Chapter Summaries

Tang Xiao learned that three children on Dawn Star Planet had been identified as Force-sensitive, and hurried to meet Jedi Master Coleman Trebor. Coleman invited them to train at the Jedi Temple, but the Luna Sisters had an unusual ability that left the true number of Force-sensitive children uncertain.

• Zemo reported that Yuri Orlov had built an arms business and made a major deal with Jabba, but Tang Xiao chose to keep treating him as a favored outsider.
• Tang Xiao planned to visit the Indjori system over concerns about Project G and Yinchorr, then summoned Edra Kestis.
• Daphne Clement alerted Tang Xiao that Coleman Trebor had found Force-sensitive children during the population census, so Tang Xiao rushed to Dawn City.
• Tang Xiao met Coleman Trebor, who identified Jing Fang as Force-sensitive and invited the children to train at the Jedi Temple.
• Coleman introduced the Luna Sisters and explained that they were Force-sensitive only when they were within ten meters of each other.

Tang Xiao agreed to let the Jedi Order take Jing Fang and the Luna Sisters for training, while secretly anticipating that their teacher, Depa Barris, might later fall to the Dark Side. He then arrived in the Indjori system, where a Fourth Civilization communications frigate was supporting William Birkin’s secret project.

• Coleman Trebor told Tang Xiao that Jing Fang and the Luna Sisters were Force-sensitive, with the sisters’ abilities activated when they were together.
• Tang Xiao learned that Dream-Luna had a Chlamydiae density of 9,000 and Phantasm-Luna had a density of 12,000.
• Coleman said the Jedi Order planned to take the three children for training, with Depa Barris provisionally assigned to teach the Luna Sisters, and Tang Xiao agreed if their parents consented.
• Daphne Clement questioned Tang Xiao about letting the children go, and he privately anticipated that Depa Barris might fall to the Dark Side and give him a chance to reclaim the sisters.
• Tang Xiao arrived aboard the Red Comet at the Fourth Civilization’s communications frigate near Yinchorr, where William Birkin was leading a secret project.

Tang Xiao confronted William Birkin over his uncontrolled G-Virus experiment and ordered him to develop T-Virus weapons using Indjori genes within six months. After leaving the spacecraft, Tang Xiao flew to Yinchorr to meet Shen Yuanhao and the Yoha tribe’s Great Chieftains.

• William Birkin showed Tang Xiao a mutated Indjori created with the G-Virus, which attacked the cultivation tank’s glass.
• Tang Xiao demanded a controllable weapon and an Indjori-addiction drug, then threatened William Birkin, his wife, and his daughter if he failed to produce T-Virus weapons for practical testing within six months.
• William Birkin agreed to resume T-Virus research after Tang Xiao threatened to wake Alexia Ashford.
• Tang Xiao left the spacecraft and contacted Shen Yuanhao, who was with the Yoha tribe on Yinchorr.
• Tang Xiao piloted the Red Comet to the Yoha tribe, where Shen Yuanhao and the tribe’s Great Chieftains greeted him.

Tang Xiao ordered Shen Yuanhao to keep the Indjori weapons experiments secret and dispose of William Birkin after his project was complete, while William secretly planned to prove the G-Virus’s worth using his daughter, Sherry. At a recruit camp on Dawn Star Planet, Huang Yehao watched newly trained pilots fly as a star ring moved overhead.

• Shen Yuanhao reported that the Yoha tribe was cooperating with the Fourth Group and that Indjori warriors might join Titan Security Company.
• Tang Xiao warned Shen Yuanhao to limit Indjori deployments, conceal the biological weapons experiments, and kill William Birkin after his project was finished.
• William Birkin rejected the T-Virus assignment and insisted that the G-Virus was his work and the future of biological weapons.
• William told Annette Birkin he planned to demonstrate the G-Virus’s stable effects through Sherry, and Annette objected to treating their daughter as a test subject.
• Huang Yehao attended recruit training on Dawn Star Planet, watched Wraith fighters fly overhead, and resolved to become a pilot.
• Someone in the ranks called out that the star ring was moving overhead.

Huang Yehao endured his first day of military training and talked with Cummings about why they enlisted and what branches they hoped to join. They watched an Ewok jungle unit return to base, and Cummings warned Huang Yehao that wilderness survival training lay ahead.

• Huang Yehao was punished for staring at the Star Ring during training, while the instructor disciplined other recruits and ordered the group to stand at attention.
• The instructor ordered veteran soldiers off a Siege Tank and sent them to receive punishment for riding it against regulations.
• Cummings gave an exhausted Huang Yehao a baozi, then said he had enlisted to escape the repetitive work on his family’s hydroponic farm.
• Huang Yehao told Cummings he had mandatory service as an Embryo Person and wanted to fly a Wraith fighter, while Cummings said he wanted to drive tanks.
• Huang Yehao and Cummings watched Ewok soldiers return from the jungle unit, and Cummings said the recruits would later face wilderness survival training on a dangerous planet.

