The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2691 The Fall of the Fortress (Part 4)
2691. The Fall of the Fortress (Part 4)

As time goes on, the Galactic Empire's defensive posture in the North is now shifting towards the planet Palin-Minor, as the likelihood of the Dawn Kingdom attacking Palin-Minor appears to be increasing.

The Taotie is still wandering around Agamar, north of Palin-Minor, while the Divine Messenger Titan is still undergoing secret repairs on Ode-Mantel. Moreover, it seems that even after suffering accidental damage, the Divine Messenger Titan has no intention of leaving Ode-Mantel.

The fleet assembled on Dawn Planet showed no signs of moving, continuing its training and preparations in the capital. Furthermore, they made little attempt to conceal their actions, thus gaining the attention of many Imperial informants and agents hidden on Dawn Planet.

The hyperspace fluctuations from the direction of Planet Bilbrin continued without pause, but the planet's navigation capacity was limited. Although it seemed that Luo Huacheng, the garrison commander of the Dawn Kingdom, was increasing the workload, the stargate was still a long way from completion.

On the other hand, the defense level on the planet Ode-Mantel is constantly being raised. Although the holographic network has lifted the blockade, this system has been designated a restricted area, prohibiting any unauthorized ships from entering. Otherwise, they will be considered intruders and shot down immediately without warning.

The establishment of a restricted zone on this scale is virtually unprecedented. Given the vastness of the universe, sealing off the surrounding shipping lanes of an entire planet would require a massive military force. But sealing off the shipping lanes of an entire star system would require far more than just a large military force; it would also necessitate highly advanced hyperspace technology and a remarkably tight organizational structure.

Having expended so much effort, the Imperial Intelligence Bureau had reason to believe that the Dawn Kingdom must be undertaking a major operation on the planet Ode-Mantel. And what else could they be doing there? Nothing more than preparing an attack on the planet Palin-Minor!

The Imperial Intelligence Bureau informed the Imperial military of this assessment, and the Supreme Strategic Command immediately issued an order requiring the Bureau to closely monitor the fleet on Dawn Planet. Once the fleet appeared on Macito Planet through the stargate, they were to immediately prepare for battle.

Under these circumstances, the Dawn Planet fleet would have to pass through the Macito Planet's stargate to move around. Therefore, keeping a close eye on Macito Planet would buy our own fleet three days.

Furthermore, as a precaution, the Imperial Supreme Strategic Command had developed an emergency plan assuming the stargate on Od Mantel was completed ahead of schedule and that the Dawn Starship's fleet could be mobilized through the stargate in that direction. In such an extreme scenario, the Imperial military believed that Palin Minor would only have a single day to react.

This operational plan was sent to Dunn-Wessex, who was instructed to implement it strictly, cooperate with Imperial intelligence operations, and be prepared for any potential threats.

However, at this moment, a message was forwarded to the Emperor Palpatine.

At this moment, Palpatine has arrived on the planet Scipio, temporarily reigning over the Reaper super star destroyer, personally commanding and overseeing the war in the North.

Palpatine stared at the communication in his hand; it contained only a brief sentence: "If I were in command, I wouldn't give them a whole day to react, not even an hour."

Palpatine is currently not in good physical condition and is in a very bad mood, so he simply forwarded the message to Marshal Oswald Tesick and then went to meditate.

Oswald Tesick looked at the message and felt a little confused. He didn't know who posted it, but he could see the confidence and pride in the words.

However, Palpatine had already begun meditating, and he dared not disturb him. Instead, he prepared a written document outlining his plans and intentions and sent it to the emperor.

This document is remarkably detailed, outlining the Dawn Kingdom's possible battle strategies and military deployments, and explaining the Imperial army's response. Furthermore, it provides a thorough analysis of the Dawn Kingdom's fleet advantages and how the Imperial army could organize an effective defense when facing multiple fronts and dispersed forces.

Furthermore, it discusses the military, technological, and astronomical aspects, demonstrating that while the Dawn Kingdom might try every means to increase the surprise of its military operations, there are still limits to what they can do.

