The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2742 Imperial Storm
2742, Imperial Storm

Cassius-Alcott was dragged out of his hiding place by IDA soldiers, his hands tied behind his back. He was dragged and pulled to the front of Aysani Isaad, the director of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau. Facing this cold-faced head of the secret police, and recalling the various atrocities he had committed in the inner circle, Cassius almost collapsed.

“Alright, I don’t want to say any more. Tell me all your plans and all your accomplices, and maybe I can give you some face,” Aisani-Isad said coldly.

Cassius opened his mouth, cold sweat trickling down his forehead. After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice trembling, "This... has nothing to do with my family... it's all part of my and Zarin's personal plan..."

Aisani-Isard sneered, tapping her fingertips lightly on the table, her gaze piercing Cassius like a knife. "Whether it has anything to do with your family depends on whether your answer satisfies me..."

She beckoned with her finger, and an intelligence officer immediately stepped forward and placed a holographic projector in front of her.

Upon opening the door, Cassius-Alcott was shocked to find that the Parliament building had been captured by a large number of Imperial Stormtroopers, and numerous members of parliament and high-ranking officials, regardless of their involvement in the rebellion, had been arrested. And sitting in the Parliament building at that moment was none other than Imperial Marshal Rufon Digorinus!
He also saw Herman Strucker, who had participated in the previous conspiracy but hesitated during the rebellion and ultimately remained inactive, being dragged from his warship and dumped in the spaceport like a dog.

Finally, he saw that his home planet Camaas was surrounded by dozens of Star Destroyers, and large numbers of Imperial Stormtroopers were heading towards his family's estate in Sentinel-class landing craft.

Cassius completely broke down, shouting, "I'll talk! I'll tell you everything I know... just please spare my family..."

……

The holographic projection of Emperor Palpatine was projected onto almost every holographic billboard on the planet via a massive projector. The live broadcast signal covered every media and internet channel on Coruscant, and his terrifying and distorted voice resounded throughout the entire empire.

This is a despicable betrayal, a foolish act of treason orchestrated by corrupt elements within the Empire in collusion with separatists! But no matter how many blows I suffer, my resolve will not waver! I will lead the Galactic Empire, raising high the banner of freedom and democracy, to fight the reactionary separatists to the very end! The Galactic Empire will endure for eternity!

From Contax-2, the second moon of Coruscant, a large number of transport ships took off and flew directly towards the planet. Inside the transport ships were countless Spati clone soldiers, fully armed, their white full-coverage helmets obscuring their expressions, exuding a chilling and terrifying aura.

On the planet's streets, countless Imperial Stormtroopers patrolled the streets, with massive AT-AT walkers, slender AT-ST walkers, heavy 2-M hover tanks, and agile Conqueror armored vehicles driving through the city.

Almost the entire planet Coruscant was shrouded in the most direct military threat. Moreover, the planetary shield, which had not been activated for tens of thousands of years, finally rose, and the pale blue light screen clearly told everyone that this time, the Emperor of the Empire would not let the matter rest!
……

Thrawn was still cleaning up the mess. He ultimately failed to capture Demetrius Zarin. The high-speed light cruiser squadron he had sent out earlier was startled by the Eclipse-class super star destroyer, thus missing the opportunity to strike.

Before escaping, Zarin activated the self-destruct program on his original flagship, the Star Destroyer HMS Honor, and then he and Arden-Lin each piloted a TIE Defender fighter and quickly escaped.

Coruscant was originally a planet with incredibly advanced transportation, and in order to emphasize freedom and security, the planet was managed loosely on the surface but tightly on the inside. If Zarin wanted to escape, the Imperial military would have no chance of sealing off the area around the planet.

The few remaining Star Destroyers under Demetrius Zarin were originally drawn from the First Star System Army. They only became loyal to him after he replaced their commander. Now that the situation has collapsed, they have all surrendered to Thrawn.

The Eclipse-class super star destroyer later surrendered. During the interrogation of the ship's commander, it was learned that the ship had originally been under the command of Marshal Orman Tag, but Demetrius Zarin had deceived him by saying that he would take the star destroyer to Coruscant to report the development progress directly to His Majesty the Emperor.

