Chapter 26: Giving the Empire a taste of the Mad Dog

General Matis was walking into Johnson's room as he was currently back on Earth. He had been commanding armies that had been invading other worlds as part of his job commanding part of the UN marines. He had been offered a position higher up in administration but he had refused and instead wanted to fight closer on the front lines and get to experience this new kind of war. He had additionally thrown himself into reading about the galaxy at large, trying to learn about the conflicts, societies, and histories of the galaxy at large.

"It's good to see you, Admiral," Matis told Johnson.

"You too, General." He replied. "I've got a new assignment for you, one that I think you're perfectly suited for." Johnson was generally careful about what he said around Matis, as he was many years his senior both in age and in experience (though Johnson had a lot more experience in space warfare).

"As you might know as part of this new treaty with the alliance we are to send an expeditionary force to help them on several worlds within the mid-rim that they are struggling to take and give our troops experience on other fronts. The Alliance is sending a force to come to visit us as well. The space-based and ground-based forces are going to be deployed separately to focus on different objectives, and I am putting Admiral Hunt in charge of the space-based portion of the force. You've studied the wider galaxy more than anyone else I know, so that's why I want you to lead the expeditionary corps."

"I'll do it, Admiral, cooperation between the alliance and us is very useful," Matis said. "I would relish the opportunity to see what I have been reading about in person."

"The alternative would be making you into the librarian of the marines." They both laughed at that idea. "I sent you some files as to what the

"The Alliance needs help on the ground, but the issue at its core is that the Alliance's military varies widely in quality from unit to unit. Some have equipment and training at the level of or exceeding the quality of their Imperial opposition but others are little more than a force of pre-clone wars equipment with lackluster training. All of our marine and army units deployed outside of the Sol system are of high quality and we are training and equipping more than we need so this is a natural use of resources in my opinion." Johnson said.

"You have my agreement on that matter," Matis said. "When do I start?"

"The forces are being organized and are to depart in 3 weeks. You may take command immediately if you wish to help the preparations for departure." Johnson replied.

"Well, I guess I will since you are allowing me to do so I will," Matis said.

"Then you are dismissed. Good hunting General." Johnson stood up and shook his hand.

Matis had initially been skeptical of Johnson when he had first become second in command of the fleet. This had been due to the elimination of almost all of the UN Fleet's senior officer corps during the Empire's second attempt to take the world. But after meeting with him his opinion had improved, as he was an extremely competent officer. Johnson was also well-read, which was a great sign of a good officer. Both had exchanged and discussed books on multiple occasions. o when he rose to be commander in chief of all the UN forces he supported the decision, as he had an excellent track record. He would honestly go as far as to say that Johnson was a friend of his and that there was no denying that they did well together.

Matis himself was interested in what would follow, and he wanted to start working with the Alliance. He'd get to see other parts of the galaxy and experience many of the places he had been reading about.

It was time to do even more reading.

Soon Matis was standing on the bridge of the assault ship that carried a number of his troops, the Tarawa. Each of these over 800 meter-long ships could carry 16,000 soldiers and depending on their size, up to 500 ground vehicles as well as dozens of atmospheric combat fighters. It was trailed by 5 other assault ships of the same size which had a total of almost a hundred thousand troops in them. Other vessels trailed behind, carrying more personnel and vehicles but mostly supplies. Supplies would be critical to maintaining any campaign, big or small.

Additionally, there were several smaller escort vessels to defend the ships from attackers, a total of a dozen frigates and corvettes. These were early models, several of which dated back to before the empire first attacked and who had been withdrawn from frontline service, but they could still put up a fight nonetheless. And the alliance would be providing more substantial escort services when they were being deployed, so he wasn't worrying that much about his ships being attacked. They were only a method of transportation to get to an objective, after all, not the end all be all.

The space-based component of the expeditionary force was a few systems ahead of them, providing another level of protection as well.

They were traveling down a secret hyperspace route far from the rest of the galaxy, which connected Earth with the territory of the rebel alliance. If the empire knew it existed they didn't have much of a drive to stop it.

After a few days of traveling through hyperspace, they reached rebel territory. From then on it was not that long of a journey until they reached the center of Alliance power, Mon Cala. There were several orders of magnitude more ships in orbit, probably several thousand. The massive Mon Calamari shipyards were in the process of building hundreds of ships, from small corvettes to massive Mon Calamari Cruisers. No system outside Imperial control the Empire had more activity in it, though some were quite significant.

