Above Tython, Daimon had assembled his assault on Empress Teta. With the fall of Brentaal IV, the Imperium now had a straight shot to Coruscant. But the reinforcements that they had pulled back from the other fronts had arrived and slowed down their invasion plans.
Part of those reinforcements were above Empress Teta, refueling and repairing for the battle for Coruscant. Daimon planned to interrupt that process by attacking the fleet above Empress Teta and then blockading the planet. He wanted to preserve his forces for the battle of Coruscant and a ground invasion was not needed anyway.
A few hours later
Daimon's fleet emerged from hyperspace at the edge of the Empress Teta system with 800,000 ships. The arrival of the fleet immediately alerted the Republic forces and overwhelmed their sensors from the number of ships that appeared as the seconds went by.
"All ships, get in your battle formation," Daimon commanded. "Priority targets are their repair facilities and fuel depots. We take those out and we can cripple any reinforcements from reaching coruscant."
Standing next to him was Lord Maxim who had returned from his duties in assisting Luna in the Imperial controlled Hutt territory. Now he had returned to his rightful place which was right beside Daimon's side.
"My Lord, they have a significant fleet here, but most of the ships are under repairs or docked. Though most of the ones that are battle ready are the capital ships since they take priority over the rest fleet." reported Lord Maxim.
"That's good. We take out the capital ships and the rest of the fleet will either surrender or fight to the death." Though if recent reports were a sign, Daimon was sure that the fleet would surrender once a significant portion of their fleet was destroyed.
This was a recent development where Republic forces either surrendered before the fighting started, or they fought, realized they weren't going to win and then surrendered.
In all honesty, he wished they had just given up, since it was a waste of life in this stage of the war to continue fighting.
The Republic fleet scrambled to respond to the arrival of Daimon's fleet. They hastily got into their formations as alarms blared across every ship. Admiral Kieran Voss, the Republic's senior fleet commander, watched the approaching Imperial armada and sighed, knowing that the end of the war was near.
"Get me a count," he ordered his tactical officer.
"Sir, sensors are reading… 800,000 contacts. All Imperial signatures. This is an entirely different fleet from the ones pushing through the southern systems."
Admiral Voss balled up his fist hearing the numbers. They'd known an attack was eventually coming since they were stupidly gathering hundreds of thousands of ships in a single system, but he didn't expect such a large force to be able to attack them directly without raising any alarms from other systems.
That's when he remembered something. The failed attack on Tython which allowed the Imperials to establish a forward base so close to all the core systems. They had tried to keep watch on the system, but it turned out to be nearly impossible.
Thinking about it, a fleet could have amassed there and attacked any of the Core worlds directly without raising any alarms. This was the only logical explanation for their sudden arrival.
But even if he figured all that out, it was not like it would change anything. "All ships, defensive formations. Protect the repair stations at all costs. If we lose those facilities, we lose our ability to defend Coruscant."
But even as he gave the order, Voss knew it was futile. The Imperium had proved to be a foe that they could not beat, even with overwhelming numbers. And in this situation, they had ships that were still recovering from previous engagements.
The first salvo of turbolaser fire came from the Imperial fleet's heavy cruisers. Their target was orbital repair facilities which were in their line of fire. Several of the facilities survived the first salvo, but three of the largest stations shields died and exploded, destroying hundreds of ships.
The Republic fleet responded, and thousands of turbolaser batters lighting up the void. But the Imperial heavy cruisers had their positions in the formation replaced by the massive battlecruisers of the Imperium. These ships soaked up the turbolaser fire, allowing the heavy cruisers to reposition themselves.
Imperial interceptors weaved through the incoming fire while simultaneously engaging Republic fighters and bombers. As a result, thousands of dog fights were occurring all at the same time in between the battle.
Admiral Voss watched as his defensive formations started to crumble after just a few minutes. "Focus all fire on their command ships! If we can take out their command structure, maybe we can create enough chaos to…."
"Sir, detecting a massive energy signature," his sensor officer interrupted. "It's coming from... by the Force, it's the Emperor's flagship. The Luminary."
Voss's face changed to that of fear. Emperor Daimon himself was leading this assault. That changed everything. He'd heard the reports from other commanders who had faced the God-Emperor directly. None of them had survived to provide detailed accounts, but the few fragmentary transmissions that had been recovered painted a picture of power beyond comprehension.
"All ships, evasive…."
Before he could finish the command, a wave of invisible force emanated from the Luminary, washing over the Republic fleet like a tsunami. Voss felt it even through the hull of his ship, a pressure against his mind that made his teeth ache.
Throughout the Republic fleet, ships began losing power. Not from weapons fire or system failures, but from something else entirely. Their engines and shields flickered, while their weapons systems went offline one by one.
"What's happening?" Voss asked.
"Unknown, sir! It's like... like something is draining our power cores directly. Engineers are reporting that the reactors are still functioning, but the energy is just... disappearing."
On the bridge of the Luminary, Daimon stood there with his eyes closed, reaching out through the Force across the vast distance of space. He could feel every ship in the Republic fleet and sense the flow of energy through their systems which he began to drain.
It wasn't enough to destroy them outright. That would be wasteful and unnecessarily cruel at this time in the war. Instead, he systematically disabled their offensive capabilities while leaving life support and basic systems intact. Within minutes, the Republic fleet found itself defenseless.
"Cortana, open a channel to the Republic flagship," Daimon ordered.
The holographic transmission activated, and Admiral Voss's image appeared before him. He looked tired and his uniform was disheveled, while his eyes were showing the strain of too many battles lost.
"Admiral Voss," Daimon began, "Your fleet is disabled. Your repair facilities are destroyed. You have no reinforcements coming and no hope of victory. I am offering you one chance to surrender and save the lives of your crew."
