The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2667 The Darkest Moment
2667. The Darkest Hour

Gam-Bell-Iblis, a councilor from Coreria, served in the Coreria Defense Forces in his early years, which forged his resolute character.

However, unlike his fiery appearance, he is very cautious in his actions.

For example, he had consistently opposed the rebels' plan to overthrow the Galactic Empire's 13th Army. However, the operation was launched under the direct orders of the 'Leader,' leaving Gam-Bel-Ebris with no choice but to cooperate according to the plan.

However, the battle on Planet Ugio ended in a crushing defeat.

Ibrahim was also implicated in this crushing defeat.

As a representative of the council of Corellia, he wielded immense prestige within the Corellia system, the Corellia Engineering Corporation, and various regions along the Corellia Corridor. Therefore, Iblis had been secretly having the Corellia Engineering Corporation build warships for the rebels.

This uprising involved one of the fleets—Fleet K.

Fleet K is not a very powerful fleet, mainly composed of light cruisers and frigates, totaling over 100 warships. Such a force would probably not even make a ripple on the battlefield between the Kingdom of Dawn and the Galactic Empire, but it is an extremely valuable force for the rebels.

Generally, for Gam-Bel-Iblis to hand over a fleet to the rebels, it required a series of 'laundering' procedures. This included dismantling the warships under the guise of civilian orders, exporting the parts, and then reassembling them under repair orders—this was the simplest method.

Alternatively, they could hand over some warships to the rebels by scrapping them, or by using them on the black market and transferring them to the rebels as mercenaries.

However, these methods cannot be used continuously in a short period of time, as this would lead to the Galactic Empire's intelligence agency discovering something amiss.

And this time, the K fleet is the one that hasn't had a chance to clear its name yet!

Many of the warships in this fleet are still nominally still belonging to Corellia Engineering Corporation, built for the Galactic Empire's navy. This is not a problem under normal circumstances, but once the fleet enters combat mode, the Galactic Empire's IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system will immediately detect that something is amiss.

During the battle that erupted on the outskirts of Ujio, 12 ships of the K Fleet were locked onto by Darth Vader's IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system. Fleet intelligence personnel immediately sent these unusual identification codes to Imperial Navy Headquarters for verification.

The investigation revealed that these ships, which should have been resting in the shipyard on the planet Coreria, were now on the planet Ugio and were in a state of hostility with the Galactic Empire's navy!
The head of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, Aisani Isard, immediately summoned Gam Bell Iblis and ordered him to come to the Intelligence Bureau for questioning.

However, Ibrlis ignored him completely and quickly left the Imperial Center, returning to the planet Corellia.

……

Meanwhile, in the Imperial Center, the capital of the Galactic Empire, inside the headquarters building of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau.

In a room that was simply decorated but very clean and elegant, Mon Mosma, a senator from Planet Chandrila, wearing a senator's robe, sat at the table in the middle.

She took a sip of the juice on the table, a look of disgust on her face, then took out a handkerchief to cover her mouth, spat out the juice, and threw the soiled handkerchief at the door. "Can you please not try to fool me with this kind of overnight juice, Chief Asani?"

Although this is the headquarters of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, the agency doesn't dare to do anything to her because of her status. This room is already the bare minimum; if the conditions were any worse, Monmosma could even directly file for impeachment.

Given Senator Mosma's influence, a large number of members of the Imperial Diet will side with her, making things difficult for the Imperial Intelligence Bureau.

At least, don't expect a decent budget next year.

Aisani-Isad smiled, sat down opposite Mon-Mosma, and said coldly, "I'm sorry. Our departments rely on the Empire's financial expenditures, so we must ensure that every expenditure is necessary."

"Are you saying that the expense of entertaining the councilors from the planet Chandela was unnecessary?" Mosma sneered.

“I didn’t say that, Councilor Mosma,” Aisani-Isad waved her hand. “Compared to you, we’re much more careful with our spending. For example, I would never spend tens of millions of credits every year to buy those useless so-called…antiques. Let me see…”

She opened a piece of intelligence: "On July 19th last year, you purchased a sculpture of a pottery figure from an antique shop, supposedly from ancient times... Oh, 1.2 million credits. But according to my research, the market price for such a pottery artifact is around 400,000. Can you tell me why?"

“It’s a unique piece, and an extremely precious relic from the Shanro Kingdom of potters, dating back over 5 years,” Mon-Mosma said calmly. “To acquire this treasure, I had to raise the price.”

"Then can you tell me why almost every antique you buy is overpriced?"

“I suppose poverty has limited your imagination, Your Excellency,” Mon-Mosma said sarcastically. “It seems to you that a transaction worth a million or so is quite expensive? You probably don’t know how much our family earns each year. Oh, sorry, I don’t know either.”

*Bang!* Aisani-Isad was no longer willing to play games with her. She slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and said through gritted teeth, "So, do you know what we found in that antique shop? And you have tens of millions of credits in financial dealings with them. Don't forget, Congressman Mosma, you're under economic supervision! Your accounts are already in trouble! And if you add these tens of millions of credits to that, I'll have enough grounds to arrest you!" "I don't care what those antique dealers are doing behind the scenes. I only care about what I can get from them," Mon-Mosma said calmly.

Although her expression remained unchanged, her toes were gripping the soles of her shoes tightly; she was extremely nervous. She knew that financial issues were something she couldn't accept, and this was her biggest worry.

