Off Course
Chapter Eight
"Who ever was the poor fool who thought Jedi were not prone to psychological warfare? Oftentimes, seeing an entire regiment of angry, lightsaber-swinging 'lunatics' scares the fight out of the opponents before our advance units even make contact. Talk softly, they say, and have a regiment of Jedi on standby when negotiations turn aggressive."
—Lord Hoth, Applied Force, circa 1008 BrS
The scene was rather serene, amidst the star-speckled vastness of space hung the planet Mandalore the sun reflecting off orbiting satellites and the terminator slowly creeping along the surface. Down below, Black Sun vigos and Death Watch lieutenants were slowly waking up to a new day of feasting and subjugation, completely unaware of what was transpiring on the night side of the planet.
With a flash of pseudomotion, the Jedi A-N124 broke out of hyperspace and sped towards the planet. Sensor jamming on full and hull made of sensor-absorbent material, it took the two corsair-class starfighters far too long to see the interloper in their patrol routes. Three seconds later, they were smoking debris falling towards the surface, as Force-guided proton torpedoes impacted against their engine pods.
Aboard the Lander was a scene of organized chaos. Unit starshinas inspected their drop groups, checking parafoils, jetpacks and weapons for battle readiness. The three T-34 anvil-series medium tanks were positioned for deployment, their crews embarking and final briefings being given.
"Keldabe just reached us on the burst comm; enemy forces have been repelled from the Kelita river, which means we will have some support for our advance." Obi-Wan began, pacing about the deck in full battle armour, Jedi crest prominently displayed on shoulder pads and breastplate. "Normally, I would recommend a scythe deployment pattern, however enemy forces are hauled up inside the Sundari walls, which means we can deploy as a column and take a direct approach. First group, we advance on the docks, second group with Colonel Opushkina is going to head west and rendezvous with the Mandalorian 5th and support Daryc Bral, Third group, you're with Master Yoda and will be in reserve in case any of our teams run into difficulties. Good luck."
A chorus of ayes greeted the plan, magazines were slapped into rifles, and everyone stood up, taking their pre-jump stations. "Deployment zone on sensors; ETA five minutes." came Ahsoka's voice from the cockpit. A true student of her master, she was one of the best pilots on the strike team, and – though against minor protest – she was designated as chief pilot, tasked with keeping the A-N124 safe and providing aerial support if needed.
Out the portside portholes, the sky began to lighten; the lander speeding toward the Sundari deserts and catching up with the dawn. The cabin lights dimmed, taking on a red hue as power was diverted to shields and engines. With a hiss if hydraulics, the aft hatch parted, revealing ground whizzing by below. "Drop in thirty!" Ahsoka called out again.
The lander dipped, the lights shifted from red to green, and the buzzer rang out. "Go! Go! Go!" came the call. Engines whirred to life, and the tank platoon rolled off the drop ramp, beginning their ponderous descent. "First element - away! Tanks are away!" They gave them a few seconds more to get some breathing room, then Obi-Wan shouted, "First group, second element, on me!" diving out the hatch, he lead his forces in a perfect execution of an aerial drop.
Five hundred Jedi Knights and Masters of the Shadows and Force Militia descended on Manda'yaim, parachutes unfurling and jetpacks blazing to life, slowing descents and orienting the Jedi for proper landing. Seldom had such a force been gathered, on one battlefield, under one banner; not since the battles of Ruusan and the time of the Jedi Lords.
Had any been around to see it, the landing would have been awe-inspiring. Parachutes were dropped and jetpacks disengaged about six meters from the ground, their passengers opting for instant mobility when they hit the ground. Carried on the Force for the final drop, they hit the ground running, bringing assault rifles up to shoulders and tracking the perimeter, scanning for threats and making certain that if any such threats came into being, they would be perforated by at least two fire teams.
From behind them, the tanks shrugged off their own parachutes, and rumbled along the column to take the lead, turrets also tracking. The landing was a success. "All units are down and accounted for!" the radioman called to the lander disappearing over the horizon.
