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Outbound Flight: Star Wars Legends Paperback – August 15, 2023
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The Clone Wars have yet to erupt when Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth petitions the Senate for support of a singularly ambitious undertaking: the dream of Outbound Flight. Six Jedi Masters, twelve Jedi Knights, 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.
Unknown to the famed Jedi Master, the 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.
Yet Darth Sidious is not the mission’s most dangerous challenge. Once underway, the starship crosses paths at the edge of Unknown Space with the forces of the alien Chiss Ascendancy and a brilliant mastermind named Thrawn. Even Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, aboard Outbound Flight with his young Padawan student Anakin Skywalker, cannot help to avert disaster. What begins as a peaceful Jedi mission is violently transformed into an all-out war for survival against staggering odds—and the most diabolical of adversaries.
- Print length480 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRandom House Worlds
- Publication dateAugust 15, 2023
- Dimensions5.44 x 1.01 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100593600606
- ISBN-13978-0593600603
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- “The secret to successful analysis, Car’das: whenever possible, reduce matters to a single variable.”Highlighted by 255 Kindle readers
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The light freighter Bargain Hunter moved through space, silver-gray against the blackness, the light of the distant stars reflecting from its hull. Its running lights were muted, its navigational beacons quiet, its viewports for the most part as dark as the space around it.
Its drive gunning for all it was worth.
“Hang on!” Dubrak Qennto barked over the straining roar of the engines. “Here he comes again!”
Clenching his teeth firmly together to keep them from chattering, Jorj Car’das got a grip on his seat’s armrest with one hand as he finished punching coordinates into the nav computer with the other. Just in time; the Bargain Hunter jinked hard to the left as a pair of brilliant green blaster bolts burned past the bridge canopy. “Car’das?” Qennto called. “Snap it up, kid.”
“I’m snapping, I’m snapping,” Car’das called back, resisting the urge to point out that the outmoded nav equipment was Qennto’s property, not his. As was the lack of diplomacy and common sense that had gotten them into this mess in the first place. “Can’t we just talk to them?”
“Terrific idea,” Qennto bit out. “Be sure to compliment Progga on his fairness and sound business sense. That always works on Hutts.”
The last word was punctuated by another cluster of blaster shots, this group closer than the last. “Rak, the engines can’t hold this speed forever,” Maris Ferasi warned from the copilot’s seat, her dark hair flashing with green highlights every time a shot went past.
“Doesn’t have to be forever,” Qennto said with a grunt. “Just till we have some numbers. Car’das?”
On Car’das’s board a light winked on. “Ready,” he called, punching the numbers over to the pilot’s station. “It’s not a very long jump, though—”
He was cut off by a screech from somewhere aft, and the flashing blaster bolts were replaced by flashing starlines as the Bargain Hunter shot into hyperspace.
Car’das took a deep breath, let it out silently. “This is not what I signed up for,” he muttered to himself. Barely six standard months after signing on with Qennto and Maris, this was already the second time they’d had to run for their lives from someone.
And this time it was a Hutt they’d frizzled. Qennto, he thought darkly, had a genuine talent for picking his fights.
“You okay, Jorj?”
Car’das looked up, blinking away a drop of sweat that had somehow found its way into his eye. Maris was swiveled around in her chair, looking back at him with concern. “I’m fine,” he said, wincing at the quavering in his voice.
“Of course he is,” Qennto assured Maris as he also turned around to look at their junior crewer. “Those shots never even got close.”
Car’das braced himself. “You know, Qennto, it may not be my place to say this—”
“It isn’t; and don’t,” Qennto said gruffly, turning back to his board.
“Progga the Hutt is not the sort of person you want mad at you,” Car’das said anyway. “I mean, first there was that Rodian—”
“A word about shipboard etiquette, kid,” Qennto cut in, turning just far enough to send a single eye’s worth of glower at Car’das. “You don’t argue with your captain. Not ever. Not unless you want this to be your first and last tour with us.”
“I’d settle for it not being the last tour of my life,” Car’das muttered.
“What was that?”
Car’das grimaced. “Nothing.”
“Don’t let Progga worry you,” Maris soothed. “He has a rotten temper, but he’ll cool off.”
“Before or after he racks the three of us and takes all the furs?” Car’das countered, eyeing the hyperdrive readings uneasily. That mauvine nullifier instability was definitely getting worse.
“Oh, Progga wouldn’t have racked us,” Qennto scoffed. “He’d have left that to Drixo when we had to tell her he’d snatched her cargo. You do have that next jump ready, right?”
