Chapter Summaries

Olegar took control of Roan and the Calamity Legion by exploiting Roan’s greed for Demetrius Zaarin’s technological legacy. Magtan Scar escaped to Tatooine with Jason and warned Ni Yongxiao that Olegar had likely seized the Legion.

• Roan agreed to meet Olegar on Sarka Planet and planned to steal the technological data, but Olegar arrived aboard a damaged Imperial-class Star Destroyer and entered Roan’s flagship.
• Olegar used his psychic power to enslave Roan and the armed pirates, then ordered Roan to take him to the Calamity Legion’s headquarters.
• Roan announced the Legion’s merger with Olegar’s Fist on Anzat Planet, where Olegar psychically dominated the gathered pirates; Magtan Scar fled with Jason in a Rift Class Corvette.
• Olegar gave Roan the TIE Defender data and ordered him to find buyers, while Roan named Nal Hutta and said the Rebel Alliance and the Kingdom of Dawn were interested.
• Three days later, Magtan Scar and Jason reached Ni Yongxiao’s residence on Tatooine and reported that Olegar had probably taken control of the Calamity Legion.

Ni Yongxiao told Magtan-Scar that the Calamity Legion could not be rebuilt under the Kingdom of Dawn, but Magtan-Scar chose to try anyway. At Fefze, the Kingdom of Dawn and its allies continued their campaign against the rapidly growing Kilik Swarm without yet discovering its source.

• Ni Yongxiao explained that Olegar had taken control of Roan and the Calamity Legion, and that the Kingdom of Dawn was supporting Olegar while preserving its forces for a later pursuit.
• Ni Yongxiao asked Magtan-Scar to return and serve him, but refused to support rebuilding the Calamity Legion; Magtan-Scar left to rebuild it on his own.
• At Fefze, a Kingdom of Dawn fleet fought the Kilik Swarm for two days before withdrawing to repair and resupply, while white-robed staff screened returning soldiers and sent some to quarantine.
• Sefrans-Tann, Adra, Rassidan, Abathur, Shien-Morabito, and Iliz Al Alani Qiyala discussed the swarm’s explosive growth and the failure to reach Fefze’s surface.
• Adra reported that the Holy Advent Cult had detected the Psionic Link behind the swarm while its priests sought an oracle from The Unity.

Sefrans Tann coordinated the campaign against the Kilik Swarm with the Protoss, Abathur, and the Holy Advent Cult, while Archon Ronnis arrived to use the Holy Prayer Choir to find the Jedi Knight directing the Swarm. The chapter ended as Ronnis’s cruiser departed toward the star and Adra’s attendants connected a special device to the holographic star map.

• Adra told Sefrans Tann that the Swarms shared a psionic link and that Archon Ronnis had arrived with reinforcements to uncover their hidden controller.
• Sefrans Tann ordered Adra to keep attacking Fefze, asked Rassidan to investigate how the Swarms reached the planet, and asked Abathur how much support the Togot Swarm could provide.
• Rassidan warned Tann that the Protoss would oppose breeding Kilik Swarms, while Shien Morabito argued that Dawn Star Planet had authorized it.
• Adra’s large fleet arrived, followed two days later by the Heavy Cruiser Apocalypse, carrying Archon Ronnis.
• Ronnis told Tann that he would lead the Holy Prayer Choir in prayer to find the mastermind behind the Kilik Swarm.
• The next day, Ronnis departed aboard Apocalypse toward the star, and Adra’s attendants connected a special device to the holographic star map.

Sefrans-Tann and Adra used Ronnis’s psionic sensing to trace the Kilik Swarm’s network toward the galactic core, while the Protoss Executor Selendis arrived to join the campaign. Selendis and the Kingdom of Dawn clashed over Abathur and the cultivated swarms, reaching a compromise that let Abathur depart safely as the battle remained under Tann’s command.

• Ronnis used his Apocalypse to trace the Kilik Swarm’s psionic network from Fefze toward the galactic core, then returned to Jobar exhausted.
• Selendis arrived at Jobar with the Executor Fleet and agreed to cooperate under Sefrans-Tann while retaining final authority over her own ships.
• Selendis demanded that the Kingdom of Dawn destroy its cultivated Kilik Swarm and kill Abathur, but Sefrans-Tann and Shien Morabito defended their position.
• After consulting the High Command, Sefrans-Tann and Shien Morabito agreed to eliminate the Togot Swarm and stop cultivating Kilik Swarms, while insisting that Abathur be protected.
• Selendis accepted the compromise but warned that the dispute was not over, and Abathur left for hyperspace under Kingdom of Dawn protection.

