Chapter 13 - The Andoran Massacre

The Prince's Army, 4 hours from Andora

The 150,000 men the prince had gathered were, at that moment, the most professional army in this world, yet there was a problem with provisions. Feeding such a number of soldiers was an incredible task, requiring great expense. As they marched, the prince's army, lacking food, simply plundered other villages, taking any food they could find: the last of the bread, livestock, meat, and precious grain. Prince Eugene did not understand that such cruel decisions would lead to his demise and to uprisings throughout the kingdom, but he was blind, thinking only of how to reclaim Andora. He believed that everything would return to its proper course if he conquered the city, that then he would become the new king! Riding proudly on his horse and leading his punitive force, he was approached by a concerned Duke Roosevelt.

"Your Highness, are you certain of the wisdom of these actions? Robbing and taking food from your own people could damage your reputation and your chances of becoming the next king."

"Duke Roosevelt, you must understand the importance of Andora! It is because of it that the kingdom began to suffer such a terrible crisis. Therefore, plundering a few villages to feed the army advancing on Andora will certainly pay off in time."

"But we have plundered not a few villages, but dozens! What will happen if His Majesty finds out about this?" Duke Roosevelt said with great anxiety. The old nobleman was an excellent politician and understood perfectly the consequences of robbing his own subjects. It would inevitably lead to a revolution, like what had happened in the Deidan Republic many years ago.

"Duke, how long will you bother me with such questions? Soon, this will all pass, and we will return with a victory!" Eugene said stubbornly. Roosevelt realized that arguing with the prince was utterly pointless. "We will soon be at Andora, and then we will show them our steel and crush the enemy leader!"

"So be it, Your Highness."

Andora. Military-Industrial Sector

Andrey walked through the factories, inspecting his army: its organization, the quality of the soldiers' equipment and gear, the supply of all necessities for the clones, and checking whether enough rations were being produced for every member of the Grand Imperial Army. But suddenly, Andrey's "Sixth Sense" skill activated! Goosebumps crawled up his skin; he realized that a huge and very dangerous enemy was approaching. He instantly opened the remote building management system and, highlighting all the barracks, ordered 4,000 clones from each; they would all be ready within 3 hours. A total of 10 barracks, each creating 4,000 clones, would cost Andrey about 400,000 credits. He still had 1,100,000 credits left. With 1 million, he built an aircraft assembly plant for the production of TIE fighters and bombers. The rest of the money he spent on creating residential blocks for his clone army, which could accommodate about 30,000 people in total. When the clones ordered from the barracks were ready, Andrey would have a total of 51,000 soldiers. He could house another 21,000 in the city due to its enormous size and vacant houses.

When the young emperor left the industrial zone, Andrey headed to the training ground for the Stormtrooper Corps cadets, where Lord Vader was located. In 10 minutes, he arrived with his guard and saw 6,000 men undergoing training. Some were learning to shoot and how to properly hold and maintain their weapons, others were undergoing physical training on an obstacle course or studying martial arts for close combat. Vader stood atop the observation post, quietly watching them. Andrey called out to him, and he approached and bowed to the emperor.

"I am glad to see you, Master. For what purpose have you come here?"

"Vader, we have a serious problem. My feeling has warned me of an impending threat, and not a small one, but a colossal one!" the young emperor addressed Vader with a serious face, who immediately became more serious.

"What happened? Is an enemy marching on our lands?"

"It is likely so, my apprentice. You will come with me to the castle, and together with Major Fox, we will begin discussing our plan."

"Very well, Master."

Lord Vader and Andrey wasted no time; they quickly drove into the city and headed for the castle. Arriving at the office, Major Fox reported to them on command. He wore the gear of a high-ranking officer and possessed excellent skills in organizing soldiers.

"Your Majesty, I am here on your command!" the major saluted and quickly approached the table, on which lay a map of the city. All three looked at the map, and Andrey began to trace his finger across it, explaining his defense plan.

"Gentlemen, the Force has just warned me of a threat advancing on our city. We will deploy all our forces on the city walls. We will place the special artillery in the square, as from the center it can fire at any point near the city. The AT-AT walker will guard the northern gates, and the Juggernaut with two AT-TEs will stand at the southern gates. I believe an attack from the south is more likely, as our smaller forces and the village we occupied earlier are to the north."

