Shadow Fall (Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron, #2)

by Alexander Freed

The tower formed gradually out of the night, taking shape where stars were absent against the sky. From a distance, it might have been a natural obelisk—a gargantuan version of the black stones that erupted during the worst of the quakes. As Quell’s eyes adjusted and she strained to take it in, however, she saw that the top of the tower was ornately forked—two individual spires rising from the central mass, arcing and coming together to frame an opaque lens that dully distorted the stars behind it. There was nothing Quell could see at the base of the tower. There was no path through the sand, or even the corpse of another stormtrooper to indicate the location had significance. She thought of what Adan had said about sites targeted by Operation Cinder. “Do you know what it is?” she asked the interrogation droid.