Chapter Summaries

Tang Xiao learned that the Technological Alliance and Geonosis had betrayed him, while Emperor Karina was missing, and suspected the Galactic Empire’s DS-1 construction was connected to their disappearance. He ordered Salatan Morse to report on the battle station, but its construction site remained unknown.

• Tang Xiao reacted angrily to Poggle the Lesser’s betrayal and vowed to attack Geonosis, then learned from Sefrans Tann that Emperor Karina was absent from the planet.
• Sefrans Tann pointed out that the Galactic Empire had prioritized the Technological Alliance and Geonosis over its campaign on Saleucami, suggesting their betrayal was especially significant to the Empire.
• Tang Xiao contacted Salatan Morse, the new Head of Military Intelligence, and asked about the DS-1 battle station project.
• Salatan Morse reported that the Empire had completed research and development and was preparing construction, but intelligence had not identified the site among more than 1,400 planets surveyed.
• Tang Xiao reviewed evidence that over 1,700 companies supporting DS-1 research had been dissolved and suspected the battle station’s construction was linked to the disappearance of the Technological Alliance and Emperor Karina.

Tang Xiao and Salatan Morse investigated Orson Krennic and Emperor Karina, linking her disappearance to the Empire’s secret construction of the DS-1 battle station. Tang Xiao concluded that reforms in the Confederacy of Independent Systems—and the destruction of the Merchant Guilds—had triggered the change.

• Tang Xiao ordered Salatan Morse to find Orson Krennic and send Ghost Agents to assassinate him if they located him.
• Tang Xiao told Salatan Morse that Emperor Karina had disappeared from Geonosis and said the Geonosians were still building the DS-1 battle station.
• Salatan Morse reasoned that Karina’s absence suggested the project had begun years earlier, and Tang Xiao explained her role in controlling the Geonosian labor caste.
• Tang Xiao connected Karina’s departure to the Empire’s need to create a new Geonosian engineering team to build the DS-1 battle station.
• Tang Xiao identified the destruction of the Merchant Guilds as the trigger, explaining that Count Dooku’s reforms had weakened the mega-corporations and made the Merchant Guilds the main target.

Tang Xiao weighed the Geonosians’ role in the Galactic Empire’s DS-1 battle station project and rejected a military attack on Geonosis. He sent Salatan Morse to contact Gizor Dellso and explore whether Poggle the Lesser’s betrayal of Queen Karina could turn the Geonosians against him.

• Tang Xiao concluded that Count Dooku had tolerated the Technological Alliance’s divided loyalties because he needed its industrial worlds and war-machine production.
• Salatan Morse suggested occupying Geonosis, but Tang Xiao refused, warning that Poggle the Lesser could surrender to the Galactic Empire and give it a pretext to attack.
• Salatan Morse proposed kidnapping Galen Erso to disrupt the DS-1 project, but Tang Xiao ordered him to keep Galen under surveillance and let Orson Krennic’s search for him continue.
• Tang Xiao and Salatan Morse discussed Poggle the Lesser’s role in Queen Karina’s kidnapping and his betrayal of the Geonosians.
• Tang Xiao tasked Salatan Morse with secretly contacting geonosian engineer Gizor Dellso to gauge his views on Queen Karina’s kidnapping.

Tang Xiao recognized that Poggle the Lesser’s betrayal had left the Duchy of Dawn’s Iron Triangle vulnerable to the Galactic Empire. He ordered Salatan Morse to find Gizor Dellso immediately so Dawn could win over Geonosis and restore the alliance.

• Tang Xiao assessed the Duchy of Dawn’s isolated territories and identified Christophsis, Geonosis, and Tatooine as the strategically vital Iron Triangle.
• Tang Xiao realized Poggle the Lesser’s betrayal had left Geonosis poised to break the connection between Hutt Space and Christophsis, exposing Dawn to an Imperial operation.
• Tang Xiao concluded that Gizor Dellso might oppose Poggle if he learned that Emperor Karina had been kidnapped, and that Geonosis’s remaining forces could be won over.
• Tang Xiao ordered Salatan Morse to use every intelligence resource available to locate Gizor Dellso before the Galactic Empire acted in secret.

