Chapter 16
Jkenna System, Zoloch sector
Captain Fepra Gondra of the Imperial Navy looked out the central window aboard her command, the Imperial I I Star Destroyer Damnation. It was a mostly normal day, with the crew going about their daily business and her supervising them. The rebels hadn't attacked in a while, and everything was running well.
That was until the comm officer received a priority one message for her. She took it into her office on one side of the bridge and read the brief communique to herself.
This is Admiral Kumara Picot of the Imperial Navy to all Imperial commanding officers in the Zoloch sector, forces believed to be from the planet Earth as well as fleets of the Free Confederacy have attacked multiple installations of the Imperial Army and Navy. The strength of their forces cannot be determined at this point, but it is likely that they possess both a numerical and qualitative edge against our forces in the region. So far it is believed that the Grostme, Hecan, Conder, Jkilia, Njmok, Vamos, Kleas, Asrsa and several other systems have been successfully taken by these ruffians, with others under attack or in periel of being taken. These rebels have also successfully launched uprisings on various worlds, with one particularly successful one on Garnizon I I confirmed to have killed Moff Flag, Vice Admiral Kolaski, and Generals Cain and Hicks. As the senior most officer left within the sector, I have taken emergency control of this region and has declared martial law. Watch out for more upcoming orders, until then stay in place and lock down all nonessential civilian traffic between the systems.
Captain Gondra's face went pale as she read the message. The biggest issue was that she didn't know what the enemy forces were composed of, and when they would hit the Jkenna system. It was next to the Kleas and Vamos systems, so an attack could come soon. As she rushed to inform the crew, alarms sounded across the ship. She rushed back to the bridge to see what was happening, though she already had a good idea.
"More than two dozen contacts have just edited hyperspace!" The sensor officer reported. "They look like they are from the free confederacy!"
She could see the central ship in the formation of rebels was almost 5 , 0 0 0 meters long with a distinct shape. It was a Subjugator Class Heavy Cruiser, and if it were under other circumstances she would be fascinated. As far as she knew, all of them had been destroyed by the time the war ended, as they were very rare, and any that had survived had been broken up for scrap.
She knew their capabilities, how they had disabled then destroyed entire Republic fleets during the Clone Wars.
"Scatter all the ships!" She yelled in desperation. "Have each get the hell away from each other." It was a frantic attempt to stop the inevitable, but it was too late and would have little impact.
Several moments later when the ship fired it's massive ion cannon, Gondra could only watch in horror as certain annihilation approached.
Admiral Zut Gorky stood on the bridge of his flagship, the Subjugator Class Heavy Cruiser Eviscerator. The almost 5,000 meter long warship was perhaps the last of its kind, as few had been produced during the war. It's large ion cannons on each side could disable entire battle groups with one lucky shot, a tool that would come in handy very soon.
The fleet he commanded here was large, with the Eviscerator, a Lucrehulk Battleship
, a Bulwark Battlecruiser and a Providence Carrier / Destroyer. This was supported by eight Munificent Frigates and Resurgent Light Destroyers, as well as 18 smaller ships such as Captor Class Cruisers, Class 1000s, Fantail Destroyers and several others. This fleet was even larger than the one he had assembled for his attack at Garnizon several months ago, and that had still been over half the size. Even alone, it was not an insignificant part of his total forces, and under other circumstances he would not have committed so many ships to one action.
Facing him were two Imperial Class Star Destroyers, along with an old Victory I I Star Destroyer. This was complemented by three cruisers, seven frigates, and 24 corvettes and systems patrol craft. There was also a Golan Space Defense Platform in orbit of Jkenna I I , the only habitable planet in the system. A formidable force, but one he could handle.
"Does the cannon have its target?" He asked the gunnery officer.
"Almost. It will be in approximately a minute." He replied.
"Fire when it's ready." He ordered.
About a minute later when the gun was charged, it fired on the main mass of Imperial ships. In a single move, he had disabled 1 / 3 rd in the Imperial fleet in orbit. An impressive first move.
"Should we launch boarding parties sir?" Major Ghana Fazil asked. She was the commander of the sizable marine contingent on the Eviscerator, which was made up of a sizable number of battle droids as well as some smaller units with sentient life forms.
"Not yet, it would lead to unnecessary casualties." He replied. "I want to see if they surrender to us first. But until then, we still have other ships to destroy in this battle.
The fight wasn't a battle however. It was a massacre.
The remaining Imperial ships wouldn't have stood a chance against the Eviscerator and its air group on its own, but with a larger fleet protecting it the fight was almost comically imbalanced. Soon the Imperial ships that had resisted had been destroyed, with most of the disabled Imperial ships surrendering. Even the mighty Golan Space Defense Platform fell silent after being hit by an ion cannon blast from one of the Eviscerator. A frigate and two corvettes jumped out of the system as the battle started to look hopeless for the Imperials, so their presence here would be known soon.
"Major Fazil, you can start your boarding operations now." Gorky said. "But leave some troops in reserve so that we can start landing troops on the surface.
"There should be more than enough forces to complete both objectives." She said. There were over a million B2 battle droids with thousands of armored vehicles on the Eviscerator alone, with countless more in the other ships.
As the Free Confederacy fleet approached the upper atmosphere of Jkenna I I , the net faise of the operation began.
The landing of troops on the planet's surface.
