Recaps

The Galactic Empire fleet overwhelmed General Trench’s left wing before Trench used the planet’s cover to ambush it with Calamity-class battlecruisers and launch cloaked fighters. The Imperial fleet withdrew after inflicting heavy damage, leaving Trench to assess its spatial disturbance countermeasure.

• The Pock came under heavy fire from its own Imperial attackers, and its captain abandoned formation to evade and return fire.
• General Trench refused Malcolm Granger’s suggestion to send the right wing around the Imperial fleet, waiting until the enemy pursued the left wing past the planet.
• Trench ordered forty Calamity-class battlecruisers to fire Particle Beam Lances into the exposed sides and rear of the Imperial fleet, destroying several trailing Victory II-class Star Destroyers.
• Trench advanced the right wing and launched a wave of cloaked Wraith and Viking fighters, which attacked alongside the fleet as Imperial TIE/LN fighters engaged them.
• The Imperial fleet pressed onward and withdrew around Rendili Planet, dropping external devices that created a spatial disturbance and disrupted Rendili’s Fire Control Radars.
• Trench watched the Imperial fleet retreat and considered its attack route and apparent use of externally mounted Warp Drives.

General Trench kept the Imperial fleet under fire while Malcolm Granger moved to block its supply route, and Darth Vader ordered his exhausted forces to attack again. The Imperial fleet raced toward Rendili after its three-hour rest, with Executor still held back.

• General Trench ordered Rendili’s warships and orbital defenses to bombard the Imperial fleet, judging that its crews and energy reserves were depleted and its commander was waiting to commit Executor.
• Malcolm Granger volunteered to intercept the Imperial fleet’s supplies, and Trench assigned him one hundred Victory II-class Star Destroyers and all the Victory I-class Star Destroyers while warning him not to engage reinforcements.
• Darth Vader ordered his fleet to rest for three hours and then resume its attack, using the Force to throw aside an officer who warned that the ships were nearly out of energy and damage-control crews were overworked.
• The Imperial fleet detected Granger’s ships jumping toward the Interdictor array, but Darth Vader ordered his officers not to concern themselves with the threat and kept Executor in position.
• After three hours, the Imperial fleet powered its engines to full strength and sped toward the Rendili system.

General Trench struggled to judge whether the Imperial fleet had enough energy to sustain its attacks, while the Rendili Defense Fleet’s left flank suffered heavy losses. News of an Imperial light fleet threatening the system’s defenses drove Trench to order an all-out counterattack, leaving the battle in a fierce new phase.

• General Trench ordered Rendili’s ships to prepare for another Imperial assault and used a tactical simulation to assess the danger of an enemy attack with sufficient energy.
• The Imperial fleet attacked from Rendili’s north, battering the Defense Fleet’s left flank and destroying eight Victory II-class Star Destroyers.
• General Trench weighed whether to counterattack or conserve his forces as officers warned that continued Imperial assaults could exhaust the mobile fleet.
• A messenger reported that Lieutenant General Granger was battling an Imperial light fleet breaking through the Interdictor array, prompting Trench to order the right wing to charge.
• Forty Calamity-class battlecruisers fired their Particle Beam Lances, while Hell-Angel Class and Kohl-class battlecruisers joined the assault on the Imperial fleet.

General Trench launched a desperate counterattack against the Imperial fleet, hoping to turn the battle with Rendili's elite warships and Starbase No. 4. The Executor-class Super Star Destroyer entered the fight and inflicted catastrophic losses, but Starbase No. 4 reached the battlefield and opened fire on it.

• General Trench led Rendili's elite fleet against the Imperial flank, destroying many Victory II-class Star Destroyers as the two wings formed a pincer.
• General Trench ordered Starbase No. 4 to disengage its spatial anchoring system and descend toward Rendili Planet's synchronous orbit so it could join the battle.
• The Executor-class Super Star Destroyer unleashed a devastating barrage that destroyed seven Rendili warships and heavily damaged dozens more.
• General Trench's forces struck Executor's shields, and Agonev-class star base No. 4 arrived and began attacking it with missiles, torpedoes, Turbolasers, gamma rays, and Pulse Laser cannons.
• The three Commander II-class Dreadnoughts moved to intercept Starbase No. 4.

