Cover Artist: Marek Okoń

On Coruscant, Darth Malgus leads the Sith forces in an assault on the Jedi Temple while the Jedi and Sith are in negotiations for peace on Alderaan. Jedi Knight Aryn Leneer has a close relationship with her Master, Ven Zallow, and thus feels the moment when he dies on Malgus' lightsaber. Master Dar'nala keeps calm heads prevailing, although Aryn vows to find justice for her fallen Master and leaves to find a way to Coruscant, to find out who killed him. She travels to Vulta, where she meets up with an old war buddy, Zeerid "Z-man" Korr. Z-man left the military to provide support for his daughter, who lost the use of her legs at the same time her mother was killed. He has been so by smuggling weapons for The Exchange, but a run of bad luck has left him assigned a job smuggling engspice to the recently occupied Coruscant. Aryn and Z-man leave for Coruscant, with a Hutt employee named Vrath Xixor flying ahead, trying to stop them. On Coruscant, Darth Malgus is assigned to orbital guard duty in a power play by Darth Angral and Lord Adraas, which puts him in position to intercept Vrath and learn of the approaching smuggler and Jedi. He sees through their attempt to sneak by with the freighters, and shoots them down before they make it to safety, destroying the spice. Vrath tries to leave, but Malgus has him grounded for as long as the Sith occupy the planet, and Aryn and Z-man, who survived the destruction of their ship, work their way to the destroyed Jedi Temple. They work their way into the underbelly of the Temple, through The Works, and Aryn watches the security video of Malgus killing Zallow, over and over again, while her anger grows. While she watches, she notices the special treatment that Malgus gives his slave and lover, Eleena Daru, and decides that the best way to hurt Malgus is by killing her. Z-man, who has realized that the secret of his daughter is known to some of the criminals he works against, decides he needs to get off planet and back to his daughter as quickly as possible, so he and Aryn go find a spaceport with the plan of stealing a ship so he can escape. Malgus sends Eleena to carry out some orders, while he goes to the Jedi Temple to wait for Aryn to show up. As Z-man scouts out the spaceport, Aryn returns to the Temple to mourn her master and encounters Malgus. They duel and she barely gets away with the help of Z-man, who returned and found her missing. They break into the spaceport by faking a toxic leak, and Z-man finds a ship to steal. They say their farewells, and the ship Z-man is on starts to leave. Aryn makes her way through the spaceport until she finds Eleena, who begs Aryn to make her death as quick as possible, but Aryn knocks her out instead, having a change of heart. As Malgus enters, Aryn holds Eleena hostage, asking Malgus to let Z-man go free on his stolen ship, and Malgus agrees. While Z-man moves towards the cockpit, he encounters Vrath, whose ship he is stealing. They brawl while Malgus and Aryn duel, with Z-man winning, and he makes his escape, thanks to Aryn, who is defeated by Malgus strength in the dark side. When Aryn regains consciousness, Malgus tells her to take an Imperial shuttle and leave, sparing her life as Aryn spared Eleena's, but tells her if they meet again it won't end pleasantly for her. On his stolen ship, Z-man realizes that his daughter will never be safe as long as Vrath knows she exists, so he forces Vrath into the airlock, and evacuates it, killing him. He then retrieves his daughter and her aunt and flies to Dantooine, where he buys a farm and begins to hide out. On Coruscant, after Aryn leaves, Malgus takes Eleena in his arms as she awakens. He admits to her that he loves her, and then kills her because she is his weakness and he can't do what he needs to as long as she is around. Some time later, after the Empire has left Coruscant, Malgus makes his way to Adraas' home, where he duels and kills him for what he said about Eleena while she was alive. On Dantooine, fear grips Z-man as a ship approaches his farm, but instead of being assassins for The Exchange, it is Aryn, who has left the Jedi Order and decides to join him on his farm.