Hot Pursuit
Still, the Empire marches on.
Recognizing the threat that the Coalition represents to the health of the Imperial state, the Moff Council authorizes the launch of an offensive—the first to be waged against the insurgent state on the Empire’s borders. Targeting the Bryn'adûl-ravaged worlds of Maldra IV and Garn, the Imperial council hopes that the successful capture of these worlds will lay the foundations for deep strikes into Coalition space. In such an event, the Empire would be in a prime position to assault the Coalition’s capital of Hurikane, giving the opportunity to snuff out the rebellion at its heart.
However, as the Empire moves to seize the initiative, the Coalition seeks to answer for their defeat at Mon Cala and Lothal where they saw initial success but lost significant ground due to Imperial reinforcement.
Mysteriously silenced by the Bryn'adûl many years prior, Maldra IV has yet to fully recover from the geoengineered apocalypse inflicted upon it. Regardless, resettlement and restorative terraforming efforts spearheaded by a conglomerate of corporations and the Coalition government have reached their early stages. Amidst these efforts, the presence of the Nest has positioned the planet as a critical nexus of the Coalition military. It was this juncture (and others like it) that allowed the Coalition to strike Lothal and Mon Cala. Thus, the Empire seeks to capture the base in a surprise attack as the Coalition recovers from their failed offensive. Both states have the security of their borders at stake, as whoever holds the planet will be able to utilize the space it is in as a jump point for future incursions into enemy territory.
As the invasion of Maldra IV goes into action, the Garn system comes under Imperial assault as well. While Garn itself is little more than a barren world of diseased trees and desolate landscapes, it is surrounded by a dense asteroid field that holds the ancient Citadel of Rur. Once the headquarters of the Ordu Aspectu—a now-defunct Jedi sect known for their relentless pursuit of immortality—the space station-fortress now lies abandoned, though its powerful, esoteric secrets remain. For the Empire, Grandmaster Teckla Tane and Grand Inquisitor Aculia Voland have authorized a combined force of Crusaders, Inquisitors, and various elite units to seize the station and the priceless knowledge held within. All the while, the Coalition deploys the Aquilian Rangers and accompanying special forces to do the same, at the behest of a mysterious, wealthy benefactor.
Objective II: Air War - Fleeting and Dogfighting
As the ground assault moves underway on Maldra IV, vicious space and air battles occur in the skies above.
In high orbit, capital ship formations engage in battle to secure space superiority and to enable further reinforcements to reach the beleaguered plant. However, as the battle progresses, the bulk of the Coalition fleet coalesces around the orbital defense platform. With the station’s ability to launch devastating interstellar strategic missiles, it can threaten Imperial shipyards and planets that are deep inside Imperial space (and far outside the local system), thus allowing the Coalition to retaliate in the event of the worst. Realizing the massive scale of destruction that the station could inflict with such a capability, the Imperial fleet immediately pivots their objectives to destroying or boarding the station. In doing so, the Empire seeks to remove the Coalition’s ability to enact brutal retaliation against Imperial assets in response to the potentially upcoming orbital bombardment of the Nest.
In the atmosphere, scores of Imperial strikecraft can be seen engaging in aerial combat as they attempt to slip through designated junction points in the continental shield in an effort to secure air dominance and provide close air support to their ground forces. Should they succeed in getting through the junction points, Imperial pilots may be tasked with unleashing air strikes against the shield generator station itself, in an attempt to open the Nest and the surrounding battlefield to their capital ships above. All the while, Coalition aces outside the continental shield attempt to enforce an air exclusion zone around critical junction points on the shield in an effort to secure their airspace. However, it is those Coalition squadrons inside the shield that represent the very last line of defense. They are tasked with protecting the shield generator station from bombardment by engaging any Imperial craft that dare approach. Failure could mean the collapse of the shield entirely, thus exposing the Nest and those allied forces in the surrounding defensive cordon to brutal orbital bombardment.
