Chapter 9
(Coruscant, Imperial Senate)
The day was passing by with a great deal of anxiety. So potent that one could dare cut it with a knife. Exar knew that the petty worries of the people of the galaxy and indeed the senators of this rabble called the Imperial senate, were indeed in part because of himself along with lord Vader, whom he know held in higher respect then ever before. Still, he couldn't help, at times, from letting small smiles creep across his features as he stood in the bustling halls of the senate hall awaiting his moment to address them once more in place of their "mighty" emperor.
The star of Coruscant was crossing the mid day point and soon many people would be attempting to prepare for sleep at night, 'but this is Coruscant after all.' Exar mused with a self amused smile. 'Since when does this planet ever seem silent or asleep?' Exar couldn't help but feel more at ease here on Coruscant rather than Alderaan. The city world just reminded him of his plans, ensured that he stayed on his toes, and being so close to the object of his scheming, the Emperor himself, surely added a level of profound determination to the dark lord, to one day take what has been rightfully his for over three-thousand years.
The sound of footsteps behind him once again caught Exar's attention. Turning he saw Mattizz come to a deep kneel before him clutching his mighty ceremonial staff as usual. "I, your humble servant, have come to your call once again, my lord Kun,." The ever humble and intimidating Massassi warrior chimed in his native dialect. Exar motioned the obedient servant to rise and addressed him. "Yes very good Mattizz." He responded in basic, but he knew Mattizz could understand him, and Kun did not feel like speaking the language of his loyal servants at this time.
"I am in need of your services Mattizz. Nothing too big, yet very important nonetheless. It may very well cause blood to be spilled." Exar added, making the Massassi straighten with excitement causing the growths that all Massassi share along his face to bristle showing clearly the Massassi warriors eagerness to once more spill blood for his master.
"I of course will carry out whatever it is you demand of me, oh master." The warrior responded with a bow of his head. To which Kun gave a smile.
"Very good my dear commander. Now listen here and listen closely to what I demand of you." Kun commanded and beckoned the Massassi warrior to follow him over to a nearby balcony that overlooked a gathering hall. Below there were many dozens of senators, politicians, and governors of the empire all mingling and discussing, scheming, and plotting about the days turn of events, and Exar waved his hand about to make his warrior look to the gathering as well.
"These my loyal servant, are senators of the Imperial senate. Now I don't expect you to fully comprehend what is so special about them, but trust me when I say I would be the one insulting your intelligence if I tried to explain how 'useful' these people are." Exar put emphasis on the word 'useful,' to inform his minion of his displeasure with this gathering of self important fools. To which Mattizz gave a snort that showed he fully got his dark lords message.
"Now I am to be addressing these people in a short time. I will need them to listen and take in the full gravity of my words. However I fear that some many of these senators may feel inclined to leave or make to escape what I am going to be commanding and saying. As a great few of them may in fact show their disloyalty today." Kun spoke with a smile tugging ever at his lips. "That being said commander, I want to show these people just how serious, and how prolific I will be in the coming years, and so it is time to play their game of flexing ones own power. That is where you and the rest of my ever loyal Massassi warriors will come in handy." Exar declared pointing at the warrior before him. To which Mattizz nodded his understanding and remained silent for his lord to finish and command him to then speak.
"I want you to station what warriors we have outside several key areas where the senators enter and exit their respective repulsorpods. So when they enter and leave they will see you my servant and your kin. I will also have Stormtroopers, or the soldiers in white as you may remember them, around with you and the rest of the warriors." Kun declared as he put more thought into his scheme to flex muscles. "Yes, that will do. Let us show these good senators that the Empire is already changing, and I am its herald of change." Kun finished with a small sideways grin to himself, and Mattizz in turn bowed.
"It shall be done as you command my lord." The Massassi declared and with that Kun went about showing where the most effective stations were, and before he would stand before this rabble and play the political game, Kun would let his influence be felt, or seen as it were.
