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 Hans and Chewie break away, they flee desperately to a secret imperial research laboratory surrounded by a cluster of black holes--and go from one danger to a far greater one....

On Kessel, Luke picks up the trail of his two friends, only to come face to face with a weapon so awesome, it can wipe out an entire solar system. It is a death ship called the Sun Crusher, invented by a reclusive genius and piloted by none other than Han himself...