In an area of deep space, near the planet of Aridus

Imperial taskforce IIb awaited, floating through the utter pitch blackness of space. Their location was not known by many in the taskforce, for there were no real official astronavigation charts of this area. But what the system lacked in subspace travel, it more than made up for in hyperspace travel, since this area is part of the Corellian run. Ships of all nationalities and types passed through here in hyperspace, in transit from one portion of the galaxy, the outer-rim, to the other end of the spine, in the core region, and then back again. But today the traffic would be severly disrupted, due to an exercise about to commence to catch a band of troublesome pirates.

On board the Dominator class cruiser Sentinel, tensions were at an high, as zero time for the operation to commence approached on the countdown clock. The capitan of the ship, and overall commander of the fleet, stood on the main bridge deck, overlooking the crewers in the pits below and out the viewports at the other ships arrayed in his fleet. Cruising to port and starboard of the great ship, flanking her, were a pair of medium cruisers, their long bodies accented by a observation tower extending upwards, giving an similar apperance to that of an periscope used by any number of submersibles. And escorting the trio of line ships were a number of escort frigates, gunships, and corvettes, the total fleet strength standing at sixteen vessels. More numerous than that were the smaller craft embarked by all ships of the fleet.

Capitan Dryko glanced down at the timer, and seeing that it hit the one minute mark, proceeded to stride back to the communications and sensors station. "Remember", he said, reminding the officers of their jobs, "to ensure that all ships know their orders. It is absolutley vital that civilian and non-combat casualties are avoided, but at the same time, all of the pirates must be apprehended in this one sweep." To this end the officers nodded, and last minute ensurals of orders were transmitted to all ships, with their replies coming in as they recieved and understood them. Walking back up to the bridge, he noted five seconds left. Then four, three, two, one, and finally, zero.

"Activate gravity well projectors." ordered the capitan. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the deck thrummed and hummed as the projectors came online. The effect was instantaneous and noticable. First one, then two, then three ships were pulled out of hyperspace. These were marked, one of which was a galatic coalition freighter returning from a supply run to Tynna, two more which were Vinda corporation vessels making their rounds. Turning, the capitan ordered three shuttles with an escort of six TIE fighters to be dispatched from the Harrowin to investigate these ships and make sure non were carrying contraband. Then, it came. Coming out of hyperspace, having pulled off their latest raid with great success, came the Pirate fleet.

The enemy force was well aligned and looked very formidable. The vanguard of their force was a single Invicible type dreadnought cruiser, identified as the Ojaris, one of the former Katana fleet class ships. According to the datafiles, she had been sold for scrap to the smelters on Ord Mantell, but had disappeared while enroute. Also in the fleet was one Rapier-II class gunship, very modern and fresh looking, along with a pair of older Corellian CR-90 Gunships. Rounding out the pirate's collection was a bulk freighter modified for starfighter transport, and six gallofree medium transports, loaded up with their plunder. Once the pirates realized the predicament they were in, shields were raised, and their starfighters were launched. The captian was suprised to note that X-wings and Y-wings made up his force, but of the older types seen at Yavin and Hoth.

No matter, his force would defeat the enemy. He ordered the fleet to proceed forwards at battle speed. The Dominator deployed her fighter force to proceed forward and engage that of the enemies, while fighters from the two medium cruisers and other ships formed into a protective sphere. Then the pirates discovered the presence of other ships in the system. One transport and a squadron of Uglies peeled off to go after the freighters. Capitan Dryko quickly assigned two fighter squadrons to protect the neutral shipping. Then he awaited, for battle to be joined.

On board the Sentinel

"All fighters. Prepare to launch." came the call over the intercom.

"You heard that Griggs?" asked Deathmoon Two, Black Jack.

"Yeah, yeah. Damn, I almost had the configuration for the Idiot's array." grumbled Deathmoon Four, aka, Griggs Walsey.

The two pilots and their co-workers playing a four way round of sabaac dropped their cards onto the table and hurried over to their lockers, swinging them open and grabbing their helmets and fighter ignition keys. Strapping the helmets over their heads and onto their black flightsuits, the four men hurried out into the corridor of the warship, heading aft from the pilot's quarters to the docking bays where their fighters awaited them. The call came over the intercom again.

"All fighters, prepare to launch. Away in t-minus five minutes." said the voice.

