So sorry for the wait, but now that I am done with exams I can actually work on this.
This chapter is shorter than usual but from now on they will be out much faster. I am already working on the next chaper
In the corridors of the ever expansive Galactic Senate building, Palpatine angrily crushed the comms droid that made the mistake of getting in way with a simple grasp of the force. As the wreckage of the droid clattered to the ground the Chancellor was quick to be grateful that he was alone.
The news he was just delivered could not have come at a more awkward time.
He was just about to go in front of the Senate and speak on the prospects of his emergency powers which he had been granted to fight the Clone Wars, and he was going to essentially have to fight hard enough as it was just to keep them.
Now he would probably have to simply use his powers to force the members of the Galactic Senate to vote in his favor.
"It appears that I underestimated my opponent" he thought as he remembered the news.
The forces of the UNSC had managed to handedly defeat Yularens fleet.
The simple word for the situation was a disaster.
He himself could not believe that such a lopsided victory had occurred. And with more and more information coming from the very few survivors of the battle the situation began to look worse and worse.
Add to that fact that there was now a large sector of space now woefully underprotected around Taris due to the loss of ships, despite the vast size of the Republic Grand Fleet, forces were scrambling to regroup.
He had already ordered three full battlefleets, numbering around 1500 ships total, to the areas of space and territories closest to UN space and the Orion arm and the Orion Spur of the galaxy.
The repercussions were spreading like wildfire throughout the galaxy and the GAR. Admirals were now scrambling to go over the data that the Executrix and determine how to fight the UNSC.
His personal Intercom buzzed.
He did not even bother to check it, the session of the Senate was about to be in session, and he could already hear the roars of angry and shocked Senators of every species demanding answers.
Corouscant
Jedi Temple
"We found her escape pod just outside of the Fondor system." Jedi Master Windu mono toned as an image of Ayala Secura came on the holoscreen suspended in the middle of the spectacular Jedi Counsel chamber which was currently full of Masters.
Skywalker, Obi Wan and the rest of the Jedi present in the counsel chamber all let loose a controlled yet somewhat surprised look as the Twi'lik's wounds came on the screen.
"Moreover it is confirmed that our fears are true, Shaak Ti and Jax were both killed in battle." Windu monotoned as Anakin clenched his fist in response.
"Before she was taken to medical care at on the local base there she gave us a date chip holding a recording of everything that happened during the battle." Windu said as he pulled the chip from his robes, before sliding the chip into the computer as the room darkened.
Anakin leaned to Obi Wan and whispered into his ear, "How bad do you think this threat is?"
"We are about to find out." Obi Wan said as Anakin thought what this new war would mean for Padme and their expected twins, whom he had managed to keep a secret thanks to the help of the Chancellor, whom surprised him by revealing that he knew and was sympathetic towards them.
The video began to play.
Raxus
CIS Capital
The Capital city of the Confederacy Of Independent Systems was alive as ever as they sky ways bustled with traffic amongst the city's skyline with the backdrop of the picturesque landscape of Raxus in the distance.
On the streets of the Capitol people of every species went about their business in throngs as the main square of the city was full of civilians whom were either picnicking, enjoying the weather or simply just mingling.
As a patrol of B1 Battledroids marched by a young human around the age of 18 with fair skin and short brown hair by the name Haskins Advi sat at a table in front of a Caf shop looking out at the dominating structure that was the Confederate Senate building across the plaza with two fellow friends.
"I can believe that you are joining the Army." Tala, a Twi'lek and childhood friend asked as her green Leku curled slightly as the holo news played on a large screen across the street.
"Ive been thinking about it for a long time, with wanting to work at one of the factories or my parents store the military looked like a better option." He replied as a pair of swoop bikes raced past.
"I just really want to get off of this rock and help defend the Confederacy from the Republic."
"You know I hear that the training is pretty tough now with the Terrans advising." His other friend Dillac chimed in.
"I know, but it will be worth it. If half of what they say about those Terrans are true then I should be able to take on Clones myself after Im through." He replied.
Before he could reply everyone in the street began to run to and start to grow excited, as if they were running to something.
"What the hell?" Haskins asked as he and the others got up to see what was happening.
"Could it be a Republic attack?" Tala asked with concern.
"An attack on Raxus? This system's defenses are essentially like a fortress, I doubt they could get past the advanced fleets, much less the Golan IIIs in orbit." Dillan replied as he ran to see that a large crowd was gathering in front of the large holo news screen.
