Chapter Summaries

Clone Troopers cleared the Corpse Puppets from the Skull Cup bar near a fuel depot and found evidence that its mercenaries had protected a dancer during the attack. Dying, Deka used his last words to curse the Galactic Republic.

• Thirty-five Clone Troopers disembarked near the fuel depot, killed the Corpse Puppets, and began clearing nearby buildings for the engineering team.
• The troopers entered the Skull Cup and found piles of Corpse Puppet remains alongside the bodies of mercenaries who had fought to defend the bar.
• The clone sergeant recognized the dead Black man as Bovine Doku, a wanted criminal who had killed many Corpse Puppets.
• In the basement, the troopers found Deka dying beside a modified blaster rifle and discovered a frightened dancer hidden in a storage room.
• Deka indicated that the mercenaries had protected the dancer, then cursed the Galactic Republic with his final words.

The Republic forces bombarded the Corpse Puppets in Derapha City while preparing defenses and searching for the hidden Geth. The Geth launched a surprise assault on the blocking force and Republic aircraft, leaving the Acclamator-class ships under attack as Geth frigates entered the atmosphere.

• Clone Troopers and Republic artillery and Y-wing bombers destroyed hundreds of thousands of Corpse Puppets, while gangs and mercenaries retreated toward Chynesti City.
• The Corpse Puppets hid inside buildings, and the Clone Commander ordered his troops to reinforce their lines as teams worked to evacuate civilians and secure a fuel depot.
• The Clone Commander learned that Geth warships had appeared in orbit and ordered all units to prepare for an attack.
• The blocking force detonated the fuel depot, but its communications went dead amid the explosions.
• Over a hundred Geth fighters ambushed the Republic squadron, destroyed its V-19 fighters, and attacked two Acclamator-class assault ships alongside Geth frigates.
• The Republic fleet reported that Geth frigates had entered the atmosphere from concealment among orbital wreckage and sent fighters to support the ground forces.

Geth warships overwhelmed the Republic fleet and attacked the Acclamator-class ships over Faida while Corpse Puppets assaulted the Clone Troopers in Derapha City. The defenders faced new armed and modified Yamrii Corpse Puppets as the ground battle grew more dangerous.

• More than twenty Geth warships ambushed Lieutenant General Henderson's fleet, forcing it into a tight defensive formation and preventing it from supporting the ground battle.
• Geth fighters and plasma fire battered the two Acclamator-class assault ships, whose limited fighter forces struggled to hold them off.
• As night fell, Clone Troopers lit flares and opened fire on a vast horde of Corpse Puppets charging toward their defensive lines.
• Armed Corpse Puppets, including former Clone Troopers, fired ion cannons and plasma rifles from the horde, inflicting casualties on the defenders.
• A massive mantis-shaped Corpse Puppet attacked the Clone Troopers, and experienced soldiers identified it as a modified Yamrii.
• More Yamrii Corpse Puppets descended from the sky, concealing their abdominal weak points and further threatening the Clone lines.

The Clone Army’s 204th Legion struggled against Geth forces and Yamrii corpse puppets on Faida Planet as their defenses and air support collapsed. Meanwhile, Colonel Gillard Perine tried to warn Republic leaders that the Geth might use an unknown faster-than-light travel method, and finally reached Governor Wilhuff Tarkin.

• Yamrii corpse puppets breached the Clone Army’s defenses, forcing the troops to retreat while Geth fighters destroyed their LAAT support and drove the Acclamator-class ships into space.
• The Geth emerged behind the corpse-puppet assault, and their Colossus bombardment overwhelmed the Clone Troopers’ positions as a sergeant ordered his company into nearby buildings to hold the attackers back.
• On Vakar Planet, Gillard Perine left the medical station and warned Marcellin Wessel that the Geth’s sudden appearances suggested they had another faster-than-light travel method and might be targeting Paarin Minor.
• Wessel dismissed Perine’s theory, and an attempt to contact Dunn Vesex failed before Perine reached the headmaster of Rytal Military Academy for help.
• As medical staff entered to return Perine to his hospital room, Wilhuff Tarkin appeared in the hologram and identified himself as someone authorized to hear the classified intelligence.

