The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2687 The Empire's Storm and the Fall of the Fortress

2687, The Storm of the Empire and the Fall of the Fortress
"What...what are you going to do? Please...don't, don't kill me..." Silas-Tagg pleaded in a panic.

"It's too late, Mr. Tagg." Neil Deklane already held the blood-red lightsaber in his hand, but his naval admiral uniform seemed somewhat out of place with the lightsaber.

His expression was ferocious as he approached step by step. Silas-Tagg was terrified, retreating step by step. [No…don't kill me…what do you want? Money? I'll give you some! I have lots of money! Lots of money!]

"Traitors only have one path: death!" Neil Deklan said coldly, his heart as hard as stone.

"No... I didn't! I didn't betray you! It was my brother who attacked first! He attacked first!" Silas-Tagg stammered, "I hired mercenaries! Mercenaries!"

"It's too late, Mr. Tagg." Neil Deckland's expression twisted into a grimace. "Why not be more magnanimous and accept your death peacefully?"

[No!! I don't want to die! Help! Help... Help me!! Big brother... Big brother, save me!!] Silas-Tagg jumped up and roared as he rushed past Neil Decklane toward the door.

However, he froze after taking only two steps.

He slowly lowered his head, looking at the blood-red lightsaber that had pierced through his chest. He opened his mouth as if to say something, and raised his hand to grab onto something in front of him—anything would do, as long as it could save his life…

But it was all in vain. Silas-Taggs' body collapsed to the ground with a thud, struggled desperately for a moment, and then fell silent.

Neil Deckland swiftly sheathed his lightsaber, then with a sharp wave of his hand, shouted: "Drukenville will pay the price for their betrayal!"

After saying that, he walked out of the room first.

Dozens of Imperial Stormtroopers behind him immediately followed, filing out in single file.

Off-screen, chaotic gunfire and screams soon erupted. Silas-Tagg's body remained lying there, unattended.

With a click, Imperial Chancellor Sartre Pestach shut down the holographic projection. His face was incredibly grim, and he gritted his teeth, muttering to himself, "Declan! How dare you! Do you know what you've done! Bastard! Bastard!! The Tagg family is not for your military to judge! Fool, idiot!!"

He grew angrier and angrier as he spoke, and in the end he beat his chest and stamped his feet in deep regret.

The footage of Silas Targ's murder is now spreading wildly across the Galactic Holographic Network, and it seems to be intentional, as it has quickly spread to almost the entire galaxy.

Sartre-Pestach, who was in charge of the Empire's internal affairs, immediately made contact with Kruja van der Lon, the head of the New Order Maintenance Committee.

The holographic projection of Kruja van der Londo also appeared grim, and he said seriously: "You're here for that matter, aren't you?"

“Neil Decklane killed Silas Tagg,” Sartre Pestach said.

"I know." Kruger-Vanderllon took a deep breath. "Things are starting to get out of control... I've had people block the news, and the footage is no longer being circulated. But it's no use; those who need to know already know."

“Although the Targ family has only risen to prominence for a little over two hundred years, they have actually been accepted by the core families. In other words, the Targ family are ‘one of us.’ Such people should have privileges in the Empire,” Sartre-Pestach said. “Damn it! Why Neil Deklan! Didn’t he consider his own identity when he did all this?”

"There's no other way now. I've already contacted Rufán Digorinus to ask him to mediate. Otherwise, I'm worried that the inner circle families will cause trouble," said Kruja van der Lon.

“Rufan Digorinus is also one of the twelve Imperial Marshals. Isn’t his identity a bit sensitive now?” Sartre Pestac frowned.

"Only he can do it. From another perspective, he's both an Imperial Marshal and from a core aristocratic family—a perfect bridge." Kruya-Vanderlon nodded. "I will immediately travel to the North to meet His Majesty the Emperor. This matter is of utmost importance; we must not allow the negative impact to continue to escalate."

Sartre-Pestach shook his head and said, “You will not be able to see His Majesty the Emperor. Since the separatists began their attack on Bilblin three days ago, all communications with His Majesty the Emperor have been cut off.”

Kruya van der Lon's voice suddenly rose, and he shouted: "This matter must be handled personally by His Majesty the Emperor! Otherwise, who dares to touch Neil Decklane? Me? You? He's the Imperial Marshal, the Imperial Marshal! But he's killed Silas Tagg! He's killed an Inner Circle family!"

Clearly, the head of the New Order Maintenance Committee, His Majesty the Emperor's propaganda mouthpiece, is on the verge of collapse.

The murder of Silas Targ was truly heinous. On one hand, as the eldest son of the Targ family, he was a member of the inner circle of powerful and influential families!
Moreover, as Sartre-Pestacchi said, although the Tagg family has not been on the rise for long, they have actually been accepted by the inner circle of powerful figures.

On the other hand, what's even worse is that the person who killed Silas-Tagg was Niall Decklane! He was a commoner of humble origins, a country bumpkin from an outer planet, and before gaining the Emperor's favor, he was just an ordinary soldier.

The fact that someone who rose from the bottom of society killed the most powerful and influential people in the galaxy is something that has never happened since the founding of the Galactic Republic 25,000 years ago!

What's even more intolerable is that Neil Decklan is still within the Galactic Empire's system and is the Imperial Marshal appointed by the Emperor!
At the same time, he is also a believer in darkness. This is in conjunction with the rise of dark theocratic forces such as the Imperial Court and the Dark Prophets in recent years, which are constantly challenging the power sphere of traditional nobles.

Things are starting to get out of control...

Meanwhile, on the planet Drukenville, Neil Decklan went even further and issued Order No. 37!

