Recaps

Tang Xiao considered Anita’s proposal for redeeming races whose souls had been corrupted by the Grysk, while she explained the Holy Advent Cult’s purpose and doctrine. The chapter traced how Anita became its pontiff and how Tang Xiao adapted the Advent’s teachings to build a religion centered on him and the Force.

• Rassidan warned Tang Xiao that restoring the corrupted souls could take over a hundred years, and Rosales supported Anita’s proposed method.
• Tang Xiao asked Anita whether she had tested her method, and she said the Holy Advent Cult aimed to redeem those controlled by the Grysk.
• Tang Xiao reminded Anita that he had granted the cult an opportunity to solve the problem and warned her not to disappoint him.
• The chapter recounted how Anita, a Force-sensitive adult and ardent admirer of Tang Xiao, became the pontiff after Helmut Zemo recruited her to establish the cult.
• Tang Xiao had drawn on the Advent’s doctrines to strengthen the cult after Anita’s original charter proved insufficient for winning converts.

Helmut Zemo and his team rebuilt the Holy Advent Cult around the Force, shaping Anita into its public figure and establishing a strict doctrine, training system, and hierarchy. By 17 BBY, the cult had begun spreading through the Fourth Civilization, recruiting Force-sensitive people and helping stabilize immigrants.

• Helmut Zemo studied Advent's doctrines, and Tang Xiao funded a team to adapt them for the Duchy of Dawn.
• Helmut Zemo's team transformed Anita's appearance and trained her in the Holy Advent Cult's doctrines, while he reinforced her devotion to Tang Xiao with nightly hypnosis.
• The Holy Advent Cult combined Advent's Unity with the Force and developed a mentor-led method of sensing the Force with help from Depa Barris.
• The cult established ranks from Pontiff to Practitioner and designated members who lost their connection to a mentor and the Force as Silent Ones.
• The Holy Advent Cult began expanding across the Fourth Civilization in 17 BBY, recruiting Force-sensitive people and supporting immigrants as construction of the Rendili system stargate began.

The Duchy of Dawn popularized the Force through the Holy Advent Cult, which welcomed ordinary people and presented Tang Xiao as the Son of God. After five years, the cult had tens of billions of followers, though it remained human-centered and Tang Xiao kept church and state separate.

• The chapter contrasted the Jedi Order’s secrecy and public distrust with the Duchy of Dawn’s decision to popularize the Force.
• The Holy Advent Cult opened its ceremonies to ordinary people, using preaching and technology to let them experience the Force and deepen their faith.
• The cult taught that Tang Xiao was the Son of God, and its bishops and cardinals held ceremonies in major cities that drew visitors from other planets.
• Tang Xiao praised Helmut Zemo and Anita’s work but refused Zemo’s suggestion that he bring Anita into his harem, saying intimacy would change her loyalty and his image in her eyes.
• After five years, the Holy Advent Cult had tens of billions of followers, mostly humans, and Tang Xiao considered expanding its influence among the people of Rendili Planet.

Tang Xiao and Anita tested whether The Unity could restore people whose souls the Grysk had twisted, despite Rassidan’s objections. A month later, the research continued as the Chiss territory underwent reforms and the fleet struck back against the Grysk.

• Tang Xiao brought Anita to Chiss territory, where she proposed using The Unity to fill the victims’ damaged souls, and Rosales supported trying her plan.
• Rassidan objected that The Unity was another form of mind control, but Tang Xiao argued that experiments were necessary to save the victims and limit casualties.
• Tang Xiao’s group began cruel experiments on four captured Grysk, who were repeatedly tortured and resurrected under his power while Anita searched for a way to use The Unity.
• Adele Ulan, Tang Xing, and Tang Yun weakened the Chiss families’ power and began sweeping reforms as Grysk attacks continued against the outer colonies.
• Rassidan joined the combined fleet with Sola-A and Oola-Khan, leading assassinations that destroyed a Grysk-controlled planet without a mass landing.

