00:00:01 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant.
While Max Grobelnel was generally a lover of music, he hated it too. Max had always been open and expressive about his feelings and desires, such had been his attitude for many years, a patch after his father and mother ignored his needs for two decades while putting an immersive pressure on him. Nothing was enough for his parents and when Max was no longer capable of coping with their expectations and their uncaring attitude towards him, he heard true music, an old form of music based on rudimentary, physical, instruments, more similar to the musical traditions of the Outer Rim than of the Core.
The music on the Core was… soulless, yes that's the word, the only intentions of the artists that compose it is either to make it sound just good enough to become popular among the young generations, or inoffensive enough for local parties and festivities. It was cultureless, industrialized music.
On the other hand, the Outer Rim, in its misfortune and poverty, in the lack of industrialization and the inexistence of a developed late stage consumerist society, music kept its core idea, it was virgin music as he had named it in his inner thoughts.
A pure music that expressed emotions in every tone.
He had in his datapad more than a thousand compositions that he heard every moment he saw fit, which usually was when he had nothing else to do and had some self-made privacy, in the night too he put in his speakers the compositions, filling the hotel room with a melody that could make him cry or feel joy depending on what the datapad decided.
That's why he wasn't surprised when he woke up and the first thing he heard was a composition, it was a soft tone that made him feel rested and slightly happy. He opened his eyes but rapidly closed them again as he did not have the energy to do anything else than be in his bed.
Yet, as much as he desired to continue resting the increasing amount of anomalies began to put his brain in a state of eeriness, he remembered bringing someone to his room to have the usual session of stress relief that helped him to stabilize his desires and emotions.
But he never put music on when he was accompanied, usually there was no necessity for him to do it once he could hug a strong man's body while sleeping. Not only that but he knew that he was forgetting something. With a deep sigh he opened his eyes again and raised from the blankets and bed to look around him. The room was his, that for starters was good enough considering he thought to remember that he got himself very drunk the last night.
"Good morning"
Max looked to his left and saw a human with skin dark as the void of space, two meters tall and the most important thing for him, a virile member like a super star destroyer. He was awake and was the one that had spoken to him, he looked happy and satisfied so he probably remembered far much more than he did.
A headache hit Max like a hammer, he began to massage his forehead while laying back on the bed, trying to remember what had happened the night before or in the early hours of that morning. But he did not remember much, he looked around the room for some hints but only found his clothes and the armor and body glove of the man. He had fucked a scout trooper? He did not remember that.
"Maybe, I've overdone it with the alcohol."
"You drank it as though it was water." Commented the nameless scout trooper as he put his hand over him, "I don't think that's a safe habit for a member of government."
"Says the Scout Trooper that fucked said member of government, what's your name?"
"You don't remember?"
"Never had a good memory, and drunk as I was I'd have worse odds."
"Abul, should I say nice to meet you, sir?"
"No, not necessary, can I ask you when I put the music on?"
"You asked me to do so once we were done."
Max raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he probably knew what happened afterwards. His life since his parents had ruined it has been jumping from hedonistic action to another, in a constant search for pleasure in order to keep himself up, but sometimes he could no longer hide his feelings and suffering behind a smug face, a brat attitude and an insatiable search for pleasure.
"I hope it was not… uncomfortable, it's not my usual self. Forget whatever happened last night."
Despite his pain, he forced himself up from the bed and began trying to regain control of his imbalanced body with the now morning, midday or evening, whatever time it was. The red color of the room induced him to lay back into the bed, but he ignored his most basic instincts in benefit of regaining control of the situation. His bed company followed his example and stood up from the bed.
Like most members of the Stormtrooper corp, Abul has very short hair and a very strong body and is in a condition close to perfect. He wasn't too muscular because although the Stormtroopers were strong, the capacity for endurance and stamina was more important than pure strength or creating perfect muscles to show off in public competitions.
Max never understood physioculturism, as a homosexual, these men gave him the complete opposite of sexual arousal, it wasn't even pleasant to see, they were deformed masses of muscle with bleached smiles and useless penises after having taken who knows how many chemicals.
"It was not uncomfortable, its nice to fuck a civilian from time to time." The man stretched himself as he moved around the room. "The men of the Corp are so rough and tough, there's no fun in fucking a man like that, but in time of war every hole is a trench."
He laughed loudly as he walked himself to the bathroom, with that comment giving Max a sense of curiosity as he turned off the reproduction of the composition, ending the soft melody, allowing him to ignore his feelings.
"I did not know that the Stormtrooper corp had so many homosexuals."
"Put twenty thousand men in a floating box of durasteel for a deployment of two years, half will compete for the reduced and near insignificant number of females onboard, the other half will search for alternative ways."
"I guess that make sense."
Max looked at the datapad in his hands and looked at the hour and the day, realizing he was already late for his job, he smiled to himself knowing that Draneir would probably be already angry at him.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:01 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant.
"Where the fuck is that gay piece of shit! I have an emergency and I can't find him!"
Belisarius Draneir never considered himself a person that would jump rapidly into conclusions, Tanya has taught him to be better than that. But he had a bad feeling about the Death Troopers. The warning that came from the Galia Sector made him think, to be paranoid about everything related to them.
Why did they surrender so easily? Why did they accept so willingly to become a glorified police force to garrison the government building? The Death Troopers were the best of the best, so why the hell would such elite soldiers accept to have such a job?
To act based on his paranoia or not, that was the question he had to face in such a relevant moment in history, it was such a difficult question… Draneir wished that Tanya could be with him to guide him and give him a lesson of what to do. But he was alone without no one to trust.
