Assault on Nicrix

[one with many names]

This idea hit me as i was thinking about what i would write if i was ever asked to write for Starwars EU. I realized what i really wanted to know was the future, not the future of our dear heroes the future of the galaxy as a whole. What happens 50 years after Endor? 100 years? 300 years?

I came up with this, it takes place roughly four-hundred years after the battle of endor.


Victer Morez, looked out at the pale blue sky arching over the vast city. A warm breeze blew acrossed the roof-top upon which he was standing but he felt a bitter chill run through his body. He knew what was coming, he wasn't sure how he knew but he knew it just the same. He reached into the travel bag slung over his shoulder and removed a spherical object about eight inches wide. He pressed a button on the side then held it out away from him. The holocron's video recorder captured the sky-line of the city stretching forth for miles around.

He and the others were sent here by the Jedi council to be a mediator between the rebels and the neo-Imperials to try and make piece before blood shedd. However, they arrived just as fighting broak out acrossed the planet. Sense then some of them had been working in the embassy on Niclous Alpha to negotiate piece while they remained here to enforce the rules of warfare laid down by the Organa pact.

The pact, was divided into two parts. The first known as the Declaration of Senient liberties a set of laws protecting the fundemantal freedoms of all senient beings. The secount part, the Galactic Strategic/Tactical Doctrine outlined a series rules that all military powers must abide by.

Ever sense the jedi council declared "We stand alone" two-centuries ago it was these rules that the ordered followed and enforced.

"Hello Victer" called Jasta the female Bothan phantom. Phantoms were a new form of jedi, they used the force to allow themselves to go completely unseen. While it was a skill open to anyone with the force only a precious few could truely master it.

"Hello Jasta" the human replied as he finished his recording and returned the holocron to his pack. "Just wanted to be sure to get this into my Holocron before..."

"It's all gone" Jasta finished for him.

The old master simply nodded. Victor Morez was pretty much what one would expect for a human jedi in his late fourties. His red hair was fading out, some of it was already turning grey, his flat hard belly was turning round and soft. His skin was starting to thin out and his blood-vessels shown through. Still his wisdom and exprience more then made up for his age.

"I can't believe they threw their last chance for piece to the winds" Jasta growled angrily.

"Who?" asked Victor. "The rebels or the imperials?"

The bothan shrugged. "I don't know who I mean. A star-system split in half? One saying empire the other saying republice? This cannot end well, it cannot end well at all"

The Niclous Star-System, position just beyond the Corelean system, was poised between two of the greatest powers in the galaxy, the Neo-Empire and the New Republice. It was ruled by the Niclouse Alliance, a small independent power controling two habbitable worlds. Niclous Alpha served as the capitol while the other, Niclouse Beta was a colony world terraformed by the Old Republice nearly four-hundred years before.

"All these people want is the ability to live their own lives the way they see fit without anyone telling them what to do" Jasta said.

"The Alliance council was elected to their position freely, they were only doing what they felt was right for their people" said victer as he turned to the door to the elevator that lead down into the building. He pressed the button, the door opened and he stepped inside.

"They told them from the begining that they would not stand for it!" Jasta said stepping inside the elevator. "The empire was warned long before they had sent those ships"

"The request to join the Neo-Empire came from the Alliance Council itself. They asked them for protection, would you have turned them down?" asked Victer.

"They were the ones who came here with ships, guns and bombs! They could have sent a political envoy to calm the situation before they sent in the star-cruisers and that women!"

Victor didn't have to ask or even use the force to know what she ment by 'that women'.
"Moth Sienn Valeraz is a good commander and a wise leader. When she first came here she honored the Alliance's request not to land on Niclous Beta giving them time to calm things down. It was the rebels who attacked the Alliance forces and when they were driven from the planet then they asked the Imperials for help and not before"
"They could have tried to negotiate, she could still have tried to resolve the matter piecefully"
"She tried, she aggreed not to conduct any military activities within one-hundred miles of Corina, nor would she pass over the city below orbit"

"She also set up a communications station and supply dump there later on"

"There is no proof of that, the imperial say the only facilities there were a feild hospital and a power-station, the only forces were a company worth of doctors, engineers and military police"

"You onestly believe that?"

"Believe it or not, it makes no difference to us. We are here for a task appointed to us and we are not to get involved, is that clear?"

The bothan took in a deep breath as the elevator came to a halt and the door slid open. "Yes" she half whispered so only he could hear her.

