Chapter Summaries

The Givin turned their immigration to Lothal Planet into an armed occupation, crushing local resistance and reshaping the planet’s economy. With Tang Xiao’s approval, Dak Planet joined them in building a major industrial center, while Rebel Alliance fighters and underground groups began a growing insurgency.

• The Givin built three cities and rapidly brought millions of settlers to Lothal Planet, using their wealth and industry to overwhelm the local economy.
• Pollution from a Givin factory sparked protests; after two guards died in a clash, the factory manager bought B-1 battle droids, which violently crushed a later demonstration.
• The Givin brought in a battleship carrying six hundred thousand B-1 battle droids, overthrew Lothal Planet’s administrators, and installed officials friendly to their rule.
• Tang Xiao arranged for Dak Planet’s Quarren and Mon Calamari to cooperate with The Givin on a new industrial zone and Titan shipyard on Lothal Planet.
• In the third year of immigration, the Freedom Dark Volunteer Engineering Corps began building factories and mines, as Rebel Alliance fighters and underground resistance groups escalated attacks on Givin operations.

Tang Xiao planned to build a secret industrial base on remote Dak Planet while keeping the Rebel Alliance’s troubles on Lothal under control. On Raada Planet, Ahsoka Tano lived under the alias Ashla until a group of spacecraft appeared overhead, raising the possibility of pirates or the Galactic Empire.

• Tang Xiao judged that Dak Planet’s remoteness would let him disrupt Imperial supply lines if the Empire attacked, and he believed the Rebel Alliance’s activity on Lothal could be managed.
• Ahsoka Tano, living as Ashla on Raada Planet, repaired an agricultural machine called Hercules III for a local family.
• As she worked, Ahsoka remembered Order 66, Anakin Skywalker’s apparent betrayal and death, and her decision to hide from the Empire.
• Ahsoka saw several spacecraft approaching Raada Planet and realized they might belong to pirates or the Galactic Empire.

Ahsoka Tano watched Imperial forces arrive on Raada Planet and force villagers to replace their food crops with soil-depleting high-energy crops. After the Empire beat a protesting farmer and seized a little girl’s farming parts, an officer ordered Ahsoka to step forward.

• Ahsoka Tano recognized three approaching Gozanti-class ships as Imperial vessels and hid her Togruta head-tails.
• Imperial Stormtroopers assembled the villagers, and an officer ordered them to grow high-energy crops for the Empire.
• A Stormtrooper beat a farmer who protested that the crops were the villagers’ food supply.
• The Empire distributed seeds with harvest quotas, and a robot took the little girl’s farming parts and knocked her down.
• The officer spotted Ahsoka Tano and ordered her to come forward.

Ahsoka Tano tried to avoid Imperial scrutiny as the Empire tightened its control over Raada Planet and exploited its farmers. After a farmer was executed for resisting, Ahsoka was haunted by Order 66, and the next planting began with unfamiliar seeds supplied by the Empire.

• Ahsoka Tano convinced an Imperial officer that she was a mechanic, and the soldiers searched her workshop but found nothing suspicious.
• The Empire imposed strict rules on Raada Planet, seized the farmers’ harvest, and forced them to begin another planting without rest.
• A young farmer asked Ahsoka to help sabotage an Imperial ship, but she urged him not to resist because it would bring harsher retaliation.
• Three days later, Stormtroopers executed the farmer after he attacked an officer, and the Empire displayed his body as a warning.
• Ahsoka returned to her workshop and tried to meditate, but fell asleep while haunted by Order 66.
• Farmers began a new planting with unfamiliar seeds, which Imperial officers said came from the Agriculture Department.

Ahsoka Tano learned that the Galactic Empire was exhausting Raada Planet’s resources and arrested farmers who tried to negotiate, so she finally took up a blaster to save the little girl’s father. The chapter left Ahsoka marching toward the burning village and Lux Bontri watching Izzy City while preparing to act against those he blamed for his mother’s death.

• Ahsoka Tano heard that the Milano family had emigrated to Salust and wondered why Imperial officers allowed people to leave.
• The Empire’s high-energy crops depleted Raada’s soil and water, and Ahsoka urged her village to resist passively as Imperial forces expanded farmland through slash-and-burn clearing.
• The Latt family’s little girl told Ahsoka that Imperial officers had arrested her father and other farmers after they petitioned for a chance to survive.
• Ahsoka crushed a communicator playing Anakin Skywalker’s Order 66 recording, took a DC-15 Blaster rifle instead of her Lightsaber, and set off with the girl to save her father.
• Lux Bontri watched Izzy City from a hill and turned toward the dark figures behind him, consumed by anger over Mina Bontri’s execution.

