The ruthless cunning of the Sith Order has served the shipwrecked crew of the Omen well on the alien planet Kesh. Subjugating the superstitious Keshiri race by posing as its fabled overlords has ensured the Sith's survival—while they struggle in secret to return to the stars. But after fifteen years on their adopted world, some among the lost tribe have grown restless and fearful that assimilation will consume their Sith heritage. Now, as rival factions begin to appear, a shocking disaster throws into doubt the Sith's future on Kesh.
In the distant city of Tetsubal, the entire native populace is suddenly wiped out by a grisly plague of unknown origin. With terrifying speed, more cities succumb to the mysterious contagion. Only the Sith remain unharmed—so far. And as Sith commander Yaru Korsin grapples with the looming loss of the paradise he rules and the race his people have come to depend upon, he must confront the dark possibility that the catastrophe may not be cruel fate but insidious sabotage.
Paragon takes place in the year 4985 BBY, fifteen years after the events of Precipice, the first book in the Lost Tribe of the Sith series. This short story is told from the point of view of Seelah Korsin, the wife of the late Devore Korsin, who is the brother of Yaru Korsin, the founder of the Lost Tribe of Sith. Following their peaceful takeover of Tahv in 5000 BBY, the Lost Tribe has supplanted the Neshtovar as the new ruling elite of the planet Kesh by claiming to be the Skyborn, divine gods in Keshiri religion. Seelah has married her husband's brother Yaru and has a son and a daughter. The Siths' efforts to repair the starship Omen and return to the stars have been unsuccessful due to the breakdown of machinery, a lack of spare parts, and a lack of metal on the planet. Kesh's electromagnetic atmosphere was also interfering with the Sith's electrical equipment. The Sith also tried to search the oral histories of the Keshiri for any references to offworld visitors but were unable to find anything useful apart from the legends of the Skyborn and the Otherside or Destructors.
Trapped on a primitive and remote world, the Sith became restless and tensions soon emerged between the Human Sith and Red Sith, who had become known as the "Fifty-Seven." The Red Sith leader Ravilan Wroth was concerned that none of the Red Sith's children survived childbirth. Ravilan's efforts to include a Red Sith as part the crèche crew was resisted by Seelah, which bred distrust and animosity between the two individuals. This made Ravilan determined to leave Kesh by any means necessary. The following day, Ravilan visited the Ragnos Lakes, a region of eight villages which lay to the south of the town of Tahv. The Keshiri had been harvesting a species of fluorescent algae and Yaru Korsin had assigned Ravilan to investigate whether these could be used for lighting the Sith structures. He planned to first visit the city of Tetsubal. Unknown to the other Sith, Ravilan had secretly planned to contaminate the region's lakes and water supplies with cyanogen silicate, a substance that was used to treat the Massassi but was toxic to various other species including Humans and the indigenous Keshiri.
Meanwhile, Seelah began a project to document the ancestry of the Human crew aboard the Omen, intending to produce a new generation of pure-blood Humans. She began screening the children of the Human crew who had been born on Kesh. As a slave of the Sith Lord Ludo Kressh, Seelah hated the Red Sith and sought to purge them from the new Sith society on Kesh. She was also jealous of the close friendship between her new husband Yaru and the Keshiri woman Adari Vaal, the newly-designated Ambassador to the Keshiri. Seelah even hired several of her Keshiri staff including Tilden Kaah to spy on her husband and Adari to check whether they were having an affair. Instead, Korsin and Adari were more interested in talking about science and the Force. Following the death of her husband Devore, Seelah had married Yaru to seal an alliance between the ship's crew and the mining crew aboard the Omen. Later that evening, Seelah and Korsin received news of a massive calamity at Tetsubal.
Due to Ravilan's contamination of Tetsubal's water reservoir, over 18,000 Keshiri and various domesticated animals including uvaks had perished. By the time Seelah and her retinue arrived, Ravilan was the sole survivor. Even his Human assistant had succumbed to the mysterious plague. Ravilan claimed that something was killing the Keshiri and urged the other Sith to take it as a sign to leave Kesh forever. After examining the corpse of Ravilan's human aide, Seelah realized that Ravilan had played a role behind the plague and summoned her entire staff at her ward for an emergency meeting. Despite efforts by the Sith authorities to destroy the infected corpses at Tetsubal, the "mysterious plague" spread to other cities in the Ragnos Lakes region. This time, the other 57 Red Sith were also implicated because they had visited these cities shortly before the plague.
Shortly later, Seelah and Tilden "discovered" an empty vial which had been used to store cyanogen silicate. Since the only available samples were stored in the Omen's medical stores and Ravilan's store, Yaru Korsin deduced that the Red Sith were behind the outbreak. In response, Yaru Korsin ordered a purge of the Red Sith. Within one night, the Red Sith were slaughtered by the other Human Sith in the streets of Tahv. Their tentacle heads were also displayed in public. Seelah confronted the wounded Ravilan Korsin who had been imprisoned in the uvak enclosures. Ravilan admitted contaminating Tetsubal's water supply but denied poisoning the other cities. Seelah then admitted that she had organized the poisoning of the other cities in the Ragnos Lakes in order to blame the Red Sith for it. To add insult to injury, Seelah herself revealed that she had been behind the deaths of the Sith infants at the crèche, revealing her hatred for the Red Sith. Seelah's adolescent son, Jariad then personally executed Ravilan, completing the extermination of the 57 Red Sith. This allowed Seelah to pursue her vision of a purely Human Sith Tribe on Kesh.
Following the Red Sith Purge, Tilden Kaah, who was a secret member of the Keshiri resistance, met with other resistance members including Adari Vaal. They discussed the recent plague outbreak and the Red Sith Purge. The sole remaining non-Human among the Sith was the Houk Gloyd, who was fiercely loyal to Yaru Korsin and was regarded as a "pet" by the Human Sith. The Keshiri rebels confided that Seelah Korsin had underestimated the Keshiri resistance. Adari encouraged Tilden to continue working for Seelah so that she could provide intelligence to the resistance. Adari personally vowed to "end" the plague she had brought on the Keshiri.