Chapter 4: The Ground Invasion

Orbital landings are difficult to pull off, but also a lot easier than what people might initially think. Militaries that operated on multiple planets didn't often have large amounts of garrisons on them, as it took resources that would be better spent on a powerful Navy or an offensively focused army. Sure, many worlds have arms stockpiled to mobilize a large amount of their population theoretically but I'd an if an invasion was fast enough it wouldn't get the chance to mobilize and those arms stockpiles would probably be seized by whoever took over the planet.

That was assuming that those arms stockpiles were still there. Criminals and rebel groups had raided more than a few of those stores, and they had often been turned on by the Imperial forces they were supposed to help defend. But across much of the empire the stockpiles remained, though they wouldn't be that useful to the empire.

Invading Planets for Dummies, published several years after the end of the war by General Augustus Marks of the United Nations Marines

General Augustus Marks of the United Nations Marine Corps stood on the bridge of the heavy assault ship Juno Beach as it descended into the atmosphere of Yoss IV. The large landing ship of the Omaha Beach Class had been inspired in concept by the Clone Wars era Acclamator Class Assault Ships, a large warship capable of defending itself in combat but primarily designed to hold large amounts of troops as well as the vehicles and supplies to back them up.

Each of these over 800 meter-long ships could carry 16,000 soldiers and depending on their size, up to 500 ground vehicles as well as dozens of atmospheric combat fighters. It was designed to fully support a small or medium-sized invasion itself, and a few could make up an even larger one like was being done today. There were five being here today, as well as half a dozen smaller landing ships that ranged from only a couple hundred meters long to others that were over 600 meters in length.

Together, they carried over 100,000 troops and tens of thousands of ground vehicles. Several other landings were occurring across the world with invasion forces of a similar magnitude.

The landing site that they had chosen was a field about 50 miles from the planet's capital city, Oster. They would be in range of artillery in the city, which was unfortunate but the guns would be suppressed or destroyed by the air targets.

The landing went smoothly as soldiers rushed out. After ten minutes the first waves of vehicles were on their way out to begin the attack, and more were on their way as time went on. Within an hour, all of the offensive formations onboard the ships had left their ships and were heading towards the city, and a massive logistical train began to follow.

Marks watched as one of the most effective weapons he had ever seen moved around the landing bay of the ship he was on. The most formidable weapon across both Earth and the rest of the galaxy was not some sort of bomb or super laser, it was a forklift.

It lifted pallets and moved supplies out of containers unlike any other machine could do. A strong logistics chain was essential to any interstellar military campaign. Sure, his army could live off of the land for some things but not for spare parts, fuel, and ammunition. Those would have to come from Earth or one of the planets it now occupied, so ensuring clear supply lines to it was simply essential.

The forklift had other features that would help it in its important mission. For example, it had a large capacity for heavy cargo and instead of a normal physical set of lifts used a series of tractor beams that it would use to transport various items around the battlefield and in rear logistical areas.

Recon units had already scouted out the area, both from the air and the ground. And they fed the coordinates of the Imperial positions to the artillery units that Earth used.

Earth's ground-based artillery was made up of several different types of units. These included 36 AT102 Self Propelled Artillery Guns, which were essentially various turbo lasers that were the same type as those used on warships in space. They could lay down suppressive fire over a wide period, and were also fairly accurate when their fire was corrected by orbiting starships and drones they were even more accurate. They were also generally superior to the Imperial guns that they faced, which had not evolved much since the Clone Wars.

But they were not the entirety of Earth's artillery park. The ML200 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) could fire large numbers of precision-guided rockets. A battalion of 18 units plus supporting vehicles had been brought down on the transport. They were commanded by Major Slavonic Yiljec, a Ukrainian who had been amongst the first of his countrymen to operate the American HIMARS during the Russo-Ukraine war. The ML2000 was a lot more modern than the old HIMARS system that he had been trained on in Ukraine, both the launcher and the rockets that it fired.

Like many of Earth's vehicles, the truck had a combined wheel and repulsor lift system for driving. The repulsor lift would help carry the vehicle and give it better performance but it wasn't designed to do everything independently. The wheels propelled it, and due to the help of the repulsor lift it could achieve higher speeds than it could otherwise.

