Because of the events that led up to the Battle of Sluis Van in the previous novel, lead smuggler Talon Karrde has left his base on Myrkr and is now fleeing from Grand Admiral Thrawn’s Imperial forces. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker meets the insane Joruus C’baoth and agrees to be taught by him on the planet Jomark to further his knowledge of the Force. However, when Thrawn captures Karrde, Mara Jade finds that she once again needs help from Luke, the man she so hates under the belief that he killed her beloved master, Emperor Palpatine, during the Battle of Endor five years earlier. So Mara travels to Jomark, and she and Luke defeat C’boath just as he tries to kill them for taking Luke away from the training, which Luke and Mara both know is psychologically compromised due to C’boath’s insanity. The two of them infiltrate Thrawn’s Empire and save Karrde.
In the continuing search for Delta Source, the New Republic source believed to be spying for Thrawn, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian try to find evidence at the planet New Cov, with Luke helping before he left for Jomark. At New Cov, it is believed that one of Senator Borsk Fey’lya‘s advisers is a traitor to the New Republic for Thrawn, and is thus a primary suspect for Delta Source. But before Han, Lando, and Luke can find any real evidence concerning Fey’lya’s adviser, they find out that Thrawn’s forces have arrived on the planet. They manage to escape, and Han and Lando are saved by a third party, which takes them to an unknown location where they meet the legendary General Garm Bel Iblis, one of the initial members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Bel Iblis declines to help the New Republic defeat Thrawn because of personal problems with Chief of State Mon Mothma.
Elsewhere, Leia Organa Solo keeps the promise she made with the Noghri known as Khabarakh back on the planet Kashyyyk in the previous novel and arrives on Khabarakh’s devastated home planet of Honoghr. Leia manages to get the entire Noghri race to side with the New Republic against Thrawn by exposing the fact that it was the Empire that devastated Honoghr, not the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
The novel climaxes when the New Republic finds out from Talon Karrde that an old superior of his, Captain Hoffner, exposed the secret of the legendary Katana fleet to Thrawn. This fleet of 200 Dreadnaughts would tip the balance of power decisively in Thrawn’s favor over the New Republic. During the battle for the Katana fleet, the New Republic manages to destroy some of the cruisers, but Thrawn wins most of them.