The Protoss Executor Fleet incinerated Abathur’s Togot Swarm on Jobar while Ronnis traced the Kilik Swarm’s Psionic Links to a dangerous convergence point. Selendis and Sefrans Tann prepared a raid, and reinforcements arrived with Darth Lilim and Hydra as the story left the expedition facing its next operation.

• The Protoss Executor Fleet burned the moons Aili Satellite and Nogu Satellite, destroying Abathur’s Togot Swarm.
• Ronnis showed Sefrans Tann, Selendis, Adra, and Shien Morabito a psionic star map revealing vast Kilik Swarms and a dark region where their Psionic Links converged.
• Sefrans Tann proposed striking the convergence point, and Selendis and Adra committed their forces to the raid and an assault on Fefze.
• Shien Morabito announced that Tyran Heavy Industries warships and two of the King’s pets would arrive as reinforcements.
• Darth Lilim arrived with Hydra in chains and said she found the zealots and their mission interesting.

The expedition leaders traced the Kilik Swarm’s Psionic Links to a dangerous convergence point and planned a raid to sever them, while Shien-Morabito arranged reinforcements. The reinforcements arrived with Darth Lilim and Hydra, and Lilim found the fanatical company intriguing.

• Ronnis revealed a psionic star map showing that the Swarm at Fefze was only a small part of a vast network, and Sefrans-Tann chose to strike where its Psionic Links converged.
• Selendis and Sefrans-Tann volunteered their fleets for the raid, while Adra planned to lead the remaining ships in an assault on Fefze.
• Shien-Morabito announced that new Tyran Heavy Industries warships and two of the King’s pets would arrive as reinforcements.
• Selendis told Sefrans-Tann that High Templar Aldrion had met with the Pontiff, and Ronnis confirmed that their discussions had benefited the Holy Advent Cult.
• Darth Lilim arrived with Hydra on a chain, and she declared the gathering of religious and Protoss fanatics interesting.

Sefrans Tann’s fleet reached Lago Planet while Adra’s forces fought a costly delaying battle at Fefze. There, Sefrans and Selendis discovered an assimilated Imperial fleet that had enabled the Kilik Swarm to spread between star systems and merge into a greater threat.

• Sefrans Tann’s fleet took a difficult, indirect route to Lago while Skywalkers and Protoss navigators coordinated its hyperspace jumps and avoided the Kilik Swarm’s routes.
• Adra held her forces at Fefze under relentless swarm attacks, despite dwindling energy, mounting losses, and destroyed warships.
• After receiving word that Sefrans Tann’s fleet was making its final jump, Adra ordered a retreat and used ten Holy Elephant Guardian cruisers to clear a path, though more than a hundred warships were lost.
• Sefrans Tann and Selendis saw that Lago Planet had been transformed into a vast mass of living swarm tissue that was drilling into the planet for resources and geothermal energy.
• Sefrans Tann identified a swarm-assimilated Imperial fleet, including twenty-four Imperial-class Star Destroyers, as the key to the swarm’s interstellar transportation and spread.
• Sefrans Tann explained that the Imperial fleet had allowed primitive swarms to connect and merge their genes, producing more powerful creatures as Abathur had predicted.

Sefrans-Tann and Selendis prepared to confront the infected Imperial fleet while Darth Lilim, Wheel of Fortune, and Protoss warriors traveled to Lago Planet to find the Swarm’s controller. The Protoss forces overwhelmed the enemy in space, and the ground team headed toward the largest Kilik Swarm nest, where the Jedi Knight was believed to be.

