By:  Kevin J. Anderson Published by Bantam Books March 1994 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 Han 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....

    Chewbacca saw it first.  The ship, aerodynamically perfect, slid through Kessel's atmosphere like a vibroblade.  The ship fired surgical strikes of turbolasers at the Falcon's maneuvering jets, disabling them further.
    "We're already crashing!" Han bellowed.  "What more do they want?"  But he knew:  they wanted the Falcon to be destroyed on impact, all occupants erased.
    When the Hornet tried to outflank them, Han swept the ship aside as a towering plume of atmosphere boiled into the sky.  The Hornet Interceptor tried to second-guess his move, but Han lurched sidways again, driving the Hornet into the roaring upward flow of wind.
    Han gave a cry of triumph . . . .
    Then the surface of the planet Kessel rushed up at them like a gigantic hammer.