Chapter Summaries

Tang Xiao persuaded Grievous to accept the Geonosians’ biomechanical modifications and returned to Dawn Star Planet. He then focused on the Fourth Civilization’s war preparations, approving a delayed order for Sova-class Carriers.

• San Hill offered to replace Grievous’s failing life-support system with a powerful mechanical body, and Tang Xiao urged him to accept the chance to protect Caladan Planet.
• Tang Xiao promised to continue aiding Caladan Planet and said he would visit the planet the following week.
• After Tang Xiao returned to Dawn Star Planet, San Hill reported that Grievous had accepted the modifications, which Count Dooku would oversee and train him for afterward.
• Tang Xiao reviewed new ship designs made possible by the Givin’s analysis of the Ragnarok-class Titan and selected the Kohl-class Battlecruiser as the navy’s main warship for the next decade.
• Despite reservations from the Givin and Semirians, Tang Xiao approved a plan to build twenty Sova-class Carriers, with construction postponed for three years.

Tang Xiao oversaw plans for the Raloz-class Heavy Constructor before asking Edra Kestis to teach him Jedi cultivation. After Edra admitted she could not teach him yet, Tang Xiao questioned Darth Tenebrus about mastering the Dark Side and a power beyond light and darkness.

• The Fourth Civilization scheduled two hundred Raloz-class Heavy Constructors to accelerate construction of Dawn Star Planet’s Star Ring, Kuna’s Tooth’s settlements, and other projects.
• Tang Xiao brought Edra Kestis to Quiet Valley and asked her to teach him Jedi cultivation, explaining that he wanted strength rather than a return to the Light Side.
• Edra explained that the Light and Dark Sides influenced their practitioners in opposing ways, then broke down and said she needed time before she could teach him.
• Tang Xiao returned to the Glory mothership and asked Darth Tenebrus how to use the Dark Side without becoming violent and manic.
• Darth Tenebrus told Tang Xiao to control anger and fear, then said a power beyond light and darkness might exist but that Tang Xiao would have to ask the Force itself about it.

Darth Tenebrus began teaching Tang Xiao about the Force, while Bredderick Shale’s gang launched a surprise raid on a factory near Mos Eisley. The raiders escaped with the factory’s equipment and left Jabba a violent message.

• Darth Tenebrus explained that the Zakul Warriors used the Force without strictly separating the Light Side and the Dark Side, and told Tang Xiao that understanding power beyond the Force required mastering both sides.
• Bredderick Shale’s forces bombarded Sabos Factory, killing workers and destroying its buildings while sparing the blaster gas storage tanks.
• Bredderick Shale ordered Jawas to haul away the machinery and Foreman-class rescue vehicles to salvage the remaining wreckage.
• When the factory owner and mercenaries arrived, Bredderick Shale’s convoy destroyed their spacecraft with gunfire and missiles and scattered the mercenaries with rockets.
• T-850 Jason Statham defaced a photograph of Jabba, and Bredderick Shale’s convoy withdrew under escort from four Banshee Fighters.

Gaddula Besadi’s forces attacked targets around Mos Eisley while Jabba ordered bounty hunters to find her. The hunters tracked four Banshee Fighters toward the attackers’ base, but advanced fighters and Pathfinder assault vehicles ambushed them and destroyed their pursuit.

• Gaddula Besadi taunted Jabba, who ordered a bounty hunter and IG-41 to capture her.
• Jabba learned that Gaddula’s forces had stripped Sabos Factory and killed its guards, then sent his bounty hunters to search for her.
• Gaddula’s forces bombarded another site in Mos Eisley and attacked a northern spaceport before bounty hunters detected faint signals outside the city.
• A Z-10 Explorer pilot spotted four Banshee Fighters and led other bounty hunters after them, while more than twenty subordinates pursued on speeder bikes.
• Six fighters attacked the bounty hunters’ spacecraft with missiles and purple lasers, destroying them as they tried to retreat.
• Fifteen Pathfinder-class assault vehicles opened fire on the speeder-bike pursuit, overwhelming the bounty hunters on the ground.

