Chapter Summaries

Gideon Tarkin split his forces to strike the Separatists’ rear while a small enemy fleet harassed Imperial positions and left Governor Seben demanding reinforcements at Lantilis Planet. After reviewing the enemy ships and their drone tactics, Gideon ordered an investigation into their supply line, just as the Imperial Supreme Strategic Command summoned him for a briefing.

• Governor Seben accused Gideon Tarkin of refusing to defend Lantilis Planet and reported him to the Imperial Supreme Strategic Command.
• After learning the Separatists had deployed their main fleet at Boonta, Gideon ordered four detachments to attack Jabiim planet.
• Gideon dismissed reports that the enemy fleet had sent ships toward Trandoshan Planet and Toglia Planet, then rejected Seben’s demand for reinforcements.
• Gideon reviewed photographs and combat reports describing the enemy ships’ maneuverability, self-produced drones, and long-range energy transmission.
• Gideon ordered a search for the enemy fleet’s supply line, then received a summons to brief the Imperial Supreme Strategic Command remotely.

Gideon Tarkin was pressured by the Supreme Strategic Command to act against the Separatists, so he split the Imperial fleet between an attack on Boonta and the defense of Charos IV Planet. As the main fleet pursued Lin Nanyi toward Saleucami Planet, a close-in defense system struck a shadow near Charos IV Planet, scattering golden fragments.

• The Supreme Strategic Command rebuked Gideon Tarkin for leaving Lantilis Planet exposed, and he ordered plans for an attack on Boonta or an assault on the carriers.
• Gideon Tarkin chose Plan A after his adjutant explained that the carriers were too fast to encircle and that the Imperial fleet could overwhelm the enemy at Boonta.
• When more carriers attacked Imperial supply routes and left Lantilis Planet, Gideon Tarkin decided to defend Charos IV Planet with 150 capital ships while General Togusius led 600 capital ships and other warships toward Boonta.
• Lin Nanyi's fleet fled Boonta toward Saleucami Planet, and Gideon Tarkin ordered Togusius to pursue as another Kingdom of Dawn fleet headed there.
• A close-in defense system aboard Gideon Tarkin's ship fired at a blurred shadow near Charos IV Planet, scattering fragments that appeared golden.

Gideon Tarkin realized a cloaked probe had exposed his fleet’s operations, while Lieutenant General Togusius’s force attacked Saleucami Planet without unified command. As Togusius pressed the assault, General Grievous arrived with ten Protoss Carriers at Charos IV Planet and charged Gideon’s fleet.

• Gideon Tarkin learned that the destroyed probe had approached his flagship undetected, but his adjutant had no information about the mysterious fleet’s commander.
• Lieutenant General Togusius gathered the Imperial fleet at Saleucami Planet and prepared to attack, while senior captains rejected his battle plan and acted independently.
• Togusius launched a three-pronged assault on Saleucami Planet and sent his plan to Gideon Tarkin.
• Gideon Tarkin ordered his forces to readiness after learning the mysterious Separatist carriers had disappeared from Balamak Planet and Toglia Planet.
• General Grievous arrived at Charos IV Planet aboard ten Protoss Carriers and ordered them and their Purifier Scouts to charge Gideon Tarkin’s fleet.

General Grievous led ten Protoss Purifier carriers in a surprise assault that overwhelmed Gideon Tarkin’s much larger Imperial fleet. The Purification Beams destroyed Tarkin’s flagship and wiped out the Imperial Twelfth Army.

• General Grievous ordered the Purifier fleet to charge, sending drones and carriers into the Imperial fleet before Gideon Tarkin could deploy his forces.
• Purifier Interceptors and Scouts attacked the Imperial warships with overwhelming firepower, and one Imperial-class Star Destroyer exploded after its engines were breached.
• The Purifier carriers plunged into the Imperial formation under drone cover, closing in on Gideon Tarkin’s flagship despite taking damage.
• General Grievous ordered all ten carriers to fire their Purification Beams at Gideon Tarkin’s flagship.
• The flagship exploded into fragments, and the blast destroyed the Imperial Twelfth Army.

