Chapter 24: Fort Ruusan
October 12.
"Sir, Outpost 8 has stopped answering. Should we prepare a counterattack?" the Lieutenant asked.
"Negative." Iulius replied a bit discouraged. "They'll only get slaughtered. Order all units to gather at Fort Ruusan and prepare for a last stand."
"Yes, sir." she replied before walking away.
He sighed lightly and leaned on the holo-table, where a map about Lantillies' control was showing. By now, the Federation had taken over 53% of the surface. Their advance had been slow, mostly thanks to many tactics introduced by Veers, which were so successful that Iulius had decided to promote him to General and put him in charge of the defense of the planet.
In orbit, the situation was still in balance. The two fleets were more or less on equal strength and none seemed eager to make the first move. On one side, the Turians were in command of it, and they were a methodical and patient race. By now, some Human cruisers had also joined the fleet, plus two carriers.
Most of the action in orbit was being carried out by fighters and stealth frigates and corvettes, as both sides were trying to hit the supply convoys of the opponent, with Captain Kyrell now in charge of the TIE squadron tasked with protecting these runs with the support of the Admonitor. Iulius thought that the strong bond between Thane and Ciena would do wonders for their coordination, and he had been proven right.
In this field the Empire actually had the advantage: from the Core the hyperspace lanes to reach Lantillies were relatively clear, while the Federation had to bring supplies from far away systems and pass through the insidious Roche Asteroid Belt, a stopgap they couldn't avoid in order to reach the theater of war.
And speaking of reinforcements, not only the Wookies of Tarfful had arrived, surprising every imperial soldier with the ferocity they showed in the last weeks against the Federation. Images of the fur balls fighting head-to-head against the terrifying Krogans had been broadcast galaxy-wide per Iulius' order, and now many other alien races were volunteering to join the fight. Iulius even received a request from the Gungans on Naboo, who also felt they owed their newfound freedom to him, to send a small army with their ion bombs.
The Lord-Protector had already decided to abolish the rule that allowed only Humans into the Army. The population of Lantillies welcomed them with open arms, but their culture was already renowned for accepting everybody who could make themselves useful, no matter how many arms they had or the shape of their head.
Admiral Versio, as member of the ISB, was managing a propaganda campaign on his homeworld, Vardos, where the mixed population of Humans and aliens was particularly loyal to the Empire, to find more manpower. The greatest problem was to give the non-Humans with right equipment: while humanoids like Zabraks, Zeltros and other species with minimal differences could still be provided with the usual Army uniform, other species like the Rodians or the Biths needed specially designed uniforms, the production of which had been delegated to new industrial companies.
Most important, though, Iulius was already laying out the plan for a counterattack that might turn the tide, but this was going to require a few months in order to train the millions of new troopers and ships that were building up all around the remaining territories of the Empire.
There was at least some good news: Admiral Sloane had managed to stop the rebel offensive down the Hydian Way, but she had to abandon Taris. And just like that, all his work during the Mandalore campaign had gone up in smoke...all because the Emperor wanted to retake a ball of dust with no apparent value.
This also meant that the rebels would probably arrive on Lantillies to reinforce their allies soon enough. It probably wouldn't have changed much, as the Empire still retained numerical superiority and the professional army of the New Republic was still very small.
Iulius looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost time for his ride to arrive. He turned toward Veers. "General, I'm heading to Fort Ruusan, you're in command."
"Yes, Grand Admiral." Veers dutifully replied.
Iulius grabbed his helmet and headed out, heading toward the new infrastructure leading to Fort Ruusan: an underground magnetic railway running from the headquarters in Beigran to the fort. And while he was heading there, his comlink beeped and he answered.
"Tanis."
"Hey, it's Qathora. Got something interesting here."
Just that morning, Iulius had sent her with a squad to inspect why the quality of the troops' rations had suddenly dropped.
"Go ahead."
