The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2788, Protoss Carrier

Then there are 20 Royal Beast-class heavy cruisers. These warships are newly built and therefore equipped with a new generation of hyperspace engines. Although they are not as powerful as warp engines, they are sufficient for navigation in complex environments such as unknown star systems.

In addition, there is Severance Tann's own fleet, including 20 Hells Angels-class battlecruisers, 5 Paladin-class battlecruisers, 10 Cataclysm-class battlecruisers, 5 Doomsday Battlefield-class battlecruisers, 5 Sova-class aircraft carriers, and 5 new Hells Angels-class battlecruisers equipped with split beams.

In addition, there were 150 heavy cruisers of various types, including the Kohl II-class, Minotaur-class, Dunov II-class, and Masha II-class. These new heavy cruisers were also capable of navigating in complex hyperspace environments.

The other light cruisers and frigates were not allowed to participate in this long-range raid. Instead, they were assigned to Cardinal Adela to lead a frontal attack on Fitz, which was swarmed with Zerg.

The warships left behind by Severance Tann, besides the Holy Advent's own fleet, mainly consisted of 240 light cruisers, 180 destroyers, and 800 frigates. The Holy Advent, together with the fleet under Archbishop Ronis, had a total of 80 light cruisers, 50 destroyers, and 300 frigates.

It would be nearly impossible for these forces to launch a direct assault on Fitz, but they could at least draw the attention of the Zerg swarm, especially the Jedi Knights who were directing it from behind the scenes.

After completing the fleet preparations, Cardinal Adela, as the fleet commander, boarded Archbishop Ronis's flagship, Apocalypse, and led 1500 warships away from the planet Jobri to attack Fitz once again.

When the band of light in the hyperspace outside the window disappeared, the dark universe reappeared, and ahead lay Fitz Planet—a planet with an eerie purple hue.

Without a doubt, the swarm's nests are scattered all over the planet. On the purple surface, countless nests rise like rotting tumors, constantly absorbing organic matter and minerals from the earth's surface, and then hatching countless swarms of insects.

The space where the battle took place is now empty. All the debris, whether it be the wreckage of warships or the remains of insect swarms, has been completely devoured. Even the pus from some organisms floating in the air has been consumed!
Upon reaching the planet's outer space, Adela immediately ordered the launch of nuclear missiles! Hundreds of nuclear warheads detached from the launch bay, raining down in a fan shape onto the purple surface. Intense bursts of light and flame erupted in succession within the densely populated insect hive area, instantly evaporating thousands of square kilometers of decaying surface.

Immediately afterwards, as if awakened from a deep sleep, countless swarms of insects changed direction from the outer atmosphere and rushed towards the Adela fleet!

Adela already had extensive experience fighting the Kilik swarm, and she immediately ordered all warships to deploy into a dense defensive formation, organizing the fleet into 10 rings of defense, with light cruisers in the innermost rings and destroyers and frigates interspersed to create crossfire.

At the core of the formation, the flagship Apocalypse and 200 warships form a long-range fire support group, which also serves as a reserve force.

Most of the kilik swarm's kilik swarms don't have strong ranged firepower, so dense groupings can actually make better use of their firepower advantage.

The battle breaks out instantly!

The drone carrier in the sky opened its hatches, and a dense swarm of drones poured out. Inside the carrier's chapel, dozens of priests knelt in meditation, establishing connections with the drones through their psychic powers and precisely controlling the flight path and attack targets of each drone.

Each priest can command 5 to 20 drones, depending on the strength of their psychic power.

Similar to the Protoss drones, the Advent Order's drones also utilize psionic remote control, allowing them to allocate more space to engines and weapon systems, resulting in superior firepower and maneuverability.

The air superiority drones continuously fired tiny laser beams, sweeping across the swarm of insects, while the bombardment drones launched a large number of plasma bombs, each explosion pulverizing a large number of insects.

