Sector EK-4232A

[Khendon S]

Khendon stood aboard the Star Destroyer Revenant, looking out the view port. The lines of hyperspace were present, and emitted a faint glow aboard the blackened bridge of the leading craft. Khendon sighed; soon the peaceful calm of it all would fade away into utter chaos, the chaos of war, filled with the fogs that clouded judgment, and the thrill of the fight. Yet, Khendon enjoyed combat, for what reasons he did not know, but he knew he enjoyed it immensely. Khendon rubbed his eyes, they would be coming out of hyperspace any second now, he wanted to be fully awake.

The ship came out of hyperspace on schedule into sector EK-4232A. The sector was filled with a total of seven planets, four of which were hospitable, one of which was a gas giant, and the rest being barren wastelands. Khendon smiled, the entire sector would be his. Once the two destroyer groups he had brought with him were entirely out of hyperspace Khendon stared at the fleet, deciding what to do. The group was made up of the following:
Star Destroyer Group One
ISD3 Revenant
BC Black Blood
BC Leviathan
IEC Hellbent
NB2 Pillager
NB2 Medical Blood Brother
IAT Rough Rider
FCF Hellbringer
VAS Wolf 1
Int Picket Stalemate
Int Picket Stalemate II


Star Destroyer Group Two
ISD3 Hobgoblin
BC Chameleon
IEC Demon Spawn
NB2 Plunderer
FCF Hellbringer II
VAS Wolf 2
Int Cruiser Blackmail

Giving Khendon, and the guild, plenty of options.

[Khendon S]

Khendon looked upon the four rich planets, smiling. Their lush vegetation was just right for the taking. Cultivating the planets and turning them into massive food producers would be easy with the bio engineering head Vapor Kazuna doing all of the work. The two barren planets had grand mineral deposits under their outer crust that would have to be tunneled to, but the Guild was ready. The gas planet produced many needed chemicals that could, as well, be harvested. An added bonus was the areas proximity to the rest of the galaxy, this would be the closest the Guild's influence is to other systems.

Khendon hit a couple buttons on the view screen in front of him and the following popped up:
http://www16.brinkster.com/ks7/guildconquest.jpg
Estellha Sector.
Stel’k - Homeworld, populated mainly by savages equipped with primitive slug throwing weapons. Population: 1 billion, fine workers who follow native gods such as the owl. The planet is largely agricultural but has ore deposits that are needed in the construction of combat craft.

Omar Prime - Second Most Vital World in System – This planet has the means to travel by space, even if it is very limited. This planet has a grand industrial society on it but is still restricted to primitive weapons. Population: 2 billion.

Fri’l - Plane planet – This planet has a small agricultural populace, the warriors use primitive weapons most advanced being the spear. Population: 500,000 hard workers which may be converted easily.

Rivendel - Forest planet – This planet is entirely covered in forest and water. The population is relatively high and in touch with the forest. They use mainly wood and stone weapons and trade with the populace of Omar Prime, thinking them gods.

Benai - Gas planet – this planet is made of poisonous, explosive, and other gasses. Has a relatively large amount of negative matter near the center which may be harvested for wormhole drives.

L’heval - Snow planet – this planet has a small population of fishermen and hunters, the planet has valuable crystals. Population: 200,000.

Shivik - Water planet – considered a waste planet due to its lack of life. The planet is rich in ore, and is relatively new.

Khendon smiled, he would have fun here.

[Khendon S]

Khendon had had his fill of the scene of beauty; all he wanted now was the chaos of war. Khendon spun in his chair, bringing it to a forward position. “Helm, half speed.”
“Aye, Sir, half speed.”
“Command, order group two to take Rivendel and L’Heval, they are to drop two equally sized groups onto the planets and establish fronts, tell them to contact us once this has been accomplished and we’ll provide further orders from there on.”
Khendon was quickly thinking, being his decisive and cold combat self, once again. Khendon was thinking about what he should do, several options were open. Attack Omar Prime first, using full power, and destroy their industry using bombers while taking out their main military facilities, or take over the more important agricultural locations first. So many options…
“Helm, set course for Stel’k, flanking speed.”
“Aye, Sir, flanking speed.”
“Command, order group one into formation Alpha Zulu Niner.”
“Aye, Sir. Ordering group into formation Alpha Zulu Niner.”
The ships’ engines shot to life, speeding towards the planets.
“Command, open hangers and prepare fighter bomber squadrons of Executioners and Swordfish, relay to group.”
“Aye, Sir. Hanger doors opened, squadrons on alert, relaying to group.”
Khendon leaned on his left elbow, smiling, taking in the exhilaration of combat, making every moment count, knowing fully it could be his last.

[Khendon S]

The Guild war fleet sped forward, powered by the adrenalin in the air and driven by the will to succeed and conquer. Stars slid by, actually at a rapid rate compared to that of some of the slower vessels Khendon had commanded, and the two suns of the system shone brightly, gleaming off of the hull of the Star Destroyer Revenant, the ship Khendon was currently using as a command craft. “Helm, time to destination?” Asked Khendon.
“Five minutes and counting, Sir.”
“Good. Command, have all ships rout extra power to sensors, I want to know if there are any obstacles in our way that will need to be cleared.”
“Aye, aye, Sir. 5% extra power being routed to active sensor net.”
“Gunnery, charge weapons, bring them to half then set to maintenance level.”
“Aye, Sir. Weapons charging at 50%, on completion they shall be set to maintenance level recharge.”

