This is already the seventh year since Palpatine became emperor.
As he ruled the Galactic Empire longer, his temperament became more gloomy and terrifying. He no longer wore the gorgeous attire he had when he was a member or speaker. On the contrary, he wore a uniform almost all the time.
A black cloak.
Not only that, the half of the face exposed under the hood of the cloak has become more and more distorted, with pale wrinkles covering the entire face, the sinister smile and the yellowed and sharp teeth exposed from the mouth.
It makes people feel that now he is more like a monster than a person...
Everyone sitting here looked at Palpatine nervously. Even powerful people like Dunne Wessex and Wilhuff Tarkin did not dare to show any slightness.
Over the past few years, Palpatine has become more and more cruel, suspicious, and irritable. No one can know what he is thinking. He may have seemed to be in a good mood just a second ago.
, he may directly kill someone in the next second.
The decisions he made became more and more extreme and cruel. He issued instructions more than once to carry out inhumane massacres on those planets that dared to resist, and hung the captured rebel leaders in the reconquered cities, watching.
They died slowly in the struggle.
Darth Vader stood behind Palpatine, his tall body carrying an endless sense of oppression, and the constant heavy breathing sounded like a heavy hammer hitting everyone's heart.
Palpatine did not speak. He just scanned the crowd with his eyes that exuded a terrifying golden light, again and again, until they began to tremble with fear, and then he slowly said: "Grand Duke Dawn
, Darth Malthael...is missing."
His voice was twisted and greasy, and he did not call him Tang Xiao, but the Sith title. Anyone who knows Palpatine knows that whenever this happens, it shows that his attention is on Darth Massa.
It's El himself, not the Principality of Dawn.
But compared to these, none of them were as shocking as the information he said.
Black Star suddenly raised his head, "Darth Malthael is missing? Your Majesty, are you sure?" As a powerful dark side force user, the only people present were him, Kadan and Darth Vader.
Personally, he remained unmoved by Palpatine's pressure.
"I can no longer sense his presence in the Force..." Palpatine said slowly, "His disgusting aura has always been in the world of the Force. It makes me angry and makes me think about it all the time.
...Kill him! But now...his force power has disappeared."
"Is it because he is in a relatively closed place? Your Majesty. According to our intelligence, Tang Xiao has been in the unknown star field in recent months... The Dawn Principality should have encountered trouble there." Wilhoff-
Tarkin said.
"Huh! Stupid guy! How can a mortal like you understand the mysteries of the Force?" Palpatine snorted coldly, "I said he was missing, he is missing! It has nothing to do with where he is."
Black Hole also said on the side: "Even hyperspace turbulence cannot block the induction of the Force. Even time and space, the Force can leave traces in it. Since His Majesty can no longer sense Darth Malthael's
existence, then he has only two possibilities - the first is to die, and the second is to be in a place that even the Force cannot pass through. No matter which one it is, it will mean that Darth Malthael will be dead in a short time.
He will never appear, or in other words, he will never appear."
The supreme dark prophet Kadan let out a sinister laugh, "Without Darth Malthael, the threat of the Dawn Principality was immediately reduced by more than half. This is our best chance... We should send troops immediately to eliminate the Dawn Principality in one fell swoop!
Every one of their top officials was arrested and put on public trial and then publicly executed! Hahahahaha."
Palpatine also laughed proudly, "Hahahaha! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Let our fleets start gathering immediately! Launch an attack on the Principality of Dawn in the shortest possible time!"
However, after he said these words, everyone else present fell silent. Almost everyone kept their eyes and noses attentively, lowering their heads and not daring to speak.
"I'm telling you, send troops immediately!" Palpatine said coldly, his voice extremely sinister. He was obviously very dissatisfied with the current atmosphere.
In this almost stagnant atmosphere, Sate Pestage, the highest advisor of the Imperial Advisory Group, leader of the Imperial Loyalty Committee, and Imperial Grand Vizier, mustered up the courage to answer: "Your Majesty...
Where do we still have a fleet that can attack now..."
The venue once again fell into a terrible silence. The surrounding air seemed to have solidified, and everyone found it very difficult to breathe.
Everyone could feel Palpatine's brewing anger in the silence.
Black Hole is finally a man. He snorted coldly and said sternly: "Our current navy has exceeded the size of the Galactic Republic by more than three times during the war! We have more than 10,000 capital ships at hand, and now you say that we don't have any."
fleet?"
He said this to give Sartre a step down and ask him to explain quickly, otherwise if Palpatine asked, he might really kill someone! In that case, Sartre-Pestach
A long list of titles may not save your life!
Sart-Pestach cast a grateful look at the black hole, and he quickly said: "The resistance forces in the empire have become increasingly fierce recently, and the work of rebuilding the 14th Army has been stagnant. There are even rumors that the planet Rylos is also secretly brewing.
Revolution. And a civil war is also breaking out on the planet Geonosis, which has even affected the construction progress of DS-1. We have sent out almost all the battleships."
"Then you want to tell me that we have to sit here and wait for this great opportunity when Darth Malthael disappears?" Palpatine asked sullenly, "Then I am raising a bunch of cowards like you.
What's the use?! You told me last time that there was still a mobile force of 1,000 capital ships, but now, there is not even one! Where did the huge military expenditures I invested go?"
Eshin El-Raz, leader of the New Order Protection Committee, also said: "There have been many planets that have rebelled recently, and pirates have become increasingly rampant, which has caused our control over the outer ring star region and even part of the middle ring star region to continue to decline. In order to maintain
To control the operation of the empire, we can only send more fleets out to suppress it. With all due respect, considering the current territory of the empire, our fleet is still too small..."
