Chapter Summaries

Tang Xiao confronted Count Dooku over the Separatists’ lack of assurances that the war could end in victory. Sidious rejected the demand for peace and ordered Dooku to kill Tang Xiao and the Onderon representative, leaving Dooku committed to carrying out the plan.

• Tang Xiao told Count Dooku that Separatist leaders needed to know Sidious’s identity and receive a clear promise of victory before continuing to fund the war.
• Count Dooku contacted Darth Sidious, who attacked him through the Force and ordered him to suppress the Confederacy’s anti-war voices.
• Dooku warned Sidious that corporate leaders, including the Trade Federation and the InterGalactic Banking Clan, were demanding assurances, and he blamed the Archangel of Death for their opposition.
• Sidious ordered Dooku to eliminate Tang Xiao and the representative of Onderon, then promised to stage a terrorist attack in Coruscant to destroy support for peace negotiations.
• Count Dooku accepted that Sidious’s decision could not be changed and resolved to proceed.

Count Dooku confronted Darth Malthael after rejecting Darth Sidious's order to kill Tang Xiao, and learned that Sidious planned to discard the Confederacy and Dooku once the war ended. Darth Malthael offered him a choice: preserve and strengthen the Confederacy while Malthael dealt with Sidious.

• Count Dooku refused to accept Darth Sidious's order and received a communicator from Tang Xiao so he could speak with Darth Malthael.
• Darth Malthael revealed that he knew of Dooku's alliance with Sidious and explained that Sidious intended to become Emperor, leaving Dooku with no lasting place in his plan.
• Darth Malthael described how Sidious planned to end the war, absorb the Separatist corporations into the Republic, and leave Dooku vulnerable to blame and assassination.
• Count Dooku asked what Darth Malthael wanted, and Malthael offered to help build the Confederacy into a lasting government in exchange for the chance to kill Sidious.

Darth Malthael urged Count Dooku to survive while the Separatist uprising weakened the Republic and Darth Sidious, arguing that both would eventually enable authoritarian rule. On Coruscant, the Republic faced a worsening financial crisis as its costly war orders continued despite its mounting deficit.

• Darth Malthael told Count Dooku that the Separatist conflict could grow into a blaze that destroyed the Republic and Sidious, and that they needed only to survive until then.
• Darth Malthael and Count Dooku discussed how freedom and democracy had become entrenched across the galaxy, while both desired a powerful authoritarian government.
• Darth Malthael explained that Sidious would sacrifice rival interest groups to gain the support of oligarchs and pursue godlike power, worsening the Republic's corruption.
• The Galactic Republic's Senate argued for days as battlefield losses drove up spending and the Republic's fiscal deficit exceeded its safety limit.
• The Republic kept ordering warships from Kuat Drive Yards and Clone Troopers from Kamino because halting production could cause the front lines and the Republic's finances to collapse further.

The chapter described how corruption and corporate control had crippled the Galactic Republic, using the failed Jabiim relief effort as an example. As the Republic ran out of money during the war, the Senate argued over the InterGalactic Banking Clan’s predatory loan terms, while Sheev Palpatine privately anticipated the Clan’s downfall.

• The Trade Federation bribed Republic officials and investigators, leaving the Jabiim planet without meaningful help during the Brain Plague.
• After the Senate’s investigation excused the Trade Federation, Otto Stratus’s revolution ignited a civil war on Jabiim.
• A year into the galactic civil war, the Republic exhausted its funds and sought a loan from the InterGalactic Banking Clan.
• Rush Clovis demanded 25% interest and looser banking regulations in exchange for lending money to the Republic.
• Padmé Amidala and Bail Organa opposed the loan and called for peace, while Ohn Free Taa argued that the Republic had to keep fighting.
• Sheev Palpatine watched the Senate dispute and privately concluded that the InterGalactic Banking Clan was due for a change.

Padmé Amidala condemned Rush Clovis and the InterGalactic Banking Clan for financing both sides of the war, ending their personal relationship in anger. Chancellor Sheev Palpatine then asked Mace Windu to have the Jedi Order secretly investigate Clovis.

• Rush Clovis told the Senate that the InterGalactic Banking Clan had loaned the Confederacy of Independent Systems 300 billion credits, prompting Padmé Amidala and Bail Organa to accuse the Clan of escalating the war.
• Sheev Palpatine recessed the inconclusive Senate meeting until the next day, and Padmé left in fury.
• Rush Clovis approached Padmé, but she rejected his attempt to explain and vowed to bring new litigation before the Senate.
• The chapter revealed that Padmé and Clovis had been involved in a secret, intermittent relationship that ended when the war began.
• Sheev Palpatine told Mace Windu that the Banking Clan was funding both sides and asked the Jedi Order to secretly investigate Rush Clovis.

