Two nodded slowly. “Lock down all landing platforms. It seems the aliens have tipped their hand prematurely.”

Dej looked at the Executor curiously. “How do you know?”

Two continued, as if the question had not been asked. “It would seem the aliens now have one sufficient entrance point. Given the abilities of this platform’s autocannons, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume they will use it to insert all available forces.”

Dej nodded. “We’d best reinforce it, then, eh?”

Two didn’t respond. It was, after all, a stupid question. Civilians, even outfitted with weapons, were little good in actual, open combat, where tactics played a vital role; but clustered at a single, urban chokepoint, with so much room to hide and so much numerical superiority, they were a tactical nightmare. Dej began speaking into a communicator.

“How do we know that they won’t really orbitally bombard?” The fat Administrator asked nervously, tugging at his collar. He was seemingly oblivious to the tactical conversation going on around him.

“That is not the way of the Coalition,” Two said. “They are idealist, yes, but also cowards. They have no understanding of the way of things; the things one must do to accomplish goals which supercede sentient ‘morality.’”

The Administrator did not look convinced.

“They won’t,” Dej assured him with a smirk, and glanced at one of the many surveillance relays which punctuated the command room. On it, surrounded by the twisted hulks of destroyed autocannons, one transport’s worth of Outer-Rim Sovereignty forces rushed forward. “Well, there are our friends now. Let’s greet them, shall we?”

This time, Two did respond. “Yes, indeed.”

And the ORS troops were struck with a hail of laserfire. On the open platform, with no cover in sight, with fire coming from the buildings all around the area and from in the one building actually connecting the ramp to the city, the barrage would be devastating.

Hundreds of Shockers stormed out of the transport, and dozens of them were shot.

Major Jackson grimaced from his position on one of the hovering transports. Bodies of fallen soldiers littered the landing pad.

"Bring down more soldiers." He told his XO, who got on the comm system and began radioing to the orbiting fleet.

Jackson picked up his macrobinoculars and scanned the battlefield. The buildings...

"I am going to need air support here as well. We have to get rid of those buildings and get our guys some cover. Also, make sure they get some Ranger squads down here as well!"
He said to his XO, who nodded.

The Shockers were indeed getting devestated, but they had numerical superiority, and they pushed forward. The point-squads made it off the landing platform and began returning fire on the buildings.


Ground Forces Manifest

20 Svelte-class Assault Shuttles
100 Samurai-class Atmospheric Gunships
9 Heavy Landspeeders
2 Gamma-class Assault Shuttles
12 Tie Bombers


Reinforcements

5,000 Shock-Troopers

Cloud City
Bespin

One of the autocannons exploded in the distance, and Two glanced back at Dej. The INS correspondent seemed to be eagerly soaking in the violence; to him, it was not reality, but an abstraction. It was the sort of thing journalists yearned their whole lives to see.

The landing squads had indeed made it off of the landing platforms themselves, yet were struggling to make it into the interior of the buildings; solid durasteel doors barred their way, and, unlike normal cities, there was only one way into any given building from a landing platform. It was a tactical nightmare; a single chokepoint through which to enter.

Reinforcements were still meeting heavy fire from the citizen militia on the platforms, and those attempting to destroy or break down the doors were also facing fire as they accomplished their difficult tasks. The few that did manage to enter the buildings were met yet again with massive fire, as many men were forced to rush through doors too small to grant access to more than one at a time. Civilians firing from hallways and apartments cut many, many of them down.

“Nothing more inspiring than a civilian fighting for his cause,” Dej said serenely.

"Give them one last chance to surrender."

Calls were made to the civilians defending Cloud City. They men were ordered to put down their arms or be destroyed. The response was a few surrendering, but most answered with a hail of fire on the Shockers.

Jackson sighed, and ordered the buildings in the immidiate area leveled.

Samurai's, assault shuttles, and bombers swooped in, obliterating three buildings, it happened within a few seconds. Jackson closed his eyes...such a waste.

The Shockers moved forward, setting up artificial barricades and launching a new offensive as waves of reinforcements arrived. Thousands of the Shockers entered buildings, fought along streets, and other places. The Samurai gunships were used as 'puddle jumpers', picking up ten or so Shockers and landing them in other parts of the city. The Assault shuttles did the same.

Shockers were no longer at one point in the city, they were all over the place.

In orbit, the Birds of Prey made their discreet exit into hyperspace.

Reinforcements -

5,000 Shock-troops.

(You can post one more time in each thread.)

The city was falling, and the ORS forces are advancing.

The soldiers of the Sovereignty were easily a match for the armed citizens. More messages, calling the civilians to surrender, were sent out, and again, only a few people actually submitted themselves. It was a tragedy, but a necessary one. If the civilians would not surrender, then the ORS forces had no other choice.

The ORS troops made it to a major building intersection, Rangers and Shockers a now had free reign to a large portion of the city. Thousands of troops advanced in all directions, buildings were cleared out, civilians disarmed.

One of the main orders given to the individual clone commanders was that no civilian was to be killed when ORS forces cleared a building. All the clone's weapons were set on stun, except for a few instances when the soldiers had no choice.

The city slowly fell to the ORS forces. Samurai gunships continued their ceaseless operation of transporting hundreds of Shockers to different portions of the city. The civilians did not face only a steadily expanding front, they faces breakouts of fire all over the city. The ORS forces were everywhere. Rangers continued to clear out buildings, and gather intelligence.

There was no where to hide.

Cloud City
Bespin

Dej continued to smirk despite the advances of Sovereignty troops. “Plucky, aren’t they?”

