As the humans have names, the tall man realizes that he has a name.  They call him Lord Nyax.  He believes that soon he will have all he desires and will rule the galaxy and rid it of those that he cannot sense - the Yuuzhan Vong.

After returning from one of their scouting runs, the Special Forces group enters a hidden research lab.    The lab, which is older than Luke, contains a very large life-support pod inside.  Many think it was for a nonhuman, but Luke senses a Dark Side presence within and disagrees. Whatever was held inside had busted out using brute strength before using a lightsaber to finish off any in its way.  Some believe the location would be perfect for their base, but Luke suggests they discover more about the previous occupant before settling down.

They encounter a droid that has been working in the facility, and it tells them that the human inside was subjected to various growth hormones that allowed it to grow larger than a normal human. It had armor plates surrounding its head, arms and body.  The droid, however, was not familiar with who this person was.

Elsewhere on the planet, Viqi Shesh along with several warriors and voxyn are on patrol.  They encounter a young man who gives Viqi a small object, but before she can determine its use they kill him.  She tucks it away and hides it from her Vong escorts.  The hunting party comes across a manufacturing plant, and they send the voxyn inside.  Several lightsabers ignite and the voxyn are killed in horrific fashion.  As the warriors meet a similar fate, Viqi flees the area.  Once she’s safely away, she discovers that the device she received from the boy is actually a homing signal that leads her to an upscale apartment in Coruscant.

Inside a super star destroyer, Commander Eldo Davip is overseeing the construction of a new weapon called Davip’s Side.  The weapon is designed to destroy the Yuuzhan Vong worldship.

Back in the lab, the group learns that the Dark Jedi confined in the pod was named Irek Ismaren.  Luke recounts that Ismaren’s insane mother implanted him with electronics to enhance his Force abilities.  At one point he is essentially killed, but his mother kept him in this pod while he recovered.  Irek broke out early and killed everything around him.  He has limited intellect and his only drive is to dominate the world.

Viqi inspects an escape shuttle inside the apartment, but is interrupted by Denua Ku and the other Vong warriors as they had implanted a tracking creature inside her. They survived the attack by Lord Nyax and vow to hunt and kill him.

The Special Forces Team watches as a group of humans excavate a nearby building.  As Mara goes in for a closer look, Lord Nyax enters the room.  The Vong hunting party finds the building as well and attack him.  Nyax makes quick work of several Vong, but Luke, Mara and Tahiri join the side of the Vong to help them eliminate the larger threat.  Mara notices that Viqi is watching from an overhead passageway, but she is quickly apprehended by Face and Kell Tainer.  As Face attempts to warn the Jedi that a huge construction bot was coming to life hundreds of feet below them, Viqi is able to escape, mocking Denua Ku as he lies dying.  The floor drops out under the battle as the Jedi and Nyax leap to safety.  Luke and Mara follow Nyax, Kell follows Viqi’s locator, and Face goes after the construction droids.

Luke and Mara quickly realize that Lord Nyax and the construction droids are probably heading towards the same place.  They meet with Face and follow the trail to an old government center that is more or less destroyed.  They assume Lord Nyax knows something about the building that they do not.

They reach their destination and find a battle between Vong warriors and Nyax controlled humans.  Kell contacts them and says he’s found the escape shuttle.  Luke sends Face to escape with Kell and warn the New Republic about Lord Nyax in case he, Mara, and Tahiri don’t make it back.

As the Jedi begin to attack, Nyax is able to control them as he does the other slaves.  When they fight it, they are met with terrible pain.  Tahiri’s time with the Yuuzhan Vong pays off as she is able to shrug off this pain.  Using their individual strengths the three Jedi bind together: Mara’s will allows them to reject false truths, Luke rejects any hatred, and Tahiri rejects the pain!  Just as they regain their footing, the construction droids bring down the black wall and unleash a wealth of Force energy once protected by the old Jedi Temple. Nyax feeds upon the energy to bring down the ceiling around them.  Nyax leaps through a hole and escapes.