Afterwards, Marshal Tesik continued his preparations according to his established strategy. He was very busy at the moment, and the North was only one part of his concern. Naturally, he wouldn't adjust his plans because of a message that seemed more like a boast.

During this period, due to the internal strife within the Targ family, the core of the Galactic Empire was extremely unstable. Oswald Tessik was also working tirelessly to deal with those internal problems. As the Commander-in-Chief of the Empire's First Star System Army, and currently also temporarily serving as the Senior Sector Governor of the First Army, he wielded almost absolute power, second only to the Emperor, and naturally had many more things to worry about.

Dealing with the affairs of the aristocratic families in the inner circle naturally fell within Marshal Tesik's responsibilities.

Of course, Palpatine had racked his brains over this mess. Although he desperately wanted to wipe out all the powerful figures in the inner circle right now, he couldn't rush things. The fire caused by the internal strife within the Tagg family was also something Palpatine hadn't anticipated.

The white terror he had previously instigated within the Imperial inner circle, at the behest of the Director of Imperial Intelligence, Aysani Isaad, was a constant test of the inner circle's limits. However, despite these tests, Palpatine still lacked the power to directly confront the noble families with their 25,000-year-old heritage until the Death Star was truly completed.

Therefore, this is precisely the time when the actions of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau have infuriated the core aristocratic families. Previously, the arrests of representatives of these families, such as Mon-Mosma, had already placed them in a state of high tension. Now, the resurgence of the Tagg family's affair could very well break the already strained nerves of these noble families!
On July 32, good news and bad news arrived at the same time.

The good news is that the Lila Super Star Destroyer has finally successfully taken off from the surface of Doku and returned to space. The ship is currently removing its external anti-gravity engines and is expected to return to Palin-Minor for repairs in three days.

In other words, Dunn-Wessex's Northern Legion will reach its peak strength in a short period of time. He will possess an Executor-class super star destroyer, two Assertor-class dreadnoughts, and a formidable force of over three thousand capital ships! The bad news on the same day was that the fleet assembled on Dawn Planet had vanished without a trace.

This means that a new round of military operations by the Kingdom of Dawn is imminent!
The Imperial Intelligence Agency immediately mobilized all its intelligence resources, with a particular focus on the planets of Macito and Ode-Mantel.

Numerous hyperspace outposts and reconnaissance ships equipped with hyperspace detection devices are operating at full power, monitoring hyperspace fluctuations in these areas day and night.

Once the location where this fleet emerged from the stargate is confirmed, it means that this direction is about to be attacked!

It takes about two to four days to travel from the stargate of Dawn Planet to the stargate of Macito Planet. This is a result that the Galactic Empire's intelligence agency has barely managed to estimate after using a lot of resources and collecting a lot of observational data samples. It is basically accurate.

In other words, the empire only has about five days left!
However, at this moment, the situation suddenly changed in an almost catastrophic way!
On July 35th, the planet Bilbrin was suddenly attacked by a large number of Dawn Kingdom warships, and the leading warship was none other than the Titan warship, the Divine Messenger!
The doomsday weapon of the Titan warship Divine Messenger instantly illuminated the entire star field, and the first few armed asteroids to be hit were instantly destroyed!
Immediately afterwards, with eight Prophet-class battleships as the vanguard, a large number of warships advanced directly in a claw-shaped formation.

The Archon-class drone carrier launched tens of thousands of Swarm II drones to cover the Viking fighters, Dagger fighters, and Sabre fighters taking off from the Eternal-class supercarrier as they launched the first wave of air attacks on the Imperial fleet!
Thirty Cataclysm-class battlecruisers and fifty Paladin-class battlecruisers launched a long-range bombardment using particle lances directly from the forward base! After all, these warships have a theoretical maximum range of one light-year, enabling them to attack any point in the planetary system!

The reason they were holed up in the forward base and bombing was not because the commander of the Dawn Kingdom was cowardly. On the contrary, it was a sign that they were preparing for a full-scale attack without leaving any room for maneuver. This was because the enemy did not even want to send any warships to escort them. They used all their warships for a frontal assault from the very beginning!

