The First Contact War Chapter 31
One Man's Freedom Fighter
"It is the true duty of man to promote the happiness of his fellow creatures to the utmost of his power" William Wilberforce
2623 20th November Earth Standard Calendar, Lt Luke Sparrow, Onderon
Luke sat in the back of the Republic shuttle along with five Orionian Green Berets, all checking their gear. Due to the nature of their mission. To train an insurgency. They had to forgo their usual armour and weaponry. Instead they would be using the Republic's DC-15 carbine whilst retaining their original webbing. Rather than their multi-cam armour and clothing, they wore digital woodland camouflage fatigues with some light body armour and helmets that resembled the 21st century Ops-core FAST helmet but with a plexiglass visor. They all had a disposable jump pack provided by the Republic. They had been ordered to yet again assist Jedi Masters Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano along with Captain Rex. All but Skywalker and Ahsoka having just come back from Umbara. Where General Krell had caused multiple blue on blue incidents and had gone on a rampage killing any clones he found until the 501st and 212th had him dealt with. Permanently.
"One-minute till drop." A clone pilot said as he walked towards to door access panel. Luke and the Green Berets stood up and waited for the ramp to open as the Jedi and Rex joined them. Luke felt the shuttle slow to a halt and the pilot lowered the ramp.
"Go, go ,go, go."
The Jedi were the first ones out followed by Rex and then the Orionians. The Jedi falling silently while the others activated their jump packs to slow their decent. Luke felt the cool night air around him as his decent slowed as he approached the ground. He could already hear the shuttle leaving above them.
As Luke hit the ground. His knees bent to help him land softly among the jungle. Already his sight was obscured by the thick native vegetation and the sounds of the night-life filled his ears. Anakin looked back at everyone to see that they were all right. After a moment, he gave a slight nod, put up his cloaks hood, and began to move. Kenobi and Ahsoka took to the trees while Anakin, Luke, Rex and the berets moved along the jungle floor, moving as quickly and quietly as possible, scanning for possible threats.
After a few minutes of walking a strange noise could be heard. Anakin kept on walking while Luke signalled for the rest to stop. Luke and the berets crouched down and raised their weapons scanning the jungle for the threat that was lurking out of sight. The origin of the noise made itself known when a woman atop a native creature appeared in front of Anakin brandishing a bladed weapon. It was too fark to make out the details. A few more unknowns appeared atop mounts surrounding them. Some with blasters, some with melee weapons. Each man drew a bead on a target encase things turned hostile. Rex lowered his weapon, waiting to see what his general to do.
Luke watched Anakin lower his cloaks hood a smile at the girl.
"You're the Jedi." She said with what was either a awed or relived tone. Ahsoka and Kenobi then chose to drop from out of the canopy next to two of the mounted rebels. Why they had decided on such dramatic entrances Luke had no idea.
"I'm Commander Tano, we're here to help you take back your planet."
"My name is Steela. I'll guide you to our secret base."
It took the rest of the night and into the early morning when the sun was up after hours of walking through the jungle. Steela had dismounted to lead them by foot. As they came to a clearing. She halted. Scanned the jungle and motioned them to follow again. Within the clearing, Luke could see the ruins of an arch and domed building which was missing a sizable portion of one of its walls. Looking around he could see nearly four dozen rebels. One was mounted on a giant bird-like creature and perched himself on top of the arch.
Luke noticed how in true rebel fashion, the Ondoran rebels armed themselves with various blasters from Republic to Separatist to independently made. Used various pieces of armour if they had any and seemed to be eyeing them suspiciously, not trusting the foreign aid sent to them.
"A bit rough around the edges wouldn't you say?" Asked Kenobi, eyeing the rebels.
"That's why I brought Rex, the good Lieutenant and the Green Berets he mentioned here."
"They're not exactly what I call shinies Sir but I can work with'em." Rex commented.
The man on the flying creature took off and swooped round to where they had stopped on the plaza and landed in front of them. He quickly dismounted before walking over to them.
"General Skywalker."
"At your service. This is General Kenobi. Commander Tano. Captain Rex and Lieutenant Sparrow and the Green Berets." Anakin said as each gave their own salute when mentioned, or bow in the case of the Jedi.
"We're look'in forward to taking the fight to those scrap droids."
