The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2652 A Surprise Attack on Scipio

2652, Raid on Scipio
The Interstellar Banking Association was founded by the Muun, whose initial capital came from the ice gems produced on their most important colony, Macito. For a long time, the Muun have played a central role in the Interstellar Banking Association. According to the association's management mechanism, both the co-chairman and the five core members are Muun.

But here's the problem.

The Muun are a race from the outer rings of the planets. Their home planet is Mulinster in the North. Although their civilization developed early, it didn't initially have much influence. It wasn't until they conquered Macito, a perpetually icy planet that produced abundant high-quality gems, that the Muun accumulated a vast fortune.

Then, the Muen people played a significant role in the newly established Galactic Republic through extensive credit, exclusive currency, and funds. However, this was not enough; they still failed to integrate into the core circle.

Later, the Muon received support from the planets Scipio and Aargau, especially Aargau, which is located in the center of the Milky Way's inner circle and is the most prosperous planet in the entire galaxy.

Only then did the Muen people move the headquarters of the Interstellar Banking Association to the planet Algo and set up their treasury on the planet Scipio, thus barely integrating themselves into the core circle of the Galactic Republic.

However, it's inevitable that to integrate into this circle, one must interact with the human race, because after the rise of the Galactic Republic, the largest race in the core circle is human. For example, the planet Algol is actually a predominantly human planet, with a total population of 48 billion, the vast majority of whom are humans.

Therefore, human power began to rise gradually within the Interstellar Banking Association, and because the Muen people had seized control of the association's resources, conflicts arose between human power and the Muen people.

Building on this contradiction, twelve years ago, during the later stages of the Clone Wars, the once-powerful Interstellar Banking Association began to fracture under the machinations of then-Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, Shiv Palpatine. Shiv Palpatine secretly began supporting human factions within the Association, challenging the authority of the Muon.

(After Palpatine became emperor, he abandoned the surname Schiff, so during his reign he was simply called Palpatine.)
Rush Clovis, the representative of human forces, originally sided with the Confederation of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars, following the stance of the Interstellar Banking Association. However, after his collusion with the Confederation of Independent Systems was exposed, and seeing that his future might be ruined, he simply turned to Shiv Palpatine.

Afterwards, the struggle between the Muen people and the human factions intensified and eventually spiraled out of control.

With the Clone Wars on the verge of defeat and the Interstellar Banking Association and other super-corporations about to be liquidated, in order to save this most important financial enterprise, the Kingdom of Dawn instructed Ges to launch a surprise attack on Planet Scipio through a secret route provided by the Muen. This gave the Muen the opportunity to completely break off relations and then move Planet Scipio's treasury.

After that, the Interstellar Banking Association officially split into the Interstellar Banking Association (M), headquartered on the planet Macito, and the Interstellar Banking Association (S), headquartered on the planet Scipio. Both became state-owned banks of the Dawn Kingdom and the Galactic Empire, respectively, losing their independence.

Since the surprise attack on Scipio, the Galactic Empire has placed great importance on the hyperspace route that Geth had secretly traversed. They deployed a massive number of hyperspace blockers in this direction, extending them further forward and also deploying blockers in hundreds of uninhabited star systems along the way.

Meanwhile, hundreds of hyperspace outposts are constantly monitoring this direction to ensure that the Kingdom of Dawn will not launch a sneak attack from this direction.

Moreover, Scipio is home to a powerful fleet of over 200 capital ships. After the outbreak of the Northern War, the Imperial military deployed the Reaper-class super star destroyer there.

This place is as stable as Mount Tai.

However, this time, after 12 years, the piercing alarm sounded again on Planet Scipio!
Something is destroying and clearing those hyperspace blockers on the outskirts of the galaxy! And it's very close!

Oswald Tessik, the First Star System Commander-in-Chief who had just been promoted to Imperial-level Naval Marshal, immediately ordered the defense fleet of Planet Scipio to launch an offensive to locate and destroy the fleet.