Jabba’s bounty hunters searched for Gaddula’s hidden airfield, but their attack led them to a heavily defended Land Carrier and ended in disaster. Footage of the colossal mobile base reached the bounty hunters, revealing what Gaddula had built while he was missing.

• Bounty hunters entered Tatooine’s atmosphere and discovered that the Black Ship had attacked them, while some ships fell after entering without shields.
• More than thirty bounty hunter ships searched northwest of Mos Eisley City and spotted a convoy of Pathfinder-class assault vehicles.
• Fifteen sandy-yellow triangular fighters launched missiles and attacked the bounty hunters as they approached a ground missile launch site.
• The bounty hunters found a nearly six-hundred-meter Land Carrier with runways, fighters, and Missile Turrets, and identified it as Gaddula’s base.
• The Land Carrier’s fighters and more than a hundred surface-to-air missiles destroyed the attacking ships, while Foreman-class rescue vehicles salvaged the wreckage.
• The surviving footage showed Jabba’s forces that Gaddula had assembled a colossal Land Carrier while he was missing.

The Calamity Legion used its immense Land Carrier, Gaddula, to wage war against Jabba and prepare to withdraw from the battlefield. As the Legion planned its next move, Bredderick-Shale revealed that Tatooine was crucial to the Fourth Group’s secret negotiations with Alok-Besadi.

• The chapter described Gaddula’s modified Kapisi-class Land Carrier, its crew and forces, and the Calamity Legion banner flying above it.
• Gaddula celebrated the Legion’s battle against Jabba and vowed to take his throne.
• A subordinate reported that the Foreman-class Salvagers had recovered eighty tons of materials, and Bredderick-Shale ordered the Legion to hire more pilots and prepare to leave.
• Jason-Statham proposed building Missile Turrets to cover the withdrawal and using an approaching sandstorm as cover.
• Magtan-Scar suggested leaving Jabba a gift, and Gaddula ordered all four cruise missiles fired at Jabba’s palace.
• Bredderick-Shale said the Legion’s boss was secretly negotiating with Alok-Besadi on Nal Hutta and that securing Tatooine was essential to the deal.

Darth Malthael met Alok Besadi to negotiate Hutt support for his takeover of Tatooine and passage for a fleet through Hutt Space. After demonstrating his power, Malthael left Alok facing his demands and warning that the galaxy was heading toward war.

• Darth Malthael arrived at Alok Besadi's palace on Nal Hutta to discuss Jabba's weakening hold on Tatooine.
• Malthael showed Alok footage of Gaddula's Kapisi-class Land Carrier defeating Jabba's bounty hunters and explained its military capabilities.
• Alok dismissed Malthael's ambitions, but Malthael argued that Jabba would be willing to negotiate and that Hutt support could help secure Tatooine.
• When Alok ordered his bodyguards to stop him from leaving, Malthael killed all twenty and held his Lightsaber before Alok.
• Malthael demanded a seventy-thirty split of Tatooine's profits, fleet transit rights through Hutt Space, and an even split of profits from reopening the Bonta Night Speeder Race.
• Alok rejected the idea of the Hutts joining a war, while Malthael warned that war was coming and declared that he wanted into Hutt Space.

Darth Malthael secured Alok Besadi’s support for smuggling permits and a proposed interplanetary speeder race, while demanding future fleet transit rights and promising to take Tatooine. A month later, Wang Bin’s forces fought off bounty hunters in orbit and prepared to reinforce the Calamity Legion as Jabba’s siege continued.

• Darth Malthael negotiated with Alok Besadi, who agreed to issue a permit for the smuggling fleet and help attract clients for the proposed racing circuit.
• Alok Besadi told Malthael that fleet transit rights were unavailable for now, and Malthael demanded they be secured within ten years.
• Wang Bin’s Ironfang and cloaked Wraith fighters destroyed the forty-four ships led by War Mad Roman, though the cruiser and seven fighters suffered damage.
• Wang Bin ordered his crew to use a wrecked cargo ship to lure in more bounty hunters while awaiting a permit and reinforcements from Mira Han.
• Wang Bin prepared for Fleet S to bring disguised heavy cruisers and escort carriers, while the Gaddula Land Carrier continued fighting Jabba’s forces in Tatooine’s desert.

