The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2684 Orman's Fury

2684. Allman's Fury

At this very moment, in the command center on the planet Druckenville, Silas-Tagg still couldn't believe what was happening before his eyes.

“We…won? Won?” He stared at the disappearing red cursor on the holographic star map, which meant that his elder brother Orman-Tagg’s warships were being sunk or escaping one by one.

The blue icons representing one's own fleet quickly occupied the entire area, and the entire battlefield situation was under control.

At that moment, a communication came through, and Casio Tagg's tall figure was projected onto the holographic projection in front of him. He was still wearing a mask and a dark blue military uniform, looking quite distinguished.

What Silas-Tagg was unaware of was that the years he had spent training with Governor Volgograd Canidi of the Model Sector in the Kingdom of Dawn had already brought about a tremendous change in Casio's temperament.

Volgograd-Canedi, a retired combat hero, devoted himself wholeheartedly to training Casio Tag, even to the point of being extremely strict. His training methods were unlike anything Casio Tag had ever seen at the Galactic Republic's naval academy.

Putting everything else aside, the Republic's Naval Academy simply doesn't even have the basic requirement of standing at attention. After more than a thousand years of military neglect, the Galactic Republic's Naval Academy is more of a literal academy—teaching, learning theory, and conducting war simulations.

However, the military academy in the Kingdom of Dawn is a real military camp! Here, the attrition rate and even the death rate are always extremely high!

Having undergone such training, Casio Tager exudes an aura that Silas Tager simply cannot match, just by standing there.

Casio-Tagg solemnly saluted Silas and said seriously, "Your Excellency, we have repelled Orman-Tagg's fleet. There are no enemy ships left on Drukenville!"

“…Ah! Good, good, good!” Silas-Tagg was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say, and just kept nodding and cheering.

Casio continued, "The results are currently being tallied. Preliminary calculations indicate we sank 10 enemy capital ships, approximately 300 light cruisers, and about 700 escort ships. The fleeing enemy fleet suffered over half its losses, with most of the gains achieved during their rout. It is certain that after this battle, Orman-Tagg will have no further power to covet Druckenville."

“…Oh, yes, yes! Big brother, he doesn’t dare to come. Yes, he doesn’t dare to come.” Silas-Tagg was still in shock.

"Next, please allow me to clean up the battlefield, tally the results, and dispose of the surrendered enemy ships. Following this victory, the future of our family will depend on your guidance, Head of the Family. Please give your orders." Casio-Tagg bowed again, speaking with meticulous care.

“I know.” Silas-Tagg finally recovered a bit, and his mind began to work quickly, calculating how to maximize the gains from this victory.

However, just as everyone was celebrating, an untimely voice suddenly rang out, "I said, I helped you defeat this Targ family fleet. Shouldn't we settle the agreed-upon reward?"

On the other side, a holographic projection showed a muscular, burly Farinian, an anomaly among the generally slender and agile Farinians.

"His name is Ron, and he's the leader of a mercenary group in the Hutt Space." Casio-Tagg first introduced him to Silas, then turned to Ron and said coldly, "Watch your words, Ron. You're facing the head of the entire Tagg family! Behind him lies a power you can never imagine."

[Hahahaha! No matter how powerful you are, you still have to obediently hand over the money before you can win this battle, right? Hahahaha!] Ron laughed loudly. [Alright, send the money! Thirty million Imperial Credits!]

"Wait a minute! Wasn't the reward agreed to be twenty million?" Silas-Tagg jumped up in a panic.

"Oh? The head of the Targ family, such a powerful person, his assets must be worth hundreds of billions, right? And you're arguing with me about ten million credits?" Ron looked at Silas Targ with disdain, and said sarcastically, "Let me reiterate. Without me, you would have been blown to cosmic dust long ago!"

"Don't push your luck, Ron! Don't forget, you're still mercenaries! Without resources from your patrons, you're nothing!" Casio-Tagg said sternly. "Twenty million credits! That's the agreed price! Then, we'll allow you to enter the port for resupply and calculate your losses."

Ron wanted to say something, but meeting Casio-Tagg's gaze, he backed down, only letting out a cold snort and saying, "Hmph! My ships are all state-of-the-art! When the damage is calculated, you, the 'head of the family,' better not cry!"

Seeing that Cassio was speaking up for him, Silas-Tagg still wanted to show his 'head of the family' demeanor, so he waved his hand and said, "There is nothing that our Tagg family cannot bear! Just report your losses."

"Heh heh heh, you'd better do so." Ron chuckled coldly as he closed the communication.

At this point, Casio-Tagg said, "These people are all ruthless, dangerous criminals. They obtained this batch of advanced warships with the help of the Hutts. If I hadn't been forced to, I wouldn't have wanted to deal with them."

“It’s alright. Defeating Brother Orman’s fleet makes the 20 million worthwhile,” Silas-Tagg said. However, he hesitated for a moment, then added somewhat awkwardly, “But… right now… I’m afraid I don’t have that much cash on hand… My money is all on Planet Tepaci, and it’s probably frozen by Brother Orman…”

Casio-Tagg frowned. "This is troublesome. These mercenaries are all about money, not people. They'll do anything for money."

“Or we could consider using some assets as collateral…” Silas-Tagg said somewhat hesitantly.

"I'm afraid Ron won't agree. They're just a bunch of mercenaries; assets mean nothing to them. Generally, they only accept cash." Casio-Tagg shook his head.

"Back then, you were hanging out with a bunch of bloodthirsty and ruthless guys like this?"

That was for survival.