He frowned and sent a message to Rano Resuci, ordering him to evacuate only the most key elements of the administration from the building without gaining anyone's attention. It was better to be paranoid than allowing yourself to fall in a trap.
A deep feeling of not knowing if what he was doing was right assaulted him, a sense of insecurity that he had felt since always, not knowing if his decisions were right or wrong. Being under Tanya's authority gave him a sense of security that he had always lacked, the certainty of knowing that what he was doing was right or at least useful.
Far better than this feeling of hollowness in his heart before taking any serious decision. And now that he had taken one a small voice in his head was calling him stupid for doing it, telling him that he was overacting, that his actions could alienate the Death Troopers that since the dissolution of the Imperial Intelligence in the South Super Sector had proven every single time their undying loyalty.
He did not like having power, he hated it. He was a person that needed to be ordered around, not one that could take the leadership of something as big as a government, a state.
He recalled the happiness he felt when the troops acclaimed his name for the victory of Tatooine, but that was nothing but a false injection of dopamine after the people misunderstood the victory as his own doing.
"Fuck me."
His head began to hurt and the adrenaline poured through his body, even in his uncertainty his body recognized an immediate threat and acted based upon those beliefs. He rapidly locked all the electronic dispositives of the office behind the imprint of his hand, using it as a key to lock any sensitive information. As long as he was alive he could unlock these dispositives.
After he ensured that no sensitive information could get on anyone's hands except his and Tanya's, he took a trophy he had given no use since the battle of Tatooine. The lightsaber he captured from the Hutt Admiral, he hid it inside his clothes in a way that it went unnoticed and rapidly left the office.
He moved through the corridors with normality, he was not stupid, he knew that rushing his way out would call the attention of the Death Troopers, but he still had the hope that his paranoia was not right, that these men were loyal, if they were, then once he and the important members of the government were in a safe place he would order them to be deployed in other planet.
In his path he was stopped by the replacement of Cassio Tagge, the new head of the Imperial Army was younger, in his thirties and he was here only as a temporal solution, he had done his job right for the past weeks, but he was too naive and sociable for Draneir's personal taste.
"Draneir, I wanted to meet you, I have received an inform that the Generalissima has already landed on Coruscant, as far as we know she has unleashed half of her nuclear arsenal on the city"
Draneir wanted to continue walking, but the Head of the Army was in front of him reclaiming his attention. Did Rano Resuci not send him a message about the situation? Or could it be that he hasn't received it because he was searching for him?
Dreaneir's heart began to beat very rapidly.
"I have limited time, Alexander Panteo. I will hear any report, but I need to keep going."
Before allowing him to finish, Draneir pushed him with his shoulder as he regained the impulse and walked his way through the corridors filled with Death Troopers and bureaucrats. Alexander was forced to follow him in order to keep talking to him, unaware that Draneir's apparent ice-like attitude toward him was him trying his best to get him out of what he believed was a trap.
"The Battle of Coruscant has begun, I don't know the full situation, we get reports like water by a dropper"
Draneir thought about how much he would pay to have a one-minute call with Tanya.
00:09:43 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant.
The Imperial Palace was being assaulted from all directions, thousands of Stormtroopers storming it like a massive ant infestation. The defenders were Death Troopers, the new Royal Guard. While better trained and better equipped they were outnumbered ten to one, and worse of all the Stormtroopers had actual weapons of campaign.
Mortars, heavy machine guns, campaign artillery, close air support…
The Death Troopers had nothing of that, they were an elite group of soldiers, but they were never meant to act as a division or as the only defenders of a place, no heavy weaponry of support vehicles were given to them, they were not trained to fight a war front to front but to do special operations and protect V.I.P.s.
It was a fight between thousands of separated soldiers and an army.
The disparity of the effectiveness of the defense could be seen in all sides of the Imperial Palace, in some places the Stormtroopers loyal to Degurechaff were already inside of the Imperial Palace with the order of killing anyone that crossed their path, be it civilian or military.
Death Trooper Hana was one of the defenders of the Imperial Palace, amidst the chaos he kept composure and defended the front stairs that led to the entrance to the Imperial Palace, around him hundred of Death Troopers were defending the entrance too. Thousands of blaster bolts went down the massive hundred of meters wide and long stairs. The stormtroopers that were assaulting the position tried to take cover where they could but the Imperial Palace had been constructed with the idea of giving the defender the most advantage possible, there was no realistic cover that could be taken if you were down the stairs.
The Stormtroopers threw smoke grenades to cover themself, these smoke grenades inhibited the thermal vision of the Death Trooper helmets but that did not stopped the Death Troopers from firing at the Stormtroopers, firing on automatic to the smoke their rifles fired six hundred bolts per minute. An impenetrable wall of bolts rained down the stairs taking countless lives.
"They outnumber us, we need to retreat to the palace" Hana commented to his superior officer as he reloaded his rifle. "Defend until the last consequences!" Screamed Hana's superior officer.
A horrible sound assaulted his ears as he complied with the order, the sound of incoming TIE's did not scare Hana but it frightened him, he looked up and saw two TIEs coming to fire at their position. He and a dozen other Death Troopers changed their objective and began firing at the TIEs.
Hana fired a lucky shot that penetrated the cockpit of one of the TIE, killing the pilot and making the TIE crash. But the second one was not taken down, its laser cannons runned through the defensive position, pulverizing any Death Trooper that it touched. It was coming closer and closer and Hana tried to take him down but he could not, the TIE moved too fast for him to be able to guess correctly where to shoot.