When they got there the crowd was deathly quiet as they listened to the news reporter.
"We have breaking news and video, these reports still are not completely confirmed but if these are indeed true then the Republic, four days ago launched an attack on the UN."
Everyone gasped almost as one.
"Those bastards!" several people screamed as even more people came to the crowd, even several B1 Droids joined the crowd.
"Oh my god." Dillac whispered.
"The reports detail that the attack was on one of the UN's outer colonies and the defenses there were reportedly outnumbered three to one, wait we are receiving a video now." The human female newscaster paused as she read the report, clearly surprised.
"What could it be?" Tala asked.
"We have just received a video from the UN itself, from the President of the UN and the UNSC."
Everyone looked at each other before the screen changed to show the image of a rather broad shouldered man in a Terran style black suit with a silky red tie who had three large scars that ran into his graying hair on his temple that seemed to further bring out the ferocity that the grizzled looking mans eyes all but exuded. His hands gripped the shiny wooden podium with the crest of the UN emblazed on it and a blue background behind him.
"People of Earth and all her unified colonies as well as citizens of our Confederate Allies, Sanghellian Allies and people of every race throughout the galaxy, as of four days ago forces of the Galactic Republic under the command of GAR Admiral Wulif Yularen attacked one of the UNs outer colonies and a UNSC star base in the Alpha Rendara system. This attack was deliberate and unprovoked. Any and all attempts to avoid conflict were attempted however I regret to inform the civilized galaxy that our negotiations failed."
The crowd seemed to recoil as one as the reality set in.
"Not another war." Dillac whispered as the video continued.
"Our forces, outnumbered three to one fought with the bravery and honor that all members of the UNSC and our armed forces are renowned for. The Republic fleet, consisting of some 250 odd ships from transports to capital ships and Star Destroyers, engaged the forces present, some 80 UNSC Warships and a garrison of UNSC Army and Marine forces."
"Oh my." Tala murmured as Haskins quickly thought over just how one sided that battle must have been.
"However I am reporting to you that our forces managed to successfully defeat and destroy the Republic forces, resulting in the destruction of 90 percent of their forces and the complete capture of elements of the 501st Clone Legion and the Star Fist Legion."
The crowd was silent for a full ten seconds before every one burst out cheering.
"No way!" Haskins shouted with glee as the video continued, showing images from the battle.
Everyone watched with almost fascination as UNSC ships, utilitarian but clearly warships and covered in guns and armor, engaged Republic Star Destroyers and Starfighters engaged in an absolutely furious battle.
Massive spinal guns on the Terran warships from lighter but predatory escorts, impressive looking cruisers and battleships , titanic carriers and a intimidating looking Dreadnaught spat what looked like giant streaking projectiles at shocking speeds at targets well beyond visual range. Seconds later explosions could be seen in the picture as the video shifted to show trashed Republic warships with secondary explosions ripping them apart.
The video then showed a fast paced ground battle between UNSC ground forces and Clone Troopers and their vehicles, where professional looking Terran Soldiers stood down the enemy that many had learned to hate with every fiber of their being and clearly come on top. The UNSC Troopers in their unique armor and with their wicked looking projectile weapons seemed like super men when they gunned down Clone troopers in bloody displays of firepower (something that he himself was surprised that it was left unedited).
He watched as Terrans, some if them hit by blaster fire but still stood strong thanks to some sort of armor that actually stopped or resisted blasterfire defiantly hold a defensive line against a wave of whitewashed clones.
Then the images began to show beastly looking Terran warmachines with treads, massive cannons and thick armor destroying AT-STs and AT-TEs with ease, although a few were destroyed themselves. Big and agile UNSC starfighters engaged in combat with ARC-170s and seeming to swat them out of the sky with dazzling zero Gee maneuvers and streams of angry orange projectiles and explosive missile salvos.
"However the UNSC forces sustained casualties in the 60 percent mark and nearly 70 percent of the UNSC fleet was destroyed or disabled, our lopsided victory was not without the sacrifice." The Terran Leader spoke with pain in his voice.
"This defeat has cost the Republic countless thousands of men, two hundred ships, equipment and the capture of a Republic Admiral and the deaths of two Jedi, both at the hands of a member of the elite Spartans Supersoldier Corps."
That really got people's attention.