[Khendon S]

Khendon watched the view screen in front of him, up to date information was being fed to him via the main network attached to the main battle computer, basically all information that was being sent to other areas could be accessed, viewed, and edited in this one location. Khendon hit buttons on the screen, accessing different pieces of information and having them displayed in smaller windows. One piece of datum caught Khendon’s attention. The piece of information stated that the location had high pirating and illegal trafficking, due to its lack of law and relative large resource cache.
“Sir, we're in close enough proximity to the planet to begin bombardment, shall we commence?”
“Negative, Gunnery. I would like to move to relative high orbit, and then launch tactical force Kh-93. It’s a group of 180 troops trained in a multitude of forms of combat and a myriad of communication, location, etc., etc. tactics for warfare. They’ll be launched in shuttles, each shuttle holding sixty troops. Once we’re there, which is what another two minutes of positioning?”
“Aye, that it is, Sir.”
“Okay, good, then I’ll inform you more.”
“Helm, bring us into geosynchronous orbit with the night side of the planet. Command, order the fleet to do the same.”
“Aye, aye, Sir. Bringing ship into geosynchronous orbit with the planet of Stel’k.”
“Aye, Sir. Relaying orders to battle group.”
The ships begin positioning themselves in high orbit, as requested by Khendon. Their engines glow brilliantly as they begin orbit on the night side of Stel’k.

[Khendon S]

Meanwhile, the commander of group two had been following the orders given to him and the ships under his command previously. The commander paced on deck as the small fleet approached its first target, Rivendel. “Helm, how much longer?”
“Sir, only another minute or so.”
“Good, good. Bring us into orbit, Command, open hanger doors, put fighters and shuttles on standby.”
“Aye, that, Sir. Hanger doors opening, fighters and shuttles on standby.”
“Relay orders to fleet.”
“Aye, Sir. Relaying orders to fleet.”

[Khendon S]

The commander stood up and began pacing across the bridge, not something most commanders did, this would cause him to not be able to see his own personal status settings, but never the less, he began pacing. “How much longer, Helm!?”
“Sir, in orbit now, shall I…”
“Sir! Incoming fighters, unusual configuration, looks like uglies, part reb. part imp!”
“Gunnery, charge weapons at 100%, when ready, open fire.”
“Shields, bring up shield, enable computerizes shield compensator.”
“Aye, Sir. Weapons charging to full power, preparing to fire.”
“Aye, Aye, Sir. Shields up, computerized compensator enabled.”
“Gunnery, lock on and fire on my mark.”
“Aye, Sir, locking on.”
“Fighter command, prepare to launch two squadrons of Shadow Droids, prepare to follow them by another two squadrons.”
“Aye, Sir. Requested fighters on stand-by.”
“Command, relay previously stated order to combat group.”
“Aye, Sir. Relaying orders.”
The craft’s turrets began to move, to make slight computer adjustments that brought them into the paths of the attacking craft. Just then, Gunnery said, “Sir! Weapons charged and locked!”
“FIRE ALL TURBOLASERS!” Screamed the captain.
“All turbo lasers firing sir!”
Green streaks scorched space, traveling at extreme speeds towards their targets. The first volley of fire hit dead on to the formation of fighters, destroyer more then half of the craft. As the first fell, the commander gave another order, “Fire second volley and launch first wave!”
“Aye, Sir, firing second volley.”
“Aye, Sir, launching first wave of fighters.”
The second volley emitted from the weapons, but the craft were already dodging and only half of the remaining forces were destroyed. By now only twenty uglies were left, and they would be easy picking for the Shadow Droids which hunted them.

[Khendon S]

As the commander watched on, he cringed; they expected to defend their world with a few uglies, nonsense. The uglies had little chance against the Shadow Droids, let alone the smaller craft such as the Nebula B² Frigate Plunderer or the VAS Wolf Two. They locked on their weapons, and fired with deadly accuracy, destroying fighter after fighter.
“Helm, lock orbital path.”
“Command, relay to attack group.”
“Gunnery, defensive fire. Guard our shuttles as they go down.”
“Aye, Sir. Orbital path locked in.”
“Aye, Sir. Relaying to attack group.”
“Aye, Aye, Sir. Defensive fire initiated, guarding our boys as they go down.”
“Fighter Command, launch second wave, order them to attack ground location Bravo Niner, a small city in the northern hemisphere.”
“Aye, Sir. Launching second wave, relaying orders.”

[Khendon S]

The second wave flew by the first; all uglies had finally been eliminated. The first wave returned for rearming, they would be sent down later in the conflict.

Rivendel was a beautiful planet. On the planet, the populace, a rather barbaric by modern standards group, yet more peaceful then most, looked to the skies. They had been trading with off worlders for some time, and had found most reliable. So naturally, when the Shiendan humans said evil men were coming, they believed them. The Shiendan, or Mercenaries as they called themselves, had offered them protection for a small price, or rather, a large price. They gave the livestock, precious stones, and women, but that wasn’t enough. They had to even give up the “rifles” that had been given to them by the Omars, or, living gods that came to them by means of the heavens. The mercenaries, they knew, would fight to the death for them… They had even helped arm the Rivendelians… forming a small militia.

As the group of citizens watched the skies, streaks came from the heavens. They believed they were the Shiendan coming back, from a victory, but they where gravely wrong. In fact, the arriving forces weren’t even truly alive, they where Shadow Droids.

“Fighter Command, bring up the tactical display from the head Shadow Droid on the main screen.”
“Aye, Sir. Routing tac. display from head Shadow Droid to main screen, should be up in one second.”

The screen filled with a downward view of fire. The craft were just exiting the outer layers of atmosphere; soon they would be falling upon their targets. The Shadow Droid were organized, and decisive, they would get the job requested done, and with lethal accuracy.

The commander watched on as the Shadow Droids broke cloud cover, they could now see the lush forest planet, and a clearing. As the droids approached the clearing a city could just be made out. “Sir, the Shadow Droids are encountering flack, thick flack. Now anti-air batteries are opening fire, Sir! Headhunters launching, two wings, heading for the Shadow Droids!”
“Launch first wave again, and third wave, have them provide cover fire.”
“Aye, Sir. Launching first wave and third wave, relaying orders.”

