Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the Republican Guard and codify a character who was established in an rp thread. This also gives Firemane and friends a senior Republican Guard officer to interact with.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Republican Guard general.
Permission: Can use Firemane stuff because I own the company. Blanket permission for anything made by Val here.
Links: Dominion of Light, Disciples of the Vader, The Republican Guard is the Strongest, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Red Coral City, Tephrike, Vortanstad, Mezha Krazhmir, Synthia Vao, Dominion of Light, Tephrike, Firemane, Disciples of the Vader, Nexus City, Battlemaster Mahtara, Viper Company, Fortress Solidarity.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Age: 63
Force Sensitivity: Non-Force User
Species: Mon Calamari
Appearance: Aruunzeb is a male Mon Calamari in his sixties. He is a tall, lean amphibian with grey skin, webbed hands, a high-domed head and huge fish-like eyes. Aruunzeb is not a young warrior anymore and though he exercises regularly, age has begun to creep up on him, though he still maintains some muscle definition. His left arm is still somewhat numb from an injury and he suffers from back pains. Otherwise he is in good physical shape for someone of his age and training. Indeed, younger officers have sometimes found it difficult to keep up with him when he goes on an inspection tour or invites them to go for a swim or jog with him. Aruunzeb eschews flamboyant or fancy uniforms as these would make him an obvious target on the battlefield.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Name: General Aruunzeb.
Loyalties: Tephrike, Republican Guard, Popular Front.
Wealth: Aruunzeb is a general officer and a Republican Guard leader, so he is paid decently. However, he is not rich. He has loot stashed away, but refuses to take bribes.
Notable Possessions:
- Republican Guard medals of valour and service.
- Enforcer Pistol.
- Collection of model ships.
- Holdout Bolter. Gifted to him by Firemane for his support during the assault on Fortress Purity.
Languages: Basic, Mon Calamarian, Quarrenese, some Twi'leki. Mon Calamarian is his mother tongue, and he speaks Basic with a mild accent. He picked up some Old Gungan from working with Gungan frogmen. Not enough to be anywhere near fluent, but he has some understanding of it.
Personality: Aruunzeb is one of the top generals of the Republican Guard, a multispecies rebel military junta that seeks to overthrow the Jedi-led Dominion of Light and the Sith Disciples of the Vader. In their place it seeks to create a secular republic run by Non-Force-Users for Non-Force-Users. Aruunzeb is an outspoken and militant rebel commander. A grizzled veteran of several long and gruesome campaigns, he is not the type to let tender moral considerations get in the way of achieving an objective. His mandate is to win and he believes this must be achieved by any means necessary. Unpleasant events in his past, as well as Tephrike's history, have left him with a very negative view of Force-Users. Bad encounters with Jedi and Sith have reinforced this. He is extremely hostile to both sects and believes that both must be destroyed in order for peace to be achieved. The Republican Guard is at war to liberate Tephrike from the grip of Force theocracies and it must be won at all costs. Like most members of the rebel group, Aruunzeb is very suspicious of Force-Users and does not believe that those sensitive to the Force should be given any form of authority or be allowed to use their preternatural powers.
At the Second of Battle of Fortress Purity, he was reluctant to commit his full forces to the fight because he did not trust Firemane, as it had Force-Users in its ranks. Like many in the Guard, he distrusted their motivations and suspected they might betray his people. Another reason was his realisation that if the battle went ill, a good portion of the Republican Guard's forces might be lost. In the end he committed to the offensive after being informed that Firemane would leave otherwise, meaning the Guard would have wasted its best chance of taking the citadel.
As a commander, Aruunzeb is not particularly innovative. He is no military 'genius' or savant of warfare, but solid, steady and tenacious. He is skilled at delivering a campaign and popular with the troops. He excels at irregular warfare and has a talent for improvisation. He has the reputation of a ruthless commander, willing to inflict and take casualties to stabilise a front or attain an objective. This includes the use of scorched earth warfare, taking hostages and using improvised explosive devices to kill supposed Sith or Dominion sympathisers. Aruunzeb does not employ such methods because he derives enjoyment from them. Rather they are a means to an end. Allied to this are extreme determination and vigour. In combat he spares neither himself nor his troops.
