The planet Vanda was next in line for Imperial invasion, and Imperial emissaries were sent to parlay with the King of the Vandals, Venpa.
"So, King Venpa, his majesty the Emperor has sent us his esteemed emissaries, to give you a choice. You may surrender now or face our champions in a War Festival to decide the fate of your planet. Of course you may choose to face us in conventional warfare, but no one would ever be foolish enough to choose that. Now please sir, make your choice." The emissary said.
"I chose war." King Venpa replied.
"A War Festival? Yes very good we will make preparations at once." The emissary said.
"No you fool! You misunderstand." The King of Vanda stood from his throne and severed all the emissaries' heads with a single swing of his mighty axe. "I want a REAL war."
"Send their heads back to Lakashia with the message: We declare war on the Celestial Empire!" King Venpa continued. "Send word to Genthur, tell him it's time to begin the assault."
The Vandals were joined by a multitude of planets from their galaxy. The Vandal Coalition forces marshaled numbered over 100 Billion soldiers from over 90 planets. Their surprise offensive took the Empire by total surprise. Most planets in Imperial territory hosted small inexperienced garrisons if any at all.
While the Empire had to deal with rebellions popping up every now and then, it was unthinkable that someone would actually attack an Imperial planet. Therefore, little thought or resources were invested in defenses. This allowed Coalition forces to rapidly advance, capturing vast swathes of territory before the Empire could respond with its more professional forces.
As the Empire lost more and more ground to the Coalition, an increasing number of planets were willing to join their war efforts. For the first time in over five centuries , the Empire had been bloodied by its enemies. High Command could not let this humiliation stand. They frantically rushed to marshal forces to respond to the Coalition's assault. The Empire's total military strength totaled in over 20 Trillion soldiers, a number that dwarfed the Coalition's.
The problem was that moving troops of such magnitude from the vast reaches of the Empire took time and they were unprepared to respond to such swift attacks. High Command appointed two Great Generals to lead armies to crush the Coalition.
The attack on the Eastern quadrant would be lead by Great General Majeli, He would led an army of 2.8 billion men.
Great General Majeli
Age: 56
Ht: 7'7
Wt: 488 lbs
Special Ability: Movement Signs
The attack on the Southern quadrant would be led by Great General Clyne and his force of 1.9 billion men.
Great General Clyne
Age: 49
Ht: 6'5
Wt: 259 lbs
Special Ability: Black Blade
A third force would be led by "Star" who as the Head Captain of the Royal Guard was equivalent to a Great General in authority. He would led 1.5 billion elite troops.
These elite armies would have no issue crushing the enemy. The issue was that assembling such mighty armies would take at least a week. This was time the Empire did not have. Therefore, vanguard forces of whatever the Empire could muster would be thrown in to try to halt or at least slow the advance of the Coalition forces.
"So that's the situation men. As the captain of a War Festival team you are technically the equivalent of a General, so "War" you and your men are under my command. You will follow my orders to the letter do you understand?" Great General Clyne said.
"Yes sir." "War" said as he saluted.
"Hmm, you're less rambunctious than your reputation suggests. Anyway I've explained the critical situation we're in. It's imperative that your men stop the Vandals in their tracks." Great General Clyne said.
"Your target is Zerga, this planet is at the center of their southern offensive, taking out their army here would be a severe blow to their momentum and allow us to set up a temporary defensive line where we can hold them until we can muster a full army."
"Once you've established control of Zerga, you are to counter attack the enemy sweeping the 7 planets directly north of their center forces. Their forces are stretched even more thin than ours are these planets won't have large garrisons. I estimate 10-20,00 at most. Doing so will split the enemy battle lines in two causing an even greater delay in their offensive."
"It's a tall task I'm asking of you. Do you think you can handle it?" Great General Clyne asked.
"I won't let you down sir. My men will crush the enemy and push them back." "War" replied.
"How many men did you face during your battles on Ichia?" Great General Clyne asked.
"Around 100 million to our 110,000." "War" replied.
"That's impressive, but these men are nothing like what you faced in that battle. They have less than 450,000 troops on Zerga, but these men are battle hardened and skilled warriors. They aren't push overs." Great General Clyne said.
"Understood sir, how many men will I be leading into battle?" "War" asked.
"We need to respond quickly so in addition to the 7 Elements' personal armies, I'm authorizing you to mobilize 100,000 of your troops from Vercheg. You'll also be bolstered by an additional 100,000 troops from the Imperial Reserve. That brings your total complement of soldiers to 280,000. You are to set out and rendezvous with your reserve forces the day after tomorrow. The assault will take place the following day. Good luck General." Great General Clyne said while saluting.
"Thank you sir." "War" said returning the salute. As the call cut off "War" turned to his team and said, "Being a general is so cool."
"I thought he was acting strangely professional, I guess he gets fired up at moments like this. His title "War" is pretty appropriate don't you think?" "Wind" said.
"Yes it would seem so." "Earth" said chuckling.
"Alright men you have your orders move out at once." "War" said.
"War" set out by that evening, with a host of 180,000 mighty men of Vercheg. After two days he had added 100,000 reserve troops to his army and made landfall on Zerga.
"Toudou, Denjimi, get the men to set up camp here. The enemies position is in the wooded area to the north of here. We'll organize our forces to attack at daybreak. Once they've completed the encampment, tell them to rest up and prepare for battle tomorrow." "War" ordered.
"Yes sir!" They said in unison.
"General I'm glad to see you've arrived. My men were on their last legs we couldn't have survived another day of battle." The man speaking was the commander of the Imperial Militia forces on Zerga.
"You did good to hold out for as long as you did. How many men do you have left?" "War" asked.
"Just 10,000 sir." He responded.
"That's enough, your men will be a critical factor in the battle tomorrow so get them prepared." "War" said.
"Sir with all due respect. My men are no where near as skilled and powerful as yours. In addition to that, they're exhausted and wounded from the previous day's battle. They don't have much left. I don't see what more they could contribute to the fight."
"I don't need them to fight. Just trust me your men have done enough fighting I won't put them in harms way." "War" said patting the Militia commander on the shoulder.