August 27.
Jaral opened her eyes to find herself laying on a cot. She put two fingers to rub her eyes and slowly pushed up, sitting on the edge of it and finding to her surprise that Merrin was sit on a chair next to her and probably testing her new omni-tool.
"You are quite the sleeper." the Nightsister commented sarcastically.
Jaral groaned and took a moment to reorient her senses. "How long have I been out?" she asked.
"You just reached the 21st hour."
The Jedi groaned again in disbelief before letting herself slide out of the bed and Merrin stood up to help her. "What happened?"
"You exerted your mind too much." Merrin simply explained. "Using your powers on such a scale. But thanks to you, we won the battle. You did good."
"Thanks...I guess."
Merrin gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Come on. The Colonel was very worried, go show your face again."
Jaral chuckled, but she could clearly sense the apprehension coming through the minor Force bond she had with her husband, so she didn't lose any time walking back toward the bridge of the carrier, being greeted by the soldiers she met along the way. When she stepped in, she found Darvos, Ahsoka, Nimbus and Cere around the holo-table inspecting some map.
The Colonel turned his head backward and when she saw her he immediately went to make sure she was healthy.
"Jari, you ok?"
"I'm fine, Darv. I was just tired."
He sighed relieved and gave her a quick hug but tight hug. "You scared me, damn it."
"Sorry." she whispered sincerely as she returned the gesture before they separated and went around the table.
"Welcome back to the realm of the living." Nimbus quipped to greet her.
"Glad to see you too, guys. What do we got here?"
Darvos showed a holomap of Korriban. "Our forces have located a few landing zones. The Taus have already established their own and are advancing toward the Valley of the Temples, which Nimbus was kind enough to point us." he explained, nodding toward the Mirialan.
"Enemy resistance?" Jaral asked.
"So far, at least a stormtrooper legion, and probably one of the most devout to Palpatine. Still, Commander Lum'Yir and his forces are pushing on."
"What about our forces?"
"While you were sleeping, Cal and Ahsoka helped them taking an imperial outpost on the opposite side of the Valley, so we can apply pressure on both sides. We're still gathering our men on the surface, though."
"All right. Have you inspected those strange ships?" she asked, referring to the ancient sith vessels.
"Cal has just gone taking a stroll into the biggest of them." Cere announced, referring to the Harrower. "He should come back..."
Just at that moment, the elevator from the main hangar opened, revealing the Jedi Knight.
"Glad to see you back on your feet, Jaral." he greeted as he joined the briefing.
"Thanks, Cal."
"You know, I only heard tales about the Meditation. What you did was impressive." he said with genuine enthusiasm.
"Uh, thanks." she replied a bit surprised. "Anyway, what did you find?"
"Right. Well, I used my psychometry on whatever strange thing I could find on that ship. There is little doubt: those ships were belonging to the old Sith Empire."
"We're talking about more than 3000 years ago." Ahsoka objected. "How could they still be operational?"
"From what I found, it seems that this fleet was hidden on this system when the old Empire was almost gone. Maybe they were planning to use them on a future attack, but then the old Sith disappeared and even Korriban wasn't rediscovered before a long time."
"Makes sense." Nimbus intervened. "When I came here with the Inquisitors, most the Sith Lords before Sidious had never seen Korriban."
Everyone spent a moment lost in their thoughts. Then it was Darvos who spoke up again. "I seriously doubt that the Emperor would have wasted so many resources just on a few ships that also performed quite poorly."
"Indeed." Jaral agreed. "There's something on the planet, and we need to find it."
"If there's anything, it's in the valley." Nimbus said, pointing at the map. "We should get on the surface and join the troops."
"Was about to suggest it." Jaral quipped. "Ahsoka and Nimbus will join the Republic force, me and Cal will go help the Taus."
"Hold on, you just woke up." Darvos objected. "At least go eat something, first."
As her mind was reminded that she had slept for 21 hours, even her stomach made a faint grumble.
"Fine." she said. "Still, get the ships prepared."
"You'll find everything in order." Darvos said a bit severely. "Now go."
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September 4.
The blue tunnel faded out and the Admonitor came out in front of Lantillies, with her large escort squadron surrounding her.
"Admiral Versio and the rest of the fleet are waiting in hyperspace, sir." Ciena reported.
"Understood." Iulius calmly replied as he watched the holomap, noticing the huge turian fleet orbiting the planet.
According to the few reports that managed to overcome the blockade of the planet and reach Iulius, the planet had been reached by the federal forces around five rotations before and a massive invasion of the planet was undergoing. Clearly, the Federation understood the importance of Lantillies as the gate between the Mid and Outer Rim and were determined to capture it.
