Chapter Summaries

Carl Kestis, a surviving Jedi living as a temporary immigrant in the Duchy of Dawn, was injured in a construction accident but refused hospital treatment. After hearing that a population census was about to begin, he grew uneasy about how it would affect him.

• Carl Kestis and Ferman finished assembling a modular house and rushed to help when JG-091 dropped a roof module, which struck Muni and injured Carl.
• Carl Kestis refused a medical robot's offer to take him to the hospital, then treated his wound at home with emergency spray and carefully destroyed his bloodstained clothes.
• Carl Kestis reflected on the Jedi Order's destruction and decided that life in the Duchy of Dawn might be a tolerable place to live out his days.
• The next day, Carl Kestis visited the unconscious Muni with Ferman, who told him that the Duchy of Dawn was about to conduct a population census.

Carl Kestis panicked when he learned the Population Census would include blood tests that could expose his Force sensitivity. With Ferman’s help, he switched his blood sample at the census station, but Ferman was taken away for causing a disturbance.

• Ferman told Carl Kestis that the census included health scans and blood samples, making Carl fear his Chlamydiae density would reveal his Force sensitivity.
• Carl asked Ferman to find out the census date, then visited the hospitalized Muni and stole a vial of his blood.
• A Luukri-Hok-class battleship arrived at Annaj Planet, and census stations began requiring immigrants to register for passes.
• Carl tried to use the Force to steal a blood collection device, but Ferman caught it and quietly handed it to him.
• Ferman caused a commotion that knocked over census equipment, allowing Carl to replace his blood sample with Muni's and submit it under his own registration.
• A B-2 super battle droid dragged Ferman toward the detention room as Carl left the census station.

Daphne Clement reviewed the latest population census for Dawn Star Planet and considered how the Duchy of Dawn identified and conscripted people with Force potential. The report’s errors troubled her, while the census also revealed hundreds of Force-sensitives for the Duchy’s secret training programs.

• An official delivered the Dawn Star Planet population census to Deputy Prime Minister Daphne Clement, reporting 11 billion residents and 6.72 million new immigrants.
• Daphne reviewed records of questionable identities and blood samples, along with the reported numbers of Force-sensitives.
• The report explained that the Duchy of Dawn conscripted Force-sensitives into Ghost Academy or the Holy Spirit Research Institute, with some promising recruits secretly sent to the Twilight Covenant.
• The Duchy used public propaganda and the Holy Spirit Sect to encourage acceptance of Force talent, while Solomon Lane’s Intelligence Department dealt with people who resisted conscription.
• Daphne frowned at the census and said immigrant records were still too chaotic and contained too many errors.

Daphne Clement reviewed the chaotic census results and prioritized completing the immigration plan for Rendili Planet over conducting a second census. Gabriel Tosh and Nova then discussed the government’s decision, with Nova warning that the Galactic Empire might attack before their Force-sensitive recruits could be trained.

• A senior official told Daphne Clement that mass immigration had overwhelmed census staff and sparked riots, including more than 20,000 arrests on the census’s first day.
• Daphne reviewed sector reports showing widespread census errors and many discovered Force-sensitives, with Modell Sector suffering the most serious unrest.
• The senior official reported that the National Security Bureau had suppressed seventeen immigrant riots in Modell Sector, including an uprising on Planet Three that led to over 1.3 million arrests.
• Daphne ordered the census office dissolved and its data sealed so personnel and funding could focus on the immigration plan and the 580 billion residents of Rendili Planet.
• Gabriel Tosh criticized the incomplete report, while Nova said the government would not conduct another census until Rendili’s immigration plan was finished.
• Nova warned that the Galactic Empire might attack before they could complete the census and train the discovered Force-sensitives as Spectres.

Gabriel Tosh visited Ghost Academy on Thonner Planet, where thousands of Force-sensitive recruits were beginning brutal Spectre training. He singled out Xie Jun for his reluctance to become a killer and ordered an instructor to change his mindset.

• Nova rejected funding the Holy Spirit Research Institute’s registration plan and suggested that Ghost Academy recruit Force-sensitives through the Army instead.
• Gabriel Tosh ordered an officer to negotiate with the Army, then traveled to Thonner Planet to inspect the recruits.
• The chapter described Thonner’s prison industries, the telepathic Kian'thar, and Tosh’s plans to study and potentially recruit them.
• Tosh toured Ghost Academy, which held five thousand recruits, and watched them undergo physical conditioning and their first Force exercises.
• Tosh learned that Xie Jun had moved a wooden block with the Force, but Xie Jun said he had only wanted to run a farm.
• Tosh lifted Xie Jun and ordered an instructor to correct his reluctance, as the academy prepared to break recruits’ compassion through extreme training.

