Chapter Summaries

Sefrans Tann used the Destruction’s EMP cannons and heavy firepower to drive into Mace Windu’s fleet and head for the Antewei asteroid belt, preventing the Republic from bringing its numerical advantage to bear. Mace Windu pursued and prepared to lead a sortie, while General Sophronos remained wary of facing Sefrans Tann.

• The Destruction’s improved EMP cannon disabled many Republic ships, though three Hunter Class Battlecruisers retained enough power and communications to withdraw.
• Sefrans Tann charged the Destruction into the Republic formation, where its turbolasers shot down fighters and its EMP attacks disrupted the fleet.
• The Destruction led its small fleet toward the asteroid belt beyond Antewei Planet as the Republic’s other two fleets pursued from behind.
• Mace Windu ordered the fleet to chase the Destruction and prepared to lead a fighter sortie with Y-wing bombers.
• General Sophronos told a staff officer that the Republic had overwhelming military superiority but that Sefrans Tann made the outcome uncertain.

Mace Windu led a bomber formation against the Destruction, but its defenses kept the Republic attackers at bay. As Sefrans Tann refused to fire the ship’s EMP cannon, Windu began to suspect she had a plan to defeat the Republic fleet.

• Mace Windu led Republic fighters and bombers in an attack on the Destruction, whose escorts and formidable defenses shot down attackers in waves.
• Unable to find a gap in the Destruction’s fire, Windu ordered the Republic fleet to concentrate its formation and provoke the battleship into firing its EMP cannon.
• Admiral Sopronos repositioned more than thirty Hunter Class Battlecruisers to block the Destruction while keeping two arriving squadrons in loose formation.
• The Destruction did not fire its EMP cannon, and Republic point-defense fire destroyed most of Windu’s Y-wing bombers.
• Windu wondered why Sefrans Tann was ignoring the threat of his bombers and considered that she might believe she could defeat the Republic fleet.

Mace Windu struggled to understand why Sefrans Tann’s Destruction ignored its EMP cannon and charged toward an asteroid belt while fighting off the Republic fleet. The Republic discovered Separatist warships emerging from over 200 Neutral Alliance systems, but Windu still doubted that the reinforcements could overcome his fleet’s numerical advantage.

• Sefrans Tann’s Destruction charged toward the asteroid belt without firing its EMP cannon, while its turbolasers battered the Republic fleet and destroyed another Y-wing bomber.
• Mace Windu ordered Admiral Sophronos to prepare another bomber squadron as his pilots struggled to evade the Destruction’s dense anti-air fire.
• A radar operator reported hyperspace jumps across more than 200 Neutral Alliance systems, with Separatist warships detected in 43 systems.
• The radar operator identified numerous Separatist frigates and destroyers, along with a Behemoth-class battlecruiser in the Tatakko System.
• Mace Windu concluded that the warships had been hidden in Neutral Alliance systems and estimated that 170 to 240 ships were joining the battle.
• Admiral Sophronos questioned whether Sefrans Tann’s formation tactics could overcome the Republic’s superior numbers, while Windu dismissed the new reinforcements as insufficient.

Sefrans Tann’s hidden fleet advanced toward the Antewei System while the Second Systems Army found itself surrounded by hostile systems and feared it had been trapped. As the Destruction neared an Electromagnetic Nebula, Admiral Sopronos learned it might use its EMP cannons to detonate it.

• Mace Windu ordered the Second Systems Army to intercept enemy ships, while Admiral Sopronos saw hundreds of hostile systems on the star map and realized their peaceful strategy had failed.
• Sopronos regretted leaving the Galactic Republic and feared the Second Systems Army could not withstand Sefrans Tann and the Conqueror-class.
• Sefrans Tann learned that all but five of his hidden ships had activated and were heading toward the Antewei System, expected to arrive within six hours.
• Tann explained how his ships had evaded detection by hiding under the Sentry-class Electronic Warfare Frigates’ cover and using droid crews and timed activation.
• An engineer warned Sopronos that the Destruction might detonate the Electromagnetic Nebula with its EMP cannons.

Mace Windu’s fleet struggled to contain the Destruction in the Antewei System as Sefrans Tann’s reinforcements arrived. The arrival of the Tenebrous and Count Dooku’s broadcast left the Republic fleet facing a new threat and a direct challenge to Windu.

• Mace Windu learned that the Destruction’s EMP burst could disrupt systems but would not render the fleet unable to fight, and he ordered the fleet to attack from a distance.
• The Destruction and its Behemoth-class escorts fought off the Republic fleet while Windu waited nearby in a fighter and the captains delayed their assault.
• More than 230 Duchy of Dawn warships, including 80 Sentry-class Electronic Warfare Frigates, arrived in the Antewei System.
• Mace Windu received intelligence that a 14,100-meter Titan warship, the Tenebrous, was likely heading toward the Findar System, and he ordered the information concealed.
• Count Dooku broadcast across the Antewei System, announced that he was aboard the Tenebrous, and declared that he would end Mace Windu’s life.