Hei Dong, who is also the director of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, also said: "I have strengthened the intelligence penetration into the Principality of Dawn, and it is obvious that they have strengthened their intelligence deployment after Tang Xiao disappeared. I very much suspect that a considerable part of the rebellion,
It’s the Dawn Principality that is causing trouble behind the scenes, and the purpose is to distract our power so that we can’t take action against them.”
"I need answers!" Palpatine roared, and he even brought the power of the dark side. This violent shout shocked everyone present, "Darth Malthael is missing now! And we
, we must take this opportunity to wipe out the Principality of Dawn in one fell swoop! I only need to hear a time! What time..."
"I think... we can plan an attack on the fourth group in the northern part of the Principality of Dawn. First attack the planet Oud-Mantel, rebuild the Eighth Army, and then directly threaten the planet Murinster and seek a decisive battle with the fleet. This way
In the future, it will be possible for us to surround the planet Mequito after occupying the planet Murinster." Dunn-Wessex said.
He is the King of the North, so of course he hopes that the empire's offensive will be launched from his side. In this way, the power and military strength in his hands will be even greater.
Sutter-Pestachi quickly echoed: "This should be possible. As long as we can occupy the planet Mequito, we will be able to obtain the huge wealth that the separatists of the Interstellar Banking Association have robbed before. This will greatly alleviate the empire's current situation.
Financial crisis. As long as we have enough money, we will expand our fleet faster!"
Wilhuff Tarkin said coldly: "You can't even deal with the geth raging in the north, and you still want to send a fleet deep into the hinterland to attack the planet Mequito? When did you overestimate your abilities so much? Deng
En-Wessex.”
He turned to Palpatine again and said seriously: "Your Majesty, the rebellions that are happening one after another are because the Star Destroyer's deterrence is not enough. The Imperial Navy reconstruction plan proposed by Dunn Wessex is wrong...
…We need absolute power and absolute deterrence like DS-1. Only by completing the construction of DS-1 as soon as possible, by then, no one in the empire will dare to resist, and all our warships will be freed and used as mobile forces.
.”
He raised a finger and said: "Fear is the best way to rule the galaxy. If there is still rebellion, it can only be said that fear is not enough. And DS-1 is the biggest fear in this galaxy! Than
Ten thousand Star Destroyers would be more effective."
This time, Palpatine interrupted Tarkin's words directly and rudely. He said gloomily: "Can DS-1 be dispatched now to destroy the Dawn Planet? If not, what's the point now?..."
He looked around at everyone again and said coldly: "If you can't come up with a plan, then let me do it. Within a month, gather at least 4,000 battleships and launch an attack! I don't care about any reasons, I don't care about those
Whatever the battleship is doing, bring it back to me!"
"Your Majesty! This..." Sutter-Pestach quickly tried to dissuade this crazy idea, "This is inappropriate..."
If 4,000 capital ships are really transferred back, I am afraid that at least half of the empire will start to fight for independence! If things go wrong, it is not impossible for a second independent galaxy confederation to be born from those places!
And once these planets begin to fight for independence, the 4,000 battleships sent out will immediately become rootless and completely defeated due to lack of supplies.
By then, will the Galactic Empire still be the Galactic Empire?
At this time, an extremely low and dull voice suddenly sounded, "Trade Alliance."
Everyone immediately looked at the source of the voice - who had been standing motionless behind Palpatine, Darth Vader! The most powerful general of the Galactic Empire, Palpatine's disciple and confidant.
"Hehehe... tell me what your plan is." Palpatine let out a twisted laugh.
"Declare the Trade Federation as treason and all their activities as illegal. Then attack the planets controlled by the Trade Federation, including Cato-Neimoidia and Balmorra-Neimoidia, and completely wipe them out of the empire.
"Except." Darth Vader said coldly, "We will receive huge funds and resources from the Trade Federation, and at the same time, we will also deter other forces from the empire who are plotting evil."
Everyone present looked solemn, they were thinking about this matter seriously.
But this matter is really not easy to handle.
Although the Trade Federation was one of the main core members of the Confederation of Independent Systems in the previous Clone Wars, in fact, the Trade Federation is still doing business with the Galactic Republic, and they have always insisted on Newt Gunn
Ray is just a radical faction of the Trade Federation, and the Trade Federation is actually loyal to the Galactic Republic.
In fact, even during the Clone Wars, the Trade Federation did this. They served both sides of the war at the same time. The wealthy Neimoidians also contributed a lot of revenue to the finances of the Galactic Republic, which allowed the Galactic Republic and
Later galactic empires found it difficult to deal with them.
The key to the matter actually lies in the Principality of Dawn!
Because in the original plot, Newt Gunray, who was bewitched by Palpatine, surrendered directly at the end of the war. He shut down all the combat robots and stupidly waited for Palpatine to fulfill his promise. But he
What awaited was Darth Vader's fiery lightsaber.
In the environment at that time, the Galactic Empire had no enemies at all, and the war was over, so he could do whatever he wanted. Palpatine directly declared several major corporate giants, including Newt Gunray, as the number one war criminals, and then accused them of treason.
On the pretext of plundering and confiscating all their properties and wealth, they brought the first huge financial revenue to the empire.
But it is different now. The Principality of Dawn is still there, and for the Trade Alliance, a company that is betting on both sides, if the pressure on them is too great, then they might go directly to the Principality of Dawn. Just like before
Just like the Interstellar Banking Association, the split of the Interstellar Banking Association at that time dealt a fatal blow to the finances of the Galactic Republic.
And the Trade Alliance is going to do it again, and the blow will definitely not be small!
Because the Trade Federation has monopolized the logistics and transportation industry in the entire galaxy for thousands of years, once they have a problem, transportation in many places within the Galactic Empire will be paralyzed.
Once transportation and logistics are paralyzed, famine and material shortages will occur on many planets, and then more rebellions will follow!