Legacy of the Force: Betrayal

Luke Skywalker and the Jedi are being hunted by a sinister adversary.

The galaxy is in danger of being consumed by a terrible conflict.

Jacen Solo is being drawn toward a perilous fate.

We are in the time of Luke Skywalker's legacy; the Jedi Master has successfully united the order into a strong and unified group of Jedi Knights. However, as this new era dawns, the peace is threatened by planetary interests, and Luke is troubled by visions of a coming darkness. Evil is stirring once more—born from the best of intentions—and it seems the Skywalker's legacy may be repeating itself. The bonds of honor and duty will clash with friendship and family as the Skywalker and Solo families find themselves on opposing sides of a volatile conflict that could have devastating consequences for both families, the Jedi order, and the entire galaxy.

When a mission to find an illegal missile factory on the planet Adumar results in a violent ambush—from which Jedi Knight Jacen Solo and his apprentice and cousin, Ben Skywalker, barely manage to escape with their lives—it serves as a stark warning that political tensions are on the verge of escalating into full-blown rebellion. Numerous worlds are bristling under the strict regulations imposed by the Galactic Alliance, and diplomatic efforts to enforce compliance are failing. Fearing the worst, the Alliance prepares a show of military force to bring the rebellious worlds into line before an uprising breaks out. The chosen target for this demonstration: the planet Corellia—known for its fierce independence and rebellious spirit, traits that have made its most famous son, Han Solo, a legend.

Despite his own tendency towards rebelliousness, Jacen is obligated as a Jedi to stand with his uncle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, in support of the Galactic Alliance. However, when the wary Corellians retaliate, the Alliance's show of force—and a secret mission to disable Corellia's vital Centerpoint Station—escalates into an armed confrontation. When the fighting subsides, the battle lines have been drawn. Now, the threat of a full-scale war looms between a growing number of rebellious planets and the Galactic Alliance, which some fear is becoming a new Empire. Even as both sides seek a diplomatic solution, mysterious acts of treachery and sabotage are undermining peace efforts at every turn.

Determined to uncover the masterminds behind the chaos, Jacen follows a trail of mysterious clues to a dark meeting with a shocking revelation—while Luke struggles with something even more disturbing: visions of a shadowy figure whose power in the Force and ruthlessness remind him of Darth Vader—a deadly enemy who strikes like a dark spirit on a mission of destruction. This agent of evil, if Luke's visions are accurate, will bring immense suffering to the Jedi Master—and to the entire galaxy.

The bonds of honor and duty clash with friendship and family as the Skywalker and Solo families find themselves on opposing sides of an explosive conflict.

When a mission to uncover an illegal missile factory on the planet Adumar results in a violent ambush—from which Jedi Knight Jacen Solo and his apprentice and cousin, Ben Skywalker, barely manage to escape with their lives—it serves as a stark warning that political tensions are on the verge of escalating into full-blown rebellion. The threat of a full-scale war looms between a growing number of rebellious planets and the Galactic Alliance, which some fear is becoming a new Empire.

Determined to uncover the masterminds behind the chaos, Jacen follows a trail of mysterious clues to a meeting with a shocking revelation. Meanwhile Luke struggles with something even more disturbing: visions of a shadowy figure whose power in the Force and ruthlessness remind him of Darth Vader. If Luke's visions are accurate, they will bring immense suffering to the Jedi Master…and to the galaxy.

The story opens on Coruscant with Luke Skywalker awake in bed, telling his wife Mara that a figure in his dreams is not real. He observes the similarities between this figure and Anakin Skywalker when he became Darth Vader, and wonders if it could be someone like Raynar Thul, whom Luke faced four years prior at the conclusion of the Swarm War. Luke and Mara consider the possibility that it might not be significant, although Luke remains uncertain.

On Adumar, at the Dammant Killers corporation, Jacen Solo and Ben Skywalker are investigating the company's safety protocols for its employees. Jacen and Ben discover that the Dammant Killers are illegally producing weapons for other planets without the authorization of the Galactic Alliance, and they narrowly avoid being killed by the revived employees. After more employees try to kill them outside the building, Jacen and Ben escape Adumar, with Ben sending the information about Adumar's weapons production to the Galactic Alliance.

