Hey everyone. Well, I'm back!
I have to admit that this chapter was written a little too fast for my liking. I just wanted to give the story a different perspective.
Still, I hope you enjoy!
(Pantoran Government Assembly Building)
The artillery strikes had been relentless. Many of the personnel within the building had perished. Either from the collapsing structure or from a split-second mistake of getting too close to the windows. Supreme Chairman, Notluwiski Papanoida had ordered the remaining officials to take refuge within the depths of the building. The Droid Army was closing in rapidly and there was nowhere to run. It was obvious that the assembly building was the number one prize for the Separatist forces. No place within was safe from the punishment being hurled at it. There was understandable fear the building might collapse were this to carry on much longer! Nevertheless, the Pantoran army continued to fight ferociously to defend the capital.
Unfortunately, though, the bodies of these brave soldiers were piling up by the minute. The invasion force was unlike anything they had ever faced before. It was clear that the Separatists had decided to throw a substantial amount of their resources at Pantora in an overwhelming effort to seize control of the moon.
Within the streets of the capital, evacuations had so far resulted in moderate success in getting trapped civilians to safety. Additionally, in an unexpected outcome of the early stage battles the Pantoran soldiers had been relatively successful in repelling the advancing Droids. Thus, so far preventing brigades of invaders from outflanking their improvised fortifications along key points of the city's central perimeter. Yet these were small victories that would inevitably prove to be short-lived. No matter how many droids the Pantorans destroyed a rapid mobilisation from the enemy would see these minions, along with their tanks, and cannons replaced within the blink of an eye. The CIS had taken the time to assess a countless number of possibilities that they may face during the fierce battle Pantora would throw their way! And once air superiority had been secured by reinforcements of Separatist fighters, it wasn't long before these fortifications were breached. The defenders stood no chance.
The invading forces were soon on the move again. Closing in with a quickening pace on the Assembly Building.
Within the deep confines of the building, officials had been working hard to assemble a makeshift headquarters in an attempt to regain some control of their remaining forces. Many military outposts had been annihilated. Many bases within the city had also failed to withstand the awesome firepower that the enemy had been bombarding the capital with. And with the final line of defences breached, now was not the time to leave any surviving soldiers without leadership. Otherwise, they would be fighting blind.
The newly structured command centre that stationed officers would now have to work from had been developed in a sizeable storage room situated amidst the depths of the building's lower levels. Their resources were limited. All that was possible to transport from the destroyed operations rooms was a few monitors, the transfers of surviving communications equipment that would need processing through a series of hard drives, a few maps of the city to calculate appropriate strategies, and whatever weapons and medical equipment that could be transported in one trip.
Papanoida had refused an offer for evacuation away from the battlefield upon the commencement of the war. Instead, he'd decided to stand his ground. Although not before ordering his daughters and reluctant son to leave with the evacuation parties. His place was now watching over those in command of the army's next movements.
Dust fell from the ceiling as explosions battered the building from all directions. Alongside the hurried construction of a new command post, the storage room was now also serving as a makeshift hospital. Taking care of the government staff wounded by the artillery fire. Though supplying medical attention was a difficult task under these circumstances. The doctors felt disorientated in the cramped and dimly lit environment they now had to work in. Additionally, the fear of the approaching battle outside only hindered their concentration further. These survivors had found themselves in a nightmarish scenario.
Papanoida, however, kept a composed demeanour. Brushing fallen dust from his clothes, he focused his attention back on the group of officers he had been conversing with.
"How much longer do think we can hold out until the droids breach the building?"
Avana Chotoli, the building's stationed lieutenant gave his analysis. "All the entrances have been heavily reinforced since we initiated the lockdown. But even then, I doubt they'll last longer than fifteen or twenty minutes once the droids redirect whatever weaponry they have to hand at breaking through. Who knows the scale of their arsenal!"
Papanoida frowned. "Twenty minutes. That doesn't give us much time. Is there any way we could slow their advance once they manage to breach the doors?"
"I'm not sure . . ."
"Well think, man. Think! We need to buy ourselves a little time. Not just to try and offer assistance to our troops out there who are sacrificing their lives to protect us. But so we can carefully plan out our next decisions. Remember, we're still in command of this battle. A lot is depending on us!"
"I guess one option would be that we seal whatever routes that the lockdown has still left open in the building. Fire doors, vents, everything we've got."
