Recaps

Count Dooku ordered the use of Dragon's breath on Felucia to slow the Galactic Empire, while Ainlee-Tim condemned the plan. General Grievous returned, killed Ainlee-Tim, and then attacked Dooku in revenge for the Caladanians.

• Count Dooku told Passel Argente and Ainlee-Tim that the Separatists would use Dragon's breath on Felucia to wipe out Imperial ground forces.
• Ainlee-Tim accused Dooku of betraying his convictions and sacrificing civilians, while Dooku denounced him as a coward who wanted to surrender.
• General Grievous entered the Senate Chamber and killed Ainlee-Tim with a green Lightsaber.
• Dooku reprimanded Grievous for killing the senator, then said he would command the Devastation-class battleship stationed above Raxus Prime.
• Grievous attacked Dooku with four Lightsabers and accused him of exploiting the Caladanians and Sheelal.

General Grievous led a coordinated mutiny against Count Dooku, surrounding him on Raxus Prime and exposing the Confederacy of Independent Systems’ collapse. After a long battle, a sniper wounded Dooku, and Grievous impaled him through the abdomen.

• General Grievous confronted Count Dooku over Kyman Jai Sheelal’s murder and attacked him, revealing a force of IG-100 MagnaGuards hidden above the Senate Chamber.
• Grievous’s droids overwhelmed Dooku and cut communications, while General Trench’s fleet sealed Raxus Prime’s space against incoming ships.
• Claire Underwood and Passel Argente left the surrounded senators, and Dooku realized Nute Gunray controlled the battle droids driving the mutiny.
• Dooku fought through more than a hundred thousand battle droids until exhaustion forced him into a renewed clash with Grievous and the MagnaGuards.
• A B-X commando droid shot Dooku in the shoulder, and Grievous took advantage of his lost balance to stab him through the abdomen.

General Grievous killed Count Dooku and fled with a fleet as the Confederacy of Independent Systems collapsed. At Dawn Star Planet, Tang Xiao convened the Duchy of Dawn’s leaders to discuss the event that ended the Confederacy.

• Count Dooku severed one of General Grievous's arms before dying, and Grievous honored him with an ancient Caladanian ballad.
• General Grievous escaped aboard the Soulless One, while the mutinous battle droids shut down and collapsed.
• The Slaughter-class battleship attacked Felucia with Dragon's breath before ten Imperial-class Star Destroyers destroyed it, killing around six hundred thousand people.
• The Galactic Empire began clearing the virus on Felucia after occupying the planet.
• Tang Xiao gathered the Duchy of Dawn’s leaders at Dawn Star Planet after General Grievous killed Count Dooku and the Confederacy of Independent Systems dissolved.

After Count Dooku’s death and General Grievous’ escape, the Confederacy of Independent Systems’ government collapsed, leaving its member planets clinging to the idea that it still existed. Tang Xiao and his allies prepared for the Galactic Empire to turn its attention toward the Duchy of Dawn and planned to preserve resistance without provoking an immediate attack.

• General Grievous fled with the Confederacy of Independent Systems’ last super warship after killing Count Dooku and Ainlee-Tim, while its remaining leaders fled or refused to take charge.
• Po Nudo withdrew Super Com Group from the war, and Spar became head of state before he was assassinated in a riot two days later.
• The Confederacy of Independent Systems’ administration stopped issuing orders, and its government effectively collapsed as loyal planets continued to act as if it remained in existence.
• Tang Xiao warned that the Galactic Empire would now focus on the Duchy of Dawn, and Peggy Carter and Salatan Morse discussed intelligence threats and supporting resistance movements.
• Nute Gunray proposed exposing Count Dooku’s crimes, but Qi Jian said the Confederacy would blame General Grievous and preserve Dooku’s image as a hero.
• Claire Underwood said she would organize a public memorial for Count Dooku while Raxus Prime remained silent rather than surrender or resist, a plan Helmut Zemo supported.

