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Phase 28: Ashes of victory

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Part 5

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Victorya Halcyon (VH): In a war full of turning points, Corellia takes a special place. From the initial neutrality championed by Senator Iblis, to fully backing the war effort months later, when the war escalated. From the Fall of the Corellian system to its eventual liberation. Both of our guests tonight played critical roles in those events...

VH: Please tell us about the Liberation of Corellia, General.

General Ahsoka Tano (Gen. AT): It was an eye-opening experience. I've fought in many battles before, both alongside Clone Troopers, local Defense Forces, and Resistance units, after the former had been destroyed in the field by the Confederacy. All those battles had something in common. The soldiers fighting beside me were either veteran combat troops with significant experience, had years if not decades of training, or they were the survivors who made it through everything the Confederacy could throw at them.

In contrast, at Corellia, I commanded one of the most experienced units we deployed planet-side. They were good soldiers. Some of the best men and women I've ever had the privilege to serve with. They were also painfully green compared to any other unit I've fought beside or led before Corellia. I can't stress that point enough. And everyone else who landed and fought with us and the CorSec's remaining formations on Corellia was even greener. We knew those troops needed at least a few more months of training at best, much longer at worst. However, we were out of time. Four of the Five Brothers had fallen at that point, Star Hammer worked, and Admiral Trench had to retreat, giving us a priceless opportunity to recover many of our worlds. We had to take it for many reasons. So we deployed.

Imperial Senator Garm Bel Iblis (IS GBI): And it went downhill from there. The Liberation of Corellia was a bloodbath. Liberating all Five Brothers was worse, and all that was a taste of things to come.

VH: You're talking about the liberation of the rest of the Core.

Gen. AT: By the time of the Black Rebellion, we weren't even halfway through. There were dozens of worlds with large active Droid armies on them and hundreds of Commando units operating behind our lines causing havoc.

IS GBI: As they say, the rest is bloody history.

VH: You're correct, Senator. We're here tonight, to talk about the Liberation of Corellia and how it affected the war in the following months…

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Acclamator Assault Ship Remember Kamino
high orbit above Corellia
Corellian system

Painful experience pointed at a simple, and logical fact. The first waves of an orbital drop suffered the most casualties, especially when conducted against relatively intact air defense networks. Thus, the command staff of a shock trooper was no longer permitted to be among the first to launch and hit the ground.

This simple fact allowed Ahsoka more time to absorb the sheer scale of the operation she was now part of. Nearly a hundred Acclamators moved like one coordinated by battle network untouched by enemy electronic war assets. They merely carried the first wave of units to hit the ground. Far behind them, conventional transports under heavy guard waited for secure landing sites and the suppression of all ground to orbit emplacements that might be able to threaten those converted freighters.

Hundreds of ships surrounded the Acclamators. From the largest super capitals to humble corvettes. Venators and dedicated carriers launched intact wings of fighters and bombers which soon formed up and accelerated towards the atmosphere. Limited and light Ion Cannon bombardment gave a few Separatist units something else to worry about. Unfortunately, this was Corellia – a densely populated Core World. In many places, the enemy operated within densely populated areas, which often couldn't be properly evacuated before the Droids took them. In the rare cases when there weren't civilians to worry about, the enemy was protected by shields, and overwhelming those with firepower would require enough of it to glass whole regions, at best.

That was out of the question.

The Acclamators shifted and advanced just as nearly ten thousand small craft hit the atmosphere. Ten Assault Ships began launching their drop pods, while the rest unleashed a swarm of Gunships, LAAT transports, and assault shuttles. More fighters and bombers left their motherships and formed around the more vulnerable troop transports. Half of the Acclamators followed suit and advanced as well.

There was no response yet. The Separatists on the ground knew what was coming for them. They had to know for hours now. Whatever nasty surprises they had waiting for the Republic troops remained silent and ready.

A countdown reached zero, and Ahsoka's pod shook, rattling her, despite the inertial dampeners and shock-absorbing gel surrounding her.

The fourth wave was on the way. The fifth and last would load and launch sixty seconds later.

It wasn't until the first wave of drop pods was a mere thirty seconds from hitting their targets when the enemy finally revealed their hand. They had endured the initial air and orbital strikes hiding behind their shields or using concealment to avoid detection. Hundreds of missiles, then thousands, rose to meet the fighters and bombers swarming above Coronet City. Thousands of upgraded Vulture Droids launched from concealed positions, and countless laser cannons lit up the skies.