The pilots of Deathmoon squadron reached their TIE-2 fighters in probably what was record time, and dropped down into the ships, closing the hatches after them. They then inserted their ignition keys and keyed in a startup sequence. Then it was time for the unit roster.

"Deathmoon squadron this is DM leader, report it." said the sulky female voice.

"DM one, two engines green, four lasers primed." came the hard male voice.

"DM two, two engines green, four lasers armed and ready." came another hard voice.

"DM three, two engines green, four lasers ready." came the green voice of Angie Millers, the new rookie just transferred to the squadron fresh out of the Carida Academy.

The remaining pilots proceeded to check in and confirm their go status. Then a green light appeared on their boards. A message came over the intercom.

"Deathmoon squadron, this is Sentinel control, you are cleared to launch." said the controller's voice.

"Let's go team." said Deathmoon leader.

The twelve TIE-2 Fighters deployed from the hangar bay of the ship and proceeded torwards their assigned charges, the three freighters which were being assaulted by a group of X-wing and Y-wing starfighters.

Bridge of the Sentinel

"Sir, all of our fighter squadrons are away." reported the hangar boss.

"Excellent. Good timing. Let's just hope it was fast enough." replied the captian of the ship.

He hoped to avoid the casualties of the three freighters being destroyed by the pirates, but in the event that it could not, he wouldn't lose any sleep over it. In the meantime, he had a more immediate threat.

"Raise all shields to full. Power up all weapons. Guns, target the enemy dreadnought. Order the cruisers to eliminate the support ships. Except for that Rapier II, I want it disabled and captured. Helmsman, increase speed to all ahead full." ordered the capitan.

The space around the destroyer flickered as the shields came online, and below on the hull of the great vessel, gun barrels elevated and began scanning back and forth as they acquired their targets. Then the drive engines kicked in, and the formation of capital warships surged forwards, preparing to engage the enemy.

Around the battleship Sentinel

Turbolaser and ion cannon fire lit up the surronding space as both sides opened fire with ranging fire, token shots meant to gauge the distances and rate of approach, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of both sides shields. Then as the formations closed the ranging fire turned into spotted fire, where clusters of batteries fired short salvoes at each other as the two sides creeped even closer. Then they entered what was termed as a killzone, and both sides unleashed the full might of their ship's weaponry. The entire enemy force seemed to be concentrating on the Dominator alone, hoping to knock out it's gravity well projectors so that the pirates could escape into hyperspace. Darting around the larger ships were swarms of starfighters, engaging each other and the capital ships themselves in a swarm of death and destruction.

Captian Dryko ordered the fleet's ion cannons to concentrate on the Rapier-II, identified as the Nurudo, which was pouring steady streams of laser cannon fire into several Imperial fighter formations, causing occasional explosions as starfighters detonated under the concentrated fire. The Dominator and two Ferro cruisers concentrated their ion cannon fire on the ship, leaving blue arcs streaking across the hull of the hammerhead vessel and leaving her dead in space. In the meantime the enemy flagship, the dreadnought, was recieving equal attention from the turbolaser batteries from all three of the ships. The old ship's cannons were doing a number against the shields of the Dominator, but it was a downhill battle for the pirate fleet. Once the forward shields aboard the Ojaris went, so did the rest of the ship, nibbled and penetrated away by the turbolaser fire, eventually looking like a chewed upon shoe until a turbolaser strike penetrated the drive core, causing a feedback explosion that tore the old ship in half.

The gunships weren't being ignored either. While the energy weapons of the Imperial warships pounded away at the larger ships, the two medium cruisers loaded and fire their proton torpedo launchers at the small cyndricial ships. They responded with a concussion missile volley of their own, but it was an outmatched and outgunned exchange of warheads. Both of the gunships detonated when the massive torpedo volleys knocked aside their weak shields and pounded their small metal bodies into floating wreckage. In return the particle shields aboard the cruisers were weakened slightly by the sporadic missile impacts.

That left the bulk freighter and the transports to be dealt with, and they were done away with by ion cannon fire. The two medium cruisers moved forward and deploy shuttles full of troops to capture the disabled ships and to prepare for their depature to Corellia where their cargo, crews, and the ships themselves would be confiscated, imprisoned, or sold off in auctions. The starfighter battle, in the meantime, had all but been won, the enemy starfighter squadrons being decimated, with little damage done to the neutral freighters in the battle. The remaining enemy starfighters were attempting to flee the area, Imperial scout fighters hot on their trails.

