Earth in Star Wars Mini Series I: Earth Wars
Author's Note: I'll put more notes at the bottom of the chapter with one exception, however for this story to make sense you should read EARTH IN STAR WARS I and II.
Chapter 1: How to invade a planet, Earth Style:
Chapter 1: How to invade a planet, Earth Style
Earth has spent its entire history fighting itself. From the dawn of man to the Russian invasion of Ukraine we improved and perfected our methods of killing each other. Could the time and resources have been spent on other efforts that would have done more good for us? Absolutely, but it made us distinct when the Empire came. The Galactic Empire might be a militaristic state that had constantly been at war with someone but the state that it had replaced only two decades before was fundamentally different. The Galactic Republic was almost completely peaceful for millennia. The marvels of the various nations of Earth were impressive on their own but when combined, well that was another story entirely.
Excerpt from: Earth-Imperial Wars, The Admiral's View by Admiral William Johnson
This book was published after the war by Johnson to massive acclaim
Moff Kareen Higler watched over the capital of her sector, Hkeen V, with a sense of rising fear.
She had worked so hard to get this far.
And if she screwed up it would all come tumbling down.
She suppressed that thought, however. I am a Moff in the Imperial Military in a sector the rebels don't normally frequent, why would I fall? She was still confident that everything would be fine. Many of the commanders in the front had likely exaggerated the situation to gain more troops and power, another part of the neverending wave of corruption within the entire Empire. But she didn't care, as she benefited from such large levels of corruption. And she had a formidable fleet in the system to prevent her position from eroding.
In orbit of her world, Hkeen V, sat a capable fleet albeit one somewhat reduced in numbers at present. Her flagship, the Praetor II Battlecruiser Nullification, orbited around the world along with a Secutor Star Destroyer and six Imperial I and II Star Destroyers. Two Victory II Star Destroyers and sixty other smaller ships added to the fleet's already impressive defenses, along with a few Golan Platforms for good measure. On the ground, a garrison of a few hundred thousand Stormtroopers and Imperial Army Troopers would make life hell for anyone attempting a planetary landing and many more could also be mobilized to protect the vital industries that lined the world and its orbit.
However, down on the surface of the world, she didn't see that she had already been infiltrated and that moves were being made to undermine her power.
A dozen black-clad soldiers, the best troops in Earth's arsenal, stealthy moved through the sewer system of the world's capital, Jilaka City. It held a massive sensor and hypercomms platform that would need to be taken out for a surprise invasion to be successful. The largest in the region, it would allow the Imperials to see that an invading force was on its way to attack the sector and to ensure a surprise attack that simply could not happen.
"Are you sure that it's smart to be putting yourself in so much danger, you are the commanding officer of the force?"
"I'm not a general who commands the strategic nature of this war. I understand it of course but I am more useful on the ground."
"Despite all your successes your men and women die frequently. How do you know that you won't be killed and what you've made shatter?"
"It's inevitable that one will die in a war. So I've accepted that it's a possibility and moved on."
"Focus!" Petrova mentally told herself. That conversation had no bearing on the current situation.
A dozen men and women around her made up the 1st Squad, First Platoon of the Special Operations Force of the United Nations Marine Corps. Led by Colonel Petrova, these soldiers were highly experienced with these operations and they had done a lot of damage to the Imperial forces on a growing number of worlds. Most notable to their successes was their victory at Garnizon, which paved the way for a successful conquest of the planet and the entire sector. And their future use in such missions, alongside the expansion of the force.
This mission was a challenge but not one that they couldn't overcome.
They soon found what had been scouted out by drone before; a door that presumably would give them access to the main reactor that powered the massive facility. They would have to make their way past multiple cameras and a security checkpoint before getting to the secondary reactor control. This would be a challenge but she was confident that they could get through due to the experience and skill of the squad. Once they got to secondary reactor control, the team's former Imperial slicer, Gerund Bunt, could get them the ability to blow the facility up.
When the team got to the first camera that was in their way, Petrova tossed a modified flashbang around the corner. Some previous models had been not powerful enough for the blast to reach behind the armor of the stormtrooper and shock them fully, so the model now had a much bigger flash.
