Radon Mont sat abourd the MC90 Starfire. He was using it as a temperary command ship. Having lost half its fleet to TJE of reperations, TDY was short handed. Itv was also in need of planets. Thats why he was on his way to Karkak.

Karkak is a military planets of sorts. It specialized in ground warfare instead of space warfare. It barely had a fleet. That was another reason he only had a few ships with him.

He had left Tholatin two days earlier, and was on the last leg of his journey. The task force was preparing to exit hyperspace and begin battle with the Karkakians. Unfortunately for the Karkakians, TDY also had a good militia. Comprised of the RPGC, Royal Phalanx Guard Corp, it was very, very good.

Radon was reading th Galactic Newspaper for information on how his Prince was doing at Adumar. He knew how the Adumarians were with their fighters. They were good. He sat back to read the rest of the news.


Task Force Firebird
Leader: Radon Mont
Mon Calamari 80 Star Cruiser Starfire
Interdictor Cruiser Terrapin
Legacy-class Torpedo Attack Cruiser Cry Of The Stars
Selonian-class Star Cruiser Thrawns Nightmare
Corellia-Class Vlyx Cruiser Oblivion
Imperial Star Destroyer
Imperial Star Destroyer
Tholatin-class Star Destroyer Quasar

Twenty-four hours later, the ships were beginning their tasks that were necessary before reversion to realspace. Radon moved out of his seat and moved toward the captain. Intending to ask the captain to alert him when it was time for the reversion, he met with a sudden shock as the ship was drawn out of hyperspace.

The stars became pinpoints in the blackness of space, as two ships came into view. One was an Imperial Interdictor cruiser. The other was an Imperial Star Destroyer Mark II. Radon scrambled to his command chair and started barking out orders.

“Bring the shields online! Weapons, target the Interdictor! Upgrade warning level to Red 3! Communications, give me a link to the rest of the force!”

A few seconds later, a blinking light popped up on his command console. Pressing it, he was immediately barking out orders.

“All ships except the Starfire will concentrate their fire on the ImpStar Deuce. It poses the greatest threat to our ships. Take out the weapons systems first. Then destroy the ship. We will not need these ships from their fleet.”

“Yes, sir.”

Laser and Ion cannon fire poured out from the TDY ships. The Karkakian ships returned a small amount of fire. Shields began to weaken on both sides. Most of the weakening of shields was on the ImpStar Deuce because the most ships were attacking it. The shields on the Starfire weakened slightly, but nothing major as the outgunned Interdictor cruiser lost its shields rapidly.

The Karkakians, being a warrior species, would not give up for the universe. With a show of explosions on its hull, the ImpStar Deuce lost its shields and began to fall apart from the blasts of the rest of the fleet. A brilliant flash of light exploded outward from the enemy vessel, as its main energy supply was hit. There would be no survivors except for the few that escaped aboard escape pods. That wouldn’t be many according to Karkakian nature.

The rest of the fleet, with the exception of the Interdictor Terrapin, moved towards the Karkakian Interdictor. The Terrapin began to pick up the few escape pods that had jettisoned from the ImpStar Deuce. The survivors would be brought aboard, and interrogated lightly. The TDY people would not harm them in any way. They would be given food and shelter. After TDY had taken over Karkak, they would be released back onto their planet.

The Karkakian Interdictor lost its shield brilliantly. It had tried to even out its shields, only to be attacked from behind by the Tholatin-class Star Destroyer Quasar. The Quasar pounded the rear of the Interdictor while the Starfire pounded the fore sections of the ship. A few escape pods began to jettison from the ship. Explosions began all over it. Suddenly, a brilliant explosion broke the ship into two sections. The cruiser was dead in space.

The Terrapin had finished picking up the survivors from the ImpStar Deuce, and began to pick up the survivors from the Interdictor. Radon sent a message to Tholatin telling them to send a salvage team to the area in order to salvage all usable materials. The ships formed up into flight formation to wait for a while. The evacuees had to be interrogated for possible information before the ships made the micro jump into the system.

Radon called the captains of the ships a few hours later, telling them to fly over to the Starfire for a conference. He wanted to discuss the information gathered, as well as the cause for the Interdictor and ImpStar Deuces presence in that area. Seven shuttles had soon landed in the docking bay of the Mon Calamari ship, and seven captains sat in the conference chamber.

