[b]Hyper Dreadnought [i]Bitter Work, 2nd Fleet of Recalcitrant Justice Flagship[/i]
High orbit of Luga IX, Luga system, Chelonian Dominion.[/b]

The night sky of Luga IX was alight with actinic fire as giants clashed high above. Orbital fortresses, weapon satellites, and a squadron of beleaguered light cruisers found themselves in a doomed battle against the forces of the 2nd fleet of Recalcitrant Justice. From his crash couch aboard the [i]Bitter Work[/i] Dominator Brosh-Vataga saw the battle, or massacre, unfold in real time and felt a deep melancholy. His duty was an unfortunate one, but it was needed to preserve the rule of law. The planetary branch of the Ministry of State had incited a revolt against Dominion authority on Luga IX 180 hours prior, they claimed that the current Vaata-Kreg was leading the Dominion towards disaster and that their only hope of survival was to break away from the Home Office on Chelona and start anew. It was unfortunate that their words had gained such traction and that they had managed to sway all orbital defense forces. If they had remained loyal then perhaps the Dominator would not have been needed. Many innocents would die for their transgressions, but that was the way it had to be. 

The [i]Bitter Work[/i] shuddered as another volley of missiles left their Gauss launchers. The battle had lasted a little less than an hour, most of it spent maneuvering into firing positions. 2nd Fleet had more than one hundred combat ships at her disposal, but even without the massive numerical advantage space war always favors the attacker over the defender. The rebel cruisers had been turned into pincushions by invisible beams of coherent radiation from dozens of sources, and weapon satellites were little more than disposable missile clusters, without ammunition they were no longer a threat. The orbital forts had fared slightly better, two of them had miraculously managed to survive the first volley of fire from 2nd Fleet in fighting condition. This was not to last of course, the latest spread from the [i]Bitter Work[/i] and the other warships in the fleet put an end to their fruitless rebellion. 

As the dust settled, the part of these operations that Dominator Brosh-Vataga hated the most was set to begin. Under normal circumstances the rebellious leaders would have been made example of. Were this a normal insurrection they could have simply sent down ground forces to wrench the capitol from the traitor's hands and keep the infrastructure intact. Unfortunately the Luga system was home to one of the Dominion's precious antimatter worlds and letting any potential traitors live with something so important on the line simply would not stand. For the sake of the Dominion, Luga IX would have to be made example of. [i]Bitter Work[/i] would handle the duty of purification alone as was only right. The flagship was the avatar of the Vaata-Kreg, it alone would put the world to the sword.

Brosh-Vataga motioned for his comm officer to patch him into Luga IX's public broadcast network. The people deserved to know the crimes for which they were to be punished. Clearing his throat, Brosh-Vataga began, "Citizens of Luga IX, your planetary leadership has been found guilty of the most heinous of crimes. They have deceived you through their lies into rising against the rightful authority of the Dominion and for their crimes I am afraid you must all suffer. Those loyal few of you who spoke out against these traitorous vermin and alerted us take heart, you shall be martyrs to the cause of peace and security of our glorious Dominion. For those who stood in open opposition know this; your names will be forgotten, your fleeting accomplishments shall be stricken from history, all that will remain of you and your legacy shall be glass and ash. You threatened that which is most precious to the Dominion and for that there will be no recourse, no mercy, no hope for you and your ilk. Make peace with your gods for you will find none with me." The Dominator severed the connection to Luga IX and nodded to his tactical officer as he sank back into his crash couch.

A trio of massive warheads began to descend onto Luga IX from the belly of the [i]Bitter Work[/i]. As they entered the atmosphere they began to divert course from one another to focus on their respective targets. At a height of 100km they unfurled like steel blossoms, splitting apart and casting dozens of seeds down onto the surface. Each weapon unleashed a total of sixty self-guiding submunitions from their bodies down towards the surface of Luga IX. Each submunition was a 2MT fusion warhead, their simple targeting AIs were programmed for continental denial. Primary targets were population centers, followed by arable land, and finishing with military bases as the lowest target priority. As the emissaries of death fell their simple AIs came to a consensus on target placement and which bombs were to fall where. The simplicity and smoothness of the operation was beautiful in a way that was lost on the terrified citizens of Luga IX and the traitor soldiers who remained at their posts waiting for an enemy that would never come even as the bombs found their mark. 

Luga IX had been a garden world with a population of 4 billion pre-rebellion. After Rebellion it was estimated that 180 thousand had survived the initial attack, but would not survive the next year without outside assistance. Assistance the Dominion had no intention of sending.