Battle of Saleucami - Paradise Lost

[Demiurge]

PARADISE LOST

Saleucami
Caldera Oasis Clusters
Crepuscular Dawn
Planetary Battle Time - Zero Hour

Sith Imperium
Sith General Varek Rayth
Sith General Andraste

Galactic Alliance
Jedi General Benton
Jedi General Qyv Xinn

War has come to pass between the Galactic Alliance and the New Sith Impreium. Across the galaxy, the Border Worlds, planets, systems and sectors, have been intertwined in the strife, planted in the crossfire between the two galactic powers. And now, one of the most distant of the Border Worlds, has come under attack. Now, war has come to Saleucami.

Set in the Regions of the Outer Rim, Saleucami is a key world, sitting on the Talcene Transit Hyperlane; a trade route for goods and supplies which crossed interstellar paths with the super-hyperroute, known as the Perlemian Trade Route. Technological exports and research centers are among the planet's appeal. However, perhaps Saleucami's most hidden prize is the botanical resources located within the planet's calderas, which are largely unexploited and unmolested. The wealth and potential of the calderas are nearly infinite.

Valued still, are the magma caverns of Saleucami. Rich with precious ores, minerals, gas deposits and other raw resources, Saleucami's magma caverns prove to be one of the planet's most pivotal attractions. With the war still in it's relative infancy, the Sith Imperium has since targeted strategic worlds, with Saleucami being the latest of it's assaults. The invasion has commenced, and so begins the Battle for Saleucami.

Above the planet, teetering over the exosphere, the space battle rages overhead. Dozens of warships set luminous fires over the skies, as the stellar forces Sith Imperium commanded by the Prime Sith General, Darth Umbra and seconded by Superior Sith General Sogar Dermisa, and Galactic Alliance led by Jedi General Akacen Mothturus, and reinforced by Jedi Commander Andreus Makaryk. Across Saleucami, war rages on all fronts, from the industrial wonder of the capital Aladaeris, to the molten mines of the Magma Caverns, to the majestic oases of the Caldera Clusters, battle ravages Saleucami, awaiting for the victors to arise from the ashes of war.
​

 

[Jax Vos]

Qyv Xinn stood with his troops. All of them were willing to die for the Alliance. Personally Qyv hoped it wouldn't come to that. After all this was his first battle and possibly his first real encounter with Sith.

Qyv looked around no enemies in sight yet and no reports from the scouts eather. "General," Qyv's commander, Vaq, said as he came along side Qyv, "One of our scouts has reported a sighting of enemy soldiers."

"Are they comming this way?" asked Qyv hoping this battle would be a quick one.

"Yes sir, but they're being lead by someone who appears not to be a normal soldier."

"Sith," Qyv said under his breath. "Commander, have the men prepare themselves for immediate battle we may start fighting soon, but even if we aren't I want them ready the moment the enemy is visible."

 

[Mars]

It was a day of reckoning. The dawn of a new era. A day that would go down in history as another one where Jedi were systematically curbstomped, just as they were at Tanaab and as those pathetic fools aboard the Will of the Force were not too long ago. Today was a good day to kick some pedomonk ass.*

The might of the Sith war machine in full swing was a terrifying sight to behold. Dropships came from the skies like a murder of ravenous crows hungry for the death of those below. *Sith Crusaders Varek Rayth and Andraste were in charge of this particular portion of the battle, assigned 100 of the Empire's finest soldiers, 501st legion stormtroopers in black armor. Varek's drop landed north of the base they were supposed to take, at the mouth of a valley that the base lay in the center of, with forty soldiers and three assault vehicles. They were lightly armored and shielded, but rather heavily armed, each boasting a pair of twin-linked grenade launchers loaded up with thermal detonators. They would be the first to go forward, leading the charge just ahead of his men, blasting their devastating payload once they were inside two hundred meters at a single point on the wall, seeking to blast a hole for the stormtroopers and their Sith commander to come through. Once a hole was made, they would lap the base, strafing the walls with detonator blasts to cause additional damage and disruption.*

Varek wore his usual garb, robes over armor with Sith alchemy enhanced gauntlets and a red light saber. Today the Jedi would fall to him. Just as they did at Konstellan. Just as they did on Tanaab. Just as they did at the Will.*

Empire in the house, bitches.*

 

[Sreeya]

Andraste closed her eyes, drawing the Force to herself. She had been strengthening her connection to the Force during the journey here, establishing a powerful contact with her brother Varek. He was to attack from the North with a very direct hit, but still keeping his distance. This was the first time Andraste would be commanding troops, though it was not her first battle. It took mere moments for their dropships to land, though they were situated more laterally.

