Chapter Summaries

Galen Malek was freed by PROXY after Darth Vader sent him to find the rebels, while the Empire suffered heavy losses fighting the Kingdom of Dawn. Vader repelled an attack on the Executor, purged the Emperor’s infiltrators, and ordered Rock Johnson to keep eliminating unwanted officers as the fleet prepared to withdraw.

• Darth Vader released Galen Malek and told him to find the rebels, while warning him that the Dark Side was always by his side.
• PROXY revealed that six months had passed since Malek’s death and that the Empire had suffered badly in two offensives by the Kingdom of Dawn.
• A Kingdom of Dawn Ankollon-class Titan warship and Ogre-class Siege Cruisers attacked the Executor with torpedoes, but Darth Vader held them in place until Imperial defenses destroyed them.
• Rock Johnson told Darth Vader that the Emperor’s planted officers had been purged from the Executor.
• Darth Vader ordered the fleet to withdraw from its fight against Ling Liang and told Rock Johnson to continue removing unwanted officers; he rejected Rock calling him Anakin.

Imperial Finance Department officials restricted Mon Mothma’s household spending and sealed an antique shop tied to her charitable foundation. At a banquet, Mon Mothma and Bail Organa discussed the Empire’s investigation and the loss of their funding channel.

• Two Imperial officials accused Mon Mothma’s expenditures of failing review standards, imposed restrictions on her household finances, and said they had sealed an antique shop.
• Perrin Fertha defended Mon Mothma and promised to confront Finance Department officials at a banquet hosted by the Minister of Internal Affairs.
• Perrin Fertha asked Mon Mothma about her foundation while they traveled to the banquet, then spoke enthusiastically about collecting antiques.
• Perrin Fertha became the center of attention at the banquet while Mon Mothma was regarded as a wealthy woman devoted to pleasure.
• Bail Organa told Mon Mothma that the Empire had examined their expenditure records and that the sealed antique shop had cut off their funding channel.
• Mon Mothma told Bail Organa that her accounts would withstand the investigation.

Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Garm Bel Iblis met secretly to discuss the resistance’s losses and the Empire’s threats to independent industry. The leader’s instructions defined the movement as a military organization devoted to freedom and called for a network of military, intelligence, and industrial support.

• Bail Organa told Mon Mothma that the Kingdom of Dawn had defeated Imperial fleets and that the Empire was preparing a counterattack after purging its ranks.
• Mon Mothma and Bail Organa agreed to attend a meeting proposed by Garm Bel Iblis, despite their concerns about his motives.
• Garm Bel Iblis warned that Palpatine was pressuring military-industrial companies and that Corellia Engineering Company could be targeted next.
• Garm Bel Iblis agreed to fund and support former Separatist planets, while explaining that their industrial resources could strengthen the resistance.
• Garm Bel Iblis played the leader’s recorded instructions, which rejected rebuilding the Galactic Republic and defined the movement as a military organization committed to freedom.
• The leader called for military advisers, intelligence agencies, industrial systems, and coordinated support for planets resisting the Galactic Empire and the Kingdom of Dawn.

Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Garm Bel Iblis heard a recording urging the resistance to recruit broadly and strengthen its military organization, then planned intelligence, political, and industrial work. In 10 BBY, the Kingdom of Dawn launched surprise attacks that devastated the Empire’s Twelfth Army and forced Darth Vader’s Death Squadron to retreat, before its fleets fell silent again.

• The recording called for recruiting people from across the galaxy, maintaining military discipline, and using the next war between the Kingdom of Dawn and the Galactic Empire to grow stronger.
• Mon Mothma continued intelligence and administrative work, Bail Organa focused on gaining planetary support through the Senate, and Garm Bel Iblis arranged for Corellia Engineering Company to build frigates and supply maintenance parts.
• Garm Bel Iblis revealed the X-wing and explained that the Empire had blockaded Incom Corporation to seize its prototype and designs.
• In August 10 BBY, General Grievous ambushed the Galactic Empire’s Twelfth Army near Mimban, and the refitted Destruction battleship helped crush its main fleet.
• Ling Liang broke out from Fondor Planet and attacked Darth Vader’s Death Squadron with the Taowu Titan and Ogre-class Siege Cruisers, prompting Vader to retreat.
• Ling Liang opened a hyperspace route to the Kingdom of Dawn’s homeland, then ceased further military operations.

