Chapter Summaries

The Geonosian uprising devastated the DS-1 battle station project, and Admiral Afshin Makati led the Empire’s brutal retaliation, exterminating the Geonosians and executing Poggle the Lesser. With the project short of workers and droids, Palpatine turned to Tagge Company to fund and staff its continuation, leaving Orman Tagge to shoulder an impossible burden.

• After the Kingdom of Dawn fleet was destroyed, Admiral Afshin Makati took command on Tarassia and ordered the extermination of the Geonosians and the system’s four planets.
• Imperial forces gathered and massacred surrendered Geonosians, while the Empire declared the species traitors and issued an extermination order.
• Poggle the Lesser was blamed for the rebellion, convicted of treason in a one-sided trial, and publicly hanged in Imperial Center.
• Orbital bombardment devastated Tarassia, and the destruction of Geonosian workers and engineering droids forced the DS-1 project to halt and seek millions of screened, trained replacements.
• Palpatine imprisoned Orson Krennic and Prophetess Dara, placed Galen Erso in temporary command, and turned to Orman Tagge and Tagge Company to supply funding and personnel.

After the Geonosian uprising exposed the Death Star project to infiltration, Palpatine approved Orman Tagge’s plan to rebuild the station and assigned Tarkin to oversee its superweapon at Scarif. An Imperial fleet then destroyed Geonosis and nearly wiped out the Geonosians, leaving only Ganzo Daeso and the Queen’s eggs on Hypori.

• Bail Organa and other senators condemned the Death Star, but Palpatine adjourned the Senate indefinitely and ordered the project to continue.
• Armand Isard began purging the Empire’s Intelligence Department, while Blackhole allied with Orman Tagge and placed Mar Skandall at Tagge Company.
• Orman Tagge arranged to move the Death Star, build its conventional systems elsewhere, and send an elite team to Scarif to construct its superlaser; Palpatine approved the plan and assigned Tarkin to oversee security and the superlaser project.
• On October 27, an Imperial fleet led by a spherical spacecraft arrived at Geonosis and used proton torpedoes to locate and destroy the planet’s shield generator.
• The Imperial fleet bombarded Geonosis before the Kingdom of Dawn fleet arrived, killing the remaining Geonosians and leaving Ganzo Daeso on Hypori with the Queen’s eggs.

After Palpatine rewarded Orman-Tagge by making Tagge Space an independent sector, Orman appointed Felix-Tagge its governor despite his brutal abuse of Adelaide-Tagge. Sanya-Tagge warned that Palpatine intended to destroy the Tagge family, leaving Orman’s decision under a cloud of suspicion.

• Palpatine created the Sector Governor position in Tagge Space and offered it to Orman-Tagge as a reward for the destruction of Geonosis.
• Orman-Tagge urged Palpatine to favor Torpedo Spheres over the Death Star, but Palpatine insisted he wanted a superweapon capable of destroying planets.
• Orman-Tagge chose Felix-Tagge to govern Tagge Space because he believed Felix would never threaten him without his support.
• Orman-Tagge found Felix abusing Adelaide-Tagge, ordered him to stop, and then appointed him Sector Governor.
• Sanya-Tagge protested that Palpatine planned to discard the Tagges and destroy their family.

Sanya Tagge and Adelaide Tagge foresaw the danger of the Tagge family’s rise and identified Silas Tagge as part of their next move. Meanwhile, Hari Seldon became Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Dawn and advanced reforms powered by new Dyson Ring projects, including a planned Dyson Sphere around a blue giant.

• Adelaide Tagge explained that the Tagge family’s control of Tagge Space would alienate sector leaders and leave them vulnerable to Wilhuff Tarkin and the military.
• Sanya Tagge named her third son, Silas Tagge, as the next person to act against the danger facing the family.
• Orman Tagge ordered Felix Tagge to work with High Inquisitor Mal Scandal to purge the family’s unstable elements, and Felix accepted the Sector Governor position.
• Salatan Morse sent the Dream Sisters’ intelligence to the Kingdom of Dawn’s cabinet through secret channels.
• Hari Seldon became Deputy Prime Minister on the final day of 10 BBY and took charge of the Kingdom of Dawn’s reforms.
• The Kingdom of Dawn began building five additional Dyson Rings, including one intended to expand into a Dyson Sphere around a blue giant with support from a black-hole Matter Unloader.

