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 lights of the entire city had been turned off as the Dorin forces pushed harder against the combined Y’Ish and Yarl lines. Even though the front line was still tens of kilometers away, nothing was left to chance. The two main power plants that fed the city were ordered to shut down. All of the law enforcement and extra troops were called in to help civilians trying to leave the city. Just over the horizon, the amber glow of the front line and the sounds of combat filling the night air caused even more to want to left the city. This added to more chaos in the city and increased the demand of the local authorities. And this was just what Field Marshal Model was hoping for when he asked the Dorins to launch their futile attack. He knew that the attack would fail against the better equipped Varl and Y’Ish forces, and he didn’t bother to tell the Dorins that either. He didn’t a sound diversion and it was time that they became useful. The goal of this mission had nothing to do with the Dorin’s or the hundreds of thousands of Varl and Y’Ish defenders. What was at stake was the fate of this entire war. Intelligence had alerted them that the Varl were sending another five million troops to the Y’Ish lines. The war had to be over before those troops could arrive.

Like the rest of the city, the Presidential Palace was also blacked out. A lone figure slid down a rope in to the center of a hallway. Along the sides of the hallway were a group of five soldiers. The group was a mix of humans and Bothans, each were dressed in the armor that was common among the Reich Navy Special Forces. All were fully out fitted with assault rifles, pistols and gear all needed for their special mission. This was a Reich Special Forces team that were honing in on their target. Captain Vizgoth moved carefully down the cord next to the darkened floor below. The roof top landing was a daring one in broad daylight due to the nature of the roof its self. To do so at night while the entire site was on alert was just plan crazy. And that is how many would label Ohgu Vizgoth. Captain Vizgoth was part mad, part genius and all brave. He and his Special Forces team were just the team Field Marshal Model needed to open up the front door. Anywhere else within the Reich, he was just a Bothan waiting to serve a drink or fix something. However here within the Iron Brigade, he was a Reich Officer, a professional soldier. His Commander had called on him and Captain Vizgoth was going to deliver on that request.

Captain Vizgoth searched the darken hallway of the Presidential Palace. He slowly reached to the midsection of his weapon and flipped forward a small screen. The device turned on and it started to make a slight beeping sound in his helmet. The newly released AR-40 assault rifle was one of the finest weapons he had ever seen. It was modular so that they could swap accessories as the mission demanded. It was lightweight and short for close quarter combat. And most important though not needed for this mission, the upper receiver and barrel of the weapon could be changed out for a longer barrel. This could turn the AR-40 in to a highly effective sniper rifle as well. For this mission, each rifle was fitted with a silencer, and most had some type of scope or advanced sight. His however along with one other rifle were fitted with silencer and a heartbeat sensor. He moved forward to an intersection and scanned both ways. The halls were clear, as what was expected. This section of the building had started renovations shortly before the war. This section was expected to have limited patrols. It had been cut off from the rest of the building and the few corridors that connected to this side were heavily guarded. Captain Vizgoth had a plan. They had watched the guards and how they patrolled for two days. The five soldiers that patrolled the roof of this section were relieved every forty-five minutes. Three long-range snipers laid them down before they ever heard the gunshot that killed them. This opened up the roof for the landings, and now Captain Vizgoth had just over thirty minutes to reach his goal.

Now it was a matter of timing for their success. They had to reach the control room that was located in the main section of the Palace with minimal contact. Securing the control room was a must before the relief soldiers return in thirty minutes. If Captain Vizgoth failed to reach his goal in the time allowed, than the alarm would be sounded and the objective would be evacuated from the Palace. If they were to end this war tonight, then the objective must not be allowed to flee the Palace. Captain Vizgoth smiled as he watched the last of his ten-man team strike team slid down the rope. He pulled the second rope, which freed the rope, and it fell to the floor. The man collected the rope and passed the signal to their Captain. Captain Vizgoth checked his watch and smiled as he thought, 'it is a walk in the park' while he motioned his two fingers over his shoulder and then split them as he pointed forward. The motion told his team to break in to two lines and hug the walls then follow me. He started to move forward with his team.

They moved silently down the corridor in to the darkness. Each soldier of the strike team moved with their weapons up and facing the direction they were looking. The two soldiers in the rear were latterly walking backwards with their weapons up and facing behind them. They moved carefully and steadily, like the highly trained soldiers that they are. Even though they are armored and fully equipped, and they were still very silent as they moved. With heartbeat sensors in front and in the rear, this made the team highly protected as they moved. The sounds of the conflict were getting further away meaning that the front and the offensive were being pushed away from the city. Their plan was working just as it was laid out. The team approached their first waypoint and slowed down. Captain Vizgoth lowered himself to the floor as the rest of the team took up points to cover the group. He slid himself along the floor carefully. His heartbeat sensor was already reporting to him that there were contacts near by. He slowly slid up to the intersection stopping just short of the corner. He moved the muzzle of his weapon forward till it cleared the corner.