"One of the soldiers at the depot was faking the dispatch of the better rations so he could sell them to the black market."
"I confide you already caught that piece of Bantha fodder."
"The troopers are escorting him to the detention center. He'll have a lot of time to reflect on his actions." the Togruta said with a satisfied tone.
"Good work. Return to HQ once you're done." Iulius concluded before closing the transmission, just in time for when he arrived at the train. An additional squad of Death Troopers was waiting for him, besides DT-518 and 519 who were following him.
The Grand Admiral sat down on one of the small benches at the center of the wagon as the train departed. The fare took six minutes, when they reached the vault access that let the coach into one of the fort depots. After making the standard procedures of identification, Iulius was allowed in and disembarked, finding an officer waiting for him.
"Lord Tanis, welcome back." the man greeted.
"Thanks, Lieutenant. I'd like to inspect the walls right away, if you agree."
"Of course, sir. Follow me."
The officer escorted Iulius and his squad upward, passing through the hundreds of troopers and stormtroopers, some of the former clearly non-Humans.
"Has there been any problem with the new recruits?" he asked as they kept walking.
"Not all of the stormtroopers appreciated the fact they had to fight alongside non-Humans, at first. But fighting together is a great way to forget old grievances." the officer reassured.
"Good to hear." Iulius replied as they headed toward the stairs to reach the top of the defensive wall. Along the way he also spotted a small group of Wookiee who were coordinating with a squad of the Army. It was incredible to see how quick the Empire had been able to adapt, and how so many species had come together to defend it.
They finally reached the top of the walls and the squad of troopers waiting up there formed a line and stood at attention, ready for the inspection. Iulius thus started to walk from first to last. There were mostly Humans, but also two Zelosians, a Duros and an Iridonian.
Their gear was kept as clean as possible and they all wore it correctly. The weapons were also well-kept, so the Grand Admiral dismissed them and they took position again along the walls, an opportunity that Iulius used to put on his helmet in order to use the integrated binoculars.
"Lieutenant, have you noticed any enemy movement recently?" he asked as he peeked toward the outside.
The officer went next to him and pointed toward their left. "The Turians have set up a small outpost right outside the perimeter of the shield, but so far they haven't attempted an attack."
Iulius quickly spotted it. There was a square base surrounded by some walls and probably a localized shield. The flags of the Imperial Federation and the Turian Hierarchy were waving from the top of the side facing the imperials.
"They're probably building up. Have you tried sending scouts?"
"Actually, sir, I sent our best one, I was expecting him to arrive some time ago."
Iulius hummed in thought as he observed the enemy base. He saw some armored transports rolling behind the square and disappear, but he couldn't see what kind of troops they were bringing in.
Just a couple minutes of observation later, a corporal arrived to report the officer. "Lieutenant. Private Karashk has just returned."
"Ah, perfect." the Lieutenant replied. "Let him in, the Grand Admiral would like to listen, as well."
Iulius sat behind cover and removed his helmet, realizing that this must have been the scout he had been told. The private was then allowed to walk in and he stood at attention with his long sniper rifle leaning against his shoulder. Iulius noted that it was an Iridonian Zabrak. His horns were probably short, since he had no problem wearing the standard issued helmet.
"Private Karashk reporting in, sir."
"Greetings, Private." Iulius calmly said. "Tell us what you saw."
The Zabrak turned toward the outside view and pointed at a hill that broke the horizon in two. The fort had been erected a few hundred meters from a river, and the area between the water and the walls had been mostly cleared in order to create a kill-zone. The turian base had been erected in front of the only ford, that the artillery in the Fort could also easily bombard. For the rest, the outpost was surrounded by hill chains on its sides.
"Behind that hill." Karashk said as he pointed the one in front of them. "At least two assault brigades are preparing to attack. And they're positioning heavy artillery."
