The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2745 The Dilemma of the First Star System Army
2745, The Dilemma of the First Galaxy Army
Oswald Tessik, Governor-General of the First Legion, Supreme Commander of the First Star System Army, and Imperial Marshal.

He shook his head, waking from his slumber, and found himself sitting on the warship's command platform, having fallen asleep fully clothed. Nearby, the operations staff were busily reporting on the battle situation, and alarms were blaring incessantly.

Upon seeing him wake up, the life robot responsible for taking care of his daily life immediately brought him a cup of coffee, with some nano-level neurostimulants added to it to quickly refresh his mind and enhance the activity of the cerebral cortex.

This coffee is part of the Dawn Kingdom's newly launched "Green and Natural" series of agricultural products. I don't know how they do it, but these coffees maintain such a pure aroma and taste. In this era of rampant industrialized products, this flavor reminds Tesick of the fruit tarts he ate as a child on his family's estate.

I don't know when it started, but industry has become the mainstream in the Milky Way, and agricultural products like these seem to have disappeared from our lives.

With the addition of Umbrella Corporation's products, Oswald-Tesick's breakfast could be described as very "Dawn Kingdom".

After downing his coffee in one gulp, Oswald-Tesick felt much clearer-headed. He went to the operations command center, looked at the busy staff officers, and asked, "How's it going on Planet Palancy?"

"Marshal, our Third, Seventh, and Sixteenth Fleets stationed on Planet Palancy are all in a state of rout. The fleet commanders must feel the weight of their responsibilities, so they have all lost contact," an officer said. "In addition, according to your previous operational plan, we have deployed the Ninth, Tenth, and Twelfth Fleets to the surrounding star systems to build temporary defensive lines."

Oswald-Tesick said coldly, "Arrest all the families of those fleet commanders, then have the ship's security robots arrest them and send them to Coruscant for public execution."

"Yes!"

“Then…” Tesik looked at the holographic star map and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, “Let’s send two more squadrons over to stabilize the front line as much as possible.”

"Yes."

Palancy is neither an industrial planet nor a fortress planet, but it happens to be a crucial transportation hub connecting the inner circle to the North. Since this place is controlled by Dawn, Dawn can immediately use it as a transit point to advance its fleet towards the inner circle, or alternatively, to infiltrate the inner ring sector and cut off the Empire's supply lines.

If the fall of Bilbrin deprived the Galactic Empire of its strongest bulwark against the invasion of Dawn, then the fall of Palancy completely put the Galactic Empire on the defensive.

Because the Galactic Empire had to deploy troops in more directions to disperse its already strained forces, its defenses became increasingly vulnerable.

Oswald Tessik rubbed his temples, his mind, which had just been cleared by the effects of the potion and coffee, now aching again under the weight of the heavy battle situation. He stared at the constantly flashing red area on the star map, as if he could see the fleets retreating from the front lines running around aimlessly like headless flies, which made his blood pressure rise even higher.

He said to the staff officer on the other side who was drafting the battle plan, "Has the plan to shrink the front line and redeploy the defense been finalized?"

An officer nodded and said, "Marshal, it's all better now... but..."

“Just what?” Tesick asked.

"If we want to stabilize the front lines, consolidate our defenses, and maintain our numerical superiority... it will inevitably mean ceding a portion of the core to the separatists," the staff officer said gravely.

Oswald-Tesick felt another headache coming on. He took a deep breath and said, "Send me the plan so I can review it."

"Yes!"

Tesick returned to his office, opened the battle plan, and couldn't help but sigh again.

The problems facing the First Star System Army he leads now are not only military, but also relatively minor. Although the current military pressure is already overwhelming him.

But the most serious crisis he currently faces comes from the Emperor Palpatine.

Palpatine's suspicions about him and the First Star System Army were already very serious, and these suspicions were actually baseless, with the only reason being that he had too much power.

Commanding the First Star System Army gave him control of a quarter of the Galactic Empire's fleet, administration of the First Legion, and control over the most critical areas of the core, including Coruscant. This position, concentrating both military and political power, was unprecedented.

Palpatine's biggest contradiction lies in the fact that after the First Army Governor Trakhta's failed assassination attempt on him, it was he who put Tesick in the position of First Army Governor, and now he is suspicious of him for the same reason.

In fact, Oswald Tesik could probably guess Palpatine's thoughts. As a man with extremely high prestige in both the military and the elite, Palpatine did indeed need him to stabilize the situation in the First Army. After all, the biggest problem with the Trahta rebellion and its killing was that it could lead to a power vacuum in the inner circle, triggering even larger-scale turmoil.

But now that the situation has stabilized somewhat, he has become a thorn in Palpatine's side, and Palpatine is very wary of his enormous power.

Furthermore, Trakhta's betrayal led Palpatine to believe that the First Legion had a history of wrongdoing, making him even more wary of them. It was this wariness that led Palpatine to agree to Rufon-Digorinus and others' proposal for the First Legion to leave Coruscant.

In Palpatine's view, since the First Star System Army was no longer trustworthy, he might as well let them fight the Kingdom of Dawn to the death on the front lines.

To put it bluntly, the root cause is that Palpatine never considered him one of his own.

Unfortunately, no sooner had the First Star System Army left Coruscant than Marshal Zarin rebelled, even capturing Palpatine and subjecting him to immense humiliation. This naturally earned Palpatine another grudge against the First Star System Army, even though they had only been faithfully carrying out orders throughout.

Following the rebellion, Oswald Tessik immediately led a powerful force of 400 capital ships to return to Coruscant to stabilize the situation. However, an order personally signed by Palpatine was issued, ordering the First System Army to immediately return to Scipio and forbidding them from entering Coruscant!

This order was like a cold dagger, piercing directly into Tessik's heart! He understood that the future of the First Star System Army had been decided, and that was...

There is no future!

But there's nothing they can do now. Coruscant had just ordered them to hold the line and not leave, and then Palancy was breached. If Marshal Zarin's rebellion had nothing to do with the First Star System Army, then this time, they are undeniably culpable!

Tesik's plan to capture those fleet commanders and publicly execute them on Coruscant was a way of demonstrating his resolve and attitude to Palpatine, but he also understood that the effect of doing so would be minimal.

However, necessary work still needs to be done. Now that Palancy has fallen, it is no longer possible to stabilize the existing front.

Oswald Tesik decided to risk everything to deliver this battle plan to Palpatine. If they didn't continue to tighten their defenses and instead tried to reclaim lost territory and fight a decisive battle against Dawn Planet, the consequences would be unimaginable!
However, before he could send out his battle plan, an order arrived from Coruscant.

Oswald Tessik tapped his personal terminal, opening the communication marked as top military secret. It contained only one short sentence—

"Operation Goalkeeper," proceed as scheduled...! The entire main force of the First Star System Army is mobilized to first recapture Planet Palancy, and then Planet Bilbrin!
Tesick felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him from head to toe!

He almost suffocated!