Recaps

The Galactic Republic’s Spaarti clone troopers suffered heavy losses attacking Annaj Planet, while Cassio Tagge committed more troops to capture a stable supply base. Matt Horner asked Darth Malthael to send the Fourth Legion and the Indjori Vengeance to reinforce his next-stage battle plan, and Darth Malthael had not yet approved the request.

• The Republic’s Spaarti clone troopers advanced under heavy air support, while Annaj’s defenders used SJF-14D fighters and ground defenses to inflict severe losses.
• Cassio Tagge seized two spaceports for repair and sent all available ground troops into the battle, despite the loss of seven Hunter Class Battlecruisers, one Acclamator-class assault ship, and more than twenty transport ships.
• Matt Horner asked Darth Malthael for the Fourth Legion and the Indjori Vengeance to support his next-stage plan against the Republic fleet in the Yag'Dhul system.
• Darth Malthael questioned Matt Horner’s request, noted the larger threat in the Modell Sector, and asked what the General Staff Headquarters said.
• Matt Horner explained that Chief of Staff Qi Jian had left the decision to Darth Malthael, who challenged him to seek approval for the forces.

Darth Malthael approved Matt Hona’s high-risk plan while Volgograd Kanidi argued that the Republic had to be drawn into attacking Dawn Star Planet. On Anaji Planet, Cassio Tagge’s forces secured footholds but faced fierce resistance as the Republic expanded its landing zones.

• Darth Malthael warned Matt Hona that his gamble could cost the Fourth Legion, the Indjori Vengeance, both star bases, and the Givin, but approved it.
• Volgograd Kanidi directed the defense of Anaji Planet, deploying Umbrella’s B.O.W.s and dispersing Scorpion tanks to harass the Republic and buy time.
• Kanidi told Darth Malthael that the Republic’s superior numbers made a counterattack impossible and proposed drawing its fleet toward Dawn Star Planet.
• Darth Malthael acknowledged the danger of Kanidi’s proposal but recognized that another Republic failure in the Modell Sector could strike the Republic deeply.
• Cassio Tagge’s forces began landing on Anaji Planet after damaging the Agonev-class star base, but concealed J-1 Proton Cannons shot down two Acclamator-class assault ships.
• Anaji Planet’s defenders counterattacked with Scorpion tanks, forcing Tagge to send more than fifteen hundred fighters to support the landing forces before he ordered new landing zones established.

Cassio Tagge ordered a risky campaign of deep-penetration landings across Annaj Planet, despite Laslo Dorit's warnings that the Republic fleet could not safely support so many fronts. Tagge judged that capturing the planet quickly was essential to secure supplies and stabilize the Republic’s position, and began the widespread landings.

• Cassio Tagge identified gaps in Annaj Planet’s anti-air defenses and planned landings at more than a hundred vulnerable sites.
• Laslo Dorit warned that Separatist ships, Gauss Defense Platforms, and space mines threatened transports, while escorting so many landing zones would strain the Republic’s forces.
• Laslo Dorit recommended establishing around five large landing zones and advancing steadily with concentrated air support.
• Cassio Tagge rejected the proposal, arguing that the Republic needed to capture Annaj Planet quickly to secure supplies and create a stable base for a new Hyperspace Stabilizer.
• Cassio Tagge increased the landing force and launched operations across dozens of battlefields at once.

Cassio Tagge spread the Republic’s assault across Annaj Planet, bringing the capital close to encirclement despite heavy losses and fierce resistance. In Kati City, T-Virus creatures slaughtered Clone Troopers, while a seemingly victorious armored unit failed to notice a mutated giant’s corpse had vanished.

• Cassio Tagge launched landings across dozens of zones on Annaj Planet, stretching the Republic’s forces and costing more than 30,000 Clone Troopers in space-mine losses.
• Republic landing forces broke through at multiple sites, but Separatist resistance kept the capital from being fully encircled.
• Lickers attacked a squad of Spaarti clone troopers in Kati City, killing them and turning wounded clones into zombies.
• A Republic armored unit destroyed more than a hundred mutated giants armed with rocket launchers, though it lost two Saber tanks and had an AT-TE damaged.
• SC-2227 noticed that a giant’s corpse had disappeared from beneath a collapsed wall, but dismissed his memory and returned to his tank.