Palpatine forced Kuat Drive Yards into a semi-nationalized state, and Little Kuat suppressed the company’s liberal faction to prevent an Imperial takeover. The crisis deepened when Willix-Blythex left Quat Planet with dissidents, though his disappearance was only one sign that Kuat Drive Yards faced a larger problem.

• After two Imperial defeats, Palpatine ordered military-industrial conglomerates nationalized, and Little Kuat resisted the pressure on Kuat Drive Yards.
• Little Kuat rigged Quat Planet’s industrial Star Ring with explosives, while the Empire arrested senator Gideon Danu and sent Dark Prophet Jedgar to oversee the company.
• Little Kuat accepted Imperial oversight after Dunn-Vesex warned him against turning Kuat Drive Yards toward the Northern Territory.
• Little Kuat expelled the liberal democratic elders from the Quat Elder Council, worsening internal divisions and disrupting the company’s warship design and construction.
• In August, 10 years before the Battle of Yavin, liberal faction members left Quat Planet with Willix-Blythex, who had willingly gone with them, and the Empire failed to intercept him near the Kingdom of Dawn’s border.

The Galactic Empire pushed to nationalize major military-industrial companies, but their responses differed sharply. Sith Fleet Systems cooperated, while Corellia Engineering Company and the autonomous Corellian star sector resisted and reached only a fragile, nominal compromise with the Empire.

• Little Kuat kept Kuat Drive Yards stable despite internal unrest from its liberal democratic faction.
• Sith Fleet Systems agreed to nationalization and let Imperial officials restructure its board and enter the company, with a Dark Prophet serving as the Imperial representative.
• Garm Bel Iblis and Corellia Engineering Company fiercely rejected nationalization, driving away Imperial investigators.
• The Galactic Empire negotiated with Corellia Engineering Company and secured an agreement for Corellian star sector representatives to supervise the company.
• The Corellian star sector and the Galactic Empire both recognized that the nominal arrangement had not resolved their conflict.

As the Galactic Empire pressured Corellia Engineering Company and Incom Corporation, both companies covertly aided the Rebel Alliance, while Corellian officials and criminal syndicates prepared for possible upheaval. The Empire arrested Incom’s executives and engineers and seized the X-wing’s designs and prototype, setting up the rescue operation Mon Mothma later carried out.

• Garm Bel Iblis persuaded Corellia Engineering Company executives to secretly build corvettes and supply the Rebel Alliance with civilian ships and technical support.
• As Imperial defeats and nationalization pressure fueled talk of Corellian independence, the Sakorian Big Three, the White Worm Gang, and Crimson Dawn began preparing to exploit the turmoil and investigate Midpoint Station.
• Madam Proxima and Dryden Vos recalled Tang Xiao’s instructions and saw the independence movement as a chance for their syndicates to become legitimate.
• After the Empire favored Sith Fleet Systems and sidelined Incom Corporation, Incom contacted the Rebel Alliance and worked with General Jan Dodonna to design the T-65 X-wing fighter.
• The Imperial Intelligence Department raided Incom Corporation, arrested its senior executives and engineers, and seized the X-wing’s design data and prototype.
• Mon Mothma later carried out the leader’s request, conveyed through Garm Bel Iblis, to rescue Incom’s people and the X-wing materials.

Mon Mothma outmaneuvered the Empire to rescue Incom Corporation’s personnel, data, and X-wing prototypes, while Palpatine used Tagge Company’s nationalization to tighten control over industrial research and advance the Dark Trooper and DS-1 projects. The chapter leaves the Empire building its weapons and military-industrial power for its conflict with the Kingdom of Dawn.

• Mon Mothma diverted Imperial forces by arranging the abduction of Kuat Drive Yards engineers, then helped Rebels and four Jedi attack Fresia, seize Incom’s database and four X-wing prototypes, and destroy the last prototype.
• The Imperial Intelligence Department sealed Fresia and searched for the attackers, while Mon Mothma arranged for Rebels to abduct Incom technicians from a Mid Rim mining planet; the Intelligence Department executed the officer who had split its forces.
• Orman Tagge accepted Tagge Company’s nationalization and gained control of the company’s decisions, while Palpatine used the Cutting-Edge Technology Alliance to direct resources from industrial corporations.
• Orman Tagge completed the design for the first-stage Dark Trooper, and Admirals Zaarin and March joined the alliance to develop new starfighters.
• The Galactic Empire pursued the DS-1 battle station as a weapon of terror intended to suppress rebellion and strengthen its war against the Kingdom of Dawn.