General Grievous destroyed Gideon Tarkin’s flagship and escaped the Imperial fleet, then told Lin Nanyi that Tarkin was dead. Lin Nanyi saw a chance to counterattack on Saleucami Planet, though his adjutant warned that the Imperial fleet might not be so easily thrown into chaos.

• General Grievous led ten damaged Purifier aircraft carriers through the Imperial fleet’s defenses and escaped into hyperspace, while Gideon Tarkin and everyone aboard his flagship died.
• One Purifier aircraft carrier broke apart after emerging from hyperspace, and Mojo arranged for engineering ships and transports to rendezvous with the surviving fleet.
• General Grievous prepared to go to Saleucami Planet, vowing to repay a humiliation from ten years earlier.
• Lin Nanyi’s outnumbered fleet struggled against the Imperial Twelfth Army’s bombardment, and he ordered the Fourth Sub-fleet in Sector D-37 to retreat and buy time.
• General Grievous contacted Lin Nanyi to report Gideon Tarkin’s death and urge an immediate counterattack.
• Lin Nanyi saw Tarkin’s death as an opportunity, but his adjutant cautioned that the Imperial fleet might not simply fall into chaos.

Lin Nanyi recognized that the Imperial fleet’s leaderless assault depended on its captains’ willingness to risk their own ships, so he abandoned the defensive line and launched a concentrated counterattack at D-37. The Imperial advance faltered as its forward force was shattered, and Lin ordered the pursuit to continue.

• Lin Nanyi saw the Imperial fleet attack both flanks and realized that shifting ships around to defend each threatened position would make his formation collapse.
• Remembering General Grievous’s advice, Lin Nanyi ordered the fleet to abandon its positions and charge toward the D-37 sector, with five Divinity-class battleships leading.
• The Imperial force at D-37 turned to flee as Lin Nanyi’s battleships struck it head-on, while Kingdom of Dawn ships and long-range guns concentrated their fire.
• After dozens of Imperial-class Star Destroyers were destroyed, Imperial ships attacking from other directions hesitated instead of pressing their assault.
• Lin Nanyi explained that the Imperial captains were protecting themselves after Gideon Tarkin’s death left them without unified command, then ordered his fleet to pursue the D-37 remnants.

Lin Nanyi’s fleet fought desperately at Saleucami Planet until reinforcements arrived, while General Grievous took command of the flank. Grievous prepared to avenge the massacre and defeat that the Empire had inflicted on Saleucami ten years earlier.

• Lin Nanyi led a close assault on the Imperial fleet in Sector D-37 while urging the other Imperial ships to flee or engage.
• Lieutenant General Togusius, convinced that he would be blamed for the battle’s outcome, drank and abandoned his command duties aboard his flagship.
• One hundred capital ships, forty Heavy Cruisers, and four hundred small and medium warships arrived as reinforcements for the Kingdom of Dawn.
• General Grievous praised Lin Nanyi, ordered him to continue his attack, and took up a position supporting him from the flank.
• General Grievous recalled how Darth Vader’s forces had defeated his fleet on Saleucami and massacred 8,374,369,921 residents, fueling his desire for revenge.

General Grievous used patient harassment to break the Imperial fleet’s resolve on Saleucami Planet, exploiting its captains’ desire to return to Lantilis Planet and compete for power. The Imperial fleet fractured into four groups, and Grievous prepared to pursue the fleeing ships.

• General Grievous divided his fleet into seven formations and harassed the Imperial warship clusters while Lin Nanyi attacked from the other side.
• A damaged Purifier aircraft carrier arrived with two hundred Interceptor drones and more than thirty Purifier Scouts, increasing the pressure on the Imperial fleet.
• After more than a dozen Star Destroyers were destroyed, one Imperial cluster charged Grievous’s fleet, and he maneuvered his seven formations to engage it.
• Seeing Grievous occupied, another Imperial cluster fled toward the battlefield’s edge, prompting the remaining clusters to retreat or plan their escape.
• The Imperial fleet split into four groups, with Lin Nanyi pursuing one, Grievous engaging another, and two fleeing in separate directions.
• General Grievous watched the Imperial fleet collapse and vowed to kill the fleeing forces.