Major General Cassio Tagge received reports of Separatist counterattacks across seventeen fronts as outdated battlefield information left him uncertain about the campaign around Annaj Planet. Laslo Dorit warned that scattered reports near Kati City might point to a Separatist plan, but Tagge dismissed the threat of the T-Virus mutants.

• Laslo Dorit reported counterattacks on seventeen fronts, and Cassio Tagge examined the delayed updates on his tactical map.
• Dorit explained that jungle, urban, and hilly terrain made air support ineffective against the counterattacks, including Ewok forces in difficult terrain.
• Tagge ordered the jungle bombed, but Dorit explained that their forces lacked bombers and faced hidden Separatist anti-air positions.
• Dorit reported that the 77th Legion had encountered T-Virus mutants in Kati City and that the 179th Armored Company had defeated mutant giants before stopping to repair its damaged AT-TE walker.
• Dorit suspected the reports indicated a Separatist plan near Kati City, but Tagge scoffed at the idea that mutant creatures could threaten Republic forces.

Cassio Tagge dismissed the T-Virus as a limited threat to the Republic military and ordered troops on Annaj to use lethal force and burn a path through the jungle. After the 77th Legion lost contact in Kati City, reports of screams and inhuman sounds forced Tagge to scramble reinforcements as Clone Troopers fled from Lickers and a larger threat emerged in the darkness.

• Republic research concluded that the T-Virus spread mainly through bodily fluids and posed a greater danger to civilians than to equipped military forces.
• Cassio Tagge ordered biological warfare precautions, told Clone Troopers to shoot suspicious targets, and approved incendiary bombing of the jungle despite Laslo Dorit's concerns.
• A messenger reported that the 77th Legion in Kati City had lost contact and that its scattered communications contained screams, gunfire, pleas for help, and inhuman sounds.
• Cassio Tagge ordered reconnaissance and transport craft to investigate while Laslo Dorit directed efforts to contact nearby armored forces and send them to Kati City.
• Inside Kati City, retreating Clone Troopers blasted Lickers apart, then saw scarlet eyes appear above them in the darkness.

Clone Troopers encountered a Frik-alloy-armored Talos Tyrant and mutated Lickers in the dark city, suffering heavy losses. Elsewhere, Sherry Birkin explained to Volgograd Kanidi how B.O.W.s could survive without supplies and adapt on the battlefield.

• The Talos Tyrant resisted the Clone Troopers' weapons, crushed two soldiers, and drove the squad into retreat.
• The surviving Clone Troopers regrouped, then killed one mutated Licker whose keratinous armor weakened their blaster fire.
• Dozens of mutated Lickers attacked from a building wall, and gunfire, explosions, and screams spread through the city.
• Sherry Birkin told Volgograd Kanidi that B.O.W.s relied on self-sufficiency and mutability rather than sheer combat power.
• Sherry explained that B.O.W.s could consume organic matter for energy and be left behind enemy lines without logistical support.

Sherry Birkin explained to Volgograd-Kanidi how T-Virus biological weapons mutated to resist attacks, while Tang Xiao reflected on how her upbringing had made her a ruthless leader of Umbrella Pharmaceutical Group. The chapter ended as mutated monsters advanced on Republic forces in Kapo Town, shrugging off a Saber tank’s laser blast.

• Sherry Birkin told Volgograd-Kanidi that T-Virus creatures could feed on organic matter, survive without supplies, and mutate to resist attacks that nearly killed them.
• Sherry Birkin showed Kanidi mutated experimental monsters and explained that their evolution depended on available energy.
• Tang Xiao considered how Sherry Birkin’s upbringing and control of Umbrella Pharmaceutical Group had made her very different from her original-story counterpart.
• Sherry Birkin said she expected Hunters to engage Republic armored forces, and the chapter shifted to two TX-130 Saber hover tanks moving through Kapo Town.
• A tank crew reported that rocket-launcher giants had transformed into monsters and revived after being eliminated.
• The Saber tank fired at a detected target, but the crew saw that it survived the blast and was rapidly approaching.