Njmok I I I, Zoloch Sector
General Augustus Marks of the United Nations Marine Corps stood on the bridge of the heavy assault ship Juno Beach as it descended into the atmosphere of Njmok I I I. The large landing ship of the Omaha Beach Class had been inspired in concept by the Acclamator Class Assault Ships, a large warship capable of defending itself in combat but primarily designed to hold large amounts of troops as well as the vehicles and supplies to back them up.
Each of these over 800 meter long ships could carry 18,000 soldiers and depending on their size, up to 300 ground vehicles as well as dozens of fighters. It was designed to fully support a small or medium sized invasion itself, and a few could make up an even larger one. There were four being here today, as well as a half a dozen smaller landing ships that ranged from only a couple hundred meters long to others that were over 600 meters in length.
Together, they carried over 100,000 troops, about equal to the total number of Imperial Personnel in the various garrisions and installations on this world. Already many of these places had been bombarded by turbolasers in orbit, though they couldn't do this to all of them as it would risk collateral damage. Airstrikes from the plentiful starfighters in orbit had helped when more precise targeting was needed, though they were less efficient than a giant turbolaser. But ultimately the ground had been cleared and the way paved for his landings.
He would be in direct command of the largest force, two of the heavy assault ships that would be landing troops near the capital city of Gbreen, where they would advance into the city. Some of the orbiting ships had sent out smaller dropships to land within the city, to assault the smaller Imperial Installations within the city. His main force would be splitting up with some of his soldiers going to the city. But a good chunk, as well as most of the heavy armor would be attacking the garrison and main Imperial headquarters located a bit outside the city.
A few minutes later the large ship touched down on the ground. With a massive forward ramp touching down in the front of the ship, soldiers and their vehicles rolled down to be organized on the large flat green space that had been selected as a landing point.
Many of the vehicles Earth used didn't look very dissimilar to ones used before the Empire came style wise, at least on the outside. But there were definitely differences. Laser cannons and turbolasers were now used as the primary method of dealing damage, instead of physical shells and bullets (though some artillery pieces still used more conventional shells). Missiles and rockets were also used, primarily for anti armor onboar (infantry fighting vehicles) or in guide (multiple launch rocket systems) for long range bombardment of enemy positions.
Vehicles also had to be under a certain wait so that the ship could safely and successfully take off from and leave the planetary atmosphere.
Most of the armored vehicles used repulsorlifts to travel, though some still had wheels and tracks to serve as a backup.
He looked at the assembled troops and armor in the field in front. 72 Charger MBTs (main battle tanks) were mostly tasked with destroying enemy armored units, or as infantry support platforms when there were no armored targets. 120 Kestre would also have some effect against armored targets, but would primarily be supporting the infantry with its fast firing medium laser cannon and secondary blaster cannons. 36 AT102 Self Propelled Artillery Guns and 24 ML200 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems provided direct fire artillery support. There were also eight Sky Streaker SPAAG (self propelled anti air guns) to provide air defense, though this wasn't a priority since Earth held unquestionable air superiority. These were only half of the combat vehicles he was in command of, the other landing ship had almost the exact same complement.
The rest of the force was made up of logistics and utility vehicles. Some were non combat un armored cars and trucks for transporting personnel and supplies to the front, while others were more clearly meant for logistics, with large tankers for refueling and cold storage boxes for providing fresh food. In the words of the famed American general Omar Bradly "Amateurs study tactics; professionals study logistics."
Ground forces weren't the only assets the Juno Beach brought to the table. The ship also carried 72 atmospheric aircraft, 36 multirole fighters capable of both air superiority missions as well as ground support, and 36 close air support craft that were solely focused on attacking ground targets. The ship had the ability to carry smaller drop ships for precise aerial insertion, but that was not necessary for this mission and would take away capacity to carry fighters.
He watched as his forces began advancing towards the Imperial base. They had landed about two dozen kilometers away, out of range of the Imperial base's hypothetical gun emplacements. Soon, the artillery came into range, firing at the already bombarded Imperial base. The installation deployed som fighters, but they were quickly shot down by dozens of Earth's dedicated atmospheric fighters. Th was a poor fighter in a planet's atmosphere, lacking any sort of aerodynamic features or shields that could replicate those features. It's maneuverability in space, one of it's greatest assets and defining features, was not possible in the atmosphere. Add in shields, missiles, electronic countermeasures and many other features on Earth's atmospheric fighters and it fared hopelessly against the attackers. They were all dispatched within minutes, allowing the close support platforms to rain havoc down onto the Imperials below.
The few fighting vehicles the Imperial base mustered were plain and easy targets for these aircraft and were mostly destroyed before they could come into range of Earth's armor. Soon the base was under a full siege, with most of the Imperial defenders hiding in caves and tunnels beneath the ground, only delaying their inevitable demise. Earth soldiers equipped with explosives and flamethrowers flushed them out into carefully prepared kill zones. Soon almost no Imperial was left alive, with the few survivors surrendering when the battle turned from desperate to absolutely hopeless.
None of Earth's vehicles and only one fighter had been destroyed (this was due to an accidental friendly fire incident) and only a handful of soldiers died, mostly in trying to flush out the hardened Imperial defenses. It had been a massacre, not a battle.
Most of the other attacks on the planet against the Imperial installations had gone in a somewhat similar fashion to this one. Some had slightly more casusatiles, especially the ones that were performed partially by air assault, but the general result was the same.
The mighty Empire had rolled over when faced with a determined, well organized foe who understood how to fight on land. Earth had been doing it themselves for millennia, after all.