Chad - Republic controlled world
The 7th Imperial Volunteer Army had arrived on the planet to help the Republic and the inhabitants of the planet against the Sith forces. The army was composed of 800,000 soldiers with support vehicles and other equipment to support them in the war effort.
Leading the army was Field Marshall Xandrek Vorn. He was 900 years old and was a veteran of several wars and conflicts before he retired. Now, picking up the call of duty once again, he volunteered to lead Imperial forces against the Sith.
Joining alongside him were some of his buddies who he served with. They were all together now after Vorn pulled some strings to get them all back together again.
Right now, Vorn was sitting in a room within the Republic forward operating base which was on the front lines. Sitting in the room with him were several Imperial officers, several Republic officers, some Jedi, and Republic General Elias Corvin.
"Before we begin this meeting, I would like to introduce Field Marshall Vorn of the 7th Imperial Volunteer Army." introduced General Corvin.
The Republic officers looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and respect. The Jedi in the room were more observant as most Jedi had not worked with the Imperial military in centuries. Because of this they wanted to see what type of person Field Marshall Vorn was.
Vorn was a Gen'Dai, which meant he was old enough that the Republic officers couldn't quite place him within any historical frame of reference they had. His armor was weathered from centuries of use. The scratches and repairs showed that he was had definitely been in combat, but they didn't know exactly how much experience he had.
He stood up from his seat, his height requiring everybody in the room to look up. "Thank you, General Corvin," he said.
"I will keep my introduction brief since I imagine everyone here would rather spend their time on the situation at hand than on pleasantries." He looked around the table.
"The 7th Imperial Volunteer Army is composed of eight hundred thousand soldiers. Roughly sixty percent are combat veterans of at least one major engagement. The remainder are trained to Imperial standard, which means they are better equipped and more thoroughly prepared than most professional armies you have encountered. They are volunteers, which also means their morale is high as they chose to be here." he paused briefly.
"Obviously, we are not Republic soldiers. Our loyalty is to the Emperor, but we are here because he recognizes the threat that the Sith poses. Lastly, I hope that through this war we can show the Sith that they are not as strong as the think." he finished what he had to say and sat down.
"Thank you, Field Marshall Vorn. Now let's start with some strategic analysis of our current situation." a holo screen popped up and showed the entire planet with parts covered in blue, green, and red.
The blue represented Republic forces, the green for Imperial forces, and the red for Sith forces. Just South of their position, there was a large buildup of Sith. General Corvin had already sent scouts and they determined that the Sith were building up for a potential attack.
"As you can see here, the Sith are building up for a potential attack on our position. Our scouts have confirmed approximately two hundred thousand Sith troopers and a significant armored component concentrated in this corridor here." General Corvin tapped the display, highlighting a valley that cut between two ridge lines.
"They have air support staging from a forward installation here, and we have confirmed the presence of at least three Sith Force users embedded with the forward units."
One of the Republic officers leaned forward. "Our estimates put their timeline at forty-eight to seventy-two hours before they move."
Vorn had seen this kind of buildup before. They were either confident in their abilities, or it was bait to get the Republic to focus forces elsewhere.
"What is behind our position?" Vorn asked.
General Corvin shifted the display outward. "The city of Neth Karas. Population of roughly four million. It is the primary civilian hub in this region and the largest remaining Republic administrative center on the planet."
"So, if they break through here, Neth Karas falls within a day."
"That is correct."
Vorn nodded slowly, understanding how serious this situation is. He looked to his left at the Chadra-Fan representative sitting among them.
The Chadra-Fan were short, rodent-like humanoids, usually no more than one meter tall, with bat-like faces. They were the inhabitants of Chad that peacefully integrated with the Republic some centuries ago.
The Chadra-Fan representative, a female named Tessik, had been listening to the briefing for a while now. She was the civilian liaison assigned to the forward operating base, and her presence at a military planning session was unusual enough that several of the Republic officers had glanced at her more than once since the meeting began.
"Field Marshall," she said, "My people have lived in the lowlands south of Neth Karas for generations. The valley the Sith are using as a staging corridor floods during the seasonal melt. It does not flood completely, but the subsurface drainage creates pockets of unstable ground that non-hover vehicles will sink into if they leave the established paths."
"How wide are those paths?" Vorn asked.
"The stable ground runs in three corridors, each no wider than thirty meters at the narrowest point." She stood and moved to the display, tracing the lines with one small finger. "Here, here, and here. Everything between them is deceptive. It looks solid from above. It is not."
With this information Vorn and the others spent another two hours planning what they were going to do.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet. Lieutenant General Vorak Thalos and his Volunteer corps were dug in alongside Republic soldiers as a relentless amount of Sith droids and troopers stormed their position.
The Republic officer in charge had died leaving another officer in charge. But the new officer in charge had made stupid decisions which led to the death of hundreds of Republic soldiers. This decreased morale and the battle was drasticlly being lost.
That was until Lieutenant General Thalos arrived. His official orders were to support the Republic officer in charge, but when he arrived and saw for himself what was happening, he decided to take control of the battle.
He had the demoralized Republic soldiers fall back to recover both mentally and physically. In their place he put his volunteer corps to hold the front. The Republic officer didn't like this as he saw it as his command be usurped.
But the Republic soldiers didn't see it as such and had decided to listen to Lieutenant General Thalos despite threats of court-martial.
"YEAAHHH GET SOME!!" Shouted Lieutenant General Thalos as he was manning the repeating blaster. In front of him were thousands if not tens of thousands of Sith droids advancing upon their position.
To his left and right were other elite soldiers assigned to his personal guard alongside thousands of other Gen'Dai soldiers.
Behind the army of Sith droids was a Sith lord himself, watching the battle unfold while growing more impatient. He thought this was going to be an easy battle, but once the Imperial Volunteer corps showed up, things changed in just a few hours.
Beside him, his apprentice looked up at him and wondered when they were going to join the battle.
But his question was answered as a few seconds later, his Master walked forward alongside the Sith droids.
The walk slowly turned into a sprint as the two ignited their lightsabers.
From his repeating blaster, Lieutenant General Thalos could see the glow of two lightsabers in the distance, dashing through the onslaught of Sith droids. He turned around, looking at the two behind him, "Here they come." he said.
The two in question were both Balance Keepers.
"We'll handle it general, just keep firing." said the first Balance Keeper as they jumped over the barricade and started to walk through the battlefield.
"Let's take our time, yeah." said the second Balance Keeper.
The first Balance Keeper nodded as the two grabbed their lightsabers and ignited them. The droids immediately turned their weapons on them, but it was not enough to stop them.
The two Balance Keepers dashed through the droids, cutting down dozens until they were right in front of the two Sith who also stopped in front of them.
The Sith lord pointed his lightsaber at the two and shouted. "Balance Keeper or Jedi!" he knew it had to be one of them, he just wanted to know which one.
"Balance Keeper, Sith" answered the first Balance Keeper.
"That's all I need to know." he said as he lunged at the first Balance Keeper, causing the two to lock blades.
The Sith apprentice also lunged as soon as his master did and had his blade deflected by the second Balance Keeper who was wielding a lightsaber pike.
The deflection forced the Sith apprentice's blade into the ground and allowed the Balance Keeper to kick him, which sent him back a few meters.
The Sith apprentice was seething with rage now since he didn't even have time to block. He picked himself up and readied his stance.
"Are you ready this time?" asked the Balance Keeper. The Sith apprentice didn't respond. Instead, he just focused solely on trying to kill the person standing in front of him.