Chapter Summaries

Toreso-Bore’s martyrdom strengthened Rosha’s resistance, while the Galactic Empire escalated its attacks under Order 37. On Skako, Lott Dod tried to persuade Watto Tambor to aid the Trade Federation, and the chapter ended with him requesting Scorpion Annihilator Droids and super tanks.

• Toreso-Bore and four other wanted Roshan leaders killed themselves in a live broadcast, inspiring resistance against the Galactic Empire.
• Darth Vader expanded Order 37 to target everyone fighting the Empire, and Imperial forces attacked cities across Rosha.
• As the Confederacy of Independent Systems weakened, the Technological Alliance fell behind Dawn Star Planet and eventually surrendered to the Galactic Republic, losing much of its former power.
• Lott Dod warned Watto Tambor that the Galactic Empire would target Skako after the Trade Federation and said the Trade Federation could hold out for only six months without more aid.
• Watto Tambor refused to risk the lives of 230 billion Skakoans by openly joining the fight, but Lott Dod asked him to provide Scorpion Annihilator Droids and super tanks.

In 2145, Lott Dod forced Wat Tambor to hand over the Scorpion Annihilator, Super Tank, and other technological data, then advised him to move assets to Rendili and escape to the Duchy of Dawn. In 12 BBY, Palpatine criticized the Empire’s conduct and casualties on Vulpter and Rosha, then declared that the Empire had inherited the Republic’s failings as Sate Pestage reassured him that the Darkness Plan was proceeding.

• Lott Dod confronted Wat Tambor, who said the Scorpion Annihilator and Super Tank technologies had been lost.
• Lott Dod threatened Wat Tambor until Wat Tambor revealed a hidden data device containing the technologies and other Clone Wars research.
• Lott Dod took the device and told Wat Tambor to move what he wanted to Rendili and escape to the Duchy of Dawn.
• Palpatine reviewed the reports from Vulpter and Rosha and questioned why the fighting and deaths had not met his expectations.
• Palpatine told Sate Pestage that the Empire had inherited the Republic’s weaknesses, and Sate Pestage said the Darkness Plan was proceeding smoothly.

Palpatine demanded more money and Force-sensitive test subjects for his plan, while Sate Pestage warned that the Imperial treasury was already strained. On Tatooine, Kunto reached a hidden Kapisi-class Land Carrier and met its drunken owner, who asked after Cun Te.

• Palpatine ordered Sate Pestage to increase funding and find more test subjects, then directed him to make Core Worlds families pay.
• Palpatine questioned Sate Pestage about Sanya Tagge's visit to Dawn Star Planet and proposed that her sons bid to become the Tagge family's next head.
• Kunto arrived on Tatooine aboard a G-9 cargo ship and landed beside the concealed Kapisi-class Land Carrier in a remote canyon.
• Kunto let Jawas take the ship's cargo in exchange for a thorough overhaul, then entered the Land Carrier's bar.
• Kunto met the Land Carrier's owner, who welcomed him, asked how Cun Te was doing, and called himself Santa Claus.

Kunto visited Yuri Orlov to ask for his help with the Trade Federation and Rebel Alliance, but Yuri initially refused. After reflecting on his history with Kunto and his departure from the Fourth Civilization, Yuri agreed to help and revealed he knew about a shipment on Hypori planet.

• Kunto woke at Yuri Orlov’s residence with no memory of the previous night and tried to discuss his business with Yuri.
• Yuri rejected Kunto’s requests concerning the Trade Federation and Rebel Alliance, then explained that Cun Te had sent Kunto so Yuri could choose freely.
• Yuri recalled his twenty-three years of history with Kunto and described how he left the Fourth Civilization after realizing the scale of Tang Xiao’s war.
• Yuri told Kunto that he agreed to help with both the Trade Federation and the Rebel Alliance, and said he knew about a shipment on Hypori planet that Nute Gunray had asked him about.

Yuri Orlov accepted a weapons contract from the Trade Federation and arranged to collect the goods with Magtan Scar. As the Galactic Empire’s war against the Trade Federation intensified, the Duchy of Dawn deployed the Rebel Alliance as its trump card to aid the Federation.

• Yuri Orlov told Kunto he would supply the Trade Federation and said an arms dealer’s most important rule was never to get involved in a war.
• Yuri Orlov contacted Magtan Scar and told him to bring Jason Statham to Hypori to collect the Trade Federation’s shipment.
• Arakyd Industries rejected the Galactic Empire’s proposals and stood with the Trade Federation as battles continued on Vulpter and Rosha.
• Darth Vader gathered his fleet outside Deko-Neimoidia while the Trade Federation moved personnel and wealth to Rendili and prepared to resist.
• The Duchy of Dawn supported the Trade Federation with intelligence, sabotage, weapons, supplies, and the Rebel Alliance.

