Chapter Summaries

The Eternity’s crew waited near Levik while the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium feared that Manga-Manga had destroyed its fleets and gathered its defenses. After ten days of fruitless searching, Great Xirithut ordered two fleets to advance toward the Ninth Fleet’s last known location.

• Shepard challenged Kaidan Alenko to spar, and he reluctantly entered the ring after she smashed a barbell rack with one punch.
• Huang Yehao and Cummings waited aboard the Eternity as He Ru explained that their plan was to wait half a month before an intensive assault.
• Great Xirithut and the Golden Bishop held an eighty-hour Consecration Ceremony, but no enemy appeared, and General Lepix reported that the Ninth Fleet had been annihilated.
• After ten days of waiting and reports of two more silent outposts, the Golden Bishop, the First Elder, and General Lepix warned that the fleets were losing morale.
• Great Xirithut ordered two fleets to advance toward the area where the Ninth Fleet had gone missing.

The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium struggled with fear and exhaustion as three fleets remained missing, until enemy hyperspace fluctuations appeared near Planet Five. The invaders began striking the planet with unexplained beams of light, leaving Great Xirithut and General Lepix without answers.

• Great Xirithut and the Empire's officials debated lifting the alert after prolonged tension and the disappearance of three fleets, then ordered soldiers to rest in shifts while keeping two-thirds on duty.
• A red-skinned Xilu officer reported massive hyperspace fluctuations at Planet Five, and General Lepix ordered the fleets to prepare for battle.
• General Lepix learned the enemy had entered the Siskat system thirty light-minutes away, and he ordered the fleets to assemble toward Planet Five and ready their defenses.
• Three beams of light struck the planet and destroyed Mount Silokas, according to a terrified report to General Lepix.
• Another report of an attack on the planet arrived ten minutes later.

The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium came under repeated light-speed bombardment from a single Duchy of Dawn warship, which demanded the end of Biological Battery Technology and the release of its human captives. General Lepix led the main fleet toward Planet Five to confront the attackers, while He Ru rejected Great Xirithut’s defense of the batteries.

• Levik was bombarded every ten minutes, and General Lepix learned that three laser beams were striking from 550 million kilometers away.
• After another attack destroyed a town and killed more than 20,000 residents, General Lepix ordered the fleets to assemble and attack once reconnaissance scans returned.
• The scan revealed that a single warship over 5,600 meters long was bombarding Levik with three main guns.
• Lieutenant General He Ru demanded that the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium end Biological Battery Technology, destroy its production facilities, release the captives, and submit to Judgment within two days.
• General Lepix led the main fleet toward Planet Five, leaving less than a quarter of the warships behind for defense.
• Great Xirithut argued that Xilu people would starve without the batteries, and He Ru called their deaths retribution for capturing and draining people from neighboring species.

Lieutenant General He Ru ordered the Endless to bombard Levik planet while the Normandy secretly relayed targeting intelligence to the Eternity. As General Lepix’s fleet closed in on the giant warship, it stopped firing and began activating a hyperspace jump.

• Great Xirithut threatened He Ru, who then ordered the attack on Levik planet to continue.
• The Endless bombarded Levik planet for a day before its Particle Beam Lances entered a cooling and maintenance cycle.
• The Normandy reported Levik’s surroundings to the Eternity, which used the intelligence to precisely destroy a spaceport.
• Great Xirithut sent Lepix to destroy the enemy ship, and Lepix led thirty Xirui-class battlecruisers and one hundred cruisers toward it.
• The Particle Beam Lances destroyed several Xirui-class battlecruisers as Lepix’s fleet advanced, then the enemy ship began activating a hyperspace jump.

The Eternity used its Forerunner engine to jump directly to the Levik planet, leaving General Lepix’s main fleet stranded far away. After crushing the planet’s orbital defenses, it launched an assault on Kriyak Palace, where Huang Yehao and the Fourth Legion began their orbital drop.