The Scipio planetary defense fleet immediately dispatched 50 capital ships to annihilate the enemy. They discovered a small Geth fleet at the edge of the star system, and after a relatively mild battle, the Geth fleet was completely wiped out.

But the matter was not over yet. Another alarm sounded from the outer reaches of the Scipio system, this time from a greater distance, and another Geth fleet was destroying the hyperspace blocker.

After destroying the Geth fleet, the Galactic Empire's fleet commander began to realize that something was wrong, and that it might be a Geth conspiracy.

Sure enough, alarms were sounded simultaneously from three locations on the outer edge of the galaxy!

Furthermore, the hyperspace outpost received absolutely no signal throughout the entire process! There is only one possibility—Geth has once again resorted to his old tricks, using prolonged warp drive to launch a surprise attack on Scipio.

In fact, over the past few years, the Geths have never stopped harassing the Empire's borders through warp drive, which has made almost everyone in the northern part of the Galactic Empire feel insecure until Admiral Gilard Pereren set up a deep defensive line, which has eased the situation.

Furthermore, the Geth rarely launch direct attacks on planets near the core, as these planets are heavily defended, and the Geth's ships are outdated. In addition, the journey is long, and warp drive can sometimes take several months or even half a year to reach the target, making such attacks very inefficient.

But now, Geth's fleet dares to come and provoke the planet Scipio?!
This is the financial center of the Galactic Empire! How could those outdated Geth ships possibly shake it!

Regardless of the reason, the Geths' appearance on Scipio must have a purpose. Marshal Oswald Tessik once again ordered a continued pursuit, vowing to annihilate all invading Geth warships.

Moreover, to prevent falling into Geth's trap of luring the enemy away from their stronghold, Marshal Tessik dispatched an additional 80 capital ships to provide support.

In his view, it was fortunate that only the Geths had come. After all, while the Geths' warships could maintain an advantage against the Jaeger-class battlecruisers in the past, they were nothing more than a pile of scrap metal in front of the Imperial-class Star Destroyers.

Currently, only the Geths are able to cross the northern defenses and directly threaten their First Star System Army through warp drive.

However, a problem still arose!

The Imperial fleet commander who led this squadron to pursue Geth was Rear Admiral Mosh Barris, who regarded this mission as merely a warm-up before the real war.

He had just destroyed a small Geth fleet, destroying 10 Geth heavy cruisers (600 meters long) and 30 Geth light cruisers (300 meters long). These warships were utterly vulnerable against Imperial-class Star Destroyers, and the battle ended quickly. The Geth fleet destroyed approximately one hundred hyperspace blockers. However, there were at least tens of thousands of hyperspace blockers deployed in this direction! If the Geth intended to exchange such losses for hyperspace blockers, then so be it; bring as many as you can, and destroy them all.

Marshal Tesik's orders have been delivered, instructing him not to worry about the defenses of Planet Scipio, but to focus all his efforts on eliminating all invading enemies.

This order delighted Mos Barris, as it was a military achievement he had gained for free!

The alarm sounded again. According to the report, the attacking fleet was still small. Moss-Barris immediately ordered a pursuit. He led 50 Imperial-class Star Destroyers in a short hyperspace jump, appearing directly at the location of the attack.

All that could be seen was a dozen or so Geth warships bombarding the hyperspace blocker floating in space. The unique plasma energy balls of the Geth fleet kept falling on the blocker, causing a series of violent explosions.

"Crush all these bedbugs," Major General Moss-Barris coldly ordered.

The Imperial-class Star Destroyer immediately assumed attack stance, its bow slightly lowered, and its 60 twin-mounted heavy turbine laser turrets unleashed a barrage of beams, raining down on the Geth warships.

The overwhelming firepower was completely unavoidable and unstoppable. The energy shields on the Geth warships were shattered almost instantly, followed by barrages of fire striking the armor, creating countless explosions. One Geth warship after another burst into flames amidst these continuous explosions, breaking into several pieces, and then being blasted into fragments by the relentless attacks.

Mos-Barris watched the scene of destruction with immense satisfaction. He hummed a song happily as he watched one Geth warship after another being destroyed, his eyes brimming with joy.

