Infinite Stream Metaverse

Chapter 782 Do all the bad things
Fu Qinghai's plan to visit the local archives in Sereno was temporarily canceled because the new fighter jets arrived.

After receiving the notification, all six members of the Blade Squad arrived at the fighter jet landing platform on the eighth floor of the base, where six brand-new fighter jets were already parked.

Four very familiar TIE/LN fighter jets.

There were two other unfamiliar fighter jets that the Blade Squad members had never seen before. The jets consisted of two parallel cylindrical fuselages, one with a transparent steel window and the other without. On either side were a pair of octagonal bent solar panels, making the overall design quite unique.

TIE/SA bombers, a double yolk, you know.

Fu Qinghai knew the name and nickname of this fighter jet.

Sina Fleet Systems has finally unveiled a new fighter jet, but it's not the TIE Advanced x1 or TIE Advanced v1 that Fu Qinghai tested before; instead, it's a frontline tactical bomber.

The TIE bomber consisted of two cylindrical hulls. The pilot was located in the right hull, while the left hull was the bomber's payload bay, capable of carrying and launching various weapons such as proton torpedoes, concussion missiles, rail mines, and free-fall thermal grenades. It was also equipped with two forward-facing blast cannons.

Like the TIE fighter, the TIE bomber lacked a shield system and hyperspace drive; it simply had an additional life support system—allowing the bomber pilots to operate without wearing fully enclosed spacesuits in the cockpit, nothing more.

Although the Imperial military ultimately did not choose the expensive TIE Advanced x1 and TIE Advanced v1, Fu Qinghai still saw some designs that had been verified on experimental fighters on the TIE bomber—such as the pair of folding wing panels.

The cylindrical fuselage of the TIE bomber also carved out a small family within the larger family of TIE fighters. If the payload bay was replaced with a crew bay, carrying four to six soldiers, it became the TIE/sh shuttle. Furthermore, there were various nested modifications with ever-increasing numbers of cylindrical fuselages.

However, in Fu Qinghai's view, the TIE bomber only solved the problem of whether or not it existed—the Imperial Navy in the past did not even have bombers, but it did not solve the problem of whether or not they were good.

The performance of the TIE bomber couldn't even match that of the oldest Y-wing fighters of the Rebel Alliance, let alone the more advanced bombers, B-wings, and K-wings that the Rebels later developed.

According to incomplete statistics, the TIE fighter family has appeared in more than 50 different models in both the canon and the legendary universes. However, only three models were deployed on a large scale by the Galactic Empire: the TIE/ln fighter, the TIE/sa bomber, and the TIE/in interceptor. The common feature of these three TIE fighters is that they do not have shield systems or hyperspace drives, and they are all cheap fighters.

Still the old saying.

The Empire doesn't value starfighters at all.

"This is a..."

The person who came to make the handover was about to start introducing the situation.

"I know, bombers."

Fu Qinghai nodded and walked straight forward, tapping the transparent window of the cockpit with the back of his hand, producing a crisp clanging sound. Then he turned to his team members and said:
"We split into two groups to take turns flying them and getting a feel for it, and then we assigned two people to pilot these two bombers."

……

The naval forces at the military base are severely understaffed. Normally, a military base should have at least one fighter squadron, which is twelve fighter jets. The ground crew at the base are also configured according to the size of a squadron. There are thirty maintenance technicians stationed on the seventh and eighth floors of the base.

However, at present, the entire base only has the Blade Squadron as its naval force. This means that although Fu Qinghai is technically just a cadet without a formal rank, all naval personnel in the base have to obey his orders, and he wields considerable power until the fighter squadron is fully staffed.

"By the way, has the squadron ever been at full strength before?"

Fu Qinghai asked a ground crew member.

"No, our base used to only have one fighter squadron, two TIE/RC reconnaissance planes and four TIE/LN fighters. They were all destroyed in a smuggling operation. Five pilots died and one was seriously injured. The seriously injured one was rescued, but I heard he was disabled. The higher-ups arranged for him to retire and send him back to his hometown... and then you guys came here."

The ground staff answered honestly.

No, can anti-smuggling operations wipe out entire operations?
Fu Qinghai was secretly astonished after hearing this.

Could it be that the smuggler's name is Han Solo? A regular army can't even defeat a bunch of smugglers. The TIE fighter jets are truly continuing their cannon fodder performance.

The TIE/rc reconnaissance aircraft is essentially a TIE/ln fighter jet with one of its blast cannons removed and replaced with sensors. There is also a variant called the TIE/rc "Vanguard," which has slightly altered wing angles and is equipped with low-power deflector shields.

"Green Mountain."