As the swarm drew closer, Adela once again ordered all warships to unleash their full firepower!

In all the defensive rings, the Javelin-class missile frigates were in the center. The first thing to explode in the swarm of insects was those Firecloud missiles!

This is the missile equipped on the Masa-class missile heavy cruiser. After the explosion, it will form a deadly radiation cloud. It was later proven that this missile could play a remarkable role in countering the Kilik swarm, so the Javelin-class missile frigates were also equipped with the Firecloud missile.

Immediately afterwards, the believer-esque frigates and cobalt alloy frigates also unleashed their full firepower!

Even though most of them were light cruisers and frigates, the firepower they unleashed was something that the swarm of insects simply could not withstand.

Large swarms of insects were being wiped out, their disgusting corpses surrounding the fleet formation, with pus and debris everywhere. But problems arose immediately.

Because this fleet consisted almost entirely of small and medium-sized warships, it lacked heavy and long-range firepower. One immediate consequence was that the remnants of the Kilik swarm had coalesced into a thick biomass barrier, which was only tens of thousands of meters away from the fleet formation!
Based on previous combat experience, due to their enormous numbers, the biomass barrier formed by the debris after destruction will increase as the battle progresses, eventually severely impacting the fleet's long-range firepower and allowing the swarm to get closer and closer to the fleet.

Then, it will escalate into a chaotic war.

Previously, because there were still capital ships and heavy cruisers, their heavy firepower either vaporized the wreckage or had extremely long range, which allowed the barrier to eventually form at a great distance, thus reducing the threat significantly.

Now, an hour after the battle began, Cardinal Adela began to sense that time was running out for her.

……

After Adela departed, Severance Tann also prepared to board her flagship, the Stargazer, a Hellsangel-class battlecruiser, to embark on an expedition to the Lago system.

However, at that moment, she suddenly received a communication from the Protoss executive Serandis!
[I cordially invite you to board my flagship, the Ara-Shan Dur, and command this operation from within, General Tann. I will also do everything in my power to ensure your safety.]

Upon seeing Thranduil's message, Sefrans-Tann was slightly taken aback, unable to immediately fathom what this proud and aloof Protoss executive was thinking.

However, having said that, she still ordered the shuttle pilot to change direction and fly towards the Protoss executive fleet. At the same time, Severance Tann informed Darth Lilim to remain obediently on her flagship and not to act on her own. Darth Lilim was naturally very unhappy; she immediately sent a communications message, along with a whole bunch of random spam messages, but Severance Tann ignored them all. She boarded the shuttle and flew towards the Protoss carrier marked by Thranduil.

Approaching the Protoss carrier, the shuttle pilot scratched his head and asked, "General, the Protoss warships don't have docking bays or hangar platforms... How am I supposed to get you aboard?"

Severance Tann frowned, about to contact Thranduil, when suddenly the shuttle was caught by a tractor beam, which then guided it slowly to the side and rear of the aircraft carrier.

Then, Thranduth's cool voice came through the communicator: "I have activated the quantum docking field. You can open the docking module now."

The pilot glanced at the golden warship so close at hand and had no choice but to comply.

After the docking module of the spacecraft unfolded, a beam of pure energy extended from the rear side of the Protoss carrier and merged with the docking module.

Severance Tann arrived at the docking bay and found that the monitoring equipment inside the bay showed that the docking had been successful and the air pressure on the other side of the hatch had been synchronized.

She glanced at the faint light outside the window, feeling somewhat uneasy, but still opened the hatch.

The expected scenario of being sucked out of the vacuum did not occur. Instead, a pale blue light appeared before Severance Tann. She tried to walk towards it, but immediately felt a gentle force pulling her forward.

Severance Tann flew slowly through space, enveloped only by a faint light, until she disappeared into a completely inconspicuous spot on the Protoss carrier.

After a mild dizziness, Severance Tann found herself in a dark blue hall, which was spherical in shape. Beneath her feet was a light screen, and around her were unknown devices that constantly flashed with white psionic light.

