The Rebel Faction

Echtabahn
ISD V Tyrant
In Orbit

Main Briefing Room

"And so, in recognition of his considerable success in the service of the Empire as well as his position as commander of the Imperial Schutzstaffel, the Imperial High Command hereby promotes Wesley Vos to the rank of Major General, effective immediately. Signed, Supreme Commander Simon Kaine, His Imperial Majesty Daemon Hyfe."

Major Lucen Sephios, Executive Officer of the SS Kommandos, lowered the flimsy printout of the letter from Coruscant. Despite the fact that the announcement was anticlimatic - Grand Admiral Desaria had promoted him in fact two weeks before during the Imperial conquest of New Holstice - applause filled the chamber as Wes, in the jet-black dress uniform of the SS, stood and allowed Sephios to pin the rank insignia on his jacket. Turning back to the assembled crowd, Wes motioned for quiet. "Thank you...thank you all. I also have an announcement. It is my priviledge to present General Liam Zhu of Echtabahn with official Imperial recognition of his service, as well as a position as a Colonel General in the Imperial Army."

Applause once more as the uniform of an Imperial Field Marshall was awarded to Zhu. He nodded, basking in the applause for a moment, before quieting the crowd himself. "As some of you may know, it is tradition among my people to, when an event of vast importance occurs in their life, to add to one's name in order to remember that event. While I did not consider my loss of Valinor to be such a momentous event, except perhaps in my shame, the cementing of relations between Echtabahn and the Empire is such an event. Therefore henceforth I shall be known as Colonel General Liam Georgi Zhukov, ruler of Echtabahn, Batahn, and Echbarahn."

Wes once again took center stage. "My first official act as Major General of the SS is one that I must perform, though with great regret. I am relinquishing direct command of the SS Kommandos in order to more ably command the entirety of the SS. Major Sephios will become a staff officer and will join me in my new command, after which the office of Executive Officer of the SS Kommandos will be abolished, the position to be filled by a staff officer of the new commander's choosing. With the approval of TNO High Command, therefore, I am hereby promoting Racen Selere to the rank of Colonel and formally turning command of the SS Kommandos over to him." More applause. Wes waited for it to die down, then he continued.

"Those of you who were notified before-hand, meet me in the Kommando briefing room in twenty minutes. Dismissed."

Kommando Briefing Room
Twenty minutes later

Once again Wes stood at the front of the room behind yet another podium. In front of him had gathered a much smaller group, the principle actors in what would soon be a difficult battle. Included among them were General Zhukov, Colonel Selere, Captain Elios Typton of the Tyrant, Captain Heinrich Tribek of the Visectus, General Heinz Hellmich of the Waffen-SS, General Josef Dietrich of the Waffen-SS Fusstruppen, and General Sennacherib of the Waffen-SS Panzer Division. All had a role to play in the upcoming campaign, and it was finally time to inform them what that role would be.

Wes cleared his throat, and attention was focused on him. "We have some serious business to attend to now. As you know, the Confederation has been consistently expanding its borders in this direction. It's most recent attempts to subvert the government of New Holstice has proven that its expansionist policy will not be curbed. So I have proposed a plan to High Command that we will now put into action." Wes pushed a button, and the center of the room suddenly had a holographic image of the galaxy suspended two feet above the floor. He pushed another button, and the image focused on an area nine grid-spaces square. The area included the entirety of the Confederation proper, the Meridian Sector, the upper reaches of the Black Dragon Empire, Ossus, Handooine, and the entirety of SS space. Wes continued. "We currently control, at least in name, the most direct supply routes between the Confederation proper and its territories in the Meridian Sector. However, as you know, supplies continue to move past in areas we simply do not have the forces to patrol. Until recently, this seemed to be an insurmountable obstacle due to the vastness of space.

"However, my plan, when executed, will provide us with the ability to interdict Confederation shipping at several points along the main supply routes. The beginning phases of this plan call for a rapid conquest of these two planets." The holo image focused once more, this time on two relatively close planets. "Li'eston and Yuri. Two planets rich in precious metals and valuable minerals. Mining stations, jointly controlled by the two governments, operate in a nearby gas giant, Vilnius V. In short, the planets are extremely wealthy, and have therefore been able to amass sizeable fleets. Either fleet would be a challenge for an Imperial task force; however, it is the Mutual Defense Pact that exists between the two planets that has kept the Empire from bothering to seize the planets.