(Bestine System, Bestine IV)
The Impact, had just moments ago entered into Bestine IV's orbit and bore witness to the utter crippling destruction the Moff vessels had unleashed upon the worlds once useful orbital shipyards. Scattered and adrift lay in ruin many unmanned and incomplete Imperial warships, and scattered amongst them were the remains of the 467th defensive fleet, and now much to Teradoc's pleasure the remains of the Moff attack fleet were a part of the wreckage. The Impact was at the head of a "pack" of Imperial vessels entering the planets atmosphere to asses and aid in the battle still raging below. However, now with the loss of both aerial and orbital support to the ground forces below, Teradoc had no doubt that these traitorous Moff Alliance forces would crumble and burn by his hands, and in the name of the Empire.
"We are now fully inside the atmosphere sir." Called one officer and without looking at him Teradoc ordered the ship and the several following to spread out and make for several key regions under heavy fighting. Bestine being a mostly aquatic world was divided into island regions, and each was under the command of either a public representative for the civilian territories, or an imperial commander. Teradoc however was not to aid in the recapture of population centers. The Emperor had sent a message before the battle making it painfully clear that the imperial ground installations were to be secured first and foremost. To which Teradoc could see no objection to. Indeed it was the more tactically sound decision in his mind, and obviously that of the Emperor's as well.
"Noted officer." Teradoc commented. "Take us towards the imperial command center of Bestine. We are to send aid and reinforcements and retake the base at all costs. And considering how utterly decimated our enemies now are, I think it is safe to assume at all costs will mean very little loss in total." Teradoc finished with a grin directed towards himself and his "accomplishments," as he believed. "Oh yes I almost forgot," Teradoc suddenly announced causing some officers to turn in surprise. "Order the Vindication, and Neutralizer, to make for the key planet bound factories and either reinforce current imperial troops or launch a recon quest campaign." Teradoc finished and received an 'aye' of confirmation from his comms officer.
Teradoc watched as the two Stardestroyers he ordered away made their own paths towards their separate objectives, his attention was soon redirected towards his own objective though. Before his eyes and obviously where he was, an island was coming more and more into view. Smoke was billowing from several areas on the island and the remains of an imperial communications tower were seen to be in a massive pile of debris surrounded by many other buildings of the imperial headquarters in similar states of destruction. What's more, Teradoc noticed continuous flashes of blaster fire sparkling like miniature diamonds down below and it was hard to see a lull in the violence anywhere. Even from his viewport on his mighty Stardestroyer, Teradoc thought he could make out the distinct and potent sounds of explosions and the exchanging of fire from the carnage taking place below. For a man like Teradoc who has never seen a battle of this magnitude up close, or at least as close as he was willing to get, the scene before him was glorious by its nature alone.
However, it was high time that these moronic Moff upstarts be shown the true Imperial power through Teradoc.
"I want communication channels swept and get me in command with someone in charge down there at once." Teradoc commanded, placing his hands behind his back, and edging closer to the viewport of the Stardestroyer as it inched more and more into a stationary position above the island, blotting the starlight and casting a great shadow over it.
"I have a commander Wellik for you sir. He claims to have been in command of the Bestine communications tower and made the call about the initial attack." Teradoc gave a terse nod.
"Very good, put him on screen for me at once." He ordered with the same level of terseness. To his right was a simple communications screen and soon it materialized the image of what a common Imperial officer was expected to look like. A younger man then Teradoc, unassuming features, but a stiffness about him that was an affect of being an officer of the Empire.
"Greetings to you, err admiral Teradoc sir. I am Camderan Wellik, commander, or former commander of Bestine comms Tower and planetary communications. Our planetary based general is on another island I am afraid and thus I was left in command here after the initial strike." Teradoc ignored the fact that Wellik was confused whether he was an admiral or not, as he was as of now, but instead gave him a nod of understanding. A few loud explosions occurred in the background where Wellik was causing the officer to partially duck and twitch with nervousness before recomposing himself accordingly.