[Khendon S]

The second wave of Shadow Droids was now close enough to begin bombardment of the city. “Ground Control, interact with Fighter Control, select bombing targets, start with the threats.”
“Aye, Sir, interacting with Fighter Control.”
“Aye, Sir, interacting with Ground Control.”
The commander sat down, taking in the combat one second at a time.

The first Shadow Droid swooped down, entering a street. It was traveling at several hundred kilometers per house, and all the residence could do was look at the blurred images of the devil’s creations in horror. Panic ran through the planet, Khendon could sense it, but he hadn’t ordered it.

“Comm., connect me with Commander Sinclare.”
“Aye, Sir. You are now on frequency Ir8a, encryption 8b.”

“Ah, Lictor Sevon! As you can see, we have started the aerial bombardment, if we hit residential areas, they’ll have to surrender! I’ll bring you a quick victory!”
“Commander Sinclare, you are violating my command you intolerable piece of foolish, elderly, sarcastic, slime from the ugliest depths of hell! I ordered you to drop forces on the planet, and await further instructions, did I not?!”
“Well… yes, Sir. But the opportunity presented itself and…”
“You still violated my direct order. Nevertheless, I have a heart. Remove the daft residential targets from your profiling and only attack military targets! Or I shall have you hanged for disobedience to the Guild! Khendon, out!”

“Fighter Command, Ground Command. Reassess targets, and quickly.”

[Khendon S]

Commander Sinclare, after having that run in with Khendon, wanted everything to be perfect; so, he now found himself in a ground assault transport, waiting to be dropped onto the planet, in full jungle combat gear, with a rifle in hand, what was he doing!?

Back on the planet things were getting hairy. The first and third waves of Shadow Droids had just engaged the two wings of Headhunters, they were in dead lock, all of the mercenary pilots were skilled, and quick, and were flying modified headhunters equipped with faster engines, burst boosters, and a superior reactor.

The second in command, First Officer Genings, had assumed command of the fleet, as was doing one hell of a good job. “Now! Launch first wave of Executioners!” Three squadrons of TIE Executioners headed planet side, fully loaded for combat.
“Aye, Sir. TIE Executioners have been launched.”
“Sir, we have target lock on their main hanger!”
“Gunnery, fire away!”
The craft fired the first volley of energy that penetrated the planet’s atmosphere and hit into the ground, hard, and colliding with the mercenary hanger that had been located next to the city.
“Sir, that did it, we destroyed it!”
“Genings, Sir! Our Executioners are turning the tide, their fast fire rating is enabling them to wipe the Headhunters off the screens!”
“Another five minutes and we’ll be ready to drop ground forces, Sir!”
“Good, good, Ground Control, get ready. Fighter Control, launch Swordfish to provide cover fire and air artillery for the landing troops.”
“Aye, commander. Ground Control ready!”
”Yes, Sir, launching Swordfish to provide cover fire and air artillery.”

[Khendon S]

The Shadow Droids ran their attack runs, hitting mercenary camps all over the city, destroying power generators and weapon caches as the Executioners cleaned up the skies.
“Sir, ground assault ready.”
“You have my permission to launch.”
“Aye, launching.”
Transports fell from the bellies of the craft; onboard one of them was Commander Sinclare. The Transports activated their engines and dove towards the planet, carrying their loads of troops to the battle, one that, Genings hoped, would be short, and clean.

As the craft descended, Swordfish escorted them, loaded with anti-personnel cluster bombs that would take the sting out of the enemy. Scimitars, which Genings had just ordered down, also flew near the transports, ready to provide support against heavier targets, such as armored personnel carriers.

Larger transports now fell like stones towards the planet, these ones containing armored vehicles, mostly Universal Planetary Assault Units (UPAUs). The Transports hit ground, relatively softly, thanks to their repulser lifts. The mouths opened on the transports and troops and machinery marched out, ready to fight.

[Khendon S]

As Khendon made plans to attack, in his mind, the most heavily defended planet in the sector, a message came for him. “Sir, message for you on channel x1 encrypted in vva2.”
“Thank you, Comm.”
“Yes, who is this.”
“This is First Officer Genings. Sir, as requested, we have landed troops and are awaiting further orders.”
“Where’s Commander Sinclare?”
“He went planet side, to command and aid the ground forces.” Khendon chuckled at this, Sinclare was a fool, he was only in his command because of his rich family.
“Genings… You’re Peter’s boy, aren’t you! Your father was under my command…” Khendon continued for another five minutes, reminiscing about how great Gening’s father had been at space combat. “Yes, that was very funny! Anyway, seeing how I know you’re a good ‘commander,’ I’ll let you take care of the ground warfare on the planet, have fun! Khendon, out.” Khendon chuckled to himself again, such unusual things could happen.

“Sorry, everyone, about that. Command, give clearance to tactical force Kh-93, have them launch now for the planets surface. Fighter Control, provide two prophets to escort, stealth mode.”
“Aye, Sir. Providing orders to Kh-93’s shuttles.”
“Aye, Aye, Sir, two prophets will escort the shuttles down.”

[Khendon S]

Kh-93, or Death’s Revenge, as they often called themselves, were in for the ride of their lives. Kh-93’s three shuttles left Khendon’s command ship, escorted by two prophet fighters. They slowly made their way down towards the planet, making sure to be as stealthy as they could be.

On planet it was a beautiful night. The planet's populace normally would be having a celebration this time of the year, for the good harvest mainly. But, this wasn’t a normal day. The three shuttles and their escorts made it down into the planet’s atmosphere and began to make plans for landing.

