When Diplomacy Fails...

[Darth Pyrrhus]

​

Balmorra... Home to one of the largest weapon manufacturing plants in the galaxy. Of course, as any other gem world in the One Sith empire, it was required to supply their Sith overlords with whatever resources they could spare. For Balmorra, this meant supplying the Sith War Machine. This was a particularly large beast, that always hungered for more - and Balmorra had been neglecting their shipments. Recently, what the Sith received was much less than their designated quota, and sometimes they never arrived at the designated dates. Such sloppiness would have to be corrected. Who better to investigate the matter and put the fear of the Dark Lord into Balmorra, than two Sith Knights?

While it was in many ways a diplomatic mission, they were here to show strength. Disobedience was to be discouraged. The mere sight of them was supposed to intimidate them into compliance. [member="Darth Noxia"] and Darth Pyrrhus had arrived on the latter's ship, the Revenant. It wasn't a large war ship by any means, but when it came to stealth, it was excellent. The Sith had dropped out of hyperspace and entered into the planet's zone of control with no warning, hidden from their scanners until they showed up within visual range of the planet's defensive fleet. Another power play, naturally. Nobody expected the Sith inquisition. Balmorra had no time to prepare for their unexpected visitors, and would have to welcome them with open arms. Anything else would be treason.

At the head of a small force, the two Sith Knights marched from the hangar to the main government building. Behind them were one hundred Nautolans, wearing ornamental armour, equipped with single-bladed vibrostaves. Further, they had a vibrosword each, sheathed by their hip. These were part of the battle-hardened warriors that had served with Darth Pyrrhus on campaigns on Fresia, Belgaroth and their home world of Glee Anselm. When the Republic struck at Ord Mirit, they had stood there with their Togruta commander. From the ranks of the Nautolan military, his personal guard had been selected. The sound of 200 marching feet, stepping in unison, spoke of their efficiency and military training. Flanked on either side marched a thin line of soldiers equipped with blaster rifles; a ranged unit to complement Pyrrhus' melee guard. These were not Nautolans, however, and likely originated somewhere from the Sith military. While it was far from an army - after all, this was not an occupation force - it would certainly be sufficient to show that the Sith were not to be trifled with.

The situation on Balmorra, and something the two Knights soon would discover, was one of great tension and internal struggle. The shipments had not been skipped out on to spite the Sith, but rather been distributed between two factions, who raced to arm themselves to intimidate the other to back down. It had started with political intrigue, and escalated into sabotage bombings on production facilities to hinder each other's arsenal and resources. Balmorra, if left unchecked, threatened to descend into a bloody civil war.

[member="Darth Noxia"]

 

[Komo]

The quantity of shipments had decreased steadily, before they had stopped coming altogether. The One Sith was not pleased. To show their displeasure, the higher echelons had sent the pair of Sith Knights to investigate and resolve the issue. The pair were trustworthy and highly reliable, loyal without a fault to the Empire's cause. While their mission had been tagged as a diplomatic one, in truth it was more one showing strength and authority to the planetary government in charge of Balmorra.

Their jobs was to ensure that the shipment issue was resolved quickly and efficiently, by any means necessary. Darth Noxia had elected not to take her ship, instead relying on the stealth expertise of her fellow knight's ship. The Revenant was not a large ship, but its skills lied in its expert stealth capabilities. Some would ask why stealth when the pair was expected in the first place? Well, the answer lied in the shock value. Even though they were expected, to suddenly appear without warning was quite a frightening sight to most, effectively another show of the Sith empire's might.

The affair after the pair landed was but a simple one, the combined might of the assembled armed forces began to march forwards to the main government building on Balmorra. Marching alongside Darth Pyrrhus's Nautolan soldiers clad in ornamental armour, were a hundred human soldiers dressed and equipped with nothing but the empire's finest. These weren't just your ordinary grunts, plucked from the randomness of society. These were the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the elite from all of the prestigious military academies on Coruscant. While they were not battle-hardened like Tanek's troops, they were after all, the Coruscant's best. All they lacked was experience, and Noxia was eager to provide them with such an opportunity.

She could still remember when she was just Greta, an accomplished young officer who had just freshly graduated from the academy. While she had been lucky enough to find herself in the forces in the invasion of Telti, the same was not to be said for many of her friends in her cohort. They were instead injected back into the main regular forces of the empire, where ever the need for officers was, their exceptional talents wasted. They could have achieved so much more.

As the duo would soon to discover, their task was not to be as simple as they think. This was not a simple denial of resources from the ruling government, but something far more serious. It was a rebellion about to be birthed from the two faction on the planet, the rebels and the remainder of the government forces. Rebellion, Civil war, no matter how you put it, a war was about to break out, and it was up to the two of them to resolve this issue.

