Prelude to War (Book 6)

[Akirapryde]

The Fall of the Y’Ish Republic
Mid Rim World of Chilo’ish
The Presidential Palace
January 13th, 1937

The ground shook with the massive explosions off within the distant front. The activity within the Situation Room reflected the dire nature of the conflict miles from the city limits. Several tables were manned by loyal members of the President's staff while officers explained situations. Some were talking over the phones while others were relaying information. A few were updating maps and charts so that the President had the latest information from the front. Even though everyone was trying to remain silent as possible to keep the room calm, the mood of the room was all but calm. The stress and tension could be felt by everyone within the room. Even the President's own family, who had become trapped within the Palace when the front lines moved closer, showed the signs of the stress. While it was planned to move them earlier in the day, it had quickly became too dangerous to move as the day drew on and the fighting grew closer. Their presence within the Palace was something that was resting heavily on the President's mind.

“Papa I’m scared,” cried Nena.

President Lu'osh sighed deeply, he too was scared. He turned to the little girl nestled in her mother's arms. Next to them set his youngest son and on the other side of him set his oldest daughter. In a large leather chair next to the lather sofa set his oldest son. Normally, the sight of his family brought him strength and happiness. However, tonight there was no happiness as night fell over the city and brought renewed fighting over this world and a massive thrust from the Dorins. The drive pushed closer to the city than they have been during the whole invasion. The battle seemed near pointless as his own forces backed by the Varl have managed to hold the Dorins at bay for now. Still they were pushing hard. He took in a deep breath and walked from the large holotable towards his family. They should have been evacuated this morning, if not for those cursed Reich fighters swarming like killer bees in the skies above. “I know baby, I am scared too. We are all scared. But in times like this, we have to show a strong face to each other. You seen General Frasrn, he and his men are doing the very best to throw the enemy back. I am told that we are driving them further from the city. Soon it will be safe enough for everyone to leave.” He explained to his youngest daughter while taking her hand. He feared for his family's safety. He feared for the safety of his people. He feared that their allies, the Varl would not have enough troops to throw back the invaders. There was so much that he feared right now. But he knew that he had to lead his people through this.

“Sir, we have reports from the front. The Dorins are in full retreat once more. They are requiring more troops to keep driving them back.” The communication officer reported.

The President turned to his top generals, “opinions?” he already knew his own thoughts on the matter. The city was in near panic and the troops within the city were helping keep people calm.

Each of his generals offered their desires to drive the Dorins from the doorsteps of the capital. However there was that nagging part of him that wanted to keep the troops near by to help with the evacuations. Their arguments were sound and each offered tactical reasons to send the troops to the front, but this was not only a tactical situation. There were real people out there, they were just as scared as he was. He shook his head, “no” he said softly looking at his family once more. His thoughts were on those families beyond the walls and guard post of this compound. “No, keep the troops in the city. We may loss the city with their next assault but protecting the civilians and getting them out of the city has to be our goal right now” he explained. He knew that the Dorins were going to return group with even more forces. The extra troops might help, but it just might be as likely as they wont. Keeping them here, they can make a difference. “Redeploy the tenth armor and fifth corps to the eastern front” he ordered. It was a risky move that exposed their southern flank. But it would have to do.

The Generals didn't like the order but like good Officers the listened and followed his orders. The city's guardians would remain and help with the evacuations. He turned to his son, who was wearing the same uniform of his cadet unit when the order was given to recall his son. He was so proud of his son, and of his entire family. They had had a chance a few days ago to flee but all choose to remain during this crisis. He sighed once more as he knew they were trapped just like him. He turned back and looked at the holomap once more. The city was save for the time but the Dorins were flaking far to the south. If they turned north, then sometime tomorrow this fight would happen all over again. If they continued to push westward past the city, the city could be cut off and the residents would be trapped in a pocket. His orders only bought limited time to get more people out. He already knew that the city was going to be taken. The Reich fighters over head proved that.

The situation for his Republic was grim but not hopeless. The Varl promised another five million troops. They would not arrive till next month. This could help defend the remaining twenty worlds that the Dorins would be pushing for. And even reclaim the ten that the Dorins had already captured. It was a hope that he and his people could hang on to. Hope made all the difference during crisis' like what they were facing now. All they had to do was to hold on for just one more month. His eyes checked the maps again as he saw reports of Dorins making landings on another world. That made seven total worlds the Dorins were currently invading and ten that they had capture outright. 'If it weren't for those damn fighters' he thought. They had a state of the art defense system which was designed to stop the Dorin warships right in their tracks. That was till those fighters made their show on the Dorin side.

His intelligence already figured out that they were Reich designs as well as the ships which came with them. What they didn't know was if they were piloted by Reich pilots or Dorins. Not that that mattered much. During the opening hours of the war, the fighters turned hundreds of trillions worth of defense spending in to worthless slag in shocking time. The Y'Ish's own fighter defenses seemed nearly powerless to stop the attacks. 'how could we have been so ill prepared for this invasion' he thought as he turned to his Intelligence adviser and shook his head. 'How could we not know what was coming' It was a series of horrible luck, bad timing and lack of training that made the Y'Ish fighters useless during the opening hours of the invasion. 'If only hind sight was twenty-twenty' the President thought 'So much we could have done differently'

Hours before the first Dorin ship crossed the boarder, the attack came in the form of advance computer viruses. An attack that he and his best intelligence minds never saw coming. These attacks crippled their sensor arrays and tracking stations. Remote sentry fortifications remained silent as Dorin ships slipped by unhindered. Port and ground defense systems turned on their own ships and laid waste to them at near point blank range. It was a mess to clear and the only way they could stop the chaos was to take the whole defense system off line. Which blinded the Military Headquarters of the Dorin's movements. The attacks even struck at key communication hubs and relay stations. The entire network had been crippled or tragically slowed down. Getting orders out to units during the first hours seemed almost impossible. Next came the Reich fighter attacks. They were in the form of a series of multiple quick raids which destroyed command and control centers across the entire frontier. Because of the virus attacks, no one knew about the Reich fighter attacks till the Dorins were making landings on ten worlds. Those worlds were screaming for support and help but the cries came too late to help them. What started out as seen as a simple malfunctioning computers in the early morning ended the next morning in complete terror and chaos across the Republic.

The President remembered that moment, and most likely will remember it till the day he dies. He was woken up by his trusted adviser informing him of the raids and the Dorin invasion. What shocked him even more was the fact that they were learning of the attacks from the Galactic News Media and not their military channels. It was than that they learned that the virus had crippled their entire network. Hours after the first attack and while he was getting dressed the next set of raids were being reported. The situation was developing so fast that by the time he had taken the elevator down to the situation room, the next raids were being reported. Rear depots and staging areas were being attacked again by those cruised fighters. Each attack had been only hours apart and only lasted long enough to cripple the target. They had conflicting reports that the fighters and ships that were part of the raids were different. Those first hours were filled with so much chaos that that allowed the Dorin fleet follow up on the raids and finish the job. It was a day of nightmares and he just wished it was all a horrible dream. But it wasn't a dream, the Y'Ish Republic was at war with the Dorins. He walked back over to the holotable and took his seat. He fingered through the reports across the Y'Ish Republic, they were all grim.

Within the first days of the invasion, three worlds had surrendered and hundreds of thousands of troops were either cut off behind enemy lines, routed from their defense bases and in full retreat, captured or completely wiped out. The President nor any of his military advisers had ever seen anything like this invasion. The speed of the attacks crippled their ability to even defend themselves. He recalled one of his military advisers commenting about how it seemed like the carriers and their fighters were pulling the Dorin forces behind them as the lines advanced. Each time the Y'Ish forces regrouped and tried to form a new line, they were hammered again by those damn fighters and then the Dorins. If it had continued this way, the entire thirty world Republic would have been in the Dorin hands by the end of the third week. But then something change the whole invasion. The President didn't know what or why it happened, but he was grateful. The Dorins and more importantly the fighter wings stopped working together on the front lines. For some reason, the fighters and their carriers were pulled from the front lines and simply disappeared. It was if God himself had smiled on the Y'Ish and allowed them some breathing room to regroup and defend themselves.

While their defenses were smashed, the Y'Ish still had allot of fight left in them. The withdrawal of the carriers gave the defenders much needed breathing room which they took complete advantage of. The Dorins returned to their normal swarm and slaughter tactics. The President was actually relieved when he heard about the change in tactics. This was a tactic they had trained to defend against and still could fight against. They managed to fight the Dorins to a stand still while the Varl reinforced their own lines. It was a huge up lift in moral but the President knew it was fleeting. For a week, they held the Dorins at bay and even started to push them back. Supplies started to pour in as more Varl ships and troops continued to arrive. The more the Dorins pushed, the more the Y'Ish were able to drive them back. During the second week of the invasion, it actually started to look like the Y'Ish were going to reclaim some fallen worlds. That all changed with the return of the carriers and the Reich fighters. The first raid put a stop the Y'Ish's counter-offensive and their hopes of driving the Dorins out of their space.

Again, the strikes and raids hit hard and deep in to Y'Ish controlled space. Even though the Y'Ish were a bit better prepared the raids were still very successful. They destroyed critical supply lines and staging areas, most of which those set up by the Varl. An entire Varl army group was blasted out of existence when their convoy was ambushed by the carrier group. The Varl support ships were easy pray once the older escorting warships were brushed aside. The Varl had never seen fighters used in such a fashion. Their great warships which had been the pride of their fleets for over a hundred years seemed almost helpless while their support and transport ships were being blasted from space. Not even the Varl could stop the raiders or those cursed fighters. In less than a week, the Dorin's had gained every bit of ground they lost and even pushed deeper in to Y'Ish space. The Dorins seemed almost unstoppable, but all they needed to do was to hold out for just one more month. The President looked over the reports and saw the number of civilian losses. “How can we hold out when every minute more innocent blood is spilled” the President said with grief in his voice. There were reports of mass killings at the hands of the Dorins. But he had no way of confirming these reports.

In a desperate attempt to stop the Dorin's advance the President authorized a daring plan. The risks of the plan were clear, if they lost than they would loss the ability to stop the Dorin navy. If they won, than they would give a chance to the Varl to face off with the Dorin navy on even grounds. The Y'Ish gathered every last fighter they had, some six hundred fighters. This numbered included sixty of their prized Hammerheads. They were not short on fighters due to some stockpiling four years ago. They were short on trained pilots due to the raids which hit training bases and barracks. A call was put out for any and all pilots to step forward. Almost half of the pilots who answered the call for this mission had more than enough courage. And hopefully with two months worth of training some skills worth while to survive the mission. The plan was to lure the carriers in to a trap by staging all of their naval assets in one system. Once the carriers arrived, they would focus on destroying the carriers leaving the fighters to die in system with no worlds to land on. He didn't like that part of the plan but part of him did find it a fitting death for raiders. Still the plan had its risks but the rewards were worth it. That was, if they won the battle.

It was a long shot but they didn't have much of a choice. Either they stopped the carrier forces or they continued to face mounting loses. There was much debate over the mission and in the end, he grudgingly authorized the mission. From secure locations the military leaders and the President and civilian government watched as the remainder of the Y'Ish navy waited for the carriers to arrive. It seemed like forever and the wait was far worse the any way the battle could have gone. So much was riding on this one battle. A few sensor hits from minor scout ships said that the carriers were on their way. The carriers arrived right where the planners had hoped they would. There were cheers of joy once the two carriers were identified. The trap was sprung and the Y'Ish fighters broke cover and raced at the two prized targets. The President watched in disbelief that they could be so lucky. He was sad to see his feelings about the situation were right. Those cheers came to a sudden stop when the carriers unleashed their fighters in less then five minutes and suddenly vanished back in to hyperspace. Along with the fighters were some kind of electronic warfare shuttle or something. Within seconds of taking flight, wide band jamming all but prevented any measure of steady communications. The President recalled turning to his intelligence adviser as she only shook her head in reply.

The signals were difficult to understand but from what they could tell, the fighters had engaged each other and it seemed like the Y'Ish were holding their own and driving the Reich fighters back. Back further from the ships that they were to be protecting. This didn't seem important till a few minutes in to the combat when a second sighting of two more carriers were made. This time much closer to the bait ships and too far away for the Y'Ish fighters to do anything about them. Like the first time, they unleashed their wings of fighters and vanished again in to hyperspace. These craft made a straight run for the bait ships. Once the ships were engaged, the Reich fighters turned on the Y'Ish fighters and beat them even further back from their support ships. Their lines had been divided and neither bait ships nor their own fighters could support the other. After thirty minutes of combat, all five carriers returned at the fringes of the battle and deployed more fighters. This time, fighters from the battle were able to break and return to the carriers. Many of the Y'Ish fighters had the same desire to return to their base ships. They were running low of fuel and ammo. The only problem was that the newly arrived Reich fighters harassed the Y'Ish fighters all the way back to their base ships. The Reich were able to turn around fighters around twenty to thirty minutes. What Y'Ish fighters that were able to return for fuel, were turned around in a painful thirty five to forty five minutes.

Later review would cite the design of the hanger bays of the converted Y'Ish carriers did not afford enough room for recovery, refuel/resupply, and launching all at the same time. Plus many ground crews were simply not trained enough to turn around fighters in such a combat situation. This added to the confusion and chaos within the hanger bays. The El'wards, a Y'Ish Heavy Cruisers converted to carrier brought another design flaw to light. While the El'wards had large small craft bays that spanned multiple levels, There were only two lifts to bring fighters down to the flight deck from the hanger bays above. As the landing craft started to stack up and fighters attempting to return to the fight, a traffic jam quickly ensued. A Reich fighter bomber slipped passed the screens and under the defensive lines to drop a pair of bombs in to the El'wards landing bay. The explosions ripped the ship's keel in two and ended any hope of supporting the fighters. The El'wards took sixteen more bombs hit across the haul before being forced to abandon ship. She was consumed by fires a some twenty minutes later. The El'wards fate was much the same as all of the bait ships. Each suffered heavily and were left burning hulks of slag once the Reich was done with them. Of the bait ships, there were nearly fifty large laser and rail gun mounts. Not one had been fired during the engagement. The bait ships never got close enough to attack the carriers directly. What fighters did manage to close in on the carriers were driven back by supporting defending fighters and a web of close in small defense weapons. The carriers remained unharmed during the engagement.

Of the survivors, witnesses became a valuable source of information. The Varl ensured that who could be saved were. Though the Reich did take some POW's. Many life pods after the battle were found to be empty. Their hatches opened and the survivors taken about the Reich ships. Or at least that is what the President was hoping for. The idea that his men were spaced added to the guilt that he already was suffering for the failed mission. Though the battle was a complete loss, his intelligence adviser said that there were valuable bits of information to be learned. It was the first battle between carriers and fighters. The philosophy of the Big Ships/Big Guns died with the El'wards. Her nine massive state of the art sixty centimeter turbolasers were never fired. The Reich carriers remained out of range and the fighters were simply too fast to hit. Also, the were able to learn that these were not just Reich designs, these were Reich trained officers piloting those fighters. It was a strong lesson in how the Reich fights. Like the recovery of fighters during combat. The Reich ships had these pontoons on each side of the carriers that were nearly as long as the ships. These were the fighter bays and they were heavily defended. During combat, they were able to recover fighters from forward and rear landing bays and launch fighters from the mid-sections of the pontoons. While these did nothing to save his Republic from falling to the Dorin invasion, they did offer keen insight in to how the Reich fought and how to design ships to beat them. He only hoped that the occupation would not last long, if they couldn't hold out for one more month.

He set the papers down as he looked around at the filled room. Some twenty military and civilian personal were all working to defend this city, this world, this Republic. He could hear the transmissions from the front and heard the cries of the wounded. “How can we hold out when all we have left to waste in our very lives” he said softly. The President slowly stood once more and walked back over to his family. His beloved wife gave him a reassuring smile as he approached her. Her eyes had always found some trait that even he had over looked in himself. The explosion nearly knocked him off his feet. He didn't know what happened just these large explosions around the room. He tossed himself over his family in an attempt to protect them from what was happening. He heard screaming and silenced weapons' fire from all around. Men were dying as he remained steady over his family. Just as the explosion hit, his wife had pulled his children to the floor between the sofa and the table. He leaped the last bit of distance to cover them. Within seconds it was silent once more. He slowly lifted his head to see the carnage. Of the twenty people, nearly half were dead as well as the ten guards. The President identified the dead as being those in uniform and or carrying weapons. There were six armored men panning the room while the survivors stood with their hands raised. More armored men in the hallways. 'where are the guards' he asked himself.

“I am President Loral Lu'osh” he said in a harsh tone but than looked at his family. He slowly got up as his wife and daughters were crying for him to remain down. “Please, Sir....” he said softening his tone, “I ask, not in front of my family. Sir...” He continued to step away from his family realizing that this was the end. All he hoped for in this second was that his family would be spared the horror of watching their father die.

One of the six men removed his helmet, “Mr. President, allow me to introduce myself. I am Field Marshal Walther Model” he said in a soft respectful tone which set the President back a bit. “This is not an assassination. You and your family are safe. However, how long that safety will continue will depend greatly on you.”

'Oh so this is what they will do. Threaten my family to force a surrender.' he thought as he looked back at them. His heart was torn, “Do as you wish, I can not solely order a surrender of our forces. We are worthless to you in this regard.”

The Reich troops moved in and collected the rest of his staff and lined them up along the wall. The President was fearful that they would be short by the intruders. “I am fully aware of this fact. This is the reason why we are conducting the same raid as this one on He'ar and Argoss.”

The President knew those two worlds. The leaders of the parliament as well as the prime minister were on He'ar. The relocated military headquarters was located on Argoss. This was madding, 'how could they possibly think they could pull of such a raid' he thought to himself.

“The reason why, Mr. President, we thought we could pull of these raids is because you never considered it possible. You invited us to attempted it” said a fair skinned women dressed in a black and gray Reich uniform.

One of the Field Marshal's men called out, “This one smells of Council meat!” The soldiers was surprising a Bothan.

The President thought it was odd that the Reich fought along side with other aliens. It was not what he had been told of the Reich. 'How much more of that knowledge was wrong' once more he thought. “Um...she is our nanny.” It was a lie but he had little choice. If they knew that she was indeed his intelligence adviser on special loan from the Free Worlds Council, they would surely kill her.

The fair skilled woman started to walk that way but the leader waved her off. “Nanny?” he asked as he walked up to her lowering his weapon to a point of rest.

“She is Council. I promise you this.” said the Reich Bothan soldier guarding her.

“The rest of you. You are civilians caught up in a military operation. Within the hour, my fighters will be bombing the hell out of your lines. The Dorins will be launching their full assault. Within I would say two hours, this city will be over run with Dorin soldiers. I would suggest that you get your families and flee for the safety of the Northern hills. Go!” he said while placing a hand on the adviser's shoulder, “Not you, nanny.”

Kalee had never been more lucky than to have lost her firearm two days before. Her first response was to defend the President, but because she was unarmed she acted differently. Had she acted as she was trained, she would have been laying dead on the floor like the other defenders. She instead dove for cover and came up with her arms raised like the rest of the civilians. She looked in to the man's eyes who know controlled her future. She knew that he didn't believe the nanny line. The Bothan had sniffed her out and the psychic would have too much fun ripping her mind apart. Kalee just looked down at the floor. She knew that she was not going to be leaving this room alive. Her only hope was that the information that she sent back would be helpful to stopping the Reich invasion of their space when it came. She knew that the Reich was getting ready to expand. She knew that this was just a testing ground for their new military and tactics. And based on what she saw, she didn't have much faith in the Council surviving.

The civilians were guided out by the other Reich soldiers as the Field Marshal looked around. He turned back to her, “Tell me, Mr. President, have you ever considered what being a POW would do to your family?” he said softly looking deep in to her eyes. It was if he was reading her very soul.

“I have not not, Field Marshal” the President replied. He never thought this moment would ever occur. Looking back at his family once more. Their cries had stopped but the pain in their eyes was clear. “Field Marshal, might I inquire as to what you mean to do now?”

“You are no more a Nanny, than I am a butler” he whispered to her and continued, “The Dorins would enjoy your company. Trust me, I know. I have seen what they do to the likes of you.” He had seen first hand the means of extracting information from their subjects. He didn't approve of it. “Take what you have learned. Consider it a gift. And leave this building.”

“Um Sir! You...” the fair skilled Reich Officer said.

He only shot a glare at her. This was all that was needed to silence her. “Go.....” he whispered once more to the spy.

Kalee looked to the President with surprise on her face. He nodded to her to flee also. She didn't like it but she turned and walked for the door. She was escorted out by the soldiers to ensure that she didn't cause any problems.

“Field Marshal, Sir, your intentions please?” said the President once more.

Model turned to him, “My intentions are to leave this burning building. I will either hand you over to the Dorins” he stopped to allow the President to consider that option.

“OR?” the President said nervously.

“Or, honor your request for political asylum.” Model said as he watched the young attractive spy leave the room.

'Asylum?' The President was floored. It would mean the end of his administration. “Why would I do that.”

Model smiled, “Because Mr. President, I have killed every member of your guard force. There are no functioning vehicles for you to escape with. Within two hours, the Dorins will have you, your family in their custody. They will be come POWs of the Dorins. The choice is simple, a life as guests of the Reich or POWs of the Dorins” he explained. It appeared that he was going to say more but something over his communication ear piece cut him off. “Our ride is here. Your time is up Mr. President. What will it be?”

He reviewed his options. If what the Field Marshal said was true, than the Dorins could and would be in the city within a couple of hours. Sure he could hide, but till when? If the Dorins find them, his family will be used against him to force him to sign some treaty. He knew the Dorins and how they treated their POWs. He had been wrong about everything he knew regarding the Reich. He had little choice. This was something he was unwilling to risk. “Field Marshal Model, would the Reich accept my request for political asylum for my family and myself?”

The Field Marshal smiled, “I thought you would never ask, Mr President.” he nodded and motioned for his troops to move out. Each helped one member of the President's family to their feet and along the corridors up to the roof. “See, as I told you, kindness and compassion. That is how you get people to work with you.” he said to the Physic as they brought up their rear of the group.

It was a raid for the historical record books. Three raids on very high value targets in three different systems. And all three raids had achieved their objectives and secured their targets. News of the raids went largely unreported but a few eyewitnesses did speak to those who would listen. The Presidential Palace was heavily bombed by the Reich fighters. The Dorins never recovered the bodies though they were presumed dead. The Y'Ish under the leadership of the Prime Minister, signed a surrender with the Dorins two days later. The last major fighting occurred three days after the signing. A puppet Government was set up and flatly rejected further Varl assistance. The President and his family were never seen from again.

The Council spy did get away and was able to report ALL facts from this intermission to her government and the party as a whole. She was able to inform the party through her report about what she knew of the raid from this intermission and that it was conducted by a highly trained special forces unit of the Reich which had about a hundred plus members. She believes that the only way it was possible for a force that size to achieve the raid, that there had to be someone on the inside helping the Reich. She last saw the President and his family boarding a Reich troop transport and being air lifted from the palace to parts unknown. Each member of the party is invited to read over this intermission again and see what facts you can find that will help protect the Council from the coming Reich invasion.