The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2892, The Galactic Empire in the Post-Palpatine Era

In addition to the chaos on Coruscant, the Galactic Empire now faces an even more serious problem—political chaos.

After Palpatine's death, the "one-man dictatorship" system he had built collapsed instantly. Almost every remaining powerful minister believed that he had the opportunity to take control of the government and become the de facto ruler of the empire.

In fact, Palpatine did have one advantage in politics: he would really give important positions to those he valued, and would entrust them with great trust and power.

This style of "not using those you doubt, and not doubting those you use" has nothing to do with personal ability, but only with personal preferences. However, it has in fact created a large number of people who wield immense power in various aspects.

These very people, however, became key factors in the empire's division after Palpatine's death.

After Sat Pestach declared his succession to the imperial throne, he formed an alliance with Krul van der Lon of the Council for the Maintenance of the New Imperial Order. They wielded immense political power but had no military authority whatsoever.

As a result, many peripheral generals also began to outwardly comply with their orders but inwardly defy them.

The largest of these was Dunn Wessex, King in the North. He controlled the four legions of the North and commanded a massive force of over 3500 Star Destroyers. When Satter Pestach ascended the throne, he sent a congratulatory telegram expressing his support, but the message conveyed in his words was clear: I verbally support you, but don't bother me.

Throughout the entire Coruscant campaign, the Northern Legion did not send a single escort ship south to provide reinforcements.

Next was Governor Serben of the Twelfth Army. This old man had already closed his eyes and waited for death. Even General Grievous's fleet had already pressed near the Twelfth Army's capital, the planet Lantilis. However, Tang Xiao forcibly launched the Coruscant campaign, and General Grievous's fleet turned around and left.

Then, Governor Serben, who had been beaten like a dog by General Griffiths, felt that he was in power again.

At this moment, he possessed a force of 400 star destroyers and a complete military-industrial complex on the planet Lantilis. Despite the depletion of military forces throughout the Galactic Empire, he had become a formidable force.

Serben could no longer swear allegiance to Sat Pestach. He had long known that he was already considered a pawn in the Galactic Empire, and his last bargaining chip was his fleet and the planet Lantilis itself!
Thus, Serben also remained a spectator throughout the Coruscant campaign, ignored it after Sat Pestach ascended to the throne, and then actively contacted his next ally.

That's right, it's the rebel alliance.

Moreover, with the authority of the Twelfth Army and over 400 Star Destroyers in his hands, Serben found himself to be extremely valuable to the Rebel Alliance! At the very least, he was no longer the marginal figure he had been in the Galactic Empire's political arena, someone who was casually discarded and whose name was not even worth remembering.

In addition, generals such as Admiral Kharkov, who were suppressing rebels in the Imperial border sector, also began to have other ideas.

……

However, if the above-mentioned entities are merely minor problems far removed from the power center of the Galactic Empire, then the following entities are those that will almost practically split the Galactic Empire apart!
First, there's Darth Vader and the Death Fleet. After the Death Fleet withdrew from Coruscant, it still has about 1600 Star Destroyers. With the Executor and Sovereign Star Destroyers as its core, it remains one of the Galactic Empire's most powerful military forces.

Although Darth Vader was knocked into the Abyss by Tang Xiao and his fate is unknown, the Death Fleet, temporarily led by Firmus Piett, is now retreating towards the Delon system.

Although Darth Vader's Death Fleet was a lone force and he did not have his own territory, that was when Palpatine was still alive.

Now that Palpatine is dead, the Death Fleet can easily control and radiate a very wide area of ​​star systems around the Delon system as its core, using it as its logistical supply point.

Besides the Death Fleet, there is another force that cannot be ignored: Aisani-Isard!
Although the head of the Imperial Intelligence Agency is still supporting Sartre Pestach, she is clearly controlling him as a puppet.

She holds all the resources of the Imperial Intelligence Service, controls a spy network, black market channels, and secret prisons spanning the galaxy, and what's even more unsettling is that she has somehow reunited with the Dark Prophet Kadan, for reasons unknown to anyone.