Iulius took out the electro-binocular, as the one of his helmet didn't arrive far enough to look at the details, and took another survey. In fact, the turian base more or less covered the only gorge that allowed to pass easily around those hills. The federals might have easily used it to cover their approach for a little, but then, once they started crossing the ford, they would be inside the imperial shield.
"Lieutenant, call your Major here."
"Right away, sir."
While Karashk explained what few more details he had managed to see, such as the fact that he spotted some platoons of Legionnaires and N7 troopers, the Lieutenant went and returned with the commander of the fort: Major Gabrielot.
"You asked for me, my Lord?"
"Major, have you placed the minefield?"
"Yes, my Lord. The engineers finished it just before you arrived."
"Good. I want you to temporarily disable them." Iulius asked nonchalantly, surprising the officers.
"Uh...I can do that, but...may I ask why?"
"Their assault units will not use the ford as they would be too exposed. They will probably try to infiltrate this night, scout our defenses and probably even probe the walls. I don't want them to know right away all of our tricks, so we'll save the mines for their real attack."
The major, being quite old, found that unconventional, but after all, Iulius was in charge, so he sighed and ordered the Lieutenant to go disable the mines with the remote controls.
Meanwhile, Iulius alerted Veers that an attack on the Fort was imminent, and probably along the entire front, to divert imperial forces from it, and announced that he intended to stay, for the moment.
As the Kodiak sped through the atmosphere of Utapau, Ezra commented the picture of the Pau'an they were supposed to meet for the mission. "The only member of their species I've ever met before was the Grand Inquisitor. It's a bit weird." and turned off the omni-tool.
"Just don't tell them that and it will all be nice and jolly." Jordan quipped from the other seat.
Ezra chuckled. "Right. Wouldn't be a good first impression."
He ran another diagnostic on his armor and found nothing out of the ordinary. Though, for a second, his mind went to Jaral. She had reported that her armor was impossible to repair, meaning that she wasn't going to have it for the rest of her campaign.
Not that he thought she needed it to be successful, and she could still have the standard personal shields issued by the Geth, but a small part of him was afraid that she might get hurt.
"General, Captain, the cave canyon is heavily patrolled by TIE Fighters, I'll have to drop you just outside of it." the pilot reported.
Jordan slightly bent forward to speak with him. "Don't worry, Karimov, we can handle this."
The pilot nodded and started lowering the power of the dropship, so the two Bridgers stood up and waited until it was time to disembark. Indeed, they were left a few hundred meters away from the canyon and also at the edge of one of the storms that constantly blistered the surface of the planet. The Star Destroyer of Chimbros, the Unfeeling, could be seen in the skies above as TIEs and shuttles went back and forth.
Luckily for father and son Bridger, their contact in the local resistance had provided them with the map for a secondary access that would bring them into the first level of the well without being spotted. They easily found the passage and, after taking out an unlucky sentinel that happened to pass next to it, they hid and carefully started to make their way toward the lower levels.
They finally reached the city of the Pau'an, which was under imperial occupation, and headed to the meeting inside another cave that the occupiers clearly hadn't found yet. In there, they found both Pau'an and the other native species of the planet, the Utai, who used the quite large space to host their main hideout. And among them, there was also the Falcon, parked right before the exit that was used as a hangar. Thus, the Bridgers met with Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie, who were talking with a well dressed Pau'an.
"Greetings, Master Bridger." the alien said respectfully and outlining a bow, which was difficult given his height. "I'm Urdos Kassis, member of the local city council. Welcome to Utapau."
Ezra dematerialized his helmet and returned the bow. "Thank you for your kindness, mister Kassis. So, how can we help?"
Leia was the one who started explaining. "Kallus has successfully infiltrated the imperial work camp they set up on the low surface of this sinkhole. He has confirmed that most of the local leadership and their warriors are held there. However, he is afraid that this might be a trap set by Zahra, so he wanted you to assist."
"And assistance he shall receive. How about you fill us up on the situation?" Jordan proclaimed.
