Chapter 154: Southern Theater

Chapter 154: Southern Theater

- Sanrafsix System  – 90 Days into the Clone Wars-

Shaak Ti did her best to keep her eye on her Padawan as they fought their way through Orbital Defense 2 over the planet of Sanrafsix. Normally, orbital defensive stations would simply be destroyed while taking a planet, but the world of Sanrafsix presented a unique set of problems. Well, not truly unique, but at least unique enough that it had required more careful planning than usual. Much like Kuat or other ‘ring worlds,’ the majority of the population of the system lived in the orbital habitats and stations, though for very different reasons than with most such worlds.

Specifically, the Candorian Plague had swept through this region of space during the New Sith Wars, and Sanrafsix had failed to maintain quarantine. With the plague spreading over the surface habitation, the already massive and sprawling complex of orbital stations had cut themselves off from the inhabitants on the ground. Doing so had saved the population in space, but doomed those still on planet. A cold calculation that had nevertheless saved at least a percentage of the population. Due to the raging wars at the time, there had been no chance of evacuating those on the stations, particularly when a Sith had taken it over at one point. A fact which had resulted in an odd culture developing.

Fears that the plague was still viable down on the planet had kept even the Sith from contemplating rebuilding, instead choosing to expand the orbital infrastructure into a hodgepodge ring-world. A practice that continued to hold until well after the New Sith Wars ended as, like much of the Outer Rim, the world had been lost to the Republic for some centuries after the series of long conflicts were finally over. Only once the world had been ‘rediscovered,’ did anyone seriously begin attempting to reestablish a presence on the graveyard world below. Even now, a combination of culture and respect for the dead had left the vast majority of the population living in the crude-but-ever-growing orbital ring, rather than down on the planet. Though mining and agriculture operations to supply the ring were in operation on the surface.

All of which meant that the ‘Defense Stations’ were too close to major populations to risk simply destroying them. Instead, the League Fleet had, after crushing a moderately sized defense fleet of CIS warships, carefully stripped and disabled the weapons of each such station. Something made a bit easier by the fact that local population hadn’t sided willingly with the CIS, and thus had aided and abetted the League in disabling those defenses.

Of course, that didn’t do anything to stop the Droid forces deployed to the orbital ring and nearby defense stations, and now the League was having to go from station to station, cleansing the droids from each one individually. An annoyance and bit of a slog, but also, as far as Shaak was concerned, an excellent place for Ahsoka to cut her teeth in the chaos of a full-scale battle. The opponents were entirely droids, and while space stations had their own risks, the armor they both used was vacuum rated for long enough they could be recovered even if they ended up swept out into space. Meanwhile, the true killer for Jedi, the chaos of overwhelming angles and numbers, were difficult to bring to bear in the tight confines of station corridors.

Choke points were a problem for normal forces.

They were considerably less so for Jedi, who could clear them with telekinesis, blaster reflection, and precision guided concussion grenades.

Thankfully, Ahsoka seemed to be doing well, and Shaak had an ally in keeping an eye on her in Zavra and her personal squad of Ossus-trained Champions. Zavra had pretty much adopted the increasingly odd group of Champions after Geonosis, and there was no denying she’d turned them into a force for ‘Chaotic Good,’ as Izuku had once described it. Personally, Shaak had been a little cautious about her influence on them, but was comforted that Aayla and Izuku had both been keeping an eye on the odd group to make sure Zavra’s more grey traits didn’t influence them in the wrong ways. So far, it hadn’t happened, and there was little question that the eccentric group was a good one to have on hand in any battle.

Still, given that she was fairly certain she’d heard Ahsoka cackling after that last intersection? She might take her Padawan to a different orbital habitat than the Champions, once they finished with the Defense Stations. Zavra was enough of a chaotic influence on her own, without adding her minions to the mix…

… … …

- Sanrafsix System  – 93 Days into the Clone Wars-

“Padawan, do you know why I’m disappointed in you?”

Ahsoka cringed, looking at her feet for a moment, before muttering out a response.

“Because I followed Zavra into putting anti-Republic graffiti all over the space stations and port?”

Shaak snorted and Ahsoka looked up, surprised to see her master shaking her head in the negative. What?

“No, Padawan. Sanrafsix is one world that would deeply benefit from League membership. It is a trade hub, and most of its critical pre-war trade partners are either now League worlds like Enarc and Naboo, or else are going to be under the Republic’s displeasure post war. In the long run, they will be much better off if they apply for membership in the League. They meet the new border world requirements to do so, but they need to choose on their own initiative to vote for joining the League. Your methods may have been underhanded, but they are fundamentally sound and likely to help without causing political backlash. Zavra’s planning, I assume?”

Master Ti shot the Sith woman, who was looking totally unrepentant, a look. Zavra only grinned and nodded, shooting her a cheesy thumbs up even as Ahsoka’s head swam in confusion.

“But…then why am I in trouble?”

Her Master gave her a look.