All the camera saw was a massive flash before a shot from her blaster rifle reduced the camera to a piece of smoking wreckage on the ground. This process was repeated whenever they came to another camera. Throughout the process, none of them said a word and kept up excellent noise discipline. Any communications were done through hand signals to ensure no one would have any idea that they were here.
They soon reached the checkpoint that was in between them and the secondary reactor control. A squad of stormtroopers looked to be on station, watching for anything out of the ordinary and checking the identification of anyone who passed through. One approach that was commonly used by the Rebel Alliance was infiltration, but Earth still hadn't successfully developed what it would call human intelligence throughout even a small part of the galaxy. And doing so presented an unnecessary risk. Instead, they would stealthily shoot their way in.
A flashbang was thrown by the second in command of the squad, Lieutenant Hans Meyer. He was technically the one in command of the squad but informal agreement meant that she normally took command. The group of stormtroopers was stunned and confused and Earth's soldiers took advantage of this. Rushing around the corner the Imperial soldiers were soon dead before they could call for help or even return fire. Only about 50 meters down the corridor from the checkpoint they entered the secondary reactor control room. The checkpoint had held all of the security personnel that the facility had contained and when they entered so all of the technical personnel surrendered when the (to them) unknown soldiers pointed their blasters at them.
"Stun those that we don't need." She ordered the squad, whose blasters quickly changed to that setting. It wasn't a common feature on most of Earth's blasters who sacrificed that and others to be easier to produce but such a weapon was useful in certain circumstances that she would be in.
"Alright everyone, if you all follow my instructions you will all get to live and see your family again."
Petrova looked at the group of scared technical personnel as they were stunned. She felt sympathy for them but the mission needed to be accomplished.
"Begin the upload, Bent." She ordered and turned to the man who was in charge of the reactor. "Authorize whatever he needs." The former Imperial slicer began uploading the software that would allow him to blow up the reactor of the communications array. Knowing why he was alive, the officer in charge authorized what he needed.
Held at gunpoint, the technician in control of the reactor told the commanding officer of the facility that the upgrade was a regularly scheduled update, and while the commanding officer was suspicious he allowed it.
Once the software was uploaded Petrova checked in with several other squads who would be launching attacks on other Imperial facilities in the region. These communications were possible due to the modified shuttle that had brought them here, which held a long-range mobile communications array that would allow them to communicate off-world without Imperial interception. Verifying that everyone was ready for the multi-faceted attack, she then called Admiral William Johnson, the commander of Earth's fleet who was personally leading the operation.
"Admiral, all of the teams are prepared to begin the attacks. We have control of the reactor and I am ready to blow it at your command."
"Good job Major, I want all teams to make their strike in 10 minutes," Johnson said over the comms. "The fleet will be there in 15 minutes, and you should have air and ground support within the hour."
"Thank you, sir."
"I hope they're on time," Hans muttered. "I want to have some support in a reasonable amount of time."
"Ehh we should be fine," Petrova said, sighing.
Secured in the room there was a slight degree of relaxation.
"Gonna be a pretty explosion." Corporal Emily Taylor said. "You two could have a nice afternoon date."
"Yeah I don't think the Imperials are going to care and they'll still shoot at us." Corporal Leo Virtunen said. The Finish sniper adjusted his rifle.
"The way I see it, maybe you two should go on one," Petrova said with a smile. She and Hans were consistently teased about their relationship (a possibility that had seemed unlikely when they first met), but Petrova knew the jokes came from a good place. The members of the squad were all very close with one another on both a professional and personal level and such joking (when appropriate) was not surprising to see. "Since you can tease me about my romantic life, I can tease you about yours."
"Or lack thereof," Hans said and the squad members chuckled.
"Upload complete," Bunt said. "Ready to start the timer."
"Are you all from Earth?" The Imperial technician desperately asked.
"I can't say but if you come with us and follow everything that we tell you you can get out of here." She replied.
"I'll explain in a few minutes after it blows up and we get to a safer position…"
Several minutes later a massive explosion could be seen on the sensors that took out a large portion of the Imperial comm base and destroyed the reactor. The comm relay wouldn't be working anytime soon.
