Chapter Summaries

Tang Xiao learned that Alexia Ashford had stabilized the T-Veronica Virus and was collaborating with Doctor Halsey on the Spartan Program. He joined Halsey to inspect John 117 and her laboratory work.

• Tang Xiao recalled that Alexia Ashford and her brother had been assigned to Umbrella, where Alexia received funding and a research team to study T-Veronica.
• Alexia had stabilized the virus in her body, and Tang Xiao considered visiting her to check on her research and ensure she was being monitored.
• Doctor Halsey told Tang Xiao that she and Alexia were working together to advance the Spartan Program.
• Huang Yehao finished his report and left in his Crusader I power armor, while Tang Xiao noticed Cummings waiting outside.
• Doctor Halsey led Tang Xiao to see John 117 and described her work on the Spartan Program and Crusader I armor.

Tang Xiao learned why Doctor Halsey and Nute Gunray had clashed over the Endless-class Super Carrier project, which Count Dooku had mediated so the carrier could join the Confederacy of Independent Systems Navy. He and Doctor Halsey arrived at a laboratory and saw John 117 inside.

• The chapter explained how blockades, the InterGalactic Banking Clan split, and two leaks weakened the Endless-class Super Carrier project’s research team and secrecy.
• Doctor Halsey completed the carrier’s rudimentary Forerunner engine technology, while Nute Gunray opposed its high cost and wanted the ship to serve as an armed cargo vessel.
• Count Dooku intervened in the dispute because the carrier was being built on Semirres Planet for the Confederacy of Independent Systems Navy, as agreed with Tang Xiao.
• Tang Xiao and Doctor Halsey reached another laboratory and saw John 117 through the glass.

John 117 awakened aboard the mothership, received a customized Crusader I power armor, and was appointed to lead operations alongside Jango Fett’s Mandalorians. Tang Xiao tested his strength by ordering him to strike, but an invisible force stopped John’s punch just short of Tang Xiao.

• John 117 awoke at the mothership and told Tang Xiao he was ready to face the enemy.
• Doctor Halsey explained that John would be sent to Mandalore, where he would fight alongside the Mandalorian Crusaders.
• Doctor Halsey’s mechanical arms fitted John with a customized, army-green Crusader I power armor.
• Tang Xiao appointed John 117 as a first-class Master Chief of the Duchy of Dawn Navy and ordered him to report to the Infinity and cooperate with Jango Fett’s Mandalorians.
• Tang Xiao ordered John to strike him with full force, and an invisible force stopped John’s punch before it reached Tang Xiao.

Tang Xiao planned to attend the Infinity’s maiden voyage ceremony while keeping his appearance private, and the chapter detailed the Galactic Empire’s recent warship acquisitions and its decision to cancel Knight-class Star Destroyer orders. It ended by describing how the Knight-class had posed a major threat to the Duchy of Dawn Navy in past battles.

• Doctor Halsey warned Tang Xiao that John 117’s punch could have killed him, but Tang Xiao said he had enjoyed the fight and promised to make John 117 an admiral if he ever defeated him.
• Tang Xiao learned that the Infinity had completed sea trials and entered service, and he planned to attend its maiden voyage on Semirres Planet with John 117 and Jango Fett’s Mandalorians.
• The Galactic Empire commissioned several warship classes, including the Victory II-class Star Destroyer, and assigned its production to the Corellia Engineering Company instead of Kuat Drive Yards.
• The Corellia Engineering Company began the Star Defender Project, but Palpatine halted it three months later and redirected the company to the secret DS-1 project.
• The Galactic Empire canceled its Knight-class Star Destroyer orders, though the Duchy of Dawn’s commanders had considered the class a formidable battlefield opponent.

The chapter explained why the Knight-class Star Destroyer was costly for the Duchy of Dawn to counter and how its battlefield record and political scapegoating led to its removal from Galactic Empire Navy procurement. It ended with Lila Vesex using the Victory II-class design to improve the Consul-class Star Destroyer.

• Duchy of Dawn commanders committed larger warships and Calamity-class Particle Beam Lances against Knight-class Star Destroyers, while smaller vessels suffered heavy losses.
• The Galactic Republic and Galactic Empire blamed Onana Kuat for the disastrous Modell Sector Raid and cleared Dunn Vesex, Lila Vesex, and much of Cassio Tagge's responsibility.
• Little Kuat confiscated Onana Kuat's family property and exiled her surviving relatives after they were implicated in her political downfall.
• The Galactic Empire's new procurement plans dropped the Knight-class and numerous other Clone Wars-era ships and fighters, prioritizing the Consul-class Star Destroyer.
• Lila Vesex revised the Consul-class design using lessons from the Knight-class and plans for her father Willix Blythex's Victory II-class Star Destroyer.