"However during the battle the Republic managed to, despite our best efforts, launch a honor less orbital bombardment on the colony, resulting in the deaths of 50,000 helpless civilians."
Haskins clenched his fist as the others present expressed a myriad of emotions.
"Let it be known today that the Unified Nations of Earth and her Colonies will not stand for this injustice! Let it be known that we will stand and fight the enemy whenever they attack no matter what. Let it be known that today, the Unified Nations of Earth and her Colonies and the United Nations Space Command hereby declare all out war on the Galactic Republic!"
The people present and throughout Confederate Space, non aligned space, Terran Space and Republic space all watched as the galaxy as they knew it changed.
Planet Reach
ONI Castle Base
"Attention! Ten Hut Spartans!" John called out as the 100 Spartans present inside the cavernous bay deep beneath the mountains of Reach and a part of ONI's top secret Castle Base, home of the Spartan Program.
Present were the 24 Surviving members of the original class of Spartan IIs like John and Linda to his left, the surviving Class of 60 Spartan IIIs along with the 16 newest members of the Spartan IVs whom had just completed their training. The next two waves of 30 Spartan IVs would be ready in a month, in time to see action in the upcoming war.
"Admiral on Deck!" John shouted as the superhumans all snapped to with perfect unison and precision as Admiral Whitcomb strode into the hall, returning the salute as he took his place in from of the Spartans as his aid stood near him, the young woman's eye's nervously looking at the Spartans betraying her feelings as the 7 ft and up tall living weapons of pure genetically and cybernetically enhanced muscles gave them the looks that body builders drooled over.
"At ease Spartans." The famed Admiral ordered as the Supersoldiers relaxed.
"As you are all but keenly aware war has come upon the UNSC yet again. This time around we are not fighting for our lives thankfully. However we are facing an enemy whose not only partially human, especially those who will actually be facing us in battle, but has the resources and numbers to make even our fleets and defenses seem miniscule."
John and the others nodded as he noticed Kelly steal a quick glance at him, knowing that he had obviously been in the battle and had only arrived back on Reach twelve hours ago when the Warhound arrived in system and promptly entered one of the massive orbital drydocks for repairs.
"To defeat this enemy we must take advantage of their weakness, they are spread out, surrounded by enemies and compared to us, rather inexperienced at fighting the kind of enemies we have, though to their credit they have learned and adapted fast."
The Spartans nodded.
"To accomplish this we must attack them at every weakpoint that we can, go straight for the heart of the enemy and keep them on their toes. Cause if we don't they can simply overwhelm us despite the casualties we will inflict."
The Spartans again nodded, all understanding that despite the power of the UNSC that the vast size of the Republic meant that it could overwhelm the UNSC's forces and defenses with pure numbers and most likely absorb the casualties that they would incur.
"To accomplish this we must go on the offensive. Operations command is turning through battle plans right now, but it looks like the first deployment of a team of Spartans will be to Taris."
Behind the Admiral a screen the size of a movie theatre's flashed to existence as the lights closest to the group dimmed.
Reach
High Command
FLEETCOM
Central Command for UNSC Sector One
Manassas
Gregory White sighed as the Panther light armored vehicle hit a small bump in the three lane autobahn as its large all terrain wheels pushed the large vehicle towards the off ramp at 100 mph and the picturesque green plains sped by with the skyline of the city of Manassas in far off in the distance nestled between twin mountain ranges which encircled the basin where Manassas and High Com resided.
The driver stared intently at the road ahead of him as a security checkpoint came and went, the guards manning the station receiving clearance from the IFF and HIGH COM's security grid.
Gregory had tried desperately to grab some sleep as he had only ten hours or sleep tops in the past five days, the admiral having to manage the aftermath of the battle before he transferred control to the Trafalgar and her battlegroup before making a rare straight shot for Reach at the fastest Slipspace speeds the bruised and bleeding battleship could make.
He had arrived on Reach less than 14 hours ago after his flagship was docked at one of the shipyards around Reach's second moon Turul. And as soon as he had set foot on Reach, aside from the hounding he had received from the press, which he of course was forced to politely if bluntly ignore, was immediately called to High Com by a somewhat irritated sounding Admiral Cole along with the rest of the Admirals that were available along with the ranking Generals from the UNSC Army, Navy and the small Air Defense Forces. Though the true authority over the UNSC came from Earth and UNSC High Command from the truly massive "Hive" Headquarters outside of Sydney, Australia and ultimately led by Lord Hood.
