"Wipe them out... All of them..."
-Emperor Palpatine
Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Chimaera
The planet of New Plympto had always been a thorn in the side for the Empire. It was a powerful Separatist stronghold during the Clone Wars, and is now a Rebel stronghold. The first rebellion on the planet was crushed by Darth Vader only a year after the Republic's reorganization into the Empire.
The Imperial Army was incredibly lax on this particular world, leaving no garrison to monitor its people. To them, New Plympto did not need one, because Vader had totally wiped out the previous resistance movement. But the Nosaurians have taken full advantage of the total lack of defenses, and built their forces until they finally allies themselves with the growing rebellion...
Grand Admiral Thrawn had detected the rebel presence when his long range scanners detected Rebel-specific frequencies. In the months following this revelation, he had been ordered by Grand Moff Tarkin to shift his focus from the Mon Calamari to the Nosaurians. Even though Thrawn believed this to be unnecessary, Tarkin insisted that Thrawn deal with the Nosaurians. The reasons the politician cited involved giant kyber crystals detected during the systemwide scan. The crystals would be useful for use in the Death Star, as well as the Emperor's personal starship.
But finally, after months of studying these peculiar species, he was ready to strike... The Seventh Fleet, now containing a new prototype Interdictor-class Star Destroyer, jumps out of the bright blue maelstorm of hyperspace into the emptyness of the Plympto System.
Unsurprisingly, there is a tiny defense fleet consisting of Munificent-class Star Frigates and one Recusant-class Light Destroyer.
Thrawn quickly observed the sight. Then he turned and said: "The old frigates will not be of any concern to us... However, all TIEs must be launched to combat the coming Vulture Droid swarm..."
Commander Faro nodded, and quickly marched out of Thrawn's office. The space was filled with new art pieces created by Nosaurians. They are the primary enemy the Empire will be dealing with in this siege. The force in question mainly uses hit and run tactics, and has an arsenal of the moderately fast AAT-2 repulsor tanks in addition to a set of droids.
Thrawn soon joins Faro on the bridge, observing as hundreds of TIEs and TIE Interceptors make short work of the smaller swarm of Vulture Droids. There is no escape for the Separatist ships.
"Concentrate your fire on the exposed superstructures of the frigates. When the frigates are shattered, there will be no escape for the ground forces." Thrawn calmly said into the comms.
The frigates made the massive mistake of advancing, instead of retreating beyond the range of the Interdictor. Their weak frames were shattered in seconds by the combined fire of a full-force Imperial fleet.
"Begin landing the troops..." Thrawn ordered calmly... Acknowledging the Tarkin Initiative's need for kyber crystals.
Half-Axe Pass, New Plympto
The anti-air defenses of the old Separatist stronghold necessitated the use of Acclamator-class Assault Ships to land the ground force... The weak flak pods could not break the overlapping shields of the transport frigates.
In during the night, stormtroopers, a HAVr A9 Floating Fortress, several MAT artillery tanks, and a group of TX-130t Saber-class tanks (or IFTs) are unloaded into a large grassland at the edge of the pass. There's too little space for the use of AT-ATs, and Thrawn figured that the powerful AAT tanks would make mince meat out of his arsenal of the lightly-armored AT-STs that replaced the AT-DPs lost in the Battle of Atollon.
"Artillery group, clear a path for the armored division... Fire at the specified coordinates." Thrawn calmly ordered...
The artillery tanks, which are only armed with a heavy projectile launcher, are loaded with incendiary bombs to clear a path to the Nosaurian base.
The Nosaurians were surprised by the Imperials withholding their troops... Until they saw the fire igniting throughout the dry forests of Half-Axe Pass... The fire filled the cold-blooded reptiles with fear, surprise, and hopelessness... Through a simple forest fire, Thrawn had undone their entire plans for the use of guerilla warfare... Only their fortifications can have any hope of stopping the Imperials, but without any form of escape they will perish.
"All troopers, take your places in the transport... When all surviving troopers are in the transport, the armored division will advance..." Thrawn ordered, looking at the chaos of the fire through his binoculars.
The Sabertanks advanced first, followed by the floating fortress... They passed through the burning forest, running over all enemy infantry in their way.
"Deal with the AATs first, then storm the base..." Thrawn said into the armored division's comms as he watched the Nosaurian AATs advance towards the armored division...
Separatist AATs were still a formidable enemy, having the firepower to disable an AT-AT with a well-placed shot to the neck or legs. But they were slow, and their armor stands no chance against the heavy firepower of an IFT's beam cannon. The IFTs had every advantage due to their heavy firepower and extremely fast speed.