"Now, however, they have become important for strategical reasons as well, and so it is time that they come under Imperial control."

Captain Typton, de facto commander of the SS fleet, said, "And I assume it falls to us to make that happen. What kind of defenses are we looking at?"

"Well, at least six major capital ships orbit Li'eston - four Mk. II Imperial Star Destroyers and two MC-90 Star Cruisers, as well as a number of smaller ships. The fleet at Yuri is similar in size."

A whistle escaped Typton's lips. "That's a heck of a lot of firepower," he said. "Those two fleets combine, we're gonna be crushed. We'll have trouble taking on one of them, even with the long-range guns of the Tyrant and the Visectus."

Wes nodded. "I agree. But we won't have to take on both. Simultaneous with our strike on Li'eston, Grand Admiral Telan Desaria and the Imperial Guard will be striking from New Holstice. They will hit Yuri roughly the same time we hit Li'eston, forcing the Yuri fleet to defend its home planet. It'll be a tough fight, but I think we can do it."

Some doubtful looks were cast around the room, but Wes knew that when the time came each of these officers would give their best. Wes continued. "Now, here's the kicker. We want to preserve the defense fleets as much as possible. We need to force the Li'eston Fleet to capitulate while leaving it as intact as we possibly can. I have a plan for doing that, but it will be very risky. Here's what we're going to do..."


Echtabahn
ISD V Tyrant
In Orbit

Bridge

Wes stared out the viewport. At this point in their orbit, the moon Echbarahn stood slightly up and to the left. Wes allowed himself a moment to glance at the moon and the recently-begun shipyards that would branch from the inhospitible landscape. General Zhukov stood nearby, and Wes queried, "How is the work progressing?"

Zhukov smiled. "Very well, General. My people are ahead of schedule. We should be able to take gunships and corvettes in drydock within the next two weeks. Two months and we'll be able to handle frigates and light cruisers. Building on the first ships of the Echtabahn fleet will begin in less than a month."

Wes nodded. Currently, Echtabahn was only protected by a few Mk. III ISDs and their accompaniment. As the Echbarahn shipyards began to turn out ships, the current fleet would be reassigned to less critical posts; after all, the ships were getting old.

There was no more time to think on those issues now, though. In just a few short minutes the SS fleet would be jumping to hyperspace, headed for Li'eston. The plan Wes had devised was risky, time critical, and completely unorthodox. But that was becoming more and more the SS way of doing business. While there were a number of things that could throw a kink in the plans, the one Wes worried about the most was that Desaria would be delayed in his attack, and, for a moment, Wes wondered how the Grand Admiral was doing...

The corridor was all but empty, filled only with the squeak of MSE-6 droid wheels and the hum of the mighty reactor itself only a few hundred meters away. Every few moments a crewman or two would exit some adjacent access way, walk a few bulkheads down, and disappear into the bowels of the warship. Indeed, this particular corridor, separated from space by meter-thick transparisteel only, was not a regular route of the ship's company; instead, it was more aesthetic. Here, soldiers sailors and officers could come and gaze at the cosmos all but alone with their thoughts.


It was as quiet as normal when Grand Admiral Desaria turned a corner, a muscular officer in a black uniform at his side. Three Guards Army Lieutenants spotted the pair, their eyes widening at their commander's approach, quickly tossed up iron salutes and took off at an undignified pace.


" So, Colonel, I have studied your plan; it has merit. It's good to see that Field Marshal Alderock's political strategum classes have not declined in quality since I went through the Academy. There is only one flaw in it that I can see."


Wesley Vos clenched his jaw, tightening the features on his weathered face. He was prepared for a brow beating, but he did not expect it to come from Desaria. The two shared a great many similarities: both were in elite units, both took pride in their uniforms, both held only the best interests of the Empire in the highest priority. Their differences started over methodologies. " What flaw is that? Sir."


