The First Battle of Dantooine

[Xaojii]

Stars. There were thousand to billions floating around a pristine grassland paradise world known as Dantooine, and if anyone stopped their intergalactic business they would find that all of it, no matter which angle you looked at it, they could all be the most magnificent thing any human or alien could experience in their life.

Today would not be that day, sadly. Because if one was observant enough from the planets surface, they would notice that a small rupture in normal space had appeared in moments, and in moments more somewhere around one thousand ships streamed out of hyperspace and were headed directly for the unsuspecting inhabitants of this wonderland.


"Lieutenant! Sound the alarms, we are going to land troops on Dantooine. I want everyone at full battle stations immediately!!"

"Yes, Admiral. Right away." The young Lieutenant replied, without hesitation. Even if the man did not agree with the orders, which was not the case; there wasn't much he could do to deny Admiral Tarkrus's orders without endangering himself to another days worth of humiliating torture.

"Hook up a comm link with our...operative on the ground. I want to personally confirm our sources on the ground status of the enemies systems..." Admiral Tarkrus grinned, as his personal fleet moved into low orbit, and began deploying transports, packed to the bulkheads with troops. He stood defiantly on the bridge of The Boldness awaiting further updates on The First Sith Invasion and Battle of Dantooine.

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Meanwhile on the surface of Dantooine, the troop transports had just finished landing, and the troops quickly spread out and started setting up equipment, and other transports had touched down momentarily to drop off vehicles that could not be assembled on the spot. And in about six hours time, 30,000 soldiers had been fully composed, and were slowly rolling across the hills, towards the Administrative Buildings and Major Cities. And another group of soldiers changing angle and branching off into the direction of the Jedi Enclave.

Anywhere there was a holoprojector, there was the blue image of a man giving orders constantly. Everyone was set and ready, in another six hours time, they had made it halfway to completely surrounding every major building and house on Dantooine.

((OK. As per Myns advice, I have changed the times on the movement of the Army, however they are still rolling across the hills, about halfway to surrounding the major buildings.))

EDIT: I changed the times and how many troops landed. Can we stop worrying about the reality of it and just play?

[Jenno]

(Nice job. Hope you don't mind, but since Reigner and I are at the enclave, I will continue there. K?)

[Corstar]

"Repeat, multiple spacecraft incoming."

Officer Daniel Martinez was only partially awake. It wasn't his shift. Wasn't supposed to be his shift. The deck officer had disapeared, so he had been called back in.

The officer cursed as he looked at the readout. His jaw dropping.

"What the sithspawn are they doing? Invading us?"

"We produced too much in the way of farming goods sir." A deadpan voice said behind Martinez.

"Shut up Mank."

"Yessir."

"Rouse the milita. Let the Jedi know we got incoming. Wake this place up. They can take our planet but they sure as heck won't take it without a fight."

"Sir...defenses?"

The police officer turned and stared at the junior officer. The man grimaced and ran out of the spaceport.

-----

Jedi Master Kaleb Slayton was meditating when the call came. He came out of the trance and glanced at the computer terminal with an annoyed look.

"Master Slayton, the planet!"

The Jedi Master rolled his eyes as the Padawan gasped for breath.

"Global warming kicking back up again?"

"Master! Invasion!"

The Jedi Master blinked as he swept his robe aside and stood up.

"What? If this is a joke little one..."

"No Master. Landing craft have come through atmo, they're on their way."

"Get the Padawans to the caves. Tell any of the knights still on planet to meet with me at the Pastan's house."

"Yes Master."

-----

As the Sith craft began to land, Milita forces began taking potshots, firing at the landing shuttles with small arms and light rocket launchers they had saved from wars long past.

The Jedi began rallying the Republic Defense.

[[OOC: You did way too much for one post. You can't land an entire army and have it ready to go in three hours. Maybe a regiment or two, which would make alot more sense. An Army is a ton of people ]]

[Xaojii]

((Alright, well sorry. Nobody is perfect. And at the time I wrote this I was far from how I am normally. I can definately change that though.... I just wanna get this whole conflict on the roll, so if we could just comb over details like that? If not then I'll try better next time. Go ahead and continue where you and Regnier were Cyberguy, I'm sure sooner or later we'll all meet up.))

"General Terrilles, our scouts have just confirmed what our sensors are reading, they are assembling their militia. We still have no idea whether or not they have communications again. But we should be coming within firing distance within the hour."

