Admiral's Log - 18 years since the renewal of our Empire
"The Galactic Empire is and shall always be the utmost authority of the galaxy. Ever since the ascension of our revered Emperor Fel, the empire succeeded the Old Republic with the purpose of spreading peace and civilization to all peoples. In this quest, the Empire has had to deal with and crush many adversaries: Including the remnant Sith of the Old Times who attempted rebellion amidst the third civil war; various non-human insurrections which had to be punished; the blood thirsty barbarians of the Mandalorian Clans; and not least of all, the contingent of Galactic Alliance who still insist on being able to defeat us.
But there were a few times where the Empire...was forced to acknowledge its boundaries. They are very few, but notable nonetheless and these circumstances caused us to reevaluate the strategic purpose of these causes and ultimately abandon them. These ventures all occur when we attempted to set up permanent footholds in the unknown regions, bringing us into contact with various civilizations and species...which we have made note to avoid:
The Na'vi of Pandora: Their psychic bond with their world...made any land occupation...fruitless to say the least. Not to mention that this same energy was used to prevent any orbital bombardment we could have made...Did I forget that those blue skinned monsters managed to commandeer one of our star destroyers?...Only 40% of that fleet returned to Imperial Space...I still have nightmares about those...reptilian birds!
The Alchemists of Amestris: We've yet to name the planet where they were encountered...but it need not be named. I shall refer to it as Shamballa then. The Shamballan's were easy enough to overrun and occupy in the first few years of our incursion...But then they called upon their gods of magic and science.
When the Storm Legions met their alchemists, it wasn't a battle, it was a massacre! There was even an alchemist who but flicked his fingers and entire platoons were instantly incinerated. Not to mention the alchemic booby traps they set! You never knew what would happen to you! One time, a Scout Walker squad step onto a large one and were instantly smashed together to form a very flat but large coin! Look close enough and you could still see the blood from the pilots leak out of the said coin! Eventually, I made a calculated decision and choose to abandon this planet in favor of another.
A rear admiral disregarded my orders for immediate retreat and led several destroyers to try and bombard the planet in revenge. What exactly can I say when a giant stalagmite pierces through a destroyer? Where did they find all of the dirt to make that!
The Saiyans of Planet Vegeta:...What a nightmare...They were worse than the Mandalorians! Only the heaviest and most intense of our firepower could kill any of them and if you wound any and let them live, they'll return much more powerful in the next battle! Then...there's their ability to create a fake moon...I never thought a giant primate would ever terrify me...Did I mention that the beasts could actually fly and breath in space! How I managed to get back our small remnant of a fleet is beyond me...
You'd think I would be more terrified of the individual who actually wiped out the damn monkeys! But you know what? The enemy of my enemy is my friend! Also, I think he made into a moff or something, either way, I'm glad I won't have to fight Moff Frieza anytime soon.
Now...the emperor has seen fit to send me to another planet in the Unknown Regions. This world is called Arceus and is home to over six hundred species of creatures known as Pokemon co-habiting with its human population. For years, the Empire has attempted to...persuade the planet's government to allow the Empire access to its native creatures for research, but the government is...very attached to their pokemon to say the least. After many failures at negotiation, the Emperor has promoted me to Senior Admiral and given me the command of five Imperial Fleets to "persuade" the fools of the Empire's reasoning.
Unlike my previous ventures, the planet's ecosystem is heavily dependant on all of its agents. Therefore, a simple bombardment, followed by a campaign of desolation should be enough to subdue the population. It is about time for me to address my troops, so that will be all for now."
"Senior Admiral Jonan Neras signing off"
This was the last excerpt from Admiral Neras' journal before he began the Invasion of the Unknown Regions planet, Arceus.
What you shall see is footage taken by participants of the invasion supplemented by the journal entries of the Admiral himself. The purpose of this exercise is to identify and dissect the tactical advantages that played part in this operation.
What you will see will shock you, you will be horrified, and you will be fearful of the creatures the Admiral had to face, but remember whom you serve and remember the lessons you learn.
Or else shame the men who died upon that world.
First Entry - Day 1
A camara screen turned on to reveal the command deck of an Imperial Star Destroyer. All of the flight deck was at work while the Destroyer's captain stood in the observer's deck. Immediately, the ship exited hyperspace and stopped in sight of the planet named Arceus.
"Planet Arceus is in sight, captain," one of the bridge announcer's reported, "Shall we proceed?"
"Yes and tell the ground forces to prepare for invasion," the captain commanded as the destroyer moved closer to the planet's orbit, "All hands move to Code Orange Stations and stay alert."
"Sir?" A newly promoted lieutenant said questionably. The lad had yet to taste battle and was therefore noticeably...nervous.