Tang Xiao reviewed Ghost Academy’s brutal training program and warned his ministers that the Rebel Alliance posed a greater future threat to the Duchy of Dawn than the Galactic Empire. He left the Duchy’s strategy unsettled after meeting Hari Seldon, while Palpatine discussed the Empire’s future with his advisers.

• Gabriel-Tosh trained Spectres with condemned prisoners and Beast Legion fighters, while the Ministry of the Interior delayed the Population Census that could supply more recruits.
• More than six months after the Galactic Empire’s founding and the Duchy of Dawn’s peace negotiations, both powers built their strength amid ongoing wars and unrest.
• Tang Xiao recognized that the Duchy of Dawn remained vastly weaker than the Empire and believed liberalism and the coming Rebel Alliance could ultimately destroy the Empire.
• Tang Xiao warned Francis-Underwood, Helmut-Zemo, and other officials that the Rebel Alliance would become the Duchy of Dawn’s main focus.
• Tang Xiao spoke privately with Hari Seldon for an afternoon, while Palpatine discussed the Empire’s future with Blackhole, Dunn-Vesex, and Wilhuff-Tarkin.

The Duchy of Dawn began exploring the dangerous Unknown Regions, where chaotic hyperspace routes had thwarted earlier expeditions. The SSV Normandy approached an asteroid emitting an anomalous signal, with Captain Shepard reporting its discovery.

• The chapter described how the Unknown Regions’ tangled hyperspace network made travel and exploration exceptionally dangerous.
• The Galactic Republic’s Outer Rim Exploration Program disappeared, including Jedi Master Jorus Tholme and its 200,000 crew members.
• After reaching a Peace Accord with the Galactic Empire, the Duchy of Dawn launched its own Unknown Regions exploration program.
• The SSV Normandy approached an asteroid over ninety kilometers wide after locating an anomalous signal.
• Captain Shepard transmitted that the ship had found the signal point and was approaching.

Shepard led Senluo and Reaper on a covert reconnaissance mission to an asteroid outpost, where they found evidence of an technologically advanced species unknown to the Milky Way. Unable to read the outpost’s computer system, they decided to take its terminal back for analysis, risking that its owners would interpret the act as an attack.

• Shepard received approval to investigate a suspected outpost and took Senluo and Reaper instead of Kaidan Alenko and Ashley Williams.
• The Normandy and its landing craft approached the asteroid under stealth, and the three scouts crossed the terrain on foot toward the base.
• Shepard, Senluo, and Reaper observed the base and found no living people, but spotted seven quadrupedal robot guards.
• The team disabled all seven robots with EMP grenades, then entered the central building and shut down its surveillance system.
• Shepard found an unreadable alien language on the main terminal and ordered Senluo and Reaper to dismantle it and take it back for analysis.

While Shepard and the Ghost Agents dismantled the outpost mainframe, three unidentified Light Cruisers arrived and destroyed the base before attacking the Normandy. The Normandy could not escape immediately, and Shepard prepared to draw the enemy’s fire when a blinding light and enormous figure appeared ahead.

• Shepard left a first-contact message at the outpost, explaining the crew’s actions and offering compensation, while Senluo and Reaper argued over their approach.
• Jeff Moreau warned Shepard that ships were approaching, and the Normandy went to combat readiness as three Light Cruisers emerged from hyperspace.
• The Light Cruisers fired on and destroyed the outpost, then targeted Shepard’s shuttle as it approached the Normandy.
• The Normandy dropped its cloak and attacked the cruisers while Shepard piloted the shuttle into its hangar under fire.
• Shepard learned that the Normandy needed ten minutes to calculate a hyperspace jump and prepared to draw the cruisers away, but a blinding light revealed an enormous figure ahead.

Eternity rescued Shepard’s team, destroyed the three attacking light cruisers, and investigated the wreckage and outpost. The recovered data identified their attackers as the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium, leaving the expedition facing the possibility of a larger conflict.

• An Endless-class Super Carrier, Eternity, arrived and destroyed the three light cruisers attacking the Normandy.
• Jeff Moreau docked the Normandy aboard Eternity, where Shepard met Lieutenant General He Ru and recounted the attack on the outpost.
• Shepard and He Ru considered possible reasons for the attack, then ordered an analysis of the recovered mainframe.
• After salvaging the cruisers and outpost, Eternity left the star system and spent three days analyzing the data.
• A scientist reported that the attackers and the outpost belonged to the same civilization, the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium.

Shepard and He Ru investigated the Xilu people, learning about their suspected Muggal-Muggal epidemic, biology, and unusual technology. After Haseck examined their reactor, Shepard judged peaceful coexistence unlikely and proposed finding the Xilu people’s core planet and destroying their regime.

