Kamel Di Rappar stared in astonishment at his communicator. To be cut off in this way was beyond anything he had ever expected to experience. He sat back down on his bed in wonderment, possibilities whirling through his head. Great Khan Dessi Ra would have only reacted in that way for one of two reasons. Either he was engineering a takeover or they were really under attack. The Khan decided to call his advisors.
The first call went to High Khan Stephin Na Gunnrar, his senior advisor. That worthy was still asleep, but work up quickly when the call went through.
“Khan, I have heard nothing, I will check and get back to you.” Was the unsurprising reply. “But I suggest that you put your personal guard on alert.”
“I will, get back to me fast. Also wake up the Prime Minister and the Treasurer.” Kamel ordered. Standing, he walked to his door, opening it, the guard sitting outside the door came to attention. “I am ordering an alert, notify the guardroom.”
“At once, sir.” There was tapping on the comm, this was established procedure. Once done, the guard looked up. “Do you want the Heir notified, Khan?”
“No, let him sleep.” The Khan decided as he turned to go back into his bedroom suite. A series of beeps caused him to stop and turn around.
“What is it?” He asked sharply.
“Unknown space craft landing, Khan. It’s from the roof guard.” The Royal Guardsman, he was a long-time member of the Khan’s personal guard, stared at his comm. With a sudden movement, he rose from his chair and ran to a window in the lounge. Looking out of the window with The Khan by his side, they stared in disbelief at the sight of Lady Luca’s Own pouring out of their shuttles and driving towards the front doors of the palace. The guard raised his weapon.
“Don’t shoot.” The Khan ordered, “You’ll just draw their attention and return fire. Wake everyone up, now!”
Purposefully, the Khan moved back to his bedroom and swiftly dressed. Commotion in the corridor outside his room alerted him that the Mother had been aroused. Striding back to the corridor, he addressed his wife, breaking into her harangue of the guards. “Decca, we are under attack. We must get to safety now!”
Decca stared at her husband. “But …”
“But nothing, we must go, now.” Kamel Di Rappar strode with swift dignity towards the centre of the main floor where the exits were, “We must collect Katta and Jirril. Otherwise they could be used against us.” Tapping on his comm he sent a message to Stephin Na Gunnrar telling him that the palace was under attack.
“It was probably that slave Hono. She must have been in touch with these, these traitors!” Decca muttered.
“I doubt it, unless she has been in touch with people in another galaxy. We are being invaded.” Decca stared at her husband in horror. ‘How could he be so calm?’ She thought.
“I had considered this possibility, just not this way.” He pointed at a hastily dressed threesome hurrying towards them. Two guards were with them while Hono was being pulled along by Jirril. Before they could join together, two groups of strangely dressed soldiers appeared, one from the stairs and the other from the lift. Kamel swore softly. “Back, we must go back to the emergency exit.” He hissed, at the same time waving at his pair of guards.
*********
Awaken by a call from Stephin Na Gunnrar, both the Prime Minister Jouvet Ni Etien and the Treasurer Lennya Courtza were equally shocked. In a hurried conference the three agreed to go to their respective offices and see what the situation was once they got there. They immediately called for their official vehicles, but, to their surprise, their calls weren’t answered.
Further calls to the ground control bunker gave them information they refused to believe at first. Stephin Na Gunnrar had his personal guard commandeer a passing police vehicle and drive him at high speed to the command center.
*********
The Fifty Ninth, Lady’s Luca own, had not wasted any time. D company had sent a squad racing to the main doors which were blasted open. The rest of the company followed hard on the leading squad’s heels and headed straight up the stairs to the second floor. Both A and B company’s followed right behind. E company formed a reserve while C Company took up a guard position.
When encountered Royal guards were ruthlessly suppressed, any in the clear were stunned while those firing from concealed positions received either a plasma bolt or a dose of high velocity penetrators.
Going to the left, A company entered into a suite of offices. Two platoons went to sweep the area while a third turned to the right and entered the foyer to the tunnels. The fourth and fifth platoons formed a reserve.