At this moment, Colonel Edmund Walpole walked over, pulled Fu Qinghai aside, and whispered his instructions:

"Once the new fighters arrive, you'll need to begin your routine patrols. The Imperial Security Bureau told me that the Sereno seem to be getting restless lately, probably because they haven't seen Imperial TIE fighters in the sky for a long time. Let's teach them a lesson, hmm? Do you know what to do?"

Fu Qinghai immediately understood upon hearing this:

"Yes, sir."

Haven't eaten pork and never seen a pig run?

Although this was Fu Qinghai's first time serving in the military, he had watched so many Star Wars movies, TV series and animations in his previous life that he still didn't know what to do—wasn't it just to deliberately fly low and quickly fly over people's heads to scare them?

“You guys just came from military academy and don’t have any formal service experience, so you may not know much about the situation in the surrounding area.”

However, the colonel still seemed uneasy, and grabbed Fu Qinghai, coldly and indifferently instructing him:

"During your patrols, if you see anyone who seems suspicious, just open fire. Don't ask me for permission, and don't write me any bullshit reports afterwards. I don't have time to deal with that kind of nonsense. Understand?"

Fu Qinghai raised his eyebrows slightly.

Logically speaking, Sereno is now Imperial territory, right? And the people of Sereno are citizens of the Empire, aren't they?

They can fire at anyone, including civilians, without asking permission beforehand or reporting afterwards—how is this any different from allowing Australian soldiers to sit in helicopters and indiscriminately mow down Afghan civilians for their own amusement?
No wonder the Empire has such a bad reputation in the outer regions. Of course, it's not much better in the core, but it should at least be more restrained when facing those wealthy and developed core worlds... How can the counterinsurgency war be over if it's running rampant in the occupied territories?

Fu Qinghai secretly thought to himself:

They have no sense of united front work at all. Aren't they just pushing all these remnants of separatist forces to the side of the rebel army?

"I understand, sir."

Fu Qinghai nodded slowly and said.

“You are a smart person, Aoyama.”

Colonel Walpole reached out and patted Fu Qinghai on the shoulder:

"That's what I felt the moment I saw you."

……

Two TIE fighter jets burst out of the hangar doors of the military base one after the other and soared into the cloud-covered sky.

Inside the cockpit, Fu Qinghai, completely encased in a pure black spacesuit, calmly and methodically adjusted the equipment.

"Buzz... Blade Two, maintain reconnaissance formation."

Fu Qinghai looked straight ahead and said calmly:
"Let's get familiar with this planet."

"Roger that, Blade One, I'm to your left rear."

Elowin's reply came through the communication channel.

As Fu Qinghai piloted the fighter jet, he silently recalled the almost explicit words the colonel had just spoken to him.

In the early days of the Rebel Alliance, it did indeed absorb many remnants of former separatist forces. Ultimately, while the Emperor outwardly pursued a policy of appeasement, calling on former separatist councilors to return to the Imperial Diet, the Imperial Army actually slaughtered more ruthlessly than anyone else on these former separatist planets.

Nine years ago, Tarkin commanded Imperial forces in a massacre on the former separatist planet Antar IV, known as the "Antar Massacre" of 18 BBY. Two journalists extensively covered the operation, enraging the people of Coruscant and sparking considerable political controversy.

However, the empire's controlled media quickly reversed public opinion, continuing to use the existence of separatists as a pretext for its military expansion during peacetime. As patriotic sentiment surged, many imperial citizens joined the army, fantasizing about fighting separatists and criminals.

In the same year, in the Saan Sector of the colony, local residents gathered at the landing site to prevent Tarkin's flagship from landing, protesting the Empire's harsh tax policies on Gorman. Tarkin directly ordered the Star Destroyer to land on top of the protesters, instantly killing more than 5,000 people.

This incident also caused a public outcry.

Gorman is not some former separatist planet. Gorman has never joined the Independent System Confederation, nor is it some remote, alien homeland in the Outer Ring. Gorman is a legitimate human planet within a colony, which cannot be explained by "striking down separatist diehards."

Creating an evil external enemy to divert attention from internal conflicts and consolidate rule is a tried-and-true tactic used by rulers throughout history and across the world, as clearly stated in George Orwell's novel *1984*. For the Galactic Empire, the remnants of separatist forces constitute this "external enemy."

The problem is that while Antar can be portrayed as an "external enemy," Gorman does not belong to this "external enemy." Even if you try to fabricate a story, it's hard to connect him to this "external enemy." They are completely unrelated. This is a thorough internal repression, and Tarkin didn't even bother to act.

However, Tarkin was not punished for this.

On the contrary, his position became even more secure.

It's possible that the higher-ups set an example, and with Governor Tarkin as a role model, other Imperial garrisons would follow suit. Indeed, compared to what Tarkin had done, Colonel Edmund Walpole's actions were nothing.

Fu Qinghai analyzed it in his mind.

However, then again.

Fu Qinghai began to think more deeply:
Even if the imperial troops stationed there behave themselves and remain law-abiding, the resistance is unlikely to decrease much.