Mutated Hunters overwhelmed the Republic forces at Kapo Town, while reports of T-Virus weapons and Separatist supply shipments forced Cassio Tagge to order an immediate assault on Annaj Planet’s capital. He also sought an orbital bombardment of the Kati City region, but the planet’s rotation made that attack difficult to carry out at once.

• A mutated Hunter tore into a TX-130 Saber tank, killed its commander, and joined other Hunters that had destroyed the AT-TE and pursued a fleeing tank.
• A communications soldier told Cassio Tagge that only seven TX-130 tanks remained and that the force was retreating from Kapo Town toward Kati City.
• Laslo Dorit urged indiscriminate orbital bombardment of the Kati City region, but Cassio Tagge worried about the troops needed to blockade it and the danger of spreading the T-Virus.
• Cassio Tagge learned that a Republic warship had found T-Virus weapons aboard a suspicious Separatist transport and ordered an immediate attack on Annaj Planet’s capital.
• Cassio Tagge also ordered a precise orbital bombardment of Kati City, but a staff officer warned that the fleet would need to commit more warships or wait thirteen standard hours for the region to rotate into a better position.

Cassio Tagge launched a massive Republic ground and fleet offensive on Annaj Planet, while Volgograd Kanidi’s forces resisted despite being outnumbered and outgunned. The Republic’s northern advance then vanished into a death-shrouded region, where something began moving toward the troops.

• Cassio Tagge sent sixty Republic capital ships to bombard Kati City and landed more than 38,000 Spaarti clone troopers to prepare an advance toward Annaj Planet’s capital.
• On July 34, 20 BBY, Cassio Tagge ordered 170,000 clone troopers to attack the capital from nine directions as Republic warships fought to seize synchronous orbit.
• Volgograd Kanidi countered with forty capital ships and 110 smaller warships, using the Hell-Angel Class Battlecruisers to strike Republic formations and transport convoys.
• Volgograd Kanidi ordered Annaj’s 2.8 million defenders to hold their positions against the Republic’s air-supported offensive.
• A Republic force on the northern battlefield lost contact after advancing more than forty kilometers, and its reconnaissance aircraft reported that something was advancing toward it before disappearing.
• The northern capital region became shrouded in black mist and deathly aura, and the Republic force there vanished within an hour.

Sa-Kuis and Zhan-Droga led twenty Dark Jedi Knights into a wasteland transformed by the Archangel of Death’s power, seeking to confront him and protect the Republic forces. After bombardment failed to weaken the Death Force, Zhan-Droga advanced casually through the risen corpses as the Jedi fought them.

• Sa-Kuis explained that the Archangel of Death had turned the battlefield into a death-filled wasteland and that their forces could not survive unless they tied him down.
• Sa-Kuis and Zhan-Droga encountered damaged Clone Troopers staggering toward them and prepared for battle with the twenty Dark Jedi Knights.
• An Acclamator-class assault ship bombarded the ruins, but the Archangel of Death’s Death Force remained undiminished and the fallen Clone Troopers rose again.
• Sa-Kuis ordered the group to kill the Archangel of Death, while Zhan-Droga deactivated his Lightsabers and walked forward through the horde.
• Zhan-Droga and the Dark Jedi Knights cut down the walking corpses as they advanced.

Jan-Droga, a giant carrying Darth Sidious’s power, survived Darth Malthael’s Death Force while it killed the Dark Jedi Knights. Darth Malthael realized the giant was Sidious’s puppet and confronted him.

• Darth Malthael unleashed a Death Sandstorm that killed all twenty Dark Jedi Knights and nearly overwhelmed Sa-Kuis.
• Jan-Droga stood unharmed and dispelled the sandstorm with a blast of dark power.
• Jan-Droga praised Sa-Kuis, told him to run, and revealed his powerful physique beneath his cloak.
• Darth Malthael appeared and recognized that the giant carried Darth Sidious’s aura.
• Darth Malthael understood that Darth Sidious had sent the giant in his place to confront him.

