Chapter Summaries

Cerea descended into a warlord civil war after Baron Zemo’s plan fractured the planet, while the Republic and Jedi Order refused to intervene. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi visited Yuri-Orlov in prison for advice, where Yuri revealed his influence over the inmates and hinted at his ability to arm them.

• Technology Movement members rallied around Elder Dor-Fermi-Bonmi and Vitaly-Orlov as local officials and Elder Council elders divided Cerea into rival factions.
• Master Windu and Master Yoda rejected Ki-Adi-Mundi’s pleas to intervene, and the Republic Senate declared Cerea’s war an internal affair while warning Fourth Group not to interfere.
• Ki-Adi-Mundi failed to stop the fighting and sought counsel from Sifo-Dyas and Qui-Gon Jinn, who decided to approach Yuri-Orlov for help.
• Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi visited Yuri-Orlov in Prison Block Seven and discussed Fourth Group’s rapid militarization and possible ties to the InterGalactic Banking Clan.
• Yuri-Orlov told the Jedi that cigarettes helped him maintain influence among the prison’s violent inmates because he could supply them with weapons and starships.

Yuri Orlov argued that Cerea’s civil war was driven by demand for weapons and would not end with his arrest, while Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi feared he would soon be freed. On Cerea, Elder Dor’s growing army joined forces with Hakimi’s Caladanian troops and advanced toward Tekav City.

• Yuri laughed at the news of Cerea’s civil war and told Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan that arms dealers merely served demand, predicting that other suppliers would replace him.
• Yuri claimed the war would end only when force and power returned to balance, and hinted that members of the Elder Council had bought his weapons.
• Qui-Gon ordered Yuri to stop supplying Cerea and Obi-Wan demanded a list of arms merchants, but Yuri refused and predicted he would be acquitted for lack of evidence.
• Obi-Wan suggested investigating Yuri’s ties to the Fourth Group, but Qui-Gon said the greater danger was commercial giants turning Cerea into a battlefield and sent him to find Master Mundi.
• Elder Dor Fermi Bonmi assembled more than 20,000 men, hired Hakimi’s 2,000 Caladanian troops from Titan Security, and gave Hakimi authority over the Technology Movement’s military command.
• Hakimi crushed the Elder Council forces sent against them, killing two elders as Dor’s army advanced toward Tekav City.

Leyton seized control of Cerea with blaster-armed troops as the Elder Council’s ban on technology collapsed, while Dor formed a New Elder Council and sought limited weapons from the Republic. In Coruscant, Yuri Orlov won acquittal for his weapons sales and left prison after taunting Obi-Wan Kenobi.

• Leyton returned to Tekav City with 15,000 troops armed with EE-3 blaster rifles, killed the Grand Elder, captured the capital, and declared himself Cerea’s Chief Executive Officer.
• The revelation that Leyton and two other elders used modern weapons shattered the Elder Council’s authority, while Dor’s Technology Movement forces retreated and fighting spread across Cerea.
• Dor announced the formation of the New Elder Council, applied to the Galactic Republic to import limited-power weapons, and received an offer from Fourth Group to supply Type 21 assault rifles.
• Yuri Orlov sued for acquittal by arguing that his weapons sales were legal, and the Ministry of Justice released and acquitted him after Phineas Valorum turned against the Jedi Order.
• Ki-Adi-Mundi went into seclusion on Yoda’s advice, while Yuri taunted Obi-Wan Kenobi before driving away from the prison district.

Yuri Orlov returned to Cerea as arms dealing fueled the civil war, while Tang Xiao and Darth Pregas discussed exploiting the conflict and targeting Ki-Adi-Mundi’s family. Yuri’s reunion with Vitaly ended in a bitter split, as Vitaly condemned Yuri and the Fourth Group before leaving.

• Yuri met with Yifent Mon on Tatooine, learned that the Fourth Group’s intervention had opened Cerea to arms dealers, and agreed to work with Mon.
• Darth Pregas praised Tang Xiao’s handling of Cerea and offered to remove rival arms dealers, but Tang argued that selling weapons to both sides would prolong the war and increase profits.
• Darth Pregas told Tang that Ki-Adi-Mundi was near the Dark Side and urged him to act; Tang said he had made arrangements involving Mundi’s wife and daughter on Cerea.
• Yuri reunited with Vitaly on Cerea, but Vitaly blamed Yuri’s weapons for the massacre of more than thirty thousand civilians in Kedi City.
• Yuri defended his arms dealing and loyalty to Tang Xiao, while Vitaly cursed Yuri and the Fourth Group and left for his ship.
• Yifent Mon pledged support to Yuri and said Cerea belonged to them, while Elder Dor urged Yuri to end the civil war.