At that moment another few neutral ships were brought out of hyperpsace. The capitan of the Dominator ordered her gravity wells to be lowered, and the neutral freighters were allowed on their way as the operation came to an end. After an hour, the whole taskforce entered hyperspace, captured ships in tow, bound for Corellia.

"The negotiations have failed, General, the enemy refuses to give up the planet without a fight." said the Admiral, having returned from the conference room.

"I am suprised you did not try a little, how shall we say, friendly persuasion?" replied General Dugan.

"That is strictly out of the question. The moff was very precise in his instructions that we must take the planet fully intact, and with minimal damage inflicted from orbit." offered Admiral Netbers.

"*Sigh*. Very well then, what are you orders concering this operation?" asked the General.

"You are to lead the Imperial 67th Infantry division and the Imperial 789th and 456th armoured divisions in operations to secure the planet. Do remember that although damage should be kept to a minimum, you will have much less liability than I had, since in the holovids a bombardement from space looks much more barbaric than a stray artillery shell." ordered Netbers.

General Dugan straighted up from the table and saluted the Admiral. "Very well then, my forces shall prepare to debark immediatley." he said.

* * *

The General strapped himself into his shuttle seat and tighted the straps. He loooked across the hold at the other officers similary strapped into their seats, some of them with stony expressions, others showing some signs of worry, anticipation, and perhaps even space sickness. Obviously those of the latter class forgot that even if you signed up for the ground forces that you would still have to travel from planet to planet to get around.

The shuttle debarked from the hangar bay of the Venator class troopship, and unfolded it's wings. The lambda shuttle was just one of ten such shuttles dropping down from the troopship to head torwards the planet below. Also dropping down with them were Sentinel class assault shuttles and Scimitar class Assault bombers. Off in the distance from the viewport the General could see the massive drop pods issueing from the undersides of the Venators torwars the planet as well, each one carrying either very large mechanized vehicles or a full battalions worth of troops.

The shuttle began to virbate as they hit atmosphere. Thin curls of flames wrapped around the shuttle as it plunged into the open air of the planet. Other tendrils of flames, looking like meteors, were seen as the other ships dropped into the atmosphere. Then the flames stopped, and the blackness of space was replaced with the blue hue and green surface of the planet Zolan. They had arrived inside the atmosphere unharmed.

Several more minutes of descending torwards the planet ended in the shuttle coming to a hover. General Dugan glanced down from the shuttle hatch and saw that the area they were descending into was blackened and charred, a result of fire bombing instigated by some of the Scimitar bombers, as they cleared a path for the makeshift army base that was to be built here. The shuttle folded up it's wings, and then settled down onto the surface. The General gratefully undid his straps as did the others in the shuttle, and headed down the now extended ramp to set foot onto the planet that would become their home for the next few weeks at the very least.

* * *

The base was well underway to being constructed. A pre-fabricated garrison base as it was called, consisted of several large packable structres deployed over a certain amount of area. These buildings were all camoflauged, and among them were a command centre, a barracks building, a makeshift hospital, an armoury, a vehicle storage shed, some bunkers, and makeshift hangars for TIE fighters, which were here to either defend the ground troops from unexpected threats or to act as ground support.

The general was currently inside of the command centre along with the officers representing the several various divisions. They had all made camp where their respective shuttles or dropships had made contact with the ground at, and as a result they had about twenty scattered encampements arrayed in a large area around where their command post was. Their first target was being determined to be a city about fifty miles from this area, which had a population of about one hundred thousand, and a good sized detachment of enemy soldiers. To get there they would have to go through about five smaller villages and subdivisions, each one hosting a small detachment of enemy troops. If everything went according to plan, they should have conquered this small area and be on the way within the end of the week.

The three Imperial ground troops operated the machinery, bringing the artillery piece closer to the excavated site cleared out by a Imperial earth mover just moments before. When they reached the dug out area of earth, they manipulated controls, bringing the flatbed tank to the ground, settling into the disturbed dirt. Once it touched down, another manipulation of controls brought out four steadying struts to all sides of the tank, settling it into place and make sure the vibration of the cannons would not knock the tank over on it's side. Once those were in place, a camo net was deployed over the artillery piece to help disguise it from aierial attack, although the enemies chance of mounting one was slim to none. The cannon was then elevated, in response to instructions recieved over the coded communications gear one of the men possessed.

