[Erax]

Seeker I, Captain's log, SGY 2404.9 (first part):

The Alliance carriers came straight for Aram I as our Fleet waited on the other side of the planet. The two massive craft slowed down and began to release one wave of fighters after another. The fighters approached the planet and our ships like a giant, angry cloud of death.

We had Fyrine I and II in position over the enemy starport and spaceyard facilities, ready to drop our troops. Our current simulations showed that the Yakrin ground forces were too well entrenched on their mainworld for our meager invasion forces to stand a chance against them, but Fleet Command believed there might be a chance that they would surrender to us if the alternative were to be bLasted into dust by the Alliance. As the Alliance fighters approached, this chance was rapidly fading. The Yakrin refused to answer our signals, they were about to die attempting to defend their world.

We could do nothing but watch as the fighters deployed around the planet and poured a relentless storm of depleted uranium shells on the population centers below. We saw them destroy mining facilities, industrial complexes, even farms. They would show no mercy, this would be Aram IV on a much larger scale. And we could do nothing. The Alliance stubbornly maintained comm silence, as did the Yakrin. Neither would so much as admit our presence in this battle.

We watched as one quarter of the planet was depopulated. Then one third, then half of the planet. Their main starport was vaporized right under Fyrine I's nose and still we could only watch and update our planetary assault scenario.

The computer finally gave us the green light after nearly two-thirds of the planet had become a lifeless, crater-ridden wasteland. Fyrine II dropped her landing craft over the heavily-defended spaceyard complex, then moved away as Fyrine I approached. Ground-to-space fire was intense, and a quarter of the landing craft never made it to the ground. Many of those that did land were destroyed on the ground, before they could disgorge their Stormtrooper squads. The troopers that did make it out of their craft were soon involved in intense firefights in and around the spaceyard.

They did secure enough of the landing fields to allow Fyrine I's shuttles to land safely. The Army troopers of the First Planetary Assault Regiment helped turn the tide of the battle for the spaceyard, but by then there were barely enough functional Stormtroopers to make up a company.

Still they refused to let the Army finish the battle, and kept taking the point against surviving Yakrin militia units until the Last Stormtrooper fell. Casualties among Army personnel were also heavy, but after the battle around the spaceyard, enemy resistance fell off rapidly. In a few days, Aram I was ours, at the cost of all our Stormtroopers and 20% of our Army personnel.

To their credit, the Alliance fighters ceased their bombardment as soon as our troops approached the planet. They have since gone back to their carriers, which are now responding to our comm signals. We captured the entire Alliance operation on holo and transmitted the images to Starfighter Command on Gesaril II for analysis.

Now we must pick up the pieces down on Aram I. We will be sharing it with the Yakrin who survived and more than a billion alien ghosts.