The Lost Holocron

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The Lost Holocron

Dark Force Rising | Chapter 23 | The Lost Holocron

November 20, 2024 • The Lost Holocron • Season 2 • Episode 23

Chapter 23 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn.

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## The Story So Far ##

As the war drags on, both the Empire and New Republic are in need of warships. Before the Clone Wars, a fleet of two-hundred ships known as the Katana Fleet went missing in interstellar space. Smuggler Talon Karrde knows where to find them.

Han Solo and Lando Calrissian have met with the leader of a Corellians. Even without convincing the faction to join the New Republic, they are given a new lead on the warships. They are on their way to Pantolomin, tailed by ship thief Niles Ferrier.

Grand Admiral Thrawn has little respect for ex-Imperial Mara Jade. He tricked her into leading his flagship Chimaera to capture Karrde for interrogation. After being dismissed, Mara is determined to liberate Karrde with the help of Luke Skywalker, leveraging her hard-coded Imperial backdoor to query Skywalker’s location and the Chimaera’s flight schedule for the next few days.

On Jormark, Luke Skywalker has been training with an old Jedi Master, Joruus C’baoth. Unknown to Luke, C’baoth is actually a clone of the original Jedi Master. When Mara arrives to ask for Luke’s help under the protection of an ysalamir, C’baoth’s oppression through the Force is uncovered. After a brief struggle, C’baoth is neutralised and left in his castle. Luke sends R2-D2 to Coruscant, while Mara and Luke head to Wistril to intercept the Chimaera during a resupply.

Disguised as a supply ship, Mara and Luke infiltrate through to the detention centre and liberate Karrde. A report of a crashed Skipray Blastboat with a dead ysalamir alerts Thrawn to the possibility that they have been boarded, and after discovering Karrde’s escape, he orders the Chimera on high alert.

## Chapter 23 ##

The turbolift stops as the Chimera goes on alert for intruders. Mara disables the other Imperials in the car and Luke cuts them out into the turbolift shaft. With Karrde, they make their way to find Mara a terminal to hamper their would-be captors.

In the maintenance room, they discover that the central computer has been shut down. They neutralise a reconnaissance team and head back into the shafts. Based on their location, Karrde suggests they make their escape through the less-obvious starship deep storage area.

From damage reports via comm that clearly indicate the weapon profile of a lightsaber, Thrawn knows that Skywalker is working with Mara Jade. Thrawn predicts that with Karrde in charge of the escape, and orders a squad of stormtroopers be sent to guard the Millenium Falcon in deep storage.

Luke runs upon the Falcon and orders Karrde to commandeer it while he gets Mara back aboard. In a flurry, they make their escape, safely making the jump to Coruscant.

Pellaeon is irate, but between the data from Imperial Intelligence digging into Karrde’s past and Ferrier’s report pointing to the Pantolomin system, Thrawn is confident that Karrde will stall the Republic's arrival to the Katana Fleet long enough for them to get there first.

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