The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge

1777. Natural disaster in the Milky Way

Gilad Pellaeon set off almost immediately, rushing directly to the center of the empire without stopping. On the way, Dunn-Wessex also forwarded a meeting message to him - a meeting was held at the command center of the Imperial Navy Headquarters on the afternoon of the next day.

Seeing Dunne-Wessex so formal also shows how seriously he takes this matter.

And Gilad Pellaeon also understood the seriousness of the matter very well, which is why he immediately abandoned all work and immediately returned to the Empire Center to discuss the matter.

The geth actually mastered the technology of warp navigation! !

For the Galactic Empire, this matter is even more serious than the mighty and invincible Titan battleship Xuanwu of the Principality of Dawn!

Returning to the center of the empire, he immediately went to find Dunn Wessex, but the latter's adjutant told him that Dunn was in a meeting and it would last until the next day.

Gilard Perrine had no choice but to return to his apartment, take a shower, and ignore sleep. He devoted himself to studying the document and the accompanying data all night long.

Early the next morning, he went directly to the Imperial Navy headquarters. This used to be the command center of the Supreme Strategic Headquarters of the Galactic Republic. It was now transformed into its own headquarters by the Imperial Navy, and all the previous equipment files and other things were inherited.

As for the Imperial Army, their status is far from comparable to that of the Navy, and they can only find a place to rebuild their headquarters.

Entering the conference room, Gilad Perrine found that he had arrived very late. The conference room was already full of people. The left side was full of scientists wearing white uniforms and coats, and the right side was full of people. Wilhuff Tarkin, Dunn Wessex were all there, and the third Octavian Grant, the governor of the 20th Army, Marceline Wessel, the governor of the 7th Army, etc., are all high-ranking officials on one side.

Gilard Perrine walked over and was about to say something, but saw Dunn Wessex giving him a signal to quickly find a place to sit down.

So he walked towards an inconspicuous corner, and when passing by Wilhuff Tarkin, he met the other person's cold and sinister gaze. Gilard Perrine didn't look at the other party too much, but hurriedly walked over.

After a while, the conference room door opened again, and several Emperor's Guards wearing red robes, full-coverage helmets, and holding long handles walked in. Everyone immediately stood up, stood at attention, saluted, and loudly said: "Long live His Majesty the Emperor!"

Emperor Palpatine walked in slowly, waved his hand casually, then sat on the throne at the top of the conference room, looked around, raised his hand and pressed down, and everyone sat down carefully.

Palpatine said slowly: "I have received the good news from the north. Governor of Wessex, General Pellaeon, you are worthy of being a model among the imperial army. You fought bravely and repelled the threat of the geth in one fell swoop. The military might of the Empire resounds throughout the north. I will award General Gilad Pellaeon the Imperial Medal, and the award ceremony will be arranged immediately."

"Yes! Long live the Emperor!" Dunn Wessex and Gilad Perrine quickly stood up, stood at attention, and saluted again.

"Okay. Governor Wessex, your previous report said that the geth may appear anywhere in the galaxy now. The matter is urgent, and I have convened this summit of the highest level of the imperial military to discuss this matter. Now, you You can say it.”

"Yes!" Dunn-Wessex said with his chest raised high: "According to the intelligence department of our army, the geth have confirmed that they have mastered the warp speed navigation technology, and can travel anywhere in the galaxy without relying on hyperspace channels. You can wander in any direction. I have asked astronomers, hyperspace scientists and other departments to conduct intensive research, and now we have preliminary results! Dr. McCartan, you will give a professional explanation below."

An elderly scientist about 60 years old stood up, turned on the holographic projection that had been prepared, and said: "In view of the fact that during the Geth invasion of the planet Feida, small groups of Geth fleets repeatedly appeared in Kota. We have studied the situation on the planet Reese and other places. After using a variety of scanners to scan, we have detected that the planets where the Geth fleet has appeared have experienced space oscillations."

He projected a very complex astronomical model in the holographic projection. "Therefore, we further scanned from the perspective of space and sent detection drones to simulate the space oscillation and found a slight space warp. This is the only The explanation is that the space in this area has been artificially changed, and this change has a very obvious direction."

"As the geth harassment fleets continue to appear, we have more samples for analysis. The final conclusion is - warp travel." Scientist McCartan continued, "The so-called warp travel is a folding spacecraft. The space in front of the spacecraft is bent to enlarge the space behind the spacecraft, and at the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the spacecraft is relatively stationary. In this way, it is equivalent to the position of the spacecraft changing, that is, moving forward. In other words, if the universe is compared to a If we add blocks one by one, then if we continue to move the blocks in front between the spacecraft and the destination to the back, will the spacecraft get closer and closer to the destination? That's the situation."

Palpatine said: "In other words, in this process, there is no need to enter hyperspace, and you can directly achieve super-light displacement in the three-dimensional space?"

"Yes. There are three difficulties in doing this - first, folding the space in front, second, bending and enlarging the space behind, and third, keeping the spacecraft relatively stationary. To do this, you need to A warp bubble is generated around the spacecraft, otherwise, the spacecraft will be like sailing in a river, moving the water back, and the ship will also move with the water, which would be meaningless."

"How fast is this method of navigation?" Palpatine asked again.

"Theoretically, it is infinitely fast. As long as we can fold up a large enough space in front of the spacecraft, it is also possible to move directly to the destination instantly. But of course this is just a theory. In fact, the larger the folded space , the energy required will increase exponentially. If you want the spacecraft to achieve the effect of teleportation, such as moving from the center of the empire to the outer ring star area in an instant, the energy required may require adding up all the stars in the entire galaxy." McCar. Tan said.

