Consolidation No Loose Ends

[Ahalir Gafaron]

Tap tap tap

The noise produced by the boots' heels tapping on the marble floor echoed in the large hall of the sanctum. Once, that building represented the parliamet of Agrilon IX, centre of the old Republic government. Ahalir could recognize the points of the internal balcony on which the colourful banners were hanged from, before they were removed by the Imperial Occupation Force during the initial stages of the invasion. Darth Thea herself had planned the campaign, Ahalir recalled. And yet, although the initial invasion managed to break the majority of the ground forces the enemy possessed, a significant number remained active.

"General, sir." the voice of the Imperial sounded, as the man approached. Ahalir was quick to recognize the red rank plate attached on the Zeltron's grey uniform's chest.

"Colonel Malenze." said the General. His voice as sharp and cold as his facial expression. Baring the marks of old burns, cuts and battle wounds, Ahalir's face looked every day of his age. And he had indeed grew old, he oftentimes admitted to his one and only trusted ally: Himself.

"I have arranged for the command centre to be at the upper levels. Please, come with me, General." Colonel Malenze gestured forth, and so the General stepped forth, after a tilt of his head. General Ahalir Gafaron had always been a man of both etiquette and procedures. It was no coincidence, the General reminded himself, that so many years ago, decades, even, when his career in the Imperial Guard had barely begun, he was nicknamed "The Noble" due to that particular tendancy he had towards rules and enforcing them. He always smirked to himself when he recalled these times which to him felt like an entire lifetime ago. He was once a mere sergeant, and now? He had managed to elevate himself to the command of entire armies, as a decorated General of the Imperial Army. He had survived through it, and now could finally taste the spoils of his struggles...

The two Imperials walked through the many halls and stairways of the elegant structure, before arriving on a set command chamber. After removing the old furnature that now served as barricades against the walls in needless fashion, Colonel Malenze had installed a large holotable on which a map was perpetually on display, with multiple mobile stations of communication officers and scanners were placed, using the crates in which they had been carried as desks.

"Attention on deck!" the Colonel shouted as they entered the chamber, causing all operators and officers in it to jump to attention.

"As you were, gentlemen" Ahalir shook his head, gesturing with his gloved hand for them to return to their duties. "As you were... I would not want to distract you, you are our ears and eyes, now, gentlemen."

The Colonel proceeded to type on the holotable's console. The projection shown was a mountainous terrain, with several markers over what seemed to be military units and vehicles crossing the plateau, gradually surrounding a high hill which spanned almost the entirety of the map, rich with ravines and caves and dense bushlands.

"Hill 474, General. Our scanners have located the rebel forces in the region. Our intelligence have this to be a supply depot for their munition and equipment supply throughout Sector 11."

"I am aware, Colonel..." the General shook his head. A Scout Trooper approached, holding a small steamy cup, attracting the General's attention. "Oh." he exclaimed. "Thank you." he said, picking the cup of tea from the trooper before nodding him to leave.
"Do not be deceived, gentlemen. I am well-aware of the situation. Darth Atrox has tasked me to see this rebellion to a swift end. I would not be here if I required a briefing..." he spoke correctivelly, establishing himself in the chamber. He took a sip of the hot tea, walking around the holotable. "Are you aware of the rebel numbers, Colonel?" he inquired then.

"Must be some three hundred rebels, General. Our scanners cannot penetrate the hill's rock formations, so we do not know if more are present."

The General halted, turning on his heels to focus his attention on the holoprojection. He studied the data presented to him with intensity; Each moment passing, his mind raced to yet another alternative, another tactic, another information received, processed and analyzed with almost abhuman efficiency.

"The rebels have dug themselves in well. We will have to change that." he suggested. His eyes turning to the Colonel as he commanded.
"Call the artillery."

 

[Eaglor Aest]

"Sir! Sir!!" the Twi'lek guerilla shouted as he rushed through the narrow tunnel.

