5000 – 4999 BBY: Crosscurrent (Chapters 1-4, 8)

In this brief post, I will be talking about Crosscurrent by Paul S. Kemp.  More specifically, I will be talking about chapters 1-4 and 8.  Paul S. Kemp is a terrific author.  He is able to grip the reader from the start of the novel to the very end without the reader being aware of the time passing.  Its really a page turner.

For those of you who don't know, this book is set 5000 years before the battle of Yavin and 41.5 years after the battle.  The story follows Jaden Korr but unfortunately I won't be talking about him for a while.  Instead I will be talking about Relin, a ancient Jedi who lived 5000 years before Jaden and his struggle to disrupt Naga Sadows attack on Kirrek.  Relin is chasing after his former apprentice, Saes, who has recently turned to the dark side and decided to join Sadows forces.  Saes is searching for an ore that has the ability to enhance any dark side users powers so that they are nearly impossible to beat.  In order to dot this, Saes completely destroys a moon that has an abundance of the ore.

 Relin and his apprentice arrive to see Saes ships mining the ore from the ruins of the destroyed moon.  They quickly decide that if Sadows forces were to be in possession of this ore during the battle of Kirrek, there would be little hope for the Republic.  So they set a plan in motion to destroy the Sith cruiser before they have a chance to leave the system.  Relin manages to get on board of the cruiser.  He sets charges to the ship's hyperdrive, but is confronted by Saes and the two duel.  Relin loses his arm but manages to escape the cruiser on an escape pod after the explosion.  His apprentice dies in an attempt to try and stop the ship from jumping but it doesn't work.  The ship jumps, dragging Relin behind it.  They begin their travel through time.  

When I read the back cover of the book, I got really excited to start.  That's because it includes Jedi from the past and the present.  Jaden Korr is one of my favorite Jedi and I was happy that I could read a book with him in it so soon into my project.  But unfortunately I'm not going to be talking about him for a while. 

The idea of a damaged ship trying to make it through hyperspace without being torn apart only to find out that they are travelling through time is also extremely cool.  It's like on of those old (or new) Sci-Fi shows that have people from the past going to the future without having a clue what happened.  Another thing that I found cool and interesting (because I have talked about it before) was the way the Force directed all of the people involved in the story together.  Whether it being a Force vision or accidentally coming across a distress beacon, the Force managed to bring everyone together.  The Force keeps bringing these long time enemies (the Jedi and Sith) together in very strange ways.   I'm not going to get into it too much right now, but I found it interesting.

I look forward to reading more about the events of the Great Hyperspace war.  The next thing I will be reading is The Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice.  I am assuming that this story will be about what happened to the Omen after it was damaged by Saes cruiser before jumping to Hyperspace.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you.....