"Prepare barrage, ten shots, standard fire rate, high explosive incidenary shells." said the communications officer. A conveyer tube leading from the cannon to a stacked crate of ammunition now fed three shells into the gun, and the other seven were kept in the tube. The One hundred and fifty five millimeter cannon was now ready to fufill it's part of the barrage.

"Batteries Aota, Bravo, Charley, Tango, you are cleared to fire when ready." came a voice over the communications array. The three officers stepped slightly away from the cannon to avoid blast effects. Then the senior officers of the three gave the order to commence firing. The gunnery officer tightened his finger around a trigger control, and the cannon reared backward slightly as it let loose with a roar a single projectile. Then it reared back again, ten times total within two minutes, the standard firing rate being one shot every twelve seconds. A hail of projectiles from the four cannons making up each of the designated batteries fell on the estimated positions of the enemy forces in the nearby village, the projectiles expoding upon contact, blowing buildings apart and sending up large clouds of dust, smoke, and flame.

* * *

With the artillery strike on the enemy village done, the unit command ordered platoon Zeta to sweep forward and scout out the complex, ordered to relieve any obviously wounded or exposed enemy troops of their existance with their sniper rifles. Several lances of bolts could be seen going into and around the rubble of several destroyed houses or barns, before the unit commander reported that all visible targets had been eliminated.

It would now be time for the army to move in and commence house to house fighting to rid the village of the remaining enemy pirates. Two companies, Alpha and Beta, moved in from the forest cover in their dark green armoured suites and commence an assault on the village. The houses nearest to the forest angle of the approaching troops not destroyed by the artillery barrage responded to this threat with laser fire and grenade launchers. Portable Merr-Sonn rocket launchers carried by some of the troops eliminated this threat, although several commandoes went down. A Chariot LAV settled down near their position and several corpsmen in white clothes with red stripes to symbolize the Imperial Medcorps disembarked to tend to the dead and wounded.

The remaining troops reached the houses and proceeded to go through each house, throwing in tear gas canisters or flashbangs before knocking down the doors or barricades and proceeding in to close range combat. In most of those instances the troopers killed anything that moved on the first floor, stunning anything on the second floors or in the backrooms, since that's where important officers might be hiding. Within three hours, the two Imperial companies had captured the village, eliminating all resistance. A total of twenty five stormtroopers were killed, and another twelve wounded. Included the blackened and charred bodies recovered from the artillery strike, a total of about two hundred bandits were killed, and another twenty taken prisoner.

* * *

A scouting detachment from one of the companies headed beyond the village, approaching a cluster of four barns situated in the middle of a corn field. The twelve men approached with caution, but their sensors and visionary scanners revealed no enemies hidden here. They were within ten yards of the first barn when they stopped, as they heard the sounds of machinery being activated. A quick signal sent the comms officer of the unit running to set up his equipment away from the possible danger and to make a report. The other eleven settled in with their weapons. The doors opened and out into the field emerged two AT-PT walkers. One of the troopers fired a Merr-Sonn rocket that hit the cockpit of the leader walker and exploded it. Then the doors of the other barns opened, and other walkers emerged. They quickly mowed down the eleven members of the scouting unit, the comms officer then killed while making his report of enemy walkers approaching the village.

The two companies of men in the village went into the houses on the far side and readied their weapons. The sound of machinery behind them caused them to turn, and that's when they saw the four ACCI units coming forward to combat this new threat. The units went into the corn fields and headed straight torwards the advancing AT-PTs. Those walkers fired their chin mounted laser cannons, but came up short against the shields of the combat units. The infantry units brought up their guns and fired their specialized proton torpedos, taking out four of the walkers instantly, leaving three to be dealt with. Using the superior manuverability of their units, the ACCI quickly and efficently decimated the remaining three walkers with blaster fire, leaving their smoldering hulks to collapse to the fields.

By the end of the day, the entire Imperial line had shifted forward to a point two miles forward of the village, the infantry situated in bunkers, trenches, and mobile pillboxes in one line, the artillery in another line behind that one. The village it's self was converted into a forward command post, with medical treament being provided to the wounded, and a temporary prison housing the now thirty detainees captured. Tomorrow the drive would resume, and the General promised himself he would be much more agrresive. Tomorrow would see the capture of three enemy villages and their drive to the nearby city halfway completed.