Recaps

Tang Xiao inspected Dor’s vast metal reserves and reviewed the United Mining Group’s plans to expand extraction with Xu Yan and Damask Holdings Group. The group planned orbital mining infrastructure and shipyards as the Fourth Civilization faced a growing shortage of resources.

• Tang Xiao learned that Dor contained enough resources to supply Kuat Drive Yards for ten years, and that Hego Damask II had invested 200 million credits in the United Mining Group while Tang Xiao retained 70% of its shares.
• Xu Yan explained that the first excavation site would be shut down because its equipment could not dig through the solid metal below 1.8 kilometers, while the second-phase project used 100 SCVs but struggled with Dor’s gravity and limited droid compatibility.
• Xu Yan proposed building an orbital mining station and later a mining star ring that would use lasers and tractor beams to extract and process Dor’s ore, with Damask Holdings Group providing construction.
• The Muuns offered assistance with the orbital mining structures and two multipurpose shipyards, while Xu Yan said the shipyard project still needed several months of engineering work.
• Xu Yan reported that the group was expanding production of Professor Chi’s mining drones and using them to extract resources from a nearby asteroid belt.
• Tang Xiao recognized that the Fourth Civilization’s rapid construction and continued starship production had made its resource shortage increasingly severe.

Tang Xiao inspected the Fourth Civilization’s expanding mining and shipbuilding operations before Professor Chi Jianjun urged him to build a large Research Center. The proposal was not merely about adding facilities: Chi argued that the civilization needed to grow its expertise and scale, leaving Tang to consider how it could develop beyond relying on him alone.

• The Muun showed Tang Xiao a colossal mining vessel, and Xu Yan said the Endor system’s resources could resolve the Fourth Civilization’s resource shortage if mining sites kept pace.
• Tang Xiao inspected the orbital shipyards and saw that new destroyer, frigate, and fighter production capacity was under construction, supported by TEC engineering ships and SCVs.
• Tang Xiao visited the expanded research stations, where Professor Chi Jianjun presented a proposal for a large Research Center.
• Tang Xiao questioned whether the Fourth Civilization could operate such a facility, and Chi explained that its main weakness was its limited scale, especially its population of fewer than fifty thousand.
• Chi said he genuinely wanted the Research Center so the Fourth Civilization’s collective expertise could grow, and challenged Tang Xiao’s ability to advise every department himself.

Tang Xiao shifted the Fourth Civilization’s focus from warship development to civilian growth and infrastructure after reaching an agreement with Damask Holdings Group. The chapter ended with the expanding civilization preparing new settlements, a growing population, and a market economy.

• Chi Jianjun advised Tang Xiao to form an advisory group, refine the administration, and focus research on fundamental physics and practical spacecraft development.
• Tang Xiao slowed new warship development and established the Fourth National Bank, which introduced Currency Number Four to replace Work Tickets.
• Tang Xiao expanded Cryo-embryo adoption, funded child-rearing, granted embryos equal legal status, and ordered B-1 robots to serve as household nannies.
• Population growth brought new jobs and settlers, while experts projected the Fourth Civilization would reach one million residents within a year.
• The Engineering Science Department deciphered Mobile Command Center technology and built several units to establish mines and three new cities.
• The Fourth Civilization adopted antigravity engines for transportation and planned to avoid paved roads between Dawn Star Planet’s cities.

Tang Xiao recruited Ni Yongxiao as his personal assistant and a new cabinet member, hoping to use his abilities to prepare for the coming galactic civil war. Ni Yongxiao accepted the role, while another newly awakened man remained in the medical pod as Tang Xiao’s intended adviser.

• Tang Xiao visited the man in the medical pod, told him he needed his wisdom, and learned that he was beginning to stir.
• Tang Xiao spoke with Ni Yongxiao about his lost memories, the coming galactic civil war, and his belief that the mothership survivors were family.
• Tang Xiao appointed Ni Yongxiao as his personal assistant and cabinet member, and Ni Yongxiao accepted.
• Tang Xiao reflected that Ni Yongxiao’s ruthless leadership and loyalty made him useful, but that the man still hospitalized was meant to shoulder the larger responsibility.

Tang Xiao appointed Baron Helmut Zemo as his chief strategist and made Francis Underwood Prime Minister of the Cabinet, though Francis recognized that the title gave him little real power. Claire Underwood expanded the Outer Rim Planets Mutual Aid Fund at a Coruscant gathering, where she met Master Dooku.