Tang Xiao visited the Duchy of Dawn’s secret Polar Research Institute on Hoth to inspect its project for countering the Galactic Empire’s Death Star. The researchers had built a Novalith Cannon, but they still could not solve its faster-than-light targeting problem.

• Tang Xiao traveled aboard the Red Comet to Hoth Planet, passing through an Interdictor checkpoint with his authorization code.
• Tang Xiao arrived at the concealed underground Polar Research Institute, where Professor Bilefei-Toni and the research team welcomed him.
• Tang Xiao pressed the team for progress, warning that the Galactic Empire’s planet-destroying weapon had entered construction and time was running short.
• Bilefei-Toni showed Tang Xiao a failed simulation in which a nuclear missile would take three hundred thousand years to reach Coruscant.
• Tang Xiao identified the Novalith Cannon as the Duchy of Dawn’s answer to the Death Star and learned it could bombard distant targets but could not destroy an entire planet.

Tang Xiao demanded progress on the Novalith Cannon, which was meant to counter the Galactic Empire’s Death Star and support the Duchy of Dawn’s plans. Bilefe-Toni promised a design framework within five months, while Vaxian engineers prepared to begin construction at Hoth Planet.

• Bilefe-Toni explained that the Novalith Cannon needed a way to fire shells tens of thousands of light-years within a strategically useful timeframe.
• Tang Xiao demanded a solution and set a one-year deadline to begin construction, with a framework due within five months.
• Bilefe-Toni proposed using a Mass Effect field to accelerate the shell fully and potentially bypass hyperspace-lane restrictions.
• A Vaxian engineer said the cannon would follow the database’s seventy-kilometer design and that foundational work for Rail One at Hoth Planet was expected to take seven months.
• Tang Xiao ordered tighter secrecy, more Interdictors around Hoth Planet, support for researchers’ families, and Geth involvement in security.
• Tang Xiao set off to inspect the Rail One construction site.

Tang Xiao inspected the Vaxians’ rapid construction of the Novalith Cannon near Hoth Planet and urged Bilefi-Toni to finish its firing mechanism design. Meanwhile, political divisions in the Mandalore star sector were growing more complicated, beginning with the New Mandalorian regime led by Satine Kryze.

• Tang Xiao visited the Novalith Cannon construction site and saw Vaxian engineers building according to an unfinished design.
• Tang Xiao ordered Bilefi-Toni to complete the Novalith Cannon’s firing mechanism design as soon as possible.
• Tang Xiao considered the Novalith Cannon a practical weapon for threatening Palpatine if the Death Star targeted his planets.
• The chapter described the Mandalore star sector as a region formed from the former Neutral Alliance, which had controlled 1,500 inhabited systems and tens of thousands of planetary systems.
• The chapter introduced Satine Kryze’s New Mandalorian regime, which promoted peace with the Galactic Republic and banned military factories on Mandalore.

The chapter recounts how Pre Vizsla seized control of Mandalore and rebuilt it into a militarized state while powerful figures watched and maneuvered around him. A year after the Empire’s founding, Sefrans Tann began planning to overthrow Pre Vizsla with Jango Fett and other allies, while Tang Xiao secretly ordered her to protect Bo-Katan Kryze.

• Pre Vizsla used Bo-Katan Kryze to take power from Almec, making her Duchess while he became Mandalore’s Prime Minister.
• Pre Vizsla backed Palpatine’s coronation, gained the Empire’s recognition, and expanded Mandalore’s military while suppressing dissent.
• Darth Tenebrus’s apprentice Shen Jon watched Pre Vizsla, who did not know that Tenebrus was dead and Shen Jon had inherited his schemes.
• The first Endless-class Super Carrier, Infinity, joined Sefrans Tann’s fleet at Akiva, where Jango Fett, twenty True Mandalorian warriors, and Master Chief John 117 also arrived.
• Sefrans Tann and Jango Fett concluded that they needed Mandalore’s people to overthrow Pre Vizsla, and Tang Xiao secretly ordered Tann to protect Bo-Katan Kryze.