The remaining sixty 501st storm troopers had been given orders to come in from the flanks, dispersing out so they were difficult to pick off. They used the natural foliage and elevations to their advantage, maintaining their distance. Two groups of five snipers were dispersed throughout the surrounding elevations, climbing up on higher ground and setting their sights on those at the base. These men were heavily camouflaged for the environment and would be near impossible to see. On ground, there was a group of five commandos ready for infiltration, though that would only come if the situation called for it. There were two units of four men handling mortar on both sides of the base, two to a mortar. These men began immediately, dropping high explosive spin-stabilized rounds into the barrel and firing them directly at the base to complement the assault from the North.

Andraste herself had come in from the south, on the opposite end of her brother. She was donned in modified trooper armor, versatile enough to let her move easily, but sturdy enough to take considerable damage. However, with the connection she had with him, it was as if she were directly next to him. She understood exactly what his assault would be doing. Two speeders with mounted with grenade launchers were at her side. These rolled forward and began an assault of their own. Like the ones Varek commanded, these were also heavily shielded. Though her approach wasn’t as direct, it worked perfectly in unison with his attacks. However, she was highly Force oriented, much more so than Varek. As a result, she had her own attack to lay on the base.

“Hold positions.”

She did not turn to face the trooper next to her. It was a Stormtrooper Lt. that would be leading the charge on the battlefield. Andraste had with her twenty five HOSTEN troopers, fully armed to go into the most dangerous environments and armed with flamethrowers. The rest of the troopers did not have specific specializations, though the fact that they hailed from the 501st was more than enough to attest to their skill. The Sith focused her attention even more, getting a feel for the ground.

This part of the planet had caldera clusters formed all around it. The ground was weaker, magma lying underneath from past volcanic eruptions. It was dangerous territory, and Andraste knew it could be utilized to her advantage. As the assault from the North and the flanks rained on the base, Andraste drew in the Force. She called upon her abilities of altering the environment, a skill taught to her a long time ago.

She felt every molecule, every grain of dirt, every speckle of dust, everything. She felt it tangibly, metaphysically, and she was thrown into an exalted plain of thought. She saw not with her eyes, but through the Force. She could see life, she could smell fear, but most of all, she could see the chaos churning angrily beneath the ground. Andraste called the Force to herself like a chain, letting it embed itself into the ground. It began at her feet, innocuously traveling forth towards the base. It was a simple gesture, a light nudge with the Force.

However, that nudge slowly grew. It began to expand and she gathered even more control to herself. Troopers guarded her from all sides as she performed this. Though it would take mere seconds, even a second was a lifetime in battle. Andraste’s hold grew more powerful. Within moments, the ground began to rumble and the foundations underneath the base would begin to shake. She continued focusing on the supports of the base, using her abilities with shatterpoint to merely see the weaknesses, though she did not apply shatterpoint itself.

There would be a loud rumble and the ground beneath the base would begin to suck inwards, cracking slightly. The soft earth of the caldera would easily break, giving way to the magma located deep underneath. It would be a long time before the base got anywhere close to that, but the entire action was enough to substantially rock the foundations of the base along with all the explosive assaults it was taking. Meanwhile, the troopers around her prepared to charge an assault, with most of them preparing for any oncoming charges from the Jedi and soldiers within.

 

[Jax Vos]

Qyv stood outside facing the direction that the attacks were comming from. Suddenly he felt the rummbling of the ground. That's not a good thing, he thought. "Commander, head forward and prepare to engage in the next twenty minutes."

"Yes sir," said Vaq said and turned towards the men. "Alright men lets go!"

Qyv's unit headed straight for the enemy they assumed was there. As they got closer Qyv heard the ground shaking. He turned around to see it lower slightly. Qyv pulled out his lightsabers and prepared to meet the enemy.

