Book Three: Delusions of Grandeur
This book continues the search for Bornan Thul while also exploring the deeper more insidious nature of the Diversity Alliance. It opens with the birth of Jacen's gnort egg, which allows the reader to explore the interaction between the YJK and Jaina's obvious crush on the twin's friend Zekk who is still out searching for Bornan Thul. Lowie on the other hand, is waiting for his friend Raaba to come to the academy so that they can talk--he is wracked by guilt and worry because Raaba had disappeared when performing the Wookie right of passage where they go to the underworld to capture the syren fibers. Normally the one coming of age goes down into the underworld with comrades, Raaba though, followed Lowbacca's path and had attempted the task alone, a task from which she had never returned. He contacts his home and we are introduced to his sister Sirra who is described as a young Wookie with a streak of independence and tells her about Raaba's resurrection. Rabba comes when the YJK are taking a swim and convinces Lowie to come with her back to Kashyyyk where she gives a very fiery recruitment speech on the merits of the DA. She invites Lowie and Sirra to go with her to the capital of Ryloth--Sirra quickly agrees, eager to make her way out into the world, and Lowie grudgingly goes along. There he is given a job and is constantly barraged by the need for alien unity against humans, and sees just how angry Tarkona is with the disappearance of Bornan Thul. Lowie is willing to keep an open mind, but has an uneasy feeling.
Meanwhile Zekk goes back to Borgo Prime where a mysterious stranger hires him. His assignment: to find Tyko Thul. After making contact, Zekk realizes that this stranger was really Bornan Thul in disguise. He is also asked to send a message to the Bornaryn fleet. His path through the book results in various attacks by other bounty hunters, specifically Dengar and Boba Fett; who mistake his transmission to be evidence of Bornan Thul's whereabouts. He also seems to have second thoughts about being a Bounty Hunter, as working for Bornan Thul prevents him from capturing him for the larger bounty. The ethics of the situation force him to have second thoughts about his chosen profession.
At the academy, the twins, Raynar, and Tenel Ka continue their lessons in the way of the Force, Jacen and Jaina miss Lowie but make do by keeping themselves occupied in other ways. A little bit after Lowie leaves, Master Skywalker comes back from his secret mission. With him is a young centurion named Lusa (From the Crystal Star) her story is an interesting story--she was angry after being kidnapped by Hethrir, so she joined the Diversity Alliance with hopes of stopping injustices like that one. As she became more and more involved in the group she was given greater responsibilities, one of which involved wiping the navcomputer of a group of geologists (indicted by the DA as having inadvertently destroyed a sentient species). Once she had accomplished this, Lusa realized that she would be responsible for killing humans, one of which was a young girl about the same age she had been when Hethrir had kidnapped her so long ago. She quickly stopped the ship from taking off, and had in turn been thanked by the relieved passengers. In order to escape the wrath of the DA Lusa contacted Coruscant to ask for help from Luke Skywalker who had helped her before. As she is a particularly attractive being, Raynar Thul quickly attempts to befriend Lusa, and helps her to gradually get over her human revulsion. During one of their hikes together Raynar realizes that while he cannot help find his uncle or father, he can help make sure the droid factory on Mechis III is in working order. While there they find out that Tyko's "abduction" was really a ploy by the arrogant and irresponsible Thul to lure Bornan out of hiding. So convinced is Tyko that Bornan is being "dramatic" that he built a droid that looked like IG-88 and faked his abduction. The problem is that he programmed all the arachnid droids to not shoot to kill humans but forgot about the non-humans in the group--a flaw that the YJK quickly point out to him. While Em Teedee gets retrofitted with a repulsorlift that allows him to move around more quickly, Zekk arrives on the industrial planet after figuring out that the droids from Kuar were a newer model then what IG-88 (the real one) would have used. Once again he is stalked by Dengar who is convinced he is chasing Bornan Thul, consequently the YJK fight him off and walk away unscathed.
On the Nolaa Tarkona front, she uses her last vial of sample disease on the last Shadow Academy royal guard--who had attempted to ingratiate himself back into the underworld. In doing so she initiates three devoted followers into her inner circle. They are Rullak-a Quarren, Corrsk--a Trandoshan (and incidentally the natural enemy of the Wookie) and Kambrea a Devaronian. She explains that the vial came from Evir Derricote's labs where he had developed many diseases to use selectively against various species of the galaxy, including a plague that will only work on humans. She explains how the people of Gammalin died, due to Fonterrat's negligence but is sad that it was not the proper flash point for the disease. The book ends with Lowie and Sirra being told by Raaba that they had finally found their proper place in the galaxy