Acceptance

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Acceptance is a Star Wars novel written by Victor Dorantes released on May 19, 2009. It is the first of two novels in The Antrell Epoch duology and is published on Star Wars Fanon, the Star Wars wiki of fan invention, as an eBook. Acceptance details the adventures of the Jedi Initiate Narod Antrell and the Padawan Zeri Undis, both survivors of the Jedi Order, before and after the Great Jedi Purge.

Contents 1 Publisher's summary 2 Plot synopsis 3 Production 3.1 Writing 3.2 Reception 4 Cover gallery 5 Notes and references

[edit] Publisher's summary

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Enter the Star Wars with this fan-created adventure, featuring the fall of the Jedi Order and beyond!

The young Narod Antrell, failed Jedi Initiate, must embark on a new life to escape all prior ties to the Order or face the wrath of the Galactic Empire. But little does he know what other dangers lurk out in the universe...

Meanwhile, the Padawan Zeri Undis must adjust to the new galactic rule and hide from the relentless Jedi Hunters that will stop at nothing to find her and capture her – or worse!

Follow these two as they take on their new lives head on! Only the Force can decide their fate now...

[edit] Plot synopsis

In 30 BBY, the Jedi Watchman Joraic'enlos ventures to Dantooine under the guidance of the Force, and discovers the toddler Narod Antrell. After initial reluctance from the boy's parents, Malua and Radi Antrell, to take Narod to Coruscant for Jedi training, they give the Jedi Master permission to do so. Once there, Grand Master Yoda inducts Narod into the Order before he is taken to his room, where he bunks with Rodian trainee Rikao. He is assigned to the Ascending Jedi Clan for younglings, where he receives his basic Jedi Initiate training from Master Yoda. In 23 BBY, the Jedi Knight Cinde Moun is instead assigned to instruct the Ascending Jedi, since she is looking for a prospective Padawan learner of her own. She develops a bond with Narod, but before she can officially take him as her Padawan, she is killed in 22 BBY during the Battle of Geonosis, which was the beginning of the galaxy-wide Clone Wars.^[2]

After Moun's death, Narod went without a master and, after reaching the age limit of thirteen for younglings, was reassigned to work in the AgriCorps of Jedi Service. Narod believes he is not meant to be just a farmer, so he continues his studies of the Force in secret, with the assistance of the overseer Jambe Lu. Another failed Initiate, Memo, protests against Narod's faith in the Force, but, nonetheless, Narod goes forward with his plan of escaping the AgriCorps by using a scarefauna as a decoy as he ran away. Narod was able to make it to the Coruscant Undercity the night he escapes, and, the next morning, stows away on a shuttle and gets off-world. Unknowingly to him, Narod escaped the same night the Great Jedi Purge began and the Galactic Empire was formed, which he learned of in the morning.^[2]

Meanwhile, the night before, on the Hutt Space world of Vontor, the Twi'lek Jedi Master Suruar'heo and her Padawan Zeri Undis are holding negotiations with Noukeer, Vontor's representative for the Hutt Cartel, to ally the Galactic Republic and Vontor. Since Suruar'heo and the 404th Star Corps had previously assisted the Hutts on the neighbor world of Vodran, Noukeer agrees to the proposition. Before the negotiations are completed, though, the 404th's Commander, Torr, receives Order 66, which deems the Jedi traitors, from Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and opens fire on his Jedi commanders. Suruar'heo is able to protect her Padawan long enough for her to escape into the hidden caverns beneath Noukeer's Royal Palace as the Battle of Vontor ensues.^[2]

Once the battle subsides and the 404th is successful in killing Suruar'heo, Captain Nicra and a squadron of clones pursue Zeri by entering the caverns below. The Padawan is able to dispatch them, however, before creating a false transmission of her death to buy herself time to escape. Zeri is able to make it out of the caverns and steal a Kappa-class shuttle to escape the world just as the clone trooper Deej makes it to the caverns in search of her. She plans on returning to Coruscant, especially after receiving the transmission to do so from the Jedi beacon, but does not after the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi reverses the transmission and warns all surviving Jedi to flee. Zeri then changes course and makes it to the Colonies Regions world of Talasea.^[2]

The shuttle Narod escaped on from Coruscant completed its trip at the city of Tillaj on Dantooine, returning him to his birth-world. After the shuttle docks in the spaceport, the Devaronian worker Mayik Treno begins to unload its cargo when he finds Narod. The boy then befriends the aged Devaronian and asks for his help in finding work to begin a new life, which Mayik agrees to. Narod, in order to avoid being linked to his previous life, undertakes the alias "Draegan." After Mayik finishes his shift at the spaceport, he takes Narod to Adoor's Cantina and introduces him to its owner Adoor, who agrees to give him work. Narod becomes the head of the garbage crew and settles for his new life on Dantooine. Similarly, Zeri Undis settles in the Talaseanan colony with the Redd family, after meeting them and admiring their mostly undisturbed culture.^[2]

