The Final Resistance
"Grand Duke! We can't hold on any longer!" At the Duchy Palace on Dawn Star Planet, Trade Federation Governor Nute Gunray practically knelt before Tang Xiao in tears and snot, clutching his thigh as he wailed, "The... the Wealth Worlds have all fallen! Only Balmorra is left now!!"
"Didn't I tell you to hold out for at least two years? How long have you held out so far?" Tang Xiao asked coldly.
"It's not that I didn't want to hold out... The Imperial Legions really did push in inch by inch... We simply couldn't stop them..." Nute Gunray howled.
Tang Xiao kicked him away and snorted. "Then what about Kato Neimoidia? You actually let the Galactic Empire occupy those Bridge Cities? And I heard Darth Vader was there during the attack on Zarra City? Then you should have blown up every last one of those Bridge Cities! Let Darth Vader bathe in treasure down in the ravines himself!"
"I truly didn't dare to blow them up..." Still sobbing, Nute Gunray crawled back over and tried to cling to Tang Xiao's calf again. "Palpatine threatened me. He said that if I dared blow up the Bridge Cities, he would level Balmorra and Neimoidia, leaving not a single Neimoidian alive..."
Tang Xiao could tell that Nute Gunray was genuinely crying this time, because he truly had nowhere left to turn.
After nearly a year of blows, the Trade Federation had essentially collapsed completely within the Galactic Empire. Their planets in the Core Worlds and Inner Rim had been besieged, falling or surrendering one after another, while most of their planets in the Mid Rim and Outer Rim had withdrawn from the Trade Federation as soon as they saw the situation turning against them.
While the Trade Federation was under