Chapter 64 Abundant Resources

"Alright, I will reallocate personnel immediately. Furthermore, I will awaken an elite-tier talent to lead the engineering department and establish a logistics department, which will help lighten the workload of your administrative department," Darth Tang nodded and said.

This was the step-by-step decentralization method he adopted to ensure that no single subordinate could become too powerful. His previous awakening of Cals Wharton to join the advisory staff was driven by the exact same intention: breaking the monopoly where Qi Jian made all the decisions within the advisory board.

As the colonial operations expanded, departments would become increasingly specialized, and power would become more dispersed—everyone except himself. This was also why he preferred to endure the fatigue and pressure himself rather than awaken anyone to serve as his second-in-command.

Clement, however, did not overthink it. She was delighted to see the pressure on her end decrease, and continued her report: "Additionally, our major captures include two Ministry-class shuttlecraft. These shuttles lack hyperdrive capabilities, but they are exceptionally convenient for traveling back and forth between space and planetary surfaces. They are 20 meters long and can carry 36 passengers at a time. With these two shuttles, personnel transit between the mothership and the planet Dawn will be much more convenient."

"There is also an Orek-class fighter. Because it was damaged, it was kept in the hangar for maintenance, and we have already handed it over to Professor Chi and his team to use as a testbed. Aside from these, there are only some daily necessities. Since the armory was blown up by Schurtz, we didn't capture many weapons. Oh, right, there are also over 60,000 Wupiupi coins and more than 10,000 Galactic Republic Credits," Clement said while flipping through her notes.

"These guys are poor! Possessing such a large cruiser and yet they only have this little cash. Tsk, no wonder they took the risk to attack us," Darth Tang curled his lip. "What about the prisoners?"

"We captured Kuuken, his first mate, and 110 crew members. Additionally, Schurtz rescued 17 civilians aboard the cruiser, mostly pole dancers and singers from the bar," Clement replied.

Darth Tang nodded and said, "Understood. Prepare for a public trial starting tomorrow. The mothership doesn't need to return to Dawn's synchronous orbit; keep it stationed in outer space to facilitate the construction of larger-scale space station facilities later on. Didn't we discover massive metal deposits on the fourth moon of the Endor gas giant? Let's park the mothership between Dawn and the fourth moon."

Clement said, "That's correct. That moon is recorded in the Galactic Republic's database as Dor. According to our scans, the metal reserves on this moon alone are enough to build another 1,000 Kushan motherships! And there are vast amounts of rare elements as well. However, the extraction difficulty is somewhat high; currently, our rare elements are primarily refined from that oceanic moon."

Darth Tang smiled faintly. It now appeared that although the Endor system would become a terrifying battlefield in the future, the benefits here were self-evident. In Star Wars history, the Battle of Endor broke out precisely because the Galactic Empire chose to construct a terrifying superweapon here—the Death Star II.

You must know that the Death Star II was a super fortress 200 kilometers in diameter! The reason the Galactic Empire chose the Endor system to build this super fortress was precisely because of the abundant resource reserves located right here!

The nearly inexhaustible helium-3 on the Endor gas giant could serve as energy for starship fusion reactors; the oceanic moon Kef-Bir contained a wide variety of rare elements ready for extraction; the habitable moon Endor also held massive resources that could be developed to house workers and military forces; and the metallic moon Dor contained staggering quantities of metal and various rare metals to satisfy all construction needs.

Moreover, situated in the Western Reaches of the Outer Rim, this unpredictable Moddell sector was rarely visited by anyone under normal circumstances, allowing for covert construction without the fear of discovery.

And now, this uniquely endowed environment of the Endor system belonged to Darth Tang, belonged to the Fourth Civilization!

The next day, Darth Tang, along with Schurtz, Yuri, Vitaly, and others, boarded a newly captured Ministry-class shuttle, preparing to travel down to the planet Dawn.

Along the way, Darth Tang asked Yuri what on earth had happened to make him so nervous.

Yuri Orlov was still utterly terrified. At the mention of this topic, he used a shaking hand to light a cigarette for himself, took a fierce drag, and said, "When we escaped from Tatooine, since nobody knew how to fly the ship, Vitaly made a misoperation and engaged the hyperdrive without any navigational calculations... and as a result..."

His face turned somewhat pale as he said tremblingly, "I swear I saw it! An octopus! An octopus at least hundreds of kilometers long!! Right there in the hyperspace rift!"

"I think I saw it too," Vitaly muttered, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he stared blankly at the cabin ceiling.

"We were just lucky. Creatures living in those hyperspace rifts can even destroy an entire fleet! Then I hurriedly activated the hyperdrive again, jumping blind without navigation just to escape. And we were extraordinarily lucky; two blind hyperspace jumps didn't cause us to collide with the mass shadow of any celestial body and tear us to pieces..." said old man Truda, who was traveling with them.

Darth Tang also gave a wry smile and patted Yuri's shoulder. "Without the proton torpedoes you brought, and without the intel sent by Schurtz, we might have been able to repel Kuuken, but we certainly wouldn't have been able to capture him, nor could we have seized this cruiser."

"The most important thing is the sacrifice of those warriors, Administrator. I know it. The timing of our exit from hyperspace was not ideal, and those warriors gave their lives to buy us the chance to return to the mothership." Yuri gave Darth Tang's shoulder a casual, uneven pat, though Darth Tang paid it no mind.

Yuri took another drag of his cigarette and said flatly, "But I don't like this, Administrator. I don't belong here. I shouldn't belong in a war."

"Hehe, I understand. You are supposed to be the Lord of War, right? Hahaha." Darth Tang wrapped an arm around Yuri's shoulder and shook him hard, his voice then turning solemn. "After this battle, we will no longer fear anyone!"

"Why do I feel like you're lying?"

"Ah, you caught me. It is a lie. With the Galactic Republic and the impending war looming before us, one can never be too cautious. Therefore, we need help," Darth Tang said.

"You already have a target?"

"Mhm, a very troublesome fellow, but he can indeed bring us tremendous opportunities for development. However, no news has come from that side recently, so for now, we'll continue developing at home. Go take another look at Tatooine when you have time; if that fails, I'll find someone to open up a new weapons market for you—in this galaxy, struggles are never in scarcity."

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[Easter Egg Chapter Illustration: Ministry-class orbital shuttle]