The two stepped out into a small square room. The wall to the left was bare, to the right was a young human male setting at a desk covered with communications equipment.

"Max, what's the word?" Victor asked.
The young jedi paused for a moment then removed the ear-piece. "Traffic is both heavy and constant, and growing" he said with a note of concern. "I don't have the gear to even begin to decode it or track it but I can tell you it ain't far away"

All three of them knew what that ment, but Victor refused to give in to the feeling of dispare. "Get me Haven Bravo" he ordered.

"Yes sir" Max replied.

"At least they were nice of them to give us some warning" Jasta said quietly.

Five days ago, the imperial envoy at the Emabsey on Niclous Alpha delivered to the rebel representative a message explaining that they were preparing to attack the city of Nicrix. Meanwhile a pirate signal from the neo-imperial star-cruiser The Rune hacked into the planets holonet and civilian communication networks annoucing precisely the same thing, providing the rebels with a chance to strengthen the defenses of their capitol and allowing tens of thousands of civilians to evacuate.

However, sense not all of the cities population could be evacuated intime the Jedi envoy sent to enforce the rules of the Organa pact negotiated with the imperials to allow three locations that they would not attack or move through, likewise the rebels would not place any garrison or defense in or around these locations. Choosen for their lack of tactical value they would be a haven for the civilian populace, until the battle was over.

Meanwhile on board the Neo-Imperial Star-Cruiser The Rune.

Imperial Moth Sienn Valares, hero of Dalahax and supreme commander of the Niclous assimilation force opened her eyes and staired up into the empty blackness. She turned her head to the right and could just make out the square shape of the clock she kept. She had programmed it to count down to zero-hour, she had turned it to face away from her because she felt she could rest easier that way. She reached out and turned it to face her. Two hours, thirty-minutes, it showed. Five hours ago she had ordered anyone who was not on duty to get some sleep. This is the moment that would make or break the neo-empire's hold on this system forever.

"Perfect, i won't need the alarm after all" she said and flipped on the lights blinding her for a moment but her eyes adjusted. She flung the blanket back, got up and walked through the door to her right. Her quarters were a small rectangular room, fourteen feet wide by sixteen. To her right was a small door marked 'rest-room' to the left was a closet. She stepped through the door into the bathroom, turned on the water, slipped off her pajamas then stepped inside. She took a piece of soap and ran it over her face and lekku as she went over the plan in her head.
Fighters and bombers take out the designated strong points along the rebel defense line, the tanks move in overwhelming any remaining defense then as the survivors fall back deeper into the city the jump troopers land inside cutting them in half. Then they would either have to fight their way through the jump troops to safety or get ran over by the tanks.

She set the soap aside, washed the lather from her pale red skin and stepped outside. She grabbed a towl, dried off then pulled open a drawer, inside it was a fresh neo-imperial brass uniform. She staired at it for a moment. On the shoulder was her name set below the neo-imperial insignia set below a small cluster of stars. She just looked at it for along moment, she remembered Dalahax. A dome city on a barren, airless world, home to pirates, theives and slave traders masking as politians, laywers and businessmen. She had put and end to that by commanding the task force responsible for capturing the city(it was the only settlement on the entire planet). She eliminated all resistance and took control but in the process had destoryed over half the city. That was how the new Mechanized Urban-combat Units got the name that was known throughout the galaxy, Blockbusters. She had had nightmares about the battle sense then.
Without thinking she put on a white T-shirt and underware, socks then the uniform on over it. She looked into the mirror and tide her lekku into a not like shape. It restricted the unconcious gestures they made and thus limited the messages she sent without even knowing it. It was a thing her kind did only in the most extreme cases, when they wanted no one to have any idea as to what they were thinking. She was not among her own kind, and so they would never notice, still she felt more comfortable this way.

She walked into the main room, walked to her desk and typed in a small sequence on a hidden key-pad which caused a locked drawer to pop open. Inside was a small brief case. She had already grabbed it when she noticed the picture on the desk. Those eyes, filled with trust and innocence, she staired at it and felt her heart sink in her chest. She let go of the case, pushed the drawer shut and proceeded to record a message when it was completed she addressed it and clicked send. Her words were translated into a series of electron pulses that would be sent through hyper-space to their destination. Feeling her heart raise in her bussom, she reopened the drawer, removed the case, shut the drawer back and stepped out of the room.