“Captain Ervine. What have you found out from the Evacuees?”

“They don’t talk very much,” the Captain of the Terrapin said. “They did however say that they are in the middle of a civil war on their planet. They also stated that the best sight for landing troops is a plateau five kilometers north of the Capital, Jalaveev. They then went on to state some unnecessary facts. They also said they are grateful for the way we treat them.”

“Good, Captain. I am happy to hear you have produced good information. What is the injury status of the Evacuees, Captain?”

“Seventy percent of them are in good health. Twenty-five percent of them have minor cuts and bruises. The remaining five percent had to be placed in bacta tanks. There was a total of 100 evacuees.”

“Very good.”

“Captain Tertian. Your ship received the most damage. What is your damage report?”

“Nothing to major, sir,” the captain of the Imperial Star Destroyer Star Fury said. “We lost our shields in the fore area of the ship. We also received light hull damage. The crew is working to repair the ship as we speak.”

“Good. I can’t afford to lose any ships. Does anyone have any idea why these ships were in this sector of the system?”

“I have a possible explanation, sir,” Captain Zev said.

“Go ahead, Captain.”

“In the report that Captain Ervine made, it stated that the civil war on the planet was induced by outsiders. It is possible they were trying to keep these outsiders from reaching the planet again. They didn’t want them to cause anymore damage to the planet.”

“Excellent deduction, Captain. I am pleased. Very well. We shall hold this position for a total of twenty-four standard hours. You are all dismissed.”

The Captains saluted him on their way out of the room. Radon sat back in his chair and read the complete report that Captain Ervine had filed. There was some very interesting facts in it.

Radon entered the bridge, and sat down in his command chair. Calling up the message program that was applied to every Tholatin ship, he began to type a message reporting his progress. It would be sent to Prince Vondiranach.

Message VX-1198
DTEKZI Vondiranach,
Si siti debbic hay aw qlditgozi nl ok ukyitcuzyat vegy gqaty aw yqi Karkak glgyif. Yqi ukyitcuzyat okc yqi cigytalit siti zigyalic. Wetyqit nebbuyikg og imikyg sottoky.
OCFUTOB Mont

The message would be sent directly to Prince Vondiranach. If it was intercepted it would not matter because no one would be able to read what it said. Radon got up out of his chair, and walked over to the Captain.

“What is the status of the Star Fury?”

“She reports that all of the repairs are done, and they are good to go.”

“Very good. Contact all of the ships and tell them that it is time to go.”

“Yes, sir.”

Radon walked up the stairs to his command chair and sat down. It had been a long day, but not as long as some. The ones ahead were sure to be longer. He spoke through his comlink to every one of the ships.

“The micro jump will initiate on my mark. Three… Two… One… Mark.”

The stars outside the Starfire, elongated, and then became a white field as the ship jumped to hyperspace. It would only take them ten minutes to reach Karkak. Plans began to be set in motion. The warning level was upgraded back to level Red 3 because of the four ships Karkak still had to protect the planet.

Weapons systems were beginning to come online. The ships would only be using Ion cannons on the Karkak fleet, because they wanted acquire the ships once the takeover was finished. The countdown to reversion began.

Five….

Four….


Three….


Two….


One….

The fleet reverted to realspace, and warning klaxons began to go off immediately. The Karkakian fleet was moving to attack. Their fleet consisted of two Imperial Star Destroyers, 1 Corellian Corvette, and 1 Modified SoroSuub Quasar Fire-class Bulk Cruiser. Unfortunately for the Karkakians, the Bulk Cruiser was of little use to them since they did not use starfighters in battle.

The MC80 Starfire and the TSD Quasar opened fire on one of the Star Destroyers. Ion cannon fire lance out from both ships and impacted on the shields of the Star Destroyer. The Star Destroyer fired back with everything it had. The Quasar used its Proton Torpedo launchers to help take down the Karkakian ships shields. The shields didn’t last very long under the assault of the two ships.