The Makeup of the UNSC Command was such that the ultimate authority came from High Com on Earth and the acting President, however this power was mostly shared with the semi dual High Command on Reach which in reality was where most war time decisions and orders came from. Earth's titanic defense forces and massive population as well as those of Mars, Venus and the Jovian moons were such that they were nearly enough of a responsibility for HighCom on Earth that Reach had become the true operational head of the UNSC while Earth retained the formal title and dealt with mainly the bureaucratic side of things and the UNSC Home Fleet.
After Reach UNSC space was divided into six CENTCOMs, or central commands (of which Reach had been the original before becoming what it was today). Midguard, or Centcom One, was the head of the forward defense of the Outer Colonies and covered nearly 40 percent of UNSC controlled space, plans were fast underway to recolonize Arcadia after it was ruined by the Covenant 13 years ago and eventually turn it into nothing but a planet sized military base to take off some of the strain of the Outer Colonies defense. CentCom's two through five were located in the Inner Colonies on each "side" of UNSC space that made up the Inner colonies, which made the highly populous worlds into that made the Inner Colonies into a proverbial fortress, as all angles of attack were covered and could be defended with only hours warning, further augmenting the layer of defenses that Each Inner Colony already possessed.
Centcom Six was only weeks old. The Confederacy, grateful for what the UNSC had done for them, gave the re-conquered planet of Vos Pity to the UNSC to use if it wanted to. The UNSC Obliged them. Secret shipments were already underway under the noses of the Republic's border defenses thanks to their slipspace drives and were fast building a base to act as forward base for the upcoming operations against the Republic thorughout the outer rim and their assaults on several key systems, the plans of which he and Cole had already briefly discussed.
The Panther, an all terrain recon vehicle which was based off of the chassis of a Wolverine anti-air vehicle but with the back half track replaced with a set of wheels and a shortened length and minus the dual vulcan thirty millimeter cannons and SAM launchers, began to slow as another checkpoint came into view.
The Panther had been developed as a desperate need for a vehicle more suited for urban combat of which the open cockpit and nature of a Warthog was severely lacking. Inspired by the HUMVEEs of the 20th century and the smaller MRAPs of the 21st, the vehicle ditched the AA armaments of the Wolverine in favor of a cabin for five plus a mount for any number of weapons from a simple .50 cal, a Automatic grenade launcher or a Gauss cannon.
As the Panther stopped the Marines manning the station stepped out of the guard shack to check the underside of the Panther for bombs or any sort of tracking or listening devices.
One could not help but notice that this checkpoint unlike the last was far more equipped for war than the first, which was really just meant to turn lost or prying civilians away before they reached the second. The checkpoint was a certified pillbox which was merely dressed up to look presentable, but a trained eye could clearly pick out the automated machine guns tracking him and anything that came near it.
"Your clear, have A nice day Admiral." The Guard saluted as White returned it before the vehicle again sped off.
After another ten minutes of driving the perimeter of the base came into view.
To call HighCom an impregnable fortress might not have done the place justice.
The entire base, some six miles wide at its largest point, was encircled by a thirty foot high sloped reinforced concrete wall with redoubts that held countless 50 mm helilical railgun anti air batteries taken straight off of starships, 100 mm railgun cannons, SAMs, Flak Batteries and machine guns.
After going through the final gates under the wall Gregory made his way into the base and into High Com.
Passing several more bunkers, shiny training buildings, massive vehicle pools, machine shops, radar emplacements, barracks, and officer quarters, HIGH COM itself loomed in the windscreen.
Standing thirty stories tall and surrounded by a simple yet immaculate field of nurtured neatly cut grass on every side save for a large circle drive that gave the bottom portion of the building the look of a airport terminal.
As White made his way into the building and past layer upon layer of security he could only think about how the upcoming meeting would go.
Two hours later…
"You crossed the line White with the killing of the Clones." Cole said irritably as Gregory all but rolled his eyes again, "but I admit I might have done the same if I were in your shoes."
Gregory and the other Admirals present, Whitcomb, Stanforth and Harper all nodded with a hint or thankfulness that the usual disagreements between the two ended with agreement.
"So as of our operational plans? " Stanforth asked.
