The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2491: Futile Attempt

The imperial fleet led by Admiral Afshin Makati finally arrived at the planet Talasia when the battlefield was most chaotic, completely turning everything around.

First of all, a large number of TIE interceptor fighters quickly defeated and dispersed the Dawn Kingdom's fighter formation, which greatly reduced the pressure on the Imperial troops who were struggling inside the Death Star. In fact, with the fire support of the TIE interceptor fighters, they were even able to launch a counterattack!

The interior of the Death Star has now been riddled with holes by the warships of the Kingdom of Dawn. Although the core of the Death Star has not been damaged, it has also been severely damaged, and the rebellious Geonosians have also suffered heavy casualties.

Under multiple attacks and interferences, the Geonosians' task of installing hyperspace engines has become increasingly difficult.

In the southern hemisphere of the huge spherical structure of the Death Star's central energy core, countless Geonosian laborers wearing special single-person engineering exoskeletons are busy welding parts and installing equipment. Now the basic structure of the hyperspace engine has been installed, but the internal equipment still needs a lot of time.

But time is running out.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The sound of explosions continued. At the beginning, the Kingdom of Dawn bombed the Death Star without distinguishing between friend and foe. Although the southern hemisphere of the energy core was basically protected by the outer armor and was not hit, the explosions in other places still affected this place.

More and more Geonosian workers were knocked down by the explosion, but more of them continued to move forward without fear. They rushed forward one after another to complete the hyperspace engine in the final seconds.

The only good news they have now is that the warships of the Galactic Empire dare not fire directly at the Death Star. On the contrary, the Dawn Kingdom fleet that has been indiscriminately bombing the Death Star has now been destroyed by the Imperial fleet, and the remaining warships can no longer cause much damage.

……

At the same time, on the ground of the planet Talasia, the situation became extremely bad!

Previously, two Aquitens-class light cruisers had been hovering over the Geonosian nest and bombing it continuously, but no matter what, their main purpose was to cooperate with Orson Krennic and Prophet Daara in their decapitation operation against Emperor Kalina, and to keep the Geonosian reinforcements out.

But now, the situation has changed!

On the bridge of the Imperial support fleet's flagship, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Steadfast, the staff officer was reporting the battle situation to Imperial Navy Admiral Afshin Makati.

"General, we have detected a large number of Geonosians gathering towards a small mountain range on the planet's surface. A rough scan shows that their number has reached more than one million. Even the Geonosians who previously occupied the ground shield generator and spaceport are flying towards the mountain range." The staff officer clicked on a projection screen on the holographic star map and said.

"What does Krennic have to say?" Afshin Makati asked coldly.

"They said they are preparing to arrest the Geonosian queen, Emperor Kalina. He believes that if she is captured, the Geonosian rebellion will be immediately quelled," said the staff officer.

"Hahahahaha!" Afshin Makati laughed out loud as if he heard a joke. "Immediately settled? Just by him? Hahahaha! What I see now is that the DS-1 combat space station project he is in charge of has been bombed to pieces, almost all the workers are rioting, and almost all the robots have lost control! And what about the army he tried so hard to seize from Governor Tarkin? They are fighting in vain."

"That's right. Facts have proven that Krennic has no ability to control the situation. Faced with such a large-scale rebellion, his response was to dive into the cave and waste time with those bugs." said the staff officer.

"Listen to me, Colonel Rotti." Afshin Makati suddenly turned his head and looked at the staff officer, his eyes becoming extremely cold. "The Empire has never tolerated traitors. The Geonosians have already betrayed, and they have only once again proved that these non-human races are uncontrollable and unreliable. Therefore, the Empire will not give them another chance."

"Yes, your judgment is absolutely correct, General." Staff Officer Colonel Roti nodded in agreement. "The Geonosians not only betrayed the Empire, but also caused very serious damage to the construction of the DS-1 Battle Space Station. They were previously the core race of the Separatists. The reason why His Majesty the Emperor decided to let them go and avoid the fate of genocide was to allow them to build the DS-1 Battle Space Station project. But now... they have given up even this last chance."