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

Their march took them directly to their destination. Naturally, they chose the road most travelled. It was part of their task to be seen, their might would be witnessed and feared by the general populace. If there were any supporters of anti-Sith sentiments, it was important they be discouraged. The Sith were not some distant rulers who did not care what went on within their ring of influence. They were very much present, ready to dish out punishment whereever necessary.

The two hundred elites marched, led by two Darths, up the stairs to the government building, and in through the halls. They were expected. Of course, their little parade would have warned whoever was in charge of their arrival. They better receive a warm welcome. The Dark Lord was not pleased with them, and by extension, neither were Noxia or Pyrrhus. The Nautolan Guard took up position, standing at attention much like an honourary guard would. A small contigency were left by the main entrance to guard it, while a handful stayed close by the Togruta Knight. The process and the troops movement had been carefully planned ahead of time. The Sith War Machine was to look as smooth and efficient as possible.

Before them, stood the ruling elite of Balmorra. The individual at the centre, and clearly the authority amongst them, was ironically the youngest. While his appearance was fairly attractive for a Human, he sullied it with his somewhat nervous demeanour. But who could blame him, staring at the faces of two Sith Knights. He would lead them towards quarters more suited for discussion, in private.

The briefing they got told explained the situation at hand. The young man was the son of the previous person in charge. He had succeeded his father. It wasn’t a hereditary title, yet he had exploited the power that came with the name for all that it was worth. There was another, someone much older, but respected, who felt entitled to the political position, equivalent to Prime Minister of Balmorra. While the son described it as a fair election process, chances were, he had used his influences to win it. Regardless, the situation now was that the older man had withdrawn, and gathered his supporters with him. What had started as political opposition had grown increasingly militant. Now the party in power labelled the other as terrorists.

Pyrrhus exchanged knowing looks with Noxia. They would have to pick one to back. One thing was certain. “This petty quarrel ends now” Balmorra would have stability. “If you can’t control your own planet, I will see you removed from it.” If he wasn’t competent enough to maintain order, the Sith would enforce it. The status quo would not be tolerated. “I’ve sent an emissary to talk to the other side! I’m sure a agreeable solution will be reached soon“ he managed, through poor attempts to hide his insecurities and appear as the strong leader he wanted to pose as. “Balmorra will make good on her shipments, or the concequences will be severe” The Togruta was harsh and unforgiving, but this was Sith justice. He cared little for promises. They would not leave before they saw results.

The young de facto ruler opened his mouth, as if to speak, but no words ever came. He was interrupted and fell silent as the door to the conference room slid open. In came a man holding a box. The box was left on the conference table. Its carried said it had just arrived as a gift. Slowly, curiously, the young ruler opened it. Within it was a severed head, floating in a pool of blood. Both presumably used to belong to the same body. The young man almost fell over backwards, she he clung to the wall. Clearly, the prospect of holding on to his breakfast. “The emissary” the man stuttered. Then the ground shook. The sound of explosions was heard, and the foundation of the very building they were within seemed to tremor. There were not too many ways of interpreting this situation. Darth Pyrrhus turned his head to his blonde companion. “We’re under attack.”

[member="Darth Noxia"]

 

[Komo]

Their armies had marched and their strength had been shown. They were here to show that unrest and disobedience will not be tolerated at all. Any form of anti-Sith sentiments were vehemently disallowed and anyone who participated in such would be subjected to no mercy. Darth Noxia had indeed expected to see a welcoming party of sorts, after all, the rulers of Balmorra were not so foolish as to not welcome to the heads of the Sith delegation that had arrived to put things back into their natural order.

Their welcome was lukewarm and brief, and most of the ruling elites of the planet stood stiff, the fear and anxiety permeating from their presences. Such sickening, weak creatures, these group were. No wonder they had a civil war on their hands. Several of Pyrrhus's Nautolan Guard had taken up position by the entrance, aided with a group of Greta's forces.

Her newly assembled contingent did not have a name yet, after all they were just recently put together, and had seen little combat so far. But, make no mistake, that did not meant that they were what you would call rookies or cannon fodder. These were a bunch of expertly trained men and women who had shown their excellence in both physical and weapons combat, along with their own strategic battlefield knowledge applications. There was a reason she had chosen the best of the best, and not just randomly picked your everyday joe. It would take long to find suitable candidates, but it would all be worth it in the end.

The leader was a young man, an individual not too much younger than her, if Noxia was to take an educated guess. He reeked of fear, just like the rest of them, and it was starting to irritate her. She wondered if was bothering her fellow Sith as well. It must be. Such pathetic weaklings. As Pyrrhus gave her a knowing look, she returned the look, allowing him to speak to the Balmorra authorities. They had apparently sent an emissary. The poor fool must probably be dead by now.

