In the year 138 ABY, a rebellion was sparked by the Sith defector Darth Wredd, targeting both the One Sith and the Galactic Federation Triumvirate. While the One Sith operated from the shadows, secretly infiltrating various planetary governments across the galaxy, Wredd, who had been hiding on Mala in the Surd Nebula, killed his master and took Yalta Val, an Imperial Knight serving the Galactic Federation Triumvirate, as a prisoner. Subsequently, he disguised himself as Val and oversaw the construction of the Carreras G51 communications array.
The discovery of Val's lightsaber inside an Imperial communications droid by Ania Solo, a junk dealer, complicated matters. The Carreras Incident—Wredd's attempt to reclaim the weapon, initially by attacking Solo at her junkyard and later by implementing a blockade of the Carreras system—resulted in Solo and her allies being captured by a Shifalan patrol ship and imprisoned on the communications array. Biala, the Shifalan governor, upon realizing Wredd's true identity as a Sith, freed the prisoners, who then confronted Wredd in one of the array's hangars.
Solo's companions—Sauk, an engineer; AG-37, a droid; and Jao Assam, an Imperial Knight who had journeyed to the system in search of Val—were severely injured by Wredd. Solo, relatively unharmed, seized Jao's starfighter and pursued Wredd to Mala, where he was utilizing the communications array to broadcast his declaration of rebellion across the galaxy. Solo assisted Val in his escape, and while Val dueled Wredd, Solo noticed that the Sith was remotely causing the communications array to crash into Mala. She returned to the array to rescue her friends aboard AG-37's freighter, successfully evacuating Val before the impending crash. Wredd, however, managed to escape.
The survivors aboard AG-37's freighter were rescued by the Animus, a Galactic Triumvirate Star Destroyer. While Sauk and AG-37 departed, Jao Assam went rogue and left with Solo in a shuttle to pursue Wredd. Their pursuit led them to Nalyd, and later to Dac. Meanwhile, Wredd was systematically killing Sith who had infiltrated planetary governments, aiming to be the sole remaining Sith. At Dac's shipyards, Solo and Assam discovered that Darth Luft, a Sith Lord, was constructing a pirate fleet, a revelation their communications droid transmitted to Yalta Val. As a space battle erupted, Val and Admiral Gar Stazi of the Triumvirate arrived at Dac with a fleet. The combined Imperial and Galactic Alliance forces successfully liberated the Mon Calamari and Quarren slaves and captured the pirates. During the conflict, Jao Assam personally killed Darth Luft.
Following the liberation of the Mon Calamari shipyards, Jao Assam and Ania Solo came to the realization that by eliminating Darth Luft, they had inadvertently aided Darth Wredd's plan to systematically eliminate members of the One Sith and reinstate the Rule of Two. Jao, Sauk, and AG-37 were compelled to temporarily halt their pursuit of Darth Wredd when Ania Solo was abducted by her former romantic interest, Ramid, who was acting on a bounty placed on Ania's head. Ania had been falsely accused of murdering the Imperial Knight Teemen Alton by an old enemy, who had assumed the identity of a bounty hunter. The mission to rescue Ania Solo took Jao and her companions to a remote planet characterized by glass and acid rain. After a prolonged confrontation, Ania successfully killed the bounty hunter. However, she was subsequently apprehended by Imperial stormtroopers and transported to Coruscant for trial. Ultimately, Ania was exonerated when Master Yalta Val and Jao Assam presented evidence proving her innocence in Teemen Alton's murder. Despite Ania's release, Jao Assam was arrested and imprisoned for deserting the Imperial Knights order.
