Following his traumatic ordeal on Ziost, Ben Skywalker returns the droid and the little girl to Almania and the Sith ship helps him find and return to Jacen Solo. After his debriefing, Jacen gives the ship to Lumiya and Ben returns to duty with the GAG. As leader of the Mandalorians, Boba Fett determines that his people will sit out of the upcoming war though if individuals wish to do mercenary work they are allowed to. He asks that 2 million people return to Mandalore and as a direct result of this they discover a fresh vein of the super strong Mandalorian iron that was believed to be mined out. He takes his granddaughter with him to find the Mandalorian that apparently looks like him and their path leads them to a meeting with Jaing Skirata who is persuaded to take Fett's genetic information to see if he can find a cure. As Jacen tries to discover the person he must kill to become a full Sith Lord, he discovers Chief of State Cal Omas has organized a secret meeting with Corellian Prime Minister Dur Gejjen. He sends Ben and a team to spy on the meeting and then assassinate Gejjen while he manipulates the legal system to support his plan. Meanwhile, Luke and Mara Skywalker's investigation leads them to believe that Lumiya wants revenge on Ben for killing her daughter and so Mara starts tracking her. The recording that Ben's team makes shows that Gejjen is willing to engage in serious peace talks as long as Jacen and Admiral Niathal are removed from the picture permanently. Ben succesfully kills Gejjen, but his friend Jori Lekauf kills himself to protect Ben and make it look like Corellians killed Gejjen. On Coruscant, Jacen has Cal Omas arrested and he and Admiral Niathal take over as acting Chief Of State until the current crisis is overcome. Ben decides to talk to Jacen about how he is feeling and overhears him conspiring with Lumiya. Assuming that jacen is under Lumiya's control, Ben goes to his mother and explains everything that has happened to him. Mara sees the truth and realizes that Jacen must die and so she follows him to Hapes so she can do what is necessary. Ben decides that he needs to kill Lumiya and so tracks her to the Hapes system as well where he attacks the Sith ship and Lumiya, unknowingly preventing her from helping Jacen fight off Mara. Mara is forced to land on the planet Kavan where she ambushes Jacen and fights him until he is nearly beaten. Just as she is about to kill him, he poisons her and makes his own escape. Luke feels her death and it galvanizes him to track down Lumiya and kill her in retribution. As he begins to grieve, Ben explains that Lumiya can't have killed Mara because she was trapped near him in the Sith ship at the time Mara died. On Mandalore, Boba Fett receives a treatment that leaves him feeling better than he has in a long time and then he learns that his wife may still be alive and frozen in carbonite. He determines to find her with the help of his granddaughter as his people launch their new fleet of prototype fighters that take advantage of the iron they found.