"Yes, all in good time."
"Saw. Saw Gerrera."
"He fashions himself as our leader," Explained Steela, "though no one elected him." She finished hitting him playfully on the arm.
"Well for now, we're in charge. And there is much to learn."
The group now stood around the holo-projector at the centre of the ruined building. The rebels surrounding them. They had gathered around to watch the Jedi and soldiers give their first lesson on how to combat the droid army.
"The Separatists may strength in numbers, we're going to show how to target and destroy them." Skywalker began as Obi-wan stepped forward.
"Now to be clear, we are not here to fight your war. Rather to show you how to conduct it in the most efficient and successful way possible." The rebels nodded their heads in understanding. A few looked crestfallen that they would not receive aid from the Jedi and soldiers.
"Captain Rex." Skywalker said, motioning for Rex to come forward.
"I'm going to show you how the 501st destroy clankers. First, I'll need volunteers to carry our supplies at the entry point, a few clicks east from here."
"Shouldn't be a problem." Gerrera spoke up.
"Excellent." Rex said as Gerrera and a few others followed him.
"Sargent, go and assist Gerrera." Luke ordered, it would speed up the process.
"Yes sir. All right boys, you heard the captain. Let's go bring those supplies in." Sergeant Hartman ordered his four other Green Berets. Luke watched Ahsoka hurry over to the rebel called Lux, she had explained that Lux was a close friend of hers and had known him for a while.
"Lieutenant, I sense much unease from you." Master Kenobi said to him.
"I thought as a forceless being that was impossible?" Luke said as he turned to face Kenobi and Skywalker.
"That is true, but the force reacts to those in it's presence. While we can't sense you directly, we can sense the force's reaction to you. So, what is it that has you and your men on edge."
"Throughout our history both on Earth and more recently, we have problems with insurgencies. They were a real problem throughout the twentieth and twenty first century. They were armed, trained and fought proxy wars and sometimes turned on the nations that had sponsored them, leading to wars and deaths that never ended without a prolonged occupation that dragged on and on. Also, we spent the last half a century fighting the costliest and bloodiest insurgency in our history. Forgive us if we're not enthusiastic about creating a well-armed, well trained and well organised insurgency."
"You don't need to worry, these people are fighting for their freedom. They aren't about to attack your people." Comforted Skywalker.
"Funny, our politicians said the same thing, we'll just have to wait and see."
"How about we discuss what and how we will be teaching these rebels to fight against the Separatists." suggested Obi-wan.
"Indeed master Jedi, I recommended and brought the Green Berets for a reason after all."
"The pilot in the front hatch controls the tank, the shells and the short the short range blasters, the commander in the top hatch controls the turret and the main cannon. You have to take out both two chambers or else the tank will remain operational." Ahsoka explained while standing in front of a captured AAT and crowd of rebels. Luke and Rex stood next to the left of the tank behind Ahsoka ready to step in when she needed them. Giving a nod to Rex he began the demonstration. He climbed up the front of the tank and threw a droid popper into the pilot's hatch. From their he jumped onto the main gun doing a somersault on the actual gun before standing on top of the gun and walked down it to where the commander would be seated in the turret. Lifting the turret hatch he threw another grenade inside, then back flipped off the tank. The Grenades activated sending blue arcs of electricity course through and around the tank as its electronic circuits were fried. The rebels when the way they reacted looked very impressed.
"Alright, everyone divide up into teams of two and we'll practice in pairs and practice assaults on both hatches." Anakin explained. The rebels quickly scampered off to form into pairs with one another while Lux and Saw teamed up.
"I'll take the top." Lux stated.
"Let's see what your made of Bonteri." Saw responded while overly aggressively knocking Lux on the back.
Luke took out two droid poppers from his webbing and threw them toward the two who both managed to catch them. Saw immediately rushed over to the tank, not before pushing Lux behind him. Lux scrambled after him and began to climb the tank while Saw placed the popper in the pilot's hatch. Lux had managed to make it onto the main gun when it lowered due to his weight and caused him to fall. On his way down, he caught saw who had just finished placing the droid popper in the hatch and they both fell off the tank into a heap on the ground in front of it.
"Sorry about that." Lux apologised as he extended a hand to Gerrera.