Subsequently, Darth Wredd reappeared on Coruscant and freed Jao Assam from his imprisonment, offering the Imperial Knight a position as a Sith apprentice. Determined to thwart Wredd's scheme to assassinate Galactic Empress Marasiah Fel, Jao followed Darth Wredd to the floating world of Mala. Jao soon discovered that Darth Wredd had been coerced into joining the One Sith, who had annihilated his homeworld and murdered his family. Driven by vengeance, Darth Wredd sought to destroy the One Sith. He manipulated Jao into luring both the One Sith and the Imperial Knights to Mala, which became the battleground for a great battle that seemingly resulted in the One Sith's destruction. At the battle's conclusion, Darth Wredd attempted to assassinate Marasiah Fel, hoping to corrupt Jao Assam and turn him to the dark side of the Force. However, Jao remained steadfast in his loyalty to his Empress. Ultimately, Darth Wredd was killed by Ania, who used a blaster. Following the end of Darth Wredd's insurgency, Empress Fel reformed the Imperial Knights' code, allowing its members to align with the light side of the Force rather than solely serving the Empress. Jao then joined Ania and her companions on their galactic travels.
The seeds of Darth Wredd's uprising were sown during the final years of the Second Imperial Civil War. Vul Isen of the One Sith conducted a test of a bioweapon on a remote planet called Mala. This experiment successfully obliterated all life on Mala, even displacing the planet from its orbit, transforming it into a wandering rogue planet within the galaxy. The sole survivor of this genocide was the individual who became Darth Wredd, whose Force-sensitivity was recognized by an unidentified Sith master. This Sith master sensed Darth Wredd's potential in the Force and took him on as a Sith apprentice. Although Darth Wredd eventually succumbed to the dark side and became a Sith, he secretly desired revenge against those responsible for the destruction of his family and homeworld.
Darth Wredd's chance for retribution arose after Darth Krayt's demise during the Battle of Coruscant in 138 ABY. Following the Sith's defeat, the One Sith retreated underground once more, adopting a strategy of infiltrating governments throughout the galaxy to restore their "golden age." A new galactic government, the Galactic Federation Triumvirate, was established, comprising an alliance between the Fel Empire, the Jedi Order, and the Galactic Alliance. Under the leadership of Empress Marasiah Fel, the Triumvirate initiated a program to create a galaxy-wide communications network to connect the Outer Rim Territories with the wider galaxy. As part of this initiative, the Imperial Knight Yalta Val was assigned to oversee the final stages of constructing a communications station in the remote Carreras system.
In 138 ABY, Darth Wredd and his Sith master ambushed Master Yalta Val's shuttle within the Surd Nebula. Master Val's shuttle crash-landed on Mala, a planet located within the Carreras system. The Sith master then eliminated Master Val's crew and attacked the Imperial Knight. During their duel, Darth Wredd seized the opportunity to kill the individual who had played a role in the destruction of his homeworld and family. He then imprisoned Master Val and stole his armor, impersonating the Imperial Knight. One week later, Darth Wredd's escape pod was recovered by the Carreras authorities. Upon meeting Governor Biala, Darth Wredd asserted that a Sith presence existed within the Carreras system and that the Sith had murdered his crew. He then forcibly coerced Biala into relinquishing control of her security forces to him.
As Darth Wredd had been unable to recover the real Master Val's lightsaber, he initiated a system-wide search to retrieve the weapon. Unbeknownst to Darth Wredd, Master Val's Imperial communications droid had already recovered the object but was damaged during a meteor storm. By chance, the droid fell into the possession of Ania Solo, a local junk dealer and a distant descendant of Han Solo who had fallen on hard times. She and her Mon Calamari friend Sauk, an engineer, attempted to sell the lightsaber but attracted the attention of the Carreras authorities. Following a skirmish that resulted in the deaths of four security guards, Ania and Sauk managed to escape back to Ania's junkyard on Carreras Minor's moon.
Darth Wredd and his security forces soon followed them there and managed to retrieve the lightsaber. However, Ania and Sauk managed to escape with the help of their friend, the assassin droid AG-37, who owned a freighter. They also managed to bring Val's communications droid with them. Their travels took them to the barren planet of Carreras Minor. There, they were attacked by a large tentacled monster. At that point, they were rescued by another Imperial Knight named Jao Assam, who had traveled to the Carreras system to ascertain the whereabouts of his mentor Val. After the newly-repaired communications droid played a holorecording of the real Master Val fighting a Sith Master, they quickly deduced that the real Master Val had been kidnapped by a Sith impostor.