"Your Majesty, I propose placing light artillery on the walls to fire on their infantry and vehicles."

"Major, your idea can be implemented, but what kind of artillery do you have in mind?" the emperor inquired, while Vader studied the city map, understanding the gravity of the approaching enemy threat.

"Your Majesty, we have many mortars in the warehouse with 300 units of ammunition for them. Due to their small size and not very heavy weight, we can place them on the walls and shell the enemy before they reach the walls." Andrey remembered the mortars that were lying in the ammunition warehouse, which he had completely forgotten about due to new matters. The emperor was pleased with his major.

"An excellent idea, Major Fox. After discussing the plan, you will immediately go to the warehouse and take the mortars. Transport the ammunition on the Juggernaut."

"It will be done, Your Majesty."

"There is a high probability that the enemy numbers more than 100,000 soldiers," Vader said to the emperor and the major.

"How can you be sure that it is an army of another state?" the emperor asked his apprentice, who dutifully replied.

"I have heard from the townspeople that even an army of 75,000 could not stand against us. It is logical, then, that the army of the losing side would be doubled, and there might also be Jedi..."

"Indeed. The enemy army's strength when we attacked the city was about 75,000 men. There is a high probability they have doubled their forces to retake the city," the major said, and the emperor began to stroke his chin.

"Then we shall proceed as follows. All forces will be positioned on the southern side, and our AT-AT will remain in the north for backup as I said earlier. We will have approximately 51,000 soldiers, including military equipment. This means our forces will be outnumbered by their army by 2 to 3 times. With this, we conclude our staff meeting. Begin preparations and declare martial law in the city."

Major Fox left, leaving only Andrey and Vader in the office. Suddenly, the emperor remembered Princess Janet and wanted to ask Vader about her, as he occasionally visited her to extract information.

"By the way, Vader. What's with that girl in the prison?"

"You mean the one who was screaming when you were interrogating an aristocrat? She's become all gaunt, her bones are visible in some places. The girl is ready to die just to not endure this hunger... I think she can be used somehow..."

"And what use do you see in a girl weakened by hunger, who was recently our enemy?"

"In the best-case scenario, use her as a spy. In the worst-Darth Norktiss was a victim of your power."

"You are very well-informed for someone who has just recently joined us," the emperor said with a smile.

Exactly 3 hours later, all the combat clones were deployed from the barracks and sent to the walls; mortars were placed along the entire southern side of the walls. Several AT-TEs and the Juggernaut stood behind the gates, awaiting the enemy's arrival. An hour passed, and from behind the hills on the southern side, the enemy began to appear. A huge army of 150,000 men with Prince Eugene had arrived to punish the enemies of their kingdom! But Andrey was already prepared for battle. The SPMA were deployed in the square, mortars were on the walls awaiting orders, infantry stood on the walls and had set up a multitude of machine guns, and so on. The sun shone directly on the field separating Andrey's army and Prince Eugene's.

Prince Eugene's Army

The prince sat on his horse, looking through a spyglass and observing the enemy army. He had long since noticed the gigantic contraptions at the gates, seen the enemy soldiers on the walls, and smiled! There were 2-3 times fewer of them than his own army! He drew his sword from its scabbard and aimed it directly at the city.

"Well, my knights! It is time to bring justice to these fools who dared to capture our city and plunge our country into chaos! We will avenge all those who defended the city but died as heroes! FORWARD!!!" the prince shouted, and the entire army, with high morale, charged towards the wall.

As soon as their army began to move, it was met with powerful explosions. Blue lines and flying sparks flew towards them from a huge 10-wheeled wagon, heading straight for them and blowing up, scattering bodies everywhere! Tons of bullets began to fly from the walls, like a whole rain of deadly drops falling directly on the advancing army. The prince's army was losing many of its soldiers; they were scattered as if a child were throwing his toys in all directions. They hadn't even covered half the distance, and the prince's army had already lost 24,000 men! Such a number was killed in an instant! The explosions did not stop; the prince's soldiers fell and lay motionless with holes in their bodies; some lost legs or arms. Mages fired long-range magic in response, but they couldn't hit their targets! Huge 6-legged monsters began to fire at them without stopping, also using their secondary cannons against the infantry. The huge 10-wheeled behemoth fired a veritable horde of such arrows, blowing up thousands of infantrymen, then it drove forward and literally began to crush its enemies.