Lieutenant Birch sat in the lead shuttle, they were in a V formation, looking at the night sky. The blue moon of Omar could be seen overhead, along with the sky angels, a rare bird that flew at such high altitudes. They were called sky angels because they had phosphorus that they emitted through their skin, giving them a white glow. They were named this also because of their long, graceful wings and tail, and their almost human looking face. Sky angels were known to be playful, but steered clear of the combat unit, unusually. Birch looked forward, out the main view port, towards the ground.

Birch cursed as he saw the fist of the terrors, blue streaks of energy surrounded by static energy. The emission collided with the craft next to Birch’s, disabling every system onboard, including its oxygen systems, the men would suffocate. Onboard the failing craft the men put on oxygen masks and blew the door, choosing to rather take their chances with the high altitudes then the high speed brick falling towards the planet. They jumped, one by one, out of their craft, parachutes opening, scattering them over the drop zone.

Birch looked to his left as flack hit his other shuttle dead on, knocking off one of its wings. Luckily, the high-powered engines could keep it in the air without any wings, and it stayed in formation. More energy was shot at the two craft, but they, now prepared, dodged them easily. As they approached, anti-air weapons began to pelt them, laser blasts hitting the shields from all sides, how had they gotten their hands on such technologies? This was suppose to be an easy job, it looked hard, it looked bloody, and it looked like it would cost many lives.

[Khendon S]

Birch looked over to the pilot, “What are the probabilities of those men who had to jump’s survival?”
“Sir, not good…” the pilot trailed off the last of his reply, a tear falling from his eye. The pilots and troopers were all friends, they had spent the last year in advanced training, and the two years before that together in standard training, and a year before that in basic.

Birch got up, holding onto a bar for support, he turned towards the troopers, huddling on metal benches, parachutes strapped to each one, each holding his choice weapon, each thinking about friends who could now be dead. “We’re still going in, I know most of you are saddened by our loss, but remember, the sooner we take this planet, the quicker we’ll be able to burry the dead, and find the survivors. I don’t want your judgment clouded; you need to be awake to do your job, your duty, to your empire. Now, I’m going to open the doors, I want two lines, left and right, you boys better be ready, we’re going into a hot zone. Our mission, which I was not allowed to tell you before we took off, is as follows: we’re going to jump, regroup, then make our way over to a reservoir, we are to capture this location, it has hydro electric systems which power the main city, the one that fired at us. Each squad of ten men has two demo men assigned to them; they have enough explosives individually to blow the dam… our second objective is the nuclear power plant; we are to shut it down. Once we have completed this, we are to expend the rest of our explosives and signal for an air strike; we must take down all air defenses. Each squad has one engineer, guard him; he will be the one who does the work at the nuclear power plant. You know what you have to do, now get out there and show those sons of %$#@&! what were made of!”

Each trooper smirked at the last comment as they got up, each man behind someone checked the man in front of him’s pack, and the last man was checked by the man in front of him. “All, clear, Sir! Ready to go!”
“Pilot, open doors one and two!” The pilot hit a red button and the lights switched to red. Doors opened, but the lights stayed red. The pilot then pressed a green button, and the lights shifted yet again, this time to green. The troopers, both the ones in Birch’s shuttle and the one next to it, jumped, one man after the other, until all 120 were out and in the sky.

[Khendon S]

Khendon cursed in every language he knew, which were several, as the reports were fed to him. Twelve ion cannon like batteries had fired upon the craft, one hundred anti-air laser cannons had fired upon them, four SAM sites had fired upon the prophets on exit, and over one thousand small arms were discharged, this battle was going to be hell, and Khendon knew it. “We’re going to need reinforcements, ground troops mainly. Command, order Black Blood and Leviathan to return to the nearest star port and be refitted to carry more troops and UPAUs, that should take what, thirty minutes? Yeah, that sounds about right, gotta’ love the BC design. Relay commands to the Chameleon from group two to do the same.”
“Aye, Sir. Command relaying orders.”

The above stated craft activated their wormhole drives and made the jump to the nearest port, located at Nashua. Khendon looked over at the controls at his disposal. “Give me GPS readings on all of the dropped troops, I want to know what happened to those daft shot down troopers, Ground Control!”
“GPS reports they are scattered over a ten by ten mile area. All are alive, and about twenty are heading to the first target, the other forty are regrouping. It’s a miracle that they all survived. Heat signatures from the prophets last scan show that one enemy company of three platoons each with four squads of twelve are moving in on their positions. That’s a total of one hundred forty troopers, Sir… that’s a lot of troops.”

“Flight, can we launch a squadron of prophets to provide cover?”
“Yes, I believe we can, Sir. Ordering them down now.”
“Good…”

[Khendon S]

First Officer Genings frowned, one of his most important ships, the BC Chameleon had been ordered away, but, he knew, when it came back, it would be in superior condition. On the ground the three regiments that had been deployed, so far, were making their way through the jungle, towards the capital. Genings knew that if he took the capital, the resistance would be crushed, they would have no more leaders, and moral would be destroyed. He just had to make sure that his troops survived. The prophets’ reports showed that three to four divisions of infantry were down there, all waiting for his three regiments. He had 2,880 troops, eight hundred being armor, 80 being artillery, while they had around 10,000 infantry, one hundred armor units, and around ten artillery. Gening knew he could drop more forces, but he would need the rest for the other planet he was ordered to take, and he would need more to hold the planet, he wanted fresh ones for that, and yet more to finish off the defenders that wouldn’t surrender with the rest. These planets would be paid in blood, just hopefully not his own men’s.

Commander Sinclare brought his machete down, on an angle, towards a plant, severing it from the top area, knocking it down, providing a clear path. Sinclare hit at his neck, killing a mosquito, dirty little creatures that sucked blood, he hated bloodsuckers, just like he hated lawyers. Sinclare uneasily shifted the rifle on his shoulder, he wasn’t really trained well for planet side combat, he just wanted to get on Khendon’s good side, and get a promotion while he was at it, being governor of this filthy, yet rich, planet would be good enough for him.