• Tang Xiao selected Baron Helmut Zemo as chief strategist and appointed Francis Underwood Prime Minister of the Cabinet.
• Francis told Claire that Ni Yongxiao and Zemo held the real influence in the cabinet, while his own position was largely ceremonial.
• Francis urged Claire to wear red and use the mutual aid fund to build influence, and Claire learned that Toonbuck Tula of Semirres Planet would support it.
• Claire spoke at a Coruscant gathering, where representatives from Rodian, Jabiim, and Semirres pledged support for the fund.
• Claire thanked Master Dooku for donating five million credits and said his contribution had changed their impression of Jedi Knights.

After Claire Underwood promoted the Outer Rim Planets Mutual Aid Fund and Dawn Star Planet in interviews, Sheev Palpatine and Master Dooku discussed the colony and its possible Force-sensitive population. Palpatine then met Francis Underwood and promised to support the fund.

• Master Dooku praised Claire and said he would be watching Dawn Star Planet before leaving the banquet.
• Claire told reporters that Dawn Star Planet was a refugee-founded colony on Endor and explained her peaceful aim to reduce hunger and poverty through the Outer Rim Planets Mutual Aid Fund.
• Palpatine asked Dooku about the Modell Sector, and Dooku recounted how Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi had stopped bounty hunters from robbing the Endor colony.
• Palpatine suggested that the Jedi conduct a census of Force-sensitives on Dawn Star Planet, and Dooku agreed to remind Master Yoda.
• After privately cursing the Jedi and bounty hunters, Palpatine invited Francis Underwood in and pledged his full support for the mutual aid fund.

Francis Underwood realized Palpatine had turned their meeting into a warning by publicly proposing Dawn Star Planet’s admission to the Senate. He resolved not to side with Palpatine and decided to use the Trade Federation as his next move.

• Francis met Palpatine, who left him no opening to ask for support, and Francis offered him tea from Dawn Star Planet.
• Francis told Douglas Stamp that Palpatine would not support their Senate bid and asked him to have Claire prepare for the next step.
• The next day, Francis watched Palpatine announce a proposal to admit Dawn Star Planet into the Galactic Senate and praise Claire’s political work.
• Francis told Claire that the proposal had no chance of passing and that Palpatine was using it as a warning and a way to improve his image.
• Francis rejected the idea of joining Palpatine’s side and decided to make the Trade Federation act; Claire agreed to proceed.

Tang Xiao and his advisers analyzed Palpatine’s Senate proposal and planned to defuse its political fallout, but Black Sun’s seizure of a weapons shipment drew them into the worsening conflict on Cerea. Meanwhile, Jabba’s forces continued to crush Gaddula on Tatooine.

• Tang Xiao, Ni Yongxiao, and Baron Zemo concluded that Palpatine intended to use the failed Senate proposal to inflame Outer Rim resentment against the Galactic Republic.
• Baron Zemo advised Tang Xiao to calm the controversy by publicly emphasizing Dawn Star Planet’s focus on its people and support for the Republic, and Tang Xiao ordered a statement prepared.
• The Mainframe informed Tang Xiao that Black Sun had hijacked a smuggling ship carrying weapons and ammunition to Cerea.
• Tang Xiao assigned Ni Yongxiao a Revenge-class light destroyer and twelve Hammer-class light frigates to investigate Black Sun without confronting it directly, and warned him not to expose their weapons trade on Cerea.
• Jabba offered a 100 million Galactic credit bounty for Gaddula, drawing bounty hunters into the conflict as Jabba’s forces drove Gaddula into a rout.

Bounty hunters fled after the Black Ship warned them away from a Black Sun convoy, and Volgograd-Kanidi began plotting a safe route for Santa Claus. Meanwhile, a transport ship crashed in Tatooine’s desert, where Broderick-Stonebreaker and Magtan-Scar arrived with their armed bandits.

• Buka’s Kig-Yar pilots destroyed a Black Sun smuggling ship and its escape pods before Volgograd-Kanidi ordered them back and sent a team to salvage the wreckage.
• Volgograd-Kanidi warned approaching bounty hunters to leave, and they fled after receiving the Black Ship’s death notice.
• Volgograd-Kanidi asked his navigator to map the bounty hunters’ positions and plot a safe route for Santa Claus.
• A transport ship crashed in the desert, and Broderick-Stonebreaker and Magtan-Scar arrived with a convoy of armed vehicles and their bandits.

Magtan Scar and Broderick Shale salvaged supplies from a wreck before meeting Yuri Orlov, who brought missiles and missile turrets to help them fight bounty hunter ships. Two days later, Scar’s crew attacked a repair factory near Mos Eisley City.

