Faction Twelve Hours

[Enlil]

Continued from here.​

Ketaris City, Ketaris
Two Hours left

He woke to the sounds of rumbling.

Artillery fire from across the city shook the capitol, cascading off of defensive shielding and peppering nearby buildings. The King's eyes turned to his Chrono and he fell backward into the sheets. Enlil clutched his face in his palm.

"Ten hours," he muttered. "I slept for ten hours."

A knock at his door interrupted. "Enter," he called. The advisor shuffled in.

"My lord, we have issued the evacuation order and sent word to the Council. A response from the Imperium was received an hour ago."

"And you did not wake me?" He sat up, expression neutral.

"Forgive me, my lord. We had your orders and you haven't slept well in days. We thought it prudent-"

"Do not presume to think for me," he snapped. "Until the people of Ketaris can sleep soundly, I will not, either."

"Of course, my lord. I humbly beg your forgiveness," the advisor bowed and backed away. Enlil sighed.

"There is no need," he waved a hand dismissively. "You did as you thought would serve my best interests, and I thank you for it. You are a reliable and trustworthy advisor," he praised. "I simply will not abide this chaos while growing fat on my laurels and pretending some foreign affair is more significant than my own rule."

"You are gracious, my lord."

Sycophantic. Enlil watched the man bow once more and turn to leave. He would turn on me in an instant if it became profitable.

When the other man was gone, the King opened up the transmission. "Lord Enlil, word has reached across the Imperium of your latest decree." He listened intently, watching the Moff's stony expression. "We understand the difficulty of this decision, and the Empire fully supports your actions in the name of order. Therefore, we have counseled that Imperial elements be dispatched to Ketaris to help move innocent citizenry and quell insurgency around the capital city. The less loss of human life that your…"

The man paused. The King smirked. It was a very delicate decision, framing such a thing.

"...sanitation protocol incurs, the better it will be for everyone."

The transmission cut out, and the King shook his head. "This new age policy of political correctness astounds me," he mused. "Call it what it is. Genocide."

He walked toward the door and the sound of another screaming missile from outside jetted past. Another explosion. "If it ends this needless war, then I will not bat an eye."

@New Imperial Order​

 

[Hans Rennagen]

Ketaris City, Ketaris
On Route to the Gubernatorial Hall
Three Hours Left
Tags: Enlil

Hans was back again, only a few short months after his first deployment here. After the so-called "normalization" of Ketaris he hadn't expected to return to the exact same insurgency. Armed rebels in the streets were hardly normal, at least they weren't supposed to be. The insurgents did no favors for anyone. A border world like Ketaris needed to be strong right now, and a house divided against itself was a recipe for unneeded chaos.

Hans' shuttle from the Crusader Fleet touched down in the main spaceport, surrounded by stormtroopers. It was evident that the New Imperial presence here was not going away, and the rebels had little time left for their republic.

As soon as Hans stepped off the shuttle he was greeted by a lone officer, ushering him towards an awaiting bus that would take him to meet the rest of the King's security detail. Aside from King Enlil himself, he was unsure who he was meeting. Hans wasn't entirely sure why he'd been assigned here, but it was a welcome change of pace from Dantooine, and sitting around in the med-bay afterwards. His wounds were still healing, but he had received enough bacta injections from the nurses that he was close to being back in shape. He couldn't say the same for the folks who had died during that battle, and it made him wonder why the rebels of Ketaris chose to fight the New Imperials when the Sith threat loomed only a few parsecs away...

Hans and a couple of stormtroopers rode the small bus for close to 45 minutes, avoiding any streets that were compromised. Hans made small conversation with the Stormtroopers. One gripped his blaster tight, the other let her blaster sit in her lap. He learned the more relaxed one had been on Ketaris since it joined the New Order, and the one on-edge was a new arrival.

The bus quietly pulled in front of its destination, and Hans stepped off. The storm troopers followed, though their accompanying officer stayed aboard, bound for some other part of the city.

Not a dozen steps from the bus and Hans was pushed to the ground from behind, followed by a wave of heat and the tearing of metal. Hans was prone, his ears ringing. He could tilt his head enough to see the stormtroopers nearby, knocked down as well. Their armour had protected them from the shock wave and the debris. There was bits of metal and ash beside and ahead of him, and almost certainly worse behind him.