Lila Vesex’s improved Consul-class Star Destroyer was presented to Emperor Palpatine in a staged demonstration designed by Little Kuat and Dunn Vesex. Impressed by its destructive power, Palpatine designated it the Empire’s mainline warship and renamed it the Imperial-class Star Destroyer.

• Lila Vesex presented the improved Consul-class Star Destroyer as a tribute to Emperor Palpatine, after Dunn Vesex and Little Kuat arranged the deal.
• Little Kuat staged an orbital bombardment of a planet populated by primitive tribes, and two Consul-class Star Destroyers annihilated its surface while Palpatine watched.
• Little Kuat and Dunn Vesex arranged a live-fire exercise in which five sabotaged Knight-class Star Destroyers, crewed by condemned deserters, faced two Consul-class Star Destroyers.
• The Consul-class Star Destroyers used their fighters and superior firepower to destroy all five Knight-class Star Destroyers, satisfying Palpatine.
• Palpatine ordered the Consul-class to be mass-produced as the Empire’s mainline warship and renamed it the Imperial-class Star Destroyer, or Imperial I-class Star Destroyer.

Palpatine approved mass production of the Consul-class Star Destroyer, renaming it the Imperial-class, while Kuat Drive Yards allied with Dunn Vesex and began to recover. The chapter also traced how the Sienar and Santhe families merged their companies, setting up Republic Sienar Systems’ rise.

• Palpatine approved large orders of Consul-class Star Destroyers and renamed them Imperial-class Star Destroyers.
• Little Kuat led Kuat Drive Yards into a new military-industrial alliance with Dunn Vesex, helping the company recover from its defeat in the Modell Sector Raid.
• The Sienar family joined with the Santhe family through marriage and merged Sienar Systems with Santhe Security.
• Santhe/Sienar Technologies expanded Republic Sienar Systems and joined the InterGalactic Banking Clan, where Hego Damask II was a co-chair.

The chapter traced Republic Sienar Systems’ growth into Sienar Fleet Systems and Raith Sienar’s rise as a key supplier to the Galactic Empire. It ended with Sienar Fleet Systems, Kuat Drive Yards, and Corellia Engineering Company established as the Empire’s new industrial Big Three.

• Hego Damask II backed Republic Sienar Systems, which designed and built Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator, while his plans kept the company beyond Tang Xiao’s reach.
• After Republic Sienar Systems supported both sides in the war, Palpatine secretly funded Raith Sienar, who rebuilt it as Sienar Fleet Systems after its dissolution.
• Raith Sienar developed the L-a2b ion reactor and the Vindicator-class heavy cruiser, helping secure Sienar Fleet Systems’ influence and cooperation with Kuat Drive Yards.
• Raith Sienar began the TIE Project, leading the Empire to abandon most of its former Republic fighter models and plan to phase out the V-wing.
• Raith Sienar proposed the DS-1 super battle space station and joined its project as Sienar Fleet Systems became one of the Empire’s leading industrial powers.
• The Empire’s industrial Big Three became Kuat Drive Yards, Sienar Fleet Systems, and Corellia Engineering Company, with their roles divided among large ships, smaller warships and fighters, and a broad range of products.

The Galactic Empire expanded and diversified its fleet with new carriers, cruisers, assault ships, and missile-armed frigates, preparing to refit its navy after the TIE Project was completed. In the Duchy of Dawn, Volgograd-Kanidi arrived on Annaj to find a rebuilt but hostile sector under intense Internal Affairs surveillance.

• The Galactic Empire converted the Pursuer-class into a dedicated carrier, developed the Vindicator-class for fleet air defense, and began modifying Acclamator-class assault ships for orbital bombardment.
• The Empire added CR-90 and Marauder-class ships to its fleet, armed Marauder frigates with costly Diamond Boron Missiles, and Kuat Drive Yards introduced the heavily armed Vigil-class corvette.
• Palpatine and the Empire's leadership waited for Sith Fleet Systems to finish the TIE Project before refitting the fleet.
• Volgograd-Kanidi flew over Annaj's reconstruction and thought of He Yuan, who had been placed under house arrest, before dismissing a young officer's report.
• Tourists at the spaceport cursed Kanidi as a traitor and butcher, while military police arrested them.
• An Internal Affairs official apologized to Kanidi for letting the protesters through, as the department's agents watched the Modell Sector's administrators.

Volgograd-Kanidi visited Cassio Tagge in prison, where the former Republic general learned that his family was negotiating his ransom with Tang Xiao. Sanya Tagge offered Cassio a place commanding the Tagge family’s fleets, leaving him trembling at the prospect.