Using the coordinates stored in the Imperial communications droid, Ania, Jao, and their companions decided to travel to Mala and rescue Master Val. However, they were captured on the way by the Carreras authorities who brought them to the Carreras communications array. By that point, relations between Darth Wredd and Governor Biala had deteriorated sharply to the point that she came to suspect that he was not actually an Imperial Knight. Governor Biala freed Jao Assam and his companions and sent them to deal with the Sith impostor. They attempted to ambush Darth Wredd in the station's hangar bay but the rogue Sith managed to escape after incapacitating several of Ania's companions including Jao, who was presumed dead after getting impaled and thrown out of the hangar bay.
Darth Wredd then returned to his base on Mala where he used the Carreras communications array to broadcast his manifesto to the wider galaxy. During their broadcast, he also attempted to execute Master Val but was thwarted by Ania Solo. As the station headed into a collision course with Mala, Governor Biala ordered a general evacuation. In the midst of the fighting, Darth Wredd managed to escape in his starship and fled for parts unknown. Meanwhile, Ania managed to evacuate her companions and rescue Master Val. To their astonishment, they also discovered that Jao Assam had survived his confrontation with Darth Wredd thanks to the efforts of Master Val's Imperial communications droid. Believing that Jao had come to rescue it, the droid believed that it owed the young Imperial Knight a life debt. The Carreras Incident caught the attention of the Triumvirate leadership who took an interest in Ania Solo.
Following the Carreras Incident, Darth Wredd initiated a rebellion against the One Sith. He tracked down a Snivvian infiltrator in Cadomai Prime and killed him after a heated skirmish. Furthermore, Darth Wredd killed a second infiltrator at the Galactic Triumvirate's legation on Ceitia Five. Despite Darth Wredd's threats to the Galactic Triumvirate, Empress Fel, acting on the advice of Admiral Gar Stazi, decided not to pursue the rogue Sith because he was assisting them in eliminating One Sith infiltrators. Meanwhile, AG-37's freighter was intercepted by the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer Animus. Ania and her companions were welcomed as guests by the Imperials, who commended them for rescuing Master Val and Jao Assam.
While recovering from his injuries in a bacta tank, Jao Assam experienced a Force vision of Darth Wredd attacking Empress Marasiah Fel. He voiced his concerns about Darth Wredd to Master Val, but his superior reminded him that they were under orders to follow; their superior Antares Draco, the head of the Imperial Knights, had reassigned them both to Coruscant for the next cycle. Val also argued that they should allow the Force to guide the Empress in this matter. Believing that the Triumvirate was underestimating the threat posed by Darth Wredd, Jao persuaded Ania to join him on a quest to hunt down the rogue Sith. Seizing a shuttle, they escaped the Animus and fled into hyperspace. As a result of his actions, Jao was condemned by the Empress for desertion, a crime punishable by death.
Jao and Ania's travels led them to the planet Nalyd. Using the few leads they had, they discovered that Darth Wredd's Nalydian accomplice Dieben had been extradited back to his homeworld of Nalyd. They attempted to question him but arrived in time to witness his execution. Unable to convince the authorities to postpone the execution, Ania and Jao kidnapped Dieben and led the authorities on a chase. This pursuit ended with the three individuals falling into a swamp. While Ania and Jao survived the fall, Dieben was impaled on a plant and died without divulging any information to the two companions. Later, Ania and Jao learned from the Nalydian authorities that Dieben had been planning to travel to the lawless Calamari system, where he had several "powerful friends." Although Jao was skeptical that they would find Darth Wredd there, they decided to travel there since they had no other leads.