On Cyphar Planet, millions of workers overthrew Governor Clay Dimo and declared autonomy, but the Kingdom of Dawn’s blockade forced their government to accept production contracts on the Kingdom’s terms. The workers resumed making energy-focusing systems for Paladin-class battlecruisers, now responsible for paying their own expenses and a fee for protection from space pirates.

• More than four million workers struck over forced overtime, unpaid wages, and the planet’s factories being converted to war production.
• After learning of Clay Dimo’s plan to suppress them, the workers stormed the Planetary Administrative Center, arrested her, and made her transfer power to their organization.
• The workers formed a government, declared autonomy, and told Dawn Star Planet they would remain under the Kingdom of Dawn if it respected their control over production.
• Qi Jian dispatched a fleet, which blockaded Cyphar Planet, then accepted the workers’ autonomy demands while cutting off the planet’s supplies, corporate services, and banking.
• Vice Admiral Lin Nanyi offered the provisional government contracts for energy-focusing systems or a more expensive Titan component; lacking money and expertise for the alternative, the representatives chose the original systems.
• The workers resumed production under Lin Nanyi’s contract, which required overtime and made them pay for supplies and a fee for him to deal with nearby space pirates.

The Cyphar Planet uprising ended after workers killed their leader and accepted the Kingdom of Dawn’s terms, while the Galactic Empire’s worsening unrest left Palpatine relying on the Death Star. United Mining Group continued its rapid rise, and the chapter left it leading the galaxy in warship materials and operating massive mining flagships.

• Cyphar Planet’s workers killed the uprising leader after he demanded that the Kingdom of Dawn kill them all, ending the two-month rebellion and restoring factory production.
• The Kingdom of Dawn used its citywide sewage systems as a last-resort tool to suppress uprisings that local governments could not contain.
• Palpatine backed Tarkin’s plan to use the Death Star to quell Imperial rebellions through terror as the Empire’s situation worsened.
• United Mining Group, led by Xu Yan, expanded from mining near Dawn Star Planet to supplying rare metals and finished alloys across the galaxy.
• United Mining Group developed Neutron Steel and built Sperm Whale-class mining flagships, strengthening its lead in warship materials and large-scale mining.

Xu Deng succeeded his dying father as head of the United Mining Group after the Kingdom of Dawn approved his appointment. The chapter then introduced Sun Power Energy Company, which managed the kingdom’s energy supply, including the Dyson Ring.

• The chapter described the United Mining Group’s vast escort fleets, industrial shipbuilding, and role in supplying and defending Rendili.
• Xu Yan was gravely wounded by a Galactic Empire Inquisitor while inspecting a rogue comet, and Twilight Covenant warriors killed the attacker.
• Xu Yan named his son Xu Deng as his successor, despite the Kingdom of Dawn Commerce Department’s reluctance to let megacorporations become family businesses.
• The Commerce Department approved Xu Deng’s appointment after he surrendered enough shares to no longer be the board’s largest stakeholder.
• Xu Deng took office at age twenty-four, beginning a new era for the United Mining Group.
• The chapter introduced Sun Power Energy Company (TaiYang Dynamics Energy), which managed the Kingdom of Dawn’s energy supply and the Dyson Ring.

The chapter traced Jin Hao’s rise from a rare-mineral trader to the head of Sun Power Energy Company, now a leading construction and energy conglomerate, and foreshadowed that his empire would later ignite the Corporate War. After learning Xu Yan had died, Jin Hao reassessed his company’s ties to United Mining Group and set out to meet Xu Deng and another new acquaintance, bringing his adopted daughter Feng Lis.

