But it is a dark time for the Rebel Alliance: deploying Umak Leth's new terror weapon, Emperor Palpatine has once again asserted his technological dominance over the galaxy.

No planet, no space fleet, is safe from the destructive power of lightspeed projectiles that can set off nucleonic chain reactions anywhere in the galaxy.

In a demonstration of power, Pinnacle Moon and its Rebel Command Base have been destroyed by the weapon, and the Alliance has been driven into hiding.

Numerous systems sympathetic to the Rebel cause have rapidly capitulated to this new Imperial threat of total annihilation.

Secreted on the Nespis VIII space city, Mon Motha and her generals vow to fight on. Troopships and heavy armor are directed against Imperial supply ports and shipyards . . . and, without success, against the Galaxy Gun itself.

Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and his small band of Jedi have the critical task of protecting Leia's children, who are the future of the Jedi. Most urgently, Luke and the Jedi hope to draw the Emperor into a face-to-face confrontation that will end his dark reign - and restore peace to the galaxy - for all time to come.