Approximately six months later, Adoor tells Narod that Mayik was in trouble with the local gambling ring. Narod feels that he owed the Devaronian for his help when he first came to Tillaj, and agrees to help. Afterward, Adoor and Narod, along with their Snivvian friend Erroph, tell Mayik of their plan to help him escape and return to his homeworld of Devaron. After Mayik completes his shift at the spaceport that day, Narod uses his garbagecraft to pick up him up and sneak him back into the spaceport. Once there, Narod leads the Devaronian to the departures bay, where they are spotted by the guards Arn and Joss. While Mayik flees, Narod uses telekinesis to attack the guards and deter their focus, prompting them to chase him. Eventually, Narod is able to escape the port unharmed, while Mayik is flown off-world by Erroph's pilot friend Rinald.^[2]

Following this, Narod joins his friends at the cantina in celebration of their victory, where he is confronted by a Whiphid named K'Kruhk for his good deed at the spaceport. Narod recognizes K'Kruhk as the Jedi Master, and, after the Whiphid offers apprenticeship to him, agrees to become his Padawan. The two plan to meet again once K'Kruhk's ship arrives on Dantooine. In the meantime, Narod completes his last shift at the cantina and, that night, the spaceport guards, under orders from the spaceport and racketeering boss Bronoge, find Narod and plan to kidnap him for interrogation. However, Adoor suspects their intentions and has his bar-tending droid Wunzee knock them unconscious by spiking their drinks with hypnocane. Adoor then cuffs them both and takes them into the garbagecraft, while he and Erroph formulate a plan to deal with them. However, K'Kruhk intervenes and instead deals with the two, using the Force to persuade Arn into confessing the gambling ring's crimes.^[2]

The next morning, the Tillaj Defense Unit raids the spaceport and arrests all members of the gambling ring present, Bronoge included. K'Kruhk had holorecorded Arn's confessions and taken them to the Defense Unit's captain, Aron Aldamar. Following the raid, Adoor and Narod give their farewell, but not before the boy tells Adoor of his true identity. Since K'Kruhk's ship had arrived, Narod packs his things and leaves for the spaceport. There, he recommends to the patrolman Jerr Adoh that Adoor be assigned the vacated position of spaceport head, and is later met by Chase Piru while he waits for his master to arrive. She introduces herself as K'Kruhk's pilot and takes him to their ship, a Theta-class shuttle. There, Narod discovers that Piru is also a Jedi, just before K'Kruhk meets them on the ship with his training supplies. The trio then departs from Dantooine and enters hyperspace.^[2]

On Talasea, Zeri has become a part of the Redd family but still continues to adjust to life as a refugee. Ever since she arrived on the world, Zeri has been teaching the eldest son of the family, Pychel Redd, hand-to-hand combat, and the two constantly spar. The day after a sparring match, Zeri requests to Afaynis and Pedryth Redd, the parents of the family, that she be taken to see the colony's unused starships, which had become obsolete since the settlers had stopped using them after they had arrived on Talasea centuries prior. Once at the museum, Zeri meets Qartek, also known by the nickname Teks, a Sullustan mechanic who offers to help with Zeri's ship. She then takes the Sullustan to the shuttle and he inspects it, eventually changing the starship's identification signature and disabling Imperial transponders as she requested. He also names the ship The Drive.^[2]

In the brief moment the transponders were still active, however, the Inquisitor and Jedi hunter Morrer was able to pick up the ship's location after having been assigned the task of locating Zeri. He reports his discovery back to his Gladiator-class Star Destroyer, Rodomont, and instructs his Apprentice Inquisitor Travot Terrin to inform the 404th Star Corps about it as well. The Rodomont and the HoundStar, the 404th's flagship, then rendezvous over Talasea. As soon as Zeri spots the Imperial starship over Talasea, she urges Teks and the Redd family, as they are all having dinner, to escape to The Drive. Afaynis and Pychel remain behind, however, to sound the colony's invasion alarm and prepare for a battle. Meanwhile, Travot leads Lieutenant Airth and his TIE Fighter squadron down to Talasea, where they are followed by Torr and his stormtrooper squadron. The squadrons are able to destroy the invasion alarm before landing on the ground.^[2]

After landing, the two Imperial squadrons secure the Talaseanan colony and use Force detectors to try and root out Zeri Undis; Torr objects to the search method and instead takes a small unit, the clones Deej and Aeg, to the homes on a nearby knoll. There, the unit is attacked by Afaynis and Pychel, where Aeg is killed. Torr and Deej are able to outmatch the two, however, and kill Afaynis while incapacitating Pychel. In the nearby forest, Pedryth decides to return to her husband and son, leaving Anton with Zeri and Teks as they ready for takeoff. Pedryth attacks the stormtroopers when she returns to the knoll, fatally injuring Deej before Torr kills her in retaliation. As Travot attempts to control the situation, The Drive takes off, prompting Travot and his TIE squadron to pursue her. The Padawan successfully escapes in hyperspace, however, and, due to his failure, Travot is called back to the Rodomont.^[2]

