24 hours later
The Sith Empire had not responded to the Imperium's ultimatum. Instead, they continued their war against the Republic. In response, the Imperium officially joined the Republic in their war, however, a limited number of Imperial forces would be deployed to help the Republic over the course of the next few weeks.
Most of these forces will be completely autonomous fleets controlled by Imperial War droid Admirals and Generals. This would be until more troops were mobilized and spread out across the galaxy.
In total, the Veldari Imperium maintained an active military of 500 billion across all branches. This vast military was managed very strictly and Daimon ensured that standards did not fall, and the established traditions were always followed.
For the Sith Empire, Daimon decided to go himself. He knew exactly what they were thinking. They wanted to try and use the Killik's invasion as a reason to ignore him. He thought that his actions during past wars would have made the Sith realize just how unpredictable he is.
If they truly believed that this would hold him, then they still had a lot to learn. But regardless, he was going to make a statement during this war, so that his actions are forever embedded into the future.
He would be the one to show the Sith true fear, similar to when he destroyed the surface of Ossus and killed thousands of Jedi. Even now the planet is uninhabitable due to the continuous Force storms which raged on the surface.
This campaign against the Sith wouldn't distract him from his overall goal which is to kill Aruun. But knowing Aruun, he would wait to show himself before the galaxy again. This will give him time to deal with other things, while simultaneously searching for the Killik's homeworld in the unknown regions.
Daimon's first target would be the Sith's most capable warriors, the Mandalorians. They had been subjugated by the Sith for some time and were a big reason why the Sith were so effective in the war.
Daimon had decided that it was time to change this. Currently, the Sith Lord who wielded power second to the Sith Emperor was the one who held the title of Mandalore and maintained control over the various clans.
That Sith Lord was on Mandalore right now, which would allow him to take out the second most powerful Sith Lord and bring the Mandalorians under his control, killing two birds with one stone.
Before heading out, he gave orders to the Balance Keepers, Progenitors, and the other Ministry's. The Balance Keepers would now expand their operations officially across the known galaxy. Before the Balance Keepers operated unofficially and in secret across the galaxy, but now they will be openly moving throughout the galaxy with a mandate to restore the Balance of not just the Force, but the galaxy.
The Progenitors were tasked with leading the war against the Killiks. They would hold the line and seek out Killik worlds in search of Aruun and the Killiks worlds. Helping them would be the Kaelduun and his fellow dragons. They would mainly be helping Progenitor Varyn Dreyl who took over for Daimon.
The ministry's themselves would now shift their entire attention to the war. Already it was expected that hundreds of billions of people would sign up to join the Veldari Armed Forces, so they were preparing for that inevitability.
On top of that, assistance in the form of money and other means were being diverted to help war torn worlds across the galaxy.
With all of this settled, Daimon had proceeded to Mandalore, his first target among many.
———
Emerging from hyperspace at the edge of the Mandalorian system, Daimon brought with him a million ships. He was onboard the Luminary on the bridge of the ship watching the monitors as they lit up with red dots.
These red dots were the medium-sized Sith defense fleet for Mandalore. In the face of the Imperial fleet, the Sith fleet was nothing.
Daimon quickly analyzed the Sith defenses and ordered his fleet into sphere formation. The heavy defensive ships that could soak up damage would be deployed on the outer layer, while the carriers and capital ships would be deployed in the center. Battleships and other long range missile ships would be in the middle firing their long-range weapons.
The fleet shifted into the formation in a matter of minutes, utilizing onboard AI to plot precise flight paths and avoid collisions.
The Sith defense fleet took a spearhead formation, hoping to charge straight in and deal damage as fast as possible. They didn't have the luxury of being on the defense as Daimon's fleet would win that in a heartbeat.
"All ships forward," Daimon ordered as the fleet started to move forward to intercept the Sith defense fleet.
"Orbital defense stations have been confirmed. They are on the map now." Cortana said. She was standing beside Daimon in her physical android form.
"Good, once we get into range have our cruisers and destroyers focus on them while the heavy ships will take down the planetary shield."
