Chapter 28: Tower Assault
July 16.
The last few days had been frenetic, to say the least. Iulius had spent all of his time reorganizing the forces of his ragtag coalition that was about to storm the Yavzakh tower and put an end to the war. He had already confirmed with Kimby and Kimovir the most important thing in his mind: what was going to happen when they severed the connection between the Surveyor and the Yavzakhs?
Luckily, the Carunoans had managed to kill some of them in the past, and thus the answer was already known: the Hybrids and other creatures would become empty shells, as if they were already dead inside.
In this, Iulius saw a tremendous opportunity: not only capturing the Surveyor would destroy the Yavzakh army entirely, but there would also be plenty of alive specimens to experiment on and intact structures from which the Humans could study the alien technology.
True, it was relatively ineffective against the Imperial equipment, but the scientists could still learn something new. At the very least, it would allow the Carunoans to build anew.
Because Admiral Tanis had also worked to find all the various survivor groups around the planet via radio. His hope was that the Carunoans would create a unified government which would then swear allegiance to the Empire, once the alien threat had been removed.
For the moment, though, he had more immediate problems. First of all, the language barrier.
It turned out, that in the other bases of the resistance there were combatants from all over the planet, some of them barely spoke Imirgesh, meaning that, right now, the coalition was a linguistic shitshow.
Eventually, Iulius had decided to keep the Imperial forces and the Carunoan Joint Force (as it had been temporarily renamed by Iulius himself) separated, and the few Carunoans who could speak both Galactic Standard and Imirgesh had to be preserved as interpreters.
Still, the Carunoans were very much eager to fight. Iulius was a bit surprised to discover that they still had a handful of vehicles in the three bases around the tower: some flying machines working with propellers, called VTOL, and even a couple tanks that were added to the armored division.
Iulius had decided the tactic: the minor vessels of the fleet, like the Tartans and other vessels that would be more effective against minor aircraft were to be deployed in a 5 km radius around the tower, to prevent possible Yavzakh reinforcements from other continents. The Admonitor and the Devastator, Vader's Star Destroyer, were escorting an Acclamator-class cruiser transporting the armored division of 6 AT-AT, 10 AT-ST, 18 TX-130 hover tanks and what little the Carunoan still had for an armored company.
Together, this vehicles were to form the spearhead of the offensive, attacking from the south. Two task forces of similar strength, including the warships, were to attack from North-East and West, with the intent of taking one Mauler each, since those machines were the only thing in the Yavzakh arsenal that posed a real threat to Imperial forces.
At least, the coalition had the crucial advantage of air superiority, since the TIE Fighters had already proven to be much more agile and powerful than the Yavzakh ones and the Human pilots could use their individual talents to outmaneuver their opponents, something that mind-controlled Hybrids weren't able to do.
Iulius had also decided to adopt a type of low-power orbital bombardment that Thrawn taught him. It implied the Star Destroyers using their smaller turbolasers at the lowest amount of energy as possible to provide a very precise orbital strike. He had all the AT-AT link their range-finders to the systems of the respective Star Destroyers to request backup, especially against the Maulers.
"From the intel given us by the Carunoans, the only real weak-point of the Maulers are these reactors on their back." Iulius explained to the officers of the Admonitor, which included the leaders of the TIE squadrons. "If possible, aim at them."
"Yes, Admiral." Commander Bolo replied a bit confused. "But why do you make it sound like you won't be the one to do the job?"
"Because I won't stay on the bridge: I'm going down there with Lord Vader." Iulius calmly replied.
The other officers literally fell out of the blue.
"But...Sir!" a Lieutenant yelled in opposition.
Iulius, though, simply raised a hand with a calm demeanor. "I have to see this through to the end. The capture of the Surveyor is paramount, I want to make sure it goes smoothly."
"But...who's going to be in charge of the ships?" another officer asked.
Iulius silently turned his head toward Bolo and started at him. The dark-skinned man didn't want to believe it.
"You're kidding…"
"I'm not….Captain Bolo." the Admiral said with a half-grin.