• Volgograd-Kanidi watched military police arrest protesters in the Modell Sector and reflected on Tang Xiao’s handling of liberal unrest.
• Volgograd-Kanidi visited Cassio Tagge in prison and found him studying military books, including Thirty-Six Stratagems.
• Cassio Tagge defended his defeat, while Volgograd-Kanidi criticized his command and said the Grand Duke expected him to meet his family.
• Tang Xiao connected Volgograd-Kanidi to Sanya Tagge, who told Cassio she had come to negotiate his ransom and discuss cooperation.
• Sanya Tagge said Cassio would join Tagge Company and command the family’s defense and escort fleets, making him tremble.

Sanya Tagge came to Dawn Star Planet to ransom Cassio Tagge and offer cooperation between Tagge Company and the Duchy of Dawn. After Cassio refused to return home, Tang Xiao hinted that he had a proposal involving Sanya’s concern for her son.

• Sanya Tagge explained that Cassio could command the Tagge family’s defense fleet and army, while Tang Xiao wondered why the family had taken an interest in him.
• Cassio refused Sanya’s offer, arguing that returning home would mean the Imperial military had given up on him.
• Sanya blamed Cassio for the disastrous Modell Sector Raid and said his continued captivity brought disgrace to the family.
• Sanya offered Tang Xiao a ransom of one billion Imperial credits and access to a secret route into the Inner Rim, then proposed further cooperation with the Duchy of Dawn.
• Tang Xiao suggested that Sanya would not want to see her son fall so low and began to present a proposal.

Tang Xiao offered Cassio Tagge a chance to join the Duchy of Dawn Navy, then revealed that Sanya Tagge had come seeking help because she was dying. Sanya admitted she had only three months left and asked Tang Xiao to save her.

• Tang Xiao offered to conceal Cassio Tagge’s identity and let him study under Volgograd Kanidi, but Kanidi objected and Sanya stopped Cassio from accepting.
• Tang Xiao ended the communication with Cassio and Sanya, then told Sanya that he found her body more appealing than her son’s.
• Tang Xiao confronted Sanya about her imminent death, explaining that he had used the Force to examine her and discovered she was gravely ill.
• Sanya said she had three months left to live and asked Tang Xiao to save her because she had heard he could control death and resurrect the dead.
• Tang Xiao asked why Sanya had not sought help from Emperor Palpatine.

Sanya Tagge secretly met Tang Xiao and revealed that a grotesque growth had replaced her heart, asking him to prolong her life so she could guide her children and protect the Tagge family. Tang Xiao said he could help, but asked what price she was willing to pay.

• Sanya Tagge explained that she had come to Tang Xiao because she believed his power over death might offer her a chance to live longer.
• Sanya Tagge revealed the living black growth that had burst through her chest and explained that it had been growing for five years, resisting medicine and surgery.
• Sanya Tagge said that her newborn daughter Domina Tagge and her sons' uncertain futures made her unwilling to die or hand over the family yet.
• Tang Xiao considered how Cassio Tagge's defeat and the early rise of the Galactic Empire had shaken Sanya Tagge's confidence in her heirs.
• Tang Xiao told Sanya Tagge he had a way to prolong her life and asked what price she would pay, and she said she would seriously consider and fulfill his conditions as much as possible.

Tang Xiao asked Sanya Tagge to turn the Tagge family against the Galactic Empire, but she refused and explained how the great aristocratic houses had profited from the Republic’s weak, limited war effort. She left him with a candid account of why the elites backed Palpatine: they were tired of sharing political influence with the Outer Rim.

• Tang Xiao proposed that Sanya Tagge make the Tagge family betray the Galactic Empire, and Sanya rejected the idea as certain to destroy her family.
• Sanya argued that the Galactic Republic had committed less than a tenth of its strength against the Separatists because the aristocratic houses had withheld their resources.
• Sanya said the Republic could have built more than a million warships, but its structure prevented the government from controlling the great families’ power.
• Sanya revealed that the Tagge Company earned the equivalent of an entire star sector during the two-and-a-half-year war.
• Sanya explained that the great houses supported Palpatine because they resented treating impoverished Outer Rim planets as political equals.

Sanya Tagge explained why the Core Worlds’ great houses supported Palpatine’s authoritarian rule and offered to save the Duchy of Dawn in exchange for Tang Xiao’s protection and alliance. Tang Xiao pretended to accept her offer, then tore out her mutated heart and began brutally dismantling her body, intending to keep her alive until he could make her submit.

• Tang Xiao recalled how Ohn Free Taa’s sudden defection had helped Palpatine win the Chancellor election against the Rim Faction’s favored candidate, Ainlee Tim.
• Sanya Tagge said the ancient Core Worlds dynasties wanted authoritarian power so they could unleash their strength, expand, and plunder.
• Sanya offered to save the Duchy of Dawn and join its business empire to the Tagge family’s power if Tang Xiao saved her.
• Tang Xiao pretended to welcome the alliance and kissed Sanya as she fell into his arms.
• Tang Xiao seized Sanya’s mutated heart and tore it out, leaving her alive despite her catastrophic injuries.
• Tang Xiao revealed that he planned to keep Sanya alive until the day he crushed the Imperial Center and forced her to become his slave.