"Do we still have such control of the security systems?"
"Yes, sir. Remember, we transferred all the hardware from the operations room to the monitors we're working from in here. It might take a bit of time to reconfigure the system's layout. But it should be a theoretical possibility."
"I suppose that's better than nothing. You'd better get to work with the security staff straight away."
Chotoli was dismissed. "Yes, sir."
"Now, the way I see things, we're going to be fighting this battle alone. So . . ." Papanoida continued.
However, Jurend Rhuranok, Field Marshal of the Pantoran army decided to abruptly interject. "Excuse my interruption, sir. But is that an assumption we ought to make? If we decide that a lone battle is to be the inevitable fate of our world then we are technically only going to make ourselves more vulnerable. Putting in all we've got left in the hope of turning the tables of this battle would be an impulsive move. We're severely outnumbered. I've seen and experienced enough warfare to know when to hold back. What chances do we have at present? Once we've exhausted our stockpiles, then what? Aren't we forgetting about Senator Chuchi?"
"What about her, Marshal?"
"We know her task force escaped through the blockade. For all we know, she and half of the Republican army could be on their way! I think it would be unwise to risk compromising our defences over nothing but hypothetical assumptions as to what damage we by ourselves could inflict on the enemy."
Papanoida frowned before hanging his head in sorrow. "Theory may be the only chance of survival we have left, Rhuranok. You don't think I haven't considered Chuchi's remarkable resilience. She threw herself into such danger to give us hope that we wouldn't be fighting alone. Yet, regardless of her miraculous escape, I fear that the efforts of reaching Coruscant may have proved futile for the poor child. I should have anticipated that it was a move the Separatists would have taken into consideration."
Rhuranok's immediate subordinate, General Ase Pikivi, appeared shocked by what Papanoida was saying. "You believe her to have perished, sir? Could the Separatists have pursued such a small task force that kind of a distance across the galaxy?"
"I believe . . ."
At the very moment before Papanoida could respond, an alarm abruptly rang throughout the room.
One of the radio operators working at one of the many monitors turned to face the group. "Chairman Papanoida. You may want to have a look at this. The signal's not too clear, but I think someone's trying to send a transmission through."
"A message from the Republic?" asked Pikivi hopefully.
"I don't think so, sir. The jammers that the Separatists have placed in Pantora's exosphere are too powerful. Nothing comes in or out while they're operational."
"So who is it from?" Papanoida demanded.
"I'll try and pinpoint the frequency. It should come up on the holotable if we're successful."
A number of the surviving personnel grouped around the table. Anxiously awaiting what the sender of the message would have to say.
It didn't take long for the operator to accurately tune the radio waves. "Got it, sir. Sending it through to the projector now."
A faint beam of light shone up from the table, followed by a short burst of static. Finally, an initially pixelated haze gradually developed into a grainy image of a person. However, the projection that hovered above the table was not of an individual that any of the sheltering Pantorans were pleased to see. Instead, it presented to them a living symbol of evil.
"General Grievous . . ." Papanoida snarled.
"Greetings, Chairman Papanoida. I hope my army's surprise entrance didn't disappoint. Although, I must admit I was expecting you and your people to put up a better fight than what you've given me already!"
"What do you want, Grievous!" demanded Rhuranok. "You're taking innocent lives who have done nothing to deserve this outrageous barbarity!"
"Nobody is innocent in this war Pantorans! You, Supreme Chairman should know that! Especially since I know of the weaponry your world has been developing with help from the Republic. Weaponry that involves the experimentation with nuclear power from what I hear. Alongside the number of allied troops, you've been stationing on Pantora. You wish to assist the Republic in striking a blow to our side of the war? Then know this. I intend to rid the galaxy of scum like you! And I'm sure whatever secrets you possess could become very useful to the Separatist war effort!"
"You'll never lay your hands on that information, general. All of us would rather die before allowing it to fall into your possession!" snapped Papanoida.
"As you wish, Mr Chairman."
"I wouldn't be too confident. We've got the building on lockdown, waiting for your troops to make their move. You've not won this battle yet!" said Rhuranok.