• Jin Hao built Sun Power Energy Company through rare-mineral trading, Vaxian connections, planetary power networks, and major Dyson Ring and Super Dyson Sphere projects.
• Jin Hao adopted and educated several children, including Feng Lis, who became a top student at the Chiss Naval Academy and fell in love with Rear Admiral Lin Nanyi.
• Jin Hao learned that Xu Yan had died after an attack by a Galactic Empire Inquisitor and that Xu Deng had inherited United Mining Group.
• Jin Hao worried that Xu Yan’s death could undermine the trust and cooperation needed for Sun Power Energy Company’s projects with United Mining Group, including a planned Sky Fortress.
• Jin Hao decided to visit Xu Deng and another new acquaintance, ordered his eldest daughter to join him, and arrived at his private spaceport, where a young woman awaited him.

Jin Hao visited Xu Deng after Xu Yan’s death and reaffirmed his support for the United Mining Group. Xu Deng revealed that his father had uncovered evidence of an ancient extragalactic civilization on Kuna's Horn and had been betrayed by someone inside the group, while Jin Hao left Wang Qin to help him investigate.

• Jin Hao arrived at the United Mining Group headquarters on Annaj Planet with Wang Qin and met Xu Deng.
• Jin Hao mourned Xu Yan beside his ice coffin, and Xu Deng assured him that their business partnership would continue.
• Xu Deng told Jin Hao that the Urlan family had changed its stance on the Sky Pillar Project and that Adele Urlan could threaten the group.
• Xu Deng revealed that Xu Yan had been assassinated in the Kuna's Horn System after discovering evidence linked to an ancient extragalactic civilization, and suspected an insider had leaked his movements.
• Jin Hao pledged Sun Power Energy Company's support and left Wang Qin to assist Xu Deng with his internal purge.
• Jin Hao departed for Dawn Star Planet to visit Francis Underwood.

Jin Hao sought Francis Underwood's guidance about preserving his business empire, and Francis pointed him toward the vanished Outer Rim Territories Mutual Aid Fund. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Dawn's leaders debated aiding Sanya Tagge and attacking the Galactic Empire, leaving the question of unleashing Taris's Rakghouls sharply disputed.

• Jin Hao visited Francis Underwood, who warned him that he could follow, make, or break the rules governing the Kingdom of Dawn.
• Francis gave Jin Hao an old Mutual Aid Fund poster and told him to seek the fund; Jin Hao noticed the word “Leader” printed on it.
• Qi Jian briefed the High Command on Sanya Tagge's request for military pressure on the Galactic Empire and help returning Cassio Tagge to his family.
• Adele Ulan, Matt Hona, Helmut Zemo, and Ling Liang debated the risks of assisting Sanya Tagge, and Ling Liang agreed to request a clearer plan.
• Darth Lilim proposed using intelligence obtained from Grand Inquisitor Hydra and unleashing Rakghouls from Taris's Lower City against the Tagge family and the Empire.
• Adele Ulan and Matt Hona opposed releasing the Rakghouls, but Tang Yun supported the idea, prompting Darth Lilim to praise her.

Fondor Planet’s reconstruction continued through a vast industrial Star Ring project while Alexia Ashford and Darth Lilim fought over the captive Hydra. Darth Lilim extracted intelligence from Hydra about the Inquisitorius leader and planned to use his daughter Sariss to target him.

• The Kingdom of Dawn advanced a plan to build a massive industrial Star Ring around Fondor Planet, preserving its factories despite the planet’s T-Veronica-infected atmosphere.
• Darth Lilim evaded Fondor Planet’s defenses and met Alexia Ashford, then went with her to the laboratory where Hydra was imprisoned.
• Darth Lilim questioned Hydra, who identified Koronar, also known as Blackhole, as the hidden leader of the Inquisitorius and controller of Imperial Intelligence.
• Hydra revealed that Blackhole’s daughter Sariss served under High Inquisitor Jerec, and Darth Lilim ordered Hydra to lure Sariss out.
• The chapter shifted to Jerec’s background and described Blackhole’s effort to purge the Empire after the Geonosian rebellion damaged the Death Star project.

The failed assassination of Emperor Palpatine exposed a struggle between the Empire’s secular power brokers and the Dark theocracy, prompting a bloody purge led by Blackhole. As Blackhole enjoyed Palpatine’s trust and investigated the plot, the supposedly dead Hydra began moving against him.