Aruunzeb is a local leader among the Mon Calamari on Tephrike and was crucial for the Guard gaining their support. He is active in the Popular Front, affiliating with the Federalists. In contrast to the Dominion and the Sith, the Republican Guard is a bit more democratic, though this is limited to local government. Thus the junta gave him an important command. Certain senior members of the top brass grumble that he might be more loyal to his species than the 'general line'. Aruunzeb counters by saying that loyalty does not just flow from the bottom to top, but must also flow from top to bottom. A leader who loses sight of the people beneath him is worthless. He is a strong admirer of Admirals Raddus and Ackbar, both great heroes of the Mon Calamari and the Rebel Alliance of yore.
He has a tendency to erect his command post as close to the front as reasonable. This is good for morale among the rank and file and allows him to intervene when there is a crisis. However, it also leaves him and his staff more at risk to being exposed to enemy fire and can cause coordination issues, especially during larger engagements when it would be more prudent for the commander to direct a battle from far away in the rear area. Despite his advanced age and his general officer rank, he is recorded as having rallied fleeing soldiers and personally led a counterattack on a Dominion position, pistol in hand. The general dislikes flowery speech and prefers simple, down-to-earth lang uage. Fancy prose makes him suspicious since in his eyes it is supposed to cover up lack of substance.
As a leader, Aruunzeb is known to be very critical, correcting subordinates mercilessly for minor infractions, but also quick to praise their accomplishments. Though a hard man, he is not without a more humane side. Many of his directives show special trouble to care for the enlisted soldiers under his command, and he is well known for arranging extra supplies for battlefield soldiers, including blankets, galoshes and extra socks, and other items in short supply at the front. His frequent visits to the front and tendency to have his command post as close to it as possible may not always improve operational efficiency and can cause difficulties for his staff, but are good for morale.
COMBAT INFORMATION
Weapon of Choice: Aruunzeb carries a sidearm at his side. It tends to be a Shattergun or an armour-piercing slugthrower. He also carries a vibrosword. He uses large forces of soldiers to do most of the fighting for him, but can defend himself if needed.
Combat Function: Aruunzeb is a general officer, not a grunt. Thus his place is not at the frontlines storming the trenches. Given his command role he is not expected to enter close combat. He has participated in many battles and skirmishes during his younger years, but this is rarely the case now. However, he continues to keep his skills sharp with marksmanship training and exercises and has appeared on the front if the situation is particularly critical. But given his advanced age, he cannot compete with a martial arts savant or elite soldier. His role is to command large forces of rebels, give them with leadership and ensure they have the tools, support and strategies needed to prevail over the enemy. He is capable at piloting submarines such as those employed by the Mon Calamari or the Gungans and very skilled in sea battles and aquatic warfare. Tephrike has been isolated for many centuries, and so Aruunzeb only has a limited understanding of galactic technology. Having seen the effects of Firemane firepower first-hand, he recognises the need to catch up.
Force Abilities (Force Users Only): N/A.
Strengths:
- Capable battlefield commander.
- Extremely resistant to mental domination or manipulation.
- Aruunzeb is not a frontline soldier or a young man anymore. His body has begun to feel the effect of age and war injuries. He keeps fit, but time has blunted his edge and thus he does not have the endurance or reflexes of a young warrior.
- He also has no mystical powers, genetic or cybernetic enhancements that could give him extraordinary abilities. He is a normal Mon Calamari.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
In one way or another, virtually every world in the Galaxy was affected when the terrorist Zero released the Gulag Virus on Csilla. The plague spread like wild fire, bringing galactic civilisation to its knees. The so called Golden Age came to an end. Governments crumbled, galactic trade collapsed and trillions of beings perished. Historians would call it the Four Hundred Year Darkness. Tephrike suffered greatly during this period. However, the light never returned to this benighted planet.
