Radon sat aboard his command vessel in the minimal fleet he had been given(NPC). He had been told that Geonosis, a planet that had a history of danger, was the next target of TDY. Primarily because the Industrial division wanted to study some artifacts from a battle there.

The battle was that between the Trade Federation and Count Dooku who were fighting the Old Republic and the Jedi. The Republic and Jedi had prevailed, but not until they had taken heavy losses.

Many droids had been destroyed in that battle. Most of them were the new cortosis armor droids. While not exactly the best of droids, they were certainly worth studying. He was assigned to take control of the planet as well as to gain materials.

Kamon had specifically told him to try and get any artifacts having to do with the Jedi. He wanted to study them himself then turn them over to the Jedi or Rogue Jedi. The artifacts that would still be around would most likely be lightsabers and JedCreds.

JedCreds were valuable, but rare. The last one had been seen with Corran Horn. Corran, being a good friend of Kamon, had let Kamon see it. He was fascinated by it and wanted one for himself. Radon had been told to be careful, but that was rather pointless. Radon was always careful.

The fleet was in hyperspace, and Radon was sitting in the mess area enjoying a game of Sabacc. He anteed up, and looked around. Some of the men laid their hands down to withdraw from the round. Radon laid his down showing a full house. The other threw their cards into a pile in the middle of the table, and Radon pocketed his winnings.

Standing up, he stretched momentarily. His body ached from being seated for such a long time. He had been playing Sabacc for at least an hour. He walked his way away from the table and headed for the door. Walking out of the mess hall, he headed for a lift that would take him to the bridge.

He entered one and keyed it to take him up. He entered the bridge of the Marauder Corvette and sat down. His fleet consisted solely of two marauder corvettes, a transport, and eight Rapyir fighters. The transport carried all of the troops and equipment he would need. The Marauders would provide the ground support.

Radon sat down in the command chair and looked to the Captain.

“Status?”

“On schedule. All systems are functional. The fleet is ready for combat.”

“Time to arrival?”

“Four hours, five minutes.”

“Very good. Captain have you had anything to eat?”

“No, sir.”

“Go then. I need you fully capable to command this vessel when I need you.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Captain walked to the turbolift and shot down to the level the mess hall was on. Radon looked out the viewport. The whiteness of hyperspace filled his view. It was bleak way to travel, but was definitely the fastest. He sat back in the chair to wait.

Radon had gone over all of the possible scenarios for the battle that they would probably have. You had to figure in that the natives were used to hiding in the caves and such. There were also probably some left over droids. Most likely battle droids and Droidika’s.

He wasn’t worried. The Tholatin Republic had specially trained some its Royal Phalanx Guard Corp to be able to effectively battle the droids. They weren’t a huge force, but they could get it done. They had the heavy equipment to do it. That didn’t count the BLAV’s.

The Captain returned to the bridge after being gone for only about an hour. Radon had allowed for him to have more time if he needed it, but apparently he didn’t. It didn’t matter anyway. The Captain walked over and stood next to him.

“We only have about three hours left. Should we begin preparations for war?”

Radon nodded. “Yes begin. It’ll take the remaining time for everyone to get ready anyway.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Captain walked over to the officers sitting around the bridge. He began to speak. The gunnery officer nodded as he was addressed and walked off to make preparations. The communications officer did the same. General Karik followed her. Karik nodded to Radon as he left.

When the Captain was finished, he sat down in his chair on the bridge. It appeared to Radon that the man was tired, but it might just be that he was weary of commanding a vessel. That was understandable. Radon himself sometimes had trouble. Only he had to command a fleet.

Radon looked out the viewport. The complete white of hyperspace stared back at him. It was such a bland and boring way to travel. The only good thing about it was that you traveled fast enough to get across the galaxy in a matter of days instead of years.