They were then shown the hologram of the sinkhole they were in, which then zoomed in two levels below, pretty much at the level of the lake that lied there, hiding most of the precious resources of Utapau. The imperials had recommissioned the labor camp (which had already existed prior to the retreat of a few months before), and many VIPs of Utapau society had been locked there, condemned to harsh conditions of force labor until they died of exhaustion.
Using his omni-tool, Kallus had literally swapped identity with a low ranking imperial officer in the camp and had spent two rotations spying on it. He was now standing ready to help an external incursion to liberate the camp.
"All right, we should watch out for those two AT-DP." Ezra commented on the report sent by Kallus. "Me and my father can do much more damage if the imperials won't see us coming. It's better if you guys launch a diversion from here." he added, pointing at the main access to the level.
"Got it. We'll try to be convincing, but not risk the lives of our allies." Luke reassured.
"You learn quick, friend." Ezra said with a lopsided grin. "Come on, let's move."
October 13.
Darkness had fallen over the fort. In the distance, on the sides of their position, the imperials could hear the sound of artillery firing on other positions, and the imperial one responding in kind, flashing the horizon with the red fires of Alliance mortars or the green proton shells of the imperial SPMA.
Iulius was waiting on top of the walls with the few sentries he had left there, to bait the enemy into thinking that they had the surprise.
Until a few minutes ago, there was some insects chirping nearby, but now a surreal silence had fallen. Iulius and the soldiers knew very well that this meant someone was nearby and the animals had simply run away. Starkiller as well, though his face was covered by the mask, sensed that the battle was about to start. Most of the times he seemed always eager to shed blood, but Iulius had the impression that the assassin had now toned down his blood lust. For now, he stood silently next to him, ready to act as a bodyguard.
The Grand Admiral turned and made a gesture to the Lieutenant, signaling him to get everybody ready for the fight, even though there weren't still visuals on the enemy. Silence remained for another few, long seconds. Until Karashk suddenly cracked a shot. The green, subtle bolt of his rifle passed through the plain in front and clearly hit something. The faint scream of a Turian was heard by everyone.
Immediately, Iulius took out a pistol and fired a flare in the air. Most of the Army troopers were unfortunately not equipped with night vision gear, so he had to resort to this. A red light suddenly illuminated the area and every imperial saw clearly the enemy assault brigade crawling toward them.
"Fire!" Iulius ordered and a concert of blaster fire started. Red bolts sped all around while he himself also fired with his rifle toward the enemies, who found themselves terribly exposed as they fired back.
Still, the mixed force of Batarians, Turians and Krogans threw themselves at the fort. The Krogans took their heavy weapons and bombarded the walls with grenades and rockets, causing some losses but nothing that could threaten the line. Their stormtroopers suffered terrible casualties as the Army troopers were fighting like they never fought before, knowing full well that, if the fort fell, Beigran would be occupied, and most of them had their families taking shelter in the capital.
All seemed quite well. The first wave was repulsed without the need for Iulius to call in the reserves, so when a moment of quietness fell, he made a quick run on the walls to compliment the troops and inspire them to keep up the fight, which they appreciated. Then he had to jog back into the command building to see how the situation along the entire front was going.
Major Gabrielot started the briefing at the holo-table. "Most of our front is holding, sir, but General Veers has been forced to send reinforcements in the sector between Milnar and Pordenoy. If they keep up like this, we may be left without our own reinforcements."
As Iulius was assessing the current situation a loud explosion almost deafened everybody, followed by a blinding orange light. The officer rushed out of the building only to see a terrible fire column turning into a fungus coming from the main wall.
"That must have been a 'Cain'." Iulius said. "Call up the Wookiees. I want them to help plugging the hole." he ordered.
Gabrielot nodded and returned inside the building while Iulius nodded to Starkiller and the two rushed back to the front to see what was happening. The single-shot weapon, the 'Cain', which was one of the most dreaded in the Federation's arsenal, had blown apart the main gate and the corresponding section of the wall. There were bodies lying everywhere. The soldiers left on what was remaining of the first line were still firing down at the aliens but couldn't prevent them from swarming into the breach.