"Yeeeah, I noticed, Jarbaz. We got guests...." Eaglor exhaled. His vision obscurred by the binoculars with which he scanned the distant view from the altitude of the hill. His green armour was a mixture of Republic Commando gear, altered by salvaged or modified sockets, equipment and patches he had improvised during the time spent on Agrilon IX.

Agrilon was initially an agricultural world, serving as a major exporter of raw materials as well as food for the entire network of Republic colonies in the nearby sectors. For the Army, Agrilon system served as a command post and refuelling station. After the fall of the system to the Imperial Navy, several months ago, those Republic troopers stranded on the planetside were forced to surrender, or retreat to planetary strongholds and major settlements they had enough supplies to defend.

It took many grueling months for the Imperials to break through the major Republic positions, which they achieved without small use of orbital strikes and abuse of the local population, commencing massacres and mass conscriptions of forced labour that were later shipped off-world. A war of terror, launched by the now renown General Gafaron, who had been appointed by the new Sith Governor of Agrilon IX, Darth Atrox, to see any resistance crushed. And he was quite skilled at his work indeed, having been the destroyer of many republic strongholds by then.

Eaglor was lying on his side, scanning the distance with his binoculars, counting the vehicles that formed the long imperial column several kilometers away.

"Took their sweet time." he commented. "That means we are on for a big show... Those Imps love fireworks..."

 

[Ahalir Gafaron]

The massive Imperial transports moved through the fields, following the narrow dirt road that was carved inbetween the hills. Every few hundred meters, a couple of those massive transports halted. Their back doors opened and numerous Imperial Guard troopers jumped out and developped a formation next to the hulking vehicle. Farther ahead, the first of the Imperial Artillery guns were rolled out of the massive transports and pushed by large lifter droids to place, nailed down the rocky ground by their crews.

"Status?" General Gafaron inquired to his operators.

"Captain Tara has begun deployment in Zone 9, General. Five minutes to completion."

Ahalir leaned back on the chair he sat on, caressing the edges of his tea cup with his gloved hand. His gaze fixated on the holoprojection of the holotable ahead of him.

"Good." he said then. "Signal the air force to begin their runs."

From the distant airfields, beneath the old Parliament building, the Imperial squadrons of starfighters scrambled, pulled by lifter vehicles out the hangars and taking off by their dozens; escorts, for the heavier and much slower bombers that would carry the explosive payload to the rebel base.
Mechniks, pilots and support personnel rushed back and forth all across the airfield, as the alarm rung loudly, signifying the operational alert of the base.

Over the tall anti-air automated turret batteries, the swarms of the Imperial air force flew, heading South towards their targets....

"Squadron 6, we are approaching the target. Three minutes to engage." the flight captain reported to the commlink.

"Three minutes for air strike, General" the operator reported in turn, to Ahalir, who seemed unmoved.

"Good." he shrugged, taking another sip of his tea. "Prepare the paratroopers. We should keep the rebels busy today..."

 

[Eaglor Aest]

The Sergeant rushed down the tunnels. His armour clanking against the F-411 Saboteur rifle, standard of the Republic Army. Although not the weapon initially issued to Sergeant Aest, he had to replace his gear as the war continued, resulting with a weapon looted from the arsenal of a city he had fought to its defence, and yet he could not recall the settlement's exact name. To him, all of Agrilon's names sounded the same.

He rushed to the underground base, where several troops worked benches with equipment, retrofitting of artillery barrels, refilling canisters, charging or repairing power cells and much more, all in one chaotic cave network.

"The Imps are coming, lads!" he shouted.

"Take your positions, troopers! For the Republic! For Agrilon!" the aged Ithorian roared. His voice a gutterly rumble, having spent an entire lifetime barking orders and shouting on commlinks for reinforcements that would never realistically arrive. And all that, for him to be now stuck with just a handful of troops, beneath a mountain in a forsaken world.
And yet, he held. Contrary to his words to the troops, if it wasn't the sudden and rather unexpected, but most certainly suicidal breakthrough of the Jedi some months ago, the struggle for Agrilon would have been lost by now. But with the addition of several dozen Jedi Knights into the rebel ranks, the stranded Republic forces experienced an indescribable spike in morale and determination alike, while the Jedi fighting for the guerilla forces brought victories that carried a wave of support from the public of Agrilon.