Sheev Palpatine asked Master Windu to investigate Rush Clovis and arrange for Anakin Skywalker to return to protect Padmé Amidala, while concealing the Chancellor’s involvement. On Tibrin, Anakin’s forces struggled against Sola Balk and the Ithorian counterattack, and the droid army resumed operating after Fourth Civilization experts cracked the nanovirus.

• Sheev Palpatine told Master Windu that Rush Clovis was likely a Separatist and revealed that Padmé Amidala had once had a secret romance with him.
• Sheev Palpatine proposed transferring Anakin Skywalker from Tibrin to protect Padmé, but Master Windu noted that Anakin was still trapped in the fighting there.
• After Suribran Tu’s execution, the Ithorian Tibrins rebelled against the Republic and joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
• Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and Roan Shryne fought to hold the Republic’s lines as Sola Balk defeated Anakin and the remaining J-1 heavy Proton Cannons forced Republic ships to withdraw.
• Ahsoka Tano and Anakin spread a nanovirus through the droid army, allowing the Clone Army to advance, but Sola Balk armed a million Ithorian Tibrins and the Fourth Civilization supplied them with weapons and vehicles.
• The Ithorian counterattack drove Anakin’s forces back, and Fourth Civilization computer experts cracked the nanovirus, restoring Tibrin’s droid army.

Anakin Skywalker led a daring raid that destroyed eight Siege Tanks and helped the Republic forces withdraw from Tibrin, which the Separatists then freed from Republic rule. In Coruscant, Padmé Amidala met Rush Clovis for dinner, though her heart remained with another man.

• Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex ordered the Clone Troopers to retreat and hide while the Ishi Tib forces advanced.
• Anakin used the Force to guide a small team on captured Vulture Vehicles through enemy lines toward the Siege Tanks.
• Anakin destroyed eight Siege Tanks, and the Clone Troopers launched a counterattack that stabilized their lines.
• Ahsoka Tano rescued Roan Shryne, and the Republic forces withdrew from Tibrin after the Nitta regained power.
• The Republic lost more than 20,000 Clone Troopers, while Tibrin gained independence under acting governor Sola Balk.
• In Coruscant, Padmé Amidala shared dinner and wine with Rush Clovis.

Padmé Amidala feigned renewed affection for Rush Clovis to persuade him to take her to Kato Neimoidia, where she suspected he was colluding with the Trade Federation. After returning home, she reported her suspicions to Master Windu.

• Padmé drew Rush Clovis into discussing the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and he revealed that he owned property on Kato Neimoidia and was pursuing a major investment.
• Padmé pretended to feel lonely and suggested they might start over if the war ended, while Clovis declared his feelings and promised they could enjoy his future wealth together.
• Padmé feigned distress over the war, prompting Clovis to invite her to Kato Neimoidia; she agreed to go the day after tomorrow.
• Padmé returned to her residence, contacted Master Windu, and reported that Clovis's invitation and access to Kato Neimoidia suggested he was conspiring with the Trade Federation.

Padmé Amidala reunited with Anakin Skywalker and brought him along while meeting Rush Clovis, her former boyfriend, under the pretense of discussing vital intelligence. As the Naboo Royal Cruiser departed, Anakin secretly used the Force to damage Clovis’s seatbelt.

• Master Windu told Padmé that Anakin would return from Tibrin to protect her.
• Anakin rushed to Padmé’s estate, and they joyfully reunited before she told him about Rush Clovis.
• Anakin agreed to meet Clovis, while Padmé warned him not to jeopardize the chance to obtain crucial intelligence.
• Padmé brought Anakin, C-3PO, and Rock-Johnson to the spaceport to meet Clovis, and Anakin used a false name.
• Clovis boarded Padmé’s Naboo Royal Cruiser with her, while Anakin piloted and secretly tore a slit in Clovis’s seatbelt with the Force.

Anakin Skywalker tried to keep Rush Clovis away from Padmé during their flight to Kato Neimoidia, where Clovis revealed the Trade Federation had borrowed 150 billion credits. After Lott Dod confronted Clovis at his palace, Padmé and Anakin suspected the Trade Federation and the InterGalactic Banking Clan were plotting together, but guards blocked Anakin from following her inside.

• Anakin Skywalker faked an emergency and used a broken safety belt to separate Rush Clovis from Padmé aboard the ship.
• The ship traveled to Kato Neimoidia, where Clovis said the Trade Federation had borrowed 150 billion credits for security expenses and escort fees.
• Padmé questioned Clovis about the Trade Federation’s links to the Separatists, and he argued that banks should not be held responsible for how borrowers spent their money.
• Lott Dod angrily confronted Clovis for bringing Padmé to the palace during an important meeting, while Clovis called Kato Neimoidia his property and left with him to discuss an investment.
• Padmé and Anakin suspected the Trade Federation and the InterGalactic Banking Clan were plotting together, but palace guards barred Anakin from entering as a servant.