Mace Windu tried to stop the Destruction from firing its EMP cannon after Count Dooku’s transmission threatened the Second Systems Army’s morale. Sefrans Tann’s electronic warfare plan cut off Republic communications, leaving Windu racing back to the Endurance as her fleet prepared to hunt.

• Mace Windu ordered communications jamming after Count Dooku’s transmission appeared, then learned that the Destruction’s EMP cannon was charging.
• Mace Windu led the bomber squadrons toward the Destruction, but Sefrans Tann’s counter-jamming cut communications and left the bombers behind.
• Mace Windu used the Force to locate the Endurance and flew back through anti-air fire to find out what had happened.
• Sefrans Tann positioned eighty Sentinel-class Electronic Warfare Frigates, ordered the EMP cannon fired at partial charge, and used the resulting magnetic-field burst to counter-jam the Republic fleet.
• Count Dooku told Sefrans Tann that he was coming to confront Mace Windu, while she ordered her warships to reform and prepare to hunt.

Sefrans Tann exploited the Second Systems Army’s communications blackout to lead the Separatist fleet in a coordinated assault, turning its numerical advantage into chaos. Her forces destroyed several ships and isolated others as the battle continued to swing in her favor.

• Admiral Sophronos struggled to coordinate the Second Systems Army after communications failed, while Sefrans Tann prepared to attack with the Destruction.
• Sefrans Tann fired the Directional High-Energy EMP Cannon and ordered the Separatist fleet to strike the Second Systems Army’s exposed flank.
• The Second Systems Army’s ships initially held position, allowing Sefrans Tann’s forces to destroy three Hunter Class Battlecruisers and scatter the fleet.
• Sefrans Tann used precise droid-controlled maneuvers to exploit the fleet’s chaotic attempts to reinforce threatened ships.
• Separatist ships overwhelmed a Victory-class Star Destroyer, and an EMP strike paralyzed nearby Hunter Class Battlecruisers and fighters.
• The Separatist warships withdrew and moved to attack an isolated Hunter Class Battlecruiser.

Mace Windu returned to the Endurance during the Second Systems Army’s catastrophic defeat and killed Admiral Sopronos for giving up. Abandoning the Light Side, Windu took command of the bridge and ordered the fleet to fight to the last man.

• Mace Windu nearly came under friendly fire as he flew back to the Endurance amid the communications blackout and the destruction of most of the fleet’s fighters.
• Mace Windu found Admiral Sopronos and the bridge crew dispirited, then used the Force to throw the officers aside and confront Sopronos.
• Sopronos declared the battle hopeless and warned that Plague’s second ship was approaching, so Mace Windu lifted him by the throat and killed him.
• Mace Windu gave in to the Dark Side after years of growing disillusionment, culminating in the Jedi Order’s destruction and the fleet’s defeat.
• Mace Windu kicked Sopronos’s corpse aside, ordered the officers back to their posts, and commanded them to fight until the last man.

Mace Windu’s Second Systems Army collapsed under Sefrans Tann’s encirclement, and Windu’s attempt to order a retreat failed as Separatist fighters intercepted his messengers. Count Dooku arrived aboard the Destruction as Republic warships began surrendering.

• Sefrans Tann’s smaller Separatist fleet divided, surrounded, and destroyed the Second Systems Army’s isolated warships while communications remained jammed.
• Mace Windu ordered the fleet to abandon combat and retreat, but Sefrans Tann sent fighters to intercept the shuttles carrying his orders.
• A Hunter Class Battlecruiser surrendered, triggering the Second Systems Army’s morale collapse and further surrenders.
• Count Dooku arrived at the Destruction with two cloaked figures and praised Sefrans Tann for her victory.
• Sefrans Tann dismissed the battle as an easy defeat of a pack of homeless dogs.

Count Dooku and Sefrans Tann launched an attack on Mace Windu’s flagship, the Endurance, intending to kill Windu and destroy the Second Systems Army’s resistance. After an EMP disabled most of the Endurance’s electronics, Windu rallied the crew, then killed a staff officer who questioned their cause.

• Count Dooku said he had come to kill Mace Windu, and Sefrans Tann explained her plan to isolate and attack the Endurance.
• Sefrans Tann ordered the Destruction and its accompanying ships into a Claw Formation around Windu’s flagship.
• The Destruction fired an EMP that knocked out most of the Endurance’s lights and electronics.
• Mace Windu ignited his purple Lightsaber and told the crew to fight to the death in service to their nation.
• After a staff officer questioned what nation they still had, Windu cut off his head.