After the initial euphoria of his ascension to the throne, Sat Pestac quickly came to the reality that he needed to be mindful of Aisani Isad's wishes to secure his position.

While Aisani Isaad also had the problem of not having direct military power, her skills were far superior to those of Sat Pestach—she had already infiltrated the middle and upper ranks of the Imperial Navy, Army, and Military Intelligence Bureau through the intelligence agency, and quickly assembled a fleet after Palpatine's death.

This fleet is the same one that Thrawn previously led—it's impossible for Thrawn to assemble such a fleet; if he were to do it himself, he could only manage to gather 100 frigates.

Even Quarter, who had a good relationship with Thrawn, couldn't do that. He could give Thrawn the warships at Quarter Power Dock, but he couldn't control the command of the super star destroyers.

The two super star destroyers that were actually handed over to Thrawn, besides the Eclipse which Palpatine had ordered to be given to him before his death, were actually secretly assembled by Aysany Isaad.

Aisani-Isard's original plan was to use these three Star Destroyers to gain real power in the Imperial Navy, while also winning over Marshal Thrawn, who was secretly favored by Palpatine, to act as her proxy in the military.

However, Thrawn refused to become a puppet and was unwilling to endorse Isaad's power struggles. In the Battle of Coruscant, Thrawn decisively launched an attack, choosing to engage the Fourth Empire's fleet in a head-on battle, resulting in heavy losses for his fleet.

This infuriated Aisani Isad!
From the Galactic Empire's perspective, and even from a military strategic standpoint, Thrawn's decision is beyond reproach. However, from Isani-Isard's perspective, it is absolutely unacceptable!
reason?

Wilhuff Tarkin!

Death Star!

In fact, if Wilhoff Tarkin hadn't appeared, or even if he hadn't appeared with the Death Star, Aysani Isaard's plan to become the shadow emperor of the Galactic Empire might have actually come to fruition.

However, everything changed when the Death Star's massive form appeared in orbit around Coruscant.

All of Aysani Isaard's schemes became a joke in the face of the Death Star's absolute power. Wilhuff Tarkin never expressed any allegiance to Satter Pestach, which clearly revealed his true intentions—

"The Emperor of the Galactic Empire can only be me! Wilhoff Tarkin!" So, when Wilhoff Tarkin arrived at the battlefield on Coruscant and directly demanded that all Imperial fleets be placed under his command, Aisani Isaad had already made up her mind—to leave.

She decided to take all the warships she could control and leave the Death Star. She knew perfectly well that Wilhuff Tarkin could take control of Coruscant if he so desired.

Therefore, Aisani-Isad wanted to take the fleet elsewhere, establish her own separatist regime, play a game of feigning compliance with Coruscant, and then wait and see or demand higher prices.

However, Thrawn once again led his fleet in a decisive battle against the Fourth Empire's fleet, resulting in the sinking of the Iron Fist super star destroyer and heavy losses to other Imperial warships.

This is the real reason why Aisani Isad ordered her second sister to arrest Thrawn.

As for why it's the second sister?

This involves a new organization—the Church of the Dark Side!
No one knows how this organization came about. All that is known is that two days after Sartre Pestach ascended the throne, he issued a decree to formally establish the Dark Church and make it the state religion of the Galactic Empire.

The Church's doctrine proclaims "The Force is authority, darkness is order," completely reversing Palpatine's previous policy of absolute suppression of the Force. Instead, it began to directly proclaim the existence of the dark side of the Force!
The leader of the Dark Church is none other than the Dark Prophet Kadan!
As for why the Dark Prophet Organization transformed into the Dark Church, and why Cardam suddenly began to back down, only to return to the core of power in the Galactic Empire after more than a year, becoming the leader of the Dark Church.

no one knows.

