November 20.
The shuttle landed into the hangar, where instead Cody and his battalion were preparing for the drop. Iulius had the time to stop by and speak to them while they were all aligned and ready to mount on the dropships.
"Gentlemen. I have already stressed the importance of the upcoming battle so many times that I don't intend to annoy you anymore. All I have to say for today...is good luck. To all of us."
At unison, the soldiers clacked their heels, put the rifles on the left shoulder so they could salute with the right, including Cody. Every single one of them was aware that they were about to take part in a historical event. They were all terrorized, as everybody who was going to throw themselves into the fray.
The only person that was driving them to go hell and back was their Grand Admiral. Their young commander who had risked his life fighting beside them for months. The Grand Admiral who time and again had defied common sense and led them to victories that shouldn't have been possible. That Grand Admiral whose spark was capable of pushing them beyond their limits time and time again, who made them believe in his own dream for the future.
Iulius somehow knew that, and his resolve was boosted to the extreme. He clacked his heel as well and made a stern salute before heading toward the bridge with Qathora.
As he passed the corridors, every single crewman and officer stepped aside to let him pass and to give him the salute. While there were no words spoken, the atmosphere was clearly palpable. The sentiments were the same expressed by the troopers and Iulius intended to return them in full. Everyone was ready to give their lives in what promised to be the battle that might decide the fate of their nation.
He and his servant took the lifter and reached the bridge, where all the officers repeated the ritual. Only Ciena moved the scene a little as she walked in front of him before saluting.
"Welcome back, sir." she said proudly.
"Excellent work in taking care of the ship, Commander." Iulius complimented, managing to ignore the nervousness that was weighting on his heart. "Now let's get to work."
"Sir, yes sir!" everybody yelled in chorus before rushing to their posts again.
Iulius walked between the two pits and reached the viewport. Emperor knew how much he had missed that view after more than two months on the surface of Lantillies. The planet that now was occupying the lower part of the window in front of him. On the sides, he could spot the escort frigates of the Admonitor and he knew that the other Star Destroyers and their own squads were waiting around the flagship. All of them had already reported in.
The plans had been confirmed just a few rotations ago. Krybos and Bolo were waiting to mobilize the naval reinforcements. The transports with the millions of men waiting to launch the offensive were also waiting in their hidden bases.
"Is Admiral Sloane in position?"
"She awaits in hyperspace for your order, sir." Ciena reported.
"Good. Give the signal." Iulius decreed. As his commander obeyed, he turned his voice toward the entire bridge. "Full speed ahead, all squads follow us. Fighters ready for launch."
The crew snapped into work in one go. The officers started to communicate with their sections of the ship while she moved forward, accompanied by her formation. The first target was the rebel fleet, which was waiting for them while the federal fleet was ready to bombard the imperial one, but the 101st knew that they wouldn't risk hitting the planet, and so the imperials were using a trajectory that would make them a difficult target.
And just as the first line of the Coalition finished deploying, they realized that another imperial fleet was coming out of hyperspace on their left flank, from the direction of Kashyyyk. Sloane and her ships started pouring into the system, numbering nearly a hundred ships that she was commanding with a number of trusted Captains.
Since Sloane's fleet was actually bigger than Iulius', the allies believed that it was the main attack. As the Grand Admiral hoped, the ships of the Federation decided to turn their attention toward that squadron, also because they could use their long-range weapons without the risk of hitting the planet.
On the other hand, Iulius attacked the rebel fleet, which now counted one of their new Nebula-class Star Destroyer. He ordered the launch of the Defenders, which quickly sped out of the hangars of their carriers and dashed toward the enemy formation with the other TIEs while the two fleets started to exchange volleys.
Exploiting the temporary confusion of the enemy fleet, forced to fight a battle on two fronts that wasn't expecting, the 101st attacked the rebel fleet with extreme aggression. The Admonitor herself charged head-on into their formation with her escort, firing precise volleys at the rebels who were caught off guard by the speed of the attack. They had grown accustomed to the relatively cautious approaches of the Grand Admiral, but said Admiral knew that he needed to be unpredictable in order to keep the initiative.
Even if the two fleets were more or less on par numerically, Iulius still ordered two faster formations to enact an encircling maneuver, pressing the enemy on their flanks. While the imperials managed to push the rebels back a little, they couldn't force them into a rout, mostly because their commander called up reinforcements from the pool of ships waiting around the INS Protector at the edge of the gravitational field of Lantillies.