• Scar’s crew salvaged food, water, weapons, ammunition, and two robots from the wreck, then left as bounty hunter ships arrived.
• Jason Statham received coordinates for a supply delivery, and the crew drove to meet Yuri Orlov in a transport aircraft.
• Yuri brought Longblot surface-to-air missiles and three missile turrets, and Shale proposed setting them up in concealed terrain to ambush pursuing bounty hunter ships.
• Two days later, ten Pathfinder-class vehicles attacked a repair factory near Mos Eisley City, overwhelming its guards with gunfire.

Broderick Shale’s convoy lured Jabba’s bounty hunters into an ambush and destroyed several spacecraft with newly installed Missile Turrets. As Jabba’s forces closed in on Gaddula’s palace, Gaddula refused to flee despite being nearly out of supplies, and someone reminded him that one force was still resisting.

• Broderick Shale’s convoy drove into the wasteland and drew the pursuing bounty hunters toward a missile ambush.
• Three Missile Turrets shot down several bounty hunter spacecraft, forcing the survivors to scatter.
• Jabba’s bounty hunters and spacecraft besieged Gaddula’s palace while its defenders continued resisting.
• Gaddula learned that his holdings in Mos Espa were gone, Garin’s reinforcements had been destroyed, and no one dared bring supplies through the Black Ship’s territory.
• Gaddula refused his assistant’s advice to return to Nal Hutta, despite having less than two days of ammunition and supplies left.
• An unseen speaker reminded Gaddula that one force was still resisting.

Gaddula agreed to join forces with Broderick-Shale against Jabba, unaware that Shale and Yuri-Orlov were using her as bait. At the Glory mothership, Tang Xiao and Baron Helmut Zemo prepared to exploit the alliance and keep Jabba occupied.

• Gaddula learned that Broderick-Shale's attacks had hindered Jabba and reluctantly ordered her accountant to contact him.
• Broderick-Shale rejected Gaddula's offers until she promised supplies and proposed splitting Tatooine after Jabba's defeat.
• Shale agreed to ally with Gaddula on the condition that he control military matters, and Gaddula revealed her palace's secret passage coordinates.
• Shale told Yuri-Orlov that Gaddula had taken the bait, and Yuri relayed the news to Tang Xiao.
• Tang Xiao ordered more desert warfare equipment, while Baron Helmut Zemo proposed a move to tie Jabba down and help Shale's operation.

As Mos Espa Port descended into violence, Anakin and his mother hid in a basement while Johnson continued telling them the history of another galaxy. Aboard the mothership, Tang Xiao steered Darth Pregas toward the Jedi connection behind the assassination plot and earned an invitation to Sojourn Planet.

• In a basement in Mos Espa Port, Anakin urged his sick mother not to give up and learned that Watto had been killed by bounty hunters.
• Anakin asked Johnson to continue the story of Commander Shepard and Master Chief, and Johnson agreed to tell him more before going out to find antibiotics.
• Tang Xiao told Darth Pregas that Bando Gora was led by former Jedi Komari Vosa, who had been tortured before joining the organization.
• Tang Xiao revealed that Komari Vosa had been Master Dooku’s apprentice, prompting Darth Pregas to focus on the Jedi Order.
• Darth Pregas praised Tang Xiao’s abilities and ordered him to come to Sojourn Planet in three days to receive a weapon.

Tang Xiao arrived at Hunter's Moon, where Hego Damask II hosted a decadent gathering, and explored an ancient Sith castle whose carvings nearly overwhelmed him with the Dark Side. Darth Pregas appeared with a case and warned Tang Xiao that the Sith reliefs imprinted their will on anyone who sensed them.

• A host announced that guests would hunt cloned Morristine Eight-Legged Dragons for a chance to win a feast and Liss's first kiss and night.
• Tang Xiao arrived at the castle and followed two guards through the reveling banquet hall, focusing on the ancient structure and its Sith carvings.
• The reliefs stirred Tang Xiao's Dark Side, filling him with visions of conquest until he gasped back to his senses, drenched in cold sweat.
• Darth Pregas appeared holding a red-and-black case and explained that the reliefs imprinted the Sith's will on those who sensed them.
• Tang Xiao lowered his head and told Darth Pregas he had come at his summons.

Darth Pregas tested Tang Xiao’s resolve as he opened the box containing the Book of Sith and faced the ancient will within it. Tang Xiao embraced his ambition to rule the galaxy, then accepted a weapon that failed to ignite.

