The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2421 Thrawn's Clamp (Part )

2422. Thrawn's Claw (Part )

Day of Judgment!

The doomsday weapon fired at the Iron Moon of the planet Palin-Minor for the third time. This time, nothing could stop the coming of the Day of Judgment!

The sea of ​​fire completely spread to every part of the satellite, completely igniting the satellite's atmosphere! Almost everything on the satellite's surface that could burn was burning violently. The entire fortified satellite with a diameter of 700 kilometers has now turned into a fireball with a diameter of 700 kilometers!

Terrible flames continued to burn on the satellite. There were a large number of factories, energy facilities, power plants, fuel plants, and ammunition reserves built by the Galactic Empire on the planet. These were all high-quality combustibles. Under extremely high temperatures, even metals began to burn!

The fire will continue to burn until it gradually dies down after several months!

At this moment, everyone on the planet Palin-Minor watched helplessly as the largest barrier on their planet was completely destroyed in just a few hours! !

In the past, the Iron Moon suspended in the sky always emitted a faint blue light. On Boxing Day, the huge holographic projection device built on this side would also project some holiday greetings. Sometimes, when Governor Dunn was in a good mood, he would also perform some holographic projection performances.

Moreover, Iron Moon, as a fortified satellite, has a diameter of 700 kilometers, a powerful planetary shield, and a huge orbital defense cannon. All these tell the people of Palin-Minor that this place is as solid as a rock! And the official media of the Galactic Empire indeed promotes it this way.

According to the media, the defense of Iron Moon alone can withstand the concentrated attack of at least 200 Imperial-class Star Destroyers! Even without counting the mobile defense fleet, relying on the power of Iron Moon and the Palin-Minor planetary defense system, it would take at least 1000 Imperial-class Star Destroyers to capture the northern core of the Galactic Empire!

The fleet stationed by the King of the North on the planet Palin-Minor is no pushover either. An Executor-class super star destroyer is stationed here at all times, and there are hundreds of the most advanced battleships. This force is enough to make any fleet that dares to attack here suffer a bloody defeat!

But now, where is the Super Star Destroyer? Where is the fleet? Where is the planet's defense system? Why... the Steel Moon that was blown up into the sky was destroyed in front of everyone?

The burning satellite still floated faithfully in the synchronous orbit of the planet, just as it had done for hundreds of years. Under the adjustment of the engineers of the Galactic Republic, the tidal force between the satellite and the planet of Palin-Minor reached a perfect balance, allowing the satellite to always face the planet and remain in the synchronous orbit of the planet's capital.

And this perfect defense system now also perfectly displays the destroyed Iron Moon, the deadly fireball, in front of the residents of the planet Palin-Minor at all times, especially the residents of the capital. Day and night, every moment, it will never leave.

The satellite was constantly burning, and the jumping flames could be seen even on the ground, and everyone could easily draw the conclusion that it was impossible for any living thing to survive on the satellite.

The Iron Moon has 15 soldiers, 50 logistics and civilian personnel, three towns and more than 600 million residents. Among these people, the number who can leave alive is probably less than four digits. And many of them are relatives and friends of the residents of the planet Palin-Minor...

The fear brought to them by the doomsday weapons of the God-class Titan battleships is thus displayed in front of everyone at all times!

Even if people closed their eyes in fear, when they opened their eyes, the fireball of death was still hanging in the sky, without any change.

Countless people even suffered from traumatic stress disorder because of this, and one of these people was the King of the North, Governor of the Ninth Army—Dunn Wessex!

……

At this moment, in the array of the Northern Fleet of the Kingdom of Dawn, a large amount of white smoke was spewing out around the Titan battleship, the Messenger of God. The smoke condensed and did not dissipate in the zero-gravity environment, floating around the Titan battleship, covering this extremely powerful battleship with a mysterious veil.

All of this smoke is the Titan battleship's cooling medium, a liquid with a very high heat absorption coefficient that can discharge the extremely high temperature generated when the doomsday weapon is launched. Now, this cooling liquid, which is stored in an environment below minus 100 degrees, is spread around the Titan battleship, and the temperature can even reach thousands of degrees!