Anita used The Unity to save selected Crustai victims of Grysk control and worked with Rosales to build Communion Temples that spread Grysk psionic power as the Holy Advent Cult’s gospel. Tang Xiao remained on Csilla to oversee Chiss territory and guard against powerful Grysk, while the temples offered a way to absorb Grysk-controlled populations into the Cult’s strength.

• Anita turned a dozen Crustai victims into devoted followers of the Holy Advent Cult after hundreds of earlier subjects had suffered mental collapse or died.
• Anita gave Rosales plans for the Communion Temple and asked him to help build it using Grysk as its psionic core; Rosales agreed despite the Grysk’s eternal torment.
• Tang Xiao returned to Csilla to manage Chiss territory and wait for news, deciding to stay until the temples and local situation were settled.
• Anita and Rosales installed four Grysk in a Communion Temple, which broadcast their psionic power across the planet and helped victims align with The Unity.
• Tang Xiao supported Anita’s plan because the Cult could convert Grysk-controlled populations into a vast source of shared mental power.

On Crustai, Anita used Grysk-powered Temples of Communion to restore and convert the mind-controlled population while Tang Xiao’s fleet hunted Grysks across Chiss territory. The Grysk Hegemony prepared to invade Chiss territory from the Tower Dimension, with Lord Jikstus planning to confront Tang Xiao on Csilla.

• Anita used the four captured Grysks to restore people in parts of Crustai, and the awakened residents joined The Unity as construction and reconstruction continued.
• Tang Xiao ordered the joint fleet to capture Grysks alive, while Admiral Qiyala, High Templar Rassidan, Kace Maxwell, and Lieutenant General Brent discussed the search for the Grysk homeworld and Chiss territory’s vulnerability.
• General Yves met with the Tower Dimension’s president, reviewed intelligence on Chiss territory, and added the capture of Dawn Star Planet’s technical personnel and Stargate technology to his objectives.
• Yves prepared the Tower Dimension’s forces for an assault on Chiss territory as Lord Jikstus vowed to confront Tang Xiao personally and influence him.

Tang Xiao ordered Chiss territory to dismantle the ruling families’ economic power through a planned economy, then faced a Grysk fleet’s surprise arrival at Csilla. As General Yves’s 450 warships moved to attack Red Comet III and the Eternal, Tang Xiao left the defense to Slota and returned to his warship.

• Adele-Ulan reported that unrest in Chiss territory was easing and that 1,722 unions had been approved, while the Csapla family offered a compromise.
• Tang Xiao rejected turning the unions into companies and ordered industries broken into production units under a planned economy to weaken the ruling families and support the coming war.
• When hyperspace alarms sounded, Tang Xiao promoted Slota to lieutenant general and ordered him to organize Csilla’s defenses after learning that the generals had been purged.
• A Grysk fleet of 450 warships arrived at Csilla through Force-guided navigation, and Tang Xiao left the command center as Slota warned that the defenders could not withstand the attack.
• General Yves, acting under Jikstus’s command, ordered his forces to encircle Red Comet III, attack the Eternal, and launch nuclear missiles at Csilla.

Tang Xiao and his family watched as the Grysk Hegemony Fleet attacked Csilla while Red Comet III’s engines were still warming up. Tang Xiao ordered the ship to advance despite Tang Yun’s fear, and the battle escalated as defenders intercepted missiles and Eternal faced a close-range assault.

• The Grysk fleet split its forces, sending sixty warships toward Eternal and one hundred and forty toward Red Comet III while Csilla’s fighters were still en route.
• Tang Yun demanded that the fighters protect Red Comet III and that the ship retreat, but Tang Xiao told the captain to continue the attack and ordered Tang Yun to experience the battlefield.
• Red Comet III’s point-defense guns and nearby fighters intercepted most of the Grysk missiles, though several struck its Deflector Shield.
• Sixty Grysk warships closed in on Eternal and attacked with fighters and laser fire as Eternal retreated under its shields.
• Steadfast-class Cruisers and Twinblade-class EW light cruisers launched from Eternal, and fighters from both sides engaged the attacking warships.