• General Lepix learned from Great Xirithut that the Eternity had jumped beside the Levik planet and was positioned over Kriyak Palace.
• The Eternity deployed cruisers and fighters, disrupted communications, and destroyed the planet’s space stations, satellites, and remaining defenses.
• The Eternity moved into geosynchronous orbit above Kriyak Palace and prepared its Orbital Drop pods as fighters attacked the palace from the air.
• Huang Yehao and three hundred Fourth Legion warriors launched toward the planet in assault pods, shouting that they were the Calamity as anti-air fire converged on them.

The Duchy of Dawn forces seized air superiority over Kriyak Palace, landed troops, and pushed through the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium’s defenses while its fleet engaged the Endless-class Super Carrier. General Lepix’s main fleet remained two and a half days away, and Great Xirithut sensed the approaching end.

• Wraith and Viking fighters, backed by the Endless-class Super Carrier, destroyed Levik’s air defenses and cleared the way for an assault on Kriyak Palace.
• Three hundred Fourth Legion warriors descended in orbital drop pods, with Huang Yehao wiping out an anti-aircraft missile position and the other soldiers securing landing zones.
• Pelican transports brought in more troops and Scorpion tanks, while Hercules Dropships deployed six mass-production Thor Mechs to support the advance.
• Xilu Red Caste warriors counterattacked but were driven back by the Duchy of Dawn Army’s heavy fire, orbital bombardments, and fighter strikes.
• The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium fleet returned and engaged the Endless-class Super Carrier and its escorts; the carrier’s Particle Beam Lances destroyed four Xirui-class battlecruisers before the fleets exchanged fire.
• General Lepix’s main fleet remained 550 million kilometers away after failed hyperspace attempts, while Great Xirithut grew increasingly volatile as he foresaw disaster.

The Duchy of Dawn forces battered the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium’s defenses on Levik, trapping Great Xirithut in Kriyak Palace as Imperial Guard fought the landing troops. Shepard and her elite squad infiltrated the palace to find the emperor, while the Spectres vanished to scout ahead.

• Great Xirithut learned that Uroka’s Seventh Battle Group had been bombed and rejected advice to abandon Kriyak Palace, instead demanding reinforcements from the green-skin troops.
• The Endless-class Super Carrier and its fighters devastated the Ssi-ruuvi forces around Kriyak Palace, leaving the roads blocked by wreckage and bodies.
• The Xilu Imperial Guard regrouped inside the palace and fought the Duchy of Dawn Navy Marines, slowing their advance despite the Marines’ Thor Mechs and Scorpion tanks.
• The Normandy landed Shepard, Senluo, Reaper, Ashley Williams, Kaidan Alenko, and their squads near Kriyak Palace to locate the Ssi-ruuvi Emperor.
• Senluo, Reaper, and the other Spectres disappeared, while Shepard and the remaining squad advanced toward the palace’s busiest communications area.

Shepard Squad and the Ghost Agents broke through the Xilu Imperial Guard and reached Kriyak Palace as Great Xirithut ordered the destruction of records about the God of Decay and the deaths of everyone at Research Institute 101. After the palace fell, Huang Yehao and Shepard found the Emperor and more than two hundred officials dead, along with the planetary computer and its databases destroyed, marking the end of the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium.

• Shepard led her squad through the Xilu Imperial Guard, using her Force sense and precise tactics to advance toward Kriyak Palace.
• Ghost Agents disabled a tank formation with Force shockwaves and explosives.
• The Golden Bishop urged Great Xirithut to flee, but Great Xirithut refused and ordered border closures, the deletion of God of Decay records, and Research Institute 101 sealed with its occupants inside.
• Huang Yehao and Shepard joined the final assault, and the Eternity extinguished fires at the Central Palace with suppression shells.
• Shepard's forces entered the Central Palace and found Great Xirithut and more than two hundred officials dead, with the planetary computer and databases destroyed.
• The Eternity announced across Levik planet that Kriyak Palace had fallen and the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had ended.

After the Duchy of Dawn seized Kriyak Palace and Great Xirithut died, Lieutenant General He Ru tried to stabilize Levik planet, free the Pia'ek, and prepare an experimental hyperspace stargate. General Lepix formed a Ssi-ruuvi government in exile, while Pia'ek uprisings spread and the Vasari engineers began adapting Kriyak Palace’s factories.

