The live broadcast of the Imperial attempt to make an example of the Deathstalker's planet Virimonde has done just that–but the results were far from what Empress Lionstone intended. A roar of rage and condemnation has spread across the whole Empire, planet after planet seeing its own possible future unfolding before them on their viewscreens. The rebel forces have made the most of this opportunity, guiding and assisting the spontaneous uprisings on world after world. Blood is spilled and the leaders of the underground begin to grow desperate. On the planet Golgotha, it's beginning to look like all their hopes depend on the assault of Lionstone's bunker deep beneath the Imperial Palace byOwen Deathstalker and his companions, an assault that can only end in death.