Cun Te, Kenneth the Mechanic, Jorj Car'das, and Kunto arrived in the Indjori system to confront the species that had rejected Fourth Group’s trade terms. As Indjori warriors gathered around them, Fourth Group representative Shen Yuanhao arrived to meet them.

• Tang Xiao sent Cun Te to deal with the Indjori after they rejected Fourth Group’s increased trade quota and threatened its representatives.
• Indjori warriors surrounded Cun Te’s shuttle, demanded a larger quota, and dented the ship with a punch.
• Cun Te revealed that Kenneth the Mechanic and Jorj Car'das had accompanied him, while Kunto emerged from the shuttle’s restroom in fear.
• Cun Te said they had come to tame the Indjori and insisted that brains, not muscles, drove civilization.
• Shen Yuanhao arrived in a hovering sedan, escorted by more than twenty Indjori warriors.

Cun Te used a cigar to win over Yuha and the Yoha tribe, exploiting their rivalry with Zam. Shen Yuanhao and Cun Te discussed the Indjori’s appetite for addictive stimulants and the Governor’s plans for the race.

• Kunto grew frightened when Shen Yuanhao brought Cun Te and the Indjori warriors to meet the Yoha tribe.
• Cun Te offered an Indjori warrior a cigar, and the warrior became exhilarated, shattered a rock, and fought a companion.
• Yuha demanded more cigars and promised that the Yoha tribe could match Zam’s offer, so Cun Te agreed to follow him.
• Shen Yuanhao explained that Yoha had once dominated Tor-Kajorn City but had declined after repeated defeats by Zam.
• Cun Te told Shen Yuanhao that cigars acted like addictive stimulants and suggested the Governor intended to control the Indjori through drugs.

Cun Te negotiated with Yuha and the Yoha tribe to trade cigars for a future claim on a captured shipyard. Yuha used the cigars to defeat neighboring tribes, while Zam demanded spacecraft from Tang Xiao to carry out his own operation.

• Shen Yuanhao and Cun Te discussed how cigars could be used to control the Indjori, and Shen Yuanhao explained his past as a killer and accountant.
• Yuha brought Cun Te, Shen Yuanhao, and George-Kadas to meet the Yoha tribe’s sages, who tested the cigars and approved them.
• Cun Te offered the Yoha tribe a long-term cigar supply in exchange for the right to take over a shipyard after Zam lost control of it, and Yuha agreed.
• Yuha led his warriors in challenges against neighboring tribes and used cigars to help the Yoha tribe regain its former dominance.
• Zam contacted Tang Xiao and demanded spacecraft, offering their spoils as collateral.

Tang Xiao supplied the Indjori with cheap ships, and they launched an invasion of the Nyss system to seize its shipyard. Chancellor Phineas Valorum learned that the Fourth Group had provided their fleet, while the Republic was already strained by the crisis on Jabiim.

• Tang Xiao rejected Zam’s request for further weapons financing until the Indjori showed they could repay their debt, then ordered Glosse Shelbia to buy them cheap ships.
• Glosse Shelbia warned Tang Xiao against further investment, but he said the Indjori’s destruction mattered to them.
• A month later, the Fourth Group sent twenty transport ships and five battered armed freighters to Yinchorr as the Indjori prepared for war.
• The Indjori launched an invasion of the Nyss system, targeting the Golden Nyss Shipyard.
• Phineas Valorum summoned Sheev Palpatine and Mas Amedda, and Palpatine identified the Fourth Group as the source of the Indjori fleet.

Chancellor Phineas Valorum blamed Fourth Group for supporting the Indjori invasion and ordered sanctions, while Palpatine used the confrontation to turn attention toward the company. Glosse Shelbia sought Francis Underwood’s help, and they decided to ask the Governor why the arms sale had been ordered.