The three regiments made their way towards the capital, they needed to be relatively close so they could start blasting the hell out of it with artillery and then send in the armor followed by infantry. Air defenses needed to be eliminated before they would be able to launch an air strike, but, Sinclare believed this would be an easy fight, against barbarians.

[Khendon S]

Birch looked around, he was in a slightly crouched position, weapon in hand, slowly surveying the terrain. His face was stone cold, with the look of determination, and blood lust in his eyes. His team had landed successfully, and several other teams were near him. In just a few minutes they would begin their twenty-mile trek towards the enemy city’s outer areas, Birch was going to have fun here. Burch made an open hand signal as his platoon of three squads raised themselves off the forest ground. He signaled them to be quiet as he made a move forward motion, causing them to go into two side by side lines. Birch raised his weapon, looking this way and that through the high-powered scope, switching between spectrums, looking for any sight of an enemy, he found none.

Birch lowered his weapon slightly as he began to march on with his troops, leading them towards the bridge, which had been marked with a GPS. As Birch’s platoon continued on he slipped an earpiece into his ear, listening in on friendly, encrypted, traffic. All of his troopers had made it, thank god, and were moving towards the target. Suddenly, a laser bolt struck the trooper neck to Birch square in the shoulder, mostly being stopped by his combat armor, but still, some penetrating it and burning the flesh.

Birch signaled down, and his troops did so. One man activated a sensitive listening device and pointed northwestward. A sniper kneeled, pointing his high-powered rifle in the direction. He fired off one salvo, Birch, looking through binoculars, saw the bullet hit, tearing through the neck flesh of the enemy trooper, severing his head from his torso, a clean cut. Birch looked away, slightly sick from his first sights of true combat. He signaled up, and they continued on.

[Khendon S]

Commander Sinclare smiled as a bomb was set off that generated a clearing in the middle of the forest. Yet again he smiled as artillery units pulled up, and began to setup. Sinclare walked over to a tent that was being setup and began issuing orders to regiment leaders. “YV-82, you’ll pull up about three miles away from the nearest city structure and dig trenches, load anti-personnel weapons into them and prepare for an enemy attack. Regiment YV-83 will stay here and continue work on the artillery batteries while YV-84 moves up to aid YV-82. I want a kill box, make sure nothing gets through. YV-84, release half your engineers and have them begin work on a air field at this location.” Commander Sinclare pointed to a position on the map in between the artillery and ‘frontlines.’
“Will do, Sir.” Said all three Regiment leaders as they went off to instruct their battalion leaders which would in turn instruct their company leaders and so forth until it reached the squad leaders.

Sinclare was in a happy mood so he decided to continue forward with the other two Regiments, but this time he would hop a ride in a UPAU, his feet were killing him.

Thirty minutes later the UPAUs and troopers following them stopped. Troopers pulled out shovels and digging equipment and started to form trenches all over the area. Combat engineers ran forward and began to place obstacles for opposing forces, hoping that would slow them down. Commander Sinclare put down a lounge chair and got some shut eye, while they did this, he needed his beauty sleep, after all, even though all the beauty sleep in the Galaxy wouldn’t do him any good, he was uglier then a mix between a bantha and a wookie.

Sinclare awoke to the shouts of troopers, he looked at his watch, he had been asleep for three hours! Troopers were in their trenches by now and armor was behind the line, pumping salvo after salvo into the forest, and blood stained trees. Sinclare shook himself awake and got up, his last mistake. Sinclare now had a high profile, and he was in an officer’s suit. A bullet first entered his leg, severing the muscles and bone, causing him to collapse there. He pulled his rifle and aimed, but it was too late, the sniper was quick, he fired a bullet into Sinclare’s neck, cutting the jugular, Sinclare would bleed to death. A combat medic ran over to Sinclare, only to be sniped in the arm. But, luckily for Sinclare, a sniper had seen the muzzle flash, and fired back, killing the sniper, by hitting him in the forehead, he was dead before he hit the ground, falling out of the tree he had been in. A second combat engineer ran over, applying pressure to Sinclare’s wound, and dragging him and the wounded medic back to the medical area, Sinclare would live.

[Khendon S]

Birch was pinned down, some damn heavy gunners had ambushed them, luckily, they were bad shots, and the platoon had dropped to the ground, none being hit. Birch threw a thermal detonator over in the direction the firing was coming from, and covered his head. The explosion destroyer one of the guns, and killed the crew of the same one, it also knocked over the crews of the other two guns that had been keeping them down. Birch got up, and his platoon followed suit. Birch ran, firing off blasts from his rifle into the knocked down troopers.

Birch’s platoon regrouped and continued on, taking one of the heavy guns with them, they might need it later on. Birch was slightly amused, reports of victory were coming in from all of his troops, and he had lost not one. The enemy wasn’t concentrated enough or highly trained enough to deal with Birch’s special forces, he was lucky, and all of his enemies had been farmers a week before.

Birch’s platoon emerged from the forest an hour later and double-timed it; they were out in the open, a newly cut field. Birch cursed as he raised his rifle and signaled for snipers up front and a lose formation; they would need to spot the enemy before they could be spotted. The snipers caught site of it first, then birch. Across the opening was a small trench and some sand bags, a two tanks, and finally, the dam. Birch smiled and whispered, “Snipers, make ready, take out the heavies. Someone, get your ass up here and prepare to fire an anti-tank rocket into that thing, and that one as well. Heavy gunner, set up, we’re going to need you to cover our run forward.”

Several men nodded that they understood as the rest of the platoon hit the ground. The others crouched and began to move forward, weapons level. As they reached around three hundred meters away from the targets Birch signaled to stop, they would fire form here. The three snipers leveled off their weapons, as did the two demo men, who were equipped with anti-tank weapons. “Shoot them if they even look like they’re looking at us, turn off your color recognition.”