The Rendili Defense Fleet fought the Imperial fleet in a fierce battle as General Trench discovered the Imperials were short on energy and supplies. A black squadron of new TIE fighters turned the fight against Rendili, but the Imperial fleet abruptly retreated after Kira planet fell to Sefrans Tann.

• The Rendili Defense Fleet and Imperial fleet escalated their battle as fighters, bombers, and more than a thousand Rendili support vessels joined the fighting.
• General Trench realized the Imperial fleet lacked energy and supplies, but regretted that his forces had already been committed to a decisive battle.
• General Trench sent more than two thousand Wraith and Viking fighters to attack the Commander II-class Dreadnoughts.
• A black squadron of new-model TIE fighters overwhelmed Rendili's fighters and destroyed a Calamity-class battlecruiser, leading General Trench to suspect Jedi Knights were involved.
• The Imperial fleet began retreating from Rendili, and General Trench learned that Kira planet had fallen to a force commanded by Sefrans Tann.

Darth Vader learned that Kira planet had fallen, forcing the Galactic Empire to abandon its attack on Rendili and redeploy forces to stop the Duchy of Dawn. The story then returned to August 6, when Michel Unther prepared Kira's powerful fleet for battle.

• After Kira planet fell, Darth Vader ordered his fleet to disengage from Rendili and received Palpatine's order to reinforce the area and eliminate Sefrans Tann.
• The chapter explained that Kira's fall opened the Hydian Way and threatened the Galactic Empire's Inner Rim, forcing it to move fleets across the galaxy.
• On August 6, Michel Unther ordered the Kira fleet to leave its spaceports and form combat positions.
• Michel Unther considered the fleet's strengths and weaknesses, including its Imperial II-class Star Destroyers and vulnerability to the Duchy of Dawn's carrier-based fighters.
• Michel Unther welcomed the war as his chance to prove himself and win glory for the Empire.

Admiral Michel Anser prepared the Imperial fleet at Kira Planet to face the Duchy of Dawn’s forces, relying on tracking the Xuanwu Titan warship to locate the enemy’s main fleet. After reports of raids and diversions, he learned that the main fleet had assembled at Naboo and ordered his forces to intercept it.

• Michel Anser reviewed his battle plans for fighting the Eriadu garrison, including its Xuanwu Titan warship and other powerful vessels.
• The Malastare and Enarc outposts detected hyperspace activity, while reports confirmed attacks on the Enarc Interdictor and Paks Planet by enemy light cruisers.
• Michel Anser sent twenty Imperial-class Star Destroyers each to Enarc and Paks Planet, ordering them to drive off the raiders and withdraw if the main fleet appeared.
• The Imperial Star Destroyers exchanged fire with the Separatist Light Cruisers, which soon withdrew without engaging in a prolonged fight.
• Naboo reported that the Separatist main fleet, including Xuanwu, had assembled in its system with four hundred capital ships.
• Michel Anser ordered the Imperial fleet to set out and block the Separatist fleet at Naboo.

Admiral Michel Anser brought the Imperial fleet to Naboo, confident he could defeat the Separatist force waiting there. When he learned Kira planet was under attack, he ordered its garrison to sortie and launched an assault at Naboo, dismissing a warning that the Separatist main fleet had departed Eriadu.

• Michel Anser reviewed the Separatist fleet's strength at Naboo and believed his larger Imperial fleet could destroy it.
• Michel's fleet occupied Enarc and entered the Naboo system, where the Separatist fleet was waiting in formation.
• Naboo's defenders launched 400 N-1 starfighters as Michel prepared for battle.
• Michel received a report that a Separatist fleet was bombarding Kira planet's outer space stations from beyond the range of its defenses.
• Michel ordered Kira planet's garrison fleet to attack and his main fleet to assault the Separatists at Naboo.
• Michel dismissed intelligence that the Separatist main fleet had departed Eriadu and focused on the battle at Naboo.

