No faster has Darth Vader’s funeral pyre burned to ashes in Endor compared to the Alliance intercepts a demand help from a far-flung Imperial outpost. Bakura is normally on the edge of known space and the first to meet the Ssi-ruuk, cold-blooded reptilian invaders who, once allied with the now dead Emperor, are approaching Imperial space with only one goal; total domination. Princess Leia sees the objective as an opportunity to achieve a diplomatic success for the Alliance. Nonetheless it assumes even greater importance whenever a eyesight of Obi-Wan Kenobi appears to Luke Skywalker using the message that he must head to Bakura-or risk shedding everything the Rebels possess fought so desperately to achieve.