The thirteenth installment in the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series of novels, The New Jedi Order: Traitor, is a Star Wars Legends tale. Del Rey published it in paperback on July 30, 2002, and it was penned by Matthew Stover. In the same year, the Science Fiction Book Club also released a special hardcover version.
A ray of hope emerges from the depths of devastation.
The Yuuzhan Vong's capture of Coruscant, the New Republic's powerful center, has left the galaxy in shock, fearing that nothing can halt them. However, this devastating loss brings about a small miracle: Jacen Solo is still alive. Yet, he can hardly picture himself in more unusual circumstances.
The young Jedi Knight finds himself under the care of Vergere, a captivating and enigmatic creature with immense power. Her intentions are difficult to understand, and her acts of cruelty are rarely hidden. Nevertheless, this master of obscure arts has much to impart to the young Jedi… as she possesses the key to a new way of experiencing the Force, elevating it to a different level—one that is perilous, astonishing, and potentially lethal.
The Force's immense energies can be destructive if they fall into the wrong hands. Others are closely monitoring Jacen's progress, patiently awaiting the moment when he is prepared for their own sinister purposes. Everything is currently shrouded in shadows. Regardless of what occurs, whether Jacen's newfound mastery unleashes light or darkness, he will never be the same Jedi again…
The narrative commences with Jacen Solo undergoing torture while aboard a Yuuzhan Vong vessel. Vergere, who had previously betrayed him to the Yuuzhan Vong following his slaying of the voxyn queen at the conclusion of the Mission to Myrkr, frequently visits him. Vergere initiates the process of demonstrating to Jacen that the concept of a dark side of the Force is nonexistent and that the "dark side" is, in actuality, the complete and unadulterated power of the Force. During this period, Vergere supports the Vong in molding Jacen into someone akin to themselves. This transformation is observed by Executor Nom Anor.
Eventually, Jacen is dispatched to a Yuuzhan Vong seedship, a vessel designed to cultivate a new planet for the Vong to inhabit. Jacen is entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the non-Yuuzhan Vong laborers who are transforming the ship into a planet. He begins to develop a conviction that the brutal non-Vong workers should face death following the demise of a Devaronian, an event caused by those workers, who had been assisting Jacen with an assignment. Upon commencing his stay on the seedship, Vergere implants a slave seed within Jacen's chest, establishing a connection between him and one of the dhuryam of the seedship. During the course of this connection, the dhuryam comes to the realization that Jacen cannot be broken or coerced into performing labor, leading the dhuryam to adopt a mutually beneficial partnership with Jacen.
Subsequently, additional Yuuzhan Vong forces arrive at the seedship with the intention of selecting one of the dhuryam to become a World Brain. This would grant the dhuryam complete autonomy in governing a Yuuzhan Vong-formed planet through a ceremonial ritual. However, Jacen declines to participate in the ceremony. The dhuryam to whom he is bonded then permits him to seize control of the immature amphistaffs and don them as armor as he traverses the seedship, instigating a significant massacre that results in the deaths of both Yuuzhan Vong and non-Yuuzhan Vong individuals. Furthermore, he incites all the other slaves to assault the Vong with immature weapons, which proves to be as perilous to them as it is to the Yuuzhan Vong. Jacen reaches the dhuryams and eliminates all of them, with the exception of the one to whom he is bonded. As he is about to kill that one, Jacen believes he witnesses his deceased brother, Anakin, urging him not to kill the dhuryam due to their partnership (all appearances of Anakin Solo here are ambiguous as to whether or not they are real or illusion). Vergere dissuades Jacen from killing the last dhuryam, and he loses consciousness.
Upon awakening, Jacen discovers that he is on the Yuuzhan Vong homeworld of Yuuzhan'tar. With Vergere's assistance during his journey to the city capital, he realizes that it was once Coruscant, now under Yuuzhan Vong occupation. Jacen learns that he possesses the ability to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force, a consequence of the slave seed that Vergere had implanted in him on the seedship to ensure his obedience to the Yuuzhan Vong. He employs this "Vongsense" to evade Yuuzhan Vong forces on Coruscant. Following a confrontation with the Yuuzhan Vong, Jacen and Vergere venture underground on Yuuzhan'tar to reach the area beneath what was formerly the old Jedi Temple, which had been destroyed after the fall of the Old Republic and the rise of the Galactic Empire. Vergere further questions Jacen about his identity while blinding him in the darkness of the underground. Jacen proudly declares that he is a Jedi, and Vergere informs him that it was all a game and that Jacen has been defeated. She reveals that he is surrounded by Yuuzhan Vong, along with Nom Anor. Jacen falls into unconsciousness and unleashes the dark side of the Force upon Vergere and the Yuuzhan Vong. When confronted by a wounded Vergere about it afterward, she argues that there is no difference between the light and the dark sides of the Force: they are both the same.