• Selendis warned Sefrans-Tann about the Swarm’s potential growth, but Sefrans-Tann affirmed the Kingdom of Dawn’s choice and asked the Protoss to help capture or kill the Jedi Knight.
• An infected Imperial fleet ambushed Sefrans-Tann’s forces, and she arranged the ships into a defensive formation as the Protoss Carriers launched thousands of Interceptor drones.
• The Protoss drones quickly destroyed several enemy warships, demonstrating their superiority over the damaged Imperial fleet.
• Darth Lilim, Wheel of Fortune, Theras, and six Zealot warriors left for Lago Planet aboard a cloaked Protoss shuttle while the space battle continued.
• Theras led the Zealot warriors toward the planet’s largest Kilik Swarm nest, and Darth Lilim followed on Wheel of Fortune’s back.

Darth Lilim, the Wheel of Fortune, and Templar Guardian Theras fought through the Kilik Swarm’s nest to find its underground core. They discovered a cocoon containing a Force-protected, mutated man, and the Wheel of Fortune erupted into madness as the swarm attacked.

• The Kilik Swarm’s enormous nests erupted, launching countless insects into the sky, while Theras led the Zealots toward one of them.
• Darth Lilim and the Wheel of Fortune stormed the nest and slaughtered their way through it, eventually finding Theras and the Zealots surrounded.
• After Sefrans Tann warned that the nest was about to erupt again, Theras and Darth Lilim cooperated and broke through the rock beneath the nest.
• The group entered vast underground passages that absorbed Lago Planet’s geothermal energy, then fought through the swarm toward a natural hall.
• Theras struck a ten-meter cocoon but was repelled by a powerful Force barrier, revealing a mutated man suspended inside.
• The Wheel of Fortune shrieked and went berserk as the swarm surged into the hall, attacking without regard for commands.

Wheel of Fortune relived her past torture and rampaged through the Kilik Swarm nest until Darth Lilim and Theras subdued her. The Expedition Fleet captured Wilk, who revealed that Lomi Plo and another companion had also accompanied the Imperial fleet.

• Wheel of Fortune remembered her torture in the swarm nest and froze and slaughtered the insects around her.
• Wheel of Fortune attacked Darth Lilim, but Theras helped Darth Lilim incapacitate her with his light blade and her Force lightning.
• Darth Lilim shielded Wheel of Fortune from Theras and claimed that only their Master could decide her fate, while the Expedition Fleet overwhelmed the swarm defenses on Lago Planet.
• Theras captured Wilk and took him aboard a Protoss Carrier alongside Darth Lilim and Wheel of Fortune.
• On the flagship Destiny Judgment, Selendis and Sefrans Tann discussed the captured swarm lord before Shur' Dar questioned him.
• Wilk identified Lieutenant General Benz Sims as the fleet commander and said he had accompanied it with Lomi Plo and another person.

Sefrans-Tann and Selendis fortified Lago Planet against the Kilik Swarm, discovering that Royal Behemoth-class Heavy Cruisers were effective against its hordes. After the battle, a warning led Selendis to realize that Shul-Dar had been infected by the Swarm and order his ship destroyed.

• Wilk revealed that the Swarm had an unknown King and an Unseen Queen before Sefrans-Tann ordered the fleet to fortify Lago Planet and contain the Swarm.
• The fleet endured four days of assaults, with Zhang Jiarui’s modified Royal Behemoth-class Heavy Cruisers helping stabilize the defense.
• Sefrans-Tann ordered nuclear bombardment of Lago Planet, while the fleet requested reinforcements and prepared to guard the unknown route beyond the Lago Hyperspace Lane.
• Sefrans-Tann woke to a danger warning and joined Selendis, who heard Shul-Dar claim that the Unseen Queen was on Grogor Planet.
• Selendis sensed that Shul-Dar had changed and ordered the fleet to open fire on his ship, suspecting the Swarm had infected him.

Selendis’s Protoss forces destroyed Shur-Dar’s ship and devastated the Kilik Swarm on Lago Planet after Wilk warned of a catastrophe from a hundred thousand years ago. Elsewhere, Grievous awakened in a powerful new mechanical body at a Purifier station, where Elena explained how he had survived and been rebuilt.

• Wilk revealed that he had controlled Shur-Dar and tried to persuade Selendis and Sefrans Tann to join the Swarm, while using the Force to influence Sefrans Tann.
• Selendis’s four Carriers destroyed Shur-Dar’s warship and repeatedly bombarded Lago Planet until the Swarm’s fleshy covering was shattered.
• Selendis told Sefrans Tann that the Protoss would keep fighting despite the ancient catastrophe, while Sefrans Tann reflected on how much she still did not know about it.
• Grievous awakened in a rebuilt mechanical body and defeated successive simulated groups of Zealots and a High Templar in a test hall.
• Elena introduced herself as a Purifier personality construct at a station near Drai II and explained that Grievous’s former body had been rebuilt after its remaining organs kept it functioning.