Gillard Perine warned Wilhuff Tarkin that the Geth were targeting Faida Planet as a staging point for an assault on Parin Minor, and argued that they were a distinct race using an unknown faster-than-light travel method. Tarkin believed him enough to send Perine and the Seventh Army’s Second Sub-fleet to reinforce Faida Planet, promising to make up for the fleet’s damaged state.

• Wilhuff Tarkin frightened the doctor into leaving, then told Gillard Perine that he valued his judgment and asked him to present his intelligence.
• Gillard Perine analyzed more than 270 Geth fleet sightings and argued that their orderly formations and engine behavior indicated a different method of faster-than-light travel.
• Gillard Perine concluded that Faida Planet was the nearest staging point for an attack on Parin Minor and that the Geth intended to seize it.
• Gillard Perine requested 300,000 Kaminoan clone troops and warned Tarkin that the Geth were a distinct race fighting for survival.
• Wilhuff Tarkin requisitioned Gillard Perine and the Seventh Army’s Second Sub-fleet from Mas Amedda Wessel to reinforce Faida Planet, and promised to make up for the fleet’s damage.

Gillard Perine learned that Tarkin’s support for defending Faida Planet might serve a political struggle over the Ninth Army, while Tang Xiao prepared Annaj Planet’s defenses against a possible Republic offensive. The chapter ended with Tang Xiao still lacking an answer about Yoda’s hyperspace route and managing his tense relationship with Volgograd Kanidi.

• Matherin Wessel warned Gillard Perine that Tarkin might be using the Geth threat as an excuse to gain influence over the Ninth Army.
• Gillard Perine realized political conflict may have shaped Tarkin’s agreement to his plan to stop the Geth at Faida Planet.
• Tang Xiao questioned a colonel about the astronomers’ findings on the hyperspace route Master Yoda had opened.
• Tang Xiao’s prediction of another Republic offensive against Modell Sector clashed with Volgograd Kanidi’s assessment that the route would soon become impassable.
• Tang Xiao subdued Kanidi during their argument, promised to handle Modell Sector’s defenses himself, and ordered Kanidi to guard the region afterward.
• Kanidi began sending Tang Xiao frequent reports about military affairs and defenses.

Matt Hona brought the Duchy of Dawn’s fleet to Annaj Planet and ordered it to prepare for combat, despite the planet being deep in the rear. Helmut Zemo warned him that the government suspected Governor Kanidi of Volgograd might rebel, and Hona dismissed the possibility.

• Matt Hona ordered the fleet to take defensive positions and remain combat-ready at Annaj Planet.
• Matt Hona scheduled live-combat drills for the following morning.
• Helmut Zemo contacted Matt Hona through a secure channel and praised his conduct while recalling his opposition to the deployment.
• Zemo told Hona that the Intelligence and Internal Affairs departments were considering whether Kanidi might rebel.
• Matt Hona called the suspicion against Kanidi nonsense, and Zemo replied that he focused on human nature.

Helmut Zemo asked Matt Hona to monitor Volgograd Kanidi and prepare for a possible rebellion in the Modell Sector, citing rising antiwar sentiment and Kanidi’s pregnant adjutant. Matt rejected Zemo’s demand and then took command of Annaj’s defenses, assuring Tang Xiao that he would carry out the final decision.

• Helmut Zemo told Matt Hona that officials feared Kanidi might be affected by growing antiwar sentiment in the Modell Sector and by his adjutant He Yuan’s pregnancy.
• Matt challenged Zemo over surveillance and refused to act as an executioner or suppress a possible rebellion, then cut off the communication.
• Matt reflected that Kanidi was a good leader but feared he might someday have to arrest him.
• Matt arrived at Tang Xiao’s temporary residence and announced that he would take over the overall defense of the Annaj system.
• Matt told Tang Xiao that he would offer his recommendations but carry out the final decision, and that he trusted Tang Xiao’s strength and wisdom.

Tang Xiao entrusted Matt Hona with the Duchy of Dawn Navy while warning him that Helmut Zemo would continue investigating the Modell Sector and monitoring military leaders. Meanwhile, the Geth overran Derapha City and began their assault on Chynesti City, Faida Planet’s last stronghold.