The Star Destroyers shields went down, and The Starfire poured blasts of Ion cannon fire into the ship. Radon was careful not to destroy the ship however. A few minutes of exchanged fire ensued. Most of the hull hits one the Karkakian side. Finally, the ship went nonfunctional and began to drift in space. The only damage to the two Tholatin ships was a complete loss of shields by the Quasar, and minimal damage to the Starfire’s shields.

The rest of the fleet was faring about the same. The Star Fury and Blade had taken out the shields of the remaining Star Destroyer, and were pounding it with their Ion cannons. The Terrapin and the LTAC Cry of the Stars had taken out the Corellian Corvette. Thrawns Nightmare and Oblivion were finishing off the Bulk Cruiser. The remaining Star Destroyer shut down with one last blast from the Blade.

Damage reports came in. None of the ships reported any sufficient damage to themselves. There was minimal shield loss to all ships. The Quasar had fared the worst in the fight having lost its shields completely. Radon gave the order, to move into orbit around the planet. In 10 hours, they would begin landing their troops on the planet. The predestined spot would work well.

As the plan went, the AT-AT’s would land and form a perimeter. Then a prefabricated garrison would be set up inside the perimeter. Once that was accomplished, the troops would be landed. The last thing to be put on the planet would be the AT-ST’s. Once everything had been landed, and the formations had been set up, the ground forces would move out with the exception of four platoons that would stay to guard the base.

Radon stood up out of his chair, and stretched. Leading a fleet into battle was no easy feet. It was also very tiring, and gave you a cramp in your back. He walked down to the Captain.

“I am going to get some sleep. I will be back up on the bridge in eight hours.”

“Yes, sir.”

Radon left the bridge, and headed for his quarters. They were not far from the bridge, and he soon found himself standing outside of them. The two RPGC saluted him as he entered the room. Sitting down on the bed, he rubbed his eyes. He had not slept in forty-eight hours. He was extremely tired.

Lying back on the bed, he began to mull over the plans he would set in place in approximately ten hours. He found his way into a deep and not so dreamless sleep. He was dreaming of the next couple of days.

Radon walked through one of the hallways in the Royal Palace on Tholatin. He was on his way to see Whisper about a mission to Zonama Sekot. Prince Kamon wanted it to be a diplomatic takeover, and that wasn’t Radon’s specialty. He figured Kamon wouldn’t mind if he sent Whisper instead. After all she was a diplomat. A very attractice one at that.

He entered the hallway that housed all of the offices in the palace. Walking past the Prince’s office, he heard noises inside but figured it was just Prince Kamon working on something. A few offices later, he entered the secretary’s office in front of Whisper’s office. The secretary was on leave, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Knocking on Whispers door he got no answer. It was unlocked, so he opened the door and walked in.

He was filled with revulsion at the sight, of her mangled body. A note was laying on the table scrawled in some style of writing he had never seen before. It told him to leave this place because the rightful heir to the throne of Tholatin was coming to claim it. It was signed ZV. Radon knew what that meant. Zerxes Vondiranach had resurfaced. Lifting up Whisper’s head, his deduction was justified by the hole in her forehead.

He turned around, and ran out of the office. He headed down the hall to Kamon’s office. He had seen someone round the corner but they were not wearing a robe so he knew it wasn’t Kamon. Entering the office, he lost all hope for the survival of the Tholatin Drive Yards. Kamon lay on the floor with multiple wounds on his chest from a lightsaber. His own lightsaber was held tightly in his hand.

Radon took Kamons lightsaber, and walked out of the office. He had been trained in sword fighting and figured that fighting with a lightsaber was about the same as fighting with a sword. Out in the hallway he through up in revulsion at what he had seen. Wiping it off his face, he turned and walked in the direction he had seen the person go. He knew who it must have been, and He knew where Zerxes would be going.

He walked down the hall with determination on his face. He was going to try and kill his Prince’s brother. The man who had killed Kamons parents when Radon and Kamon were eight. Zerxes had only been twelve when he had killed two fully trained Jedi Knights. Radon lost some hope for his cause, but he was determined.

He entered the throne room and activated Kamon’s lightsaber. The white blade illuminated the room. Zerxes sat on the thrown with a smile on his face.

”What right do you have to sit on that throne, Zerxes? You know the custom. The youngest son takes over the throne.”

”I have all the right in the universe now that my brother is dead. There is no one to oppose me. You are pathetic in your attempt to avenge the death of your friends. I will kill you slowly, Radon. You know you are no match for me.”