 

[Samara]

Makara gave orders to the soldiers to take cover inside the structures of the base and prepare to engage from within; They placed several SC40's in tactical places, would make use of windows and roofs, even those that wouldn't be accesible normally, they had placed obstacles -hedgehogs- blocking some of the internal hallways and passages in order to stall enemy vehicles and marines.

As soon as the vehicles began their attack against them the other Jedi in charge of the troops went straight to meet with their attacekrs. 30 soldiers of Makara's garrison would swiftly engage in the opposite direction, with only two of the vehicles aiding them alone. Speeders armed with rocket launchers and run out of the mill blasters.

The ground began to quake swiftly, no doubt work of an overpowered darksider -what else could make an earthquake of that size?- but such thoughts and grim circumstances did not cloud the mind of the regular knight that had been asigned to the defense of the place. At least not yet anyways. For this task, he was dressed exactly as the soldiers he was commanding; No fancy armor or distinguished uniform. No one would be able to tell him appart from a regular soldier, the difference was, naturally, that the ones under his command knew him. This had been a last moment change notified to them in the nick of time.

In doing so, he was hoping to confuse enemy snipers; Nonetheless the earthquake defeated the purpose by making them useless with all the shaking.

 

[Mars]

The Jedi had no chance.*

In the face of yet another perfectly executed battle by the Sith, the unprepared and disorganized monks would lead their soldiers to death and destruction. The ground shook and parts of the enemy base began to sink into the floor as the Jedi lead soldiers out to meet them.*

Varek called his vehicles back to the spread out lines of his stormtroopers. They were some three hundred yards from the Jedi and the soldiers advancing towards them, the Jedi's force signature tipping Varek off to his presence among the troops. The black-armored Stormtroopers were spread out along the valley, prepared to rain blaster fire upon the Alliance soldiers and the Jedi, Vareks three speeders ready to assault the vehicles and opposing soldiers as well. Varek called the dark side to him, ready to meet the defenders, using the rocks scattered through the valley for cover like his men. Assaulting the Sith would be almost guaranteed death as they'd have to march through hundreds of yards of blaster fire from the best soldiers in the Empire and a hail of grenades from vehicles piloted by them.*

Nice guys finish last!

 

[Sreeya]

Andraste continued focusing all her energy into the attack, the Force surging through her once more to cause the final break underneath the base. The edifice began to sink, and the mortar rounds blew off chunks from the sides. Windows shattered, walls cracked and crumbled. Portions of the base would begin to fall away, the debris collecting at the edge of it. The Crusader withdrew from the attack, as she knew that the unstable ground would do the rest of the work. The base would continue to sink deeper in till it was consumed by the magma underneath.

She finally opened her eyes and looked ahead, realizing that the Jedi had next to no way out. Instead of spreading the Sith ranks thin, she turned to her men.

“Form an L shaped ambush around the base. Station the repeating blasters at the end of the lines to cover more surface area.”

The order was heeded immediately, with the men scattering. She projected the same order to the men on Varek’s side, so they would all assemble at once. Andraste kept her distance from the base, the earth shaking underneath them. The L shaped formation would allow the troops to remain concentrated instead of being too scattered.

The heavier artillery was shifted to the ends of this 90 degree angle formation. Some of her men took repeating blasters and mounted them on tripods, aiming to shoot at any troops that fled out of the base. The base was covered on all fronts, and any that weren’t would be covered by long ranged weaponry.

The men had gone on the defense after assembling themselves. Riflemen were set on watch, while others quickly worked to dig out makeshift trenches. The soft earth made the process go by quicker, and soon they would have cover from any open attacks from the Jedi forces. For the tripod mounted repeating blasters, they would be using tracers to guide their attacks. The earthquake wouldn’t significantly intervene with aiming. Meanwhile, the vehicles would continue blasting their mortar rounds, aiming to completely bring the base to nothing more than rubble.

Andraste, in the meantime, gathered more energy to herself. She knew there was a Jedi in the distance. She also knew that he had little choice but to come out. As soon as he did, she would be prepared for him. For now, she collected even more strength, drawing from the chaos all around her.

 

[Samara]

While Xinn headed outside Makara remained inside to help with the defense. He issued for the heavy weapons to target for the mounted tripods. Using the force he guided the proyectiles straight into their objectives, correcting their course slightly. The vehicles fired volleys of missiles against the vehicles and exploited the enemy formation as they began the defense with the rest of the troops, whilst the Jedi and the other half remained inside the building constantly firing from inside against open targets on the field like they had been doing since the battle began.

Once the first order was said and done, the Knight himself worked as a counterpart for the Sith oponent. Concentrating inside the building, he seeped the force into the terrain and stopped the influence from making the ground quake, and after all they were equally matched it seemed. Every building was a garrison and a tremendous advantage against an enemy running on open field, and it was naturally the only one they had. Making trenches enough to lie down, but not stand up could take them at least an hour, and he wouldn't give them the time to do so. The blaster rain pressed on, burning ground and metal alloy alike.

On the other field, Varek was met by with mortars and a few land mines as his soldiers advanced, the field presenting a shattered terrain due to constant artillery fire from within.

 

[Jax Vos]

Qyv knew that the Sith could sense him. He had expected that. He also expected a huge rain of blaster fire to come down the moment he got to close.

Before the battle had started Qyv's unit had been given five speeders with blaster canons. One troop was assigned to drive each speeder. Qyv descided that the speeders would take up the rear at first then he thought of the tactical advantage of putting them in the middle where they could start firing towards the beginning of the battle.

Qyv and his troops came to a place where he could sense that there were many people just ahead. Qyv knew that the only people around here would be soldiers so he made sure his troops would be prepared to fight in moments.

((ooc:sorry for being gone so long, it was unexpected))

 

[Mars]

Varek laughed silently as the foolish Jedi ran towards the Sith, their men being cut down in droves by blaster and thermal detonator fire from both his men and the armaments of the speeders. He remained where he was, using Pyrokinesis to set two of the approaching enemy vehicles engines aflame and likely about to explode.

It was only a matter of time before the enemy was dead before theyd even reached him.

 

[Sreeya]

Andraste had been gathering energy to herself since invoking the quake on the soft ground. She observed the battle from a distance, watching as their base completely fell apart. The troops from within were relentless, as they kept emerging like pigs to the slaughter. Andraste couldn't help but smile, each life lost only adding to her power. Death and destruction fueled her, adding to her strength.

As the vehicles began to come her way, Andraste finally accumulated all her energy to the point of her fist. She had kept her distance to stay out of the line of fire. Noting that the vehicles were concentrated in the center, she darted to the side, angling herself to diagonally face the incoming assault, while shielded from any fire. She released the built up energy in a massive blast, enough to send multiple troops sprawling with their bodies burnt. The vehicles wouldn't be destroyed, but they would be toppled. It was an outwardly concussive blast aimed at the line of troops coming towards her. Andraste knew this battle had been won. Coming out from within the base was suicide. She could simply keep her distance and attack, or the Jedi could remain within the base and die as the base completely collapsed on them. Their only option was escape.

 

[Jax Vos]

Qyv watched as his unit got picked off one by one. The speeders toppled over and the troops died right and left Qyv knew at that moment that if he were to survive this battle he would have to run.

Qyv had his lightsabers out repelling each blaster shot that came at him. He looked for a way to leave. Everyone here was going to die if he didn't call a retreat soon. There were only ten troops left alive now and only eight of them could still fight.

Qyv put away one of his sabers and picked up one of the fallen troops. "Retreat!" he yelled. "Fall back! Get out of this place!"

Qyv ran. To where he didn't know, but he used his senses to avoid areas that the battle might still be going on in. Qyv needed to find an area where he could either contact the Alliance or take a ship back to Corruscant.

 

[Samara]

Inside the building, Makara facepalmed so hard it could have made him bleed. Why did he accept this? It was not only incorrect but also a stupid point to defend, he was certainly going to have a word with the higher ups about this. There were no words that would suffice for the families of those fallen in the battle "He/she died for nothing, sorry, administrative error." sounded exactly like what it was: bullshit. The Jedi called for armored transports and evacuated his troops along with himself, eventually triggering the explosives which would bring down the crumbling building, hopefully taking down some scouts with it.