"Yes, I am aware. Keep moving but stay alert. Get me a status report on the group moving towards the Jedi Enclave." Ganeral Sharon Terrilles smiled, sitting down in a chair on a command vehicle, watching the army moving from holotables. She turned to look at a holoprojector and began speaking to one of her subordiate officers. "When we get there, try not to hit the buildings. Remember, we're trying to pacify this planet, not destroy it. If we were to cause unnessiscary damage, then we would waste valuable time and credits trying to bring this planet back up to speed."

"Yes Ma'am. We will try our best." ,the officer nodded and the holoimage of him disappeared.

=======================================

Meanwhile, far above the suface of Dantooine; The Sith Fleet awaited cautiously for updates on the invasion that was taking place 500 miles below. The Boldness shifted slowly into a new position with the bridge view window pointed outwards from the planet.

Admiral Tarkrus sat comfortably in a room parallel to the bridge. He spent alot of time in this room, and over the years had decorated it, adding furniture and art, turning this medium sized compartment into a modern office space. While it was almost identical to the bridge, it lacked the large, and Celbus would admit; very beautiful view of the stars, moons, and other celestial bodies that filled the galaxy. However, it did have all the equipment required to monitor everything he wanted while still having the cofort and luxury someone would find in the office of the head of a large corporation.

There wasn't much to do so he just sat there, slowly writing ideas down on his datapad and waited patiently for an order from Muunilist or a request from one of his subordinate officers. In the mean time, he would sit and watch old holodramas.

[Xaojii]

((Alright. I changed both the times AND howm any people landed. Can we get this battle over with, instead of worrying about the reality of it all?))

[Jenno]

(Be there once I'm done at the Enclave)

[Ardenator]

Executive Officer Derna stood at the helm, gazing out of the Liberty's viewport. They had been orbiting the planet for hours now, scanning the system periodically, as per Captain Nedra's orders. So far there had been nothing, but that was to be expected. What would be coming into a backwater world such as this? Thusly, Derna had decided to only scan visible parts of the system as they orbited the planet, saving time and energy.

The Hammerhead rounded the night side of the planet, and Derna was almost knocked down by the wails of dozens of alarm klaxons.

Sir, over a thousand ships directly ahead. Sith transponders, and warships, all of them. Thousands of dropships going planetside, as well."

The XO's jaw dropped as he looked out the viewport. The sensor officer was right. He quickly brainstormed the possible outcomes of one Hammerhead against a thousand warships. They were in trouble.

"Get me Captain Nedra on the comm, now!"

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Nedra stood in the main administrative complex, eyeing the datapad filled with industrial and agricultural statistics kindly supplied by the secretary who sat before him. So far, he hadn't found much that would warrant all the attention this little planet was getting. It seemed that the possibility of becoming a strong industrial power was the cause of all this, not any current abilities.

He looked up as a lanky lieutenant ran up to his side.

"Sir! XO Derna requests your audience immediately. He says it's an emergency."

Nedra nodded, and followed the Lieutenant the few steps to the holo-transmitter. What could it be now? If it was another false alarm, he would be extremely annoyed.

Derna appeared on the transmitter, small and blue, his face filled with urgency and horror. "Sir! We have over a thousand Sith warships in orbit now about the planet, with thousands of dropships planetside. An all-out invasion has begun."

It was all Yuar could do to keep his jaw from dropping. An invasion? Here? Now? Impossible. But Derna would not lie, and war had been declared recently. The Captain's mind began racing. What could be done? There was no way the Liberty could stand against a fleet of that size. What could be done?

Nedra smiled as a thought struck him. "Derna, get all men to battle stations, have the ship ready for battle. Send out a distress signal to all nearby planets and Republic bases, and to High Command. Then take the Liberty[/] into the atmosphere. Descend to pint-blank range with the ground. Get over the Sith invasion forces. There's nothing their ground forces can do against a Capital Ship. Slag them. Destroy all of them you possibly can, and provide air support for me. Launch all your starfighters as well. Do your best to keep them away from the cities and other important areas, but don't harm any civilian zones. If they try to use the fleet in orbit to bombard you, just place yourself over one of the major target zones. They won't be able to fire upon you without compromising their objectives. Contact me as soon as you have begun actions against the invaders." Derna nodded, and Nedra turned to the lieutenant as his image disappeared.