Admiral Afshin Makati waved his hand and said, "In that case, there is no need to show mercy. Directly launch orbital bombardment on all targets on the ground! Order all ships to open fire at full force without controlling their firepower!"

"General, there are Orson Krennic and others on the ground..." the staff officer asked with a frown.

"For such a serious crime, it is the greatest mercy for me to let them die on the battlefield instead of being arrested and brought back to the Imperial Center for trial," Afshin Makati said coldly.

The staff officer, Colonel Rotti, showed a knowing smile. He stood at attention and saluted, saying loudly, "Yes, General Makati!"

In fact, even within the Galactic Empire military, there are many different factions. A typical example is the technical officers, most of whom are civilians, who gradually rose to power during the war due to the arms race with the Kingdom of Dawn. Because the Galactic Empire was repeatedly beaten by the advanced warships of the Kingdom of Dawn during the war, the Galactic Empire also greatly increased its investment in scientific research, which also raised the status of these technical officers.

Moreover, many technical officers were actually members of some technology companies and military-industrial complexes before they joined the military. One of the representatives is Allman Tag, who founded the Advanced Technology Alliance. Because the alliance was assigned to the military, Allman Tag also became a military personnel.

The same is true for Orson Krennic, who gradually grew up from the Galactic Republic Engineering Corps and then joined the Special Weapons Group of the Republic Strategic Advisory Office. His entire military career had nothing to do with the front-line battlefield, so naturally he was the technical officer most despised by those front-line officers.

The traditional officer class is composed of those who graduated from military academies and are serious officers. Moreover, this officer class is also divided into officers from aristocratic families and lower-level officers who rose from the bottom of the army.

The dominant force in the Galactic Empire military is the aristocratic officers. The representatives are naturally the King of the North, Dunn Wessex, and Wilhuff Tarkin. They all graduated from military academies, and with their family's strong background, they quickly rose in the military and became important powerful factions in the military.

Admiral Afshin Makati also comes from this aristocratic officer class, so he actually has a good relationship with Wilhuff Tarkin and belongs to the same faction. And because the Empire has invested a lot of money and power in technical officers to develop cutting-edge weapons, the traditional officers have received much less resources, so the conflict between the two factions is very sharp. Then there are the dark believers headed by the Inquisitor and the Dark Prophet. They are all Force-sensitive. With the support of the Imperial Emperor Palpatine, they are above the ordinary military and administrative system and have become an independent system. And in recent years, the dark believers have begun to participate more and more in political and military affairs.

Such behavior also made the traditional officers feel greatly threatened, so they were also harsh towards these dark believers and tried their best to exclude them from the army.

However, these dark believers have the support of the Emperor of the Empire. Darth Sidious wants to establish a theocratic system, so these dark believers are so unscrupulous.

These dark believers, led by Darth Vader, the Emperor's advisor Black Hole, and the dark prophet Cardan, exert influence in the military, intelligence, and bureaucratic departments respectively.

At the same time, due to the unique attributes of the Dark Followers, they are very close to those unpopular lower-level officers. Especially Darth Vader, who had a lot of contact with the lower-level people in Tatooine during his childhood, so he has always promoted a large number of lower-level officers to the upper level, so he has a great influence in the army. This influence mainly comes from the lower-level officers.

Let's get back to the current situation on the planet Talasia. For Admiral Afshin Makati, the traditional aristocratic officer class, he will naturally not show mercy to the Prophet Dara and Orson Krennic who are now trying to behead Emperor Kalina. One is a dark believer who wants to seize power, and the other is a nerd who knows nothing.

"Don't worry about it, just open fire! Quelling the rebellion is the top priority." Admiral Makati reiterated the order.

