The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2753 The Future of the Empire

2753, The Future of the Empire
To ensure that Palin-Minor would not fall to the Kingdom of Dawn, Dunn-Wessex repeatedly appealed to the Imperial Central for help, hoping to send reinforcements as soon as possible, preferably an Executor-class super star destroyer.

The situation is now very clear: the Kingdom of Dawn is preserving its fleet strength, and at the same time, it has witnessed the Empire's formidable power since the First Star System Army's offensive. Therefore, they are definitely shrinking their battle lines and preparing for a long-term standoff with the Imperial fleet along the fortress planet Bilblin.

Furthermore, since Bilbrin is controlled by the Dawn Kingdom, the only remaining route for the Galactic Empire to reach the North is via the Hydia Passage. However, the Hydia Passage leads directly to the Northeast, meaning that large-scale transport to Palin-Minor would have to detour around the entire edge of the North, taking an extremely long time.

This means that even if the empire mobilizes reinforcements, logistical support and troop deployment will face enormous pressure.

Dunn Wessex's biggest worry right now is that his reinforcements in the North will be cut off. If they are cut off now, it's not as simple as being a warlord living comfortably far from the emperor; it could be fatal!
Dunn-Wessex was well aware that what the Galactic Empire's high command feared most was actually the Geth. These mechanical lifeforms were capable of destroying places in their wake; even on record, over 20 races had already been wiped out.

He was able to rise from the position of governor of the Ninth Army, first influencing the decisions of the other Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth Legions, and then incorporating these legions into his command system, all thanks to the defensive line against the Geth invasion.

In order to build this defensive line, Emperor Palpatine granted him such great power, making him the de facto ruler of the four legions of the North.

Therefore, no one knew the horror of Geth better than Dunn Wessex.

Now that the First Star System Army is blocked outside the planet Bilbrin, he can only face the Geth's attack alone, plus the main force of the powerful Dawn Kingdom's Northern Commercial Alliance Fleet!
When the First Star System Army was still quite powerful, Dunn Wessex had many ulterior motives. But now that the First Star System Army has suffered a heavy blow, Dunn Wessex swears that he is absolutely the most loyal person to the Empire!
He personally returned to the heart of the Empire, hoping to meet Palpatine. However, now that the Emperor was virtually unreachable, Dunn Wessex resorted to other means, constantly lobbying various parties, including the Supreme Strategic Command, the office of Imperial Marshal Rufon Digorinus, the Military Council, and the Imperial Intelligence Service.

He submitted an emergency strategic plan, emphasizing the need to immediately launch specific plans to ensure the safety of the northern battlefield.

Meanwhile, due to his special relationship with Quarter Power Shipyard, he also made a special trip to Quarter Planet to confirm that his military orders could be fulfilled ahead of schedule. At the same time, Dunn also visited another emerging industrial giant, the Hina Fleet Systems, multiple times.

Dunn Wessex was a well-connected and shrewd figure in the Imperial bureaucracy, making him far more popular than the stubborn and inflexible Oswald Tessik. He also successfully persuaded the Imperial High Command to prioritize the defense of the North.

However, before his actions could achieve any substantial results, he received bad news.

No... there are two!

But the reason is the same person—former Imperial Marshal, Demetrius Zarin!

The Galactic Empire's next-generation advanced fighter program, the TIE Defender, which had previously received huge investments in research and development, had all its research data, prototypes, and production lines taken away by Demeteris-Zarin.

Therefore, the most advanced fighters the Galactic Empire can currently produce are only the TIE-Interceptor and the TIE-Avenger. Then there's the TIE-Phantom fighter project, under the control of another Imperial Marshal, Matteo Bach, which is still in its infancy.

Moreover, it was said that once the stealth system of this fighter jet was activated, it became completely invisible, and even its own equipment could not find it... This absurd technical flaw brought the entire project to a standstill, and Marshal Bach was in a terrible predicament.