For Major Jun-Utha Kala, the fight was not over, and he was determined that the Republic would eventually break through to Agrilon once again.

"Sergenat Aest!" the Major commanded.

"Major, sir!" Aest saluted.

"Catch your breath." Jun-Utha braced the man's shoulder. "How many?"

"Some two thousand, they must be, sir. Maybe more. They are developping formations to the North. Heavy tracks and all..."

"I see..." said Jun-Utha. "Get to the upper bunkers. Have the troops ready the AA guns and seal all hatches."

"Right away sir."

 

[Ahalir Gafaron]

"BS-1 to BS-7, do you copy?" The commchannel buzzed next to the cockpit's controls. Several of the myriad buttons that laid the console shined bright red, green and yellow, with the pilot addressing each and every one of them in a repetitive pattern. Driven more by muscle memory than actual processing, the pilot proceeded with the subsequent checks and rechecks as the bomber climbed higher in the atmosphere.

"BS-1 to BS-7, do you copy?" the commlink presisted.

"Carl. Carl!" the man curled behind the open hatch shouted. Wearing the same outfit as the pilot, he was performing a similar ritual of checking in the bomb bay. Hardly spacious to fit a grown man, the co-pilot had to twist himself through to arm and secure the grim payload of the bomber.

"CARL!" he shouted.

"WHAT!?" the pilot barked back.

"The damned commlink!"

"Right." Carl tilted his head. He tapped on the commlink, passing through the transmission.

"What the frak, BS-7?" the demanding squadron captain spoke as soon as the connection was established.

"BS-7 to BS-1, we read you, over."

"We are approaching the drop point, BS-7. You and your twins will deliver payload to coordinates 5996H and 5668G." the squadron captain instructed. "Eyes open for Flak, I don't want to report no losses this time. BS-1 out."

The pilot nodded, continuing his checking rituals around the consoles. In the distance, mountains became visible, with several points of elevated dust from troop movements and black columns of smoke indicating they finally approached the front.

"How are those Blazers looking, Frank?"

"All set, Carl." Frank slithered out of the bomb bay, taking his seat as the co-pilot. "Those rebels still put up a fight..." he commented.

"Yeah, with so many Jedi on the loose, why not? They got enough plasma to bust our nerves..."

"True that. Lets give them a proper pounding for it, then."

"Cap wants us to do a run over the upper bunkers on 5996H. We will be getting some flak. Ring the twins. Spread out, attack formation."

"On it." Frank affirmed, typing on the console the instructions of the pilot.

The three bombers flew in a triangular formation, gradually splitting from the rest of the squadron and setting course for the high points of the hill.
In a flash of light, the skies filled with flak from the hill. The bomber quoke every time another explosion shook her wings.

"Maintain formation." Carl instructed through the comm channel.

The closer they flew to the hill the thicker the flak became. Frank counted down, using the scanner screen to time the release of the heavy payload on the marked coordinates.

"Bombs away!"

 

[Eaglor Aest]

The Sergeant rushed through the narrow tunnels, heading to the upper levels of the network. Alarms rung all around the underground base, while troops and rebels alike rushed to man their stations against the imminent Imperial attack. Eventually, Eaglor arrived by the vertical ladder that led up to the cylindrical entrance to the AA-gun emplacement. Although sizeable, the hill's fortified positions had to be concealed from the aerial scanners, resulting to the retrofitting of large lifts that poped the defensive batteries from large hatches beneath rock and flora formations to avoid detection, or at least, reduce the bombing accuracy.

The sergeant climbed to the seat, between the two large barrels and buckled himself on, before powering up the system.

