==Development==
The High Republic: Quest for Planet X was announced on the first day of Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, May 26, 2022, at a Star Wars: The High Republic panel. The book's cover art was revealed during New York Comic Con 2022, on October 8, 2022. Part of the artwork was included in a thumbnail for the October 6 episode of This Week! in Star Wars, which was later removed and replaced with a thumbnail containing the cover art for the young-adult novel The High Republic: Path of Deceit.
The hardcover release of Quest for Planet X has illustrations that are not included in the ebook.
==Media==
===Editions===
*; April 4, 2023; Disney–Lucasfilm Press; US hardcover
===Cover gallery===
File:The_High_Republic_Quest_for_Planet_X_preliminary_cover.jpg|First preliminary cover
File:THR_QuestForPlanetX.jpg|Second preliminary cover
File:QuestForPlanetX.jpg|Final cover
==Appearances==
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Quest for Planet X