Palpatine pushed the DS-1 Battle Station forward as a weapon meant to strike at Tang Xiao, while Tang Xiao’s efforts to obstruct the project were partly undone by Palpatine’s maneuvering. Construction continued in secret on Tarassia under Orson Krennic, where rebellions among enslaved Geonosian workers forced him to provide them with better support.

• Palpatine advanced the DS-1 project despite opposition from Imperial officials and industrial giants, intending it as a gift for Tang Xiao.
• Tang Xiao delayed construction and tracked the project, but Poggle the Lesser’s betrayal and the kidnapping of Emperor Karina cut him off from reliable information.
• The Galactic Empire moved the DS-1’s core column and equatorial framework from Geonosis to Tarassia, where Emperor Karina was forced to produce Geonosian workers.
• Orson Krennic divided the station’s design into hundreds of thousands of secret contracts and organized Geonosian laborers and engineering droids to build it.
• Geonosian workers repeatedly rebelled against enslavement, so Orson Krennic provided them with a lavish logistical corps to keep construction going.

The chapter described the Fourth Civilization’s unmanned aircraft, from inexpensive Vulture droid fighters to the powerful Protoss-built Swarm Interceptors. It ended with the complete Swarm Interceptor still undeployed because the Protoss had not decided whether their High Templars should enter the war.

• The Fourth Civilization kept large numbers of Vulture droid fighters in escort fleets and planetary defenses despite retiring them from frontline service.
• The Fourth Civilization used several thousand Hyena-class Droid Fighter/Bombers and Tri-fighters to support defenses on important planets.
• Halo Weapon Systems Corporation’s F-99 Wombat served mainly as a remotely controlled reconnaissance drone carried by Fourth Civilization warships.
• The Fourth Group’s Acolyte drones received few orders, while the United Mining Group’s mining drones helped build the Fourth Civilization’s early industrial capacity.
• The Fourth Civilization deployed Protoss-built Swarm II Interceptors from Consul-class aircraft carriers, controlled by captured Dark Jedi Knights linked to central computers.
• The Protoss had not decided whether High Templars would personally control the complete Swarm Interceptor in frontline combat.

The Galactic Empire advanced construction of the Death Star while Orson Krennic and Wilhuff Tarkin fought over control, and Galen Erso discovered that Krennic had deceived him about the superlaser. After Palpatine revealed the Death Star to the Senate, Ganzo Doso activated a Geonosian altar and identified a traitor in space.

• The DS-1's main framework and Hypermatter reactor were completed, and construction began on its gravity systems, armor, and Geonosian residential zones.
• Wilhuff Tarkin joined Orson Krennic as a project leader, but their struggle escalated until Krennic sent Tarkin away after a riot and deadly clashes among the Geonosians.
• Orson Krennic recruited Galen Erso under the false pretense of researching planetary energy transmission, and Galen discovered he was actually helping develop a planet-destroying superlaser.
• Emperor Palpatine announced the Death Star in the Senate and ordered the Empire and Orman Tagge to concentrate resources on completing it within a year.
• Ganzo Doso placed a Geonosian head on an altar at the Sacred Site, which sent a beam into space as he said, "Found you... traitor..."

The chapter recounts Poggle the Lesser’s rise and betrayal of the Geonosians, then follows Tang Xiao’s support for Gizor Dellso as he searches for their kidnapped Queen. A stowaway discovered by Nova provides Gizor with a lead and sparks a Geonosian uprising.

