01.30 : The Light Begins to Dim

[21 BBY]

[Groundside, Republic Command Centre, City of Lessu, Ryloth, Ryloth System]

The skies were full of activity as I stood out in now large training yard of the Republic's primary military base on Ryloth. My own Stormcrow amongst them, dropping cargo looted from the defeated enemy ships down to nearby depots for sorting and processing; here and a few other industrial cities across Ryloth. Along with them would be the troops, still celebrating their great victory in the city as I and the other commanders brought them down in shifts to minimise trouble here, and maintain a full alert status with the Fleet in orbit. We'd won, at a cost, but that didn't mean the Confederate forces wouldn't return again despite all our scout reports and system slicing efforts saying otherwise.

Now came the logistical effort of managing that hard fought victory, and of preparing the soon to begin counter-strike on the dirty traitors who were about to get just what they deserved. Gods I hated backstabbing little traitors like that; now I just had to ensure they were adequately punished. And just as importantly ensure our trade routes through the Sector, all the way to Naboo, stayed open with enemies now astride the easiest hyper-lanes between us, the Hutts, and the rest of the Republic holdings cut off from the Core. Maintaining those links, and extending them further trailing on the galactic map towards our allies in the Sesewenna Sector, as such was my goal till we could restore true links to the Core. Beyond a heavy convoy like what the evacuation of forces from Christophsis technically was.

Yulan was in charge of the Stormcrow's part of that, and since The Necromancer was currently a flaming wreck orbiting one of the moons, thanks a reactor cracking due the ship....sorta exploding, Ardal and the surviving crew got groundside logistics duty just like me. Now I had the joy of talking to Senator Organa now that the Clone Legions, or moreso the remnants of those Legions, from Christophsis had made landfall. Far too many Clone Troopers groundside for my liking really, not with those chips; even if the Ryloth militia now numbered in the hundreds of thousands, soon to me millions, and my own forces were just as large as the Clones numbers here. It was also causing...friction, even without my knowledge, as they were essentially slaves and we taking a stance against that institution.

"Senator Organa..." I greeted with a smile and a nod of my head to the man coming towards me flanked by two white clad Clone troopers as I was my one black clad soldiers "...it is good to see you rested and well. I trust your soldiers accommodations and supply situation has been sufficient?"

"Ah, Governor-General, thank you for your concern, all has been more than sufficient to our needs..." he replied dressed in his Senatorial dress while I was in my armour, sans helmet, as he extended a hand and I carefully shook back "...which, considering recent events, is more than we could expect on short notice, and from a planet that had suffered so much recently, I imagine"

"I'm afraid you are correct, though I will say Ryloth has recovered greatly from the damage caused during its brief, but brutal, occupation by Separatist forces"

He nodded "Ah, yes, under martial law since that time too sadly"

I shrugged as he stood beside me and watched the skies filled with descending and ascending transports "Not my choice Senator, but order has to be maintained and a legitimate, and more importantly functioning, planetary government re-established. Our situation is perilous in this sector, victory or no victory, and that has meant Ryloth needs self-sufficiency and a strong government"

"Democracy is always the strongest form of government"

I sighed "Not always, it's a worthwhile ideal, one we are fighting for, but doing without any preparations, or in times of crisis, only leads to disaster. Local elections are being held, and local representatives elected and taking their positions in the Ryloth Parliament"

"Hmm, Senator Taa has raised some concerns over the freeness of these elections, and of the legality of pardoning known terrorists and allowing them into the planetary government"

"Senator Farr has some valid concerns I'll admit, but has been broadly supportive of my efforts to restore Ryloth to normalcy in his absence..." I answered, truthfully...from a certain point of view. Senator Orn Free Taa was supportive of my Governor-Generalship by the simple means of quasi-legal bribery and making him a co-conspirator of sorts, though that only applied to things in his interest. On other matters he fought, such as with Syndulla's position, but he was far away and Syndulla was not "...and in regards...certain individuals....well, they are here, with significant popular, and more importantly armed, support amongst the populace"

"Surely he is not so popular?"

"Senator...he is the Twi'lek that effectively led the resistance against the Confederacy, and the aided us in overthrowing the holdouts. He is very popular, and I hired public relations firms and they confirmed how much so as the Strike in Tessunu showed and why myself and Senator Taa conceded the point. Democracy can messy in that way I'm afraid Senator"

In truth the 'General Strike' had been a carefully arranged farce to deal with the issue of Senator Taa attempting to rule from Coruscant; something that he'd folded on when I shown him the losses involved. Legalising the Spice Trade, in small measure, and gifting a part of the ownership in distribution companies had merely sealed the deal. The simple truth was, that before the invasion, Ryloth could be best described as democracy in name only; a banana republic of sorts in the words of a different life, and one in the standard mould of Core World popular Out Rim states.

