Chapter Summaries

Yamrii protesters besieged the Fourth Group’s administrative center in Quey City, and Glosse Shielbia asked Tang Xiao how to end the demonstrations. On his advice, the Public Health Department blew up the city’s Central Excrement Collector, flooding Quey City with sewage and forcing the protesters and Fourth Group staff to flee.

• Yamrii protesters surrounded the Fourth Group’s administrative center, while Fleet A arrived to deter the Yamrii government from intervening.
• After three days of demonstrations, Glosse Shielbia contacted Tang Xiao, who told her to find the Public Health Department.
• Glosse contacted Smith, who agreed to handle the problem and warned the Fourth Group office to prepare for flooding.
• The Public Health Department blew up Quey City’s Central Excrement Collector, and the sewage swept away the demonstrations.
• Fourth Group staff began evacuating Quey City as Glosse learned the city was covered in sewage.

The Fourth Group ended Yamrii protests by flooding Quey City with sewage, forcing the Yamrii to seek its help repairing the Central Excrement Collector and rename the city Xiang City. Meanwhile, Yamrii raiders attacked Caladan Planet, and Grievous abandoned his debt-collection post to return there.

• The Public Health Department's sewage attack ended Yamrii protests, and Glosse Shelbia agreed to repair Quey City's Central Excrement Collector only for a high price and a city renaming to Xiang City.
• Yamrii raiders turned their attacks toward Caladan Planet, plundered it, and destroyed Caladanian temples, prompting the Caladanians to organize an army despite their lack of ships.
• Grievous demanded that San Hill let him return to Caladan Planet to fight the Yamrii, but San Hill insisted he finish collecting over one hundred million credits in debts.
• Grievous quit the InterGalactic Banking Clan, struck a B-1 battle droid, and flew toward Caladan Planet in a shuttle.
• San Hill learned that Grievous had entered hyperspace and ordered a tactical droid to take over management of the debt-collection fleet.

Grievous was shot down shortly after leaving Caladan, but Master Dooku recovered him alive at Sheev Palpatine’s request. Meanwhile, Darth Malthael fought a pack of deadly beasts in Roon’s jungle.

• Caladanian elders gave Grievous a beast-bone mask and sent him off to rebuild his army against the Yamrii.
• A cloaked figure’s B-1 droid fired a missile at Grievous’s spacecraft, which exploded and crashed into the sea.
• Master Dooku had underwater droids recover Grievous, protected his vital organs, and ordered him placed in a Bacta tank.
• Sheev Palpatine told Master Dooku that Grievous was a great strategic and tactical master who would lead them to victory.
• Darth Malthael fought and killed several dangerous beasts in Roon’s jungle, then revealed himself.

Darth Malthael accepted Darth Pregas's final trial on Hypori, a barren planet filled with droids, while Tang Xiao prepared the Fourth Civilization for military expansion before flying to the same coordinates. As Tang Xiao approached Hypori, a black fighter rushed toward his shuttle.

• Darth Pregas ordered Darth Malthael to survive on Hypori, and Malthael agreed despite knowing refusal could be fatal.
• Tang Xiao approved orders for ten Captor-class cruisers to be converted into Homeworld-class light escort carriers and ten million B-1 battle droids for naval support roles.
• Tang Xiao met with the Fourth Civilization's leaders and emphasized expanding its population, factories, mines, and infrastructure.
• Tang Xiao rested, then boarded a shuttle with food and water and flew toward Hypori.
• As Tang Xiao prepared to land on Hypori, his radar sounded an alarm and a black fighter charged at his shuttle.

Darth Malthael faced Darth Pregas in a deadly aerial trial above Hypori, as Pregas hunted him in the stealth-capable Scimitar. Nearing the limits of his Force, Malthael chose to fly straight toward the hidden fighter, relying on an idea he had just grasped.

• Darth Malthael tried to outmaneuver the pursuing black fighter, but its pilot defied his predictions and nearly hit him.
• Darth Malthael recognized the fighter as Darth Pregas's Scimitar, a Sith Infiltrator with optical and radar stealth.
• Darth Pregas repeatedly attacked Malthael's shuttle, while Malthael used the Force to evade the unseen fighter.
• Darth Malthael's Force grew overloaded as Pregas drove him back into the high sky and left him searching for a way to survive.
• Darth Malthael formed a new plan and flew directly toward the Scimitar's position as he sensed it through the Force.

Darth Malthael risked his life to reach the lingering soul of Darth Tenebrus through Darth Pregas, then escaped his exploding shuttle in an escape pod. Pregas survived the encounter and departed Hypori, leaving Malthael one month before he would return.