• Darth Pregas praised Tang Xiao’s potential but warned that he still did not understand the Dark Side Force.
• Tang Xiao used the Force to open a strange box, enduring visions of monstrous beings that attacked his consciousness.
• Tang Xiao opened the box and found the Book of Sith, whose presence animated the castle’s reliefs and distorted the light.
• Tang Xiao resolved to make the Fourth Civilization dominant and become Emperor rather than let the Republic and Jedi destroy them.
• Darth Pregas gave Tang Xiao a mechanical hilt, but pressing its button produced no Lightsaber or other effect.

Darth Pregas explained how Tang Xiao would make a Lightsaber his own by conquering its Kyber Crystal and assembling it uniquely, then began teaching him. Meanwhile, the Hunter's Moon Sojourn continued as its powerful guests hunted, indulged themselves, and made corrupt deals.

• Darth Pregas explained that Tang Xiao had to refine his Kyber Crystal with the Dark Side and assemble his Lightsaber in his own way.
• Darth Pregas made Tang Xiao attack him, then broke apart the hilt and seized and hurled Tang Xiao into a machine.
• Darth Pregas said he would teach Tang Xiao to assemble a Lightsaber and reforge a Kyber Crystal, and left him the Book of Sith to study.
• The guests at Hunter's Moon Sojourn continued their extravagant revelry, hunting helpless beasts and indulging in food, wine, and other excesses.
• The influential guests at Hunter's Moon Sojourn struck corrupt deals with consequences for populations across the galaxy.

Hego Damask II received the galaxy’s scheming elites at the gathering while the Force around the ancient castle drew his attention. Inside, Tang Xiao reflected on his year in the Star Wars galaxy and recognized how much he resembled the Sith Lords in the Book of Sith.

• Hego Damask II accepted Proxima’s offer and promised she could acquire any company on Malastare for one-tenth of its market value.
• Dryden Vos threatened Governor Sotamo, who begged Hego for help before the Echani Sun Guards dragged him away.
• Hego dismissed Sotamo as a failure, sensed the chaotic Dark Side Force surrounding the ancient castle, and resumed speaking with Nute Gunray about the Trade Federation governorship.
• Tang Xiao sat alone with the Book of Sith and a Kyber Crystal, reflected on his year in the galaxy, and realized he resembled the Sith Lords.

Tang Xiao embraced the Dark Side as the path to strengthening himself and the Fourth Civilization, while his Kyber Crystal began turning red. On Coruscant, Douglas Stamp confronted Rune Haako over embezzled Trade Federation funds and identified Nute Gunray as Haako’s intended target.

• Tang Xiao accepted that war and the Dark Side were his only path to protecting the Fourth Civilization from the Galactic Empire.
• Tang Xiao faced the dark will in the Book of Sith without fear and resolved to grow stronger and conquer for the Fourth Civilization.
• The Kyber Crystal before Tang Xiao trembled as red strands spread through it.
• Douglas Stamp confronted Rune Haako in a Coruscant restaurant over Haako’s embezzlement of more than a million Galactic credits.
• Rune Haako offered Douglas the stolen money, but Douglas said Haako had intended to use it to bribe Nute Gunray.

Douglas forced Rune Haako to act against the Outer Rim Planets Mutual Aid Fund, while Claire Underwood’s rally was attacked and the Trade Federation moved to pressure its member worlds. News coverage linked the attack to the Federation’s control of trade and transport across the Outer Rim.

• Douglas revealed Rune Haako’s ambition, intercepted his backup, and coerced him into following a plan in exchange for a future and a reward.
• Claire Underwood announced that the Mutual Aid Fund had gathered signatures from ninety-four planets, but a blaster shot destroyed the podium and her bodyguards rushed her to safety.
• Rune Haako ordered the Trade Federation to threaten the Rodian planet and Jabiim planet with a fifty-percent increase in transport taxes unless they left the fund.
• Reporters spread news of the attack and speculated that the Trade Federation opposed the fund because it threatened the Federation’s influence over Outer Rim trade and transportation.

After Claire Underwood survived a staged assassination, Francis Underwood explained how they would use the attack to damage the Trade Federation while protecting their political plans. Claire questioned the human cost of their scheme, and the chapter left Rune Haako facing ruin unless the Administrator intervened.