Zeri Undis, Teks, and Anton end up venturing to the world of Cadezia, where they settle and attempt to blend in with the busy life on the business world. Travot is tasked with returning to Coruscant, where he believes he is to undergo an evaluation. Once at the Imperial Palace, however, Travot realizes he had been lied to, just before he is dispatched by Darth Vader. Morrer, meanwhile, accepts that he must train another apprentice, while ordering Pychel Redd be taken captive. On Dantooine, city administrator Dorvi Ma'los accepts Adoor's recommendation for spaceport head, after he is persuaded by Captain Aldamar, who had agreed with Jerr Adoh's suggestion to begin with. Adoor, after accepting the position, tells Erroph that he will take over his cantina. Lastly, Narod and K'Kruhk arrive at the green moon and part ways with Piru, where Narod begins his Jedi training. He begins to suppress his emotions from his past and learns that, most importantly, one must learn acceptance in order to successfully adapt to change.^[2]

[edit] Production

[edit] Writing

Victor Dorantes originally began writing Acceptance in December 2007 under the title Knighthood, but production was slow and he wrote only four chapters before the novel was indefinitely delayed in 2008. After the delay, Dorantes picked up his project again in January 2009. Atarumaster88, author of the Force Exile series, joined Dorantes as the betareader for Acceptance shortly after.^[2]

In March, Dorantes's blogged on StarWars.com and announced eleven chapters had been completed for the novel.^[1] In April 2009, Dorantes announced his plans to release Acceptance on May 22, to coincide between the release dates of the six Star Wars films. He also announced, at that time, that Acceptance would be the first novel in The Antrell Epoch duology, the second being its sequel, Deliverance, which is slated for a late-2009 or early-2010 release.^[5] In May, Dorantes announced that the novel was nearly complete, and that he would no longer release his novel progressively, as he had done so before, instead hoping to release a complete file once the novel was finished.

On May 19, Dorantes released the completed version of Acceptance, three days ahead of schedule, to coincide with the release date of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith from 2005; this date was also the tenth anniversary for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace from 1999. The novel was completed with an approximate word count of 79,000 on 175 pages. It was released as a free eBook on Star Wars Fanon, the Star Wars wiki of fan invention.^[4] Dorantes also released the file on his official website.^[6] The novel is licensed under the Creative Commons.^[2]

On July 31, 2009, Dorantes released the "Author's Definitive Edition" of Acceptance, which he had been editing for some time. In the edit, the eBook was reformatted to fit the style of a book and extensive copyedits were made, which brought the word count to approximately 77,000 words. Because of the reformatting, though, the eBook finished at 242 pages. As well, the definitive edition supersedes every previous draft of Acceptance in all aspects.^[3]

[edit] Reception

In 2008, Acceptance, when it was still titled Knighthood, was nominated for Star Wars Fanon's third annual wiki awards, as a candidate in the "Best Novel" category. It did not win, although Atarumaster88 voiced his support for it, stating that it "nearly blew [him] away" when he first read it.^[7] This later became the reason why Atarumaster88 agreed to become Dorantes's betareader, along with the fact that Dorantes had become one of the betareaders for the Force Exile series^[8] in January 2009.

Melissa Legrand, author of the Coruscant Noir Trilogy and better known as "Katana Geldar," nominated Acceptance as a featured work, an honor her own novella The Seventh Star had received,^[9] for Star Wars Fanon at the end of April 2009. Although the novel was incomplete at the time, Legrand nominated the novel for the honor because she was "very, very impressed" by the story. Josh Bender, author of the novel Imperial Treachery, and Brandon Rhea, author of the novel Star Wars Episode I: The Chosen One, also voiced their support for Acceptance. Later, after the release of the novel's definitive edition, Atarumaster88, artist Britt Roth, and author Rosanna Hildreth also voiced their support for the novel. Ultimately, on August 21, the novel was successful in becoming Star Wars Fanon's featured work for the months of September and October.^[10]

Atarumaster88, when asked by Dorantes, gave the novel a rating of 3.5 out of 5. Britt Roth stated that the final cover art of Acceptance resembled that of the junior novelization of The Phantom Menace, which she deemed "professional." Josh Bender and Atarumaster88 also commended the artwork.^[11]

[edit] Cover gallery

Front cover

Back cover

eBook

[edit] Notes and references

The Antrell Epoch duology Acceptance | Deliverance

Squishy Vic Series (SVS)
Narratives Acceptance · Deliverance · The Fallen · The Return Guides The Essential Guide · Into the Realm of Star Wars Visual media The Darkness of Phydah