[Krennic] Expansion Run-on

Scholae Imperial Headquarters - Caelestis City - Ragnath

A holographic map of the Nethal Archipelago and Caelestis City was projected between the Empress, the Grand Admiral, and the four battleteam leaders of Scholae Palatinae. The two southern-facing prongs of the city almost touched the tiny northern island of the Archipelago. “Adoniram will not tolerate this city being taken,” Elincia stated with clarity, dressed neatly in a new deep purple blazer and black trousers. “The first island is in range of small arms fire from both sides. We can hit the first three from defensive emplacements on the southern tip of the city”

“They’re building a force on Nethal Prime,” Lexiconus Qor, the Quarren new leader of the intelligence specialists of Pellaeon, informed the others. “The war on Seraph has their forces spread thin on Ragnath. We have a month before they attack.” Linking Pellaeon with the Imperial Scholae Intelligence had yielded a wealth of information across the system. “We’ve also received threats from of a mysterious signal of unknown origin, potentially Collective, simply stating ‘WE ARE COMING’.”

“Simple. We take the islands before they attack,” Jorm Na’trej, Kiffar leader of Excidium’s Vindictae Immortalis, grinned in anticipation of the violence to come. Jorm was the fitting leader for such a team, one that bathes in chaos, Excidium’s less subtle and more action-hungry members.

“Krennic is well suited to a surgical strike on key targets,” Reiden said plainly, the newest leader in the room, but a familiar face around the clan. Krennic was Imperium’s special forces team of the most elite warriors the house had to offer.

“Agreed,” Elincia said as she magnified the map onto Nethal Prime, more detailed satellite imagery began to overlay on the geographical features, with military and key logistic installations highlighted. “I’ve negotiated with the Elayan Prime Minister to increase their offensive presence on Seraph to keep Meraxis occupied.”

“Infrastructure on Nethal Prime seems light,” Derek observed, Excidium’s leader of assassins always had an eye for detail. “Everything seems to run through a couple of key hubs.”

“Nethal Prime was traditionally a fishing village,” said Mune Cinteroph, the well-read, intellectual Grand Admiral besides Elincia. “It was never meant to be a military base of operations.”

“The salary and logistics node…” Jorm observed. “All the supply chain paperwork and credits of the Archipelago running through one building? Consider them ours.”

“The security forces are one block away and given the circumstances, will be armed with military equipment,” Derek spoke up again. “Tacitus Athanasius will take out their leadership and terrorise the security offices.”

“That’s an armour depot on the far side of the island. Krennic will take it out,” Reiden said with a relaxed tone, confident in the ability of his team.

“And Pellaeon will investigate this unknown threat that threatens to wreck the whole plan,” Lexiconus confirmed.

“You will each be assigned a battalion of the Imperial Scholae Army for use as you see fit,” Elincia announced, happy with the plan.

Jorm made himself heard again.

“Trade mine for a pick at the armory and a five minute head start in the actual operation? Troopers don’t really mesh well with what we do.”

“Not using them at all counts as using them as you see fit. For the Empire!”

North of Caelestis City

Nightfall was approaching, and the shadows had already begun to slip away in favor of the darkness as the patrol began their infiltration. Softly walking through the brush, the armored figures made their way up the sharp incline of the heavily forested mountain in a double V formation that allowed for maximum firepower up front from both teams. On the opposite slope, there was an enemy fire base that the forces of Meraxis had set up to try and control this area along the border between their territory and that of Scholae Palatinae. The patrol’s mission was to do a recon by fire of the defenses and to eliminate any enemy forces that might be outside of the base.

As the group neared the crest of the mountain, the point man held up his fist, and the team crouched quickly with their weapons up and ready.

“Whatcha see, Sergeant Pavlos?” queried Field Marshal Dante as he kept his rifle at the ready.

Slowly, the sergeant moved to his right and brought his scope up to his face. “It looks like we have a patrol to our right. They are following the trail in a straight line formation. Doesn’t look like the are expecting contact. Could just be a militia group.”

“Alright… let’s take them out. Team 1 needs to spread out parallel to the trail, and we’ll have Team 2 be the swinging door,” said Kell as the troops around him slowly began to slink off to their positions. His internal HUD on his armor allowed him to track the movements of his troopers, but he could also feel their determination and readiness through the Force.

After what seemed like an eternity, the enemy force entered the kill zone, and the trap was sprung as Dante tossed a grenade into the end of the patrol’s line which signaled his troopers to open fire. As the FIeld Marshal was firing, his commlink beeped, and he said “Yes… Field Marshal Dante’s office…” with a bit of sarcasm.

He was greeted with “This is Reiden… We’ve got orders… I need you in my office ASAP.”

Kell smiled to himself as he fired off a few microgrenades at the spot where there was still incoming fire. “Let me finish up here, and I will come over and see you in the morning.”

A thermal detonator went off as his Master was speaking, and Reiden said “Are you really in your office?”

“Sure… That was just the coffee machine blowing up… I will be there when I can… Dante out,” retorted the Obelisk as he shut off the comm unit and kept firing.

Within 5 minutes, all resistance had been eliminated, and the intel specialist assigned to them, Major Yorsk, was going through all of the KIA’s trying to see if anything was useful to the Clan as the rest of the force provided security.

After five minutes of orderly work, Yorsk had managed to glean a few documents, some communication gear, and a bunch of Meraxin currency. “Sir… Some of this is garbage, but the comm unit here should give us some info. The two officers also had some encrypted datapads, but I can’t really access them until we get back to base.”

Nodding, Dante said “Let’s get back to the city. My apprentice has work for me to do…”

STATUS UPDATE:
Through Kell Dante, team Krennic begin their assault on a Meraxis firebase by eliminating an enemy patrol with grenades and blaster fire
Team Pellaeon leader Lexiconus receives a mysterious datapad with a protocol droid with the Seneschal seal from an alias name Ferrum, containing a wealth of intelligence on the Meraxis Empire