Darth Sidious ordered Count Dooku to investigate the Trade Federation’s large shipyard and use the Jedi to destroy it, while Padmé uncovered the Separatists’ Endless-class Super Carrier project in Lot Dod’s palace. The chapter left Padmé exposed as a suspected spy after a droid detected her.

• Darth Sidious reprimanded Count Dooku for losing control of the InterGalactic Banking Clan and ordered him to surveil the Trade Federation’s shipyard.
• Padmé entered Lot Dod’s palace and overheard Rush Clovis, Lot Dod, and Tunbark Tula discuss the Endless-class Super Carrier and its funding.
• Tunbark Tula said the Semirians could build the shipyard, while Lot Dod and Clovis argued over the project’s lack of funds and San Hill’s proposed financing.
• A passing droid detected Padmé, and Lot Dod accused her of spying and ordered her seized.

Padmé Amidala uncovered the Separatists’ plan to build an Endless-class Super Carrier and entered Lott Dod’s palace with Rush Clovis, while Anakin Skywalker secretly joined her. After Clovis displayed his closeness with Padmé to the banquet guests, she managed to get away, leaving her and Anakin poised to seek the project’s data.

• Padmé challenged Lott Dod’s accusations, and Rush Clovis defended her while claiming his dealings with the Trade Federation were only investments.
• After Padmé and Clovis left, Lott Dod and Toonbuck Toora discussed diverting Republic funds to build the Endless-class Super Carrier and considered using Padmé to blackmail Clovis, but Toonbuck forbade harming her.
• Padmé brought her ship’s attendants into the palace and secretly told Anakin Skywalker about the supercarrier plan.
• When Clovis found Padmé and Anakin together, Padmé claimed Anakin had brought her medicine, and Anakin left without revealing himself.
• Clovis escorted Padmé around the banquet and kept his arm around her waist as Anakin watched angrily.
• Padmé told Clovis she felt unwell and wanted to walk alone, and he let her go.

Padmé infiltrated the conference room on Kato Neimoidia and copied the classified plans for the Separatists’ Endless-class Super Carrier, then deleted the project files. Anakin retrieved her storage device, but Lott Dod caught Padmé at the terminal and ordered his men to seize her.

• Padmé used Rush Clovis’s name as the terminal password and accessed its classified database.
• Padmé copied the plans and discovered that the Endless-class Super Carrier could outclass the Republic’s main warships.
• Padmé deleted the database files related to the carrier project, hoping to delay its development.
• Rush Clovis found Padmé at the terminal, and she pretended to be unwell before throwing herself into his arms.
• Anakin Skywalker arrived, retrieved Padmé’s storage device with the Force, and left after she signaled that she was acting for the Republic.
• Lott Dod rushed in, saw Padmé beside the terminal, and ordered his men to seize her.

Padmé Amidala was arrested after deleting an investment plan, while Anakin Skywalker secured a copy of the evidence and helped her escape the Trade Federation palace. Anakin left Rush Clovis behind with Lott Dod as guards pursued them toward the spaceport.

• Robots arrested Padmé after Lott Dod accused her of tampering with the mainframe, and Clovis discovered that the investment plan had been deleted.
• Anakin found that communications were jammed and the palace exits were sealed, so he gave the storage device to Rock Johnson to copy its contents.
• Anakin offered Clovis the storage device in exchange for Padmé's release, but Lott Dod refused, prompting Clovis to take him hostage.
• Clovis led Padmé, Anakin, and their team toward the spaceport, using Lott Dod to make the guards let them pass.
• Anakin shoved Clovis and Lott Dod aside, then boarded the Naboo Royal Cruiser with Padmé and left Clovis behind.

Darth Malthael learned that Rush Clovis had leaked the Endless-class Super Carrier investment plan and ordered San Hill to prepare for a split within the InterGalactic Banking Clan. The chapter ended with Malthael ordering Clovis killed after he left Kato Neimoidia.

• Nute Gunray told Darth Malthael that the Endless-class Super Carrier investment plan had leaked, and blamed Rush Clovis of the InterGalactic Banking Clan.
• San Hill explained that Clovis had handled the funding because the Clan’s reserves were depleted, and that Clovis had appeared to be a loyal Separatist.
• Darth Malthael ordered Clovis killed, but San Hill warned that his death on Kato Neimoidia could provoke the InterGalactic Banking Clan to declare war on the Trade Federation.
• Malthael ordered Gunray to strengthen defenses in the Semirres system and block Galactic Republic operations there.
• San Hill warned that human influence within the InterGalactic Banking Clan was growing, and Malthael told him to prepare to split the Clan in two.
• Malthael said Clovis was becoming a tool of Darth Sidious and ordered San Hill to kill him on Coruscant after he left Kato Neimoidia.