“You aren’t in trouble. I said I was disappointed. In particular, your depiction of Hutt anatomy in the pieces which showed them violating Outer Rim species was poor. While all Hutts are hermaphroditic, you missed the fact that, like worms, they have multiple sets of sex organs. Meaning you got the depiction of their biology wrong. Something which is inexcusable in League artwork, given their familiarity with Hutts. Nor was in the only detail you got incorrect. You also missed the fact that female Wookiees have six breasts, not two, and a number of other details.”

Ahsoka was gaping now, even as Zavra snickered and her Master went on.

“Clearly, your artwork lacked suitable research. As such, you will be given assignments on how to make proper and well researched propaganda. If you’re going to do something underhanded, you should make the effort to do it right.”

Ahsoka was still gaping, feeling thoroughly confused in the Force as Zavra laughed her head off, even as Shaak exited the room. Thankfully, her Padawan had been too flummoxed to feel her Master’s own rising amusement through their bond. In truth, the artwork had largely been acceptable. But she hadn’t lied to Ahsoka that, if she was going to get into such tactics, she should know how to do it correctly, without Zavra doing the vast majority of the legwork. Her ‘disappointment’ and the assignments were merely a good tool to make sure her Padawan learned to wield the underhanded but useful tools of the galaxy as easily but steadily as she did a lightsaber.

Humming to herself, Shaak idly sorted who to get to handle the lessons in question, as she had only limited experience in such areas herself. Zavra was a bit too much of a savant who had grown up around such tactics being a common artform of sorts, among the Sith Empire. So she was only really good for providing ideas, rather than instructing a beginner from scratch. Aayla would be better for a Jedi-like perspective on the topic, given her training by both Voss and Tholme. Balancing that out with another perspective, though…Sabé?

Yes, she would do nicely, if she could be convinced. Sabé was the closest thing Padmé had to a wet works and dirty tricks specialist, even if she officially possessed an ‘intelligence operations’ specialization. She would be a good perspective on the more political angle, where Voss and Tholme had been more focused on the underworld. Given what Ahsoka’s first step in this direction had been, a better understanding of the political aspects of mudslinging and character assassination would be wise.

Nodding in satisfaction, Shaak grinned. She couldn’t wait to tell Izuku and Padmé about this. They were by far and away the two most straight laced members of their group, with Shaak herself being a fairly distant third. Their expressions should be most humorous…

… … …

- Tythe Central – 95 Days into the Clone Wars-

Izuku looked over the reports of the retaking of Sanrafsix with approval. The victory hadn’t been as clean as if he’d been there to use Battle Meditation, but the simple fact of the matter was that he couldn’t take the field for every battle of the war. Not only because there were always multiple concurrent battlefields, such as taking Geonosis while Dac had come under repeated assault, but also because he was the Sovereign of the League.

After the Summit of Kashyyyk, there had been no avoiding the need to return to League space and sooth ruffled feathers. Yes, they’d gotten a good deal for the League, no one was really questioning that fact. Yet the sheer speed of the Summit had made any serious politician aware that they likely could have turned the screws harder, demanded more. Add those groups who just flat out didn’t want the League involved in the fight, no matter the deal? Well, a certain amount of his personal time and attention was required to keep his own house in order, as it were. He was, in fact, soon to be traveling a long loop through both some of the least and most happy worlds of both new and old holdings, after having spent several days in meetings here over Tythe.

Thankfully, the League had more fleet and ground commanders experienced at this scale of warfare than anyone else. Admiral Sail’ada, previously having been handling the defense of Dac, had been shifted over to take overall command of the new Southern Theater. He was by far one of their most experienced Admirals, the single most experienced still serving as an active fleet commander, in point of fact. He’d done them proud at Dac, just as he had in dozens of battles throughout the Hutt Crusades.

Both Izuku and Rana had high confidence in him, and he’d proven that confidence well-earned once again with the clean retaking of Sanrafsix with minimal losses. More fighter losses than were really comfortable, once again, regrettably. That was proving a bit too common for this war so far, despite the significant superiority they held in quality of their own fighters. Otherwise, however, he’d managed to smash Sanrafsix’s defense fleets with minimal capital ship losses. Likewise, General Emma Forre, who had become something of an expert in taking orbital installations and handling orbital ground force insertion during the Crusade, had done just as well handling that aspect.

Given Dac’s importance, Admiral Sail’ada had been replaced by Admiral Rikman and General Ichov. Both of whom had been busy managing the capture of one of the three Geonosian Hives that had deployed off world and within League space. General Ichov had taken what he’d learned from the Geonosis Campaign and combined it with the unique opportunities provided by the icy planet of Zaadja. The Genosians had been far less at home on that world, and a small number of very pissed off Mandalorians had been more than willing to help. The Mandalorian group in question where the remnants of a clan that had previously held a settlement there. The Genosians had nearly wiped it out, to preserve their secrecy, with under a hundred surviving warriors and less than a thousand surviving civilians. Those survivors had provided critical information and some extra commando-style operatives to help capture the factories mostly intact.