The Eternal Super Carrier fought to escape 60 Grysk Hegemony high-speed warships while its Wraith, Viking, and YSS-1000 Sabre fighters devastated enemy formations. The enemy commander ordered his fleet to ignore the fighters and concentrate its fire on the carrier.

• Wraith and Viking fighters used stealth while 40 YSS-1000 Sabre fighters outmaneuvered the first wave of Grysk Hegemony fighters, shooting down more than 20.
• The Grysk commander launched 200 more fighters, but the Wraith and Sabre fighters continued to overwhelm them.
• The 60 high-speed warships bombarded the Eternal Super Carrier as it retreated, and the carrier's shield held while its weapons heavily damaged four enemy ships.
• Viking fighters attacked the damaged high-speed warships' engines, causing all four to explode.
• The Paccosh commander ordered his ships to ignore the stealth fighters and fire at full power on the Eternal Super Carrier, while his adjutant warned that their fighter formations were being slaughtered.

The Grysk Commander ordered his forces to launch every fighter and focus fire on the Eternal as the battle intensified around Csilla. Grysk warships attacked Red Comet III, whose defenders faced a massive fighter assault while Tang Yun, Tang Xing, and Leia watched in fear.

• The Paccosh Commander ordered all fighters launched, held back the stealth fighters, and directed every warship to concentrate fire on the Eternal.
• A Viking fighter destroyed a Grysk warship by bombing its hangar, then five more Viking fighters destroyed its engines with Proton Torpedoes.
• The Grysk vanguard of 140 warships attacked Red Comet III while 230 reserve ships waited behind them.
• Two thousand Grysk fighters advanced on Red Comet III, exploiting the Luukri-Hok-class battleship's vulnerability to attacks inside its ring structure.
• Tang Yun crouched and trembled as she watched the battle, while Tang Xing and Leia watched the battlefield footage despite their fear.

Tang Xiao confronted the Grysk Hegemony’s fleet commander, Jikstus, and survived a clash of Force powers before the Eternal fired a Particle Beam Lance at their flagship. He hinted that the Duchy of Dawn had another advantage still unseen as the battle continued.

• Admiral Yves demanded that Tang Xiao and the Duchy of Dawn surrender, but Tang Xiao silently used the Force to choke him during their communication.
• Jikstus intervened with the Force to break Tang Xiao’s hold on Yves, then warned Tang Xiao that the Galactic Empire might learn about the stargate.
• Tang Xiao rejected Jikstus’s offer and taunts, while the Eternal charged its Particle Beam Lance at the Grysk flagship.
• Yves ordered the Grysk flagship to evade, allowing it to avoid the Particle Beam Lance, which tore across the battlefield.
• Tang Xiao asked Jikstus why the Eternal had not launched any fighters.

General Yves ordered the Grysk fleet to concentrate its attack on Red Comet III after its core ship rose above the hull and unfolded hundreds of antenna arrays. Tang Xiao then called on Ander-Viking (Andrew Wiggin) to bring judgment upon the Grysk.

• General Yves believed the Eternal Super Carrier’s distant battle would end in the Grysk’s favor on the main battlefield, where 140 armored cruisers surrounded the red Luukri-Hok-class battleship.
• Tang Xiao pointed out that Red Comet III had not launched any fighters, making General Yves realize the warship’s capabilities were still concealed.
• General Yves ordered his 230 reserve warships to split into four attack groups as the core ship of Red Comet III rose above its ring-shaped hull and unfolded hundreds of antenna arrays.
• Jikstus sensed a great threat and urged General Yves to destroy Red Comet III, so Yves ordered the entire Grysk fleet to charge and concentrate its fire.
• Tang Xiao called on Ander-Viking (Andrew Wiggin) to take the field and bring judgment upon the Grysk.

Ander-Viking took command of Red Comet III’s drone swarm as the warship faced a Grysk Hegemony assault. He unleashed one hundred thousand Swarm Drones, which destroyed the attacking fighters and left Red Comet III poised against the larger fleet.

