The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory I: Conquest, penned by Greg Keyes, stands as the seventh book in the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order saga and is part of the Star Wars Legends continuity. It follows The New Jedi Order: Balance Point (2000) and precedes The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth (2001). Del Rey initially released it in paperback on April 3, 2001. The two Edge of Victory books were subsequently combined into a single hardcover volume by the Science Fiction Book Club.
Star Wars's captivating New Jedi Order saga continues, showcasing Luke Skywalker, Anakin Solo, Mara Jade Skywalker, and others as they confront their most formidable adversary in a narrative filled with relentless action, concealed malevolence, and remarkable triumph.
Warmaster Tsavong Lah, not satisfied with the extensive devastation already inflicted by the Yuuzhan Vong, now demands the Jedi's heads. This places the Jedi Knights in grave peril, especially the young students at the Jedi academy located on Yavin 4. The Peace Brigade sympathizers have already infiltrated the Yavin system, and a Yuuzhan Vong fleet is closing in.
Luke Skywalker requests that Talon Karrde lead a mission to rescue the young students. However, Anakin Solo has his own plans. Impatient and believing it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, he departs for Yavin 4 in his X-wing.
Anakin possesses exceptional confidence, courage, and raw Force talent. However, when his friend Tahiri is separated from the other academy children and captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, even Anakin may be in a situation beyond his capabilities. The aliens have a specific and horrifying future planned for Tahiri, and they will stop at nothing to achieve it.
After Warmaster Tsavong Lah of the Yuuzhan Vong declares that Jedi must be captured to halt their invasion of the galaxy, Jedi are hunted across the galaxy and either killed or captured by the Vong, desperate citizens, and the Peace Brigade. On Coruscant, the New Republic realizes the Vong will take over Yavin 4, where the Jedi Praxeum is. Anakin Solo defies his uncle, Luke Skywalker, and the New Republic, going to Yavin 4 to rescue the Jedi. After battling Peace Brigade forces around the moon, Anakin reaches the praxeum and meets Master Ikrit and Tahiri Veila. They and other Jedi, including Kam Solusar, Tionne Solusar, Valin Horn, and Sannah, briefly reunite with Anakin. The Peace Brigade attacks, killing Ikrit and capturing Tahiri, while Anakin hijacks a Brigade vessel with Valin and Sannah. Later, Tsaak Vootuh's Yuuzhan Vong force claims the moon, killing the Peace Brigade. Meanwhile, Talon Karrde's company, sent by Luke, picks up the other Jedi. However, with Anakin, Tahiri, Valin, and Sannah still on Yavin 4, Karrde distracts the Vong to rescue them.
Anakin, determined to save Tahiri, leaves Valin and Sannah with Remis Vehn, a captured Peace Brigade member, and Qorl, a former Imperial TIE fighter pilot. Anakin treks back toward the praxeum. Meanwhile, the Yuuzhan Vong Shaper caste, led by Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad and Nen Yim, begin shaping Tahiri and Yavin 4, mentally and physically, to make her think she is Yuuzhan Vong. Anakin's trek leads to a fight that destroys his lightsaber crystal, rendering it useless. Another confrontation nearly kills him, but a rogue Vong saves him.
As the New Republic learns of Anakin's presence and intentions on Yavin 4, the rogue Yuuzhan Vong reveals he is Vua Rapuung. Rapuung says he saved Anakin because a Yuuzhan Vong shaper altered his body chemistry to Shame him, making him an outcast Shamed Ones, and he needs Anakin's help to shame the shaper. Anakin agrees, and they travel together, developing an uneasy relationship due to cultural differences (Anakin finds Rapuung's murder of Qe'u reprehensible, while Rapuung found it necessary). When they reach the praxeum, Anakin, disguised as Rapuung's slave, understands the Vong. He discovers a lambent crystal and puts it in his lightsaber, regaining his connection to the weapon and gaining a fuzzy non-Force sense of the Yuuzhan Vong.
When the Yuuzhan Vong discover that Mezhan Kwaad has been Shaping Tahiri using heretical practices, Tsaak Vootuh and his warriors attempt to take Kwaad, Yim and Tahiri off of Yavin 4 for execution on the count of heresy. Anakin and Rapuung intervene, forcing Kwaad to reveal her heresy on Rapuung because he rejected her love. Instead, she proclaims there are no gods, becoming a heretical atheist, forbidden in Vong culture. This fulfills Rapuung's revenge, but Kwaad attacks Anakin and Rapuung, killing her captors, and mortally wounds Rapuung. The Shaped Tahiri decapitates Kwaad as Yuuzhan Vong warrior Riina Kwaad, but Anakin reminds Tahiri of who she is and how much he loves her. Tahiri remembers who she is, but her Vong knowledge remains.
The Vong attack Anakin and Tahiri, but Rapuung defends Anakin, honoring him as a warrior. Vua Rapuung fights and dies, leaving Anakin and Tahiri to steal the ship meant for Kwaad, Yim, and Tahiri, escaping with the other captured Jedi. They are shot down but survive. Chased by the Vong, they are saved by Talon Karrde and his forces. Corran Horn, returned from exile on Corellia after the Battle of Ithor, and Booster Terrik help Karrde save Anakin, Tahiri, Valin, and Sannah, as well as Remis Vehn and Qorl. All are saved and return home.
Afterward, Anakin and Tahiri become valuable assets in the Yuuzhan Vong War due to Anakin's sense of the Vong and Tahiri's knowledge of them. The novel ends with Nen Yim planning heresy to defeat the New Republic.
- ISBN 9780345428646 ; April 3 , 2001 ; Del Rey ; US paperback [1]
- ISBN 9780307795540 ; June 28 , 2011 ; Del Rey; US eBook [3]