• Lieutenant General He Ru proclaimed the abolition of the caste system, granted the Pia'ek equal civil rights, and distributed captured weapons to them.
• General Lepix regrouped his fleet at Kruda planet, declared himself Acting Emperor, and established the Ssi-ruuvi Restoration Army as a government in exile.
• Lieutenant General He Ru and Vasari engineer Grandison began preparing to convert Kriyak Palace’s production lines to build an experimental hyperspace stargate.
• As Xilu rebellions and riots spread across Levik planet, Lieutenant General He Ru used Eternity’s firepower and support for Pia'ek resistance to counter them.
• Pia'ek at Keda Port killed their Xilu overseers and founded the first Pia'ek Independence Army; within days, seven cities had been occupied and more than five million Pia'ek had joined the revolt.
• Vasari engineers started repairing Kriyak Palace factories, but estimated that stargate construction would take over a year, so the fleet needed Pia'ek assistance.

Tang Xiao reviewed the Vasari’s Stargate plans and Adele Ulan’s report on Rendili Planet’s relocation, learning that the project could link Rendili directly to Dawn Star Planet while easing pressure on the Duchy of Dawn’s strained economy. The chapter left the Duchy facing a vulnerable period of reduced industrial and military production as it prepared for possible war with the Galactic Empire.

• High Priest Shadi Li told Tang Xiao that the Eternity Exploration Fleet had activated the prototype Stargate core, and Tang Xiao ordered the Vasari to secure the connection while keeping Stargate construction secret from the Galactic Empire.
• Tang Xiao attended Adele Ulan’s report on the relocation effort, where she described rising pressure on receiving planets, unrest among immigrants, and Rendili Planet’s continuing loss of population and industry.
• High Priest Shadi Li presented a plan to build a Stargate between Rendili Planet and Dawn Star Planet while developing Rendili’s Star Ring and slowing relocation; Adele Ulan agreed to cooperate and redirect Rendili StarDrive’s production.
• Adele Ulan reported that the Duchy’s industrial capacity had fallen to about 80 percent of its postwar level and military production to 40 percent, leaving it vulnerable until growth resumed in three to five years.

Three years after the Galactic Empire's founding, Tang Xiao reviewed the Duchy of Dawn's population and military problems and recognized that it needed time to recover before another war. He traveled to Planet Kaal to meet the Vasari, whose growing strength offered the Duchy a new source of power.

• Tang Xiao accepted Adele-Ulan's report that relocating Rendili Planet's 600 billion people had disrupted production and left the Duchy in a temporary vacuum.
• Tang Xiao reviewed the Duchy's fleet and delayed projects, including the Minotaur, the Kohl-class upgrade, and the Taowu, and concluded that it risked losing a war on two fronts.
• Tang Xiao noted that the Galactic Empire remained wary of the Duchy after the Republic's defeats in the Modell Sector Raid and the Battle of Yag'Dhul.
• Tang Xiao valued the Vasari's rapid development on Planet Kaal and prepared to visit their population of fewer than ten million.
• Tang Xiao and High Priest Shadi Li boarded a lavish Vasari spacecraft, which departed Dawn Star Planet for Planet Kaal.

Tang Xiao helped the Vasari establish themselves on Planet Kaal and watched them use advanced nanotechnology and their stored embryos to expand rapidly. The chapter left the Vasari population growing into the millions, with High Priest Shadi Li confident they would overcome any social stagnation.

• Tang Xiao discussed Vasari nanotechnology and the faction’s willingness to cooperate with High Priest Shadi Li aboard the Voruntak Envoy.
• Tang Xiao gave Planet Kaal to the awakened Vasari, who began building nanomedical and medical research centers there.
• Tang Xiao awakened around 2,000 Vasari and provided them with three million Cryo-embryos, while leaving the hostile traditionalists unawakened.
• Vasari bioengineers used nanomachines to modify Cryo-embryos and accelerate their development, turning about two-thirds into twins.
• The Vasari population reached 5.5 million in two years and grew by another 700,000 infants after a year of natural reproduction.