Lux Bonteri claimed responsibility for the Izzy City hospital bombing and announced that his Mina Revolutionary Army would overthrow King Ramses Dundup’s government. Dundup recognized the danger Lux’s lineage posed to his rule, and the chapter ended with the king’s plans for Onderon badly threatened by Lux’s return.

• Black-clad gunmen bombed a hospital in Izzy City, killed 277 civilians and 16 security personnel, and escaped after fighting security forces.
• Lux Bonteri released a HoloNet video claiming the attack, blaming Onderon’s government for betraying his mother, Mina Bonteri, and demanding that King Ramses Dundup step down.
• Dundup and his security chief discussed Lux’s radicalization, his role in the events leading to Mina’s death, and the danger that he could attract supporters.
• The chapter recounted how Dundup reclaimed the throne, purged the bureaucracy, sent troops to war, and later cooperated with the Galactic Empire while trying to preserve Onderon’s future.
• Dundup’s hidden plan to prepare Stila Gerrera to lead Onderon was put at risk by Lux Bonteri’s return with a group of terrorists.

Ramses Dundrup struggled to fund Onderon's response to Lux Bontri's terrorist campaign, while Lux secretly paid the planet's Chief Security Officer and revealed how a mysterious Bith had helped him build his organization. Lux and the officer believed Ramses's ideals would not save him, and Lux's rebellion continued to strengthen.

• Ramses Dundrup ordered a manhunt, a Royal Guard rapid response force, propaganda efforts, and aid for the victims, but his officials had no money to carry out the plans.
• Ramses Dundrup sought help from the Galactic Empire, but the Imperial Intelligence Bureau lacked local support and the Imperial army dismissed the attacks as insignificant.
• Lux Bontri met the Chief Security Officer in an Izzy City bar and paid him with valuable credit ingots for information about Ramses's plans.
• Lux recalled how a Bith had helped him recover Mina Bontri's confiscated property, conceal his identity, and recruit her former political allies, including the Chief Security Officer.
• Lux explained that the Bith had advised him to build a base on Dexen Satellite and seek a Sith Lord's tomb, then departed after warning that a terrifying being was hunting him.
• Lux and the Chief Security Officer mocked Ramses Dundrup's beliefs and agreed that his efforts to hold Onderon together would fail.

Lux Bontri plotted to reclaim Onderon while the Galactic Empire celebrated a costly-to-achieve but casualty-free victory over a Geth battle group. The Fleet Commander, revealed as a blue-skinned man with crimson eyes, warned that the Geth's harassment campaign had already strained Imperial forces.

• Lux Bontri and the Chief Security Officer planned to delay Dundup, bribe Imperial officials, and keep records of the payments while Lux searched for the Sith Lord's tomb on Dexen Satellite.
• Lux Bontri vowed to reclaim Onderon and showed no remorse for his crimes or sorrow for his mother.
• The Imperial fleet destroyed a Geth battle group after years of Geth raids had stretched Imperial patrols and ground forces thin.
• The Fleet Commander explained that the Geth had succeeded in exhausting Imperial forces, despite the fleet's victory without losses.
• The Fleet Commander turned his chair and revealed his blue skin and crimson eyes to Adjutant Sandars.

Colonel Thrawn returned his exhausted patrol fleet to an Imperial Navy base near Ithor after defeating a Geth fleet and winning the loyalty of his crew. While the soldiers rested, he stayed aboard the Chimeara to study a report on the culture and art of Dawn Star Planet.

• First Officer Sandars praised Colonel Thrawn, but Thrawn ordered the exhausted fleet to return to base.
• The chapter described how Thrawn assembled and strengthened his patrol fleet, earning his crew’s trust through a string of victories.
• Thrawn’s fleet intercepted a Geth battlegroup, and he led it to a miraculous victory without losing a ship.
• Thrawn brought the fleet to an Imperial Navy base near Ithor, requested supplies and repairs, and arranged rotating leave for his soldiers.
• Thrawn remained aboard the Chimeara, listening to unfamiliar music and reading an intelligence report titled “Culture and Art of Dawn Star Planet.”

Colonel Thrawn studied the Geth and anticipated their ambush as his damaged fleet rushed to Akuria Planet. He kept his ships in orbit, laid a minefield, and waited as Geth warships appeared nearby.

• Thrawn analyzed Dawn Star Planet’s culture and recognized the Empire’s growing conflict with Tang Xiao, then ordered his officers to prepare for an early departure.
• Lieutenant General Chenor ordered Thrawn to reinforce Akuria Planet immediately, but Thrawn secured three days to bring his damaged fleet to combat readiness.
• Thrawn’s fleet arrived at Akuria and learned that Geth forces had occupied Dathomir City, while Thrawn predicted that the Geth were waiting to ambush the fleet.
• Thrawn kept his forces in synchronous orbit, launched fighters to hide behind the moon, and deployed tens of thousands of space mines instead of landing troops.
• More than a dozen Geth warships appeared within Akuria’s gravitational field, less than 1,000 kilometers from Thrawn’s fleet.