All the officers looked at Bolo, some of them with a smirk of sincere happiness for him.
"But...I don't…" Bolo tried to counter, but Iulius was having none of it.
"You have already proven to have the capabilities to lead the ship when I was away, and I know you have what it takes to lead the Task Force. You will command our air support in my absence." he ordered calmly. "Besides, you are 37, my friend. It's about time you get the rank you deserve."
The officer realized that there was now way to go against the wishes of Iulius, so he sighed and made the salute with a resolved expression. "However it goes, it's been an honor, Sir."
The other officers all made the same gesture, to show that they sincerely believed in Bolo's statement.
Iulius straightened his back. "Since I've been your commander, you've all showed your commitment to duty and loyalty. I'm grateful to all of you, and I know that, before the end of the day, you'll make me proud. Even more, you'll make yourself proud. Dismissed." he concluded with the salute.
As the officers left the holotable and headed back to their posts, Iulius headed to the exit, where Qathora was waiting for him.
"Quite the speech." she commented as they left the bridge and headed toward the armory.
"Morale is as important as discipline." he simply replied.
"So you didn't mean any of it?" the Togruta said with a provocative sarcasm.
"To the Empire, we're all expendables. But that doesn't mean that we should ignore our nature as Humans while we complete our duties." was Iulius' answer.
Before proceeding, Qathora reached Iulius' shoulder with a hand and stopped him. The Admiral turned around to face the woman who was supposed to be his personal servant, but to him was much more than that.
"Whatever happens…" she said in a demanding tone. "You have to get out of that tower alive, you hear me?"
Iulius put on a half-grin and took her hand in his. "Don't worry, I have no intention of dying, yet."
Then they proceeded to the armory and finally suited up. Iulius put on his black armor and his E-22, then they proceeded to the hangar. In it there were the imperial gunships and the Carunoan VTOLs warming up their engines.
The gunship that would've brought Iulius, though, was still standing on the sidelines, together with the rest of the team that was to infiltrate the tower.
Aside from him and Qathora there were Cody, Vader, the Death-troopers DT-517 and DT-518, the stormtroopers Mickey and Holden and the four members of Victor Team: Burk, Honasy, Rolion and Muraj. All had been hand-picked by Iulius himself, and despite the four Carunoans should have been kept as interpreters, the Admiral had decided that he couldn't go into the structure without them, given their experience against the Yavzakhs.
Vader was staying at a distance, looking toward the shield gates of the hangar, as if he was pondering. Iulius could only guess that that was his way to prepare for a very dangerous mission.
The troopers, instead, all stood up and gave him full attention when the Admiral appeared with the helmet underarm and absolute calm in his eyes.
"At ease." he said.
At the same time, it came the news that the armored forces were being brought down. Some modified Zeta-class transports, escorted by the new model of TIE Striker, specifically designed for atmospheric operations, were leaving the Acclamator transport, while the Star Destroyers were sending their fighters.
The Zetas could only bring one walker at a time, but they were smaller, and would thus give a smaller target to the Maulers.
Following everything through the comlink, Iulius and the rest of the squad would stay there for the next half an hour.
The division was airdropped at around 2 km from the tower, which was too far for the Maulers to get a lock on the transports on time, while the TIEs started to fly strafing and bombing runs over the Yavzakh forces.
The Maulers did live up to their fame and even the proton bombs were doing almost nothing unless they managed to hit one of the reactors.
They had more effect against the minor walkers of the aliens, and against some of their forward bunkers, which were damaged, but by the time the walkers finally entered in range to shoot at the Maulers, the TIEs had lost a total of 22 crafts. 7 pilots managed to just crash-land and Bolo immediately dispatched search and rescue teams of the Carunoans, which had some squads waiting at a safe distance specifically for this task aboard spare VTOLs and recon vehicles.