The moth stepped out of her room, down the hall and into the elevator at the end. She pressed the button to summon it and when the door opened she stepped inside and pressed the button marked Command Section.

"Power" she said to no one. "Power is the source of all evils" she recited. It was an old proverb from their homeworld taught to her by her grand-mother when she was just a child. What had brought it on was she could imagine the tiny metal cube of the lift moving through the massive hull of the ship that served as her headquarters and the flag-ship of the imperial fleet in this area.

The Rune was a standard Nar-Shadda class star cruiser. At thirty-five-thousand cubic meters it was almost twice the size of the older Super Star Destroyers it was replacing with three times the fire-power. She remembered her history, about the legends of generals, admirals, engineers and inventors seeking to create and control the ultimate weapon.
"The Ultimate power in the universe?" she giggled remembering the generals words on the original deathstar. "These days all three of the great powers possess weapons that would turn Palpatine himself green with envy" her giggles decayed into shudders as she remembered the rest of her history how it was abused and as she realized that even more power was at her command.

A wave of dread welled up inside her but disappeared just as quickly as the door came open to show a young ensign waiting on the lift. He was startled to suddenly come face to face with the general herself. He saluted, she saluted back and went on.

She walked through the hall, turned right and stepped through a door marked confrence room. Inside was a round table with a holoprojector built into the middle, sitting there was a small gathering of men, all but one were wearing neo-imperial brass uniforms of one kind or another.
The moth took a seat, sat the case on the table infront of her, opened it and removed several dura-sheets and addressed the group. "Alright gentlemen, we are T-minus two hours to the commencement. We stand ready to strike a devestating blow on the rebel war-machine. This is the battle that will make or break our efforts to stabalize this system. Everything we have worked for over the past year has all come down to this. Every precaution must be taken, every contingency must be considered and every variable addressed"

"Giving the enemy a four day notice of our attack didn't exactly help the situation" commented Bid Takenla the twi'lek commander of the jump-troopers. He saw how her head-tails were tied and it made him feel uneasy, but then his own were done in the same way.

"They knew where the attack was coming and they knew it was soon. The only difference a slight warning will make is to give their non-combatants alittle time to evacuate. Besides the extra time has allowed us more preperation for the attack" the general said.

"It may also help us in other ways" said the Cerean My. Dnika, head of neo-imperial intelegence in the system. "Information from my operatives has confirmed that the rebels have stationed more men and equipment in Nicrix, it would appear they are preparing to make a stand there"

"And the more they commit to this battle the more we can wipe out in a single blow!" growled General Kun Tan, the gungan in command of the ground forces that would smash through the rebels front gates.

"What of our fighter assets in the area?" Sienn asked.

"We have three squads of Tie-Dragons on stand-by" said colonal Carmen Boren the human in command of the fighters. He shot a quick glance at the Mr. Dnika who was sitting acrossed from him. "which from the intelegence reports I was given should, be enough to utterly destory any and all of their defensive strong points. Also one squad of Tie-Hunters and two squads of Tie-Phalanxes to ensure air supremacy in the area"

"I was told we were sent five hunter squardrens and eight phalanx squads" said the general Kun Tan "Where are the others?"

"The other squads are engaged in operations else where on the planet to keep any rebels pinned down and to minimize their ability to counter our actions"

"Are you sure three squads will be enough to maintain aerial supremecy?" asked Colonal Takenla.

"The rebels began this war with minimal fighter assets" Mr. Dnika explained. "Two squads of fighters and four squads of air-speeders, menuverable but lacking sufficient fire-power to be a threat to our forces and too slow to properly react to an attack"

"Also over the last several weeks I have conducted specialy planned operations aimed at weakening their fighters" said Boren "We believe there are only a handful of operational snout fighters and most, if not all, of the speeders are destoryed. As you know we destoryed the only major industrial facility on the planet when fight first broak out, leaving them hard-pressed to replace their loses"

"So we have absolute aerial surpemacy in the Nicrix area?" the moth asked.

"Over the entire planet, general" Boren said allowing his mouth to smile.

"General Kun Tan" Sienn asked, "What is the status of your ground forces?"

"We are in our finale state of readiness, all vehicles have been loaded, all weapons have been charged. The men have
been briefed and debloyed, they await your orders" The gungan exclaimed not even trying to mask the pride in his voice.

"And the jump-troopers?"