General Grievous returned to Saleucami, the site of the Confederacy of Independent Systems’ defeat, as the Galactic Empire’s fleet broke apart under attack by the Kingdom of Dawn. He pursued the fleeing Imperial ships, determined to repay the slaughter of the past.

• Grievous recalled how the Confederacy’s hopes and forces had been destroyed, culminating in the massacre at Saleucami ten years earlier.
• Grievous returned to Saleucami, where the Empire and the Kingdom of Dawn’s fleets had clashed as their forces advanced through the region.
• Grievous split off two smaller fleets to pursue the retreating Imperial ships while Protoss Observers tracked them across nearby star systems.
• The Kingdom of Dawn’s forces destroyed Imperial warships, and fleeing Imperial-class Star Destroyers struggled to fire back as their engines obstructed their guns.

Lin Nanyi and General Grievous routed the Imperial fleet at Saleucami, while Imperial leaders refused to help their own forces for political gain. After the battle, Governor Seben used the defeat to purge Gideon Tarkin’s supporters and take control of the Tarkin fleet at Charos IV.

• Imperial warships fled Saleucami, and General Grievous pursued them for hundreds of light-years, disabling ships whenever he could not destroy them.
• The fleets at Charos IV and Lantilis stayed out of the battle, leaving more than 200 Imperial capital ships and nearly two million personnel to their fate.
• Around 180 capital ships and more than 400 smaller warships escaped, while Grievous considered the deaths insufficient payment for Saleucami’s eight billion victims.
• Governor Seben blamed Gideon Tarkin for the defeat, impeached him, dismissed his appointees, and promoted his own supporters across the Twelfth Army.
• Seben demanded command of the 150 capital ships at Charos IV, and the Imperial Supreme Strategic Command approved the transfer and let him decide the crews’ assignments.

The Galactic Empire’s Supreme Strategic Command had viewed the Eastern Territory as its best chance to pressure the Kingdom of Dawn, but the Twelfth Army’s rout at the Second Saleucami planetary battle wrecked that plan. The Empire now had to reinforce the Eastern gateway, increasing pressure on Darth Vader’s defenses and threatening Wilhuff Tarkin’s Death Star project.

• The Galactic Empire had relied on its troop and logistical advantages in the Eastern Territory to pin down the Kingdom of Dawn while easing pressure on its northern and southern fronts.
• The Supreme Strategic Command had planned to use Jabiim planet as a base against Dak Planet and Lothal Planet, counting on local conflicts to strain the Kingdom of Dawn’s resources.
• Gideon Tarkin had resisted an offensive because he understood the Kingdom of Dawn’s new equipment and its tendency to lure Imperial forces into traps.
• General Grievous had exploited a gap in the Empire’s intelligence to bring about the Twelfth Army’s crushing defeat at the Second Saleucami planetary battle.
• The defeat forced the Galactic Empire to redeploy defenses in the Eastern Territory, raising the threat to Darth Vader’s Delon system and Wilhuff Tarkin’s Death Star project.

Wilhuff Tarkin abandoned his plans to control the Twelfth Army and pinned his hopes on the Death Star, while Governor Seben consolidated the battered army and purged Tarkin influence. Tarkin rejected Boresha Organa’s request for repayment of Alderaan’s bonds, and the Kingdom of Dawn’s Semirian forces captured Jabiim’s capital as King Otto Stratus fled to wage guerrilla warfare.

• Wilhuff Tarkin mourned Garrosh Tarkin and Gideon Tarkin, accepted Governor Seben’s detention of 150 Star Destroyers, and turned his focus back to the Death Star.
• Governor Seben purged the Tarkin family’s influence from the Twelfth Army, appointed Lieutenant General Doran as its commander, and deployed his forces to defend Lantilis Planet and Charos IV Planet.
• Governor Seben cut intelligence spending, reported payments to the Rebel Alliance as evidence against the Tarkin family, and sent Intelligence Department officials to a military tribunal.
• Boresha Organa asked Wilhuff Tarkin to repay Alderaan’s one trillion Imperial long-term bonds, but he postponed repayment by two years and intimidated her with a reminder of Bail Organa.
• Semirian forces routed Jabiim’s army across four battlefields, captured the planetary capital under Cummings, and forced King Otto Stratus to continue organizing guerrilla warfare.

