The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2781. The Demise of the Scourge (Part 1)

Ron was furious at the actions of the Fist of Orega, because they had not only taken over Demetrius-Zarin's fleet, but had also run into the relentlessly pursuing Imperial fleet.

They didn't run away! They just stayed on Metaron and waited to be beaten up!!
Ron slammed his fist on the table, his eyes blazing with fury. "Who is this Orega?! Who gave him the confidence to engage the Imperial fleet head-on?! Has this guy always been this brave?"

The leaders of the surrounding pirate groups were all silent, not daring to utter a single word.

Ron's brutality was already well-known within the Scourge, and even now, the brain-splattered corpse at his feet showed what the consequences of angering him were.

"Have you found out anything about Metaron?!" Ron roared.

“Reconnaissance planes have been dispatched… They were on their way back from the contact we made half an hour ago, but then contact was lost again,” a leader whispered.

With a muffled thud, the leader was kicked several meters away by Ron.

"If you haven't been able to make contact, what are you still doing here? Get out of here and find the person before you come back!" Ron roared.

The leader scrambled out of the room.

"Bastards! They're all a bunch of fucking bastards!!" Ron was still furious, muttering to himself, "They dared to make me lose such a big deal! That Orega, I'll make him pay! Bastards! Fuck bastards!!"

During the previous standoff on Azure Planet, his forces were far inferior to the Fist of Orega, so he had to back down and temporarily withdraw.

Although he could tell that most of the ships in the Fist of Orega were obsolete second- and third-tier warships, there were still quite a few capital ships among them. If a real battle broke out, even if his advanced Minmatar warships could completely contend with them, they would definitely suffer heavy losses in the end.

Right now, what Ron fears most is loss.

The Scourge, while still maintaining its fearsome reputation, is in reality severely weakened.

Although Minmatar's warships were very advanced, their powerful firepower and rapid maneuverability were a perfect fit for their hit-and-run pirate crew. However, the problem was that no matter how strong your firepower or how fast you are, there will always be losses after a battle.

In particular, to achieve such speed and maneuverability, most Minmatar warships sacrificed defensive capabilities and even continuous range. As a result, the same damage that might be negligible on heavily armored warships like the Hellsangel or Prophet classes could be fatal to a Minmatar warship!

The problem is, when he was still operating in the Hutt space, any losses to his fleet could be quickly repaired and replenished at the spaceport secretly built by the Dawn Kingdom there. But now? He has to find all the supplies himself and rob them himself!
Production was out of the question. The backward industries on Anzart were simply incapable of supporting the high-end components of the Minmatar warships, and they couldn't even meet the demand for sub-light-speed fuel. The Scourge's warships had been using ordinary civilian sub-light-speed fuel to force their engines to run for a long time, resulting in even more severe engine wear and tear.

In order to maintain their combat effectiveness, the Scourge also began to remove some of the high-end weapons such as the Rapid Fire Cannon and Hybrid Cannon from the Minmatar warships and replace them with turbo laser cannons that can be found everywhere, which further weakened their firepower.

Missiles? They were all fired up long ago. The Scourge's warships are now equipped with early models of proton torpedoes and concussion missiles. Forget about the Clone Wars era; some are even from the black market, products from the Stark Hyperspace Wars—those are over 50 years old!
Therefore, Ron dared not engage in another large-scale battle.

His original plan was to use his terrifying reputation to intimidate Demeteris-Zarin, then help him escape the Galactic Empire's pursuit, and finally carry out a splendid double-cross to take all of Zarin's achievements for himself.

In this way, he will obtain at least tens of billions of dollars. With this money and technology, he can then negotiate terms with Ni Yongxiao.

But now, the appearance of the Fist of Orega has ruined all his plans!

That idiot Zarin! Why did he even bother going after the Fist of Orega?!

That idiot Orega! Why couldn't he escape?!
Ron grew angrier with each thought, his fury practically radiating from his terrifying eyes. A murderous intent welled up within him; all he wanted now was to kill! If that Orega were in front of him, Ron swore he would tear him apart piece by piece, alive and well!

"Boss!" At this moment, the leader who had been kicked out earlier ran back. "The reconnaissance plane has returned. There are a lot of warship wreckage on Metaron, and also on Gromas. After comparison, the vast majority of the wreckage in these two battlefields belongs to the Fist of Orega. They... were very likely defeated by the Imperial fleet..."

Ron's face instantly turned ashen, his expression contorted with rage, and he clenched his teeth so hard they rattled. Thump! He slammed his fist on the table again.

“There…there’s one more thing…” The leader hesitated for a moment, then took out a holographic projector, “This was sent from Coruscant…”

Ron rushed over and snatched the projector away. Before he could even see the content, Emperor Palpatine's distorted voice blared from it: "...The glory of the Empire will endure! We will rise again and march towards victory! Setbacks are only temporary; we will strike hard and destroy all enemies! Demetrius Zarin! He failed to see the situation, attempting to defy the laws of history and hinder our progress! But as it turns out, such actions only lead to his own destruction!"

[…Zarin's betrayal was a severe blow to us, but more importantly, it wiped out all those with ulterior motives! From this day forward, the Empire has only one heart and one mind, only one to resist the powerful enemy! Faced with the invasion of separatism, final victory will surely belong to us!]

And this... is the first shot fired in our counterattack!!

As Palpatine's hoarse voice rang out, a bloody hole was instantly punched into Demetrius Zarin's head. The body swayed, then fell still.

Ron stood frozen in place, his pupils suddenly contracting. The holographic image of Zarin's corpse felt like a heavy hammer blow to his heart, and he even seemed to hear the sound of his own heart breaking.