Hans slowly got to his feet and turned to see the wreckage. The bus was torn open from the middle, which was charred and twisted. The driver and the officer hadn't survived. Two guards descended the steps and helped the stormtroopers up, urging Hans to follow them inside. They claimed the dignitaries would need to hear of the disaster, but it was surely nothing they hadn't heard before...

 

[Djorn Bline]

S N A K E
KETARIS
FOCUS | Enlil | Hans Rennagen

Back to his very first assignment as the Commissioner of the Coalition for Progress, not too recently after his defection from the Sith Empire and integrated into the ranks of the New Imperial Order. He remembered the task he carried out which focused around the University of Ketaris that hosted a skirmish between Imperial Separatists and Loyalist Republicans. Students fighting tooth and nail, using whatever means as a weapon to combat each other. So Djorn and many of his Ghost Vipers fought the Loyalist Republicans with non-lethal weapons as they subdued the students and arrested many of the university’s staff and professors.

The deed was done.

And thus Ketaris entered a period of normalization; a period of an Imperial society that long discarded its original roots of the fallacies of Democracy and Republics.

Or so he thought.

COMPNOR analysts from the data and information they gathered reported directly to him of how critical the state is on Ketaris. Every sector was subjugated through various means, proving a success as normalization could continue with a firm foundation to stand on. The capital city, however, did not produce those results. Lots of old blood and stubborn traditionalists had a firm grip on the city which prevented the transition to Imperialism. They pulled out and used every tool from the shed, but nothing seemed to conquer these insurgents.

And so the last option there was, was genocide. Something he didn’t suggest, but rather the ruling Moff of Ketaris. The news of it brought debate amongst Warlords, Moff, and other official positions within the Order. Even some COMPNOR personnel were shocked of this decision. Where did Djorn stand in all of this? Ask him a decade ago and he would be disgusted by this decision? Now? Now he didn’t carry that same innocence once before, twisted and shaped by his experiences throughout his service.

Whatever to bring peace and order.

The city was littered with skirmishe/ and chaos, much of its infrastructure damaged and streets blocked or a scene of corpses and destroyed objects. It was a civil war and there was no way in brokering peace with the insurgents. So far this crisis was contained in Ketaris City, but for how long? He didn’t want to find out, they had done all they could and this was the final straw.

The Commissioner was dressed in his typical uniform when not assigned to combat operations he specialized in. The only protected he carried was a personal shield and a blast vest, along with his blaster pistol. While he could’ve done this via hologram, he found it more personal and serious to meet with King Enlil and offer him counsel that he would welcome to his ears.

His personal escort of Vipers accompanied him, trusting more in the unit he trained and fought alongside than the Imperial Stormtroopers stationed at the city. No offense to them, but he was sure they had other important tasks attend to.

The view of the capitol building came to him as the transport carrying him and his men drove towards it. Armored enough to endure heavy weapons besides explosives. So far this area was one of the relevant secured passages without having to doubt one’s safety.

That changed with the carcass of a bus smoldering in flames from a rocket launcher up in front of him.

“Everyone out!”

He wasn’t taking any chances of having a hitman land a shot with an explosive on him. Even the security here was being compromised by the looks of it.

 

[DECEASED Erskine Barran]

BLUE-HEART GALIDRAANI
NEW IMPERIAL ORDER

Undisclosed Imperial Barracks,
Lord-Officers' Wing

1 Hour, 57 Minutes Remaining...

Enlil Djorn Bline Hans Rennagen

After discussing the latest news of the NIO's war on the Sith, the Lord-Major's conversation with his subordinate Blue-Heart officers had shifted to other matters; but whilst the others rambled and bantered on, Barran had left the others to joke and eat lunch together whilst he left to use the transmitter in the compound's guardroom/entrance checkpoint. The Ketaris situation had been mentioned among the latest outbreaks of fighting, as the potential for quick insurgent capitulation had impressed Lord Erskine's men; and yet, the use of artillery barrages had given the Major an idea, spurring his will to send a timely transmission from the guardroom.