”Yes but I have something that you do not have. I have determination. You just want to fight for pleasure. I may not be a Jedi, but I am trained in sword fighting. I will stop at nothing.”

”I don’t care if you have determination, or that you are trained in sword fighting. I will kill you now.”

Zerxes jumped out of the chair, and activated his red lightsaber as he charged at Radon. Radon readied himself for the assault. When Zerxes was close enough, Radon launched an attack at Zerxes’ head. Zerxes ducked and his lightsaber swung at Radon’s head….

Radon woke up in a cold sweat. It had all been a dream, but it seemed so real. It seemed like he had really been fighting Kamon’s Sith brother. He knew of course that if it ever really happened, he wouldn’t stand a chance of beating Zerxes. He would be killed in a matter of seconds because of the Dark Side of the Force.

Radon got out of bed, and walked over to the refresher station. He cleaned himself up, and put on a clean uniform. Sleeping his least favorite one had wrinkled it pretty good. He didn’t like to wear wrinkled clothes. When he was finished, he headed out of the room, and began to walk toward the turbolift that would take him up to the bridge.

Suddenly, warning Klaxons began to sound as the ship shook violently. Radon, unprepared for the ships shaking, found himself lying on the floor. He had a sharp pain in the back of his head. He sat up and put his hand to the spot that hurt. When he put his hand out in front of him, it had a small amount of blood on it.

He stood up and his legs wobbled for a moment as his dizzy spell went through its course. He walked down the hall and entered the turbolift. He hit a button, and the lift shot him up to the bridge. He exited the lift and walked over to his captain.

“What just happened?”

“The Karkakian ships destroyed themselves so we couldn’t take the ships over. The shockwave hit the ship and made it shake violently. These people truly are a warrior species.”

“I guess so.”

Radon looked out the viewport at where the Karkakian ships had been. All there was to be seen was a bunch of debris. It could be salvaged, but that would have to wait until after the planet had surrendered. He walked over, and sat in his command chair.

“Is everyone ready to begin landing the troops?”

“Yes, sir. All ships report that they are ready.”

“Good. Begin the landing process.”

“Yes, sir.”

Radon sat back and rubbed the wound on the back of his head. It was still bleeding, but not as bad as it had been. A few moments later, landing craft left the ship and headed for the planet. They were carrying ten AT-AT’s. They would be set down on the planet and would set up a perimeter at coordinates V1010 X12. The shuttles entered the atmosphere, and began they’re decent to the planet.

A few anti-aircraft weapons were fired at the shuttles, but the skill of the pilots kept the ships from getting hit. The shuttles set down on the planet, and the ten AT-AT’s walked out of the ships. Once they were clear, the landing craft headed back for the fleet. The AT-AT’s set up a perimeter. They met some minimal resistance from a couple of pockets of ground troop. The ground troops had nothing that was effective on the Walkers.

Four landing craft launched from the Starfire. Two of them carried a prefabricated base. The other two carried soldiers of the First Regiment of the Royal Phalanx Guard Corp. They would set the base up while the rest of the landing craft brought down the remaining regiments of soldiers. The four craft landed, and the soldiers began to set up the base.

The rest of the landing craft had arrived back at the fleet. They picked up their cargo of soldiers. Launching from their ships, they began to descend to the planet again. One hundred and fifty Tie Defenders exited hyperspace on the fringe of the system. They had been sent from Tholatin to be set up on the planet. The shuttles carrying the soldiers arrived on the planet, and the soldiers began to disembark the shuttles. Once the soldiers were off, the craft began to return to the fleet to make another run.

The Tie Defenders broke up into two groups. The first group shot in toward the planet, and began doing strafing runs on enemy military installations. The other group docked on the capital ships. They would stay there in case some enemy fleet came out of space, and they were needed. The landing craft arrived back on the fleet, and picked up twenty AT-ST’s. Once they were loaded, they headed down to the planet for the last time.

Radon left the bridge, and took a turbolift down to the hangar. He boarded his Lambda shuttle. He would be going down to the base to coordinate the ground forces. The shuttle kicked its repulsorlifts into gear, and took off. Popping through the MagCon field, it lowered its wings into flight position. The main engines kicked into gear as they shot toward the planet. Blasting through the atmosphere, they didn’t encounter any anti-vessel fire from the planet.