Tang Xiao ordered Bo-Katan Kryze protected after Satine Kryze disappeared, fearing that Mandalore’s turmoil had a hidden mastermind beyond Pre Vizsla. Sefrans Tann sent Ghost Agents to watch over Bo-Katan while Jango Fett quietly organized resistance to Death Watch.

• The chapter explained how Bo-Katan Kryze’s upbringing amid war led her to embrace Death Watch, while Satine Kryze had pursued peace to keep Mandalore alive.
• Tang Xiao suspected Pre Vizsla was not the true mastermind behind Mandalore’s unrest, though the Duchy of Dawn’s Intelligence Department had found no trace of Darth Maul.
• Tang Xiao ordered Bo-Katan Kryze protected because her death could plunge Mandalore into greater chaos after Satine Kryze’s disappearance.
• Sefrans Tann dispatched Ghost Agents to approach and monitor Bo-Katan Kryze and intervene if she faced danger.
• Jango Fett secretly founded the Mandalorian Restoration Army and began building support among civilians opposed to Death Watch.

In 16 BBY, Pre Vizsla strengthened Mandalore’s military under Death Watch’s rule, building a huge army and forcing Mandalore Engine Company to prepare for fighter production. As Mandalore sought weapons and ships through the black market, the chapter ended by revealing that Pre Vizsla had approached the Zann Consortium.

• Under Duchess Bo-Katan Kryze, Mandalore appeared prosperous, while Death Watch’s military power suppressed opposition.
• After defeating Prime Minister Almec, Pre Vizsla ruled Mandalore and built an army of one million troops.
• Pre Vizsla expanded Beskar production and nationalized factories to equip his army with weapons and armor.
• Pre Vizsla ordered Mandalore Engine Company to weaponize its airspeeders and prepare to manufacture starfighters and warships.
• Pre Vizsla sought additional weapons and starfighters from an underground company, which was revealed to be the Zann Consortium.

The chapter traced how Darth Tenebrus transformed Old Zann’s legitimate salvage company into the secretive Zann Consortium, using it to profit from Imperial warship dismantling and supply the Hutts. After Tenebrus’s death, Shen-Jon began handing the business to Tyber Zann, whose ruthless leadership was just beginning.

• Old Zann’s son, Tyber Zann, became Darth Tenebrus’s apprentice and was manipulated into killing his parents before inheriting Zann Corporation.
• Darth Tenebrus and Shen-Jon managed the company while Tyber studied, turning it into a rapidly growing Outer Rim industrial group.
• The Zann Consortium profited by reselling components from Imperial warships it had been contracted to dismantle, concealing its dealings through bribery and intimidation.
• The consortium secretly sold refurbished warships to the Besadi and Desilijic families while remaining unknown to the public.
• After Darth Tenebrus died, Shen-Jon began transferring operations to Tyber Zann, who immediately showed a more extreme and ruthless approach.

Pre Vizsla demanded more warships from Tiber Zayne, but Tiber refused to extend further credit and revealed that Darth Tenebrus had died three years earlier. After Tiber departed, Pre Vizsla's communicator exploded, leaving him terrified and insisting he was Mandalore's king.

• Pre Vizsla asked Tiber Zayne for warships to defend Mandalore from the Separatist fleet, and Tiber offered two modified Hunter Class Battlecruisers for payment.
• Tiber refused Pre Vizsla's request to put the ships on credit, citing his unpaid debts and the Beskar steel production already mortgaged for earlier purchases.
• Pre Vizsla demanded to speak with Darth Tenebrus, and Tiber said Tenebrus had died three years earlier and that Uncle Shen-Jon had ordered him to follow the rules.
• Tiber announced that he would send people to collect Pre Vizsla's uncollected taxes, then left in his spacecraft.
• Pre Vizsla tried to contact Tenebrus, but his communicator failed, overheated, and exploded.
• Pre Vizsla collapsed in shock, then raged that the revelation was impossible and declared himself king of Mandalore.