Tang Xiao assessed the Vasari’s rapid development on Planet Kaal, their advanced warships, and the risks of relying on a powerful race loyal to him personally. After touring their cities, he arranged further cooperation to develop the Vasari and transfer their knowledge to the Fourth Civilization.

• Tang Xiao recognized that the Vasari could grow to billions within thirty years and that their loyalty to High Priest Shadi Li was personal rather than a guarantee of loyalty to Humanity.
• The Vasari began producing Ravasa Dou Practitioner heavy frigates, whose battlefield performance far surpassed the Duchy of Dawn’s existing warships, while the Navy placed limited orders and focused on integrating Vasari technology into its fleet.
• Tang Xiao toured the five Vasari cities with High Priest Shadi Li and saw the immigrants from Planet Kaal being used as slaves, along with the Vasari’s advanced city planning and education system.
• Tang Xiao visited the Vasari Phase Research Base, where engineers studied lost technologies including stargates, and reviewed the limited point-to-point routes he had approved for construction.
• Tang Xiao and High Priest Shadi Li agreed that the Duchy of Dawn would send specialist teams to Planet Kaal to aid Vasari development and learn from Vasari expertise.

Darth Vader led the Galactic Empire’s overwhelming fleet to destroy Saleucami’s defenses and ordered the surviving population massacred. Imperial forces began gathering civilians for public executions as the Empire prepared to press into Confederate territory.

• Darth Vader’s fleet defeated General Grievous, destroyed Saleucami’s defenses and Star Ring, and destroyed the Titan warship Tenebrous.
• Count Dooku had withdrawn the Slaughter-class and Devastation-class battleships from Saleucami and taken the Devastation-class ship to Raxus Prime.
• Darth Vader ordered Stormtroopers to gather and execute everyone on Saleucami, with drone recordings broadcast across the Separatists’ network.
• Imperial landing forces searched the ruins, rounded up civilians and surviving soldiers, and opened fire on the gathered people.

With Saleucami Planet about to fall, Tang Xiao urged Count Dooku to flee and ordered Toonbuck Toora to arrange Semirres Planet’s surrender to Darth Vader. After Saleucami fell, the Confederacy of Independent Systems collapsed, while several planets surrendered and Darth Vader accepted their capitulations without punishment.

• Count Dooku rejected Tang Xiao’s offer to come to Dawn Star Planet and chose to watch the Confederacy of Independent Systems fall on Saleucami Planet.
• Tang Xiao told Toonbuck Toora to surrender Semirres Planet, hand over the Endless-class Super Carrier designs, and erase the Forerunners’ hyperspace jump engine data; she agreed but said she would preserve the spark of resistance.
• Toonbuck Toora led Semirres Planet’s fleet into battle at Saleucami Planet and died with her crew fighting the Galactic Empire.
• Count Dooku gathered his remaining forces on Raxus Planet, while General Grievous fled toward Hutt Space instead of joining him.
• The Technological Alliance withdrew from the Confederacy of Independent Systems and surrendered, followed by Semirres Planet and Jabiim planet.
• Darth Vader accepted the surrender of the planets without punishing them, and his eyes shifted slightly when he saw the Semirian envoy.

After Saleucami Planet fell, the Confederacy of Independent Systems fractured as its remaining factions chose between surrender, escape, and resistance. Darth Vader’s victory left the Galactic Empire facing its own logistical and political limits before it could advance further.

• The Corporate Alliance’s Passel Argente sought Tang Xiao’s help, but Tang Xiao told him to flee through Hutt Space to Christophsis if necessary.
• Nute Gunray and San Hill remained aligned with Tang Xiao, while the Trade Federation and InterGalactic Banking Clan relied on their established bases and escape routes.
• The Confederacy of Independent Systems collapsed, though many planets prepared to resist the Galactic Empire in the name of freedom.
• Darth Vader paused after capturing Saleucami Planet because his position was unstable and the Empire could not easily sustain an advance into the Confederacy’s heartland.
• The Empire’s route to Saleucami Planet crossed uncontrolled systems plagued by uprisings and pirates, while nearby Hutt Space made a large-scale campaign more complicated.