Across the rest of the world, other incidents of a similar sort were carried out as local rebels assisted by the special forces of Earth attacked Imperial positions left and right.
But before Moff Higler could be told about what was happening on the ground, more immediate concerns were being felt in space. In orbit of the world, several dozen ships emerged from hyperspace, led by a Bellator Class Star Dreadnought.
On the former Imperial Dreadnaught, Admiral William Johnson surveyed the large fleet around him. The Bellator Class Conqueror had been captured by Earth about four months ago defending Garnizon II and since that had occurred it had been refitted to the standards of Earth. These upgrades made it compatible with many of Earth's systems such as modifying its hanger to carry Earth's line of starfighters along with vastly reducing the crew requirements due to slave rigging and droids. A new crew, composed of veterans that dated back to the first battles with the empire, was also trained to use the ship's systems. This would be the ship's first combat mission but Johnson was confident that it would perform well.
The fleet he had assembled to take the world was a collection of some of Earth's best warships, most of which were veterans of the offensive to take the Zoloch Sector. Battleships such as the Revenge (his former flagship) Bismark, Iowa, and others formed the core of the fleet, escorted by large numbers of cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and corvettes. All of these ships gave him the firepower needed to overwhelm the defenses of this world. Additionally several of Earth's new Corner Class Interdictor Cruisers were present, which would prevent the Imperials from escaping as long as the ships were not destroyed. Johnson would be placing these ships at the rear of the fleet to prevent them from being targeted.
This fleet had been assembled due to reconnaissance data collected by several methods, including converted civilian vessels and unmanned droids which had loitered outside of the Imperial perimeter. It would allow weaknesses in the Imperial defenses to be exploited.
Additionally, several other diversionary attacks had been carried out in the past hours against other nearby systems in an attempt to draw the Imperials away. Some of the attacks had merely been raids to try and get the Empire to reinforce those systems at the cost of ships protecting the Hkeen system, while others were intended to take and hold other systems. Attacking in one place without diversions to confuse or pin down the enemy would lead them to concentrate their forces in the place you were attacking. Often this would be useful if you didn't intend on taking that system in the first place and it would make taking other targets easier but if you intended to take the system then it would put you at a disadvantage.
"Admiral, communications out of the system have been jammed and the interdiction field is running at expected efficiency." Captain Jaesnon Vendor said. The temporary Captain of the Conqueror was the executive officer of the Bellator Dreadnaught Tibannas that served as the flagship of the once Imperial Moff Illustrious, who had allied with Earth after being betrayed by other Imperial Moffs which surrounded her sector. The vendor had experience with ships of the same class and since officers in Earth's fleet had experience with a Bellator Dreadnaught he had been given command.
"Good, open a channel to the Imperial Fleet," Johnson said.
"Moff Higler and officers of the Imperial Navy; your ships are outgunned, cut off from support, and cannot escape. I am giving you a chance to surrender and save yourselves. You will be treated fairly in captivity, and any Imperial vessel that wishes to defect and fight against the Empire will be pardoned unless they have committed severe war crimes." Johnson said over the comm, broadcasting to the Imperial fleet. While this was happening gunnery officers around Earth's fleet got accurate firing solutions on the various Imperial ships and fighters launched, prepared to intercept imperial TIE fighters at a moment's notice.
"Put any response up if one comes through," Johnson ordered the communications officer.
"Go kark yourself, William Johnson." Higer said over the comms.
"Sir I'm getting a message from a few of the Imperial ships. They want to surrender on the condition they will be treated fairly and get to fight for us." The communications officer said.
"Tell them to move out of formation and over to our side of the line," Johnson replied as a Victory Class Star Destroyer and several smaller vessels moved out of the fleet. Looked like a Neb B and a couple of systems patrol craft as well. Only a small amount now but more would follow soon, he hoped.