The older twi'lek took in a deep breath then answered her. "Both Battlions stand ready for initial deployment. The men have been breifed and armed, the equipment has been double checked. We await your orders"

Sienn took a small sliver of paper and examined it, with a pen she checked off several items then looked to Commodore Mok Norr the bothan in command of the fleet. "Is the fleet ready?"

"The Rune is in geo-synchronous orbit over Nicrix, from here we can intercept any ships attempting to leave the planet from the city and track any movement around it"

"Alright then that just leaves on detail left to be considered" Sienn said looking at the Cerean. "What is the status of the rebel forces in and around Nicrix?"

The cerean paused for a moment and checked a set of documents before giving his answer. "I am not sure of the rebels over all military strength, but i will also point out that not even the rebel high command(if such a thing can be said to exsist) knows exactly how strong they are. From the information that's been coming in we are looking at a force of atleast seven-thousand, most of that being volunteer militia men with little training or exprience. There is, however, a notable presence from former alliance military personel, as you know much of the alliance's garrison forces here defected to the rebels when the fighting broak out. Their organization, training and exprience is comparable to our own but with a severe shortage of heavy weapons, combat vehicles or fighters of any kind their is a massive gap in terms of fire power. With almost every factory complex on the planet either in ruins or under our control i dought they would be able to replace any loss of materiels"

"What of the New Republice senate saying 'we will not allow these people's homeland to fall prey to neo-imperial despots who care for their wallets more then their own people'"? the moth asked.
"So far we see no indication of a program of any kind to send troops, weapons or any form of supplies to the rebels. As by the inter-steller regulations they are allowed to send civilian relief supplies, equipment and personnel but such activities are under the super-vision of the Jedi council"
"Are we sure we can trust the jedi?" Boren asked.
"I think we can trust them to do what they are required to do. Keep their heads down and leave the fighting to the rebels and us" Sienn said. She collected her files back into her breif-case. "Well gentlemen that is everything on my list, any further business?"

The officers looked around but said nothing.

"Alright then" Sienn said standing. "Then, good luck" she saluted then left.

[Jedi Master 2k5]

Sweet story, I can't believe I am the first to comment on this story it's really good.

[one with many names]

I sometimes start a story like this by posting it on a forum(i don't know why but i just seem to write better). I was going to look up a word on Dictionary.com when i accidently hit submit new thread. I'll get the rest written and posted as soon as i can.

[Kam Solusar]

Very interesting thus far. I like all the little tie ins to the time lines we're familiar with.

[one with many names]

When i posted it it said 'too many characters' so i'll post the rest of it here. This is just the first part.


Crimson Hawk H.Q., twenty miles north of Nicrix.

The barracks was originaly a small hangar that had been taken over and now used to house the fifteenth neo-imperial jump-trooper regiment, more commonly known as the Crimson Hawks. The building was filled with bunk-beds with hundreds of people, talking, laughing, telling stories and playing cards. The only word to describe the atmosphere was electrified. Fear, joy, excitement and countless other emotions flowed like spirits as the time of battle neared.

Private Jake Masters was lying on his bunk enjoying the story he was reading when a slap acrossed his shoulder broak his chain of thought.
"Hey lay off the smut, we got work to do!" the old sargeant. "You do realize we are going into battle soon"

"Yeah i know, i'm so excited i just can't keep myself steady. I needed something to calm me down" he said, his voice abit shaky.

"So you read that kind of garbage?"

"This is not garbage! It is a text of truly enlightening and inspiring qualities" the young man's voice sounded more like a doctor talking about the extordinary properties of some new drug.

"A Gentleman and a Rogue?" the sargeant said in disbelieve. "The life and times of Wedge Antilies?"

"Yes! I mean, this is history! It was stories just like his that inspired me to become a soldier. Dreams or adventure and glory"

The old soldier simply broak out laughing. "Kid you have got a loooong way to go and a lot to learn!" he said.

Just then a siren sounded througout the base. "All personnel report emmediately to deployment areas and begin finale checks, initial deployment in one-hour!" and in minutes the barracks was empty.

[one with many names]

They came, four great, towering mechanical behemoths on the horizon. We started shooting as soon as they came into range but they barely even noticed. Then the speeders flew over head and the commander gave a loud cheer that gave us all atleast alittle reasurance. But when the speeders opened fire they still didn't stop and it was then that i was sure we were all looking our death in the face.
Anonymous Rebel Soldier at the battle of Hoth.