• Poggle the Lesser led a lower-caste revolution, joined Count Dooku’s Separatists, and later secretly surrendered to Palpatine and agreed to help build the DS-1 battle station.
• Fearing an upper-caste counterrevolution, Poggle kidnapped Emperor Karina and planned to destroy Geonosis and most of its population before rebuilding society under his control.
• After the Geonosians suffered devastating losses, Tang Xiao funded their search for Emperor Karina and backed Gizor Dellso as a more trustworthy leader.
• Gizor told Tang Xiao he could use the brains of newly hatched Geonosians to locate Emperor Karina through the hive mind, but the Kingdom of Dawn’s agents found no Geonosians for years.
• After a riot on Tarassia helped Orson Krennic push Wilhuff Tarkin out of the DS-1 project, Nova found a Geonosian stowaway on Tarkin’s former engineering ship and brought him to Gizor, where he was executed and ignited an uprising.

Nova and Ganzo-Dosso used a captured Geonosian’s brain to locate Queen Karina and Poggle-the Lesser in an unmapped region of the Northern Galaxy, prompting the Geonosians to call for war and seek the Kingdom of Dawn’s help. On Dawn Star Planet, Nova and Salatan Morse weighed the risks of acting on the uncertain coordinates as the Death Star neared completion.

• Ganzo-Dosso extracted a captured Geonosian’s brain and used its connection to the Sacred Site to pinpoint Queen Karina and Poggle-the Lesser in an unmapped region of space.
• Nova agreed to secure the Kingdom of Dawn’s assistance after Ganzo-Dosso promised the Geonosians would join the kingdom if Karina was rescued.
• Ganzo-Dosso summoned Geonosians across the planet and used a giant horn to send a call toward Karina’s location.
• Poggle-the Lesser confronted Orson Krennic about Karina’s declining health, while Krennic assured him Tarassia would belong to the Geonosians after the Death Star’s engines were installed.
• Orson Krennic ordered Tarassia’s blockade maintained and looked forward to testing the Death Star on the planet.
• Salatan Morse warned Nova that the coordinates were uncertain and that the Death Star could destroy Dawn Star Planet, while Nova argued they had no other intelligence.

Salatan Morse presented the Death Star intelligence to the High Command, which approved a limited Geonosian-led operation called Operation Poseidon. At Tarassia, the Death Star activated its sublight engines, but the Dark Prophets warned Orson Krennic of an imminent attack—and alarms revealed the Death Star itself was under attack.

• Salatan Morse showed Nova Tang Xiao’s notes about the Death Star and argued that its current construction site could be identified through the Geonosians.
• The High Command approved Operation Poseidon, limiting the Navy to escorting the Geonosians until Ganzo Daoso could verify the intelligence and provide details.
• Orson Krennic activated the Death Star’s sublight engines at Tarassia and arranged a ceremony before Imperial officials and Lord Kadann.
• Kadann departed after praising Krennic, while the two Dark Prophets warned Krennic to put the forces on combat readiness.
• Orson Krennic ordered the Tarassia Defense Fleet to prepare for an attack, and an alarm reported that the Death Star itself was under attack.

Orson Krennic responded to an uprising on the Death Star, while Poggle the Lesser discovered that Queen Karina had vanished and was captured by Geonosian warriors. Nova revealed that the Kingdom of Dawn had infiltrated the project’s supply chain, leaving the Death Star’s secrecy exposed.

• Orson Krennic learned that Geonosians had seized parts of the Death Star’s residential sector and ordered troops to suppress the riot.
• Poggle the Lesser hurried to Queen Karina’s nest after she had ignored his communications for three days.
• Poggle found Queen Karina missing and was seized by Geonosian warriors.
• Ganzo-Dos appeared, and Nova revealed that the Kingdom of Dawn had infiltrated Tarassia through the Death Star’s supply shipments.
• Nova explained to Poggle that tracing the shipments’ destinations had allowed her agents to bypass the project’s security.

Nova explained how corruption and convoluted supply chains had created exploitable gaps in the Death Star project, allowing Kingdom of Dawn agents to infiltrate its construction site on Tarassia. The infiltration succeeded because Wilhuff Tarkin was absent and Orson Krennic had weakened security to accelerate construction.

• Nova explained how shell companies and fabricated transport routes concealed Death Star materials while creating many openings for bribery and fraud.
• With help from a Rebel Alliance informant, Kingdom of Dawn agents posed as trusted Imperial associates and traced supply routes to Tarassia.
• Salatan Morse and Nova learned that Wilhuff Tarkin had been sent away to oversee a civilian space station project.
• Orson Krennic loosened reviews and sped up material deliveries under pressure from Emperor Palpatine to meet the Death Star schedule.
• Gant Doso and Nova appeared before Poggle the Lesser after infiltrating the project.

