In the blockbuster bestselling tradition of Heir to the Empire comes this thrilling addition to the Star Wars(r) saga, as peace gives way to a new threat... It is a time of tranquillity for the New Republic. The remnants of the Empire now lie in complete disarray, and the reemergence of the Jedi Knights has brought power and prestige to the fledgling government on Coruscant. Yesterday's Rebels have become today's administrators and diplomats, and the factions that fought against imperial tyranny seem united in savoring the fruits of peace. But the peace is short-lived. A restless Luke must journey to his mother's homeworld in a desperate and dangerous quest to find her people. An adventurous Lando must seize a mysterious spacecraft that has weapons of enormous destructive power and an unknown mission. And Leia, a living symbol of the New Republic's triumph, must face down a ruthless leader of the Duskhan League, an arrogant Yevetha who seems bent on a genocidal war that could shatter the fragile unity of the New Republic...and threaten its very survival.

In the wake of a shattered alliance, the New Republic fights a relentless new enemy in an all-new adventure in the bestselling Star Wars saga... Faced with an alarming image of Han as a battered hostage of the Yevetha, Chewbacca takes on an urgent mission. Meanwhile, Leia calls upon the Senate to take a stand and eliminate the Yevetha threat--even at the cost of Han's life. As a former Imperial governor takes his battle to the runaway Qella spaceship, Luke's continuing search for his mother brings him dangerously close to Nil Spaar's deadly forces. And as the Yevetha close in on the forces of the New Republic, Luke takes a desperate gamble with an invisible weapon...

The diaspora has begun: the spending of Earth’s wealth to send STL generation ships to distant stars. Starstruck volunteers queue up hoping to be selected for one of the five ships, but others condemn this dispersal of materials and people needed to help Earth recover from ecological damage. Jeremiah “for the Homeworld” leads the rebels with acts of sabotage calculated to slow the exodus and turn world opinion against it. Meanwhile, Thomas Tidwell, official historian of the Diaspora Project, is tracking down a dark secret that hides the true reason for the migration. Kube-McDowell ( Enigma ) presents the world of 2095 through the two viewpoints of Mikhail Dryke, a security agent trying to track down Jeremiah, and Christopher McCutcheon, a project worker and folk singer who gets caught in the gears. The society is believable, socially and technically, the writing keeps a steady pace, building toward the climax, and the secret proves to be quite imaginative. Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1991.

As Leia must deal with a new threat to the fragile alliance that binds the New Republic, Lando becomes a prisoner aboard a runaway spacecraft of unknown origin. The ship is following an unstoppable path to its homeworld, destroyed by Imperial forces. Luke continues his quest to learn more about his mother among the Fallanassi, where his every belief about the use of the Force is about to be challenged. And while Leia ponders a diplomatic solution to the aggression of the fierce Yevetha race, Han pilots a spy ship into the heart of Yevethan space and finds himself a hostage on one of the vast fleet of warships under the command of a ruthless leader.