The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2802, A Difficult Choice
Gideon Tarkin jumped to his feet, utterly astonished. "What did you say? Why was Governor Serben attacked?"

The intelligence officer quickly reported, "That's right! It's the planet Lantilis! A small fleet is attacking there! This fleet has already destroyed Lantilis's home defense fleet!"

“This is impossible!” Gideon Tarkin’s first reaction was that the intelligence officer was playing a trick on him.

Because Lantilis is the capital of the 12th Army of the Galactic Empire, located on the Peremian trade route, one of the core shipping lanes, it has a very developed transportation system and a very large logistics and shipbuilding industry.

This location also serves as the gateway to the Inner Ring Star Sector from the Eastern Territory, and with the planet Roch blocking the way ahead, it is virtually impregnable. Even if attacked, the planet's powerful industrial capabilities and robust orbital defense system would be more than enough to deter any invading fleet.

Furthermore, the advanced shipping network on Lantilis allows the Galactic Empire to easily deploy troops from various other directions to reinforce it. Even a rebellion could not affect the navigation of the core shipping lanes.

Therefore, the support from the planet Lantilis will never be cut off.

Even when Lin Nanyi and Griffith launched their offensive in the Eastern Territory, they were always attacking in other directions and did not intend to directly target the planet Lantilis.

But now, why would anyone attack the planet Lantilis? More importantly, how did they get there? Why was there no warning from the planet Roch?
The intelligence officer shook his head and said, "We have absolutely no clue! That fleet suddenly appeared on the planet Lantilis, and it's incredibly powerful. Our defensive fleet is completely powerless against it!"

He produced a video of a battle.

Gideon Tarkin went over to take a look and saw an Imperial-class Star Destroyer desperately firing continuously. Around the warship, thousands of drones were swarming, easily bypassing all close-in weapon systems and relentlessly unleashing their firepower on the target.

The shields of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer were quickly penetrated, and then the drones began to dismantle it piece by piece, starting from the engine.

With the reactor destroyed, the Star Destroyer was reduced to countless fragments in a violent secondary explosion.

Gideon Tarkin's face was extremely grim, because he could clearly see the wreckage of countless TIE fighters all around him. The battle situation was very clear—the enemy first destroyed all the escort fighters in an overwhelming manner, and then destroyed the warship directly despite the anti-aircraft fire.

The intelligence officer said, "After comparison, we found that these drones are enlarged versions of the Swarm II drones that the separatists used on the Governor-class aircraft carriers. These drones are about 7 meters long, almost the size of a light fighter jet, and they are very powerful and agile. Our air defenses have a hard time hitting them."

"Where are their aircraft carriers?" Gideon Tarkin asked coldly.

The intelligence officer produced another photo, though it was somewhat blurry. "The enemy fleet is about 20 light-minutes from the planet. Their detection systems and drones are virtually ubiquitous; our probes can barely get close. This is a photo we took with our deep-space telescope."

The photo vaguely reveals several massive ships, their shapes completely different from the warships commonly used by the Dawn Kingdom, appearing as a seamless, rounded mass. Moreover, these warships appear to be all gold in color.

"Another new type of warship?" Gideon Tarkin slammed his fist on the table, his patience already worn thin by the endless stream of new weapons from the Kingdom of Dawn.

Moreover, the intelligence officer's words revealed a terrifying piece of information—the enemy had managed to wipe out all of their detectors, even preventing the transmission of optical images! This would be a major blow to command and control. Gideon Tarkin stared at the blurry golden outline, a chill creeping down his spine. In space warfare, due to the vast distances between the two sides, using traditional detection methods, such as directing the fleet via light-speed signals, would cause significant delays.

Therefore, probes are usually secretly deployed in space and then transmitted back to the enemy through hyperspace communication to facilitate command and control of operations.

These detectors were extremely small and used anti-radar materials, making them difficult to detect; they were hidden in the asteroid belt or gravitational shadow regions. The fact that they were all silently eliminated by the enemy indicates that they possessed detection capabilities far exceeding expectations.

Fighting under such circumstances would undoubtedly be extremely difficult. And this is without even considering the terrifying capabilities of the enemy's drones.

The intelligence officer said, "Governor Serben has sent reinforcement orders, instructing us to return to the planet Lantilis immediately."

Gideon Tarkin frowned. No matter how powerful and influential the Tarkin family was in the Twelfth Army's territory, they were still nominally under the command of Sector Governor Thurburn.

Moreover, openly seizing someone else's territory couldn't be done publicly, so the Tarkin family could only do it gradually and subtly. Then, through a series of battles with the Eastern Fleet of the Kingdom of Dawn, they established their prestige in the region.

Even so, rumors of the Tarkin family's desire to seize control of the Twelfth Army had already spread throughout the heart of the Empire, significantly impacting their family's prestige.

Under such circumstances, failing to come to the aid of Governor Serben would likely confirm these rumors and put the family in a disadvantageous position.

But what if they really do retreat to defend?

Gideon Tarkin recalled that the main force of the Dawn Kingdom's Eastern Fleet had already left the planet Losar and was heading towards the front lines, its destination still unknown.

So, does the other side intend to go to Lantilis for a final battle? Or will they go to Bonta and take advantage of the fact that their fleet is returning to defend Lantilis to launch a surprise attack on their military base, Chalos IV?

It seems possible.

However, Lantilis and Bonta are located on completely different routes, making it too far apart for Gideon Tarkin to oversee both strategic locations simultaneously.

Gideon Tarkin's heart pounded violently at the thought of the shield-piercing missiles, Typhoon-class battlecruisers, and Prophet-class battleships that had appeared in the Eastern Fleet of the Dawn Kingdom.

He was genuinely worried that splitting his forces would leave him unable to defeat the enemy, even though his fleet had an overwhelming numerical advantage.

After a long deliberation, Gideon Tarkin said, "Order that we send only a detachment to reinforce Lantilis, and have this fleet enter Lantilis's atmosphere to defend it to the death. At the same time, telegraph Governor Serben that we will only deploy our main force after we have clearly understood the separatist strategic intentions." (End of Chapter)