The four launchers had been loaded with large HTMS missiles, which took up the entire launcher and had a very long range. As Earth's forces had been preparing for an offensive against the empire in the region, they had a fairly large supply of munitions for the system.

As they landed troops surged out, supported by large armored columns, Grant watched the force in satisfaction. There were a large number of armored vehicles including 240 Charger MBTs (main battle tanks) were mostly tasked with destroying enemy armored units, or as infantry support platforms when there were no armored targets. 360 Kestrel IFVs would also have some effect against armored targets, but would primarily be supporting the infantry with its fast-firing medium laser cannon and secondary blaster cannons. There were a few Sky Streaker gun/missile air defense systems to defeat air threats, but this wasn't a priority since Earth held unquestionable air superiority. Their rapid-fire light laser cannons might come in handy against soft targets such as infantry and lightly armored vehicles. These were only a small number of the combat vehicles he was in command of as the other landing ship had almost the same complement.

Large infantry formations without armored support would be vulnerable to Imperials, though vehicles were a strain on logistics. So this was why his forces were heavily mechanized.

While this was going on, airborne forces were moving into the city to seize several important objectives that hadn't been important enough for the special forces beforehand. Several bridges into and out of the area would be targeted, along with a few command and control facilities that the army would rather have taken intact than destroyed by airstrikes. Depending on the level of resistance from the Empire, they may be able to try and seize the city themselves with the assistance of the armored and mechanized units that would arrive fairly soon.

There was another major reason why this was occurring: local resistance. Practically every imperial-occupied world had some level of local resistance movement, though they may not be large enough for the Alliance to pay attention. In preparation for the upcoming battle. Earth had gotten into contact with them and the planet was engulfed in various uprisings that were aided by Earth by air support and quite soon by troops on the ground. In the long term, the empire would crush their opposition, but in this short time,e they would have a chance due to the help of Earth.
Or at least that was what Captain Igor Balesenko thought as his gunship approached the target and he made the last checks of his equipment. The officer had performed many such missions both for Earth in the recent past and as a part of Russia's VDV in the time before. To be fair, his service within the once elite formation of the Russian airborne corps had still only been a few years ago, but with everything that had happened since he had first dropped into Hostomel, it felt like a lifetime.

And to be completely honest that was a good thing, as he had put that murky past behind him. But he did take the lessons from his previous experience. He had learned that there was no such thing as a safe airborne insertion, and because many of the planetary landings Earth had experienced in the recent past, he was worried that they may be underestimating the Imperials on this world.

"So the LZ is clear?" He asked the pilot of the GN-56, Lieutenant Krata Sondra. The Twi'lek represented how there was a growing diversity in the people who were fighting with Earth against the empire. She had originally been an independent spacer in the Tibannas Sector, and as time went on the leader of a small group of rebels. They had tried their best to fight the empire independently and even had some small successes, but after Earth arrived they decided to join up with Earth.

Some on Earth believed that aliens were fundamentally flawed when compared to humans, but those ideas had quickly been rejected and pushed out of mainstream discourse. The empire oppressed anyone who wasn't human with a very small number of exceptions. And anyone who was an enemy of the empire was a friend of Earth.

Besides, the Twi'lek girl was pretty attractive as far as he was concerned and he had rumors that this was not unusual for their species. And he wanted to get on in some action, both in combat and in other areas.

"That's what I've been told." She replied. "There isn't a significant force but who knows who could be hiding there."

"Hopefully the local resistance. They supposedly have a decent idea of what's going on here."

Everything was calm as the eight gunships flew down towards their target. They carried Bravo company, which was made up of about 150 personnel give or take a few depending on reinforcement and battlefield casualties. Each gunship held 24 troops, which on one hand was quite efficient in terms of capacity especially when compared with the helicopters back on Earth. Fewer gunships meant that they would take up less space on a transport.

But if one got shot down, that was a significant amount of the landing force. More eggs were being put in a single basket, so to speak.

And that was about to create a pertinent problem for the landing force.