"Sir, the orbit over Crian and Vezberg are now under our control." Ciena reported.
Iulius nodded without turning his gaze away from the viewport as debris of ships and bolts flew all around. He then opened a communication channel.
"Tanis to all Slinger units. You have green light. I repeat, you have green light."
"Slinger Actual here," Cody's voice replied. "Understood. We're initiating Operation Coral."
Soon enough, on the sensors of the Admonitor appeared the stream of gunships that started to head out of the hangar and toward the surface, ready to storm the two provinces that would allow to encircle most of the Coalition forces on the surface. Cody was leading his own battalion, while another one was taking off from another ISD.
The rebels apparently noticed that and they quickly assembled some of their capital ships, including a massive MC80a, the same model as the 'Home One' of Admiral Ackbar, to intercept the gunships.
"Order the fifth group to reinforce our center." he ordered to Ciena, who immediately sent the command.
The first reserves came out of hyperspace and headed straight toward the Admonitor's group, which was holding up against the enemy counter strike. The sudden arrival of the reserves, that the Coalition apparently wasn't well informed about, caught the rebels by surprise, and with an aggressive reprisal, the imperials managed to destroy the engines of the Calamari cruiser and then bombarded it until it started to go down in flames.
It wasn't without losses, though. The ISD Punisher was also destroyed and many other ships were damaged, but the first phase of the battle was complete: the Empire had full control over the orbit of Lantillies, and as the fleets disengaged to lick their wounds, on the ground, the counteroffensive was about to come in full swing as Iulius ordered the transports with the millions of troops to enter the system and head for both Beigran and the two beachheads that Cody was working on securing.
--------------------------------------
November 22.
"Commander, scouts report enemy armor coming our way." Mickey reported.
"See what support we have available and everyone on high alert." the old clone replied.
"Yes, sir." the sergeant replied before running away to spread the alert.
Cody instead took a look at the holomap in front of him. It showed the real-time positioning of the major units in the region. So far, things seemed to proceed quite well. Operation Coral had found a small resistance that had been quickly dealt with and Cody's battalion had secured the city of Vezberg, while the stormtrooper unit of the Punisher had secured Crian, thus cutting off the main supply bases for the Coalition army around Beigran.
This had forced the enemy to halt the offensive and try to reoccupy the cities, but concurrent to 'Coral', General Veers had launched a large front offensive, strengthened by the arrival of over a million men as reinforcements.
Veers was testing a new strategy of 'Deep Battle': using the overwhelming numerical advantage in men, artillery and aircraft in order to attack the Coalition along the entire front, preventing them to concentrate forces where they needed them most and applying massive pressure, hoping to find a crack on which he could pounce with the reserves.
For now, though, the rebels and the Federals were resisting with tenacity, clearly understanding that they were in a precarious situation and that they were fighting for their lives now more than ever. On the other hand, the bulk of imperial troopers was on high spirits, knowing that this was it. This was the opportunity to finally kick the invaders out of Lantillies and out of the Mid Rim once and for all.
Cody was wondering what kind of carnage was probably going on on the main line. But soon enough, blaster bolts were going to fly around his position, too.
Right before he headed out to reach the trenches, the comlink on the table beeped and he had to pick it up, finding out that it was Veers calling.
"General." he saluted.
"Commander, what's your status?"
"Scouts just spotted enemy armored formations coming to retake the city. We're shoring up our defenses, but if you have some heavy weapons to send our way it would be appreciated."
"Don't worry about that. I suspected they might try this move, so there are a few walkers being lifted toward you. That said, they should be there in 20 minutes."
"Thank you, sir. We'll make sure to hold the line until they arrive."
"Very well. Know that we're pushing the enemy back. No sign of a breakthrough, yet, but they might go into the defensive shortly. Just hold firm."
"Yes, sir. Good luck." Cody concluded before closing the transmission and put his helmet on.
He walked out from the tent that he had placed among the troops, in the lines of trenches just outside the city. Men were making sure that the turrets were loaded, that all the supplies were safely stored into the bunkers and the mortar platoon was setting up its posts to provide cover fire for their comrades at the first line of defense, namely a small forest a few hundred meters in front of them.