• Phineas Valorum ordered a formal warning to the Indjori and appointed senator Quinnas to lead an envoy delegation.
• Valorum confronted Glosse Shelbia over Fourth Group’s sale of weapons and transport ships to the Indjori, then threatened sanctions and drove her out.
• Glosse Shelbia rushed to Francis Underwood’s residence and explained what had happened.
• Francis Underwood told Shelbia that Palpatine had likely planned to make Fourth Group take the blame, and Shelbia confirmed the Governor had ordered the arms sale.
• Francis Underwood proposed that they ask the Governor directly about the order.

Tang Xiao learned that Darth Sidious had turned the Galactic Republic against the Fourth Group, while Darth Pregas instructed him to expand quietly into the Outer Rim. Meanwhile, the Indjori secured the Golden Nyss Shipyard under Darth Sidious's direction and prepared to confront the Jedi Knights.

• Tang Xiao told Glosse Shelbia to challenge Chancellor Phineas Valorum at the Senate debate and reject any punishment, while Francis Underwood explained that the Fourth Group was being pushed out of the Republic.
• Darth Pregas told Tang Xiao that Darth Sidious was testing their relationship and ordered the Fourth Group to expand its infrastructure and business in the Outer Rim Territories.
• Tang Xiao affirmed his loyalty to Darth Pregas and accepted his instructions without objecting to the Fourth Group being considered Darth Pregas's property.
• The Indjori took control of the Golden Nyss Shipyard, captured sixty-seven ships, and reported their victory to their elders, with Darth Sidious present.
• Darth Sidious warned the Indjori that the Jedi Knights remained their greatest enemy, and Zam vowed to kill them.

The Indjori invaded Mayvitch 7 colony using spacecraft and weapons supplied by Fourth Group, while Allen and Workol were tasked with escaping to warn the Republic. At the Senate, survivors testified to the invasion, and Phineas Valorum revoked Fourth Group’s licenses as Glosse Shelbia stormed out and threatened legal action.

• Over a hundred Indjori spacecraft attacked Mayvitch 7 colony, overwhelmed its defenses, and began invading the settlement.
• The Colony Commander sent Allen and Workol to take a damaged ship to Coruscant and alert the Republic, while other staff stayed behind to resist the attackers.
• At the Senate, Phineas Valorum accused Fourth Group of enabling the Indjori invasion, while Glosse Shelbia defended the company and Sheev Palpatine challenged Newt Gunray over weapons sales.
• Two survivors from Mayvitch 7 arrived at the Senate and described the Indjori invasion and killings.
• Phineas Valorum revoked Fourth Group’s commercial licenses, and Glosse Shelbia and representatives of three corporate groups walked out.
• Phineas Valorum ordered that Master Windu be notified and that the Jedi Order intervene, fearing Senator Quinnas was in danger.

Master Naeshahn and her apprentice Ebor Taulk went to Yinchorr to stop the Indjori invasion, but their attempt to confront the Chieftain Council turned into a fight. They were surrounded by Indjori warriors who seemed unaffected by their attacks.

• Master Windu learned that the Indjori had invaded the Chalino system and ordered Master Naeshahn to negotiate peace.
• Naeshahn and Ebor traveled to Uhanayih, where the Indjori Chieftain Council was waiting with armed warriors.
• Kaldek dismissed the Republic’s authority, mocked the fate of Senator Quinnas’s delegation, and refused Naeshahn’s demand to face judgment on Coruscant.
• Naeshahn and Ebor drew their lightsabers, but Naeshahn’s attempt to influence Kaldek failed.
• Kaldek ordered his warriors to kill the Jedi, and they attacked while seemingly shrugging off the Jedi’s reflected fire.

Sate Pestage arranged for Master Naeshahn and Ebbo Turkle’s bodies to be dumped at the Galactic Senate Building, provoking outrage in both the Republic and Jedi Order. Master Windu assembled a delegation to confront the Indjori while Master Yoda warned that someone else was behind the crisis, and Vilma prepared to target the Jedi’s young.