“Working on it,” Car’das said, checking the computer. “But the hyperdrive—”
“Heads up,” Qennto interrupted. “We’re coming out.”
The starlines collapsed back into stars, and Car’das keyed for a full sensor scan.
And jerked as a salvo of blaster shots sizzled past the canopy.
Qennto barked a short expletive. “What the frizz?”
“He followed us,” Maris said, sounding stunned.
“And he’s got the range,” Qennto snarled as he threw the Bargain Hunter into another series of stomach-twisting evasive maneuvers. “Car’das, get us out of here!”
“Trying,” Car’das called back, fighting to read the computer displays as they bounced and wobbled in front of his eyes. There was no way it was going to calculate the next jump before even Qennto’s luck ran out and the fuming Hutt back there finally connected.
But if Car’das couldn’t find a place for them to go, maybe he could find all the places for them not to go . . .
The sky directly ahead was full of stars, but there was plenty of empty black between them. Picking the biggest of the gaps, he punched the vector into the computer. “Try this one,” he called, keying it to Qennto.
“What do you mean try?” Maris asked.
The freighter rocked as a pair of shots caught it squarely on the aft deflector. “Never mind,” Qennto said before Car’das could answer. He punched the board, and once again the starlines lanced out and faded into the blotchy hyperspace sky.
Maris exhaled in a huff. “That was too close.”
“Okay, so maybe he is mad at us,” Qennto conceded. “Now. Like Maris said, kid, what do you mean, try this one?”
“I didn’t have time to calculate a proper jump,” Car’das explained. “So I just aimed us into an empty spot with no stars.”
Qennto swiveled around. “You mean an empty spot with no visible stars?” he asked ominously. “An empty spot with no collapsed stars, or pre-star dark masses, or something hidden behind dust clouds? That kind of empty spot?” He waved a hand toward the canopy. “And out toward the Unknown Regions on top of it?”
“We don’t have enough data in that direction for him to have done a proper calculation anyway,” Maris said, coming unex- pectedly to Car’das’s defense.
“That’s not the point,” Qennto insisted.
“No, the point is that he got us away from Progga,” Maris said. “I think that deserves at least a thank-you.”
Qennto rolled his eyes. “Thank you,” he said. “Such thanks to be rescinded if and when we run through a star you didn’t see, of course.”
“I think it’s more likely the hyperdrive will blow up first,” Car’das warned. “Remember that nullifier problem I told you about? I think it’s getting—”
He was cut off by a wailing sound from beneath them, and with a lurch the Bargain Hunter leapt forward like a giffa on a scent.
“Running hot!” Qennto shouted, spinning back to his board. “Maris, shut ’er down!”
“Trying,” Maris called back over the wailing as her fingers danced across her board. “Control lines are looping—can’t get a signal through.”
With a curse, Qennto popped his straps and heaved his bulk out of his seat. He sprinted down the narrow aisle, his elbow barely missing the back of Car’das’s head as he passed. Poking uselessly at his own controls, Car’das popped his own strap release and started to follow.
“Car’das, get up here,” Maris called, gesturing him forward.
“He might need me,” Car’das said as he nevertheless reversed direction and headed forward.
“Sit,” she ordered, nodding sideways at Qennto’s vacated pilot’s seat. “Help me watch the tracker—if we veer off this vector before Rak figures out how to pull the plug, I need to know about it.”
“But Qennto—”
“Word of advice, friend,” she interrupted, her eyes still on her displays. “This is Rak’s ship. If there are any tricky repairs to be made, he’s the one who’ll make them.”
“Even if I happen to know more about a particular system than he does?”
“Especially if you happen to know more about it than he does,” she said drily. “But in this case, you don’t. Trust me.”
“Fine,” Car’das said with a sigh. “Such trust to be rescinded if and when we blow up, of course.”
“You’re learning,” she said approvingly. “Now run a systems check on the scanners and see if the instability’s bled over into them. Then do the same for the nav computer. Once we get through this, I want to make sure we can find our way home again.”
Product details
- Publisher : Random House Worlds (August 15, 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 480 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0593600606
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593600603
- Item Weight : 13.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.44 x 1.01 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #90,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #205 in Classic Action & Adventure (Books)
- #2,329 in Space Operas
- #3,667 in Science Fiction Adventures
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Timothy Zahn](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1DnTTIUuaL._SY600_.jpg)
Timothy Zahn is the Hugo Award-winning author of more than forty original science fiction novels and the bestselling Star Wars trilogy Heir to the Empire, among other works. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers like the writing style and find the characters rich and enlightening. They also say the content is great and provides an introduction to Thrawn and the Ca'ards. Readers describe the storyline as great and an excellent expanded universe novel.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the storyline great, enjoyable, and tight. They also appreciate the twisting plot that moves fast and explains so much about characters. Readers say it's a good intro to Thrawn and an excellent addition to the family of books.