A few fortresses on the planet had been overrun, but most of them had repelled the initial landings, mostly thanks to the huge fortification effort that Iulius had commissioned months ago and Veers' methodical approach, but the federal fleet was bombing the planetary shields relentlessly and without a fleet contesting the orbit, the planet was going to fall in a month at best.
And there weren't New Republic forces: all the members of the UACT in Andromeda, who apparently started to call themselves informally 'Galactic Alliance', were pushing down the Hydian Way, but there the advance was much slower as they needed to conquer several worlds and thanks to the military reforms, the Imperial Armed Forces were now on equal footing with the Rebels.
This meant that Iulius now only had to get close enough to the enemy fleet to make sure that the superior firepower of his Star Destroyers could make a difference.
Which wasn't going to be that difficult, considering that the fleet had just repeated the trick made above Taris and was now heading at full speed toward the enemy fleet already in defensive formation.
"Launch all fighters." he ordered.
So the TIE Fighters joined the Defenders, who had come out of hyperspace by themselves and were attacking the turian frigates on the first line. While the former engaged the enemy counterpart, the latter went directly for the enemy ships, disabling their engines with ion torpedoes.
The turian cruisers were veering away from the fight, at that moment, but when they saw their comrades left in a desperate situation they turned around to rescue them. Thing was, it was exactly what Iulius hoped they would do.
After months of fighting the Federation, Iulius had started to understand the nature of the various species that composed it. Above all, he respected the Turians for their iron discipline and their incredible sense of duty to their State and to each other.
While they were both highly respectable qualities, the latter could also be exploited to lure them into a trap, which was exactly what happened. The cruisers moved in, together with many fighters, to allow the frigates to restart their engines, but in doing so, they entered into the range of the Admonitor, which opened fire with her heavy turbolasers.
While the Star Destroyer took out two cruisers, the turian squadron decided that they wanted to exploit their temporary advantage in numbers. Also, the communication officer had intercepted a transmission where the turian commander had found out that he was facing the Admonitor, which apparently had become famous along with Iulius even among them.
This went even better than what Iulius could hope for: while the enemy cruisers started to envelop the imperial squad, Iulius called in the rest of the fleet. The Eviscerator and a total of twenty Star Destroyers and their task forces came out of hyperspace, literally catching the turians with their pants down.
The Arquitens assumed a circular defensive formation around the Admonitor and her three Victory-class cruisers to form a temporary shield from the mass accelerators of the Turians. Four of them were destroyed, but their sacrifice bought enough time for the 101st to enact her own encirclement.
In the following broadsides, the imperial ships could count on more cannons and slightly better armors. After around thirty minutes of chaos, the Turians lost 12 cruisers, 9 frigates, 7 corvettes and a dreadnought was gravely damaged after Iulius targeted it with the Admonitor and a Shieldbreaker.
The Imperials lost 4 Arquitens, 5 Vindicators, 1 Victory and 8 Lancers. Overall, this went better than anticipated, as the turian squadron retreated on the other side of the planet with the rest of their fleet, opening a path for the landing of imperial reinforcements.
"Get me Admiral Versio." Iulius ordered when the troop transports entered the system and headed toward the orbit of the planet.
When the hologram of Garrick appeared in front of him, he gave his order. "Admiral, I'm getting to the surface. I'm leaving the fleet in your hands. They won't risk hitting the planet, so use it as a cover to stay out of the way of their cannons until they get close enough."
"Yes, Grand Admiral."
The hologram disappeared and Iulius turned around. Qathora and Ciena followed him and the latter asked baffled. "You're going on the surface, sir?!"
"I have to." Iulius calmly replied. "If this planet falls, the war is lost. I have to get a grasp of the situation myself."
Ciena was clearly distressed by that memo, but didn't falter. As Iulius and Qathora entered the turbolift, the Grand Admiral decreed. "The ship is all yours nos, Commander Ree. Take care of her."
The young officer clacked her heel and saluted him. "Good luck, sir."
Iulius nodded and pushed the button to the hangar. After making a quick stop to the armory so the two could get their gear on, Iulius entered the hangar, where Cody had already gathered his stormtroopers of the 212th and the gunships were already lined up for launch.
"Atten-tion!" Cody loudly ordered and the troopers lined up presented their weapons. They had all been given E-22b, much more powerful than the standard E-11 and modified with a special function that allowed the soldiers to switch between the regular blasters and ion shots to overload the shields that most of the federal soldiers had.
