Evil alliance! Darth Maul and Savage Opress escape Obi-Wan Kenobi's assault once again. With their plan to build a crime organization in peril, the brothers' fate is about to be changed forever as they drift barely alive through unknown space.

A Mandalorian gauntlet ship docks with a drifting escape pod, and armored warriors cut their way aboard. Pre Vizsla and Bo-Katan inspect the nearly frozen, inert forms of the brutally wounded Savage Opress and Darth Maul.

Curious as to their origins, Vizsla orders the Mandalorians to transfer the bodies from the pod to the gauntlet. The Mandalorian vessels then leap into hyperspace.

The trio of gauntlets arrives at moon Zanbar, an unsettled world where the Mandalorian exiles have established a temporary camp. In a medical bay, droids have replaced Maul's crippled legs with new mechanical ones that preserve his humanoid form. Savage has had his amputated arm replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic.

Pre Vizsla and his sergeant-at-arms Bo-Katan demand answers from the Nightbrothers at gunpoint. Still weakened from his ordeal, Maul has no choice but to comply. He explains that they are brothers, and the true Lords of the Sith, unaffiliated with Count Dooku. Their ship was destroyed by Obi-Wan Kenobi, but still they seek fortune and power. Vizsla likes what he hears -- he and this mysterious warrior share enemies in common.

Vizsla later invites Maul for tea at his tent. He explains that Death Watch are exiles, ejected from Mandalore by a detestable pacifist movement. Vizsla longs to destroy Duchess Satine, but is wary of her powerful allies -- allies such as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Maul proposes an alliance with the Death Watch to help them reclaim Mandalore while punishing Kenobi.

Bo-Katan is wary of the Sith Lords, still stinging from Count Dooku's betrayal, but Maul silences her dissent by briefly throttling her with the Force. Vizsla calls for Bo-Katan to stand down. The Death Watch leader will put Maul's proposal to a vote among the exiles.

Maul returns to the medical bay, where Savage stirs back to life. Maul explains the new alliance to his brother -- these Mandalorians, more honor-bound and predictable than Hondo's shiftless pirates, will provide much needed firepower and personnel for Maul's eventual plan of conquest. Vizsla appears at the medical bay, declaring that Death Watch has voted to ally with the Sith Lords.

Maul's first plan of action is to secure even more allies to assist in the retaking of Mandalore. He suggests they recruit the Black Sun, a crime syndicate based out of Mustafar. A fleet of Death Watch ships approach the fiery planetoid, disgorging armed and armored Death Watch troopers as they land at a cliffside facility.

Black Sun foot soldiers led by the burly Ziton Moj greet Maul coldly when the Sith Lord demands an audience with the Black Sun leadership.

Moj brings Maul, Savage and Vizsla into the main hall of the Black Sun fortress, where the five leaders of the crime syndicate convene. Maul demands an alliance, but the Black Sun leaders scoff, ordering the execution of these newcomers. Savage throws his double-ended lightsaber across the conference table, decapitating the five leaders in a single strike.

This leaves the decision to join forces to the sole survivor, Ziton Moj, who nervously accepts Maul's offer. The Mandalorians promptly begin loading Black Sun supplies into their ships. Vizsla is eager to take the fight to Duchess Satine, but Maul says they are not yet ready. They need more resources.

At Zanbar, the combined Death Watch and Black Sun forces are soon joined by members of the Pyke Syndicate, the leading spice suppliers of the criminal underworld. Lom, leader of the syndicate, throws in with Maul's growing cabal. Their next target will be Nal Hutta.

Inside the Hutt Council Chamber on Nal Hutta, Maul, Savage, and Vizsla stand before the Hutt leaders, proposing an alliance. Attending in hologram, Jabba considers the offer if it pays well. Maul's only offer is the lives of the Hutts in exchange for control of Hutt Space and all within its borders.

The council chortles at this outrageous demand. Jabba summons a cadre of bounty hunters -- Embo, Sugi, Latts Razzi, and Dengar -- to dispose of their guests. An intense firefight erupts, with the hunters chasing Maul, Savage, and Vizsla out of the council chamber.

The battle against the bounty hunters has pushed Vizsla and the Sith brothers to a rain-swept landing platform, where they are joined by a well-armed Bo-Katan and her Nite Owl warriors. Latts Razzi calls a retreat into the Hutt compound. The Mandalorians and Sith continue to fight back. Sugi and Embo manage to land impressive blows on Maul and Savage, but in the end, the hunters must retreat under cover of smoke grenades.

Maul allows them to escape, and returns to his true objective: the Hutt Council Chamber. All but one of the Hutts have escaped: an injured Oruba desperately calls for help. He sells out his fellow Hutts by revealing they have retreated to Jabba's palace on Tatooine, but that's hardly surprising or worthwhile information. At Maul's command, Savage cuts down Oruba.

Maul and Vizsla's forces arrive at Jabba the Hutt's sandblasted palace and launch another strike. Mandalorian warriors make short work of Jabba's Nikto and Gamorrean guards.

Entering Jabba's throne room, the growing coalition of criminals get new additions, as Jabba agrees to join.

Maul's master plan begins to coalesce. Vizsla can have control of Mandalore. Maul has a bigger objective: command of the entire galactic underworld. The mission to retake Mandalore is underway and Pre Vizsla intends to betray the Sith Lord once his home planet is secured.