"Send out an alert. Get all our men to full battle readiness. Put them in a reinforced defensive grid about the Administrative complex. Cover entrances and weakspots, and set up the heavy weapons at hardpoints. Contact me when you are in position. And get a message out to the Jedi, let them know what's going on, and that I need to speak with them."

As the Lieutenant ran off, Nedra strode to the Secretary who had provided him with the datapad. "Let me speak to your superiors. Now."

(Um yeah the jedi and superiors Nedra's referring to are your guys Myn, if you'd be so kind to have them give Yuar an audience )

(btw sorry if it's not that great, I haven't posted in a long time O.o )

[Xaojii]

((Oh psh, this would have been boring if you hadn't appeared. Now the real fun begins...))

The invasion had been going good for the past 14 hours, and everyone miles above the planet had been sitting comfortably, waiting for it all to end, as they were sure it would in a matter of hours. There had been transmissions coming in regularly, so Admiral Tarkrus figured all was going according to his plan. He had his fill of holodramas and had moved back to the main bridge when an alert had come over the comm.

"Sensors have detected a Republic ship on the horizon, and multiple Captains have visually confirmed this as well." The anonymous voice proclaimed, and in minutes a portion of the fleet was turning to meet the Republic ship.

"Alright, they know my orders as well as you; move into attack position and launch a fighter squadron immediately. Try your best to jam their communications, even though they have probably sent a message already; put the rest of the fleet at medium alert. Expect more ships within the hour." The Admiral said as he stood up out of his chair, and talked the commands to his subordinate officer in charge of interfleet communications. Finally we get to see some real action, I never got to have this much fun when I worked for the Republic... He stood looking out over the bridge view window excitedly.

=====================

Down on the surface of Dantooine....

The Sith invasion had been going increasingly well, the deployed force had been making decent progress, and eliminated a few Militia operatives. General Terrilles had grown increasingly bored with the efforts they were making. It just wan't exciting enough. All they had done was killed a few pitiful farmers, and that's all she saw they were going to do once they had reached thier destination. Kill more farmers.

An officer turn in his seat on the deck of the command vehicle. "Ma'am, Fleet reports the sighting of a Republic ship and expects more to be arriving shortly and dropping troops. Looks like we might see some action afterall."

"Thank you. Guess I wasn't the only one getting bored, now was I? We didn't join the Military for nothing, and today we shall see if our training has really paid off. Prepare the artillary. maybe if we are lucky, we can shoot down enough of those transport ships when they get here that the Republic won't be much of a problem down here. We can only hope to say the same for Admiral Tarkrus."

The officer listened for a while, then turned back to his work. All was going well.

[Ardenator]

A portable holo-command unit was set up next to Nedra as he awaited word from the Jedi and the heads of the local defense forces. He turned to it, concentrating on the views from the Liberty. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he watched the Sith fleet assemble into a battle position, launching an advance squadron of starfighters. Suddenly the view shifted: the Hammerhead was descending. Nedra could only imagine the enemy Admiral's surprise at seeing the Republic ship descending into the atmosphere, rather than facing the Sith fleet or making a break for open space.

He saw a group of blue blips breaking off from the Liberty, and knew that her starfighters had been launched. In a moment the Hammerhead was directly over the main Sith body, barely a kilometer from the ground. Derna's voice came over the comm:

"Sir, we are now over the largest Sith invasion force. Our starfighters are on readying attack-runs on the second largest group. All guns report ready. We are prime to go."

Nedra nodded. "Good. Make sure the starfighters go in fast and low. Their anti-air artillery is made to take out slow-moving troop transports and bombers, not our starfighters. If they move quick, they'll be safe. We can't afford to lose any of them. Have them make every shot count. As for you, fire on my mark."

He took a deep breath. His pieces were in place, it would soon become the Admiral's move. The fleet commander could either stay back, and allow Nedra's ships to annihilate the Sith ground forces, or close in towards the planet to bombard Nedra's vessels. If they did, Yuar's ships would go down, right on top of the enemy force; taking them out and any major target area they were attacking, compromising the Admiral's objectives. But, perhaps the man would do something else. This was where Nedra would see what kind of man his adversary was. How he responded to Nedra's unorthodox maneuver would show the Captain his style, and then Nedra would know how to fight him.

But for now all he could do was make his move and wait. Exhaling slowly, Nedra raised his eyes to Derna's awaiting form on the holo-unit.