• Ander-Viking put on the command helmet and surveyed the besieged Red Comet III, whose shields had fallen by more than half.
• Ander-Viking ordered the launch of all units, releasing Swarm Drones from thousands of hatches across the ship.
• Four Force-sensitive adjutants helped Ander-Viking command the one hundred thousand drones through the Force.
• Ander-Viking directed the drones against the two thousand Grysk Hegemony fighters inside Red Comet III’s defensive blind spot.
• The Swarm Drones destroyed all two thousand fighters in less than ten minutes, while the Grysk fleet’s other warships continued to approach.

Admiral Yves and High Coordinator Jikstus tried to retreat after the Grysk Hegemony’s fighters were destroyed, but the Swarm Drones overwhelmed the fleet as it turned. The Eternal Super Carrier locked onto Yves’s flagship and fired, leaving the fleet’s escape uncertain.

• Admiral Yves learned that one hundred thousand laser-armed drones had annihilated two thousand Grysk fighters in ten minutes.
• High Coordinator Jikstus ordered a retreat, and Yves directed the heavy armored cruisers to hold the Red Warship while the rest of the fleet turned around.
• The Swarm Drones attacked the turning warships, rapidly draining the shields of the Grysk fleet.
• Yves prioritized the safety of Jikstus and ordered his flagship to retreat, while the adjutant reported that the other warships’ shields could last no more than an hour.
• The Eternal Super Carrier locked onto Yves’s flagship, and its shot pierced three nearby cruisers.

Admiral Yves’s fleet was devastated by the Eternal’s long-range Particle Beam Lances, while Jikstus tried to escape aboard the FateSpinner. A blood-red fighter broke through the flagship’s defenses and entered its hangar bay.

• Admiral Yves realized the Eternal could pierce multiple cruisers from more than twenty light-seconds away and ordered the fast warships to stop it.
• The adjutant reported that the fast warships had lost most of their combat capability, while the Eternal’s fighters destroyed the Paccosh fighters and crippled the remaining fast warships.
• The Eternal fired its Particle Beam Lances at the Grysk Hegemony’s main fleet, and Jikstus ordered Admiral Yves to sacrifice the fleet to protect his flagship.
• The mixed fleet turned to shield the FateSpinner as it fled, but Jikstus warned Admiral Yves that an attacker was approaching.
• A blood-red fighter evaded the FateSpinner’s point defenses, overloaded its engine shields with plasma missiles, and burst into its hangar bay.

Darth Malthael attacked FateSpinner, destroyed its hangar and Hyperspace Core, and confronted Jikstus aboard the crippled warship. Jikstus warned that the Grysk Hegemony’s Overlord knew what had happened and that the fleet was not its true strength.

• Darth Malthael flew into FateSpinner’s hangar, destroyed its fighters and personnel, then emerged from the flames and slaughtered the NirKaldon Marines.
• Darth Malthael destroyed FateSpinner’s Hyperspace Core, contacted the Grysk through a communicator, and challenged them to face him.
• Darth Malthael reached the bridge, killed Admiral Yves, and demanded that the figure in the sealed chamber come out.
• Jikstus emerged with armed Grysk warriors and identified himself as High Coordinator of the Grysk Hegemony.
• Darth Malthael demanded Jikstus’s homeworld and threatened to take him away in a collar, while Jikstus warned that the Overlord knew of the confrontation and that the Grysk did not fear the Duchy of Dawn.

Darth Malthael defeated Jikstus’s forces aboard the FateSpinner, using Kresh’s Gauntlet and his power over the dead to overcome the Grysk psychic attacks. Jikstus threatened to destroy the ship rather than be captured, but the FateSpinner exploded as Darth Malthael lunged for him, leaving their fates unclear.

• Jikstus tried to recruit Darth Malthael into an alliance, but Darth Malthael rejected him and fought off the Grysk warriors’ psychic and laser assault with Kresh’s Gauntlet.
• Darth Malthael overwhelmed the Grysk attackers with the Force, then raised the dead aboard the FateSpinner to attack Jikstus and his guards.
• Jikstus claimed he could not reveal the Grysk homeworld’s coordinates and threatened to trigger the FateSpinner’s self-destruct unless Darth Malthael let him go.
• Darth Malthael suspected Jikstus was hiding something and caused Jikstus’s hand to wither as he lunged for the dropped trigger.
• The FateSpinner exploded into fragments.

