Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight

'With the Empire's sinister rise and the Jedi Knights nearly obliterated, a solitary Jedi who evaded the slaughter is destined for a crucial encounter—a face-off with Darth Vader.'

Jax Pavan stands as one of the rare Jedi Knights who miraculously survived Palpatine's brutal Order 66. Now, submerged within Coruscant's Blackpit Slums, Jax ekes out a meager existence as a private eye, striving to aid those in need while discreetly guarding his Jedi identity and evading the relentless Jedi hunters. Others are also seeking the elusive Jax. Hardened reporter Den Dhur, accompanied by his eccentric droid companion I-5YQ, carries startling news for Jax—regarding the father he never knew.

However, upon learning of his former Jedi Master's demise and the request to complete a mission vital to the resistance, Jax is compelled to abandon his concealment—risking detection by Darth Vader to honor his Master's final wish.

The narrative commences with former Jedi Master Even Piell fleeing through the depths of Coruscant underworld, pursued by stormtroopers. Cornered within a dilapidated structure, Piell is forced into a fierce confrontation with the stormtroopers. Although he is slain, the building is subsequently stormed by members of the rebel group Whiplash, commanded by Nick Rostu. The Whiplash operatives overcome the stormtroopers, and with his last breath, Piell informs Rostu about a droid known as "Bug-Eyes," containing crucial intelligence for the Whiplash resistance against the Galactic Empire. Before his passing, Piell instructs Rostu to contact his former apprentice, Jax Pavan, and relay information concerning Bug-Eyes.

Jax Pavan resides in the underbelly of what was once Coruscant, now rebranded as Imperial Center under the dominion of Emperor Palpatine's Empire. Disguised as an ordinary citizen, Jax operates as a freelancer, undertaking various tasks to sustain himself while secretly aiding the Whiplash. Among his notable contacts within Whiplash is the unconventional Twi'lek Jedi, Laranth Tarak.

The sentient protocol droid I-5YQ, alongside his Sullustan comrade and friend, Den Dhur, navigates the Coruscant underworld in search of Jax. This is to fulfill I-Five's promise to his deceased partner Lorn Pavan, Jax's father, to locate and safeguard Jax.

I-Five and Den eventually find Jax, along with Laranth, and they evade the grasp of a Hutt crime boss named Rokko, while simultaneously leading to a double pursuit with Imperial forces. Jax, Laranth, I-Five, and Den shake off the Imperials, and upon learning of I-Five's connection to his father, Jax is both dismayed and skeptical. Nonetheless, he permits I-Five and Den to join him.

Concurrently, Black Sun crime lord Dal Perhi initiates a competition to find a successor for his role as Black Sun leader, between the Falleen Prince Xizor and the skilled assassin, Kaird of the Nedij. However, Perhi secretly intends to maintain his position as Black Sun leader for longer than he lets on, and he informs Kaird that if he assassinates Xizor, Kaird will be allowed to return to his home world, and Black Sun will leave him alone forever. Kaird is tasked with tracking down and eliminating Xizor on Imperial Center.

Thanks to the schemes of the Elomin dispatcher, Haninum Tyk Rhinann, a direct subordinate of Darth Vader, Nick Rostu is captured and brought before Vader. The Sith Lord reveals his awareness of Rostu's Whiplash affiliation and threatens that if he fails to deliver Jax Pavan into Vader's grasp, he will ensure the destruction of Rostu's Ghôsh on his home planet, Haruun Kal, via orbital bombardment. Rostu meets with Jax and attempts to lure him into an Imperial trap for Vader to seize him during Jax's mission to find Bug-Eyes.

Eventually, both Jax's mission and Kaird's assassination attempt on Xizor, which goes catastrophically wrong for Kaird, converge upon an abandoned nuclear factory on the outskirts of Imperial Center. There, at the factory, where Bug-Eyes is located, where Xizor is hiding, and where Rostu has set the trap for Vader to capture Jax, the group is ambushed by rogue factory worker droids. Despite this, Jax's group locates Bug-Eyes and retrieves the information for the Whiplash. During this, Jax engages in combat with Xizor, with Xizor wielding Jax's lightsaber and Jax using a lightwhip. As the Imperial forces arrive for Jax, Xizor flees. Although Jax realizes Rostu's betrayal, he spares him from any punishment. Jax attempts to evade Vader by dropping his lightsaber into the factory's nuclear core, triggering a chain reaction that will destroy the factory and lead Vader to believe, at least temporarily, that Jax perished in the explosion. Haninum Tyk Rhinann, recognizing that the failure to capture Jax will result in his own demise at Vader's hands, abandons Vader's service for Jax. Jax, Laranth, I-Five, Den, Kaird, Rhinann, and Rostu all escape the factory before it detonates.

In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "Citadel Rescue," Even Piell was killed on Lola Sayu, prior to his appearance in Jedi Twilight. This novel also includes several incorrect references to Even Piell having more than one eye (or retina, or eyelid) affected by extremely bright light. Piell had lost one of his two eyes years before, and this is noted in the novel, just pages prior to the aforementioned errors.

I-Five has been featured in every one of Michael Reaves's novels with the exception of Death Star. The character serves to connect the author's stories, as the droid frequently recounts his past adventures to his current companions.