[[quoteright:251:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_nest.png]]
->''"Bugs! Why did it have to be bugs?"''
-->-- '''Han Solo'''

A ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' novel trilogy from 2005. Featuring:

The Killik, an insectoid race capable of absorbing non-Killik species into their HiveMind via brainwashing. They launch an invasion on Chiss territory, prompting the Chiss Ascendency to retaliate with aid from the Galactic Alliance. When the Jedi get involved, a number of them are brainwashed by the Killik into becoming Joiners. Luke and Mara's son, Ben Skywalker, also begins growing up and developing as a character in this series.

This trilogy also notably features Luke and Leia finally learning about their mother Padmé Amidala, tying into the release of ''Film/StarWarsRevengeOfTheSith'' the same year.

Written by Creator/TroyDenning, this trilogy is noticeably {{bloodier|And Gorier}} than most ''Star Wars Legends'' books.

----
!!This work has examples of:
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Jacen uses the Force to obliterate Hapan Queen Mother Ta'a Chume's mind to protect Tenel Ka and their daughter. Ta'a previously tried to sabotage the Hapes Consortium's joining the New Republic, had her Dathomiri daughter-in-law poisoned during the Yuuzhan Vong War, and then hired the Dark Nest to have Tenel Ka, her own granddaughter, killed along with said child. No great loss.]]
* BigBad: The Dark Nest, led by [[spoiler:Lomi Plo]].
%%* BugWar: Unsurprisingly.
* BusCrash: [[Literature/OutboundFlight Chak Fel]], one of Soontir Fel's sons, a pilot who gets angry about injustice and knows when to put aside his pride and who is just generally ''awesome'', is casually mentioned to have died in a war that's now over.
* ContinuityNod: A few major ones for the concurrently released ''Film/StarWarsRevengeOfTheSith'' with Luke finding Artoo Detoo's recordings of Anakin discussing his nightmare with Padmé, Obi-Wan meeting with her after Order 66, and his and Leia's birth and their mother's death.
* ContinuitySnarl: Shares a [[ContinuitySnarl/StarWarsLegends page]] with the rest of ''Star Wars Legends''.
* CoversAlwaysLie: Luke doesn't use Force lightning (or its Light-affiliated variant Electric Judgment) in ''The Swarm War''.
* CreditsGag: In the ''Dramatis Personae'' for ''The Swarm War'', [[spoiler:Lomi Plo is listed as "Lomi Plo: Gorog Queen (female human... mostly)". She's had numerous Killik parts grafted on to her body, some to compensate for injuries, some apparently just for fun (like an extra set of arms).]]
%%* DarkerAndEdgier: Arguably marks the start of a growing trend towards this in the SWEU. The
* DemotedToExtra: After appearing in eleven ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' books, Danni Quee only appeared in a single chapter throughout this whole trilogy.
* TheDragon: Welk for the Dark Nest, later [[spoiler: Alema after she goes rogue.]]
* DiscountLesbians: Zekk's ''interesting'' thoughts about Jag when Joined to Jaina.
* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: The Gorog lay their eggs inside of prisoners and let the larvae eat their way out of their unfortunate victims. The other Killiks are noted to be disgusted and horrified by this.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Alema]] had been skirting the edge of the dark side ever sense her sister got killed in ''[[Literature/NewJediOrder Star By Star]]'', but here she crosses over to it for good.
** Jacen hasn't fully made the transition yet, but he's hovering on the edge, such as when he arranges a Jedi raid on the Chiss, doesn't care about the casualties, and manipulates his friends and sister into it with half-truths.
* ForeverWar: Jacen sees a vision of one between the Killiks and the Galactic Alliance. He uses this to justify preventing it by being a WellIntentionedExtremist.