"...For the most part the story is well structured as the three plotlines slowly converge in a big climatic event...." Read more
"...A thrilling adventure that is a great precursor to the new novel Thrawn. Outbound Flight is a must read for serious Star Wars and Thrawn fans...." Read more
"...This is probably the most intriguing facet of this story...." Read more
"...Very fun and easy read, I really enjoy Zahn's writing style, plenty of action, humor, suspense, tragedy and a whole lot of Thrawn showing everyone..." Read more
Customers find the writing style excellent, solid, and wonderful. They also say the book does an excellent job describing Thrawn's first contact with Republic, and that the portrayal is pretty solid.
"...The characters were so well fleshed out and the scenes so well written in this novel the movie would have pretty much filmed itself...." Read more
"...However, the writing is so good, and the realism of the characters so deep, that I think - and hope - that it would reward any reader of fiction." Read more
"...Zahn is a better writer than many of his peers, and he brings wonderful depth and unique quirks to his tapestry of characters...." Read more
"...Very fun and easy read, I really enjoy Zahn's writing style, plenty of action, humor, suspense, tragedy and a whole lot of Thrawn showing everyone..." Read more
Customers find the character development rich and enlightening. They also appreciate the information about the heroes and their adversaries. Customers also mention that the book is a great read and that the mind of Thrawn is great.
"...The characters were so well fleshed out and the scenes so well written in this novel the movie would have pretty much filmed itself...." Read more
"...However, the writing is so good, and the realism of the characters so deep, that I think - and hope - that it would reward any reader of fiction." Read more
"...'s work, then the most important fact to realize is that Zahn understands his characters...." Read more
"...It is also an excellent depiction of a beloved character Grand Admiral Thrawn's first contact with the Republic, as a member of the Chiss Ascendancy..." Read more
Customers find the book's content great, giving them a lot of great Star Wars history. They also describe it as an excellent Expanded Universe novel.
"...It answers a lot of questions you might have had when reading Survivor's Quest, or any novel dealing with the Chiss character Thrawn...." Read more
"...by Zahn, such as "Heir to the Empire" trilogy, this story gives you a lot of great info...." Read more
"...They will help you understand the star wars universe." Read more
"..."Heir to the Empire" by Timothy Zahn, and it answers a handful of questions if you have not read it yet...." Read more
Customers find the background in the book wonderful, giving a good glimpse at the species. They also say it provides a nice viewpoint of the Star Wars universe.
"...this book is a wonderful view of the jedi order at the time, as well as the politics and how the Jedi operated within the political structure prior..." Read more
"This book was a good viewpoint of the Star Wars universe" Read more
"Wonderful background on Thrawn. Gives new insight to the character and makes him more real, less one dimensional from the original trilogy." Read more
"...Encounters with a younger Thrawn and other Chiss. Gives a good glimpse at the species." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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It's a little difficult to reconcile this version of Thrawn, milder in manner than the coolly detached Imperial leader who once had a crewman executed on the bridge and destroyed an alien village because those aliens failed in a mission. The deadly Imperial warlord who could do that without flinching is definitely not the same man that we meet in this book. The version of Thrawn we see in Outbound Flight is a military leader who is preemptively striking against a culture that enslaves other races as they raid their way across the Unknown Regions, and Thrawn is every bit as intent on stopping them because they are threat to weaker races as he is to stopping them because they MIGHT be a threat to the Chiss. This attitude gets him in hot water, of course, and if you know this character's general history by now, 30+ years after the Star Wars EU introduced him to us, you know how things ultimately end up going for him. If you don't, well the novel includes a short story called "Mist Encounter" which was originally published in Star Wars Adventure Journal 7 by West End Games in August 1995. This was the short story which told us how Thrawn actually came into Imperial custody. And a new novel coming out later this month should tell us the rest of that story and let us see Thrawn's rise to ultimate power.