"Fighters, incoming!" a voice screamed. A moment later, the rumble of a group of Trident fighters coming down on the imperial lines. The gunners on the ground opened fire with their turrets, but could only shoot down a fighter and damage another one. The others fired a strafe on the positions, causing some losses and blowing up a generator, but the damage wasn't that extensive.
Unfortunately, the 212th was without air support, at the moment. The enemy fleet in orbit was putting up a much stronger opposition than expected and the imperials had lost the complete control over the skies.
Just a few seconds after the first bombing run was over, the first line reported contact with New Republic soldiers, supported by light tanks. Cody ordered the skirmishers hiding in the forest to not risk their lives and simply hinder the enemy as much as they could while they made a fighting retreat.
His men, however, went way beyond that. They retreated, yes, but not before they were able to destroy two of the four tanks and causing enough losses that the rebels had to fall back without making contact with the first trenches.
Then it was time for the Federation to send in its troops. The next wave was made up of an assault brigade supported by other New Republic shock troops. This time they reached the trenches, using the trees as cover, but just when they entered the kill zone and opened fire, Cody was there.
"Don't shoot. Let them come close." he ordered as the plasma-imbued shards of the federals and the blaster bolts of the rebels flew all around them.
All the while, Cody kept a remote in his right hand. With a flick of the thumb he removed the cap and prepared to press the button. He waited until the enemy was less than a hundred meters close, then he pushed it.
Almost immediately, a Krogan was sent flying without a leg. Then a rebel was tore to pieces as he disappeared behind a column of dirt and debris, and many others also blew up. The attackers looked around in distress, realizing they had walked into a minefield. Most dived on the ground to find a bit of cover, and the grass was tall enough to provide such cover, but not to the Krogans, whose humpback still made them easy targets. The aliens thus decided to screw everything and just kept charging, totally oblivious to the red bolts hitting their armors, with only the mines being able to stop one of them in one go.
Cody himself had to shoot repeatedly at the head of one of those things before it finally fell on the ground, but while the huge aliens were eventually all killed, a handful of them managed to reach the trenches and were put down only after smashing some of the stormtroopers and, Cody understood, revealing to their allies the patterns they could use to approach the trenches.
"Focus fire on the access trails!" the clone ordered to his men, who quickly redistributed to obey.
The enemies started throwing detonators and firing wildly at them. The Turians formed compact columns and tried to reach the trenches while laying down an impressive barrage, supported by grenade launchers, machine guns and air support that inflicted losses onto the defenders, but after around five minutes of absolute chaos, the Coalition infantry had suffered too many casualties and they pulled back.
Cody finally sighed a breath of relief, right before seeing Mickey arriving with two engineers holding a small shield generator. According to past experiences, the Coalition was now going to use artillery pieces to try and soften up the imperial lines.
At the same time, a group of TIEs roared and arrived over Cody's head, intercepting the enemy fighters and finally contesting the control of the skies. The old clone looked up and noticed a Star Destroyer fighting with a human Dreadnought of the Alliance, and the latter seemed to have suffered much more damage.
"All right, people, check your ammo and weapon, they'll be back soon." he finally ordered.
While his men scrambled to resupply at the nearest crates of tibanna canisters and thermal detonators, Cody was starting to worry: the offensive was clearly not going as planned. All he could do for now, however, was to hold his position and making sure that the enemy would have to divert precious troops from the main front on the surface, hoping that Iulius was not going to fail right then.
------------------------------------
November 25.
"It is unlikely that the Grand Admiral is already throwing everything he has." Edrix said to the people around the holo-table of the Protector.
Prince Claudio bent a bit toward the map of the system. "Colonel Tanis once told that his brother's favorite tactic is to distract the enemy while preparing the fatal strike. I agree he must have more reserves waiting, but there are only two hyperspace lanes where they can attack."
"That we are aware of." the intelligence officer spoke up. "We found a secret lane during the invasion of Lothal, so who's to say the Grand Admiral doesn't have one as well?"
Discomfort descended among the officers. Edrix instead kept calm and pondered, but it didn't take long for him to understand that the situation was quickly deteriorating.
The imperials now had an overwhelming numerical advantage on the surface, and the newly arrived troops seemed to be much better trained and equipped than whatever the federals had faced until now. The ground units were being pushed back by the minute and the line was barely holding. Star Destroyers kept coming out of hyperspace and wouldn't be long before they could just overrun the allied fleet.