Isolated from the rest of the Galaxy, the planet regressed. Though rich in raw materiels such as precious ores and alloys, the planet had been dependent on trade to sustain itself. Now there was no one who could buy their ores and sell them food. Countless died due to starvation, ecological disasters, riots and civil war. Tephrike's fragile democracy collapsed as the federal government proved unable to resolve the crisis. Its party system was fractured along lines of class and species. The Jedi of Tephrike were forced into a protective role. Believing themselves to be the last Jedi in the Galaxy, they held their Order responsible for the Long Night, as they had been unable to prevent the release of the Gulag Virus.
Finally, the Jedi staged a coup to topple the governments after its troops gunned down peaceful protesters. It was supposed to be a provisional emergency dictatorship that would restore order and then step down to enable a transition to democracy. However, over time it evolved into a totalitarian theocracy. Corrupted by their power and scarred by the horrors of never-ending bloodshed, the Jedi became the very thing they were sworn to destroy, while remaining adamant in their belief that they served the Light. They called their new state the Dominion of Light, a nation where every citizen would be controlled from cradle to grave. Every citizen would have a role and stay in it for life.
Two factions rose to oppose them. The Disciples of Vader venerated as the long-dead Dark Lord as a God and preached a gospel of human supremacism, Dark Side worship and enslavement of all non-humans, drawing support from fallen Jedi and humanocentric portions of society. The other group was the Republican Guard, a secularist faction run by a military junta that idolised the Old Republic and opposed the Force theocracies, believing that the Force itself was a disease that led those sensitive to it to evil. It received the backing of aquatic alien communities and of Yuuzhan Vong, who were targeted for extermination by the Vaderites and the Dominion. While the Guard pursued a campaign of liberation, its methods were often brutal. Being far weaker than the Dominion, it utilised asymmetrical warfare. Its all-out irregular warfare campaign was characterised by a heavy dose of terror. It took every opportunity to target Dominion forces in the proximity of civilians, thereby provoking the Dominion to retaliate against the civilian population when the partisans vanished into the wilderness. It also used improvised explosive devices to kill supposed Dominion or Sith sympathisers, instigated riots and conducted bombings.
Pervasive low-intensitiy conflict was followed by phases of intense battles and violence. The Dominion remained the strongest and largest nation, but could not unite the planet. All the while Tephrike bled. This was the world a Mon Calamari called Aruunzeb grew up in and was shaped by. Aruunzeb was born in an underwater settlement called New Ackbarea, named after Dac's capital and the ancient war hero Admiral Ackbar. Though they had not been in contact with the rest of the Galaxy for centuries, Tephrike's Mon Calamari honoured their ancient heroes and strove to preserve their memory. New Ackbarea had been affected by the strife and bloodshed that ravaged the surface. The collapse of trade caused economic hardship and the town had to deal with flows of refugees, as well as marauding bands demanding contributions. However, despite this the natives tried to live peacefully instead of being dragged into destructive conflicts that would see their sons and daughters die in someone else's war for little gain.
By the standards of the time, Aruunzeb's upbringing was quite privileged. His family belonged to the local elite and were well-respected. The clan had invested heavily in aquaculture. Aruunzeb served in the local Mon Calamari Guard, distinguishing himself in skirmishes with marauders and warlords. The Guard also conducted patrols to protect ships against sea monsters, such as kraken and sea dragons. However, he viewed his role as a defensive one and believed his people should stay in their habitat and not get involved in the pervasive conflicts on the surfaces. Encounters with refugees fleeing the strife between the main factions on the planet strengthened this belief. The family business employed some refugees who had been accepted into the community, though the town had tight immigration laws because the authorities were afraid of being inundated with refugees.
His task force was responsible for saving refugees who had fled the Vaderites' reign of terror from drowning. Aruunzeb ensured they were rescued and given medical attention. Through conversation with them, he learned that the Sith were carrying out a campaign of reducing non-humans to a state of servitude and were working them to death in concentration camps. This affected him deeply. However, only a small number of refugees were accepted into the city. Resources and space were limited and there were concerns about refugees spreading diseases and crime. Aruunzeb and his troops carried out the order, though he was privately troubled by it after being exposed to the plight of the people who were being turned away. Unsurprisingly, those not turned away tended to be fellow Mon Calamari. Tephrike's history had long been characterised by racial tensions and the outbreak of the Gulag Virus had only inflamed them further. Coercion had to be used to compel some refugees to leave. He also saw action against Sith marauders. At first the settlement had tried to buy them off with weregild, but this changed when the raiders started taking slaves.
