Timothy Zahn Star Wars: Outbound Flight

On an epic voyage far beyond the Republic, the Jedi will confront their most extraordinary enemy-and test the limits of honor and sacrifice against their most devastating challenge. . . . 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 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. 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 avert disaster. Thus 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.