Back with another chapter.

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Chapter 75- The Next Great Battle

(May 23, 2018)

Deep under the Pentagon, outside the International Military Command Center, Grand General Dempsey slowly makes his way down the hallway. Reaching the door into the Command Center, Dempsey salutes the guards as they salute him, and then walks in.

Entering the Command Center, Dempsey sees the entire Joint Command assembled, along with Obama, the Admiralty, and commanding officers of various sections of the military and other major commands, as well as Yossi Cohen, Head of Terran Alliance Intelligence. Among them is Adams, representing TSOC. Plo is also present, representing the Terran Jedi Order. Overall, there are almost 40 men and women present for this crucial meeting.

"Gentlemen. Welcome. Thank you all for coming," Dempsey says.

Dempsey takes his seat around the large table. As he does, Obama looks around at everyone and says, "I thank you all for coming to this important meeting. As you all know, we have received intelligence on the Empire's latest big move, and I have called this meeting to discuss our response to this, as well as what the New Republic is doing about the matter. I'm going to turn this over to Director Cohen."

Cohen stands up and walks over to a display screen. He turns to the assembled men and begins his presentation.

"As many of you are aware, the Empire has suffered from severe infighting since their defeat at the Battle of Endor and the Death of Emperor Palpatine. Many fragments of the Empire have split off, such as the miniature empire run by Warlord Zsinj. While many of these fragments have been small and relatively weak, some have grown strong, such as Zsinj's empre. However, the bulk of Imperial forces have remained under what one might call 'the true Empire'. However, the Emperor's vizier, Mas Amedda, is a relatively powerless figurehead. Instead, the Empire has rallied behind this man."

Cohen switches the screen, bringing up the image of a man. "This is Gallius Rax. He has secretly held control of the Empire since not long after the Emperor's death. According to what intelligence we have been able to gather, Rax was one of the Emperor's right hand men, and has been close to the Emperor from a young age. Rax has sought to preserve the Empire as much as possible. It was him who was behind the attempted assassination of Mon Mothma a few months ago."

"Rax has rallied what he can of the Empire in an attempt to stand up to us and the New Republic. He has managed to unite some of the Imperial fragments back under the true Empire. While there are some portions of the Empire that haven't responded to Rax's call to arms, many have."

Cohen switches the photo again, this time to a photo of a desert planet. "Rax has gathered as many Imperial force as will heed his call to his birth world of Jakku. Jakku is a planet in the Inner Rim, close to the border of the Unknown Regions. The planet is one solid desert, much like Tatooine, although perhaps even more harsh and even less populated. While intelligence has failed to understand yet why Rax has chosen to gather the Empire to Jakku specifically, we do know that he has gathered these forces in an attempt to put together a force capable to defeating the Republic and us in one final battle."

"How many forces has he managed to gather?" Grand Admiral Roughead asks.

"More forces than we even faced during Operation Nightcloak. At least a thousand Star Destroyers and smaller ships, with hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground. And, at the center of their fleet is the Super Star Destroyer Ravager. The Ravager is one of only two remaining Super Star Destroyers left in Imperial hands, the other being the Lusankya. However, given that there is still a question about the Lusnakya's operational capability as well as its location, the Ravager is the final operational Super Star Destroyer in Imperial hands," Cohen says.

"Is there any sign of them attempting to mount an attack?" General Mofaz asks.

"Nothing as of yet. They seem to be attempting to draw us and the New Republic to them," Cohen responds.

Obama leans forward and rests his hands on the table. "I believe this is a chance we cannot pass up. The New Republic is already favoring an attack to wipe out the Imperial forces at Jakku. If we join them it will make a victory all the more easy. And if we can deal a defeat to the Empire here, they will never be able to recover," he says.

"This is not going to be easy, Mr. President. The Imperial fleet is honestly going to be the bigger problem. We will need to deploy every available warship we have to assist the New Republic fleet," Roughead says.

"What about their ground forces?" Fleet Admiral Zambellas asks.

"Well, the fact that this will be taking place on Jakku makes it easier. There are next to no settlements on the planet, and intelligence photographs from an SR-71D shows there are no settlements near the territory occupied by the Imperial ground forces. This will give our warships free reign to conduct orbital bombardments, and help nullify any numbers disadvantage," Cohen responds.

"Still, we'll need an extensive army to be able to challenge the Imperial ground forces. If your estimates are right, in addition to New Republic ground forces, I would say we need a minimum of 12 divisions, preferably from desert countries, so they'll be used to the environment. With the support of New Republic ground forces and our fleet, that should be sufficient to defeat Imperial ground forces," Rommel adds.

