"The embattled Republic reels from the attacks of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has marshaled the remnants of the Imperial forces and driven the Rebels back with an abominable technology recovered from the Emperor's secret fortress: clone soldiers. As Thrawn mounts his final siege, Han Solo and Chewbacca struggle to form a coalition of smugglers for a last-ditch attack, while Princess Leia holds the Alliance together and prepares for the birth of her...

It's five years after Return of the Jedi. The Rebel Alliance has destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and driven out the remnants of the old Imperial Starlfleet to a distant corner of the galaxy. Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting Jedi Twins. And Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of Jedi Knights. But thousand of light-years away, the last of the Emperor's warlords has taken command...

Rescued from exile by Imperial soldiers, Thrawn proved to be indispensable to Emperor Palpatine and the Empire. Ambitious and a warrior never to be underestimated, one promotion followed another. Follow the events that launched the blue-skinned, red-eyed master of military strategy and lethal warfare into the highest realms of power and infamy as Thrawn rises to Admiral.

Timothy Zahn is the master of the Star Wars novel. His trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command) did almost as much as the movie trilogy's re-release to create new interest in Luke, Leia, and Han Solo. Specter of the Past is the first of a new series, The Hand of Thrawn. Princess Leia is trying desperately to hold the loose coalition of interests known as the New Republic together long enough to see the evil Empire finally...

Han, Chewie, and Lando set out for Renat Chorios where Princess Leia is being held hostage by a ruthless warlord and where Luke has become trapped and unable to use the Force to save himself; meanwhile, the planet begins to reveal a strange, malevolent life-form that promises to destroy both the Empire and New Republic.

The Hutts are building a new super weapon while Admiral Daala marshals forces to attack the New Republic.