It just went to show how large the rebellion was and how the empire was losing control of what was supposed to be its territory. One day they might be able to take this world back, but it would come at such a cost that they would better protect the space that they already had under their control.

He would only be passing through Mon Cala as it was the central junction for the hyperspace lanes in the region. He wouldn't be meeting with any members of Alliance High Command, but he would take on several liaison officers onboard now just as the space-based component of the expansionary force did a couple of days ago.

Jamal Inken, a male Bothan colonel, was brought up to the bridge. He had only been recently promoted and would be serving as the primary aide to his ground forces.

"Welcome aboard Colonel." Matis saluted him. "It's good to meet you."

"It's good to meet you as well, colonel." The bothan replied. "I have a rundown of your orders, straight from high command."

"Good, what are they?"

"As you may know, the alliance had been involved in an offensive in the Mid Rim for quite some time now. It's been a brutal slog, but a lot of territories have been taken. However some worlds have been more difficult to take, one of which is a planet called Jeyell. It's been impossible to break imperial presence there since we don't fully control the hyperspace lanes there, and don't have enough ships for a blockade or significant orbital bombardment."

"So what does high command want me to do?"

"They're going to put you in command of all of the alliance forces on the ground. There are about 30 alliance army brigades in that world, about 300,000 troops though they are of wildly varying quality. Some are elite units better equipped than their imperial defenders but others don't have much more than some poorly trained men with rifles."

"I want as much information on the situation in that world, including the disposition of both my and the imperial forces as possible," Matis said over his shoulder to one of his staff officers. "And as much as can be dug up on the history of this world."

Soon Matis had researched as much as he could about the current state of the planet of Jeyell. It wasn't a large world and the empire had nearly half a million troops on the planet. In terms of frontlines that still means that there were vulnerabilities that could be exploited but doing so would leave gaps in the rebel lines which could be exploited by Imperial Counterattacks.

He was soon meeting with the various senior officers that serve as corps commanders for his force.

"We will exit hyperspace away from the world to make a stealth approach. Two corps (about 80,000 troops) would be landed and moved to the front line while fighters would suppress imperial fighters and air defenses in coordination with rebels already there. Then the fleet of transports would land behind imperial lines and offload the majority of the / forces, which would launch attacks on Imperial positions and work with the main rebel forces to encircle and destroy imperial bridges. Are there any questions?" Matis asked. Some were asked and the plan was further narrowed out.

"Alright men, our old General Veritas got sacked and now we have someone in charge." Colonel Micha Evans said. The 61st Mobile Infantry Brigade was manning an intense section of the line and had defended against multiple counterattacks by the empire. It was a veteran unit that had participated in many campaigns even before the battle of Yavin. It had begun as a company with less than 200 strong but now was a full brigade of over 4000 troops. It had some of the most modern equipment in the alliance arson and its men and women were hardened veterans who were equipped to fight a modern, conventional war against the empire.

"Who's this new general?" One of the officers of the Brigade, Captain Saigon asked.

"He's from some allied planet called Earth. They've made quite the scene where they're operating and have taken a few sectors from the empire so it looks like they mean business. They're giving us a quarter of a million men as reinforcements so we might be able to break through this time."

"Wishful thinking." One sergeant muttered. The land that the brigade was on now had changed hands multiple times in the constant slog of trench warfare.

"Additionally for opsec, this is staying quiet. Out of the brigade HQ no one lower than a company commander is going to find out until closer to the offensive." Evans said. The headquarters staff nodded as they looked at what once had been a makeshift headquarters but now had been in place far too long to reasonably be called temporary.

"We've got one of these brigades from Earth landing near us. They are going to help us on the offensive, and we should have decent air support provided to us as well." Evans said.

Brigadier General Wawrzyniec Padlo signed as he watched the transport unload his men and equipment. The 53d Armored Brigade had several hundred vehicles and thousands of personnel.

And it would be essentially a distraction for other elements of the landing force. The Polish officer wanted to be the one who led a decisive turn in the battle, not just stand around and throw artillery rounds against it.

But this was his duty and he would do it.

"Sir we have a secure comm link to the headquarters of the 61st Mobile Infantry. They are wondering what they are supposed to do."

One of his aides said.

"Prepare for battle." The Brigadier said. "That's the same for us as well."

He had read up on the 61st on his way here after learning where on the line he would be deployed.