"I will coordinate with the New Republic Senate about how this operation will be conducted as well as the timing of it. However, I want us to begin preparations for the operation immediately," Obama says. Obama turns to Roughead and says, "I want you and the Admiralty to work on putting together a fleet to join the New Republic fleet for the operation, and begin training operations."

Obama then turns to Dempsey. "I want you to pick the divisions that will take part in the attack. I want a list of your chosen divisions on my desk for my approval within the new two weeks," he says.

"Yes, sir," Dempsey says.

Obama then looks around the table. "I want our very best men taking part in this, and I want our best leaders commanding it. I want Thrawn to be in command of the fleet. And commanding the ground forces…" he says, then pauses. He then looks over at Rommel and says, "I want you, Rommel."

Rommel looks a bit surprised. "Me, sir?"

"Yes. You've studied desert warfare extensively, and your one of the best strategists and tacticians we have," Obama says. He then grins a bit and says, "Plus, doesn't skill at desert warfare run in your family?" Chuckles go around the table as all of them recognize he's referring to Rommel's great uncle, Erwin Rommel.

"I gladly accept, Mr. President," Rommel says with a smile.

"This battle is more important than anything we have faced since the Empire attacked our world. If we can defeat them here, it will mean the end of the Empire. This is a battle we cannot afford to lose," Obama says.

Dempsey looks around at everybody assembled at the table. "We need to win this. So let's make it happen, gentlemen," he says.

(August 20, 2018)

Jared Hansen ducks under a stun bolt, then quickly deflects several more with his lightsaber. He then raises his commlink and says over it, "This is Jedi Knight Jared Hansen. I need air support on my position now!"

"Copy that. Air support on route. ETA 30 seconds," the controller on the other end responds.

Jared blocks several more stun rays. Around him, men from the company he's leading are moving forward on the simulated enemy position.

This is not a real battle, but rather the latest in a series of war games meant to prepare the chosen units for the attack on the Imperial forces at Jakku. Jared is one of the 18 Jedi chosen to join the Terran forces at Jakku. For the last few months, he's been training with the chosen Terran units in the sands of Iraq and Egypt. Today, he's taking part in a large exercise around the Iraqi city of Mosul. Since there is at least one large Imperial facility on Jakku, the Alliance has decided to conduct a few war games centered around attacking structures.

Jared hears the sound of jet engines. Looking up he sees a pair of A-10s making a pass. The A-10s dive down, then pull out as if they just made a pass. All close air support strikes in this exercise have been dummy runs like this.

"Circle around and hit 'em from their left flank!" Jared orders. The men of his company move forward, making a wide swing to the side so they can hit their left flank.

Jared leads his men towards the small ridge that his company is meant to take. The "enemy" soldier see his company coming, and start to direct their fire towards them. But, with some of their forces "taken out" by the close air support strike, they are unable to stop the charging troops. After a number of them are stunned, the rest all kneel and lower their weapons in surrender.

As Jared's company surrounds the "enemy", Jared's commlink buzzes to life. A moment later, General Rommel's voice comes over the commlink, "Attention all units. The Blue Force has captured the target. Exercise has concluded."

Jared smiles a bit. He looks around and says, "Alright, men! Let's pack it in, let's go!"

All of the troops gather up their gear and weapons and start heading back towards their division's assembly site outside the exercise area. Jared tries to chat and joke with the soldiers as they head back. It's another thing about Jared that makes him popular with the troops. He treats them all as his equal, no matter rank, and tries to be friendly with everyone, even though he can be a bit shy at times.

As all the troops taking part in the exercise return to their assembly sites, in his temporary headquarters in Mosul, Rommel is going over the preliminary results based on communications gathered from the forces engaged in the exercise. So far, the results are highly encouraging. Troops playing the enemy had fought using tactics used by Imperial forces, and mimicking Imperial training standards. As Rommel had predicted, it was not too difficult. Despite almost five years of knowing Terran tactics and training standards, the Empire had still not improved their own training, and stormtroopers were still generally inferior to Terran soldiers.

"Let's begin the analysis. Start gathering all information on the outcome," Rommel says to his aides. He then looks at one of the display screens and says to himself, "It won't be much longer."

And, I'll end there. Hope you liked this one.

So, the next two or three chapter will be about the Battle of Jakku. I'll try and do it justice, as obviously I won't be able to include everything from the battle in the chapters, but I'll do the best I can.

Not sure when the next chapter will be up, but it won't be too long. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!