Her suspicions were proven right as man came in with nicely decorated wooden box in his hands, stating it as a gift from their enemies. The young ruler's face had paled upon opening it, as the gift was revealed to be nothing more than the emissary's head. Noxia could help but let out a laugh. Idiots. The ground then shook as explosions could be heard in the distance. It sounded close enough, that it couldn't have been a battle in the distance. The blonde turned to her Togruta companion as he turned to her. "Let's get this show on the road!"

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

Had it not been for the explosions rocking the foundations of the very building they stood within, Darth Pyrrhus would have laughed with [member="Darth Noxia"]. It wasn't that he found what happened funny, but he enjoyed her reaction to it, and the looks on the faces of the leader figures from Balmorra. If not for the obvious power the duo wielded, far greater than the powers of their imagination, they might have protested. They remained silent. That was a privilege the two Sith Knight did not have.

These rebels chose the worst day possible to attack. In addition to that, they made the choice of who to back very simple. Regardless of the incompetence of their current company, these people were assaulting not only the current Balmorran leadership, but by extension of the delegation present, the One Sith Empire. They simply had to be put out of their misery. "With pleasure" the Togruta replied to Noxia. Battle called. Within its chaos, the Sith Knight felt most at home. "Stay" he ordered. His words to the Balmorrans were much harsher than the tone he used towards Noxia. His tone suggested very clearly that they were to stay here and do absolutely nothing. He would not risk their incompetence ruin everything.

Now the two Darths, Noxia and Pyrrhus moved out. It was time to both assess and engage the threat. He could hear the sound of fighting as the rebels (he had no better term for them at this point) tried to assault the very building. How they had gotten here and how many they were, he did not know. Pyrrhus' first assumption was that they were a small, elite unit that had somehow bypassed security controls, and were now attempting a coup. The latter may be true, but the roaring sounds coming from the entrance halls and outside, suggested this was much bigger than that. It almost sounded like the entire city was in revolt.

Public opinion. He had not considered that. Did their attackers hold the heart of the people? If so, they would likely outnumber them by far - Pyrrhus and Noxia had not arrived with an invasion force. On the flip side, they would most likely be quite untrained. "Do you hear that?" He asked her. Of course she did. The meaning behind the question was more of a 'do you also understand what this means?' There was no hint of condescension in his tone. Out of the Sith Knights the One Sith possessed, he counted her among the most competent. He wondered if she was thinking similar thoughts as he did, or perhaps she had noticed something he hadn't.

As they left the conference room, the Nautolan guard and the soldiers Noxia had left with them were currently holding the doorway. They were doing a remarkable job, and as proof of this, the ground surrounding them was littered with the corpses of the disgruntled and misinformed. Regardless, the Nautolan melee guard were taking losses and they would continue to do so if they continued this engagement. They were falling back, allowing a swarm of bodies to rush in through the now open gates. A flood of Humans threatening to swallow them whole. "Form a line!" Pyrrhus cried out. The rest of his guard moved in, rushing to take up positions. Meanwhile the small group of people they had left at the entrance rushed behind the lines. Pyrrhus' thinking was to have his melee unit form a sort of spear wall, while Noxia's troops became the firing squad behind. However, she knew them better than he did, and if he had something else in mind for them, now was her time. He would not order her troops.

The Nautolan assumed position, ready to become the rock that received the ocean. The real battle was about to start. Darth Pyrrhus moved towards the front lines, but kept a distance. Like on Glee Anselm, where he commanded the reserves, here too he seemed to hang back to the backgrounds while he assessed the situation. He glanced over to Darth Noxia, a look that seemed to ask her 'How do you want to play this?'

 

[Komo]

Darth Noxia and her companion got on the move, assessing the situation and approach the location of the commotion that was gradually building up by the minute. As the pair got closer to ground zero, a cacaphony of battle sounds could be heard. The rebels had indeed attacked, after all. The fools. The din was preposterously loud and a noise this loud would suggest an overwhelming force trying to invade and seize the building. Darth Pyrrhus then asked if she heard it, confirming the fact that she was not alone in the assessment of the quickly developing situation.

One of her soldiers then rushed towards her in an attempt to give her a report. "Lady Noxia, the rebels have arrived in overwhelming numbers. They have a whole army of soldiers. We are heavily outnumbered and my best guess puts to odds at 1:20, with the odds heavily in their favour. I recommend a timely evacuation as we would not be able to hold the front for much longer."

With a simple nod, Noxia acknowledged the report. "Your suggestion is noted soldier, back to work." With a hasty salute, the young soldier scrambled back to his comrades, helping out in anyway to hold back the tide of encroaching enemy forces.