• Darth Malthael realized he could use his Death Force to contact Darth Tenebrus's lingering soul inside Darth Pregas.
• Darth Malthael concentrated his shuttle's shields forward and charged Darth Pregas's Sith Infiltrator while probing for Tenebrus.
• Darth Malthael reached Darth Tenebrus, then escaped in a pod as Pregas's laser fire destroyed the shuttle's cockpit.
• Darth Tenebrus's voice overwhelmed Darth Pregas, briefly leaving him unable to use the Force.
• Darth Pregas dispersed Tenebrus's remaining presence, told Malthael he would return in one month, and flew away from Hypori.

Darth Malthael survived Darth Pregas's attack and fought off B2 super battle droids on a barren planet, where he would have to endure a month before Pregas returned. Meanwhile, Black Sun leader Alexi Garin faced destruction after provoking Hego Damask II, whose command brought four major corporations against the syndicate.

• Darth Pregas told Darth Malthael he would return in a month to collect his corpse, and Malthael cursed him from the escape pod.
• Darth Malthael found that the pod held only five bottles of water and two compressed biscuits, then sensed approaching danger.
• Darth Malthael ambushed and destroyed a squad of B2 super battle droids, but one bruised his arm before he defeated it.
• Darth Malthael left the crash site and set out across the barren, thin-aired planet while the droids threatened his survival.
• Alexi Garin's Black Sun came under attack from the Trade Federation, the Corporate Alliance, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and the Fourth Group after Garin's role in the failed attempt to kill Hego Damask II.

With Black Sun weakened by the Four Great Corporations and their Sith backers, Darth Maul tracked down Alexi Garin’s location on Raltir. Darth Sidious prepared to seize control of Black Sun through his agents, while Maul vowed to advance his own power along the Sith path.

• Ni Yongxiao expanded Fourth Group’s criminal network from Mulcana and forged ties with Crimson Dawn and the White Worm Gang on Corellia.
• On Coruscant, Darth Maul killed Vego Darnada after learning that Vego Morn on Daka might know where Alexi Garin was hiding.
• Darth Maul tortured Vego Morn on Daka until he revealed that Garin’s remaining forces were gathered in a fortress on Raltir, then threw him into the flames.
• Darth Maul told Darth Sidious that Garin had been found, and Sidious ordered the Sith to punish him for murdering Darth Pregas.
• Darth Sidious revealed that Xomit Grunseit and Ziton Moj would take control of Black Sun for him, while Darth Maul reflected that he needed to grow stronger.

Darth Sidious reported Black Sun’s destruction to Darth Pregas and secured a plan for Pregas to enter the Galactic Senate, while their exchange exposed their mutual suspicion. On Hypori, Darth Malthael emerged from a month of hiding in the desert, weakened and starving as robots continued to hunt him.

• Darth Sidious told Darth Pregas that Darth Maul had destroyed Black Sun’s last stronghold and killed its remaining leaders.
• Darth Sidious praised Darth Maul and tested Darth Pregas over the Lorn Pavan mission, but Darth Pregas answered ambiguously and denied him an immediate reward.
• Darth Pregas said Phineas Valorum’s downfall was near and proposed entering the Galactic Senate to support Sidious’s campaign for Chancellor.
• Darth Sidious arranged for Darth Pregas to join the Senate as an economic advisor, then cursed Darth Pregas after the transmission ended.
• Darth Malthael rose from beneath the sand on Hypori after hiding there for a month, starving and evading robot patrols with makeshift camouflage.

Darth Malthael survived a month of brutal training on Hypori by pushing his use of the Force to its limits. Darth Pregas declared that he had passed, made him a Sith Lord, and gave him the Sith Infiltrator.

• Darth Malthael hid from the robot patrols and relied on the Force to find water, food, and danger while being hunted across Hypori.
• Darth Malthael endured a pursuit by more than ten thousand robots and survived by hiding beneath a volcanic pit after leaping into a canyon.
• On the final day, Darth Malthael was pursued until his strength ran out, but the robots stopped attacking when Darth Pregas added him to their identification system.
• Darth Pregas arrived and scolded Darth Malthael for his disorganized trial and for letting his Lightsaber fall like garbage.
• Darth Pregas counted Darth Malthael as having passed, named him a Sith Lord, recorded him in the Book of Sith, and gave him the Sith Infiltrator.

Darth Pregas gave Darth Malthael the Sith Infiltrator, the Scimitar, as he prepared him for an approaching confrontation with the Jedi. After Tang Xiao brought the ship to Dawn Star Planet and had its technology studied, he learned its specifications and tested its capabilities in flight.