" You propose to contain the spread of the Confederation through a series of planetary conquests. Taken individually, you have the requisite experience to command each action in turn. However, your conquests are not all to happen in sequence. You are proposing what amounts to a campaign and the General Staff will not place a Colonel in charge of the forces needed. If they accept your plan as feasible."


The Grand Admiral did not need to turn his head and face the SS officer, for he could see the mounting displeasure out of the corner of his left eye. Only a half-decade earlier, there was a young man from the Officers Replacement Pool in the same situation - a Kuati aristocrat bent on returning to action despite his injuries. Desaria saw a residue of his past in the SS man, more than he would ever acknowledge.


" That is why I am promoting you. It is quite against procedure for an officer to be elevated through skipping ranks, but I doubt the Bureau of Personnel will argue with a Grand Admiral's decision. Thenceforth, you shall be Major-General der SS Wesley Vos. That will lend a bit more weight to your proposal, but the root of the problem remains. You must recommend a commander, some one with staff experience. I can suggest a few, if you like."


Vos did not reply, either speechless at his promotion or not wanting to reveal any outward pleasure in the presence of wandering eyes. " Would you do it, sir?"


Baron Desaria paused and braced himself on the steel railing running along the viewports. He looked down at New Holstice. Truth be told, he was in no hurry to return to his governorship of Onyx. " Yes, but I cannot remain inactive command for long. I will coordinate to the best of my abilities then I must return to the Onyx Sector. Rest assured, however - this operation is your idea. You will direct it until you suceed or begin to waste lives."


The muscular man moved next to the Grand Admiral. His response was a simple question, ignoring totally the admonishment. " So my plan will be approved?"


Desaria barked a short laugh. " Oh I think I can push it through the proper channels. Don't expect much in the way of allocation: what you see here and perhaps a squadron extra may be it. Such is the way of things. Dismissed, General."


Vos saluted sharply, the ring of his jackbooted heels clicking together almost thundering down the corridor without much ambient noise to drown it out. Desaria returned it and departed. When no crewer was present and he had boarded a turbolift headed above, he smiled. Too much like me...




Yuri - seventy hours later...

It was not an impressive world from the standards of any native of the Core: shipping was present but did not bustle to and fro like Corellia or Coruscant; the defenses were paltry compared to fortresses like Yaga Minor and Fondor; the world itself only registered seven cities larger than a million souls. True enough, by Core standards, Yuri was barely a blip on the map.


Farther out, however, the story was different. In the Core, a Carrack Cruiser only months from its retirement date wasn't important enough for most commanders to give its destruction a second glance. This far out such a ship could change the course of a battle. In the Core, Yuri might have been a moon. Along the border of the Confederation, it was much larger indeed.


" It's almost depressing," commented Captain Vorran. He looked out at the greyish brown landscape with his own eyes, remembering more fondly than ever his home on Tiidira, a world where one could not go to a colleague's house a kilometer away without crossing three bridges.


" Hardly," commented Grand Admiral Desaria, sharing in the view. " I'm sure the surface is quite cosy. An interesting combination of barren rock laden valleys and verdant fields teeming with life."


" That life doesn't have much elsewhere to teem though, sir. That's not really fair."


" So are things on developed colonial worlds. Never forget, our homes were once colonies as well. Now then, have we completed reversion?"


" Yes sir. All ships at station keeping."


" Excellent. Let's greet the natives then and show them why we're here."

Slowly, gracefully, powerfully, the Conqueror-class Star Destroyer Intimidator pushed on through space. Dark, vast space, illuminated only by the glimmer of interior glowpanels and running lights, went on in every direction. The darkness pervaded everything, kept out only by high powered generators and the army of lights they powered. Then, it was kept out only barely.


" The message has been relayed on all frequencies and channels, Admiral. We have received no response. The planetary defense force, however, is forming up above the planet's northern pole."


Grand Admiral Desaria kept his gaze out the side of the bridge, gazing through the triangular viewports at....nothing. Nothingness, to be more exact. And yet, lost in thought, he murmured a reply. " Then, Captain Vorran, we have had our answer. Execute my orders."


" Aye sir."


