Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, this chapter is gonna cover the battle in Washington DC. Hope you're excited for it.
Let's get to it.
RandomFanAuthor: Yeah, kinda, but let's be honest, an American response to a massive invasion would be pretty similar to what I wrote.
Guest: We'll see the Freedom in action soon enough.
Starpottergeek: Yes, they are, mainly because they have better shields, and they actually have turbo lasers in addition to their bombardment cannons, while the first order dreadnoughts only had point defense laser cannons.
Chapter 49- Fight at the White House
Hall ducks as a laser bolt from a TIE fighter hits the ground not far away and explodes, sending shrapnel flying out in all directions. From the beginning of the battle for the city, he's been stationed at the White House.
The battle in Washington DC has been raging for hours. Given its status as the capital of the US, and home of Barack Obama, the city was heavily defended. The city was defended by 75,000 troops, including the 82nd Airborne Division, troops from the Virginia and DC National Guards, the newly reactivated 13th Armored Division, and the new 119th Infantry Division. The city was also heavily defended by armed civilian organizations. Three armed civilian organizations, numbering 45,000, had come to defend the city: the 1st District of Columbia Civilian Infantry Division, the 3rd Virginia Civilian Infantry Division, and the 22nd Virginia Civilian Infantry Regiment. Between the military and civilian defenders, DC was defended by 120,000 men and women, being backed by several thousand vehicles, including 500 tanks.
The stormtroopers had landed south of the city and attempted to swing in from the southeast. However, they met fierce resistance from the 13th Armored and 3rd Virginia. The initial attack was stalled by fierce fire from the defenders. The Empire tried to send in AT-ATs and AT-STs, but the Imperial walkers found were stopped by M1 tanks supported by F-16s from the DC Air National Guard.
The Empire had attempted to circle around to the north to try attacking from the north, but were attacked and beaten off by the 4th Maryland Civilian Infantry Division, and were forced to double back. Retreating back south of DC, they decided to make a direct assault on the city from the south.
The 82nd Airborne had fought back against the Imperial assault, but were slowly pushed back while reinforcements were coming. The spearhead of the Imperial assault had crossed the Anacostia River and was now approaching Capitol Hill. The 22nd Virginia and troops from the Virginia National Guard had come to reinforce them, and had, for the time being, stalled the Imperial advance. Now, tanks from the 13th were arriving to reinforce them.
Ahsoka walks up beside Hall. "Any word from New York?" she asks.
"Yes. Good news. The battleships started their bombardment, and what troops were able to retreated, but almost 50,000 stormtroopers got left behind. General Williams reports his troops are pressing their attack, and the battleships are still bombarding the stormtroopers," Hall says.
Hearing a familiar noise, they look up and see a pair of TIE fighters diving towards the White House. On the lawn of the White House, an Avenger SAM system mounted on the back of a Humvee swivels towards the incoming TIEs. Locking in, the launcher fires four Stinger SAMs, two at each TIE. The missiles find their targets, blasting the TIEs out of the sky and sending their wreckage crashing down onto 15th Street.
"What's the status of our forces here in DC?" Hall asks.
"The first of the 13th's tanks are just reaching the front lines. The Empire just unleashed about 20 AT-AT walkers, so let's hope they can get the tanks up there quickly," Ahsoka responds.
"Agreed," Hall says.
They hear a roar as four DC ANG F-16s streak overhead, heading for the front lines. At the same time, they look overhead and can just see several F-22s engaged in a fierce dogfight with TIE fighters.
Hall smiles slightly. He's been tuned into the reports of air combat going on in US airspace. Across the country, F-22s have born the brunt of air combat against TIE fighters, leaving other US fighters free to provide air support for the troops on the ground. They've reportedly already shot down over a hundred TIE fighters, and suffered no losses.
As another two F-16s streak overhead, Plo walks up beside Hall and Ahsoka. Beside him is his Padawan, Jared Hansen, a young American Padawan who turns 18 today. He has almost completed his Trials, and if he proves himself here, he could be granted the rank of Jedi Knight. Jared is a bit of an interesting young man compared to many other Jedi, but his skills with a lightsaber are a second to none among others around his age, and he's very strong with the Force.
"What is the situation?" Plo asks.
"Our troops have managed to stop the Imperial forces not far from Capitol Hill. Our tanks are just starting to reach the front lines, and once the rest of our forces are able to get over there, we'll be able to start pushing them back out of DC," Hall says.
"So, we're not gonna see any action, are we?" Jared asks.
Hall chuckles. "Probably not, Hansen," he says.
Right then, one of the officers races up behind them. "General Hall, radar shows several transport craft heading right for the White House. Confirmed hostile," the officer says.
"Never mind, Hansen. Guess we will," Hall says. Hall then raises his commlink to his lips and says into it, "This is General Hall. Imperial landing craft are descending towards the White House. The White House is about to come under attack. Let's get ready, boys."
