The time of reckoning is close at hand, as the heroes of the New Republic prepare for their most volatile clash yet with the enemy—from without and within…. In the war against the ruthless Yuuzhan Vong, the fall of Coruscant leaves the galaxy on the verge of bowing to conquest. Those who steadfastly refuse to surrender—Luke, Han, Leia, and their children and comrades-in-arms—are determined to seize victory against overwhelming odds. But the New Republic is crumbling, divided by internal strife, and intrigue runs rampant: in the heated political race for Chief of State…in the shadows where Yuuzhan Vong spies plot assassinations…and in the inscrutable creature Vergere, a Jedi whose allegiance is impossible to predict. Now, as Luke Skywalker sets about reestablishing the Jedi Council, the growing faction opposed to the ways of the Force unveils a terrifying weapon designed to annihilate the Yuuzhan Vong species. The opposition must be stopped, before dooming the New Republic to becoming the very thing it has sworn to fight against—and unleashing the power of the dark side.