The doors closed as we flew out of the hangar, the LAATs were specifically made with vacuum protection, allowing the troops to be secure while we flew through space. Although it only allowed for a few minutes in space and it didn't have a hyperspace, perfect for flying out of the ship to the planet.
On the way I basically talked with the guys inside, Dengar was especially talksome today and couldn't stop talking about how he wrecked 232 droids during the battle.
Meanwhile, Bossk and Santo were standing in each corner of the LAAT, simply staring at each other.
I'll need to get that duel set up as soon as possible.
Soon enough we entered the atmosphere and headed to the Gungan military camp. They were situated about 3 kilometers away from the capital city. They had the entire shit surrounded.
Although Thorne was busy keeping Padme away from charging the city, he'd still surrounded and blockaded the city.
I could see the capital in the LAAT, they opened the doors when we entered the atmosphere.
The Capital was surrounded on all sides by gigantic catapults, used by the Gungans. However, there were also LAAT/c flying in Canderous-Class Assault Tanks and AV-7 Anti-Veichle Cannons.
Each capital had a few LAATs, especially the Munificent's. The Munificent's had a large cargo space and we had a lot of LAAT's inside those and they were then transferred to the hangars when the naval battle was over.
We flew over the city, and throughout it, I could see big pockets throughout the city. Every major road, parking spot, and open area had hundreds of thousands of organic sitting around. Surrounded by droids.
However even the droids weren't dumb enough to only carry their standard blaster rifle, no they carried heavy repeating blasters, capable of mowing down tens of thousands every minute.
Or that was what our reports and my macrobinoculars said, there might be a few differences but that's the main thing and problem.
If the droids get any indication of an attack, only 60 droids can mow down 10 000 citizens every second, and think of how many thousand droids there are, which is why we need to calm Padme the fuck down.
"Alright, land in the main camp." I told Fenn through my communications.
"Roger that." The response was.
And with that, we headed down to the main camp.
It was situated opposite to the main city entrance. It had a shield surrounding it, protecting the camp from any surprise attacks, although it was a bit too much considering the fact we had total air superiority and multiple squadrons patrolled the area at all times.
We landed just barely outside the shield and I headed in.
5 Guards, Jon, Robb, Santo, and Alexander followed me.
As we headed through the shields, the hundreds of gungans running around, some picking up droids, other commanders briefing their subordinates.
All of the Thyferran Soldiers saluted me as I passed through the swarm of men running around.
After a bit of walking, I arrived at the command center, it was an elevated position with stairs going up to it.
In the middle there was one Holotable, showing the city, the known droid positions, and our army.
"We need to attack! My people are suffering!" A female voice shouted, without a doubt Padme.
"Mesa agree with Padme! Wesa must destroy thesa bonkers!" Captain Tobler Ceel said, wanting to destroy droids.
"If we attack now hundreds of thousands of civilians will die! Haven't you seen the droid security? They're carrying weapons meant to kill civilians." Cealan Thorne said. Being the only calm one there.
"I agree with Commander Thorne, launching an all-out assault now is the wrong move, both in strategy and protecting the civilians. Viceroy Gunray is desperate, and a desperate man is dangerous." I said while walking up the stairs, making every eye turn to me.
"Whosa is yousa?" The Gungan leader said.
"I'm Count Thalron Veridian, leader of Thyferra and the Supreme Commander of the navy over your planet and the newly arrived troops." I said, making both the Gungan Leader and Captain scrutinize me. They had never seen me before.
The ones standing here were the Naboo officials, Queen Amidala, 2 of her handmaidens, Captain Quarsh, and his second in command. From the Gungans there were Jar-Jar Binks, Captain Tobler Ceel, and the Leader of the Gungans, also known as Boss Rugor Naas, lastly, there were the two Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn.
And of course Thorne from our forces.
"I, too, agree with Count Thalron and Commander Thorne. Attacking now is not the wisest course of action." Qui Gon said, just in time for General Tyr to also join us.
"What do you suggest then?" Padme asked, to nobody specifically. I could also see a slight anger, but it's good that she listens to her advisors.
"Yeah, I agree, although we can't launch a large-scale offensive, we still have to do something. The Trade Federation will try and save their Viceroy, if we drag this out they'll launch a new attack, and this one we won't win without the Republic." I said and General Tyr began speaking.
"Aye, we can't perform a proper siege and starve them out, that won't be probable even if we didn't have a bad time." General Tyr said.
"Mesa agree, more time isa bad." The Gungan Boss said, he probably just wanted his soldiers home.
"I suggest we launch a night-time surprise assault, take a few elite troops, and attack during the night. Droids need to recharge, which is usually done during the night so about 30% of their forces will be out." Thorne said.
"I agree, I got 5000 marines with jetpack available. They can drop onto the droids in the shadows of the night. It's the best way to not lose Naboo or their citizens." I said and they all nodded slightly.
"Mesa have an itty bitty elite unit," The Captain said.
"How many?" General Tyr followed up with.
"Um, mesa have umm 10 000, from desa royal guard." He said, after checking something.
"Alright, so tonight we launch the attack?" Padme asked.
"Aye, and you're staying back here," I said and she immediately got angry, though I think she understood my reason.
"What!? We're attacking MY city, where MY people live? How can I stay back!?" She exclaimed, outraged.