Admiral Michel Anser led the Imperial fleet into battle against the Duchy of Dawn fleet near Naboo while ordering forces near Kira Planet to attack the Separatist harassment fleet. The battle turned into a crisis when Michel learned that another Separatist main fleet, including an Ankollon-class Titan warship, had appeared in the Enarc system.

• Admiral Michel Anser ordered Kira Planet's defenders to join 20 Imperial-class Star Destroyers and attack the Separatist fleet bombarding the planet.
• The Imperial fleet attacked the Duchy of Dawn fleet near Naboo, and Michel ordered concentrated fire that destroyed two Hell Angel-class battlecruisers.
• The Xuanwu Titan warship led the Duchy of Dawn advance while both fleets exchanged heavy fire and their fighters engaged; Michel also sent 400 N-1 starfighters into the battle.
• Michel ordered the Imperial fleet to reduce shield power and destroy the Separatist fleet within five hours.
• The commander of the Imperial fleet at Enarc reported that the Separatist main fleet had appeared there with 400 ships and an Ankollon-class Titan warship.
• Michel rejected the report in disbelief as the Enarc fleet came under attack and urgently requested reinforcements.

Michel-Onser's Imperial fleet was caught in a pincer attack by the Duchy of Dawn's forces and suffered devastating damage from enhanced Particle Beam Lances. He ordered a retreat, but massive unknown warships had already charged into the battle.

• Michel-Onser learned that the twenty Imperial-class Star Destroyers left on Enarc had been destroyed and saw the Duchy of Dawn's main fleet emerge behind his forces.
• Michel-Onser ordered the Imperial fleet to charge the fleet ahead rather than turn to face the fleet behind.
• The Duchy of Dawn fleet formed a circular defensive formation around the Xuanwu Titan warship, whose Fleet Shield absorbed most of the Imperial fleet's turbolaser fire.
• Enhanced Particle Beam Lances crippled Imperial ships and overwhelmed their defenses, prompting Michel-Onser to order a retreat.
• Fifteen massive, top-heavy-looking warships charged into the battle as the Imperial fleet tried to break away.

The Duchy of Dawn’s Second Task Force ambushed the Imperial fleet at Kira planet, overwhelming it with advanced warships, Titan shields, and drone swarms. Michel Anser realized the Imperial fleet faced defeat as the battle turned decisively against it.

• Michel Anser ordered the Imperial fleet to turn after realizing the fleet behind it was the greater threat.
• Fifteen Oracle-class battlecruisers tore through the Imperial formation with rapid-fire attacks, crippling or destroying several Star Destroyers.
• A second Ankollon-class Titan projected its Fleet Shield over the Oracle-class battlecruisers as Michel Anser watched in despair.
• Michel Anser saw ten Consul-class aircraft carriers launch a vast swarm of drones against the Imperial fighters.
• Sefrans Tann and Darth Lilim watched from the Taowu as Sefrans Tann recalled the plan that brought the Second Task Force from Eriadu to strike the Imperial fleet from behind.
• Swarm II interceptor drones overwhelmed the Imperial carrier-based fighters, demonstrating their increased threat to capital ships.

Ling Liang’s First Task Force and its 100,000 Swarm II drones devastated Michel Onse’s Imperial fleet near Kira Planet. With the Imperial formation in chaos, the Duchy of Dawn began its counterattack, though the Divinity-class battleships and Paladin-class battlecruisers remained a threat.

• Imperial researchers remained unable to explain the Swarm Drones’ power and resilience, while the Vindicator-class cruiser designed to counter fighters proved ineffective against the drones.
• Michel Onse’s fleet faced 100,000 Swarm II drones, which broke through the Vindicators’ defenses and destroyed an Imperial-class Star Destroyer’s bridge.
• Ling Liang recalled the First Task Force’s carrier aircraft to attack Naboo’s N-1 starfighters after the Imperial TIE fighters had been wiped out.
• The Wraith and Viking fighters destroyed all 400 N-1 starfighters without losing any aircraft.
• Ling Liang’s First Task Force regrouped behind the Xuanwu Titan and launched an assault on the scattered Imperial fleet.
• The Imperial fleet struggled to resist the Duchy of Dawn’s attack, while its Divinity-class battleships and Paladin-class battlecruisers remained active.