"Acknowledged. Moving to drop off Second Group." Ponderously, the ship tried to do a wing jiggle, gave up on that notion, turned to starboard, and flew off to help Daryc Bral, the desert hill-fort 600 klicks west of Sundari.
The noonday sun beat down on the Jedi camp as canteens were passed around, rations eaten, and plans made. The host had met up with elements of the Mandalorian 3rd and Keldabe 7th regiments during the mid-morning, pressing on to the Yustarud Ridge, the doorstep of Sundari. Now, as Obi-Wan, Major Antonov and Alor'ad Kyrbejag made their plans, their forces prepared for the final push.
"According to our intelligence," Obi-Wan began, pulling up the relevant file, "Black sun brought few warships to the party; mostly modified Carter-class freighters to offload their troops. They are currently grounded at the Sundari docks, rendering 70% of their weapons ineffective, as they are designed to repel ventral assaults."
Having spent the past few minutes keying in a tactical simulation, Major Antonov began to speak, even as the scene played out in holographic miniature, "Grounded, the freighters will be without shields; as it stands, the plan is to have our tanks shell the docks from a relatively safe distance, reducing our enemy's aerial capacity and cutting off their most readily-accessible escape route. Once the way is clear, we will advance into the city. Our targets are the south airbase which Death Watch will most likely use to launch their Kom'rk transports, the Spire of Peace which will most likely house the Black Sun escape shuttle, and the Government Palace, which, naturally, will have their leadership, which should be eliminated to prevent them from regrouping. Barracks and ground vehicle depots are, at present, secondary targets."
Kyrdejag nodded thoughtfully, scratching the back of his head, "If it works, the plan will be very effective, however it depends on us being able to destroy the ships at the docks, and to push to the Government Sector before the leaders can evacuate. If the ships have shields deployed, or if Black Sun has mastered urban warfare, our plan will fall apart. Reinforcements will scramble and we will be overrun. "
"True," Antonov acceded, "But Class Cresh deflector shields do not function well in atmosphere, and Class Aurek shields – which do – have a very small effective radius, meaning they would not be placed on freighters. Class Grek shield generators, on the other hand, are larger than the freighters we're looking at. No, we'll be able to eliminate them, and our troops are trained for urban warfare and penetration; our problems will likely come from enemy speeders and any fighters they manage to scramble, as we are not equipped for that."
"Understood," Kyrdejag said, "In this case, I will detail our anti-vehicle squads to each of our assault teams, just in case."
And so it went on, while the overarching strategy was prepared on the flight from Coruscant, many logistical details that arose with the addition of the Mandalorians had to be ironed out in the field.
In the end, all was sorted, orders were passed down to company and platoon leaders, and with creaks and groans, the host took to the march once again, set to arrive just ere sunset.
Not very christmas-y, I know, but I posted when I could.
As such, merry christmas and happy holidays to my readers; I hope that this year has treated you well, and that you have enjoyed this story. I certainly enjoyed racking up more than 35 reviews, and untold numbers of favourites and follows. This story has becoming my most popular one, now having over 2.5k views (1/4 of YJBL, which achived that by virtue of being around for two years).
This chapter marks our entry into the Mandalore arc; the Jedi strike force has landed, and is marching on Sundari, ready to retake the planet. Obi-Wan is about to face Darth Mall, and a bit of a plot twist (least ways, I hope so) is coming up that will make half my fans really happy, and the other half will probably think I'm totally crazy.
This chapter is shorter than my norm for this story, however, I find that a quality, to-the-point chapter goes a longer way towards an enjoyable read than a bunch of nonsense spread to thin, "Like too little butter that has been spread over too much bread" to quote Bilbo. Next chapter will have a lot of dialogue, and a lot of fight scenes, which should bring us back up to the norm!
Some Mando'a translations: (and notes!)
Mando'a - the Mandalorian language
Daryc Bral – Brown Hill
Yustarud – Perimeter
Sundari – New Mando capital
Keldabe – Old Mando capital
Kelita – River
Kyrbejag – from Kyrbej (battlefield) and jag (man), "Man of the Battlefield."