He saw three soldiers on station at a checkpoint. They were on guard but not searching the area like they should have been. ‘Why should they, the fighting is moving away from the city. There is no report of enemy troops near by. And the control center was watching each approach to the building.’ All he needed to do was pull the trigger three times and each of them would be dead. However that trigger the alarm and the objective would be evacuated. He watched them carefully for a few moments and then motioned to his troops. He waited for a second as he continued to watch to three soldiers. He waved the first group forward and they silently moved forward and crossed the intersection. They took up guard on the other side of the intersection while Captain Vizgoth watched the three soldiers. Once more he waved the next group across the intersection. Once more the next group moved forward paused then moved across the intersection unseen. Captain Vizgoth repeated this until his entire team had crossed the hazard and were moving once more. With the hazard cleared, Captain Vizgoth checked his watch and noted that they were two minutes ahead of schedule. The team moved on to their next waypoint. He made sure that they kept pace with his timing. He needed to continue to shave of time as they moved.

As they reached their next waypoint, his heartbeat sensor alerted him to the life forms ahead. Once more, he brought his team to a stop and moved forward silently to check the hazard. The elevator lobby came in to view and so did the two soldiers standing in the middle of the room. This area was supposed to be cleared of any enemy troops. This was a problem because they needed access to the elevators to reach the lower levels. Each soldier carried a combat rifle at the ready. They were out fitted with the standard Varl assault rifle. It was a sturdy and well-built weapon that rifled a round that would make short work of any foot soldier. Captain Vzgoth’s team is better protected against this weapon. Taking damage is not the concern with this hazard. Killing the soldiers was going to be a must but shooting them took a risk of their rifles going off. It was a risk that he couldn’t take. He slid back and brought up the map of the Palace that their spies had provided. He came up with a plan and knew what had to happen for it to succeed. He called up two of his men with hand motions.

They could easily use their combat radios like on other missions. However they didn’t want to take a chance of their signal being picked up and intercepted. While nether the Varl or the Y’Ish could not decode the signal in time to do anything about the daring raid. However, if the signal in intercepted, than the alarm could be sounded. Again it was a risk that Captain Vizgoth was not willing to take. He gave the two men their directions and explained to the others what was going on. Like all other units in the Reich, learning low-tech forms of communication became almost like second nature. With the situation explained and the two soldiers moving back to a near by intersection, Captain pointed at one of his men. On that motion, he and the man that he pointed at started to remove their heavier gear. Silent and fast movement was going to be needed to take the two soldiers down. The two men moved back towards the elevator lobby silently and waited. They didn’t have to wait long. They four men couldn’t see each other so timing was going to be important. Captain Vizgoth watched his watch. At the right moment, he gave the signal to his partner in this little take down operation.

Both men got ready to rush in to the lobby once the signal was given. They waited in a state of being primed. Each man knew tat they had only one chance to do this right. Failure meant a gunshot or a shout and the alarm being sounded. Taking a man down was easy. Taking a down without him being able to yell out a warning was also easy. Taking a man down who had a weapon at the ready and his finger on the trigger without making a sound was much harder. Here is where their skills came in to play. This is what they have trained; to take down high value targets, silently. Then it happened, a slight noise. Both soldiers turned and raised their weapons in the direction of the noise. In that moment, both Captain Vizgoth and his fellow trooper rushed up behind them as silently as possible. Nether soldier heard the approach of the two men as time slowed. In this moment, the life and death of these two soldiers and the war would be decided. If the alarm is sounded, than the objective will flee and the war will continue. Coming up behind the two soldiers, Captain Vizgoth and his trooper each lowered an arm as they rushed forward.

The two men were just getting their weapons up to their faces to look down the sights as the two Reich Special Forces troopers moved in behind them. Nether of them saw the arm shooting between their legs and then upward. Both men were caught by surprise as they were lifted in to the air slightly. They were just high enough for the two troopers to pull their legs out from under them. With their free arm the two troopers forced the heads of the two soldiers forward and downward. Both soldiers saw the ground coming up fast towards them as they let go of their weapons to brace for the incoming impact. Both soldiers brought their hands forward to protect their heads from the coming ground. It was a learned reaction from very early childhood that could not be unlearned. Both Captain Vizgoth and his partner forced their soldier downward with one arm while pulling their combat knife with the hand that they just pulled back from between the legs. The two soldiers hit the floor hard as the force of the troopers added to the hard landing. The two knifes were drove in to the base of the soldiers skulls.