From out of nowhere, explosions racked one of the other gunships as it was blown up in a storm of anti-aircraft fire. Laser bolts danced around the air as the gunships raced toward the surface. Even though the dedicated Imperial AA units had been suppressed or destroyed, it appeared that some crews had relocated their weapons, or they were using weapons to shoot down the gunships that had not been anticipated and therefore had not been destroyed beforehand.
The empire still had some of their AT-AA, which had mostly been destroyed in the early phase of the air bombardment. They were small self-propelled anti-aircraft walkers, which were designed to shoot down various aircraft and starfighters. One had been hidden in a large shipping container and was hitting the incoming gunships with a hail of AA fire.
There were multiple of them across the city that had survived as other gunships began reporting that they had been fired upon. A few were shot down across the world, but most managed to survive the incoming fire.

Sondra saw the incoming fire and dove her gunship toward the ground, rolling out of the incoming fire.

"Gunner get that position lit up." An ATGM was fired from the gunship as it dove to the ground, heading towards the AT-AA which shot it down. Several more anti-tank missiles flew towards the anti-aircraft vehicle, destroying it in a ball of fire.

"Nice maneuvers." He chuckled as they approached the ground. His focus was temporarily removed from the battlefield but shot back to the war that he was about to face.

They landed a minute later and the squad that he had with him rapidly disembarked. The six remaining gunships were going to land nearby in mostly unoccupied land. Their objective was to link up with other units in the area and proceed to one of the few major Imperial bases that had not endured significant air bombardment. Once taken this base would serve as the center for operations in the region and hopefully allow them to capture vital intelligence about Imperial operations nearby.

The Captain felt uneasy as his company disembarked. There were about a hundred and fifty members of it, and he was responsible for them. This area they had landed in was a large park near where some Imperial upper classes lived. Mostly bureaucrats and some higher-ranking military officials, along with their families.

However on the other side of the park; there was a fair amount of lower class housing. Not at the levels of slums, but instead some very basic apartments that had been supplied for those who worked for the Imperial elite. Both of these areas did appear to be clear of civilians, but that wasn't a complete certainty. Appearances could be deceiving after all.

Balesenko wasn't particularly keen on this area. They were in an open field with not much cover surrounded by large buildings that could have unknown numbers of hostiles and noncombatants in them. It seemed like many people hadn't fled the city yet due to the rapid pace at which the battle had taken place. Who knew how many people could be hiding in them?

Some wise person had once said that if you can see something you can hit it, and if you can hit it you can kill it. But he hadn't even gotten to the first part of that kill chain.

His fears were realized when a volley of blaster fire erupted from the nearby buildings. Stormtroopers emerged from the buildings and began firing on him and his men as they were disembarking. A PLEX shoulder-fired missile hit a gunship which went up in flames, killing part of the complement of troops that had been disembarking and the small crew. And more of his gunships received intense fire from the ground, with a few others being destroyed.

"Gunships, get in the air now!" He yelled as they took off with the rest of the troops on them jumping out as they were lifting. Not all of the weapons the empire was using here were guided not that many of the weapons that they had in general were. Mobility would keep the gunships in the fight.

"Sir, the Imperials have civilians in the mix. Some are retreating, but others are not." One of his spotters said, and he watched how some of the scared people were getting worried as they began to run away.

"Looks like a lot of the Imperial upper class, can't say I'm very excited to see them." He muttered to himself. They were probably bootlickers for the empire, who had overseen the conquest and subjugation of the people in this world. But also, some of these might be people who might have aided the rebellion if possible and perhaps were helping the locals indirectly. Regardless, they still were civilians and none had taken up arms against him or his forces yet.

Whoever was in charge here was using Earth's rules of engagement in their favor whether they liked it or not. Earth was doing what it could to avoid harming civilians if at all possible. That wasn't exclusive to them it was a strategy that had been adopted as long as the rebellion had been around. These rebellions had always done well whenever they appealed to the local civilian population instead of using violence against them. Not a surprise in his opinion. It was probably a major reason that Earth was doing so well with the local populations of almost all of the worlds that it was liberated from the empire.

Unfortunately, this meant that he couldn't use heavy weapons against the buildings that were currently occupied by the stormtroopers. He already had evidence of civilians and that would be flatly outside their rules of engagement.

"Sir, we have civilians who are trying to stay alive over there but aren't fleeing for some reason."