After lowering his commlink, Hall looks at Ahsoka, Plo, and Jared and says, "Let's head down to the ground." The three Jedi nod, and they all follow Hall back into the White House and start heading down the flights of staircases down to the ground floor.
Outside, the four landing craft that had taken off from Long Island are heading straight for the White House. In the lead craft, Darth Vader looks out of the viewport with dark satisfaction, watching the building approach. It's been so long since he's seen this building. Now, he's come back with a very dark goal in mind.
"Set the landing craft down outside the perimeter fence," Vader orders.
"Yes, Lord Vader," the pilot says as he guides the landing craft down, landing it right on Pennsylvania Avenue. In a matter of moments, the other three landing craft land around the first one.
The landing crafts open up, disgorging hundreds of stormtroopers. As the troopers disembark, Vader strides out of his shuttle.
"Blow down that fence," Vader orders. The stormtroopers quickly pull out explosives and lace them around sections of the fence. When the charges are detonated, a massive chunk of the perimeter fence is blown away from the rest.
Stormtroopers stream through the breach in the fence, Vader in the midst of them, as a number of stormtroopers remain behind to guard the shuttles.
As Vader strides up the front lawn of the White House, he gets an uneasy feeling. The place looks deserted. The Humvee that just shot down two TIE fighters with its back mounted Avenger launcher lies in his path, with its two operators already dead from stormtrooper fire. However, there are no other signs of any defenses. And that makes Vader uneasy. The Americans surely could not be so arrogant as to have so little defenses around the White House. Perhaps they could be hiding all their defending troops inside the White House itself. But that doesn't sit right with Vader.
Unknown to Vader, at that moment, Crosshair of Clone Force 5 is resting on the top of the White House, his sniper blaster at the ready. Around him are almost a dozen disguised machine gun nests, guarding all four sides of the White House.
Crosshair settles his rifle on one of the stormtroopers advancing across the front lawn. "Are you ready?" he calls out just loud enough for the men manning the machine guns to hear him.
"Ready, sir," the men softly call out.
Crosshair waits for them to get closer. Then, as they get close enough for Crosshair's taste, Crosshair pulls the trigger, sending out a precision laser bolt that kills one of the stormtroopers.
Before the stormtroopers even have a chance to react, the men manning the machine guns in four of the machine gun nests take Crosshair's shot as the signal, and let rip. Twelve Browning M2 heavy machine guns spring to life, firing .50 caliber bullets at a rate of fire of over 600 rounds per minute. Hundreds of rounds streak down all around the stormtroopers, tearing through their ranks and shredding many of them into pieces.
Stormtroopers scatter in panic, trying to evade the incoming machine gun fire. Then, they see multiple figures seemingly flying away from the White House. Looking up, they see, to their shock, 20 members of the Zulu Force flying up and away from their hiding place with their jetpacks. Before the stormtroopers can really react, some of the Zulus start firing at them with their blasters or carbines, while others fly over their heads and drop grenades down on them. The stormtroopers desperately try to run for cover.
Vader sees the tracer rounds flying all around him, and the grenades exploding as stormtroopers scatter. Then, looking ahead, he sees Ahsoka, Plo, and Jared race out of the White House, lightsabers drawn and heading to engage the stormtroopers, along with Hunter and Wrecker from Clone Force 5. And, at the same time, Vader sees Hall striding out of the White House, heading straight for him.
Vader feels the hate and anger swell in him at the sight of Hall. He slowly strides towards his former friend, completely ignoring the machine gun rounds flying around him.
As the two walk towards each other, the three Jedi and two clones that came out of the White House with Hall charge towards the stormtroopers. As they run, Hunter says, "Go crazy, Wrecker."
"Just what I like to hear," Wrecker says as he puts his helmet down and charges towards the stormtroopers up ahead.
Seeing Wrecker charging towards them, some of the stormtroopers have just enough time to scream and try to fire at him. However, the few shots they are able to get off miss. And by that point, Wrecker is on them.
Wrecker laughs as he grabs two stormtroopers and smashes their heads together. He then throws them down and charges at more stormtroopers, barreling through them as he smashes through their ranks.
Stormtroopers are yelling and screaming as Wrecker charges through them. "HELP! THIS CLONE IS CRAZY!" one of the stormtroopers yells before he has his head bashed in.
Another stormtrooper throws down his blaster and throws his hands up. "I surrender! Just keep this clone away from me!" he yells.
As the three Jedi and Hunter join Wrecker in attacking the stormtroopers, Vader and Hall are still walking towards each other. As the two get within 15 yards of each other, the two stop and just stare at each other. After several moments of silence, Vader says, "Tyler Hall. We meet again."
"Lord Vader. It's been a while," Hall says, removing his outer jacket.
