For a limited time, download a free copy of Betrayal, the first volume in the Star Wars Legacy of the Force series.

This is the era of Luke Skywalker's legacy: the Jedi Master has unified the order into a cohesive group of powerful Jedi Knights. But as the new era begins, planetary interests threaten to disrupt this time of relative peace, and Luke is plagued with visions of an approaching darkness. Evil is rising again — out of the best intentions — and it looks as if the legacy of the Skywalkers may come full circle. Honor and duty will collide with friendship and blood ties as the Skywalker and Solo clans find themselves on opposing sides of an explosive conflict with potentially devastating repercussions for both families, for the Jedi order, and for the entire galaxy.

When a mission to uncover an illegal missile factory on the planet Adumar ends in a violent ambush — from which Jedi Knight Jacen Solo and his protégé and cousin, Ben Skywalker, narrowly escape with their lives — it's the most alarming evidence yet that sparks of political unrest are threatening to ignite into total rebellion. The governments of numerous worlds are chafing under the strict regulations of the Galactic Alliance, and diplomatic efforts to enforce compliance are failing. Fearing the worst, the Alliance readies a preemptive display of military might in a bid to bring the rogue worlds in line before an uprising erupts. The designated target of this exercise: planet Corellia — renowned for the brash independence and renegade spirit that have made its favorite son, Han Solo, a legend.

Something of a rogue himself, Jacen is nevertheless duty bound as a Jedi to stand with his uncle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, on the side of the Galactic Alliance. But when the wary Corellians launch a counterstrike, the Alliance's show of force — and a secret mission to disable Corellia's crucial Centerpoint Station — give way to an armed skirmish. Once the smoke clears, the battle lines are drawn. Now the specter of full-scale war looms between a growing cadre of defiant planets and the Galactic Alliance that some fear is becoming a new Empire. And even as both sides struggle to find a diplomatic solution, mysterious acts of treachery and sabotage threaten peace efforts at every turn.

Determined to root out those behind the mayhem, Jacen follows a trail of cryptic clues to a dark rendezvous with the most shocking of revelations...while Luke grapples with something even more troubling: dream visions of a shadowy figure whose Force power and ruthlessness remind him of Darth Vader — a lethal enemy who strikes like a dark spirit on a mission of doom. An agent of evil who, if Luke's visions come to pass, will bring untold pain to the Jedi Master...and to the entire galaxy.

"Following the New Jedi Order series, Allston blasts off a new multi-author, nine-book string of adventures starring beloved Star Wars familiars: the Solos (Han, Leia Organa, and their adult Jedi children, Jacen and Jaina) and the Skywalkers (Master Jedi Luke, his wife Mara Jade, and their plucky 13-year-old son Ben, Jacen's apprentice Jedi-in-training). Allston (Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand) follows the Jedi Knights' ethical dilemmas and intricate battle maneuvers as they set out to diffuse a developing conflict between the Galactic Alliance (GA) and Correllia, Han's home planetary system. When Ben infiltrates the Correllian Centerpoint Station, a mega-Death Star with the power to move and destroy planets, he must confront an AI that believes it is Anakin Solo (Jacen and Jaina's late brother). Jacen also faces a grave, shocking choice about his future as a Jedi when he encounters a Sith. Although Han, Leia, Luke and Mara haven't lost their mystique in middle-age, Ben and Jacen steal the show in this new installment that should please Star Wars fans eager for an update." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Launching a new era in "Star Wars" literature and a new multi-book story starring Luke, Han, Leia, and the other New Jedi Order heroes, "Betrayal" is the first of nine novels that bring the "Star Wars" cycle full circle.

Aaron Allston is the New York Times bestselling author of the Star Wars Enemy Lines novels: Rebel Dreams and Rebel Stand; novels in the popular Star Wars X-Wing series; Web of Danger, game-based fiction supporting the Top Secret/S.I. game line; and Hitman: Killer Brand, based on the blockbuster video game. He is a former editor of The Space Gamer magazine, which won the H. G. Wells Award for Best Role-Playing Magazine in 1982. He lives in Central Texas. Visit his website at www.AaronAllston.com.