The Dark Troopers were also in the hangar, ready to be sent in with modified Soul-stealers. Since recent experiences had shown that the gaseous bolts bounced away when they met an energy shield, the weapons had been upgraded with a small arc charger, perfect for overloading the barriers and leave the enemy exposed.
"Listen up." Iulius started. "There's an imperial base on the surface that is suffering heavy casualties. We are to bring them immediate assistance and repel the enemies. Expect no mercy and give none. Move out!"
The troopers immediately ran into the gunships. Iulius, Qathora and Cody mounted on their own with the three Dark Troopers available and the Inferno. The doors closed and the gunship rumbled before leaving the hangar, heading at full speed toward the base that Iulius said. The insertion lasted a total of four minutes. Turian fighters assailed the convoy and managed to shot down three gunships, the escort of Fel and his 181st fought them off before they could do even worse damage.
Soon enough, they entered in range of the base under attack, a small but fortified complex on a hill overlooking the bigger Fort Ruusan, one of the main strongpoint defending the planetary capital of Beigran. If the Federation took this outpost, they could mount a major offensive on Fort Ruusan, so it had to be held.
From his position in the sky, Iulius noticed that the imperials had been pushed back from the gate and were fighting to hold the intermediate level of the hill, as the one on top held the landing zone necessary for Iulius and his infantry battalion to land, while he had received news that Veers had dispatched a mixed regiment of walkers and tanks to crush the enemy offensive.
His gunship was the first to touch down and he was the first to set foot on Lantillies among his men.
At the landing zone there was a captain knelt down to check a map of the area with an Army NCO. They both turned around and, while still crouched, made a quick salute to Iulius, who hurried to reach them and crouch himself.
"Glad to see you, Lord Tanis." the officer said loudly, trying to overcome the not very far concert of cracking weapons right beneath them. "Captain Mellovar of the 153rd Lantillies Regiment."
"What's the status, Captain?" Iulius asked from behind his helmet.
"Bad, sir. The bastards just won't go down and we don't have the strength to push them head-on." then he drew a line with his finger on the holomap. "However, it looks like they haven't found this trail. You and your men might use it to get behind them."
Iulius observed the situation for a moment. They were facing an assault brigade of the Alliance, made up of Krogan and Turian soldiers heavily armored and equipped. From that position it was clear that the lightly protected Army troopers were being slaughtered, as the bodies littering the hill were mostly theirs.
He decided that it was worth the risk. "I'll take a platoon around them, my Commander will help you pushing them back." he ordered.
"Sir, yes, sir." the Captain replied as he took out his pistol and charged its battery, a fierce determination on his face.
That wasn't much surprising: most of the Army stationed on the planet was made up of locals, and they were determined not to leave the invaders a single inch without a fight. Iulius thus ordered Cody to counterattack, while he, Qathora, the Inferno, a Dark Trooper and Mickey's platoon headed toward the secret trail. They could hear the sinister cracks, explosions, the screaming of the battle. Iulius and his group jogged down the trail and reached the level below. Like Mellovar predicted, there was nobody there except for two imperial sentries, who asked to join the attack and were allowed to do so.
As soon as they spotted the column of enemy aliens waiting for their turn to push upward, as the imperial garrison had managed to block them into a bottleneck, the Rogue Shadow passed above their heads, letting loose a salvo of missiles that sent a few Turians in the air. However, Iulius knew that she had just dropped Marek with the bulk of the 212th.
"Open fire!" he ordered as they took some cover and fired on the still confused aliens.
A few Turians fell down almost immediately. Their comrades returned fire while three Krogans yelled and charged at them.
Iulius himself fired 12 shots at one of them, but the brute seemed to just absorb them, between his heavy plate armor and his tough skin. Two troopers were firing and launched themselves between the Grand Admiral and that walking tank but were thrown away with ease. However, they gave time for Iulius to extract the Darksaber and aim directly at the head of the alien, which was the only exposed part.
In order to apply the most force, Iulius temporarily threw away his own E-22 and used both hands to stab the Krogan directly through the strange crest they have above their heads. The black blade easily passed through it, and the point came out from the throat. The Krogan's expression remained that of fury, but his mouth fell down and his tongue dangled before Iulius extracted the blade and he fell down like a dead weight.
His soldiers had a bit more luck with the other two aliens, as they had fell before they could smash into the line, but now the imperials came under the precise fire of the Turians. At least five more troopers were killed or wounded, but the Turians were still forced to halt their advance and find cover as they also suffered casualties.
Meanwhile, other platoons had landed at the top of the hill and they arrived to reinforce Iulius, who waived the Darksaber, inciting them to push forward.
