To do so, he will team up with Mara Jade, with whom he will share his growing mastery of the Force and the ever-present threat of the dark side. The most cunning and ruthless warlord in Imperial history has seemingly returned to lead the Empire to triumph.Īs Han and Leia try to prevent the unraveling of the New Republic in the face of this fearful and inexplicable threat from the past, Luke sets out to track down the rogue pirate ships. And then comes the most startling news of all: Grand Admiral Thrawn-believed to be dead for ten years-is reported alive. At the same time, Luke Skywalker, along with Lando Calrissian and Talon Karrde, pursues a mysterious group of pirate ships whose crews consist of clones. An ambitious Moff Disra leads a conspiracy to divide the uneasy coalition with an ingenious plot to blame the Bothans for a heinous crime that could lead to genocide and civil war. Princess Leia struggles against all odds to hold the New Republic together. An unwieldy alliance of races and traditions, the confederation now finds itself riven by age-old animosities.

But with the end of the war in sight, the New Republic has fallen victim to its own success. Day by day, neutral systems are rushing to join the New Republic coalition. Once commanding an invincible armada of Star Destroyers, its fleet has been reduced to a skeleton force.

Once the unquestioned master of countless solar systems, the Empire is tottering on the brink of total collapse. Now Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo must battle to safeguard the fledgling New Republic from a dead Imperial warlord-and from itself. From Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn, whose unprecedented bestselling trilogy continued the saga of George Lucas's blockbuster films and became a landmark in the history of science fiction publishing, comes a dramatic new chapter in the greatest science fiction epic ever told.

Timothy zahn specter of the past