"Precisely, if you die the morale of over 2 billion troops and hundreds of millions of humans will completely vanish…" I said, the Jedi and my Commanders agreed. Padme had been the light of this entire war, the population held out due to her, they suffered a month of blockade but still held hope.
"B-but, you're going? You're also a leader of your planet?" She said, trying everything to let us allow her to join.
"Aye, but I've been given years of combat training, I'm surrounded by 200 of my best men and my armor is laser-proof, unless they hit a headshot, and most droids don't do headshots." I said.
"He's right, droids are programmed to aim at the body, not the head. And I've seen 2 of his guards, they helped me fight Maul." Qui Gon said, surprisingly joining the drama.
I guess he wanted to gain my favor. Maybe he'd take Anakin with him to me if the Council refused him.
"Can't I join Count Thalron? His guards will automatically protect me as well?" She asked, I think she bought over a few people with that comment.
"It doesn't matter, the fact still remains you'll be in danger." Captain Quarsh said, he for once agreed with us.
Honestly, I kind of understood why Padme followed the attack on the palace. They needed a Commander and a Morale Booster. But we had already won ground and air superiority, the remaining Trade Federation forces could not win against us.
I could see that Padme was downright sad, I could even see slight wetness in the corner of her eye.
"Queen Amidala… I understand your desire to protect your planet, but you must see beyond the battle. Although we are winning, the battle within the city is unpredictable and we can be pushed back. But if you die while we're being pushed back, the chances of us winning will decrease by 50% and our army might simply disband." I said and she began thinking, she finally understood the full extent of the weight lying on her shoulders.
"You create this alliance, if you fall. Chances are that you'll end the alliance as well." I said, and she finally gave up. We had a few good points and she knew it.
"Fine, I'll stay back…" She said finally, good.
"Alright, now. To sum it up, we're sending 200 Veridian Royal Guards, 5000 Thyferran Marines, and 10,000 Gungan Royal Guards, now. How do we get them in?" General Tyr said.
"Well, the Marines and Royal Guards will be dropped by the corsairs." I said.
"Gungan forces sendt by mesa water channels." The Gungan Boss said.
I pressed a few buttons on the map, they were taken by the pictures from corsairs, and were somewhat live.
I zoomed into the various water channels throughout the city.
The City of Naboo had multiple water bodies and small water areas. Like how Qui Gon and Obi-Wan entered the capital the first time.
"Hmm, very few of them are guarded. And that's mostly patrols." Thorne said and I nodded.
"I agree, it's plausible. Captain Quarsh, do you have any men inside the city?" I asked and he stepped up.
"As they entered the city I put about 1500 men spread throughout the city, they're hid in these different locations. Last reports say they're still there." He said as he pointed out the locations, we put red dots there.
"It would be smart to gather extra forces there, these men know the city best. And if the numbers are correct we can have 1 of them for every 10 of our other men." General Tyr said.
"I agree, are there any reports of tanks within the city?" I said, the map didn't show tanks and not precise droids, a single droid on the map could be from 12-120 troops.
"Our agents state that there are about 2 AATs in a team, and 4 teams patrol every large road throughout the city." Quarsh said.
"Shit, we'd need heavy guns then," Thorne said.
"Aye, we'd need to arm our men with detonators and rocket launchers, maybe even ion grenades." I said as I looked at the map.
"What security does the tanks have? Any extra droids?" I asked Quarsh.
"Aye, each droid tank has about 30 droids to it. Each team has 60." He said.
"We could have the men hijack 2 tanks on each major road. Due to their positioning, they could be surrounded as the tanks can only go on the roads, not between houses as it's too small." I said.
"Try to keep the damages to a minimum…" Amidala said quietly.
"Sadly, that option was thrown out the minute Gunray barricaded himself inside the city." I said and she nodded, I think she said it as a joke.
"Alright, and we need to get everyone to connect to the same frequency, we'll be jamming the enemies, or honestly we will at all times." Alexander said.
"How dos mesa attack Theed?" The Gungan Captain said.
I then zoomed onto the map.
"We should focus our attack on the Palace. Focus 2500 Gungans to the small island surrounding the Palace. I'll focus 4000 out of my 5000 Marines here, everyone else will be running attacks on the droid forces holding civilians hostage." I said.
The Palace was surrounded by a small patch of land, and around that there were water canals, and as such it could be called a small island.
"Have 1000 gungans come from both sides of the small patch of land and 500 come from the front. They should have 3 tanks standing in front of the stairs, we'll perform precise bombardment from the Cumulus Corsairs when needed, so call it in if you end up fighting them." I said again.
"Our marines won't just enter from the ground, we'll go through windows and side entrances. The Palace has a lot of breakable windows, which should be perfect for a quick and dangerous attack." General Tyr said.
"Also, we should perform a heat scan of the Palace, to get an understanding of where Gunray and his soldiers might be, the bonus of them using droids." Alexander said. Smart. If it went right then we could swoop right in and take Gunray.
"Alright, unless someone has something else to say, I suppose this is the end. Prepare your troops, we're attacking at precisely 0200 tonight." I said and they all nodded, walking away,
I wonder what Maul is doing, maybe Sidious gave him new orders to protect Gunray instead of killing Padme, Qui Gon, and Obi-Wan.
And will those droids be there? I'd like to get revenge.
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