After FateSpinner exploded, Darth Malthael tried to uncover who had activated its self-destruct, while the Duchy of Dawn secured the defeated Grysk fleet. His meditation revealed that he himself had pressed the remote.

• Darth Malthael survived FateSpinner’s destruction and realized the remote had activated before he could seize it from Jikstus.
• Darth Malthael ordered everyone away and meditated to discover what had happened.
• With Jikstus dead, the Grysk-controlled fleet fell silent, and Adele Ulan arranged for the Chiss territory to claim the surviving ships and for the crews to be sent to Crustai.
• Darth Malthael relived the moments before the explosion until he saw himself press the self-destruct remote.

Darth Malthael struggled against a mysterious voice that seized control of his thumb and caused him to press Jikstus’s self-destruct remote, then emerged from five days of meditation. After meeting with the returning fleet and Protoss leaders, he warned that the force behind the voice might threaten everyone and discussed the terrifying possibility of the Grysk homeworld.

• Darth Malthael heard the voices of Darth Pregas, Darth Tenebrus, Marka Ragnos, and Lucien Draay before a shadow on his left hand declared that everything would ultimately be controlled by it.
• Darth Malthael tried to trace the shadow through the Force, but it vanished, and he found that his meditation had destroyed his chamber.
• Adele Ulan told Darth Malthael that he had meditated for five days and that Admiral Qiyala’s fleet and the Protoss had arrived.
• Tang Xiao told Rosales, Rassidan, Sola-A, and Oola-Khan that a voice had taken control of his thumb and made him press Jikstus’s self-destruct remote.
• Rassidan and Rosales said Tang Xiao showed no signs of Grysk influence, while Rosales warned that the Grysk might wield immense telepathic power from a homeworld filled with them.

Tang Xiao and the Protoss learned that the Grysk Hegemony might control the Illumine Kingdom of Kilji and pose a threat far greater than they had expected. He proposed that the Chiss seek common cause with the Killiks, whose hive minds might make them immune to Grysk control.

• Rosales and Rassidan explained that the Grysks’ mind control and potential psychic collective made them a severe threat, despite their short lifespans.
• Admiral Qiyala reported that the Illumine Kingdom of Kilji had unexpectedly declared war on the Chiss territory and might have fallen under Grysk control.
• Rassidan agreed to help the Holy Advent Cult and teach Pope Anita psychic illusions, while Rosales secured Fenix’s agreement to join the fight.
• Tang Xiao declined to send more Duchy of Dawn fleets, planned to meditate near the Illumine Kingdom border, and ordered Adele Ulan to return to Dawn Star Planet.
• Tang Xiao named the Killiks as possible opponents of the Grysks because their hive mind could resist Grysk control, prompting Qiyala to object.

Tang Xiao proposed using the Killik Swarm against the Grysk Hegemony, despite warnings about its danger and its ability to assimilate outsiders. Admiral Qiyala then revealed a preserved survivor from the FateSpinner, whose escape pod had kept him safe from the destruction.

• Tang Xiao proposed feeding selected Killik colonies the dead from the Grysk campaign so their numbers would grow.
• Rassidan and Admiral Qiyala warned Tang Xiao that the Killiks were dangerous, could assimilate people into their hive mind, and lacked meaningful space-combat ability.
• Admiral Qiyala said the Killiks had spread outward from Yoggoy and numbered at least tens of billions, while Tang Xiao promised to contact them personally.
• Rassidan dismissed Mongal-Mongal as a true threat, and Tang Xiao asked Qiyala what plans she had for the Grysk Hegemony.
• Admiral Qiyala revealed that an intact body had survived aboard the FateSpinner and explained that the survivor had locked himself in an escape pod.