Sefrans-Tann assessed threats and intelligence across the Mandalore sector while Darth Lilim volunteered to investigate Dathomir, where Asajj Ventress returned to Mother Talzin and learned Darth Maul was alive. Mother Talzin revealed a powerful, mysterious figure had come to Dathomir, and the chapter ended as she recognized two unexpected visitors; meanwhile, black ships descended near Sundari on Mandalore.

• Sefrans-Tann ordered patrols near Mandalore, withdrew patrols from Krownest, and learned that the intelligence about the Geonosis kidnapping was a warning from a nearby rival network.
• An intelligence officer reported that twenty Ghost Agents sent to Dathomir had vanished, and Darth Lilim insisted she would go there despite Sefrans-Tann's warning about her past failure on Faida Planet.
• Asajj Ventress returned to Dathomir and told Mother Talzin she had left Count Dooku and the Confederacy of Independent Systems after their defeat.
• Mother Talzin revealed that Savage Opress had found his brother Darth Maul, whom she was healing, and said the brothers gave the Nightsister Order leverage to negotiate with a powerful figure tied to the Kwa Relics.
• Mother Talzin described an impending upheaval on Dathomir, then reacted in terror when two visitors arrived and she recognized one of them.
• Several black ships descended into a small town near Sundari, Mandalore's rebuilt capital.

Black Sun looted Chinchilla Town and killed the Mandalorian veteran Old Tik, while Tiber Zayne revealed the raid was meant to pressure Pre Vizsla over an unpaid purchase. Jango Fett returned to his hidden base, organized plans to aid the town, and prepared to attack Pre Vizsla’s airfield with intelligence gathered by Master Chief John 117.

• A red-masked Black Sun leader led a raid on Chinchilla Town, robbed its residents, and killed Old Tik with a rotary blaster cannon.
• Tiber Zayne congratulated the leader and said the raid was meant to remind Pre Vizsla to pay for what he bought.
• Jango Fett found Chinchilla Town devastated and learned Black Sun had taken its supplies while Public Security failed to help.
• Jango Fett urged Garcia to arrange food and medicine for the town, and Garcia agreed to seek supplies despite the risks from Pre Vizsla.
• Jango Fett proposed destroying Pre Vizsla’s military airfield, and Master Chief John 117 gave him detailed reconnaissance data.

Tang Xiao sent Ghost Agents to help Dryden Vos investigate Black Sun’s expansion into Corellia while suspecting a connection to Darth Tenebrus and Darth Maul. On Mandalore, Jango Fett and the True Mandalorians attacked a Death Watch airfield, where a powered-armored fighter marked 117 joined the battle.

• Dryden Vos told Tang Xiao that Black Sun had entered Corellia through legitimate businesses and was threatening Crimson Dawn’s smuggling routes.
• Tang Xiao agreed to send Ghost Agents to help replace Black Sun’s middle managers with clones and ordered Dryden Vos to uncover their objective.
• Tang Xiao wondered whether Darth Tenebrus’s plans involved Black Sun and the possible formation of a new Shadow Collective.
• Jango Fett led twenty True Mandalorians in an assault on a military airfield outside Sundari, killing scores of defenders.
• Death Watch warriors entered the fight, and a powered-armored fighter marked 117 charged in and knocked one of them away from Jango Fett.

John 117 and Jango Fett attacked the hangar, with the Master Chief killing Death Watch soldiers while Jango smashed through the defenders. Pre Vizsla ordered a galaxy-wide hunt for the Restoration Army and brooded over the Zann Consortium, Sefrans Tann, and the growing threat to his rule.

