Chapter Summaries

Tang Xiao assessed the danger posed by Mandalore’s sudden unification and suspected Darth Maul’s Shadow Collective was behind it. He ordered preparations and surveillance, then used his altar to reach toward a mysterious presence on Taris.

• Tang Xiao, Sefrans Tann, Helmut Zemo, and Salatan Morse discussed Mandalore’s new regime and the risks of intervening or allowing the Galactic Empire to act.
• Tang Xiao ordered Tann to keep her fleet on standby and secretly prepare Stargate components, while Morse increased surveillance on Black Sun and warned Dryden Vos to stay alert.
• Tang Xiao considered the Shadow Collective’s threat, Mandalore’s strategic position near Korriban, and the mystery of Gethzerion’s resurrection.
• Tang Xiao entered the hidden chamber behind his office and used the altar’s Death Force to pierce through space.
• On Taris, a pair of scarlet eyes suddenly opened in the Lower City.

Adi Gallia awakened from death as Death and received orders to go to Mandalore, where an unknown assassin had killed ten of Gal Saxon’s warriors. Asajj Ventress examined the bodies and identified the killer as the Archangel of Death.

• Adi Gallia recovered her memories in Taris, embraced her identity as Death, and vowed revenge on Darth Sidious and Anakin Skywalker.
• A B-1 battle droid delivered Tang Xiao’s orders for Death to monitor Mandalore, watch Olegar, and kill Darth Maul if he appeared.
• A Rodian captain led Zann Consortium pirates to a Deceiver-class destroyer, where they received a new mission before returning to their ships.
• Gal Saxon found ten Mandalorian warriors dead outside the royal palace and requested aid from Tiber Zayne.
• Asajj Ventress arrived with ten Nightsisters, inspected the corpses, and identified the assassin as the Archangel of Death.

Asajj Ventress warned Gal Saxon that the Duchy of Dawn might be interfering in Mandalore, while Imperial pressure and a military standoff left both powers waiting to see what happened. The chapter then shifted to Nashadda, where Black Sun leader Xomit Grensit met with Silri to discuss the Zann Consortium’s offer of cooperation.

• Asajj Ventress told Gal Saxon that the Duchy of Dawn was likely interfering in Mandalore, possibly through one of Tang Xiao’s subordinates.
• Gal Saxon reported an attack on Mandalorian warriors to the Galactic Empire and blamed Tang Xiao, prompting the Empire to send ten Imperial-class Star Destroyers to Mandalore.
• Wilhuff Tarkin warned Emperor Palpatine that the Duchy of Dawn was infiltrating Mandalore, but the Imperial Senate recommended keeping a military presence there and waiting.
• On Nashadda, Xomit Grensit met with Silri, who told him that the Zann Consortium wanted to cooperate with Black Sun.

Silri offered Black Sun a partnership with the Zann Consortium, but Kosomite-Glenset demanded compensation for past attacks. Darth Maul and Savage Opress stormed Black Sun’s headquarters, and Ziton Moj helped them kill Glenset and take control of the negotiations.

• Silri pitched cooperation to Kosomite-Glenset and six Black Sun Vegos, while they accused the Zann Consortium of attacking their fleet and stealing their business.
• Silri invoked Hutt Jabba as a potential partner, and Kosomite-Glenset demanded compensation before Black Sun would consider an alliance.
• Darth Maul and Savage Opress attacked Black Sun’s headquarters, killing Guardians as they fought their way inside.
• Kosomite-Glenset tried to flee, but Ziton Moj and Black Sun guards turned against him and blocked his escape.
• Darth Maul forced Glenset to the floor, and Ziton Moj shot him before Maul welcomed Moj as Black Sun’s new leader and left to discuss cooperation.

Tang Xiao learned that Darth Maul was forming the Shadow Collective and considered whether to recruit or eliminate him. On Mandalore, Asajj Ventress confronted Death, whose black mist drained life, and the fight continued as a Night sister’s arrow struck Death in the back.

• Salatan Morse reported Xomit Grunseit's murder to Tang Xiao, who identified Darth Maul as the likely culprit and weighed the threat and opportunity posed by the Shadow Collective.
• Tang Xiao considered contacting Dryden Vos to reach Darth Maul and decided the matter required a sharp response.
• On Mandalore, Death attacked two Night sisters investigating a corpse, but Asajj Ventress arrived and blocked her strike with her Lightsabers.
• Death and Ventress fought as Death spread black mist that strengthened her and drained Ventress's life force.
• Ventress ordered the Night sisters to attack, then joined the melee, and one Night sister shot an arrow into Death's back.

