[right]Aryon Mountains, Two Klicks South of Acting Imperial Command[/right][hr]

Corporations would call this a collaboration, several Rebel SpecForces types with local Uslam miners, the best drilling and detonation engineers they had, working on a project deep in the mountain. It was several weeks' work to set up a contingency for invasion on their end; tunnels bored, wires laid, charges set. The idea wasn't so much to blow a section of the mountain off, though that was what was going to happen, as much as it was to create another chain reaction.

Grozaddik, the growling Wookiee SpecForces NCO in charge of the charges (heh) clicked back acknowledgement of the Captain's orders and then gave more orders to the rest, some of whom translated for the others.

The work still moved at a pace, checking the primers and making sure the explosives were in good condition. Function checks mattered. It wasn't just some explosive charges, but also some EMP, for a specific purpose. As large profile and loud as this was going to be, it was cover for something else. That didn't mean the operation was a facade, since they had a target and objective, but it did mean that one thing could also provide cover for another.

Grozaddik had to admire Shang's ingenuity here. They were all volunteers for the long haul. Rebel Command did not want to throw people away, but some of them wanted into the fight. This particular SpecForces detachment knew that they were on Uslam for the haul and probably to the end.

The troopers and the miners started calling out their status checks; once they were all green, they started to move to the exfil tunnel; dug in transport and everything they needed to get out into their next RV, so they could plan the next move of this conflict. Grozaddik, no fan of the Empire, hoped they'd enjoy the show.

[right]Secondary Imperial Command Center[/right][hr]

That was no laser. The charges themselves represented little in the way of threats, but there was something else, a rumbling.

Uslam was snow-bound, this was the winter.

The avalanche was not the minor ones that anyone that knew the place was used to. This was a massive thing that rumbled across the horizon, whose awakening roar could be heard for miles.

Entire rock faces were obliterated by expertly set charges, providing a smooth slide down, so that the snow and rock could gain momentum unimpeded.

Until it got to the Imperial base anyway. It was a SpecForces plan from the getgo, a classic sabotage move on their part calculated for maximum strategic disruption. It was one of a series of things planned to give the Imperials a hard time.

[right]Lorya[/right][hr]

If you could shoot at it from space, it could shoot back at you. And so Lorya hadn't been idle since the uprising either. With Imperial ships in orbit, the batteries that Admiral Xen brought down spun up to life. With city-based generators, rather than depending simply on more compact space-based generators (which were brought down and hooked into the grid as well) the City had plenty of power. The shields came down in a flash and the turbolaser batteries and an ion cannon all fired in concert according to a coordinated fire plan tied through a central computer system deep in the city.

Xen may have been abandoning them for a more favorable battlefield, but the ground-based fire added a new element to the touch and go of space combat -- now the Empire had to decide if it wanted to gamble its defenses on Lorya's firepower and shielding...and the shielding came right back up the instant that the firing ceased, giving the groundside crews time to recalibrate and recharge. They were managing the power supply carefully, and focusing the fire on the most immediate threats -- the Victory's and Imperials in orbit. The residents could feel the shudder of power systems and hear the screaming atmosphere as the turbolaser bolts superheated air, as well as watch the light show. In the Headquarters, much of the staff were devoted to either firing the weapons, coordinating the shields, monitoring power or generating reports from the sensors on what the enemy contacts were doing.