At a meeting in 1933, Tang Xiao reflected on how the Fourth Civilization had grown into a major power and declared that it would pursue hegemony and confront the Galactic Empire. The chapter left the assembled leaders united in fervent cries to destroy the Empire and conquer the galaxy.

• Tang Xiao surveyed the powerful leaders at the meeting and considered how the Fourth Civilization had grown over twenty years from a small crew into a vast civilization.
• Tang Xiao recognized that the Galactic Empire had become the Fourth Civilization’s sole great rival, and that a covert war between them was already underway.
• Tang Xiao declared that he would never accept mediocrity and intended to become emperor and rule the Milky Way Galaxy.
• Qi Jian rose and called for the Fourth Civilization and Tang Xiao to live long, and Matt Hona, General Ling, Helmut Zemo, Glosse Shelbia, and others joined him.
• Nute Gunray and San Hill trembled as the meeting erupted in fervent support for Tang Xiao’s hegemonic ambitions.
• Tang Xiao called for the destruction of the Galactic Empire and the conquest of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Bail Organa and Breha Organa discussed the Imperial exploitation of Raada and planned to seek relief for its people. Their young adopted daughter Leia Organa arrived with news from the garden, unaware of her true parentage as Leia Skywalker.

• Bail Organa told Breha Organa that Imperial crop production was exhausting Raada’s soil and resistance had escalated into armed conflict.
• Bail Organa said he and Senator Mothma would petition the Emperor for a more moderate response and blame Raada’s agricultural officials for the crisis.
• Breha Organa offered to prepare Alderaan to take in refugees if the situation on Raada could not be eased.
• Leia Organa showed Bail Organa and Breha Organa the fish in the west garden and agreed to raise them for a promised meal.
• Bail Organa reminded Leia Organa to keep up with her studies, and she left with her robot.

Nova reconnoitered Alderaan's Royal Palace while explaining how Alderaan's historic privileges let it benefit from the Galactic Republic's exploitation of other planets. She postponed the scan when a suitor approached and rudely rejected him.

• Nova told Super Lotus that Alderaan's low taxes, political influence, and industrial investment came from privileges granted for its early service to the Galactic Republic.
• Nova explained that the Galactic Empire retained the Republic's foundations and that Palpatine might eventually use overwhelming military power, including the DS-1, to seize control from entrenched elites.
• Super Lotus blocked nearby guard-drone signals, and Nova used her tactical visor to scan part of the palace grounds and map the guards.
• Nova spotted a man approaching and put away the visor, deciding to continue the reconnaissance from another angle that afternoon.
• The man offered Nova flowers and praised her beauty, and Nova raised her middle finger and told him to fuck off.

Nova and Super Lotus prepared to infiltrate Alderaan’s royal palace, where they planned to kidnap Leia, and Nova retrieved her stealth combat suit from a frozen fish. The chapter left Nova invisible and ready to begin the operation.

• Nova and Super Lotus finished surveying the palace and mapped several infiltration routes while avoiding Alderaan’s extensive security systems.
• Nova followed Super Lotus to a restaurant’s cold storage room, where her equipment had been hidden inside a frozen deep-sea fish.
• Nova complained about Super Lotus’s hiding place, then changed into her combat suit in the freezing cold.
• Nova installed the suit’s psionic reactor and turned invisible.

Nova secretly targeted Princess Leia’s security and stole control of her pet robot, Lo-LA59, intending to use it to get closer to Leia. She and Super Lotus discussed using the robot to abduct Leia for Tang Xiao, while Leia remained unaware of the threat.