• Sate Pestage found two bloody packages in a speeder and arranged a favor from Chief Guard Bono to deliver them unnoticed.
• An early-rising senator discovered the murdered Master Naeshahn and Ebbo Turkle outside the Galactic Senate Building, prompting Chancellor Phineas Valorum to contact Master Windu.
• Master Windu rejected Valorum’s blame and proposed taking a Jedi delegation to bring the Indjori leaders to justice rather than deploying the Judicial Fleet.
• Master Yoda warned that the Indjori were only tools and sensed danger approaching the Jedi Temple.
• At the Indjori High Command, Vilma argued that the Republic would not send a fleet and joined Holma in plotting to lure the Jedi into a deadly confrontation by targeting their young.

Master Windu’s peaceful envoy to the Indjori system came under attack as the Fourth Group defied Republic sanctions and expanded its corporate alliances. Meanwhile, Vilma Grak and Holma persuaded the Indjori to send Zam to attack the Jedi Temple, leaving the Jedi Order facing a planned assault.

• Master Windu led three unarmed Consular-class cruisers into the Indjori system, where fighters attacked them and damaged two ships as the teams headed toward separate colony planets.
• Phineas Valorum’s Senate motion revoked the Fourth Group’s licenses, banned its business in Republic territory, and demanded a fine and compensation, but Gross Shelby rejected the ruling and sued Valorum and the Senate.
• The Fourth Group joined the Trade Federation and Technological Alliance, announced plans for the 1,009-meter Hiigaran-class battlecruiser, and resumed advertising its starships’ victories over the Republic fleet.
• Vilma Grak and Holma urged the Indjori Chieftain Council to destroy the Jedi Order while Master Windu was away, and Zam agreed to lead the raid on the Jedi Temple.
• Vilma promised to use his Coruscant connections to bring Zam’s warriors near the Jedi Temple, while Kaldek ordered the attack completed before the Republic fleet could respond.

Zam led an Indjori force in a raid on the Jedi Temple, where Master Yoda and the Jedi had laid a trap and defeated the attackers. The Jedi Order suppressed the assault, but news of the raid spread across the Galactic Republic.

• A disguised transport brought Zam and over a hundred Indjori warriors to the Jedi Temple, where they killed a patrolling Jedi Knight and searched for apprentices.
• Master Yoda had evacuated the apprentices and concealed Jedi Masters and Knights in the Temple, trapping Zam’s force when they arrived.
• Darth Maul watched the battle through a drone and shared the footage with Darth Sidious, who discussed finding another way to attack the Jedi younglings.
• The Jedi defeated the Indjori force, killing all but Zam, and Master Yoda questioned him about the Indjori High Command.
• Zam tried to shoot Master Yoda from behind, but Yoda hurled him into a wall and killed him.
• News of the raid spread across the Galactic Republic, disgracing both the Republic and the Jedi Order.

Tang Xiao sensed Master Mika Giett’s sacrifice and accepted that the Jedi Order’s destruction might serve a shared goal, while Darth Sidious ordered Darth Maul to silence witnesses among the Indjori. After the Republic Judicial Fleet rescued Master Windu’s battered group from the Indjori fleet, Windu headed for the enemy’s secret stronghold on an asteroid.

• A dying Jedi Knight sacrificed himself by detonating an Indjori tank, and Tang Xiao sensed his powerful will from afar.
• Darth Sidious told Darth Maul that a Jedi High Council member had died and ordered him to silence anyone among the Indjori who knew too much, while sparing the Verma Brothers.
• At the Jedi Temple, Yoda, Yarael Poof, Evan Piel, and Yaddle mourned Mika Giett and discussed the Dark Side, the Sith, and the Chosen One.
• Phineas Valorum persuaded the Judicial Fleet to send four squadrons to assist Mace Windu, while Windu’s teams learned that the Indjori High Command was based on an uninhabited asteroid.
• After Windu’s group suffered losses and was pursued by the Indjori fleet, the Judicial Fleet arrived and routed the enemy, and Windu piloted his cruiser toward the Indjori stronghold.

Master Windu and the Jedi captured the Indjori Chieftain Council, forcing the Indjori to surrender and abandon their occupied territories. The Fourth Group took control of the Golden Nyss Shipyard through a loan contract, while the United Mining Group secured a mining partnership with Imaria, leaving Phineas Valorum unable to stop either deal.