Advancing through the terrible massacre, Iulius and his men started to make extensive use of their thermal detonators, confusing their enemies and putting many of them out of commission, but as per their fame, the Turians didn't waver and kept firing back with precision, causing more casualties among the stormtroopers, who still kept pushing.
At the same time, the counterattack was greatly boosted by the intervention of the Sith Assassin, and soon enough the two imperial formations managed to join forces. The enemies realized that the assault had failed and Iulius saw their officer stand up and order the retreat.
It was still a very orderly retreat, and the imperials weren't able to transform it into a rout. Even Starkiller needed to take a break, as the Turians organized in two lines and unleashed a seemingly endless barrage of bolts to cover their comrades before being definitely pushed out of the gate.
And right at that time, a line of TIE Bombers arrived to unleash their payload on the federal positions, as outside of the gate there was an additional platoon of armored infantry covering the rear, but were now distracted by the fact that two AT-AT walkers, five AT-ST and a group of hovering tanks were attacking from the direction of Fort Ruusan.
"Now that's what I call a great show." Mellovar said as he sighed of relief, his uniform covered in dirt and the blue turian blood. "Thanks for the help, sir. We couldn't have done it without you."
"No, Captain." Iulius said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It is me and the Empire who have to thank you for your brave resistance. Now let's recover our wounded, cause we can't afford to waste lives, in the upcoming battle."
"Yes, sir." he dutifully replied before turning around to order his men to find and help their comrades who were still alive but bleeding on the ground.
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Ezra opened his eyes in a suspicious expression as he found himself staring at the void outside of the observation deck aboard the Amerigo. Luke clearly perceived that, because he opened his eyes as well and turned toward him.
"Something wrong?" he asked worried.
Ezra was quite impressed at how easily Luke had managed to sense his vague sense of uneasiness. He turned toward him and answered the question.
"I'm not entirely sure. There seems to be...like a disturbance in the Force." he stopped to reflect on it. Perhaps 'disturbance' wasn't the right word. "No. Not something negative, necessarily. But I feel like something is changing. The future I saw...something is changing it."
"The future?" Luke asked curious. "You were having a vision?"
"More or less. It's similar to the one me and Jaral had before the battle of Lothal. The one that helped us formulate the plan for victory."
Luke, who had heard many stories about Lothal already, seemed to understand what Ezra was trying to express, and he felt uneasy in front of that hypothesis as well. In the grand picture of things that the Force allowed to see, a piece had just moved out of what seemed its clear path a moment ago. But what could that be?
The comlink beeped and Ezra had to answer.
"Ezra, there's something you should see." Sabine said.
"On my way." he replied, inviting Luke to follow him with a nod of the head.
The two Jedi headed into the bridge, which was actually a couple of doors down the corridor they found themselves in as soon as they left the observatory. They entered and found the officers of the Amerigo gathered around the holo-table with Sabine, Rex and Kallus.
"What's going on?" the Jedi asked patiently.
Sabine pointed at the map that was being projected above the table. "We received a request from Utapau. The Empire has returned on their planet and they ask our help."
Ezra looked at the map and a question popped up in his mind. "Utapau doesn't have many strategic resources and is quite outside of their defensive perimeters. Why is Iulius stretching his forces like this?"
"Well," said Kherat. "it is a Tanis we're talking about, but not the Grand Admiral, who, I just found out, has been spotted on Lantillies. Which means Admiral Chimbros Tanis has taken over the operations in this region."
"Couldn't this be Commander Zahra and this turns out to be a trap?" Kallus hypothesized.
"I doubt it." Rex said. "Zahra has only a small squadron with her, but that doesn't exclude that she will use that idiotic Admiral's thirst for glory to her advantage. I'm not sure we should intervene."
"We could." said Ezra in a calm tone. "But we need to cross the Route in order to continue our journey, and Utapau could be very useful as a base for when the Coalition will send forces down here." he then turned toward Belisarius. "Colonel, order the Chalcedon to go ahead and scout the system."
The turian made the salute and got to work.
"The meeting is adjourned until we receive further intel." the General concluded and many left the table to go back at their posts.
Ezra then walked next to Kherat.
"Major, what news from the front?"
"As I mentioned, a few hours ago, the 101st Imperial Fleet has arrived on Lianna. Actually caught our fleet off-guard and managed to open a hole in the blockade, but we still control most of the orbit. The assault on the planet has been slowed down, but we're still taking ground."
"Sounds good. And...news from Korriban?" he asked cautiously.
