Recaps

Three years after the Galactic Empire's founding, Tang Xiao reviewed the Duchy of Dawn's population and military problems and recognized that it needed time to recover before another war. He traveled to Planet Kaal to meet the Vasari, whose growing strength offered the Duchy a new source of power.

• Tang Xiao accepted Adele-Ulan's report that relocating Rendili Planet's 600 billion people had disrupted production and left the Duchy in a temporary vacuum.
• Tang Xiao reviewed the Duchy's fleet and delayed projects, including the Minotaur, the Kohl-class upgrade, and the Taowu, and concluded that it risked losing a war on two fronts.
• Tang Xiao noted that the Galactic Empire remained wary of the Duchy after the Republic's defeats in the Modell Sector Raid and the Battle of Yag'Dhul.
• Tang Xiao valued the Vasari's rapid development on Planet Kaal and prepared to visit their population of fewer than ten million.
• Tang Xiao and High Priest Shadi Li boarded a lavish Vasari spacecraft, which departed Dawn Star Planet for Planet Kaal.

Tang Xiao helped the Vasari establish themselves on Planet Kaal and watched them use advanced nanotechnology and their stored embryos to expand rapidly. The chapter left the Vasari population growing into the millions, with High Priest Shadi Li confident they would overcome any social stagnation.

• Tang Xiao discussed Vasari nanotechnology and the faction’s willingness to cooperate with High Priest Shadi Li aboard the Voruntak Envoy.
• Tang Xiao gave Planet Kaal to the awakened Vasari, who began building nanomedical and medical research centers there.
• Tang Xiao awakened around 2,000 Vasari and provided them with three million Cryo-embryos, while leaving the hostile traditionalists unawakened.
• Vasari bioengineers used nanomachines to modify Cryo-embryos and accelerate their development, turning about two-thirds into twins.
• The Vasari population reached 5.5 million in two years and grew by another 700,000 infants after a year of natural reproduction.

Tang Xiao assessed the Vasari’s rapid development on Planet Kaal, their advanced warships, and the risks of relying on a powerful race loyal to him personally. After touring their cities, he arranged further cooperation to develop the Vasari and transfer their knowledge to the Fourth Civilization.

• Tang Xiao recognized that the Vasari could grow to billions within thirty years and that their loyalty to High Priest Shadi Li was personal rather than a guarantee of loyalty to Humanity.
• The Vasari began producing Ravasa Dou Practitioner heavy frigates, whose battlefield performance far surpassed the Duchy of Dawn’s existing warships, while the Navy placed limited orders and focused on integrating Vasari technology into its fleet.
• Tang Xiao toured the five Vasari cities with High Priest Shadi Li and saw the immigrants from Planet Kaal being used as slaves, along with the Vasari’s advanced city planning and education system.
• Tang Xiao visited the Vasari Phase Research Base, where engineers studied lost technologies including stargates, and reviewed the limited point-to-point routes he had approved for construction.
• Tang Xiao and High Priest Shadi Li agreed that the Duchy of Dawn would send specialist teams to Planet Kaal to aid Vasari development and learn from Vasari expertise.

Darth Vader led the Galactic Empire’s overwhelming fleet to destroy Saleucami’s defenses and ordered the surviving population massacred. Imperial forces began gathering civilians for public executions as the Empire prepared to press into Confederate territory.

• Darth Vader’s fleet defeated General Grievous, destroyed Saleucami’s defenses and Star Ring, and destroyed the Titan warship Tenebrous.
• Count Dooku had withdrawn the Slaughter-class and Devastation-class battleships from Saleucami and taken the Devastation-class ship to Raxus Prime.
• Darth Vader ordered Stormtroopers to gather and execute everyone on Saleucami, with drone recordings broadcast across the Separatists’ network.
• Imperial landing forces searched the ruins, rounded up civilians and surviving soldiers, and opened fire on the gathered people.

With Saleucami Planet about to fall, Tang Xiao urged Count Dooku to flee and ordered Toonbuck Toora to arrange Semirres Planet’s surrender to Darth Vader. After Saleucami fell, the Confederacy of Independent Systems collapsed, while several planets surrendered and Darth Vader accepted their capitulations without punishment.

• Count Dooku rejected Tang Xiao’s offer to come to Dawn Star Planet and chose to watch the Confederacy of Independent Systems fall on Saleucami Planet.
• Tang Xiao told Toonbuck Toora to surrender Semirres Planet, hand over the Endless-class Super Carrier designs, and erase the Forerunners’ hyperspace jump engine data; she agreed but said she would preserve the spark of resistance.
• Toonbuck Toora led Semirres Planet’s fleet into battle at Saleucami Planet and died with her crew fighting the Galactic Empire.
• Count Dooku gathered his remaining forces on Raxus Planet, while General Grievous fled toward Hutt Space instead of joining him.
• The Technological Alliance withdrew from the Confederacy of Independent Systems and surrendered, followed by Semirres Planet and Jabiim planet.
• Darth Vader accepted the surrender of the planets without punishing them, and his eyes shifted slightly when he saw the Semirian envoy.