Count Dooku sent Savage Opress to attack the damaged Endurance while the Destruction bombarded it, then Savage slaughtered the ship’s defenders and reached the bridge where Mace Windu was waiting. The chapter ended as an unseen voice stopped a door hurled at Windu and turned the bridge crew’s weapons into lethal spikes.

• Count Dooku ordered his black-robed attendants to prepare their secret weapon and promised Sefrans Tann the Supreme Military Commander position if he joined him on Raxus.
• The Destruction bombarded the Endurance, and Count Dooku’s solar sailer carried Savage Opress through a blasted opening in its hangar.
• Savage Opress used his armor, Lightsaber, and the Force to kill the Endurance’s Marines, while Count Dooku praised him as his weapon.
• Savage Opress cut through the sealed bridge doors as Mace Windu meditated among the corpses of officers he had killed.
• An unseen speaker stopped the doors from striking Mace Windu and used the Force to turn the bridge crew’s blasters into spikes that killed them.

Mace Windu confronted Count Dooku on the bridge of a Hunter Class Battlecruiser, killing two former Jedi bodyguards before battling Savage Opress. Windu spotted Savage’s weakness with Shatterpoint, but Dooku intervened with his crimson Lightsaber.

• Count Dooku entered the bridge and mocked Mace Windu over the dead soldiers and the defeat of the Second Systems Army.
• Mace Windu launched a severed metal door at Count Dooku, but Savage Opress cut it apart as Windu moved behind Dooku and killed Master Valorum and Master Cattis.
• Count Dooku urged Savage Opress to kill Windu and promised to teach him the Dark path, and Savage charged into battle.
• Mace Windu and Savage Opress fought across the bridge, wrecking the consoles and twisting a metal door into scrap as they wielded the Force.
• Savage Opress sent a tornado of molten metal toward Windu, who used Shatterpoint to find Savage’s weakness, but Count Dooku struck Windu’s purple Lightsaber with his own.

Count Dooku and Mace Windu fought a deadly duel, with Dooku’s precise Makashi attacks overwhelming Windu’s Vaapad. Dooku accused Windu of misunderstanding the Dark Side and helping ruin the Jedi Order, while Windu struggled to stay alive.

• Dooku blocked Windu’s attack and used the Force to make Savage Opress withdraw from the battle.
• Dooku and Windu exchanged taunts about their earlier encounter on Tull Planet before Dooku launched a rapid thrust at Windu’s heart.
• The two swordmasters fought at close range, and Dooku repeatedly identified and countered weaknesses in Windu’s attacks.
• Windu realized Dooku’s counters resembled Shatterpoint, but Dooku said he had learned to see the flaws in Windu’s approach to the Force.
• Dooku pressed his attack and accused Windu of misunderstanding the Dark Side and contributing to the Jedi Order’s decline, leaving Windu barely able to defend himself.

Count Dooku nearly killed Mace Windu, but Ki-Adi-Mundi rescued him from the battle near Antewei Planet. With Windu missing and the Second Systems Army’s command broken, its fleet surrendered to Sefrans Tann, while Dooku identified the fallen Jedi Ray Goul and returned to Raxus Prime.

• Count Dooku overpowered Mace Windu aboard the Endurance, but an Eta-2 fighter attacked the bridge and a Lambda-class shuttlecraft used a tractor beam to rescue Windu.
• Count Dooku destroyed the Eta-2 fighter and later identified its pilot as Ray Goul, concluding that Ki-Adi-Mundi had piloted the shuttlecraft.
• After communications returned, the Second Systems Army learned that Windu was missing and Admiral Sopronos and the Endurance’s senior command staff were dead.
• The Second Systems Army surrendered less than three hours after Windu’s rescue, and Sefrans Tann took possession of its surviving warships.
• The fleets at Galos IV and Mandalore returned to the Galactic Republic, while the surrendered soldiers were later severely punished by the Supreme Military Court.
• Count Dooku attempted to recruit Sefrans Tann, then boarded the Shadow and returned to Raxus Prime.

Tang Xiao confronted Sefrans Tann after she asked to remain with the Neutral Alliance and join the Confederacy of Independent Systems, suspecting that she sought greater military power and independence. He considered whether her loyalty was genuine, leaving her fate undecided.

• Tang Xiao reflected on his ambition to conquer the galaxy and his suspicion that the mothership's inaccessible core held the truth about his purpose.
• Sefrans Tann knelt before Tang Xiao, and he accused her request to join the Confederacy of Independent Systems of being a betrayal.
• Tang Xiao used the Force to choke and throw Sefrans Tann, then challenged her desire for command, territory, and offensive warships.
• Sefrans Tann declared her loyalty, removed her clothes, and knelt to kiss Tang Xiao's slipper.
• Tang Xiao considered the military value of sending Tann to the Neutral Alliance but doubted her loyalty, noting that Count Dooku would sacrifice her rather than risk his relationship with him.