"Despite initial worries, your sister is healthy and her forces have surrounded their main goal on the planet. That's all the intel we got, for now."
"Thanks, Major." Ezra said and walked away, followed by Sabine.
As they walked down the corridor, heading for the relax area, his wife noticed his grimace and spoke out. "Something wrong?"
"No. At least I don't think. I just felt something strange while meditating, I'm still wondering what that could mean."
"I must say, you've become much more careful, recently." she commented.
Ezra knew that, so he had no problem replying. "Once we believed to be invincible. That no matter what, we could always get out of any situation. Then we lost Kanan."
Somehow, Sabine felt the same when he said that. She had recently lost her mother, as well, which only reinforced the sentiment that the Jedi expressed. Not to mention, Ezra was now in charge of over 30.000 soldiers of his small fleet, and they had already lost 93 along the whole campaign, and while losses are inevitable in war, Ezra still felt every single one of those death as his responsibility, that he had to prevent from happening again.
----------------------------------------------------
September 8.
The situation was much worse than anticipated. Iulius and his men might have stopped the assault on one outpost, but many others had fallen in the last hours against the overwhelming strength and firepower of the Federation. The first bombs were already falling on the shield of Fort Ruusan, and while it was holding, it was clear that the Empire didn't have the strength to retake those positions, with the Navy still reeling from the defeat at Rhen Var and the Army and Stormtrooper Corp having suffered massive casualties over the last year, the prospect was grim.
Iulius needed fresh troops. He had ordered the propaganda to focus on recruitment. Even Wynssa Starflare had offered to work with the Department to inspire patriotism in the remaining territories of the Empire, but Iulius was preparing to use a desperate resource.
"Sir, we're going live in one minute." the director of the studio said.
Into the local office of the HoloNet on Beigran, still wearing his battered black armor, Iulius was only exposing his face, as he prepared to make a desperate appeal for volunteers himself.
He strengthened his resolve, assuming his glacial face, as he needed to show resolution and confidence if he wanted to be convincing, but he felt nervous. He wasn't one for public speeches. It was okay to simply march in a parade and wave back at the crowd, but he didn't like to recite in front of it.
Yet, the director seemed convinced that, if he spoke without filters, he would result as convincing as he could get, multiplying the effects of the speech.
Qathora was in the crowd behind the camera, along with the Governor of the planet and several high officers. She nodded to him, as to tell him that he could do it, that the people of the Empire was going to answer his call, but he wasn't that sure. He might have reformed the system a bit, but he had only done so for just a few months. Aside from those who were already loyal, who might want to come on Lantillies and die for the Empire?
"We're live on three...two..." the Director said and signaled the cameraman, then the red light on his camera lighted up and Iulius stiffened his position.
"Citizens of the Empire." he started. "Brothers and Sisters. I am Iulius Tanis, and as you probably know, I've been appointed Lord-Protector of the Mid Rim just a few months ago. Today, however, I'm not talking to you as a politician, but as a soldier and a person who believes in the ideals of the Empire.
"I am aware that many of you are dissatisfied with the current state of the Empire, and while I understand that some of you has lost faith in it, I'm here today to make you this plea. The Empire may have its issues, but right now there's so much more at stake. The very essence of our civilization, our entire lives are beset by a dangerous and relentless enemy coming from another galaxy. These people, who we can only call invaders, have already murdered countless imperial citizens and have set their own puppets in the Outer Rim. They foster division in our galaxy so that they may subdue it and exploit it for their own gain.
Now caught in his speech, Iulius put much more passion into it, while still retaining a certain composure.
"Therefore, I beg you to join me. The gate of the Mid Rim, Lantillies, is under attack. I will stay here, and fight until my last drop of blood for the Empire, but I know that we can win if we stand together. Not as imperial citizens, but as the rightful owners of this galaxy. We won't allow our home-planets to fall under the foot of the invaders. We shall fight until our last dying breath so we will have a chance at a better future. Every man and woman can help the fight, for as we need both soldiers and workers alike. As a citizen, I ask you to help me in defending what is left of our galaxy, right here, right now.
"Long live our galaxy. Long live the Empire!" he concluded with a hand on his heart.
After a brief silence to cut off the transmission, an applause started. Partially because of form, but many were sincere in their compliments as well. Perhaps some of them were thinking that parts of that speech sounded quite treacherous, but Iulius had avoided saying anything compromising.
Still, many complimented him with words, before Iulius reminded them that there was a war to win and it was time to get back to work. After polishing his armor a little bit, he took Cody and Qathora and they headed toward the command building of the capital.