The Fallen Star (Star Wars: The High Republic)

by Claudia Gray

If you ignored news broadcasts and weren’t monitoring the skies for any particular reason, Starlight had appeared as no more than one bright spot among thousands in the firmament. However, by this point, the only thing you had to do to realize there was trouble was to live on the southeastern continent and to look up. It was late at night there, but those few who were awake had begun to rouse others. They pointed up at a sky thick with stars—two of which were growing larger and brighter by the moment. One of them had begun to glow a terrible shade of red. It’s burning, said some. It can’t, said others. It’s the symbol of the Republic. It’s the best technology the whole galaxy has to offer. It can’t have been taken down so easily. But they said it less often as the sky brightened with the approaching dawn, and they could better see the blaze that was beginning to streak across the sky.