“There’s no other way then, we’ll just have to stall for now. Once I officially take over the position of head of the family, a mere 20 million won’t be a problem, 200 million won’t be an issue at all,” Silas-Tagg said.

"That's exactly right, Your Excellency." Casio-Tagg nodded approvingly. "Now that you've defeated Orman-Tagg's fleet, he has no power left to threaten you. This victory has also shown everyone in the family your strength. It's time to reclaim what's rightfully yours." "That's right! That's right!" Silas-Tagg's eyes blazed with fervor. The immense temptation of the Tagg family headship made his head throb and his face flush. "I defeated Brother Orman! I am the true head of the family!"

"I will always support you, 'Master'!" Casio-Tagg emphasized the last two words, "Master," and looked at Silas as if he were looking at a corpse. However, his movements remained meticulous. After giving another military salute, he closed the communication.

……

And right in Silas-Tagg's command center, or even not far from him, several people were standing there.

It was none other than Sonja Tag, the former head of the Tag family, along with her fifth daughter, Domina Tag, and her sister, Adelaide Tag.

However, the three of them stood ramrod straight, facing the two girls, one in red and one in blue, who were sitting lazily on the ground in meditation. They didn't dare to breathe loudly.

Luna-Dream and Luna-Illusion looked somewhat tired at this moment, and they were much quieter. Luna-Illusion, in particular, who was usually chattering incessantly, was now silent, simply meditating to recover her depleted primal energy.

Sanya-Tagg cautiously stepped forward and said, "Dream Master, we have achieved a complete victory, and it was your illusions that played a key role... Next, according to the plan, it is time to settle things with Silas-Tagg."

Now, facing this pair of seemingly delicate and beautiful young women, she didn't even dare to speak loudly.

If the fact that these two girls had unknowingly killed Grand Inquisitor Radinar Tobin of the Imperial Court had only surprised Sanya Tag, their ability to create fleet-level illusions and even influence the outcome of an interstellar battle filled Sanya Tag with immense fear!

After all, for ordinary people, the power of Grand Inquisitor Radinal Tobin is not immediately apparent, but the strength of an entire fleet is a tangible fact!

The two sisters first used illusions to lure away the fighter formations sent by Dorras's fleet, and then directly created illusions of 40 Victory II-class Star Destroyers! These 40 illusionary warships were even able to affect the radar detection of the enemy warships, making them believe that there really were 40 capital ships here!

This led to the complete collapse of the fighting spirit of the Doras fleet, turning the battle into a rout, and the rout into a massacre.

It's fair to say that if Major General Dorras had fought to the bitter end, such heavy losses would never have occurred. After all, while the Scourge's warships were advanced, their numbers were too few and their size too small; most were escort ships.

Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the Dream Sisters determined the outcome of this battle!

What terrified Sonya Tagg was this—they were two seemingly delicate young girls, yet they possessed such terrifying power!

What stands here is not even two people, but a powerful interstellar fleet!

Faced with such power, Sonja-Tagh naturally dared not be negligent in the slightest. Domina-Tagh felt fear when she thought about how she had questioned the sisters' abilities when she first saw them, and now she stood there stiff and motionless.

Luna-Meng opened her eyes and said calmly, "Silas-Tagg, he even dared to murder his own mother..."

“This guy doesn’t deserve any sympathy at all.” Luna-Huan also opened her eyes, revealing a bright yet cold smile.

“Go do what you’re supposed to do…” Luna-Dream continued.

“We will make sure that everything you think of becomes a reality,” Luna-Phantom continued.

The two sisters turned their heads at the same time, revealing bright smiles. However, to Sonya Tagh, these smiles were more terrifying than the most monstrous creatures.

Because she now knows that 'making everything you wish for a reality'—which seems like an ordinary blessing—means literally to these two terrible sisters!
Sonya-Tagg nodded, her expression icy, and said indifferently, "Yes. Orman-Tagg's power is still considerable, so we need to further weaken his influence. Let him kill Silas with his own hands, in a way that no family in the core of the empire can accept..."

……

The news of his fleet's crushing defeat drove Orman Tag, who was on the planet Miragro, to a near-mad state of rage!
He dispatched almost his entire fleet and used his personal connections to find the governor of the Chakin Star District, requesting him to send fifteen Jaeger-class battlecruisers to reinforce the area, all in order to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut and swiftly destroy Silas-Tagg's resistance.

Only in this way can he deter those restless behind-the-scenes forces.

After all, Silas Targ exposed the company's financial fraud at the family meeting last time, revealing that a large amount of resources had been misappropriated for the development of the Death Star project but no returns were in sight. This made many people start to have doubts, and they might reconsider whether following Orman Targ was the best choice.

Therefore, Orman Tager desperately needs a resounding victory!

However, now, the great victory has turned into a crushing defeat, and it is foreseeable that a large number of opposing forces will immediately emerge within the family! His position as head of the family is no longer secure.

Perhaps at this very moment, the planet Tepaci has already begun to experience turmoil.

But Orman Tagg can't leave, because Silas is still here. If he leaves, it would be tantamount to admitting defeat, and Silas Tagg would truly become a major force within the family capable of rivaling him!
Moreover, Silas Targ's actions this time have clearly crossed the line. He's actually colluding with space pirates! This is something Orman Targ absolutely cannot accept!
It took Orman Taggart a full hour to calm down from his immense anger. He took out an encrypted communicator, connected to a private communication frequency, and slowly said into the communicator, "I need your help, Marshal Neil Deckland..."

On the communicator's projection screen appeared a black man dressed in the uniform of an Imperial Marshal...

That's right, it's Neil Decklan, one of the twelve Marshals of the Galactic Empire, along with Orman Tagg!