"I'm not worried or anything," The captain explained to the lad, "I just feel that the first into battle should set an example for the rest of the fleet." The Lieutenant nodded and went back to work after saluting his commanding officer.
"This reminds me of this planet in the Milky Way System," the captain heard the recording bridge guard comment, "My team and I scouted it to see if it had potential as a worthwhile command post...Too polluted though, one of us actually got sick from breathing the air." Now the Destroyer was looming over the planet's surface which was mainly aquatic save for four major land masses.
"Sir!" An analysist called, "Sensor's detect a planet-shield present! Still ascertaining its strength, sir!"
"So they knew we were coming," the middle-aged captain mused, "No matter, fire a volley." The ship vibrated under force of its own cannon fire. The cannon fire is easy enough to get used to, but what happened next was not.
"Sir! The energy reading from the shield is getting stronger! It's-" The analysist was cut off when a great surge of pink energy sliced up through the Destroyer, essentially slicing it in half. Everyone was rocked from their position, including the recording guard who fell flat on his face.
"Damage Report!" The guard heard the captain command while the crew attempted to scavenge whatever focus they could.
"Sir...we've lost the entirety of the nose...the port side hulls are losing life support..." The communication officer was doing a very bad job at maintaining composure, but given the situation, it was forgivable, "Engine's have lost power and...the port side hangers...are-" Once the bridge got to its feet they need only to look out the observation windows to see what happened the majority of the ground troops. Anyone who wasn't incinerated by that blast was now being pulled into the planet's gravitational pull or simply floated around in the ship's own anti-gravity field. Most them were already dead, a few had the misfortune of being given marine suits and were likely screaming their asses off. But how would the guard know, no one can hear you scream in space.
"Very well, switch on the ship-wide intercomm," The captain grabbed a microphone from his desk and addressed the entire ship, "Crew of the Dynex, this is Captain Nokia, any and all hands capable of movement are ordered to abandon ship. Please proceed to the nearest intact hanger or escape pod and from there you are ordered to either make your way down to the planet's surface to help set a forward command post or join with the invasion force of a more complete attack force to better accomplish your mission. As always, it is pleasure to have worked with you and may you bring utmost honor to the Galactic Empire!"
"Guess that's my cue!" Without asking for the captain's blessing, the Guard ran out of the deck and the camera in his helmet rocked along with him from the force whatever was still hitting the ship.
"Shit! This ship is getting pulled apart!" The guard cried as he made it to the nearest hanger and ran towards an Old Republic Gunship. Thank the fates that most of these weren't scrapped! While obsolete by modern standards, these vessel's were easy enough to modify into atmosphere entry vessels. The guard climbed into the vessel and sat down next to its occupants, among them a few clone troopers from the Third Cvil War.
"Feels like the Good Old Days alright," a Former Arc Trooper said as he fastened his helmet onto his suit, "Haven't had a real fight for a long time."
"You sure about that?" the guard himself had fought in the Clone Wars, but wouldn't go as far as to call them the Good Old Days. Realizing that this model didn't have air locks, the guard quickly grabbed a handle and turned on his armor's air support. Allowing the guard to remain breathing when the ship was dropped through the hanger doors that opened under it. As the ship left for its destination, the guard looked out to see that the dissassembling ship was being pulled into the planet's orbit.
"What the?" the guard thought he saw something fly past the Imperial Class II destroyer: Moonsbane and zoomed in on the newly christened destroyer. He barely caught a green flash looped around the destroyer before a red beam ripped through the center of the Vessel and instantly set it into a multi-colored blaze. The guard nearly let go of his handle, he was so startled by what had happened.
"So we weren't the only ones who just saw that." The Guard heard the Arc Trooper comment, "Yeah...I miss the Good Old Days."
"What good old days?" the guard asked while watching the debris of Moonsbane disentigrate into the atmosphere, "When the Empire didn't have to worry about losing a ship?"
"No...when we could see the enemy fight back," the trooper corrected as the gunship entered the hanger of the Imperial Class I Star Destroyer: Son's Spawn, "Don't know about you, but I'm going to first gunship heading planetside."
"Then don't mind if I tag along with you," the guard replied as the ship disengaged its propulion systems and allowed for its passengers to disembark. Meanwhile, the guard observed that the forces inside the Destroyer were preparing to depart. Remembering that he was supposed to be part of an invasion, the guard followed the arc troopers over to what looked like a Commando.
"From the Dynex, I assume?" The commando asked as he led the Arcs on with the guard among them, "It's barely been three hours and we've already lost one of the flags and three more. That's one of the strongest shields that I've ever seen, it actually absorbs and then reflects firepower back at the shooter ten times stronger."
