Star Wars: Retaliation (IC)
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 5:08 pm
Denkoll
The narrow streets of the refinery-centered city of Denkoll were clogged with civilian vehicles, abandoned and left to ruin during the initial evacuation by Skakoan militias hours before the Republic would engage the light security flotilla of reserve Separatist Navy ships. Now their only purpose was to delay Republic ground forces for as long as possible while Separatist and aligned Skakoan militia established an adequate defense. As hundreds of LAAT/I transports entered the copper-colored skies of Denkoll, they were hammered with anti-aircraft flak. By the time Jedi General Vrudun Tumara and the rest of the 53rd Corps found a clear landing spot in the smoggy city, clone casualties had already surpassed the Republic's expectations. From the start of the ground assault, General Tumara's movements were hindered at every turn. With such tight streets, AT-TE, AT-AP, and anything heavier than AT-RTs were out of the question. Artillery support was out of the question, air support was cut off and any attempt to bring more clone reinforcements in was doomed to fail until those anti-air cannons were taken out. With the help of Vrudun, the 53rd was able to establish a foothold at One Unity Park, an octagon-shaped stone pavilion with a large monument to some famous Skakoan corporatist of the Techno Union. Establishing a network of tents surrounding the monument, Jedi General Tumara would plan his assault with Commander Cutt and an assortment of Commanders in command of the various battalions that made up the 1st Legion of the 53rd. After taking so many losses to the anti-aircraft flak, the 1st Legion was only 46% combat effective, just a few hundred above four thousand out of nine thousand. After taking One Unity Park, only three and a half thousand remained under his command.
The largest tent, a brown cloth rectangular mobile command center was scantly occupied, home to nothing more than a holo-table and a few crates of repair kits for various clone armor and weapons. Vrudun examined the map closely. At one side of the map was a Republic symbol, where most of his forces were located, separated by a maze of streets and one to two story buildings belonging to various landlords or store owners. Most of the work for the civilians came from the massive droid and equipment factory in the center of the city, belonging to the Techno Union, which was now acting as the Separatist command center for all Droid and militia forces on the planet. Aside from Denkoll, there were over a dozen Separatist bases across the planet, but Denkoll was the largest. Other clone battalions were present on the planet and from what the Republic Battlenet was saying, they were taking their targets with ease. The same couldn't be said for Denkoll, obviously. Commander Cutt entered the tent, accompanied by a few other Commanders. "General Tumara." Commander Cutt said as they approached the holo-table.
"The men are in formation. We lost more than half of our AT-RTs just in the landing, but the few we have left are holding the perimeter." Stated Commander Cutt, placing his hands behind his back and standing at attention.
"Thank you, Cutt. I'm going to be honest, men. We don't have the numbers to launch a full-scale assault on the central factory." General Tumara activated the enemy location pings, lighting up the map with red Separatist symbols. Every street was essentially owned by the Separatists.
"We're outnumbered. With those flak cannons operational, no Republic ship could get close enough and orbital bombardment has already been restricted. Commanders, we don't have a choice in the matter. We have to take out those cannons. If we can destroy those cannons, the rest of the 53rd can come in and we could have that factory within an hour. What I'm going to suggest...." Vrudun had trouble spitting out the words. He was a General but he hated losing men under his command. Other Jedi had reputations for not considering the casualties after a mission, but it always weighed heavily on Tumara.
"General, don't worry about us. We're clones. We were born to fight and win. Tell us what we need to do and we'll do it." Spoke Cutt, removing his helmet. Vrudun nodded and continued.
"I'm proposing three strike teams. Team One will be led by me and Commander Cutt. The second, by Commander Trick and the third by Commander Pardo. The rest of our legion will initiate an assault up the middle while the three teams infiltrate from the East, West and my team will punch in from the middle. Primary objectives is the destruction of the flak cannons. Team Two's secondary objective is a vehicle depot from the East. There's a service road that's large enough to accommodate Droid AATs. If you can, neutralize local droid forces and acquire those AATs, it'll make all of our jobs easier. Team Three, your objective is the Denkoll Hangars. The flak cannons can only aim so low, so if you can use atmo-speeders, you can get in close under the AA cannons and destroy your target easier. Again, these are secondary objectives, so if you think the risk is greater than the reward, bypass them and move straight for the cannons. We're gonna take monumental losses, but the rest of your brothers and the Republic are depending on you, so let's make their sacrifice count. We begin the assault in forty-five minutes.
**
Vrudun's blue lightsaber glistened in the smoke as he deflected dozens of bolts from him, sending them crackling into B1 Droid center masses, dozens of clones pushing forward behind him in a show of great bravery. As the two other teams moved out for their targets, Vrudun and his team pushed forward with the main force, assisting in pushing back B1 Battle Droids. The deeper they got into Separatist territory, the more B2s and IG Droids they saw, making the assault harder. The street was awash in blue and red bolts as men around him fell to the ground. General Tumara found reprieve behind a civilian speeder, panting hard as Commander Cutt returned fire with his DC-17 blasters, dropping two B1 Droids before taking cover behind the same speeder.
"We aren't gonna get much further if we keep this up. We gotta find an alternate route." Said General Tumara as his blue lightsaber shined brightly, illuminating half of his face in a cool blue shade. Commander Cutt pointed across from him, to an ally that led to the entrance of a large domed building. Upon looking, Vrudun nodded and waved for the rest of his strike team, the best clones out of the legion, to follow. Providing cover fire, Commander Cutt allowed for the rest of the team to move through the alley as the intense fighting continued, with the 1st Legion continuing the assault.
Given a chance, Vrudun activated his comm-link on his white forearm armor piece, similar to the clone armor. "All Strike Teams, report."
"This is Team Two, we've engaged the vehicle depot. Only a dozen B2s on security detail. Alarm's been set, though. We are moving to acquire the AATs."
"This is Team Three. Hangar's a no-go, General. We've got a Multi-Troop Transport moving B2s in, probably to reinforce the factory. We're moving on to the primary objective."
"Copy, Teams. We've diverted from the main assault and are on our way. Vrudun out." he said as he motioned for Commander Cutt and the other five clones to follow into the domed building.