He turned to the war correspondent beside him and said, "Write this down for me, this is another glorious victory."

He walked to the porthole and said to his adjutant, "Move the warship closer, let the others slow down, and leave one Geth warship behind. I want the destruction of this warship to be the backdrop for my front-page news."

"Yes, sir!" The adjutant immediately gave instructions, ordering the crew to move the warship toward a heavily damaged Geth warship that was almost incapacitated. At the same time, they adjusted the angle so that the warship was positioned just outside the porthole.

Mos Barris struck what he considered his coolest pose and then ordered the attack.

The bombardment, which had just paused for a moment, resumed. Countless turbine laser beams struck the Geth warship, triggering a violent explosion! Because they were so close, the flames from the explosion even caused a violent ripple on the deflector shield of Rear Admiral Barris's flagship.

The war correspondent used a drone to capture this spectacular scene from multiple angles, placing Major General Moss Barris in the center of the frame. With his superb filming skills, Major General Moss Barris appeared to be annihilating his powerful enemy with a mere wave of his hand, displaying remarkable triumph.

Rear Admiral Moss-Barris ordered the fleet to temporarily halt and rest. He instructed the war correspondents to complete the report there as much as possible, and then, once the report caused a sensation, to broadcast the battle live and thoroughly record his heroic fighting.

Although the other two locations were still receiving calls for help, Major General Moss-Barris was not in a hurry at all.

However, just as he was lingering there, something unexpected happened!

"General! Spatial fluctuations detected!!" came a cry from the sensor department. "A warship is approaching using warp drive!"

Warp drive is almost impossible to detect, but it's not entirely undetectable. For example, detecting the stability of outer space can reveal some clues. However, such detection ranges are limited, and the data obtained is very vague, serving only as a rough early warning.

"Those Geths, are they just delivering food again?" Major General Moss-Barris waved his hand and said to the war correspondent, "Get ready for the live broadcast!"

"Okay, sir." The reporter nodded in agreement and began fiddling with the filming drone.

Just then, an unfamiliar fleet appeared silently from the space bubble like a ghost, rushing towards the Imperial fleet at high speed! The fleet appeared very close, less than 1000 kilometers away from the Imperial fleet's formation!

This fleet consisted of only 30 warships, each 1083 meters long, with a roughly catamaran hull and a very large bow, resembling a giant pistol.

"A capital ship?" Rear Admiral Moss-Barris frowned. "And an unfamiliar model. Be careful! Put into combat readiness immediately! Open fire!"

At his command, the Imperial fleet immediately turned its cannons and opened fire on the unfamiliar warships.

However, Mos-Barris quickly sensed something was wrong—these warships were too fast! Incredibly fast! So fast that it was completely disproportionate to their enormous size!
In reality, all warships with large volumes are fast; their straight-line speed is actually much faster than that of fighter jets. However, the difference in maneuverability is mainly reflected in acceleration and turning radius.

The 30 warships that came this time had terrifying acceleration! They immediately approached at high speed after leaving warp drive, and their acceleration exceeded 100G in a short period of time!

At this distance and at this speed, the Imperial fleet only had time to fire two salvos!
What surprised Mos-Barris even more was that these warships were not only fast, but also incredibly tough! After two consecutive salvos, only one warship was destroyed, while the others quickly passed through the flames of the explosions and charged directly at the Imperial fleet!
These unfamiliar warships didn't fire a single shot; they simply approached at high speed. Once they were upon us, a row of flames erupted from both sides of the warships!
They opened fire at extremely close range!

Mos-Barris had never seen such a fierce attack! The warship's shields were constantly alarming, and they were breached in less than a minute!

Those warships had an incredibly high rate of fire, and they seemed to be using kinetic weapons, but not quite. Their massive cannons, exceeding 400mm in caliber, fired at a rate comparable to small turrets, raining down a dense barrage of shells that the Imperial-class Star Destroyers simply couldn't withstand!

Less than five minutes after the two sides engaged in battle, Imperial-class Star Destroyers began to be sunk!