"You're a terrible soldier Bonteri." Gerrera arrogantly growled at Lux as he knocked away his outreached hand and picked himself up. Luke just shook his head at the scene and walked off to go prep the next pair. Just great, egotistical arrogant rebel who is a strong candidate for being the leader who is fanatical in his beliefs. Yeah, no. I see no possible negative repercussions for having someone like that potentially in charge.
"I'm not sure if these rebels are more interested in fighting the droids, or each other." He heard Kenobi say to Anakin as they walked off to the side. Handing the next two their poppers, they set off and quickly ascended the tank, lifted their hatches in quick succession and threw their grenades in before quickly dismounting the tank.
"Come on move it!" Luke yelled, "in combat the tanks not gonna be there by itself! Both it and the droid support will be trying to kill you! Move like you have fucking purpose!"
"As you know both myself and the Berets are here to train you," Luke began to the group of three dozen rebels, "While the Jedi and Captain are going to be mainly be focusing on how to engage the various droids and vehicles of the Confederacy we are going to show you the different strategies you can employ. Today we're going to show you how to create an effect IED ambush against a large convoy."
"An IED attack as I'm sure you know is a good way of dealing with light armoured and armoured targets as well as enemy infantry on patrol. But against larger convoys engaging the enemy becomes far riskier. For example, the most common Sepi convoy consists of two to three MTT transport and at least two AATs. With the supplies we brought you we included some high explosives. These will take out an MTT if used correctly and will absolutely take out an AAT. Now then can anyone tell me where the best ambush sights have been so far for you?"
The terrorists… rebels, he forced himself to correct, stood in silence for a moment, none having the confidence to speak up.
"Usually where the roads are narrow and where we have better cover or where the plants hide us." A young woman, likely in her early twenties spoke up.
"Very good. If you can do that and the IED hits the lead vehicle you will prevent the convoy from advancing. To increase the effectiveness of the attack either a secondary IED or rocket attack upon the rear most vehicle will ensure the convoy will not be retreating either. If you have chosen the ambush sight well then the remaining vehicles will be essentially unable to manoeuvre making them easy targets to follow up attacks. Most droids see things in the manner our own sight does. Meaning that camouflage will increase your chances of killing more of them before being spotted. Now camouflage can be a basic pattern that either distorts the bodies shape or help it blend in like our own BDUs we are currently wearing. However camouflage can be more advanced as my subordinate to your left is currently demonstrating." The rebels immediately looked left expecting to see one of the Green Berets Luke had brought with him standing there. Only to see no one there. They began to murmur to one another.
"I can assure he is there. In fact he isn't even ten meters from you." The rebels looked again. In trees, the jungle floor and in the vegetation near them. Still they found nothing.
"Well private they don't seem to be able to find you. Why don't you come out." Then like that, a bush began to move. It continued to do so until it took the form of a bipedal humanoid form that was formed entirely from a mixture of grass, leaves and some material that simulated plant stems and leaves. Private Williams had been equipped with a ghillie suit which he had covered in native plant life to increase the effectiveness of the camouflage.
"As you can see the private here using the ghillie suit was able to be only five metres away without anyone noticing his presence. While you won't be able to recreate what he did without a ghillie suit of your own, I'm sure you can all think of ways that using nature around you can help you blend in and disappear."
"Without out of the way, let's practice some ambushes."
Luke watched as the rebels sloppily went through their eighth consecutive attempt at an ambush. They had been trying for four hours now. Critiquing and correcting them as they tried to imitate the ambush the Green Berets had shown them at the start. Though the rebels hadn't been trained as long as he and the others had and up until recently they had been civilians so he couldn't expect them to pull of an ambush with the skill he could, he supposed.
"Sir, I spotted movement heading towards the hideout. Approximately four dozen hostiles backed up with two tanks heading South West directly towards you. Awaiting orders." Private Williams had been sent out to watch for enemy movements, it seemed as though they were no longer alone.
"Understood. Observe for now. ETA on their arrival?" Luke asked.
"Something happening sir?" Sargant Hartman asked walking up behind Luke.
"ETA until they reach the rebels and our Republic friends about seven mikes, they'll pass you in about three."
"Okay then, shadow them for now and wait until we engage them. Sargent Hartman, prepare to ambush the clankers and assign four rebels to each man. Let's show them how its done." Luke ordered as unslung his rifle and walked off to grab four rebels.
