King of Dawn Tang Xiao personally appeared on the Northern Galaxy battlefield, and the meaning could not have been clearer. Combined with recent intelligence about large-scale fleet movements, it all pointed to one fact—the Kingdom of Dawn was about to launch a massive offensive!
Yet at this very moment, Emperor Palpatine of the Galactic Empire had, for unknown reasons, stopped handling affairs altogether and had not attended a single Imperial Senate meeting. Not only that, even his closest confidants had no idea where he was. Nearly every document sent to him vanished without a trace.
The Galactic Empire was falling into a leaderless state.
Just as Dunn Vesex understood, the Galactic Empire could not function without Palpatine. Too many powerful factions and interest groups within the Empire had previously submitted to Palpatine's intimidation. Once Palpatine was gone, they would immediately carve up the entire Galactic Empire among themselves.
The Kingdom of Dawn might perhaps become the same way in the future, but the Mega-corporations within it had only begun rising alongside the kingdom's founding. Their power and foundations had not yet become deeply entrenched. At least for now, even if Tang Xiao were absent, the powerful figures within the Kingdom of Dawn could not stir up any major trouble—at least not yet.
Now, the Galactic Empire faced powerful enemies invading from without and every kind of internal strife from within. Even Grand Judge Latinal Tobin of the Imperial Inquisitorius had died on Tepasi!
And under such circumstances, Emperor Palpatine had simply vanished.
Under Koru Van D'ron's leadership, the Empire's New Order Maintenance Committee, including core members such as Sate Pestage and Isin Il Raz, began stepping forward in an attempt to stabilize Imperial politics. But the situation remained dire, because even they were thinking only of how to secure more