Volgograd-Kanidi oversaw preparations to colonize Kuna's Tooth Planet, where the Fourth Civilization was building orbital facilities and bringing in supplies for a ground settlement. After complaining about the expedition’s equipment, he ordered a massive cargo sphere detached from Freighter Five and landed near the base, then went to inspect the unloading.

• The Fourth Civilization constructed an orbital station and prepared a pioneer force and industrial base to colonize Kuna's Tooth Planet.
• Volgograd-Kanidi complained that the expedition had received Warthogs and Mongooses instead of Vulture Vehicles, and criticized its limited fighter protection.
• Kanidi boarded Freighter Five and ordered its central 1,029-meter sphere to descend to Kuna's Tooth Planet.
• B-1 droids piloted the sphere through the planet's atmosphere and landed it twenty kilometers from the ground base.
• Kanidi headed to the cargo hold, where pioneers from many species were unloading supplies with B-1 droids.

The Fourth Civilization established a growing colony on Kuna's Tooth Planet, but its efforts to survey Grey Sea Crater brought it into conflict with nearby Ayrou settlements. The chapter ended as armed settlers confronted the Pioneer Corps at the destroyed drilling site.

• Refugees recruited by Claire Underwood's Mutual Aid Fund arrived at Grey Sea Crater and began unloading supplies and building the colony.
• Volgograd Kanidi inspected the delivered Warthogs and Mongooses, then organized reconnaissance and patrol squads.
• Over the next month, the colony expanded to house fifty thousand people, opened a mine, and built four underground water extraction plants.
• More than a dozen Pioneer Corps members discovered that their drilling equipment had been destroyed again and reported it to Kanidi.
• Kanidi ordered the pioneers to withdraw while negotiations with the Ayrou continued, but an armed group arrived and its human leader demanded that they leave.

A dispute between the Fourth Civilization Pioneer Corps and Annaj Planet over drilling in Grey Sea nearly turned violent before Tiur withdrew his forces. Tang Xiao left negotiations to Volgograd-Kanidi, offering supplies and demanding that he resolve the conflict.

• Tiur and the Annaj Planet leader drew weapons and threatened each other after arguing over who had the right to colonize Kuna's Tooth.
• Volgograd-Kanidi ordered Tiur to withdraw, and the Pioneer Corps abandoned its drilling equipment and returned to Black Horn.
• Volgograd-Kanidi told Tang Xiao that Annaj Planet was blocking drilling for the water needed to build an Atmospheric Modification Device.
• Tang Xiao refused to handle the dispute personally and instructed Volgograd-Kanidi to negotiate with Annaj Planet.
• Tang Xiao promised support and ordered a Luukri-Hok-class freighter sent back with more supplies.

Volgograd-Kanidi faced renewed negotiations with the Ayrou over the Fourth Civilization’s colony on Kuna’s Tooth, only to learn that mining on Kuna’s Eye had also provoked them. Tarara-Ziad demanded Dawn Star Planet’s governor negotiate personally and gave the Fourth Civilization 48 hours to withdraw, while Tang Xiao reaffirmed his policy of occupying the entire Kuna Cluster.

• Volgograd-Kanidi drank heavily while the newly delivered weapons, vehicles, troops, and supplies remained unused aboard the freighter.
• Volgograd-Kanidi agreed to meet with Tarara-Ziad, who demanded that the Fourth Civilization halt colonization and leave Kuna’s Tooth.
• Volgograd-Kanidi proposed developing Kuna’s Tooth together, but Tarara-Ziad rejected the offer and revealed that the United Mining Group was mining on Kuna’s Eye.
• Tarara-Ziad demanded that Tang Xiao negotiate personally and threatened to place the existing colony under Annaj Planet’s administration unless all ships withdrew within 48 standard hours.
• Volgograd-Kanidi questioned Tang Xiao about the mining on Kuna’s Eye, but Tang Xiao defended the policy of occupying the entire Kuna Cluster and ended the call.

Volgograd-Kanidi recalled how the Federation had forced peace during the war and erased his record after he fought for veterans. After waking to an Ayrou ultimatum, he ordered the Black Horn City colony to avoid a clash, despite his adjutant’s objections and the Pioneer Corps’ anger.