• Darth Pregas gave Darth Malthael the Scimitar and told him to recover and grow stronger before the coming conflict with the Jedi.
• Tang Xiao returned to the Endor system, stored the Sith Infiltrator in a secret hangar, and instructed Professor Chi Jianjun to study it without dismantling it.
• Tang Xiao meditated on Dawn Star Planet after eating a light vegetarian meal.
• Three days later, Professor Chi Jianjun and Zhang Mingyuan briefed Tang Xiao on the Scimitar's technical data, including its speed, weapons, and cloaking device.
• Tang Xiao piloted the Scimitar near Dor Planet, testing its cloak, firepower, and acceleration through asteroid mining debris.

Darth Sidious questioned Darth Maul’s slaughter of the Trade Federation merchant fleet and worried that Darth Pregas was building power beyond the original plan. At Dawn Star’s gala, Ailiya Isabel performed while Tang Xiao left abruptly, leaving her heartbroken.

• Darth Maul reported to Darth Sidious that he had dealt with the pirates on Crux Planet, but Sidious rebuked him for killing the merchant fleet and urged him to restrain himself until he could face Jedi Knights.
• Darth Sidious reflected that Darth Pregas was cultivating another force and wondered where the original plan had gone wrong.
• Tang Xiao attended Dawn Star’s grand gala as the crowd celebrated his presence.
• Ailiya Isabel performed a song about dreams and memories, singing with her gaze fixed on Tang Xiao’s private box.
• An attendant whispered to Tang Xiao, who left the gala immediately, and Ailiya Isabel watched his empty box tearfully after her performance.

Tang Xiao and his advisers decided not to intervene directly in the coming Trade Federation attack on Naboo, while Tang planned a trip to Coruscant to meet his Grandmaster. Glosse Shielbia then revealed an invitation to an auction featuring a Jedi apprentice, catching Tang’s attention.

• Francis Underwood reported that Republic negotiations with the Trade Federation had collapsed and that the Trade Federation delegation had left Coruscant.
• Baron Helmut Zemo urged Tang Xiao not to intervene in the Naboo war, warning that changing its outcome could disrupt events involving Anakin Skywalker and benefit Palpatine.
• Tang Xiao decided to send military observers to Naboo but not to participate directly in the war.
• Glosse Shielbia showed Tang Xiao an invitation from Lady Sev Sairesecks to an auction where a Jedi apprentice would be sold, and Tang stopped to examine it.

Glosse Shelbia learned that Sev Cyrcexis’s gathering was a test of the underworld’s shifting alliances after Black Sun’s destruction, and Tang Xiao decided to attend as her bodyguard. At the Cyrcexis Group’s space station, Glosse rebuffed Sev’s flattery and declined her offer to deliver the captured Jedi apprentice, choosing to observe the event quietly.

• Ni Yongxiao explained that Sev Cyrcexis had invited underworld leaders and Glosse Shelbia to gauge their reactions after Black Sun’s destruction.
• Tang Xiao ordered Glosse to attend the auction with him as her bodyguard and told Ni Yongxiao to operate separately.
• Glosse and Tang Xiao arrived at Sev Cyrcexis’s secret space station in the Drazkel System, where hundreds of ships had gathered.
• Sev Cyrcexis greeted Glosse with extravagant flattery and offered to deliver the captured Jedi apprentice to her.
• Glosse dismissed Sev’s offer and went to her private suite, telling Sev to pretend she was not there.

Tang Xiao and Glosse Shelbia attended Sev Cyrcexis’s auction gala, where they discussed taking over Cyrcexis Group and learned that Darth Maul was hunting a missing Jedi apprentice. The chapter ended as Sev introduced the captured Edra Kestis as the auction’s featured prize.

• Glosse Shelbia explained that Cyrcexis Group manufactured Destroyer droids for the Trade Federation and said she wanted to absorb the company.
• Tang Xiao revealed that they planned to eliminate Sev Cyrcexis without attracting suspicion and said Ni Yongxiao had begun acting on their behalf.
• Ni Yongxiao met with Dryden Vos, who provided intelligence about Darth Maul and Cad Bane’s gang causing trouble in Hutt City.
• Tang Xiao and Glosse left their private box and joined the gala as Sev began the auction.
• Sev introduced Edra Kestis, a captured Jedi apprentice, and presented her as the auction’s prize.

At Sev Cyrcexis’s auction, Jedi apprentice Edra Kestis was displayed for sale while Tang Xiao spotted bounty hunter Cade Bane and followed a disturbance backstage. Darth Maul tried to reach Edra but was stopped by Sev, who then confronted Tang Xiao and demanded to know what Fourth Group wanted.