Death was not immediate. The second knife attack across the exposed throat ensured a quick death. The two soldiers were dead and Captain Vizgoth gave the all-clear signal. One of his men rushed forward and started to open the elevator doors. The two decoys returned to the team as they cleared up the mess of the two soldiers. None of them liked the idea of stuffing the bodies in to a janitorial closest but they had no choice. It was Captain Vizgoth who said a kind word over the two men who just died for their government. “Today, you gave all that you had for your cause. No one can deny this. It was enough. Rest in peace, Bothers.” He said in a whisper while a few of his team paid their respects as well. Nether body was looted, it was not their way nor was it the way of the Tenth to rob the dead. The bodies were treated with respect and as far as Captain Vizgoth cared, it was time well spent. With the doors finally opened, the team used their rope and slid down the rope silently in to the darkness. The last man down closed the doors from the inside. This ensured that their movements would be less likely to be stopped.

Moving through the lower levels of the Palace was much harder as they had to ensure that the cameras as well as the guards did not spot them. But once more their training paid off as well as their ability to plan ahead. The lower levels of the Palace had more camera's and more guards to contend with. The former was more trickier to deal with than the latter. A few days as this mission was in its final planning stages, a very sophisticated virus was uploaded in to the mainframe of the Presidential Palace's computer networks. It was not something that the team wanted to relay on completely so they saved activating the virus till last. The virus allowed the team to move about the lower levels invisible to the cameras. Because the Palace had some of the best programmers within the Y'Ish space, or at least that is how Captain Vizgoth had expected, they only planned that the virus would be useful for only ten maybe fifteen minutes. Once they hit the lowest floor in the elevator shaft, they double checked their maps and activated the Virus. The warm up time allowed them to drop in to the elevator and force the doors. During this time, the virus was creating a string that would mask the Reich SF team. Once the warm up was over, the team moved forward still trying to remain away from the cameras, just in case.

Still they crossed living guards. Unlike upstairs, these guards had to be taken down. The virus masked even the killing of the guards as they were silently killed one by one. Captain Vizgoth knew this map like the back of his hand. He knew how many steps it was to the next door and what the doors were made of. Studying for a mission was key to becoming a leader of troops in the field. Ten targets down, and the main door was just coming in to view. Twelve targets down and they were at the door. The door was made of heavy metal and could easily be breeched by a charge. But Captain Vizgoth had a better idea. A breeching charge could leave one or more targets inside with the ability to sound the alarm. He was going to use a key. So far luck had been on his side, and he needed just a little bit more to finish this mission. He waved for one of his men to move forward while giving a new signal to the rest of them. Six of his ten trooper team fanned out in groups of two. They were going to finish off the rest of the guards on this level. The remaining three and himself were going to secure the control room. He had five minutes before the ten minute limit on the virus expired and seven minutes before the guards on the roof were to be relieved. It was only a matter of timing now. He took up his weapon and waved the barrel of the weapon towards the room. The heartbeat sensor told them that there were three maybe four targets inside. He didn’t like the reading because it was too unclear. He didn’t have the time to waste but at the same time he couldn’t risk this one.

He directed the trooper next to him to get a better look in to the room. The trooper pulled a small flexible rob from his pack and connected it to the Captain's armor. He then slid a flat flexible rod under the door and an image came up on the Captain’s heads up. The Captain nodded, as he was grateful for being cautious. There were a total of six total targets in the room. Two soldiers were standing in the center talking over a desk and some paperwork. Another soldier was sitting at his post behind them watching his screens. Two soldiers were to the left watching their screens and talking about something. The last soldiers was by a refrigerator looking for something to either eat or drink. Each of the soldiers were armed with pistols and a rack which could hold ten rifles was to the far left. There were only six rifles currently in the rack. This told the Captain allot about the situation and how it will end. He turned to his men and gave them their orders as the rod was removed. The Captain was detailed in explaining everything that he saw through his sign language. This was not going to be an easy task, but it had to be done quickly and with all the skill that they had.

The trooper with the rob got a nod from the Captain. On that the rod went back to its place and a new device came out. The Captain put his rifle on his bad and drew his pistol. At the same time he removed the strap to his large combat knife as he put his pistol in his off hand. He motioned, weapons free as the tech trooper ran a card through the electronic key slide. The box connected to the card started to do its magic. The troopers lined up behind the Captain as the tech trooper would be the last man in. The prime targets were the ones at their stations. The secondary targets were standing in the center. The lowest priority was the man at the refrigerator. The device clicked off the digits as it was unlocking the code to open the door. Each trooper knew their duty and knew their part in this mission. He was proud of each of his men for what they had done to reach this point. In a few minutes, the war was about to be over. Captain Vizgoth nodded at each of his men as each returned the nod and acknowledged their understanding. This was it, this was the end game for them. Two more numbers to go and the door opens up for them. Once this part of the mission was over, the other teams would move and take care of the prime objectives. However, none can move until this mission was completed. Captain Vizgoth placed his hand on the door and double-checked his silenced weapon. 'Last digit' he thought as he watched the numbers click by. “GO!”