It also meant you could bypass being attacked by enemy flotillas waiting in subspace for unsuspecting prey. Of course the enemy could always get an Interdictor and the whole thing would be pointless. You just had to hope you outnumbered them.

He almost fell asleep staring out the port. The white was so boring that he had to remind himself he shouldn’t look at it. He used to fall asleep when in hyperspace. He had been lucky he didn’t kill himself then. Now wasn’t a time to be falling asleep.

He looked away from the viewport as Kirak walked back in. He stopped next to Radon and spoke.

“Sir, we are ready for plan Theta. All of the troops are ready. Their gear is already stored on the landing craft.”

“Very good, Kirak. When we come out of hyperspace, you will be escorted down to the planet. Once you have landed, the fighters will begin bombing runs on enemy strongholds. We’ll soften it up for you.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Begin loading the troops into the landing craft.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kirak left and Radon sat back in the chair. He rubbed his eyes to get the sleepiness out. It was almost time to take another planet. Another planet to combat the forces of evil.

Captain Neychev wiped the red dust and grit from his eyes as he stood up to watch the sky.

He was a veteran of The New Alliance and the New Republic. He had been the captain of Admiral Logan's personal Star Destroyer the Keerow for years. He had served the New Republic faithfully under Logan and now he was serving under Logan through the company ComTech. The company was really a front for the mysterious Black Hand. He had been sent as an advance strike force to the planet to establish ComTech/Black Hand's presence there. They had been on the blasted planet for a month now and were struggling to get a good foothold on the planet.

The day they had arrived and had set up their prefab shelters, a rogue squadron of Droid Starfighters had spotted their little encampment and their programming instantly identified them as a Galactic Republic outpost and had deemed them worthy of destrouction.

Neychev's troops had been caught completely unawares. The fighters had strafed their encampment and Neychev ordered them to return fire with their blaster pistols. He had also called the Reliance, the Aegis Star Cruiser who had brought them to Geonosis to send down reinforcements.

He had ordered the Aegis to hide in orbit around the Geonosian sun untill they needed it. He had gotten the message out but the Aegis never arrived. So he and his men were forced to hold out. After a day or so the Reliance had arrived and sent down a couple of superior Tie Defenders to chase away the recalcitrant droid starfighters.

So now, one month later the operation was still struggling. Neychev was thinking about paking up and leaving. Now he looked up at the red sky, hoping a communication from Logan would arrive soon.

Instead when he looked up he saw a long flaming arc that signaled a ship entering the atmosphere. As he watched, he saw more.

They were not alone on Geonosis.

Kirak’s ships streaked through the atmosphere towards the landing zone. It had been said that there wasn’t anything except natives living on the planet. That appeared to be wrong judging by the view he saw out of the window.

There appeared to be some kind of operation going on the ground. Who’s operation and what it was could not be seen from this far away. It was probably some rogue group trying to mine some valuable mineral or some such deal.

Well it didn’t matter to him at the moment. All that really counted was that they get a prefab garrison set up. They would need it in order to protect themselves from the elements and from any harmful natives.

The ships jetted towards the ground. The Raptor transports carried just about everything the TTR troops would need for the months ahead. Before anything truly important could happen, the planet would have to be pacified.

That probably wouldn’t be an easy task. It never was. The natives always had to fight. They wouldn’t come peacefully. The only time in TTR history that that had actually happened was when they first took Zonama Sekot. The Sekotians had been friendly then.

The second taking of the planet had been different. The Sekotians had kicked TTR off the planet because they had not been involved in much production. The Sekotians loved to manufacture things. They built their life around it.

TTR had promised to work on that in the future. They had promised yards for the natives and had promised they would get to build. So far they had not, but once Tholatin was regained, they would.

Prince Vondiranach had plans to move all of the yards from Tholatin to Zonama Sekot in an attempt to keep the yards hidden. That way if anything happened to Tholatin, the yards would still be operational. Well, that matter was out of his hands. All that mattered to him was here and now.