All functions of the Titan battleship have been offline, and engineers and technicians are nervously checking every instrument and equipment of the Titan battleship. After all, with such high-intensity continuous firing, it is necessary to ensure that each system will not malfunction due to overheating.

Severance Tann discussed with Admiral Trench in front of the holographic combat star map.

"This is my gift to Dunn Wessex. I hope the Governor will like it." Severance Tann said proudly.

"Tsk tsk tsk tsk... The Iron Moon turned into a fireball. Tsk tsk tsk tsk... There is nothing more ironic than this..." Admiral Trench was also very satisfied.

The reason why the Titan battleship God's Envoy did not directly bomb the planet Palin-Minor was because according to their calculations, it was almost impossible to directly destroy the planetary shield of Palin-Minor with the power of the Titan battleship God's Envoy alone.

Because the planet Palin-Minor is no longer an industrial planet, it also has a complete industrial system and a large number of factories. When it is bombed by doomsday weapons, it can be repaired and supported at the same time. The production capacity and resources of an entire planet are enough to support it under the bombing of doomsday weapons.

Therefore, such a protracted bombing of the planet Palin-Minor could not cause any shocking effect at all.

But... Severance Tann and the others discovered the existence of Iron Moon! This 700-kilometer satellite is almost a perfect target. With the power of the Doomsday weapon Judgment Day, it is entirely possible to destroy this satellite in a short period of time!

A fortified satellite with a diameter of 700 kilometers might be a hopeless existence in front of other warships, but in front of the Messenger of God, it is just fish on the chopping board!

This is like an extremely solid bastion, which was also extremely hopeless in the era of front-loading artillery. Without 10 times the number of troops, it was not even worth looking at. But at this moment, its opponent took out a tactical earth-penetrating nuclear weapon...

If Iron Moon was destroyed and the ruins of the satellite were to float over the planet Palin-Minor, the shocking effect would be enough to scare everyone on the planet! At this time, no matter how many experts told them that such firepower was not enough to destroy the entire planet, these frightened residents would not believe it.

"This way, we can... wait, tut tut tut... wait for Dunn Wessex to send Thrawn's fleet over... tut tut tut..." Admiral Trench said proudly.

However, Severance Tann shook her head and said, "No, this is still not enough. Thrawn will not come." "Oh? Could it be that the pressure is still not enough?" Admiral Trench clapped his hands with his pointer and stroked the chelicerae at the corners of his mouth.

I have to say that having six hands is convenient, as you can do many things at the same time.

"We bombed Iron Moon but not Palin-Minor. This tactic is fine for scaring ordinary people, or for dealing with idiots like Dunn Wessex. But for someone like Thrawn, he can see our purpose at a glance." Severance Tann said, "From the first shot I fired at Iron Moon, he knew I would not attack Palin-Minor by force."

Admiral Trench paused several of his movements. He asked in confusion, "Tsk tsk tsk tsk... In that case, why did you fire the second and third shots?"

"Because even if Thrawn won't come here, I have to put enough pressure on Dunn Wessex. Let this idiot Dunn become a magnet and firmly attach Thrawn to... here." Severance Tann pointed at a planet on the holographic star map.

Planet Isol!

That’s right, the Northern Fleet set out from the planet Od-Mantell, passed through the planets Kinasa and Isol, and then entered the Palin-Mantell galaxy.

After they launched the operation, Thrawn's Imperial Fleet adopted the same strategy of following the battle with Admiral Mal-Tuk's Commercial Combined Fleet. However, they stopped after successively capturing the planets of Dolin and Ord-Mantell.

Therefore, before Severance Tann bombed Iron Moon, the fleets of both sides were facing each other between the planets of Palin Minor and Od-Mantell, with Kinassa and Isol between them.

However, after the Iron Moon was directly attacked, Thrawn's fleet began to move. According to the reconnaissance aircraft report left by Tann, Thrawn's fleet went straight past the planet Kinatha and entered the range of the Isol system.