Darth Malthael realized Darth Sidious was remotely controlling Jang Droga, a puppet powerful enough to challenge him. Their battle began, but Darth Malthael discovered Sidious had learned how to resist the Death Force.

• Darth Malthael recognized that Jang Droga was being controlled remotely by Darth Sidious and feared the implications of Sidious's power.
• Darth Malthael summoned the Soul Reaper Sword and prepared to destroy the puppet and uncover how it worked.
• Jang Droga revealed Darth Sidious's identity, and he and Darth Malthael exchanged threats.
• Darth Malthael attacked with the Soul Reaper Sword, but Darth Sidious blocked it with powerful Force lightning.
• Darth Malthael confirmed that Darth Sidious's fighting style was unchanged and found that his Death Force could not penetrate Sidious's Force barrier.

Darth Malthael and Jan Drolga, acting as Darth Sidious's puppet, fought across the Modell Sector, and Jan Drolga wounded Malthael before escaping. Malthael healed and realized Sidious had grown stronger, then left as their next contest loomed.

• Darth Malthael and Jan Drolga clashed with Death Force, Dark Side Force, and lightning as they accused each other of exploiting the Jedi Order's archives.
• Jan Drolga unleashed a Crimson Lightning strike that destroyed his Lightsaber but forced him back.
• Jan Drolga attacked with a second Lightsaber and wounded Darth Malthael, who also seriously injured him, but the puppet escaped.
• Darth Malthael used Death Force to purge the lingering Dark Side Force and heal his wound.
• Darth Malthael concluded that Darth Sidious had grown stronger through the Jedi archives, then departed as their next contest approached.

Jan Drouga survived his confrontation with Archangel of Death and ordered Sa-Kuis to exploit Archangel of Death’s injuries to crush Dawn Star Planet’s resistance. As Master Yoda departed for Planet Dagobah, Sa-Kuis ordered the Republic fleet to attack, and Cassio Tagge considered changing strategy as the fighting stalled.

• Sa-Kuis carried the critically injured Jan Drouga to an Acclamator-class assault ship, where medical droids placed him in a Bacta tank.
• Jan Drouga told Sa-Kuis that Archangel of Death was wounded and ordered him to seize the chance to crush Dawn Star Planet’s resistance.
• Darth Sidious left the Jedi Temple meditation chamber and, as Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, dismissed Mas Amedda’s warning about Senate opposition and a possible impeachment attempt.
• Master Yoda decided to leave the Jedi Order behind and travel to Planet Dagobah, where Archangel of Death’s dark power remained.
• Sa-Kuis told Cassio Tagge to launch an attack because Archangel of Death had been wounded, while Laslo Dorit recommended prioritizing the space battle and consolidating the ground forces.
• An Intelligence Department director approached Cassio Tagge with intercepted encrypted Separatist messages.

Cassio Tagge reviewed intelligence warning that the Separatists planned to smuggle T-Virus weapons and a mysterious T-Veronica virus into Annaj through Codename H. He ordered a fleet patrol and a search for the route while requiring the ground offensive to continue.

• Cassio Tagge read a report describing the Separatists’ plans to reinforce Annaj and unleash biological weapons, including T-Veronica.
• An Intelligence Department official reported that Republic forces had intercepted five ships carrying biological weapons and were examining them aboard the Tokaga-class Hunter Battlecruiser.
• Laslo Dorit argued that concentrated Clone forces could defeat the biological weapons, but Cassio Tagge insisted the threat could force the Republic to destroy Annaj.
• Cassio Tagge ordered part of the fleet to patrol the Annaj system and locate Codename H while ground forces continued their offensive.
• Laslo Dorit silently accepted the orders despite believing the ground forces should be reorganized.