Jacen, shocked at this revelation, leaves Vergere to discover who he is and chases after what he believes to be the spirit of Anakin. However, this is a hallucination and Jacen unwittingly enters a cavern beast. Inside the belly of the gargantuan animal, he hears a voice, crying for help. He tries to shut it out, believing it to be another hallucination. Then, to his horror, he realizes that it has a presence in the Force. He tries to rescue the girl crying for help, but to no avail. But when he unleashes the hate inside himself, he uses the dark side to rescue the child. This confuses him and draws his mind back to Vergere's teachings: that the dark side was simply the Force's unleashed potential. He discovers more survivors, refugees of the conquest of Coruscant. He assumes that they, too, were drawn in by illusions and false hopes. Through his confusion, though, he also finds anger and rage. The refugees have a rule: whoever arrives last in the beast would be sent to feed its ravenous hunger. The girl arrived last, and she was undergoing an execution. The survivors and, most enraging to Jacen, the girl accuse him of being the last and then try to send him on his way to the stomach. Enraged, he draws on the anger he feels and uses the Force to make the animal believe that humans are poisonous, triggering it to forcibly eject all of them. Bereft of their shelter, the survivors would most likely die from Coruscant's many dangers. Lost and confused, he leaves them and goes on.
Jacen then arrives at the Solo's now ruined apartment and is saddened by how much things have changed, his home and his life now a perversion of its former self. Shortly after his arrival he is visited by what he thought to be (and may have been) Anakin's spirit. This also challenges his thoughts on the Force. The apparition of Anakin engages in the playful banter they had once shared, and Jacen tells him of the things he has done, and also his confusion. Jacen also asks Anakin whether he is real or an illusion. Anakin counters, asking Jacen if there is a difference, saying that life, like the Force, is all one and that there is no difference, akin to Vergere's earlier teachings. Jacen then thinks that Anakin really is an illusion and tries to shut him out, falling into a deep depression. Vergere arrives and wakes him, once again challenging Jacen's beliefs. They are soon joined by Nom Anor and his entourage of warriors, who confront Jacen, saying that they believe him to be an avatar of Yun-Yammka, offering him Anakin's lightsaber if he would convert to the Yuuzhan Vong religion. Jacen agrees, although Nom Anor is unaware at this time that he is lying.
The remainder of the story unveils that Ganner Rhysode has been actively searching for Jacen due to circulating rumors of his survival. On a New Republic camp ship housing refugees from the Yuuzhan Vong war, Ganner ultimately confronts Jacen and the Yuuzhan Vong forces, resulting in his capture. Following Ganner's capture, he is transported to Yuuzhan'tar, where Jacen discloses that he has not genuinely embraced the Yuuzhan Vong ways and is merely feigning allegiance. The Yuuzhan Vong remain uncertain as to whether they can trust Jacen to be an avatar, and Nom Anor now realizes that Jacen is deceiving them. Nevertheless, they proceed to bring Jacen and Ganner to the Well of the World Brain, the former location of the Galactic Senate. Jacen and Ganner barricade themselves inside, with their plan entailing Jacen's destruction of the World Brain, which was once the dhuryam he had partnered with on the seedship (after Jacen killed all the rest of the dhuryams, his partner was selected to be the World Brain on Yuuzhan'tar), while Ganner would then make his escape. However, Ganner informs Jacen that he will sacrifice himself to ensure that Jacen can eliminate the World Brain in time. Ganner confronts all the Yuuzhan Vong warriors who come his way after Jacen gives him Anakin's lightsaber and slays nearly all of them in combat, ultimately succumbing to the wounds he sustains. Concurrently, Jacen refrains from killing the World Brain, instead convincing it not to create imperfections for the Yuuzhan Vong in order to instill in them the importance of compromise during their invasion of the galaxy. Meanwhile, Vergere manipulates Nom Anor into divulging the location of his personal escape ship, which would enable him to flee in the event of trouble on Yuuzhan'tar. Vergere betrays Nom Anor and allows biological lifeforms to trap him while she and Jacen escape to become a third party of themselves in the Yuuzhan Vong War as they head back to the New Republic.
- ISBN 9780345428653 ; July 30 , 2002 ; Del Rey ; US paperback [1]
- ISBN 9780739428481 ; 2002; Del Rey; US hardcover, Science Fiction Book Club edition [4]
- ISBN 9780307795557 ; June 28 , 2011 ; Del Rey; US eBook [2]
- ISBN 978-80-252-1793-1 ; May 10, 2011 , EGMONT ČR , 216-page Czech paperback ( Nový řád Jedi. Zrádce ).