Tang Xiao discovered that an Agbui survivor had resisted Grysk control and learned that the Agbui were telepaths who helped the Grysk prepare minds for control. The Agbui homeworld, Agb Planet, was known to lie along the Chasdemonus Route, giving the group a possible lead to the hidden Grysk homeworld.

• Tang Xiao deduced that an undead survivor had hidden in an escape pod instead of obeying Jikstus’s orders and summoned him for examination.
• Tang Xiao absorbed the Agbui’s soul and recovered fragmented memories identifying the species as telepathic.
• Tang Xiao explained that Agbui sensed minds through touch and could probe a person’s relatives and friends the longer contact lasted.
• Rassidan and Rosales concluded that the Agbui helped the Grysk synchronize with people before taking control of them.
• Kess Maxwell realized that finding the Agbui homeworld could lead them to the Grysk, and Tang Xiao revealed that Agb Planet lay along the Chasdemonus Route.

Tang Xiao assigned forces to confront the Grysk threat and planned to investigate the Killiks, while a Bosa mercenary investigated a massacre at a slave-trading bar on Chalseden Planet. The chapter ended when soldiers bearing a red-and-white umbrella insignia entered the bar for an inspection, provoking the Bosa's fury.

• Oola-Khan and Sola-A volunteered to secretly investigate the Chasdemonus Route for the Agbui homeworld, and Tang Xiao assigned them the mission.
• Tang Xiao assigned Admiral Qiyala and High Templar Rassidan to intercept the Illumine Kingdom of Kilji, while other forces guarded Csilla, aided Anita, and searched for Grysk activity.
• Tang Xiao set out for Catlia to establish contact with the Killiks and investigate how the Celestial Ones had caused their ancient decline.
• A Bosa mercenary questioned a bartender about the Royal No. 4 Bar, where nearly fifteen hundred people had been killed overnight after slave traders brought in more than twenty people from Cerea.
• A squad of soldiers entered the bar for an epidemic prevention inspection, and the Bosa reacted furiously to their red-and-white umbrella insignia.

Oliver learned that Umbrella Corporation was experimenting on Cerea with the T-Veronica Virus and that a Cerean girl suspected of being immune had escaped Royal No. 4 Bar. He returned to his group with information that she was last seen at Spaceport 19, and they prepared to find her.

• U.B.C.S. mercenaries searched the patrons at Red Water Bar while Oliver concealed his anger and avoided provoking them.
• The bartender told Oliver that infected Cereans had spread an unknown virus at Royal No. 4 Bar and that Umbrella had quickly sealed the scene.
• The bartender revealed that a Cerean girl had escaped and was last seen heading toward the spaceport after U.B.C.S. searched a cargo warehouse.
• Oliver told the bartender they would find the girl and stop Umbrella's experiment on Cerea.
• Oliver returned to his group at a thermal power plant and reported that the girl had been at Spaceport 19 that morning.
• A Cerean in Oliver's group called for them to find the girl and stop Umbrella's T-Veronica Virus research.

Oliver’s group planned to find the surviving Cerean girl and expose Umbrella’s experiments, even as they feared U.B.C.S. Alfred Ashford then faced a warning from Major General Lin Nanyi over the Ant Colony Plan’s failures and Alfred’s ambitions to marry Sherry Birkin.

• Oliver explained that the surviving Cerean girl was valuable because she alone had survived infection with the T-Veronica Virus, and his group planned to search for her near Spaceport 19.
• A Cerean man volunteered to disguise himself in women’s clothes and draw U.B.C.S. away from the girl, while the Bosa condemned Umbrella’s experiments and the prospect of war.
• Alfred Ashford praised expensive wine with Major General Lin Nanyi, who challenged him over deaths in the Ant Colony Plan trials and the T-Veronica Virus outbreak on Chalseden Planet.
• Alfred claimed that four U.B.C.S. battalions would contain the outbreak, but Lin poured out his wine and warned him against pursuing a marriage alliance with Sherry Birkin or mishandling the plan.
• After Lin left, Alfred slammed his fist on the table, furious at the warning and still intent on gaining more control of Umbrella Pharmaceutical Group.