"Fire."

[Xaojii]

Looking out of the view window of the flagship of The Boldness, Admiral Tarkrus cocked an eyebrow as the Republic ship moved closer towards the planet, a move the Admrial was not expecting, but did not mean he did not know what to do.

"Captain Reshka, be careful, they're moving towards the planet, set your fighters to attack any craft they launch, I will handle the battleship myself. Captain Locken; form up closer to me and launch your starfighters as well." He said at the small blue humans standing at attention on the console before him. "How close are we to jamming those communications, Lieutenant?"

"We should be within range any second now. There. We should have them jammed if what I am reading is correct." The woman turned, as she completed her sentence, smiling in excitement.

"Good. Open Fire!" Tarkrus slammed his fist on the armrest. Suddenly the space before The Boldness opened up in a blaze of red light, as the first turbolasers were ignited.

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"General Terrilles; The Boldness has opened fire on a the Republic ship! The Admiral thinks they are moving in closer to launch fighters to swoop in and crush us."

"Alright, get some small rocket crews set up, I want portable explosives ready for any remainders that make it past Admiral Tarkrus. Expect anything." General Sharon Terrilles glanced up at the sky for a split second, before going back to watching the plains of Dantooine.

The Army was making good progress towards both of their major targets. They had twarted more small militia resistance, and were almost directly on top of the Administrative buildings. The small force the broke off towards the Jedi Enclave should have arrived right about now to pick up the operative who should have sabotaged it so that the Jedi should be trapped within their own home, made easy prey for the troops.

[Jenno]

(Hello people. CG here. Well, I probably should have put this in a new thread, but better late than never. Here is the map of the Khoonda plains battlefield, where this thread wil take place.



Ok, so here's the story.

The Sith industrialization project purchased the Matale and Sandral Grounds, and have built two airstrips, where troop transports can land. The hills of this region are too steeps for any other possible landing except at these locations, which will slow the sith resupply.

Already on the map are the 17th through 24th regiments of the sith army. To be honest, I made up those numbers arbitrarily, we can change that. Point is, that's where the sith are right now.

To the north is the Jedi Enclave and the Capital of Dantooine, Khoonda. In order to take Dantooine, both of these places must be taken also, because they both have active hangars for support troops, and because they both can contact the rest of the Republic army.

Located there also are the 308th, the 211th, and the 662nd regiments, again, totally arbitrary. Point is, that's where the Republic forces are. Now, the problem for the sith is this: Getting to the Khoonda plains is not very easy.

Attack from the north or west is impossible, because the plains are surrounded by the Arika Ridge. So the attack must come from the south or the east. Attack from the south is difficult, because there is a third party: The Azjli. The Azjli were one of the families who refused to sell to the sith, meaning that they stand now between the sith and Khoonda. Trouble is, they have quite a few mercs, and they exist on the higher ground, meaning that their defensive turrets, labled T1, T2, T3, and T4, are going to be a problem getting past, and will take a while, giving the Republic more time to fortify. Attack from the east is difficult also, as the only way around the Azjli estate is through the Tooko Pass, which leads directly into the Jedi's sacred Grove, where a small temple rests. There are Jedi stationed here, and the Grove will be difficult to traverse quickly with them there.

A third possibility also exists. Near the border between Khoonda Plains and the Matale Grounds is the entrance to the Jedi's Crystal Cave. This tunnel leads directly from where the sith are stationed to behind enemy lines, between Khoonda and the Enclave. But it is a small tunnel, and not many would be able to make it through. Plus, there is a river leading down from Arika Ridge that prevents passage except by a single bridge.

That's what's going on. Please read, look over, and, at the top of each post made, state your location, as in, "Khoonda plains" or "Matale grounds" or "Admiral Celbus's ship" or "Crystal Cave" Just so we all know.


I'll have the troop numbers soon, very soon.

CG out.)

[Jenno]

Private Jasek Ranton had been stationed at a monitoring facility atop the Tooko Ridge. So, naturally, he had been the first to know about the sith invasion. Except maybe, he thought, for one of those Jedi. They always seemed to know what was coming. Not that they ever did anything about it. Always meditated over things. Never made the command decisions.