"He is going to crash!" He screamed through the comms to try and warn his companions, the TIE passed so close to the floor that it runned over two Death Troopers before getting itself up, preparing for another round.
"Where are the reinforcements?!" Screamed the Colonel in charge of the defense of this side of the Palace, Hana could still see over the horizon the massive mushroom cloud fruit of Degurechaff madness. Dozens of them could be seen and Hana assumed the worst, that they were alone.
More smoke grenades were launched from the smoke wall, the Stormtroopers were advancing even with the hellish bolt fire. Hana rapidly joined the effort of firing at the smoke cloud. He missed three hundred bolts per one hit but that was still better than not firing at the smoke, there was no precision and efficiency when the enemy was advancing itself to you and you could not see them.
"Incoming TIE!"
Hana rapidly changed his attention back to the sky, the laser cannons of the TIE were firing at them, the ground was shaking and dozens of Death Troopers were dying. It did not matter the decades of training and experience, the best the technology of the Empire could give them, they were cannon fodder without the proper equipment to fight enemy air superiority.
"For the Emperor!" Screamed Hana firing his weapon at his best prediction of where the TIE will be, the bolts moved rapidly but the TIE was too fast, his lucky shot of before was one chance between a million possibilities.
Some other Death Troopers attempted with him the vain effort of taking down the TIE with their weapons but failed as the TIE went up again for the next dive attack. Hana was not able to think, he was an automatic machine moved by experience, training and adrenaline. He rapidly turned again to shoot at the smoke, the Stormtroopers were now half way up, they were moving fast, very fast. The smoke cloud was like a monster approaching that he could not stop no matter how much he shot.
A Death Trooper did not fear, but he was beginning to panic.
"TIE!"
Hana looked up again as he reloaded, the laser cannons were firing in his direction now, his death or survival was no longer a matter of training but just pure luck. He took up his gun at the TIE that was lining him up and on full auto he fired, with the good luck of hitting the cockpit, but not killing the pilot.
The pilot of the TIE lost control over the fighter, and when he realized that he would not be able to go up again he decided to crash against the Death Trooper's defensive position. The laser cannons no longer were firing in bursts to avoid overheating but instead fired full automatic, Hana avoided death by mere seconds as the TIE crashed against four of his fellow comrades, but it was too close to him, debris of the TIE falled over him, crushing him and making him fall unconscious.
When he regained consciousness he looked through his visor to the sides, his comrades were evacuating, he asked for help but no one cared enough for him, it made sense, more troopers would die trying to save him than it was worth it. He was already dead.
If that was the case, he could at least do a last hurrah.
He prepared himself, taking his weapon close and faking his death, it took just two minutes for the Stormtroopers to already assault, they moved in coordination, still throwing smoke as they advanced, he could see them clearly. But he did not fire yet, he wanted to die killing an officer, that would be at least a worthy sacrifice.
"Is this all the game that can give me the Death Troopers? What a fucking disappointment, for this I use for the first time my full potential?" Said a femenine voice, he tried to identify where it came from but he was crushed by the debris, he had no mobility. To his good luck the voice came closer and closer until he finally saw her. A black, golden and red stormtrooper armor, with a cape with the imperial flag and golden bay leaves on top of her helmet making a form similar to a crown.
He slowly took aim, the HUD of his visor told him that he had a clear shot, that she was going to instantly die of that shot. But he did not take the shot yet, he wanted to hear her. Soon she was accompanied by a Stormtrooper Captain that had red and blue painting over his armor. Degurechaff legions had abandoned the pure white and now painted their own armor based on traditions and their specialization.
"What do you mean Generalissima?" Asked the Stormtrooper Captain.
"I came here to fight a war, to have some type of challenge, but the Death Troopers just folded so easily, it's stupid, boring."
Her voice was arrogant, but Hana realized who she was, the leader of the traitors, if he could kill her the war would end soon. But he also felt something inside him, something different. Rage and curiosity, he wanted to hear her before giving the final blow, he wanted her to be at her most arrogant moment before taking her down.
"Winning easily is always the best victory Generalissima"
"Yes, of course, but I planned this offensive for so many hours that now to see them fold so easily it feels boring, unexciting. Of course, I should not feel this way, but what can I say… after so many years it seems that I have already lost it : I am a war maniac, I enjoy war, I get dopamine from seeing the battlefield, to see the loyalty of my soldiers, to see them run over my enemies."
The Captain laughed.
"Then we are two Generalissima, as it is said in the Stormtrooper Corp, to be a Stormtrooper you need to first lose your humanity, and then accept your love for war"
She laughed too, and that was the moment Hana decided to kill her. He pressed the trigger and the bolt moved at more than eight hundred meters a second, she should be dead in less than a blink. But that did not happen, a golden light illuminated around her as the bolt suddenly disappeared, his instinct and for the first time fear took over as he fired at full auto at her, the bolts kept being stopped by an invisible force. The Captain raised his weapon to shoot him but Tanya Deugrechaff raised her hand to stop him, he approached Hana rapidly and took the debris off him like it was nothing, she kicked the gun out of Hana's hands and then looked at him with curiosity.
"See, this is more funny, entertaining. I like when the enemy surprises me and I still come on top"
She crushed his head with her feet, his brains and blood spilling onto the floor of durasteel.
"I feel like in my best moment in my second life" She murmured, with a smile hidden by her helmet. "Back when I could solve my problems by firing at them."
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:15:25 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant.
Max Grobelnel adhered himself to the Scout Trooper Abul, putting his hands around his torso as he drove him to the Government Building in his military issued speeder bike. The streets of Eriadu were full of life and if you looked at the sky you could see four star destroyers coming from orbit.