Asajj Ventress and the Mandalorians failed to stop the resurrected Adi Gallia from attacking their forces, prompting Shen Qiaoen to send reinforcements and plan a response to the Duchy of Dawn. On Corellia, Kira left a weapons shipment to meet Dryden Vos, who told her the Zann Consortium wanted an alliance with Crimson Dawn.

• Adi Gallia escaped Asajj Ventress and the Mandalorian warriors after killing several Night sisters.
• Ventress identified Adi Gallia as a Jedi Master resurrected by Darth Malthael and warned Shen Qiaoen that the Duchy of Dawn had begun investigating them.
• Shen Qiaoen said Darth Maul had reported Ni Yongxiao's gang probing Black Sun territory, and he offered to send IG-100 MagnaGuards to Mandalore.
• Kira left a Turbolaser shipment at Corellia's industrial harbor to meet Dryden Vos aboard the Frist Light.
• Dryden Vos told Kira that the Zann Consortium wanted to form an alliance with Crimson Dawn.

Dryden Vos sent Kira to sound out the Zann Consortium as he weighed seeking help from the Sakorian Big Three to survive Darth Maul’s expansion. After Vos left, Kira watched his ship depart and recalled how she and Han Solo had vowed not to let the mysterious giver of their gold coin turn them against each other.

• Kira questioned Dryden Vos about the Zann Consortium, and Vos ordered her to approach it cautiously while he delayed making a decision.
• After Kira left, Dryden Vos feared Darth Maul would kill him whether he submitted or resisted, and considered asking the Sakorian Big Three for help.
• Dryden Vos boarded the Frist Light and flew toward space while Kira watched from her speeder bike.
• Kira touched her half of the gold coin and remembered meeting the mysterious person with Han Solo during the Clone Wars, when a Lightsaber led her to kill for the first time.
• Kira recalled that she and Han Solo had each received half a coin with a promise of one wish, and that they had vowed not to fight over it.

Kira recalled how the gold coin had helped her escape execution and rise within Crimson Dawn, and wondered whether Tang Xiao might aid the organization in its crisis. After learning that Celonians had seized a weapons shipment, she ordered her subordinates to withdraw and rode toward the meeting with the Zann Consortium.

• Kira and Han Solo had used a canister of Coaxium to try to escape Corellia, but the customs officer let Han Solo leave while Madam Proxima's men captured Kira.
• Kira claimed that her gold coin came from Tang Xiao, and Madam Proxima took it to Dryden Vos, whose Force-sensitive confirmed that it carried a faint trace of the Dark Side Force.
• Madam Proxima and Dryden Vos sold Kira to Crimson Dawn, where she trained in Teräs Käsi and rose into the organization's top ten.
• Kira considered whether Tang Xiao might support Crimson Dawn and realized Dryden Vos had likely assigned her to the Zann Consortium negotiations as a test.
• A subordinate told Kira that Celonians had reported and surrounded a weapons shipment, so she ordered her crew to withdraw temporarily.
• Kira restarted her speeder bike and rode toward the agreed negotiation site with the Zann Consortium.

Kira represented Crimson Dawn in negotiations with Darth Maul’s Shadow Collective and proved herself in a fight against Savage Opress and Maul. Dryden Vos accepted the alliance and appointed Kira as its liaison, while Maul offered her a chance to become his apprentice.

• Kira arrived at Dryden Vos’s manor to represent Crimson Dawn and met Darth Maul, Savage Opress, and Silri.
• Savage Opress challenged Kira, but she used her high-voltage batons and combat skills to fight him off.
• Darth Maul defeated Kira and offered to make her his apprentice, revealing that he represented the Shadow Collective rather than the Zann Consortium.
• Dryden Vos appeared by hologram, accepted Maul’s proposal, and named Kira the liaison between Crimson Dawn and the Shadow Collective.

Dryden Vos warned the Sakorian Big Three that Darth Maul and the Zann Consortium threatened their control of the Corellian Trade Worlds. The Big Three planned to undermine the Zann Consortium and use an Imperial crackdown on Felucia spice smuggling to weaken Dryden Vos's rivals.

• Dryden Vos told the Sakorian Big Three that Darth Maul intended to expand into the Corellian Trade Worlds with backing from the Hutts, Black Sun, the Neimoidians, and the Zann Consortium.
• The human, Celonian, and Drallian members debated the threat and agreed that they should not openly take over Crimson Dawn.
• The Celonian proposed warning the Zann Consortium, and the human said he would arrange Deputy Minister Gerard Mael's downfall.
• The Drallian warned that Tiber Zayne should keep the Zann Consortium out of the Core Worlds.
• The Celonian planned to indirectly protect Dryden Vos by exploiting the Galactic Empire's coming crackdown on spice smuggling on Felucia.