"Attention everyone. Clankers are inbound in less than three mikes. Pair up in fours and find an Operator. Follow their orders and example and you'll make it out alive. Now double time it I want us ready to ambush these rust buckets in one mike!" the rebels immediately began to scramble round, picking up weapons and ammunition while the Orionians hide what evidence that they could that they had been training there. Once they had all been sorted the rebels followed them as Luke and the Operator melted away into the jungle behind trees and under bushes. For a while only the sounds of the jungle could be heard. The wind through the trees, the songs of the birds and the call soft the larger animals. That was broken by the methodical clanking of the droids. They could be heard before they were seen as was often the case. The rebels watched them emerge from the vegetation. The column of B1s was the first to appear, eight across and five deep, followed by half the number of Super Battle droids. Then the engine noise of the two tanks could be heard as they bulldozed their way through the thick overgrown jungle.
"Wait for my mark before engaging." Luke ordered through the comm. He watched and waited until the droids were in the centre of the clearing before he gave the order. "mark."
With that one word the operators opened fire. DC-15s firing followed by the weapons of the rebels. One of the Operators had brought a grenade launcher and fired. The grenade landed under one of the tanks and detonated. The tanks engine sputtered as it died and the tank ceased to move. The second tank manoeuvred to fire as the droids turned in two directions as they were being hit on both sides. The precision fire of the professional soldiers dropped the droids while the rebels acted as more of suppressive fire force, lacking the aim of the Green Berets. Another grenade landed amidst the cluster of B1s ending half a dozen in a single moment. The logic circuits of the droids lacked the ability to react as quickly as a organic creature, especially the B1 and Super battle droids, making them easily susceptible to ambush tactics.
Luke saw two rebels runout of the cover of the tree line and into the clearing from behind the last tank rather foolishly, droid poppers in hand. He watched as expectedly the droid commander in the turret hatch spotted them and began to turn the turret until William's sniper rifle blasted the clanker's head clean off. The two rebels clambered up the tank lifting the drivers hatch and throwing the droid poppers in as taught. They then quickly began to scamper back to the safety of the tree line as the grenades detonated. With the tank support gone, it was only a matter of time and ammunition until the remaining half of the droids were gone.
The remaining tow dozen droids were slowly cut down one by one under the sustained fire the Orionian Special Forces and rebels. The Super's lasted longer in part to their thicker armour and ability to take more damage. Luke pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin and threw it. It sailed through the air and landed at the feet of the last surviving droids. A B1 looked down at it before it exploded sending dirt, grass and fresh scrap metal flying. As Luke and the other Operators silently emerged from the undergrowth to inspect the damage of the ambush and to make sure all the droids were inactive. The rebels instead cheered and pumped their fists or guns in the air celebrating, once again their greenness showed. Luke approached a droid he thought was still active and nudged it with his foot. The lack of response seemed evident of its current state. He heard his communicator buzz to life as General Kenobi's voice filled is ear.
"Lieutenant, we've just been engaged by droids though things have no quietened down. What's your situation?"
"Had a little live fire example of the ambush exercise with some unwilling volunteers. No casualties, all hostiles neutralised."
"That's good to hear, we're moving on to the capital. Split the men under your command, half will accompany you to the capital where we're expanding the AO to. One half needs to remain here. Either meet us on the way there or inside the city."
"Understood Sir." Luke paused.
"Sargent!" Luke called.
"Yes Sir?" Hartman responded.
"I want you to take half the men under your command and the rebels and continue to train them. If your confident in the rebels ability to hit the Sepi's then I trust you to make the right call and hit appropriate targets. I'll take the remaining two men under your command and six rebels. We'll be heading to the capital."
"Understood sir, good luck."
2623 21st November Earth Standard Calendar, Lt Luke Sparrow, Onderon
It had taken a day and a half to reach the Capital from the rebels location. Luke and privates Jones and Walter as well as the six rebels then had to wait another seven hours until darkness had fallen, and a rough idea of the droid patrol patterns changed. They had another two hours until the guards changed shifts. The plan to get in involved neutralising the guards outside the gate and one the ramparts on the large wall that circled the capital. Then the cart which had been fitted with a remotely detonated IED would be placed outside the gate to destroy the ray shield that blocked access to the city. It would also act as the precursor to the follow up attacks the rebels would commit inside the city, no better way to start it than with a bang.