Furthermore, previous battles have proven that although the TIE-Interceptor and TIE-Avenger fighters, one light and one heavy, are indeed much more powerful in combat than the current TIE-Advanced X1, they are still no match for the Dawn Kingdom's most advanced fighter—the Sabre Fighter.

However, if this is the only bad news, it's not so bad. We can just get back a few more TIE-Interceptors and TIE-Avengers, which will at least be of some use. At least we won't be swatted away like flies again.

The truly devastating news came from the second piece of information: Demetrius Zarin not only took the TIE Defenders Project, but also robbed the planet Omar!
Upon hearing the name of the planet Omar, Dunn Wessex nearly fainted.

Because Omar is one of the largest industrial worlds in the Hina Fleet system, with three huge space stations that continuously produce various models of TIE series fighters and bombers.

At full speed, Planet Omar can produce tens of thousands of fighter jets and bombers of various types every day!

However, Demetrius Zarin went directly to Planet Omar and, with the overwhelming power of the TIE Defender fighters, captured three giant industrial space stations on the planet's periphery. He then took everything he could carry away and destroyed anything he couldn't.

He even packed up the engineers of the Hina fleet system who hadn't had time to evacuate!

Rhys-Sina, the current chairman of the Supreme Board of Directors of the Sina Fleet Systems, personally received Dunn Wessex and then regretfully told him that they would be unable to provide the Galactic Empire with any mass production support for new fighter jets for at least the next two years.

Even existing fighter jet production lines have had their capacity halved, reduced to only about 60%.

Furthermore, newly produced fighter jets must be prioritized for the First Star System Army, given that they have just fought a fierce battle and suffered heavy losses. In the battle on Palancy alone, the First Star System Army lost more than 4900 fighter jets!
Currently, the Galactic Empire faces enormous military deficits in all aspects. Fighter jets alone require constant upgrades, maintenance, repairs, and routine replacements, and production capacity is already extremely strained.

Now, the loss of Omar, a core production base, has completely paralyzed the Imperial Air Force's modernization plans.

Therefore, Les-Sina told Dunn-Wessex that although the Supreme Strategic Command did indeed prioritize the defense of the North in the next phase of operations, the Sina fleet system was currently incapable of providing the North with more advanced fighter jets.

Of course, if the North is really in urgent need, then he can also raise 10000 TIE advanced X-1 fighters, as well as 500 TIE Avengers and 1500 TIE Interceptor fighters from various sources.

Following this, Dunn-Wessex also attended a Supreme Military Coordination Conference convened by the Imperial High Command. This conference discussed the Galactic Empire's next phase of operational plans, prioritizing the defense of the North, but also demanding that the construction of the Death Star be ensured and that it be put into active service as planned.

This is tantamount to telling Dunn-Wessex that while we value your side, the Empire is currently powerless to do so and has more important things to do.

Next, in response to the severe impact on fighter production, the Galactic Empire's Supreme Strategic Command plans to expand the production of the Defender-class heavy cruisers and remove the hangar platform design from the newly built Empire II-class Star Destroyers. Simultaneously, they will install more point defense weapons on these warships to defend against attacks from Dawn Kingdom fighters and drones.

The meeting also clarified that the main task for all aspects of the Empire's forces would be defense, and that the offensive would only begin after the Death Star was completed.

What annoyed Dunn Wessex the most was that, towards the end of the meeting, Governor Wilhelm Tarkin, who was in charge of the Death Star's construction, told him with a forced smile that once the Death Star was completed, he would carefully assess the pressures faced by the various Imperial war zones and then have the Death Star address them one by one in sequence.

Seeing his attitude, Dunn Wessex knew he shouldn't expect the Death Star to come and solve the problems in the North.

Then there is another important task: to suppress the rebel army of Demetrius Zarin, the greatest traitor in the empire. The operation to suppress Demetrius Zarin's rebel army is now under the overall command of Mis Ro Nurudo Soron, a Kissman who has been promoted to admiral.

Not long ago, Thrawn's plan caught up with Zarin's fleet. After a brief battle, Thrawn's fleet was unable to stop the enemy due to the activity of several powerful former Imperial Inquisitors, including Arden-Lin and Jing Fang, on Zarin's side. Thrawn's fleet only managed to sink one Victory-class Star Destroyer and some escort ships.