Elena completed Grievous’s conversion into a Purifier, giving him psionic abilities and anger-fueled power, and appointed him commander of a Purifier fleet. The Purifiers prepared to reinforce the Eastern Territory against the Galactic Empire despite the Protoss Council’s decision to prioritize the Kilik Swarm.

• Elena explained that Grievous’s will had enabled an exceptional conversion, and Grievous tested his new ability by pulling a metal block into his hand.
• Grievous’s rage over his past suffering and Darth Sidious intensified his power, and he declared that he would shatter the established order of the Milky Way Galaxy.
• Grievous pledged loyalty to Tang Xiao and accepted command of an Executor Fleet bound for the Eastern Territory.
• Elena told Karax that the Purifiers would support the war without the Twilight Council’s approval, while Karax said he supported the Protoss.
• Grievous linked with the command center and studied the Purifier fleet as Elena explained that the Protoss Council had redirected its new Executor Fleet to fight the Kilik Swarm.

Grievous prepared to lead a Purifier carrier-and-Scout force against the Galactic Empire, while the Kingdom of Dawn struggled to govern the rebellious Eastern Territory. The chapter left Semirres, Lothal, and Dak as its few stable positions, with the Quarren consolidating their alliance through a new king and harsh reprisals against the Mon Calamari.

• Elena introduced Purifier Commander Mojo as Grievous's deputy, and Grievous began simulations of the Purifier fleet against an anti-fighter Galactic Empire formation.
• More than 800 uprisings spread across the Eastern Territory, forcing Lin Nanyi to pull his main fleet back to Semirres Planet and defend supply routes.
• Semirres Planet joined the Kingdom of Dawn after years of Imperial rule, while wartime controls and corporate management fueled further unrest elsewhere.
• Lin Nanyi's appeals to the Rebel Alliance failed, and the Alliance urged the Kingdom of Dawn to reflect on its own policies.
• Carl Vengar became king of the Quarren, signed the Dak Planet Security Accord, and aligned Dak Planet with the Kingdom of Dawn.
• Carl Vengar's government stripped Mon Calamari of rights and property, enslaved many, and made their restoration of citizenship conditional on Gial Akbar's return and surrender.

Lin Nanyi expanded the Kingdom of Dawn’s influence in the Eastern Territory and launched an invasion of Jabiim planet after Otto Stratus rejected his demands. As Semirian forces pressed the attack and General Grievous returned, Feng-Lis concealed her displeasure at Lin Nanyi’s plans to take charge of the rear.

• Carl-Venga began rebuilding Iskalon planet with Mon Calamari laborers, while Lin Nanyi ensured the surviving natives retained citizenship and authority over them.
• Lin Nanyi blockaded Jabiim planet and demanded Otto Stratus and hundreds of officials surrender, but Otto defied him and the first landing campaign suffered heavy losses.
• Feng-Lis proposed sending the swamp-capable Semirians to invade Jabiim, and Cummings led a million-strong army that defeated Otto Stratus's Third Army.
• Lin Nanyi learned that General Grievous had returned and told Feng-Lis that Grievous would handle military affairs while he focused on stabilizing the rear.
• Feng-Lis congratulated Lin Nanyi while hiding her displeasure as he vowed to suppress the Mon Calamari and Lothal's natives.

Lin Nanyi gathered the Eastern Territory’s leaders to address the region’s security and military problems before General Grievous arrived, then approved Feng-Lis’s proposal to outsource planetary defense to corporations. When Grievous reached Lothal Planet, he revealed High Command’s order: destroy the Galactic Empire’s Twelfth Army.

• Lin Nanyi met with Shilka, King Carl-Venga, Epassy Gouet, and Feng-Lis to discuss General Grievous’s arrival and the Eastern Territory’s military situation.
• Feng-Lis proposed outsourcing planetary defense along the route to Boonta, and Lin Nanyi approved the plan despite its long-term risks.
• Three days later, Lin Nanyi personally welcomed General Grievous when his Protoss transport ship landed on Lothal Planet.
• General Grievous told Lin Nanyi that High Command had ordered the Eastern Territory star sector to destroy the Galactic Empire’s Twelfth Army.

