The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2823, The Price of Life
The sword pierced Sabine-Raine's neck, right at the seam of her Mandalorian armor. Sabine had no way to avoid it, and she closed her eyes, ready to die.

Just then, a silver beam of light suddenly tore through the smoke and struck the tip of the sword precisely. Ahsoka-Tano rushed over quickly, wielding a double-edged lightsaber and slashing down, the two white sword beams fiercely cutting towards the smoke.

The smoke dissipated instantly, revealing Xiao Yan's figure. She held the lightsaber in reverse, and the blades clashed, sparks flying. Ahsoka said in a deep voice, "Is this how you use the Force in such a treacherous way?"

“You know nothing about the void,” Xiao Yan replied coldly, her figure disappearing into the void once more.

"Hurry!" Ahsoka-Tano knew the priestess would arrive soon, and once she did, it would be too late. Ahsoka grabbed Sabin, the lightsaber humming in his hand.

Ezra held Hera-Sindura's still-warm body, but was somewhat bewildered. "Hera is dead, Zeb is dead, Kennen is dead... What... what do we have left?"

“We still have hope,” Ahsoka said in a low but firm voice. “Let’s go!”

The powerful pressure from behind was approaching; the priestess had caught up! Ahsoka-Tano pulled Ezra-Bridge along as they quickly ran into the darker, more winding tunnels.

Sabine-Raine kept firing to suppress the enemy while quickly closing in, but Xiao Yan had no intention of letting them go.

The smoke continued to swirl in the darkness, Xiao Yan waiting for that moment of vulnerability. Just as Sabine-Rain was about to replace the cooling module of his blaster pistol, she suddenly sprang up and pierced Sabine's jetpack with her sword!
The jetpack exploded with a deafening roar, throwing Sabine to the ground by the blast wave. Hot fragments flew everywhere. She tried to keep running, but the jetpack was out of control and instead carried her in the opposite direction.

With a muffled thud, a moment later, the priestess dragged Sabine-Rain over, carrying her by one foot—she had been knocked unconscious. "No!! Sabine!!" Ezra-Bridge's desperate cries faded into the depths of the mine.

Then came a violent explosion, and the collapsing debris completely blocked the tunnel. It was likely that Ahsoka-Tano detonated a thermal mine he was carrying, using the collapse to seal off the pursuers' path.

Amidst the billowing smoke, the priestess and Xiao Yan stood side by side. After a few seconds, she said, "Lock Sabin in the dungeon and torture him severely. It seems General Karani has something to do again."

“I think his most important task right now is to protect his budget for this year.” Xiao Yan showed the priestess footage of General Kalani driving Odin recklessly through the city.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment. The priestess sighed and dragged Sabin away. Two words drifted faintly from the darkness, "Idiot..."

……

At this moment, amidst the ruins near the western intelligence department of Losar City, Talia walked through the ruins while chanting an ancient song of the Elru people. Force flowed like a stream between the broken walls, and nowhere could block out this decadent music.

No matter where Talon Marix hides, he will be affected by this song.

The engine of the hoverbike roared as Zhang Xucheng led more than 20 soldiers from the Serarui Special Forces to the scene. A light frigate was also on its way from the sky. Inside the open hatch, the massive, dark blue figure of the Injori woman, Karina, was clearly visible, even the ferocious smile on her lips.

Shen Yuanhao piloted the frigate, activating the eight searchlights on its belly, scanning the ruins relentlessly. Talon Marix had nowhere to escape. He suddenly leaped out from the collapsed concrete pipes, his lightsaber drawing two blood-red streaks in the darkness, aimed straight at Zhang Xucheng!
In that instant, he realized that the person who had been watching them from the river of the Force all along was this boy in front of him!
But Zhang Xucheng showed no intention of dodging. Suddenly, the ground shook violently, and a huge black shadow descended from the sky! Dark blue scales, a towering height of 3 meters, and a terrifying dinosaur-like appearance—Karina, the only Force-sensitive person among the Injori!
Karina didn't even use a weapon; she simply took the sword strike with her own body. The lightsaber left a deep burn mark on her skin, but that was all. To her massive frame, the sword wound was merely a shallow scratch on the skin.

"Awooo!!" Karina roared to the sky, the sound waves causing rubble to tumble down. With a sweeping motion, she sent Talon flying, crashing into a broken wall, where the concrete crumbled like paper. Zhang Xucheng raised his hand and gripped the collapsed steel bars, which coiled around him like living snakes, instantly locking Talon's limbs in place.

Talon struggled amidst the steel bars, but a hoarse laugh escaped from deep within his throat: "Hehehehe...hehehehe..."

Karina, still wanting more, moved closer to Talon Marix and let out a terrifying roar! The powerful gust of wind even distorted Talon's face.

“Take him back and interrogate him thoroughly,” Talia said as she walked over.

The attack has finally come to an end. In the Kingdom of Dawn, due to the terrorist attack on the Gladiator's Night venue, Governor Hilka was seriously injured by assassination, and dozens of buildings in Losar City were destroyed during the arrest operation, resulting in extremely serious economic losses.

Beyond the economic losses, the greater loss lies in the loss of public confidence. The planet Losar is no longer considered a safe place, and the Dawn Kingdom, unable to guarantee its safety, has become the target of widespread criticism, with its legitimacy being thoroughly questioned.

General Karani responded swiftly, releasing video footage from the Gladiator Night venue showing the Ghost Squad in disguise. He placed all the blame for the terrorist attack on the Ghost Squad and further accused the Rebel Alliance, claiming that they would stop at nothing to rescue the Ghost Squad, using civilians as bait.

However, strictly speaking, General Karani's actions were not entirely contrary to the facts.

……

“…This operation was deliberately split into two, Ezra Bridger. I’m sorry.” Inside a hijacked solar-powered spaceship, Ahsoka Tano patted Ezra on the shoulder and sighed.

"...Why are there two operations?" Ezra's voice was extremely hoarse.

Ahsoka-Tano said, "I was the 'pivot' that initially contacted you, a member of the rebel alliance's secret intelligence organization. Logically, I should have been under Borsk-Felia's jurisdiction, but the leader assigned me to her direct command. There was a lot of political struggle and compromise involved."

She continued, "According to my original plan, I intended to do as I told you before. I planned to use the crowd at Gladiator's Night to capture this hidden spaceship of Solar Dynamics. But things didn't go as planned. My plan was leaked, and the Kingdom of Dawn began to send more troops to the venue. I had no choice but to go there as soon as possible and try to bring you out."

"Who leaked our plans?" Ezra Bridger's eyes were filled with hatred.

“A person of high enough status to have access to my frontline combat plans, who is associated with the Blood Warriors, and who acts ruthlessly… there is only one person like this in the entire Rebel Alliance—Borsk Feria, the head of the Rebel Alliance’s intelligence department,” Ahsoka-Tano said.

“He used you as bait, deliberately revealing your whereabouts to the Kingdom of Dawn, so that you would attract enough attention at the Gladiator's Night. And the Kingdom of Dawn wouldn't dare not go to the venue. After all, tens of thousands of lives were at stake there; if they stood by and did nothing, the Kingdom of Dawn's reputation would be ruined,” Ahsoka-Tano said. “In this way, he could send another force to achieve his true goal—the Blood Warriors. His goal should be to assassinate Governor Hilka.”

With a thud, Ezra Bridger slammed his fist against the bulkhead, tears streaming down his face. "Just for his conspiracy, are Zeb, Hera, Kennan, Sabin, and the others really going to pay with their lives?!" (End of Chapter)