The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth

The Yuuzhan Vong, a merciless race, are hunting down and killing Jedi across the cosmos. Abandoned by the fractured New Republic, the Jedi must confront their seemingly unbeatable enemy alone. Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo are taking a perilous gamble with their controversial strategies to reinforce the Jedi's resistance. After discovering a new and terrifying Yuuzhan Vong threat, Anakin and Tahiri find themselves accused of murder by the Peace Brigade. To evade capture, they make a jump to hyperspace… only to find themselves in even deeper trouble.

Pursued by the Yuuzhan Vong and branded as criminals by the New Republic, with internal strife brewing within their ranks, the Jedi are surrounded by danger. Yet, even amidst despair, as the most crucial battle approaches, a spark of hope emerges with the arrival of a very special newborn…

The narrative unfolds through several interwoven storylines. One follows the escapades of Anakin Solo, Tahiri Veila, and Corran Horn. Following the Yuuzhan Vong's capture of Yavin 4 in the preceding novel, Jedi students are aboard the Errant Venture. Anakin is caring for Tahiri, who is still recovering from the trauma inflicted by Mezhan Kwaad on Yavin 4. Anakin decides to accompany Corran to the planet of Eriadu to gather supplies for the Errant Venture, and Tahiri decides to join them. However, Anakin and Tahiri encounter a Rodian Jedi named Kelbis Nu who is slain by the locals. Before his death, he whispers the phrase "Yag'Dhul" to Anakin. Anakin and Tahiri are apprehended by the authorities, who are anti-Jedi and sympathetic to the Yuuzhan Vong. However, the two Jedi break free and escape Eriadu aboard the transport shuttle with Corran. The Errant Venture was compelled to make another unpredictable hyperspace jump to safeguard the Jedi students aboard and respond to a distress call from Luke Skywalker. Therefore, Anakin, Tahiri, and Corran's shuttle attempt to follow through hyperspace, but are intercepted by a dovin basal mine in a Yuuzhan Vong shipyard. Spotted by Vong forces, their transport is destroyed, but the three Jedi manage to escape and secretly board one of the ships. The ship travels to Yag'Dhul as a scout for the armada that the three Jedi came out on, and during the hyperspace jump to the planet, Anakin, Tahiri and Corran seize control of the ship by eliminating the warriors and getting the willful help from the Shamed Ones so that when the ship arrives at Yag'Dhul, the three Jedi are able to warn the Givin species about the invasion on their home planet. Upon arrival, the Givin are skeptical of the Jedi's claims and imprison them while they investigate. However, when the Yuuzhan Vong invasion at Yag'Dhul begins, the three Jedi are freed to assist the Givin, but are led into a Vong warrior trap by Executor Nom Anor. Anakin devises a plan to escape the Vong by challenging their commander, Shok Choka, to an honor duel. Anakin prevails by decapitating Choka and cutting through the hull of the space station as the Vong begin to breach the station to space. Corran places Anakin and Tahiri in a locker while he searches for spacesuits. As air dwindles, Anakin and Tahiri share three kisses, believing they will soon die. However, Corran returns with the spacesuits, saving their lives, and they escape as the battle rages. Meanwhile, Nom Anor, to conceal his cowardice, uses a blaster to execute the remaining Vong warriors, including Qau Lah, a relative of Warmaster Tsavong Lah, who witnessed him declining Corran's honor duel before Anakin stepped in. Later, the Givin secure victory at the Battle of Yag'Dhul when the remaining Vong forces withdraw to Sernpidal to defend against the New Republic attack there. The uneasy truce between the New Republic and the Yuuzhan Vong, established after the Battle of Duro, collapses, and Anakin and Tahiri's relationship deepens.

Concurrently, prior to the Yuuzhan Vong's retreat from Yag'Dhul to Sernpidal, Jaina Solo is deceived by Jedi Master Kyp Durron, along with his fellow X-wing pilots and the majority of the New Republic military, led by General Wedge Antilles, into attacking the Vong shipyards at Sernpidal to destroy a superweapon threatening the New Republic. However, these shipyards housed Vong civilians, as Jaina discovers after the Battle of Sernpidal. When she confronts Kyp, he reveals his intention to make the Vong experience the suffering they inflicted on New Republic citizens. Jaina slaps him and refuses to offer him water, even if it were her spit.

The third narrative follows Jacen Solo as he travels with his parents, C-3PO, R2-D2, his mother's Noghri bodyguards, Meewalh and Adarakh, across the galaxy to evade the Yuuzhan Vong and their sympathizers, as Jacen is a target for humiliating Warmaster Tsavong Lah at Duro. Jacen clashes with his father over his moral stance on the war, but they reconcile as father and son and successfully escape Warmaster Lah's pursuit after leaving Tatooine.

The fourth story centers on Nen Yim, who secretly employs heresy to save the worldship she is stationed on. Despite her efforts, they prove futile, and she is confronted by Supreme Overlord Shimrra's Shamed familiar, Onimi, disguised as Master Shaper Kae Kwaad, regarding her attempts to save the worldship. However, Onimi reveals that saving the worldship is pointless and that her efforts would be better spent on defeating the New Republic. For her unwillingness to save the Vong aboard the worldship, she tries to kill him. Yim later accesses the Vong's memory Qahsa and discovers that there is no eighth cortex, as the Vong believed, and that everything they live and fight for is a lie. With this realization, Onimi, who thwarts Yim's attempts to kill him, reveals his true nature and introduces her to Shimrra. The Supreme Overlord demands that if there is no eighth cortex, then Yim will create one to overthrow the New Republic and elevates her to Master Shaper rank. Yim agrees.

The final story revolves around Luke Skywalker and his wife, Mara, when Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya issues an arrest warrant for them following the events at Yavin 4. Kenth Hamner alerts them, providing enough time to escape Coruscant aboard the Errant Venture. It becomes clear that Fey'lya is allowing the Skywalkers to escape, as the New Republic no longer supports the New Jedi Order, so that the Jedi can continue fighting the Yuuzhan Vong, even if not under the New Republic's banner. However, before, during and after their escape from the New Republic capital planet, Mara discovers that her coomb spore virus has returned, endangering her unborn son. After their escape from Coruscant, Luke attempts to use the dark side of the Force to eliminate the virus from Mara's system. However, it fails. Combining his Force strength with Mara's and his child's is what works. The virus is permanently eradicated, and Ben Skywalker is born. The Solos and the Skywalkers' friends witness the birth of Ben, a beacon of hope and life amidst one of the most devastating wars the galaxy has ever known.

• ISBN 0345446100 , August 2001 , Del Rey , 292-page paperback.
• ISBN 0375416838 , July 31, 2001, Random House Audio , Abridged cassette.

• ISBN 9788025212608 ; August 6, 2009, EGMONT ČR , 238-page Czech paperback ( Nový řád Jedi. Hranice vítězství II - Přerod )