Thrawn led the Sixth Patrol Fleet against a Geth battlegroup, using the planet’s atmosphere and the enemy’s predictable choices to overcome its superior numbers. The Imperial fleet crippled the Geth cruiser in a space counterattack, and Thrawn declared checkmate.

• The Geth fleet jumped into synchronous orbit near the Imperial ships and opened fire, but Thrawn ordered the Sixth Patrol Fleet to retreat into the atmosphere.
• Thrawn detonated the space mines to delay the Geth, then formed a defensive formation above the planetary capital with support from planetary defenses and fighters.
• After losing two frigates and a destroyer, the Geth withdrew from the atmosphere, and Thrawn ordered the Imperial fleet to pursue, exploiting its greater straight-line speed.
• The Geth turned to fight in space, while fighter squadrons attacked from behind and the Imperial fleet held its formation against their assault.
• Six Y-wing bombers struck the Geth cruiser with Proton Torpedoes, crippling it and securing the Imperial victory.
• Thrawn sipped wine from Dawn Star Planet and said, “Checkmate.”

Thrawn’s fleet defeated the Geth at Akuria and prepared a ground assault, but Chenor tried to keep it tied down with new orders. Gillard Perine intervened, and Thrawn chose to remain under Chenor while warning that the Northern Territory faced a larger future threat than the Geth alone.

• Thrawn’s Sixth Patrol Fleet destroyed the Geth warships, losing two Vigil-class corvettes, and began preparing Marines and vehicles to attack Geth-held cities on Akuria.
• Chenor accused Thrawn of delaying the battle and ordered him to take his fleet to Lorrd Planet to eliminate pirates.
• Gillard Perine interrupted Chenor, ordered his Ninth Sub-fleet to attack Ord Mantell, and defended Thrawn’s authority to judge the Akuria front.
• Perine warned Thrawn that Chenor meant to keep the fleet from resting and refitting, but Thrawn declined Perine’s offer to seek his reassignment and planned to appease Chenor instead.
• Thrawn told Perine that the Geth did not come from the Unknown Regions and that their possible alliance with the Duchy of Dawn was not his chief concern; Perine warned such an alliance could destroy the Empire’s defensive line.

Thrawn concluded that Dawn Star Planet might be restraining the Geth and asked Gillard Perine for intelligence on both Dawn Star Planet and the Quarians. He warned that the Geth and their creators might be concealing their true nature, leaving the Empire vulnerable to an unexpected transformation in the war.

• Thrawn told Gillard Perine that the Geth had a limit near the Northern Inner Rim Territories and identified Dawn Star Planet as that limit.
• Gillard Perine described how Geth-controlled territory surrounded Makito, Muunilinst, and Ord Mantell, while Imperial covert operations had repeatedly failed.
• Thrawn reasoned that if Dawn Star Planet and the Geth were allies, Dawn Star Planet would restrain the Geth’s expansion to protect worlds from becoming ruined factories.
• Thrawn ordered Gillard Perine to gather intelligence on Dawn Star Planet and the Quarians, whose traces appeared in the Geth but nowhere in the galaxy.
• Thrawn warned that the opponent’s revealed history might all be false, and Gillard Perine resolved that the situation could not continue.

Makito, Muunilinst, and Ord Mantell underwent rapid industrial and military development as the Duchy of Dawn expanded its defenses and influence. Tang Xiao balanced the InterGalactic Banking Clan (M) and the Geth against each other while watching signs of division among the Geth.

• Makito advanced construction of two 45,000-meter Agonev-class star bases, an equatorial Star Ring, cities, and industrial districts, while Geth worked alongside local residents.
• Tang Xiao placed his agents throughout the InterGalactic Banking Clan (M) to prevent it from controlling the Duchy of Dawn’s economy and used its presence on Makito to restrain the Geth.
• Tang Xiao noticed that front-line and construction Geth were developing different judgments, suggesting a possible split in their Gestalt consciousness.
• Muunilinst began developing into a center for advanced technology.
• The Fourth Group and the Geth industrialized and militarized Ord Mantell, suppressed its criminal trades, and built military academies to train commanders.

The chapter described Caladan Planet’s role in the Fourth Civilization and the Geth’s horrific Corpse Puppet experiments on Hook Planet. It ended on Nashadda, where a cloaked figure with nightmares demanded alcohol from a bartender who recognized him.

• The Caladanians became a core force in the Fourth Civilization Army, while Caladan Planet’s military academy trained soldiers in guerrilla and jungle warfare.
• Ewoks joined Caladan’s training programs, and the chapter suggested that the two races could threaten the Galactic Empire’s ground forces.
• The Geth exterminated the Yamrii and turned them into Corpse Puppets on Hook Planet, where secret experiments continued amid a deadly, Dark Side-corrupted landscape.
• A cloaked figure burst into a Nashadda bar, demanded the strongest drink to quiet the voices and nightmares in his program, and smashed the counter.
• The bartender recognized the figure and recoiled in fear.