“Yes.” Two agreed. “One has ordered the use of explosives on captured buildings on Taloraan; we shall do the same. Gut the buildings filled with enemy troops, and ensure that all Stormtroopers keep their civilian units fighting. Barricade doorways and, once they are broken, concentrate fire on them. Make every corridor a tactical nightmare.”

Dej nodded.

And below, buildings occupied by Outer-Rim Sovereignty troops began to explode into flames, the citizens crude explosives setting them alight and the thermal detonators filling them with minor nuclear reactions. The rate of fire outside and in un-captured buildings intensified. The Sovereignty forces had only one entrance with which to gain access to any given building, and that in itself made the numerical advantage possessed by the resident forces multiply tenfold.

"Major - the Bombers have been outfitted with your required armaments."

Major Jackson picked up his comlink, "Thank you Mister Dugan. Send them down. They know their tasks."

"Yes sir."

Jackson turned back to the viewport, and the heavy fighting. His subordinate stood next to him, with a monitoring headset.

"What is the status?"

"All troops report that they are ready. Air filters and breathers are all ready."

"Good."

The Sovereignty Shocker was not unlike the standard Stormtrooper, but with one difference. Like a Stormtrooper, they wore armor, a helmet, carried similar weapons (which were set on stun), and even used similar tactics. But the difference between a Shocker and a Stormtrooper was the Shocker's armor and suit was completely self-contained. It had seperate air tanks built into the suit, with an internal comlink system. The eyeholes used nightvision and infared systems.

The suit could be exposed to the air and and not use the air filters, but Jackson had ordered all forces to switch to breathers. His bombers had a special surprise.


"Here they come!" His subordinate exclaimed as Tie Bombers, Skipray Blastboats, and other fighters swooped over the city, dropping hundreds of canister-like devices all over the city.

Out of the canisters came a gray-ish smoke like substance that had been developed by ORS scientists. It looked like smoke, but in reality it was a type of tranquilizer gas, that when ingested, caused a person to fall asleep. It was effective against all types of people, and many aliens and humans. It was harmless in the long run, with no side effects or sickness. And the person would awake within twenty-four hours or when given an antidote.

The citizen fighters fell by the hundreds, all asleep as the gas spread and took effect.

"Move out, take as much ground as possible. And get more reinforcements." Jackson ordered even as more transports began to drop from the sky, bringing even more Sovereignty troops.


In space, Admiral Telius Keyen ordered even more ships to leave the battle area, and head to their next assignments.

OOC:

Leaving the Battle (1st Post) -

1 Allegiance - Class Star Destroyer
3 Imperial mk II Star Destroyers
2 Victory Mk. I Star Destroyers
2 Republic - Class Star Destroyers
5 Interdictor Cruisers
6 Silencer-Class Cruisers
4 Aegis Mark II Star Cruisers
2 TIE Phantoms
70 XM-1 Missile Boats
Tie Defenders

Major Jackson, in charge of the Bespin ground attack watehd as the Sovereignty troops moved throughout the city, taking strategic points and capturing more and more buildings. Their air breathers were more than adequate to protect them from the sleep-inducing gas.

The city was virtually empty, with no civilian able to fight. So huge quantities were taken without a single shot being fired. Thousands of Sovereignty troops were landed to assist in the occupation. Assisted by the Shi'ido and Defel Rangers, they made their way into te bowels of the city, taking the tibinna facilities and command facilities. The landing bays and docks. Samurai Gunships and other armor transported more troops to the center of the city, and other points.

Bespin was falling.


Gone (2nd Post) -

1 Allegiance - Class Star Destroyer
3 Imperial mk II Star Destroyers
2 Victory Mk. I Star Destroyers
2 Republic - Class Star Destroyers
5 Interdictor Cruisers
6 Silencer-Class Cruisers
4 Aegis Mark II Star Cruisers
2 TIE Phantoms
70 XM-1 Missile Boats
76 Tie Defenders

Cloud City,
Bespin

Dej chuckled. Two did not.

“Gas,” Dej muttered. “Quite ingenious, really.”

“I am sure the opposing commander would appreciate your sentiments,” Two said.

“Why, Two,” Dej replied, without missing a beat, “was that sarcasm?”

“Of course not.” He gestured towards the city, where quite a fair number of buildings had fallen to the Outer-Rim Sovereignty troops. “The Stormtroopers have been equipped with masks and are taking up the positions of the civilians, but they will not be enough to hold out forever. I believe it may be time to initiate our endgame plan.”

Dej nodded. “I believe I know a way we can spin this to our advantage, as well,” he noted, and stepped forward, tapping a few buttons on the command center’s console. A small map of Cloud City appeared, complete with a number of lines running through it of a variety of colors. “City gas management system. You see, here, at this valve set, the main tibanna line intersects with the city air purification network.”

Two nodded. “It could be dispersed throughout the city?”

“Yeah.”

“We would not require a great deal. Only a moderate amount… a very slight portion would cause significant damage.”

“Yeah. About two seconds dispersal would do the trick.”

“Do it, but seal off all shafts near this cabin. Half-seal those in buildings still held by New Order troops,” Two ordered, glancing at the various personnel in the cabin. A number of them moved to relay the order. Throughout the city, a small portion of tibanna gas – barely half the volume of a human being – was pumped through each ventilator. It may have combusted instantly, or moved as a cloud until it reached enough sunlight to react, but many explosions rocked the city quite suddenly, filling the buildings with fire. Many ORS troops fell, but so too did those of the Empire.

“I have relayed this plan to One on Taloraan; he will do the same. And,” Two added, lowering his monotone voice so that only Dej could hear, “order all personnel involved with our plan to report to this cabin.”

“You got it.”