He called up another set of data and continued, "So after mastering this method, we can judge the amplitude of the opponent's folded space from the energy consumption. The current conclusion is that it is 1,000 to 3,000 times the speed of light."

"At this speed, it is almost impossible to sail the entire galaxy. It would take hundreds of years to fly from the center of the empire to the outer star region," Palpatine said.

"That's the problem, His Majesty the Emperor." McCartan held the conference table with both hands with a very solemn expression, "The ones who use this technology are geth, which are mechanical life forms."

Dunn-Wessex sighed and said: "They have no concept of lifespan. There is no need to even install a life-support device on the spacecraft. As long as there is enough energy, they can sail until the end of the world. In fact, according to what I got According to intelligence, some small groups of geth harassing fleets suddenly appeared on the planet Kotaris. They probably set out days or even months ago."

"You want to say that if the Geth really has this plan, then there is even a fleet heading to the center of the empire now, and will arrive suddenly in decades or hundreds of years?" Palpatine frowned, "Is there any way to detect it?"

McCartan shook his head and said: "It's almost impossible. The spacecraft is in a warp bubble. Although it cannot be said to have entered another dimension, it is at least isolated from the current three-dimensional space. We do not have the technology to detect a A fleet isolated from three-dimensional space.”

He operated on the projection, and an overall star map of the entire galaxy appeared, and then said: "Because the location of the planet where the Geth originated is not known yet, I built it based on the Zhanfatar planet where the Geth first appeared. We have such a model."

I only saw that in this galaxy, starting from the position of Zhanfatar's planet, a red area began to spread in all directions, like a plague, and it became wider and wider. Following the fast-forward timer below, after 235 years, the entire Milky Way has turned red.

"As this model shows... the Geth will include the entire galaxy within their scope of activity in more than 200 years. By that time, no place in the entire galaxy will be safe." McCartan said seriously, "The Geth Since they mastered the technology of warp speed navigation, they have become a major natural disaster in the galaxy!"

Everyone present looked solemn and whispered among themselves. Although they had already received the news, after McCartan's explanation, they intuitively realized that such a sailing method of only 3,000 times the speed of light actually brought such a huge threat to the Milky Way!

Compared with the current speed of hyperspace navigation, which is 3,000 times the speed of light, warp speed is a complete turtle speed. No, not even a turtle speed!

Because of hyperspace navigation, if the whole journey is in a large waterway like the Hydia Passage, and if the spacecraft's hyperspace engine level is high enough, it will only take three days at the fastest to cross the galaxy. This is approximately equivalent to more than 1 million times the speed of light!

The gap between more than 1 million times and 3,000 times is so huge that it cannot be increased.

However, it is this mere 3,000 times the speed of light that brings an extremely huge threat to the Milky Way!

"Now, can we master the technology of warp speed navigation?" Palpatine asked, "Don't you say that this technology is very primitive?"

McCartan shook his head and said, "Unfortunately, no. Although the theory of warp navigation was actually proposed tens of thousands of years ago, and it is indeed a very primitive technology, we have not done any research on this technology. A little research. If we really do it, it will take at least several decades."

He added: "In fact, the development of science and technology is like the root system of a plant. The further it develops, the more branches it will have, and the number will also increase exponentially. Maybe in primitive society, those who can become technology are not In addition, there are countless types such as writing, paper, wheels, and bronzes. However, in this era of development, we can no longer even use numbers to calculate the technologies and theories that have appeared. Therefore, focused development is inevitable. The result - in terms of faster-than-light navigation, we have only done research on hyperspace navigation. Although we cannot say that we know nothing about other methods, we can definitely make no achievements."

"So, what's your conclusion?" Palpatine turned his attention to Dunn Wessex again, "After all, you and General Pellaeon discovered this matter first."

Seeing this scene, Wilhuff Tarkin's face became even colder. Because in fact, Gilad Pellaeon first reported to Marceline Wessel, the governor of the Seventh Army, and then Wessel reported to himself, so he should be the one who discovered it first.

This is not a childish attitude, where whoever comes first will be the best.

It's a matter of first move. Because Palpatine believes that Dunn Wessex discovered it first, then he will definitely hand over the matter to Wessex now, regardless of what plan Dunn Wessex proposes. First of all, he will definitely control more resources.

Even Dunne-Wessex doesn't need to actually have a way to deal with the geth, just that he's doing it.

As a result, Tarkin's own position relative to Dunn-Wessex will gradually fall behind.

Sure enough, Dunn-Wessex immediately opened his mouth to the lion. He stood up, bowed respectfully to Palpatine, and then said: "In this case, it is equivalent to Geth using himself to almost Infinite lifespan to force us to exchange with them. Our only way is to solve it head-on... According to Professor McCartan's model as a timetable, we will gradually establish it on every habitable planet within the empire. Its own independent defense system.”

"If you are not joking, then I can only think that there may be a problem with your IQ." Wilhuff Tarkin said coldly, "Do you know that as a result, the empire's finances may be overwhelmed, and even Direct financial collapse? Do you know that during the previous war, His Majesty the Emperor just issued a decree to cancel the local defense fleets of most planets? Do you want His Majesty the Emperor to issue a contradictory decree? "

What I want to say here is that the Galactic Empire was legally reorganized from the Galactic Republic. It was a reorganization rather than a revolution, so although there were earth-shaking changes in the process from the Republic to the Empire, many of the policies and laws of the Galactic Republic were still recognized by the Galactic Empire.

The recognized parts are basically the decrees issued by Palpatine himself when he was the Speaker of the Republic. The decree to cancel the local defense fleet is naturally among them. (End of chapter)