They had spotted four droids standing guard outside and two on the ramparts. Kenobi had informed him that there were no droids on the opposite side of the gate which seemed like negligence to Luke but he wouldn't complain. It just made it easier to get in.
Luke turned to Jones and Walter and hand signalled them to move into position and they wordlessly moved. Luke signalled to the rebels to be ready to move the cart into place or shoot the droids at the base of the gate, depending on their assigned roles.
"Prepare to engage on my mark," Luke whispered into the comm, "Three, two, one, mark." He pulled th trigger once and the shot struck the targeted B1 in the chest. Five other shots followed suit with Jones and Walter taking out the two atop the wall. Immediately after he and the others dashed out of the jungled and took up positions outside the shielded gate. Two rebels pushed the cart up to the gate before running back to the safety where Luke and the others where. Luke pulled out the remote detonator once they had and thumbed the trigger. A large explosion rocked the gate, sending debris into the air above the wall. The shield gate flickered momentarily before it collapsed and smoke from the explosion began to settle.
"Move now!" He ordered as he began to run toward and through the smoke as the rest of the unit followed after him. Navigating the smoke and crater from the explosion he came out into the city into what appeared as a small market place. He paused as the rebels and operators caught up with him as he scanned for where Ahsoka and Lux were supposed to be to usher them to the safe house. His eyes were drawn to a green glow emanating from an alleyway to his left and he headed towards it. He stacked up on the wall with Jones and Walter next to the alley. Raising his carbine he moved round the corner and came face to face with Lux.
"Glad to see you made it." Lux said seeing the three DC-15 carbines pointing at his face.
"Wasn't that hard, droids were sloppy." Luke said lowering his weapon as did the others.
"Safe house is this way, we'll fill you in there." Ahsoka said as she deactivated her lightsabre and motion for them to follow.
"By all means, lead the way."
25031 Galactic Standard Calendar, Ahsoka Tano, Rebel safe house, Onderon
Ahsoka was waiting for her master, master Kenobi, Rex, Steela and the others to get back to the safe house they were in today. They, or at least Luke had been out constantly as much as he physically could, setting up ambushes, drive byes, sniper ops and IEDs using droid poppers. It was almost scary how methodical it was for them to do it all. Luke especially. He seemed to never rest, never allow time to think outside his next target. It was scary how machine like he was becoming and she was beginning to start being worried. She saw him, the two other operators and three rebels going with him head towards the door.
"Heading out again." She asked Luke while walking towards him.
"Affirmative, going to set up an ambush at the market." He replied holstering his blaster pistol after removing the safety.
"Don't you ever need to rest?"
"Sometimes, I am human after all." He said somewhat sarcastically.
"You know what I mean. You've been going out everyday since you got here. You should really take a break." Luke stopped but motioned for the others to go on.
"Commander, I know my limits and I know what I can and can't do better than anyone else. When I need to take a break, I will." With that he turned and walked out the door to join the rest of his crew to go out and carry out another act of freedom.
"Okay, just... be careful then." She said as she slouched a bit. I don't remember him being so confrontational, it must be the mission getting to him.
25031 Galactic Standard Calendar, Unknown, Unknown Regions.
"We'll be dropping out of hyperspace in a moment" Informed Captain of the Wanderer, a small shuttle designed for long range deep space exploration. Captain Anzati Gor, a human from the backward and agricultural world of Ansion. The remaining crew were also from the world, medical officer Andrea Duros, technician and engineer Donjon and specialist Juldarr Lith. Ever since the O.A.G. had appeared and refused to reveal its location there had been an unofficial reward to find it location. He and his crew had been searching for nearly two years trying to find it, as had many other explorers, merchants and other parties that had an interest in locating it.
As a result of the widescale search many new planets had been discovered and navigating the edges of the unknown region were becoming much less unknown and easier to traverse. But nothing had been found to suggest the Orion Arm Government was there. They had all been forced to venture further and further out into the unknown regions, refuelling stations had to be bought, equipment and maintained because of the distances needed to be traversed. Many explorer had gone missing and most had been unrecovered. Courtesy of asteroid fields, blackholes or any number of dangers that lurked in the unknown regions. It acted as a natural defence of the O.A.G., its location both being unknown and the dangers that would have to be overcome to reach it.