Seeing his appearance, the leader couldn't help but step forward and ask, "Boss..."

Bang! Ron fired a shot with his backhand, piercing the blind guy's forehead, then turned around, grabbed a bottle of strong liquor from the table, jumped onto the table, and drank it all in one gulp.

Then, fueled by alcohol, he looked up to the sky and roared, "Gather all the brothers! Today, give me food! Give me drink! Anyone who dares not get drunk is not my brother!!" "Awooo!!!" The leaders and his men all screamed, and for a moment, there was a cacophony of howls everywhere.

During the ensuing banquet, Ron and his men indulged in debauchery, throwing the beautiful women they had kidnapped and robbed from various places onto the field, where everyone frantically vented their lust.

The entire base was in chaos, overflowing with bestiality, blood, and fine wine.

Ron only wanted to relieve some of his immense psychological pressure in this way, so that he could forget the increasingly cruel reality.

He had decisively broken ties with Ni Yongxiao to escape his control and fully indulge his inner desires. He had been living a very stifling life in the Hurt Space.

Ni Yongxiao had been keeping him in check, forbidding him from robbing or killing, only allowing him to launch targeted attacks on the merchant fleets of several major Hutt families. All along, the Scourge Legion had only been a tool used by the Dawn Kingdom to stir up the situation in the Hutt space.

But this is not what Ron wants. He wants to plunder and burn as he pleases, to lie on treasure and indulge in debauchery. He wants to kill and plunder, and anyone who disobeys him must die!

The reason he joined the Scourge was that this was the kind of life he wanted from the start. He once thought that as the most powerful pirate and mercenary group in the Hutt Space, the Scourge could definitely fulfill his deepest ambitions.

However, reality did not unfold as he had hoped. The political situation in the Hut space gradually became clear, with the Gorensla family rising to prominence and completely suppressing the original two major families—the Desiligici family and the Besadi family. After gaining absolute power, the Gorensla family began to focus on establishing a unified government in the Hut space.

As a result, the Scourge's role diminishes, and they have fewer and fewer targets to plunder.

Ron absolutely could not tolerate it! Not only him, but many members of the Scourge could not tolerate it either.

The Scourge's former leaders: Big Boss retired to become the governor of a sector, Mira Han returned to Dawn and reunited with Matt Horner, and one of the founders, Magtan Scar, is old and ineffective.

This gave Ron the opportunity to gather his ambitious followers, sideline Magtan Scar, and become the leader of the Scourge.

This also represents the thoughts of most people within the Scourge – they want to plunder and kill!
Prior to this, Ni Yongxiao had given Ron several hints, but Ron completely ignored them. After breaking through the borders of the Galactic Empire and entering the interior of the empire, Ron immediately severed his connection with Ni Yongxiao, as well as with the Kingdom of Dawn.

Upon entering the Empire's territory, the Scourge was like tigers among sheep. Their powerful and swift warships were simply invincible against the merchant and transport fleets, and the Scourge began to live the life they had always dreamed of.

The vast wealth and resources plundered made everyone in the Scourge incredibly rich, and they were finally free to fly!

Ron grabbed a bottle of liquor, pulled a woman's hair, and poured the entire bottle over her face. The woman choked on the liquor, trying to cough but only swallowing more, some even going down her trachea, as she struggled and convulsed violently.

Ron laughed wildly, "Hahahaha!! That's right, that's right! We are the Scourge!! We are the Pirate Kings!! Hahahaha!"

……

When Ron opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a messy bed, surrounded by chaos, the pungent smell of blood assaulting his senses. Beside him lay two mangled corpses—the two women he had tortured to death.

He stood up nonchalantly, casually washed his face, and cleared his muddled mind.

He then left his bedroom, preparing to go to the command center to plan the next move—he needed to find a new target as soon as possible to see if he could seize enough supplies to revitalize his fleet.

Upon arriving at the command center, I saw a Bosa man there. Although he was old and had bald patches on his body, he still had a fierce face, and a hideous scar on his face sent chills down my spine.

Magtan Scar slowly turned around, a cold glint in his eyes. "You've gone too far, Ron. Now, going back to Hutt Space might still offer some hope."

"You're outdated! Old man! Don't you know that? Following you, the brothers can't even get enough to eat!" Ron roared. "We're pirates! The stars and the sea are our stage! Not to be dogs of the Dawn Kingdom, only able to eat scraps!"

“Clearly you still don’t realize what you are,” McGonagall Scar said coldly, turning and walking toward the door.

Ron roared behind him, "Go back to your bed and enjoy what our brothers fought for with their lives and blood!"

Seeing that Magtan Scar ignored him, Ron was furious. He turned around and kicked one of his men in the way aside, then went to the holographic star map and began to plan his operation.

However, at that moment, a message was suddenly sent.

Upon seeing the message, Ron was stunned for a moment, then his expression turned ferocious, his eyes filled with murderous intent, before turning into wild joy!
"Heh heh... Hahahaha! Hahahahahaha!" Ron burst into loud, maniacal laughter. "That guy, Orega, was beaten into a rogue dog by the Galactic Empire, and now you're coming to beg me? Hahahahahaha!!"

He immediately summoned the pirate leaders and showed them the message he had just received.

The message stated that the Fist of Orega was besieged by the Imperial fleet and almost completely wiped out. Demetrius Zarin was also captured by the Empire, but Orega managed to escape.

Moreover, he had already obtained all of Zarin's data, including the most valuable data—the data on the TIE Defender fighter jet!
However, Orega is currently outnumbered and outgunned. He knows he can't possibly keep all this technological data to himself, so he's approached the Scourge for cooperation, hoping to find a way to sell the data together, with the profits split 50/50. (End of Chapter)