The Galactic Empire's toxic work culture of obedience to superiors above along with poor treatment of many of its personnel had created disloyalty among many within the Empire, and additionally created massive amounts of corruption. The Tarkin Doctrine of rule through fear might have worked in the early days of the Empire but by now it had been disproven time and time again. hadn't succeeded to its expectations at least by now. These factors had not only created a large number of defectors to the rebellion including high-ranking officers but even more who were apathetic to the regime that they served. They would often neglect their duties or simply surrender if faced with significant opposition, hoping for mercy from the rebellion.
"Get me a line to the Earth Fleet, and tell them that this ship intends to surrender." She said, hoping that they would give her a chance. But if it meant escaping the empire it was worth it.
"Commander, have the Imperial loyalists been suppressed?" Captain Penta Kland asked as the VSD Monsoon made her way towards Earth lines. The crew of the Victory II-Class Star Destroyer had been growing tired of Imperial service but had not found a way to defect yet as many of her crew were loyal to Moff Illustrious.
"Sir we've arrested all ISB and COMPNOR personnel, though some personnel has sided with them." The executive officer said, some worry in his eyes. "We have control of much of the ship though, including all critical systems."
"You're a good officer Penta, I just hope that you see this galaxy for what it is. Do not follow anyone blindly and question orders to the best of your ability, even if you have to hide that questioning."
She remembered what the Moff had told her, as she had served under her for a time. Illustrious had been critical to her later success in her naval career.
After the Moff had allied her with Earth there had been shaming and public humiliation for those who had been in her ranks previously, even for those that didn't initially agree with her decision to leave the empire like her.
Several seconds passed as the ships retreated, and the Imperial vessels opened fire on the surrendering Imperials.
"This is Admiral Johnson, all ships are to open fire on their designated targets." He said. As soon as he finished speaking the dozens of ships in Earth's fleet opened fire. "And get me a line to this defector."
The gunnery officers of the fleet had been waiting for this. The massive firepower of the fleet was unleashed against the Imperials. Thousands of turbolaser and ion cannon batteries along with missiles and torpedo tubes were all fired at the same time by gunners of the fleet.
The result was enormous. Any imperials looking on at the barrage were terrified as the mass of blasts impacted their ships. The dreadnought brought to the battlefield was unmatched and while the fleet was roughly equal in numbers Earth had somewhat more firepower.
The battle had been planned out days before as Johnson had access to up-to-date intel from both disguised civilian ships and recon drones that gave him a good idea of what the Imperial fleet would be made up of. Several of the ships Johnson ideally wanted to capture such as the Praetor Battlecruiser, which was currently being bombarded with ionized particles from ion cannons. A sustained ion bombardment would disable her though it might take some time, eliminating the biggest obstacle to conquering the world.
While the capital ships were fighting against each other with a mass of turbolaser, ion cannon, and missile fire, Earth's starfighters were dominating the Imperial TIE fighters that opposed them. They fired missiles that thinned down the numbers of Imperial fighters by almost half in one stroke and then closed into dogfighting range. A few missiles were fired when one of Earth's fighters was heavily damaged and needed a retreat to be covered but besides that, they were mostly scarcely used. Missiles were expensive after all and while they were useful a pilot didn't always need them. If they could get the kill without them there was fundamentally no good reason to use them.
Each ion barrage from the Bellator put out the equivalent of two V150 planetary ion cannons in a shorter time than the planetary defense system could. The firepower of the Praetor was significant but it had only limited success piercing through the shields of the Conqueror. At last, a barrage of ion bolts disabled the ship, which was already suffering from various power failures across itself. Its upgraded reactor was pushed to its limits supporting the massive blasts but it held on as it was fully capable of doing.
"Tell boarding parties they are free to launch," Johnson said. A few moments later a large number of assault shuttles and boarding pods exited Earth's ships and began to assault the immobilized battlecruiser. Doing so was very dangerous but if they could capture that ship it would be a major victory.
"Sir I'm getting a message from Admiral Haffard, he wants to know when we will proceed with the second part of the plan." The communications officer said. Drofa had a valid point, seeing that that battle cruiser has been disabled and one of the Star destroyers was already destroyed it would be a good idea to get out of the Imperial line of fire.