The Captain bellowed out targetting commands to officers in the crewpit who in turn relayed them through circuitry and switches to battery commanders hundreds if not thousands of meters away. The Intimidator and its companion Destroyers, two Reigns and two ISD Vs, moved past their escorting frigates and cruisers and approached the planet of Yuri. The battleships, large and small, were an impressive sight to all who dared look as they came oddly close to the world's single moon, a lifeless planetoid of cold and barren rock with no apparent purpose but to orbit.


" Helm, signal all stop. Starboard batteries: fire at will when we've ceased all forward momentum."


Inertia tugged as the tendrisl of Yuri's gravity tried to ensare the mighty warship. While the forward engines flared red, then their colour faded. Maneuvering thrusters at the bow flashed to life and waged war with the pull of the planet. The thrusters won on each of the five battleships and they hung, motionless, above the lifeless planetoid.


Aboard the Intimidator, no further orders from the bridge were neccessary. The battery commanders fed in final codes to their computers and oriented their guns at grid points below. The slamming down of overly large red buttons lit off signals in the turrets and sponsons granting final permission to the guncaptains themselves. On the order of shouted words or the simple release of a high-held arm, a thousand guns thundered into the void. Neon energy pulsed from the titans onto the moon's surface and set it ablaze. Rockfaces studied and marvelled at for generations were smashed into unglamorous piles of dust and debris. When one crater or trench was smashed, the battery commanders turned their attention - and their guns - on another.


" Grid Sections 9-1 through 10-8 in Hemisphere 4 have been slagged. Base Delta Zero is nine percent complete."


" Any reponse to the Emperor's Annexation Order?" Captain Vorran looked over towards Desaria and nodded negative, the shake of his from left to right silhouetted as another salvo slammed into the surface below. " Very well. Open a general broadcast channel."


" Done, sir."


The white-uniformed aristocrat moved over to his command chair on the catwalk and sat down as regally as his proper upbringing would allow. " To the Government of Yuri. You are watching with interest as the entire surface of your moon is vaporized. This moon is lifeless. When my gunners have blasted every stone apart from its neighbor on it, their attention will be turned to Yuri itself, and it will not be long before innocent lives are lost. This moon will be completed slagged in four hours. You have until then. Grand Admiral Desaria out."


A red light on the chair's arm winked out, signalling the transmission's conclusion. Captain Vorran saddled up next to the Grand Admiral and asked low enough that only the admiral could hear;" I hope they don't know we're bluffing. We are bluffing, aren't we?" We're Guardsmen, after all!


Desaria only blinked.

Three Hours Later...


Yuri hung as lifeless as its moon when the Grand Admiral tossed it an awkward glance. Though his eyes could not pierce the distance between his flagship and the cities under a thick blanket of clouds, he knew those cities to be filled with panciked people. Yuri was an industrialized world with almost a billion inhabitants, all part of a truly modern society. He knew the people to be panicked because they knew what he was doing, they saw the realization of his nefarious plan. They watched on any number of news networks or holo-stations the enhanced feeds of thousands of square kilometers smashed into oblivion. Break. If you don't, you'll die.


" Your Excellency, we are ahead of schedule. The surface of the moon has been completely glassed."


The Grand Admiral turned from the viewport and gracefully lowered himself into the black-backed command chair. He acknolwedged Captain Vorran with a nod and turned ever so slightly to the right to the Combat Information Officer. " Lieutenant Commander, what word of the defense force?"


" As anticipated, their heavier warships, the two Destroyers and three heavy cruisers, are either at L'ieston or en route. We have had no contact with the remaining three heavy cruisers but a force of frigates is marshalling near the world's southern pole."


Desaria turned forward and steepled his fingers. He expected resistance and was pleased to see Intelligence had not erred in reporting Yuri to have a first-rate contingent of fast-attack craft. It would have been more brave than foolhardy to attack outright a force of five battleships and the ring of light cruisers and frigates that surrounded them. Prudence demanded caution and the formulation of a plan, something their hesitation belied. They were no doubt watching and waiting as the battleships' escort moved into their wake, stretching out to cover the under-armored and under-defended afts the signature wedge-shaped behemoths presented. They no doubt saw the lop-sidedness of such a formation and vengefully seized the moment to strike.


Indeed, they had.