The shuttle set down on the landing pad that had been set up outside the garrison. Radon walked off the ship and headed for the base. Entering it, he walked down the hall on the left and entered the council chamber. General Nidon and General Kane sat at the table in heated debate. General Nidon was in charge of the Royal Phalanx Guard Corp. General Kane was in charge of the Walkers.

“Good day, Gentlemen. What are we debating?”

“General Kane thinks we should send the walkers into the capital first,” General Nidon said. “I think we should send the infantry in first.”

“It would be better to send the walkers in first so they can neutralize large pockets of enemy soldiers with heavy weaponry,” General Kane said.

“I agree with Kane. The walkers go in first. General Kane, send out the order to begin the attack. The walkers are to move ahead and clear a path.”

“Yes, sir.”

General Kane walked over to the communications area, and sent out the message to move out. The ground shook and it sounded like thunder when the walkers began to walk through the forest on their way to the capital. The AT-AT’s lasers blasted apart trees that were unavoidable. They led the way with the AT-ST’s and RPGC following them closely.

Half way through the forest, they encountered five enemy AT-PT’s and a large pocket of enemy soldiers. The AT-AT’s eliminated the AT-Pt’s but lost an AT-ST in the process. The remaining AT-ST’s fired on the ground troops. The RPGC got a few shots in as well. After about twenty minutes of heated exchange of fire, the Karkakians surrendered. Twenty RPGC escorted the 30 enemy troopers back to the garrison. The rest of the ground forces moved onward.

They exited the forest without encountering anymore enemy ground forces. However, when they came within twenty kilometers of the capital city, they encountered an extremely large force of enemy ground forces. Five AT-ST’s and twenty AT-PT’s, not to mention the troopers, waited for them. The Tie Defenders, having finished destroying all enemy installation that proposed a threat, swooped in and open fire on the enemy vessels.

The AT-PT’s were easily destroyed. Radon called the commander of the wing of Tie Defenders, and told him to pull his fighters back to the garrison. The ten TDY AT-AT’s opened fire on the enemy AT-AT’s. Losing two AT-AT’s in the process, the TDY AT-AT’s eliminated the Karkakian AT-AT’s. The AT-AT’s and AT-ST’s opened up on about thirty Chariot LAV’s that had entered the fight.

The Royal Phalanx Guard Corp infantry began to attack the enemy troops in a phalanx. The front men carried shields, while the next row fired at the enemy troops with their light repeating blasters. Karkakian blaster fire ricochet off of the RPGC’s shields. Every once in a while, an infantryman went down. When this happened a new one stepped up and took his place. On the Karkakian side, the casualties were drastically worse.

The effects of the phalanx had obliterated half of the enemy troopers in a matter of twenty-five minutes. The rest began to flee back towards the capital. That would be their last attempt at saving the planet from the Tholatin’s. The walkers finished off the last of the Chariots having lost four more AT-ST’s. The TDY forces moved towards the city. Once there, the enemy troopers opened fire with heavy artillery.

They eliminated five AT-ST’s before the anti-vehicle artillery could be eliminated. Ant-personnel units hit the RPGC Infantryman hard. It didn’t help that the enemy troopers were also firing on them. The TDY forces lost one quarter of their infantry before they could eliminate the perimeter forces. The AT-AT’s remained on the outskirts of the city as the rest of the TDY forces moved inside the city. They broke up into many small units, and headed throughout the city.

Pockets of Karkakian troopers attacked them from building. The TDY forces took shelter in other buildings and fired back at the enemy troops. E-webs were brought in and put into place at routing points all through the city. When enemy troops were routed, they fled and were cut down by the E-webs. The TDY forces had almost cleared out the city when something unexpected happened.

Some new technology for anti-personnel engagements entered the fight on the Karkakian side. These weapons carved up the RPGC infantrymen. It took a while for them to figure out how to eliminate these vessels. A thermal detonator thrown at the exhaust port would destroy these weapons. The remaining AT-ST’s, all ten of them, headed back to the garrison. The infantrymen surrounded the senate building in order to keep the senators in the building.