First came a Krogan charge that crushed the poor devils standing next to the breach.
"Everyone, form up! Focus fire!" Iulius quickly ordered, rallying the troops as he opened fire himself on the aliens while Starkiller ignited one of his sabers and attacked.
Seeing their hero fighting with them, the imperials felt reinvigorated and formed a double line, firing wildly at the invaders and managing to put down many of them.
The breach in the gate was still lifting a cloud of dust, and from behind that curtain suddenly arrived much heavier steps. Iulius launched another flare in the air and a terrible sight hit his eyes.
A Krogan Warlord, wielding a shotgun and with a giant war hammer on his back was advancing toward them, with a biotic barrier over his regular armor. The massive alien reached for the hammer with his right hand. The omni-tool lightened up and he focused an electric charge into the head of the hammer, and as he arrived close enough to some troopers, whose bolts seemed to do little to nothing against him, he bore down the hammer.
When that touched ground, the slam didn't just release a huge shockwave for the sheer strength, but also released a wave of lightnings in a 2 meter radius. Imperial troopers were sent flying away, screaming in pain only to die for the shock before they landed again.
"Fall back!" Iulius ordered as he saw that another wave of enemies was coming with the Warlord. "Get to the second line!"
He fired back, covering his men as the Death Troopers also made sure to stay close to him. Starkiller used his lightsaber to deflect some of the projectiles, despite them being much faster than blaster bolts. The imperials thus managed to retreat behind another line of fortifications that had been prepared in case the gate was destroyed. Three bunkers and barriers creating a basic trench system even on the cemented surface. Here, the second wave banged its head and was eventually repelled, with terrible losses on both sides.
Another wave of federal stormtroopers arrived, but in the meantime, Karashk arrived from the walls to report a very important detail.
"Sir, there is movement in the enemy base. I think they're bringing in more troops."
The bulk of the federal assault. There was no time to waste: Iulius knew that they had to push back these assault units, or the numerical superiority of the enemies would overcome them quickly. He immediately gave order to call in the reserves, which were centered around a company of Wookiees, a squad of Dark Troopers to face the Legionnaires, all supported by a battalion of imperial stormtroopers. But the main problem was that Warlord.
Iulius realized that the only ones who could dispatch him quickly were him and Starkiller with their sabers. The Lord-Protector signaled the assassin to follow him and he obeyed. Iulius put away his rifle and ignited the Darksaber, quickly drawing the attention of the massive Krogan.
He heard him say something in his barbaric language to his subordinates, though he was probably instructing them to leave the two saber wielders to him, because then the other aliens proceeded to ignore them while the Warlord imbued his hammer with a biotic sphere and charged.
The two imperials rolled away just in time to avoid the explosion when the hammer touched the ground. Iulius took out his pistol with his left hand and fired a few shots, at least trying to take out the additional strata of armor, but it seemed to have little effect as the Warlord headed toward him and swung another time, forcing the Grand Admiral to dive backward as he kept firing and temporarily deactivated the Darksaber, lest he risked rolling over it and cutting himself in two.
Starkiller came to his rescue as he threw his lightsaber against the Krogan, who stumbled forward when hit and this time his tech armor exploded while the assassin recalled his weapon in his hand. The Krogan threw a mischievous laugh that signaled he was entering into a Blood Rage, making him even more dangerous. The alien charged at the assassin and swung with a speed that surprised even the well-trained Marek, who had to parry the blow with his lightsaber. The alloy of the hammer had been reforged exactly to resist that weapon, so Galen was forced to take the full strength of the Warlord, and he barely held his guard up, so he decided to jump back and avoid the following swing, which actually came down with such violence that the hammer was stuck in the terrain. As the Warlord needed a couple seconds to take it back, Iulius capitalized the opportunity and managed to swing a blow on the back of the alien, making him groan in fury as his biotic barrier was pierced and a cutting burn appeared on his armor. Then he managed to take out his hammer and Iulius was forced to step back.