Huang Yehao and the recruits of the 131st Company learned that their wilderness combat training would take place on deadly Yinchorr, with the 132nd Company joining them. Their instructor urged them to face the challenge, though Huang Yehao and Cummings feared they might not return.

• Huang Yehao celebrated the recruits’ upcoming wilderness training and Ailiya-Isabella’s concert, while Cummings wrote a love letter to Shanda.
• Huang Yehao read Cummings’s letter aloud until Cummings threw him out a window and swallowed the letter.
• Army General Xian Hui randomly assigned the recruit companies’ wilderness training worlds and selected Yinchorr for the 131st Company.
• Army General Xian Hui ordered the 132nd Company to join the 131st Company because Yinchorr was exceptionally dangerous.
• Huang Yehao recalled that prior training groups on Yinchorr had suffered a fifteen-percent casualty rate, and the instructor urged both companies to stand firm.

The 131st and 132nd Companies reached the silent, devastated Masano City during their desert training and discovered signs of a beast attack. When recruits investigated a blood trail, a mutated Indjori monster attacked them, and their gunfire drew more creatures from the darkness.

• An instructor led four hundred recruits toward Masano City for a two-week desert exercise and warned them to avoid the aggressive Indjori.
• The instructor found Masano City dark and apparently deserted, deployed drones, and learned that the town had been ravaged by beasts.
• The instructor ordered the 132nd Company to hold position and send scouts while the 131st Company circled toward the city's east side.
• Scouts found a trail of blood and Indjori handprints leading into a damaged house, then approached it in groups.
• A tentacle shot from the house, grabbed Group One's leader, and revealed a mutated Indjori creature.
• The recruits opened fire on the monster, and more shadowy creatures emerged from the darkness toward the gunfire.

The 132nd Company and 131st Company came under attack from Indjori transformed into seemingly unstoppable monsters in Masano City. Tang Xiao suspected a T-Virus outbreak, sent the Fourth Legion to the Indjori system, and prepared to isolate the system and destroy it if the crisis could not be contained.

• An Indjori corpse attacked and killed the 132nd Company captain, while communications from the soldiers were disrupted.
• The 132nd Company entered Masano City to reinforce the reconnaissance squad and encountered hordes of mutated Indjori that charged through warning shots.
• The 131st Company heard the gunfire and formed a defensive position; Cummings blocked an intersection with a hovercar wreck and opened fire on approaching monsters.
• Lieutenant General Cheng Shitao reported the emergency to Tang Xiao, who suspected the monsters were linked to the T-Virus.
• Tang Xiao ordered the Fourth Legion to move its final trial to the Indjori system and told Volgograd-Kanidi to send freighters to cut off outside communications.
• Tang Xiao ordered the Hiigaran-class battlecruisers to prepare for orbital bombardment if the Fourth Legion could not resolve the crisis, so evidence of the biological weapons experiments would be erased.

Tang Xiao ordered the Yinchorr outbreak contained while preparing to confront William Birkin, as mutated Indjori Zombies overwhelmed rookie troops in Masano City. After Tang confronted him aboard the Red Comet, Birkin defended his G-Virus research and Tang ordered Edra to kill him.

• Tang Xiao told Qi Jian to avoid interfering with Shen Yuanhao's people, publicize dissatisfaction with the Indjori, and keep the 131st and 132nd Companies from letting the monsters spread.
• Indjori Zombies attacked the 131st and 132nd Companies in Masano City, and the instructor ordered Huang Yehao's unit to advance into the city for cover.
• Cummings led Huang Yehao through buildings to evade the zombies, while the advancing soldiers suffered heavy casualties and became separated.
• Tang Xiao and Edra Kestis arrived aboard the Red Comet and found William Birkin barricaded with Annette, threatening to release the G-Virus.
• William defended his research and accused Tang of treating him like a tool, so Tang ordered Edra to kill him.

Tang Xiao forced Edra Kestis to kill William and Annette Birkin, then ordered her to purge the monsters in Masano City. He resurrected Annette and held William’s body in reserve as leverage, while Tull Ulan led Fourth Civilization troops toward Yinchorr to cleanse the city and rescue friendly soldiers.

• Tang Xiao ordered Edra Kestis to kill William Birkin after exposing his role in unleashing the G-Virus across Masano City.
• Edra killed William with her Lightsaber, then strangled Annette under Tang Xiao’s influence.
• Tang Xiao resurrected Annette, ordered her to serve him, and left her with William’s corpse for three days.
• A Luukri-Hok-class freighter arrived in the Indjori system and disrupted communications across Yinchorr.
• Tull Ulan led soldiers in black Liberator combat suits toward Masano City with orders to kill all other living things and rescue friendly soldiers.