Sky Squad arrived on Jabiim to capture Otto-Stratus and end his guerrilla resistance, while General Kalani planned a separate campaign against Rebel Alliance supply networks. Kryster tracked Otto-Stratus through the underground communication lines, and an attack began as his forces evacuated.

• General Kalani met Acting Governor Lin Nanyi on Lothal and proposed dividing the Eastern Territory into secure zones to locate Rebel supply bases, with the Salarians joining the operation.
• The Priestess and Sky Squad arrived on Jabiim, where Cummings explained Otto-Stratus's extensive underground bases and communications network.
• Otto-Stratus planned attacks on Semirian supply drops, but Blood Knight Modolai sensed they had been found and ordered repeated relocations.
• Zhang Xucheng detected a powerful Force-sensitive near the Taran Mountain Range, and Kryster tracked Otto-Stratus through a buried wired communication line.
• Talia prepared to intercept Otto-Stratus's retreat, while a strange song from a telephone receiver killed a communications soldier.

Talia, Xiao Yan, and Kingdom of Dawn forces attacked Otto Stratus’s command post and pursued him through the Jabiim swamps, killing Modolai and capturing Otto. Otto was taken to Joal City, where he defied the Kingdom of Dawn during a live broadcast, before being sent to Lothal Planet for trial.

• Talia and Kryster’s Force-enhanced song exposed the command post, while Xiao Yan engaged Modolai and Otto Stratus fled as reinforcements intercepted his call for help.
• Talia joined the battle against Modolai, allowing Xiao Yan to stab him from behind and kill him.
• Cloaked Banshee and Wraith fighters attacked Otto’s retreating Nimbus commandos, while Karina and Kingdom of Dawn forces pursued them through the swamp.
• Zhang Xucheng helped guide the attack, and the young boy captured Otto Stratus after cutting off his sword hand and disarming the remaining commandos.
• After Otto’s capture prompted guerrillas and Nimbus commandos to surrender, he denounced the Kingdom of Dawn during a live broadcast and was sent to Lothal Planet to stand trial.

General Kalani crushed resistance on Jabiim and devised a sector-by-sector campaign against the Rebel Alliance in the Eastern Territory. After destroying twenty-three Rebel bases in Operation Spring Dawn, he prepared to target Ghost Squad on Lothal Planet.

• General Kalani executed Otto Stratus after using a fake confession to undermine resistance on Jabiim, then erased records of Otto and his officials.
• The Kingdom of Dawn suppressed Jabiim’s leaderless resistance and annihilated the Nimbus commandos during a month of operations.
• General Kalani divided the Eastern Territory into seventy-two sectors, used Interdictors and Protoss Observers to locate Rebel bases, and studied the Alliance’s X-wing tactics.
• General Kalani barred Eastern Territory residents from using Imperial credits, further disrupting local businesses and employment.
• Two months later, General Kalani and General Grievous launched Operation Spring Dawn with nine repaired Purifier aircraft carriers and destroyed all twenty-three known Rebel bases.
• General Kalani began preparing to eliminate Ghost Squad and the wanted criminals Sabine, Ezra, and Kanan on Lothal Planet.

Ghost Squad confronted the destruction of twenty-three Rebel Alliance bases and learned that General Kalani had planned the devastating Spring Dawn operation. Fulcrum warned Kanan Jarrus that Kalani had made the squad his next target and urged them to stay alive until she reached Lothal.