• News reports blamed the Trade Federation for Claire Underwood’s attack, while Jabiim and Rodia withdrew from the Mutual Aid Fund after Rune Haako pressured its supporters.
• Francis Underwood replaced the Trade Federation’s flowers in Claire’s hospital room and discussed their plan to make her publicly deny the Federation’s involvement.
• Francis explained that Rune Haako’s secretary would be framed for the assassination and the effort to divide the Mutual Aid Fund, then sold to a slaver on Corellia.
• Claire asked about Rune Haako, and Francis said his future in the Trade Federation had been ruined unless they helped him; Claire insisted they let him face the consequences.
• Francis reassured Claire that her public image would grow her influence, then helped her settle down to sleep.

Francis and Claire Underwood discussed the political opportunities opened by Claire’s public stand against the Trade Federation and the Outer Rim tax bill. Two months later, Hego Damask II sensed that a mysterious presence had emerged from the ancient castle on Sojourn Planet.

• Claire told Francis she would make a public appearance to keep Rune Haako from leaving the political stage too soon.
• Francis planned to sell retired Blade-class fighters to the Rodian planet and expected Palpatine to recruit them into the Outer Rim tax bill debate.
• Francis predicted Palpatine would secretly support the Trade Federation while publicly presenting himself as a peacemaker.
• Claire told Francis to apologize to her when he became Imperial Chancellor.
• On Sojourn Planet, Hego Damask II discussed dividing Malastare’s industries with Madam Proxima and Dryden Vos.
• Hego sensed the dark wills inside the ancient castle vanish, then felt a cocoon of Dark Side Force burst open.

Tang Xiao drew Dark Side remnants into a Kyber Crystal and fought to bring them under his control, collapsing part of the ancient castle in the process. He emerged with a blood-red crystal and assembled a black Lightsaber around it.

• Tang Xiao absorbed hundreds or thousands of Dark Side remnants from the Sith reliefs into a Kyber Crystal, while sensing powerful consciousness traces in the Book of Sith.
• Tang Xiao confronted the remnants within the crystal and used his will and Dark Side Force to suppress them as the chamber and its reliefs began to crumble.
• The room collapsed, and Hego Damask II noticed that a corner of the ancient castle had fallen in.
• Tang Xiao burst out of the rubble with injuries, used the Force to lift the stones, and summoned the red Kyber Crystal into his hand.
• Tang Xiao assembled a black Lightsaber with a concealed switch and sealed the screaming Kyber Crystal inside it.

After emerging from two months of seclusion, Tang Xiao reunited with Hego and met underworld leaders Madam Proxima and Dryden Vos. Hego then tested him by revealing a supposedly uncontrollable Morristine Eight-Legged Dragon and a terrified girl trapped in its path.

• Tang Xiao tested his crimson Lightsaber, then bathed, shaved, and cut his hair after returning to the plaza.
• Tang Xiao met Madam Proxima and Dryden Vos, who greeted him warmly after Hego introduced him as his disciple.
• Hego led Tang Xiao and the others to an arena and explained that Kaminoans cloned rare animals for guests to hunt.
• Hego released an untreated Morristine Eight-Legged Dragon and had a cage containing a frightened girl brought into the arena.

Tang Xiao accepted Hego’s challenge to rescue Ailiya-Isabel from a Morristine Eight-Legged Dragon and defeated the beast with ease. Ailiya-Isabel watched him in awe, forgetting that he had helped put her in danger.

• Hego offered a Longsword to the guests and challenged them to save Ailiya-Isabel from the beast.
• Madam Proxima and Dryden Vos declined, and Tang Xiao accepted the sword and jumped into the arena.
• Tang Xiao faced the Morristine Eight-Legged Dragon as it attacked him with its claws and other weapons.
• Tang Xiao used the Force to evade the beast and severed two of its claws with the Longsword.
• Ailiya-Isabel watched Tang Xiao fight in fascination, forgetting he had been involved in placing her in the cage.

Tang Xiao rescued Ailiya-Isabel from Hego-Damask II’s beast and claimed her as his private property, while Dryden-Vos and Madam Proxima discussed the rescue. Hego then turned the group’s attention to exploiting the conflict between Malastare and the Corporate Alliance over fuel taxes.

• Tang Xiao killed the Morristine Eight-Legged Dragon, freed Ailiya-Isabel from her cage, and declared her his private property.
• Ailiya-Isabel became infatuated with Tang Xiao, and he carried her back to the viewing area.
• Hego-Damask II gave Ailiya-Isabel to Tang Xiao, while Dryden-Vos offered to trade an entire planet’s industries for her.
• Hego-Damask II explained that Malastare opposed the Corporate Alliance’s planned fuel tax increase and that the dispute was an opportunity to ignite a crisis.