The men, yet again, nodded an understanding as Birch signaled for the rest of the troops to crawl forward. After three more minutes the force was together. Birch signaled to the kneeling troopers and they fired. The first sniper’s shot hit a commander in the helm, penetrating the armor and going through his head, out the other side, past the helm, and into a trooper standing on the other side, into his chest, through his heart, and stopping. The second sniper’s blast hit another commander, this one standing on top of a tank, going through his throat, severing his head, and continuing until it hit a wall. The third, and final, sniper’s shot hit a general, the one in charge of the dam’s defenses. The shot hit him in the stomach, a gut shot.

Birch signaled forward as the two demo men’s shots hit the tanks, destroying them and their occupants in a ball of flame. Birch’s rough riders ran forward, firing off salvo after salvo into the unexpecting enemy, catching them off guard, fatally. The heavy guns tore through the enemy ranks, which, without leadership, had run out of their trenches to meet the attacking force. Radio communications were jammed by Birch’s comm. man as the platoon advanced, taking scant loses.

[Khendon S]

Now that Sinclare was out of the way, First Officer Genings could do things his way, the better way. The First and Second Regiments had managed to push off the attacking forces, an entire division of five regiments, mainly due to their advantage armor wise. Genings ordered down a squadron of Swordfish to the planet’s surface, they landed at the makeshift runway. The BCs had returned with more troops, each containing a division of three regiments and a platoon of armor. Those BCs when set to a single task could carry a ton of stuff, and Genings was glad.

Genings ordered his head ground officer down to supervise the ground attack, Lieutenant Madison. Madison had landed on the planet and was already in the throng. He was leading the First Regiment supported by the Fourth Regiment towards the city, with the Second Regiment holding the line and the Third protecting the artillery. The Fifth and Six Regiments were in reserve to help clean up after the capture and surrender of the planet.

Madison traveled on a hover bike with a group of lead scouts, followed by some medium hover tanks. They came within two hundred meters of the city’s first pillbox and stopped. “Artillery order, 9x81 quad a/b, sector 7, at 8, corrective fire of three.”
The artillery batteries responded quickly, firing off three shots of high-powered explosives. They had unloaded mobile howitzers, the best artillery to have in a jam. The first shot hit just shy of the pillbox, the second dead center, destroying it, and the third way off. “Fire another one on the second shots path.”
“Yes, Sir, you should see it in a couple of seconds.” The blast hit the pillbox again, leaving nothing but a crater.
“Thank you artillery, no more fire needed in that zone, good work.”
They moved on, they would need to get close enough to spot city defenses and order in strikes.

[Khendon S]

Birch felt happy, they had lost five men, out of the entire platoon and sustained three injuries while the enemy had lost twenty men and sustained forty injuries. Birch walked over to a set up tent for command and the wounded. “Hey, Johnson, get me a secure encrypted line to Khendon, aight?”
“Yeah, man, sure thing.”

Khendon was scratching his goatee as the call came in, “Sir, message from you, from Lieutenant Birch.”
“Put it through, on my headset, please.”
“Aye, Sir.”
“Hello?”
“Hey, Khendon! That you?”
“Sure is! Great to hear you, man. How are things down there?”
“Good, but I’ve got five casualties and three injured.”
“Okay, give me your position, I’ll send down a fast recovery shuttle.”
“Negative, the anti-air is still up, but we have our paws on the dam. My boys are packaging it up in explosives; it’ll be sky high, up to your height, in a couple minutes. We expect enemy fighters to respond, along with a regiment or two.”
“You guys have your anti-air equipment, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. But, if they launch two squadrons, we’re screwed.”
“Don’t worry, just knock out that power planet, then the nuclear one, and I’ll get you as much air cover as I can provide.”
“Aight, man, good. Send a general message to the dropped troops, tell them to rendezvous at the nuke plant, aight?”
“Sure thing, Birch. I’ll have it done in a snap.” Khendon pointed to his comm. officer who was listening in, signaling him to get on it. “Okay, I’m relaying the message now, anything else?”
“Yeah, a scotch.”
“Heh, you get out of this alive and I’ll get you two of the best bottles I can find.”
“Thanks, man, Birch out.”

[Khendon S]

Lieutenant Madison was now close enough to spot the artillery strikes and opened a comm. to the artilleryman. “You see the sat. readout? Take aim at a military target and fire, I’ll give you the stats.”
“Okay, Madison, will do.”

The first of the artillery’s three correctional blasts hit. The first struck an office building, utterly destroying it, the second hit the targeted anti-air battery, and the third hit a candy shop next to it. “Ouchies, hit a lot of other stuff, the second was correct, though, fire again on that vector.”
“Will do.”

Madison watched as the shot emitted form the forest miles away and arched, a little light fired form it, its engine igniting, then deactivated, sending it on a crash vector with the anti-air battery again. “Okay, good again, recalb. you equipment, your second shots are hitting, so calb. it properly, okay?”
“Okay, sure thing.”

“All right, now take aim at the power matrix, it should be rather easy to take down. Fire off five shots directly onto it with the new calibrations.”
“Firing away!” Madison watched as the shots repeated the last ones motions but the burst from the engine lasted longer, sending it up more, and further away, causing it to crash into the target, and erupt in red and orange flames.
“Direct hit! Great shot!” The next four shots hit the same target, converting it to rubble.

“Okay, now that you’re on a hot streak, take out the rest of the generators around the city, once they’re down most of the defenses will be dead in the water and we’ll be able to launch an air strike, hopefully bringing them down to their knees and causing the planet to surrender under our superior force.”
“Roger that, and out.”