• Master Windu’s Jedi assault captured the Indjori Chieftain Council, and Kaldek revealed that the mercenary Vilma-Grak had manipulated the Indjori into war.
• Obi-Wan Kenobi reported that Vilma had escaped from Judicial Fleet custody, prompting Qui-Gon Jinn to suspect that more was happening than they knew.
• The Indjori surrendered, withdrew their forces, and handed over their weapons and nearly all their spacecraft.
• Gross Shelby claimed the Golden Nyss Shipyard for the Fourth Group using its loan contract, and the Judicial Fleet commander refused Phineas Valorum’s demand to seize it.
• Trade Federation transports arrived to renovate the shipyard and prepare it to build Hiigaran-class battlecruisers.
• The United Mining Group offered to rebuild Amado’s mines and the Mayvitch 7 colony in exchange for joint resource development, and Imaria agreed despite Valorum’s objections.

After the Indjori invasion ended, the Republic sanctioned the Indjori, the Yoha tribe gained power through its cigar trade, and the Jedi mourned their dead while warning of the rising Dark Side. On Cerea, the civil war escalated as Dor Femi Bonmi armed more than one hundred thousand prisoners, while Wat Tambor and Yuri Orlov schemed to profit by selling weapons to both sides.

• The Indjori Chieftain Council members died in custody or were captured, the Republic imposed sanctions on the Indjori, and the Yoha tribe grew stronger by controlling the cigar trade.
• Yoda held a funeral for seven Jedi Knights killed in the invasion, warned that the Dark Side was growing active, and appointed Coleman Trebor to Mika Giett's High Council seat.
• Yuri Orlov resumed supplying weapons to Dor Femi Bonmi, while Leyton sought arms from the Technological Alliance as Cerea's civil war intensified.
• Dor Femi Bonmi used transport ships to deliver weapons and supplies to three prison cities, and more than one hundred thousand prisoners joined the Technology Movement.
• Leyton asked Wat Tambor for stronger weapons, unaware that Wat Tambor was meeting Yuri Orlov to discuss selling arms to both sides for profit.

Wat Tambor and Yuri Orlov discussed profiting from Cerea’s conflict while limiting environmental damage. Meanwhile, Darth Pregas and Darth Sidious prepared the Naboo blockade and targeted Black Sun and the Fourth Group, whose hidden observer was Tang Xiao.

• Wat Tambor agreed to sell tanks to Elder Leyton and M-29 Mantis rifles to Elder Dor, while Yuri suggested turning Cerea into an agricultural and tourism planet.
• Wat Tambor proposed removing the tanks’ shield generators and selling them separately, then sought a stake in a proposed Bonta Night Speeder Race track on Cerea.
• Darth Sidious told Darth Pregas that Padmé Naberrie was expected to become Naboo’s new queen and that Nute Gunray could use the end of the plasma ore agreement as a pretext for a blockade.
• Darth Pregas ordered Sidious to eliminate Black Sun, while Sidious said Darth Maul was hunting its forces and revealed he considered Count Dooku a potential replacement apprentice.
• Darth Sidious identified the Fourth Group as another obstacle to their plans, appearing to glance toward the concealed Tang Xiao.

Darth Pregas reprimanded Darth Sidious for Fourth Group’s high-profile actions, then told Tang Xiao he would inherit access to his research and could help counterbalance Sidious. Tang Xiao began studying Pregas’s manuscripts while managing Fourth Civilization remotely, leaving him poised to become Pregas’s chosen heir.

• Darth Sidious warned Darth Pregas that Fourth Group’s actions around the Indjori had crossed the line, but Pregas defended the company and ordered Sidious to focus on Black Sun and Naboo.
• Darth Pregas told Tang Xiao that Fourth Group could grow stronger, then questioned what Tang Xiao thought of Sidious and warned that Sidious might kill him if he learned of him.
• Darth Pregas took Tang Xiao to his secret laboratory and revealed a hidden bookshelf filled with his research manuscripts on life, the Force, and immortality.
• Darth Pregas ordered Tang Xiao to stay in the laboratory, study the manuscripts, and send him questions while Tang Xiao managed Fourth Civilization’s affairs remotely.
• Tang Xiao instructed Fourth Civilization’s key power holders to advance their responsibilities and realized that Pregas intended to cultivate him as an heir and a counterweight to Sidious.