D company sent all its strength up to the second floor when they found a nest of offices, one guarded. This was attacked and the guards eliminated. Two squads headed up the next set of stairs while the rest started to investigate. The private lift to the third had been noted in the scans and was immediately put to use.
The three troopers who took the lift came out into the study and surprised Katta, Jirril, Hono and their Guards. The squad appearing from the stairs added to the shock.
*********
The Khans son and daughter had been rudely awakened by the guards. Katta swiftly appreciated the situation and hurriedly dressed, taking his personal handgun, a projectile weapon from his nightstand as he did so. Jirril did not react so well.
“What are you doing?” Jirril snapped at the guard’s loud entrance, sitting up in her bed as Hono rose from her place at the foot of her mistresses’ bed.
“We are under attack princess.” Was the unexpected reply.
Katta appeared at her door. “Hurry, dress!” He shouted, buttoning his tunic. “We will be left behind.” He disappeared back into his room.
Hono had gone to a window, recoiling from the view of the legions landing shuttles, she backed away, turned and called to the princess. “There are strange craft out there!” She pointed to the window.
The reality of the situation sinking in to Jirril’s mind, she hurriedly dressed and, taking Hono’s hand ran to the door. There they were met by Katta and their two guards. Seeing their parents at the far end of the buildings main corridor, they started towards them when they were intercepted by the legion troopers.
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*********
Following on A and D companies, troopers of B Company, the last to enter the palace, had made a right turn into a connected pair of conference rooms. One squad, followed by the rest of its platoon, checked a doorway and found themselves locked in a fierce fight with the Royal Guards who had gathered there. While the guards’ weapons were inferior, in massed fire they were still deadly.
The rest of the company had flowed through double doors into the adjoining conference room. There they found another door and on opening it, the fight already in progress in the guards room. A second battle erupted which lasted until the last of the guards had been killed.
*********
The 92nd had landed the same time as Lady’s Luca own. Landing to the north of the palace, they had moved promptly to their blocking positions. While one platoon had investigated two disguised stairwells that had shown up on the scans with one squad sent up each. Entering them, each squad carefully but swiftly mounted the stairs to their exits on the top floor. Sending their reports, they awaited developments. They didn’t have long to wait.
*********
E company in the meantime was having fun dealing with roving patrols of guards who proved to be a nuisance, but were swiftly subdued. Smarter ones retreated out of range and gathered together. The Ninety Second battalion took over the hunting down of these groups and quickly rounded them up.
*********
On getting the alarm, the night commander of the guard called in all the guards in the building except for those at the front doors. On receiving the report of the roof guard, his orders became almost hysterical.
Somewhat better equipped than the majority of the Kingdoms forces, the royal guard began donning personal armour and loading their weapons. Crowded together and somewhat flustered, they neglected to cover the tunnel entrance to the administrative annex. This was to prove a big mistake.
*********
Sweeping through the offices, A company made contact with troopers of the 92nd. Encountering little resistance, they found the entrance to the access tunnels leading to the executive offices.
Third platoon was tasked to enter the tunnel foyer. On doing so, they came under fire from the guardroom. Aware that an attack was being mounted by B Company, they set up a blocking position and cut the guards of from either any means of escape or of providing any assistance to The Khan. Securing command of the lobby, and in full command of the office area, A company prepared to break through into the tunnels with the third and fourth platoons once the guards in the guard room were eliminated.
*********
To the north of the city, the two divisions of royal troops stationed there had been roused from their barracks. The general commanding the corps, flustered by the hysterical orders from Great Khan Dessi Ra ordered the alert units to head south as soon as they were ready. When the officers commanding each division suggested that they send units from the ready division followed by units of the reserve division in order, they were told to just get moving as fast as possible. Not wanting to be accused of disloyalty, the two general officers commanding the divisions complied although they came to a private arrangement in which each used different sides of the route. The route chosen was a divided highway which led directly to the location of the Khans Palace.