To make matters worse, the allies had their supply base on Ringo Vinda. The transports had to pass through five different systems including the treacherous Roche Asteroids. They could keep up when the imperials didn't have the advantage to attack in orbit, but now the allies were burning out ammo very quickly. Food and water were already being rationed aboard the fleet. The troops on the ground were probably faring even worse.
"So...shall we retreat?" a turian rear-admiral asked.
Edrix straightened up and replied. "Yes. We cannot win under these circumstances. We need to save as many of our men as we can."
Claudio and the others nodded. "I will coordinate the evacuation of our ground forces." the royalty said.
"Understood...but let's give priority to our allies." Edrix said calmly, surprising everybody.
"Why is that?" a general asked.
"Because we know that the Grand Admiral treats our prisoners with respect. The republicans would be subjected to untold tortures, and it's our duty to spare them such fate, since we are privileged."
The other officers looked at each other, but eventually agreed and went back to their duties. Claudio couldn't hold back a compliment for the Admiral.
"A wise decision. If we can save the soldiers of the New Republic, this will be a win nonetheless."
"I was sure you would approve, Your Highness."
"My family has never abandoned its allies in more than a thousand years. I won't be the first to do so. Besides, even if we all die but save our friends, they'll owe us a huge favor."
"You bring up such an occurrence with incredible easiness, Prince."
"If you think I'm not scared to die, you're wrong. But if I wasn't ready for the worst, I wouldn't have come all the way here to fight a war in another galaxy."
Edrix huffed amused. "Well, I have no intention of dying heroically if I can avoid it. And most importantly, save the lives of my men. Let's get to work."
Claudio made the salute and returned to his post while Edrix turned around and went in front of the huge viewport on the bridge of the Protector.
---------------------------------
November 29.
"Grand Admiral, the rebels have completed their evacuation from the surface." Ciena said quite alarmed. "What should we do?"
Iulius lifted a hand while he still looked outside of the viewport. "Patience, Commander. I had already calculated this possibility."
Ciena's eyes popped out. "What?!"
"While inflicting casualties to the enemy is one of the objectives, our priorities were actually changed when that ship entered the battle." Iulius explained, indicating the Protector.
The young Commander needed a few moments to reach the realization. "You intend to take it down."
Iulius made a nod. "Admiral Edrix is not a fool. He surely understands that he can't win a battle of attrition and he has ordered an orderly retreat. A wise choice, which unfortunately forces us to resort to inelegant measures."
He turned his head around. "Order Krybos and Bolo to enter hyperspace. Sloane and us will resume the attack. Are the new fighters ready?"
"Yes, sir. Captain Kyrell and his squadron are awaiting on their carrier." she replied.
"Good. Tell them to wait for my signal. All engines forward." he finally ordered.
The squads assumed the offensive formation, with the Admonitor leading the arrow of Star Destroyers while in front of them the cruisers and the escort ships acted as point of the attack and shield for the capital ships. Sloane's fleet did the same and soon enough they both found themselves under the precise and constant barrage of the federal dreadnoughts and cruisers. Some imperial heavy frigates exploded right before Iulius' eyes, but the 101st kept moving forward. The ships were distant enough so that the destruction of one of them would not harm those next or behind her.
"Missile cruisers, first salvo." Iulius ordered halfway. Said ships, which were being protected by the Destroyers, pointed at the enemy formations and opened fire. Normally, the point-defense systems of the Systems Alliance would be enough to destroy most of them, but these were new missiles, build in a new alloy specifically created by the SoroSuub Corporation to withstand the lasers of the GARDIAN systems.
They were only one of the new tools that Iulius had commissioned and that had been delivered to his forces in the last few months, though the most important was definitely the new firewalls that were able to repel the intrusions of the enemy AIs. These new protections had been sent from Daala, who was still studying how to build a new imperial AI, but at least she had found out how to nullify their cyber-guerrilla, and this was a game changer.
The missiles exploded in the middle of the federal formation, just in time for the imperial fleets to enter into firing range.
