The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2676 The Escape of the Deep Sea Fleet

2676. The Escape of the Deep Sea Fleet

The central ring of the Milky Way, formerly the territory of the 13th Army of the Galactic Empire, the planet Iskalon.

This is an ocean planet, and its surface is completely covered by seawater. The water temperature is moderate, the climate is pleasant, and there are no native intelligent life forms living on this planet.

Because the hyperspace routes here are extremely unstable, although it's located in the central region, virtually no other races have come to colonize it. After all, in this galaxy, the vast majority of intelligent races are terrestrial beings.

Around 5000 years ago, aquatic races from other planets began to settle here and build their own colonies. A total of seventeen races came here, including well-known ones such as the Gungan, the Quarun, and the Monkalamari.

These settled races formed the 'Iscaron Alliance', signifying their separation from their original races and making this place their new home.

During their exploration, they discovered some very ancient ruins on the seabed. Carbon isotope analysis revealed that these ruins were built at least 100,000 years ago. Clearly, a civilization existed on this planet at least 100,000 years ago, but later, for unknown reasons, this civilization was completely wiped out, and Iscaron became an unclaimed planet.

And so, the Iscaron Alliance lived on this secluded paradise planet, without engaging in any external communication, and completely ignoring even the former Galactic Republic.

However, now, a massive fleet is hidden beneath the vast waters of the planet Iscaron.

The deep-sea fleet of the Moncalamari.

General Jal-Akbar aboard his flagship, the HMS Independence. This was an MC85-class battlecruiser, 3438.37 meters long, a flagship-class warship, and the only one of its kind in the entire Deep Sea Fleet.

In order to build the Independence battlecruiser, the Monkaramari also received assistance from the Corellian Engineering Corporation, and completed its construction in the deep-sea docks of the planet Dark without the Quaruns' knowledge.

Now, the most powerful warship in this deep-sea fleet is General Jal Akbar's flagship.

目前深海舰队当中，除了一艘MC85战列巡洋舰之外，还有20艘1300米长的MC80战列巡洋舰，以及80艘1204.44米长的MC75战列巡洋舰。

These warships form the core of the deep-sea fleet.

In addition, there are hundreds of small and medium-sized warships, mainly MC30 frigates and MC40 light cruisers, serving as auxiliary vessels.

This is currently the most powerful and core fleet within the entire rebel alliance. If this fleet were to be destroyed, it would be a devastating blow to the rebel alliance, which has just re-established its principles.

However, the Deep Sea Fleet can only hide on the planet Iscaron, daring not to show itself. Because if they were to appear, Darth Vader's Death Fleet would immediately surround them from several star systems on all sides, tearing them to shreds.

Although General Jal Akbar had full confidence in the warships produced by his Monkalamari and believed he was absolutely capable of severely damaging Darth Vader's Death Fleet, doing so would be equally pointless.

The Galactic Empire can have more Death Fleets, but the Deep Sea Fleet is unique to the Rebel Alliance.

The current issue is an information gap; Darth Vader is unaware that this deep-sea fleet was built by the Monkalamari. After all, neither the Monkalamari nor the Quaruns would disclose this information to the Galactic Empire.

Therefore, when Darth Vader was searching, his main focus was on the cosmos. He subjectively assumed that the rebel fleet was hidden somewhere—perhaps a small star belt, a nebula, or even the edge of a black hole. However, he completely overlooked the fact that this fleet was hidden underwater!
However, as time goes on, this not-so-secret intelligence will soon reach Darth Vader, who will then immediately take notice of the ocean planet Iscaron.

At that point, all he needs to do is launch a massive orbital bombardment to evaporate all the oceans on the planet.

Like Dak, these ocean planets are much more defensive than ordinary rocky planets when they have planetary shields, but they are vulnerable to orbital bombardment when they do not.

This falls under the category of planetary versions of structurally resistant and shield-resistant spaceships.

