Crosscurrent

Crosscurrent is a novel by Paul S. Kemp that was released on January 26, 2010. It takes place during the Great Hyperspace War as well as after the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series and features Jaden Korr as a lead character. It also ties in to Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice. Riptide is a direct sequel, picking up immediately after the end of Crosscurrent.
==Publisher's summary==
An ancient Sith ship hurtles into the future carrying a lethal cargo that could forever destroy Luke Skywalker's hopes for peace.
The Civil War is almost over when Jedi Knight Jaden Korr experiences a Force vision so intense he must act. Enlisting two salvage jocks and their ship, Jaden sets out into space. Someone—or something—appears to be in distress.
But what Jaden and his crew find confounds them. A five-thousand-year-old dreadnaught -- bringing with it a full force of Sith and one lone Jedi -- has inadvertently catapulted eons from the past into the present. The ship's weapons may not be cutting-edge, but its cargo, a special ore that makes those who use the dark side nearly invincible, is unsurpassed. The ancient Jedi on board is determined to destroy the Sith. But for Jaden, even more is at stake: for his vision has led him to uncover a potentially indestructible threat to everything the Jedi Order stands for.
==Plot summary==
The story opens in the year 5000 BBY with a newly Jedi-turned-Sith, Saes Rrogon, mining Lignan in the Phaegon system, completely demolishing Phaegon III's moon to do it. The Lignan allows a Force-sensitive to strenghten their connection to the dark side, and Saes believes that his shipment will turn the tide of the current battle at Kirrek, and heighten his standing among the Sith. However, two Jedi, Saes's former Jedi Master Relin Druur and his new Padawan Drev Hassin, have orders from the Old Jedi Order to stop the Sith at all costs. Relin boards Saes's ship, the Harbinger, and attempts to sabotage the hyperdrive. Saes engages him in a duel, resulting in Relin's loss of an arm and extensive exposure to radiation from the hyperdrive core. However, the damaged hyperdrive misjumps, and launches the ship into the future, damaging its sister ship Omen along the way. Relin's escape pod is caught up in Harbingers wake and follows it into hyperspace, and Drev is killed when he rams his fighter into Harbinger bridge, doing further damage. The ship is eventually yanked out of hyperspace by Saes using the power of the Lignan, safe but 5,000 years in the future.
Meanwhile, Jedi Knight Jaden Korr has a Force vision with such Jedi and Sith as Kam Solusar, Mara Jade Skywalker, Lumiya, and Lassin warning him of a problem in the Unknown Regions and telling him to go to the planet Fhost for help. Once there, he finds two down-on-their-luck salvagers, Khedryn Faal and Marr Idi-Shael, and enlists their help (after saving them from Reegas Vance) and the ship Junker to go into the Unknown Regions, guided by evidence recently found by the pair of a crashed ship or installation on the frozen moon of an unknown gas giant. Once there, they encounter the recently-jumped Harbinger, and pick up the escape pod containing Relin Druur. Saes soon realizes where Relin is, and sends out Blade fighters to intercept them. Through brilliant flying, Marr and Khedryn avoid and destroy them, and take refuge in an asteroid field.
Little does anyone know that another party is watching the battle unfold—Kell Douro, a hired Force-sensitive Anzat assassin who is keeping tabs on the frozen moon per the orders of the One Sith, specifically Darth Wyyrlok. Douro is also personally involved, convinced that by feeding on Jaden he can gain "revelation" and be omniscient.
After the Blades' failed attack, the crew of the Junker split up, with Relin and Marr going to try and defeat Saes, and Jaden and Khedryn going on to continue Jaden's investigation into the frozen moon. Once there, Jaden and Khedryn find an abandoned Thrawn-era Imperial cloning facility, with evidence of a pitched battle. In the computer room, they find recordings detailing a "Jedi-Sith cloning project", apparently splicing Jedi and Sith DNA together to create super-powerful Force-sensitives. Apparently the clones went mad from their dual origins and became homicidal. Jaden continues on while Khedryn returns to the shuttle, seeing proof of the clones' madness including piled human heads and messages painted in blood like "Mother is hungry". Jaden grows disturbed when he sees this, and even more so when he finds an old Spaarti cloning cylinder full of decomposing bodies. One of the mad clones, who appears to be copied from Kam Solusar's DNA, finds him there and after a brief duel resulting in the loss of three fingers, Jaden kills the clone. After Khedryn comes looking for Jaden and kills Kell Douro, who was attempting to feed on Jaden, the two head to their shuttle, where they learn that the other clones stole Douro's ship and fled deeper into the Unknown Regions.
Meanwhile Relin and Marr successfully board the Harbinger and Relin, fueled by his hatred toward his fallen apprentice and the Lignan ore, cuts a bloody swath through the ship before sending Marr back and confronting Saes alone. Relin, knowing he has fallen to the dark side, decides not to fight Saes with his lightsaber and the two use the Force to batter one another. Relin, weakened by his numerous wounds and radiation poisoning, is overwhelmed by Saes who uses Force Choke to subdue him. At the last second, Relin is able to momentarily choke Saes and uses the Force to tear his lightsaber from his grip and kills him with his own lightsaber. Relin then channels the full power of the Force from his fallen apprentice and the Lignan ore in order to create a powerful explosion, killing Relin in the process.
As the three survivors watch the Harbinger fall into the atmosphere and explode, they acknowledge the loss of Relin. Marr asks Jaden to train him in the Force; initially Jaden is hesitant to do so, but soon realizes that the doubt that has followed him his entire life is what centers him, and that his master Kyle knew so all along. Jaden agrees to train Marr, uttering "There be dragons."
==Appearances==
==Behind the scenes==
The cover incorrectly shows Saes Rrogon's lightsaber as a standard hilt, rather than the curved hilt that he owns.
==Cover gallery==
File:Crosscurrent art.jpg|Cover art
File:Crosscurrent-PL.jpg|Polish - Rozdroża czasu
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Legends novels