Which was a major boon, honestly. The facilities were smaller than the Hives on Geonosis itself had boasted, but were also significantly more advanced, having been built more recently and with the latest Techo Union advances. They could easily be converted to mass production of HI-Mk4s, along with a few of the League’s lighter vehicles. Given they were still hurting from the sheer number of losses in droid manpower on Geonosis, that would help a lot. Even if they were also racing forward with the construction of new factories on various League worlds as well. Ground troops were the one area which both the CIS and Republic had the League beat badly enough to be a serious concern, despite the League’s best efforts.

One of the other two Hiveworlds had simply been bombarded to hell, then carefully checked afterward. Though the third at Olanet was only just now coming under assault from the force that had dealt with the second at Hypori. Still, they’d fully cut off any droids coming out of the Geonosian factories and being smuggled to the CIS by now. At least so far as they knew. It was most probably the single largest blow to the CIS of the war so far, even including the fleet they’d killed over Kashyyyk. Though it was a blow that would be made up for all-too-quickly if reports from LIS about the overhauls on Mechis III by the CIS were accurate.

Another good reason to pressure CIS South, that.

Shaking his head, Izuku turned away from the reports. Admiral Sail’ada and General Forre would have to handle the taking of Darkknell without him. He might be able to join them for Eriadu, which would be good for their relationship with the Republic. That was highly dependent on how fast everything moved, however. More likely, he wouldn’t be able to move to the front again until the taking of Sullust, assuming nothing interrupted the campaign before then. That world had willingly gone over to the CIS and was a major industrial power that would need to be handled with care, which meant Izuku’s Battle Meditation would be important…

… … …

- Tythe Central – 97 Days into the Clone Wars-

Admiral Lin looked over the latest reports of the new Southern Theater with a critical eye. The fighting at Sanrafsix had nearly ended, with only small pockets of droids still being cleared out of the surface mining facilities. Meanwhile, even as the fighting had been ongoing inside the orbital ring, Admiral Sail’ada had pushed on with the bulk of the forces they’d been able to give him, just as planned. While small picket forces had been sent to recover Phaegon III and Syned, the bulk of the fleet had moved on to take Darkknell. That particular world would be a tougher nut the crack, as it housed a major Vulture droid construction facility, but she was confident Admiral Sail’ada would prevail without too much effort.

Just as importantly, it was one of the places they’d tracked the Geonosians sending data on that ‘Death Star’ super weapon of theirs. While planet crackers weren’t really that uncommon and the design was ridiculously inefficient compared to some the League already had schematics for, it was still better to track down just where any copies of the plans had gone. Some fool might actually build one, if they were dumb enough, and it would admittedly be seriously annoying to fight due to its nature as a mobile fortress and weapon of terror rather than a practical design. She couldn’t imagine even the Sith being psychotic enough to build two of the ridiculous things, but even just one would be enough of a nuisance that it was worth preventing the idiocy from spreading.

Elsewhere, she had only the results of Toru-class scouts and LIS assets to tell her what was going on, along with reports from Republic pickets keeping an eye on the Fleet at Loronar that they were trying to make move. That fleet wasn’t moving yet, and the reason why was fairly obvious from other reports. CIS South wasn’t exactly denuded of defenses yet, and fleets were building at Eriadu and Sullust. Presumably, the CIS had either read the League’s targets well, or simply deemed those worlds good anchors to build a countering fleet around.

Still, they’d given Sail’ada more than enough firepower to keep punching inward despite what she was seeing reported so far, and they had plenty of reserves of their own working up over Enarc and Naboo. If worst came to worst, they could also commit against Kira and the Harrin Trade Corridor as well, threating Mechis III and the factories that were being converted to mass CIS droid construction there. Sooner or later, she was confident the Loronar fleet would be recalled, as the Republic wanted. Though, even if it wasn’t, she wouldn’t cry over it.

After all, Ms. Hatsume had taken on the rebuilding of the Omni-cannon as a personal project, and was claiming she’d already cracked the basic issue. If the CIS resisted for a month or two longer, they’d doubtless be dealing with several of the superweapons poised to help crack CIS South’s defenses and retake the worlds there. The League managing to do so, rather than the Republic? Well, Rana Lin was already hearing whispers that Sanrafsix might come over to the League voluntarily under the new treaty. Frankly, she wouldn’t say no to the bulk of the rest of CIS South deciding to do the same to avoid the Republic’s wrath.

It wasn’t likely, admittedly, but a girl could dream, couldn’t she? All of those worlds would be much better off under the Sovereign’s rule than the Republic, as far as she was concerned. Particularly the ones that had gone over to the CIS willingly, as they’d mostly done so over grudges with the Republic Core Worlds…

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A/N 1: I really enjoyed writing the scene with disappointed Shaak Ti :-p. Aayla, Zavra, and Mei MIGHT have had a bit of an influence on her...