Gabriel Tosh arrived on Coruscant to rescue former Senator Ainlee Tim and received a new order to assassinate Rush Clovis. He infiltrated the city and headed toward the heavily guarded Ministry of Justice Prison, where Tim was held.

• On Taanab, Gabriel Tosh stopped thugs from harassing Bayes and his girlfriend, returned Bayes's wallet, and boarded the same ship to Coruscant.
• Madam M informed Tosh that rescuing Ainlee Tim remained his primary mission, while Governor Tang Xiao had added the assassination of Rush Clovis as a new objective.
• Madam M told Tosh that agent Codename 007 was waiting on Level 51 and warned him that Cad Bane had also been sent to rescue Tim.
• Tosh accepted the mission, checked his target on his Omni-tool, and vanished.
• The Ministry of Justice Prison held former Senator Ainlee Tim under the guard of two hundred Clone Troopers, anti-aircraft turrets, and concealed sentry posts.

James Bond staged a scandalous night with Madam Besha and convinced her he was a Separatist spy who needed to be reported. After she turned him in, Coruscant Security Bureau soldiers arrested him and locked him in the Ministry of Justice Prison so he could begin his plan to reach Senator Tim.

• James Bond and Tosh discussed the prison’s security and confirmed that arrangements had been made for Bond to be sent there if arrested.
• Bond pretended to drink himself into despair with Madam Besha while secretly using sobering medicine to stay clear-headed.
• Bond confessed a fabricated story that he was a Separatist spy ordered by Count Dooku to rescue Senator Aynler Tim, and asked Besha to report him.
• Besha agreed to turn Bond in and promised to use her family’s influence to keep him safe.
• Coruscant Security Bureau soldiers arrested Bond and locked him in the Ministry of Justice Prison.

James Bond was held by the Ministry of Justice while Cad Bane and his team arrived on Coruscant to prepare an operation. On the Senate’s recess day, an explosion struck a warehouse storing cleaning robots, nearly destroying half a block.

• The Ministry of Justice kept James Bond in its prison while arguing with the Intelligence Department over which agency would take custody of him.
• Cad Bane arrived on Coruscant with Oola Sin, Embo, HELIOS-3D, and others, then accepted a secret operation backed by an unnamed important person.
• James Bond cooperated during interrogation, claiming involvement in the intelligence leak that had led to the fall of Hoth Planet, and secretly kicked hard fish bones into a corner of his room.
• Rush Clovis worried about his future as the scandal over the InterGalactic Banking Clan’s Endless-class Super Carrier investment plan continued to unfold.
• Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker went to the Republic Senate Building, while a delivery of cleaning robots was taken to a warehouse on Coruscant.
• A violent explosion struck the warehouse where the cleaning robots were stored and nearly destroyed half the block.

Count Dooku sent disguised robots to destroy Coruscant’s Energy Center, enabling Cade Bane and his group to attack the Republic Senate Building during the blackout. Chancellor Palpatine used the assault to summon Rush Clovis and revealed that Jedi Master Roth-Del Masona would impersonate him.

• Count Dooku ordered General Grievous to send ten disguised robots to Coruscant, and the robots entered the Energy Center using valid authorization codes.
• The robots transformed, killed the Energy Center’s staff and guards, and joined in pairs to form five bombs.
• Cade Bane detonated the bombs during a Guardian shift change, plunging the Republic Senate Building into darkness.
• Oola Xin shot patrolling Guardians as Cade Bane’s group crashed into the Senate Building and attacked its occupants.
• Palpatine ordered his guards to protect his office, summoned Rush Clovis, and told him that Roth-Del Masona would impersonate him.

Gabriel Tosh attacked the Coruscant Ministry of Justice Prison with psychic powers while James Bond used the chaos to escape his cell and reach Ainlee Tim. Bond arrived at Tim’s sealed room just as the power went out.

• A prison sensor alarmed when a bloodied driver sped toward the prison, and the Commander ordered a concealed turret to destroy the Speeder.
• Gabriel Tosh inhaled Glitterstim and used a Voodoo doll to kill guards and destroy several laser barriers while an invisible sniper picked off more guards.
• Tosh infiltrated the control center and unleashed a psychic blast that killed its operators and disabled its equipment.
• James Bond escaped his cell with a concealed device, killed guards, stole a captain’s uniform and ID card, and led Guardians toward Ainlee Tim’s cell.
• Bond ordered the Guardians to open Tim’s sealed cell, but they explained that only senior prison officials held the keys, and the power suddenly failed.