Maintaining a unified and autocratic empire requires the cost of governance. Winning hearts and minds and pursuing appeasement policies also require costs. The empire once promised separatist planets that it would allocate funds to rebuild these war-torn planets after the war, in order to persuade the remnants of separatist forces to lay down their weapons and stop resisting. But the question is, where will the money come from?

Fu Qinghai was not the Minister of Finance of the Empire, so he did not know how much money it would cost to maintain such a huge empire. But in reality, just to maintain such a huge army, the empire would have to keep increasing taxes and exploiting and oppressing all the planets. Where would it get the extra money to rebuild those separatist planets? It was all just empty talk.

To maintain rule, one must use both carrot and stick, employ both military force and incentives. This is a simple truth that almost every online novel reader understands.

The problem is, both carrots and sticks cost money. The Galactic Empire has already spent far too much money building and maintaining its massive army—a true "stick"—so where would it find the funds to distribute carrots to other planets?
This leads to a vicious cycle: maintaining a large army requires the exploitation and oppression of the people, which in turn leads to more resistance, which in turn requires an even larger army to suppress these resistances...

Many people think that the idea of ​​"Taginism," which relies on terror to maintain rule, is stupid. Fu Qinghai also thinks so. But given that the empire had already chosen to engage in militarism from the beginning, Taginism seemed to be the only option.

A combination of kindness and severity won't work.

Then we can only add even more pressure.

TIE fighter jets flew over the town.

"Lower altitude."

Fu Qinghai suddenly spoke up.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a square in the center of the town, with fountains and sculptures, where many locals had gathered to form a small market, selling agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, livestock, and grains.

Fu Qinghai controlled the fighter jet to descend rapidly.

The wingman behind him also descended in sync.

"We're only 300 meters from the ground."

Elwin asked with some confusion:

"Should it go down further?"

"Continue to decline."

Fu Qinghai commanded in a detached tone.

Although Elowin didn't understand, he still meticulously carried out the lead aircraft's orders. The two TIE fighters descended to an altitude of just over 100 meters, with the lower edge of their wingplates almost brushing against the top of the town's tallest clock tower, and they continued to descend.

"accelerate!"

Fu Qinghai suddenly spoke up.

Then he pressed the pedal all the way down.

Elwin reacted quickly and immediately followed his actions. The two fighter jets flew past the market at a height of less than fifty meters, one after the other, and burst into the air with the sharp whistle characteristic of TIE fighter jets.

"Buzz--"

At the same time, the gale-force winds brought by the two fighter jets instantly blew several tents and their supporting frames off the market. Fruits and vegetables on the shelves were knocked over and scattered, and water in the pools was splashed out. The whole market was in chaos. Experienced people immediately squatted down and hugged their children tightly, while those who did not notice the fighter jets overhead were directly overturned by the gale and rolled around in the street.

Fu Qinghai glanced back at the mess he had created, said nothing, and pulled up the control stick with both hands, causing the TIE fighter jet to take off again and return to the sky.

"I don't understand... Aoyama."

Elwin's hesitant voice rang out:

"What does it mean?"

"That's what Colonel Edmund Walpole meant."

Fu Qinghai sighed and replied.

"I still don't understand..."

Elowen's voice grew softer and softer until she finally fell completely silent. Fu Qinghai guessed that she must have understood.

Fu Qinghai didn't speak, but turned his head to glance at the navigation location information on the screen before looking back ahead:

"Let's move on to the next place."

……

As a mining planet, Sereno has a small population, with only a few large cities and the rest being small towns or villages around the mining areas.

Fu Qinghai and Elwin piloted the TIE fighter jets and circled around the planet. On the one hand, they were familiarizing themselves with the terrain and environment of the main population areas. On the other hand, as Colonel Edmund Walpole had requested, they were intimidating the local people, asserting the Empire's presence, and giving the supposedly restless "separatist diehards" a taste of their own medicine.

Fu Qinghai carried it out very thoroughly.

He even targeted elderly herders in the mountains, lowering his altitude to fly over them and scattering his herd of long-tailed Naf cattle.

"Did you even get any enjoyment from it?"

Elwin questioned her somewhat irritably.

"Hum..."

Fu Qinghai smiled but didn't explain anything.

Through a single patrol mission, he had already thoroughly familiarized himself with the terrain and environment of the planet's main population centers. The three-dimensional landscape, sketched out visually, was firmly imprinted in his mind. Since it wasn't a major plot event, he didn't have any plans for the time being; it was simply a habit he developed after arriving in a new environment.

"Return."

Fu Qinghai yawned and said.

In comparison, Fu Qinghai found the ancient local archives more appealing. Upon hearing the words "the Sith Empire thousands of years ago," he suddenly felt that this boring mining planet wasn't so boring after all.

…………