Radon and his two Generals left the garrison and boarded Radon’s Lambda-class shuttle. They took off and headed for the capital city. Half way there, the ship rocked as it took fire from some A-wing fighters. Twenty in count, the fighters opened fire on Radon’s ship. Radon called for the Tie Defenders. Fifty of the craft launched immediately and swooped in at the Karkakian fighters.

The fighters danced through the air in a dogfight. Radon’s shuttle was forced to land for a few minutes. The Tie Defenders dipped, dived, swerved, and fired at the enemy ships. They destroyed them by shear numbers. However, they lost twenty ships in the process. The fighters headed back to the garrison to wait for further orders.

Radon’s shuttle took off again. They flew swiftly to the city, and had soon landed on the outskirts. Radon and his Generals departed the ship, and began the two-mile trek to the senate building. The capital city was very large. Radon held his blaster at the ready because there was always a possibility that some Karkakian troops had not been found.

His actions were justified when the three of them encountered a band of five Karkakian troopers. Fortunately for Radon, Nidon, and Kane, the enemy troops didn’t notice them in time to fire back. Radon and his two Generals killed the enemy troopers swiftly. They the headed for the senate building. Arriving there, fifty RPGC infantrymen escorted the three of them into the building.

The Senators cowered in fear as the fifty-three Tholatiners entered the room. Radon smiled at them in order to ease their uneasiness. Radon approached the podium at the front of the room where the president stood.

“You are the president of this lovely planet?”

“Y-yes. I am P-President Narkin. W-What can I do for you?”

“I am Grand Admiral Radon Mont of the Tholatin Drive Yards. I was sent to acquire you as part of our group of neutral worlds. You were picked because your planet is the leading producer of Crystasteel. We need that material so we can use it in our warships. We also picked you because you have an excellent infantry. However, you are lacking in the fleet department. We want you to join our correlation of worlds so we can build a fleet. What do you think about that?”

“D-Do I have a c-choice?”

“Not really.”

“Well then I guess we shall accept,” the nervous edge in Narkin’s voice was gone. “However, we don’t want to change our governing system. We want to keep our senate.”

“That can be done. Prince Kamon Vondiranach will probably allow you to be president of this sector. However, you will answer to him. Prince Kamon is not a dictator however. He allows the people to have a say in everything. You will have your share of attention in the correlation.”

“I find that acceptable. I will govern with good authority. There will be no corruption of this sector, I guarantee that. I will recreat a senate. One that will not be corrupted by outside forces.”

“Good. I want you to make an announcement to all of your ground forces around the planet telling them to lay down their arms and surrender to the TDY forces. In due time, they will be reinstated at Royal Phalanx Guard Corp infantrymen. That may take some time however. We need to get a permanent garrison set up on the base. Once that is done, we will begin building two shipyards and one construction yard so we can build your defenses.”

“Very well. I shall send that message immediately. My forces will comply with the order, and the planet will completely belong to the Tholatin Drive Yards.”

President Narkin walked into a closed off room. President Narkin sent out the message telling all military personnel on the planet to lkay down their weapons and surrender to the TDY forces. Acknowledgements came in immediately. Radon received a transmission stating that the Karkakians had complied with the orders. Narkin emerged form the room a few moments later.

“What will the planetary defenses consist of?”

“Well, when the construction yard gets finished we will build you two Gencore Type 2 shields. After that, we will build planetary ion and turbolaser cannons. When the shipyards are finished we will build you twenty-five capital ships for planetary defense. Then we will build twenty-five ships to be used as ships in our conquest fleet.”

“Sounds good. How long will you be remaining on Karkak?”

“Until the yards get finished, and you have five ships for protection. Then I will return to Tholatin and leave you in charge of the planet. After that, if you have any questions you can contact me on Tholatin.”

“Very well.”

“Right now, I am going to return to our temporary garrison where I will be staying for the next couple of months. If you need anything, contact me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Radon left the building and headed back to his shuttle. He and his two general boarded it, and the ship took off. They flew back to the base, and Radon sent a message to Kamon telling him of his victory. When he was finished, he headed for his quarters and laid down on the cot. He was tired, hot, and sweaty, but he was happy. He had added a planet to his Prince coalition. This would be a day in history. Victory!