"Ah, yes, but I will win the war! I highly doubt you will pose much of a threat to my forces! Which brings me to what I wanted to say, Supreme Chairman. I'm aware of your position. Having sealed yourself away like the cowards you are in the lower decks of the building. I can hardly imagine that you have any effective form of firepower waiting for me. So, in this instance, Count Dooku is willing to offer you a choice. Before my forces breach the building and kill every last one of you. If you surrender yourselves and your people to us, then there may be much less bloodshed than if you decide to stay cowering down there. The choice is yours, Supreme Chairman!"
Papanoida could feel the rage threatening to boil over within him. To threaten the people of Pantora with the choice of merciless slaughter or totalitarian rule. Banging his cane sharply against the floor, Papanoida wasted no time to retort.
"Let me tell you this, general. You can shoot us, bomb us, murder us. But you will never break us! I've had all the time I need to consider Dooku's offer. What's more, I have already made a decision. And make sure you pass this on to Dooku from me. My verdict is that he can choke on those words! You included! We're going nowhere! My people and I will never surrender to the Separatists!"
Hands behind his back, Grievous glared with a piercing coldness into Papanoida's eyes. "Then I have only this to say, Supreme Chairman. You'd better find somewhere to hide! Because my army will bury you and your people in the ruins of that building!"
Transmission cut and Grievous was gone. The group around the table didn't quite know what to say.
Soon enough, though, Pikivi broke the silence. "Something tells me things are going to escalate a little from here on in! Grievous doesn't have a habit of bluffing. He'll probably take great joy in annihilating us!"
"Then we shan't let him!" spoke Papanoida.
"Sir?"
"Whether we survive or not I have no intention of cowering to that maniac's threats! We've come so far already. If we allow him to break our morale, then the Separatists have already won!"
"But, sir, with all due respect . . ."
"No buts, Pikivi. If you think I'm prepared to allow Count Dooku to conquer Pantora then you're very much mistaken! We've stood as a proud democracy for centuries. Only we decide which side of this war we're on! And to tell you the truth, I'd say Grevious's arrogance may be the subtle opportunity we need. This could be our chance to catch the droids off guard! This time we need suggestions, not defeatism!"
"Yes, sir. My apologies, sir. However, I have to ask, what effective counter-strike could we deliver? As we've established, our military is exhausted. We've lost so many: soldiers, fighter craft, tanks. What have we left?"
"The jammers . . . we send our pilots to attack them . . ."
"Excuse me, sir?"
"I suggest we try to lead the droids astray. Make them believe we've ordered our troops to retreat. This will give our forces time to regroup and reinforce our perimeters. If Grievous's army fools for our ploy then they should be too focused on breaking through our defences to notice us sneaking up straight from behind. Using whatever starfighters we have left, we throw everything we've got at the jammers surrounding Pantora. Missiles, mines, anything . . . we need to try and bring our communications with the Republic back online."
"Come on now. Grievous would never fall for that!"
"If I may interject, I can see where the Supreme Chairman is coming from. He may be onto something," Rhuranok interrupted. "Grievous may be an extraordinary military strategist. Yet I've heard enough about his approach to ground warfare to spot a possible weakness. If he believes an enemy to be adequately weakened he will try and overwhelm the remaining fortifications with as many of his droids he has to hand. Unbeknown to him this will leave his rear defences vulnerable."
"That doesn't mean the droids won't be expecting us to attack the jammers."
"That is indeed true. Although we only need enough time to get close enough that our pilots can launch a swift assault. If we keep radio silence and keep within a close distance of the enemy ships then we may avoid scanner detection. Of course, we use blind spots to our advantage. It sounds like a suicide mission I know. But as the Supreme Chairman has already made clear. What other options do we have at this point?"
"You think it's possible that Grievous will take the bait?" asked Papanoida cautiously.
"I couldn't say. Nevertheless, we need to try and do something. Quick! Once Grievous has finished mobilising his forces for the final push we stand no chance!"
Papanoida addressed the still evidently opposed Pikivi. "It would appear we have little choice. Pikivi, you'd best send out a transmission and mobilise a squadron of our remaining fighter pilots. Once we've assessed the possible design of jammers the Separatists are using then we'll know where to strike. The pilots will need persistent updates after we've established the most effective method of attack. They'll need to understand the danger they'll be facing. But make sure you remind them that they're the only remaining hope we have to send out a distress call to our allied planets. If we fall, Pantora falls!"
Well, that's a wrap! Another chapter over and done with!
Please leave a review if you enjoyed!
Until next time!