Later, at the Solo family's residence on Coruscant, Han and Leia are reunited with their children, Jaina and Jacen, as well as the Skywalker family, and Zekk, who remains with Jaina due to their Force connection established by their Joining with the Killiks five years before. During the reunion, Han is angered to learn about the Dammant Killers' unauthorized weapons operations, as Adumar represents the numerous planets across the galaxy seeking to secede from the Alliance. These planets view the Alliance as mirroring the tyrannical behavior of the Galactic Empire at its height. Disturbingly, Han's home planet of Corellia is among those opposing the Galactic Alliance. Aware of this, Luke briefs Jacen on a mission related to Corellia; Galactic Alliance Intelligence has recently discovered that Thrackan Sal-Solo has reactivated Centerpoint Station and intends to use it to advance Corellian independence from the Galactic Alliance. Luke asks Jacen to prevent Centerpoint from being reactivated, leaving it to Jacen's discretion whether to bring Ben along. Jacen accepts, confirming that he will take Ben on the mission. As they return to the reunion, Luke notices a mysterious woman shrouded in darkness watching him.

Meanwhile, retired Galactic Alliance General Wedge Antilles is abducted from his home on Corellia by Galactic Alliance agents, who deceive him into cooperating by claiming he is involved in the Corellian rebellion against the GA. Wedge manages to escape from captivity on Coruscant and returns to Corellia as the Galactic Alliance enters the Corellia system in an attempt to assert their control. Corellia responds by attacking the Alliance.

During the battle, Luke leads Hardpoint Squadron against the defenders, while Jaina, Zekk, and two Jedi apprentices, Kolir Hu'lya and Thann Mithric, attempt to kidnap Five World Prime Minister Aidel Saxan to persuade the Corellians to return to Galactic Alliance rule. However, Saxan, having been warned by Han and Leia about the Galactic Alliance's potential actions, has equipped her convoy with YVH droids. The four Jedi fight the droids and report their failure to kidnap Saxan. They then board a shuttle and leave Corellia with Hardpoint Squadron. Meanwhile, aboard Centerpoint Station, Jacen and Ben carry out their mission to deactivate it. Jacen confronts Thrackan Sal-Solo, pursuing him throughout the station and battling his bodyguards, but Sal-Solo ultimately escapes. Ben encounters Anakin Sal-Solo, a large robot who believes he is the resurrected Anakin Solo. Ben convinces him that he is merely a robot, created by Thrackan using the late Anakin Solo's DNA to reactivate Centerpoint. Depressed by this revelation, Anakin Sal-Solo initiates false self-destruct alarms to evacuate the station and then shuts it down. As a result, Jacen and Ben successfully deactivate Centerpoint.

Following the unsuccessful attempt to persuade Corellia to rejoin the GA, the Galactic Alliance captures Tralus. The Galactic Alliance and Corellia agree to negotiate terms to resolve their conflict at Toryaz Station. However, during the negotiations between Supreme Commander Gilad Pellaeon and Prime Minister Saxan, the station is attacked by dying Corellian warriors. Saxan is killed, while Pellaeon survives only because he had a decoy take his place, sacrificing the impostor's life. Saxan's death makes achieving peace between the Galactic Alliance and Corellia even more difficult. During the investigation of the station to identify those responsible for hiring the warriors, Wedge discovers an object made of tassels and gives it to Jaina for examination, who then shows it to Jacen. Jacen recognizes a special meaning in the tassel pattern, which he takes to further his own investigation, as he tells Jaina. However, his true intention is to uncover the pattern's secret meaning. He finds a source on the planet Lorrd, taking Ben with him under the same pretense he used with Jaina. The two Jedi meet Jedi Knight Nelani Dinn, a guardian of the planet who can assist Jacen in understanding the tassel pattern. During the three Jedi's stay, a series of suicidal-homicidal incidents occur, driven by Jedi-related obsessions among the peace violators. Jacen willingly allows these individuals to die, even aiding in their deaths because he believes the circumstances necessitate it. At the end of these events, the three Jedi encounter a Force-sensitive woman named Brisha Syo, who has been captured by the Lorrd Security Force on suspicion. She tells them that she has been experiencing disturbing dreams that seem to be influencing these individuals and inciting their suicidal actions. She offers to take them to the source of the Force corruption, the Home, which can also fully reveal the meaning of the tassels.

