Outbound Flight by: Timothy Zahn

Summary:   It began as the ultimate voyage of discovery--only to become the stuff of lost Republic legen ... and a dark chapter in Jedi history. Now, at last, acclaimed author Timothy Zahn returns to tell the whole extraordinary story of the remarkable--and doomed--Outbound Flight Project.   The Clone Wars have yet to erupt when Jedi Master Jorus C'Baoth petitions the Senate for support of a singularly ambitious undertaking. Six Jedi Masters, twelve JediKnights, and fifty thousand men, women, and children will embark--aboard a gargantuan vessel, equipped for years of travel--on a mission to contact intelligent life and colonize undiscovered worlds beyond the known galaxy. The government bureaucracy threatens to scuttle the expedition before it can even start--unti Master C'Baoth foils a murderous conspiracy plot, winning him the political capital he needs to set in motion the dream of Outbound Flight.   Or so it would seem. For unknown to the famed Jedi Master, the successful launch of the mission is secretly being orchestrated by an unlikely ally: the evil Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, who has his own reasons for wanting Outbound Flight to move forward .. and, ultimately, to fail.   Yet Darth Sidious is not the mission'smost dangerous challenge. Once under way, the starship crosses paths at te edge of Unknown Space with the forces of the alien Chiss Ascendancy and the brilliant mastermind best known as "Thrawn." Even Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, aboard Outbound Flight with his young Padawan student, Anakin Skywalker, cannot help avert disaster. Thus what begins as a peaceful Jedi mission is violently transformedinto an all-outwas for survival against staggering odds--and the most diabolical of adversaries. Review: Good:  Zahn has done it again. It had a slow start but overall a very good book. Very nice way to get Obi-Wan, and especially Anakin, off the doommed mission before it's failure. Worked out so well. And we finally can see why the survivors found in Zahn's previous book Survivors Quest hate the Jedi so much. It explains so much... but it makes me want to reread it's counterpart which I don't have with me anymore. Bad:  I found myself HATING C'baoth. Not sure if that's what we want or not but it's true. SPOILERS: Naughty C'baoth... falling to the dark side like that... and I feel so sorry for Lorana Jinzler... didn't want to go. Volunteered by her former master... and she ends up dying because of his anger. Back to the Rise of the Empire Era. Back to Star Wars Eras.