" Grand Admiral, we are within range of the planet," reported one officer, only just finished when " Enemy ships approaching!" reported another. Desaria just sat there, gazing forward. Straining to see would have been useless, the arrowhead prow blocking any view of the dozen light craft striking up from the planet's southern pole.


" Sir, they are vectoring off into attack groups, running at our escort formation. Orders sir?"


The Grand Admiral looked once again at Yuri and then flicked a barely visible hair from his immaculate tunic. Almost at a whisper, he commanded: " Activate the GDS."

The order that filtered down through the communications relay system was like the others that had preceeded it a hundred times against a hundred other enemies: open fire. The words themselves did not ring out in the gunwales and turrets of course, for they would not be heard over racket of machinery. Instead the firing alarm toggled from red to green in each battery commander's terminal. He gave the order to fire via another light that illuminated bright in each gun captain's eyes. His gun layed properly, he pulled tight the triggers under his fingers sending a shot of plasma at coordinates known only to the battery commander and those above him. On the gun decks, it was business as usual, a successful firing to be repeated again and again, slagging one grid square than another until ordered to stop.


On the bridge it was another matter entirely. Silhouetted against Yuri and almost glowing from the cannonade of neon shot, the singular figure standing on the bridge appeared more evil than regal. Captain Vorran, his face impassive, swallowed hard against the reality of what was happening, but he said nothing. The Lieutenant in the crew pit acting as gunnery liaison felt sick as the ramifications of his actions drove home in his mind. His black gloved hand slipped from the console and went tight over his mouth. He pictured a thousand people dying in the span of a second, not soldiers but civilians - women and children, old men out for a stroll. He could beaer the though no more and ran from the bridge, his footsteps the only thing punctuating the silence.


Another salvo washed away from the Intimidator like a wave. Then another. Ten salvoes of heavy turbolaser fire crashed into the surface of the world below transforming all it touched into a holocaust of ash and flame brunging so hot that the air itself was singed. The silence of the bridge expanded outside when the guns fell silent, their work done. Two grid squares were immolated, two specific areas denoted by numbers than meant nothing to those under the guns only the technicians imposing order onto chaos.


Captain Vorran could not release his hands from their hold on one another, he would not. He was the Captain of the ship and he would not let the men see him tremble. His image was much, his power needed to be absolute, but for a moment he wondered what it mattered. This was a warship of the Imperial Navy, more importantly, a ship of the Imperial Guard. Its crewmen were not mindless minions, but pursuers of Justice and Order through Honour, but now they were stained. Dark, and dirty, after today they would limp back into port with heads low.


" Grids....grids slagged as ordered. We're receiving a message."


Grand Admiral Desaria, the Empire's most famous aristocrat, turned to the communications officer and nodded. He did not need to hear the transmission, he knew what it was - Yuri had surrendered. They had seen first-hand the destruction defiance of the Emperor's Will could bring down on them and they had made the prudent choice. The Grand Admiral did not need it read to him.


" Sir," the gunnery officer said, having slinked back to the bridge from the refresher station. " Our targetting data is coming back. Compliation is incomplete but it appears..."


Desaria turned his back to the crewpit and his flag captain, instead he looked down at Yuri again. His view turned to the sextet of frigates struggling against the GDS to come to grips with the Imperial battleship. Shortly, he reasoned, a tight-beam transmission from the surface would order them to stand down, against their better judgement, of course. Their captains and crews would want to charge against the superior foe and die gloriously in a flash of fire. The Grand Admiral waxed philosophic: is a charge that can be avoided yet taken glorious or stupid?


"...did you input the correct coordinates?"


" Yes sir - per the Grand Admiral's orders exactly. But - those coordinates are northwest of the city."


Captain Vorran sucked in the air around him and cast his eyes up towards the Grand Admiral, but he was walking off the bridge without so much as a transfer of command. There was a smug look on his face as he moved aft, the black stripe on his trousers crunching as his knees bent. He was a Guardsman, and would die one. Vorran smiled and the Lieutenant rushed back towards the refresher again. The Intimidator had not killed a million civilians in the blink of an eye, merely deforested some prime real estate not yet developed near the capitol city.


These men felt betrayed but dared not disobey. Discipline had served them well, and their faith was not misplaced. Yesterday they would have fought for Desaria, now they will die for him.