Cassio-Tagge persisted with his costly assault on Annaj Planet rather than risk changing plans. At a secret Republic forward base, James-Bond discovered Kuat Drive Yards had built and organized a huge fleet and asked whether his visit had been unauthorized.

• Cassio-Tagge rejected Laslo-Dorit's proposal to regroup and ordered the ground forces to keep attacking Annaj Planet despite heavy losses.
• Cassio-Tagge also dispatched warships to guard against biological weapons being smuggled in.
• Disguised as a maintenance engineer, James-Bond watched transport fleets pass through the Hyperspace Stabilizer toward the Modell Sector.
• A supervisor warned James-Bond to stop staring at the fleet and explained that Kuat Drive Yards wanted to buy his tractor beam generators.
• James-Bond learned Kuat Drive Yards had built the base and organized the fleet, then asked the supervisor whether he had been brought there off the list.

James Bond infiltrated the Dawn Star System disguised as supervisor Thomas Wicken and learned how Kuat Drive Yards’ military base was being supplied through a corrupt deal. He began looking for a way to send the system’s location to Nova and the others, but first needed to obtain its coordinates.

• James Bond used his surgically altered appearance and Thomas Wicken’s uniform to pass as the supervisor inside the Dawn Star System.
• James Bond learned that Thomas Wicken and the dark broker had arranged a deal to sell Kuat refurbished tractor beam generators, with Yuri Orlov introducing the broker to Duchy of Dawn intelligence agents.
• James Bond discovered that the system’s outer perimeter had strict Republic surveillance, while Kuat Drive Yards’ internal security was lax.
• James Bond identified the external liaison specialist as a possible way to communicate beyond the system, but realized he first needed its exact coordinates.
• James Bond considered searching the ships docked at the spaceport for a source of the system’s coordinates.

James Bond pressured Thomas Wicken into revealing that Navigator Bourne knew the star system’s coordinates, then used Sabacc to win Bourne’s money and provoke him into wagering his DC-9 freighter. The chapter ended as Bond and Bourne began a head-to-head game with all their stakes in the pot.

• James Bond threatened to leave Thomas Wicken trapped without food until Thomas revealed that Navigator Bourne knew the coordinates and gambled heavily.
• James Bond approached Bourne under the pretext of repaying Thomas’s debt and spent several nights gambling with him.
• James Bond won more than forty thousand credits from Bourne and the other workers by playing Sabacc.
• James Bond tried to leave, but Bourne challenged him to one more round and offered his DC-9 freighter as a wager.
• James Bond returned to the table, secretly switched a card, and placed his winnings in the pot as Bourne staked his ship’s ignition key.

James Bond won Bourne’s Sabacc pot, stole hyperspace route data, and persuaded Thomas Wicken’s liaison to help him transmit it. With the Dawn Star System’s location in hand, Bond headed back to the starving Thomas Wicken to negotiate a way to destroy the system’s ring-shaped device.

• James Bond beat Bourne at Sabacc, scattered the winnings to distract the bar crowd, and fled toward Bourne’s ship.
• James Bond fought off Bourne’s men, recorded the ship’s hyperspace route data, and returned Bourne’s starter while claiming he could not fly.
• James Bond gave Bourne credit ingots as repayment for Thomas Wicken’s debt and left him and his men bewildered.
• James Bond converted the route data into coordinates and persuaded Thomas Wicken’s liaison to transmit a chip containing the information in exchange for a share of the profits.
• James Bond avoided the surveillance cameras and headed to the warehouse to negotiate with the starving Thomas Wicken about destroying the ring-shaped device.

Super Lotus, Nova, Gabriel Tosh, and the Dark Templar used forged Kuat Drive Yards cargo codes to enter the Dawn Star System with a tractor beam generator. James Bond outlined a plan to trigger a brief power outage at the ring-shaped device and exploit the commanders’ tension, while Oola-Khan declared that the system would lose power.