"All ships that are authorized to engage in the wedge plan are clear to do so now," Johnson said. Several dozen of Earth's ships moved over the disabled battle cruiser and into the midst of a flurry of Imperial fire. Soon they had effectively split the Imperial fleet in half, and the empire's ships held back some of their firepowers to prevent friendly fire incidents. This tactic allowed Earth's ships to bring their guns on both sides of them to bear (along with their forward ones in some cases) while each part of the Imperial fleet could only bring one side of their broadside guns onto the Imperial fleet at any given time. And since they were trying to avoid friendly fire incidents they held some of their firepowers back.
The Imperial fleet reoriented itself to fully engage on the broadside as they had initially only been prepared to fight Earth from the front. Doing so disorganized their formations which were not helped by constant close-range attacks by Earth's starfighters and missile-armed corvettes along with overwhelming firepower from the large ships. With communications down on the battle cruiser, the Imperial battle line broke apart as no one held the legitimacy needed to take command of the battlefield. The uncoordinated fleet became easy to pick, and soon most of the ships were disabled or destroyed. Earth's interdiction cruisers had been protected, and therefore none of the Imperial vessels were able to escape. A few smaller vessels retreated to a last line of defense around a few Golan and Carden defense platforms, but these platforms were soon destroyed by a mass of proton torpedoes.
Earth had not been without losses in the battle, however, with 16 ships destroyed or critically damaged. This however paled in comparison to the Imperial losses which had a loss of all of their forces. Additionally, Earth had lost nothing larger than a cruiser but the Empire had lost all of its ships.
Johnson now surveyed the battlespace as marine teams fought through almost 30 Imperial ships that had been disabled and had refused to surrender. This would mean that there was a net gain for the earth in terms of both numbers of ships along with tonnage.
But that didn't mean that war was easy, that people didn't die, and that there was not a massive weight on his shoulders. But even if it were a few pounds about a ton it was worth it.
"Tell the landing force that it is cleared to enter the system," Johnson said. "I want fighters to begin flying air superiority and support missions for our special forces units on the ground as well as local rebel units."
Author's Note: EARTH IN STAR WARS IS BACK.
Initially, I wanted to go right into Earth in Star Wars III, which would for now be the end of the series. In mapping that out, I first wanted to do a fic on the rebellion so that some of my changes to the wider SW universe would make sense.
However, I decided to do this instead. I want to tell some miscellaneous stories that don't fit in the other fics. These will tie into the larger universe and help with future stories.
Here are some examples of what I'll be doing.
More focus on the war from different perspectives, especially in less talked about facets. I'll be talking more about things like logistics, convoy raiding, combined arms warfare, and intel gathering.
At least a few interesting historical parallels including one about a certain German battleship along with some modern-day figures playing a role. Note that while 's rules forbid me from directly using modern real-life figures as characters they don't say anything about using people who are quite similar to ones IRL. For the few of you seeing this on AO3 I might change that in your case.
New Characters: Of course, existing characters will play a major role in the various independent stories but I'll be making some new ones along with ones that have been mentioned briefly but haven't played a large role in the story.
More of Earth itself and what's going on there. Things have changed since the Empire attacked and people are more unified than ever before in human history but there is still squabbling between nation-states. And some nations and peoples will be less than happy to give up power to support a war that they cannot see now.
Additionally, we will see some more of Earth's relationship with not only its direct allies close to them such as the Free Confederacy and the Tibannas Sector but organizations that work on a galactic scale such as the rebel alliance and various crime syndicates along with various independent galactic bodies that are not as under the thumb of the Empire as some might think.
Concerning this, we will see some of the original trilogy characters interact with Earth along with the rebel alliance's leadership as has happened in the past. Maybe we might see some fan favorites take a vacation on Earth… Who knows… Maybe that will be an independent one-shot…
Earth's place in the force will also be explained. I haven't talked about that yet and I am still not sure of some of the specific details but Earth does have a role to play in the larger conflict between the Jedi and the Sith. Maybe there are even a few force sensitives among the population?
Since I like showing multiple perspectives aside from Earth's there will be some from the Empire as well. (well in fact there already have been perspectives from them in the past but there will be more) This will also lead to some wider developments within the Empire that will be dealt with in the next miniseries and also the final part of the trilogy.