Cover Artist: Terese Nielson
On Coruscant, Mara Jade is in her eighth month of pregnancy and she and Luke Skywalker are relaxing in a private resort when Kenth Hamner arrives to warn them that the New Republic government has issued a warrant for their arrest. This is overshadowed by an attack that reveals the treatment Mara is taking for the Vong illness may cause serious harm to her unborn son. With the danger past, they leave Coruscant to find the Errant Venture in order to avoid the arrest warrant, and Luke sends Jaina Solo to find Kyp Durron and bring him back. On the Errant Venture, Corran Horn takes Anakin Solo and Tahiri Veila on a supply run to Eriadu. While there, the youth sense a Jedi in trouble and race to the rescue. They arrive in time to fight off the Peace Brigade troops, but the Jedi dies after warning them of a threat at Yag'Dhul. They are arrested and then escape to the ship, where they make a hasty escape to outside the Yag'Dhul system and land in the middle of a huge Yuuzhan Vong fleet. Meanwhile, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Jacen Solo are trying to find safe places for the Jedi to hide when they come across people running supplies for the Vong and decide to play pirate to rob the Vong worlds of these supplies. Jaina finds Kyp, who shows her surveillance footage of Sernpidal where it appears that the Vong are building a superweapon capable of destroying stars. She helps Kyp convince Gavin Darklighter and Wedge Antilles that this is a serious threat and they mount an operation to destroy this weapon before it is completed. Corran, Anakin and Tahiri manage to hide themselves from the Vong on an asteroid that is actually a scout ship which they commandeer as it jumps to Yag'Dhul. They come up with a plan whereby they can make the Givin aware of the threat and are taken into custody there. As the Vong attack the facilities, they are released and guided to an escape vessel, but they meet up with the Vong agent Nom Anor who tries to have them killed before they can escape. As they do so, they notice the Vong fleet rapidly disengaging and retreating for no apparent reason. On the Millennium Falcon, Han, Leia and Jacen have fallen into a trap and are trying to fight off Tsavong Lah in his personal ship. They pull one last desperate gambit that works, disabling Lah's ship temporarily and allowing them to get away. Jaina and the task force assaulting Sernpidal are successful in destroying the Vong weapon, but in the aftermath, Jaina discovers that Kyp lied to them. It wasn't a superweapon at all, but a new worldship that would have allowed all of the old decaying worldships to discharge their passengers, and by destroying this one, they have condemned countless non-combatants to certain death. On the Errant Venture, Mara's illness has come back with a vengeance. On death's door, Mara finally opens up to Luke enough to allow his strength to support her, and the unborn child adds his strength as well, finally cleansing Mara of the Vong illness. Her child is born, and they name him Ben.
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