Following their new lead, Jao Assam and Ania Solo journeyed to the lawless Calamari system, which had become a haven for pirates and crime syndicates following the Sith Genocide on Dac. The One Sith had contaminated the planet's oceans with a bioweapon that was harmful to most lifeforms. Upon arriving at the Mon Calamari Orbital Shipyards, Jao and Ania's shuttle was seized by a pirate syndicate and dragged into a hangar bay. However, Jao and Ania managed to overpower two pirates and steal their uniforms. After encountering a Mon Calamari named Luen and a Quarren named Tilin, they discovered that another Sith named Darth Luft and his pirate associates had established a slaving operation in the Mon Calamari shipyards, where they were using enslaved Mon Calamari and Quarren refugees to construct a pirate fleet. Jao used his adopted Imperial communications droid to transmit a distress signal to Master Val, alerting the Triumvirate authorities to the plight of the Mon Calamari and Quarren.
Shortly thereafter, Jao, Ania, and their guides were captured by Darth Luft, who revealed that Darth Wredd was not in the Dac system. Luft expressed his disdain for the rogue Sith and vowed to kill him if he ever set foot in the shipyards. Darth Luft then had the four companions dumped into an escape pod, which was jettisoned into the poisoned oceans of Dac. Jao's Imperial comm droid managed to transmit another distress signal that was picked up by AG-37 and Sauk, who were conducting a delivery run on AG-37's freighter. AG-37 and Sauk rushed to Dac and managed to retrieve the escape pod from the oceans of Dac. After regrouping at an abandoned hangar, Jao suggested taking the fight to Darth Luft. His strategy was not shared by Ania, AG-37, and Sauk, who preferred to wait for reinforcements to arrive. Meanwhile, the Quarren Tikin feared that Jao's actions would endanger his son Tilin and decided to inform the Sith of the Imperial Knight's presence.
Tikin managed to secure an audience with Darth Luft and divulged his information. However, Darth Luft callously killed the Quarren by throwing him down onto the shipyard floor. Luft's actions outraged the enslaved Mon Calamari and Quarren, who revolted against their pirate captors. The arrival of a lightsaber-wielding Jao only galvanized the slaves. The slave revolt coincided with the arrival of a joint Galactic Alliance and Imperial task force under Master Val and Admiral Stazi, who decided to come to the aid of the Mon Calamari and Quarren. The Alliance freighter Trand Cappa flooded the shipyards, allowing the amphibian slaves to gain the upper hand over their captors. A boarding party of Imperial Knight cadets and seatroopers led by Master Val then boarded the shipyards and arrested the surviving pirates. In the midst of the fighting, Jao dueled Darth Luft and succeeded in killing him.
Meanwhile, Ania and her companions, with the aid of Jao's Imperial comm droid, managed to seal the blast doors to the civilian detention cells. Their actions saved countless Mon Calamari and Quarren from exposure to zero gravity space. Following the liberation of the shipyards, the liberated Mon Cals and Quarrens were allowed to settle down in the flooded interiors of the shipyard. Jao also had a brief reunion with his master but decided to continue his quest to hunt down Darth Wredd. While traveling on AG-37's freighter, Jao was contacted by Darth Wredd who revealed that they had merely aided his cause by killing another One Sith. The rogue Sith offered the young Knight a place in his new Sith Order which would be based on the Rule of Two.
Following the liberation of the Mon Calamari Shipyards, Jao was compelled to temporarily suspend his hunt for Darth Wredd after Ania Solo was falsely accused of the murder of the Imperial Knight Teemen Alton. Ania was kidnapped by her estranged lover Ramid, who in turn was pursued by a mysterious bounty hunter. Jao, Sauk, and AG-37 followed Ania's kidnappers to the inhospitable fourth world of an uncharted system. After Jao killed the bounty hunter, Ania was arrested by a force of Trandoshan stormtroopers who extradited her back to Coruscant to face trial. However, Master Val and Jao were able to secure Ania's acquittal after discovering evidence which identified the bounty hunter as Alton's real murderer. Despite Jao's efforts in clearing Ania's name, he was imprisoned by the Triumvirate authorities for desertion.