The engines began to slow on the Raptor transports as they began to descend onto the landing zone. The dusty landscape closed rapidly with the ship. The repulsors kicked in and the ship settled silently to the ground.

The doors opened and the troops and other machines of war began to leave the ships. The garrison was off-loaded and some techs began to set it up. The Grievance Main Battle Tanks formed a perimeter around the area.

The military personnel began to form into groups to form the perimeter in between the tanks. Behind them, the Royal Phalanx Guard Corp was forming into its Core. They would be the main fighting force in the battle for Geonosis.

Kirak was almost positive there would be fighting. The natives had fought before and surely they would fight now. What was to break the fighting spirit in an alien race? Well, the answer was TTR. They didn’t hate aliens. In fact most of the armed forces was composed of “aliens.” Mainly they were Ryn that had been allowed onto the planet.

Kirak himself was sitting in one of the battle tanks. He was an excellent ground force commander and prided himself with his ability in tank combat. Not many people had that pleasure.

The garrison was soon completed and Kirak gave the order to move out. Their first stop was the group of people they had seen on their descent. Kirak wanted to know who they were and what their intentions were on the planet.

The two cores that had been sent to actually fight if necessary formed up with the tanks as they began the short trek toward the unknown camp. They had left three brigades behind to guard the garrison. You never know when you might come under attack.

The fleet, under Admiral Radon’s command, remained on high alert. If there were unknown people on the ground and no apparent ships, there had to be some ship or ships in space waiting for them. They only hoped it wasn’t a capital class vessel. They hadn’t intended on a space battle.

They drew up on the unknown camp. Stopping five hundred meters away, they sat to wait. They wanted the unknowns to make the first move just in case. They had no intention of fighting them unless forced to.

"Sir we have unknowns approching from the northwest."

Neychev stood up calmly from the table where he had been enjoying a cup of stem tea. He walked through the command center and to the sensor station.

"Is it the Geonosians?" He asked.

"No sir. The Geonosians primarily do not use Grievance-class Battle Tanks."

Neychev sighed as he looked. There were thousands of soldiers...thousands.


"Get me into contact with the Reliance" He ordered. "And prepare the assault troops"

"Yes sir!"

He walked over to the comm unit and waited untll Captain Braxton of the Reliance appeared in holographic form.

"Captain Neychev" Braxton said.

"Captain Braxton, report" He said.

"There is an Imperial-class Star Destroyer and several smaller support ships in orbit. They launched several ships and have formed a garrison" Braxton said sharply.

"Okay. Hold position untill further notice. But note that we may need reinforcements soon so be prepared" Neychev responded.

"Yes sir. Just give the word and we will be ready" Braxton said.

"Good. Neychev out"

He turned to his Tactical Officer, "I am going with them. You are in command here" He said.

"Yes sir" The officer said, saluting.

Neychev returned the salute and spun on his heel and headed to the prep area. There were a couple thousand soldiers6 there, all ready to fight. He climbed into his own Repulsortank and ordered the pilot to head to the front of the troops.

He headed out, with five hundred crack commandos and Twenty-five repulsortanks. They marched northwest. There was a short canyon that served as a 'road' between both camps. The twenty-five repulsortanks set themselves up at the entrance to ComTech/Black Hand's camp on the southeast, while the commandos set them selves along the canyon ridge, in ambush positions. The enemy was completely unaware of the soldiers, all they could see were the twenty-five repulsortanks guarding the entrance to the ComTech camp.

Kirak watched from his vessel. He could see the twenty-five repulsors tanks, not unlike his own Grievances. A different model, but still capable of inflicting a lot of damage. What he didn’t see were soldiers. If they had tanks, they had to have soldiers. Kirak sent out a message to all his commanders.

“They have repulsortanks. Generally that would mean they have ground troops as well. Watch around for ground troops in hidden positions.”