A shower of burning decoys, false images, and the siren songs of e-war pods lured sensors and weapons towards false targets.

It wasn't enough. Odd missiles, lucky laser bolts, and eager Vultures began murdering Ahsoka's people. Light escorts entered the atmosphere above them, adding their jamming and E-War capabilities in a desperate attempt to blind enemy targeting sensors.

Shock-troopers kept dying. Fighters and bombers flew among the dropping pods, fighting for their lives. Ahsoka saw a Y-Wing dodging as wildly as it could. The bomber's rear gunner shot desperately at four missiles chasing it. One of the warheads detonated, damaging a second missile, which veered off-course and exploded harmlessly. The other two struck true. One sheared off an engine pod, while the other slammed into the rear-gunner and turned the cockpit into a burning coffin.

A Vulture nearly took out Ahsoka's pod. However, it fortunately only blew up a few of the decoys flying around her. Its passage shook her to the bone, and the Jedi saw the reason why she was still alive. A Torrent fighter chased the Vulture followed by two more Droid Fighters.

The Torrent shot down its prey before being sliced in two by the pursuing fighters. A missile came from above, blowing up one Vulture in an impressive explosion. The second one dove, going after a cluster of pods, while a pair of Torrents flew by Ahsoka's prod and gave chase.

Far below her, Coronet City, the jewel of Corellia, was dark, lit up only by weapon discharges, explosions, and uncontrolled fires.

What was left from her first wave decelerated sharply, burning out repulsor pods and straining out inertial dampeners to their breaking point. Only two companies of Ahsoka's first Battalion made it more or less intact to the ground. They wasted no time in attempting to regroup or search for cover. There was no time for such luxuries, and overwhelming numbers of droids were already converging on their locations. Instead, the Shock-troopers used the capabilities of their armors to their utmost and went after the nearest AA emplacements or shield generators they could detect. While their suicidal attack didn't do much to help the second wave, which suffered nearly as much, the third wave reached the ground relatively intact. As did the fourth and the fifth.

Ahsoka's pod peeled off, adding even more clutter and false targets for any targeting sensors guiding weapons after her.

It was only now, when she could finally do something about it, that Ahsoka let go from the clamp she had been holding on her emotions. Fear, exhilaration, and rage flooded her veins and for a moment, nearly overwhelmed her before she focused them to a razor edge, like that bitch Zash taught her.

A large explosion lit up whole districts of Coronet City, bathing it in red light. Briefly, Ahsoka saw how much the metropolis had suffered since the fall of the Corellian systems. Ravaged pace-scrapers rose in the air like gnarled, skeletal fingers trying to grasp salvation. Broken skyscrapers and smaller buildings stretched to the horizon like the burned-out husks of a forest after an inferno.

Ahsoka could see and feel the fighting taking place below. She could bathe in the fear and desperation of the millions of civilians cut off at the heart of the megapolis.

And finally, she could do something about it. The world around Ahsoka slowed down as the Force coldly enhanced her perception and reflexes. Frozen fingers kept the Jedi's emotions under her control, so she could use them as fuel, yet not let them control her actions. Her people didn't need an idealistic Jedi, neither a raging maniac who let herself be overwhelmed by her own emotions. They needed cold and crisp professionalism to get them through this hell and Ahsoka was going to deliver, even if it was the last thing she would ever do.

She let her training and the Force guide her body, popping up shots at targets of opportunity and weaving around the incoming fire using her secondary repulsor pod. Meanwhile, Ahsoka's mind absorbed the nearly overwhelming information coming through the combat network connecting her with her Regiment, and she began issuing precise orders.

The third wave was already on the ground, reasonably intact and forming up. The fourth, hers, would touch down within seconds, and it was largely intact as well. While terrible, the initial casualties weren't as bad as they could have been. She had a mostly intact Regiment, her support units were coming down right behind them.

Now, it was up to Ahsoka to make it all work.

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Part 6

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Coronet City

Corellia

One of the first lessons Ahsoka learned in the academy, was that as an Officer, her job was to command. Ideally, she wouldn't be using her weapons unless for self-defense. Or to take out a target she believed one of her subordinates wouldn't be able to service in time.

