The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2854. The Battle of Coruscant (Part 1)

8 BBY, April 20th, a day that must be remembered in the history of the entire Milky Way.

In outer space, on Coruscant, the capital of the Galactic Empire and its central planet, lies a light passenger spaceship.

A boy named Robert Fritz, about 10 years old, sat in a seat by the porthole. This was their family's private ship, now filled with the core members of the family and all the family wealth they could take, fleeing to a place they would never have given a second glance to—the Outer Ring.

Robert Fritz gazed out the porthole at the planet enveloped in a pale gold atmosphere. This was the norm on Coruscant, a thoroughly urbanized planet where the lights of the entire planet illuminated the atmosphere in this color, making it incredibly beautiful, like a golden gem suspended in deep space.

The family crest gleamed faintly on his chest; it was his admission credential to the Imperial Noble Academy. This elite academy, accessible only to members of powerful and wealthy families, gave each student a unique crest—a combination of the family crest and the school emblem.

Today, instead of attending class in the Sky Classroom in the capital, he boarded this spaceship heading towards the unknown. He missed his estate on Coruscant, located on the surface of the southern hemisphere, where many natural plants and flowers were cultivated, all of which were symbols of the Fritz family as an upper-class family in the inner circle.

In his daily life, his parents constantly conveyed their disdain for the barbaric people of the Outer Rings, who lacked any real strength. In Robert's mind, the Outer Rings had always been a savage, filthy, and sinful place. And the Dawn Kingdom, born in the Outer Rings, was the epitome of all these traits.

All along, the propaganda Robert Fritz had seen and the discussions he had heard had given him the impression that the Kingdom of Dawn was a savage, backward, warlike, and bloodthirsty terrifying existence, while the Galactic Empire was the guardian of the light of human civilization.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Dawn has also employed a large number of vicious races from unknown star regions, races that are said to eat people!
Behind such propaganda often lies a wealth of horrific videos, photos, and materials, the most numerous being images of people being turned into corpse puppets by the Geth. The Galactic Empire continuously urges major corporations, companies, and wealthy families to purchase more war bonds, and its propaganda machine keeps proclaiming that if a barbaric and backward civilization like the Kingdom of Dawn were to win the war, it would be a catastrophe for the entire galaxy.

Even the Fritz family purchased a large amount of war bonds. However, it was of no use. War bonds could not save the empire. Even though the empire's propaganda machine was proclaiming great victories here and there every day, the fact that the front line was getting closer and closer to the core could not be changed, despite the propaganda.

Although the imperial media downplayed it as a strategic retreat, trading space for time, fewer and fewer people believed this explanation.

Robert Fritz himself had fewer and fewer classmates, and those classmates from the same elite families would often suddenly stop coming to class one day.

Today, it's finally their turn.

Robert looked up at his mother and asked, "Mom, why are we leaving Coruscant? Don't you always say that Coruscant is the center of power in the galaxy, and the closer you are to the center, the greater your power? Why are we going further and further away?"

The mother gave a bitter smile and said, "Coruscant is indeed the center of power in the galaxy, now and in the future. However, now... that power may no longer belong to us."

“But aren’t people on the holographic network saying that Coruscant is the most heavily defended planet in the entire galaxy, and that separatism will never be able to set foot in the core?” Robert asked.

The mother's expression was extremely gloomy as she slowly said, "Ever since the incident on Planet Scipio, the inner circle has no longer been safe. The truly unsafe entity is the Empire itself, not the separatists who can only hover around the entrance to the inner circle."

“But will we be safe once we go to the Outer Rings?” Robert asked.

“Go to the Outer Ring Sector… rebuild the Galactic Republic. Then, we will return.” A cold smile played on her lips. “Those who want to restore the Republic cannot refuse our help. So, after the Republic is rebuilt, we will still be the elite families of the inner circle. As for the Galactic Empire, who will care about them?”

“And… what about His Majesty the Emperor?” Robert asked again.