• Kanan Jarrus and Ghost Squad mourned the loss of twenty-three Rebel Alliance bases and the capture or death of thousands of members.
• Sabine Wren lamented the Alliance's losses, while Kanan Jarrus vowed to resist the Kingdom of Dawn and said the New Jedi Order would support them.
• A mysterious voice hacked Kanan Jarrus's communicator and identified herself as Fulcrum, an intelligence agent who answered to the leader.
• After verifying Fulcrum's identification code, Kanan Jarrus asked what the squad should do.
• Fulcrum revealed that General Kalani had commanded the Spring Dawn operation and warned that Ghost Squad was his next target.

Fulcrum ordered Kanan Jarrus and the Rebels to withdraw from the Eastern Territory as the Kingdom of Dawn grew more dangerous. During their escape through Gladiator Night, Kanan realized they had been detected and fought an invisible attacker beneath Monad Outpost.

• Fulcrum explained that the Alliance was retreating from the Eastern Territory and gave Kanan a route through Monad Outpost to the cargo ship Gray Falcon.
• Kanan agreed to withdraw, while Ezra Bridger questioned abandoning Lothal and lamented the possible end of Gladiator Night.
• Kanan and the others destroyed evidence of the Rebel operation, disguised themselves, and traveled in separate groups to Monad Outpost.
• Kanan sensed that someone was watching him and warned the others that they had been spotted.
• At the concealed maintenance passage, Kanan sensed danger and clashed Lightsabers with an unseen attacker, recognizing the use of Force stealth.

Kanan Jarrus and Ahsoka Tano fought the Priestess as Ghost Squad fled through the mines, while Talia realized the chaos was a diversion for an attack on Governor Shilka. Kanan died buying Ahsoka time to escape, and the Priestess sent Xiao Yan after the others.

• Kanan Jarrus recognized the masked Priestess as his former master, Depa Billaba, and ordered Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla, and Sabine to flee after she killed Zeb.
• Xiao Yan struggled against a mysterious fighter with white lightsabers, then abandoned the fight to enter the mine.
• The Priestess severed Kanan Jarrus's hand, but Ahsoka Tano arrived and took up the fight against her.
• Talia learned that Governor Shilka had been attacked and realized the explosion and Ghost Squad's escape were diversions.
• The Priestess sent Xiao Yan after the fleeing Rebels while she fought Ahsoka Tano and accused her of colluding with the Blood Knights.
• Kanan Jarrus attacked the Priestess to save Ahsoka Tano, was fatally stabbed, and died after urging Ahsoka to run.

Talia reached the Governor's Mansion and found Shi Aimin had driven off a Blood Knight after the assassin wounded Governor Shilka. The Blood Knight, Taron Malicos, killed General Kalani, but a colossal ODIN mech emerged beneath the collapsing Intelligence Bureau building.

• Talia arrived at the Governor's Mansion, where Shi Aimin guarded the wounded Governor Shilka and reported that a Blood Knight had fled.
• Shi Aimin suspected General Kalani was the assassin's next target, and Talia raced away to protect him.
• At the Lothal Planet Intelligence Bureau, Taron Malicos cut into General Kalani's office and introduced himself before attacking.
• Taron Malicos destroyed Kalani's four IG-100 Guardian droids, severed Kalani's arm, and decapitated him.
• As the building collapsed, Taron Malicos escaped through a window with Kalani's head and saw a massive ODIN mech unfold beneath the ruins.

General Kalani pursued Talon Malikos through Lothal City in his enormous armored Odin mecha, while Talia joined the fight and Peggy Carter ordered him to stop because of the destruction. At Monad Outpost, a shadowy assassin attacked Ghost Squad and killed Hera Syndulla, leaving Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren in danger.

• General Kalani used the Odin mecha’s armor, bombs, and cannons to drive Talon Malikos through the city after accusing him of failing to kill Governor Shilka or Kalani.
• Talia arrived on her speeder bike and attacked Talon, who soon fled again under Kalani’s continued fire.
• Peggy Carter ordered Kalani to stop after his pursuit destroyed more than ten buildings, while the wounded Governor Shilka demanded compensation.
• Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, and Hera Syndulla fled through the Monad Outpost mine as a ghostlike assassin pursued them.
• The assassin pierced Hera through the chest, and Ezra and Sabine fought back as it vanished and then threatened Sabine.