Rebel Communications Center on the western edge of Nicrix.
Just another day at the western rebel com-tower. A six story apartment building on the western side of the city that had been transformed into a make shift com-relay. They monitored all rebel communications in the area, the city was so large it required five such towers to properly cover everything.

Inside roughly a dozen officers staired into monitors and listened on head-sets to the constant torrent of information pouring in. Some monitoring the transmissions of the air-traffic, some the transmissions from their troops on the ground, others listening to the various randem signals that could be interferance or perhaps imperial transmissions.
One officer wasn't monitoring any communications, in fact he was watching several monitors tide into the early warning system.
The rebels had few resources at their dispossal but they used them to the best of their abilities.

A vast network of sensors, cameras and microphones had been placed throughout the large prairie just beyond Nicrix's western edge. Normally monitoring such a nwtwork would have been the work of a carefully programed droid but senses the rebels had no such thing to spair they had assigned a living to do the job.

His job was rather simple anyway. All he was required to do was watch the windows on his screen and listen to the microphones for any suspicious activites. If the sensors picked up something out of place they would alert him and he would check the appropriate video or audio sensor.
There was a beeping sound, one of the senors detected something. He brough up the data-feed from that sensor, studied it the pressed his personal com-link. "This is western-com to western-guard, be advised we have possible contact in sector three-zero-two. Repeat; possible contact in sector three-zero-two"

The massage echoed down the chain of command informing the different stations that there may be enemies in the area.
Meanwhile the officer back at the com-tower watched the display from the sensor. He pressed a button that brought up the feed from a microphone not far from there. The sound was a deep hum with crackling as if the air was electrified. Just then another sensor almost two miles away showed the very same readings. He pressed a button activating a video camera specialy hidden. The device turned to give it's operator a full view of the grassy feilds and what he saw caused the blood to drain from his face.

What he saw was a long wedge-shapped repulsor craft with a massive double-barrel gun-turret mounted on top with a smaller gun at each corner. Beside it floated four smaller spherical shapped vehicles in a defensive formation.

The officer slammed his fist down on a large button marked Red-five then screamed into his com-link. "Code red-five, mutliple contacts bearing directly at the city! heavy amor with light escort! All units scramble scramble!"

The wedge shapped craft were infact neo-imperial tanks known as Decimators. To the Mon'calamari they were Ma'achen, the unstoppable force and for good reason. They were protected by a deflector sheild more powerful then those found on most fighters and a foot of special ploymetric-alloy that was vertualy immune to blaster-fire. It's repulsors could carry the massive sixty-ton vehicle over any terrain, even open ocean. It's primary turret conained two hyper-turbo laser cannons sometimes called ray-blasters. They did not infact fire a ray but the shots were fired so fast that to the naked-eye could not see where one ended and another began so they just blurred together into one long blast. The only weakness they could not fit into tight spaces found in forests, swamps or cities.

As the alarm rang over the comlinks sirens wailed within the city.
"Attention everyone!" a voice said over loud-speakers thoughout the city. "Imperial forces are approaching the city! Imperial forces are approaching the city! All military personnel are to report to your stations at once! All municiple personnel are to report to city-hall, all other civilians are to proceed emmidiatly to the sanctuary areas" the message continued to repeat as the city quickly dissovled into panic and chaos.

Rebel soldiers grabbed their weapons and rushed out their battle-stations to await the enemy. Pilots rushed to their craft, medics and doctors went directly for the aid stations while police and firemen reported to the city hall.

Victor stood at the roof the building designated as a sanctuary as the first waves of civilians came pouring in. He was using his holocron to record these events for prosterity. "The first alert just went out a few minutes ago and already people are coming from the four corners of the city" he spoke into the machine. "The rebels are arming themselves and preparing to defend the city but i fear it will not be enough to hold them off" he paused for a long moment and was about to continue when he heard Jasta call to him.

"Victor! Victor! Come quick we need some help down here!" she cried.
"What is the problem?" he asked diving into the elevator and pressing the button for ground level.

"It's utter chaos, i need help just directing people on where to go! We have too many people, too little space, too few supplies and i fear we are rapidly running out of time!"

The door opened onto a scene that was exactly as she described it, complete, total and utter chaos.

"This is not going to go well" Victor said as he turned off his holocron and slipped it into his pocket. Just then a tremor shook the building, if only just alittle. Then another, and another abit stronger then the first two. As the shaking grew more violent he could hear what was causing it.

"They're bombing us!" a women screamed.

