The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2700 Karl's Life (Part 1)

2700. Carl's Life (Part 1)

The robot that Carl Kestis called BD-1 was a BD series exploration robot produced by Behold-Urwar Droid Concepts.

It has a telescope-like head and a pair of anti-jointed mechanical legs. It is not equipped with arms, but it moves very nimbly, like a little bird, hopping nimbly on the ground with its legs.

The BD series of exploration robots are designed to assist pioneers in exploration missions in complex environments and to perform basic maintenance on spacecraft and other equipment. Their small, agile bodies allow them to operate in a variety of complex planetary environments and within narrow equipment maintenance access areas.

However, BU Robotics Concepts lacked other products, so after the outbreak of the Clone Wars, their BD series exploration robots were abandoned by the market because they could not meet the needs of combat, and the company eventually went bankrupt.

In addition, the exploration missions themselves are highly dangerous, so very few BD series exploration robots still exist in the Milky Way.

However, Karl-Kestis always kept the origin of his little robot a secret, and even when his friends asked, he would only say that it was a gift from a friend in the Empire.

He has now worked on Anagi's planet for ten years, and given his experience, he should have been promoted to a management position long ago. However, Cal-Kestis remains cautious and never stays at one company for too long.

The census ten years ago really terrified him.

His blood sample was mistakenly taken by his friend Frey, who was then arrested as a Force-sensitive individual. However, during a later re-examination, the census takers discovered that Frey was not a Force-sensitive individual at all, so the unreasonable Interior Ministry staff beat him up and released him.

Another group of staff came to re-examine the people here, but Carl Kestis found that their management was very chaotic, perhaps because of the heavy workload. In any case, he secretly took a few bottles of other people's blood samples to get away with it and actually succeeded.

The officials in charge of the census came and investigated for a while but found nothing, so the matter was dropped.

However, the officials in the Ministry of the Interior seemed quite unhappy with this outcome, and so they found an excuse to transfer Frey to another planet. From then on, Cal-Kestis never saw him again.

After that, Cal-Kestis also discovered that the Kingdom of Dawn seemed to have a more lenient attitude towards Force-sensitive individuals. Unlike the Galactic Empire, they did not treat Force-sensitive individuals as a scourge. Although they would be forcibly taken away as soon as they were discovered, they would not pursue them relentlessly if they could not be found.

Furthermore, the Kingdom of Dawn conducts a population screening every three years, and during these screenings, television channels and the streets broadcast educational materials and advertisements about Force Sensitives and Force Awareness.

The concept of Force Sensitives was particularly intriguing to Cal Kestis, because, as far as he knew, those classified as Force Sensitives were no different from ordinary people in the eyes of the Jedi Order. While these individuals might be able to sense the Force through training, even so, their ability to communicate with it meant they might not even be able to hold a cup properly.

However, the Kingdom of Dawn is promoting the idea that Force Sensitives can also realize their value and will provide suitable opportunities.

Although Cal-Kestis didn't know what this opportunity was, and none of the Force Sensitives he knew had ever appeared again after being conscripted, he sensed that the Kingdom of Dawn seemed to genuinely intend to socialize the Force.

The Kingdom of Dawn did not publicize Force-sensitive individuals extensively, but it did not shy away from the topic either; ordinary people who were interested could find relevant information online.

Within the Dawn Kingdom's network, this information can be found in two places. One is a religious organization called the "Holy Advent Cult," which proselytizes within the Dawn Kingdom. While not large in scale, it is the only officially recognized religious organization. However, it seems the Dawn Kingdom's government has no intention of spreading this religion throughout the entire country.

On the Advent website, they describe the Force as the sole force that created and sustains the universe, incorporating it into their religious philosophy as the "Way of Oneness." This is somewhat similar to the Jedi Order's explanation of the Force, only with less scientific theory and more religious fervor.

The other one is a website called "The Academy." This website explains the Force in a more approachable way, and it focuses more on explaining it to Force users.

The Academy cited numerous examples of Force applications in daily life, illustrating the value of Force Sensors within national systems. These included joining the military, sensing microscopic engineering processes in precision manufacturing, joining the National Security Agency, and even entering the Criminal Investigation Department of the Public Security Bureau…

The Academy's explanation greatly reduced the mystique surrounding Force Sensitives. People would understand that, apart from a very few exceptionally gifted individuals, the vast majority of Force Sensitives and Force Awareness Entities were simply those with heightened senses.

There are rumors circulating online that the Academy is actually a military organization that trains Force agents specifically for the military. However, this claim has not been verified, and many people believe it to be nothing more than a conspiracy theory.

However, Cal-Kestis understood that the Dawn Kingdom's military was already making extensive use of Force-sensitive individuals and Force-sensors.

More than once, when he passed by military or scientific research facilities, he would sense a few traces of primal force in those places—weak, but definitely not something an ordinary person could withstand.

Despite the "Institute's" understated description on the website, Cal Kestis, who has actually experienced the Force, knows that with the right equipment, even the weakest Force-sensitive individual can easily kill a squad of ordinary people. The most typical piece of equipment is the sniper rifle; for Force-sensitive individuals, hitting the bullseye every time with a sniper rifle is just basic skill.

However, the Jedi Order does not allow the use of the Force in this way. Their biggest fear is that the Force will be used as a tool for killing. Therefore, the existence of lightsabers serves two purposes: firstly, it can indeed unleash the power of Force-sensitive individuals; secondly, it acts as a ritual to make Force-sensitive individuals relinquish other tools of killing. But it is clear that the Kingdom of Dawn has no such concerns. Even with Cal Kestis's current understanding, he knows that the Kingdom of Dawn possesses various weapons specifically developed for Force-sensitive individuals.