Ensuring that all checks had been completed before exiting hyperspace.
"Any bets on whether we find the Orionians?"
"I'll take that bet." Juldarr said.
"You still have money after Nar Shaddaa?" Andrea quipped."
"Ha, ha, haha, ha, I spent money on booze and women, I'm sorry I like to have fun." Juldarr said back
"Fuck you."
"I knew you always wanted to." Juldarr said to Andrea in his seductive voice.
"Now, now children settle down. There's no need to fight like the three year olds you are." Donjon said.
"Fine!" they both said simultaneously.
"It's a miracle you both haven't killed us." Anzati commented as he pulled the lever that took them out of hyperspace. They all felt the ship decelerate and the blues and blacks turn into the black void covered in stars. In front of them was a planet, a garden world, nothing to out of the ordinary but unlike all the other planets so far, this one had ships moving around it, or so the scanners said.
"We've got movement on the sensors, lots of ships of various sizes moving about," Anzati informed the others, "Donjon any comm traffic?"
"Plenty, I can't make any of it out due to the volume of it all though." Donjon responded.
"We've got movement, something big is approaching from the moon!" Juldarr yelled
"I'm getting something, a signal, likely from the ship Juldarr spotted." Donjon called out.
"Put it through." Anzati calmly ordered.
"This is Captain Malcom Hardgrave the Orion Arm Service Dauntless to unidentified vessel. Power down all weapons systems, do not attempt to flee and prepare to be boarded. This is not negotable."
"Captain, I'll take my winnings now if you don't mind" Said Juldarr nervously as the captain quickly followed the instructions of the Orionaian warship. They had found the Orionians, now they had to survive to tell the galaxy about their discovery of a new hyperspace lane that led to the Orion Arm.
2623 26th November Earth Standard Calendar, Lt Luke Sparrow, Onderon
"Targets approaching, range 300." Luke's observer noted. they were situated on the south side of the market in which the unsuspecting patrol of two B1s and Super were policing. Luke was three storeys up and had a good view of the market and the many shoppers down below as they bought trinkets, luxury goods or foodstuffs. Thinking back to when he spoke to Ahsoka he realised he may have come off a little rude but... he didn't need her to look out for him, she didn't need to worry. He tweaked the scope to ensure the right clarity for the distance. I guess I should apologise for the way I spoke to her, but my point still stands. I'll rest when I need to and I can catch up on any rest I missed when I'm dead. Besides, I've not fucked up yet, therefore there's no problem.
"Wait until they've passed the fruit stand, then engage. I've got the Super, Eagle-Two take the B1 on the left and Eagle-Three, you take the other." Luke ordered.
"Roger." They both confirmed. Luke adjusted the sight until the reticule hovered over the Super's head. He watched it slowly work its way round the market, the citizens skittishly moving out of its way. It was obvious that they weren't to fond of the Separatist's presence on world. The rebels had been hitting patrols both in and out of the city, though Hartman had focused more on the convoys. The effects being the rebels gaining a larger arsenal and increased patrols and convoy escorts. That just meant more targets. The rebels in the city had also attacked checkpoints, thrown droid poppers at unsuspecting clankers and in some cases openly shot droids.
Luke continued to watch the droid as it came upon the fruit stall as he continue to think. The rebels had done little to win the hearts and minds of the people. They hadn't done anything to show they were the side people wanted to chose, they didn't try to convince people they were the good guys by helping the people either. Though maybe that was more of what the occupying force was suppose to do rather than the terrorists.
He waited until the exact moment when the Super Battle Droid passed the stall until he discharged his weapon. The blaster shot smacking into the droids head, melting its internal circuits while leaving only a burn mark on the surface. The two B1s suffered a similar fate. He saw through the scope the droids fall over and the shoppers begin to scream and panic at the sudden display of violence.
"Mission successful, all teams bug out and meet up at the safe house, Eagle-One out." Luke quickly collapsed the sniper rifle. taking the scope off and removing the barrel of the gun before placing them into a carrier case designed to look like a rucksack. Slinging it over his shoulder he followed his rebel observer down the fire escape on the back of the building.