• Leia fed the fish with help from WA-2V and sent Lo-LA59 to scatter food on the other side of the pond.
• Nova watched from concealment and told Super Lotus to hack Lo-LA59 so she could get past Leia’s sensitive humanoid guard robot.
• Nova used telepathy to cause a plainclothes guard severe head pain, making him fall into the pond and drawing everyone’s attention.
• While the security team responded to the drowning guard, Nova grabbed Lo-LA59 and swung back to shore on a cable.
• Super Lotus hacked Lo-LA59, and Nova returned the robot to Leia, who hugged it without suspecting it had become their spy.
• Nova and Super Lotus discussed using Lo-LA59 to carry Leia away and joked about Tang Xiao’s intention to make her his future wife.

Nova and Super Lotus carried out their plan to kidnap Leia Organa, escaping the Alderaan royal palace aboard a disguised starship after Super Lotus disrupted the security drones. They left the planet in hyperspace with Leia unconscious.

• Super Lotus used LO-LA59 to locate WA-2V’s data port, and Nova prepared to extract its data.
• LO-LA59’s attempt to connect a storage device triggered WA-2V, which rampaged through Princess Leia’s bedroom and attacked the guards.
• Nova entered the room, knocked Leia Organa unconscious with a pulse of psionic power, and fled with her as alarms and security forces responded.
• Nova used holographic decoys to distract the guard drones while Super Lotus fed contradictory commands to others, allowing Nova to escape the palace.
• Super Lotus directed Nova to the restaurant where they had changed clothes, and Nova carried Leia into its cold storage as the disguised starship took off.
• Nova’s ship escaped Alderaan’s defenses and entered hyperspace.

Bail Organa and Borha Organa learned that Leia had been kidnapped and chose to search for her discreetly to protect her parentage. Aboard the kidnappers’ ship, Super Lotus comforted the frightened Leia and told her they were taking her to meet her biological parents.

• Bail Organa ordered security personnel to destroy WA-2V and search Leia’s room for clues.
• A security officer reported that the kidnappers had escaped in a ship hidden inside the restaurant, and Borha Organa proposed a secret investigation through normal channels and mercenaries.
• Leia woke aboard the ship, asked Nova why she had taken her, and wept when Nova said she would never return to Alderaan.
• Leia reunited with her pet droid LO-LA59, and Super Lotus comforted her with a handkerchief and reassurance.
• Super Lotus told Leia that she and Nova had taken her to meet her biological parents, and Leia eagerly asked whether Super Lotus knew them.

Super Lotus comforted Leia and brought her to Dawn Star Planet, where Leia saw its immense industrial and military infrastructure. Tang Xiao greeted her in his office and told her that she was only Leia now, with the name Organa removed from her life.

• Leia asked Super Lotus about her biological parents, and Super Lotus praised her mother while refusing to tell her about her father.
• Super Lotus introduced herself as Sister Lotus and explained that her military codename replaced her real name because names could be weaknesses.
• Leia arrived at Dawn Star Planet and saw its gas giant, vast fleets, space facilities, and Star Ring.
• Super Lotus brought Leia to Tang Xiao's office, where Leia introduced herself and Tang Xiao told her that she was only Leia, not Leia Organa.

Princess Leia met Tang Xiao, who told her he would protect her in the Duchy of Dawn. On Naboo, Padmé Amidala awoke after four years and seven months in a coma and learned from Bail Organa that Leia had been kidnapped.

• Tang Xiao told Leia that she was no longer an Organa and promised to protect her from dangers tied to her father and the Galactic Empire.
• Leia asked Tang Xiao why he had brought her to the Duchy of Dawn, and he said he would help her adjust and visit her when he had time.
• Padmé Amidala awoke from her coma after hearing Leia crying in a dream, and medical droids and C-3PO summoned help.
• Dormé told Padmé that Leia had been adopted by the Organa couple and confirmed that Padmé had been unconscious for four years and seven months.
• Bail Organa arrived on Naboo, greeted Padmé, and confessed that Leia had been kidnapped.

Padmé Amidala learned from Bail Organa how Palpatine destroyed the Galactic Republic and heard the evidence pointing to the Duchy of Dawn as the kidnapper of Leia. She chose to remain officially dead and raise a resistance against the Galactic Empire, while Bail prepared to contact Tang Xiao about Leia.

