[14 BBY]
[Command Bridge, Mandator II-class Star Dreadnought, Heart of the Core, Alliance to Restore the Republic First Fleet, Coruscant System, The Core, Galactic Republic]
"Multiple enemy wings…"
"RSD Vengeance reports damage on…"
"Hostile Formation-Four in retreat sub-sector 444-21B…"
Admiral Jan Dodonna listened to the constant stream of information as the massed might of the Alliance's fleets slammed into that of united traitors' front. He remained worried about this Grand Offensive, at the risks they were taking despite the confidence of the Supreme Chancellor and those around him. The plan was ambitious, aggressive, and inventive…perhaps too much so to his mind, but so far it had broken past his own best expectations. The traitor fleet at Ixtlar had been shattered, and surprise over Coruscant had been near total, despite heavy losses to the so-called Shadow Fleet.
Now Jan was filled with a strange passion, an odd knowing of what was happening, and was to happen, as his fleet moved in a complicated dance to prevent the enemy reinforcements linking up with the forces trapped over Coruscant proper. There the Supreme Chancellor himself was leading the invasion personally, much to the initial horror of Jan, but it was a rallying cry to any loyalist on the planet, and a mass rising was now taking place in response to the landings. The surface was madness, but one where, despite heavy losses, loyalist forces were slowly gaining the upper hand.
"Second squadron to Point Zerus-Tango" he commanded as he directed a dozen of his Mandator IIs into the path of arriving Corellian forces amidst the largest battle the galaxy had seen in a millennium, perhaps several millennia. Even Naboo was dwarfed by this great banta poodoo of a multi-system engagement….yet, somehow, Jan could understand the flow of the battle, see the gaps and openings before his enemies. Disturbing as he found himself almost revelling in the deaths caused, a strange bloodlust filling him and his crew at this pivotal moment in the salvation of the Galactic Republic from tyranny.
Already he could feel the presence of the largest and best formations of Alsakan and Corellia either present in system, or on the routes into Coruscant. This was a marathon not a sprint, and he himself had managed a few hours short rest so that he was relatively…fresh…as he watched the arrival of the heavy elements from the Corellian system. The Alsakans had been the Special Weapons Division of the Republic to their own asteroid fortress base, but that did not mean it had been a failure either. One that Jan now brought out from hyperspace with its two dozen 'tugs' of Lucrehulk-class battleships taken from the Commerce Guild over the last three years.
"Orders to Fourth Fleet…." he called out as the massive star fortress dropped out right 'below' and in the middle of the Corellian battle wedge "…engage the Corellians. Interdiction systems on the Eye to be brought active before the second wave of CorSec arrives! All starfighter reserves to be launched, bombers targeting the enemy heavies!""
Real-space warped and twisted to his vison as hyperspace interdictors triggered at the same time as the hyperspace weapon aboard the Eye. Not only that but a million turbolaser batteries on all sides opened up this new engagement, causing Jan to look away at the sudden flashes of brightness filling space. For a moment the terrible wrongness of the galaxy filled him…
Then washed away as something unexpected happened. Beyond the outer defences of Coruscant another great asteroid materialised with a host of warships – the Alsakan's own so-called Anvil of Coruscant, flanked by its escort fleet. Outside the range of the Sword of the Republic beam weapon, which itself was in the midst of it's long recharge cycle over the planet, and now surging forth thousands of starfighters. Confusion reigned inside Jan for a moment, unable to feel or see what the enemy was doing as commands, unknown and strange, raced out from that asteroid fortress. But only a moment as he forced down the thoughts, drawing on his years of experience to call forth the reserves to engage the enemy…
--
[Closing days of 14BBY]
[Experimental Mobile Super Fortress Anvil of Coruscant, Grand Army of the Republic 4th Fleet, Coruscant System, The Core, Galactic Republic, New Republic Alliance]
Gentis's command emerged from hyperspace to the image of out the nine corellian hells as vast fleets clashed, warships dying in droves in specular explosions mixed with dying screams. Yet there was no time to react for the human general, instead he could only order his forces to battle, deploying the stations heavy weapons as the fleet smashed into the flank of the attacking Kuati fleet. The remaining orbital defence planforms were on their flanks now, the broken defence line sudden resurrected by his 'flagship' as interdiction engines were triggered, trapping dozens of enemy warships that looked to be trying to escape.
"All strike squadrons launch! Engage the enemy!"
Below on the surface of Coruscant a massive battle was raging, with much of the planet already lost to terrorist insurgents, with the traitorous Palptine having made planetfall near the planetary capital under the guns of enemy Star Destroyers. Those locations were beyond Gentis's vengeance…for now…but the rebel positions beneath his orbital position were not…
"Rain orbital death upon those traitors!" he ordered, the yeas of war, the betrayals, the destruction of galactic peace all burning through his mind in that moment as he watched comm-feeds of the massacres taking place as terrorist 'democracy supporters' slaughter their way through loyalist areas "Redirect the heavy batteries! Flatten those strongholds!"
No mercy could be shown any more to these traitors. Who knew what horrors they were willing to inflict upon the innocents of the galaxy under his protection?