• Sev Cyrcexis presented Edra Kestis as an auction item, drawing excited bids from the guests.
• Tang Xiao identified Cade Bane and Oola Sing in the crowd, then left Glosse to investigate backstage.
• Tang Xiao found Edra Kestis behind a Deflector Shield as Darth Maul confronted her and attacked the barrier with his Lightsaber.
• Sev Cyrcexis arrived with four Destroyer droids, forcing Darth Maul to claim he represented the Hadrex Syndicate and retreat.
• Sev revealed that she had detected Tang Xiao and asked what Fourth Group wanted.

Tang Xiao and Glosse Shelbia watched the auction turn into a hunt for Edra Kestis, while Glosse secured Sev Cyrcexis's cooperation on expanding robot production. Tang Xiao prepared to head to Drazkol Satellite as the hunt began.

• Sev Cyrcexis reassured Tang Xiao that the auction would proceed and learned that Miss Gross had arrangements for her Cyrcexis Group.
• Ji-Kela bought Edra Kestis for 2.5 million credits and had her shackled and taken to his ship.
• Tang Xiao revealed that Cade Bane and his group had disappeared, and an explosion crippled the Mogans' ship as it departed for Drazkol Satellite.
• Sev announced that the crashed ship's surviving Jedi apprentice would become the target of a hunt, charging each participant 350,000 credits.
• Tang Xiao prepared to join the action, while Glosse told Sev that Fourth Group would invest 20 million credits and help her gain majority control of the Cyrcexis Group.

Darth Malthael eliminated bounty hunters around the Mogan shuttle crash while watching Darth Maul and Edra Kestis fight. Maul appeared to kill Edra, but a second blue Lightsaber suddenly struck at his head from the haze.

• Darth Malthael landed near the battlefield and killed the bounty hunters who confronted him, including a hidden sniper.
• Cade Bane's group seized a ship and destroyed the bounty hunters' vessels as they tried to flee.
• Darth Maul and Edra Kestis fought in a valley while Darth Malthael secretly watched and sensed Edra's growing anger and connection to the Dark Side.
• Edra used the Force to bury Darth Maul beneath a rockslide, but Maul burst free and stabbed her through the chest with his red Lightsaber.
• Darth Maul destroyed Edra's dropped Lightsaber hilt, but another blue Lightsaber emerged from the haze and thrust toward his head.

Darth Malthael ambushed the exhausted Darth Maul, then used the Force to revive Edra Kestis after repeatedly healing her fatal wound. Edra survived but remained unconscious as Tang Xiao and Glosse Shelbia prepared to leave, while Sev was left behind with the Cyrcexis Group.

• Darth Malthael attacked Darth Maul in a small valley, using Ataru and the spirits of slain mercenaries to create an opening.
• Darth Maul fled after Malthael struck him with a Rock, and Malthael rushed to Edra Kestis's body to protect her soul.
• Malthael failed to revive Edra at first, but healed her wound and cast the Resurrection Spell again until she survived, though she fell unconscious.
• Tang Xiao contacted Glosse Shelbia, who teased him about saving Edra, and he told her to prepare to leave without returning to the space station.
• Tang Xiao said Sev had already transferred his rage onto someone as he watched a ship fly toward outer space.

Tang Xiao left the Drazkel System with Glosse Shelbia, Edra, and a protocol droid after killing the wounded Tek-Tek, while Glosse prepared to take over the Cyrcexis Group. In a private transmission, Darth Malthael manipulated Darth Pregas’s doubts about his foresight and reported on Darth Maul, the revived Jedi apprentice, and the coming Naboo blockade.

• Tang Xiao found Tek-Tek abandoned with crushed legs, killed him, and recruited the protocol droid FE-B3, who had belonged to the Hadrexx Gang of Nal Hutta.
• Tang Xiao departed the Drazkel System with Glosse Shelbia, Edra, and FE-B3 as Sev Cyrcexis’s space station exploded behind them.
• Glosse told Tang Xiao that Rosana had bought off a Cyrcexis Group director and that they expected to take over the group within a month or two.
• Darth Malthael told Darth Pregas that he had fought Darth Maul, described Maul’s fate as hazy, and concealed his knowledge that Darth Sidious foresaw Maul’s death.
• Darth Malthael said he had revived the Jedi apprentice with the Resurrection Spell and would send her to Pregas after her treatment; Pregas advised him to avoid unnecessary trouble.
• Darth Malthael told Pregas that the Trade Federation’s blockade of Naboo was expected to succeed, and planned to send military observers rather than troops.