General Grievous’s planted darkness drove him into a murderous frenzy on Nashadda, while Tang Xiao sensed the change and Darth Malthael arrived to deal with him. The chapter ended with Malthael declaring that Grievous’s story with the Confederacy of Independent Systems was nearing its end.

• General Grievous revealed his mechanical body in a Nashadda bar, then erupted into violence and slaughtered at least a thousand people before escaping.
• Tang Xiao woke on Dawn Star Planet, sensed the seeds of darkness taking root, and spoke of using the Tagge family against Palpatine.
• Tang Xiao told Adele Ulan to keep Sanya Tagge under his control while he left for two or three days.
• Darth Malthael arrived on Nashadda and received a report confirming General Grievous had gone insane and massacred people in the Camille commercial district.
• Darth Malthael said Grievous’s darkness had finally taken hold and his story with the Confederacy of Independent Systems should end.

Darth Malthael confronted the rampaging General Grievous on Nal Hutta and used a dark seed planted in Grievous’s soul to awaken memories suppressed by brainwashing. Grievous remembered his past and recognized Malthael as Tang Xiao, leaving his recovered memories—and what they might mean—unfolding.

• General Grievous rampaged through Nal Hutta, killing fleeing civilians while the locals avoided confronting him.
• Darth Malthael attacked Grievous and drove him into a warehouse, where the two fought under the pressure of the Force.
• Malthael asked Grievous about his nightmares and stirred the dark seed he had planted in Grievous’s soul more than a decade earlier.
• Grievous’s memories of the Huk War and his life on Caladan began to return.
• Grievous recognized the Archangel of Death as Tang Xiao and recalled fighting the Yamrii and the Republic’s mediation.

General Grievous recovered his memories of being Kiman-Jai-Sheelal and learned that Count Dooku had conspired with Palpatine to destroy him. After hearing Darth Malthael’s plan to destroy the Empire, the Confederacy, and their leaders, Grievous left to pursue his own aims.

• General Grievous remembered his identity as Kiman-Jai-Sheelal, his Caladanian allies, and his beloved companion Kummar, who had died in a Yamrii trap.
• Grievous recalled that Count Dooku had shot down his ship and electrocuted him after hauling his broken body ashore.
• Darth Malthael blocked Grievous’s attack and explained that Dooku had wanted a ruthless commander for the Separatist battle droids.
• Grievous recognized that Palpatine and Dooku had engineered the war and asked Darth Malthael what he wanted.
• Darth Malthael declared that he wanted to destroy the Galactic Empire, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Palpatine, and Count Dooku.
• Grievous concealed his face beneath his cloak and left without saying anything further.

Malthael set General Grievous on a path to kill Count Dooku, hoping to disrupt Palpatine’s plans for the Clone Wars. Meanwhile, Tang Xiao continued tormenting Sanya Tagge and learned that her sons Orman and Silas had poisoned her, while making clear he intended to bring the Tagge family under his control.

• Malthael accepted Grievous’s choice to reclaim his name and arranged for him to travel to Raxus Prime and seek revenge on Count Dooku.
• Malthael planned to use Grievous to kill Dooku and separately identified San Hill as another target for future action.
• Tang Xiao returned to Dawn Star Planet and found Sanya Tagge kneeling in his office, where Adele Ulan had kept the room cold and her meals frozen.
• Tang Xiao punished Sanya for eating and told her that her treatments would continue indefinitely, even beyond death.
• Sanya revealed that Orman Tagge and Silas Tagge had poisoned her, and Tang Xiao said he would help her act while allowing them to believe she remained ill.
• Tang Xiao told Sanya that although he demanded nothing from her, the Tagge family would eventually submit to him.

After three years of torment at Tang Xiao’s hands, Sanya Tagge confirmed that her eldest son Orman Tagge and third son Silas Tagge had caused her strange illness. She returned to the Tagge family poised to unleash a bloody succession struggle that Tang Xiao expected to benefit from.

• Sanya Tagge recovered enough to dress and leave Tang Xiao’s office after spending an hour on the floor.
• Tang Xiao had spent three years breaking Sanya Tagge’s will and making her his private possession, while avoiding interference in Tagge family affairs.
• Tang Xiao believed the Tagge family would gradually come under his influence through Sanya Tagge and her second son, Cassio Tagge.
• With Tang Xiao’s help, Sanya Tagge confirmed that Orman Tagge and Silas Tagge had caused her illness.
• Sanya Tagge prepared to return to the Tagge family, where her discovery threatened to trigger a bloody internal conflict that Tang Xiao hoped to exploit.