Several shapes entered Ryloth's Atmosphere, their hulls glowing orange from reentry. As one, these shapes moved to their target destination: a large forested area with several clearings large enough for Landing Ships to come in and drop off their precious cargo of Republic and Commonwealth Tanks, Artillery and Infantry.
Unfortunately, they can't get to their landing zones lest they get shredded by the enemy's prepared Anti Aircraft defenses. And so it was the job of the Menander women these transports are carrying to knock them out.
In each of the transports, 12 soldiers of the Eridian 71st Airborne Infantry Division sat in their seats, their equipment attached to their armour via straps. In all, they were to carry all the supplies they'd need for 3 days, including their weapons, ammunition and Combat Rations.
A light within the cargo compartment suddenly went lit up and illuminated the men in a shade of red. Seeing the red light, the Jump Masters of each transport got up and turned to the soldiers.
"Get ready!" They yelled at the soldiers. "Stand up!"
The 12 Paratroopers in each transport followed orders and stood up, their static lines ready to be hooked to a rail above them.
"Hook up!"
Almost as one, each trooper hooked their lines on the rail.
"Equipment check!" Ordered the Jump Master, the troopers following immediately and checking the equipment of the soldier in front of them.
"Sound off equipment check!"
One by one, the troopers confirmed to the jumpmaster their equipment was ok.
"Twelve ok!"
"Eleven ok!"
"Ten ok!"
"Nine ok!"
"Eight ok!"
"Seven ok!"
"Six ok!"
"Five ok!"
"Four ok!"
"Three ok!"
"Two ok!"
"One ok!"
"Are we happy?" The jumpmaster asked the troopers.
"Hell yes!" They responded with enthusiasm as the transport's rear ramp was lowered. That was when they started receiving fire from enemy AA defences. Around the transports, flak began exploding, sending shrapnel onto a few of them but for now, nothing major.
"Sticks on the wind, sticks on the wind!" The jumpmaster said as the light turned green.
"Go, go go!"
One by one, the troopers jumped out of the transport, their static lines successfully pulling and deploying their parachutes.
Meanwhile, the flak was starting to hit their mark as a few transports were hit with a few of them going down and hitting the planet below. All the while, dozens of troops descended to the ground on their parachutes.
Lieutenant Richard Winters landed safely on the ground with most of his equipment with him. Following his training, he rapidly took off his parachute and unpacked his gear, including his Type 72 Assault Rifle.
Unlike most weapons used by the wider galaxy that fired bolts of superheated Tibanna Gas, Eridian Infantry weapons were much more similar to actual lasers, firing a beam of hyper concentrated red light at enemies. This beam was powerful enough to pierce through most known body armour and was even capable of ripping the arm off an unarmoured opponent.
Richard loaded a power cell into his rifle before moving out. He reached a road before hearing the sound of servos and clanking metal. A droid patrol was approaching.
He quickly hid in the tree line and waited for the Clankers to pass him.
Once the sound of their movements had faded in the distance, Richard made a beeline for the other side of the road and once again disappeared into the forest.
Suddenly, he heard a rustling noise near him. He readied his weapon in case it was something… unfriendly.
"Thunder." Richard said.
"Flash." Replied another man as he emerged from the bushes. He was wearing the same uniform as Richard.
Easing up, Richard lowered his weapon.
"Corporal Tassidy Horan, Bucera Company." The other man said, introducing himself.
"Lieutenant Richard Winters, Amata Company." Richard replied. "Any sign of your outfit, Horan?"
"Negative, sir. Seems like everyone got scattered in the drop."
"Alright, let's keep going. Hopefully we'll run into more people."
"Right behind you, sir."
The two of them continued moving through the forest, eventually encountering an ad hoc unit of Troopers like them from 3 different companies; Amata, Bucera and Chiran Company. Unfortunately, Richard was the highest ranking officer among them.
"What's the order, Lieutenant?" Asked one of the Sergeants under his impromptu command.
"We move out and take out those AA guns." Richard said. "That was and still is our objective."
"Yes, sir." Said the Sergeant as they dispersed to gather up the men.