• John 117 told Jango Fett to destroy the hangar, and Jango charged through the defenders’ barricades.
• The Master Chief dodged gunfire and flames, killed a Death Watch soldier with an N-7 Eagle Pistol, and fired on advancing troops with an N-7 Valkyrie Assault Rifle.
• Pre Vizsla berated a garrison officer for failing to stop the attackers and ordered him to portray the Restoration Army as modified human beasts.
• Pre Vizsla ordered troops to conduct a carpet search and demanded a galaxy-wide wanted order for the Restoration Army.
• Pre Vizsla recalled his reliance on the Zann Consortium and worried that Sefrans Tann’s growing influence and the Restoration Army’s attacks threatened Mandalore.

Pre Vizsla struggled to contain the Mandalorian Restoration Army’s attacks, which had crippled Death Watch’s forces and air power. Bo-Katan Kryze confronted him over misleading intelligence and repeated Black Sun attacks, then vowed to lead the Night Owls on constant patrol.

• Pre Vizsla brooded over the Restoration Army’s Super Soldiers, whose raids had devastated Death Watch’s military installations and destroyed nearly a hundred fighters.
• Pre Vizsla considered buying droids but lamented that he could not afford them.
• Bo-Katan Kryze arrived with the Night Owls and angrily accused Pre Vizsla of sending her to a false lead near Kaz Mountain while Black Sun attacked Chinchilla Town.
• Pre Vizsla claimed the Restoration Army and Black Sun had joined forces and defended his forces’ failures as proof that the army needed to grow stronger.
• Bo-Katan Kryze vowed to lead the Night Owls on constant patrol and kill any Black Sun attackers who appeared.

Gethzerion returned to Dathomir and seized control of the Nightsisters, declaring an alliance with Shen Qiao'en and ordering the clans subdued. Tang Xiao confronted Adele Ulan over how their children were being raised and drove away their attendants.

• Mother Talzin and the Nightsisters knelt before Gethzerion, who returned to claim the Sisterhood and announced her plan to conquer the galaxy.
• Gethzerion formed an alliance with Shen Qiao'en, revealed that he had inherited Darth Tenebrus's title, and forced Talzin to accept his authority.
• Gethzerion ordered the Nightsisters to subjugate Dathomir's other witch clans and strengthen their Shadow Magic.
• Adele Ulan prepared to visit her children, Little Star and Little Cloud, but Tang Xiao arrived and confronted her over their pampered upbringing.
• Tang Xiao blasted the children's attendants aside, injuring several, and ordered them all to leave.

Tang Xiao began training his two-year-old children, Tang Xing and Tang Yun, using the Force, insisting that they overcome challenges without help. An hour later, Tang Xing was still crying over a barrier he could not break, while Tang Yun had managed to move a toy Lightsaber.

• Tang Xiao sent the nannies and maids away, then called Tang Xing and Tang Yun over to him.
• Tang Xiao trapped Tang Xing's chosen toy gun behind a Force barrier and told him he had to break through it to play.
• When Tang Xing tried to find another toy, Tang Xiao crushed the entire pile and ordered Adele-Ulan to stir his desire and anger so he would keep trying.
• Tang Xiao taught Tang Yun to move a toy Lightsaber with the Force and made her practice for the rest of the day.
• An hour later, Tang Xing was still crying as Adele-Ulan urged him to try again, while Tang Yun had managed to make the Lightsaber move.

Tang Xiao spent a family day with Adele Ulan and their twins, but his ambitions and plans for the children kept him emotionally distant. The chapter ended when Helmut Zemo contacted him, drawing his attention back to affairs of state.

• Adele Ulan tried to comfort the crying Tang Xing, then slapped him in frustration and pleaded with Tang Xiao for help.
• Tang Xiao left Adele Ulan to handle Tang Xing and took Tang Yun elsewhere in the garden.
• Tang Xiao considered his twins’ political purpose in strengthening ties with Rendili and planned to raise them as capable aides.
• Tang Xiao received a communication from Helmut Zemo and chose to answer because he trusted the prime minister’s counsel.