Lin Nanyi oversaw the outsourcing of eighty planets to Mega-corporations, whose brutal rule quickly suppressed rebels and pirates while oppressing local populations. As he worried over General Grievous’s secrecy and changing demeanor, Grievous ordered him to lead the main fleet to Boonta.

• General Grievous told Lin Nanyi that Protoss reinforcements would help destroy the Galactic Empire’s Twelfth Army fleet on Charos IV Planet, but withheld his detailed plans.
• At a Supreme Military Council meeting, General Grievous declined to interfere in Eastern Territory administration and said his Protoss fleet needed little logistical support; Lin Nanyi’s officials chose to proceed with signed corporate contracts.
• Lin Nanyi’s government outsourced development and security on eighty planets to companies including Sun Power Energy Company, United Mining Group, and Titan Security Company.
• The Mega-corporations imposed harsh monopolies, surveillance, and labor conditions, while Lin Nanyi’s rapid-response forces crushed resistance; their control nevertheless restricted rebel and pirate access to supplies.
• Lin Nanyi and Feng Lisi discussed General Grievous’s changed demeanor and hidden intentions, then Lin Nanyi received Grievous’s order to lead the main fleet to Boonta.

Lin Nanyi sent half the Eastern Territory Fleet to Boonta and the rest toward Jabiim planet as the Galactic Empire’s Gideon Tarkin stayed on the defensive amid political pressure and a growing insurgency. Both sides secretly fed intelligence, funds, and weapons to the Rebel Alliance, leaving the Eastern Territory engulfed in conflicts fueled by contradictory support.

• Lin Nanyi questioned General Grievous’s order to establish a forward base on Boonta, then divided his fleet between Boonta and Jabiim planet.
• The Semirians defeated Jabiim planet’s main army, and Otto Stratus fought a guerrilla campaign against Cummings while Nimbus commandos suffered heavy losses.
• Gideon Tarkin remained entrenched despite pressure to counterattack, while Wilhuff Tarkin reinforced him and waited for the Death Star to become ready.
• Gideon Tarkin secretly funded Otto Stratus and passed Kingdom of Dawn intelligence to the Rebel Alliance to justify his inaction to Imperial leaders.
• The Kingdom of Dawn also supplied the Rebel Alliance with intelligence and resources, and uprisings spread across both its territory and the Galactic Empire’s Eastern Territory.

Gideon Tarkin struggled to understand why Lin Nanyi had moved the Kingdom of Dawn’s main fleet, while both sides remained trapped in a conflict that strengthened the Rebel Alliance. The chapter ended with news that Governor Seben had been attacked.

• The Galactic Empire and the Kingdom of Dawn continued their covert, escalating struggle in the Eastern Territory as the Rebel Alliance exploited the conflict.
• Gideon Tarkin reviewed the forces deployed by both sides and questioned why Lin Nanyi had moved the Kingdom of Dawn’s main fleet.
• Gideon Tarkin ordered his intelligence officer to track the Separatist fleet’s movements.
• The intelligence officer rushed back and reported that Governor Seben had been attacked.

Gideon Tarkin split his forces to strike the Separatists’ rear while a small enemy fleet harassed Imperial positions and left Governor Seben demanding reinforcements at Lantilis Planet. After reviewing the enemy ships and their drone tactics, Gideon ordered an investigation into their supply line, just as the Imperial Supreme Strategic Command summoned him for a briefing.

• Governor Seben accused Gideon Tarkin of refusing to defend Lantilis Planet and reported him to the Imperial Supreme Strategic Command.
• After learning the Separatists had deployed their main fleet at Boonta, Gideon ordered four detachments to attack Jabiim planet.
• Gideon dismissed reports that the enemy fleet had sent ships toward Trandoshan Planet and Toglia Planet, then rejected Seben’s demand for reinforcements.
• Gideon reviewed photographs and combat reports describing the enemy ships’ maneuverability, self-produced drones, and long-range energy transmission.
• Gideon ordered a search for the enemy fleet’s supply line, then received a summons to brief the Imperial Supreme Strategic Command remotely.