"Send a message to all ships - there are no friendly units on the planet Talasia anymore. All ships should open fire at full force and eliminate all the Imperial traitors!!" Chief of Staff Colonel Rotti said loudly in the communication.

……

boom! boom! boom! ! !

Countless dazzling beams of light fell from the sky, and each beam brought about a terrifying explosion that destroyed the heavens and the earth! The flames and shock waves spread rapidly, and within the thousands of kilometers, there were exploding flames everywhere!

The orbital bombardment of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer is devastating.

Even the two Aquitens-class light cruisers that Orson Krennic had sent down as reinforcements were affected by the orbital bombardment. The two warships were immediately panicked by the sudden attack. The captains of the battleships immediately concentrated all their energy on the deflector shields above and kept calling the command center to stop the attack.

But the orbital bombardment has not stopped...

boom! boom! boom! ! !

The fierce orbital bombardment brought severe vibrations, like an eight-magnitude earthquake with no end in sight, and the ground was unable to even stand!

Those Geonosians who came to reinforce their queen were not even considered targets in this devastating orbital bombardment! Facing the orbital bombardment, their bodies were instantly vaporized like dust. In just ten minutes after the orbital bombardment began, hundreds of thousands of Geonosians died in the endless sea of ​​fire!

And unlike the two Aquitens-class light cruisers that at least entered the atmosphere, the Geonosians couldn't even see the Imperial-class Star Destroyers bombing in the outer orbit of the planet! They could only see the turbolaser cannons that kept falling and the devastating explosions...

boom! boom! boom! ! !

Emperor Kalina is fleeing in panic under the protection of her last guard. She wants to leave here quickly, take a shuttle to the Death Star, and then leave here quickly after completing the installation of the Death Star's hyperspace engine.

However, when Ganzo-Doso took her out of the escape passage, all he saw was flames all over the sky and debris all over the ground.

The cargo ship that had rushed here under the protection of more than a dozen TIE fighters that had been snatched away had been destroyed...

In the sky, the destructive beams continued to fall. And inside the lair, the exasperated Orson Krennic was leading the Death Guard in hot pursuit.

Before Admiral Makati's reinforcements arrived, Emperor Kalina seemed to be in a good situation. The interior of the Death Star had been captured, and the shield projector on the planet Talasia had been destroyed. All they had to do was install the hyperspace engine, and they would be successful.

The millions of Geonosians and hundreds of thousands of engineering robots occupying the Death Star are an unshakable existence!

But now, less than an hour after the Empire's reinforcements arrived, the situation has become completely hopeless...

With her retreat route cut off and enemies chasing her from behind, she no longer had any chance of escaping.

"The Galactic Empire has gone crazy! They want to kill us all! No! No!" Emperor Kalina screamed, "If they kill us, who will build DS-1?! Are they crazy?! Without DS-1, how can they deal with the Kingdom of Dawn?!"

Ganzo Dauso said in a deep voice: "We have to make our own way. We can't count on anyone! Whether it's the Kingdom of Dawn, the Rebellion, or the Galactic Empire... In their eyes, we are always Geonosians, a race that cannot be trusted."

"That bunch of... bastards! Bastards!!" Emperor Karina was still cursing.

However, at this moment, there was a sudden distortion of air in the air, and then a transport plane that looked like a golden beetle suddenly appeared here. At the same time, Ganzo-Doso's communicator also rang, "Go! Bring your queen up! Now this is the only spaceship that can be used on the entire planet!"

"It's the Dawn Kingdom's spaceship... What kind of technology is this? How can their spaceship appear here?" Ganzo-Doso was stunned. Then he quickly turned around and shouted to Emperor Karina: "Hurry up and get on the spaceship! No matter what, stay alive first!!"

However, the Geonosian guards who were carrying Emperor Kalina's body fell down one after another.

I only heard Emperor Karina say coldly: "No." (End of this chapter)