Meanwhile, the reserves arrived. The war cries of the Wookiees filled the air as they led the counter-charge and joined the furious melee of the troops. The Army men were holding the line with a resolution that was honestly amazing, especially since they were at a great disadvantage against the better equipment and training of the federals. Then also came a squad of Dark Troopers, just in time to engage some Legionnaires who had just rushed through the breach.
Sounds of shots fired, screams and the laments of the wounded were the only thing anybody could hear, yet the three duelists were too focused on each other to notice it.
Without the biotic barrier, the Krogan only had his armor to protect him, but the plasma of the sabers was enough to pierce both the one in alloy and his natural one. Blinded by the rage, the alien roared toward Iulius, his voice amplified by the speakers of his helmet. Iulius, despite the fatigue, understood that he had an opportunity to end this. As the Krogan ran toward him and lifted the hammer, leaving his chest uncovered, the Lord-Protector yelled and charged at the beast, holding the saber with his two hands and the point aimed at the enemy.
It lasted a second. Iulius found himself with the head of the Krogan in front of his face. Below them, the Darksaber had penetrated the body of the alien and pierced his primary heart.
Iulius then quickly extracted the blade and with a smooth swing, cut off the head of the warlord, ensuring his death.
Everybody around there saw it very clearly. The federal forces decided that the offensive was useless, especially since the Legionnaires had been mostly put out of commission already.
Iulius then led the counterattack and, after another few minutes of chaos and blood, the imperials finally plugged the gap and pushed the federals out of the breach, then called in a barrage of proton mortars to force the incoming enemy reinforcements to pull back.
The Wookiees yelled victory, as did most of the troopers, but Iulius was simply exhausted. He deactivated his saber and looked around him, seeing the horrifying death show around him. There were corpses all over the place. Half of the Dark Troopers had perished as well in the fight against the Legionnaires and there were many wounded crying for help while the imperial medics were already rushing to provide it.
Starkiller walked next to Iulius and put a hand on his shoulder with a friendly attitude.
"Nice moves." he commented simply.
"Thanks. Now let's focus on what comes next." Iulius concluded.
October 14.
"Leaving hyperspace in 2 minutes, ma'am." the navigation officer of the carrier answered to Jaral, who then nodded and returned to the holo-table.
There were Ahsoka, Cal and Darvos, studying the images sent by the geth drones some rotations ago, before the fleet set sail to reach Dromund Kaas. They showed that an imperial fleet was amassing on the low orbit of the planet, over what seemed to be the mouth of a volcano.
"Found anything about that over-sized Star Destroyer?" she asked to her husband.
He shook his head. "Found nothing in the ICO database. Besides, I seriously don't understand. The only difference is that giant cannon build on the belly, and they had to remove the hangars to build it."
"All we found is that the imperials call it 'Xyston'." Ahsoka said.
After Nimbus' death, her information network had been taken over by Ahsoka, who had grown to become the second most important figure in the shadow organization. The Togruta had thus started looking into her own flow of intel in the hope of finding something, but aside from the name of the ship and the fact that it was almost 2 km long, there was very little about it.
"I'm afraid we'll have to find that out the hard way." Cal finally commented, and the others could do little but agree.
As the blue tunnel finally dissipated, the republican fleet appeared over the ancient Sith planet. Jaral could feel once again the primordial evil emanating from the planet itself, possibly even worse than Korriban. No wonder the Emperor was letting his fleet right next to the surface.
Soon after, the Tau and Geth fleets also came out of hyperspace.
"Let's send down the fighters." Darvos ordered and his assistant officer relayed the order. Soon, from the carriers of the three fleets came out the various squadrons, heading straight toward the surface to engage the imperial fleet and allow the other ships to approach without being targeted.