An extract on the progression of the war from the Orionian Times, December 1st 2623
Over the last few months the vast sweeping shock and awe tactics employed during the start of the First Contact War or Galactic Civil War have become increasingly less successful. Through the combination of distance needed to be covered, logistics and the Separatists finally becoming able to counter Orionian generals the progress made during the first year of the war and the former half of the second seems unlikely. With the war beginning to drag on into its third year the war is starting to reflect a long battle of attrition between two sides unless the stalemate can be broken. Fighting on three separate fronts has spread Orionian forces far and wide especially as they alone are fighting on all three fronts and are mostly alone fighting on two of them.
With the death toll rising and reaching 1.3 million dead and a further 7 million wounded people have begun to question why the Government is and was fighting this war that has nothing to do with them. Some have joined the peace movement who are campaigning to end the war and join the League of Neutral Systems and opening the borders to allow travelling to Republic space which Parliament has currently decided is forbidden. The current poles show 60% of people want to continue to fight this war with 24% saying they do not and 16% saying they were unsure.
Orionian forces in the Southern Front began to relocate to the Eastern Front after Republic forces arrived to relieve them. Unconfirmed rumors suggest this is a precursor towards an offensive in either the Northern or Eastern Front with the intention of closing one or both of them and then to only fight on two fronts although the military has refused to comment on these rumors.
More alarmingly is a rumour about a ship which arrived off Babylon IV, a fringe colony world with a small population of only a million inhabitants. The rumour states that a ship that came from either Republic or Separatist space managed to navigate through what is known to the wider galaxy as the unknown regions, and end up discovering the colony's location. The Government and the Military have both denounced the rumour as fake and highly inappropriate though some sceptics believe that the rumour is true and the Government is hiding the truth. If the rumour is true however then it would indicate that the Orion Arm, Earth and the colonies aren't as untouchable as we'd like to think ourselves and that a large proportion would be required to be stationed in orbit over a hastily constructed fortress world to prevent invasion by outside forces.
Chancellor Palpatine has been granted by the Republic Senate to expand the clone army up to 100 million and for the construction of additional cloning facilities. He argued that this would not only increase the Republic's defensive capabilities but also help relieve the pressure on the Orionian Forces who have born the brunt of the war so far. Despite opposition led by Senators Padme Amidala and Bail Organa the bill was passed almost unanimously by the Senate. Talks have also been happening over the possible switch to a war time economy by the Orionian Government should the war last longer than another year as well as a limited conscription. The bill for a limited conscription will be debated in January next year.
With all that is happening with the ongoing war and the neither the Separatists or Republic-Orionian-Mandalorian coalition ready to give up, the future looks grim and dark with only war ahead of us.
A/N: Sorry for the wait, writers block and work stalled me for some time. Anyway, without further ado, the questions:
Q: CT7567Rules; So the weapons of the UEG infantry forces, what are they and what are their calibres?
A: Okay, so the infantry grunts have the standard issue M60-AR (Mark 60 - Assault Rifle), it would look like a modern bullpup M4 carbine and would fire the equivalent to the NATO 7.62mm round but just as plasma like from Halo instead. Machine gunners would use the LMG-5 (also NATO 7.62mm rounds)which is a futurity version of the M249 SAW machine gun. Other than those they have access to pistols, mortars, SMAW rocket launchers, M303 grenade launchers, marksmen rifles and other small arms.
Q: .Bird.; will the orion government eventually clash with the republic? I mean Sheevy won't want them interfering no?
A: Of course Palpatine won't want them interfering with his plans but he won't do anything overt that would implicate him, at least not yet. Sidious on the other hand... well that's another mater entirely.
Q: Zireael07; did I see *Mandalorians* praise the *Polish* military
A: Yes, yes you did. Allow me to show you why by directing you to a Wikipedia page and a Sabaton song. wiki/Battle_of_Wizna , watch?v=XnFSb8xcmN4
Q: Guest; Will dead space be brought into the story and also with Isacc Clarke and aegis 7.
A: Maybe
Q: greviousrommel; Is DiNizzo lurking around somewhere? Or better yet a certain Sniper? :)
A: Probably not
Q: 5.56X45; Where these guys Para Rescue jumpers? Aslo Finn will die alone.
A: Yes the were and yes he will