"Well tell them to goddamn do so." He said. One of his troops did have a megaphone and began shouting instructions for the civilians to leave the area.

Despite his initial disorganization, he and his troops had soon found cover and were starting to exploit that as they fired from their positions at the Empires. They had taken casualties but were still in the fight.

"We're going to need to take that building." He said, and quickly grabbed one of his squads for the task.

Covered by the other troops, he and the squad rushed forward to attack the position. As they began clearing several rooms it appeared that there were no stormtroopers on the first floor. But room clearing was not an easy task as he watched one of the soldiers under his command get killed by a hail of blaster fire after breaching a room.

Worse, it appeared that the empire noticed what was going on, as they were redirecting troops to try and hold the area. It didn't work out for them. The Imperial's attention was split between two forces, one in front and one flanking.

Several figures moved swiftly towards the Imperial lines from behind. The Captain moved forward and drew his weapons but looked at who he would be otherwise firing against.

These people didn't look like Imperial soldiers; they looked to be a part of the local resistance movement in the world. They looked like many of the small rebel groups that existed across the empire but hadn't yet been subsumed into the broader Alliance.

The two groups moved forward, looking at each other with suspicion. That was, at least before a keyword was uttered.

"Bantha Poodoo!"

"Shitface." The two expletives had developed separately in their respective areas but generally meant the same thing. That, at least, was the view of Earth's top linguistics, though they probably hadn't been needed to determine it.

The codewords had been used to identify both the rebel group and the people behind enemy lines. This particular group had never been too big and therefore never had gained the attention of the larger Rebel Alliance. This was partially because they were in different territory than the Alliance had been on its way to attack, so, therefore, that meant that they were a good target for Earthnto contact. The group was currently engaged in a decently sized uprising designed to kick the empire out of their territory and put it back under local control.

Due to that Earth had dispatched various agents and special forces teams to planets before they ever attempted a landing or even attack. This planet had been the recipient of multiple such forces and had operatives that had been working to destabilize the empire of the world by helping the resistance movement. They had provided the training, weapons, and intelligence required to help them, and they had gladly accepted the help.

"Agent Daniels, where is the resistance?" The Lieutenant asked.

"They're coming, what do you need, Captain? Are your forces doing well?"

"We're pinned down by this apartment block. We need to get more troops there but also watch out for civilians."

"My men can flank them." The resistance leader said as the soldiers raced towards their destination.

They soon made their way into the apartment block that the Imperial stormtroopers were held up in and began clearing room after room. The first one that they breached was met with surprise from the Imperials inside as they hadn't been expecting a flanking maneuver but instead had found they were adjusting. There was enough of an issue for them to start redirecting troops to the other side of the building in an attempt to meet them before they were destroyed. However, it didn't seem to work as they just kept getting cut down once again.

Eventually, the building was cleared, but they found that more than a few civilians had died in the process while some had even fled toward Earth's lines. This was supposedly because they didn't have the resources to deal with them but also because they had been used as human shields, sacrificing for their lives probably under orders of the troops that were still alive.

Under further investigation it showed that the upper classes had been hiding in a bunker, protected by nearby troopers. They claimed that they had no part in the people being used as human shields but he didn't buy that. No, these Imperial upper classes had hidden behind their underpaid and overworked workers and the vile stormtroopers that defended them. At that moment, Balesenko had wanted to execute them on the spot, killing them for their war crimes.
But he pushed those thoughts aside. These people would be taken by intelligence officials, and what secrets they had taken out of them. They would be interrogated, questioned, and their resources once determined put towards the war effort. If they had been secretly helping the rebellion, they would perhaps keep their wealth and help run this planet after its liberation.

But depending on the severity of their crimes, this may not be an option. They would face a variety of punishments, including the stripping of much of their wealth, re-education, imprisonment, or even execution. Earth and its allies did not take kindly nor forgive war crimes or crimes against humanity and didn't care whether they had signed the Geneva Convention or had ever heard of it.

While combat operations might be well underweight in the city, they were only just beginning in the surrounding fields. A column of armored vehicles raced towards the capital, Oster, to relieve the beleaguered forces deployed by the gunship.

Even though they were still far beyond visual range.