Max felt confused, he did not remember that Star Destroyers were coming to the planet, but he ignored it, his matters were not military matters.
"Are you sure you can drive me? I don't want to cause you problems." Commented Max to Abul, he felt the wind hitting his body as the speeder bike moved at eighty kilometers per hour, he did not had the reglementary helmet and protection but its not like someone would arrest or fine him for not wearing it when the one driving him was a member of the Stormtrooper Corp.
"Do not worry, a few times in my life I have been able to enjoy… such a good night company. Really civilians are the best, military men usually are so, meh, really not interesting. Sometimes there is the same emotion in fucking one and masturbating. In comparison you gave me the best night I can remember"
Max blushed a little bit, he felt like in his youth, (even if he was not old) when he was in university and hanged with the classic bad guys who had dropped out of school to work at an early age and usually bought the latest generation of speed bikes with their first wages, he had fucked quite a few of them in his youth and being in one of these speeders again made him feel a little nostalgic. When everything seemed to be going well in the galaxy, when there was no war and everyone believed that from now on everything would be fine.
"Will you be deployed here for some time?" Asked Max as they approached closer and closer to the government building.
"Yes, for at least some years or until the war is over. Why?"
"Would you mind me calling you from time to time? Consider it a privilege." Max put a smug face, "I usually do not like to repeat plates but its not like I remember anything of what happened, so repeating a little bit cannot do much damage"
Abul laughed a little bit as he lowered the velocity of the speeder, soon they would be in front of the protective barrier around the government building and the last thing he wanted was the Death Troopers shooting at him for going too fast.
"I wouldn't mind, but I warn you, I cannot afford a long time relationship, such is the life of the Stormtrooper"
"Oh, do not worry, me neither"
Max Grobelnel preferred it this way, the facade of long time relationships was a lie created by those that were too enthusiastic and optimistic. Reality was that most relationships never lasted long enough, they were short as soon as both began to live together.
That if something external did not ruin it… making it even shorter.
Abul stopped the speeder in front of the entrance, the road continued but Death Troopers were garrisoning it with build up fortifications, no one should be able to pass the road if they did not want to.
"Identification" Said one of the Death Troopers, Max Grobelnel rapidly stood from the speeder and showed his identification.
"Do not worry, it's me, I am a little bit late to work" He laughed.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:15:39 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant.
"Why are you stopping me?" Asked Belisarius Draneir to the two Death Troopers on the door that would allow him to leave this government building. They had their rifles crossed as a way to express without talking that they could not advance any longer.
Draneir's overflowing paranoia only increased further. Alexander, who was by his side, looked confused.
"For security reasons no member of the government can abandon the building. There has been a warning about a possible terrorist attack, we are taking care of the matter"
"I do not care, I want to leave for a walk." Said with an authoritative tone Draneir.
"I cannot allow you to do that."
"I am the highest authority in the South Super Sector until Degurechaff returns from Coruscant, let me pass."
The Death Trooper looked at each other for a moment and then looked again at Draneir.
"Coruscant sir?"
"Yes, she is doing a decapitation strike, fifteen minutes ago she landed. I need some fresh air so let me out."
Draneir's body was filled with adrenaline and he was sweating nervously. Alexander began discussing with the Death Troopers about how they should follow his authority no matter what, and then Draneir saw it as a slight movement, impercitable for anyone that was not in absolute alert state and was not a member of the armed forces. They had put the weapon on stun.
That confirmed his worst paranoias, no soldier would shoot their own superiors like that just because they wanted to go for a walk. Draneir did not waste time as he preferred to be wrong and take culpability than be right and take no action. He took off the lightsaber and ignited it while pointing at the first Death Trooper, in less than a blink the heart of the Death Trooper was pierced and he falled to the floor, the other Death Trooper reacted and raised his weapon to try and shoot Draneir but was surprised by him hitting his helmet with his bare hand, making him lose stability and allowing Draneir to feed him half a meter of laser through the head.
"What the fuck!" Screamed Alexander, who did not expect anything of this. He was genuinely scared of how such a rudimentary weapon was so dangerous and how Draneir was able to kill them so easily.
"The Death Troopers work for Isard, they are sleeper agents!"
Alexander was in shock but Draneir did not wait for him to act, he rapidly took his datapad and after confirming his biometric data with it he unlocked it, rapidly he found the option to send a threat alarm to all government officers for them to evacuate to the nearest safe rooms, he didn't thought it twice and pressed the button.
With that done he thought of what to do next, to leave the building, exposing himself to the threat of the Death Troopers surrounding the building or to fight his way into a safe room inside the building.
Sooner or later the troops garrisoning the planet would notice and take the building, or so he hoped.
Outside with a lightsaber and a blaster he could take from the dead trooper he would not last a second, inside he had opportunities.
He turned off the lightsaber and took the rifle and ammunition from one of the dead Death Troopers, then he took it from the other one and gave it to Alexander.
"Follow me" Alexander nodded and Draneir rapidly began moving outside of the entrance, in the seconds it had taken him to take the weapons he already was hearing the sound of stun bolts being fired. The Death Troopers were capturing the government.
"Fuck me, what would she do? What would Tanya do?"
A small smile took place in his face, one of desperation and adrenaline.
"Rip and tear those fucking traitors."
Alexander was as scared of the Death Troopers as he was currently scared of Draneir.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:16:25 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant.