"I have been looking forward to this for a long time. Once I have finally killed you, I will take President Obama, and see how well your Terran Alliance functions without its leader," Vader says.
"Well, to start with, we have plenty of safeguards and plans for loss of a leader to keep us going. And in any case, President Obama isn't even here," Hall says.
Vader feels surprise run through him. "What?" he demands.
Hall chuckles as he says, "If you think that Obama would really stay here in the face of an attack, you're dumber than I remember."
The moment word had been received that the Imperial fleet was arriving in the system, Obama had left DC. He, along with the other four members of the Council of Five, had been taken to a highly secret command center built deep under the Rocky Mountains in Utah. This center was designed specifically to house the top leadership of the Terran Alliance in the event of an attack by a major galactic or intergalactic power. It was considered impossible to destroy unless the center itself was breached. It was extremely secret. Even Hall didn't know the truth about its existence. He just knew that Obama had been taken somewhere very safe and secret.
Hall grins as he can tell that Vader is getting frustrated by that bit of information. Finally, Vader says, "Very well. Then I will kill you before I find your President and take him." He then removes his lightsaber from his belt and ignites it.
Hall looks at him for a moment before drawing and igniting his own lightsaber. He spins it once in hand before slowly stalking towards Vader.
"I will enjoy killing you, General Hall," Vader says.
"You can try," Hall says, spinning his lightsaber one more time before speeding up and running towards Vader.
Hall launches the first attack, slashing his saber at Vader's neck. Vader blocks Hall's saber and forces it downwards, then slashes at Hall's arm. Hall manages to deflect the lightsaber just in time, stepping back to gain some room to maneuver.
He pauses for a moment, looking for an advantage, then steps forward and stabs his saber at Vader's chest. Vader deflects the saber with his own and tries to slash at Hall's head, but Hall lets his momentum from his stab carry him forward and somersault under Vader's blow, while trying to slash at Vader's leg. He just manages to nick the side of Vader's left leg, causing Vader to groan as the Sith tries not to stumble.
Hall springs back to his feet, spinning around and slashing his saber at Vader's shoulder. Vader just manages to block the attack. The two struggle against each other before Vader forces him back with pure force. Vader slashes at Hall three times, but Hall blocks each strike.
Hall steps back, stalking around Vader. Then, he lunges back at Vader, slashing at his head. Vader easily blocks the blow, but Hall follows it up with four quick slashes that Vader is just able to fend off.
Vader manages to force Hall back with pure force. Then, before Hall can react, Vader lunges forward to attack. He slashes at Hall's head, but Hall ducks under the blow. Vader then tries to slash at Hall's legs, but Hall is just able to jump back in time to evade the blow.
Hall jumps over another blow from Vader, then slashes downwards at Vader's shoulder. Vader blocks the blow with his saber, and the two lock sabers, struggling against each other. After a few seconds, Hall leaps back, then dashes to the side before slashing at Vader's side. Vader blocks the blow, then sends Hall flying with the Force.
Vader starts stalking towards Hall. However, before he can, Ahsoka comes sprinting in to protect her brother in law, slashing at Vader's head with one of her sabers, which Vader easily blocks. Ahsoka slashes with her other saber, but Vader dodges the blow and forces Ahsoka away with brute strength.
As Ahsoka and Vader stalk around each other, suddenly, the radio in Vader's helmet crackles to life, and he hears the voice of Admiral Piett say, "Lord Vader, the Terran are activating a planetary shield! They're trying to trap all our forces on the ground. We're recalling everything we can! You need to get back to the fleet before you're trapped down there!"
Vader immediately understands the gravity of the situation. If the Terrans can manage to get their shield up, it will trap on the planet, and it would take a very, very long orbital bombardment to overwhelm the shield and break it down. Knowing he has to escape, Vader calls on the Force and sends out a massive wave out with the Force, sending everyone around him flying.
Vader moves as quickly as he can back towards the breach in the fence. As he reaches the breech, he sees that armed civilians have the stormtroopers guarding the landing craft pinned down. Without any regard for the stormtroopers, Vader strides aboard his shuttle.
"Take off immediately! Return to the fleet at once!" Vader orders.
"Yes, Lord Vader," the pilot says. He quickly powers up the shuttle and lifts into the air, pulling it into a climb. As the shuttle climbs up into the sky, Vader has no idea just how badly the rest of the invasion has gone for the Empire.
I'm going to end the chapter there. I hope you liked it.
I decided to have this focus solely on the action at the White House instead of the entire battle for the city. Hope that you like I did it that way.
So, the next chapter is going to be a longer one, and is going to showcase several of the other battles occurring around the world. At least half of the fights I'll showcase will be in the US, but we'll also see battles going on in Russia and Southeast Asia. Also, for reference, the events of the next chapter will be occurring at the same time as the events of this one, and will end with the news of the shield going up.
Alright. Until the next chapter is up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!