Because this is a planetary assault operation, there are many targets that move at almost constant speeds, such as planets, armed space stations, and armed asteroids. Therefore, the particle light spear can still exert tremendous firepower.

Half an hour after the offensive began, Imperial Navy Vice Admiral Dalmar Holken, defending the planet Bilbrin, finally confirmed the strength of the Dawn Kingdom's attacking forces.

Eight Prophet-class battleships, two Eternal-class supercarriers, six Archon-class drone carriers, 250 battleships over 1,000 meters long, and 600 heavy cruisers over 700 meters long! In addition, there are 800 light cruisers over 300 meters long and 1600 frigates of various types!
This is absolutely ridiculous!!
How could such a fleet possibly appear on the planet Bilblin!?
Lieutenant General Dalmar-Holken's mind almost went blank at that moment. He immediately reported the situation to the Imperial Supreme Strategic Command and then quickly deployed defenses.

However, after the failed offensive launched by Vice Admiral Dagon-Nils, some of the severely damaged warships on Bilbrin were transferred back to the rear for repairs, so the force here consisted of only 620 capital ships and 1800 light cruisers and frigates.

The Imperial fleet has completely lost its numerical advantage on Bilbrin! Moreover, the enemy also has the Titan warship Divine Messenger, as well as 16 super-large warships over 3000 meters in length!
Even more terrifyingly, after the battle began, the Titan warship Divine Messenger fired two rounds of doomsday weapons and then deployed its phenomenon generator before immediately activating its hyperspace beacon to guide warships from other directions.

Although this seems a bit redundant—after all, they had already quietly sent such a powerful fleet into the Bilblin system, and no one knows why they would deploy the hyperspace beacon again.

It was only then that the Imperial Intelligence Agency discovered with horror that the fleet that had departed from Dawn Planet had not gone to Macito Planet or Ode-Mantel Planet, but had instead appeared directly on Bilbrin Planet!
How can this be?

After all, the Dawn Kingdom's Titan warships are equipped with unknown hyperspace technology, allowing them to directly enter hyperspace in many astronomically complex environments. Therefore, while the presence of the Divine Messenger Titan warship here might be somewhat understandable, how did this fleet assembled in the Dawn Kingdom get to Bilbrin?
The only explanation is the Star Gate!

But the problem is, how could a stargate possibly appear on Bilblin's planet?!

Despite their fear, the Imperial High Command quickly ordered Dunn-Wessex to launch an immediate frontal attack on Od Mantel! They needed to determine what had happened on that planet!
At the same time, they also began to mobilize troops to prepare reinforcements for the planet Bilblin.

However, the situation has begun to deteriorate rapidly. Detection indicates that the Dawn Kingdom has deployed a large number of hyperspace jamming devices around the planet Bilbrin. Unlike hyperspace blockers, hyperspace jamming devices only delay the time of hyperspace jumps, but their range is much wider, easily covering the entire planetary system.

Marshal Oswald Tesik immediately requested permission from Emperor Palpatine to launch an attack and led his fleet toward Palancy.

But all these actions were a step too late!
Vice Admiral Dalmar-Holken had no idea he was being attacked; his fleet, though on standby, was not engaged in combat. A single word makes all the difference!

In a state of combat readiness, the warship will not start its main engines, but will keep its auxiliary power engines running for extended periods. Furthermore, frontline combat personnel such as fighter pilots and gunners will not be on duty. In other words, the warship is in a standby state at this time.

At this point, the engines need to be started and all combat personnel need to be in position and all systems need to be operational. This process takes at least 20 minutes to an hour before the warship can be put into a combat state where it can deploy deflector shields and fire its cannons.

In other words, when the Dawn Kingdom's fleet launched its surprise attack, Dalmara-Holken's fleet was beaten for nearly an hour before it gradually entered combat mode and opened fire in return.

This only allows us to fire back. To organize an effective resistance, we need to arrange our formations and ensure alternating coverage with crossfire and anti-aircraft barrages, which will take even more time!

The problem is, they don't have time!