However, Darth Vader has already blocked the hyperspace routes throughout the entire 13th Army's territory. As soon as his fleet begins a hyperspace jump, it will be immediately detected by the surrounding outposts, and the result will be the same: being surrounded and killed by the Death Fleet.

The situation has reached a dead end.

Dozens of operations staff from the Righteous Army Alliance were studying various strategies next to the holographic star map. They put forward a large number of plans, all kinds of wildly imaginative ones, but they were quickly rejected one by one.

This discussion has been going on for two or three days, and now it's almost just a discussion for the sake of discussion.

Because everyone at the meeting knew that they had no way to escape.

The situation began to deteriorate rapidly after they revealed their location in an attempt to strike the main fleet of the Galactic Empire's Thirteenth Army. The Thirteenth Army's main fleet put up a fierce resistance, and even though the Deep Sea Fleet was in a surprise attack and had a renowned admiral like Jarl Akbar in command, it still took too much time.

Furthermore, the siege of Ode Pardoran, the capital of the Thirteenth Army, was not without its challenges. This led to the swift arrival of Darth Vader's Death Squadron, which dispatched a squadron to monitor Ode Pardoran before launching a lightning-fast attack after the main force had suppressed Uzio.

General Jal-Akbar quickly ordered the fleet to evacuate and was not captured, but Darth Vader's inescapable trap had already been laid.

Ultimately, the rebels' hasty and opportunistic actions stemmed from their massive investment of resources in destroying the Thirteenth Army. However, their forces were too dispersed, and they relied heavily on intelligence provided by agents within the Galactic Empire, leading to unexpected resistance that Darth Vader seized upon to annihilate them.

However, General Jal-Akbar had no time to complain. He understood the significance of the deep-sea fleet and knew that it absolutely could not be destroyed.

He had too many ambitions to realize, and he had countless ideas about that beautiful Milky Way galaxy.

He had witnessed too much darkness and injustice in the galaxy, and personally experienced the cruelty of war, as well as the suffocating human supremacy, racism, authoritarianism, and ideologism of the Galactic Empire. He was determined to change all of this, even at the cost of his own life.

However, having served as the captain of the guard for King Lee-Char of Moncalamali and later commanding all of the Moncalamali armed forces, Jal-Akbar possessed a profound understanding of politics. He was well aware that the rebel alliance was the closest platform to his ideals, but it was by no means perfect. In order for his ideals and ambitions to be realized within this platform, he needed sufficient influence.

And the deep-sea fleet is where he holds the power.

The reason he was able to lead the deep-sea fleet to hide on the planet Iscaron was because he was friends with Gawazai, the leader of the Monkaramari in the Iscaron Alliance, and thus he was able to barely persuade the isolated Iscaron Alliance to accept them.

However, the longer the Deepsea Fleet remained there, the greater the pressure on Gawazai became. After all, the Iscaron Alliance comprised seventeen races, and they were all well aware that discovering the Deepsea Fleet's existence by the Galactic Empire would mean annihilation for their planets.

Why should the lives and fortunes of the other sixteen races be sacrificed for the sake of you Monkalamari?

General Jar-Akbar is currently meeting with Gawazai, who, on behalf of the Iscaron Alliance, has issued an ultimatum to the Deep Sea Fleet—the fleet must leave within three hours. Moreover, this is a unilateral notification, because after three hours, the Iscaron Alliance will report this intelligence to the Galactic Empire, distancing themselves from the situation.

Seeing Gawazai's troubled expression, Jal-Akbar sighed. He knew that these last three hours were the result of his old friend's best efforts. It wasn't hard to imagine how Gawazai had argued vehemently with the representatives of the other sixteen races, perhaps even sacrificing many important interests, to secure those three hours.

Otherwise, the death fleet would probably have already arrived.

“I will lead the fleet away. You should also inform the Imperial Fleet of this intelligence as soon as possible. They cannot discover our relationship.” Jar-Akbar finally nodded; he was prepared to die.

After sending Gawazai away, Jal-Akbar returned to the command post and saw that all the operations staff were silent. There was no doubt that they had no way to escape either.