As Barran ordered all the battalion's on-duty guardsmen to vacate, (directing them to join the other guards outside at the gate until he was finished) he briefly took a moment to think on who was spearheading the Operation, though the name was remembered without much effort. To make a show of force, many officers in the 1st Galidraani Brigade knew that a strong presence would ensure the insurgents' surrender all the quicker, and some in the NIO exuded more power than all the others; but only one would be capable of inciting the right amount of dread on the city streets, and Lord Erskine knew such a man was already overseeing the operation.
It's Enlil, is it no? Aaaht's the wan! The Warlord-King 'imself, headin' up the counter-insurgency, eh? Ah need ti get used ti aw this again, man....

Thinking again of the recent bombardments on Ketaris, and the particular memories they brought from the back of his mind, (particularly from his years as a mercenary-captain on the galactic outer-rim) the Lord-Major chuckled childishly to himself. The proxy-war that sprung to mind had a few sieges with many similarities to the assault on Ketaris, and forward-operating units proved much more effective with artillery support, but only because they worked to direct the bombardment to more accurate arcs of fire. The cities his mercenary-allies besieged were all assaulted from full-encirclement positions, with all urban-infiltrations feeding coordinates of the unsuspecting defenders to their perimeters' artillery-formations, but armoured vehicles and tanks were wisely kept back to bolster the encirclement line until each final push.

'Transmitter, record.... My Lord, if you have urban-warfare specialists, I suggest encircling Ketaris city before you mobilise them; send them in with intel-gathering orders, but without the flak-magnets compromising their infiltration. Walkers, tanks and APC's are all magnets for explosives and body-swarms, especially in heavily-urbanised environments; made difficult all-the-more with barrage-debris blocking all their best escape routes, though your bombardments are correctly applied at this stage. All the jargon aside, I would like to offer more advice as the operation progresses; and with your permission, perhaps we can turn this genocide into a contained series of massacres instead.... End recording; send to King Enlil, Kentaris-Siege Division!'

Switching off the transmitter, Lord Erskine decided to take it with him, waving it in the air as he left the guardroom to make eye-contact with the transport-scanning guardsmen outside. The first to catch Barran's glare was a well-trained (but raw to duress) private, who quickly handed his scanning device to a loitering, idled corporal as he walked over for further orders; standing to attention at an arm's length away from his battalion's Lord-Commander, proud of his own eagerness. 'Settle yourself, private.', Lord Erskine started, waving the inactive transmitter in the lad's face as the private's eyes remained fixed on the Major's own. Putting the device in his pocket, Barran used his free hand to point towards the guardroom-sergeant as he concluded,'This transmitter is mine now, inform your sergeant he needs to order a replacement.... Back to your duties!'
​

​

 

[Rika Hiro]

L A D Y S I L E N C E
C O M P N O R
Ketaris
Friends: Enlil Djorn Bline Hans Rennagen

Ketaris was not a place she had tread ground on before, but she knew it from the briefings and information uploads to her central processor. The capital city wrought by brawls between its students in its esteemed halls, pro-imperial vs republican, friend vs friend, brother vs brother. The two opposites had clashed, and COMPNOR had come and 'normalised' the situation. And so it seemed that they would be needed once more. For Ketaris's gilded streets lay once more in fire and death.


Assigned to commissioner Bline for the duration of this operation, Asa was armed with her standard-issue COMPNOR sidearm and dressed as she would when shadowing higher-ranked personnel on non-combat procedures. Dark rimmed sunglasses obscuring her relatively lifeless eyes and a raincoat covering her body, making her look like a relatively inconspicuous looking aide. To the casual observer, she wasn't at all memorable or worth of note. But that's what Agent Yubari wanted when in the field, at least her model of HRD knew what being subtle meant. She didn't engage with commissioner Bline much except for when was necessary and correct. She still had no real concept of genuine socialisation other than what was needed to infiltrate enemy circles and obtain information.


"Everyone out!"- Djorn Bline

Sparing no second in waiting, she sprang into action and moved in front of Djorn as everyone vacated the transport. The smouldering fire of the wreckage burning brightly in the distance, likely a victim of TOW fire.



(wack post, i was very tired writing this)​

 

[Enlil]

Less than two hours remain...