Orman Tagg, who was struggling with the Death Star's weapon systems, agreed to his request and temporarily handed over the prototype ship to him.

The prototype of this Eclipse-class super star destroyer was only equipped with minimal armament, and the small Death Star main gun, which was supposed to be mounted on it, was never finalized or installed. However, this prototype was not entirely inadequate, as it did complete the design and installation of an energy transmission array and was equipped with an experimental superreactor capable of briefly activating the focusing system that simulated the Death Star main gun.

In other words, if Zarin truly wanted to demonstrate something, he could indeed produce quite a few things. But if it were to be used in actual combat, then this prototype ship would be purely for intimidation.

This explains why Zalin didn't set up his flagship on this prototype ship. After all, the warship had far too many personnel, numbering over 100,000, and he couldn't possibly replace them all with his trusted confidants, fearing unforeseen circumstances. Furthermore, aside from its thick armor, this warship lacked significant combat capability.

But what's truly terrifying is the formation of TIE-Defender fighter jets.

A total of 50 TIE-Defender fighters appeared on the battlefield, and not a single one was lost in the battle! Moreover, after Zalin began to flee, these fighters activated their hyperspace engines and escaped as well!
Although the battle was not large in scale, it was still extremely fierce. After destroying the Imperial fleet's carrier-based aircraft, the TIE Defender fighter squadrons repeatedly besieged Imperial Class II Star Destroyers. The fact that not a single one of them was shot down amidst such a hail of bullets is truly terrifying.

With its incredibly powerful performance and equipped with miniaturized hyperspace engines, this fighter squadron can only be described as terrifying!

After eliminating the remnants of the Zarin forces, Thrawn handed over command of the fleet to Marshal Rufon-Digorinus and quietly returned to his cell in the Imperial Palace.

However, when he returned this time, the guards looked at him with awe and quickly brought him food and wine. They also dared not close the cell door, allowing him to come and go freely.

……

At this moment, the masterminds of this rebellion—Dermetrius Zarin and Arden Lin—are wanted throughout the Galactic Empire, with a bounty of up to 50 billion Imperial Credits on each of them, second only to the Dawn King Tang Xiao.

Incidentally, Palpatine has now increased Tang Xiao's bounty to 1000 billion.

In an uninhabited star system outside Coruscant, Demetrius Zarin and Arden Lin met up with a fleet that had come to pick them up.

This fleet was much less impressive, consisting only of some light cruisers and frigates, but it still included some types never before seen in the Imperial Navy. The flagship was a Defender-class heavy cruiser.

Zarin and Arden-Lin piloted TIE Defender fighters into the hangar of the Defender-class heavy cruiser and then went to the bridge.

On the bridge, another young commander came forward to greet him, and he said loudly, "Marshal! We are ready! Even if we suffer a temporary defeat, it doesn't matter. The Galactic Empire and Palpatine are going against the tide and will be abandoned by the times! Our victory will surely come!" Zarin waved his hand and said, "Don't call me Marshal anymore. I don't need this title that Palpatine gave me."

As he spoke, he ripped off the epaulets from his shoulder and threw them on the ground.

“Let’s go to Skako next. The Technological Alliance has declared independence to support our operation,” Arden-Lin said in a deep voice. “However, there will likely be another major battle there, and we will need to gather more warships from other planets.”

Demetrius Zarin shook his head and said, "No! The Tech Alliance's declaration of independence at this time is just a convenient way to draw our attention. Let Walter Tamber worry about his own planet! Those aliens have never been trustworthy, humph! Let's go to Omar."

“Planet Omar? Never heard of it.” Arden-Lin frowned.

A cold smile appeared on Zalin's lips. "Of course you don't know, or rather, you wouldn't pay attention to this information. Because Planet Omar is home to the largest TIE series fighter production line built by the Hina Fleet Systems Company. Three massive fighter manufacturing space stations—Omar I to Omar III—have been built around the planet, supplying more than 40% of the Galactic Empire's fighter production."

Arden-Lin nodded; she indeed wouldn't pay attention to this kind of intelligence regarding scientific research and production.