• Bail Organa told Padmé Amidala about the fall of the Jedi Order, Palpatine's rise, and the Galactic Republic's transformation into the Galactic Empire.
• Bail Organa explained that Leia had been kidnapped by a cloaked woman and that sabotaged droids and computer systems pointed to the Duchy of Dawn.
• Padmé Amidala and Dormé recalled signs that Leia had been targeted for years, and Padmé urged Bail to contact Tang Xiao rather than send bounty hunters.
• Bail Organa agreed to arrange a secure contact with Tang Xiao to learn whether the Duchy of Dawn had taken Leia.
• Padmé Amidala told Bail Organa and Dormé that she would remain presumed dead and lead a resistance to rebuild the Galactic Republic.

Tang Xiao confronted Bail Organa about Leia and argued that Dawn Star Planet could give her the power and freedom to choose that Alderaan could not. Bail could not publicly bring Leia home, leaving her confused and tearful as he hesitated.

• Bail Organa contacted Tang Xiao and demanded to know where Leia was, while Nova threatened Super Lotus for helping keep Leia's location secret.
• Tang Xiao confirmed Leia was with him, and Bail revealed that Leia was Anakin Skywalker's daughter and feared the Empire would kill her if it learned the truth.
• Tang Xiao argued that Bail could not protect Leia or Alderaan and said he could offer Leia an elite education and the power to make choices.
• Leia appeared on the call and asked Bail if he had come to take her home.
• Tang Xiao offered to return Leia if Alderaan publicly welcomed her with a diplomatic delegation, but Bail hesitated because Alderaan lacked the courage and strength to do so.
• Leia saw Bail hesitate, asked whether he would take her home, and began to cry.

Tang Xiao told Leia that Bail Organa could not take her back to Alderaan because it could not protect her, then began teaching her about her biological father and the power called Darth. He left Leia with her first lesson: only those with power could choose for themselves.

• Bail Organa apologized to Leia and ended their communication, leaving her devastated that she could not return to Alderaan.
• Tang Xiao carried Leia to the training room and told her that her biological father's title included the word Darth.
• Tang Xiao revealed that he was Darth Malthael, then demonstrated his power by twisting a heavy barbell into a knot.
• Tang Xiao used an apple, a drink, and a towel to show Leia that without power she could not choose what she wanted.
• Tang Xiao told Leia he would personally train her, beginning with the lesson that power gave her the right to choose.

General Lepix’s remnant fleet launched a desperate assault on Levik to destroy the nearly completed stargate, while the Exploration Fleet and the rebelling Pia'ek people fought to hold the planet. The Eternity was badly damaged, but a multicolored beam struck the Xilu cruiser that rammed it, and several dark silhouettes appeared inside the stargate.

• General Lepix committed his dwindling fleet to a final attack on Levik, hoping to stop the stargate from opening a passage for the Duchy of Dawn.
• The Pia'ek people allied with the Exploration Fleet, formed rebel bases across Levik, and used weapons and supplies from Kriyak Palace to overthrow Xilu rule.
• Lieutenant General He Ru and Shepard continued defending the stargate, while the Pia'ek people used Xilu captives as human batteries during the transition away from the technology.
• After a day of fighting, the Eternity’s Particle Beam Lances overheated, and both fleets suffered heavy losses as General Lepix ordered his forces to press the attack.
• A Xilu Wurrif-class light cruiser rammed the Eternity’s bow spaceport, but a multicolored laser beam struck the cruiser and triggered a chain explosion.
• Several dark silhouettes appeared in the center of the stargate.

Five Hell-Angel Class Battlecruisers broke the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium remnant fleet and captured General Lepix, who had secretly injected himself and his officers with a mysterious substance. With the stargate to Levik planet complete, Shepard received orders to establish a foothold there and exterminate the Xilu, but she refused Tang Xiao's demand for human-battery research samples, leaving him resentful.