• Grand Moffs Bartam and Trachta and Moff Kadir plotted to assassinate Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader with Reinforced Clone Troopers.
• Bartam and Trachta each arranged the other’s murder, leaving Kadir to lead the attack on Palpatine, who destroyed the clone company with Force lightning.
• Palpatine’s investigation exposed the wider conflict over Imperial power, and he postponed the Imperial Marshal Conferment Ceremony while tens of thousands were arrested and executed.
• Blackhole led the purge through the Intelligence Bureau and Imperial Inquisitorius, unaware that a deadly net was forming around him.
• High Inquisitor Jerec received word from Hydra, an Inquisitorius Grand Judge presumed killed at Fondor.

Blackhole sensed a vast temple in the Unknown Regions and saw its believers worshiping Lord Ravager, Korman Lao, a god who vanished one hundred thousand years ago. He reported his discovery to Palpatine, who reacted to the age of the disappearance.

• Blackhole meditated in his temple on Coruscant's 5,000th underground level and saw a planetary-scale temple in the Unknown Regions.
• Blackhole saw shadowed worshipers gather around the temple's center before a pair of eyes nearly destroyed his consciousness.
• An alarm interrupted Blackhole's meditation, and he found his temple damaged as security robots surrounded him.
• Blackhole flew to Palpatine's palace and told the Emperor he had sensed the lost existence in the Unknown Regions.
• Blackhole identified the being as Lord Ravager, Korman Lao, and Palpatine repeated that he had disappeared one hundred thousand years ago.

Darth Sidious concluded that the Unknown Regions held the secrets of a hundred-thousand-year-old upheaval and ordered Blackhole to find the God of Destruction Coleman Rau’s temple. Blackhole sent High Inquisitor Jerec, who began a purge on Ohohm Planet while pursuing its governor.

• Darth Sidious studied an ancient star map and linked the disappearance or regression of several powerful beings and species to an upheaval a hundred thousand years ago.
• Blackhole suggested that Darth Malthael and the Saru people’s Plastic Pyramid might hold clues to the upheaval.
• Darth Sidious ordered Blackhole to uncover Coleman Rau’s secrets in the Unknown Regions and keep Darth Malthael from obtaining them.
• Blackhole assigned his apprentice, High Inquisitor Jerec, to lead an elite force to search for the God of Destruction’s temple.
• Jerec arrived on Ohohm Planet and ordered Imperial Snowtroopers to execute people during a purge tied to his mission to arrest the planet’s governor.

Jerec received a message from Hydra while Blackhole ordered him to search for the ancient Relics of Korman Lao, whose coordinates overlapped with Hydra’s. Meanwhile, a disguised fleet arrived at Taris, where Darth Lilim prepared to force open the entrance to the Lower City.

• After executing Ohohm’s Planet Governor, Jerec received an encrypted message from Hydra, believed killed at Fondor, asking to be rescued in the Unknown Regions.
• Jerec summoned Mao, Sariss, Yun, and Bocas'eca, then contacted Blackhole for instructions.
• Blackhole ordered Jerec’s team to find the Relics of Korman Lao and sent coordinates that overlapped with Hydra’s location.
• Blackhole warned that Hydra’s message might be a trap and told Jerec to approach cautiously while he sought the Emperor’s decision.
• A disguised fleet arrived at Taris, and Darth Lilim ordered her people to blow open the entrance to the Lower City.

Darth Lilim led a Kingdom of Dawn fleet to Taris and blasted open the Lower City, where billions of Rakghouls had been sealed away. The fleet lured hundreds of thousands of them toward its cargo holds, beginning a plan to transport the creatures into Galactic Empire territory.

• Taris residents watched in terror as ten Leviathan-class passenger liners and their escort ships descended toward the forbidden Lower City.
• Darth Lilim ordered the fleet to fire Pulse Lasers at the Lower City entrance, burning a hole through the sealed passage.
• B-1 battle droids activated special signals from the ships’ cargo holds, drawing Rakghouls out of the darkness.
• The first Rakghoul emerged and charged toward a cargo hold, prompting a vast swarm to rush from the Lower City.
• Hundreds of thousands of Rakghouls crowded and piled up at the entrance as they pressed toward the ships.

