Forty years after the Battle of Yavin, a dangerous new era has begun as civil war threatens the unity of the Galactic Alliance. In the wake of Corellia's failed bid for independence, Han and Leia Solo cannot stand by and do nothing. They've decided to risk everything to help end the war as quickly as possible, though their willingness to join Han's fellow Corellians has enraged their family and the Jedi, fighting on the side of the Alliance. The Solos draw the line when they discover the rebels' plot to make the Hapan Consortium an allywhich rests upon Hapan nobles murdering their pro-Alliance queen and her daughter. Yet Han and Leia's selfless determination to save the queen cannot avert the inescapable consequences of their actionsconsequences that will pit mother against son and brother against sister in the battles ahead. For as Jacen Solo's dark powers grow stronger under the Dark Jedi Lumiya, and his influence over Ben Skywalker becomes more insidious, Luke's concern for his nephew forces him into a life-and-death struggle against his fiercest foe, and Han and Leia Solo find themselves at the mercy of their deadliest enemy...their son.