* GoldfishPoopGang: Alema Rar, a Twi'lek Jedi who had a StartOfDarkness in ''[[Literature/NewJediOrder Star By Star]]'' and becomes one of the Jedi Joiners. Luke expels her from the order over her behavior and she ends up becoming a recurring minor villain before [[spoiler:ultimately ([[Literature/LegacyOfTheForce apparently]]) being EatenAlive by a critter]].
* HiveCasteSystem: There are a number of different types of Killik, many of them radically different in appearance and tactics. While each type is connected mentally, they apparently have a different HiveMind for each type, and so when the Jedi Joiners are sent to assist a different type, they find their Joiner-ness weakening. Being Joiners, this horrifies them.
* HiveMind: Killiks are in constant communication with one another through a system of pheromones, bioelectric signals and telepathy. Members of other species who are exposed to Killik pheromones for a prolonged amount of time can be subsumed within this mental union, becoming Joiners.
* HomoeroticSubtext: Zekk, hiveminded with Jaina, agrees with her feelings towards Jag.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The first two books are ''The Joiner King'' and ''The Unseen Queen''; the third is ''The Swarm War''. All three also begin with a definite article.
%%* InsaneTrollLogic: The "logic" that any Killik uses absolutely reeks of this. [[spoiler:Especially because they're being unconsciously manipulated by Dark Jedi Lomi Plo.]]%%ZCE. How is this an example?
* InsigniaRipOffRitual: A Jedi variant. Luke realizes that between her experiences in the previous war and the Killiks, Alema Rar is too far gone to save, and takes her lightsaber from her and removes the crystal from the hilt to disable it. She insists she'll replace it, and he calmly tells her he'll do the same to her next one, and the one after that.
* LongestPregnancyEver: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Tenel Ka when [[spoiler:Jacen gets her pregnant. She uses the Force to stretch the pregnancy out to twelve months to keep the fact that Jacen is the father from her DecadentCourt.]]
* LudicrousGibs: Killiks get splattered across the landscape with alarming frequency.
* MileLongShip: The Killik ships are ''kilometers'' long, understandably dwarfing the Galactic Alliance and Chiss ships.
* MindRape:
** [[spoiler:Jacen does this to Ta'a Chume after she's implicated in the Dark Nest's assassination attempt against Tenel Ka and their daughter, obvious {{Foreshadowing}} of his fall to the dark side in the next series.]]
** [[spoiler: Lomi Plo and the Dark Nest do a low-key version of this ''to the entire Killik species''. Including Raynar Thul.]]
* MsFanservice: Alema Rar. In every single scene she's in, special attention is paid to describing how sexy her wardrobe is, even ''in a hazmat suit'' (which is two sizes too small, so it clings to her like a second skin). At one point, she shows up in a Killik-silk outfit that is completely sheer, except for one solid panel... over the wound she took in the previous book.
* QuestionableConsent: It's left ambigious, but if Jaina and Zekk ''are'' having sex in this story, they're almost certainly doing it under the influence of the Killik.
* PapaWolf: Jacen will do ''anything'' to keep his daughter and Tenel Ka safe. Unfortunately, PapaWolf, ManipulativeBastard, and PersonOfMassDestruction are not a good combination.
* PredationIsNatural: At the end of book one the Killiks settle a world that turns out to have a native organism that attacks them. [[spoiler:The Alliance ultimately seeds this organism onto the Killiks' other planets as a way of keeping their population under control and preventing further conflicts.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Luke Skywalker, of all people, drops the EU standby [[PardonMyKlingon "kriffing"]] out of frustration at one point.
* SeriesContinuityError: Danni Quee's eyes are described as blue in the third book of the trilogy, despite every ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' book she appeared in describing them as green.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Luke Skywalker, ''torture victim'', advocating torture.
%%* ShadowArchetype: The Dark Nest is this to the whole Killik species.
* ShoutOut: To ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''. "Bugs. Why did it have to be bugs?" Spoken by [[ActorAllusion Han Solo]], naturally.
* StartOfDarkness: Jacen becomes a WellIntentionedExtremist in this series, setting him up for ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce''.
* ThatsNoMoon: Han comes within spitting distance of [[Film/ANewHope quoting himself]] when he, Luke, Juun, and Tarfang stumble upon the Killik nest ship fleet.
* ThemeNaming: "Killik" is a palindrome. All Killik species have palindrome names, from Aebea to Yoggoy.
* ThirdLineSomeWaiting: The primary plots of the trilogy have to do with the various conflicts caused by the Killiks. There's also a C-plot of Luke and Leia recovering information about Padmé Naberrie Amidala from R2-D2's archived memory, which doesn't amount to much of anything.
* UnreliableNarrator: The Jedi who become Joiners think that the bugs are awesome and hiveminds are awesome and Chiss are meanies for not, you know, letting the bugs take over. The Galactic Alliance is also wrong, for not supporting them one hundred percent. And of course, the Killiks couldn't ''possibly'' slow down their reproductive rate and remove the exponentially increasing overpopulation problem and the constant food crises. That's the only reason why they're invading, of course.
* WeWillNotUsePhotoshopInTheFuture: Averted. The Chiss show Leia a camera feed of Han getting his ear cut off, but he's not being tortured at all. In fact, Han breaks into the room Leia's in, sees "himself", and quips about it.
---> He noticed the display screen in the corner, which continued to show the medic and the torturer standing beside Han's bloody head. "Hey! That poor rodder looks like '''me'''!
%%* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Han [[ActorAllusion of course]].
* YouCantGoHomeAgain:
** The Killiks, since [[EarthShatteringKaboom Wilhuff Tarkin blasted Oroboro to asteroids]]. An explanation might be required: Oroboro is the Killik name for Alderaan.
** Jagged Fel is banished from Chiss society because of the damages Lowbacca inflicted while under custody. Not so much the damage he did while in custody, but the fact that he was released under a promise that he would stay out of the fighting... and then joined Jacen in the assault on the Chiss base that started the war.
* ZergRush: The primary Killik tactic; they're described as dying in the millions when facing entrenched enemies.
----