The allied forces at the entrance had fought their hardest, fighting like the elite valiant courageous soldiers they were, however, even that wasn't enough against such overwhelming forces. The defending troops were heavily outnumbered, and piles of corpses piled among the entrances, staining the floor with leaking vital life fluid of both attackers and defenders.

The defending forces were bleeding soldiers by the minute, and if they were to avoid total annihilation, their best bet would be to retreat within the building, avoiding open ground, and moving indoors into the narrow passages and hallways where the enemy's superior numbers could not be utilised to their advantage. Darth Noxia's mind went into a whirl, formulating a strategy as they id a tactical retreat into where-ever safe they could go to. "I suggest filling the hallway with your Nautolan guard forming the rear, with their spears facing towards the approaching enemies with my forces providing ranged support from within. This way we could use the enemy's numbers against them, as the entrance would serve as a bottleneck to stop the their overwhelming numbers from flooding us."

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

To describe the situation they found themselves in as disadvantageous was an understatement. Most commanders would have considered it disastrous. Luckily for Pyrrhus and Noxia, they were not most commanders. Most commanders were not equipped with the ego and arrogance of the Sith. Yet it was not an unjustified arrogance. Neither of them had gotten to where they were today by being blind to danger and their own powers.

Pyrrhus' guard was mostly honourary, a show of force. He had not anticipated to have them see combat here on Balmorra. Yet, here they were. They were far from ornamental, and had done their fair share of damage. But the entrypoint was lost. "Fall back! Hold the line! Fall back!" the guard's commander shouted. In unison, the Nautolans responded with a brief yell. They knew what to do. The guard was focused on the task at hand, every fiber of their body on edge and prepared for battle. There was no fear, only war. They formed a line and began a slow retreat, walking backwards.

Noxia approached him, and proposed her strategy. Time was not on their side to sit around and mull things over. Fortunately for them, the strategic mind of Noxia had already come up with a plan. No doubt her experience commanding troops came in handy. Her plan seemed sound to Pyrrhus, who nodded in agreement. "I concur. They are no match for the training and expertise of the One Sith military. One of ours will fell countless of theirs before going down. We fall back to the hallways."

What little presence the Balmorrans themselves had, of guards and the like, were either quick to fall, or quick to retreat to the upper levels of the building. Only Darth Noxia's elite soldiers and Darth Pyrrhus' held their ground. The wave of the commonfolk fell upon the spears of his guard, impaling themselves. on the front and second line's weapon. The third and fourth supplemented with swift and precise stabs at any opening that formed. In the process of their retreat, they left a carpet of corpses for the attackers to step over.

Eventually, they'd come near the entrance to the hallways. Troops began to funnel through, leaving the main line dangerously thin, but it was what had to be done. "Wedge formation!" Pyrrhus called out. The Nautolan commander repeated it, once more follow by that same unison grunt. They formed a V-shape by the entrance to the hall. The idea was to allow them to rush through the opening, however, they would find themselves flanked on either side. The hall was shaped into what would hopefully become a killzone of spears and blaster fire. Here came the first wave...

[member="Darth Noxia"]

 

[Komo]

The battle in the interior was well underway, and the outnumbered Sith forces were putting up an excellent display of skill, taking ten for every one loss. The advantage was sorely critical when faced with such an overwhelming horde such as this. The rear guard formed by Darth Pyrrhus's Narutolan guards were exceptional in holding the line, the stoic and hardy soldiers repelled each wave as they came, their spears drenched in the blood of their enemies.

Noxia's forces were no slouch either, forming the front and the mid of the column wedged between the narrow corridors. Her elite soldiers in the middle proved their worth by providing both critical and welcomed support for her Sith companion's forces. At regular intervals, the order was given for their grenades to be thrown into the large mass of enemy. Durasteel shrapnel would scatter, slicing up and mutilating bodies alike with wanton violence. groups would fall, as others came to replace them.

Admist the throwing of grenades, were the continued blaster fire support from the soldiers at the middle of the column. The large mass of enemy soldiers meant that there was little need to aim, but being the elite soldiers that they were, headshots were still a plenty, as shots to the head were vital when it came to conserving what ammo supplies they had. Empty canisters and cell casing littered the floor as reloading after reloading as done, their ammunition finding their targets on the encroaching horde.

As the allied forces steadily made their way back, deeper into the building, the cramped hallways became clogged up with the bodies of the dead, a large majority of them belonging to the enemy. The torrent of forces that rushed towards them now was but a mere trickle, their efforts hampered by their own dead. The battle was turning towards the defender's favour, but Noxia was getting to tire of this. Looking towards her companion, she remarked,

"This battle is almost over. It's as good as won."

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]