Emperor Karina revealed that she had secretly built up Geonosian forces and tunnels, then forced Poggle the Lesser to bring Orson Krennic to her. Poggle left her underground nest in fear and encountered approaching Imperial Stormtroopers.

• Poggle the Lesser accused Nova and Ganzo-Dorso of colluding with the Separatists, while Ganzo-Dorso blamed him for kidnapping Emperor Karina.
• Ganzo-Dorso's warriors dragged Poggle through secret tunnels to Emperor Karina's underground chamber, where he realized she had built up forces beyond his knowledge.
• Poggle warned Emperor Karina that the Death Star would doom the Geonosians, but she rejected his argument and ordered him to bring Orson Krennic to her.
• Emperor Karina had parasites crawl into Poggle's ears and sent him away to carry out her order.
• Poggle left the nest in a daze and saw a squad of Imperial Stormtroopers approaching.

Emperor Karina explained why she had allied with the Empire and revealed her plan to control Orson Krennic and seize the Death Star as a bargaining chip for Geonosian survival. Meanwhile, Poggle the Lowborn reported her offer to Krennic, who demanded that she produce more laborers and was asked to promise her safety.

• Emperor Karina told Nova that she had accepted Poggle the Lowborn's plan because the Geonosians feared Imperial retribution and revealed she intended to make Orson Krennic her puppet and take control of the Death Star.
• Nova warned Emperor Karina that the Death Star's weapons systems were at Scarif and that the Empire would eventually destroy the Geonosians, but Emperor Karina remained silent as Geonosian warriors separated them.
• Poggle the Lowborn traveled to the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Ravager, where Orson Krennic watched Geonosian laborers suffer from reduced oxygen and ordered the concentration lowered further.
• Poggle the Lowborn explained that Emperor Karina's hive mind had faltered because she was unwell, and Krennic threatened the Geonosians if they caused problems for the project.
• Poggle the Lowborn offered to have Emperor Karina hatch more laborers through consciousness transfer, and Krennic agreed on the condition that she do it; Poggle then said she wanted Krennic's personal promise of safety.

Orson Krennic agreed to meet Emperor Karina and temporarily pardon the Geonosian rioters, but the Dark Prophets warned him that the meeting was a trap. The chapter ended with Krennic confronting Poggle the Lesser about the two mysterious figures.

• Orson Krennic weighed Poggle the Lesser's offer of Geonosian laborers against the risks to the DS-1 schedule and his rivalry with Wilhuff Tarkin.
• Orson Krennic agreed to meet Emperor Karina in person and temporarily pardoned the rioting laborers, then ordered their workload doubled for a month.
• Imperial Stormtroopers arrested the Geonosian laborers after restoring their oxygen, while Orson Krennic prepared to leave with his Death Guard.
• Two Dark Prophets blocked Orson Krennic and warned him that meeting Emperor Karina was an obvious trap.
• Poggle the Lesser denied that Emperor Karina intended harm, and Orson Krennic asked him whether he knew who the Dark Prophets were.

Poggle the Lesser refused to betray Emperor Karina and was tortured as Orson Krennic ordered a crackdown on the Geonosians. With the Death Star’s control systems failing and Nova’s plan underway, more than ten thousand Geonosian laborers launched a full-scale uprising inside the station.

• Poggle the Lesser attempted to kill Orson Krennic with a hidden grenade, but a Dark Prophet stopped it and redirected the explosion toward the communications station.
• Poggle the Lesser refused to betray Emperor Karina, so Orson Krennic had one of his wings torn off and ordered the Geonosians arrested and killed.
• Orson Krennic tried to lower oxygen levels in the residential areas, but his control personnel reported that the DS-1 battle station’s systems had failed.
• Nova activated her stealth system and ordered the operation to proceed, while Ganzo Doso told Emperor Karina that the Geonosians had to fight for their own future.
• More than ten thousand Geonosian laborers attacked the Imperial Stormtroopers inside the Death Star, overwhelming them as communications remained cut off.