Tang Xiao granted Sefrans Tann permission to continue serving him, and she returned to command a fleet assembled from captured Second Systems Army ships. She stationed it on Planet Fandal to guard the route into the Neutral Alliance sector while avoiding Mandalore, leaving the Confederacy of Independent Systems’ Core Worlds protected alongside General Grievous’s forces.

• Tang Xiao used an unexplained power on Sefrans Tann, then she sought his favor before leaving to resume her duties.
• Adele Ulan confronted Tang Xiao about his favoring Sefrans Tann, and he warned her not to cause him trouble.
• Sefrans Tann reorganized the captured Second Systems Army warships and received more than twelve thousand intact fighters.
• Sefrans Tann accepted the title of Admiral of the Confederacy of Independent Systems Navy but refused to become its Supreme Military Commander.
• Sefrans Tann stationed her fleet on Planet Fandal, where it guarded a key transport route and supported General Grievous’s defensive line on Saleucami Planet.

Sefrans-Tann pursued a plan to take control of the Neutral Alliance and eventually seize the Hydian Way, while the Geth exploited the Galactic Republic’s weakened defenses to raid worlds across the Northern Galaxy. The chapter left the Republic’s Seventh and Ninth Armies struggling to counter the Geth’s elusive advance.

• Sefrans-Tann offered protection to Neutral Alliance planets for a fee and began attacking Republic-aligned worlds and supply lines to expand her influence.
• Sefrans-Tann aimed to use the Neutral Alliance as a stepping stone toward controlling the Hydian Way and becoming the King of the North.
• The Geth raided Republic worlds, impaled inhabitants on Dragon’s Teeth to create Corpse Puppets, and stripped planets of useful equipment without occupying them.
• The Republic’s Seventh and Ninth Armies withdrew into defensive positions after the Eighth Army’s destruction and the fall of Ord Mantell, but struggled to catch the Geth.

Faida's criminals dismissed rumors of a Geth invasion until a Corpse Puppet attacked a bar and the dead began appearing outside. Deka and several mercenaries discovered that multiple Corpse Puppets were closing in on them.

• Deka threw a drunken George out of his bar after George warned that the Geth and their Corpse Puppets were coming to Faida.
• The patrons mocked the rumors and celebrated, while Deka insisted that the Galactic Republic was using them to justify stationing troops on the planet.
• George crashed back through the bar's door, bleeding from a deep wound, and a Corpse Puppet followed him inside.
• Deka shot the Corpse Puppet with his modified blaster rifle, and the patrons recognized it as a sign that the Geth had arrived.
• Deka and several mercenaries went outside and found a Corpse Puppet feeding on a dead smuggler as more moved through the darkness.
• Several Corpse Puppets charged at Deka and the mercenaries.

The Geth invaded Faida Planet with a vast army of Corpse Puppets, overwhelming settlements and igniting battles across Derapha City. As a Republic fighter reported the invasion and requested help, a cruiser in orbit detected a concealed Geth detachment near the planet’s moon.

• Deka rallied the frightened occupants of the Skull Cup bar, and he and Doku armed the defenders with hidden live-ammunition weapons as Corpse Puppets attacked.
• Doku fired a heavy machine gun from the bar’s balcony while Deka and the other mercenaries fought back against waves of Corpse Puppets.
• The Geth’s growing horde overran Faida Planet’s settlements and advanced on Derapha City, while civilians and criminal groups fought, fled, or were killed.
• Geth transports delivered corpses to Dragon’s Tooth in hidden bases, creating more Corpse Puppets for the advancing army.
• A Republic V-19 Torrent pilot reported the invasion and requested reinforcements, while Geth fighters shot down the fleeing fighter over Derapha City.
• A Republic cruiser orbiting Faida detected a concealed Geth detachment near one of Faida Planet’s moons.

The Republic's 7th Task Force arrived at Faida and found evidence that the Geth had destroyed its scout ship and unleashed millions of Corpse Puppets. Lieutenant General Henderson deployed forces to defend the planet and strike the Geth, while the battle began and Tang Xiao considered the Geth's long-term threat.

• Lieutenant General Henderson learned that the Geth had destroyed Hawkeye 117 and that millions of Corpse Puppets were advancing toward Derapha City from a base in the southern mountains.
• Henderson divided the Republic forces between defending Chynesti City, stopping the Corpse Puppets in Derapha City, igniting a fuel depot, and locating the Geth base for a bomber strike.
• The radar operator detected a Geth fleet of four large warships, twelve medium warships, and more than four hundred fighters as Henderson ordered the Republic fleet to move out.
• Y-wing bombers attacked a town overrun by Corpse Puppets, and an Acclamator-class assault ship deployed LAAT transports carrying Clone Troopers.
• Tang Xiao noted that he had withheld genetic weapons from the Geth and had prepared several contingency plans against them.