Chapter 142: Beachhead
Warning! Chapters 141 & 142 were posted back-to-back. Returning Readers, make sure you pick up where you left off!
Chapter 142: Beachhead
“So the factory is intact enough for us to use it ourselves, then?”
Izuku asked the question over the holo-conference call with the major leadership, wishing very much he could be down on the ground where most of them were. Unfortunately, no one wanted him down there until, at minimum, things were stable and they’d move on to the next phase of the assault. Right now, they were still dealing with saboteurs leaking into the Sartol Hive, and a constant stream of harassment assaults from every Hive still loyal to the ruling Queens of Stalgasin.
The tunnel systems that ran under the entire planet were simply too old and too extensive to seal every access, leading to constant raids. Still, they had managed to win the day. The last three days to be more precise, destroying both Hives and the two Factories that had been targeted for such, while also successfully capturing Sartol. Sadly, entirely to their own expectations, the Genosians were utterly beyond any concept of surrender, fighting viciously right up until the Queens of each Hive were killed. After that the lower castes of drones just stopped, while the warriors began trying to suicidally do as much damage as possible.
Thankfully, that much had been anticipated as a possibility, though one they’d hoped wouldn’t become reality. As had the possibility of sabotage to the factory they’d claimed. Such had been attempted, both during the capture and after, and some of it had been partially successful. Their own slicers and engineers had been trying to repair it since enough of them landed to begin the effort. Aayla, in command of their efforts in Sartol in general, even if not strictly in command of the army elements holding it, was the one to answer.
“Yes. The output isn’t going full bore of course, and we’re unlikely to get it to that point. But we’re up and running at 67% capacity on the B2 production, and the engineers are confident we can reach 80% before repairs aren’t worth more investment. We also found a nice surprise in a mostly working Droideka line that we managed to get running, though we’re only using it to produce guard models for the Sartol interior. There was some vehicle production as well, but they sadly did manage to sabotage those production lines too much to realistically get working.”
Izuku shrugged at that. Vehicles would have been a nice bonus. Yet, from their incomplete data on the planet, they hadn’t even been sure this specific factory made any. So the loss wasn’t particularly important. What was important was that they could now produce B2s faster than the Genosians themselves, since Sartol had held the main production for the model on the planet. That would help a lot when either they pushed the next phase, or the natives preempted them and tried to take the Hive back. His attention sharpened when Aayla scowled, feeling her unhappiness across their bond.
“There’s something more we managed to get out of the systems here that’s a bit more concerning. We got a fair bit of their data intact and stuck our slicers on it. We’ve only cracked a fraction of it so far, but we found one major concern. Specifically, hard evidence that the Stalgasin sent multiple entire Hives off planet. At minimum, they sent one full Hive each to Hypori, Olanet, and Zaadja. Where they were tasked with creating additional droid factories.”
Fuuuucccckkkk. A quick mental check, and a quick sidebar search to be sure, showed that all three of those systems were either within current ‘League Space’ or close to it. Zaadja was the biggest issue, as it was within the Savareen sector, which had pretty much gone over to the League wholesale. Hell, it was closer to Tythe than even Geonosis was. It was previously inhabited by no one but some known, and known to be fairly harmless, Mandalorian offshoots. It didn’t have a proper government or significant population. Barely more than old survey data that marked it as a frozen world with a decent amount of mineral wealth.
“Damn it. I’m going to have to send word to Admiral Lin to get forces out to each of them and check on them. Our control of the hyperlanes isn’t nearly complete enough to be sure they aren’t funneling droids to the CIS. In fact, I’d be shocked if they weren’t.”
Izuku’s comments got grim nods of agreement from the others on the conference call. Everyone, both in the League and Republic, had known that there must be additional hidden foundry worlds. So, in some respects, finding out where three of them could be located was a boon. Finding out that these three would most likely end up being the League’s problem was frustrating, though. Geonosis alone was the single largest assault anyone had attempted at least since the New Sith Wars, and probably quite a bit longer.