The door blew open as everyone turned in shock to sound of the door opening. As they watched almost like a deer caught in headlights, a large armored man pushed through the door and pulling a large bladed weapon out. The armored man rose his left hand and fired the pistol he was holding in it. The rapid fire shots sprayed the two men in the center, nicking one more than once. The two man dove for cover as the armored man leaped hard to the right and hurled his knife through the air. The shots were meant to separate and move the two men. The Captain wasn't aiming at them for the moment. Captain Vizgoth dove to the right as to clear the way for the next trooper. The knife flew past the two soldiers who were seeking cover from the incoming fire. The knife flew through the air and nailed the soldier at his station. His hand only a few centimeters from the alarm when the large knife split his head open like a hot knife through butter. It sank to the hilt in to his skull as his body flopped out of the chair. He landed dead on the floor just under his station. His eyes locked at the alarm he never reached. The trooper right behind Captain Vizgoth leaped in after him and turned to the left. His weapon was already up in his shoulder as he cleared the door and his target came in to view. He didn’t care about the two men in the center of the room or anyone else. He had only one task at hand and that was his entire world. He took aim and fired at the two men at their stations. A short six round burst riddled both soldiers with wounds. The second trooper kept moving forward to clear the door as the next man behind him moved in a fired as well. And again, a short six round burst at the same two soldiers. The two soldiers were dead before they hit the floor. The two troopers continued to move to the left firing again was the dead soldiers just to make sure. They cleared the door way for the last guy to entire in to the room.

One of the men in the center leaped up and rushed to a station to activate the alarm. The third trooper lit him up with a full burst of auto fire. The soldier didn’t make two feet before he was cut down by the high rate of fire from the compact assault rifle. Seizing the moment, the last trooper pivoted on his heels and fired through the desk in which the second soldiers from the center had dove behind for cover. The desk offered very little protection from the armor piercing rounds of the assault rifle. The rounds passed through the fake wooden desk and killed the soldier hiding behind it. The last soldier at the refrigerator drew his pistol and opened fire at Captain Vizgoth. One shot hit his leg and a second hit his shoulder. The shots hit the Captain knocking him to the floor. It was the second guy who turned around and shot and killed the last soldier with another short six round burst. The Reich soldiers scanned the room once more making sure each soldier was dead. The shots had a chance to warn others, so despite the two wounds, Captain Vizgoth got back up quickly and checked the monitors. He needed to make sure that the rest of his team was doing their part. He deactivated the virus and watched as his troopers were finishing off the last soldier on this level. The Control Center and the level it was on now belonged to them. He activated his radio and ordered the rest of his troopers to secure the level and wait for further orders. He then switched to the unit channel, “Field Marshal, the front door is open. Come on in.”

Captain Vizgoth watched the monitors as the rest of the unit attacked soldiers along the perimeter. From here he could watch the entire take down of the Presidential Palace. Even though they were silent kills and no one else knew better. The Captain watch through the monitors of the control center each move that their unit was now making. He watched another monitor as soldiers on the roof started to drop from being shot. It was the unit’s snipers clearing the way for the troops moving in to the Palace. He smiled at the skill of his unit and doubted if any other Reich unit could have thought up such a plan. His eyes moved from the monitors showing death after death. They stopped when a red mushroom shaped button came in to view. It was the alarm that would have ended this mission long before it started. He stepped away from the monitors and took a seat in a chair. “Medic please!” he said removing his helmet. The shot was painful enough but he wanted to finish his mission first.

The low caliber pistol round that hit Captain Vizgoth's leg armor had deflected harmlessly away. The shot that hit his shoulder however, hit a weak point in the armor between two plates. The medic came over and started to remove parts of the armor. The blood made the wound look worse than it really was. The medic nodded as he started to treat the wound. “It is a in and out wound Sir. Little loss of blood but you will be fine” he explained as he bandaged the wound. “Well, it looks like you get another Heroes Cross for being wounded in combat Sir” joked the Medic. The Captain smiled at the comment as he turned his attention to the monitors. Troopers of the Tenth were already entering the Palace without anyone knowing better. He could see sentries being cut down before they even realized what was going on. This was going to be a picture prefect operation, one that would cause other powers to step up and pay attention. One more reason why the Reich military is a force to be respected. One more reason why the Reich is the rightful force to rebuild the Republic.

This gave the Captain another thought about the lack of skill or honor from the Dorin military. “One more reason why we don’t need those damn Dorins” The Captain mumbled as he watched his unit dismantled the Palace Defenders one level at a time. He didn't trust them. Not after what happened to their POW's. Those soldiers had surrendered to the Reich, not the Dorins. The Dorins had no right killing them.