"Very good commander, I am in full command of your planet's relief fleet and reinforcements. I will need to know the positioning of our enemies so your support can be sent accordingly." Wellik cleared his throat to that, making Teradoc raise a brow.
"Yes well therein lies a problem admiral, sir." Teradoc again raised his brow in annoyance. "Problem, commander? What problem?"
"You see we are quite dead down here in the field of information. As far as we know enemies are spread all over the island and have more arms, and equipment then us as well as better arms. Several AT-AT's and AT-ST's are bearing down on my position as we lost all our armored vehicles some hours ago in a devastating bombing run by Moff forces." Wellik informed as another explosion rocked what appeared to be his command center, which in all reality was nothing more then an enclosed area of rubble.
Teradoc looked towards his comms officer and pointed towards him hoping he understood the silent gesture meant to take what information was just given and send out TIE bombers to deal with the Moff armor. To which the officer gave a curt nod of understanding and relayed the enemy positions to a now departing squadron.
"I have bombers about to bear down on enemy armored positions now Wellik. I suggest you inform your troops, and get to work on relaying enemy positions to me at once!" Teradoc near boomed causing Wellik to look a little worse for wear. No doubt the officers nerves were becoming more depleted of calm.
(Wellik's View)
Wellik jumped from his comms terminal and made for another relay terminal that was used for general orders and called for all troopers to expect a close proximity allied bombing run. Afterwards Camderan chanced a look past the rubble pile that acted at his shelter and saw the enemy AT-AT and AT-ST's bearing down on his front line defenses with all the firepower these Imperial war machines could bring. Trees were tumbled, and soil was burnt, fire was haphazardly spread amongst the carnage and white clad corpses of enemy and ally alike. The blue skies of Bestine now replaced with a threatening but assuring shadow of a great Stardestroyer. The smell of burning metal, and death was revolting but Wellik stood and waited as he then saw the streaks of TIE bombers lined in a five vessel squadron formation with one in front leading with two rows of two following tightly behind. They closed in and the eerie screech of the Imperial bombers were heard, and Wellik's pulse quickened at the thought of seeing the enemy vehicles reduced to rubble before his eyes.
But then out of nowhere bolts of blue shot from the ground in a stunning succession one after the other and with a loud crack of fire as the bolts flew and collided with the bombers and blew them out of the skies causing disintegration or collision into the ground in a heap of twisted and burning metal. In horror Wellik watched this and soon his men returned to firing and left their hidden positions. Wellik ran for his comms terminal, and what awaited him was a very angry Teradoc barking questions and orders at his crew members. Noticing Wellik's return Teradoc made to quickly hide an annoyed sneer.
"There you are commander! I am going t assume you had no inkling Moff forces had anti-air capabilities until now right?" It was a question but it was seeping with a mocking tone, and Camderan could only nod in return dumbly. "Yes, admiral, sir. Our intelligence down here on troop and weapons deployments is near nonexistent. The notion that this island may be riddle with anti-air is a distinct possibility, but I nor anyone else here had no way of knowing for sure if that was the case." Wellik blurted, but managed to keep a modicum of composure, and took in a sharp breath afterwards.
Teradoc, a sneer ever present now, mulled this over, and looked as if he was in a whole other place as his eyes were distant in thought.
"Very well, if they do not lack the ability to strike against our smaller ships, I think we shall lay waste to them with the bigger ones at our disposal." He finally said, a small smile creeping now across his face.
Wellik however was taken aback. 'Surely he cant be serious?!' He thought before making his objection known. "Admiral Teradoc, sir, surely you recognize and orbital bombardment with an Imperial Class Stardestroyer will nearly obliterate this entire island, me, and my men included with the enemy?!" He asked, but it was more a statement of fear and anger. Teradoc waved him off.
