Star Wars: The Black Fleet Crisis, Book 3: Tyrant's Test

It is a time of tranquility for the New Republic. But the peace is short-lived. 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 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.

A trade summit on Corellia brings Han Solo back to the home planet he left many years before. Arriving on the distant planet with Leia, their children, and Chewbacca, Han finds Corellia overrun with agents of the New Republic Intelligence and finds himself part of a deceptive plan whose aim not even he understands.

Somewhere in the galaxy, millions suddenly perish in a blinding instant of pain, anguish, and despair, a disruption of the Force so shocking, it is felt by Luke at his Jedi academy on Yavin 4 and by Leia at home on Coruscant. It is a deed that rivals the terrifying power of the Death Star, the long-destroyed weapon of the defeated Empire.

There is a great disturbance in the Force. From the sleek ships of the glimmering Coruscant skyscape to the lush gardens of pastoral Naboo, dissent is roiling. The Republic is failing, even under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, elected 10 years earlier to save the crumbling government. Separatists threaten war, and the Senate is hopelessly divided, unable to determine whether to raise an army for battle or keep the fragile peace.

The Empire stands at the brink of total collapse. But they have saved their most heinous plan for last. First a plot is hatched that could destroy the New Republic in a bloodbath of genocide and civil war. Then comes the shocking news that Grand Admiral Thrawn--the most cunning and ruthless warlord in history--has apparently returned from the dead to lead the Empire to a long-prophesied victory.

Princess Leia is dealt a crushing blow when her three children, Anakin and the twins Jaina and Jacen, are kidnapped. Leia's advisers counsel her to wait for a ransom note, but waiting is the hardest thing for a mother to do when her children are in danger. And worse than waiting is her discovery that she cannot sense her children through the Force.

While Luke Skywalker takes the first step toward setting up an academy to train a new order of Jedi Knights, Han Solo and Chewbacca are taken prisoner on the planet Kessel and forced to work in the fathomless depths of a spice mine. But when Han and Chewie break away, they flee to a secret Imperial research laboratory surrounded by a cluster of black holes - going from one danger to a far greater one.

Corran Horn has distinguished himself as one of the best and brightest of Rogue Squadron's elite fighting force. Then his wife, Mirax, vanishes on a covert mission for the New Republic, and Corran vows to find her. To do so, he knows he must develop the latent Force powers inherited from his grandfather, a legendary Jedi hero. He joins Luke Skywalker's famed Jedi academy to begin training, only to quit in frustration at Skywalker's methods. Now Corran is on his own.

Nam Chorios is a barren backwater planet that was once a dreaded prison colony and is now home to a fanatical religious cult. It is here that Princess Leia has been taken captive by a ruthless warlord. Meanwhile, Luke lands on a mysterious planet in search of his lost love, Callista, only to discover the Force is his own worst enemy. But worst of all, as Han, Chewie, and Lando leave Coruscant on a desperate rescue mission, a malevolent life-form, unlike any the galaxy has ever seen, awakens.

As the Jedi and the Republic focus on internal struggles, a new threat surfaces beyond the farthest reaches of the Outer Rim. An enemy appears from outside known space, bearing weapons and technology unlike anything New Republic scientists have ever seen. Suddenly, Luke, Mara, Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca, along with their children, are thrust again into battle. But this time, all their courage, sacrifice, and even the power of the Force itself, may not be enough.

As the fragile stability on Duro threatens to collapse into violence, Jacen Solo must face his greatest dilemma: At what point does the use of power become aggression? Whatever he decides, his next step could tip the galaxy's destiny toward the light or toward darkness - with the life of someone he loves hanging in the balance.

They are the X-wing fighters: sleek, swift, and deadly. And as the struggle rages across the vastness of space, the fearless men and women who pilot them risk both their lives and their machines. Their mission: to defend the Rebel Alliance against a still powerful and battle-hardened Imperial foe in a last ditch effort to control the stars!

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, has unified the Jedi order into a cohesive group of powerful knights. But as the new era begins, honor and duty will collide with friendship and blood ties. The Skywalker and Solo clans find themselves on opposing sides of an explosive conflict, with potentially devastating repercussions for both families, for the Jedi order, and for the entire galaxy.

He is Xizor, Underlord of a galaxywide criminal organization, and he seeks to displace Darth Vader as the Emperor's right hand. To do so, he will hatch a brilliantly evil plan to discredit Vader in the Emperor's eyes. In the meantime, he will join the Dark Lord in an unholy alliance whose common target is Luke Skywalker.

The Clone Wars have yet to erupt when Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth petitions the Senate for support of a singularly ambitious undertaking. Six Jedi Masters and 12 Jedi Knights, including Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, and 50,000 men, women, and children, will embark on a mission to contact intelligent life and colonize undiscovered worlds. But the mission is secretly being orchestrated by an unlikely ally: the evil Sith Lord Darth Sidious.