• Shepard and the scientist found that Xilu communications described Muggal-Muggal as a contagious disease and suggested the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium was xenophobic and hostile to outsiders.
• The scientist reported that the Xilu people were reptilian, with apparent male and female forms, while Ashley noted their disease-prevention measures were deployed beyond their borders.
• He Ru and Shepard traveled to the engineering laboratory, where they found Haseck and the other Engineers studying wreckage and an unexplained corpse inside a Xilu reactor.
• Haseck’s report revealed that the Xilu used organisms to generate reactor energy, while their hyperspace technology appeared to have come from outside their civilization.
• Shepard summarized the Xilu findings and recommended locating their core planet, launching a landing operation, and destroying their regime.

Shepard and Huang Yehao planned to lure the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium into revealing itself by repeatedly broadcasting “Mnggal-Mnggal,” while preparing the Eternity for combat. The Imperium answered their transmission, and the chapter left the Eternity’s escorts deployed as the fleet entered Level 1 combat readiness.

• Haseck assessed the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium’s weapons as weaker than the Duchy of Dawn’s and assembled a communications center from wreckage.
• Shepard proposed broadcasting a report about Mnggal-Mnggal to draw the Imperium out, and Huang Yehao suggested repeatedly transmitting only the creature’s name.
• After more than an hour, the Eternity received an open-frequency message asking for its location and the degree of Mnggal-Mnggal infection, but the Engineers continued broadcasting the name instead of replying.
• Shepard ordered combat preparations, and He Ru placed the ship at Level 1 readiness and launched five Steadfast-class Cruisers and four Twinblade-class EW light cruisers.
• Shepard returned to the Normandy and joined the escort formation around the Eternity.

The Duchy of Dawn’s Eternity battle group ambushed a Xilu fleet sent to investigate the missing cruisers. After the Xilu fleet refused to surrender and attacked, Eternity and its escorts began overwhelming the enemy, leaving one of its battlecruisers with breached shields.

• Shepard and the Eternity battle group hid among the asteroids while they waited for the Xilu fleet to arrive.
• Jeff Moro detected the fleet’s hyperspace arrival, and Shepard ordered the Normandy into stealth mode and prepared for battle.
• Lieutenant General He Ru broadcast a demand for the Xilu ships to lower their shields, but the Xilu fleet insulted the Duchy of Dawn and opened fire.
• Shepard sent the Normandy around the enemy formation to attack its rear auxiliaries as Eternity destroyed one Xilu battlecruiser with its Particle Beam Lances.
• Eternity deployed its defenses, fighters, weapons, and missiles while five Steadfast-class Cruisers and four Twinblade-class EW Light Cruisers emerged from the asteroids.
• The Xilu fleet’s second battlecruiser was battered by missiles and gunfire until its shields failed within two minutes.

The Duchy of Dawn Exploration Fleet overwhelmed the Xylosian warships but was surprised by the Xilu drones’ uncanny coordination, agility, and ability to detect cloaked ships. After Senluo and Shepard sensed suffering souls inside the drones, Shepard called off the Normandy’s carrier raid and ordered it back to the Eternity.

• The Exploration Fleet destroyed several Xylosian cruisers and badly damaged a battlecruiser within ten minutes, while the Twinblade-class jamming fields failed to disrupt the enemy’s communications.
• The Xilu drones outmaneuvered the Wraith and Viking fighters, shot down more than a dozen, and forced the remaining fighters to retreat toward the Eternity.
• Shepard sent the Normandy on a detour toward the Xylosian carriers, but more than a hundred drones pursued it and battered its shields with repeated laser fire.
• Senluo said he sensed suffering souls inside the drones, and Shepard sensed their agonized cries as well.
• Shepard canceled the raid and ordered the Normandy to return to the Eternity and use long-range attacks against the Xilu warships.
• The Normandy reached the Eternity’s air defense circle, where defensive fire tore apart more than a dozen pursuing drones.

The Exploration Fleet defeated the Xilu fleet and began boarding its ships to capture the commander. As salvage crews examined the wreckage, they discovered a horrifying cargo of corpses.

• He Ru ordered the Eternity and the Exploration Fleet to destroy the Xilu warships while holding the Particle Beam Lances in reserve.
• After the Xilu drones and most of their warships were destroyed, He Ru fired a warning shot and demanded surrender, and the surviving ships shut down their engines and lowered their shields.
• Huang Yehao and Cummings led boarding parties onto the Xilu ships, where Huang Yehao found that the supposed Xilu people aboard the battlecruiser were all smaller and thinner than expected.
• A corridor turret killed a Xilu guide, so Huang Yehao destroyed it and ordered the remaining guides to show the way to the bridge.
• A salvage ship investigating a damaged cruiser found compartments full of naked, shriveled corpses with tubes inserted into them.