But, the invasion had come so fast that, when Private Ranton had sent word to Khoonda, the officers already knew, and had order for him: He was to remain where he was. Sith troops were already beginning to advance on the Khoonda Plains and he was to defend from atop the ridge. He looked out over the field, soon to be a battlefield, and could already see the sith regiments moving.

"How in the hell... did they get here so fast?"

He murmured to himself, turning to man a small turret. He sat down and began the sweeping defense. But they were too far, and the gun was too old. He reasoned that by the time the sith got near enough to fire upon, it would be too late. His usefulness had just dropped like a rock.

He moved to his comm-link and tried to contact Khoonda again to request being re-stationed on the ground. But there was no asnwer. Instinctively, he turned towards the transmitter.

It was on fire. His eyes tracked upwards and caught sight of the cause, a small sith fighter. Normally, he would have just cursed the fighter. But, as he noticed, the fighter was coming towards him, firing bolt after bolt, and he ran for the edge as his stationing was reduced to rubble.

The resulting explosion was enough to knock the private from the edge of the ridge and careening down to the ground. He closed his eyes for the impact.

But it did not come. For when he opened his eyes, he was upright, and suspended a few feet off of the ground. Thirty feet away, an Ortolan Jedi stood with a palm outstretched, and a lightsaber in the other hand, lowering him to the ground. The Jedi stepped up to Private Ranton and spoke, in that weird sort of way Ortolans speak.

"Come this way, we are making our defense."

Private Ranton looked around, only seeing a few other soldiers with the Jedi.

"Whose orders? Khoonda, or the Enclave?"

The Ortolan nodded.

"There is not time to wait on orders, Private. The defense must be made."

With that, Jedi Master Meenu Baumm turned and headed south with the rest. Private Ranton paused for a moment, thought, maybe the Jedi aren't so bad, before grabbing his rifle off of the ground and following suit.

(Back in Blue, YEAH! Let's get this battle started!!!)

[harborg]

Two shuttles came out of hyperspace above the orbit of Dantooine, and started to enter the atmosphere.

Kenny sat in his seat very relaxed and started to check all of his equipment to make sure he isn't missing anything. The intercom turned on, Everyone get strapped into your seats while we are breaking through the atmosphere. Kenny obeyed what the pilot said, and quickly buckled up. The shuttle started to shake, which didn't bother Kenny. After two minutes of seating there while the shuttle was shaking, Kenny started to look around at the other soldiers that where with him. Most seemed nervous, or just trying to relax. The shuttle stopped shaking, so Kenny presumed that they broke through the atmosphere and would land safely in a couple of minutes. After a half a minute a alarm could be heard throughout the shuttle. Enemy Fighter Behind Us! the copilot screamed. Prepare for evasive action! The shuttle turned sharply trying to avoid being hit. The shuttle shook violently, We lost the left engine! We are losing control! Kenny felt the fear growing inside him. Everyone we are going down! Prepare to a crash landing! Kenny felt trapped, he closed his eyes and waited. He heard the shuttle screaming down to the ground, while the pilot was cussing at the shuttle to turn upward.

Khoonda Plains

The shuttle hit the ground hard, and skid on the ground for 100 yards then it fell on its side and stopped. Kenny opened his eyes slowly, and was sore all over. He slowly got up and saw some others getting up also. Kenny looked into the cockpit and saw both pilots were dead. Kenny tried to open the door to escape but the button wasn't working, so he had to kick it open. Kenny crawled out and helped the other soldiers get out. Kenny looked back inside to see if anyone else was still alive in the shuttle but no one else was. Kenny looked at the remaining 10 soldiers left, ok guys lucky we landed next to the landing site, lets go Kenny and the remainder of the soldiers from the shuttle arrived at the landing site. Kenny saw Lieutenant John Mekal , and walked over to him. Sir, this is everyone left from the shuttle. Mekal looked at the soldiers, O good, I thought all of you guys would be dead. Kenny looked around and faced Mekal again, Sir what are our orders? Mekal looked at him, We are waiting for orders, so just relax for awhile.

[Jenno]

(looks like the sith need to step it up, eh?)

[Halcyon]

GROVE TEMPLE

Roth sat on the roof staring out onto the plains. They were coming. The sith had already landed on Dantooine judging from the landing craft. Already he could see the lines of turbolaser blasts circling the sky. It would have been beautiful if it hadn't been so deadly. The Enclave was already under attack if the previous flash of light and billowing smoke were any indication.