Michel Onser’s Imperial fleet was routed in the Naboo system, and the Duchy of Dawn’s forces advanced on Kira planet. After Kira’s defenders were beaten by a smaller Separatist fleet, Sefrans Tann arrived with the main fleet, leaving Michel prepared to die.

• Michel Onser ordered his forces to flee as the Duchy of Dawn’s fleet overwhelmed them, and the damaged Lusankya escaped under the protection of Imperial-class Star Destroyers.
• Naboo surrendered on August 7, and Sefrans Tann reorganized her forces and advanced toward Kira planet while Ling Liang stayed behind to clear the battlefield.
• Kalinda Planet surrendered, while Michel learned that Kira’s defenders had lost to sixty Calamity-class battlecruisers, one hundred Light Cruisers, and fifty miniature Behemoth-class battlecruisers.
• Sefrans Tann’s Second Task Force and the Separatist fleet arrived at Kira planet, and Michel Onser resolved to die rather than face the coming battle.

After the Duchy of Dawn began bombarding Kira planet, Admiral Michel Angser chose to lead the battered Imperial fleet in a desperate attack. Sefrans Tann sent her Second Task Force straight at them, targeting the Lusankaya and setting up a decapitation strike.

• Michel Angser completed a battle report warning that the Duchy of Dawn’s warships had outclassed the Empire’s, then refused to flee Kira planet or abandon the Lusankaya.
• At 21:00 on August 7, Sefrans Tann’s Second Task Force bombarded Kira planet’s spaceports and armed space stations from long range.
• After three stations were destroyed and mutinies were suppressed, Michel Angser sent a final letter to the Imperial Center and led his fleet into an offensive.
• Sefrans Tann ordered her fleet to charge head-on, with two Ankollon-class Titan warships leading the formation toward the Lusankaya.
• The Imperial fleet concentrated its fire on the advancing Titan warships as Swarm II-type interceptor drones swept in to support them.

Michel Onse ordered the Imperial fleet to focus its fire on the Xuanwu and Taowu, while the two Titan warships drew close to the Lusankaya. He realized too late that they had concealed Ogre-class Siege Cruisers, whose torpedoes struck the Super Star Destroyer.

• Michel Onse ordered the Imperial ships to fire on the advancing Titan warships and retreated the Lusankaya behind its shields.
• The Xuanwu and Taowu used their Fleet Shields and swarms of unmanned Interceptors to endure the Imperial fleet’s barrage as the Duchy of Dawn fleet destroyed Imperial ships.
• The two Titan warships closed to within ten kilometers of the Lusankaya, while Imperial crews believed they were about to ram it.
• More than a dozen Ogre-class Siege Cruisers emerged from the Titan warships’ hulls and fired giant Proton Torpedoes at the Lusankaya.
• Michel Onse watched helplessly as the torpedoes struck the Super Star Destroyer.

Sefrans Tann used Super-heavy Proton Torpedoes from Ogre-class Siege Cruisers to cripple the Lusankya, trapping the Imperial Super Star Destroyer and defeating Admiral Michel Anser’s plan to withdraw. As the ship began to break apart, Michel ordered the crew to abandon ship and chose to remain aboard with several officers.

• Sefrans Tann’s Ogre-class Siege Cruisers struck the Lusankya with Super-heavy Proton Torpedoes, weapons whose destructive power could overwhelm even an Executor-class Super Star Destroyer once they hit.
• Michel Anser realized Sefrans had anticipated his retreat and used the attack to prevent the Lusankya from escaping.
• The torpedo impacts destroyed the Lusankya’s central gravity and gyroscope systems, causing the ship to list as explosions tore through its hull.
• Michel Anser ordered the crew to evacuate and abandon ship, then saluted and remained on the bridge.
• Several officers joined Michel Anser as escape pods launched from the doomed Lusankya.

Sefrans Tann’s fleet destroyed the Lusankaya and routed the Imperial fleet, then used the wreckage of Imperial warships to batter Kira planet’s defenses. By August 8, Kira’s planetary shield had fallen, and Imperial Navy Headquarters learned that its fleet had been annihilated.