The clash began and soon that portion of space became a fascinating and terrible game of lights, as bolts flew all around and ships exploded. Fighters of both parties hunted each other and the bombers tried to hit the enemy capital ships. Among the federals there was also the last remainder of the rebel fleet, made up of the Nebula and her escort frigates, who had stayed in order to help the evacuation of the federal soldiers on the surface, thus returning the favor to their allies.
The battle was ferocious for around seven minutes, but it seemed indecisive. Then, exactly as planned, Ciena announced.
"Reinforcements are here, sir!"
From the two secret lanes came the fleets of Krybos and Bolo. Bringing with them two Bellator dreadnoughts each.
The Coalition's fleet had its attention split between two fronts that forced its formation to have a 90° angle, like the sides of a square. But the new fleets came pointing directly at the unmanned edges of that angle, putting the Coalition in a terribly exposed situation.
As the battle raged, Iulius waited to see the results, and they were incredible: once the Bellator ships managed to get into firing range, they unleashed a huge barrage that quickly crippled even the sturdy Alliance dreadnoughts and the number of human and turian ships started to quickly thin down.
That didn't mean that the imperials were not suffering: around 15 frigates, 8 cruisers and even two Star Destroyers had been blown up and there was a constant flux of voices on the comlinks asking for assistance or instructions to the sub-commanders.
But with constant reinforcements coming out of hyperspace, the imperial fleet was clearly taking the upper hand, and the more ships the federals lost, the more impossible their situation became.
Finally, Iulius saw the Protector moving toward the battle to engage at close range with her escort of two dreadnoughts and several cruisers, plus a swarm of drones and manned fighters, while the bulk of the federal navy started to turn around.
"Now it's time." Iulius declared calmly. "All units press the attack. Launch the new fighters. Call the Immobilizers out of hyperspace."
Ciena quickly delivered the orders. From the carrier behind the Admonitor departed Kyrell with his new squadron and their new fighter: the TIE Avenger. Faster, more powerful and, most importantly, with shields on.
It was prototype, but Iulius hoped that this battle might convince the Emperor to invest more in quality than on quantity for the fighter production.
As the new fighters sped next to the bridge, Ciena murmured. "Go get'em, Thane."
Preceded by a large number of TIE Fighter, the Avengers were tasked with clearing a path for the Bellators to attack the Protector. They were accompanied by every TIE Defender of the 101st that would target the enemy carriers and launch bays.
While the snubs engaged a fierce battle in the skies, from the two secret lanes came out the new Immobilizers, escorted by a good amount of light cruisers and Lancers against possible enemy incursions.
The gravity wells were engaged exactly when half of the federal fleet had already left, trapping the rest of it and, most importantly, the Protector.
Soon enough, the overwhelming firepower of the imperial fleet started to punch hard into the Coalition line. The rebel fleet in particular started to crumble and Sloane seized the opportunity to press her attack and destroy them after a few minutes of intense fight, where the rebels, desperate for their lives, fought extremely hard, but they were eventually annihilated. Only a few of their fighters managed to limp out of the gravitational well and escape.
"Krybos. You and the dreadnoughts engage the Protector. We will sweep their fleet away from her."
"Understood, sir. We're preparing all weapons." the Admiral replied on the comlink.
"Bolo, Sloane, you and your squadrons engage them on the flanks while we block their way forward. We will flush them away from their flagship."
"Acknowledged. All ships, follow me." Bolo replied.
The federals put up a fight, but their ships were no match for the imperial ones in a broadside confrontation. While their cannons were powerful, they were fewer than their enemy's. Still, it wasn't easy. The imperials suffered again considerable casualties in vessels and fighters. Even Fel and Kyrell lost half of their squadrons, but in the end, the imperials managed to push back the federal fleet, destroying another dreadnought and isolating the Protector, upon which Krybos and his heavy squadron fell upon.
Completely surrounded on four sides, the Protector fought desperately. It was still an insanely armored ship and her weapons also caused heavy wounds on the hulls of the Bellators, but after a bloody confrontation, the super-dreadnought was deprived of her engines and almost all her turrets.
"All units, cease fire." Iulius suddenly ordered. His subordinates were surprised but obeyed.
The federals, seeing that the imperials were not finishing them, also suspended fire. If anything, because they were running out of ammo.
"Call the Protector." he calmly asked Ciena.
She wondered what he had in mind as she sent the call. After a few moments, the holograms of both Prince Claudio and Admiral Edrix, with a battered expression on their faces, appeared.