He reached out in the Force looking for his fellow brethren and could sense that some of them were still alive. He reached out looking for anyone familiar. There was only one and it wasn't somone whom Roth would have normally described as his being familiar with, maybe only in passing. It was the Jedi Archivist Baumm. What was he doing on Dantooine?

He sensed other people with him as well, but the didn't seem to be Jedi, they were either from the Republic regiments of they were the mercenaries. Roth sighed as the familiar stirrings of excitment began in his gut.

Adventure and excitement are not the cravings of the Jedi, came the remembrance of his Master's words.

Roth headed down several levels to find most of the other Jedi in a state of barely suppressed panic. Roth snagged one of them and spoke, "The Sith regiments are incoming. Do we have anything to hold them off?"

The Padawan's voice was quivering with badly hidden fear. Roth exuded calm into him through the Force and spoke, "Relax, things are going to be fine."
The Padawan nodded and Roth asked his question again to which this time the youngling responded stuttering, "I-I d-d-don't know. "

Roth sighed again, "Go find one of the other Knights and tell them I've headed out to Khoonda to see if we can at least get a message off to Coruscant hopefully we might be able to find some transports to get most of the younger Jedi off this rock. Reinforcments should be on the way, but we have no way of knowing when," Roth was about to leave before he realized one more thing, "Also tell them to try and get in touch with either the Azjli or the other regiments and tell them to fortify the Tooka Pass. They'll probably attack from there.

The Padawan nodded and headed off and Roth headed down to find some form of transportation and quickly mounted one of a pair of speeder bikes. He put the throttle up to max and headed off into the general direction of Khoonda praying to the Force he got there soon.

[Regnier]

Plains South by South-West of Jedi Enclave

Nazante looked out at the Jedi Temple from a hill a ways to the South. "Strike Team Two, progress report."

"ST Two Lead here, we hugged Arika from the hangers East of Khoonda 'til we got North of the Enclave. We're in position, ready for fast assault on the Enclave."

Nazante nodded. He didn't know how well they were expected to do, twenty Special Forces units against the Jedi Enclave, but that wasn't his job. "Good. Wait for the signal. Team Three, report."

"Team Three Lead here, we've got the guns assembled in West hanger four, we've set up firepoints on the entrances to the hanger, and we've so far avoided detection. As soon as that Hammerhead comes in range, we can open the roof and fry her, and we should be able to hold in here if we're detected for some time. This place has awesome killzones, if I do say so myself. And I do."

Again, he nodded. He didn't know how well the rest of the invasion was going, but his meticulously laid plans were going exceptionally well. "Confirmed. I'm opening a link to Tarkrus." He switched his encoded comm' to a seperate channel. "Strike Team One, requesting uplink to Admiral Tarkrus over secure channel, over."

He started at a jog towards Khoonda as he waited for a response. It was a times like this he had mixed feelings about not being a regular grunt. On the plus side, the defenders of Khoonda didn't have any reason to shoot at him; to them, he was just a merc working for a landowner, and he had the ID to prove it. On the downside, he was about to piss off a lot of people with guns, and maybe a few with lightsabers, and he didn't have a squad to back him up. The closest thing he had to reinforcements were twenty men bunkered down inside a hanger a quarter-mile from Khoonda. This was not going to be a fun day.

[Ardenator]

Nedra stood at the holo-command center, waiting patiently for the inevitable. Suddenly all the consoles broke into static at once, sending hissing shrieks at the Captain. He sighed. They were jammed.

"Get line-of-sight and land-line communications up at once. Abandon all comm frequencies. They've got 'em cut off."

He waited a moment as his orders were implemented. This is where things could go bad. At this moment, he was blind. Anything could go wrong. A moment later the consoles lit up once more, although a bit fuzzier than normal. Damn line-of-sight lasers, they never have the same quality.

His eyes widened with shock as he looked at the consoles. Things had gone wrong.

The fleet was firing on the Liberty.

"Derna, get down over that Sith force, close as you can. They can't fire on you then. Give it to the Sith troops, point=blank. Their forces can't stand against your turbolasers. Give them a few volleys, then fly towards the ridge here. Don't come over Khoonda, instead..." Nedra studied the maps of the immediate area for a moment. All hope of a planetary stand was lost, they would have to concentrate on the local area. Nedra smiled. A plan was forming...