According to Order No. 37, the Imperial Army will arrest the ringleader of Druckenville, who colluded with space pirates and betrayed the Galactic Empire. To ensure the capture of the ringleader, Druckenville will be completely sealed off and placed under full military control. All civil rights will be revoked, and the Imperial Army has the right to take the most extreme measures against any action deemed likely to obstruct the capture of the ringleader.

In an instant, a large number of imperial troops entered major cities across the planet and conducted a thorough search for the non-existent 'chief culprit'.

In reality, Neil Decklan knew that the ringleader was most likely Silas Tagg; however, he needed an excuse to carry out a massacre on the planet to satisfy the restlessness of his dark side. Upon learning of Silas Tagg's death, Orman Tagg immediately contacted Neil Decklan. He dared not appear before Decklan, fearing the man might suddenly go berserk and kill him as well.

[What did you do?! You killed Silas! No! Why did you kill him?!] Orman Tag was almost in despair. No matter how much he hated Silas Tag, he would never actually kill him, let alone let an outsider do it!
No one understood the implications of this better than Orman Tagg, and he was almost furious, yelling at Neil Deckerlane.

However, Marshal Deklan coldly retorted, "Wasn't this what you requested? I can now tell you with absolute certainty that there are no more traitors in the Tagg family. You are innocent."

A mocking smile appeared on his face.

[I never said that!] Orman Tag found it unbelievable. [In that communication, I made it very clear to you that I wanted you to bring Silas safely to me!]

"So now you want to back out again?" Neil Deckerlan sneered.

"You murderer! Butcher! This isn't over!" Orman Tagg roared. "Don't think you can just kill a direct descendant of a family like that!"

"Hmph!" Deklan snorted coldly and cut off the communication without saying another word.

However, he paused for a moment, then sensed something was amiss, and said to his subordinate beside him, "Give me the conference room's communication records for that day."

He took the call log and began to look at it, but what he saw made his face turn deathly pale!
Because the communication records show that Orman Tagg did indeed ask him to protect Silas and ensure that his brother could be safely delivered so that the Tagg family could handle the matter internally!
This isn't right! Neil Deklan was horrified. Only then did he suddenly remember the faint fluctuation of the Force that had been lingering around him all day!

Almost without hesitation, Neil Deklan's mind raced, and seven figures clad in black robes appeared from nowhere, instantly surrounding him. The sound of lightsabers being drawn rang out. The seven immediately shielded him in the center!
"Get out of here! Now!" Neil Deckerlan shouted.

He ran quickly toward the spaceship under the protection of seven dark cultists.

……

In a dark corner, Luna-Phantom chuckled and said, "Aren't we going to take him down? It's not easy for a marshal to come to our doorstep! Taking down a marshal would be a lot of fun!"

Sanya-Tagg shook his head and said, "As I said before, keeping him alive is more useful than killing him. You'll soon find out."

"Ah...this isn't fun anymore..." Luna-Phantom sighed in frustration.

Luna-Dream said, "We can't kill him, but we can scare him. It's better to get him to leave here quickly. If the situation gets out of control, there could really be a massacre targeting civilians."

“Okay, thank you, Master of Dreams,” Sanya-Tagg said respectfully.

……

In the heart of the Empire, the news of Silas-Tagg's murder was still unfolding, and its impact was beginning to spread, causing an uproar, first and foremost among the Imperial Council.

Most members of Congress expressed their anger over the incident, because Neil deClan had killed a member of the inner circle without trial and without any power to bring a trial.

It's worth noting that even the Imperial Intelligence Agency, which was personally authorized by His Majesty the Emperor, could only treat Mon Mosma, the representative of the council from the planet Chandela, with the best food and drink.

Many members of parliament even began to prepare a joint petition, demanding that Emperor Palpatine personally explain the matter and immediately remove Neil-Declan from his rank of Marshal, and transfer the case to the Imperial Supreme Court for trial.

In this matter, Neil Decklane has offended all the elites of the Galactic Empire.

The reason these privileged classes are willing to support the Galactic Empire is because they can enjoy their own privileges within the Galactic Empire's administrative system.

If this privilege is not guaranteed, they will re-evaluate their choices.

……

However, just as this bomb was about to detonate, an even more explosive piece of news arrived!

The northern barrier of the Empire's core, the planet Bilblin, has fallen to the Kingdom of Dawn!

This news spread rapidly among the high-ranking officials in the Empire's central government, and everyone who had access to this intelligence unanimously chose to keep it a secret.

Bilbrin is currently under the protection of Imperial Marshal Oswald Tessik, a fortress planet painstakingly built by the Galactic Empire. The Imperial military even hopes that Bilbrin can become a super-defense line that guards the gateway and makes the enemy sigh in despair, just like Yago-Dur during the Clone Wars.

Despite the heavy troop deployment, this fortress planet was still captured!

What exactly happened inside the planet Bilbrin is still unclear, but a very blurry deep-space photo shows an enormous ring-shaped star structure standing somewhere in the Bilbrin system!
A ring-shaped structure! This thing is gradually becoming known to the high-ranking officials at all levels of the empire.

The only possible structure for such a star system is a stargate!
With the fall of Bilbrin and the completion of the stargate, the northern part of the Galactic Empire's core is now completely open! The Empire's capital, Coruscant, will now be within direct strike range of the Dawn Kingdom's fleet!
What the Empire should be more concerned about than Coruscant is Scipio—the treasury of the Interstellar Banking Association (S) and the Empire's financial center!

The military threat from the Dawn Kingdom is becoming a reality! Tang Xiao's fleet's entry into the core area is unstoppable!!
But would surrendering to the Kingdom of Dawn be an option?
No. Because the Kingdom of Dawn has only one demand of those families with whom they have secret dealings—nationalization!
So, what exactly happened in the North while the brothers Orman-Tagg and Silas-Tagg were staring at the wall?