“Planet Omar is highly classified because it's an industrial world newly built after the Empire was established. Only a handful of people know its coordinates, and even the Dawn Kingdom's intelligence system hasn't been able to infiltrate it,” Zarin said. “We'll raid it directly, take the core components of the TIE fighter production line, and then head to the outer ring of the galaxy to establish our own fighter production line and mass-produce the TIE-Defender fighters. With the TIE-Defender fighters, the Imperial Navy can't possibly defeat me!”

He waved his hand sharply and shouted, "Rest where you are! Bring more ships over to assemble! Our next target: Planet Omar!"

"Yes, sir!" The young commander was extremely excited and immediately stood at attention and saluted.

They were all trusted confidants secretly trained by Zalin. Although their numbers were small, they all hated the Galactic Empire to the core and were extremely loyal to Zalin.

Demetrius-Zarin rested here for a day. Gradually, the TIE-Defender fighter squadrons also arrived to join them. Warships and transport ships provided by other planets and noble families that were involved in the rebellion, whether openly or secretly, also arrived sporadically.

In just one day, Zarin's fleet grew to include 4 Imperial-class Star Destroyers, 2 Defender-class heavy cruisers, 30 light cruisers of various types, more than 200 frigates, and more than 100 large transport ships.

Somewhat ironically, this fleet also includes 20 Grey Horse-class escort carriers! These were all purchased by Zarin from the black market and modernized using the superior technical capabilities of his subordinates.

The TIE-Defender fighters are all housed in the hangars of these escort carriers. The modified hangars can provide comprehensive maintenance services for these state-of-the-art fighters, but the number of aircraft carried by each modified Grey Horse-class carrier has been reduced to 40.

These escort carriers are mostly empty now, but that's also Demetrius Zarin's plan. He wants to use the Galactic Empire's resources to fill all the hangars of these carriers!
A day later, with a command from Demetrius Zarin, the fleet swiftly entered the hyperspace channel and sped toward the planet Omar.

……

The rebellion, instigated by Marshal Demetrius Zarin, had extremely dire consequences.

Led by the Technological Alliance, hundreds of planets publicly declared their independence from the Galactic Empire and sided with Zarin's forces, involving dozens of core noble families!

However, with the rebellion of Zarin and Cassius defeated within a day, these newly declared independent planets and nobles were instantly thrown into panic. But since things had come to this, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and continue to resist.

Because they understood that this rebellion had crossed the line for Emperor Palpatine, and that death awaited them as long as they had been involved!
After Cassius-Alcott's arrest, these planets lost their unified coordination and began fighting their own battles. Some sought help from the Kingdom of Dawn, others from the Rebel Alliance, and still others spent lavishly to hire mercenaries to bolster their forces.

However, what awaited them was the wrath of the empire!

The headquarters of the Technological Alliance, which is also the homeworld of the Skako, is now surrounded by the Imperial fleet dispatched by Darth Vader.

This is a planet covered by an atmosphere filled with gases harmful to humans, but it is a paradise for the Skako. Inhabited by 3500 billion people, the Skako, who have difficulty adapting to other planetary environments, live almost entirely here, and the entire planet has been thoroughly urbanized.

This planet possesses an incredibly high level of industrial capacity, and its surrounding astronomical environment is also extremely harsh. Therefore, even Darth Vader's Death Fleet dared not launch an attack on this planet rashly.

The planet's orbit is riddled with automated defense platforms and turrets hidden in the asteroid belt; any approaching fleet will be met with devastating destruction. Leveraging their homeland's advantages, the Skako have transformed the entire planet into a formidable fortress.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Technology Alliance, the foreman Walter-Temper, frantically sent messages to the Kingdom of Dawn, demanding that the Kingdom of Dawn send troops to reinforce them.

……

Meanwhile, in the northern part of the Milky Way, on the front line of the Galactic Empire's fight against the Kingdom of Dawn—the planet Palancy.

An enormous figure slowly moved forward, its massive size and disc-shaped front flying irrationally through the ruins, smashing countless fragments—fragments of a warship!

Not far away, a raging fire had already broken out on the surface of Planet Palancy, and it could even be clearly seen from space.

One warship after another cruised around the planet with impunity, offering no resistance whatsoever.

On the sides of these warships, a very conspicuous galaxy symbol with four cantilevered arms is painted—

The mark of the Kingdom of Dawn!