"The Tooko pass will be their main point of entry into the Arika basin area. The other side is blocked off by the Azjli grounds. They are hostile towards the Sith, and from what I can see, the Jedi and the planetary defense forces are trying to hold up there. That means we've got the pass. The widest point is 350 meters. We can just fit. It will be tough, but we can do it. Land in the pass. You will make yourself an extension of the rock wall. Bring power from the engines and give full power to the shields and weapons. They won't be able to pass with you right there. Annihilate any forces that come your way. Deploy all your troops and fighters into the positions I am relaying to you right now. Have the men dig in and fortify, we must not lose an inch of ground. The fighters will provide air support. I and the men I have here will fly to the pass now. We'll see you there."

Derna nodded an affirmative, and Nedra watched as the Hammerhead dived low, moving away from the Sith fire and getting over the enemy army. The capital ship unleashed hell as it came over the infantry forces, pouring turbolaser fire down onto the invaders. After a moment of intense volleys, the Hammerhead pulled up and made a B-line to the Tooko pass.

Nedra stiffened, this would be the tough part. The ship came to a pause over the pass and turned, putting itself into a position to fill up the entire break in the ridge. Slowly it began to descend, and Nedra held his breath, preparing for the worst.

He let out the breath with a smile. The ship came down perfectly, with not an inch to spare. The Tooko pass was now impassable. Turning, he shouted at his men. "Pack up all our equipment and get it on the shuttles! We're leaving Khoonda!"

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TOOKO PASS

Nedra stood at the pass and looked out, watching as his Marines and Naval Troopers set up the fortifications around the pass and the border of Azjli grounds. The Liberty stood some meters behind him, readied for battle. Things seemed strangely calm, distant. The air was still, the silence broken only by the sounds of the Aureks and L-wings flying by overhead. In the distance he could discern the approaching Sith regiments, apparently already reorganized after the Hammerhead's strike. They wouldn't have long now.

Nedra looked at his console. From what he could tell, it seemed like the local defensive forces were heading towards Azjli grounds. There had to be somebody in command over there, and he needed to contact him. If they couldn't get a coherent defense together, all would be lost. He keyed up a line-of-sight laser transmission.

"This Captain Nedra of the Liberty, we are currently in a defensive position about the Tooko Pass. I need to speak to the leader of the Defensive Force at Azjli Grounds."

[Kay]

((I ran out of time before I could go where I wanted with this, so I’ll just say she’s in republic armour.))

TOOKO PASS

Cadet Chase could do little more, from her perch on the edge of the ridge opposite Tooko Ridge, than watch in complete awe as the Liberty unleashed a rain of fire on the helpless Sith troops. A small tremor following each explosion and rattling her to the core as she thought, “What would happen if the Sith got their ships down here…” She was naturally unaware of the general situation, her low rank barring her from the full briefing and so was simply working off the crumbs command deigned necessary for her to know.

Unfortunately, the mission was considered important enough to forgo much of her training though and so there she was, with a pair of binoculars in hand and a rifle strapped to her back; fresh out of the recruitment center and already getting her first taste of live combat. She was practically shivering as she watched the sith snake forward, their movements nothing less than methodical. For them it looked as if it came naturally, for her it was a nerve wrecking feeling to say the least - putting her life in the hands of some stranger who might, on a whim, decide to sacrifice her just to advance his own strategy.

Who was she kidding? These guys were trained soldiers and even a rookie like her could tell that they’d been preparing for this war, while the republic had been caught with its knickers down. Luckily her self-doubt was suddenly interrupted by a barely audible beep and she slowly turned around to regard the mini-radar station beside her, a small whir emanating from it as it processed and transmitted the last of the data to main command. It looked as if it was time for her to get off her butt and join the fray. With a light shove, she stood up from the rock she’d been on and clicked on the headset in her helmet, in an effort to contact the current command.

“Cadet Chase reporting in, I’ve finished placing the radar and am relocating to the closest barricade to set up a sniping position as ordered,” she informed them before equipping her weapon and making her way cautiously to where they were setting up the forward defenses; trying to keep behind cover and leaving the station as is, in the hopes it’d perhaps serve a bit of use before being shot or they were overrun.

[Jenno]

(If you mean to say that you have been on Tooko ridge this whole time, I doubt it, seeing as how the whole top of that ridge was hit by turbolaser fire.)

[Kay]

((Apologies CG, I forgot about the attack on that post. I've changed it to the opposite ridge.))