Edge of Victory: Rebirth
Gregory Keyes
 The novel focuses on five separate stories. The first story concentrates on the adventure that Anakin Solo, Tahiri Veila, and Corran Horn all have. On a routine cargo pickup for the Errant Venture on the planet Eriadu, Anakin and Tahiri encounter a Jedi named Kelbis Nu, who is being attacked by Yuuzhan Vong supporters. Despite Anakin and Tahiri's efforts in helping him, Nu dies, but before he does, he is able to whisper to Anakin, "Yag'Dhul." For their trouble, Anakin and Tahiri are arrested by the pro-Vong police of Eriadu, but escape and manage to leave the planet in time with Corran. However, they can't make it back to the Errant Venture in time, for it has to respond to a call from Luke Skywalker himself. Luke and his wife Mara, meanwhile, are declared by the New Republic to be wanted fugitives, in response to the pressure that the Yuuzhan Vong put on the Jedi. What's worse is that as Mara carries her and Luke's baby, the deadly coomb spore virus that had previously affected her returns, and threatens to kill her and the child. With the help of some of their fellow Jedi and the Errant Venture, they are able to escape Coruscant. Afterwards, Luke sends Jaina Solo to find and meet up with Kyp Durron in order to tell him that Luke has finally made a decision regarding the stance that the Jedi overall should take in the Yuuzhan Vong War. Back with Anakin, Tahiri, and Corran, they are left to escape from the Eriadu system by themselves, and when they revert from a hyperspace corridor, they end up in the midst of a Yuuzhan Vong fleet. They manage to infiltrate one of the Vong's ships as the fleet prepares to go into darkspace. They end up in the Yag'Dhul system, and after a brief battle, Anakin, Tahiri, and Corran escape from the Vong's midst in order to rendezvous with the indigenous population. The attacking Vong fleet quickly pulls back, and it becomes obvious that they were merely but a recon force for a much larger invasion of Yag'Dhul. That invasion soon comes as infiltrating Yuuzhan Vong, led by Nom Anor, make their move, but despite their actions, the invasion fails in light of the overall Vong fleet going into darkspace to deal with another problem elsewhere. That other problem came as a result of Jaina Solo's meeting with Kyp Durron. Kyp tells Jaina that he has scouted the Sernpidal for some months now and has discovered the Yuuzhan Vong have been using the time offered to them in the wake of the galactic invasion's halt in order to build a giant superweapon that could threaten the stability of the New Republic. They take it to the Republic military, where the likes of General Wedge Antilles and Admiral Traest Kre'fey take a minimum number of ships to help Kyp's forces in taking on the apparent superweapon in Sernpidal. In the wake of the Republic's attack in the Julevian system, it prompted the invasion fleet at Yag'Dhul to pull back in order to help the defending forces at Sernpidal. But their response to the call for help comes too late, as their enemies manage to destroy the apparent superweapon. But in the midst of the supposed superweapon's destruction, Jaina discovers that it was merely a developing worldship that had no Yuuzhan Vong warriors, but civilians. Kyp justifies this by saying that it was meant to get back at the Vong for attacking the New Republic's people. Jaina slaps him for this and vows to never help him again. The fourth story of the novel focuses on Nen Yim, now Master Shaper in the wake of Mezhan Kwaad's death in the previous novel, trying vainly to save a dying worldship by using even heretical protocols. Her efforts are further hindered when another Master Shaper named Kae Kwaad, obviously within the same domain as the late Mezhan, forces Nen Yim to concoct rather ridiculous experiments that do nothing to forward the progress of repairing the dying worldship. Desperate to save the worldship, Yim accesses the Shaper Qahsa in order to find out what further protocols can help her in her goal by reaching the legendary eighth cortex of the Qahsa. But it turns out that there is no eighth cortex, and that the Yuuzhan Vong have already reached the pinnacle of their biological technology. Yim also reaches the conclusion that the Yuuzhan Vong's gods also don't exist, just as Mezhan Kwaad herself proclaimed before her death. Kae Kwaad then reveals himself to be the Shamed One Onimi, who is the familiar of the Yuuzhan Vong's Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane himself. Shimrra reveals that he knows of Yim's heresy, but rather than proceeding to punish her, he allows her to continue her heretical protocols in order to further the Vong's war efforts against the New Republic. Thus, Yim drops her efforts in trying to save the doomed worldship. The fifth story of the novel focuses on Jacen Solo traveling throughout the galaxy trying to avoid Yuuzhan Vong and their supporters, considering the special bounty that Warmaster Tsavong Lah put on his head. Through the Solos' adventures in averting death from their enemies, Jacen learns to reconcile with his father, Han, since their different ideals were what separated them from each other emotionally in the first place. As Mara starts to die from the coomb spore virus, Luke is able to reach out to her in the Force, as well as reaching out to his and Mara's child's presence, and they are able to banish the virus from her system as their son, Ben Skywalker, is born. Their friends and allies, including Anakin, Tahiri (both of whom shared a kiss at Yag'Dhul that will prove to further their relationship in the future), Corran, the other Solos, and several others arrive just in time to meet the newborn Ben.