All that is known is that the current Dark Church operates in a way that is vastly different from that of the previous Dark Prophets. They no longer remain behind the scenes but openly recruit Force-sensitive individuals, and have even integrated the remaining judges from the former Imperial Inquisition and Imperial Tribunal into their ranks.

Not only do the Dark Church recruit Force-sensitive individuals, but it also actively expands its influence within the military.

Currently, there are two Imperial Marshals who have clearly joined the Dark Church—Ishin-Il-Raz and Pekkati-Sin.

Now, including Thrawn, the Galactic Empire has only seven Imperial Marshals left, and the Dark Church alone accounts for one-third of them! That shows how powerful they are!

Both of these Imperial Marshals, Pekkadzin and Pekkadzin, were themselves devout followers of the Dark. Although they were not Force-sensitive, they had long yearned for the power of the Force.

Ihsin-Il-Raz was once a senior advisor to the Imperial New Order Maintenance Committee, Krull Van der Londo's deputy, and the committee's number two. Originally in charge of propaganda, he also took on the responsibility of promoting the forces of darkness after joining the Dark Church.

At the same time, the Dark Church also retained the role of the "prophet".

Unlike the prophets in the Dark Prophets organization, the prophets of the Dark Church are no longer mysterious and elusive; they are not even Force-sensitive!
These new prophets possess a profound understanding of the dark side of the Force, yet they never put it into practice. Instead, they utilize high-tech methods such as holographic projectors and miniature tractor beam generators to induce so-called "dark side miracles," thereby proselytizing among the general public.

However, this is only the beginning. To what extent can the Dark Church achieve? How many followers can it develop? How much influence can it wield? Where is their headquarters? What are their objectives?
Everything is unknown.

Amidst this fog of mystery, only Thrawn gleaned a crucial piece of information from his conversation with his second sister: the Dark Church still recognized Palpatine's appointments and decisions made during his lifetime and had no intention of overturning them.

……

Given such a complex situation, it's easy to imagine how chaotic the Galactic Empire's administration is at present.

After arresting Thrawn, Aisani-Isard took control of the three super star destroyers, Eclipse, Attacker, and Destroyer, and incorporated the remaining 700-plus star destroyers into her command. She then casually told Sat Pestach that she was taking the fleet to Quat for repairs.

After that, she abandoned Sartre Pestacchi and left.

Sutter Pestacchi and Krul van der Lon were left stranded on Coruscant, facing this huge mess, and then they had to confront Wilhoff Tarkin!

Fortunately, after taking a brief look at the current state of Coruscant, Wilhuff Tarkin also chose to keep his distance.

Coruscant is like a pile of dung right now; anyone who comes here has to hold their nose and go around it.

Wilhoff Tarkin directly demanded that Sat Pestach immediately replenish the Death Star's supplies. This included core elements for hyperspace jumps, kimber crystals for launching hyperlasers, and various other strategic resources.

The demand for these supplies is absolutely astronomical!
Even with Coruscant's productivity, it would be extremely difficult for Sat Pestach to gather these supplies amidst this chaos.

During the process of raising supplies, Sartre Pestach also tried to curry favor with Wilhelm Tarkin by appointing him as Reich Marshal.

But Wilhelm Tarkin calmly refused, replying to Sartre Pestach with only one sentence: "Appoint a Reich Marshal? You are not worthy."

……

A month later, on May 20, Wilhuff Tarkin wrote directly to Emperor Satter Pestach of the Empire, expressing his impending expedition to the planet Dawn!
Just like the attitude of Thron, Darth Vader, and others towards Sutter Pestać, Wilhoff Tarkin didn't even bother to use a question mark in his letter.

That's right, he was just giving a notification.

Wilhuff Tarkin ordered the Death Star and its escort fleet to set off immediately and head straight for Dawn!
Based on its route, the Death Star will travel along the core route as much as possible, passing through the Fourth Empire's territories, including places like Kira and Eriadu.

And a final ultimatum was issued to all the planets along the way—surrender, or be destroyed! (End of Chapter)