“Welcome to my flagship, Ara-Shan Dur. You may also call it—the Judgment of Destiny.” Thranduth’s voice echoed in my mind.

Severance-Tann looked up and saw Thranduil standing on a platform in mid-air, surrounded by countless rays of light. And all of these rays converged on the nerve bundle at the back of her head.

Although the nerve bundle had been severed, it didn't affect its connection to these beams of light. It seemed that she was using this method to maintain complete control over the entire giant ship.

“This is completely different from what I’m used to seeing on a warship bridge,” Severance Tann said.

“This is the inevitable result of the joint development of psionic energy and technology,” Thranduth said. “Regarding the Kylik swarm, I didn’t intend to incite conflict before the impending war; rather, I needed to express the Protoss’s position. But in any case, the Orega matter has nothing to do with you. I apologize for that.”

“I never imagined the Protoss would apologize,” Severance Tann said calmly.

“I believe this is how we should deal with the Kingdom of Dawn, just as I believe Tang Xiao owes us an apology and explanation regarding the Orega incident,” Serandis said.

"So your way of apologizing is to invite me to your flagship?" Severance Tann asked.

“A raid on the Lago system is an extremely dangerous mission, even though the Kilik swarm currently in front of us is just a low-level group of insects,” Thranduth said. “Compared to those two ‘pets,’ I’m more inclined to believe you’ll be safer with me. Moreover, the Destiny Judgment has a very powerful command system available for your use.”

Severance Tann looked around but couldn't find anything she could do.

Just then, a halo slowly rose from the ground, transforming into a transparent tactical interface that floated in front of her. At the same time, countless stars began to be projected throughout the hall, as if she were in the cosmos.

Severance Tann is now in a huge holographic star map. She tries to raise her hand and click on one of the planets. Almost instantly, all the information about that planet floods in and enters her brain directly!
Despite the massive influx of data, Severance Tann did not feel uncomfortable. She then realized that she was enveloped in a light that was subtly adjusting the synchronization rate of her nerve and psychic frequencies, in other words, helping her process the enormous amount of information.

Severance Tann nodded, raised her hand, and selected all the warships on the command system, easily entering communication mode with a tap. Then, with a thought, all the warship captains received her command almost instantly—[Hyperspace engines initiating warm-up; all forces to depart in half an hour!]

This message directly converts the words in her mind into electronic signals that can be received and deciphered by ordinary warships, and then sends them out. Because this process involves a series of conversions—from thought to brainwaves to psionic energy, and finally to electronic signals—the communication is virtually impossible for the enemy to intercept, unless the enemy also possesses psionic technology equivalent to the Protoss.

These incredible yet perfectly logical super technologies were laid bare before her, leaving Severance Tann feeling utterly horrified.

Because she discovered that even the most advanced technology in the Dawn Kingdom was far inferior to that of the Protoss!

She couldn't help but start thinking about a very real question—that with such a large technological gap between the two sides, as the Protoss's strength continues to expand, will the Kingdom of Dawn still be able to maintain its prestige as the overlord?

What if friction and conflict arise between the Kingdom of Dawn and the Protoss?
There is no concept of loyalty between races and civilizations; there is only naked self-interest! Once the scales of self-interest tip, even the strongest alliance will crumble instantly.

Thranduil seemed to hear her inner doubts, and she slowly said, "The Protoss have no intention of vying for galactic dominance with the Kingdom of Dawn, neither now nor in the future. This is a solemn promise, and also a way of repaying Tang Xiao for helping us rebuild our civilization. The Protoss also accept themselves as members of the Fourth Civilization."

Severance Tann nodded and said nothing more.

Half an hour later, the expeditionary fleet, composed entirely of large warships, simultaneously activated its hyperspace engines, vanished in a flash of white light, and headed towards the distant Lago system...

Launch a surprise attack! (End of Chapter)