The AT-AT apparently had some effect, but even with 6 of them for every Mauler, they were only managing to have them stumble a bit. The colossal machines of the Yavzakhs, in front of which the imperial walkers appeared like puppies, fired back and the imperials suffered casualties, but in the end, by coordinating the attack of the walkers with the maneuverability of the tanks, the Human forces eventually managed to destroy the Maulers one-by-one.
"Admiral, the Maulers had been destroyed, I'm pulling back the TIEs until you disarm the AA guns." the voice of the new Captain said in the comlink.
"Copy that, Captain. Tanis to all units, commence the landing."
The engines of the VTOLs and the gunships roared inside the hangar. Since the Carunoan aircraft were a bit more cumbersome, they were the first to be allowed to leave and dive down toward the surface. The gunships followed shortly after, and Iulius watched them leave, conscious that many of them probably wouldn't come back.
Between trying to survive the infinite dangers of Kalevala's jungles, preparing the defenses and with Ursa insisting on having Ezra to dedicate an hour a day to study mandalorian costumes, the young Jedi was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but he was still focused on the battle raging on.
He and Jaral were at the holotable, analyzing the mandalorian defenses once again in the main camp of the Clans.
The small continent where they found themselves hosted a total of five anti-ship batteries given by the Federation, which could hinder the advance of the Imperial Fleet and were they had to be held at any cost to allow the Keldabe to be finished. From there, the plan was that the new Mandalorian fleet would not attack the Imperial one head-on. Instead, while the ground forces would tie the imperials on Kalevala, Bo-Katan would lead the fleet along a secret hyperspace route known only to the Protectors and instead assail the planet Gargon, where the Empire had established their main supply base in the sector.
If the raid was to succeed, the Imperial fleet would be paralyzed and all the allied would have to do would be wait for the enemy to suffer attrition, then strike when it was left without fuel, thus making even the Star Destroyers easy targets.
For now, the siblings, the Specters, the survivors of Clan Wren and the rebel forces had been immediately greeted with an intense fight as soon as they reached the surface, but eventually, the imperial vanguards had been repelled. Now the perimeter of the four batteries was protected by a large energy shield able to withstand the orbital bombardments of the Star Destroyer, so all they could do was a land assault to take down the shield generator.
"So, if they are landing forces here, it means they will launch a multi-pronged assault on us." Ezra commented the recent spotting of other imperial transports landing on a nearby island. "To cross the toxic desert, they are gonna need the AT-AT or gunships."
Jaral was pacing back and forth while listening to her brother's intuition. "I agree. They can only send a small detachment here, so my guess is that they will try to distract us with an attack from this direction…"
"Grand Marshall!" a rebel soldier arrived running in the room. "The Federals are here!" he added with a bit of enthusiasm.
"Ah, just in time." Jaral commented. "We could really use some super-soldiers."
The siblings followed the soldier outside of the tent and exited just in time to see a stealth freighter of the Milky Way landing in an open space of the camp which had been left just for them.
Not long after, one of the hatches opened and the Legionnaires marched out in two rows, with their multi-colored armors shining to the sun of Kalevala and with their weapons in hand. Definitely a show that the Mandalorians around them appreciated.
The siblings waited at the edge of the square, with Sabine and Zeb joining them before the leader of the column separated and went to salute the siblings, who returned the gesture.
"Major Ni Zhen of the 73th Cohort of the Legion, reporting for duty." the man said dutifully.
"Welcome, Major." Jaral replied. "We are very glad to see you." she added with a relieved tone.
"Yes, they tell us that a lot." Zhen simply commented as he stepped aside to let his allies look at the cohort that was standing with firm discipline on the square, divided in four platoons of 30 Legionnaires each.
"Follow us," the Grand Marshall added. "we'll show you where we need you."
"Yes, ma'am." the man turned toward his soldiers. "Legionnaires, dismissed."
As the super-soldiers allowed themselves some relax and some started to talk with the Mandalorians, Zhen dematerialized his helmet, folded his rifle on his back and followed the siblings into the command tent.
He was quickly brought up to speed about the situation.
"Now, you know better than me how to lead so many Legionnaires, Major, do you have any suggestion?" asked Jaral.