Hans Rennagen | Djorn Bline | DECEASED Erskine Barran | Rika Hiro

​

"My lord, envoys have arrived," an advisor out of breath informed him as he passed. "Shall I make preparations to receive them?"

"Given the current circumstances, I doubt anyone will feel slighted if I forego the niceties." his flat tone stung the man, who grimaced. "If your worry is about Imperial decorum, be at ease. This situation is an irregularity and suspends normalcy on Ketaris. There are protocols in place to respond at varying degrees of escalation."

"Forgive me, my lord, but one of those degrees involves-?"

"Given that I already have to explain my decision to my colleagues who have just arrived, I would appreciate it if you saved that question for after," he told the man. A cadre of three more political staffers joined the first. They immediately recognized the King's tested patience and urged their associate not to press further. "The ones who I'll be meeting- Moffs?"

"Possibly, but as of yet, the first few are various officers and an Imperial Knight." The King paused. What little he knew about their agnostic Force Adepts involved strong undertones of service to the people. The possibility that he might have to argue his case before one of the more capable defenders of Imperial Citizens changed his approach. It had to.

It was likely impossible that he would be able to sway someone like that to his cause. The best case scenario for dealing with that person involved proving that his actions were not coming from a place of hate. Otherwise, they might view him no differently than the Sith.

Frustrating.

In his own time, on his world, no one would have questioned it. Now, appearances were everything. What pointless genuflection.

"And the others?" he questioned.

"A Djorn Bline," came the response. "And his contingent of associates."

Ah, the elusive Agent and his serpents, Enlil observed. At least there would likely be those who were supportive of the action among this group. That took some pressure off of him.

"Very good," he waved a hand. "Prepare the Hologram receiver, multiple others may join us from afar. Be advised, do not speak to those above your station unless called upon first, or you will be dealt with severely. This situation is most delicate, and your only role is to provide logistical and tactical support."

"Of course," the man bowed his head respectfully.

"Situation report?"

"Insurgents have opened fire on Imperial assets," came even more foul news. "However, it would appear that battle has been joined by allied forces and they are actively working to suppress the situation."

"And the NIV Resplendence?"

"In geosynchronous orbit, albeit with misgivings about the order apparent."

"Have them find someone who will feel comfortable with the command. Any man who would drown in guilt over his duty ought not be forced to enact it." There was a degree of reluctance in his words, but if he told someone to end a massive number of lives against their will, they would inevitably resent him. There were already enough people who would hate him over his decision. What he did not make apparent were his true feelings on the matter.

"Excellent, my lord."

The King exhaled sharply. When they reached the meeting room, a communications officer hurried in with a recording. Enlil gestured for it to be heard.

My Lord, if you have urban-warfare specialists, I suggest encircling Ketaris city before you mobilise them; send them in with intel-gathering orders, but without the flak-magnets compromising their infiltration. Walkers, tanks and APC's are all magnets for explosives and body-swarms, especially in heavily-urbanised environments; made difficult all-the-more with barrage-debris blocking all their best escape routes, though your bombardments are correctly applied at this stage. All the jargon aside, I would like to offer more advice as the operation progresses; and with your permission, perhaps we can turn this genocide into a contained series of massacres instead...'

"Transmission open. Lord Major, I will defer to your expertise on this matter and give the order, with the caveat that it be done expediently, and a focus be placed on forced-evacuation of the protesting civilians. Those who remain in their houses are in immediate danger, and take priority over the eradication of the dissidents. I want minimal unnecessary casualties."

He snapped his fingers and another communications expert set about relaying the orders to the field officers in Ketaris City. He continued to regard Erskine coolly. "You may issue commands to the city defense as necessary, with my leave. I look forward to seeing you when the operation comes to an end. End transmission."

 

[DECEASED Erskine Barran]

1 Hour 45 Minutes remaining

BLUE-HEART GALIDRAANI
NEW IMPERIAL ORDER

Undisclosed Imperial Barracks,
Lord-Officers' Wing

Enlil Hans Rennagen Djorn Bline Rika Hiro

Oh, Bugger.... "Coordinatin' their artillery wae the feet oan the grund", aht's wit ah forgoat ti mention! It's Ayways aht wan hing ah forget ti bring up, eh?