No, the traitors, and the spawn of traitors would be dealt with…here and now…
Below the Anvil millions died in the righteous rain of turbolaser and railgun fire that level two 'cities' on the city-world, both strongholds of the traitors. Cracking the lines for loyalist legions to recover, and then hurl themselves forwards through the underground hives and tunnels to strike again. Even the destruction he was raining down was surface deep, only a few dozen level layers down into the vast city-underbelly of the planet proper. But first…
Gentis gestured at the screens "I need squadrons…" and by that he meant Star Destroyer or Star Dreadnought squadrons he thought to a terrible horror "…to engage this target here. It must be destroyed, no matter the cost!"
The target was some great tube spaceship that was a massive energy weapon that…did something…to hyperspace when it fired, but most importantly was a massive beam weapon that had destroyed ships and stations with a single shot. Whether it destroy the Anvil with one shot…
Was not something Gentis was willing to test, so death was directed at the enemy superweapon. No, what mattered now was to kill Palpatine. If the so-called Supreme Chancellor of the traitors was slain here, then it didn't matter if the battle was won or lost, only that that the man was slain. He, more than anything, was the traitors lynchpin, the symbol they all rallied to. His Dark Jedi powers were a help there as per all reports, and why the Anvil's command centre, and a handful of the Mandator-II knockoffs in his fleet, had its weird-lizard habitat to account for historical dangers of dealing with powerful Jedi. No, that man needed to die.
No matter the cost.
"Second line Ready Squadrons to deploy. I want the orbitals above the capital city-sectors interdicted! Nobody gets off the planet! Forward! For the Republic!"
From the launch bays of the Anvil another horde of starfighters and bombs issued forth as the heavy warships he'd send forwards smashed into the defence lines around the enemy superweapon. Beyond that the Corellians were getting torn asunder, but in their deaths gaps were opening in the Kuati lines. Gaps that Gentis now focused on as ship after ship pushed towards the focal point of the battle…
--
[Closing days of 14BBY]
[Surface of Coruscant, Coruscant System, The Core, Galactic Republic, New Republic Alliance]
Jedi Battlemaster Cin Drallig glanced away from the dead Sith Acolyte to the sky with ease, and not just because of the horrifying lightshow taking place there. Serra, his once apprentice, was up there, hopefully heeding his advice to leave the system with the data-sets he'd recovered and claimed as vital to return to Corellia and the Order. Useful data-slates recovered, yes, but…not why he had done so as he saw the uneasy wrongness whispering everywhere on Coruscant in every shadow. No, Serra and the half-dozen youngest Knights and Padawans with her as an escort might at least survived, untainted, by sending them away as only the strongest willed and most experienced Jedi should risk being here…
'For whatever this horror is' he thought striding forward amidst the battle, soldiers from CorSec, some few from the Royal Guard of Alderaan, mixed with volunteers from across the galaxy all around him. Battle Meditation, or something like it, was being wielded by the Sith, along with some Sith Sorcery that fed upon the very deaths taking place on this world. Worse were the Things in place of clone troopers….or had once been clone troopers, as they charged forward in broken armour, minds barely there, bodies awash with the Dark Side as crimson lightsaber wield monsters like the one he'd just slain controlled them.
Whatever means the Alsakans had used to kill many of the Sith clone troopers had not been enough to overcome Sith Sorcery as the skies roared with an unnatural storm amidst the battle in the skies, raising up those insane and dying clones to re-join the battle once again. Whatever was being done sickened Cin through the Force, and he worried on those young fools that fought for the Alsakans as Coruscant…the Dark Side was everywhere, the feeling of death almost overwhelming. But there was no escaping it now for him and those with him as they pushed forward to prevent the Sith Lord from doing whatever it was he was doing distantly – for the fall of Coruscant was a pivot. A shatterpoint as the dead Master Windu would have seen it, and even Cin could see the disaster awaiting should the Sith retake the Galactic Capital…
So, Cin Drallig continued to push forward as….
Stopped. Starred in horror as lightning erupted into the skies from the nuclear ruins of the Temple District, striking hundreds of transports and even larger warships visible higher up in the atmosphere. Death raced through the Force, the winds and world howling in pain as vessels caught flame or simply exploded above the Jedi as the Legions of the Dark Side charged forth at them as a horde. Once more the Battlemaster's shining blade began to swing and strike, slaying the minions of evil without mercy. Artillery rumbled in the distance in response, turbolaser returning fire from orbit as the skies of Coruscant were thrown into chaos by the twisted powers of the Sith Lord.
Cin Drallig could almost feel the twist joy and hateful laughter through the Force, but he was resilient, pressing ever forward, exhorting the soldiers to greater acts of valour even as the dark wave washed over them. Today would be the day the Sith were destroyed, utterly, and not the day of their victory even if he and every Jedi here must die in the process. The stakes were simply too high not to pay the cost for victory. Not was he watched tens of thousands die before his eyes to Sith Sorcery, and then more as a Star Destroyers, it's decks aflame, feel from the sky in the distance to crash into the surface of Coruscant with a terrifying roll of thunder. Yet, even as the dust and gush of wind hit him from the right side, he and soldiers continued to charge forward…
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