“We have no choice but to fight to the death,” General Akbar said. “Perhaps today, our freedom, our dreams, and the Moncalamali’s attempt to break free from control will all come to an end. But we are fearless! We will roar with our lives against this galaxy! We will tell everyone that the spirit of freedom cannot be destroyed!”

The gazes of everyone around him hardened.

However, at that moment, a voice suddenly came, "I think we have another way."

Jal-Akbar turned his head and saw that the speaker was a human.

He was tall and muscular, with a buzz cut, and wore the white uniform of the Imperial Navy with his insignia torn off. In the Galactic Empire Navy, only generals were allowed to wear this color uniform, yet this man was excessively young for a general.

He was only 18 years old.

Yes, he is Garosh Tarkin, the son of Wilhelm Tarkin.

Although Garosh Tarkin came from the Tarkin family, had a powerful father, and an uncle with a large army, he deeply abhorred the actions of the Galactic Empire. It was precisely because of his family and status that he saw a much darker side of the world than most people.

He firmly believed that freedom and equality were the qualities a country should possess, and he also believed that only the Galactic Republic was the best nation.

Therefore, he used the pretext of going to Dark to quell the rebellion to leave the fleet led by his uncle Gideon Tarkin, went to Dark to find General Jarl Akbar, and officially joined the Rebel Alliance.

However, the Empire was unaware of his betrayal, believing he had been kidnapped. Therefore, Emperor Palpatine personally ordered Darth Vader to find a way to rescue Garosh Tarkin. While Gideon Tarkin was aware of his nephew's betrayal, he would never bring it up under these circumstances.

Garosh Tarkin had always stayed by Jal Akbar's side to learn and rarely expressed his own opinions, but today he stepped forward.

"What are your plans, young man?" Jar-Akbar asked kindly.

“Take me hostage!” Garosh Tarkin said directly. “Then go and negotiate with Darth Vader to let us leave! I am Wilhoff Tarkin’s son, they will definitely accept this condition.”

General Akbar shook his head and said, "But if that's the case, they will definitely take you back. Once you return to the Empire, you may be placed under house arrest forever. You... will lose everything."

“I know,” Garosh Tarkin nodded and said, “but it’s the only way now.”

He took a deep breath and smiled: "Although we haven't spent much time together, this period has been the most precious time of my life. Here, I have gained something I never had in the previous eighteen years—fairness, freedom, and justice. I have seen too much of the dark side of the Galactic Empire, and even if I were a beneficiary of it, I would be ashamed to associate with it."

He saluted General Akbar and said, "Even if I am under house arrest, I will keep an eye on every action and every battle of the Allied forces! I believe that you will rescue me one day!"

General Jarl-Akbar knew this wasn't the time for sentimentality, and he solemnly returned the salute. "I understand, Garosh. The entire Rebel Alliance will remember your sacrifice, and I will fight with everything I have, even if it means fighting my way to Coruscant, to bring you back!"

“I’m waiting for that day.” Garosh Tarkin smiled from the bottom of his heart.

……

Two hours later, the deep-sea fleet started its engines, and hundreds of warships broke through the ocean of Iscaron, soaring into the sky, breaking out of the planet's atmosphere, and leaving the planet's gravitational field while starting to calculate hyperspace navigation data.

However, the Imperial Navy had already deployed a large number of hyperspace jammers throughout the surrounding star system, making hyperspace navigation calculations extremely slow.

Furthermore, the Iscaron Alliance has already informed Darth Vader of the Deep Sea Fleet's location.

Soon, a fleet of 40 Imperial-class Star Destroyers arrived at Iscaron, with more fleets on their way! They immediately launched an attack on the Deep Sea Fleet!

However, at that very moment, the Deep Sea Fleet suddenly issued a public announcement: [Admiral Garosh Tarkin of the Galactic Empire is currently aboard our flagship. If we are attacked, we cannot guarantee Admiral Garosh's safety!]