In January 2021, Lucasfilm and Del Ray Books will usher in a new era of Star Wars content with The High Republic, a multi-platform publishing initiative which will tell stories across books, comics, and potentially even video games, TV shows, and movies. Set 200 years before the events of the prequel trilogy, the books follow mostly new characters and should expand the universe in way we haven’t seen in quite some time.

The first entry in The High Republic story is a book from author Charles Soule called Light of the Jedi, and Lucasfilm has published the entire second chapter of his forthcoming book online in advance. You can read an excerpt below.

Del Ray and Lucasfilm shared the first chapter of the book back in June, introducing us to Captain Hedda Casset as she commands a ship called The Legacy Run toward the Outer Rim of the galaxy. But because hyperspace travel has not been perfected yet, Casset realizes there’s something blocking her hyperspace lane. She tries to maneuver around it, but her ship ends up being torn apart, which leads to some pretty significant consequences. “Fragments of the destroyed cargo vessel begin flying out of hyperspace at super-accelerated speeds,” Soule explained, “meaning that deadly missiles of debris can appear anywhere at any time, from the Outer Rim to the Core. In this moment of crisis, the Republic turns to the guardians of peace and justice—the Jedi.”

Here is an excerpt from the second chapter of the novel.

Light of the Jedi Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

THE OUTER RIM. HETZAL SYSTEM.

2.5 hours to impact.

Scantech (third-class) Merven Getter was ready.

Ready to clock out for the day, ready to get the shuttle back to the inner system, ready to hit the cantina a few streets away from the spaceport on the Rooted Moon where Sella worked tending bar, ready to see if today was the day he might find the courage to ask her out. She was Twi’lek, and he was Mirialan, but what difference did that make? We are all the Republic. Chancellor Soh’s big slogan — but people believed it. Actually, Merven thought he did, too. Attitudes were evolving. The possibilities were endless.

And maybe, one of those possibilities revolved around a scantech (third-class) staffed on a monitoring station far out on the ecliptic of the Hetzal system, itself pretty blasted far out on the Rim, sadly distant from the bright lights and interesting worlds of the Republic Core. Perhaps that scantech (third-class), who spent his days staring at holoscreens, logging starship traffic in and out of the system, could actually catch the eye of the lovely scarlet-skinned woman who served him up a mug of the local ale, three or four nights a week. Sella usually stayed around to chat with him for a while, circling back as other customers drifted in and out of her little tavern. She seemed to find his stories about life on the far edge of the system inexplicably interesting. Merven didn’t get why she was so fascinated. Sometimes ships showed up in-system, popping in from hyperspace and appearing on his screens, and other times ships left . . . at which point their little icons disappeared from his screens. Nothing interesting ever happened — flight plans were logged ahead of time, so he usually knew what was coming or going. Merven was responsible for making sure those flight plans were followed, and not much else. On the off chance something unusual occurred, his job was just to notify people significantly more important than he was.

Scantech (third-class) Merven Getter spent his days watching people go places. He, in contrast, stayed still.

***

That’s just a taste. You can read the full chapter over at StarWars.com.

Star Wars: The High Republic – Light of the Jedi will be released on January 5, 2021.

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