The ready units, comprised of a mixed battalion in each division, started south within a quarter period. While equipped with armoured vehicles and an air support squad, they were not prepared to deal with the Legions follow up division dropped on their right flank by an armoured planetoid. Armoured shuttles destroyed the air support squad while also attacking the advancing battalions causing chaos compounded by the rest of the Royal troops arriving into the cauldron. A company of the Legions troops also took up positions to block the advance on and around a bridge crossing the highway. They were supported by rotating armoured shuttles.
An officer commanding a brigade of the Khans Royal soldiers read the signs and saw that they were being flanked and blocked. He began to move his troops to their left off the highway into an industrial district. This was observed by the scanner operators on the support light cruisers circling overhead. Fleet Marshal Fitter was advised as well as the local commanders.
*********
“Do you need reinforcement?” Fitter asked General Ling-Ha, the commanding officer of the attack on the Kingdoms capital.
“I have sufficient troops including a second army in reserve, Sir” was the confident reply. “There are five divisions on the ground already and a sixth ready to go to assist finishing off the attack from the north. They will prevent any deep extension into the industrial area. The thirty fourth division staff has it in hand. I also have the two brigades uncommitted at the palace. One of these could be moved and the other held in reserve.”
“Good, it’s all in your hands.” The marshal turned his attention to his other concerns, the space port and all other troops stationed on the planet. These were stationed at several important areas, and had an air component. Armoured shuttles transported the legions troops to the ground and provided air cover. They immediately set about dispersing themselves and taking up positions where they could ambush the royal troops.
*********
The command centre at Destrons main space port was now crowded with senior officers including a very frightened High Khan Stephin Na Gunnrar. On his arrival he tried to contact the palace but got no reply. Reading the earlier message from The Khan, he realised with dread that he was on his own. The thought paralysed him and he looked at the other officers, reading the expressions on their faces.
While security troops controlled the area around the bunker, buried deep under the space port, the Royal troops stationed there had been formed into two ad hoc formations of about two brigades each. These started their advance on two widely separated axis and therefore were unable to support each other.
Watching carefully, the legions corps commander ordered each division to put a blocking force in place then mount a flank attack on the kingdoms force, sending all information she had to the local commanders, she left the details to them. The kingdoms force were sent reeling and scattered with most captured. The advance on the space port continued.
*********
At the palace, the Khan and his wife opened the door to the hidden stairwell and started down the stairs with their guards, one guard leading with the second following. The Khan and the Mother following several steps behind. The squad from the ninety second, warned by sensor readings engaged camouflage mode on their armour and waited for the contact. Green stun beams spouted and the troopers jumped over the comatose bodies of the guards. Although the Khan and his wife were not taken completely by surprise and started to run, the legion troopers were faster, wore powered armour and the royal pair joined their guards’ unconscious bodies on the floor.
*********
At the same time, on the other side of the top floor of the palace, a similar scene had taken place with the prince and the princess.
Seeing the legions troopers, Katta, the Heir, shouted, “Get back to your room.” Jirril and Hono both screamed and froze. One of the guards pushed them to the side and threw up his weapon. A stun beam knocked him down as other beams stunned the rest. Katta got off one shot before he was stunned. But all that did was scar a trooper’s armour.
Along with their parents, they were checked by a medic and then secured. The royal guards were removed to a makeshift prison.
“Sir, check this one out.” The medic checking on the captives called to the company commander who stepped over.
“I see, a slave.” The captain nodded after a quick appraisal of Hono.
“Shall we transfer her to the other slaves?” The medic asked.
“No, just keep her separate.” The captain replied after reflection. “She must be a personal slave of one of these two.” He gestured at Katta and Jirril. “We don’t know if the other slaves will accept her and she might know something.” The medic nodded.
The sergeant in charge of the security detachment was called over.
“See this one, keep her apart. She is a slave but may have important information. But put guards on all of them.” The captain looked the two women over, noting their skimpy attire. “And get a blanket or something from a bedroom to cover those two!”