They were certainly a veteran unit that was responsible for a great number of victories for the alliance on the ground at least. While they were technically an infantry unit it did have a tank company of T3 and T4 tanks along with fairly substantial artillery. In terms of its infantrymen, they were well equipped, easily better than the Imperials they would be facing.

The slog that the battle on this planet had become was similar to the first world war, with waves of infantry doing little to break through the other side's fortifications. Small changes in the territory had been incredibly costly for the attacker and it was hoped that Matis would be able to change this.

For the next few hours the men and women of both the 61st and the 53rd prepared for the inevitable. As dusk approached, an artillery bombardment began.

His brigade had 4000 men and a hell of a lot of vehicles. 30 AT102 Self Propelled Artillery Guns and 18 ML200 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems opened up on the Imperial positions, providing direct-fire artillery support. These were joined by several smaller mortars, many mounted in IFV which had been converted to mortar carriers. The 61sts M102 Fire Arcs, MPTL-2as, MobileMortar 3's, and various other types of indirect fire support options including several old Clone Wars era SPHAs opened up as well, concentrating massive amounts of fire on Imperial positions. Many Imperials were caught in barracks or other buildings targeted by the artillery.

Imperial artillery was sluggish to respond and was being spotted in the air by a small company of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that were used by Earth. These were the TB5 Baractar drones, a design that had its lineage from the Byractar TB2s produced by Turkey and used extensively in the Russia-Ukrainian War. A dozen were attached to the brigade, with four being used exclusively as reconnaissance platforms and the remaining eight were used to strike appropriate targets from the air with small proton bombs and concussion missiles. A few would be shot down by imperial air defenses but not before causing considerable damage and providing much-needed targeting data to Earth and alliance artillery.

The 180 Charger MBTs (main battle tanks) were mostly tasked with destroying enemy armored units, or as infantry support platforms when there were no armored targets. They acted as improved artillery, with their Rheinmetall-designed heavy laser cannons still effective though less so than regular artillery. 180 Kestrel IFVs would also have some effect against armored targets, but would primarily be supporting the infantry with its fast-firing medium laser cannon and secondary blaster cannons. It could use its quad anti-armor missiles, causing heavy damage to opposing forces.

The bombardment decimated the imperial forces for several hours, killing or wounding nearly half of the imperial brigade's strength.

Now it was time for the direct assault. Outside portable anti-armor launchers and the few anti-armor guns still around the empire had little means of defending against earth and rebel armor units.

Alliance air assets were also on the move, with T-47s and AHS-1 heavy assault airspeeders providing air support to the advancing troops. They unleashed a flurry of fire in conjunction with artillery that helped decimate imperial positions. Though all of Earth's troops were armored infantry, carried in IFVs, only about 25 percent of the 61st's men and women traveled in APCs and IFVs. Many would be charging the enemy on foot, staying behind the armored vehicles for cover.

The advance through what was essentially no man's land went well at first and little opposed them. The empire was able to regroup somewhat and began firing from repeating blaster nests and trenches.

But it wasn't enough. A few vehicles were destroyed but imperial positions were systematically eliminated by infantry, armor, artillery, and air support alike. Nothing stood in Earth's way and many Imperials began surrendering.

The plan was followed and the planet was approached without the imperials noticing their presence. Air strikes were launched which would knock out imperial command and control and would make sure that they didn't notice the approaching ground forces that were going to be landed.

Well over a hundred thousand troops were landed by Matis's fleet, and by the time the empire noticed it was too late. Imperial units were hastily moved off of the front lines to defend against the newly landed troops but were ineffective in that role as the alliance attacked as they retreated. The result was the collapse of the imperial front lines and the encirclement and later surrender of many units. This was not a day that would be remembered fondly by them and a few weeks later most of the larger imperial force had surrendered to either Earth or the Alliance.

Matis surveyed the battlefield several weeks after landing. The last of the imperial holdouts were surrendering and now the rebellion would be able to send a bunch of troops elsewhere. A congratulatory note had been sent to him from high command, including a personal note from Mon Mothma. Information about his next assignment was also provided. He was glad to be of use and soon would be sent out to his next assignment, though he wasn't sure yet what that was going to be.

The victory for the alliance was less gaining control of the territory, while it did have some resources and industry this was fairly minor and had all been sabotaged by the empire as they retreated. Rather it was the freeing of hundreds of thousands of troops to be moved to other fronts across the galaxy.

Author's note: Add 1 t to Matis's name and you get the real-life person I am basing him off of. I'm going to give him some good quotes in the future, don't worry.