Kirak and his men stood there and watched for a little while. It was always a plus to give the enemy the chance to surrender in order to stop a bloodbath. They just sat there and waited. That struck him as odd. They didn’t even try and identify the unknowns. Somebody had forgotten lesson one in the book on engagements.

“Fire.”

The sixteen Grievance Main battle tanks opened fire with their heavy guns at the enemy tanks. The two most visible enemy tanks went up in a ball of flames. The Grievances continued to fire away. If the enemy didn’t want to negotiate, too bad for them.

Kirak ordered the ground troops to start moving. The two cores of men started to run at the enemy encampment. Generally in the direction of the tanks, but somewhat away from them. Some of the troops had flechette launchers, and they started to fire them in the general direction of the tanks.

The rest of the troops carried the standard blaster rifle. They had the stock unextended so they could fight in close quarters like the town they were about to enter. TTR RPGC troopers were specially trained for fighting in towns and such. It gave them an edge in battle. They pressed on.

"Ten Seconds to reversion, 9, 8, 7, 6."

The stars suddenly jolted back into little pinpricks of light, Victory had arrived.

Corran shook his head. They were good kids, they worked hard but the Victory's crew at least needed some work. He could only hope that this was just an isolated incident and wasn't common in the whole fleet.

"Navigation, would you care to tell me why your course had an extra five seconds added on it, and if it wasn't for gravity, would've put us in the sun!"

"Umm no Sir, I wouldn't like to explain."

Corran shook his head. The boy was still young and hopefully might learn something about navigation before he destroyed his ship.

"Well in that case give the Helm Officer a course that will form us up with the rest of the fleet in orbit around Geonosis. I trust you won't crash us into the planet with this course."

"I won't Sir."

"Good. Communication send a message to Captain Rossik aboard the Invincible. Send him my compliments and tell him that I will be transferring my flag to his ship."

"Aye Aye Sir."

"Flight Operations, if you could please have my shuttle prepped. I will be ferrying over to Invincible in half an hour."

Neychev ignored the two destroyed repulsortanks and ordered the remaining tanks to open fire. The enemy fired again, destroying another tank, while the 22 remaining tanks opened up all at once, destroying three of the enemy tanks and inflicting damage on two others. The enemy returned fire, and Neychev replied in kind.

Meanwhile the enemy soldiers, hundreds of them, charged through the canyon that Neychev's tanks were guarding. He ordered his own armor to ignore the enemy tanks and fire at the ground forces bearing down on them. The ComTech tanks fired, killing dozens if the enemy infantry, including some of those peculiar ones with the flechette launchers.

The soldiers replied with return fire but the laser bolts bounced harmlessly off the tank's heavy armor. Neychev grabbed his comlink and yelled into it over the sounds of battle to the commander in charge of the hidden troops at the rims of the canyon.

"Commander Grant, commence thermal detonator bombardment" He ordered.

"Yes sir" Came Grant's reply.

"All tanks, back off!" He yelled and the armored forces he still had with him backed of a dozen meters or so.

Neychev watched as hundreds of small little spheres came arcing into the canyon, raining down on the enemy ground forces. Multiple explosions ripped through the canyon, killing dozens.

Neychev then ordered his tanks resume fire on the enemy tank formation. He then spoke into his comlink.

"Commander Grant, order your forces to fire" He said.

He watched as the hidden ground forces on the rim of the canyon above came out of their hidding places and begun sniping off enemy soldiers, while Neychev's tanks continued to fire at the enemy tanks...




"Alright, we have our orders from the ground team, we are to negotiate with the enemy" Captain Braxton of the Aegis Cruiser Reliance said to his XO, Commander Cage.

"They outnumber us" Cage said, perhaps slightly nervous.

"I know. But we are simply delaying the enemy. And if possible, negotiate with them" Braxton replied.

"Shall I open a channel to them?" Cage asked.

"Not yet. Come about and head into orbit of Geonosis. If they hail us we will reply, otherwise ignore them" Braxton said.