“Remember this, Robert. This galaxy is a free, democratic, and equal galaxy. This galaxy doesn’t need an emperor. Let Palpatine die amidst the betrayal of his people,” his mother said coldly.

Robert smiled knowingly. "I understand, Mom. We're just going on a trip to the outer ring. Just like Grandpa said before, a noble family is a noble family. No matter who the master of Coruscant is, they have to listen to us."

"Hahaha! You're right, Robert. You finally understand the meaning of a so-called aristocratic family, and that lies in the word 'aristocratic'..." his mother laughed triumphantly.

Robert's attention, however, shifted outside. Looking out the porthole, he said with interest, "There are so many strange spaceships here today. Mom, has some strange civilization come to pay tribute to us again?"

“What are you talking about, Robert Coruscant? He’s been keeping a tight rein on things lately, what’s so strange about that…” Before the mother could finish speaking, the porthole was suddenly blocked by a huge metal wall, and her vision went black.

She slowly raised her head, but the metal wall was so big that she couldn't see the end of it from the limited view of the porthole!

"Mom...is this a spaceship? It's so big!" Robert's innocent voice came, but he didn't get a response from his mother.

He turned around and saw his usually elegant and haughty mother trembling as she stared out the porthole, her forehead covered in cold sweat. Her lips moved, but no sound came out—the shadow of the wall was slowly swallowing up the light in the cabin, and they could still see the portholes on the wall. Judging from the size of the portholes, the wall was actually at least several kilometers away, but it still occupied their entire field of vision.

Suddenly, a bright orange light flashed, and through the porthole at the front of the spaceship, one could see that a small space turret on the outskirts of Coruscant was instantly engulfed in crimson flames.

"Ah ...

Flashes of light continued to appear, and flames soared into the sky from the direction of Coruscant! An unfamiliar fighter jet flew up beside Robert's ship, and he could even see the pilot's cold gaze from inside the cockpit. The aircraft seemed to scan the ship, and after confirming it was harmless, it ignored it and flew away.

The flames of the explosions continued to rise, and one after another, the pride of the Galactic Empire—the Imperial-class Star Destroyers—came into view, firing countless crimson laser beams from afar; those were the heavy turbo-laser cannons firing!
Within minutes, a terrible space battle broke out around Robert and his crew's spaceship!

Robert hadn't reacted yet. He stared blankly at the flames ahead, watching nuclear missiles fall one after another on Coruscant's planetary shield, creating pale blue ripples in the shield.

“Mom…we…we…is this…a game?” Robert asked blankly, pointing to the porthole where flames were shooting up.

"Ah!!! Ah!!!!!!!!!!" His mother could only scream in despair. She collapsed to the ground, almost unable to think.

Yes, there's no need to think anymore.

The flames of war have reached Coruscant… This galactic core, untouched by any other, is now witnessing a terrible battle!

In the Galactic Empire's Supreme Strategic Command, piercing alarms echoed between every inch of the alloy walls, and red warning lights spun wildly, making the commanders' pale faces appear ghostly.

An alarm? Why would the Supreme Strategic Command sound an alarm? This should be the safest fortress in the galaxy. Even the most devastating battles elsewhere would simply be transformed into cold, impersonal data streams, quietly rehearsed on the tactical sandbox here. Signals from the battlefield would never be transformed into such a piercing alarm.

Staff officers, commanders, generals, intelligence officials—everyone was stunned. A full minute passed before they realized that the alarm meant…an enemy attack!
Direct attack!

The highest-ranking officer in the Supreme Strategic Command, General Mabel Carson, reacted the fastest. He rushed to the main control console and immediately pulled up the holographic operational star map of the Coruscant area.

All that could be seen on the holographic star map was the blue dot representing Coruscant being swallowed by the rapidly spreading crimson—thirty-seven orbital defense platforms had lost contact, and the hysterical roars of the Star Destroyer captains could be heard through the communications.