With that, the two fleets clashed. The Sith's fast attack plan was unsuccessful as they had run into a giant defensive wall. The long-range weapons of the Imperium's ships had destroyed most of the Sith's front lines, destroying hundreds of ships in just a few minutes.
And as the battle went on, it was clear who the winner of the engagement was. Still Daimon's fleet took some casualties, most of which came from the Sith ramming their ships into the Imperium's ships.
Once the fleet was mostly dealt with, Daimon split the fleet up into two with the lighter ships dealing with the orbital defense stations and the bigger ships maintaining some distance for an orbital bombardment.
On the surface, Sith Lord Krell, the current Mandalore was preparing his surface defenses. He had been preparing for a face off against the Imperium for decades now. He has multiple defensive positions and bases prepared for this engagement.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't know that the person leading this fleet wasn't a normal person.
The planetary shields lasted a few minutes before they were destroyed under the Imperium's bombardment. Next, Daimon launched the ground invasion. The Orbital defense stations were all but disabled in an EMP which allowed the transports to make it to the surface without being potentially destroyed.
Following the transports were gunships, fighters, and bombers. The fighters moved in to get aerial supremacy, supported by aerial transport carriers that can be used to resupply and refuel.
The bombers followed close behind, dropping payloads that reduced Sith bases to smoking craters before a single soldier touched the ground.
Krell watched the destruction from his command bunker beneath Keldabe, the ancient capital of the Mandalorians that had withstood a thousand wars across its long history.
His warriors, hardened veterans who had fought in dozens of campaigns under the Sith banner, were checking their weapons and armor prepared for the Imperium's troops that they knew were coming.
"The clans are mobilizing," his second-in-command, a scarred veteran named Fenn Tarro, reported. "All twelve major houses have committed warriors to the defense. Even the neutral clans who refused Sith conscription are picking up arms. This is Mandalore. We do not surrender our homeworld."
Krell nodded, agreeing with Tarro.
Sometime later and the first Imperial boots were on the ground securing key positions. Balance Keepers landed alongside the Immortals and were securing positions for their own bases to get set up.
Daimon watched from orbit for now, waiting on the ground troops to secure key areas before he went down there.
The Mandalorian warriors came out from their fortified positions throughout the cities and various hills. Rockets streaked across the sky, smashing into both Imperium vehicles and Mandalorian positions.
While the Imperium utilized a mixture of light, medium, and heavy vehicles, the Mandalorians mainly utilized light and a limited number of medium vehicles. This was due to their tactics and the way they fought on the battlefield.
The Mandalorians utilized their jetpacks and aerial agility to fly over Imperial troops into the backlines. But they were intercepted by elite Imperium troops equipped with their own jetpacks.
A few more hours had passed, and the Imperium clearly had the advantage. Imperial Fighters had claimed superiority over the skies of the capital, allowing bombers and gunships to pound the remaining fortified positions.
Krell watched the feeds coming in from his surviving outposts, each reporter making their chances at victory slip away every second that passes.
The various clans that were holding different positions had to retreat to avoid bombardments. Some civilians got caught up in the bombardment as well, but the Imperium was well beyond the point of caring about civilian casualties in this war.
Once, city was softened up and the various defensive positions were being contested by Imperial troops. Daimon decided it was time.
He departed the Luminary on a gunship, escorted by several other gunships, fighters, and transport shuttles.
"This will be the first time we've fought together in a while," said Daimon talking to Cortana.
"Indeed, it will. I believe the last time we fought together during a war was during the Abominor war." replied Cortana.
"I've never fought with Cortana, so this will be my first time," said Lord Maxim standing beside the two of them.
The two Empyrean Guards and four Balance Keepers onboard just watched in silence as the three talked amongst each other.
On the ground, a group of Mandalorians saw the gunship approaching, unaware of who was on it and began to shoot at it. However, their shots hit the gunship's shields. And no matter how many times they hit it, the shields remained up.
So, after a few seconds, they stopped, only for the side doors to open.
Daimon was standing right there looking down at them as he jumped out of the gunship, aiming for the Mandalorians on the ground. Cortana followed him alongside the others onboard.