"Yes sir" Cage replied.

A minute later the Aegis cruiser left it's hiding place near the Geonosian sun and headed for the reddish-orange ball that was Geonosis.

Kirak grimaced as the troopers, approximately 20,000 of them, were bombarded from above. He yelled in his comlink for them to return fire. They did so. Thermal detonators and grenades of all sorts started landing around the enemy troops. Close to a quarter of the enemy troops were killed in that. Then came the flechette launchers.

The tiny missiles landed, disgorging thousands of little pieces of metal and other such materials. Enemy troops were dying and others were wounded badly. Kirak’s troops climbed up the valley, it wasn’t very steep, and opened fire with blasters, killing even more of the enemy troops.

Kirak didn’t like losing tanks. They took a while to make and were very costly. Losing them meant losing a valuable investment. He had lost three tanks, and two had lost their side weapons. The remaining 13 tanks opened fire with pinpoint accuracy. They had all targeted separate vehicles. The enemy lost 11 tanks. Two of his own, the injured ones, had missed their targets.

Kirak sent a message to the fleet. He knew if there were ground forces that there had to be some ships around. He saw none on the ground that meant they had to be either hidden or in space.

“General Kirak to fleet. There are unknown ground forces down here and we are engaged in a battle with them. There are no ships apparent on the ground. That means there has to be something up there in space. Keep a lookout.”

Neychev frowned as he lost a little less than half his armor force. The enemy, who's identity was still unknown to them, surged forward, gaining on them. Neychev raised his hand in the air and then chopped it down, as he did so all of his remaining armor fired repeatedly. But their target was not the enemy armor, but rather the enemy infantry, specificly the flechette soldiers.

Neychev watched as the Black Hand laser blasts struck the ground, killing dozens more of the enemy. But still they came, struggling toward the Black Hand forces. The enemy infantry was less than thirty meters away. Neychev ordered a second volley, killing dozens more. Then he calmy spoke into his comlink for the Black Hand infantry to begin the counterattack. They did so, all of them opening up on the attcking enemy with thermal detonators and blasters, they even engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. In this the Black Hand forces were superior, they had been trained to fight in close quarters. And they steadily drove the enemy back into the canyon.

Neychev ordered a third volley from his tanks, the blasts striking among the retreating soldiers. The enemy tanks fired again, destroying two more of Neychev's armored vehicles.

Enough of this.

He picked up his comlink and turned it to a new frequency, the one his Noghri and Shi'ido commando teams used.

"This is Neychev, you have your orders. Now go" He said. And that was all he needed to say. His special teams knew what to do.

He ordered his armor to retreat out of the enemy tanks weapons range. And he allowed himself a smirk.

Here they come.



Aeon silently moved down the slope of the canyon, coming up behind the enemy tanks, who were now concentrating on the Black Hand infantry instead of the Black Hand armor who were retreating a safe distance away.

And for good reason. Aeon also noticed that the Black Hand Infantry was starting to retreat as well, they knew what was going to happen.

He looked over and nodded at the small grey-skinned nightmare. The Noghri silently crept up to the rearmost enemy tank and pulled out his 'sticky bomb'. It was several thermal detonators packed into a small casing. The casing had a very sticky substance applied to it so only the most sophisticated tools could pry it off any surface. Aeon and the three Shi'ido and three more Noghri who made up their small commando team, did likewise. They all picked a tank and stuck their sticky bombs to it. Then they retreated a safe distance away and hid among several large boulders.

Aeon pulled out his comlink.

"Placed" He said.

"Excellent" The voice on the other end of the transmission said.

Aeon then watched as the bombs they had placed on the enemy tanks were remote detonated from the Black Hand complex to the north. Eight of the enemy tanks went up in smoke and flames.

"Good work. Hold position untill further notice" The voice on the other end of the comlink said.

So they waited.