"Belisarius Draneir wants you to come immediately into the building, Minister of Propaganda" Said one of the several Death Troopers garrisoning the entrance to the government building. Abul was still on his speeder, ten years of war had made him grow an instinct for problems and he currently felt that there would be problems, that's why he stayed even if he had no reason for.
Max Grobelnel looked at the Death Troopers with a smug face, his hair and beard were well groomed as always and his clothes were as scandalous as every single day.
"He is not here to scream at me? That's what he always does," commented Max, waiting for Draneir to appear at any moment, either physically or in a hologram. As a constant give and take from their relationship every time Max came late to work Draneir took special care into scolding him.
Toxic? Annoying? Problematic?
Yes, but it was also fun.
"He is currently very occupied with his paperwork, please come in," Invited the Death Trooper. Max raised his eyebrows and moved his torso a little bit to the front with his hands on his shoulder. He looked like he was about to give some type of weird reverence.
"That is weird, how can a random trooper like you know what he is doing right now?"
The Death Trooper looked at each other, confused.
"He has informed me of why he cannot talk with you currently." Commented the leading voice in the Death Trooper lines. He looked composed and calm. But as he looked at Max's smug face he felt a deep sentiment of resentment towards the minister of propaganda.
"No, I doubt it, he loves hating me. He should be here insulting me for coming late, saying that I am abusing Degurechaff's trust…"
"He will probably do that once you are in, but he has not the time to spare Minister"
Max returned his posture to a more normal one.
"Well, that's disappointing, I guess then my presence today will not be needed, inform Draneir that I will be taking the day off"
He waved the Death Troopers as a sign of good bye and turned his back to them, walking towards the speeder.
Abul, who looked confused but also amused at the whole scene immediately turned serious as he saw several of the Death Troopers raise their guns, the Stormtrooper's biggest ability was instinct breed since they joined the military academy when they were ten years old, and he kicked immediately. He pressed a button that launched smoke grenades that flew rapidly and exploded mid air, filling rapidly the entire area with smoke.
Max Grobelnel was surprised by this, he did not know what was happening, bolts began to fly around and he was taken by the hips with strength. Soon he was forced to sit on the speeder as they escaped from the Death Troopers.
"What?" Max asked as he recomposed himself.
"I don't know, but hold on tight!"
Soon the speeder went from twenty to three hundred kilometers an hour, fleeing at the capital city as the Star Destroyers were closer and
closer, with transport ships pouring from them.
—-----
00:31:09 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant.
Captain Red of the First Battalion of the 501st moved through the corridors of the Imperial Palace accompanying Tanya Degurechaff, the Death Troopers had retreated inside the building due to the numerical and weaponry superiority of Degurechaff's troops.
Corridor after corridor, room after room the Death Troopers gave the 501st Legion among other legions involved in the battle a harsh pill to take. Urban warfare had always been a nasty thing and the Imperial Palace was like a small city in miniature, kilometers of a building with most not knowing even the true depth of it or what was this building in the era of the Republic.
"The third and fourth battalion cannot advance any longer, the Death Troopers have retreated strategically to chokepoints in order to defend the Palace."
The Captain that once led the first battalion was for this operation part of Degurechaff's personal staff, accompanying her and helping her to control the flow of battle. Thousands of soldiers organized by Tanya and a captain, the HUDs in their helmets gave them the information they needed to be able to see the battlefield.
"And the second and first are still advancing towards the Throne Room, the Emperor probably has already been evacuated, the Death Troopers had made us waste too much time."
Degurechaff's comment was as if she did not care, which gained a little bit of the Captain's interest.
"What do we do if we can't find the Emperor?"
"Retreat." She answered, looking at the architecture of the Imperial Palace, dead Stormtroopers and Death Troopers were on the floor, those Stormtroopers that could be saved were being evacuated by field medics, those that could not were given mercy if they were still alive.
"Such an operation… to retreat if in one hour we did not obtain our objectives Generalissima? I don't think one hour is enough to even conquer half the Imperial Palace"
"That's why I am here Captain, to speed up things, keep moving, I will be moving into the battle"
She began to levitate, to which the Captain still could not believe. Her powers were so strange and irreal that he simply assumed that the Vader family tree had magic powers beyond any human or scientific comprehension.
She was his daughter in the end, being a deadly anomaly was in his expectations.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:33:33 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant
The bodies of dead officers, civilians and Death Troopers acted as improvised barricades in the choke points of the Imperial Palace, dozens of Death Troopers fired on bursts against the corridor, pinning down the Stormtrooper that tried to advance. Every Stormtrooper that had attempted to break through has ended up dead, some tried to just to draw the gun through the corner of the corridor and shoot but those rapidly lost their hands.
Here smoke grandes would not work either as the corridor was too narrow to give enough space to the enemy to miss their shots and finally every attempt of throwing grandes was rapidly pushed by the Death Trooper sending them back, either by shooting at them or by throwing them with their own hands.
When a new stormtrooper tried to leave the corner and shoot at them, a Death Trooper shot at him, but this time the bullet did not penetrate the Stormtrooper's armor, in fact it did not even touch it.
All the Death Troopers began shooting at the dark colored stormtrooper but no amount of bolts could get near her.
Even with the limited time she walked towards them, golden blades slowly forming from her hands, the Death Trooper abandoned their defensive position and began retreating while keeping the fire on her, in that moment she began running towards them. The first Death Trooper died impaled by the smaller than the average stormtrooper, his blood splashed all over the corridor
"Pray to your fucking Gods if you have them before I send you to hell bastards!" Screamed a feminine voice, rapidly jumping over other Death Troopers, beheading him like his body offered no resistance. Her hands brought death to the corridor and the Stormtroopers looked surprised, no one of them knew that the Generalissima had this abilities, but she was the living image of lord vader when he was in battle, only that far more enthusiastic.