Huang Yehao and Cummings realized the counterattack had been meant to draw the Indjori Zombies together, and Huang suspected the military planned an orbital bombardment. They used grenades to slip through the town, but a zombie seized Cummings as they tried to escape through a house.

• Huang Yehao and Cummings took shelter in a house after the Indjori Zombies blocked their route and realized the counterattack had failed.
• Huang Yehao reasoned that the instructors had ordered them to draw the zombies together and warned that the virus might spread through contaminated food or contact.
• Huang Yehao suspected the military would use orbital bombardment and devised an escape plan using Cummings's grenades to lure the zombies away.
• Cummings threw grenades to divert the zombies while Huang Yehao led them through the town.
• An Indjori Zombie burst from a house, wrapped its tentacles around Cummings, and dragged him inside as Huang Yehao fired at it.
• Cummings threw Huang Yehao his backpack and hurled a grenade into the zombie's mouth.

Edra Kestis embraced her role as a Jedi Knight and rushed to rescue survivors during the zombie outbreak, while Fourth Legion soldiers deployed to hunt the Indjori Zombies. Edra found a room filled with butchered soldiers and heard a survivor crying for help.

• Edra Kestis killed an Indjori Zombie and told Huang Yehao and Cummings to stay while she went to rescue others, but Huang Yehao and Cummings fled.
• One hundred Fourth Legion soldiers arrived by transport aircraft, and Tur Ulan sent Justin Levis and the others to disperse through the city.
• Justin Levis killed a mutated zombie with his M-22 Eviscerator and tore off its tentacle when it attacked again.
• Edra Kestis rescued five soldiers and then rushed toward gunfire, believing her Jedi strength and purpose had returned.
• Edra Kestis entered a room filled with mangled bodies and heard someone weakly calling for help.

Edra Kestis tried to rescue infected survivors, but the G-Virus turned them into grotesque monsters, leaving her overwhelmed and fighting her way through the zombies. Elsewhere, Justin Levis rescued several Fourth Civilization soldiers from a house.

• Edra Kestis crossed a bloody pile of bodies to reach a wounded soldier, who had been infected with the G-Virus and could not be saved.
• The wounded soldier mutated into a monster fused with nearby corpses, and Edra cut him apart with her Lightsaber.
• Edra fled through the town, killing the dead soldiers as they reanimated, then returned to find the five soldiers she had saved had become zombies.
• Justin Levis killed the zombies outside a house and rescued several Fourth Civilization soldiers hiding inside.

Justin Levis and the Fourth Legion rescued soldiers from Indjori Zombies in Masano City, while Edra Kestis displayed her dangerous power with a Lightsaber. As the survivors gathered at the town exit, Levis returned to search for more people, and Shen Yuanhao faced the Indjori Elder Council with a cover story about the outbreak.

• Justin Levis led the Fourth Legion through Masano City, killing Indjori Zombies and escorting rescued recruits toward the outskirts.
• Huang Yehao and Cummings fought off zombies with four recruits until Levis's squads arrived and eliminated the attackers.
• Edra Kestis cut through another horde with her Lightsaber, laughed that she would protect everyone, and then went off on her own.
• Levis directed Huang Yehao's group to wait at the town exit and returned to the city, challenging Huang Yehao to follow if he could fight like him.
• Shen Yuanhao told the Indjori Elder Council that virus-carrying Rork-Mankirs from Dawn Star Planet had attacked Masano City.

After the Masano City outbreak, Shen Yuanhao used fabricated evidence and Dawn Star Planet’s concessions to prevent the crisis from becoming a diplomatic conflict. Tang Xiao moved ahead with the T-Virus program and reconsidered how he would keep powerful Legendary figures aligned with the Fourth Civilization.

• Shen Yuanhao convinced the Indjori Elder Council that mutated Indjori and Rolk-Mangirs had caused the Masano City disaster, and that Dawn Star Planet would not pursue the matter.
• The Fourth Legion sent 100 soldiers to eliminate the zombies in Masano City, killing more than 2,000 at the cost of three lives.
• Of the 400 recruits and 10 instructors sent for training, 317 died, 45 were severely wounded or disabled, and 48 returned with all their limbs; Huang Yehao and Cummings later failed their desired service examinations.
• Tang Xiao saw the T-Virus program begin under Annette Birkin after William Birkin’s death and pursued his plan to create controllable Indjori warriors.
• Tang Xiao recognized that Legendary figures required shared interests and goals, not merely authority, to remain committed to the Fourth Civilization.

In 29BBY, Palpatine consolidated his political support while Francis Underwood built influence among Mid Rim and Outer Rim planets ahead of the next Chancellor election. Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth began promoting Outbound Flight, claiming he could navigate the Unknown Regions’ chaotic hyperspace routes.