Aisani-Isad shook her head and sighed softly, "Congressman Mosma... it seems you don't understand your situation." She walked around the table once, then sat down directly on it, raising a finger to lightly tap the surface in front of Mosma.

"Do you really think His Majesty tolerates your constant criticism of his policies, opposition to his bills, and dissent against the Empire's direction because he's afraid of your family?" She shook her head. "To be honest, I often envy you because His Majesty has a very clear view of you—a cute doll."

"You should play your role well, show your resistance, your freedom, and your resilience in Parliament. This is what His Majesty the Emperor expects. Only with people like you can we demonstrate the empire's democracy, freedom, and equality to the outside world... So, you just need to continue living your luxurious life, indulging in debauchery all day long, and then go to Parliament to hurl insults. That's enough... Tell me, how can I not envy such a life?"

Aisani-Isard rose from the table, walked around behind Mon-Mosma, gripped the back of her chair, and whispered in her ear, "But... why do you always want to change something? Don't you know you can't actually change anything? His Majesty the Emperor has a veto and a decision-making power. And we... have the power to execute directly. Remember last year's proposal to reduce the labor intensity on Trassos, appropriately exempt them from taxes, and help them through the famine?"

A sinister smile spread across her face. “Actually, this is what we did… We did reduce the intensity of labor, and we did exempt people from taxes. But we used the most scarce resource—food—as payment for labor, and we raised food prices while rationing it… After more than 7000 million people starved to death, wow, you have no idea how motivated the people on Trassos were. Hahahaha… They even asked us to extend their working hours, hahahaha! But no. According to Representative Mosma's proposal, working hours cannot exceed eight hours a day. How much food do they get for eight hours of work? Guess?”

“You bunch of... hypocritical, inhuman bastards! Butchers!” Mon-Mosma gritted his teeth.

“You’re the one who starved them to death.” Aisani-Isad patted Mosma on the shoulder, only to have her hand slapped away forcefully. She looked at her reddened hand, shook her head, and sneered, “And then there’s your recent ‘Imperial Reconstruction Act.’ You proposed reducing the emperor’s power, gradually transitioning the empire to a figurehead monarchy, strengthening the power of the parliament, and making all proposals as open as possible. His Majesty agreed. But… was it any use?”

"Everyone knows that their power comes from the Emperor. His Majesty entrusts power to them, but do they dare to accept it? Oh, they certainly do, but even after accepting this immense power, they still have to consult His Majesty on everything, big or small. Ah, they are so clever, because they always understand that this power comes from His Majesty, not the council... And you? Do you understand?"

Mon-Mosma's face darkened, and she slowly lowered her head.

“It seems you understand.” Aisani-Isad smiled with satisfaction. “No matter what you do, what you say, or what bills you pass, it’s always just a matter of the Empire moving from one hand to the other. We always have a way to turn every word you say into an outcome that benefits the Empire. So… isn’t that good? You don’t even have to be responsible for what you say. Because we will take responsibility for you.”

"With people like you existing, we can gradually dispel people's illusions and strengthen the empire's central authority step by step. In the midst of repeated arguments, the number of people who support strongman will only increase," Aisani-Isard said. "Do you know about the rice frogs on the planet Klatuin? If you put them in lukewarm water and heat it slowly, these slow-moving creatures won't even struggle until they're cooked. Isn't that a vivid description?"

She returned to her seat, sitting opposite Mon-Mosma, and stared into her eyes, saying each word carefully, "But this time, you made a mistake. You shouldn't have gotten involved with the rebels. Because... this is more than just talk."

“You’d better have real evidence for such baseless accusations. Because if it’s proven that you’re trying to frame an Imperial senator, you should know what the consequences will be,” Mon-Mosma said.

“Frankly, we have a very complete chain of inferences, including your actions, motives, and consequences, etc., very complete. But there is no direct evidence.” Aisani-Isad shook her head.

Mon-Mosma scoffed, "A waste of time." She stood up and was about to leave.

However, Aisani-Isad's iron-like right hand grabbed her shoulder without any hesitation! Aisani, who came from an intelligence background, was far more physically capable than Mon-Mosma, a noble lady from a wealthy family. This time, she was serious, and Mosma was powerless to resist and was directly pressed back into her seat.

"How dare you use force against an Imperial councilor!"

“Oh, I seem to have forgotten to remind you,” Aisani-Isad said coldly, “In the current situation, the deductions are sufficient.”

Two intelligence agents walked in from outside and placed one on each of Mon-Mosma's shoulders.

“Remember what I said? Everything you do, we will turn into an outcome that benefits the Empire,” Aisani-Isard said. “So, before we actually start doing something and make the results completely different from what you imagine, I suggest you tell us the truth and save us some money, okay?”

"This is a violation of Imperial law!!" Mon-Mosma roared.

“Your Majesty the Emperor is the law of the Empire,” Aisani-Isad said coldly. “Now, you are formally arrested. Councilor Mosma, on charges of dereliction of duty, corruption… Before I pin the charge of treason on you, you’d better think carefully about what you have to say to me.”

“You better do that! Aisani! Then you’ll understand that you’re challenging the bottom line of the entire inner circle!” Mon-Mosma said through gritted teeth.

"Take her away." Aisani gave a cold smile, waved her hand, and walked out.

……

The storm continues. After learning of Mon Mosma's formal arrest, Bel Organa immediately assembled a group of senators to formally impeach the Imperial Intelligence Service for its baseless arrest.

He also threatened that if the matter was not resolved, their sector would refuse to pay taxes and withdraw its investment in the Galactic Empire!