"Our plan will be to essentially perform a sort of blitz on several key Republic systems" Cole spoke as a holographic display of the galaxy came up with the borders of the Republic, UN/UNSC, CIS and non aligned space.
On them four systems were highlighted in yellow.
The Bakuran System, Taris System, Ord Mantel, and the last one made even Admiral White grin,he had to give Lord Hood credit for being ballsy and ordereing an attack there right in the middle of the core.
The Corellian System.
"We will also assault the planets with known Republic forces closest to our border. These four systems will be where most of our large scale fighting will take place and they are meant to both draw Republic forces in and to attack at important worlds. The rest of the fighting will be hit and run tactics and guerrilla warfare supported by our special forces as well as by whatever partisans we can muster. There will also be several smaller assaults on smaller worlds but they will only be to send a message and they have little value, Naboo being an example." Cole finished.
"How many ships are we committing? Not to mention the personnel." Whitcomb asked. "There are already raids in motion on Taris for instance by Spartans."
The list appeared.
"Good lord." Stanforth said aloud as Cole motioned to Admiral White.
"We will be using nearly 3500 Vessels in our assault, and that is just the initial one. If all goes according to plan we can have an additional thousand in the battle."
"That is nearly a fifth of our fleets!" Admiral Harper exclaimed.
"Will we be stretching ourselves too thin?" Stanforth asked as Cole and White both shook their heads.
"We are already activating all of our mothball fleets and rearming them, mostly older Marathons and Frigates, but a few Halcyons as well , however they will be used to supplement the defenses and allow more of our modern ships to be used in the fight and to not take away from our colonies defense. As well all shipyards are in full overdrive right now as well as all of our other wartime industrial might. We will have by years end a thousand more vessels of all classes from Frigates to Battleships, and getting the people to run them is proving easy as recruitment centers have reported a 50 percent increase in volunteers in the last week." White finished.
"How long until they are ready?" Cole asked," the President is wanting to go on the assault as soon as possible to not allow them time to be ready for us."
"By the end of the month, ships are already massing at the three staging areas." Harper answered.
Reach was among them of course, along with Midguard and the rebuilding Harvest system.
Taris
Two Hours later Earth time…
Above the vast cityscape of Taris, invisible to the naked eye and the sensors of the endless streams of civilian ships and the Republic fleet, ten large Shiva nuclear bombs, outfitted for duration flight and with stealth packages coasted towards their targets on predetermined courses.
For nine of them their targets were in orbit, eight of them their targets were a section of nine Golan III Defense platforms that defended one of the poles of the world.
The tenth kept on going past the other slowing mines whom broke their orbits to slow down. It descended and after firing a short burn from one of its thrusters slowed down to the point where it looked like nothing more than a piece of debris that endlessly orbited the planet.
With its speed slowed it entered the atmosphere of the world, the planetary shield ignoring the mine as its computers and sensors planetside tagged the Shiva as a small meteor that would burn up in atmosphere and thus was harmless.
However to the controllers in the gigantic complex which housed the planetary shield generator and its array or emitters world wide , they watched on their screens as the meteor burned through the atmosphere and began to pick up speed.
Worry began to set in with a few of the younger members of the crew of engineers, but the veterans who worked countless hours watching as civilian craft whom were unregistered slipped by the security forces almost on a daily basis.
For them there was no need for concern, they only needed to alert the authorities.
Miles overhead nine new suns appeared as nine mighty Golan III orbital defense platforms, their thick armored hide covered in heavy turbo laser arrays and super heavy shield generators , vanished in millions of degrees nuclear fireballs of plasma and radiation as EMP washed down onto the planet, knocking hundreds upon hundreds of civilians transports out of the sky, trapping people in turbo lifts and shutting power off to a section of 300 by 300 miles of the planet wide city, killing thousands in crashes in the skyways as flying taxi's fell out of the sky with dead repulsar lifts and transport ships coming in for a landing crashed into nearby buildings or fell out of the sky to turn yet more buildings and people into oblivion.
Now thoroughly panicked the crew of the Shield Array could only watch as the Shiva ignited its booster and shot towards them at hypersonic speeds, its outer shell burning red hot from the air friction causing the missile to look like a speed ball of fire.
The Planetary Shield for Taris shimmered out of existence as the complex vanished in an ominous Mushroom cloud.
Next Chapter, Jedi Reaction. Bail Organa's reaction to the Senate, Captian Piett, Rebel Gurrella warfare on Jabim