Jasta took her by the hand. "You'll be okay, they won't attack us here just get inside" she said.

"But they're bombing us!" she repeated as he hand fell to her belly.

It was then that Jasta noticed the women was nine months pregnant. "It's okay" the bothan repeated in her most soothing voice. The expectant mother blinked, then nodded and stepped inside.

This is not going to go well at all, Victor thought to himself as he struggled to bring order to the situation.

Tie-dragons were small, agile ships designed to deliver a devestating payload of missiles upon any target. Their compact structure and round shape linked them to their ancestors(the tie fighters of the old galactic empire) but their special engines for which they were named clearly showed how much technology had moved on sense then.

The dragon had two-kinds of sub-light engines. Two standard fixed position engines provided forward movement. Four smaller engines mounted on a adjustable wing shapped platform allowing them to push the ship in any direction the flight-computer dictated. Because of this the dragon was the most agile fighter in the galaxy. Armed with fiveteen concussion missiles in three launchers it was capable of laying waste to any enemy stronghold.

Meanwhile, as the dragons were blasting the rebels' defenses to ruble the imperial tanks drew ever closer to the city's edge. Protecting the city was a line of trenches and fox-holes bolstered by bunkers, laser turrets and other defensive structures. All roads leading into the city were protected by make-shift road blocks made of concrete and salvaged durasteel. Able to hinder infantry but far less then a match for imperial tanks.

General Kun Tan watched the hologram infront of him that showed a three-deminsional image of the battlefield. The vehicle he was in, an imperial APC that had been modified to fit his needs as a mobile command center from which he could coordinate the battle, rode in the center of the tank's formation. When all hell broak loose he wanted to be right in the center of it.

"They know we are here" he said quietly. "So we should be incountering resistance very soon"

Suddenly six, then ten then fourteen red dots appeared in the holo-projection above the city, they were closing in on an attack vector. The gungan pressed a button, causing the projector to zoom in. As it did so the dots morphed into the familiar almost disk-shapped image of an air-speeder. He knew the model, a ZH-6. Built by a company passed in new-republice space but was designed for civilian use, it's purpose was to serve as a fast yet agile air-craft for security forces. These however, appeared to be equiped with heavy-blasters.

"General! Multiple airbourne contacts coming in at attack speed!" reported the tacticle communications officer. He was young and relatively inexprienced. While he had been fullfilling such duties for the past several years this was his first time in real combat, it was that way for many of them.

"I see them" the general said with a steadiness that reassured the younger personnel. "Tell the tanks they may fire when ready" he pressed a button that caused the projector to shift to the area just above the tanks.

He felt a chuckle in his heart but fought to repress it. He had studied invasion of his home by the Trade Federation almost four centuries ago. He had often seen himself as the great commander Jar Jar Binks leading his warriors against the federations automated arsenal. Now he felt more like the federation then the gungans.

The air-speeders launched their attack, diving down directly for the tanks, into a sea of scarlet light. The speeders burst into briliant display of fire and metal. The exchange of blaster fire was intense but short lived, after twenty minutes everylast speeder was destroyed and the Decimators hadn't even slowed their advance.

Inside the santuary Victor, Max and Jasta watched the scene on a monitor showing the feed from a remote camera drone.
"They didn't even slow them down" Max said.

The drone was hovering on the roof of a sky-scraper near the cities western edge. On the monitor they could see dozens of large black triangles slowing moving acroess the green prairie towards dark line just infront of the city's edge. The sky which had been a clear blue was now decorated by black and orange dots and streaks.

"They're almost in range of the defense line" Jasta observed.
Just then bolts of green and red light started flying between the tanks and the trench. Even as the shooting became more and more intense the decimators continued their advance.

"Maybe they're not unstoppable" Max said as the tanks came to a halt just infront of the buildings.

However, imperial APC's moved up from the rear to the front of the formation. Once they were infront of the tanks, thousands of soldiers disembarked and moved into the city. Rebels, lucky enough to escape the tanks and brave(or perhaps stupid was a better term) to hold their ground and fought to stop the foot-soldiers. The shooting was constant but sparatic and not enough to turn away the imperial onslaught.
Victor turned suddenly to face Jasta who had the same look on her face aswell.

"Max turn the camera around!" Jasta barked.

He did so. The view on the monitor spun a full one-hundred-and-eighty degrees to show the skyline of the city's business district. Over it was moving a large cluster of small, black lines that began to drop from the sky in groups of about twenty. As they did so blasters flew from the ground as the defenders tried to hold them off.