It is obvious that Thrawn is under great pressure from Dunn Wessex at this moment! Dunn Wessex, the King of the North, is now the second in the military after Emperor Palpatine of the Galactic Empire, and there is no doubt at all! Even Palpatine's apprentice Darth Vader needs to seriously consider Dunn's opinions in many cases!

Dunn Wessex is now in deep fear, and one can imagine the pressure his hysteria brings to Thrawn!

"So, this is the graveyard I chose for Thrawn - the planet Isol!" Severance Tann grinned, "He won't take the initiative to come to me on the planet Palin Minor. So, I need to take the initiative to find him!"

"But he will most likely continue to escape, tut tut tut... Once we withdraw our troops, the pressure on him from Dunn-Wessex will be reduced," Admiral Trench said.

"Then let him escape!" Severance Tann said, "The Titan battleship USS Divine Envoy has the most advanced jump engine. If it really runs, they won't be able to outrun it."

She pointed at the hyperspace route marked on the star map. "Thrawn can only escape back to the tortoise shell of the planet Bilbrin. And how many Imperial warships can we destroy as we chase them all the way from the planet Isol to the planet Bilbrin? I am looking forward to it... hehe..."

Tann licked his lips with a grim smile, then waved his hand fiercely and shouted, "Order! The First Fleet will turn around immediately and return to the planet Isor to engage in battle with the Imperial Fleet! Remember, after leaving hyperspace, deploy the hyperspace disruptor immediately!"

"Yes! Execute it immediately!" Adjutant Ma Guocheng immediately stood at attention and saluted.

Hyperspace jammers are a widely used technology in Sins of a Solar Empire. They have similar purposes to the hyperspace blockers widely used in this universe, but different methods.

The function of a hyperspace blocker is similar to a roadblock, used to block ships that are making hyperspace jumps. To be effective, it is best to deploy it in the middle of the channel. Because if it is deployed at the starting point, the opponent's ship can simply bypass the range of action, or directly destroy the blocker.

However, the hyperspace jammer is different. This device is like fog, which makes it difficult for others to see the road ahead. In simple terms, it will disrupt the fluctuations in hyperspace and increase the pressure on the hyperspace engine, so that the spacecraft needs a larger amount of calculations to enter the hyperspace, which will greatly delay the time. And because the hyperspace jammer directly generates hyperspace fluctuations, it will be affected in the entire galaxy!

Severance Tann believed that as long as the First Fleet returned to Isor with the hyperspace jammer, it would be able to completely entangle Thrawn's fleet. The First Fleet had a lot of troops, including 50 capital ships and all 5 Divine Revelation-class battleships of the Northern Fleet!

Although this force is only one-sixth of the Imperial Fleet in Thrawn's hands, the fight and run method can still delay the enemy for a long time. As long as it can delay until the Titan battleship God's Envoy arrives, then this will be the end of Thrawn! !

……

About an hour after the departure of the first squadron, the Titan battleship of the God's Envoy also completed the cycle cooling, and all the systems that were overloaded and offline due to the launch of the doomsday weapon were restored. Severance Tann waited for another hour to ensure that the Titan battleship was in the best condition, and also waited for the hyperspace channel to calm down. After that, she ordered the Titan battleship of the God's Envoy to lead the second squadron to set off immediately and head for the planet Isor! !

In the Isol galaxy, after a burst of white flashes, the huge figure of the Titan battleship God's Messenger appeared in the empty space.

Along with the Divine Envoy came 25 battleships and 160 small and medium-sized warships. The main reason was that the hyperspace channel between the planets Palin-Minor and Isor was not very "spacious", so the fleet had to pass through in batches.

Tann had spent a day assembling and marshaling his fleet before launching his attack.

However, after arriving at the Isol galaxy, Severance Tann was completely stunned!

The Isol Galaxy is empty, there is nothing!!

Where's Thrawn? Where's the First Squadron???