"Captain, the Imperial forces are approaching this position. Estimated time until contact is 15 minutes."
"Composition, what sort of units are they Lt?" He fired off a return over the comm system. Captain Burt Stevenson might have been known for many things during his career in both the US Army and now the United Nations Army, but going into battle without intelligence was not among them.

"Looks like about two dozen AT-ATs along with a large escorting force of smaller walkers, over a hundred at least. Doesn't look like a uniform unit though, seems like the Imps have just thrown together just about anything that they could for this role. Looks like a lot of AT-STs being the main secondary opponent." He said. "There are some other infantry carriers like, ITTs, Chariton LAVs, though it seems like a lot of second-line stuff has ended up here as well.

"Alright LT, keep me informed." He replied. He was at the tip of the spear of the 503rd Armored Brigade, commanding a total of 14 tanks in 4 platoons plus two for headquarters. One of which he was riding in at the moment. They were only a small fraction of the several hundred armored vehicles here today, but each of the 14 tanks was his responsibility.

He felt that weight as 15 minutes later the Imperial formation entered their weapons range.

"Gunner, fire a top attack missile at that walker." He ordered. The Charger MBT had a powerful main gun with a heavy laser cannon but it wasn't the only weapons system mounted on the tank. The ATAT might be difficult to defeat without a very heavy laser, so a small missile system had been placed on top of it. It was similar to how some old North Korean tanks had put man-portable anti-air missiles on their old main battle tanks. Not a particularly effective strategy back near the 38th parallel, but this tank had a series of Javelin II missiles that had been designed to take as many shots as possible at the incoming tanks before getting in gun range. Had it not been for the heavy armor of the ATAT such a development might not have ever occurred. However, Stevenson would never complain about extra firepower.

The ATAT's sensors alerted it to the fact it had been targeted, and its head looked around in a desperate attempt to find the Charger MBTs. But this was unsuccessful and the missile hit the small area between the "head" and the body, which had very little armor and therefore rendered the vehicle combat ineffective. From beyond visual range Earth had struck back, but that wasn't all. The missiles had thinned out the ranks of the giant Imperial walkers but they had not done the full job.

But that was something that they didn't need to do.

The tanks began to flank the Imperial formation. While the AT-AT was fairly large and well-armored it was certainly not known for its speed, being much slower than the tanks and IFV of the combined Earth force. With superior mobility, the armored brigade managed to outmaneuver the walkers. The AT-ST and the various other walkers however still posed a threat, but they were still unable to offer significant relief to the larger walkers. The lighter armor of such a vehicle meant that they would have a much higher chance of being destroyed.

And that was exactly what happened. Earth's forces did take damage and some vehicles were destroyed, sure, but unfortunately, that was the cost of battle.

The AT-ATs turned their "heads" towards the tanks that were flanking them from each side in an attempt to prevent the vital weak section heads from being exposed.

But the tanks had been ready for this, and the armored vehicles on the other side of the battlefield soon managed to begin firing at them. The unarmored section was fully exposed, and soon the ATATs were being knocked out in rapid succession.
"Looks like heads are rolling." He said before laughing.
"I wouldn't doubt it." He replied.

However, the ATATs ironically were proving to be less of a threat than anticipated due to their lack of mobility and head vulnerability. The empire had brought along several other vehicles such as the Saber fighter tank. The now-modernized Clone Wars relic had a good balance of mobility, armor, and firepower, and was easy to maintain. But Earth's tanks were still superior.

The various vehicles that carried infantry were rapidly unloading them to provide another layer of defense to the large but ad-hoc Imperial formation. They had a slight height advantage, but none of the armored vehicles moved close in enough to serve as a major threat.

Most of Earth's soldiers that were carried in IFVs were still in their vehicles. This was to reduce the threat to them, as otherwise, they would suffer decent casualties at the hands of the Imperial formation in front of them. With the terrain being in a slightly hilly grassland with only a few trees they would not bring much of an advantage in a fight, when compared to what they would bring in a more crowded environment. Their infantry fighting vehicles, however, were able to contribute a lot to the battle with their laser cannons and missiles.