Aruunzeb's isolationist stance put him at odds with some officers who demanded a more aggressive stance. Some of them argued that the Mon Calamari should throw in their lot with the Republican Guard, which portrayed itself as the legitimate continuation of Tephrike's republican traditions and as the stalwart defender of all species. However, Aruunzeb found them to be too militant and collectivist. Due to the elevated role of his family, he grew up first among equals, in a situation where the wealth and family prestige gave equally rights and duties. After his military service had come to an end, Aruunzeb ran for office and was elcted as one of the city's aldermen. His isolationist platform focused on further colonisation of the swamps and underwater areas, social programmes to improve the lot of lower class citizens and on improving the local infrastructure. During his tenure he also instigated an investigation against corrupt officials in the bureaucracy and the security forces.
While he advocated further augmenting the Guard, he was against using it for more than protecting their home city and ensuring that the trade routes with other independent communities remained safe. He was eventually elected headman, which made him the leader of the city. But unfortunately for Aruunzeb, there was little room for neutrality. Though his home city tried to stay out of the war, it soon became a target. Small clandestine cells of the Republican Guard used it as a refuge. Some had links with organised crime or had infiltrated agents among the natives. Their propagandists agitated among the youth. Their support base was still limited though. Though loath to utilise dictatorial methods, Aruunzeb cracked down on their activities and a number were detained or exiled. But elements in the town council and the security forces tolerated their presence, seeing them as useful.
When the Dominion of Light began a campaign of expansion to recover ground lost in past conflicts with the aim of uniting all of Tephrike under one banner, it turned its eye towards his home. Republican Guard and Vaderite terrorist attacks had intensified the militancy of the Dominion. Its leaders regarded the war as a holy crusade. From their point of view there could be no middle ground. They were Tephrike's sole legitimate government and all those who denied its claim were their enemies. Those who had remained unaffiliated until now received an ultimatum: Bend the knee to the Dominion of Light and submit to its laws, or face the consequences. There was only the shining Light and the darkest abyss. Regarding New Ackbarea as a terrorist haven, they employed gunboat diplomacy to cow the natives.
The Dominion laid mines to cut off the city's trade links and sent boats with depth charges to bomb 'terrorist camps'. In all fairness, partisans were operating in the area and some of the local authorities did look the other way or take bribes from them, though not with official sanction. Protests from the local government were brushed aside. The same applied to the civilian casualties caused by the strikes. Some argued that it would be best to bend the knee. There were outrages against refugees, who were blamed for the maledictions heaped upon the town. The Dominion began to deploy submarines and contingents of troops.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, the Mon Calamari tried to fight back. Aruunzeb himself led his men on strikes against the Dominion troops. However, they were outnumbered and outgunned and were only prolonging the inevitable. Attempts to rally other Mon Calamari settlements to their side met with a little success. The Jedi offered peace talks and Aruunzeb accepted. But the negotiations turned out to be a trap. Instead of offering an olive branch, the Dominion unleashed depth charges and submarines on the settlement. Purely underwater settlements turned out to be a bit impractical, for the invaders used a mixture of telekinesis and explosives to blow up some overhanging rock trenches to bring down a seaslide on the settlement.
Aruunzeb's oldest son died in the attack. This incident changed his life forever and strongly altered his mind set. He realised that there could be no peace with the Dominion. The Force using surface dwellers, must be stopped, no matter the cost. The leader of the attack had been none other than Jedi Kennobi, then in the early stages of his career. It would be the start of a rivalry that endured until the Second Battle of Fortress Purity. Aruunzeb was able to escape the Dominion troops sent to capture him and rally the remaining survivors of his devastated home town. With nothing left to lose, he advocated resistance against these acts of aggression. There could be no compromise with the invaders. The Jedi theocracy wanted complete submission, which was inimical to the way of life of his people.