It's worth mentioning that during this encounter, Thrawn used a feint to lure the Zarin fleet's TIE-Defender fighters into attacking. Through crossfire from several warships, they successfully shot down two TIE-Defender fighters. The wreckage of these two fighters has now been urgently sent to the Shina fleet system for reverse engineering by top engineers.

Currently, Demetrius-Zarin's small fleet is fleeing within the Empire and is about to break through the inner circle's encirclement. Clearly, his target is the outer ring sector of the Milky Way.

Once he successfully reaches the outer ring, he will be able to make contact with the rebels or even the Kingdom of Dawn. If these two sides obtain the contents of the TIE Defenders Plan, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Moreover, Zarin also possesses data on some Eclipse-class super star destroyers!
Therefore, annihilating Zarin's forces was of paramount importance. The personal order from His Majesty the Emperor, who was currently in seclusion, prompted Imperial Marshal Neil Decklan, who was hiding in the Outer Rings and dared not return, to immediately lead his fleet to participate in the operation to encircle and annihilate Zarin.

Under Niall Deklan, there is also a group of powerful dark followers who can play a role in this operation.

This would also allow Neil Deklan to atone for his crimes and offset some of the guilt he bore for personally killing Silas Tagg, a top nobleman in the Inner Circle.

So after the whole meeting, Dunn Wessex realized with despair that although these guys kept saying that the defense of the North was the next priority, when you look closely, it turns out that his North matters had to be put on hold for a while!
The defense plan was shelved, and even the requested reinforcement fleet fell through.

Having no other option, Dunn Wessex had to turn to another Imperial Marshal—Milting Tucker.

Miltin-Tarkel is currently stationed on Skarif, overseeing the construction progress of the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's most important project.

This appointment was the result of Palpatine's usual balancing act. After Will Huff Tarkin's rival, Orson Krennick, was arrested for the previous Geonosis rebellion, Will Huff Tarkin took the lead in the Death Star project.

But it would be extremely dangerous if such an important project fell into Tarkin's hands alone. Therefore, Palpatine sent Miltin-Takker to oversee it.

Miltin-Tarkel, as an experienced fleet commander, can also make up for the lack of military command on Wilhoff-Tarkin's side due to the absence of his brother Gideon-Tarkin.

Of course, this appointment also led to a sharp deterioration in the relationship between Wilhuff Tarkin and Miltin Tucker. Wilhuff Tarkin, who wanted to take the Death Star project for himself, naturally could not tolerate Miltin Tucker's presence, and the conflict between the two became almost public.

Of course, Wilhoff Tarkin attended this military meeting, and Miltin Tucker was also present.

Since Wilhuff Tarkin gave Dunn Wessex a hard time at the meeting, Dunn naturally wasn't going to back down and went to Miltin Tucker immediately after the meeting.

What do you want with him?

One word—prostitution.

Miltin-Tucker is a man of very obvious strengths and weaknesses. First, he is an excellent fleet commander, extremely experienced, and a Force-sensitive individual. Although he is old and unlikely to achieve much, his telepathic abilities granted by the Force allow him to consistently pinpoint the key moments in battle.

The downside is that this guy likes women and spices. And he's almost to the point that he has no idea how to conduct fleet operations without inhaling spices to get high.

So Dunn-Wessex, catering to his tastes, organized a lavish spice party, inviting numerous dancers and singers to ignite the finest Cossell spice—a spectacle of brilliance—amidst psychedelic lights and shadows.

Then, he began to constantly consult Miltin-Tucker.

Dunn Wessex knew that now, in the heart of the Empire, only this man could offer him any useful advice. After all, he had a military background and had some past connections with Miltin Tucker.

Then, with a dazed look in his eyes, Field Marshal Miltine swayed and told Dunn, "If we can't get the fleet, then we need the army! Aren't you fighting the separatists at Dantouin? Just expand the scale of the campaign on the Dantouin front."