Fiction. Science Fiction. Thriller. HTML:WHAT LIES BENEATH
Dispatched as a Republic envoy to the Outer Rim planet Ord Cestus�??in a bid to halt the sale of potentially deadly �??bio-droids�?� to the Confederacy�??Obi-Wan Kenobi finds himself enlisted in a mission more desperate, and dangerous, than diplomatic. The once self-contained world has long since been co-opted by unscrupulous offworlders, whose plunder of a vital natural resource has enabled the rise of a powerful corporation that controls the economy. Ord Cestus�??s native population, the X�??Ting, are now mere second-class citizens in their own society.
Enter the Jedi Knight, with news that a legal technicality has turned the tables�??and the corrupt forces with a stranglehold on Ord Cestus are now at the mercy of the X�??Ting. Circumstances, however, are more dire than the Republic suspected.
In the wake of a devastating plague, the X�??Ting�??s benevolent rulers are dead, and the once tightly knit race has splintered into battling factions. Reunification can only come with the rise of new royals, whom all X�??Ting are bound by blood to serve. But the eggs that will spawn those sovereigns lie out of reach, secured in a secret chamber and booby-trapped by those whose knowledge died with them in the plague. Now, to salvage a people�??s destiny, Obi-Wan will risk a veritable descent into hell: braving the unknown horrors in the forgotten depths of an alien world, on a perilous quest from which none who went before have ever returned.

BONUS: This short story features an exclusive author interview�??plus an excerpt from Steven Barnes�?? Star Wars novel, T