"Nonsense commander, we will fire at lowered strength, and will target enemy positions explicitly. As such I suggest you come up with a way for us to distinguish friend from foe at once, before the situation calls for desperate measures." The quite obvious threat aside Wellik began immediately mulling over how the vessel could target Moff forces and not Imperial Loyalists. It would be quite hard seeing as enemy forces still wore the armor of an imperial. A thought came to him and Wellik snapped to spiting it out before putting any real thought into it.
"The Moff forces! They all have an insignia along their armor and clothing that signifies them as friendly Moff forces amongst one another!" Camderan blurted, but then immediately regretted it as he realized why that wouldn't work, as had Teradoc too by the look of humored arrogance about his face. "Sadly commander, we do not have the ability to see enemy forces insignias so clearly from up here in the skies. We need something more then that I'm afraid. Power up underside weapon at once!" he ordered and Wellik could feel the sweat cascading now. 'For the sake of the Emperor how am I to know how you distinguish friend from foe?! I don't even have the kriffing time to radio for advice from my field commanders!' Wellik angrily thought as he held a balled fist to his mouth and thought as his nerves all but gave out on him. Then, again a thought hit him and all it required was the word radio.
"Wait…admiral Teradoc sir I've got it!" Wellik cried in a sudden outburst, and the Admiral raised a brow and then made a gesture for him to go on. "Um, well yes, since we are all imperials down here, or at least trained as Imperials we noticed that all our broadcasts on both sides were being heard by either side as we were all tapping into the common Imperial communication channels. Quickly though, Moff forces were not heard after a few hours of fighting and we assumed they switched over to some other, more obscure, Imperial channel for their communications in the field. If you can have your ship sweep the area for Imperial broadcasts not on the common channels then you will have our enemy's positions!" With that Wellik took in a large breath he hadn't known he needed and all but forgot about his Imperial composure and expectance to maintain it even under duress.
Teradoc seemed unfazed by the lapse in propriety however, and was mulling over Wellik's idea. "Can this be done?" The admiral asked as he turned to a nearby officer; most likely his captain, and the captain in turn gave a weary look towards the communications officer. The response was a scan over a terminal by the officer and then an adamant nod of affirmation. Teradoc gave a small nod that seemed to Wellik to be one that showed he was willing to not blow everyone off the face of the island; to which Camderan let out another, but far smaller breath of relief. "Very well commander, we shall try your way. It is quite lucky of you to come to this realization mere moments before your death seemed immanent. I must inform the Emperor that officer competence efficiency rises under extreme duress." The admiral said in a way that Wellik could honestly not tell if he was joking or being serious.
Finding Wellik's lack of verbal response seemingly annoying, Teradoc made a small almost condescending laugh and turned to his captain. "Target all heavy Moff armor down there, follow up with obliteration of all enemy gathering spots. I believe the good commander, with our reinforcements can annihilate what survivors are left. Isn't that right commander Wellik?" The admiral asked, and Camderan gave a curt nod; as he more wanted his 'savior' to just go more than anything. Teradoc again chuckled and turned to his captain, "Commence ground bombardment at once, and ready all dropships."
The battle was raging while these imperial officers talked amongst themselves. Bolts of brilliant blue, green, and red were flying all about in an array of dazzling light. There was seemingly no lull in shooting, and white armored clad Stormtroopers lay dead all about with a few officers of both side mixed into the corpse piles. Shattered metal, and scorched rock lay amongst the dead, and upon them walked the living fighting and shooting for their lives and for victory. All the more potent as the Moff forces had to deal with the fact a Stardestroyer loomed over their heads and did not respond to them and was attempting to destroy their AT-AT's. All the Moff forces needed to do was pass through an Imperial defensive position taken up in the rubble of the communications tower and surrounding base. Heavy and light armor could not penetrate the rubble, and thus troopers were fighting face to face with their old imperial comrades. With the armor acting as nothing but backup and heavy bombardment upon enemy positions.