All that mattered was that 'Free Trade' allowed Core worlds, with their militaries to protect their merchants, and privateers to hit their competition, was enforced upon the less developed worlds of the Mid and Outer Rim. Naboo, when it tried to pursue its own policies, had been a good example of the usual response; the Trade Federation had attempted to invade. Oh it had failed, but Naboo had reversed its policies soon afterwards as well. It was part of the cancer at the heart of the Galactic Republic; wealth flowed one way, to the Core, and situation of most worlds had been declining for centuries.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems, run by terrible people with poor PR, was incredibly popular in the Rims because as bad as the Trade Federation and Techno Union were...they were still better than hypocrites like Alderaan and Corelia. Count Dooku was The Liberator, General Grievous The Hero, to them and something hard to work against even with their atrocities. I'd thought it strange in another life, but in the here and now...it was easy to understand when even well-meaning Senators such as Organa seemed blind to the misery the Republic brought in its wake. Or the problems caused by the Jedi being too effective in putting a stop to flare ups of violence against this behaviour; till the Sith took over the Clone Wars process...

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[21 BBY]

[Republic Aegis Guard Revenant-class Frigate Bright Eagle, In Orbit Arkanis, Regency Worlds, Arkanis System]

Jurdan Ironhill, Admiral of the Galactic Republic, stood in front of the tactical display as his trio of reworked Munificent-class frigates emerged from hyperspace alongside the forces of the Ailon Nova Guard. His three heavy frigates, a refitted Consular-cruiser class corvette, and the haulage-carrier Mercy's Lament backed up General Yanthis's force of two light cruisers, six corvettes, four refitted and armed corellian YT's, and an old retrofitted heavy frigate. It was a fast moving, hard hitting, battle-group, and was what was available to the 14th Sector Army to counter-attack the Arkanis Regency Worlds.

"Launch all TIE's, deploy the Vultures" he ordered calmly as the alert came down from General Yanthis's Flagship that they were rejecting the Regency Worlds terms. Unsurprising really since the 14th Sector Army's demands called for unconditional surrender, seizure of their armed forces, loss of their monopoly on trade, and of course a change of leadership. What should be the majority of the Regency World's fleet as such had then been assembled over their throne-world, apparently with two Munificent-class frigates in support from the Confederate Navy. A glance the display indicted they were two of the ships that had fled Ryloth...damaged at that sensor indicated.

"They're badly outnumbered"

He nodded back to his Executive Officer "Aye, even with those reinforcements, but stay wary. We don't know if there are more of those, and that this could be a trap. Now, full spectrum jamming on the enemy Munificents please, then long range droid-missile launch"

"Understood Admiral, synching fire with the rest of the battle-group"

Jurdan nodded "Fire the Ion Canons on Target Four when we enter firing range, order Dark Hawk, and Midnight Falcon to do the same"

Taking out the Separatists was priority as he watched their overloaded Munificents lauch large numbers of Vulture and Scarab droid-fighters seconds before the jamming turned the scopes in static beyond visual tracking systems. They'd loaded the droids on the hulls from those numbers, and knocking out the control ships would knock out over half the enemy starfighters in-system with one blow. Munificent-class had a lot of firepower, enough to damage capitals, and strong deflector shields, but lacked proper armour and staying power. His Revenants were simply Munificents with the ground support droid army ripped out and replaced with greater engine power, shields, and armour;- a concentrated salvo should knock one out entirely.

"Fighters engaging"

Jurdan nodded "I see...Regency Forces are breaking off?"

"Looks like....elements Sir" his young sensor officer replied before his Executive Officer interrupted "Missile impacts, Regency flagship, entering Ion canon range momentarily Admiral. All boards report ready status"

"Understood, XO prepare to fire"

The star-fighter battle was already going against the system defenders; the Republic TIEs and Z-95's were vastly superior to the locals starfighters, and the Chir'daki's brought up the numbers to outnumber them. Even the Separatist droid-fighters merely made it fight rather than a slaughter, clearly surprised by the numbers being deployed by their forces. Stupid, but if he had to guess it was droids in charge by the bullheaded way they kept charging forward. Full spectrum jamming wasn't overly useful against organics, but against B-1 droid's it was an optimal tactic as they didn't react well to changing conditions.

"Fire"

Such as six blasts from the heavy ion canons lashed out and into the nearest Munificent, knocking out its systems and command crew. Secondary canons aboard his ships then opened up on the second heavy frigate as the first began to drift, droid-fighters going 'dumb' or 'inactive' as the jamming intensified as a command ship went down. The second lasted little longer, though the blast back of its own ion canon shuddered the Bright Eagle badly before it died under the combined firepower of the Republic battle-group. Order had collapsed on the Defenders side, chaos reign as Jurdan's forces pressed foward and began to pick them off one by one with concentrated fire; droid-fighters gone, the star-fighter battle began to slaughter...

"Admiral..." his XO stated calmly directing a communication channel over Jurdan's command display "...Regency Forces are being ordered to surrender by the planet. General Yanthis is accepting, we are ordered to cease fire"

"Affirmative, order our units to do so but maintain full alert. Recall and rearm star-fighters in rotation" he answered thumbing the circuit to listen in on a female voice from the planet.

"....Empress Leeya, all Regency Defence Forces are to Stand Down Immediately by order of the Regency Council. My Father, Emperor Leeto has suffered a fatal heart attack and on his dead bed has ordered an immediate stand down and acceptance of terms. As his loyal heir I accept this burden and declare the loyalty of the Arkanis Regency Worlds to the cause of the Galactic Rep..."