"It's over" Victor said mournfully. "They can't possibly hold out now"

"There are still alot of rebels here and they are fighting on their home turf" said Max. "And they look like their putting up a pretty good fight"

"But even if a good portion of their forces survived the tanks and the bombing now their under attack from the inside aswell as the outside" Jasta said. "There's no way they can hold out against that. If they consolidate all their resources into one spot to make a stand the dagrons will simply bomb them into oblivion. And if they spread out they'll get overwhelmed"

The Jedi were far from the only ones watching the battle play out. Sienn Valares was in the bridge of the Rune watching a monitor that showed an aerial view of the city. The dark blob was now alive with movement all around, black pillers rose into the sky as flames dotted the ground. While watching this she listened to the holographic image of general Tan Kun from the ground.

"The outer defense line is in ruins" the gungan said. "The troops have been deployed inside the city and are pressing inward"

"Casualties?" asked Sienn.

"Minimal, they didn't have enough fire power to get through the sheilds. The troops are incountering some stiff resistance but losses are light"

"Alright keep up the pressure, at this rate it's only a matter of time before they crumble. Valares out" she pressed shutting off the hologram. She turned away form the console to another panel behind her where Boren sat watching over the fighters. "What is the status of the fighters?" Sienn asked.

"The hunters and the phalanxes have achieved total air-supremacy in the area" the human reported. "All of the Dragons' targets have been hit and destroyed. Two of the squads are asisting the ground forces while the other is staying in low orbit awaiting instructions"

"What about the jump-troopers?"

"They're passing over the city now, T-minus eight minutes to finale drop" Boren smiled and walked over to stand next to her. "Everything is going just fine"

"I know" Sienn said gloomly. "That's what worries me"

Jake Masters had been watching the ground over a mile below slip past him as the familiar form of the city drew closer and closer until it was directly below him. Around him was the rest of his outfit, platoon Beta-A-3(battalion Beta, company A, platoon 3), in the distance he could make out the black dots of the ties and wished to the stars he had asked to become a pilot rather then a jump-trooper.

All that stood between him and the ground below was the large rocket pack strapped to his person, for which they were named for. The packs were capable of carrying them through the air for atleast thirty-miles. They were often used in fast-response forces to quickly reinforce a position when more traditional forces were not availible or when a plan required a flanking maneuver. With the packs they could ascend to an altitute well out of range of most weapons, coast over the battlefield in relative safety and then come down anywhere.

The city was split almost perfectly down the middle by a river running north and south. The plan was to send in the fighters to saturate the rebel defenses then attack them with tanks to break through the western perimeter then drop jump-troopers between the rebels and the river hoping to destroy the rebel presence in the western part of the city and showing the rest that any further resistance would be pointless therefore sparing the other half.

If the plan went as the Moth hoped then this one battle could end the fighting once and for all. However it ment that an entire regiment would have to go into the middle of the fire-storm.

And that is what we are here for, Jake thought to himself as the head's-up-display in his helmit showed he was nearing drop-point, the point where the troopers would drop down onto their target. Just then blaster bolts began to shoot up from the city below.

Due to his training his next moves were more reflex then concious thought. He clapped his hands together causing a pair of thin plastic wings to pop out of his fore-arms. Using them he jinked left, right, up then down trying to make himself harder to hit. They were almost to the drop-point when the voice of Colonal Takenla rang through the communicator.
"All units power dive! Power dive!" he cried out.

Jump-trooper protocal stated that when they had reached their drop point they were to shut off their packs and simply free fall to the ground activating the repulsor pads on their legs just intime to deccelerate to a safe speed before going splat on the ground below. However there were times when free-falling would not be fast enough to evade enemy weapons fire from the ground, to counter-act this jump troops would turn so that their head was facing down while their packs remained firing. Rather then free falling to the surface they would drop like a fighter. Once they were low enough they would either use the repulsor pads to slow them or use the control surfaces on their arms to glide down to safety. The choice was often left to the discretion of trooper in question.

Jake continued his dive until he was in amongst the buildings of the city's business district then switch off his pack and using his arm-wings pulled up untill he leveled off. Turning his head he saw the small green dot with the number point-five-six-K below it.