On the other hand, both the Advent Order and the Academy express the idea that Force-sensitive individuals are equal to other ordinary people. Although their interpretations differ, both view Force sensitivity as a random mutation and constrain it with terms such as "with great power comes great responsibility."

In the eyes of the people of the Kingdom of Dawn, it is a despicable act for Force-sensitive individuals to use the Force against ordinary people. Not only will they be severely punished by law, but they will also be severely condemned morally.

All Force-sensitive individuals with a history of harming ordinary people will be taken away and completely disappeared, and their families will not receive any compensation; they may even be ostracized by others.

Cal Kestis greatly admired this, and sometimes even felt that this was how the Force should be used. But soon, this thought was replaced by a deeper concern.

According to Jedi Order records, when the Force begins to spread in society, it often results in immense chaos. Regardless of how authorities explain it, the fact remains that those sensitive to the Force are superior to ordinary people, and this inevitably leads to social stratification over time.

The formation of a Force privileged class is precisely what the Jedi Order absolutely wants to prevent. The reason why the Kingdom of Dawn hasn't done so yet is simply because it's too early. Once Force-sensitive individuals begin intermarrying, giving birth to second and third generations of Force-sensitive individuals, then a Force privileged class will gradually form.

Furthermore, the fact that the nation's supreme leader is himself the most powerful Force-sensitive individual only exacerbates this phenomenon.

For this reason, Cal Kestis has always concealed his identity as a Force-sensitive individual and constantly changed jobs to avoid being discovered.

Every two or three years, he would deliberately make some mistakes at work, causing some minor losses, and then lose the opportunity for promotion. A few months later, he would pretend to be disheartened and resign.

When they first immigrated to Planet Anagi, the work assignments were mandatory. However, after four or five years, as the developer sector gradually expanded, job opportunities increased, and job hopping became permitted.

Carl Kestis now works for a small business called "Sunlight Recycling Company." To be honest, Carl Kestis finds the name very strange. Is facing the stars something meaningful? Shouldn't it be something ordinary? He goes to great lengths to start a company, only to choose such an unremarkable name. He really doesn't know what the boss was thinking.

The owner of this company is a man in his seventies named Zhang Guomin. He is said to be a first-generation immigrant from Dawn Planet. He woke up from hibernation in his fifties and was once an expert in materials science. After working for a few years, he felt that he could not adapt to the environment and could not keep up with the times, so he took a severance package and resigned to start a recycling company.

The Kingdom of Dawn treats these first-generation immigrants very well. Even if they don't work for the government, their lives are guaranteed. They are well-fed and clothed, and most of them live a very comfortable life.

Zhang Guomin's "Xiangyang Recycling Company" is actually one of many in the Dawn Kingdom. Broadly speaking, these companies are in the business of dealing in war. But if you really look into it, they're basically just garbage collectors.

This is an era of war, with constant conflicts and unrest everywhere. War inevitably generates various forms of war debris. If this debris is not properly managed, it could lead to the leakage of military equipment and also impact the environment surrounding the planet.

The disposal of this waste has spawned an entire, enormous industrial chain.

After a battle, the military's salvage team will typically conduct the first salvage operation on the battlefield, dismantling all the most important instruments and equipment from the wreckage and transporting them back to the rear to prevent them from entering the black market.

Then, the Dawn Kingdom's state-owned military industrial enterprises would send people to collect the wreckage of their respective products. For example, Tyranny Heavy Industries specialized in collecting the wreckage of the Beast-class battlecruisers, while the Fourth Group was responsible for collecting the wreckage of the Hellsangel-class battlecruisers.

The wreckage on the Galactic Empire's side was recovered by Higra Aerospace Corporation, a massive state-owned industrial enterprise of the Dawn Kingdom. However, they had lost orders for their shipbuilding equipment to other companies, so they began transitioning to recovery services. Although the company was outdated, it still had a large foundation and, being state-owned, was perfectly capable of handling the task.

After the initial recovery, most of the large pieces of wreckage were taken away. At this point, it was the turn of small and medium-sized privately-owned recycling companies to retrieve the smaller pieces of debris. Carl-Kastice's company, Sunrise Recycling, handled these smaller pieces.

The wreckage they were able to salvage from the battlefield was mostly fragments. The largest pieces were only a few dozen meters long, while the smallest were less than a meter. After these recycling companies finished salvaging the debris, it was handed over to cleaning companies to clean up the smallest fragments and then haul them back for smelting.

Xiangyang Recycling Company makes a living by salvaging scraps of food. Sometimes, if they're lucky, they can recover some valuable instruments and equipment from the wreckage. After repair, this equipment can often be sold for a good price. However, the military sometimes conducts spot checks on their salvage results and inspects the recovered equipment. If it is deemed unsuitable for the black market, the military will buy it back.

However, the military usually doesn't offer high prices. Whenever this happens, Zhang Guomin, the owner of Carl-Castis, would hide in his office and curse the officers, calling them bloodsuckers and misers.

Recently, most of the battles have taken place in the Northern Territory, so Sunrise Recycling Company often has to travel to the Northern Territory to carry out recycling business. Fortunately, the existence of the Stargate makes transportation to and from the Northern Territory relatively convenient.

From their home planet Anagi, they first traveled to Dawn via a normal hyperspace route, and then through Dawn's stargate, they could directly reach Macito in the North. The entire process took no more than four days, making it very fast.

Cal-Kestis's current robot companion, BD-1, was obtained during his last trip to the North to retrieve wreckage fragments, due to certain circumstances.