Padmé Amidala advanced the Rebel Alliance’s expansion on Columex with help from Shaak Ti and the New Jedi Order. Meanwhile, Olegar arrived at Haruun Kal seeking to purge the corruption in his psionic power and uncover the planet’s connection to the Void.

• The Rebel Alliance used Trade Federation navigation data to expand uprisings while the Galactic Empire concentrated its forces against the Trade Federation.
• Padmé Amidala decided to start an uprising on Columex by securing Simon Greyshade’s cooperation and severing the Galactic Empire’s connections there.
• Padmé asked Shaak Ti to monitor Simon and ensure the uprising succeeded, while Shaak Ti explained that Columex’s capture would help protect the Jedi Order on Osus Planet.
• Olegar’s damaged Revenge-class destroyer emerged near Haruun Kal, where he sought a place to purge the contamination in his psionic power.
• Olegar identified the apparent defenders around Haruun Kal as a psychic barrier, then ordered probes launched and prepared to investigate the planet himself.

Olegar followed Haruun Kal’s call to Pelek-Baw City, where he uncovered the planet’s dreamlike memories and met its guardians. When they used his painful memories of the Khalai Protoss against him, he erupted in fury and attacked.

• Olegar learned that Pelek-Baw City was the only major settlement on Haruun Kal and took a shuttle there with crew members and four Dark Templar.
• Olegar saw the city as scorched ruins while his companions perceived a thriving settlement, and he concluded that the planet’s Void Energy was projecting its memories.
• Olegar tapped a ruined building with a sphere of purple flame, shattering the city illusion and revealing a jungle where two ethereal voices welcomed him to Haruun Kal’s world of dreams.
• Olegar demanded the location of the planet’s core, but the dream guardians refused and warned that he would become lost in Haruun Kal’s dream.
• Olegar attacked the jungle, and the guardians summoned visions of Khalai Protoss and a burning Nerazim village that awakened his buried hatred and nightmares.
• Olegar unleashed blood-red and purple energy that destroyed the illusions and reduced the accompanying crew to ash as the four Dark Templar charged forward.

Olegar defeated the Haruun Kal Dreamscape’s layered illusions and met the Dream Sisters, who asked him to find Tang Xiao and rescue a lost Son of Haruun Kal. After completing a ritual that transformed him into a black-hole-like being, Olegar left Haruun Kal, while Tang Xiao remained bound and powerless before the figure he called “Father.”

• Olegar and his four Dark Templars fought illusionary Zealots and High Templars until the Dream Sisters ended the vision and revealed the plateau and rusted warships.
• Luna-Dream and Luna-Illusion asked Olegar to find Tang Xiao, who would lead him to the confused Son of Haruun Kal, and promised to help purify his soul and complete his ritual.
• Olegar agreed to help the Dream Sisters in exchange for their aid in taking control of Haruun Kal, then used the seven Kylin Crystals to begin his ritual with his four Dark Templars.
• Three days later, Olegar emerged as a black-hole-like being, saw the Dream Sisters sleeping aboard a Victory I-class Star Destroyer, and returned to his ship in orbit.
• Tang Xiao, bound by beams of light and unable to use the Death Force, challenged the figure before him and called it “Father.”

On Mortis, the Father confronted Tang Xiao and explained why he considered him an uncontrollable threat to the Force. He revealed that he was nearing death and that his children could escape Mortis when he died, then disclosed that Yoda had arrived before the Chosen One.

• The Father appeared before Tang Xiao and declared that he would imprison him rather than kill him.
• Tang Xiao challenged the Father to imprison Palpatine as well, and the Father explained that Palpatine had not been captured because he stayed on Coruscant.
• The Father said a powerful resonance twenty-three years earlier had altered the Force and that he could find neither Tang Xiao’s past nor his future.
• The Father admitted that he was close to death after maintaining the Force’s balance for a hundred thousand years, and warned that his children would escape Mortis and cause bloodshed if he died.
• The Father told Tang Xiao not to call Alobeth the Mother and revealed that Yoda had come to Mortis before he intended to meet the Chosen One.

Tang Xiao learned that Father had spoken with Yoda on Mortis and kept him imprisoned until he judged it safe. As Tang Xiao’s Dark Side corruption eased, he resolved to find a way to escape and defeat the Ones, starting with Son and Daughter.