The man didn't answer immediately. He took another good look at the holomap, even bending his knees slightly to observe it closer and from various perspectives.
"It seems like this cannon is relatively safer." he said, indicating the cannon which was deeply in the jungle and behind a line of trenches.
"Pretty much." Ezra responded.
"We Legionnaires don't usually have a defensive mindset. I suggest we keep three platoons ready in the advanced outpost. If things go bad, and the imperials arrive too close to the cannons, we send one in for each position. Otherwise, I suggest to use my men as shock troops for a possible counter-attack if you manage to wear down the enemy advance. We need to inflict as many losses as possible on them, to even the odds even if slightly."
"Ah." one of the mandalorian leaders commented. "That's a plan I can go with."
"What do we do, sis?" Ezra asked. "Should we keep them in reserve for a counter-attack, or do we use them immediately on the defense?"
Jaral pondered for around ten seconds before reaching her decision.
"Major, deploy half of your men to the advanced outpost and keep half of them here at the base. Instead of halting them at the gates of our perimeter, I want to funnel them here, toward Battery 3." she said, referring to the 'safest' of the cannons.
"I see." Ursa commented. "You want to draw them inside the jungle."
"Correct. Their vehicles will be useless there. If we manage to draw a large amount of troopers there, we might be able to cripple their offensive capabilities."
Zhen hummed. "It's risky, but you're right. It'll be easier to ambush them among the vegetation."
"It's settled, then. Some of the warriors will lead you to the advanced outpost. You'll have to move on foot since we need to spare the fuel as much as we can." the Grand Marshall concluded.
"Don't worry, ma'am. After staying three days in the hold, stretching our legs is all me and the boys could ask." the Major quipped.
Jaral made a lopsided grin. "Glad to see you're enthusiast, Major. Go get your men."
The man left without adding anything more. But just as he did that, a garbled transmission arrived at the holotable.
"...peat-T-is-"
"Jinx…" Ezra said, prompting the AI to intervene to stabilize the signal.
The voice became clearer, allowing Jaral to recognize one of the rebel lieutenants. "Repeat, this is strongpoint 'Raudon' to Command, do you copy?"
"We read you, Raudon." Darvos reassured.
"We're engaging an imperial scouting party. They are stormtroopers and some speeders, it might be the vanguard for a full-scale assault."
"Understood, Raudon, do you need backup?" Jaral asked.
"For these ones, no, but we might need some additional firepower shortly."
"Acknowledged, the Legionnaires have just disembarked, they will join you shortly."
"Now that's a good news. We'll keep them at bay, ma'am. Raudon, out."
Jaral thus turned toward Ursa. "Countess, have your clan head toward Battery 2." she ordered. That was the cannon that, according to Jaral's intuition, would suffer the strongest attack.
"Leave it to me." the Countess replied as she donned her helmet.
"Ezra, you and Sabine fly to help Raudon."
"Say no more." Ezra declared as he materialized his armor and jogged outside to go find his wife.
Despite a savage resistance by the Yavzakhs, which led to multiple losses among the Humans, the first wave still managed to breach the outer perimeter. The AT-AT played an important role in that, as they easily decimated the alien bunkers after destroying the Maulers.
With the cover of the biped walkers and tanks, the allied human forces slowly but steadily made their way all around the perimeter of the tower. The Hybrids fought like the beasts they were, but they still moved with a certain discipline and coordination, sign that the Surveyor was still influencing them.
Iulius was a bit pleased when he also heard that the Yavzakhs were trying to bring reinforcements from distant regions of the planet, as he had predicted, but the blockade of his fleet was working perfectly, even if there were some losses of TIE Fighters reported.
The Carunoans were also giving a good show of discipline. Iulius had feared that they might get too cocky, getting to win a battle after years, but apparently the native Humans of the planet were not eager to die for glory after finally seeing what promised to be the last battle against the aliens that had scourged their worlds. Burk himself said that he wanted to capture the Surveyor and get back home to his family safe and sound to enjoy a new life.