As a Jedi, she was a special case. There might be objectives that could require her ability with the Force to achieve promptly if at all. However, it would be her job to determine if going after such objectives was worth it, instead of sending her people to try, and complete them, while she hung back and commanded.

That was the theory, anyway. The real world often had other ideas.

As soon as Ahsoka hit the ground, multiple new jammers came online, cutting off all communications at anything past point-blank range. So much for properly rallying and commanding her Regiment. A brief burst of anger burns through her defenses before she used it as fuel, and her mind returned to the cold, crystal clarity.

First, cover! The Colonel's training, both as an Officer, and a Jedi kicked in, and she darted towards a nearby ruined building. Droids crawled out of it. Others appeared from side streets or even burst out of the cracked, and bombed-out ground. More signatures came to life all around Ahsoka, high up on the nearby buildings. They lit up her HUD, and for a second, all she could hear was the piercing wail announcing the deadly touch of targeting sensors.

The alarm cut off to a dull buzz, muzzled by the smart programs helping run Ahsoka's armor. That was small comfort for the Jedi. She sprinted forward as fast as her legs and the Force could carry her. Her rifle's kicks were little more than love taps against her shoulder. Ahsoka didn't bother to aim properly. She let the Force guide her, and the results spoke for themselves. Droids fell as fast as the blaster bolts could touch them, only for two or more to replace them.

Despite all her advantages, Ahsoka would have died on that forsaken street if she was alone. Fortunately, for her, Shock-troopers were landing all over the area and converging into steadily growing clusters.

The lucky ones, anyway. There was little the Colonel could do when she saw one of her soldiers land right in front of the building that was her target, appearing on the path of a small Buzz-droid swarm. The poor bastard had just enough time to scream before a couple a dozen of the little horrors fell upon him and began to cut.

Ahsoka stumbled, acutely feeling the man's pain and terror. It cracked her mental defenses. For a moment, she could feel a miasma of misery and despair, of pain and loss, that clung to this part of the city.

Blaster bolts splashed over her shields, collapsing them. She surged forward avoiding a hail of fire that landed on the spot of burned-out ground she just left. A furious tug of the Force was all it took to activate all the grenades carried by the dead soldier. A moment later, his funeral pure consumed his murderers and cleared the front of the building. Ahsoka vaulted through the smoke of the explosion, ignoring the shrapnel that bounced off her armor. She angrily slammed her rifle to its magnetic clamp and rolled through a demolished wall. The furious Jedi rose, holding her lightsaber in a Soresu stance while clutching a smoke grenade in her left hand.

Five Droids of different models immediately opened fire on Ahsoka. A dark Commando Droid and dull gray Super Battle one were to her right, pumping shot after shot at the Colonel, while she weaved between the blaster bolts or deflected them back. The large gray machine collapsed, its chassis melted by its shot. The Commando managed to jump back, avoiding the reflected shots.

Ahsoka threw the smoke grenade at the B1, which collapsed, its head taken out by the small object. That still left the two Droids to her left, which burned through her recharging shields and carved through the upper ablative layer of her armor.

The Colonel could feel more and more of her people dying. Familiar Force signatures flickered into her distorted range only to blink out with spikes of pain, hate, and the odd stunning surprise brushing past her mind. Ahsoka grit her teeth, feeling the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. Her control cracked further, and she let out a single, focused scream. The Commando Droid shattered upon a fractured metal wall.

The two odd machines shooting Ahsoka in the back froze, held firmly by her telekinetic grip. She spared a heartbeat to glare at them, before crushing their spindly forms into balls of scrap.

There was no time for pointless fury, no matter if that was the Jedi way or not. Ahsoka shook herself, pushing aside the resentment smoldering within her heart over Zash's influence, even if it might come in useful. More of her people were landing with every passing moment, and they needed leadership. They needed a way to communicate, and that was the most important part. She had to hunt down as many jammers and shield generators as possible, then rally her troops before the enemy could overrun them.

With a clear goal burning within her mind, Ahsoka charged through the building, seeking a vantage point on the roof. She didn't point pausing to regain proper control. Instead, she used the Droids daring to stand in her way as a means to vent. The building shook from inside as she ran through like a hurricane, leaving smoking piles of scrap in her wake.