Voss looked at the Emperor for a long moment. He thought about his duty, about the oath he'd sworn to defend the Republic. But he also thought about the millions of sailors under his command, men and women who had families waiting for them.
With all of this weighing down on him, he made the most logical choice he could. "We surrender. I hope that you spare the lives of those remaining so that when this war is over, they may see their families once more."
Daimon nodded. It was a fair request and one he would have honored either way. "You have my word, Admiral. When this war is over, it will be people like you who saved more lives than you think you did."
With the Empress Teta system now effectively under Imperial control, it was time for Daimon to prepare for the final battle.
———
Meanwhile on Alderaan, the Imperium advance forces were encountering problems conquering the planet. The reason for this was not solely because of the Republic, but because of the combined efforts of the Republic defense forces and Alderaan defense forces.
The planet had 1 billion military personnel on the ground protecting it in addition to some surface to space weapons and thousands of anti-air emplacements. Alongside this, the people of Alderaan fervently supported their soldiers in the defense which brought numerous complications on the Imperial side.
Orbital bombardments were not permitted and the current ground invasion was resulting in tens of thousands of war droids destroyed.
The Absolutists faction of the Jedi Order was also present on the planet numbering in the thousands. On the Imperial side, most of the forces were being transferred elsewhere, leaving the Imperial attack on Alderaan to be severely weakened.
However, this wasn't just happening on Alderaan as it was happening on dozens of other Core worlds in an effort to keep billions of soldiers bogged down. By keeping these soldiers at bay, the Republic wouldn't be able to move them around to support other fronts.
And the reason for leaving these fronts without the support of the elite Imperial soldiers such as the Ascendants was to keep the Republic occupied. If they were too focused on the dozens of attacks on the Core worlds, then they wouldn't be able to figure out when the invasion of Coruscant would happen, which would keep them constantly on edge.
Though by appearing weak, the Imperium was risking the Republic either assuming that they were running out of manpower, or that they were preparing for a bigger invasion. It was gamble that they had to take as the invasion of Coruscant needed to be successful.
On the ground on Alderaan, the man who was valiantly leading the Republic forces against the Imperium was Grand Marshall Sebastian Yarrick. He has been leading the defense for the past few days and has earned himself quite the reputation from not just his men, but from the Jedi as well.
On top of the command bunker overlooking Aldera, the capital city of Alderaan, Yarrick watched as Imperial dropships descended through the clouds. He had seen more battles than most men twice his age, and he knew when an enemy was probing for weaknesses versus committing to a full assault.
And in this instance, it was a probe. The Imperium was testing their defenses, gauging their response times, and identifying weak points in their lines. It was a smart tactic, but Yarrick had been playing this game for a long time.
"Status report," he ordered, turning his officer next to him.
"Sir, Imperial forces are concentrating their attacks on sectors three, seven, and twelve. They're avoiding the civilian centers entirely, focusing on military installations and infrastructure."
"Predictable," Yarrick muttered. "They want to minimize casualties while maximizing our resource drain. What about our anti-air batteries?"
"Operating at 92% efficiency. We've shot down approximately three hundred Imperial craft in the last hour, but they kept coming. It's like they have an unlimited supply."
"They do," Yarrick said. The Imperium's industrial capacity was legendary. For every ship they destroyed, ten more could be produced. The Republic couldn't match that kind of output, not anymore at least. "Order batteries four through nine to rotate firing patterns. I don't want them predicting our coverage zones."
"Yes, sir."
From his left a Jedi Knight by the name of Master Kelvan Thross approached. He was one of the Absolutist faction leaders on Alderaan, a veteran of countless campaigns who believed compromise with the Imperium was tantamount to surrendering the Republic's soul.
"Grand Marshall, me and the Jedi Knights I've brought with me are ready to lead the counterattack," Thross stated. "Give us coordinates and we'll strike at their landing zones directly."
Yarrick studied the holographic tactical display floating before him. The Imperial landing zones were heavily fortified, surrounded by war droids and automated defense systems. Sending Jedi into that meat grinder would be suicide. He knew how strong they were, but even they wouldn't stand a chance without a massive, coordinated attack.
"Negative, Master Thross. Your Jedi are more valuable as force multipliers embedded within our defensive formations. If we commit them to offensive operations now, we'll lose them piecemeal."
"We're Jedi," Thross replied, his voice carrying an edge of pride. "We don't hide behind walls while others fight."
"I'm not asking you to hide. I'm asking you to fight smart." Yarrick turned to face Master Thross directly. "The Imperium wants us to waste our assets on futile attacks. Every Jedi we lose is one less Force user defending Coruscant when the real battle begins. And make no mistake, Master Thross, Alderaan is a distraction. The Emperor is coming for Coruscant, and when he does, we'll need every advantage we can muster."
Thross was a little annoyed, but he still nodded slowly. He was proud of his Jedi duty, but he wasn't stupid enough to rush into battle. "Very well, Grand Marshall. But if the situation deteriorates, I reserve the right to act independently."
"Agreed." Yarrick watched as another wave of Imperial dropships descended. "Position your Jedi at the breach points in sectors three and seven. If the droids break through, you'll be our last line of defense."
As Thross departed, Yarrick's communications officer spoke up. "Sir, we're receiving reports from the northern defensive line. Imperial forces are pulling back."
"Pulling back?" Yarrick frowned. "Show me."
The holographic display zoomed in on the northern sector where Imperial war droids had been advancing steadily for hours. Now they were retreating in orderly formation, abandoning positions they'd fought hard to secure.
"What game are you playing?" Yarrick muttered to himself. The Imperium didn't retreat without reason. Either they'd achieved their objective, or they were repositioning for something larger.