Private Enter the Dragon

[Ashley Nevermore]

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Phoenix Platoon, WSR Shocktroopers
Tag: FN-999 (restored)

The planet of Draconia had long been passed around between various imperial warlords. Those of Zakuul, the Maw, The Eternal Empire. It's people were used to a monarchy. In a lot of ways, it was behind on the times.

For now though, it was a quiet planet.

A perfect spot for a rebel outpost.

Above the planet, a small rebel contingent arrived and quickly mobilized. Two Vuto Class Carriers, with three Tenacity Class Corvettes escorting them. It was by no means the normal set of firepower the rebellion would normally dispatch on offensive missions, but it was enough that they could hold their own while one of the Tenacitys lowered into the atmosphere. It's goal wasn't to land at any of the various starports. Rather, it was headed into the mountains to find a hidden spot to set up.

Ashley and her platoon knew better than to trust any world this close to their previous target. Caragash was bound to have it's imperial claws into the world's politics. They knew landing would be a task and a half.

 

[FN-999 (restored)]

Tags: Ashley Nevermore

The Caragachi Commonwealth kept a close eye on Draconia.
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Located only three sectors away from Caragach, Draconia's proximity and resource wealth made it a valuable asset for the Commonwealth to sway towards its cause. Its nearby asteroid belts in particular were nearly unexploited: if Caragach could secure exclusive rights to the belt, it would gain a major boost to its mining operations and potentially even come upon deposits of valuable minerals to use for more advanced equipment.

For now though, negotiations for asteroid mining rights were still underway, leaving the Commonwealth to wait it out.

However, Caragach would not wait idly.

A single Emblazoner frigate hung in geostationary orbit above one of the planet's major oceans, invisible from the surface during the day and barely more prominent than a small star among millions at night. Manned by only a skeleton crew, the frigate was not intended to see combat or raid commerce. Instead, it relayed back to Caragach reports that came in from its starfighter complement: two squadrons of modified Hassions whose cannons had been replaced with a RSM-4 scanner.

The recon starfighters patrolled the planet from high orbit, using their scanners to create a live feed of traffic entering and exiting the planet. On days where traffic was lighter, one of the squads would make a quick jump to the asteroid fields, scanning mineral compositions to determine the exact value of some of the larger asteroids.

It was by all accounts an uneventful posting.

That was, until the carriers arrived.

The moment the data scans came in identifying them as the Wild Space Rebellion's Vuto-class, an alert was sent directly to Kygria. While FLEETCOM's new compound was being built, the First Fleet's flagship was effectively the nerve center of the Caragachi Navy. Once word reached the carrier alongside updates indicating they were deploying a force planetside, a strike team was assembled.

An hour after the initial scans were received, the Orikan-class heavy cruiser Tyruste emerged from hyperspace above Draconia, just outside planetary scanner range. Within minutes, it had begun to disgorge its complement: two wings of Garza light transports, one wing of Recourse troop transports, and a wing of unmodified Hassion starfighters. The strike team itself totaled 120 infantrymen, 18 Taurus tanks, 6 Virgo APCs, and hundreds of support drones, all led from the cruiser by FN-999 himself.

As inefficient as it seemed to send a team from orbit rather than locating the rebel base and using Tyruste to level it from orbit, this operation demanded a delicate touch. A planetary strike, even in a remote area, could very easily derail negotiations over the asteroid fields. By contrast, a strike team was far more subtle, able to slip in and out of Draconia largely unnoticed.

The transports descended into Draconia's atmosphere, setting course for a plateau around ten kilometers southwest of the projected rebel landing site.