Further resistance was hopeless, so he conducted a fighting retreat. Unlike the Dominion, the Mon Calamari knew the lay of the land and the waterways. Though pursued by Dominion submarines, they were able to escape into the swamps. Word of what had happened to the people of New Ackbarea spread. Aruunzeb used it to rally other Mon Calamari to the cause, urging them not to repeat the mistake he and his people made, for they faced the choice between slavery and liberty. There could be no middle ground between the two. When Dominion negotiators were in the middle of trying to persuade the inhabitants of another Mon Calamari settlement to sign up, he and his followers appeared to spoil their talks, rallying the common folk. While still on the run, he and his followers conducted a guerilla war. But they could not fight the Dominion on their own. They were also harassed by Vaderites, who believed the fish people could make good slaves.
But on their own, the Mon Calamari rebels could only harass the Dominion, not stop it. So instead Aruunzeb sought out the Republican Guard and began to work with the partisans. Retaliatory strikes were launched against Dominion settlements to get revenge for the Jedi's treachery. This included shelling population centres with mortars, using improvised explosive devices to blow up supposed sympathisers of the enemy and laying mines on earth and in the sea. His saboteurs caused a flood by blowing up a dam. In the past Aruunzeb would have balked at the use of such methods, but now he deemed civilian casualties to be a necessary evil. The people of Tephrike faced a choice between serving the Force theocracies or standing up for their rights. Collaborators had to be punished for their betrayal.
Of course, civilians on both sides suffered. Indeed, as is typical for guerillas, it was the strategy of the Republican Guard to hide among civilians, target Dominion troops or sympathisers, then vanish again. The theocracy would inevitably end up targeting civilians. This could sow hatred for it among the commoners and drive them into the arms of the partisans - but also backfire. But from the standpoint of a revolutionary movement, the worse, the better. But the suffering of his people took a toll on Aruunzeb. Many of his fellow Mon Calamari were deported from their homelands. A large number of them were imprisoned in detention centres such as Tranquility.
The rebels had no foreign patrons and were engaged in a war to the knife with implacable enemies. The military junta that pulled the strings behind the Republican Guard made him a Colonel for leading his people into the 'alliance'. He also joined the Popular Front, the umbrella organisation of parties and social movements that acted as the Guard's political wing. At first it was assumed by the generals that his role would be mostly symbolic. He would be useful for propaganda by helping them persuade more of the fish people to join their cause. However, Aruunzeb was determined to fight. He proved his skills in several raids and sea battles with Dominion and Vaderite troops. Aruunzeb organised and led a raid to destroy a Vaderite weapons factory and liberate the slave labourers.
He achieved a major victory at the Battle of Ironbottom Sound. This was a strike against an important Dominion sea flotilla in the area. Frogmen with charges slipped into the harbour and attached them to the bottom of the Dominion flotilla, though not to explode rght away. The next morning Aruunzeb's fleet appeared. It was small and puny and seemed to retreat the moment the Dominion ships opened fire. The Dominion charged out of the harbour into deep water where the ships could not be recovered. As the ships detonated, Aruunzeb unleashed aquatic troops to slay the surface dwellers who had survived on rafts. The frogmen used weighted nets, hooks and spears to drag the surface dwellers into the sea to drown.
His troops took no prisoners. For the loss of just eighteen dead, Aruunzeb had crippled the main Dominion naval fleet, sinking seven of their capital vessels. Due to the ruthlessness of his assault after the battle virtually all these ships lost their entire crews. This battle was crucial for depriving the Dominion of their main blue water strength and prevented them from seriously threatening the core underwater settlements of the Republican Guard for the rest of the conflict. For his part in the battle, Aruunzeb was awarded the Corellian Star and the Akbar Medallion. He was also promoted to General. When asked about it later, the General replied: "They came into my home with evil in their hearts. I ensured that few were able to leave it."
The Guard had won a victory, but the war showed no signs of abating. Though weakened, the Dominion remained the strongest power on the planet and launched counterattacks. It could not crush the Guard, especially since it also had to fight the Vaderites. The Dominion's focus on big-unit sweeps and kinetic firepower gave the Guard an advantage, as it used asymmetrical warfare and avoided set-piece battles. However, the rebels lacked the means to transition to a conventional war and meet the enemy head-on. Many of their soldiers were poorly armed militia or guerilla fighters. Their elite forces consisted of Yuuzhan Vong and soldiers who had been turned Force Dead through artificial means, but they could not be deployed en masse.