• Palpatine used the Clone Army project to win Kuat Planet’s loyalty through a 7-billion-credit contract with Kuat Drive Yards.
• Palpatine let Mas Amedda and other political factions believe they could influence him while secretly recording their weaknesses and favors.
• Francis Underwood campaigned among Mid Rim and Outer Rim planets rather than courting the Inner Rim, leading Palpatine to suspect a long-term plan.
• Jorus C'baoth lobbied for Outbound Flight to explore and colonize the Unknown Regions.
• C'baoth claimed he could travel through the Unknown Regions’ tangled hyperspace routes.

Palpatine used Mas Amedda to launch Jorus Tholme’s risky Outer Rim Exploration Program, while the Fourth Civilization advanced its warship development and concealed the Hiigaran-class battlecruisers’ progress from Darth Sidious. The chapter left the Republic’s expedition underway and the Fourth Civilization preparing new ships for production.

• Palpatine learned about Jorus Tholme’s proposed hyperspace routes through the Unknown Regions and saw an opportunity to use the plan for political gain.
• Palpatine persuaded Mas Amedda to support Tholme’s Outer Rim Exploration Program, and Mas Amedda pressured corporations to fund six Dreadnought-class cruisers and an expedition of fifty thousand pioneers.
• Kaint Walters reported that the Hiigaran-class battlecruiser design was finalized, and Tang Xiao ordered two ships sent to the Kuna Cluster instead of the Endor system.
• Nute Gunray funded a major expansion of Golden Nyss Shipyard, while Tang Xiao and Gunray arranged to mislead Darth Sidious about the battlecruisers’ construction schedule.
• The Cooperative Alliance completed development of the Sova-class Carrier and began preparing its production lines for prototype construction.

The Fourth Civilization expanded and modernized its navy while Tang Xiao built ties with Count Dooku and corporate giants without joining Dooku’s alliance. After hundreds of planets rejected the Republic’s tax bill, Palpatine condemned the movement and threatened sanctions.

• The Fourth Civilization introduced the Sova-class Carrier and supporting vessels, retired older warships, expanded its navy, and began replacing ultraviolet lasers with X-ray weapons.
• Tang Xiao pursued crystal imports from Christophsis and signed trade agreements during several visits to the planet.
• In June 29BBY, Count Dooku visited Dawn Star Planet and urged Tang Xiao to join an alliance of Outer Rim planets, but Tang Xiao declined while agreeing to strengthen ties with corporate giants.
• More than 500 planets refused to recognize the Galactic Republic’s tax bill, and Dawn Star Planet, Semirres Planet, Yag'Dhul Planet, and other friendly planets followed a day later.
• Chancellor Sheev Palpatine condemned Count Dooku and threatened sanctions against planets that refused to pay taxes.

Jabba’s war against the Calamity Legion intensified as Tang Xiao’s allies entered the conflict, while Sheev Palpatine won reelection and revealed himself as Darth Sidious. Darth Malthael gave San Hill the plans for a Behemoth-class battlecruiser and directed him to Tang Xiao, who prepared to show him Heige Damask II’s legacy on Dawn Star Planet.

• Jabba used Yuri Orlov’s T-24 airspeeders to destroy a Calamity Legion convoy, killing Bosa Broderick Shale, and Magtan Scar retaliated by bombing a village before escaping into the desert.
• Tang Xiao arranged for Alok Besadi to hire Titan Security Company, and the Ironfang arrived at Tatooine with five CR-70 frigates, escalating the proxy war.
• Sheev Palpatine won reelection, then exposed Mas Amedda’s corruption and revealed to him that he was Darth Sidious, forcing him to swear allegiance.
• Darth Malthael showed San Hill the Behemoth-class battlecruiser plans and told him to give them to Tang Xiao, explaining their plan to use the coming war against Darth Sidious.
• San Hill contacted Tang Xiao, who said he was authorized to show him Heige Damask II’s legacy and invited him to Dawn Star Planet to see the completed project.

Tang Xiao showed San Hill the advanced industry and growing prosperity of Dawn Star Planet and the United Mining Group. He then demanded that San Hill abandon his frigate and travel with him in an escape pod before seeing Teacher Heige's legacy, leaving San Hill to weigh the danger against his past encounter with Darth Malthael.

• San Hill arrived in the Endor system, and Tang Xiao showed him Dawn Star Planet's population, technology, agriculture, and industries.
• Tang Xiao showed San Hill the United Mining Group's expanding mining operations, escort fleets, and fighter purchases.
• San Hill concluded that Dawn Star Planet's prosperity rested on real technology and industrial strength, and guessed that its people shared a clear purpose.
• Tang Xiao told San Hill to leave a false message, board an escape pod with him, and let his frigate depart unattended.
• San Hill hesitated over trusting Tang Xiao but recalled that Darth Malthael had spared his life before.