The tower was protected on one side by a steep rocky formation which was impossible to go through, while the other sides were defended by three flat platforms, steps, the last of which defended the only entrance that the Humans could use.
As the Humans made their way toward the entrance, the Hybrids seemed to become even less reckless, instead trying to ambush their enemies whenever they could, however, the absolute firepower coming from the AT-AT and the total control of the skies by the imperials, were enough to vaporize every barricade or giant monster that the Yavzakhs put on the Humans' way.
The only one who was about to ruin everything was no other than Colonel Hopler. He had been put in charge of one of the land divisions, and as they neared the last step, he ordered a reckless charge. Unfortunately for him, who wanted to be at the head of his troops for more glory, he was shredded by a Yavzakh grenade.
The command of the land forces thus passed to Major Treye, a guy who knew Iulius since the Royal Academy and was loyal to the Admiral. The man immediately ordered the soldiers 'not to be heroes' and stick with a careful approach against the enemy.
After around two hours and a half of intense fight, the Major finally called Iulius.
"Admiral, we've secured the entrance, you're clear to land."
"Excellent job, Major, we're on our way." Iulius replied loudly enough so everyone else, Vader included, heard him and mounted into the cargo hold of the gunship, which then left the hangar and headed at full speed toward the tower, with Iulius standing inside the cockpit to signal where they had to land.
Seeing that his forces had, indeed, total control of the outside of the tower, Iulius pointed at the open space that Treye had had prepared for the gunship.
"Take us down, Liz." he said to the pilot.
"Yes, Admiral." the woman responded dutifully.
The craft landed and opened its doors, letting Vader getting down first, followed by the rest of the strike team.
When Iulius stepped down, he found Treye, in his tactical officer outfit and wielding an E-11, waiting for him.
"Admiral, there doesn't seem to be any block on the main door." he explained as they walked toward the descending ramp that led to the entrance. "But the Admonitor has just warned us that it's detecting some minor earthquakes in the vicinity, they must be Yavzakh tunnels.
"They will try to retake the tower." Iulius calmly said through his helmet, then stopped and put a hand on his officer's shoulder. "Dig in and keep them at bay. Tell Bolo to have the TIEs resupply and repaired while you can. We're going in."
"You sure you don't want reinforcements?"
"Thanks, Enton, but I'm bringing in the best, plus Lord Vader, who alone should be enough."
Treye huffed in amusement. "I guess. All right, we won't let a single one of those things step on the platforms again." then he walked away as he started to issue orders on the comlink.
Iulius reached the rest of the squad at the top of the ramp, with Vader at the head.
"Don't get in my way." Vader simply ordered before walking toward the door.
The others looked at him a bit intimidated. After letting him walk down a few meters, Iulius motioned the rest of the squad to follow him and they ventured inside.
Indeed, the door opened as soon as the Humans got near it, as if the Yavzakhs didn't expect any intruder would manage to get there.
"So here we are." Mickey commented. "Any idea where we find the Surveyor?"
"This tower has 5 floors." Burk said with his heavy accent. "The Surveyor must be in a protected room at the top."
The screeching of incoming Hybrids and other creatures reminded them that it wasn't going to be easy.
As always, Vader was the first to attack, igniting his lightsaber and starting to cut down aliens left and right of the main corridor.
"Keep formation and watch out for stragglers." Iulius instructed. "Let's go."
Following the trail of corpses, the imperials quickly reached Lord Vader, providing some support to him while also repelling enemies incoming from secondary hallways or that tried to surround them.
The Carunoans gave their best, barely missing a shot and aiming at the Yavzakhs' heads with a precision that came with years of fighting against them.
Mickey and Holden also showed an abnormal skill, as if was driven by desperation, but that was why Iulius chose the two of them: they came from two different colonies right at the border with the I6 grid, and just the day before, the ISB analysts of the fleet had published a list of most likely targets for the Yavzakh fleet. Their planets were among them.
