Summary:Back to the Front Lines...

  Warning! Chapters 66-70 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!

  Chapter 67: Back into the Breach

  Izuku, once more back aboard the Knight Errant, and more importantly back in orbit over Nal Hutta, was reviewing the test reports from various forward actions. He had, of course, been keeping abreast of combat operations the entire time, at least as much as he could. But enough of his time had been tied up with other things, particurly diplomatic and R matters, that he'd not been fully abreast on the war efforts. He'd made inroads to changing that as they plunged back into Hutt Space, but he'd needed to handle several situations along their route in as well.

  Including, as it happened, smashing another merc fleet that been attempting to ambush his forces moving in and out of Hutt Space in the Dohlban system, just outside of Hutt Space. Since the world was technically a Republic world, even if one so minor as to not matter, they hadn't taken it previously. Something which remained the case even now, as the world itself hadn't had anything to do with the ambush. This group of mercs had been made up of 'pirates' who'd been paid mostly to harass the League's logistics shipping, not fight their fleets. Pity for them that Izuku was more than capable of using the Force to track them back to their bases and wipe them out before they could cause any true mischief. The locals had honestly been quite grateful, though the Hutt influence there was too strong for them to openly ally with the League…yet.

  The result of several such minor issues pguing his return into Hutt Space had been that he hadn't quite caught up to the exact current state of the war. Something he was doing now from the many dispys of the Fg Bridge, and with the assistance of a few aides to help him organize everything. Frankly, things were looking mostly good, but they were also slowing down. That had been inevitable, but it was something they needed to fight for as long as possible. The longer they managed to maintain a pseudo-blitz, the more of Hutt Space they would be in control of when the equilibrium inevitably shifted against them. Humming, he cupped a palm around one world on the main holo-dispy that was glowing an unexpected color.

  "Trotter? What the heck is going on with Diyu?"

  The Lieutenant that was his primary military aide snapped to near-attention and immediately answered. A good man with an incredible ability to sort detail, but not a very inventive or creative one.

  "Sir! There's a sve revolt going on there, sir. Not one of ours. We'd avoided trying to do more than pnt some loose seeds there because of how industrialized the world is. As you know, the War Pnning Committee decided not to try rebellions on major industrial centers, as the Hutts were too likely to dump lots of mercs into such worlds to make things extremely bloody. It seems we had a bit of an intelligence failure on this one, though, as it appears the locals had been pnning to revolt for some time. Possibly for up to a decade, given the level of fighting and the successes they've managed. Whoever is leading them did a damn good job of giving them a chance…but the pnning committee was right, too. If you'll look at the data for Ylesia?"

  Izuku frowned. There were a few minor systems between Ylesia and Diyu, but…ah. It was immediately obvious what his aide had meant by directing his attention to the system. He nodded and voiced the obvious.

  "They are staging through Ylesia. Outside mercs brought in from various pces by the Anjiliac kajidic? Looks like an effort completely outside the joint operations against us. Which is causing them to pull in troops from pretty far away. Bastooine I remember from looking into extra-Hutt Space holdings by the various kajidics. But where the hell is Rattatak?"

  His aide, as always, was quick to supply the information.

  "Clear out to the gactic west, sir. It's not a Republic World, but it's a known haven for pirates at the like. There's some sort of gdiatorial games there, as well, which is probably why the Hutts had connections to it. Lots of them like that sort of thing. Best we can tell from what our agents in Ylesia report, they basically bought several heavy freighters worth of mercs from a few of the warlords constantly fighting over the pnet. Paid them mostly via weapons to keep killing each other with. Old stock from old wars, rather than anything truly modern."

  Izuku grimaced. That was one of the problems with the Hutts. They'd been around so, so stupidly long that you could never tell what each of the kleptomaniacs might have just sitting around in deep storage. The Anjiliac had probably offloaded junk weapons from the Sith Wars or older on a backwater where they'd still be useful…and gotten something vaguely like veteran combatants they could use as cannon fodder in exchange. Ones from a violent, war-torn world that probably wouldn't blink at sughtering a bunch of unarmed sves to put down a revolt.

  "What's the situation on the ground on Diyu? Do we have people in contact with the rebels?"

  Trotter hesitated.

  "Yes, sir. We do have contact. But they are pretty…belligerent. They aren't willing to hand over the fighting or command to us. Meaning anyone we put in is going to be either forced to work under them or around them."

  Which would be a poor use of their own ground forces. Trotter didn't say it aloud, but Izuku heard it anyway. Part of the reason they were starting to slow down was that, despite their buildup, they still only had so many ships and so many bodies. Even more than the ships, it took a lot of troops to take a hostile world, and despite their force multipliers of droids and mechs, there were just ft out limits to how many worlds they could put significant ground forces on at a time. The Lieutenant was quite right that Diyu, which hadn't been on their list for immediate conquering, wasn't the best pce to use what they did have still in reserve.