• Volgograd-Kanidi relived his memories of continuing an assault despite threats against his family, then attacking the President after the Federation made peace and being reassigned to a mining district.
• Volgograd-Kanidi woke after four hours and learned the Ayrou had demanded that the colony withdraw its ships within forty-eight standard hours or send the Governor of Dawn Star Planet to answer to them.
• Volgograd-Kanidi seized his adjutant and condemned his eagerness for war, while the adjutant argued that the Fourth Calamity should embrace conflict.
• Volgograd-Kanidi ordered the colony to remain restrained and avoid fighting the Ayrou unless they fired first.
• The adjutant objected, but Volgograd-Kanidi asserted his authority, and the Pioneer Corps cursed the order while having to obey it.

Francis Underwood defended Dawn Star Planet’s colonization and mining in the Kuna Cluster before the Republic Senate, and Chancellor Palpatine ruled that its actions did not violate Republic law. On the Glory mothership, Tang Xiao chose to keep Volgograd Kanidi in charge on Kuna’s Tooth, hinting that his disputed approach might serve a larger purpose.

• Francis Underwood mocked Senator Muchardis Murasis’s claims that Dawn Star Planet had violated Ayrou rights, then defended its history and humanitarian work while accusing the Ayrou of tyranny.
• Ainlee Tim and many New Rim, Outer Rim, and Mid Rim senators applauded Francis’s speech in support of Dawn Star Planet.
• Chancellor Palpatine ruled that Kuna’s Tooth and Kuna’s Eye had no intelligent indigenous life and that the Ayrou sphere of influence there was below 30%, so Dawn Star Planet’s actions were lawful.
• Muchardis Murasis threatened that the Ayrou would defend their sphere of influence and left the Senate, while Francis accused him of resorting to tyranny.
• On the Glory mothership, Qi Jian, Daphne Clement, Baron Helmut Zemo, Xian Hui, and Francis Underwood debated complaints about Volgograd Kanidi and the risk of war with the Ayrou.
• Tang Xiao decided to retain Kanidi and leave his measures on Kuna’s Tooth undisturbed, saying that Kanidi’s approach might be exactly what they needed.

Ayrou General Telsi prepared to punish Dawn Star Planet’s colony while Tang Xiao refused to yield to the ultimatum and left its defense in Volgograd-Kanidi’s hands. Ayrou-backed attackers vandalized Black Horn City and sabotaged the agricultural domes, then Kanidi learned that the colony’s mine had also been attacked.

• Telsi discussed the Ayrou Queen’s plan with the Colony Commander and ordered five thousand Marines in civilian clothes to land and teach Dawn Star Planet’s colony a lesson.
• Tang Xiao rejected Volgograd-Kanidi’s pleas for peace, described the benefits of war, and told him that the pioneers’ fate was his responsibility.
• More than a hundred armed riders from Annaj Planet vandalized Black Horn City’s gates and fired on its agricultural domes, forcing repair crews to seal the leaks.
• Kanidi’s adjutant reported that Ayrou attackers had destroyed every vehicle at the mine and trapped the miners inside.

Tang Xiao limited the forces planned for the conflict with the Ayrou and arranged a political strategy while Baron Zemo and Ni Yongxiao engineered a massacre at the Kuna's Tooth mining site. After the violence was recorded, Tang Xiao broadcast the footage, indicted the Ayrou in the Galactic Senate, and declared war.

• Tang Xiao cut most of Qi Jian's proposed forces and ordered meetings with the Semirians and the Givin, while Igor Zavalov told Qi Jian about a tactic used on Tatooine.
• Ayrou forces blockaded Fourth Civilization miners at Kuna's Tooth, and General Telsi rejected Volgograd Kanidi's pleas to release them.
• Volgograd Kanidi flew toward the mine despite an Ayrou warning, and General Telsi ordered a fighter to cripple his shuttle.
• Baron Helmut Zemo and Ni Yongxiao pressured Russo by threatening his family, prompting him to fire on the Pioneer Corps and attack the trapped miners as Baron Zemo counted the deaths.
• Tang Xiao ordered the massacre footage broadcast across the HoloNet, formally indicted the Ayrou in the Galactic Senate, and declared war.