Within minutes, they were once again on the move as they headed to the last known location of the Separatists' Heavy Guns.
12 Hours Later
1st Lieutenant Abra Creighton threw down her cards onto the roof of the turret.
"Yeah! Gimme the money!" She said, throwing her hands into the air. The other members of her Tank crew groaned in frustration.
As they celebrated, the lights on the landing ship shifted from their white to a shade of red.
"Huh. It's almost time." Said Abra's gunner, Sergeant Cordin Reznik, a thick accent in his voice.
"So it would seem." Said Abra.
"Alright, everyone to your stations!" She said to everyone in the cramped landing craft. Following her orders, the 3-man crews of each tank entered their respective vehicles.
In all, 4 tanks were squeezed into the craft's cargo bay; one whole tank platoon.
They all felt a jolt as the landing craft separated from the repurposed bulk cargo ship that brought them there.
Due to the sudden onset of the war and the need for transports, the Commonwealth, following plans that were drafted long before the conflict, had requisitioned Bulk Transports to act as impromptu transports. They were, of course, prepared for this, with most landing craft designed to fit into the same slots Bulk Cargo Containers would likely have once taken up.
As a result, one ship, such as the one that is now carrying Abra and the rest of her unit, can often carry 2 companies worth of tanks or even more infantry.
Abra closed the hatch before turning on the several monitors in front of her detailing the condition of her own vehicle and others in her platoon. She then looked through the view ports that gave her a nearly 360 degree view of the battlefield.
"Mustang Platoon, report in." She said over the radio.
"Mustang 2, all systems green."
"Mustang 3, all good."
"Mustang 4, ready to rock."
Suddenly, there was another jolt before the humming of the craft's engines died down. They had landed. In a matter of moments, the craft's front ramp dropped, allowing the 4 tanks of Mustang Platoon to exit the craft.
Once they did so, they found themselves in a forward operating base hastily set up in the last few hours by Commonwealth and Republic engineers. If they weren't in the tank, they would hear several distant, but loud thuds as artillery cannons continued to pummel enemy positions.
While other space faring civilisations had seemingly shied away from organic, surface-based artillery, the Eridians had special Support Artillery companies attached to their Brigade Combat Teams, granting each of these BCTs additional rapid support in the form of their own Howitzer batteries.
As one, Mustang Platoon moved away from the pad where the landing craft had settled down for the moment and joined with the rest of their company.
Meanwhile, outside, a group of clones and a bearded Jedi walked to a nearby command post. A few of the clones watched as dozens of tanks poured out of recently arrived landing craft, however Obi-wan paid them no mind as he entered the post.
The command post itself likely wasn't as advanced or filled with the same number of fancy gadgets as a Republic one. But for the Eridians, this was enough.
A man in combat fatigues walked up to Obi-wan. The Eridian's uniform had a camouflage pattern printed on it that allowed him to blend into the terrain.
"General Kenobi, I presume?" Said the man as he shook hands with Obi-wan. "I'm Colonel Sord."
"Pleasure to meet you, Colonel." Said Obi-wan.
"Alright, let's get straight to it." Said Colonel Sord. He walked over to a table in the centre of the command post. The table glowed before projecting a holographic image of a city. Above this city was its name: Ilaru.
Meanwhile, a tank column raced down a road. Though they had arrived in theatre mere minutes ago, the tankers of the 42nd Armoured BCT, 55th Armoured "Pavlov's Paladins" Division were about to enter their first combat operation of the war.
Through their respective vision ports, Abra and her crew could see hundreds, if not thousands, of tracers and blaster bolts flew through the skies as dozens of fighters and transports flew in. All the while, loud thuds could be heard as munitions from Eridian Artillery and allied aircraft found their mark.
The Battle of Ilaru had begun.
A/N
I apologise for how long it took to write this chapter. I was caught in a major bout of writers' block but now I'm back.
I decided to take inspiration from the Invasion of Normandy for the opening stages of Ryloth's liberation.
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter of Starspace: The Clone Wars!
Sincerely, ArksmithLH