• After the Lusankaya was destroyed, the Imperial fleet lost cohesion and most surviving warships fled.
• Darth Lilim led her scarlet Sabre-class fighters in attacking escape pods, while Sefrans Tann blocked her communications and ordered the Ogre-class cruisers to push the Lusankaya’s wreckage toward Kira planet.
• The Lusankaya’s wreckage and more than a hundred Imperial-class Star Destroyer wrecks struck Kira planet’s planetary shield, weakening it under the assault.
• The Duchy of Dawn’s Second Task Force bombarded the shield with nuclear bombs until it was breached at 11:40 a.m. on August 8.
• Imperial Navy Headquarters received news that the Kira Planet fleet had been destroyed and the planet was about to face a landing assault.

After the Duchy of Dawn annihilated the Imperial fleet at Kira planet, Sefrans Tann prepared to attack Fondor Planet while Ling Liang began the ground invasion of Kira. The landing opened with nuclear bombardment and Indjori Avengers, as a mysterious Umbrella operation unfolded among the defenders.

• Emperor Palpatine ordered Darth Vader to return from Rendili and assemble a powerful fleet, while directing Kira planet's defenders to hold the surface at all costs.
• Sefrans Tann assigned Ling Liang to command the Kira landing and planned to refit her main fleet before attacking Fondor Planet.
• Ling Liang began the landing on Kira planet with nuclear missiles and Indjori Avenger Type 103s, while three Umbrella-marked Leviathan liners entered the atmosphere and were destroyed by Imperial defenses.
• At a V-150 Planet Defender Orbital Cannon base, conscripted defenders took a brief break while engineers repaired the damaged cannon.
• One soldier felt a sting on the back of his neck, slapped at it, and continued chatting with his comrades.

Imperial soldiers guarding a V-150 Planet Defender cannon watched their base descend into chaos when Kafu and others suddenly mutated into monsters. Joseph tried to escape, but the base was overwhelmed and a tentacle emerging from a body bag swallowed his head.

• Joseph and the other soldiers talked about the battle, their hopes of returning home, and the threatened Ninth Industrial Zone as the V-150 cannon began to rotate.
• The soldiers discovered that Kafu had transformed into a giant monster, which killed several of them despite their Blaster fire.
• Joseph led the survivors toward the base, where another mutated engineer spewed corrosive green pus at a soldier.
• Joseph fled past the burning base and was seized and swallowed by a tentacle monster emerging from a body bag near the field hospital.
• More than a dozen monsters overran the orbital defense base, leaving the soldiers unable to mount an organized defense.

Monsters erupted across Kira planet as the Duchy of Dawn launched its invasion, overwhelming the planet’s defenses and sending troops toward the capital district. After the landing operation began, Ling Liang met Alexia Ashford, who dismissed her Ant Swarm Plan’s success as the work of a defective product.

• Mutations spread from the Duchy of Dawn’s landing sites across Kira planet, prompting the planetary commander to request help from the Imperial Center.
• Ten Luukri-Hok-class battleships arrived over Kira planet, and Banshee Fighters began destroying defensive positions.
• Sword-class Aerial Fortresses eliminated the planet’s V-150 cannon batteries while Indjori Avenger Type 103 units and mutated monsters attacked.
• One hundred thousand Duchy of Dawn soldiers landed, and more than two hundred Scorpion tanks advanced toward the capital district as Palpatine’s defense plan failed.
• Ling Liang praised Alexia Ashford’s Ant Swarm Plan, but Alexia called it a defective product.

Ling Liang demanded more ant swarms for Operation Zero, while Alexia Ashford secretly sabotaged their breeding and claimed she would take Fondor Planet for herself. A second-generation swarm test then showed that the insects could turn hosts into specialized mutant creatures.

• Ling Liang pressed Alexia Ashford to produce another batch of ant swarms for the coming attack on Fondor Planet, and Alexia said two million would be ready within a week.
• Alexia went to her battleship’s laboratory, inspected the Queen Ant’s eggs, and stabbed the flesh cocoon, destroying its unlaid eggs as she vowed to claim Fondor Planet.
• Alexia delivered Ling Liang an adjusted second-generation ant swarm egg, which Umbrella researchers opened for testing.
• The insects parasitized white mice and transformed them into hunting-dog-sized monsters with distinct forms suited to different roles.
• An Umbrella researcher explained that the new ant swarms displayed spontaneous social behavior through division of labor.

