The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2532 Betrayal?

2533. Betrayal?

After returning to the front-line command post on the planet Boonta, Garrosh Tarkin reported the results of this secret conversation to Gideon Tarkin.

"General Gideon, the Mon Calamari have agreed to cooperate with us," Garrosh Tarkin said, "but they want us to act first before they will join. However, they have provided us with a secret hyperspace route that can allow us to launch a surprise attack from behind Hutt space."

He shook his head in annoyance. "I'm sorry, I couldn't convince them to pay more. They are very cautious and will not take action until they see us achieve some interim results."

Gideon Tarkin smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. From their perspective, it is understandable. Because for us, if we fail in a battle, the worst that can happen is that we will be blamed or lose a fleet... But for the Mon Calamari, failure in a battle means the extermination of their race."

"It's not that simple." Garrosh Tarkin said, "Adar Talon has just been tried. If we fail again in the same place, I can't imagine the consequences."

"Don't worry, it's just a few days of confinement at most." Gideon Tarkin patted his shoulder and said, "Your father Wilhuff Tarkin and I will take care of everything."

"This……"

"As I said before, although I don't like it, since I have such power, why not use it?" Gideon Tarkin said, "So, relax a little, don't have any psychological burden, and do it boldly! I believe you can prove to everyone that you are definitely a qualified Imperial Navy admiral!"

However, when Garrosh Tarkin heard the word "Imperial Admiral", he was not proud, but a hint of displeasure appeared between his brows. However, he still hid his expression well, nodded and said: "Then what should we do next? Raid the planet Lothal and let the Mon Calamari see our sincerity?"

"Haha..." Gideon Tarkin said, "Your idea is good, but I think it's better not to be so aggressive at this stage. The Mon Calamari proposal is not as simple as they say. In fact... there is a trap in it."

"What trap?"

"Do you think that Lothal will be easily conquered by us?" Gideon Tarkin asked. "First, let's think about it. The Kingdom of Dawn has the technology of stargates, and has proved that they are using this technology to expand in unknown star regions. There are also stargates on Fondo. So under this premise, why did they move the Givans directly to Lothal? Isn't it obvious?"

"Lothal is on the eastern edge of the Milky Way, and is very far from the Kingdom of Dawn... There is only one possibility for them to move the Gwen people here - the Stargate." Garrosh replied, "But if we can seize Lothal, won't we be able to obtain information about the Stargate? Even if it's just its remains."

Gideon Tarkin shook his head and said, "The Stargate is not our primary goal. Relatively speaking, defeating General Grievous is easier. What we need to do is to prove ourselves with General Grievous first, and then slowly deal with the matter of Lothal. Otherwise, if anything goes wrong when attacking Lothal, then we will have wasted our efforts and returned empty-handed."

Garrosh Tarkin nodded. He thought for a moment and said, "However, if we do not take any action on Lothal, the Mon Calamari will not cooperate with us. In this way, we will not be able to contain Grievous, right?"

"Hehehe..." Gideon Tarkin's expression turned grim. "In fact, you have already completed this work for us." "Completed?"

"Tell the Kingdom of Dawn about the secret contact between the Mon Calamari and us. If that is still not credible enough, we will send a fleet of high-speed cruisers to make a high-profile trip to the Hutt space through the secret hyperspace channel they provided us." Gideon Tarkin said coldly.

"What? This... isn't this a betrayal of the Mon Calamari?" Garrosh Tarkin was horrified.

Gideon Tarkin smiled, patted Garrosh on the shoulder and said, "Sometimes we need to think about things from a different perspective, Garrosh, like now."

He thought that this was a good opportunity for his nephew to learn more about military strategies. "Isn't our goal to get the Mon Calamari to help us contain the Kingdom of Dawn? If we reveal this news to the Kingdom of Dawn, the Kingdom of Dawn will definitely take action against them. Then, those fish-headed people will have no chance to negotiate with us. Hehehe..."

"But...but if this happens, the Mon Calamari conspiracy will be exposed, and the Kingdom of Dawn will never let them go!" Garrosh Tarkin said loudly.

"Ah, what does it have to do with us?" Gideon Tarkin sneered, "Do you still think we can form an alliance with the Mon Calamari? The planet Dak is remote, and we simply don't have the strength to station troops here for a long time, so they must be just a marginal race of the Empire. To put it bluntly, their life or death has no effect on us... If they must die, they might as well help us distract some of the Dawn Kingdom's energy before they die."

"But this is betrayal..."

"Oh, a non-human race has no right to talk about betrayal with us. They are just a race that can't even be considered citizens of the Empire. We betray them? Hahahaha." Gideon Tarkin laughed as if he heard an extremely funny joke. He continued to pat Garrosh on the shoulder and said, "Anyway, the current situation is very good! Next, let's organize the training and drills of the soldiers! As for the Mon Calamari, I can send people from the Intelligence Bureau."

……

With the arrival of Admiral Gideon Tarkin's army, General Grievous no longer dared to harass the Empire's borders as brazenly as before, and he became more cautious in his actions.

The Empire's fleet was too strong. Even at long range, they had enough firepower to tear their own fleet into pieces! Even with phase missiles.

What's more, the replenishment of phase missiles is still very slow. The Vasali people only send a batch every several days, and those missiles are basically experimental models with different performance parameters. We can only make do with them before large-scale mass production.

Originally, General Grievous hoped to withdraw, but news came from the Dawn Kingdom's High Command that they wanted him to continue harassing the Empire's border for as long as possible.