Then it shook from outside, when a large dark form slammed into the abused street, shattering whatever was left of it. Smaller, brighter forms, landed in a rough circle around the tank. Its shield came online with a noticeable distortion of the air, and multiple pods at the back of the cupola opened, uncovering sensor pods.

The Duros tank wasn't trying to hide, on the contrary. It was making itself a very noticeable and big target. All the while it's on board computers searched for jammers and the distinctive power spikes of shield generators.

It worked too. Within seconds, many of the Droids in the area shifted their aim to the tank, bombarding it with blaster bolts and launching missiles. Multiple repeaters spoke back, slating ordnance in mid-flight. The behemoth didn't stay idle. Its engine roared, and its large tracks ground the street to dust as it accelerated much faster than anything that big should have been able to. Its main cannon spoke in anger, sending a blood-red dart of energy down-street. Secondary weapons kept spiting their defiance in the air, even as more missiles converged on the tank.

The Duros infantry wasn't idle either. They spread out and began to systematically dismantle all droids in range.

The distraction was what Ahsoka's scattered troopers needed to rally, and soon, individuals linked into makeshift squads to advance towards the closest target they could find.

The Jedi burst out on the roof and used the Force to sweep it clear of enterprising droids. She never ceased moving, while her head snapped in all directions, taking stock of the situation in the area. Fighters and bombers dueled in the skies above. More pods came screaming from orbit, this time mostly carrying supplies, and vital laser communicators. The latter should allow the ground forces to keep in touch with the fleet above no matter what happened.

That was the good news. The bad was obvious as well and varied. Enemy fire streamed down from most tall buildings in the area. Droids swarmed from hiding holes all over the place and did their best to overwhelm Ahsoka's people before they could consolidate and put up a proper defense. She could see fighting in the distance as well, far away from the Regiment's deployment zone. That had to be the cut-off locals. They were either desperately counter-attacking. More likely, now that the enemy no longer needed them to act as bait, the Separatists were doing their damned best to remove them from the equation.

And there was no doubt in Ahsoka's mind now. The Corellians encircled in their capital were nothing more than bait dangled by the Separatists. Tens of thousands of soldiers, millions of civilians, reduced to the means to get her people killed. And they were dying now when the enemy deemed them no longer useful.

That was one straw too many. Perhaps it was the strain of the past months, of everything that has happened since the Jedi coup. Undoubtedly, Zash's "teachings" had a lot to do with it as well. Something broke within Ahsoka. It wasn't out of malice or mere unreasonable hatred. It was righteous indignation that finally pushed her over the edge. Her control shattered like a glass window hit by a speeding air-car.

Ahsoka could feel all the pain and suffering, all the lives snuffed out before their time in Coronet City. Many of them were those of her people, and they were her responsibility. She was drowning in fury and helplessness, for what could she do to help them? Ahsoka was seemingly alone at that moment, and it felt like that all the droids she could perceive were busy crawling her way like a tidal wave of machine horrors.

Her mind grasped for a solution, while Ahsoka drowned in her rampaging emotions. A solution she soon grasped, in Zash's teachings. It was as if the infernal woman knew something like this would happen, and prepared, waiting for an opportunity for her lessons to find fertile ground.

Ahsoka ceased trying to stave off or control her emotions. She let them run free through her for endless moments while reveling in every single one of them. Then, just like she had been taught, she grasped them with a supreme effort of will and channeled them.

Her fury was her weapon. Her fear was a shield. Her worry turned into fuel.

The chaos of combat stilled around the Colonel, no longer suffocating her. She looked at the battlefield with new eyes, cold, calculating, and analytical. She couldn't save all her people.

No matter what she did, hundreds, no, thousands, were going to die. And if she fell apart again, all would be lost.

First, her soldiers needed time to regroup and recover. Time she was going to buy them by any means necessary.

The Force was no longer her ally, shielding her from harm. It was her weapon, the blade she would wield to protect her soldiers. The Force was her power, and for the first time in her life, Ahsoka unleashed it, fueling it with all her being, and struck, holding nothing back.

Her first target was a nearby ravaged skyscraper used by the enemy to rain hell upon her troopers. Ahsoka focused all she had and struck near the foundation, slicing through reinforcing metal with her will alone. Thick slabs of metal splintered as if they were little more than weak wood and fifty stores of empty offices and malicious droids fell to their doom.

=RK=

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