[Khendon S]

Lieutenant Birch slung his weapon over his shoulder as he took a bite out of a candy bar, standard military issue chocolate. “Now, see, this is the best part of the job.” Said Birch, holding the detonator in one hand, the candy bar in the other. Birch smiled, then pushed the button, sending a small electrical charge all the way to the first explosive, then to the last, then back, when it hit the last one it sent a signal and every single one exploded on time, in synchronous, collapsing the bridge and causing a flood to wash away the remnants. “Great work, guys!”

Birch laughed as he and his men began there way towards the nuclear reactor, they would be taking a back road from here on and would probably not encounter anymore resistance, they hoped.

One hour later Birch’s troops found their way to the nuclear reactor site. “Shanzee, what do you see?”
“Two armed guards at the entrance, one tank squad of six at the left, and a camp of one company of two platoons each with two squads of eight.”
“That’s what, thirty-two men? That’s nothing.”
“Yeah, true.” Just as Shanzee said that Birch heard a twig snap, instinctively he turned around.
“Relax, Birch, it’s me, Arbik! I’m here with the rest of your boys, we had a tough time fighting our way through, but we made it here.”
“How many loses?”
“We lost ten total, six are wounded.”
“Once we take out this nuclear reactor we’ll get them med. evact.”
“Okay, good.”
“We’re going up against thirty-four men, that includes two guards at the front, and six tanks. You still have any anti-tank rockets?”
“Yeah, plenty. You?”
“We have four left. Set your troopers up over there.” Birch pointed near the tanks. “Have them fire in synchronous with my men, I’m going to have my snipers take out the guards and heavy guns the encamped troops over there.” Birch pointed towards the tents and huddled men, who by now had started a fire and were cooking some sort of pork. The troopers moved out, each getting into his or her position, getting ready to fight.

[Khendon S]

Madison looked forward, his face beaming with anticipation. “How many more?”
“One, Sir. One generator.”
“Good, once it’s dead, signal to Genings to launch fighters.”
“Yes, Sir.”

Artillery fire again rained on the city, once again in five shots, each arching and approaching the target at breakneck speeds, each hitting with deadly accuracy, blowing up its target.

“First Officer Genings, message coming in from planet side, they say to launch fighters, they’ve taken out the city’s power supply.”
“Great! Fighter Control, launch the grounded Swordfish, have them strike all military targets, launch Executioners equipped with bombs, launch scimitars, launch everything we have!”
“Aye, Sir. Launching everything the attack group has at the city.”

Wings of fighters formed up and moved towards the planet, each aiming for a section of the city, each dropping bomb, after bomb, after bomb. The Guild’s craft were strictly aiming for the city’s defenses, they were attacking no civilian targets, even though every now and then one would be hit, it was not on purpose.

[Khendon S]

Birch was determined to disable this nuclear reactor, it was his job, and he was going to do it right. “NOW! Come on boys, do you want to live forever!” Screamed Birch, giving the order to attack. His troops took aim and fired, raking down the sleeping troops and laughing troops, the ones in the lavatories, all of them. The heavy guns opened fire, knocking down anyone who hadn’t been by the first volley from the riflemen, and the demo men fired, each hitting his target, destroying the tanks.

“FORWARD!” Screamed Birch as he got up and ran towards the entrance as the snipers fired, killing the guards. Birch’s troops ran forward, splitting up, half following Arbik to look for survivors, and the rest going inside the nuclear power planet to detain any personnel and shut it down.

Once inside, Birch put his rifle on his shoulder and pulled out a pistol, his men followed in suit. Birch pointed to a door and five men went off to open it, he pointed to another door and another five men went up, he then pointed to a final door and another five men went up. “Go!” Said Birch, as silently as he could. Each man shot the knob off the door and opened it, running through.

At the first door the group of five was met by two security guards, who tried to unholster their weapons but found that they were snapped down to prevent them from falling out. Birch’s men fired stun blasts knocking the troopers out cold.

At the second door the group of five met no resistance, they continued on their way.

At the third door the group met another door. The engineer cursed as the demo man stepped up, strapped a lump of explosives to the door, and told them to step back. Luckily, the explosives were shape charges and the door was the only thing to blow up. The group rushed through, and found what they had all been looking for, the main control room.

Birch and the remaining troops followed, stunning several security guards and workers. The engineers set up computers and began shutting down the core. After a few seconds, the lights in the building went out, the nuclear reactor was out.

“Sir, message from Lieutenant Birch.”
“Khendon! Great news, the nuclear reactor is out, we’re going to hold this position, drop reinforcements, preferably armor, and send in that air support, and med. evac.”
“Will do.”
“Command, send down medical evacuation shuttles to the location of the nuclear reactor. Command, launch troops to replace Birch’s and launch troops to take the rest of the city.”
“Aye, sir. Launching troops, as ordered.”
“Fighter Control, launch escort fighters and send down bombers, Command will give you targets along with Ground Control. Ground Control, have your troops run up to the mayor or governor or whatever’s house and put him under protective custody.”
“Aye, Sir. Will do, launching fighters as requested.”
“Aye, Aye, Commander, following orders, ordering ground troops.”
Khendon leaned back in his seat, this wouldn’t be so hard, after all.

[Khendon S]

Madison and his troops began their invasion of the city. He had only armored units move in, he didn’t want snipers to take out the infantry and felt it would go faster this way. He traveled in the leading UPAU, commanding the action.

Genings’s air cover was perfect, shooting down everything the mercenaries and citizens could muster. Their technology was rather weird, the planets inhabitance. It was more based on art then anything else. The city, from a bird’s eye view, was a giant spiral that, at night, glowed with a blue brilliance. By this time, the air units and ground units had taken out the entirety of the defenses; all that remained were the enemy infantry and a few scattered armored units.

Madison’s UPAU ran through the streets at its max speed, using repulser lifts and boosters. He was headed for the council room, to discuss the city, and the planet’s surrender, whether they wanted to or not.