• Super Lotus decoded 007’s data, discovered Kuat Drive Yards’ cargo codes, and forged codes to disguise their operation.
• The group passed the Dawn Star System checkpoint aboard an Auro class freighter and entered the system.
• James Bond told Nova and Tosh that he planned to cause a power outage to learn how the ring-shaped device responded to emergencies.
• James Bond said he would use the commanders’ extreme tension to push them into unreasonable decisions after the outage.
• Oola-Khan declared that the Dawn Star System would lose power.

Onana Kuat’s fleet remained stalled outside Annaj Planet after half a month, leaving her furious that the campaign had made no progress toward Dawn Star Planet. Lila Blythex challenged Onana’s attempts to shift the blame and insisted that Cassio Tagge receive support.

• Onana Kuat berated her advisers because the surprise attack had failed to capture Annaj Planet after half a month.
• Lila Blythex considered how the stalled campaign threatened her ambitions, while Onana demanded to know how the fleet could reach Dawn Star Planet.
• Onana threatened to fire everyone, but Lila urged her to focus on advancing the campaign and support frontline commander Cassio Tagge.
• Onana blamed Cassio Tagge, and Lila reminded her that the Republic Supreme Strategic Command and others had helped formulate the plan.
• Lila told Onana to go to the front herself when the Hyperspace Stabilizer launched again, and Onana called her a traitor.

Onana Kuat and Lila Blythex set aside their argument long enough to send reinforcements to Cassio Tagge, while a catastrophic power failure struck during the fleet’s hyperspace preparations. The Acclamator-class assault ship disintegrated before their eyes, leaving Onana devastated.

• Lila Blythex rebuked Onana Kuat, then urged her to focus on capturing Annaj Planet.
• Onana Kuat ordered an Acclamator-class assault ship, 50,000 Clone Troopers, and more armored units sent to Cassio Tagge.
• The reinforcement fleet began preparing for a hyperspace jump using the Hyperspace Stabilizer.
• An energy storage unit exploded, triggering an emergency shutdown that plunged the command center into darkness and stopped the jump.
• After power returned, the Acclamator-class assault ship silently broke apart into countless fragments, and Onana Kuat felt her last string of composure snap.

After sabotage destroyed an Acclamator-class assault ship, Onana Kuat and Lila Blythex blamed each other before the base launched a lockdown and search for the intruder. The search uncovered a warehouse full of corpses, while a mysterious voice warned that no one could escape death.

• Onana Kuat and Lila Blythex traded accusations over the Hyperspace Stabilizer and the destruction of the Acclamator-class assault ship.
• The Security Supervisor demanded that the base hunt down the saboteur, and Onana Kuat promoted him three ranks and assigned him 10,000 Clone Troopers.
• Kuat Drive Yards raised the base to its highest alert, shut down the Hyperspace Stabilizer, and confirmed that an energy transfer station had been sabotaged.
• Onana Kuat entered a secure zone as soldiers searched the vast base for the intruder.
• A Kuat security squad found at least a hundred dismembered bodies in a warehouse, including staff, Clone Troopers, and security soldiers.
• A deep voice sounded in the searchers' minds, saying, “Dum adu'nala. (No one can escape death...)”

A series of massacres and a transport explosion threw the Dawn Star System military base into panic as James Bond and his allies continued their covert operation. Nova destroyed a transport near the Hyperspace Stabilizer and shot down a pursuing fighter, while the transports scattered in fear.

• Four massacres across the Dawn Star System base revealed that a Force-sensitive infiltrator had entered, prompting the base to raise its alert level and deploy its soldiers and Dark Jedi.
• After a blurry sensor image identified the infiltrator as the man who had abducted Ainlee Tim, Kuat Drive Yards sealed travel between stations and Coruscant sent two Hand of the Chancellor experts to assist.
• James Bond blended into a Kuat security patrol while he, Nova, Gabriel Tosh, and Super Lotus discussed their progress and the difficulty of reaching the Hyperspace Stabilizer.
• James Bond noticed Kuat Drive Yards preparing another transport fleet, and Nova revealed that she had secretly boarded an engineering ship and placed a device on a transport.
• Nova detonated the device on a transport near the Hyperspace Stabilizer, causing the fleet to scatter, then shot down a V-19 fighter pursuing her.