After Saleucami Planet fell, the Confederacy of Independent Systems fractured as its remaining factions chose between surrender, escape, and resistance. Darth Vader’s victory left the Galactic Empire facing its own logistical and political limits before it could advance further.

• The Corporate Alliance’s Passel Argente sought Tang Xiao’s help, but Tang Xiao told him to flee through Hutt Space to Christophsis if necessary.
• Nute Gunray and San Hill remained aligned with Tang Xiao, while the Trade Federation and InterGalactic Banking Clan relied on their established bases and escape routes.
• The Confederacy of Independent Systems collapsed, though many planets prepared to resist the Galactic Empire in the name of freedom.
• Darth Vader paused after capturing Saleucami Planet because his position was unstable and the Empire could not easily sustain an advance into the Confederacy’s heartland.
• The Empire’s route to Saleucami Planet crossed uncontrolled systems plagued by uprisings and pirates, while nearby Hutt Space made a large-scale campaign more complicated.

Darth Vader conquered Saleucami Planet and used a massacre to boost the Galactic Empire’s morale while reorganizing his fleet for a campaign to destroy the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The chapter revealed that Palpatine’s oppressive rule had fueled widespread unrest, leaving the Empire beset by uprisings and exploitation.

• Darth Vader overcame the dangers surrounding Saleucami Planet with a fleet of more than 700 capital ships and over 3,000 smaller warships, then conquered the planet.
• Darth Vader halted his advance, executed Saleucami Planet’s residents, broadcast the massacre across the HoloNet, and began restoring his fleet for a larger campaign.
• The Galactic Empire’s propaganda celebrated the victory, and Palpatine interpreted Darth Vader’s contrasting treatment of surrendering forces and Saleucami’s residents as flexible leadership.
• Between the beginning of 16 BBY and July 4, the Empire recorded 170,000 uprisings, mostly in the Mid Rim and Outer Rim Territories.
• Palpatine’s government subjected planets to resource plunder, forced labor, high taxes, and the seizure of property when taxes fell short.

The chapter explained how Palpatine used political crises, war, emergency powers, and the stripping of planetary defenses to centralize authority and turn the Galactic Republic into the stronger, more exploitative Galactic Empire. It ended with the Core Worlds’ and Inner Rim’s noble houses isolated and powerless under his rule.

• Palpatine cautiously built influence during his first term as Chancellor, then crushed political opponents and cultivated support by stoking fear of war.
• Palpatine and Count Dooku worsened the Separatist crisis, while the events on Geonosis pushed the Senate toward granting Palpatine emergency powers.
• Palpatine used emergency powers to pass the Military Creation Act, establish the Grand Army of the Republic, and seize military authority.
• During the Clone Wars, Palpatine exploited financial strain and growing divisions between the Core Worlds, Inner Rim, Mid Rim, and Outer Rim to consolidate power.
• After defeats at Eriadu and Rendili’s betrayal, Palpatine abolished planetary defense fleets, leaving most planets unable to resist his government.
• Palpatine branded the Jedi Order traitors and exterminated it, while the noble houses were left isolated and vulnerable under the Galactic Empire.

Tang Xiao reflected on the Galactic Empire’s corrupt, militarized system and on how his knowledge of the future—not overwhelming weapons—gave him leverage against Palpatine. He focused on consolidating the Duchy of Dawn as uprisings spread, convinced the Empire’s victory on Saleucami Planet was only the beginning of its troubles.

• The chapter described how Palpatine’s Empire plundered planets and exploited slaves to expand its fleet, enriching a small circle of privileged elites.
• Palpatine grew stronger through corruption and Dark Side experiments, widening his power gap with Darth Malthael.
• Tang Xiao recognized his foresight as the crowbar that let him build power through Darth Pregas and Darth Tenebrus’s teachings.
• After making a separate peace with Palpatine, Tang Xiao prioritized stabilizing Rendili Planet and strengthening the Duchy of Dawn’s economic, industrial, social, and military systems.
• Tang Xiao noted that 1.7 million uprisings had erupted in seven months and concluded that the Empire’s victory on Saleucami Planet and secret DS-1 construction would not stop the coming rebellion.

Tang Xiao received a secret report from Sefrans Tann about strange developments on Dathomir, Imperial surveillance, and the alleged early betrayal of the Confederacy by the Technological Alliance and Geonosis. The report left him questioning intelligence he had trusted from Count Dooku.

• Tang Xiao learned that Sefrans Tann had sent a secret envoy and met the modified protocol droid in his meditation chamber.
• Tang Xiao unlocked the droid with his Death Force and watched Sefrans Tann report that Asajj Ventress and Savage Opress had vanished and that Dathomir had become impossible to surveil.
• Sefrans Tann warned Tang Xiao that the Galactic Empire was monitoring her movements around the Mandalore star sector.
• Sefrans Tann reported that the Technological Alliance and Poggle the Lesser had betrayed the Confederacy of Independent Systems when the Galactic Empire was founded.
• Tang Xiao was stunned because Count Dooku had previously assured him that the Technological Alliance remained loyal.

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.