• Tang Xiao questioned Father about Yoda’s arrival on Mortis, and Father said they had spoken for a year about the Jedi, the Sith, the Chosen One, and Tang Xiao.
• Father refused to release Tang Xiao until he was certain it was safe, then vanished.
• Tang Xiao meditated and realized the Dark Side’s torment and the competing wills in his mind had subsided after his confrontation with Black Star.
• Tang Xiao considered Mortis and the Ones’ history, concluding they were powerful beings rather than gods and that Father maintained balance between Son and Daughter.
• Tang Xiao decided he had to escape Mortis, eliminate the Ones if possible, and exploit Son and Daughter to do so.

Tang Xiao confronted the Son on Mortis, who offered him Midpoint Station technology if he could land a hit. Tang Xiao unleashed several attacks, but the Son overwhelmed them and left him defenseless.

• Tang Xiao recognized the Son behind the voice of Darth Pregas and refused to become his servant.
• The Son freed Tang Xiao and promised to reveal Midpoint Station technology if Tang Xiao could hurt him.
• Tang Xiao attacked with Force lightning and a Death Force sandstorm, but the Son absorbed the storm and hurled it back.
• Tang Xiao struck from behind with a reassembled Lightsaber and a Soul Shriek, but the Son drained the blade and resisted the shriek.
• The Son shattered the Force around Tang Xiao and left him almost entirely defenseless.

Tang Xiao fought the Son on Mortis, was overwhelmed by his Crimson Lightning, and agreed to help him while refusing to promise his realm’s submission without benefits. The Son began considering Tang Xiao’s argument that ruling through mutual interests could prevent another Kilik Swarm disaster.

• The Son blasted Tang Xiao with Crimson Lightning, leaving him badly injured and unable to move.
• Tang Xiao agreed to help the Son personally and used the Life Force to heal himself.
• Tang Xiao demanded direct benefits before his realm and people would submit, arguing that fear-based rule had led to the Kilik Swarm’s destruction.
• The Son recalled how he had destroyed the Kilik Swarm after it plotted to escape his control and began to question what he had gained.

After the Son attacked Tang Xiao, the Daughter healed him and took responsibility for protecting him while the Father sought answers about the Force resonance from twenty-three years earlier. Tang Xiao remained trapped on Mortis and pleaded to return to the Duchy of Dawn, whose people faced invasion without him.

• The Son threatened to destroy his enemies, argued with Tang Xiao, then transformed into a winged monster and flew away.
• The Father and Daughter arrived, and the Daughter healed Tang Xiao with her Life Force.
• The Father warned Tang Xiao to avoid the Son, then ordered the Daughter to protect him while he meditated at the Balance Throne for answers.
• The Daughter took Tang Xiao from Mortis monastery and explained that the Balance Throne was an intangible concept.
• Tang Xiao demanded to return to the Duchy of Dawn, arguing that he had embraced the Dark Side to save his people from destruction and protect them from the Galactic Empire.

Tang Xiao argued that Daughter’s refusal to release him endangered the Duchy of Dawn, but Daughter kept him in her custody until Son attacked her. After Father stopped their battle, Son seized Tang Xiao and carried him to the Dark Cathedral.

• Tang Xiao urged Daughter to let him return to stop the war, accusing her of allowing the Dark Side to threaten hundreds of billions of lives, but she refused and told him to stay put.
• Son arrived and demanded access to Tang Xiao, and Daughter blocked him before the two transformed and fought, sending Mortis into darkness and unleashing destructive lightning.
• Father separated Son and Daughter, restoring light to Mortis but weakening himself further.
• Tang Xiao attacked Daughter with his Lightsaber and Crimson Lightning, but she stopped both attacks and threw him back with the Force.
• Son caught Tang Xiao, carried him away, and brought him to the Dark Cathedral.

Tang Xiao’s son offered him the Dagger of Mortis and ordered him to kill Father, claiming it would free them from Mortis. Tang Xiao saw through the son’s plan to use him as a disposable pawn, but pretended to agree and followed him to the altar.

• Tang Xiao’s son told him the Dagger of Mortis could harm the Ones and offered it as a reward for loyalty.
• The son ordered Tang Xiao to kill Father, claiming Father’s death would lift Mortis’s confinement and let them escape.
• Tang Xiao realized the son planned to use his death to wound Father and escape while the daughter stayed behind to care for him.
• Tang Xiao pretended to accept the order and asked his son to take him to the dagger.
• The son agreed, saying Father and his sister were recovering and could not stop them from reaching the altar.

The Son led Tang Xiao to the Dagger of Mortis and hid it from the Father and Daughter, while Tang Xiao later persuaded the Daughter to take his warning about the Son seriously. The chapter ended with Tang Xiao holding the dagger against the Daughter and demanding that she recognize the danger facing the Duchy of Dawn.

