Unexpected third party elements intruded upon the proceedings and while they were no friends of the Hutts they were hardly aligned with the Wonosans either, resulting in Sleheyron's current state of warfare. By and large most of the Order's forces that still remain have retreated from the urban centers where they had staged their revolution and done heavy damage to existing infrastructure, though there are still pockets of resistance in several areas which are mostly present purely to secure evacuation zones for any freed slaves that haven't yet made it off-world and still wish to work with them.
Now the Legionnaires have begun taking up positions and making strongholds out of outer lying factories and refineries within the wastes and among the lesser populated settlements, bolstering their numbers with recruited locals and an influx of battle droids as well as mechanized and armored regiments. Though at present they are still purely on the defensive, digging in and fortifying what little ground they do hold whilst bombarding the world with messages of resistance and revolt against their foes.
The bulk of the Wonosan fleet and army have pulled back from the system though a steady flotilla of supply vessels and their escorts have managed to keep their forces on Sleheyron supplied, if somewhat irregularly. Defensive satellites and stations as well as mines have been their main method of maintaining an equilibrium in orbital control thus far though time will tell if they choose to commit a proper naval force to hold the world. For the moment at least it seems unlikely as they plot their next move and eye their next targets carefully.
Following the Prophet of Bogan's address to the wider galaxy, reports on the attempted takeover and present circumstances from the Wonosan perspective have begun to emerge on the Xinklas and filter out into neighboring systems beyond from Hutt space. Tales of what was meant to be a great victory over the Hutts and the entire institution of slavery that were ruined by the intervention of misguided and malicious interlopers seeking to supplant the criminals with their own brand of tyranny.
Of the reports and firsthand accounts there is one particular story emerging as the most popular and requested from the feed. That of the 15th Formos Battalion not nicknamed the "Crimson Blades" in honor of their deeds. During the initial assault on Sleheyron they were tasked with capturing a Hutt's palace in order to take control of their security systems which mostly consisted of anti-air turrets around the spaceport and landing zones of the nearby city. The palace proved to be more heavily guarded than expected as the lack of aerial support due to the anti-air defenses meant almost all of their guards and positions were intact.
Undeterred the 15th, with fire support from combat speeders belonging to their larger brigade which had been tasked with taking the urban center, marched on the palace with all the fervor that could be expected of them. While the fire support proved invaluable in clearing the outer lying defenses surrounding the main complex, a series of mines and a few bold mercenaries were able to disable the majority of the speeders that had been allocated to the 15th before they could reach the palace's walls.
The battalion still advanced steadily under the protection of their Tuk'ata and were able to reach then breach the palace walls, allowing them access to the main complex. Within the grounds however the droids were soon damaged or disabled by consistent ion grenades and fire, forcing the 15th to make use of what little cover there was while the mercenaries and palace guards retreated from the walls and within the buildings surrounding the main palace. While they had taken some casualties during the initial phases of their assault, the lack of any heavier fire support made the close quarters fighting exceptionally costly.
The 15th's commanding officer, Lord Haro Ardel, was killed during the fighting for the complex grounds whilst using his lightsaber to distract an incoming barrage of enemy fire from one of their buildings. His lightsaber, still ignited, embedded into the blaster marked ground where he fell and this is where the miraculous scene of the battalion's fight begins. Out from their cover came a single Legionnaire, running into the fray of blaster fire and slug rounds with reckless abandon to retrieve the fallen blade.
Sentinel Luth Trasko pulled the lightsaber from the ground and raised it high for her squad to follow, valiantly leading them towards the palace entrance with the Sith weapon in one hand and a carbine in the other. She made it as far as the steps before she too was cut down by a hail of blaster fire, but not before cleaving three mercenaries and two droids down alongside her fellow Legionnaires. Yet the lightsaber never touched the ground. One of her Triad, Legionnaire Helren Kaggi, retrieved the weapon from her grasp before she drew her final breath and he continued the stunning charge.
Three more squads followed the bold advance, using the brief path that had been carved through the defenders to their advantage and rushing inside. The complex itself was still a battleground but with the honorable sacrifice of Sentinel Trasko the rest of the 15th outside the palace were able to begin isolating the palace guards and mercenaries into pockets and buildings where they could be decimated with grenades and well timed volleys of fire. By the time that the fighting for the palace grounds drew to a close the security systems within had been commandeered and the battle raging in the nearby city began to turn in Wonosan favor with their air support free to join in the fray.
From the palace emerged Decurion Zhâlzat, one of the Pantorak Inductii clones recently bolstering the Wonosan ranks, with the lightsaber and the Hutt's head in his grasp. Of the three and a half squads which had barged into the palace only two had survived, carrying their dead comrades with them as they limped to rejoin the rest of the 15th. They maintained their position for several hours, fending off skirmishing attacks from mercenaries either fleeing or moving to the nearby city, before they were transferred off of the planet due to being rendered combat ineffective by their losses in spite of their insistence on remaining in the fight.
Yet their removal from the battle would result in their tale being among the first recorded and recovered, allowing the details and exact events to be sent to the Xinklas feed fairly quickly which made the 15th a sensation among the Wonosan ranks almost over night. In recognition of their heroism and sacrifice the battalion would not only earn its moniker as the Crimson Blades but their newly promoted Chiliarch Zhâlzat would even be allowed to keep the lightsaber that he and his comrades had risked their lives to carry and utilize.
A rare honor indeed as typically even the synthetic Kyber crystals of Wonosan make are incredibly limited resources and are typically always recycled for some other purpose or exclusive Sith usage. At present the 15th "Crimson Blades" Battalion is still being reinforced and their next deployment is unknown, whether that be back to Sleheyron or to aid in any future battles on other worlds, yet their story has already increased recruitment rates as well as inspired their fellow Legionnaires to fight even harder to match their rising glory and prestige.
Wherever it is that the Order of Wonosa chooses to strike next they will undoubtedly be prepared to face Hutt and interloper forces alike, far from eager to allow the stalemate on Sleheyron to halt their mission of cleansing the criminal empire and eliminating the slave trade within Hutt space. Darth Strosius has made their intentions clear yet there is no doubt that their valiant efforts will not go unchallenged.
