The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2726. The Scipio Heist (Part 2)
Interstellar Banking Association Armed Transport Fleet, number K-7.

Compared to ordinary transport fleets, this K-7 fleet was significantly smaller, consisting of only three Darius G-class freighters, but its escort fleet was equipped with one Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, ten Arquitenth-class light cruisers, and five Gozanti-class armed freighters.

Such a powerful escort force is extremely rare in transport missions in the Milky Way. For this reason, Rear Admiral Rocco Comona, the fleet commander, always remained highly vigilant. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder what exactly these cargo ships were carrying.

Major General Comona had no idea what the three Darius-G cargo ships were carrying. He was only told that only one of the three ships was carrying actual cargo, while the other two carried ordinary ore. As for which ship carried valuables and which carried ore, even the captains of those ships didn't know.

However, he also knew that within this fleet, there was a mysterious escort specialist, hidden within the fleet, whose identity was unknown to anyone. But only he possessed the code to open the core hatch of the spaceship carrying valuable cargo, and in an emergency, he could also activate the self-destruct mechanism.

That the escort specialist is on his own spaceship is confirmed, but other than that, nothing is known.

This arrangement put Major General Comona under considerable pressure, so he repeatedly instructed his adjutant to conduct a thorough check and ensure that no mistakes were made.

According to their travel plan, they will travel through a seasonal hyperspace route located at the edge of the Scipio system, codenamed 'Lacasto'. This route appears approximately every 20 years, based on the orbits of hundreds of thousands of surrounding stars, black holes, and other supermassive objects, and lasts for about a month.

During this month, hyperspace jumps will not be affected by the mass projection of these celestial bodies. It can be said to be absolutely secret, because no one would study a route that only appears once every 20 years, or rather, there are simply too many of these hyperspace routes, making them not worth studying at all.

So, as long as we are careful and nothing unexpected happens, this trip should go smoothly.

However, an unexpected event soon occurred.

After the fleet entered the Lacasto Channel and made three jumps, they exited the hyperspace channel near a black hole designated UX-8993920.

According to the plan, they should re-plan the navigation data for the hyperspace jump here to ensure that the course is not affected by the black hole's movement. At the same time, they will also routinely communicate with command headquarters to report that everything is safe.

However, after the fleet docked, no matter how they called, the command center at the spaceport in outer space of Planet Scipio did not respond!

Rear Admiral Rocco Comona immediately ordered a comprehensive inspection of all the fleet's communication equipment. At the same time, he dispatched two scientific exploration ships to carefully monitor the surrounding astronomical environment. They discovered that the communication interruption was not caused by equipment failure, but by a problem at the command center.

In other words, there was a problem with the communication equipment at the command center!

Major General Comona began to have a bad feeling, and he immediately summoned his adjutant to discuss countermeasures.

"Should we turn back to Scipio now, or continue forward? What do you think?" Major General Comona asked.

The adjutant was also very nervous. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "If something happens to Planet Scipio, wouldn't returning be like walking into a trap?"

Major General Comona nodded and said, “But if we continue as planned, and something unexpected happens, we won’t get any help from command center and will be left to fend for ourselves. It’s very risky… This time, because the conditions on this route are very complicated, our journey to Algao will take three days. For such a long time, we will be out of communication… It’s too dangerous.”

"Then... how about we go to Coruscant first?" the adjutant asked tentatively.

"What are you thinking? So many ships travel to and from Coruscant. Who knows if there are any malicious people on board? The reason we chose this route is to avoid their notice!" Major General Comona said sternly. The adjutant lowered his head and pondered for a while. After a while, he raised his head and said, "General, I have two plans. What do you think?"

"speak."

"Our first option is to send a spaceship ahead to clear the way. Once we've confirmed everything is alright, they can send back a message, and then we'll follow. Our second option is to stay here, send a spaceship back to Scipio to check on the situation there, and then make a decision," the adjutant said.

Major General Comona frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "Your idea is good, but the first option would double our flight time, which is even more dangerous. The second option... we would have to stay here for at least three to four hours..."

He pondered for a moment, then made a decision, "Alright! Send three Arquitenth-class light cruisers back to Planet Scipio."

"Yes, sir!" The adjutant immediately went to make the arrangements.

Major General Comona had no idea that the planet Scipio was already in complete chaos!

The planet's communications center has been attacked! This is the empire's financial center, a hub for countless financial advisors; the communications center is definitely a heavily fortified area!

But now, the communications center has been bombed!

The planet's governor immediately ordered the backup communication base station to be activated. However, the backup base station also malfunctioned, its facilities were damaged and needed repair, but the technicians were dragging their feet and seemed to be doing nothing.

With the communications center destroyed, sending messages through hyperspace became impossible. Although some spaceships still had usable communication equipment, it was insufficient to handle communications in complex environments. For example, the communications of the K-7 transport fleet, located near a black hole!

At this point, Major General Comona also encountered a new problem.

One of his fleet's Arquitenths-class light cruisers exploded! The explosion was extremely powerful, blasting through the ship's midsection armor from the inside out, billowing thick smoke. Furthermore, the ship's communications were also cut off!
Rear Admiral Comona quickly dispatched a 300-man Marine Corps unit from his warship to the light cruiser in a shuttle to investigate.

The Arquitenths-class light cruisers also have Marine Corps units, but only 400 men. To avoid problems, it's best for those Marines to stay on their own ships and not move, instead having the 7500 Marines on this Imperial II-class Star Destroyer send their own personnel.

However, the Marines who went to investigate found nothing when they entered the Arquitenths-class light cruiser. They checked every compartment of the ship but found nothing unusual. The ship's engineers told them that the explosion was caused by a mechanical malfunction.

The Marines had no choice but to return via shuttle. The light cruiser's communications were restored within 20 minutes thanks to the engineers' efforts, and the cruiser immediately reported back to the flagship that everything was safe and the explosion had not affected the ship's operations.

However, Major General Comona was unaware that, in this back-and-forth exchange, more than a dozen Marines had been silently replaced. And in a dark corner inside the shuttle, a transparent figure was silently pressed against the ceiling.

The shuttle returned, and the 300 Marines were dismissed and returned to their respective barracks. On the way, a dozen or so soldiers casually walked down another path instead of returning to their barracks.

They entered a repair room, where one of the soldiers removed his helmet—it was Cassian Andor! He addressed the Rebel Alliance fighters around him, also disguised as Stormtroopers: “This warship has 7500 Marines! We absolutely cannot let them out, or we won’t be able to control the ship. We need to cut off several compartments here, here, and here to trap them before we can create an opportunity for Nova. As planned, hack into the ship’s main engine first, then take control of their commander!”

"Yes!" (End of this chapter)