• The Son brought Tang Xiao to a sea of green fire and ordered him to cross it to the altar.
• Tang Xiao crossed the flames, obtained the Dagger of Mortis, and resisted the urge to attack the Son.
• The Son concealed the dagger and Tang Xiao’s killing intent from the Father and the Daughter, then threw Tang Xiao out of his Dark Cathedral.
• After two days, the Daughter carried Tang Xiao toward the Father, and Tang Xiao argued that the Duchy of Dawn needed him to return and face the coming war.
• Tang Xiao told the Daughter that the Son had ordered him to kill the Father, then pressed the dagger against her chest and said he could become as reckless as the Son to protect his people.

Tang Xiao gave the Dagger of Mortis to Daughter and urged her to use it to stop Son from killing Father and escaping Mortis. Daughter refused to use the real dagger against Son, but gave Tang Xiao a branch transformed to look like it so he could deceive Son and protect himself during the ritual.

• Tang Xiao confronted Daughter and argued that sacrificing the Duchy of Dawn’s civilians for balance in the Force was no different from the Dark Side.
• Tang Xiao revealed that Son had ordered him to kill Father during the ritual, then placed the Dagger of Mortis in Daughter’s hand.
• Tang Xiao warned that telling Father would only lead to the dagger being confiscated and Son eventually killing Father, Daughter, and Tang Xiao.
• Tang Xiao urged Daughter to wound Son with the dagger, explaining that he needed to save the hundreds of billions of people in the Duchy of Dawn.
• Daughter concealed the dagger and refused to use it against Son, but transformed a branch into a fake Dagger of Mortis for Tang Xiao.

Daughter brought Tang Xiao to Father, who prepared to probe the secret within Tang Xiao’s soul despite Daughter’s objections. Tang Xiao and Son’s plan erupted into a betrayal that left Daughter seriously wounded and Son charging at Father.

• Daughter brought Tang Xiao before Father at the Balance Throne, and Tang Xiao claimed Son had kept him alive because he might help them escape Mortis.
• Father announced that he would use a ritual to uncover Tang Xiao’s secret, refusing Daughter’s request to let Tang Xiao choose.
• Tang Xiao drew a fake Dagger of Mortis and claimed Son had told him to kill Father, while Son launched a Crimson Lightning attack at them.
• Daughter tried to shield Tang Xiao from Son’s attack as Tang Xiao transformed into a Dark Archon and struck Daughter with Death Force.
• Son’s arrow pierced and seriously wounded Daughter before Father blocked it; Tang Xiao tossed the fake dagger aside, and Son charged at Father.

Tang Xiao manipulated the Son and Daughter into killing the Son with the Dagger of Mortis, hoping to escape Mortis and destroy the Ones. The Father survived and turned on Tang Xiao, but an unknown figure emerged from a warp gate and blocked his attack.

• Tang Xiao tricked the Son into believing the Dagger of Mortis was in the Father's possession, drawing the Father's suspicion and the Son's attacks toward him.
• The Son discovered the dagger was fake and realized Tang Xiao still had the real one, then rushed to stop him from stabbing the Father.
• The wounded Daughter used the Dagger of Mortis to stab and kill the Son, whose final burst of Crimson Lightning further injured her.
• The Father healed the Daughter and confronted Tang Xiao, who admitted he had planned the Ones' deaths to escape Mortis and protect the Duchy of Dawn.
• The Father attacked Tang Xiao with lightning, but a warp gate opened behind him and a massive figure blocked the strike.

Tang Xiao escaped Mortis with Olegar, who demanded an alliance against the Khalai Protoss in exchange for helping the Dream Sisters find the Son of Haruun Kal. Tang Xiao refused to attack the modern Protoss, but agreed to provide Olegar with a ship and battle droids, leaving their uneasy agreement in place.

• The Daughter stopped the 'Father' from pursuing Tang Xiao, and the 'Father' took the Son's body to the Eternal Slumber while giving the Daughter the Dagger of Mortis and lifting Mortis's restrictions.
• Olegar brought Tang Xiao to Naos and said the Dark Templar Sola-Ah and Oola-Khan had acknowledged him as the hope of the Nerazim.
• Olegar demanded that Tang Xiao help destroy the Khalai Protoss, but Tang Xiao refused and warned that Olegar needed him as an ally.
• Olegar explained that the Dream Sisters had asked him to find the Son of Haruun Kal, and Tang Xiao identified him as Mace Windu near the Yavin System.
• Tang Xiao promised Olegar a warship and battle droids, and Olegar departed through a Warp Gate.
• A day later, a ship arrived to collect Tang Xiao, and the Duchy of Dawn sent Olegar a Deceiver-class destroyer.