"For the Second Galactic Empire! For Vader! For Degurechaff! Advance!" Screamed a Stormtrooper Lieutenant, soon in a scream of war the company advanced through the barricade made of dead bodies until they joined the fight on Tanya's side
The defense falled, with most Death Troopers dying at Tanya's own hands, the corridor was completely soaked with blood and so was her armor and cape with the Imperial Flag. She was the image of brutal war, of barbarism. She was laughing as she figuratively and literally bathed in her enemy's blood.
"So much fucking suffering when all I needed was a fucking good battle" She said to herself, ecstatic with pleasure in the heat of battle.
"I surrender" A voice said, Tanya turned her attention to a Death Trooper with his hands raised and on his knees, five Stormtroopers were pointing their guns at him, some of them looked at Tanya as if they expected to decide his fate. She smiled with a little bit of shame, she was allowing herself to be intoxicated by the dopamine rush but what could she do? This was the first time in her third life she had felt like this.
Pure and absolute happiness.
She could give the Death Trooper mercy, but that would set a bad precedent, she had to work under the very same rules she had imposed for a lot of time.
"I only accept those that surrender before battle, kill him"
Before the Death Trooper could ask for mercy he was repeatedly shot until his body fell into the floor, dead.
She was not here to make friends or gain a good name, because that was the truth of war and herself. No matter how many good actions or compassion she could do and give, the enemy would believe she is an absolute monster. It was fine by her, she could prove them right and most importantly send a clear message to the galaxy.
You can surrender before the battle begins, or you can die. There is no middle option.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:40:00 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant
Belisarius Draneir fought a desperate battle into a safe zone, he had killed a dozen Death Troopers but they were coming constantly and from all sides, there was only a limited amount of death he could bring to Degurechaff's enemies. More when they were the elite the other side could bring into battle.
Alexander had been already lost, stunned and captured by them, he was now alone moving like a rat through these corridors, he felt like in Coruscant again. Endless corridors were only the smart could survive.
Dark memories of his time as a Coruscant Rat came to his mind but he tried to ignore them as he moved through the building. Most safe zones were probably already closed and "protected" by the Death Troopers; he had to find one that no one knew about.
The building was so immense that there were some parts of it that were not used by the current administration. He thought of the possibility of going into this area and finding a safe zone, it was probably the only good option if he wanted to survive.
He moved slowly through the corridors, hiding like a rat in the obscurity. The Death Troopers were probably trying to localize him and surround him, he had to remain undiscovered as much time as he could.
The sound the Death Troopers made, gruesome and horrifying, made his skin crawl as he advanced silently along the corridors.
Corridor after corridor he felt that they were close but he never saw them, he preferred to wait in some cases to stop hearing their characteristic noise to continue advancing, avoiding confrontation as much as possible.
Soon he reached an area that looked emptier, there were no traces of fight and he had never been here, this was the abandoned area of the building. With the happiness of being able to hide until reinforcements arrived, Draneir began to jog, searching room by room for a safe room.
Until he found it, garrisoned by five Death Troopers, they had noticed him and he could not waste any minute. He in full auto began firing at point-blank, killing two. Three of them took cover in the durasteel table, they were probably calling for reinforcements. Feeling rushed he runned and jumped over the table, shooting at point blank range at another one, the other two seeing that they would not have time to aim at him took Draneir from the legs and throwed him to the floor.
Draneir felt a sharp blow to the head that hurt him a lot, the blood began running over his hair while the two Death Troopers tried to immobilize him. He resisted but ultimately the two men overpowered him.
"I am going to fucking kill you !"
He hit with his head at one of the Death Troopers, disorientating him for a single second that Draneir used to take his lightsaber and ignite it, with a slight movement of his right hand he cut through the other Death Trooper like a war knife through butter, it was scary and horrendous how easily you could kill with the lightsaber but he ignored that feeling of vomit accumulating in his body as he tried to give the same fate to the other Death Trooper.
The last remaining Death Trooper dodged the lightsaber blow and gained space with Draneir, unholstering his gun and firing a first bolt that missed, this one, unlike all the previous ones, was a normal blaster bolt. The Death Trooper quickly tried to switch the weapon to stun mode but Draneir had already gained enough time, cutting the man in half with revolting ease.
Once the fight was over Draneir felt the blood going down through his head, he sighed tired and looked at the open door of the safe room.
He really hoped that soon the reinforcements would come to help, the government was hopeless otherwise.
He entered the safe room and closed it.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:46:22
Luke Skywalker looked at the holonet with a horrified face, he had sensed a disturbance in the force and with fear opened the holonet, he had felt the same way when Thyferra was destroyed and feared that once he opened the holonet a new tragedy would be unleashed.
And not even his wildest dreams could have prepared him for what he saw, Coruscant in flames.
The capital of the Galaxy was destroyed, with fires consuming a big part of the planet even if it was made of Durasteel, the reporter estimated the civilian casualties already in the billions, and the source of such a disastrous destruction was…
"Tanya Degurechaff has attacked Coruscant" Commented the female reporter to the galaxy.
Luke Skywalker felt a small desire to kill her for what she had done, but he suppressed that feeling as the surprise came to him.
Why and how the hell was she in Coruscant?!
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:50:00 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant
Captain Red was frustrated, the whole operation, the thousands, millions probably of lives taken were useless, the mission had failed, they had been unable to capture the Emperor and take down most of his government.
