Imperial-Corellian Border
Deep Core
"Commence attacks"
Tarkin's Fang
A small Corellian fleet - or rather, small for Corellian standards - was based at Tarkin's Fang, a storage depot and outpost. Despite its strategic location, it's minimal intrinsic worth meant it was a waste of resources to keep anything more than a standard planetary defense force present.
The imperials appeared and moved in quickly, outnumbering the Corellians 10-1 in ships and gun power. Communication relays were blasted with ion fire, shutting down the ability to send a distress signal, and even before the last ship was destroyed, assault shuttles were moving in to claim the outpost's assets.
"We have 2 hours before we need to clear out. Begin dispersing the fleet and keep vessels ready for hyperspace travel at the slightest gravitational distortion"
Stormtroopers quickly claimed the comm relay for the imperials themselves, sending a message to fleet command indicating progress. Meanwhile, on the ground, imperial troops found minimal resistance gating the assets stored there. With repulsorlifts, they began filling shuttles with supplies, weapons, and ammunition. the process was time consuming, and soon, orders were coming in.
"Pack it in boys - anything we don't have, we're not going to. Our time is almost up"
The barren planet was soon evacuated, leaving only probes and a detonation trigger behind. If the Corellians returned, the supplies that outpost was rigged to explode if they tried to enter. The same was true of the Comm Relay - it was set to scan the system for Corellians and send regular bursts to Imperial space. Any attempt to board the relay - by friend or foe alike - would trigger it to explode.
Imperial ships had vanished by the time three hours had passed.
Ebaq
The gas giant and mining colony was producing huge amounts of metal ore and gas fuel for the Corellian war effort. It had a decent defensive force, including several Corellian cruisers.
The imperials, upon exiting hyperspace, had to be more careful, navigating around the gas giant and the planet's moons, and making sure to avoid unnecessary casualties. The Imperials had calculated well, outnumbering the Corellians by 4-1, massive star destroyers opening with barrages of fire as TIEs swarmed over the Corellians.
The battle was longer, harder, and costlier - the imperials did lose a few smaller frigates, and several destroyers had actually incurred hull damage. It had taken almost two full hours for the assault to be completed, longer than hoped for. And the Corellians still controlled the ground force.
"We have orders to be out of the system within another hour and a half. Not enough time for a ground assault. Move the fleet closer to the planet, and initiate ground bombardment."
"Yes sir"
While the comm relay was taken by force and setup much like it had been at Tarkin's Fang, the imperial fleet moved into orbit of Ebaq 9, targeting their weapons at the facilities on the ground and opening fire. TIE Bombers and Fighters moved to make strafing runs and insure the bombardment targeted accurately. And to make sure there were no survivors. Quickly and efficiently, the mining facililty was transformed into molten metal, likely never to be used again.
Ojom
An inhospitable world with a large population based in space stations - much like Duros - the Empire might have been most cautious about this battle. Aside from many large destroyers, it included in this assault many smaller craft as well, that could easily navigate through the clusters of space-dwelling natives.
The Empire moved in as swiftly as at the other locations, overcoming a strong corellian fleet presence by outnumbering them 12-1.
Shuttles did not wait for the battle to even truly start before they negotiated their way into docking bays and storm troopers poured out, taking control of the stations deck by deck. Onboard the floating homes, the imperials found minimal resistance. The locals tried staying out of the way, and corellian officers, though capable warriors, were not able to withstand the heavy handed onslaught of imperial fury.
One by one, the stations were taken under imperial control, and the system's comm relay was given the same treatment as the others. The ship battle, however, had become more complicated. Additional corellian fighters had appeared, swarming from the planet's frigid surface,and were causing complications in the battle. The Corellian fleet here also was better utilizing the environment, using space stations and debris as cover. Though the imperials were clearly winning this battle, it was time consuming.
The three hour mark had come and gone while the last corellian vessels were holding out, mostly moving as fast as they could to make distance between them and the larger imperial ships, while being chased by TIE interceptors.
"Captain, it appears our time is running out"
The captain glanced at the clock and frowned. It was not clear how much time it would take for the Corellian weapon to be notified, activated, and target a location. Certainly no less than three hours, considering they had disabled the comm relay. But if Corellia knew they had attacked, it could happen any moment.
"Order the fleet to disperse. Send the necessary shuttles down to the planet's surface to deal with the settlements. No bombardment here"
"As you wish, Captain"
The Imperial fleet spread out as ordered, ships prepping hyperdrives to leaves at the first sign of trouble. The last corellian ships were finally hunted down and destroyed.
Meanwhile, troops were deployed to the various glacier communities, securing whatever facilities existed down in the frigid world and dealing with what Corellians they found there. Not many.
It was four hours into the battle when the imperial fleet finally departed.
Eclipse
A small planet with a base carved out of it, amidst an asteroid field. THe battle here was mostly starfighters, with capital ships battling mostly on the outskirts of the field. The location had been almost destroyed when the Corellians had taken it just a few months ago, and even now, it still bore the scars of that battle.
The imperials quickly cleaned up the miniscule corellian force that surrounded the field, then moved to obliterate as many of the asteroids as possible, clearing the way to the base within.
Rather than send in troops, heavy fire from ships blasted open the plastiform that kept the base air-tight. In moments, corellian troops could be seen being suctioned out into open space.
More shots fired, and the base-rock itself was split into two. If the Empire couldn't hold it, no one could.
An hour and a half since the assault began, the imperials picked up and left, leaving the asteroid field with more battle scars.
Corellia
Four hours after the initiation of the assaults ...
"Sir, we have failed to get a check in from a number of locations on our western border. attempts to reach them have failed."
"how many?"
"Four sir. Tarkin's Fang, Ebaq, Ojom, Eclipse. Where should we send reinforcement fleets?"
Judec scratched his chin as he looked at the Lieutenant. A part of him wanted to attack, to strike back at what was no doubt an imperial assault. He well knew that the imperials were now well within striking distance of Corellia itself. On the other hand, was this not all part of the plan?
"no reinforcement fleets. Send a message to Centerpoint, classified. Order activation of the weapon, and have the director choose the appropriate targets"
"We are conceding those locations, sir?"
Judec himself hated to think the answer was yes, but shook his head
"Not conceding. Using them. Order Corellian defenses to be on full alert. I anticipate the attack will be coming here not long from now"
"Very well sir. And your ship?"
"Make sure it is ready, but we aren't going anywhere yet. The Empire will need to assess these attacks before they can move forward. But bring the jedi to me. We need to talk"
TBC