"Do we have some air support inbound?" He asked. That would make the situation a bit easier to deal with.
"Looks like the air assets have mostly been busy in other areas but that is starting to change. Looks like we have a flight of attack craft inbound, along with eight gunships that have been configured purely for attack."
"Tell Colonel Thompson that we should have the situation covered and that we don't need artillery. With the amount of maneuvering and the way that the battle was going it would be unnecessary and better for striking various other targets throughout the city and surrounding areas. " He said.

The aircraft soon added to the destruction of Imperial lines, as they pounded the area from beyond visual range with missiles. Some of the air-to-ground missiles that they carried could even pierce the armor of the ATAT, which was not very common and their yield was enough to take out much of the surrounding area. And with the walkers already mostly rendered combat ineffective, it didn't make that much sense to continue and go after them.

Meanwhile, the stormtroopers and other imperial infantry that disembarked were not having a great time. They were caught in the open, being taken down by smaller blaster cannons that were mounted on the various armored vehicles of Earth along with automatic grenade launchers. This meant that they were being slaughtered en masse. The firepower coming their way was simply too intense, and they couldn't do much to stop it.

The battle soon drew to a close as some of the faster imperial vehicles began to make the retreat back to the city. However, earth's gunships and fighters were even faster, and none survived to make it back to their barracks.

With the battle over, attention could be diverted to losses. They were fairly minor with 13 IFVs and 11 tanks. Any losses were tragic, but this was a good trade considering that over 300 Imperial armored vehicles had been annihilated. Several of the other vehicles had received damage, and they would return to their mothership turned temporary forward operating base for repairs. Several more heavily damaged vehicles would need to be attended to by armored recovery vehicles due to their lack of mobility.

As his forces advanced he saw large numbers of lasers and rockets fly over his head. The artillery pieces that the transports had brought along must be doing their jobs. With their fire directed by starships in orbit, their accuracy was nothing to scoff at.

The artillery that Earth brought to the table was varied but effective, ranging from small mortar carriers with their small but deadly proton shells at enemy positions. On the larger spectrum of guns, the AT102 Self-Propelled Artillery was essentially a light turbolaser on a hover tank chassis designed for providing indirect fire support to allied units. Compared to traditional artillery that had evolved back on Earth, each blast from this SPG could output far more damage over a consistent period, to the point that it generally was used in a reduced power setting to not be overkill. The drawback to this was a high consumption of ammunition and power, and therefore its large frame carried a large amount of banana gas and had a powerful reactor that enabled its heavy firepower. And supply trucks were never far away, as they only carried a limited number of rounds with them.

That wasn't the only artillery piece that Earth had brought to the fight. The ML200 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems looked fairly like its predecessor, with half a dozen rockets on the back of a truck. Its missiles had a proton warhead meaning that each rocket was essentially a mini proton torpedo, with impressive damage. However, it had a variable yield so that in theory it could be a lot less to take out specific precise targets. It was meant for use in a variety of situations whenever fire support was needed. And following it around were numerous ammunition-carrying trucks that carried the rockets that it fired. The biggest disadvantage to the platform was that its rockers were not accurate on their own, effective targeting information was provided by either starships in orbit, people on the ground near the target, or a command vehicle that had extensive fire control systems designed to give it the targeting information it needed to effectively prosecute the targets it was supposed to.

The artillery operator smiled as another volley of rockets was fired towards their target. Very little counter-battery fire had come towards the area, as most of the imperial artillery had been destroyed already from their air or by previous artillery fire. Imperial guns had been some of the first targets of these guns, in addition to the landing ships that had supported them.

The Juno Beach Assault ships had proven their worth not only in landing troops but in providing artillery support as well. Its combination of heavy turbo lasers and missile batteries could flatten entire cities and while it was an easy target to hit while landing, it also had a lot of armor and a large shield generator.

With the destruction of the Imperial armored formation and the capture of Oster, the battle for Yoss entered a new phase. Any significant concentrations of Imperial forces were pounded by artillery fire or from the air. This paved the way for more ground battles that were swift victories for Earth, to fully control the entire planet. Due to lacking numbers of troops the Empire was unable to control the entire world, meaning that they would be unable to effectively defend themselves against landings.

It would not be long before like many others in the war, the planet fell under the control of Earth.