Tang Xiao brutalized Sanya-Tagge and left her physically restored but helpless in his office. As Adele-Ulan and Alexia examined her, Alexia drove a spike into Sanya’s heart to test her condition.

• Tang Xiao subjected Sanya-Tagge to horrific pain and humiliation, then cleaned the office and left her dressed on the sofa.
• Sanya-Tagge woke, recognized Tang Xiao, and tried to crawl away from him.
• Adele-Ulan brought Sanya-Tagge nutrient soup and addressed her as Aunt Sanya while making her drink from a bowl on the floor.
• Sanya-Tagge discovered that her body and heart appeared healed after five years, though Alexia said the recovery was incomplete.
• At Tang Xiao’s direction, Alexia examined Sanya-Tagge and plunged an elongated fingernail into her heart.

Tang Xiao treated Sanya Tagge and discovered that she had been poisoned, but the toxins continued to form throughout her body. He explained that she would need repeated treatments and left her facing the prospect of returning to him for a cure.

• Alexia Ashford examined Sanya Tagge and warned that her heart would collapse again in 97 standard days without further treatment.
• Tang Xiao told Sanya that she had been poisoned and offered to treat her again before her condition returned, but she refused to betray her family.
• Tang Xiao threatened Sanya, kissed her, and Adele Ulan taunted her before leaving her exhausted on the floor.
• Tang Xiao explained that the toxins spread through Sanya's body and that Alexia had helped replace her blood, repair her organs, and transplant a healthy heart.
• Tang Xiao described three possible solutions and said that repeated treatments were the only remaining option that would not enslave or kill Sanya.

Sanya Tagge left Tang Xiao after agreeing to deliver Imperial credits and a secret hyperspace route, while Tang planned to use her to gradually gain influence within the Tagge family. Alexia Ashford again proposed having descendants with Tang, who refused and warned that her plans might fail against the Force.

• After recovering, Sanya Tagge asked to leave, and Tang Xiao told her that Cassio Tagge had chosen to remain in the Duchy of Dawn and study under Volgograd Kanidi.
• Alexia Ashford flew into the room with insect wings, frightening Sanya, who hurried to clean up and dress.
• Sanya refused to persuade Cassio to return, said she would announce his death, and promised one billion Imperial credits and secret hyperspace-route data by the next day, as well as another visit within ninety-seven standard days.
• Alexia asked why Tang did not use stronger methods to control Sanya, and Tang explained that he planned to slowly expand the Duchy of Dawn’s influence in the Tagge family.
• Alexia proposed that she and Tang have exceptional descendants, but Tang pushed her away and said he had no interest in children or in descendants that might be worthless before the Force.

Tang Xiao assigned Cassio Tagge to serve under Volgograd Kanidi and confronted Helmut Zemo for raising the subject of an heir, though he later ordered Adele Ulan to accompany him to Semirres Planet. The chapter then outlined the Confederacy of Independent Systems’ shrinking territory and established Semirres Planet as a major industrial world ahead of the Endless-class Super Carrier’s maiden voyage.

• Tang Xiao arranged for Cassio Tagge to join Volgograd Kanidi’s forces and gain experience suppressing space pirates in the Modell Sector.
• Volgograd Kanidi criticized Cassio Tagge’s temperament, but Tang Xiao insisted that Kanidi give him a chance.
• Helmut Zemo told Tang Xiao that the Duchy hoped for his offspring, prompting Tang Xiao to threaten to take the civilization with him if he died and declare that he needed no heir.
• Tang Xiao said he wanted a child with Adele Ulan to strengthen ties with the Urlan family and ordered her to accompany him to Semirres Planet.
• The chapter described the Confederacy of Independent Systems’ military setbacks and identified Semirres Planet as one of its most important industrial worlds.

Semirres Planet became a major industrial center and completed the first Endless-class Super Carrier, Infinity, after two and a half years of development. Infinity was ready to enter service, while two more ships remained under construction.

• Semirres Planet developed a complete shipbuilding industry and became the Confederacy of Independent Systems’ third-largest industrial center.
• Tang Xiao selected Semirres Planet to build the Endless-class Super Carrier, with the Trade Federation providing funding and Halo Weapon Systems Group supplying technical staff.
• The carrier project suffered two leaks, and Darth Tenebrus learned part of its design, but the Semirians continued development.
• Doctor Halsey helped integrate Forerunner technology into the carrier’s engine system.
• The Galactic Empire failed to steal the carrier’s secrets or bribe any Semirians.
• The first Endless-class Super Carrier, Infinity, completed construction and prepared to enter service, while the second and third ships remained unfinished.