After surviving the shuttle crash, Volgograd-Kanidi discovered the Ayrou had massacred the miners and Pioneer Corps at Kuna's Tooth, and vowed to make them understand the horrors of war. Footage of the massacre triggered widespread condemnation and threats of support for Dawn Star Planet, leaving the Ayrou Queen of Annaj Planet facing a major crisis.

• Volgograd-Kanidi reached the mine and found the Pioneer Corps and miners dead, then learned from surviving miners that the Ayrou had opened fire and slaughtered them.
• Volgograd-Kanidi broke down in grief and rage, then told reporters to return to Tang Xiao and ask whether he was satisfied with the massacre.
• Reporters' footage of the Ayrou massacre spread across the Galactic Republic, while media outlets also publicized the Ayrou's Rocnar Blue production on Kuna's Tooth.
• Dawn Star Planet demanded an explanation, two billion credits in compensation, and General Telsi's surrender, while Republic systems and major corporations condemned Annaj Planet and offered Dawn Star Planet assistance.
• Count Dooku condemned Annaj Planet and blamed the Republic's weakness, while the Ayrou Queen was overwhelmed by condemnations and alarms.

Volgograd-Kanidi refused to resign and prepared to defend Kuna's Tooth without Tang Xiao's fleet, while General Telsi ordered the Ayrou to attack the colony. The chapter ended as a Luukri-Hok-class freighter emerged from hyperspace directly in front of the Ayrou supply convoy.

• Volgograd-Kanidi ordered miners rescued and patrols deployed, then told Tang Xiao he would remain Commander and protect the Pioneer Corps.
• Tang Xiao confirmed he had used Kanidi's trauma to advance his plans and warned that war would spread across the Kuna Cluster and Modell Sector.
• Kanidi ordered Fleet A to turn back, arranged a mechanized assault force with Carls-Walton, and planned to cut off the Ayrou's supply lines.
• General Telsi learned that the Ayrou Queen had rejected Dawn Star Planet's ultimatum and ordered an attack on the colony once supplies arrived.
• Telsi's radar operator detected a hyperspace jump into the planet's gravity well, and a Luukri-Hok-class freighter appeared directly in front of the Ayrou supply convoy.

Volgograd-Kanidi used his knowledge of the Ayrou supply convoys and changing stellar conditions to position a massive freighter in their path, while Dawn Star Planet launched attacks on the ground. The three fronts settled into a tense stalemate, and Kanidi prepared to test the enemy before deciding how to checkmate them.

• A Luukri-Hok-class freighter emerged from hyperspace in the path of the Ayrou supply convoy, and Kanidi launched over a hundred Blade-class fighters against the transports.
• General Telsi ordered the Ayrou warships to attack the freighter, but it endured their bombardment without returning fire.
• Dawn Star Planet's vehicles attacked the outskirts of the Ayrou colony, then used superior mobility and firepower to harass the pursuing defenders.
• The space and ground battles reached a stalemate as none of the three fronts could quickly defeat the opposing forces.
• Kanidi explained to Jin Chen that he had tracked the convoys and timed the freighter's jump using changes in Kuna's Tooth Planet's gravity well caused by stellar flares.
• Kanidi told Carl Walton that he needed to test the Ayrou's moves before deciding how to checkmate them.

Volgograd-Kanidi’s forces lured General Telsi into focusing on a decoy freighter while corvettes and stealth fighters destroyed the Ayrou transport fleet. Telsi pressed her attack on the battered freighter, which unexpectedly reactivated its shields just as it seemed doomed.

• Volgograd-Kanidi ordered the bait freighter to lower its shields and retreat while his ground forces continued harassing the border.
• General Telsi chased the freighter and ignored twenty unfamiliar ships that attacked the Ayrou transports.
• The Shriken Class Light Corvettes and Stilat Class Light Corvettes disabled transport ships as forty concealed Wraith fighters appeared and attacked them.
• Telsi abandoned the transport fleet, and Dawn Star Planet’s forces destroyed or captured its ships before turning toward the Ayrou fleet.
• Telsi refused to retreat and continued attacking the freighter, which reactivated its shields at the last moment.