In February 11 BBY, Tyber Zann refused to halt the Zann Consortium’s starship-wreckage salvage business despite an Imperial investigation, then identified Black Sun and Crimson Dawn as the likely cause of the pressure. Shen-Jon challenged Tyber’s judgment, and Tyber revealed that he planned to use an impending Imperial operation on Felucia to force their hidden opponents to act.

• Tyber Zann learned that Gerard Mer had been suspended and was urged to pause the Consortium’s starship-wreckage salvage operations.
• Gerard Mer offered to compensate the Consortium through other businesses, but Tyber refused and insisted the salvage business would continue.
• Shen-Jon confronted Tyber and nearly choked him to death until Tyber blamed Black Sun and Crimson Dawn, suspecting the Galactic Empire backed them.
• Tyber admitted he had sent Darth Maul against Black Sun to draw out the forces behind them, and Shen-Jon rebuked him for acting without investigating.
• Tyber told Shen-Jon that an Imperial cleansing operation on Felucia would soon target the Neimoidians first.

Shen-Jon planned to provoke a war between the Galactic Empire and the Duchy of Dawn so they would stop investigating his group. Meanwhile, Tang Xiao learned that the Dark Side's corruption was returning and resolved to prepare the Duchy for a decisive war before it overtook him.

• Tiber Zayne told Shen-Jon that the operation against Felucia might be tied to Corellia Engineering Company and Crimson Dawn, and Shen-Jon ordered him to monitor Darth Maul while planning to force the Galactic Empire and the Duchy of Dawn into conflict.
• Sanya Tagge prepared to leave Tang Xiao, promising to return if her family-related gamble succeeded, and Tang Xiao asked her to watch Mandalore and the Zann Consortium.
• Tang Xiao saw a new black line on his cheek and recognized that the Dark Side's corruption was returning to his body.
• Tang Xiao decided to end the war before losing control, while continuing preparations for Operation Zero, scheduled for 8 BBY.
• Tang Xiao reflected that Sanya Tagge's visit was an advantage, recalling that she had first come to him after her heart protruded from her chest despite remaining healthy.

Sanya Tagge relied on Tang Xiao as she uncovered her sons’ plot to seize control of the Tagge family and faced growing suspicion from Emperor Palpatine. She prepared to return to Tepasi and confront her eldest and third sons, while Tang Xiao considered how to help her; then a transmission arrived from Haruun Kal.

• Sanya Tagge continued receiving treatment from Tang Xiao, who had removed the toxins that had been poisoning her and gained her trust and political allegiance.
• Sanya discovered that her sons Orman Tagge, Silas Tagge, and Yurik Tagge were suspected of poisoning her and seeking control of the Tagge family, while Cassio Tagge was away in military service.
• With help from Tang Xiao’s Ghost Agents and Salarian special forces, Sanya fought her sons’ influence but could not eliminate all three without risking the family’s future.
• Sanya told Tang Xiao that Orman and Silas had gained support from Imperial leaders and that Emperor Palpatine suspected her secret dealings with the Duchy of Dawn.
• Sanya planned to return to Tepasi and kill Orman and Silas while sparing Yurik, and Tang Xiao offered only his Ghost Agents and Salarian special forces.
• A transmission from Haruun Kal reached Tang Xiao.

An Imperial investigative team discovered that the apparently active 114th Escort Fleet station on Haruun Kal was a decaying ruin concealed by an illusion. As the station’s true state emerged, a mysterious attacker armed with a blood-red Lightsaber slaughtered the Storm Commando Team.

• A major ordered his cruiser to dock at the unresponsive Haruun Kal station and sent Storm Commando Team soldiers inside to investigate.
• The soldiers found staff frozen in place, unaffected by their attempts to touch or move them, while the station’s objects remained movable.
• The major and captain discussed earlier reports when the lights dimmed, the station became a ruined, corpse-filled wreck, and the cup in the major’s hand turned into a blackened skull.
• The team realized the 114th Escort Fleet had vanished long ago and that its reports had been lies.
• An attacker with scarlet eyes and a blood-red Lightsaber appeared and effortlessly slaughtered the Storm Commando Team despite their blaster and rocket fire.

Mace Windu rescued Luna-Phantom and Luna-Dream from Haruun Kal’s dream and learned that the planet’s will had transformed their connection to the Force. After discovering Luna-Phantom had remained in contact with Tang Xiao, Windu confronted the sisters as the cruiser left the station.

• Mace Windu fought through the Imperial soldiers and reached the cruiser’s bridge, where Luna-Phantom and Luna-Dream were waiting.
• Windu freed the cruiser from the docking bay and asked the sisters about their recovery from Haruun Kal’s dream.
• Luna-Dream explained that Haruun Kal had awakened them, while Windu recalled contacting the planet’s powerful, childlike will in the dream.
• Windu said Haruun Kal had returned to sleep and that its Sons might become part of it when it awakened again.
• Windu saw Tang Xiao’s hologram on Luna-Phantom’s communicator and realized she had been secretly communicating with him.
• Luna-Dream identified Tang Xiao as Sith Lord Darth Malthael and Grand Duke of Dawn, and told Windu that the sisters had always been in contact with him.