All of the Nosaurian AATs fired their heavy turrets. Shell after shell hit the burning ground. The repeated explosions threw napalm and burning wood into the sky. But as much as the Nosaurians tried, the AAT cannons were far too slow to deal with Sabertanks. Most of the shells missed because the tanks fired either too early or too late, but two that managed to get a direct hit instantly destroyed the sabertanks in a violent explosion. And the napalm launched in the explosions simply bounced off the tanks' light shields. In just ten minutes, the sabertanks had gotten so close to the AATs that the projectile launchers could not aim at them.
The tank commanders manning the main beam turret of the IFTs chose their targets, and fired a powerful beam of blue plasma... The armor on the modified AATs burned, and the nosaurians manning the main turrets were burnt to a crisp by the extreme heat. The beam cannons were more effective on infantry, but were decent against enemy armor...
A loud roar entered the ears of the Nosaurians. The sabertanks fired PLEX rockets from their missile launchers. The rockets punched through the hulls of the AATs and detonated inside. The tank commanders watched as the huge explosions launched shrapnel in all directions. This is why the stormtroopers were in the floating fortress: The napalm and shrapnel would decimate them otherwise. The sabertanks waited for the floating fortress to arrive, while the shrapnel bounced off their shields.
"Targeting at maximum firepower..." The fortress commander said into the comms, as he pointed at the weakest section of the thick wall.
The floating fortress aimed its single heavy laser cannon at the wall, destroying the old durasteel with a volley of plasma fired at maximum firepower. Nosaurians directly behind the wall were either crushed by giant chunks of metal, torn apart by shrapnel, or vaporized by a direct hit from the lasers.
"Excellent, commander... Now storm the base and eliminate all rebels..." Thrawn's voice projected into the comms.
"Beginning infantry deployment sequence..." The fortress commander stated into the comms. He pulled a lever on the controls, and gestured the stormtroopers towards the back end of the repulsorlift transport. His turned the vehicle towards the wall, and began deployment.
A large hatch at the back of the transport opened, extending a small ramp. The stormtroopers poured out and engaged the enemy infantry units while the floating fortress dealt with the defensive turrets.
The Nosaurians hid in the buildings, frequently getting out of cover to shoot at the advancing troopers. The strategy seemed to be working well, but they did not anticipate what came next... A trio of death troopers left the floating fortress to attack the Nosaurians. Due to their black paint hiding them from sensors and hiding them in dark spaces, they were invisible to the reptile soldiers.
Chaos ensued when the death troopers flanked them. The nosaurians were quickly wiped out as the trio of elite commandos attacked from behind. Each shot was a surgically precise strike to the head. The trio silently advanced to the command center, which remained unaware of the approaching enemies...
"Attention Rebel Command! We're facing doom! Hel-" The Nosaurian resistance leader said, before he was shot in the head... All in full view of Senator Mon Mothma. She gasped and covered her mouth as she saw the jet black death troopers massacre the rest of the command staff... They then cut the communications as they began searching through all known coordinates in their terminals. But no useful information was found... Other than the existence of more Separatist Holdouts and the Rebellion's plan to attack Lothal, which the New Plympto cell would've been involved in.
Death Squad decided to take this information for direct delivery to Grand Moff Tarkin and Director Krennic, bypassing Thrawn's command completely. Thrawn would know of this when Tarkin deems it necessary.
The battle was over. Not a single nosaurian rebel survived... Their bodies were either laying dead on the cold durasteel of the base, or burning in the forest. The Acclamator landed at the base for extraction, and the Empire withdrew... A separate Acclamator carrying a large garrison was already on its way. This world is now under close surveilance.
The Death Troopers, before they withdrew, immediately informed the Grand Moff about the information they've discovered.
Satisfied with the total victory, Thrawn reached for his belt and pulled out his holoprojector. He must inform Governor Tarkin of the news... The hologram of the grand moff appeared within seconds... "Ah, Grand Admiral Thrawn... I assume that you've wiped out the nosaurian insurgents?"
"Yes, Governor Tarkin... They have been wiped out as ordered..." Thrawn calmly replied...
"Excellent... The kyber crystals on this world will be very useful for the Tarkin Initiative's main project... But there is another pressing matter... My spies have informed me that the Rebels do indeed plan on raiding Lothal for the fighters... Deal with them..." Tarkin coldly said... The blue hue of the hologram not doing anything to hinder his ice cold expression.
"As you wish, Governor Tarkin... I will lay a trap for them..." Thrawn replied... watching the hologram disappear... There is a new objective to deal with, and he must immediately begin preparing...