With the thought of protecting their families driving them, the two stormtroopers kept advancing, gunning down the enemies with surgical precision.
Thus they passed the first floor, and the second...facing also mechanical drones that Vader simply crumpled with the Force. Two of the Humans were hit in the process, but they still pressed forward since the wounds weren't fatal.
Eventually, they reached the fifth floor, finding a room protected by dozens of Hybrids and a Titan, a monstrous creatures three meters tall and holding a literal cannon in his hands.
"That one is mine." Vader declared in regard to the giant creature.
"Everyone, take cover." Iulius ordered. "Open a path for Lord Vader."
The Humans and the Togruta gave their all. Qathora positioned herself, Mickey and Holden on the flank of the Hybrids and catching them in the open. Avoiding the explosive, but slow, cannonades of the Titan, the Imperials managed to take out all the enemy infantry, opening a gap for Vader to exploit.
The Sith Lords, who until now simply marched all the way up there, now made an unexpected dash, drawing the attention of the Titan.
Observing the movements of the Sith Lord, Iulius realized what he was about to do, so he turned to the squad.
"On my mark, aim at the legs!"
The group complied and pointed their weapons. A few moments later, Vader jumped in air, even surpassing the height of the Titan, who looked upward in confusion.
"Fire!" the Admiral ordered.
The sudden rain of fire caught the beast with its guard lowered, as it was hit multiple times at the loin and the legs, making it kneel slightly.
Since its head was now bent forward, Vader was able to land on the large neck of the Titan, lift his lightsaber and stab the creature's spine.
The Titan let its weapon go as it roared in pain.
"Take it down!" Cody said. The Imperials started to march forward, firing at the creature in the bulk of its body to not risk hitting Vader.
Finally, the creature fell on its knees, stopped flailing and simply dropped dead. Vader jumped off just in time.
Rolion yelled what was probably an insult at the Titan to celebrate the victory, the they all reached the door of the bunker. It was closed by two switches, so Burk and Muraj coordinated and pressed it at the same time.
The heavy door started to lift, until it revealed the interior. A big, circular room, inside of which was the Surveyor, floating in the middle and snarling at the Humans.
Despite being at the top of such a savage species, the Surveyors were actually quite feeble. Their tentacles had sharp, metallic claws for close defense, but they were still kinda clumsy and with no defense against ranged attacks, which is why they were always kept inside fortified structures like that.
The beast roared, and Darth Vader seemed interested. Perhaps, as Iulius suspected, the creature also used some version of the Force.
"Admiral, you and your men stay here." Vader simply ordered, still staring at the creature.
"My Lord?" Iulius asked surprised.
"I will make this quick." the Sith Lord added, ignoring the Admiral's complaint and starting to walk toward the creature.
Iulius ordered the others to stand down and watch out for possible reinforcements, but none of them could take their eyes off of the show going on inside that room, as Darth Vader effortlessly cut off the tentacles of the Surveyor once this tried to attack, used the Force to pin it on the floor and then using his powers to probe the mind of the creatures, which sent horrible laments.
"Now this is some sweet music." Burk commented with a satisfied tone.
Qathora still preferred to turn around and focus on their surroundings, since she always felt uneasy watching Vader at work.
The Sith Lord then took away his hand, raised his lightsaber and cut off the head of the monster, to Iulius' bafflement.
The Admiral was about to protest, but then he reminded himself that Vader could use the Force and so he waited until his Lord walked back to the group to ask.
"Please, tell me you found the fleet."
"Fret not, Admiral." Vader replied calmly. "Their fleet has already left, but I know they're aiming at the colony of Murris."
Iulius breathed a sigh of relief, then he received a transmission from Treye.
"Admiral, do you copy?"
"I'm here, Major, what's the situation out there?"
"The Yavzakhs seem...odd. They're dropping their weapons and it seems like they're staring into nothing. Whatever you did, it's working."
Iulius grinned. Finally, the mission was over. All that was left to do was to rapidly inform Imperial Command of the imminent attack on Murris, so the Admiral immediately informed the Admonitor.