Ling Liang rejected Alexia Ashford’s costly redesign of the Ant Swarm, insisting the project stay focused on Operation Zero. The chapter explained how the virus-carrying B.O.W.s were meant to overwhelm Kira planet’s defenders while preserving the planet for use as a forward supply base.

• Ling Liang rebuked an Umbrella researcher for enlarging the Ant Swarm mosquitoes and ordered Alexia Ashford to stop interfering with the project.
• Ling Liang left the laboratory, convinced that Alexia Ashford and Sherry Birkin treated warfare like human experimentation and risked Operation Zero.
• The chapter explained that the Duchy of Dawn needed to capture Imperial planets intact to avoid destroying resources and provoking public backlash.
• Alexia Ashford’s T-Veronica Virus mosquitoes were designed to infect hosts and create powerful mutants that could not spread the virus further.
• About eight hundred thousand mosquitoes were deployed on Kira planet, and roughly four hundred thousand found hosts, leaving monsters rampaging across the planet as the defenders struggled.

The Duchy of Dawn used the Ant Swarm and a major military offensive to capture Kira planet in five days, devastating the Galactic Empire’s forces at relatively low cost. Kira was being rebuilt as a forward base, leaving Chardaan Planet and the Empire’s control of the Hydian Way threatened.

• The Duchy of Dawn destroyed Kira planet’s orbital defenses and seized its airspace while three days of bombardment isolated the planet’s ground forces.
• Duchy of Dawn troops broke through the capital region’s defenses as Umbrella technicians guided Ant Swarm mutants toward the city.
• The Kira planet defenders collapsed, the capital region fell, and Kira surrendered on August 11.
• The battle annihilated the Imperial fleet and caused heavy Imperial casualties, while the Duchy of Dawn recovered the Ant Swarm and began rebuilding Kira’s orbital facilities.
• The Duchy of Dawn prepared to turn Kira into a major forward base, putting Chardaan Planet and the Empire’s hold on the Hydian Way at risk.

After its victory at Planet Kira, the Duchy of Dawn celebrated while the Galactic Empire scrambled to counter its carrier-based fighters and raise funds. The festivities took an unexpected turn when Helmut Zemo publicly urged Tang Xiao to reject Imperial investiture and become king.

• The Galactic Empire spread claims about its losses at Kira and the Duchy of Dawn’s alleged viral weapons, then ordered mass production of Tartan-class patrol cruisers and increased investment in Vindicator-class heavy cruisers.
• Kuat Drive Yards and Lila Vesex grew concerned that the Empire’s shift toward anti-air warships would undermine its investment in fleet-combat designs.
• The Galactic Empire pressured the Core Worlds’ noble houses to buy war bonds and donate to the war effort.
• Tang Xiao opened the Duchy of Dawn’s nationwide victory celebration on August 13 alongside Adele Ulan, Tang Xing, Tang Yun, and Leia.
• During Ailiya Isabella’s performance, Helmut Zemo knelt before Tang Xiao and called on him to reject investiture from Palpatine and ascend the throne as king.

Tang Xiao refused the people’s pleas to become king, insisting that he remained an administrator responsible for helping the Fourth Civilization survive with dignity. As more than a million citizens knelt and begged him to ascend, Adele Ulan and his children joined them, leaving Tang Xiao facing their united appeal.

• Tang Xiao recalled leading six hundred thousand refugees and said he would rather return to being an administrator than keep the title of grand duke.
• Daphne Clement and Graham praised Tang Xiao’s leadership and urged him to become king.
• Officials and military commanders knelt and called on Tang Xiao to ascend the throne, but he refused, saying he would not seek glory before the people had dignity and security.
• Tang Xiao turned to leave with Adele Ulan, Tang Xing, and Tang Yun, but more than a million citizens knelt and renewed their plea.
• Adele Ulan and the children knelt with the crowd, and Tang Yun called out to his father.