• Five Hell-Angel Class Battlecruisers joined the battle, sank a Xirui-class battlecruiser, and drove the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium remnant fleet to scatter.
• General Lepix and the senior Xilu officers injected themselves with gray sludge, then surrendered; as Duchy of Dawn Navy Marines took Lepix prisoner, he whispered, “God of Decay... long live...”
• The stargate connection between Vaxian Planet and Levik planet was revealed, and the remaining Xilu warships surrendered, were captured, or fled.
• Shepard received orders from Dawn Star Planet to repair the Endless-class Super Carrier, establish a colony, ally with the Pia'ek people, and carry out an Extermination Order against the Xilu.
• Tang Xiao demanded Xilu human-battery data and samples, but Shepard refused and destroyed every battery; Tang Xiao raged, then let the matter go while harboring resentment toward her.

After opposing the extermination of the Xilu people and the transfer of human battery technology, Shepard was relieved of command while the Xilu were executed and their captured leaders imprisoned. A living sludge escaped from General Lepix and infected guards and prisoners, then one possessed guard attacked a soldier.

• Shepard opposed the Extermination Order against the Xilu people and Tang Xiao's order to hand over human battery technology, so Tang Xiao relieved her of duty and Ashley Williams took command of the Normandy.
• The Exploration Fleet sent Xilu people to a colony and executed them by robot-controlled Orbital Bombardment, while General Lepix and other senior officers were imprisoned on Levik planet.
• Brown sludge flowed from Lepix and the other imprisoned officers, slipped out of their cells, and burrowed into the guards' ears.
• The sludge spread among people it encountered and reached a camp holding ten thousand Xilu prisoners.
• When a relieving soldier confronted an infected guard who was standing crookedly and speaking hoarsely, the guard lunged at him.

A suspected biological outbreak turned the prison district into a mass escape as infected people burst into sludge and attacked others. Lieutenant General He Ru learned that the hundreds of thousands of rioters had overwhelmed the defenses, leaving the outbreak spreading across Levik planet.

• A sentry exploded into sludge after a soldier shot him, and the splatter made the soldier who had been covered in it violently ill.
• The prison gates opened, and Guardians, prisoners, and administrators charged out together as Duchy of Dawn soldiers fired on them.
• Three Banshee Fighters attacked the crowd, but the infected surged through the defensive line after a sick soldier vomited sludge and attacked a comrade.
• An intelligence officer reported the prison riot and suspected biological threat to Lieutenant General He Ru, who ordered nearby forces to establish a defensive line.
• Drone footage showed hundreds of thousands of rioters overrunning failed barricades while Banshee Fighters and Wraith fighters provided ineffective fire support.

Lieutenant General He Ru and Shepard responded to a sudden, highly contagious infection that began in Prison Sector V, where tens of thousands of Xilu people were being held. Shepard ordered the stargate sealed and suspected the outbreak was tied to the Xilu fleet's counterattack, then questioned what the Xilu outposts had been guarding against.

• An intelligence officer showed He Ru footage revealing that infected bodies released living sludge that rapidly infected anyone it touched.
• He Ru learned that Prison Sector V held about 80,000 Xilu people alongside guards, staff, and prisoners, and that the outbreak had infected more than 100,000 people overnight.
• Shepard asked about evacuees and, after learning that more than 4,000 civilians had escaped into quarantine, warned that the infection's stealth could have allowed it to spread beyond the prison sector.
• Shepard urged He Ru to seal the stargate, and he ordered it closed to departures and guarded by five robot-controlled warships.
• Shepard suspected the outbreak was connected to the remnant Xilu fleet's counterattack and called for scrutiny of prisoners of war from the campaign.
• Shepard recalled that the Xilu had exterminated the other races in the star sector and wondered what their outposts had been guarding against.