So the Guard's prosecution of the war followed an irregular warfare model, closely integrating political and military efforts into one struggle. The strategy of the rebel forces generally followed a protracted Revolutionary Warfare model. On the political front, it comprised action among their people, the enemy military and the enemy's people. Propaganda was used to mobilise the civilian and military personnel in Republican Guard territory, while subversion, proselytising and propaganda was meant to lower the morale among enemy troops and encourage desertion or defection and sow discontent among the enemy's population. The military campaign involved the use of propaganda, terrorism and finally the transition towards a general offensive and conventional warfare.
However, the junta was split between those who advocated a protracted guerilla war and those who believed that the Guard must quickly acquire conventional capabilities and launch a general offensive. There were also disagreements on whether to focus on the Dominion or the Vaderites. In addition, there were power struggles between the junta in Red Coral City and rebel cells on the periphery, which tended to be very independent and did not always follow the Centre's directives. Aruunzeb was one of those commanders who advocated a focus on the Dominion and that the Republican Guard should embrace a more conventional war where possible. He argued for more confrontation and massive introduction from forces of the Guard's heartland into the conflict. He had a personal motivation because much of his people's homelands was under the sway of the enemy. He feared that if too much time passed, there would be little left of them. He might have also been motivated by feelings of guilt about turning refugees away many years ago. The Dominion's conformist ideology sought to stamp out any signs of individuality, while the Vaderites worked his people to death. A faction opposed to him argued for a more conservative, protracted approach that would allow the Guard to consolidate and build up its armed forces while local partisan groups assumed primary responsibility for the liberation. Aruunzeb argued forcefully against this viewpoint.
He got his way during the Netherworld Event. Akala's mad rampage affected worlds across the Galaxy. In the blink of an eye, countless sentient beings were raptured and woke up in the Netherworld. Moreover, the Force was thrown out of balance. Force-Users could put themselves at risk by calling upon the Force. For a while they were unable to use it entirely. This obviously put factions that relied on Force-Users at a disadvantage. The disappearances affected the Guard as much as any faction. Panic broke out. However, Aruunzeb argued that this was an opportunity, reasoning that it had hurt their enemies far more. It was a gift from whichever power had seen fit to weaken their foes. Now was the hour to strike. He and those who thought like him got their way. The rebels prepared for a savage blow, the General Uprising. It was intended to consist of a series of border assaults and battles to draw Dominion forces out of the margins of Tephrike, followed by attacks within Dominion cities by partisan forces These infiltrating attacks would bring about a rallying of the masses to the revolutionary cause, and wholesale crumbling and defection of the Grand Army and the Dominion government under the combined pressure of military defeat and propaganda, and finally large scale set-piece battles.
The offensive was a definite change in strategy for the Guard which largely had fought smaller-scale mobile and guerrilla warfare. During the uprising they would stand and slug it out against the Dominion's Grand Army and the Jedi while enjoying the assistance of the aroused masses. At first all went well. The Republican Guard was able to capture several towns and villages. Dominion troops, thrown into disarray by the rapture and the dimininution of their Jedi leaders' ability to call upon the Force, were encircled and beaten. Some defected to the Guard. Aruunzeb fought fanatical Dominion forces at the Battle of Laszika Swamp. There a crack force of 12 thousand Dominion troops, commanded by Jedi, was led into an ambush and slaughtered by the Republican Guard, though the rebels suffered heavy losses.
However, the hoped for mass uprising did not materialise. Most of the population did not embrace the cause, and many Grand Army units stood firm and fought back. Moreover, as the Guard tried to push deep into Dominion territory, their casualties grew severe. Undaunted, Aruunzeb pressed for continued attack, reasoning that a reprieve would only allow the Dominion to recover its strength. Under the leadership of Battlemaster Mahtara, the Dominion carried out a scorched earth campaign. This created supply issues for the Guard. Logistics became their enemy and their supply train provided a good target for the Dominion. The rebels were forced to live off the land by taking what they needed from the civilian population, which further undermined support.