• Tang Xiao told Matt Hona to include his power in the defense of Annaj Planet and said he would handle matters involving the Force.
• Tang Xiao said he would allow Zemo to investigate Volgograd-Kanidi and monitor Matt Hona, while ordering Matt to focus on his military duties.
• Tang Xiao praised Volgograd-Kanidi’s abilities as an administrator and commander but warned that his patience with the Modell Sector was limited.
• Tang Xiao told Matt Hona that he would attend the live-fire exercises starting the next day.
• On Faida Planet, Clone Troopers withdrew from Derapha City after suffering more than ten thousand deaths, and the Geth began turning the city’s dead into Corpse Puppets.
• After three days of fortifying Chynesti City, the Clone Troopers faced an assault by the Corpse Puppets, while the city’s gangs and mercenaries refused to reinforce them.

The Republic forces struggled against the Geth on Faida as corpse puppets, advanced Geth units, and repeated fleet reinforcements overwhelmed their defenses. Lieutenant General Henderson ordered the fleet to hold the ground battlefield, but another Geth attack began before the Republic could recover.

• Clone Troopers used blaster fire and explosives to destroy waves of corpse puppets, but flying Yamrii corpse puppets and stronger Geth forced them to retreat.
• Lieutenant General Henderson's fleet fought the Geth for hours, losing three Hunter Class Battlecruisers, three Aquitenes-class light cruisers, and over 1,500 fighters while destroying twelve Geth warships.
• Henderson ordered round-the-clock surveillance, repairs, and two Hunter Class Battlecruisers to support ground forces from synchronous orbit.
• The Geth appeared with another large group of reinforcements despite the Surveillance Outposts detecting no arrivals, and their warships attacked as transport ships pushed toward the planet.

Gillard Perine and Wullf Yularen reinforced the Republic forces at Faida Planet, driving back the Geth fleet and learning that the planet’s defenses were near collapse. After Henderson revealed that the supply convoy had retreated to Kotaris, Perine urgently called for forces to reinforce it.

• Gillard Perine arrived at Faida with Wullf Yularen’s reinforced fleet and urged him to prioritize rescuing the Republic forces over pursuing the Geth.
• Wullf Yularen led the Republic ships into battle, forcing the Geth fleet to retreat toward Faida Planet’s second moon.
• Lieutenant General Henderson told Yularen and Perine that the Geth had reached the planetary capital and that Republic ground and space forces had suffered severe losses.
• Gillard Perine warned that the Geth might have a new faster-than-light travel method and pressed Henderson for the number of surviving Clone Troopers.
• Henderson revealed that the supply convoy had withdrawn to Kotaris Planet, and Perine urgently demanded that the Republic split its forces and reinforce Kotaris.

Gillard-Perine and Wullf Yularen declared total mobilization on Faida Planet after realizing the Geth could strike beyond known hyperspace routes. The Republic began conscripting residents and commandeering resources as Clone Troopers and local forces prepared the planet for defense.

• Gillard-Perine warned Henderson that the Geth could bypass hyperspace routes, making every planet a potential front line, and Wullf Yularen ordered a fleet to protect supplies at Kotaris Planet.
• Gillard-Perine ordered all 300,000 Clone Troopers landed within two days and demanded martial law, mass conscription, and centralized control of Faida Planet's factories and resources.
• Henderson accepted the plan after Wullf Yularen described the conflict as a total war for civilization's survival.
• One day later, the Republic broadcast enlistment orders across Chynesti City and registered eligible residents for the reserves while militia began building fortifications.
• The Republic assigned 250,000 Clone Troopers to recruitment and sent the remaining 50,000 to reinforce Henderson's troops at the front.
• A Clone Trooper commander killed a Firesteel Mercenary Group leader who resisted conscription and ordered the mercenaries to report as the Firesteel Combat Group of the Galactic Republic Faida Legion.

Gillard Perine's forces forcibly mobilized Faida Planet and prepared its civilians and gangs for war as the Geth launched a renewed offensive across several cities. The battle spread to the space around the planet, while Wilhuff Tarkin received a special transmission from Dunn Vesex.

• Clone Troopers raided Faida Planet's gangs, conscripting survivors and killing those who resisted, while gang violence left Chynesti City in chaos.
• Gillard Perine's forces recruited more than 200,000 gang members, 50,000 mercenaries, and over seven million civilians, assigning them to combat, production, and fortification work.
• A Republic fleet delivered supplies and heavy vehicles to Kotaris Planet, but Geth warships began harassing transport convoys with unexplained faster-than-light travel.
• Chancellor Sheev Palpatine ordered the Galactic Republic Research Department to uncover how the Geth traveled faster than light within one month.
• On the sixth day after the reinforcements arrived, the Geth attacked several cities at once, while Clone Troopers and militia fought them and the Geth fleet harassed Republic warships in space.
• Wilhuff Tarkin received a special transmission from Dunn Vesex.

Wilhuff Tarkin used the Geth attack on Faida Planet to pressure Dunn Vesex and undermine his ties to Kuat Drive Yards, while secretly pursuing his own political and military interests. The chapter ended with Kuat Drive Yards building a colossal structure near a star in an uninhabited system.

• Dunn Vesex accused Wilhuff Tarkin of arriving at Faida Planet with suspiciously precise timing, and Tarkin warned that the Geth could threaten the Ninth Army's territory.
• Tarkin refused to send more troops to Colonel Gillard Peren and told his assistant to make the shortage seem like Dunn Vesex's responsibility.
• Tarkin explained that he wanted to warn Dunn against backing Kuat Drive Yards and judged that the Ninth Army could withstand a setback on Faida Planet.
• Tarkin ordered the Republic Ship Supervision Committee to give some military contracts to Sienar Fleet Systems and promised the Fourth Army would order fifty Vindicator-class heavy cruisers.
• A Kuat Drive Yards engineering vessel arrived in the T6652U7X8849L system and hauled a massive component toward a star, where a colossal structure was under construction.

Kuat Drive Yards built a massive, secret installation near a star while Onana Kuat pursued a Republic-backed assault on the Modell Sector as a gamble to preserve the company’s standing against the Duchy of Dawn. Onana asked Lila Blythex what conditions the Republic had set for the operation.

• Kuat Drive Yards assembled more than five million workers and built a vast disc-shaped installation, shield ships, and energy extraction devices in a close solar orbit.
• Lila Blythex told Onana Kuat that Dunn Vyssexx had persuaded Chancellor Palpatine to approve Kuat Drive Yards’ operation against the Modell Sector, with personnel due to assemble on Coruscant in four days.
• Onana Kuat considered the Republic’s repeated defeats against Dawn Star Planet and the Senate’s growing doubts about Kuat Drive Yards’ ability to build warships.
• Onana Kuat decided she needed to seize the Modell Sector operation to obtain Dawn’s advanced warship technology and protect Kuat Drive Yards from rivals such as Sienar Fleet Systems and Corellia Engineering Company.
• After her efforts to influence the operation through Republic officials failed, Onana Kuat asked Lila Blythex what conditions had been set.

Lila Blythex leveraged Kuat Drive Yards’ need for military authorization to advance her standing, while Onana Kuat negotiated with Dunn Vesex for support in the Modell Sector Campaign. Dunn’s conditions left Onana responsible for the campaign’s risks while he and Lila could benefit from its success, and the chapter ended with their ambitions aimed at control of Kuat Drive Yards.

• Lila Blythex rebuffed Onana Kuat’s request for conditions, claiming she would finish the Hyperspace Stabilizer on schedule and pointing her toward her fiancé, Dunn Vesex.
• Onana Kuat realized that giving Lila credit for the Hyperspace Stabilizer had bought her a chance to negotiate with Dunn Vesex.
• Dunn Vesex agreed to secure military authorization in exchange for an investment on Paling-Minor, a separate warship order for the Ninth Army, and a promise that he and the Ninth Army would stay out of the campaign.
• Dunn Vesex promised authorization from the Supreme Strategic Command the next day and arranged for retired officers and military academy students to travel to Quat Planet in their personal capacities.
• Onana Kuat accepted the terms without noticing that Dunn Vesex had arranged to avoid responsibility while leaving her to bear the consequences if the campaign failed.