As the Lord-Major stepped back inside the Officer's wing of his undisclosed barracks, (such that served as a pre-deployment supply station for the Blue Hearts specifically) the Blue Heart Battalion's only working transmitter quietly bleeped in his parade-ground jacket, and it was in this moment that Erskine knew his advice had been humoured by the warlord-king at the very least. Seeing this as a good omen, though not chancing it by any means, Major Barran stopped his,"Mad scatterbrain caper", to reignite the focus that was keeping him alive on his personal fight homewards; that same homesick urge that all in the exiled Galidraani contingent felt constantly, the one ache that couldn't be healed by life's simple pleasures.
Nuhin' that touching base on Galidraan 3 canni cure though, ah can almost smell the firs and willows o' my home province already.

Entering his own quarters, (devoid of family members, all residing in Barran's own NIO-appointed villa whilst he campaigned sporadically) Barran placed the transmitter on the counter in his kitchen, clicking it's power on and stopping there as he waited for the voices outside to pass the building by; and as soon as the chattering voices of his subordinates faded out in the distance, the corresponding reply to his holographic message was cued without worrying about the officers overhearing. "Lord Major, I will defer to your expertise on this matter and give the order, with the caveat that it be done expediently, and a focus be placed on forced-evacuation of the protesting civilians. Those who remain in their houses are in immediate danger, and take priority over the eradication of the dissidents. I want minimal unnecessary casualties. You may issue commands to the city defense as necessary, with my leave. I look forward to seeing you when the operation comes to an end.", the holographic message stated, closing transmission quickly due to the many elements on Ketaris keeping the king busy.

Lord Erskine knew that committing to encirclement would allow little room for dwelling on pleasantries (or the lesser-like) for too long, so Enlil's offer to have talks afterward would depend solely on the merit of Barran's advice, but the Lord-Major lived for those high-pressure triumphs; and consequently, those ecstatic, hair-raising releases of victorious mirth they induced every time the Blue-Heart beat the odds. Even though he was almost two star-systems away, Barran could almost envision the city itself, and then began to imagine how the local dissidents would react to the monarch's new strategy.
Probably hiding amongst the crowd, building their new nests in the run-down district estates o' the city.

'Transmission open. My Lord, I also look forward to our talks on the Ketaris matter after all is said and done today; and rest assured, all advisory correspondence will be sent exclusively to your personal transmitter. However, I must admit I let my mind drift off when the matter of your artillery-barrages had been covered, as the urban-warfare specialists could also obtain reports of key enemy locations from the evacuees who make it out before the deadline; adopting secondary-roles, so to speak. And if your units can track down the enemy-compounds from there, and right down to the exact coordinates, then those evacuation units could turn this assault into a sporadic series of pinpoint-precision turkey shoots. Best way to coordinate them is by getting their commanders on comms together, perhaps even in the same room together, then I guarantee their efforts will yield surprisingly effective results. End Transmission.'

​

​

 

[Hans Rennagen]

Ketaris City, Ketaris
On Route to the Gubernatorial Hall
Less than two hours left
Tags: Enlil | Djorn Bline | DECEASED Erskine Barran
​

The doors of the meeting room swung open and the guards ushered Hans in, flanked still by his accompanying stormtroopers. A transmission on the holo-screen was ending as Hans saluted King Enlil and approached.

"Your majesty, my name is Knight-Errant Rennagen. I've been assigned as security detail. You should know there's been an attack outside. Two dead." there was remorse in his tone. The attack needn't have happened. The rebels had the chance to lay down their arms.

One of the communications officers on the other side of the room spoke up to affirm the knight's claim. "He's right m'lord, security cams caught footage of the attack!" the officer pressed a quick succession of buttons before the security footage of the bus explosion appeared on the holo-screen. There had been no warning before the rocket had struck the bus. Seconds earlier and Hans would have been killed.

"I served in the Normalization my lord, though I don't recall the rebels being so bold. You may not be safe here any longer."

He wasn't sure how the King would react to his concerns, but he knew that the Imperator wouldn't have made this man a ruler of a New Imperial world if he was incompetent.

​