Later, Darth Wredd visited Jao Assam's cell and offered the young Knight a way out of his predicament: a lightsaber. Jao accepted this offer not because he wanted to join Wredd's Sith Order but because he wanted to sabotage Darth Wredd's plot against Empress Fel. After escaping Coruscant in Darth Wredd's ship, Wredd took his prisoner to Mala. Since he did not fully trust Jao, he had the young Knight imprisoned in a cell aboard his starship. After they had landed on Mala, Darth Wredd shared his life story with the young Knight. He revealed how his grief and anger at the destruction of his homeworld and family had led him to embark on a campaign against the One Sith. When Jao expressed skepticism, the rogue Sith presented a broken shard from his sword; conforming that his story had indeed been true.
Meanwhile, Empress Fel sent Ania and her companions with a force of Trandoshan stormtroopers to rescue Jao. Back on Mala, Jao managed to break out of his cell and transmit the planet's coordinates to Ania and her companions. As planned, Ania traveled to Mala and managed to rescued Jao. However, Jao revealed that they had merely taken the bait for Darth Wredd's trap. Shortly later, they were attacked by a large One Sith army which had also intercepted Jao's transmission. During the fighting, Darth Wredd resurfaced and helped Jao and Ania to fight off the Sith horde. In a rare act of selfless humanity, Darth Wredd convinced Jao to help him combine their Force powers to levitate a large piece of space wreckage onto the advancing Sith forces. Despite their cooperation, Jao reminded Darth Wredd that they were still enemies. Shortly later, another Star Destroyer carrying a large force of Imperial Knights led by Empress Fel herself; thus beginning the second half of the Battle of the Floating World.
The Imperial Knight reinforcements initiated a strong offensive against the One Sith forces. A brutal struggle ensued between the two factions, with neither side granting mercy or showing weakness. During the heat of battle, Antares Draco, the leader of the Knights and also Empress Fel's romantic partner, suffered an injury inflicted by a One Sith follower. Ania and Sauk were quick to assist him, thereby earning the appreciation of Empress Fel. Later on, Ania and Sauk provided assistance to the Imperial Knights by successfully destroying a Sith Chadra-Fan Lander along with all of its passengers. Driven by his deep-seated hatred for the One Sith, Darth Wredd entered the battle and successfully eliminated numerous adherents of the One Sith. Despite their temporary alliance, Empress Fel and Jao Assam shared the opinion that a Sith could not be trusted, as their motivations stemmed solely from hatred. Following hours of intense combat, the Imperial Knights emerged victorious against the One Sith. The battlefield became a gruesome sight, covered with the dead bodies of countless Sith warriors.
While Empress Fel was attending to the Knights who had sustained injuries, Darth Wredd seized the opportunity to strike. He used his lightsaber to stab her in the abdomen, but Jao intervened and prevented him from completing the act. Jao pursued Darth Wredd to the edge of a cliff, where he managed to sever both of Wredd's hands. Although Wredd was pleased that he had managed to achieve his objective of avenging himself against the One Sith, he then realized that he was the only remaining Sith. Believing that he was beyond the possibility of redemption, he had orchestrated the attack on Empress Fel with the intent of provoking Jao into killing him. Furthermore, Wredd also sought to corrupt Jao and turn him to the dark side. However, the astute young Knight recognized the Sith's true intentions and refused to take his life. Ultimately, Ania carried out the execution of Darth Wredd, using a blaster rifle to fatally shoot him, thus eliminating the last openly known Sith in the entire galaxy.
In the aftermath of the Battle of the Floating World, numerous individuals, including AG-37 and Yalta Val, came to the conclusion that all of the remaining Sith in the galaxy had been wiped out. However, some observers, such as Empress Fel, remained doubtful, and their skepticism proved to be well-founded.
Given the apparent annihilation of the One Sith, Empress Fel initiated reforms within the Imperial Knights, shifting their allegiance towards the light side of the Force instead of the Empress herself. Jao Assam received a pardon and was permitted to rejoin Ania, Sauk, and AG-37, who resumed their previous lifestyle as space travelers.
The insurrection led by Darth Wredd is the central conflict in the Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 comic series by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, which is a sequel to Dark Horse Comics' widely-read Star Wars: Legacy comic series. The visual aspects of the conflict, including characters and settings, were created by Gabriel Hardman and Brian Albert Thies, and the colors were added by Rachelle Rosenberg and Jordan Boyd.