Little Kuat considered how to protect Kuat Drive Yards from the Republic and its rivals as the company’s fleet assembled for battle. Three days later, Cassio Tagge arrived at the command center to take charge of the operation.

• Little Kuat watched tens of thousands of ships depart Kuat and argued that Onana Kuat was gambling her position by competing with Dawn Star Planet.
• Little Kuat told Kuat Drive Yards’ executives to prepare while he planned to meet Gideon Danu, and he said the company must not fall to the Republic or outsiders.
• Three days later, a fleet of more than 150 capital ships gathered in the T6652U7X8849L system as transport vessels delivered supplies.
• Onana Kuat and Lila Blythex discussed the coming battle at the fleet’s space station.
• Cassio Tagge arrived with soldiers and two hooded companions, having been appointed lieutenant general and commander-in-chief of the operation.

Cassio Tagge was selected to command the Republic’s secret operation against the Modell Sector, codenamed the Scavenger Plan. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Dawn’s leaders gathered to plan their next military action after the Enarc Campaign crippled the Republic 17th Army.

• Cassio Tagge built a reputation as a gifted academy graduate and successful commander of anti-piracy missions with Dunn Vesex’s support.
• Dunn Vesex recommended Cassio Tagge to lead the operation against the Modell Sector, with veteran Laslo Dorits as his adjutant and two mysterious experts assigned to the team.
• The four men became the operation’s core leadership, and the Republic kept the Scavenger Plan known to fewer than one hundred people.
• Tang Xiao had ordered a surprise attack on the Republic after suspecting it was in turmoil over the purge of the Jedi Order.
• Sethvenna Ling Liang carried out the Enarc Campaign, which severely crippled the Republic 17th Army’s main fleet and threw its base on Kira planet into chaos.
• The Duchy of Dawn’s senior military leadership gathered on Dawn Star Planet to discuss its next military action plan.

After Ling Liang’s surprise attack devastated Admiral Kurny’s fleet, Tang Xiao and his commanders assessed the Galactic Republic’s likely offensives against the Duchy of Dawn. Tang Xiao warned that Darth Sidious would target the Modell Sector and might appear in person, leaving the conference to determine how to defend against attacks on multiple fronts.

• Ling Liang’s surprise fleet destroyed or heavily damaged much of Admiral Kurny’s fleet before its supplies arrived, and Kurny withdrew with roughly half his warships.
• The chapter explained that the Galactic Republic was preparing to strike the Duchy of Dawn as its warships’ performance increasingly threatened the Republic.
• The military conference identified Yag'Dhul, Christophsis, Rendili, and Eriadu as possible directions for a Republic offensive.
• Qi Jian reported large-scale hyperspace disturbances near the Republic’s 20th Army and 17th Army, suggesting an attack on the Modell Sector.
• Tang Xiao said Darth Sidious wanted to kill him and might personally appear, while Qi Jian warned that the Republic would also attack elsewhere to tie down Dawn’s forces.

Tang Xiao ordered the Modell Sector to expand its defenses as the Galactic Republic prepared a possible full-scale offensive. Madam M reported signs that Kuat Drive Yards was ramping up production, leaving the Republic’s plans uncertain but suggesting it was preparing for war.

• Tang Xiao ordered Volgograd-Kanidi to add twenty million standing forces and build three spaceports in the Modell Sector within two months, while Kanidi warned that the projects would strain the colonies.
• Helmut-Zemo provoked Kanidi by warning that Annaj Planet’s shield could fail under orbital bombardment, and Qi Jian intervened to redirect the meeting to wider defenses.
• Madam M reported uncertain hyperspace traffic in the Republic 17th and 20th Army regions and suggested the Republic might launch a surprise attack from the Core Worlds to seize a forward base.
• Madam M said undercover agents had detected unusually high resource demand at Kuat Drive Yards, and Qi Jian concluded that the shipbuilder might be preparing to run at full capacity.