In case you can't tell, Thrawn is why I bought this book to begin with, and why I will read it again several times over. But he is hardly the only Zahn-created character we get to meet again. Jorj Car'das comes into Thrawn's life at this time, and most of the interaction with Thrawn is told through his eyes, and we see the birth of this very unlikely friendship. We also get to see the beginnings of Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth's descent into insanity, which actually explains a LOT about the version of C'baoth we got to know in "Heir to the Empire." Without giving away any spoilers, let me just say that the craziness we saw in C'baoth in HTTE was not entirely due to his circumstances in that book; this version of C'baoth was already teetering on the edge of Darkness. Like Thrawn, this mysterious creation of Zahn's is viewed through the eyes of others: his padawan, Lorana Jinzler; Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is, at this time, training a 12-year-old Anakin, and certain members of Outbound Flight's crew. You won't like C'baoth, and you are not supposed to.
Personally, however, I didn't like Lorana Jinzler, either. Her constant worry and second-guessing herself fits perfectly well with her lack of self-confidence, which has been more or less carefully crafted by her master, C'baoth. But after so many years of having at least one strong female lead in nearly every book, not having one this time was a real let-down. Lorana spends so much time wondering if she is doing "the right thing" and, deep down, knowing that C'baoth is teaching her things which are against the Jedi Code, yet whenever she is given the opportunity to voice those thoughts, she simply pushes them aside and takes C'baoth's side. Her wishy-washy attitude makes her completely ineffective as anything other than a narrator for C'baoth's actions, so if you are expecting to see Jedi action out of her, don't hold your breath. She is certainly not on a level with someone like Mara Jade. I do wish Zahn had given us a stronger female this time around, like he has in the past, and I know Lorana has her place in this story and she fits there. I just was not impressed with her, even at the end.
Obi-Wan tells most of the rest of the story, but unless you are a big fan of the Jedi and the inner workings of their Council, you might not care so much about what he is doing or how bratty Anakin is being. (Really, sometimes I think Obi-Wan could have saved the galaxy a whole lot of trouble by putting Anakin over his knee or in time out or something.) If I have one *real* disappointment about this book, it's that I don't see the point of having these characters in the story at all, let alone for so much of it. Their presence changes nothing in the outcome of the story, and in fact it seems like exposure to C'baoth may have adversely affected Anakin and given him ideas that he should not have at that age.
Over all, however, the book is a tightly written piece of engaging fiction. We see the start of Palpatine's manipulations into power, the dissent in Jedi ranks that will have repercussions in the next generation, and an expansion into parts of the galaxy that maybe the Empire should have left alone in order to save itself. It's absolutely on par with Zahn's previous forays into the Star Wars mythos, and just being able to read Thrawn as alive and well and displaying the military brilliance which will, later in his life, bring the New Republic to the brink of defeat is a treat. I admire THIS Thrawn better than the one who was trying to kidnap and/or kill my favorite SW heroes all through the HTTE and its sequels, but that is part of what keeps him from being some throwaway two-dimensional evil character. The appeal in HTTE was that the bad guys are not supposed to win, yet he almost did, and it was actually impossible to hate him for it. I would not want to meet him in battle, or a dark alley, but I knew he would have respect for my strategical ability if I had to. What makes him more appealing now, in his younger and slightly more reckless days, is seeing that he still has the same military brilliance, and he is willing to lay down his life to rescue a friend, and risk his career and social advancement to stand up for his beliefs.
This is also the original mad Jedi Master C'boath who is the other villain in the Heir to the Empire trilogy. In that trilogy, it is his clone. Outbound Flight is for the fans in one sense since it gives insight into C'baoth. The SW universe seems to imply clones are 100% copies down to their personalities. At least before Episode 2 and the subsequent Clone Wars and later Rebels cartoons where each clone does have a different personality.
This and the sequel Survivors Quest were written before Episode 2 and now declared legends but still very enjoyable reading.
Top reviews from other countries
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![](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/fe2b9c14-0aa8-4673-9c20-3ae85d4fc5f9._CR0,0,375,375_SX48_.jpg)
I think this is great as also uses a lot of the other Thrawn books and characters from them including a favourite of mine is Cardas.
It shows the Chiss and Thrawn in a different life. Thrawn was not a villain but he saw a lot of bad and was just trying to protect his people and he felt the best way was to go his own way
![](https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png)
Cons:
1: You have Obi-Wan-Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker leave halfway through but even on board, you hardly hear from Anakin, more from Ob-Wan
2: You have 17 Jedi on board as said in the review but why is Master Jedi Jorus C'baoth and Lorana Jinzler just used?
![](https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png)
Avant Disney, Star Wars c'était ça!
![](https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/70c1d5ab-e377-424c-a385-50ad5e1c7df6._CR0,0,500,500_SX48_.jpg)
Contiene il racconto breve "Mist Encounter"