"Salla! Garis! You here!?" he shouted.

"Prep'ing now, sarge!" Salla, the purple Twi'lek guerilla reported, rushing herself to the controls to begin the deployment of the gun. "They are coming straight at us, sarge! Garis is bringing new load of ammo!"

"No time! Pump us up!" Eaglor demanded.

With a push of the throttle, the large weapon begun its ascension on the circular platform, with the Twi'lek jumping onboard as the hatches above openned, revealling the blue skies of Agrilon IX.

"Spot me, Salla." Eaglor urged the Twi'lek. She reacted quickly, grabbing a large cylindrical power-cell and mounting it below the barrels. She hastly attached the connecting wires to the power transformer before hitting the relaying button.

"Set!" she reported.

The AA-gun geared around itself, and Eaglor begun firing at the distant squadrons approaching. To be accurate was a vain attempt; Instead, Eaglor tried the simpler way of engaging aerial targets with non-tracer munition: Fill the skies with enough flak, they will be caught in the storm.
A storm indeed errupted, as more and more flak guns begun firing to the bomber squadrons.

One of the bombers caught fire. Her wing cracked and flew off, resulting to the craft losing balance and spiraling downward, leaving a trail of black smoke that charted her descend. The impact blast blazed not too far from the hill's foot. Another bomber soon followed. And another.

"Blast them! Imp devils!" Salla roared, showing her fist to the sky.

"Its not enough! Take cover!" Eaglor shouted, recognizing the squealing blazer bombs the bombers released upon the hill. He jumped off the gun, falling against the metal platform moments before it begun.

Roaring flames blazed as the entire hill shook by the weight of the blazer bombs hammering down in a carpet-styled bombing of the rebel position. Entire flak-gun emplacements cracked in numberless splinters that flew towards any and all directions. Dismembered troops burned, the fires spreading ceaselessly with any effort to extinguish them being in vain.

Eaglor crawled to the nearby entrance of the tunnels network, his armour, once white, now blackened by the ashes. Parts of the softer uniform having caught flame.

The commlink roaring with officers protesting on casualty reports, loss of equipment and injuries that spread all across the rebel stronghold like a plague.

 

[Ahalir Gafaron]

The holoprojection of the battlefield twitched, as the sudden energy released by the carpet bombing disturbed the field scanners. Operators around the command room took record of the rapidly developping engagement, as the well-crafted Imperial plan of action manifested.

"Bomber Squadrons have engaged, General." the Major reported. A needless action, as far as Ahalir was concerned. He did not rely on such redundunt reports to conceive or conduct war the way he did. Then again, although ignorant about it, it pleased him to know that discipline was preserved. The Major had to report. And so he did.

"Status?" the General inquired.

"Three anti-air artillery pieces destroyed, seven damaged, four missed, General" the operator replied to Ahalir's inquiry.

"Signal the artillery to advance." the General instructed. "They may fire when ready."

Within seconds from the transmission of the order, artillery crews rushed into action. Troops carried the heavy Nuriga Shells from the large crates, while lifter droids continuously transported sealed crates near the gun emplacements. As soon as the troops moved the shells by the guns, the crews slided the shells into the cannon's hatch and secured them.

"A-1 Ready!"

"A-4 Ready!"

"A-6 Ready!"

One after the other, the artillery officers reported readiness of their cannons. Aimed high, calibrated to fire at an angle enough to engage the distant hill, the crews anxiously awaited for the signal to begin the second bombardment of the hill.

"Commence Firing!"

The plateau beneath the hills shone with blinding light, as the artillery barrage begun in earnest. The barrels kicked back by the heavy load unleashed in a momentary burst of light, quick to dissolve into smoke that shrouded the entire artillery line like autumn mist. As soon as the barrels' hydraulics readjusted from the blowback, the crews rushed to open the sealed hatch, from where hot smoke and an empty shell casing were vomited out.

The crews pushed a new shell into the hatch and quickly sealed it inside.