They all ran through the bombardment, and upon reaching the walls, the infantry began to attempt to climb them, pulling out grappling hooks. They used special small crossbows to launch the hooks to attach to the wall. When the hooks caught, the troops began to climb up, but they immediately became very vulnerable and became the easiest targets for the enemy soldiers who were shooting at them. There were also enemy soldiers who used machine guns. They simply walked up to a secured rope and placed their weapons right in front of the knights' noses, quickly gunning down those who were climbing up. Of the 150,000, no more than 60,000 soldiers remained! The losses amounted to 90,000 men! The prince, in the distance, watched through a spyglass, all sweaty and frightened! A small army, which was 3 times smaller than theirs, was simply slapping his army around, leaving a red mark from the blow. The prince understood why the army sent by the king had been destroyed: because the enemy army had no pity for the enemy... On the field already lay 100,000 dead bodies. The surviving knights simply dropped all their weapons and ran back in fear. They were being finished off, and only a hundred of the fleeing remained... The entire 150,000-strong army had been swept away by the enemy's 51,000-strong army... The prince was scared to death, but fortunately, he was guarded by 600 Holy Knights, who were also in complete shock from such a one-sided slaughter... Now this battle will go down in history as the "Andoran Massacre," where 150,000 people were mercilessly killed...

Andora. Andrey's perspective after the battle.

Phew... that was a massacre. It's even surprising that we dealt with an army of 150,000! By the way, I need to look through the binoculars to see if anyone is left on the hill. I saw 300 men and one handsomely dressed guy on a horse; it was immediately clear who it was. I decided to go with 1,000 clones and took Vader to those idiots who had sent 150,000 men to us to be our training dummies, just to shoot at them. In 20 minutes, we arrived right at them on the Juggernaut, and those 600 Spartans drew their lightsabers. I realized that these were the Holy Knights. Vader clenched his fist, wanting to draw his lightsaber and cut down all these enemies of the empire, but one of those Jedi decided to talk to us.

"In the name of the great temple of the Holy Knights and the Church of the great Creator, we will fight to the last," shouted one of their, most likely, captains. I quietly told Vader to draw his lightsaber, and we both drew them. All 300 knights drew their swords and did not take their eyes off us.

"Damn it!!! THEY ARE HERETICS... EVERYONE BE ON GUARD."

"Do you dare open your filthy mouth in my presence, churl? We are not heretics, but great Sith Lords. Lay down your weapons or you will be killed."

"Like hell I will, you devil in a cloak," shouted their young knight, apparently a novice, to be speaking so boldly in the heat of battle.

"Vader, care to warm up a bit?" I suggested he go out and finish off all these idiots.

"With pleasure, Master," he said, and with a quick step, he came out from behind me and activated his scarlet blade.

"Time to warm up," Vader said as he leisurely walked towards the Holy Knights, who began to approach him, swinging their swords. However, Vader was much stronger and more skilled than them. He raised his hand, and all the knights rose into the air. With his power, Vader cut each of them down.

Vader was taking their heads off without much effort, but the knights did not give up and attacked in groups. Nevertheless, when I noticed that a whole crowd of 200 knights was about to attack Vader, I decided to call him back.

"Vader! Back, there are too many of them." Vader jumped back behind me, and the knights turned to us, and I decided to say three words...

"Execute Order 66." The clones heard this and silently raised the barrels of their blasters, already aiming at those Holy Knights. They quickly turned and began to deflect the blaster bolts, but they could not keep up and grew tired, and so they were all quickly killed, leaving only one of their guys, the commander.

I walked up to this fellow and lifted him with my power. He began to float and gasp for air. And finally, I decided to tell him:

"In your next life, I wish you more sense."

"NO! NO! PLEASE, DON'T!" Crack and I clenched my fist completely, apparently breaking his neck, and he fell lifelessly. Judging by his clothes, he was a member of the royal family or a high aristocrat. By the way, I also saw two old men on horses with him, but they disappeared somewhere... Looks like they escaped. Well, let them. Let them tell the others not to mess with us.

Turning back to the city, I saw a literal red sea of corpses and their blood. I was tired of being limited to one city! It's time to take a bigger and tastier bite of the pie!