Above the Moff forces the massive turbolasers on the underbelly of the behemoth Stardestroyer moved into position. Their first target aimed at the ever so easily hit AT-AT's and surrounding AT-ST's and repulsor-tanks. Like a deafening crack of thunder, the first turbo laser blast went off, followed by a brilliant succession of many more massive energy bolts that tore straight though the first AT-AT target and the turbolasers pounded the soil beneath until the very fact the war vehicle existed could be called into question by the utter obliteration committed. The continuous fire of the turbolasers was overkill as soil and ash was thrown in all manners into the air as the weapons fired upon and annihilated their targets, but would keep firing and move over empty soil to their next target. First the stationary AT-AT units were decimated and then the frontline shock troops of the Moff forces which was so close commander Wellik was thrown all about his little shack like a rag doll as were his troopers. Some didn't have the luxury of making it as they were incinerated by the mass bolts.
"Fire now on Moff command post coordinates. Rotate turbolaser to the next set of coordinates at once!" Teradoc ordered as the underbelly weapons would slowly rotate while spitting out their lethal payload nonstop, and when contact was made into the command sections of the Moff forces on the island bodies, tanks, and soil were all thrown into the air violently as cracks and booms were heard and reverberating all about the land below. As the nearby waves too began to splash upon the land violently as if the whole planet was being shaken about like a tub full of water. "Halt fire now!" Teradoc commanded in a booming but obviously satisfied voice as he peered out his viewport to the island he now left horribly scarred and blackened with ashen scorch marks.
"How do things look from your end commander?" Teradoc asked with a laugh as the frazzled and shaken officer onscreen struggled to get his bearings as trooper and officers in the background ran about in a frenzy.
"Uh, yes…let me confirm admiral sir…" Wellik trailed off as he began asking his own officers some questions off screen. After a moment of chatter that was unheard to Teradoc Wellik's face came fully back onscreen.
"Preliminary sweep of our immediate perimeter shows no signs of enemy forces. We seem to have a one-hundred percent kill rate on all surrounding armored units, but with what I am seeing we still have small pockets of non radio responsive troopers across the island. Thus we're inferring that if they are not on our channel they must be Moff forces." Camderan said as he began looking over some reports coming on to some unseen terminal of his. "Can I request confirmation from the Impact's scanners that we are indeed picking hostile radio signals in pockets to my immediate north-east and west admiral sir?" Teradoc obliged the officer and looked to his "sensors" officer off to the side who looked over his own terminal and merely gave a nod in return.
"We can confirm that commander. I am ordering all dropships to depart at once and assist you in mop-up. The emperor has ordered clean sweeps of traitor forces and doesn't want a single report concerning prisoners. Do you understand commander?" Teradoc asked to which Camderan nodded. "Very good once your reinforcements have landed take command and send in hourly updates to the Impact, I must see if my assistance or leadership is needed elsewhere on Bestine or in orbit."
Wellik merely replied with, "Very good admiral sir." Which ended the communication between the two imperial officers, and ended the short Moff campaign on Bestine as all Moff forces would be neutralized within five hours time from this moment both planetside and orbital. This of course is not to say the war was ended, indeed that is furthest from the truth…
Author's Notes: Hello all, I just wanted to try and keep posting my chapters. This one is war heavy and I want to see how it is received...you know if I get any feedback at all. Sorry it is kinda a cliffhanger, but I am really gearing up the war element of the story, i mean it is Star WARS right? Also one quick note I want to add, I will not be counting any Sta Wars material that comes out in Episode 7 as canon, as I personally think Disney is just going to tear the current continuity apart as they see fit for their profits. So I just want you guys to know that if I am still posting around the time it comes out, because I will NEVER watch it or follow it's canon. Thank you for putting up with this rant I will post the next chapter hopefully quite soon.