Luna Meng and Luna Huan revealed to Mace Windu that they had aided Tang Xiao on Haruun Kal and explained their unusual relationship with the Light. They left for Tepasi to become teachers, while Windu stayed behind and called Master Mundi for a ship.

• Luna Meng and Luna Huan told Mace Windu they had helped Tang Xiao during the Haruun Kal campaign and rejected his accusations of betrayal.
• Mace Windu deactivated his Lightsaber and decided to see what the sisters would do in the Light.
• The sisters said they were going to Tepasi to become teachers and invited Olegar to find them there.
• Luna Meng and Luna Huan departed aboard a Consular-class cruiser, saying Darth Sidious would not notice them unless his dream was stronger than Haruun Kal's.
• Mace Windu contacted Master Mundi and asked him to send a ship to Haruun Kal.

After a catastrophic earthquake exposed corruption in Tepasi’s construction industry, smuggler Tarzan Tagge accidentally built a renowned construction empire by refusing to cut corners. The chapter ended with him becoming a celebrated planetary hero, receiving a hereditary domain and baronial title, and realizing his business had far outgrown smuggling.

• In 200 BBY, a superquake devastated Tepasi and exposed widespread corruption and negligence among its construction companies.
• Tarzan Tagge registered Tagge Company as a front for expanding his smuggling operation into the Core Worlds and distributed smuggled goods among humanitarian supplies.
• Investors hired Tagge Company, and Tarzan bought equipment, leased mining planets, and hired engineers to fulfill the construction contracts.
• Tarzan insisted on meticulous, high-quality work, and Tagge Company earned a reputation for building structures that could withstand severe earthquakes.
• As contracts and inspections multiplied, Tarzan studied construction and expanded Tagge Company into a major enterprise with a transport network, robotics companies, and a shipyard under construction.
• The Governor of Tepasi praised Tarzan as a planetary hero and granted him a hereditary private domain and the title of baron.

The Tagge family’s rise and growing conflict with Emperor Palpatine led Sanya Tagge to prepare Domina to inherit the family and arrange Force training for her. Two teachers sent by Tang Xiao arrived on Tepasi to meet Sanya and Domina.

• Tagge Company expanded into many industries and became a dominant force on Tepasi.
• Sanya Tagge withdrew the family from the Trade Federation and Technological Alliance, then backed the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars.
• Palpatine grew suspicious of the Tagge family after Sanya’s recovery, while her sons’ ambitions pushed the family toward division.
• Sanya decided to groom her Force-sensitive daughter Domina as her successor and asked Tang Xiao to arrange her training.
• Master Luna Dream and Master Luna Phantom arrived at Sanya’s estate, where Sanya welcomed them alongside Domina.

The Dream Sisters frightened Domina Tagge with a Force illusion and began teaching her after Sanya accepted them. Meanwhile, Orman Tagge and Silas Tagge plotted to remove Sanya and exploit the Emperor’s displeasure with Darth Vader to replace him.

• Domina Tagge rejected the Dream Sisters as her teachers, but Luna Dream and Luna Illusion used an illusion to terrify her with the sight of her own mangled body.
• Luna Dream promised to teach Domina, and Sanya Tagge agreed to let the sisters train her.
• Orman Tagge confronted Silas Tagge over the failed toxin meant to kill Sanya.
• Orman and Silas agreed that Sanya should be dealt with quickly so the Tagge family could seize power while Darth Vader was in disfavor.

Orman Tagge clashed with Silas over the suggestion that Domina marry for the family’s political benefit, revealing his plan for her to become a holy maiden of The Order of the Sacred Circle. He believed his own industrial and military ambitions were being blocked by Sanya Tagge and resolved to overcome her resistance to becoming head of the family.

• Silas Tagge warned Orman that the family lacked military influence and suggested Domina marry a powerful military figure, so Orman struck him and forbade him from bringing it up again.
• Orman declared that Domina would remain unmarried and join The Order of the Sacred Circle, then ordered men in to spar and quickly defeated all four.
• Orman dismissed Darth Vader as a fraud and believed his combat skills, engineering talent, and Tagge Company’s industrial strength made him better suited to serve Palpatine.
• Orman recounted his plan to unite major industrial companies and his belief that Palpatine’s response had approved it, while Sanya Tagge had firmly forbidden the alliance.
• Orman blamed Sanya for preventing his rise to power and concluded that even his mother would not stand in his way.