Moreover, their unofficial co-belligerency with the Vaderites also caused tension. Like the Dominion, the Netherworld Event had created chaos in their ranks. Things took a particularly extreme turn, for the rapture coincided with the discovery of a book that purported to tell the true story of Vader. In reality it was a Galactic Civil War for Dummies type book. Regardless, it told the story of Vader's redemption. Darth Impaler, the Dark Lord at the time, dismissed it as a filthy heresy. However, a rogue Sith Lord called Darth Krieg managed to rally the oppressed slaves to his side. He promised them a more egaliatarian order and rejected the side. Having installed himself as a new ruler, he extended an olive branch to the Dominion, but declared war on them after being denied.
This made the Guard and the 'Light Sith' co-belligerents. The accord was extremely controversial. Aruunzeb loathed Sith and clashed with the Vaderite commander in his operational zone. While Krieg, who had renamed himself Darth Salus, had rejected the old ways many of his subordinates did not and thus comported themselves in the usual manner. The Sith committed atrocities, while the Guard rounded up the Force-using population in the areas it liberated. Soon their troops were clashing and Aruunzeb had his soldiers shoot on Sith. With supplies dwindling, he had many Dominion prisoners, especially Jedi, executed. The Republican Guard managed to advance upon Fortress Purity, a key Dominion citadel that stood as a bulwark to defend their capital Nexus City. However, the battle was a grievous defeat for the Guard.
Once again he faced his old adversary General Kennobi. For several days the Guard tried to storm the fortress. They sought to get close by digging tunnels and infiltrating it with their troops, but the defences held. Both sides fought each other for several days. Casualties were heavy, but the Guard was driven back. Supplies of ammunition, food, fuel and medical equipment were running low. At one point during the fighting, Aruunzeb rallied fleeing Republican Guard soldiers and led a counterattack, pistol in hand. His example inspired them, but it could not turn the tide. With Dominion reserves arriving, the Guard risked being enveloped. He had to be dragged from the battlefield after being wounded. It was his biggest defeat and a blow to his reputation.
The rebels retreated from the devastated, blood-soaked battlefield and were forced to leave many of their seriously wounded behind. Led by Battlemaster Mahtara, the Dominion wasted no time going on a counterattack. Aruunzeb's troops retreated to Salona. There they managed to regroup. He stubbornly held on on to the town to buy allied forces time to withdraw into Republican Guard territory or vanish into the wilderness to continue the struggle as partisans. Aruunzeb used deception to fool the enemy into thinking that his forces were a lot larger than they actually were and to mislead them about where he had positioned them. Among other things, he utilised dummies and camouflage. This was accompanied by electromagnetic deception, using false comms traffic. Dummy tanks and guns were made from local materiels, while real ones were disguised. For a while the enemy was fooled. It also distracted the Dominion from retreating Republican Guard forces and fleeing civilians who sympathised with the rebellion.
Of course, this also meant that Aruunzeb's forces came under heavy assault. Fierce fighting ensued in the besieged town. Many of the Dominion's initial artilley strikes targeted the dummies, but they clashed with Aruunzeb's real forces. The Guard made ample use of snipers and land mines. Viper Company, a crack unit of Force Dead who specialised in hunting Force-Users, distinguished itself at the battle. Intense house-to-house fighting ensued. But the battle could only be a delaying action. The Republican Guard risked being encircled. With the situation becoming untenable, Aruunzeb executed a breakthrough. The troops were able to escape the cauldron, but casualties had been high. Moreover, his troops had been forced to leave most of their heavy equipment behind.
Though the defence of Salona had saved many lives, it was overshadowed by the earlier debacle. Aruunzeb's reputation had taken a hit and his conduct came under scrutiny. While an official inquiry cleared him of charges, he was relegated to the Reserve. He fared better than Chancellor Kiraxa Kitomo, for the Nautolan was removed from office and arrested. The Guard's new leader was Odoh Senks, a Gungan and a hardliner. The rebels reverted to irregular warfare for the time after. But then things took a turn nobody could have expected. After centuries of isolation, outsiders arrived on Tephrike. They called themselves Firemane. When starships appeared in orbit, the Guard took notice. At first it seemed the outsiders would attempt diplomacy with the Dominion. But then extremists in the Dominion's leadership attacked the Firemane delegation without provocation. In doing so they precipitated war.