The helmit's view was tied into a special computer containing all the operation's data. The green dot marked his platoon's first objective and the number showed that he was just over one half kilometer way.
He pulled up, turned right coming to the roof of a six story building then clicked his heels together activating his repulsors and flipped head-over-heels in mid air as he clicked his heels again. With his foreward momentum removed he dropped landing on his feet.

"This is Private Masters to Beta-A-3, Beta-A-3 respond" he called into his comlink. After a moment he hurled himself over the building, using his repulsors to slow his descent as he dropped. "Beta-A-3 respond!" he called again as he ran off into the city.

Meanwhile the city's western frontier had callapsed into total anarchy as the imperial's continued their advance. Rebels continued to put up resistance snipping from the windows of buildings, firing one shot then withdrawing before they could react. Similiarly others laid booby-traps and mines all over the streets hoping to hault the imperials.

[one with many names]

Again too long to be put in a single post. I put the quote at the start because i thought it seemed to make things seem more real. I don't know one way or the other. I guess i watch too much history channel.

Anyhow here is the rest of part two.


Victor looked out of the window from the top floor of the building watching the flashes of red and green light. He felt a buzzing in the back of his mind, something he could not account for, something that shouldn't have been there. He pulled the comlink from his pocket.

"Jasta, what's our status?" he asked.

"So far we're holding out. I've got everyone down in the basement, abit tight but we can manedge. That women's water just broke but the doctor is handling it " the bothan replied. "Supplies are okay but the real problem is fear everyone here is just so afraid"

"I figured that" Victor said thoughtfully. "Max what's the status of the imperials?"

"The main force from the west is still pushing deeper although they've been slowed down by the tight streets and are begining to take significant loses. The rebels are falling back but their putting up some stiff resistance, unfortunatly it just not enough to hold them off"

"What about the jump-troopers?"

"Pretty much the same thing, they've incountered resistance but have made it down in force and are moving out in all directions slowly expanding"

"Jasta" Victor's voice dropped off as he searched for the right words. "Do you..."

"Yes" she said. "I do"

"What?" Max asked.

"Jasta, hold the fort" Victor said.

"Victor wait!" Jasta interjected. "Let me go, i'm the logical choice"

"I am incharge here, if someone has to do this it should be me!"

"I am the phantom here! You can go unnoticed but i can go truely unseen! I can move about with greater ease, you know I am right"

There was a long silence, "Alright then" Victor said finally. "But be quick!"
"Yes sir" the bothan said. She clicked her comlink off and slipped it into her pocket then dashed out the door.

The street was clear and quiet but the air was filled with the sound of battle. The sounds of blaster fire, yelling and explosions were all around her as she moved through the city.

Phantoms were jedi who used the force to go unseen and unheard. No one was sure how they did it exactly, some theorized that maybe they manipulated the light around them others felt perhaps they were effecting a person's mind so that they simply wouldn't remember. Either way, Jaste moved unseen through the dark places of the city. She took great pains to be sure and avoid the fighting, but at the same time followed that strange feeling in the back of her mind.

It took her deeper and deeper into the rebel's positions. She slipped through a manhole into the sewers, dropped several levels and continued on for almost a mile before coming to a dead end. Senseing something on the other side she started to put her ear to the wall but then stopped.
"I could jeopardize the order's neutrality" she said quietly.

For nearly three hundred years sense the Galactic Alliance was destoryed by the secoun galactic civil war the jedi order has sworn never to involve themselves in any military action of any kind. They would neither aid nor hinder either side of this war, if she learned secrets of tactical or even strategic value she could inadvertently effect the course of the battle or the war. If that happened, if a jedi had helpped one side or the other it would surely destory all the order had accomplished over the past three centuries.

She took a deep breath and was about to walk away when that feeling in the back of her mind pulled her back. She thought about the people inside, thought about the baby that would soon enter this world. "If it effects them then we must know about it" she said and placed her ear to the wall. Listening she didn't hear a thing, then reached out with the force and what she saw made her blood run cold.

Instantly she was gone, retracing her steps, running as fast as the froce could push her. This time she didn't even try to go unseen just to take the shortest possible route back to the sancturary where Victor awaited him. When she reentered the building she almost collapsed. Victor caught her in his arms.

"What is it? What did you learn?" he asked.

Jasta dared not speak it, so she placed her hands on his temples and projected the image of what she saw into his mind.

Terror struck at his heart as he saw the grey uniforms of the New Rpublice's Elite Guard.

"Oh my god..." he whispered. "The republice is here"