Worlds with a population of 100 billion weren’t common outside the Core. Hell, they weren’t all that common even in the Core. Just as two examples, the entire Corellian System had under 10 billion, and Alderaan didn’t even have that, despite both of them being founding worlds of the Republic. Only ecumenopolises like Coruscant and Alaskan tended to crack 20 billion, and there was a good reason why those worlds rarely changed hands even during the various major galactic wars. Bluntly put, unless the worlds surrendered, trying to invade worlds with that high a population was nightmare fuel.
Even here on Geonosis, their goal was to erase the factories, not try and seriously occupy the planet long-term. Just to accomplish that much, they’d brought along close to 65 million droids and close to two and a half million more sentient troops. Even with those numbers, they would need to manage an impressive kill ratio to accomplish their tasks. Something that was only going to be possible at all due to the fact they’d finally won definitive air superiority over the last three days.
Hearing there were at least three more worlds that needed offensive operations was not exactly making anyone’s day. Despite his own grim look, General Ichov, their primary ground commander, got them back on task.
“While that isn’t exactly happy news, it is also not our immediate concern, ladies and gentlemen. With Sartol secured, we need to talk about our next push. While we could wait and let the natives break against our defenses, racking up kills…we all know that’s probably a losing proposition in the long run. There’s just too damn many of the bugs, not to mention two Factories still under their control and the possibility that the other Hives will decide to end their neutrality. We need to pick our next target and roll out with the momentum still in our favor.”
There were nods all around. That had been the general plan from the start. Yet they’d kept it as only a general plan due to having no idea what the situation would be like once they dealt with the first phase. If it had gone more poorly than it did, they could have been faced with no option but to slowly pound the shields down, orbitally bombard the Hives, and hope it worked. Which could probably be pulled off with the remaining subsidiary Hive that held a factory. With the Stalgasin Hive itself, it would have been a nightmare. Its shields were heavy. Stronger than any planetary defense shield, as it was concentrated over a much smaller space yet had similar power output levels.
No, particularly for the Stalgasin, they needed a ground assault that could get in under those shields. Thankfully, their Phase 1 had landed pretty firmly on the optimistic side of their predictions. They’d lost more fighters than they’d cared for, in order to finally wrest control of the air for good, but the Fleet and Army had taken lighter losses than most projections. The League was simply better equipped and more experienced at this sort of warfare, after the Crusades. That had shown, particularly in the brutally effective sabotage the commando teams had managed.
“Right. What is your recommendation General? I know we were undecided on Operation Icarus or Daedalus as a follow up, with the final decision put off until we had proper control, post Phase 1.”
The General nodded sharply. No one but Izuku got the reference, and perhaps the Icarus name had been a bit of a doomsaying name by him, yet he thought they were appropriate. Icarus was a straight shot direct to Stalgasin, ignoring any of the other Hives. Which, as with the legend it was named after, might well prove to be flying too close to the sun on wings that couldn’t support it. Daedalus was a more measured approach, which would focus on knocking out some of the subordinate Hives first. Both the one that did have a factory, and a few strategic ones that didn’t.
“Sovereign, having seen just what the bugs are capable of, I think I’m going to have to all but insist on a modification of Icarus. I don’t think our strategic position is good enough to go for Stalgasin itself, but the natives are fanatical. This is going to be a slog even with just them, we need to wipe out that fourth factory to prevent them from literally making more reinforcements. Stalgasin has the oldest and largest factories, but it mostly produces B1s, STAPs, Troop Transports and the bulk of their small arms precisely because it’s the oldest. Hive Robi, on the other hand…we have more data now and they were making some of their newer stuff there.”
The General glanced down, likely consulting a dataslate, before continuing.
“Details are still sparse, at least until the slicers can crack more of Sartol’s records. But what evidence we do have suggests they may be manufacturing artillery at Robi. NR-N99 Persuaders, some sort of heavy artillery field gun, and prototypes of an anti-air platform called the J-1 that might be trouble if they have a significant number of them.”
Someone made a noise of annoyance at that last, which was understandable. They’d only just gotten full control of the air for the time being, and any Hive they went after was already going to have far more intact anti-air measures than what they’d dealt with so far. The natives almost certainly held back at least some fighters too, or could make more in a hurry. Adding the idea of a major mobile anti-air platform to the mix did not exactly spark joy.
“Needless to say, having massed artillery hammering into our western flank while we try to take on the ruling Hive is just not a sane idea. At the same time, with as zealous as the locals are, I and my senior commanders don’t think stopping to hammer the smaller Hives is a good idea. If we end up taking too heavy of losses and have to pull out, having nailed at least four of five factories will be better in the long run too.”
While a good point, even a reasonable one, Izuku grimaced at the thought of leaving any of the factories functional. Given enough time, the Genosians could rebuild and create an army even they would struggle with. As it was, they were only dealing with the stock that the natives had on hand when the war started or had made since then. Not years of production, which could end up being the result if they left even one factory fully intact to rebuild the others. If they were forced to leave even just that, it might well make the planet practically unassailable in the future. At least short of just cracking the planet and having done with it, and that was a level of escalation Izuku wasn’t willing to contemplate.
Still, he also needed to trust his people. While he might theoretically have the knowledge, he wasn’t an army general. He was a more than decent Fleet commander, likely one of the top three or four in the entire League. But he hadn’t been foolish enough to try being everything, and army command was well outside his wheelhouse. General T'san, Admiral Lin’s counterpart now in charge of the entire League Army, had personally recommended Ichov for this job. Best let him be about it.
“Very well. Forward me your revision to check its practicality on the Fleet side. Barring any major issues, however, I expect you to be ready to begin execution in twelve hours.”
The General nodded sharply.
“Yes, sir! Ah…do I retain use of the commandos and Champions?”
A valid question, particularly for the Champions, who weren’t technically part of the League military. Likewise, the SAS was their own sub-branch with a Colonel on planet in charge of it. Still, it was something that had already been discussed.
“Within reason, yes. Colonel Kilgoa and Aayla will contact you as soon as we’re done here.”
He looked at both of those worthies, who were also on the call, and got quick nods of acknowledgment.
“Right. Remember to get your logistics requests in as soon as possible, so we can get them through the new Gates now that they are online. Now, Kilgoa, Aayla, Zavra, I want a quick run down of why the fuck I have a report that reads ZOMBIES, in red and all caps. What the fuck happened when you got down to the Queens, and how certain are you that you got all these mind-control maggots? The last thing we need is a foothold scenario.”
Izuku had run into some extremely screwy things since first arriving in this galaxy, but the next half hour of verbal clarification of a half-mad sounding After Action Report was now somewhere on his top-ten list. The part of him that was still the movie-goer from Earth was really wanting to insist on some sort of quarantine and a lot of fire. Thank the Force that so many of their ground forces were droids and they’d hopefully managed to stop the spread. Brain-controlled parasite worms were the sort of thing that could take over a whole society if you weren’t careful.
Actually, they might want to scan some of the lower-ranked Genosians aristocrats for the parasites, to see if that might have already happened. He doubted it, since the worker drone caste at least were truly a hive-type insect species that had been closely examined for sentience in the past. Still, there was no guarantee that anyone doing that examination had known about the brain worms. Certainly, their own intelligence files hadn't contained any such information, and they’d gotten full copies of what the Jedi knew of the species too, before leaving Coruscant. Better to be absolutely sure than have this come back to haunt them later…
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A/N 1: Yeah, all of that was just to deal with THREE of the Hives on the planet, yikes. The next update (currently in Early Access) focuses on the Ground Campaign to take out the other Hives...possibly the next TWO updates, depending on how it goes. I won't be doing detailed battles like this often, but I felt it was important to cover at least one, to give a view of the war at that level.
A/N 2: Once per release, I mention that I have a P-atreon! My fanfiction content is never permanently paywalled, but I do maintain Early Access chapters for each fic. In the case of Displaced Hero, chapters 143-147, amounting to roughly 20,000 words, are currently in Early Access. That said, while support is deeply appreciated, the previous chapters are always put up here as new chapters are released into early access. So you can always just be patient ;-). For those that do wish to support me, you can find a link to my P-atreon in my profile, or simply search the web for 'Novus's Fanfiction Works.'