It was if fortune had decided to favour the rebels. Members of the Viper Company shadowed Firemane-allied pilots who had been shot down during the fighting, then saved them from a Dominion attack. Both sides realised they had much to offer one another. Firemane had the firepower, but only a limited number of troops and knew little about Tephrike or the Dominion. The Guard had a lot of bodies and knew the area well, but lacked firepower. Both sides distrusted one another. Firemane had Force-Users in its ranks, so the Guard was wary. The vote in the junta was a close one, but the Chancellor made the decision to agree to an alliance.
Aruunzeb was ordered to muster a force to support Firemane's attack on Fortress Purity. The Mon Calamari was reluctant though. He did not trust his new allies and was concerned that it would go the same way as the last attempt to take the citadel. Moreover, he knew that his rivals wanted him to fail because then he and those who thought like him would be discredited. The command was a poisoned chalice. Nonetheless, he accepted out a sense of duty. Firemane bombarded Purity with aerial and artillery strikes, raining destruction upon the fortress. Their firepower surpassed that of the Dominion by far.
Viper Company, a crack unit partisans and anti-Force-User specialists led by Mezha, was dispatched to infiltrate the Dominion lines. Enemy resistance was fierce. Having witnessed the power of Firemane bombers and warships when Nexus City was bombed, the Dominion sought to nullify the outsiders' technological advantage by activating a weather control machine. Many Firemane transports and gunships were lost to the storm; others were attacked by kamikaze pilots. On the ground Firemane and Republican Guard troops faced fanatical resistance. Many Dominion units fought to the death. They also deployed Jedi in significant numbers and made use of illusionists. Mezha and her soldiers linked up with Reaper Squad, a Firemane unit commanded by the tough Freya Solveig. Having been cut off from the rest of Firemane, the Reapers teamed up with them to take out a Dominion artillery battery and turn its guns on the enemy. However, an enemy counterattack forced them to retreat. Cornered, they held off a Dominion infantry and heavy armour assault before being swarmed. Elsewhere, Firemane troops were locked in intense combat with Dominion elite troops, militia and Jedi.
Until now Aruunzeb had refused to commit his full force to the battle. This led to a tense scene when Colonel Leonina Varkathras, commanding officer of the Firemane ground troops, marched in his command post and demanded the Guard commit or Firemane would leave. The fact that she was a Force-User did not help. The Mon Calamari was wary, but then agreed, reasoning that it was their best chance to strike a blow against the Dominion. It also helped that General Kennobi was the Jedi in charge of the defence of Purity. The deployment of Republican Guard regulars stabilised the front line, but fighting remained intense. Viper Company and the Reapers discovered that the Dominion's bunkers were part of an underground complex, after taking a bunker that been concealed by an illusion. Fierce fighting ensued in the tunnels and upon a hill held by Dominion troops. Eventually the unlikely allies were able to break through and storm the fortress. In the last phase of the battle, the Dominion command sought to cover its retreat by sending a brigade of Younglings on a futile death charge. The Republican Guard raised its banner upon Purity. Any remaining Dominion functionaries or troopers were killed.
Aruunzeb met Colonel Varkathras in the trenches. The two shared a somewhat awkward moment of camaraderie. When he visited Kennobi's command bunker, he learned that his old foe had committed suicide after sending the Youngling Brigade to die. The battle was a great victory for the Guard. However, the Dominion was not finished. Indeed, the defeat might have turned it into a more dangerous opponent, as the Mad Grandmaster was toppled by Battlemaster Mahtara. Aruunzeb remains committed to achieving final victory in the field and uniting Tephrike under the banner of a revolutionary, republican government that can rebuild the shattered planet. More recently, he spearheaded the Republican Guard's assault on the City of Harmonious Industry, or Vortanstad, as the rebels call it.
Last edited:
