Battle for Derra IV
WIP
The Battle for Derra IV was a conflict in during the Second Galactic Civil War,as both the Galactic Alliance and Imperial Union tried to restore peace to Derra IV after an outbreak two dangerous virus on the planet. It officially lasted from Day 1 to Day 176 of Year 14, but its aftermath rippled throughout the galaxy for the rest of the year. It was codenamed "Operation Peacemaker" by the Galactic Alliance and Operation Sovereign Canopy by the Imperial Union.
The Outbreak
Just after the fourteenth galactic standard year began, news broke of a growing tragedy in the Expansion Region. Virologists reported the discovery of a dangerous disease on the world of Derra IV. First observed in the tropical rainforests of the planet, the virus affected the parts of the nervous system that controlled anger, adrenaline, and the fight-or-flight responses. By the time of its discovery the virus had been transmitted between many different species of non-sentient animal, and to this day it researches debate its original host. Infected creatures were observed exhibiting increased aggression, territorial behavior, and a lack of inhibitions, leading them to attack anything in sight without regard for its own safety. Despite the rigorous safety protocols in place, the virus was able to jump from the carcass of an animal to one of the sentient researchers, an Imzig whose name was never made public. The team returned to a medical facility to monitor her condition. Two days after infection the Imzig became disoriented and aggressive, killing two doctors before she was killed. Within a week and a half, the turn of the new year, it was obvious that all efforts to contain the virus had failed. The virus, now officially dubbed the Great Animosity Plague, had reached Derra IV's most densely populated urban centers. The virus was declared a global pandemic and travel advisories were issued and most government and medical institutions succumbed to the unstoppable disease.
The First Battle of Barracks City
It did not take long for the galaxy to respond. Many different governments and non-profit corporations began sending medical professionals, scientists, food, and supplies. With the planetary government incapacitated, there was no one group directing the many different relief efforts, blockades, and travel restrictions. Chaos soon ensued. The First Sun Mobile Regiment, a mercenary group organized the previous year by Colonel Ettrick Antalaha was one of the first military groups to arrive on the surface. They quickly deployed into the planet's capital and declared martial law on Day 14 in an effort to stabilize the situation. Their declaration was not well received by the public of Derra IV or the galactic community, however. Reports were circulated accusing the mercenaries of abusing the use of power, gunning down locals who resisted their decrees, and denying humanitarian group access to the city. First Sun spokespersons denied the charges, claiming that their edicts and tactics were crucial to stopping the spread of the virus. They also insisted that their operations on Derra have uncovered an underground criminal syndicate flooding the planet with cheap K-4 Security Droids- at once encouraging mass violence and chaos and then profiting from it. First Sun's aggressive, unilateral efforts were necessary, the representative claimed, if these cartels were going to be stopped.
The Ori'Ramikade, or the 2nd Fleet, of the Krath Dynasty arrived in the system shortly after First Sun forces did. They had been on assignment nearby, and were ordered to Derra immediately after the news of the virus broke to assess the situation ahead of the deployment of other, more distant Galactic Alliance forces. Admiral Grevendar Togl, commander of the fleet, ordered his forces to begin patrolling the grasslands and forests surrounding the urban areas to check on rural settlements and put down any infected animals that could spread the disease. After news of First Sun's declaration of martial law in the city, Admiral Togl contacted Colonel Antalaha, offering the Krath's assistance and demanding First Sun rescind its declaration. It has been reported that tension flared in the conversation, and Antalaha inulted the admiral's honor. Being an adherent of the Mandalorian culture, Admiral Togl gave the First Sun commander seventy-two hours to apologize for his comments and turn control of the city over to the Krath forces, acting as a representative of the Galactic Alliance. No records of any apology have survived, but it was widely reported that an plan for a peaceful transition of power was reached between the two parties. Whatever agreements were made, the peace deal fell apart in the final hours before the deadline, and Grandmaster of the Krath Tapar Cracken gave Togle the order for his fleet's full compliment to deploy to the surface and move into the capital. It was soon nicknamed "Barracks City" by the Alliance infantry, because of the high number of units stationed there during the conflcit.
Krath forces were met with tough resistance, but after the initial barricades were breached the majority of the First Sun's forces that were not killed or captured were pushed back into a few defendable districts, or otherwise disappeared into civilian homes or businesses to wage a guerilla war while the Krath patrolled the streets multiple times a day. Holos declassified by Galactic Alliance intelligence show roads leading to First Sun holdout districts blockaded by disabled sandcrawlers, forming bottlenecks were the few remaining First Sun defenders were able to hold off Krath Forces for days. During the standoff, First Sun executive officer Mandro Fluke, seeing his options for survival dwindle, he surrendered himself to the Krath. In return for his freedom and safe passage from the planet, Fluke arranged to turn over a sail barge (used as a munitions depot), while First Sun 3rd in Command, Mark Smythe was taking shelter inside. Fluke, promising to move the barge to a safe area, ascended into the atmosphere where he docked it onto a Galactic Alliance warship. Fluke was granted permission to leave the system, provided he not return to First Sun, and Smythe was arrested. Just one week after declaring martial law on Derra IV, the First Sun forces had been forced out of the capital, most of its leadership dead, defected, or detained.
The Situation Escalates
While Admiral Togle and the Krath's 2nd Fleet were sweeping through Barracks City, on Day 17 Cheda Quche was elected the 8th Chief of State of the New Republic, and soon Republic and other Galactic Alliance forces arrived to secure the Derra system. Because of his experience with the evolving situation, Admiral Togl was given operational command of all Alliance forces in the theater. While Alliance satellite networks and massive capital ships organized the anarchy that was the space above Derra IV, its ground forces were deployed across the planet's surface. Forward bases were established in the mountain and across the rolling prairies, and medical centers were set up in most populated areas. Alliance personnel faced off against Black Sun and other organizations, claiming their refugee camps were fronts for criminal enterprises, and other mercenary groups, pirates, and personal armies offered a perennial challenge to the fragile stability afforded by the Alliance's presence. The dire situation on Derra intensified when the neighboring city to Barracks City, "Stadium City" became engulfed in fighting after a second wave of the "Derra Virus" spiked.
Just days after the arrival of the Galactic Alliance, scientists working to cure the Animosity Plague at a local university announced they had been experimenting with a strain of the Metamorphosis Virus and that several of its staff had begun showing early symptoms of the disease. The disease had been thought extinct since its last outbreak in Year 4, but soon similar cases were reported all around the planet as travel restrictions proved impossible to enforce. Where the Animosity Plague increased aggression in infected individuals, the Metamorphosis Virus was a fast-acting disease that targeted a being's immune system, attacked vital organs, and often transformed the species of those fortunate few who survived. Alliance command had been struggling to protect their soldiers from the first deadly virus, and the prospect of protecting them some a second simultaneous pandemic seemed impossible. Little was known about this new strain. Whereas the outbreak a decade prior affected only human-like species, now all species were proving vulnerable. Even with secure supply lines the Alliance was running short on protective equipment and the disease soon tore through their ranks, compromising their efforts to combat the Animosity Plague. With panic and tension even higher than it was before, the planet was soon plunged back into lawlessness and chaos as the Alliance desperately tried to regain its footing.
On Day 57, a month after the second outbreak, the Imperial Palace on Coruscant announced that a bounty hunter named Fleur`De Rouge had captured the New Republic Chief of State, Cheda Quche, and that he had been delivered to Coruscant where he was awaiting trial for a number of charges. Hours after the report, New Republic officials confirmed that their leader had gone missing while off-planet and was presumed dead. Those same officials also denied reports that the alleged captor, Rouge, was an Imperial agent, having demanded an exorbitant ransom for his safe release. New Republic Intelligence was unconvinced that their Chief of State was still alive in custody and refused to pay. Offering garbled transmissions from Quche while in custody, the believed Quche had ordered them not to pay the criminal and intended to take his own life. On Day 61, Imperial media showed footage of a sentient appearing to be Quche publicly executed by the Emperor. Republic officials deny that was their former leader, and that the Empire had arranged the spectacle to sow doubt and distract from the Alliance's success on Derra IV.
Not even a full standard day following the announcement of Cheda Quche's capture, on Day 58 the Imperial 2nd Legion came out of hyperspace at Derra and began to engage the Alliance blockade. They broke through and most of their forces took up positions in the mountains and forests around the planet's two largest cities.