Madison’s UPAU pulled up to the building, its door opening and troops filing out, rifles out, searching for snipers. Madison walked out and a sniper bullet nearly hit him, lodging itself in the side of the UPAU, giving the Lieutenant a scare. A sniper, seeing the flash, fired and killed the would be assassin of Madison. The troops continued on and half waited at the door as Madison entered the building.

[Khendon S]

Khendon was in his room, changing into a more official uniform, he put on his combat boots and stood up, checking his holster, and making sure the disruptor’s safety was off band friendly fire protector on. Khendon walked over to the door, opened it by voice, then went into the turbo lift across the hall. He went up a level, and then went out, down a hall, and into a room.

“Greetings Governor Keldarik! And General Mioko, greetings to you as well.”
“Oh, shu… I mean, likewise, Lictor Sevon…” said the General.
“Now, we’re here to discuss your terms of surrender, are we not, Khendon?” said Keldarik.
“Yes, you are. Gentlemen, if you’ll look at the screens in front of you.” Khendon took a seat at the head of the long table the others were sitting at. Next to Khendon was his First Officer and Second Officer along with his cook, who stood and presented Khendon his meal, it was late, and Khendon was hungry.

“I’ll read the terms out loud.” Said Khendon as he cut into a piece of chicken.
“they are as follows:

1. You will submit the rule of your government over to the Guild.
2. You will provide the Guild with access to all of your resources.
3. You will provide the Guild with troops, which will be volunteers for the most part.
4. You will surrender all military forces to the Guild, for assimilation.
5. You will submit all technologies to the Guild, for assimilation.
6. You will basically give us everything, including your cooperation.
7. You will be given all of the rights that are entitled to Guild citizens and will be given the protection of the Guild, you diffidently need that, look how easily we kicked your asses.
8. The Guild reserves the right to edit this document at any time, so basically it’s un conditional.

Any objections?”
“I object!” Said both of the planet’s delegates at once.
Khendon stood up, the napkin that had formerly been on his lap fell to the ground and he grinned. His hand was now out reached and in it was his disruptor. “Really? Did I say you could object? No, I did not.” Khendon pulled the trigger, but purposely he had missed, hitting a plant in the corner, turning it into dust. “Now, gentlemen, go, and prepare for the Guild to take over you planet. I assume, you finally agree?”
“Yes… yes, we agree.” Said the General.
“Yes, we do.” Said the Governor.
“Good, let them go now, and let their families go, as well.” Khendon grinned at that.

[Khendon S]

Lieutenant Madison walked up, the council was already gathered, and being how it was wartime and the council was the ‘leading general.’
“Who are you! Get out of here, can’t you see we’re discussing important information!”
“Forgive me, I’ll just drop a ten ton bomb on this place, will that make you feel better?”
“Excuse me, young man?” Said one of the elderly members.
“No! You listen here, old man. Look at your maps and data, but here’s what’s happening. You’ve lost your air defenses, ground defenses, and sea defenses. You have lost ten divisions, almost your entire army. We have at least four divisions on planet, one being entirely of armor. We have a massive fleet in space, and you have lost this war, and now, the Guild is here to offer you the chance to surrender, and join us.
“Never!”

Madison shook his head at this response. “You don’t understand, you don’t surrender, we kill everyone, and put a colony on the planet. We’re offering you the chance to survive. At least hear the terms, old man.”
“Fine, we’ll hear your terms…” Said the old man, shedding a tear.

“The terms are as follows:

1. You will submit the rule of your government over to the Guild.
2. You will provide the Guild with access to all of your resources.
3. You will provide the Guild with troops, which will be volunteers for the most part.
4. You will surrender all military forces to the Guild, for assimilation.
5. You will submit all technologies to the Guild, for assimilation.
6. You will basically give us all of your stuff, and you, and your cooperation.
7. You will be given all of the rights that are entitled to Guild citizens and will be given the protection of the Guild, that’s something few can have, but all want.
8. The Guild reserves the right to edit this document at any time, so basically it’s unconditional.

Have fun.”

“We’ll never accept those terms!”
“If you don’t… then, you die, simple.” The council looked at each other, most wished to join, but a few were holding out, believing it a bluff. “I want your decision now.” Madison made a motion of his head and troops surrounded the council. “Now, your answer.”
“We submit.”

[Khendon S]

Genings’s force moved to their other objective, L’heval. The populace had heard about Rivendel, and welcomed the Guild, as their protectors, and rulers. A few put up a fight, but not enough to be recorded as combat.

The Omar, being smart, and shrewd, agreed to Guild control (especially after they lost most of their forces defending Stel’k and Rivendel.)

The Fri’l believed the Guild gods, and accepted them, once they had been told about the take over of Omar, they considered them their new kings. None put of a fight.

Total loses:

Stel’k: 50 troopers killed, 80 wounded – 1 Shuttle shot down, 2 Swordfish shot down, 20 shadow droids shot down.
Omar Prime: 0/0
Rivendel: 824 troopers killed, 10 wounded – 27 shadow droids shot down, 1 swordfish collided with a shadow droid, 2 shuttles shot down by anti-air, all onboard survived.
Fri’l: 0/0
L’Heval: 1 killed, 10 wounded

[Khendon S]

Khendon smiled as he stood on the bridge of his command ship, arms crossed behind his back. He thought to himself, more wood for the furnace, more rounds for the gun, one more step to conquest, one more step to revenge. The ISD Khendon was aboard went into hyerspace, the fleet following behind.

They had left behind relatively good forces to hold the locations.

They had left behind the following:
Stel’k: 3 Regiments
Omar Prime: 4 Regiments
Fri’l: 1 Regiment
Rivendel: 3 Regiments
Benai: Research ship
L’heval: 1 Battalion
Shivik: 1 Battalion

And plenty of engineers and construction workers, this would be an important sector to the Guild, from this point forward.