Darth Lilim’s forces loaded Rakghouls onto Leviathan-class passenger liners, while some creatures escaped and raced toward nearby settlements. At Halmad, an unregistered freighter breached Imperial defenses and released a flood of Rakghouls as it plunged toward the ground.

• Kingdom of Dawn officers filled ten Leviathan-class passenger liners with Rakghouls and sent more fleets to repeat the operation.
• Darth Lilim refused to care about escaped Rakghouls, but an officer ordered fighter squadrons to hunt them down.
• An Imperial monitoring center at Halmad detected an unidentified freighter and sent fighters and corvettes to intercept it.
• Imperial forces could not penetrate the freighter’s armor or scan its cargo, and it plunged into Halmad’s atmosphere.
• The freighter opened its hatch, spilling Rakghouls into the air as TIE fighter pilots watched in horror.

Hundreds of thousands of Rakghouls overwhelmed Halmad and spread across the Galactic Empire’s Northeastern Territory, drawing Imperial forces into a costly response. The Kingdom of Dawn’s High Command learned the plan had succeeded beyond expectations, while the Empire searched for a nonexistent Stargate until it finally traced the Rakghouls to Taris a month later.

• Rakghouls fell onto Halmad, tore through its defenses, and flooded cities while the Planet Governor repeatedly requested reinforcements.
• Imperial Center blamed the Rebel Alliance, dispatched a fleet to Halmad, and later recognized that Rakghoul outbreaks across several planets were part of a coordinated operation.
• The Galactic Empire tightened border controls, reinforced invaded planets, and searched the Northeastern Territory for the Rakghouls’ supposed source.
• Darth Lilim waited on Taris for a week, then twenty Purification-class Black Stealth Special Operations Ships ambushed the Halmad suppression fleet and crippled six Star Destroyers.
• The Kingdom of Dawn High Command learned the deployment had tied down Imperial resources, while Imperial forces kept searching for a Stargate instead of investigating Taris.
• A month later, the Galactic Empire analyzed shipping routes and determined that the Rakghouls had been transported from Taris.

The Kingdom of Dawn secretly spread nearly three hundred million Rakghouls across the Galactic Empire’s Northeastern Territory, then kept its main fleet inactive while General Grievous prepared to attack the Empire’s Twelfth Army. Grievous’s guerrilla force gained the Destruction battleship, whose powerful weapons had serious limitations, and the Kingdom of Dawn began modernizing it with help from designer Ruggle Schmong.

• The Kingdom of Dawn’s transports dispersed nearly three hundred million Rakghouls across the Galactic Empire’s chaotic Northeastern Territory, catching the Empire off guard.
• The Kingdom of Dawn High Command kept its main naval force inactive while assigning General Grievous to attack the Galactic Empire’s Twelfth Army in the Eastern Outer Rim.
• General Grievous used a small fleet supported by the Hutt Cartel to wage guerrilla warfare against the Galactic Empire and seized the Destruction battleship.
• The chapter explained that the Destruction battleship’s EMP cannon and Star-destroying cannon were powerful but vulnerable systems that could not operate together effectively.
• The Kingdom of Dawn sent engineers to modernize the Destruction battleship with help from Ruggle Schmong, its original designer.

After Darth Lilim’s stealth ships ambushed the Imperial fleet bombarding Taris, General Grievous used the Empire’s likely misjudgment to identify Boonta as the next target. He ordered the Destruction to attack as the hyperspace outposts monitored Imperial movements.

• The Galactic Empire blockaded Taris and learned from its inhabitants that billions of Rakghouls remained sealed beneath the planet.
• The Imperial commander rejected the inhabitants’ plea for evacuation and ordered an intense orbital bombardment of the underground city.
• Darth Lilim’s stealth ships struck the Imperial fleet by surprise, destroyed the commander’s flagship, and forced the remaining ships to call for reinforcements.
• General Grievous ordered the hyperspace outposts to monitor fluctuations and learned that activity near Boonta had risen sharply.
• General Grievous identified Boonta as the Empire’s likely troop-movement point and ordered the Destruction to attack.