"Call for retreat, we have lost" He heard through the comms, it was Tanya's voice. He felt frustrated and humiliated, the Death Troopers had gained enough time for this mission to be a failure.
He had wished that Degurechaff had given them more time to complete the mission, but he understood the necessity of staying only one hour, reinforcements would come from every single point of the galaxy and Tanya Degurechaff had insisted that the only reason this operation could work would be through the surprise factor, that she estimated would be lost after one hour.
"Are you sure Generalissima? We could keep going"
"Yes, I am absolutely sure Captain, call for retreat"
The Captain felt the pressure of defeat on his shoulders, but accepted the hierarchy and her desires. Sending the code 0203 to every soldier and pilot on Coruscant loyal to Degurechaff, calling for the general retreat of all the armed forces. The Spaceships would be waiting for them in orbit and the transport ships were being deployed to bring back all the troops.
With a frustrated punch to the wall the captain turned around and began running towards the exit of the palace, to evacuate with the rest of the troops.
"At least we will explode it with a nuclear warhead… if we can't capture them we will destroy them"
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:51:00 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant
Tanya Degurechaff looked at the throne room of the Imperial Palace, two hundred Death Troopers laid dead on the floor, the majestic floor and walls were decorated on the defenders blood and Tanya's armor original colors were no longer as visible due to the amount of blood.
Not a single objective was completed, but she was smiling. She moved around the throne room with a sensation of joy, stopping when she was next to the Throne Room. She took off her cape and abandoned it, the Imperial Flag was no longer visible as it was soaked in blood, her next step took even herself by surprise, as she sat on the throne.
"It's pretty comfortable."
She soaked the fabric of the throne room with blood as she searched for a comfortable position to be in.
"What a shame, this could been so much easy if these idiots did not had tried to fuck me over for the last half a year."
She felt entitled to a "sorry" by half the Empire, she really had tried to do her best to improve the situation but at every step there was someone trying to ruin her progress and life. She had fought the world in her second life, in her third life she fought a galaxy, she wondered if in her fourth life she would be fighting the universe.
An extra-galactic Empire where she would need to conquer other galaxies, what a stupidity and who knew, maybe it was her faith after she died. In the end her third life would have been considered stupid in her second life, and the same with her second life in her first life.
All her life it was her fighting the misery of life she was sent into.
"Honestly, I have done a pretty good job, no? Despite everything."
No one answered.
"What fun is there in having some sort of weird schizophrenia if my imaginary versions of myself only appear when they fucking want."
Steps could be heard, hundreds of them that slowly stopped, and then a small but powerful sound that indicated that someone was approaching her.
"Tanya Degurechaff, daughter of Vader"
"Oh, so you came August Palpatine, son of Palpatine."
She looked at the hundreds of Death Troopers.
"Accompanied it seems"
The Emperor stood twenty meters away from her, he had received an "invitation", a message from her for a peaceful talk now that she was evacuating the planet, he accepted it, not because he was stupid but out of pure curiosity. Degurechaff's arrogance amazed him, she invoked a sensation of hate that he not only could not explain how strong it was but how weird it was. It was a sensation so visceral that he began thinking that it was an obsession.
She took off her helmet with a smug face and pulled back the hood of the body glove, leaving a very unkempt, flattened and messy hair. Her blue deep eyes looked at him directly.
"You are far more beautiful than in the holograms"
Tanya raised her eyebrows.
"You are taller than in the holograms" She answered back.
The Emperor looked at the dead bodies on the floor and frowned, but that rapidly disappeared as he looked again at her. He did not know why but it seemed like he had a tolerance to death and suffering, something he had never expected to have and something he personally desired to not have. It made him feel less human.
"What did you want to talk about with me? after all this… death, destruction you have caused. After betraying me and the Empire."
"It was nothing personal August, you or one of your subordinates destroyed my planet after months of trying to force me to submit to the Moff Council. I was sent to die to the South Super Sector but when I succeed instead of trying to ally with me they feared me, so they decided to try and get rid of me, and when they could not they tried to enslave me, and now you came, offering me cooperation, the possibility of real reunification… I was willing to accept it, I really did, because I did not want any of this, I did not want the civil war, I did not want this battle. But as it had always been in my life, I was forced into a position where what I wanted did not matter. I want you to know that maybe if you had come some months earlier maybe there could have been a unified Empire. It's not your fault, you are probably just like me, someone forced by the circumstances."
"That 's all? All this battle, death and now this truce only for you to come and tell me that you did not want any of this? I guess I understand it, your assumption that I am too moved by the circumstances instead of my desires is true, but contrary to you I tried to fight the circumstances to create new options. That's the difference between you and me, you enslave yourself to the circumstances and use them as a way to justify your actions while I try all I can to fight them !"
The tension in the room was so thick that it could be felt through the skin.
"August, I also try to fight the circumstances in order to create new options, that's why I sent you that message, and that's why I wanted to meet with you"
She paused, believing that he would like to say something but he said nothing. She continued talking.
"Surrender and come with me, I will make you Emperor of the Second Galactic Empire as long as the civil war lasts, you and I will rule and make this galaxy a better place. Fighting the corrupt and soulless Core, killing the idealistic and idiotic rebels and burning the foolish traitors. You offered me a chance of reunification and peace, I can't give you that because I know that it's already too late, peace between the Core and me is impossible. That's why I offer you to be by my side, my kind and sincere way to express my gratitude for the offering you did to me weeks ago."
The offering took by surprise the Emperor, he expected that she would try to capture him and force him to be her puppet Emperor, but instead she was offering a place by her side. But what value her words had, even if he considered the option of surrendering to her, what were the chances that she kept her word? As far as he knew she was an enemy and an enemy would use any tactic or possibility to win.