While the Corellian forces recapture Tralus from the Galactic Alliance and Leia secretly betrays GA forces to save her husband and Wedge, Brisha leads Jacen, Ben, and Nelani to her asteroid habitat near Bimmiel. Upon arrival, Brisha reveals that she suspects a Sith Lord is hiding in the caves beneath the asteroid and asks the Jedi to eliminate him. They agree and follow Brisha into the depths of the asteroid. Brisha, who is actually the Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya, intentionally separates herself and Jacen from Ben and Nelani to initiate the ghost battles. She uses the dark side of the Force to make Jacen fight Luke and Ben fight Mara through the Force, with all four Skywalkers perceiving their opponents as dark side versions of who they are truly fighting. Nelani battles a mysterious man and dark side apparitions of mynocks. Lumiya ends the fights by releasing her concentration on sustaining the apparitions and reveals her Sith artifacts in her home within the Home to Jacen, explaining that not all Sith throughout history have been evil, citing Darth Vectivus (the ghost of the man Nelani fought). Before becoming a Sith, Vectivus oversaw the mining operation on the asteroid, which became the Home centuries earlier due to dark side emissions. He used his knowledge not to destroy the Jedi or rule the galaxy, but to enhance his understanding of the dark side for his own purposes. Lumiya tempts Jacen to the dark side by claiming that he can prevent the coming war between the Galactic Alliance and Corellia by embracing the Sith, as Vergere had wanted him to do during his captivity with the Yuuzhan Vong. Nelani is present when Lumiya tells Jacen this, and the two women fight. Lumiya surrenders and allows Nelani to arrest her for her actions during the Galactic Civil War, but when Jacen uses the Force to see into the future, he realizes that this will only lead to a bloody conflict and the destruction of the Home, eliminating any chance he has of using its knowledge to stop the GA-Corellian conflict. He saves Lumiya and fights Nelani, killing her. Jacen then takes Ben's unconscious form from his fight with Mara, erasing his memory of Lumiya and Nelani, and they leave for Coruscant. Lumiya then speaks to a manifestation of a future Jacen who has become a Sith Lord, stating that the present Jacen's fate is sealed and that his destiny as a Sith will be fulfilled. The future Jacen also reminds Lumiya that if the present Jacen ever discovers that she was responsible for the Toryaz attack, thus ruining the galaxy's only chance to avoid the coming war, Jacen will kill her. The meaning of the tassels is also revealed as a prophetic message of the dark steps Jacen must take as a Sith Lord to bring peace to the galaxy.

The novel concludes with Mara informing Luke that Jacen and Ben are returning to Coruscant, and Luke sensing that his unknown enemy is near.

Betrayal was originally intended to be set in 37 ABY. As a result, several continuity errors exist, such as Zekk being described as 29 instead of 32, and Nelani Dinn having learned a lightsaber technique from Jacen Solo seven years earlier, when Jacen was on his journey throughout the galaxy.

During the release of Betrayal and the second Legacy of the Force book, Bloodlines, Hyperspace members were given the opportunity to participate in a contest where they could submit ideas for Jacen's new Sith name.

In May 2006, Del Rey organized a contest to promote the release of Betrayal. Participants could enter a random drawing by posting one of several provided banner ads on a personal website. One hundred contestants were selected to receive free hardcover copies of the novel. Del Rey also distributed free copies of the paperback version of Betrayal to Celebration IV attendees who signed up for the publisher's mailing list.

The working title for Betrayal was initially Control.

In one scene within the novel, the character Lysa Dunter's name is incorrectly spelled "Dunton" throughout the entire scene.

• ISBN 9780345477347 ; May 30 , 2006 ; Del Rey ; US hardcover [1]
• ISBN 9780345477347 ; 2006; Del Rey; US hardcover, Science Fiction Book Club edition (1214693) [5]
• ISBN 9780345477354 ; May 1 , 2007 ; Del Rey; US paperback [2]
• ISBN 9780345510488 ; April 29 , 2008 ; Del Rey; US eBook [3]
• ISBN 9788324128365 ; Amber , 456-page Polish paperback