Shepard and the Exploration Fleet investigated a suspected Mnggal-Mnggal outbreak and found signs that the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had concealed the threat. After learning that two fleets had vanished and that biologists were missing from interrogations, the team discovered the location of the laboratory.

• He Ru ordered troops to contain the sludge outbreak while the Exploration Fleet launched an investigation into Mnggal-Mnggal.
• Shepard interrogated captured Ssi-ruuvi officials but found little information, including a lead about a secret virus laboratory.
• Shepard and Senluo realized that no biologists had been captured and suspected the Ssi-ruuvi leadership had purged them.
• Ashley Williams told Shepard that two Ssi-ruuvi fleets sent to search for the Exploration Fleet had vanished.
• An officer informed He Ru that the laboratory had been found.

Umbrella Pharmaceutical Group arrived at Levik planet and took control of the suspected Mongal-Mongal research site beneath Kriyak Palace. Sherry Birkin led her team into Laboratory 101 after testing General He Ru and Shepard for infection.

• A black Luukri-Hok-class battleship bearing Umbrella's emblem emerged from the Stargate and headed toward Levik planet.
• He Ru explained that an investigation into Kriyak Palace's power usage had uncovered the hidden Laboratory 101 beneath the rubble.
• Sherry Birkin arrived with Umbrella personnel, declared the site a Level One infection zone, and ordered everyone tested while taking over all Mongal-Mongal matters.
• An Umbrella soldier tested He Ru, then attempted to test Shepard, who briefly fought back before another soldier called Victor to stop.
• Shepard tested herself and was found uninfected despite having nanobots, then warned Sherry that Mongal-Mongal was dangerous.
• Sherry led Umbrella's team into Laboratory 101.

Sherry Birkin’s team searched the ruined Laboratory 101 for clues about Mongal-Mongal while Shepard and Lieutenant General He Ru discussed Umbrella’s hidden agenda and the dangers of exploring the Unknown Regions. Shepard decided to continue the investigation aboard the Normandy and planned to ask Ashley Williams and the others to join voluntarily.

• Sherry Birkin ordered her team to reboot Laboratory 101’s mainframe using an external power source before restoring the internal power.
• Ruper explained that the facility’s firefighting system had been turned into a way to burn people alive, and Sherry ordered a search for deeper areas and blind spots.
• Shepard told He Ru that Sherry Birkin wanted to claim Mongal-Mongal and might act recklessly despite knowing little about it.
• He Ru reflected on his vote to exterminate the Xilu people, saying he had supported it as a Fleet Commander despite doubting it was right.
• Shepard asked to continue exploring the Unknown Regions aboard the Normandy, and He Ru agreed after warning her about the dangers.
• Shepard declined an escort of Hell-Angel Class Battlecruisers and said she would let Ashley Williams and the others choose whether to join.

Sherry Birkin oversaw Umbrella Pharmaceutical Group’s containment operation in Prison Sector V after ultrasonic barriers detected impacts underground. She led U.S.S. Delta Squad into a hidden facility, where they found Mongal-Mongal samples and evidence that the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had tried to control the organism, just as a shadow attacked her.

• Umbrella Pharmaceutical Group sealed Prison Sector V, collected Mongal-Mongal samples, and moved research operations to the Raccoon.
• A technician told Sherry Birkin that the ultrasonic barriers had registered 127 impacts underground, prompting her to order stronger barriers, a 200-kilometer monitoring zone, and more reinforcements.
• Ruper proposed turning the barriers into ultrasonic weapons, while Four-Eyes reported that Shepard had left aboard the Normandy to search deep space for Mongal-Mongal’s origin.
• Sherry Birkin suspected the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had left something behind and led U.S.S. Delta Squad down a collapsed elevator shaft.
• Sherry Birkin and the squad found equipment surrounded by glass containers filled with Mongal-Mongal, and she concluded that the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had tried to control it.
• Victor warned that some containers were broken as a black shadow lunged at Sherry Birkin from behind.