If she could not trust him, how could he trust her?
"Tanya Degurechaff, if you surrender now and order the traitors that have declared the Second Galactic Empire to surrender I will save you from the death sentence, giving you a seat by my side, I will hear your concerns and even accept some reforms. But this madness has to stop now, the damage you did… is unrepairable but the circumstances will not force my hand as long as I can fight it back."
Both offered the option of surrendering with a promise of understanding each other and cooperation. But no side wanted to surrender, no side trusted the other side and none of them were sure that they could keep their promises
"I guess that was a good attempt, really, how naive of me to think that you would hear me" Tanya showed arrogance in her movements, sitting on the Imperial throne soaked in blood she began adjusting her hair in order to fit the hood of the body glove.
"Are you going to attack me now?"
"Nop" Tanya said, trying to sound as girly as she could, the Emperor did not understand why. Maybe to mock him? She was so arrogant "I promised a truce to do a small talk and a truce it is."
Once the body glove was over her head she put her helmet on, looking at the emperor directly at the face, she noticed that he had a lightsaber on his pocket, she assumed it but now knew it, he was force sensitive.
"Well, I guess this is a goodbye, I wished this had went differently"
She began flying, leaving the throne, the Death Troopers pointed their weapons at her but the Emperor did not give the order to shoot.
"I hope I can capture you alive" Said the Emperor, sincerely, he wanted to capture her, it was his desire.
"I doubt it"
Tanya broke through the glass behind the throne, despite being transparent durasteel, demonstrating a supernatural and superhuman force that impressed the Emperor.
He sighed in frustration, she wanted to run away after doing all this disaster, he would not allow her to do it. No matter the sacrifice he would end this civil war in Coruscant.
His father's wonder weapons would ensure it.
The image of the Emperor began to disappear slowly, what seemed the real Emperor deformed until it disappeared, leaving the room empty with the Death Troopers.
Sheev Palpatine's paranoia and technology came very handy for all matters related to war and security.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:59:10 Since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant
Thousands of transport ships were moving into the orbi as they left Coruscant, the Ecumonopolis looked grim, with massive fires consuming the planet and the clouds of the nuclear weapons still being visible even if now they were disappearing.
Captain Red looked at the horizon, the evacuation had been successful. Such a deployment of troops and such a rapid evacuation, his training officer said that the standard for evacuating a minimum of ten thousand troops was three hours, Tanya had evacuated fifty thousand in ten minutes. It was not the most organized system, he would admit, but it worked well enough.
The sky was filled with thousands of transport ships, like it was a hornet horde trying to find a new prey, the anti air capacities of the area had been completely destroyed so there was no point in trying to avoid conglomerations.
Captain Red did not know where the Generalissima was but he was sure that she had evacuated. In the end she was the mind behind this attack and retreat, it would be strange that she did not save herself.
"You missed me Captain?"
The feminine voice was heard through the comms, he could not understand if she was close or in other transport.
"Where are you Generalissima?"
"In front of you"
He looked through the open doors of the transport ship, but he saw nothing, or at least until suddenly, from under the transport, she appeared. He moved and so did the other stormtroopers in the transport to make space for her. She entered with the grace of a bird and quickly accommodated herself.
"What now?" Asked the Captain, "We have lost, what is our next movement?"
She denied with her head.
"We have not lost until I say we have lost Captain, have trust in me."
The doors of the transport ship closed as they were approaching orbit and the three layers of shields of Coruscant. Soon they would be on the spaceship, probably returning to the South Super Sector.
Captain Red felt tired, all this operation, for nothing. No matter what she said his morale was low, it seemed so… pointless, the lives lost and the destruction caused.
He looked up and sighed to his insides, not daring to show dissatisfaction in front of her.
A brief sound of something crashing caught their attention, immediately after the transport ship stopped moving.
"What happened?" Asked Tanya surprised.
The pilot rapidly began forming, one transport ship crashed with something in the sky and now was falling to Coruscant as a fireball, the rest of transport ships stopped moving upwards after that. Captain Red looked at the hour, five minutes have passed since the hour long operation was completed. What was happening now ?
Tanya ordered the pilot to open the doors of the transport, so it did, it slided but she did not wait, flying off the transport and moving upwards at a high velocity until she reached the point where the transport crashed. She slowed her velocity and tried to move upwards, her body glove protected her from the coldness but it was too cold even for its properties.
Soon she crashed onto something, like an invisible barrier just before the three layers of shields that protected Coruscant. Tanya tried like a bee that was unable to understand how windows worked to cross this invisible shield in different points, but failed miserably. She tried to destroy it but also failed miserably. The realization for the pilots, the soldiers and the spaceships on orbit was clear.
They had been locked in Coruscant by some sort of shield that could stop every single type of object from entering or leaving. They had underestimated the defenses of Coruscant and most importantly, the First Emperor's obsession with wonder weapons.
Disconcerts began to grow inside the Stormtrooper legions.
"What do we do?!" Asked the Captain, as he was able to finally calm himself.
Tanya sounded angry. As if she had been outsmarted, but the Captain could swear that he heard emotion in her voice too.
"Prepare for landing back! Two hundred kilometers south of the Imperial Palace!" No one understood why she did not order land back on the Imperial Palace.
She marked through her helmet the landing location, it seemed that this was no longer a one-hour mission.
In and out, what a lie it had always been, thought Tanya to herself with a smile.
01:08:33 since Degurechaff attacked Coruscant.