Darth Vader conquered Saleucami Planet and used a massacre to boost the Galactic Empire’s morale while reorganizing his fleet for a campaign to destroy the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The chapter revealed that Palpatine’s oppressive rule had fueled widespread unrest, leaving the Empire beset by uprisings and exploitation.

• Darth Vader overcame the dangers surrounding Saleucami Planet with a fleet of more than 700 capital ships and over 3,000 smaller warships, then conquered the planet.
• Darth Vader halted his advance, executed Saleucami Planet’s residents, broadcast the massacre across the HoloNet, and began restoring his fleet for a larger campaign.
• The Galactic Empire’s propaganda celebrated the victory, and Palpatine interpreted Darth Vader’s contrasting treatment of surrendering forces and Saleucami’s residents as flexible leadership.
• Between the beginning of 16 BBY and July 4, the Empire recorded 170,000 uprisings, mostly in the Mid Rim and Outer Rim Territories.
• Palpatine’s government subjected planets to resource plunder, forced labor, high taxes, and the seizure of property when taxes fell short.

The chapter explained how Palpatine used political crises, war, emergency powers, and the stripping of planetary defenses to centralize authority and turn the Galactic Republic into the stronger, more exploitative Galactic Empire. It ended with the Core Worlds’ and Inner Rim’s noble houses isolated and powerless under his rule.

• Palpatine cautiously built influence during his first term as Chancellor, then crushed political opponents and cultivated support by stoking fear of war.
• Palpatine and Count Dooku worsened the Separatist crisis, while the events on Geonosis pushed the Senate toward granting Palpatine emergency powers.
• Palpatine used emergency powers to pass the Military Creation Act, establish the Grand Army of the Republic, and seize military authority.
• During the Clone Wars, Palpatine exploited financial strain and growing divisions between the Core Worlds, Inner Rim, Mid Rim, and Outer Rim to consolidate power.
• After defeats at Eriadu and Rendili’s betrayal, Palpatine abolished planetary defense fleets, leaving most planets unable to resist his government.
• Palpatine branded the Jedi Order traitors and exterminated it, while the noble houses were left isolated and vulnerable under the Galactic Empire.

Tang Xiao reflected on the Galactic Empire’s corrupt, militarized system and on how his knowledge of the future—not overwhelming weapons—gave him leverage against Palpatine. He focused on consolidating the Duchy of Dawn as uprisings spread, convinced the Empire’s victory on Saleucami Planet was only the beginning of its troubles.

• The chapter described how Palpatine’s Empire plundered planets and exploited slaves to expand its fleet, enriching a small circle of privileged elites.
• Palpatine grew stronger through corruption and Dark Side experiments, widening his power gap with Darth Malthael.
• Tang Xiao recognized his foresight as the crowbar that let him build power through Darth Pregas and Darth Tenebrus’s teachings.
• After making a separate peace with Palpatine, Tang Xiao prioritized stabilizing Rendili Planet and strengthening the Duchy of Dawn’s economic, industrial, social, and military systems.
• Tang Xiao noted that 1.7 million uprisings had erupted in seven months and concluded that the Empire’s victory on Saleucami Planet and secret DS-1 construction would not stop the coming rebellion.

Tang Xiao received a secret report from Sefrans Tann about strange developments on Dathomir, Imperial surveillance, and the alleged early betrayal of the Confederacy by the Technological Alliance and Geonosis. The report left him questioning intelligence he had trusted from Count Dooku.

• Tang Xiao learned that Sefrans Tann had sent a secret envoy and met the modified protocol droid in his meditation chamber.
• Tang Xiao unlocked the droid with his Death Force and watched Sefrans Tann report that Asajj Ventress and Savage Opress had vanished and that Dathomir had become impossible to surveil.
• Sefrans Tann warned Tang Xiao that the Galactic Empire was monitoring her movements around the Mandalore star sector.
• Sefrans Tann reported that the Technological Alliance and Poggle the Lesser had betrayed the Confederacy of Independent Systems when the Galactic Empire was founded.
• Tang Xiao was stunned because Count Dooku had previously assured him that the Technological Alliance remained loyal.