Huang Yehao and the Marines seized a Xilu battlecruiser and forced its captain to open the chambers powering the ship. They discovered living captives, including humans, wired into the chambers and tortured to generate energy.

• Huang Yehao learned that the chambers aboard the battlecruiser were called batteries and ordered the Marines to the bridge to open them.
• Huang Yehao's warriors stormed the bridge, killed twenty-six Xilu ambushers, and made the surviving crew surrender.
• Huang Yehao threatened the Xilu captain until he ordered a technician to open the battery chambers, cutting the ship's power.
• Huang Yehao returned to the chambers and found captives from many species, including Pia'ek people and humans, restrained and wired into the machinery.

Huang Yehao discovered that the Xilu people powered their warships by extracting life energy from enslaved people, prompting the Fourth Legion to arrest the crew and destroy the ship. After interrogating captured Xilu officers, the Exploration Fleet learned about the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium and resolved to go to war against it.

• Huang Yehao found people imprisoned in bio-battery chambers and learned that the Xilu people used their life energy to power their ships.
• Huang Yehao struck a Xilu officer who attacked a Pia'ek person, and a Fourth Legion warrior killed the officer.
• Huang Yehao ordered the crew arrested and the warship destroyed, while the Pia'ek people were brought aboard the Endless-class Super Carrier.
• Captain Shepard, Lieutenant General He Ru, Huang Yehao, Cummings, and other fleet leaders interrogated captured Xilu officers and learned about their ships, caste system, and bio-battery technology.
• The fleet learned that the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium controlled roughly a dozen planets and had a Xilu population of about fifteen billion, and its leaders resolved to go to war.

Shepard and the others learned that the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium depended on biological batteries made from abducted intelligent beings, driving its endless wars and hostility toward outsiders. They concluded that peace was unlikely and began considering how to defeat the Imperium, with Shepard proposing a decapitation strike.

• Shepard and the others learned that the Xilu people used biological batteries to power their society and warships, and invaded other worlds to capture more people.
• Huang Yehao realized the Xilu captain had sincerely believed that people connected to batteries felt no pain because Xilu society had built a faith around the practice.
• Shepard and the others reasoned that biological batteries drew on the Force and that humans produced more power and lasted longer than other species.
• Lieutenant General He Ru described the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium's population, fleet, and hostility, and asked the group whether peace remained possible.
• Shepard rejected the idea that his earlier actions had caused the conflict, while Ashley Williams warned against killing billions of innocents and Senluo cautioned that the fleet had to be dealt with first.
• Shepard proposed a decapitation strike against the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium.

After destroying the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium fleet, Lieutenant General He Ru prepared Eternity to strike Levik planet, the Imperium’s capital, rather than bombard it indiscriminately. The Great Xirithut ordered the Imperial fleets to return and defend the planet as an invasion approached.

• Shepard chose a decapitation strike, and Huang Yehao proposed using the attack to give the Pia'ek people hope to rebel against the Xilu.
• Lieutenant General He Ru decided to ignore the secretive Manga-Manga and attack the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium directly.
• He Ru ordered Haseck and the engineering teams to repair a captured Xirui-class battlecruiser’s navigation system, then used its calculations to prepare Eternity’s hyperspace jump to Levik planet.
• He Ru ordered the captured Xilu warships destroyed, and the damaged battlecruiser used for navigation calculations exploded after Eternity departed.
• The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium declared martial law on Levik planet after learning its outer patrol fleet had been annihilated.
• The Great Xirithut ordered all Imperial fleet forces to return to Levik planet and prepare for the coming invasion.

Great Xirithut and General Lepix prepared Levik for an expected invasion after a Ssi-ruuvi fleet vanished, while Great Xirithut and the bishop performed a Consecration Ceremony. The chapter ended with Lepix wondering whether the invaders would come at all.

• Great Xirithut ordered the Ssi-ruuvi fleet to gather at Levik and prioritized Kriyak Palace over the Imperium’s borders.
• The bishop warned that abandoning the borders left the Imperium vulnerable to the God of Decay, but Great Xirithut said the missing fleet’s attacker posed the more urgent threat.
• General Lepix ordered Xirui-class battlecruisers and red forces to defend Kriyak Palace while slave fleets patrolled other regions.
• Lepix traced the lost Ninth Fleet’s distress signal to an outpost and strengthened surveillance along the suspected invaders’ route.
• Great Xirithut and the bishop conducted the Consecration Ceremony as fleets returned to Levik, but the invaders did not appear.
• After the ceremony ended and several more days passed without an attack, Lepix questioned whether the invaders would come at all.