  On the other hand, Izuku had just spent a couple of weeks overseeing an influx of irregur forces. Many of which weren't the right types to mesh easily with their own force mixture and tactics. Quite a few of whom had also come with him as he returned to Hutt Space. Either catching a ride or using his forces as a shield against the increasing 'pirate' attacks trying to stop anyone not Hutt aligned from getting into Hutt Space. Most of the groups were ground troops, after all, with minimal ability to protect their assets in space. Considering it, Izuku nodded and started flicking through the assets he had yet to commit to one fight or another.

  It didn't take him long to isote three groups as the core of an idea. A full regiment of Ailon Nova Guard, a group of just over three hundred Echani, and one of the remaining units of the Shattered Shackles. The Nova Guard showing up had been a hell of a surprise, but apparently they had a looooonnngg list of grievances and broken contracts that the Hutts had built up over several millennia. Izuku honestly wondered if the Hutts even realized that the Nova Guard had been keeping detailed notes about any and all such breaches of contract to be 'paid back in due kind when possible.' Combined with their 'might makes right' sort of philosophy making them admire his current efforts, the Nova Guard had decided to send along a ready regiment to start paying the Hutts back for some of those contract breaches. Along with making it clear that the rest of the Ailon Nova Guard was open to being contracted for more fighting.

  Given that was a sizable force, Izuku was seriously considering it.

  One of the reasons he hadn't pulled the trigger on it yet was that the group were…not exactly on the same philosophical wavelength as him or the League. At all. Which could be a lot of trouble in the long run. Still, the regiment already present were a formidable force that could operate independently. Preferred to do so, in fact. They could easily put the hurt to Hutt forces without having to even interact with the locals. They did, however, have a bit of a fw in that they weren't really the types for asymmetric warfare. They wanted straight, highly organized and pnned, fights.

  The Echani, on the other hand, were the opposite. Sort of. While also a warrior culture, their fighting mentality was extremely individualistic. They fought as incredibly capable individuals rather than as a group, and few of the collection that had felt called to respond to the situation in Hutt Space had even known each other beforehand. They were capable of coordination, certainly. But it would honestly be best to deploy them as small groups against strategic targets. Adding them to the equation would add in that asymmetric warfare element that the Nova Guard cked.

  The st group was the most necessary, but smallest in number. Most of the Shattered Shackle had been split up to be used as a core of veterans among the various ground forces. Yet, Izuku and the pnning committee had decided to keep a handful of groups, ranging in size from twenty to forty, together. Part of the reasoning had been to have them as a group that could hit legitimate targets in Republic space if needed. They were a mercenary unit in good standing there, after all.

  The bigger reason, however, had been that the Shattered Shackle had a reputation that the League currently did not. Specifically, a reputation among sves. They'd been active long enough to have made their way into whispers among sves on hundreds of worlds. Thousands, more likely. Which meant they would be a known quantity that sves were more likely to be willing to trust, in so much as they would trust anyone.

  That was clearly needed here. Committing one of those groups to work as a go between and bridge between the locals and the two other groups should smooth out the rough points. It still wouldn't be ideal. But their presence should make the situation workable. All without having to commit too much in the way of the League's own armed forces. It should work, at least somewhat. So long as the other part of his forming pn also worked.

  "What do the Scouts have to say about defenses in the systems between Diyu and Ylesia? For that matter, what about the defenses of Ylesia itself?"

  This time, he could feel his aide's surprise, and the Lieutenant had to actively refer to various reports for a few moments.

  "Ummm…there's basically nothing in the systems between Diyu and Ylesia. The systems are occupied, but it's small-time mining and refinery operations. Mostly there to keep specific resources going to Diyu, honestly. As for Ylesia, it's a major spice refining pnet. That means it's got decent anti-raider defenses and a few squadrons of fighters. No seriously heavy defenses, though. Anyone after the pnet would be after the spice, normally, so it's all geared to defend against a raid-and-run."

  Izuku nodded, already looking over the hyperne between the worlds, looking for particurly narrow points. Just because their interdictors weren't ready yet, didn't mean they couldn't pull a more traditional trick. Given the people they were pulling it on, it was even ironically appropriate.

  "Alright. We've got a narrow window here to secure a potentially useful chunk of that whole hyperne. Which will, just incidentally, also help keep the pressure up if we can push on afterward to seal off another entry point to Hutt Space at the Outnd Transit Station. Here's what we're going to do…"

  ... ... ... ... ... ...

  AN 1: Trotter isn't canon and hasn't been mentioned before. I just realized that Izuku is juggling so many things at this point that he sort of needs more than just Asora as an assistant. Trotter is his military aide. Where Asora is his business/legal/political aid.