The planet Wayland is likely familiar to most fans of Star Wars, particularly those who have read into the Expanded Universe. After being devastate by Vong technology, Kol Skywalker (Cade's dad and Jedi) hoped to use the newly resettled Vong to work in adapting thing biotechnology to rehabilitate the planet. Unfortunately, the Sith were willing to use those attempt to morph the planet into a nighmare that exemplified the full nightmare imagery of the Vong technology. The planet has pretty much been abandoned ever sense.

Cade and his friends Syn and Blue join him on a trip to Wayland on a job. The planet is filled with bad memories for Cade, who sees it as his father's biggest failure. The team arrives to find another Jedi named Fiona Ti who had been hiding on the planet and surviving, having adapted the ability to mold the Vong technology in order to protect herself. She arrives just in time to save Sy from an attack by a local Vong who has gone mad with the help of a Sith Lady. Unfortunately, Cade and Deliah are captured.

The Sith Lady is none other than Darth Maladi, the mysterious female assistant to Emperor Darth Krayt who always seem to lurk in the background. Rather than brute strength and physical ability, her powers seemed to always lie within the science and Sith magic, and that is exactly what has brought her to Wayland.

Darth Maladi hopes to use Cade's Force healing abilities and his feelings for Deliah to see how far his abilities can go when connected to the Dark Side. She hopes to use it to strengthen the One Sith, the modern evolution of the Sith society that sees the Sith as a group of warriors working together rather than as an indvidual. This is particularly important in light of the fact that no one is really sure about Emperor Darth Krayt's status.

As all of this is going on, the Sith Empire, the Galactic Alliance, and the Galactic Empire find themselves in a bizarre twist of traps in the form of a shared battle in the hopes of gaining the upperhand and ruling the galaxy. The result is an epic fight that would do Return of the Jedi proud.

The pace of the series is definitely picking up and the vast set of characters that has been constructed over the series is really getting all sorts of screen time. Each person has a role to play. The next volume is the final one in the story arc, and I can't wait to read it and find out how it all turns out.

As an aside, I think this would have made a really awesome season on a television show!