"Admiral Edrix. Your Highness Claudio. Finally we can talk." Iulius started with a pleasant demeanor.
"I would lie if I said that I wasn't curious to meet you as well, Grand Admiral Tanis." Claudio replied with composure despite the situation.
After pausing for a second to nod in deference, the Grand Admiral resumed. "Gentlemen. While I am sure that you, as honored soldiers, would be willing to go down in an heroic last stand, I believe not all of your men might be willing to do so. You have already fought with courage and skill. To show my respect, I hereby offer you the chance to save the lives of your soldiers and yours with an honorable surrender."
The man and the turian looked at each other. Clearly, they couldn't ignore the fact that they were responsible fore the lives of more than a million of their subordinates still alive both in orbit and on the surface of Lantillies.
Edrix then turned again toward his foe. "We know you are a man of your word, Grand Admiral. We accept your offer."
Iulius made a respectful nod, and while Edrix turned away in order to give the order to surrender, the Grand Admiral turned toward the Prince.
"Your Highness. I wish to speak with your mother, the Empress. I have a proposal for her."
Claudio knew he was in no position to deny that request, so he connected the quantum communicator while Iulius signaled his crew to let the transmission pass.
A few seconds later, the hologram of the Empress appeared, though at first it only faced Claudio.
"Claudio. Thank the Gods! What's happening?" she asked with a certain urgency.
Claudio, however, lowered his head in shame and apologized. "I'm sorry, Mother. We failed." then he pressed a button and the hologram of his mother turned toward Iulius.
Benedetta was clearly unsettled at first, but she quickly regained her composure.
Iulius made a gentle bow. "Your Majesty. I'm glad you accepted my communication."
"Grand Admiral Tanis." she said in a neutral voice. "I can only conclude that you have my son in custody?"
"Your son, your Admiral, and what is left of your forces over and on Lantillies." Iulius calmly said.
"And I suppose a man of your reputation is not simply calling me to brag about it. What is your request?"
"Oh, come on, Your Majesty. These words just prove that you are smart enough to understand that I am proposing an exchange of prisoners."
Benedetta seemed to hesitate for a second, but then replied calmly. "You want Thrawn."
"Thrawn and all the officers of the Seventh Fleet. In return for the Prince, the Admiral and the many officers aboard the Protector." Iulius bluntly said.
Everyone else on the bridge listened with incredulity. Was this Iulius' plan all along?
"Mother, don't listen to him." Claudio said defiantly.
But Benedetta could not ignore that request. Though it costed her a great deal of struggle that was visible on her face, she couldn't just let this offer go for a variety of reasons.
"Very well. I accept your offer, Grand Admiral."
Iulius made another polite bow. "Fret not, Your Majesty. Your son will be treated with the regard fitting of his position. That said, I will call you in a few rotations to discuss the terms of the release and decide a temporary truce. Until then, my forces will continue their operations."
"I understand." she replied, before commenting. "I see your mentor was not exaggerating your virtues." in an admired tone.
Iulius accepted the compliment with a node. "I will give you two minutes to talk with your son before we cut the transmission. See you soon, Your Majesty." he concluded, then closed his side of the call, making the holograms disappeared.
He turned around, seeing that the entire deck was looking at him with huge smiles and an atmosphere that was ready to explode.
Now he was unable to hold back a grin as he took his comlink and spoke into it.
"Tanis to all units." he said, unable to hide a hint of swelling. "The enemy has surrendered...the day is ours. The Empire won!" he concluded with a wide smile.
The bridge and the entire ship erupted in loud cheers. The officers applauded and climbed out of the pits to go around the Grand Admiral.
Ciena patted him on the arm, disregarding the protocol, but Iulius was so happy that he returned the gesture and laughed with her. Qathora approached them two and he hugged her, laughing almost maniacally before the other officers arrived, chanting his name, shaking hands and sometimes hugging him.
As the monumental burden on his heart fell, Iulius didn't even notice that some tears were running down on his cheeks as he lost himself in the euphoria of the moment. A small video feed showed that the HoloNet had been following the battle and the message of the Lord-Protector had been heard on Lantillies, causing celebrations in the streets and even at the frontline, when imperial units were not busy to take the federals into custody, allowing them to march with their weapons and flags.