Alor'ad – Captain
And pertenant notes:
The Kelita flows just outside Keldabe, serving as a natural moat. In keeping with their warrior culture, many Mandalorian settlements are more like forts, designed to be easily defensible. Except the New Mandalorian stttlements, who didn't care much for war, and which explains why they got owned so badly by the Death Watch in canon.
By all logic, Keldabe should have been the target of the original Darth Maul's assault, because it was the major industrial sector of the planet, and overall capital, but Dave Filoni pulled out his fubarizer 3000 and created Sundari, which holds no geographical or strategic significance, save, perhaps, Satine. (who, actually, we'll get to see soon in the story). So, I decided to go with this logic: Sundari is taken because it is a soft target, and easy to use as a staging ground. Keldabe, Daryc Bral (personal creation for this story) and the other forts are assaulted as secondary targets, from which they are repelled by the more skilled Mandalorian defenders. Theoritically, if the separatists committed their own forces to the campaign, they could have taken Mandalore, but Dooku has a headache from Palpatine, and Palpatine is a nutcase.
As for the composition of the opposition in this story, frankly, TCW messed things up. The Pykes; do we REALLY need another crime syndicate? We have Black Sun for that, and Black Sun does not like competition. According to TCW, the Pykes deal in spice. Well, that's actaully Black Sun's domain, and I doubt they would let another bunch of criminals trapse around on their turf.
Also, Black Sun was a galaxy-spanning criminal network, hardly a batch of nutjobs sitting on Mustafar. So, for the purposes of sanity and logic, I decided to do away with the entire "Shadow Collective", and create a very simple alliance; Death Watch and Black Sun. DW has the expertise and Darth Mall, BS has the manpower. Together, if used logically, they ought to be a logical, formidable, force.
The Jedi response, by some, might be considered a little extreme; there is 500 Jedi with Obi-Wan's group, 500 with Opushkina's and 300 with Yoda in reserve. Weighed against the battle of Geonosis (212 Jedi) this figure seems excessive. However, consider: the Jedi lost rather badly at Geonosis, (179 casualties) mostly because they were overwhelmed, (and because GL wanted a show). Logically, more Jedi - more angles to cover - less casualties.
The Jedi Order has never been officially given a size; while some fanfic authors stick to numbers such as 1 or 10 thousand, I find it hard to believe, amidst a galaxy of several hundreds of trillions of inhabitants. Coruscant has one Trillion, (that's 10^12), so 10,000 Jedi on Coruscant make up, 0.000001% of Coruscant's population! Pffft, there are more politicians than Jedi on Coruscant alone. How can so few be considered "Galaxy-wide peacekeepers"?
To me, I like to think that the Jedi are very numerous, my preferred figure is 100 million, however for the purposes of this particular story, I'm gonna downgrade that to 5 million at least. Given that the Galaxy at Large has over 400 Quadrillion inhabitents, seems logical, no?
On the other hand, Order 66 would be extraordinarily hard to execute if there are 5 million Jedi and 2 million clone troopers (per GL and Karen Traviss).
As yet another aside, I think that to maintain a galaxy-wide war, there would need to be at least 500 million clones to account for all the sectors and battlefields. So, I can easily see why LFL stuck with such a small number of Jedi given their blunder.
Then again, the Jedi were supposed to be an "Order" not a "nation", so, it might be logical, but that's a discussion better left to a blog, not an author's note.
Suffice it to say that the Jedi, in this story, have enough people to have their own standing army, that carries lighsabers, grenade launchers and assault rifles.
As to why I wrote a VDV aerial deployment? Simply because no-one else has done it before me! It's all powered suits, super-duper landers, hover-thingamabobs...however, it is my opinion that old tech works just as well, otherwise the pople that made it would not have used it so much.
Again, that's better left to another place.
Thank you for reading this ramble and the chapter proper, enjoy your holidays, and may the Fiction Be with You!
Clean word count: 1,298 | Published: 0221 GMT.