"I was aboard the Outlaw's Bane, sir," an arc with a scarred forehead reported, "We managed to send part of our assault force and they managed to get through the shield without detrimental affect."
"Which makes our job easier," another of the arcs commented, "If we concentrate our efforts and set a forward command post closest to where the shield is being projected from, we may be able to destroy the projector..."
"Then bomb the bastards till there's nothing taller than five feet," the guard added to the silent approval of those present, "Chances are if they have this strong of a shield then their land defense is likely to be pretty weak."
"Alright, then I'm leaving it to you guys," The commando stated, "Consider yourselves members of the newly reformed Arc Troopers. Your mission...well you all just stated it. Try to form a spot for the main force to form a Forward Command Post while your-" A sudden force rocked everyone from their feet and failing lights only confirmed a retalitary attack.
"Captain...line's dead," one of the Son Spawn's Arcs reported after trying to patch through to the bridge, "Looks like the bridge might've been taken out sir."
"Either way, we have our orders," The commando stated as he and the team got to their feet, "Scramble and get the hell off of this ship! I'll try to patch through to any arc on the other ships but no promises!" With that the guard ran alongside the Arcs to one of the more appropriately fitted Gunships. It was based on an Old Republic model, but still obviously modern.
"Better than nothing," The guard commented as he hopped into one of the gunships labeled 'Sarapin Beast'. He looked out to see that the gravity controls were going haywire as dozens of soldiers suddenly floated from the floor as they ran. Not that it really mattered, but the gunships were also starting to float up from the lack of artificial gravity.
"If we're gonna leave, we better do it soon!" one of the arcs yelled towards the cockpit. Another trooper, a tan skinned, short haired human in his early twenties, floated into the hull just before the doors closed and sealed themselves.
"First day on tour and we're already in trouble," the trooper reported before slipping on his helmet, the design looked like a cross between Imperial and Old Republic which meant the kid may have been the son of a clone, "The name's Tavren by the way."
"Marshall Order," the guard replied back as everyone crouched down and grabbed a rail as the gunship began lift off, "Just a guard who may or may not have gotten on the wrong ship."
"Spot," one of the troopers with a recon helmet introduced, "The big guy's Push, the Techie is Dell, the kid's mouse, the guy in all white is Snow, the guy with the scarred up visor is Slit, and I don't know the rest of you." The other troopers in the hold didn't really stand out to be honest. Most hardly looked different from Stormtroopers, in fact, it was probably likely that they were troops who got on the gunship to get off the Destroyer.
No one was prepared for what they saw when they left the hanger doors of the Sun Spawn. They looked back and found that the entire command structure of the Destroyer had been blasted cleanly off of the ship while there remained no sign of what was taken off of the ship. Everyone was so fixated on the ship and the apparent dissarray of the fleet that they were all too shocked when light yellow beam tore through the hull of the Sun Spawn and caused it to explode while going through and destroying another nearby Star Destroyer.
"EVERYBODY HANG ON!" The pilot commanded as a shockwave from the beam and destruction of the large cruisers impacted the gunship and sent it hurtling into the atmosphere of their target planet. Marshall felt himself get violently slammed against the wall as the ship continued its crash landing. This combined with the already traumatic pressures of atmospheric entry meant that he'd probably black out before they hit ground. As his vision grew darker and the screams of the more frantic arcs and troopers grew dimmer, Marshall had a change of opinion concerning the troops that decided to jump ship.
Turns out, they made a good choice.
Excerpt from the journal of Imperial Commando Vent Luna:
I can't tell you how overjoyed I was when my gunship landed on this unknown world. Back in space, it was odd really. Despite being aboard one of the most powerful and feared vessels in the Imperial Fleet, I felt somehow...trapped once they started shooting back.
It was different from the usual counterattack. This was precise, they weren't just spraying all over the fleet...they were targeting the weakpoints of destroyer formations! I don't even know how they did it, but after seeing that green serpent tear apart the Moonsbane, I knew that we were in trouble.
So I got sent down here to find the power generators to their impressively powerful shield. Apparently the damned thing was strong enough to reroute the firepower of a barrage and cripple several ships in one shot! You should have seen the Dynex...the damned ship was sliced in half.
But now we're on their tuff and the golden rule of space/ground combat is simple: When your best strength is in space, the odds are good for a weak ground force.
In other words...now its our turn.
How will the Imperial forward teams respond to the landscape of this new world? Wildlife? Stay tuned and find out.
A/N: Set in an Alternate Universe between Fate of the Jedi and Legacy of the Force. Wasn't too sure about what tech the Empire would be using, so I just mixed and matched. Critiques and Reviews are very motivational and helpful!
Here's a fun (drinking) game: Try to identify the pokemon and moves used in each chapter (and a take shot for each one)!
Note: Parenthesis means optional