General Mabel Carson trembled violently. He grabbed the microphone beside him and roared at the top of his lungs, "Coruscant is under attack! This is not a drill! Coruscant is under attack!!!"

At this moment, the Supreme Strategic Command, which had been silent for a full five minutes, suddenly awoke as if from a dream and began to scramble around in a flurry of activity.

"Quickly! Activate the highest defense protocol!"

"Orbital defense system, open fire immediately! Combat space station, enter combat readiness immediately!"

"Where is the defensive fleet? Order the defensive fleet to attack immediately!"

"No! We can't contact the defense fleet! There's no commander!"

"Who is the commander of the defense fleet?"

“Marshal Rufán-Digorinus…”

"Then tell him to come quickly!"

"He...he should be in a prison cell on Dawn Planet right now..."

"It's been a month already, and we still haven't appointed a commander for the defense fleet?" Admiral Mabel Carson roared, nearly tearing his hair out.

“We’ve requested a meeting with His Majesty the Emperor’s office seven times, but nobody’s paying any attention to us!” one official said. “Since the fall of Scipio, everything is in chaos, and everyone’s only thinking about money. The appointment of the Coruscant Defense Fleet Commander? Who would care about an appointment for a position they’ll never even get a chance to fulfill!”

“But the problem is that Coruscant is under attack right now! Right now! And we don’t even have a commander!” Admiral Fries Peterson roared, but then he calmed down and asked through gritted teeth, “So who has the highest rank on Coruscant right now?”

"Marshal Denita Pita..."

“Damn it…this guy is a dog of the New Order Maintenance Committee! He knows nothing but his human supremacy rhetoric!” Fears-Peterson roared. “Where is Field Marshal Miltin Tucker?!”

"It seems he had some issues with the spices he inhaled yesterday; he's still in the hospital receiving emergency treatment..." an intelligence official said. "Our initial assessment is that this is very likely an assassination attempt."

With a thud, Fies Peterson slammed his fist on the table, gritting his teeth as he said, "Stop going through His Majesty the Emperor's office! Send a message directly to Marshal Denita Peeta, requesting that he immediately take command of the defense fleet! Immediately connect all the defense fleet captains to issue orders, establish a temporary operational command, and help Marshal Denita command the fleet!"

His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the holographic star map; the size of the invading fleet had now been determined.

The Dawn Kingdom's Titan warships, including the Divine Messenger and Taotie, two Eternal-class supercarriers, 20 Divine Revelation-class battleships, 200 other capital ships of various types, and 350 heavy cruisers, currently have no medium or small warships participating in the battle.

Furthermore, immediately after leaving the hyperspace channel, the Titan warship Divine Messenger began deploying its hyperspace beacon and phenomenon generator!

The constantly fluctuating hyperspace fluctuations on the probe indicate that warships from the Kingdom of Dawn are arriving in droves!
“General, we still have two Blocker-class Star Destroyers on Coruscant. Should we deploy the Blocking Field?” an officer asked.

"Deploy the barrier field, how will our own fleet get here?" Fies Peterson said coldly. "Immediately issue orders to all legions! Order all fleets to return to Coruscant immediately! All fleets! And Darth Vader's! Tell his Death Fleet to return too! Now!"

At that moment, the communications department responded, "General! Marshal Oswald Tessik of the First Star System Army is leading the fleet back!"

"The Second Star System Army has also dispatched its main fleet back!"

"Darth Vader hasn't replied, but the Death Fleet started warming up their hyperspace engines 10 minutes ago!"

"Dunne Wessex of the North has declared that he will guard the northern gateway for the Empire and refuses to return to defend it!"

"Governor-General Wilhoff-Tartin of the Fourth Army has not replied!"

"The Sixth Army has agreed to send troops back to reinforce!"

Fries Peterson gritted his teeth, his gaze gradually turning fierce. "I don't care how you got here, but since you dared to come, you'll die here!" (End of Chapter)