"Clear!" the sergeant roared. The rest of the crew instinctivelly stepped back away from the path the barrel carved during ignition.

"Fire!"

 

[Eaglor Aest]

"Salla!? Salla are you alright!?" Eaglor shouted as the bombers flew away. Flames roaring, while occasional blasts from the exposed ammunition crates furthered the effect of the sudden bombardment. Ashes formed thick shrouds around the exposed parts of the fortifications. The sergeant could barely see beyond five or so meters away from himself, due to it.

"Salla? Sa-"

The dark red splatter stretched like foul tendrils across the platform, by the broken flak gun. Salla rested against the stone of the hill, her body permanantly latched on it, while a large shrapnel had pinned her through the chest. Her hands, ever loyal to the cause, remained on the gun's console, several meters away from her, forever waiting the next order to be given.

"Bloody hell!" Eaglor muttered to himself. His voice no longer willing to match the rising tension the rest of his body succumed to. This was a large scale aerial raid. Although anticipated, for they would only hold so long before the main bulwark of the Imperial force arrived, Eaglor had not been baptised to such foul type of warfare before then.

He would not be offered enough time to ponder, though. For the better or worse; Most likely for the worse, the already pounded hill was bracing for the second wave of Imperial fury, as the distant artillery roared in flames. Within seconds, the feared Nuriga shells carved thin white paths of smoke with their fiery bodies, curving like hail of meteors over the hill. A sight that made the alarm already screaming, a redundunt warning, for the sergeant. Eaglor, casting any thought or prior concern away, he dashed to the tunnels, hoping for the safety of the underground to shield him from the coming barrage.

The carnage unleashed came with the roar of a thousand beasts, as the shelling begun. The artillery shells planted themselves deep into the hill's thick walls of solid earth, before their explosion reverberated across the underground tunnels. In the impact points where the hill's crust was thinner, the shells pierced through it and blazed inside the tunnels below. On multiple levels, walls and supports collapsed in a tidal wave of stone and debris that burried several of the personnel in an instant.

 

[Ahalir Gafaron]

The ground shook as the barrels kicked back by the sheer blow of the shells, spitting flames as they were propelled onward to the sky. The artillery crews acted on blind muscle memory. The cannoneer slammed the port open. As soon as the shell fell off from the back of the barrel, engulfed in hot smoke, the second cannoneer kicked the empty shell off the site, to the service droid that picked it and tossed it farther, to the mounting pile. By the time it joined the pile, another shell was placed and shoved into the port by the lifter droid. The port sealed shut, and the cannoneer shouted.

"Clear!"

"Fire!" the artillery captain roared, giving the order for the next ignition of the heavy load to be unleashed to the hellstorm conjured by the Imperial war machine.

The entire artillery line was at that point fully shrouded by the smoke produced of the bombardment. Across the land, to the targeted hill, the situation was growing from bad to worse. Entire parts of the once rocky hill had been levelled down, shells cracking entire lines on the terrain, collapsing large chunks of the hillside, while sharp shrapnel from the blasting rock formations tore clean through flesh and armour alike.

In the command centre, the General supped yet another time from his delicate cup. The cacophony of the artillery loud enough to cause an unsettling noise even to this location so far from the front. Unlike many, Gafaron embraced that effect as a music, rather than a dreadful sensation.

"Report?" he inquired.

"The enemy is taking heavy damage" the operator reported, calling the lifesign and mass scanners to the front of his monitor. "The bombardment has broken through the eastern segment of the enemy's fortifications."

"Good. Carry on."

"Sir." the Major protested. "Is it not time to send in the troops? There is no reason to continue the bombardent! There will soon be no one left up there."

"That is precisely why we will continue, Major." the General explained. "These rebels have defied the Imperial Occupation Force. Darth Atrox himself has ordered for their complete annihilation. They, will not die heroes. They will die an example for the next imbecile who will dare think of defying the Imperial regime."