Centran Armed Forces

For other uses, see CAF .

The Centran Armed Forces, abbreviated C.A.F., was the main fighting branch of the Centrality. Established as an organization for the self–defense of the Centrality created in 2,000 BBY by a Hutt–Republic treaty, it initially consisted of volunteers and mercenaries and was divided into a naval force led by a magistrate and ground units controlled by army generals as well as a separate special forces division, all three branches supervised by the incumbent Prætor. Typically deployed in smaller fleets or, on the ground, division–size units, the C.A.F. combated Hutt piracy and criminal activities, participated in peacekeeping duties on worlds Rimward and guarded key government buildings within the Centrality itself.

After nearly two millennia without significant changes, the rise of the Galactic Empire revolutionized the C.A.F. and the Centrality. Thanks to Imperial investments and supports, the armed forces were expanded to a million soldiers and two hundred warships by using conscripts from the Expansion Region and purchasing Dreadnaught–class heavy cruisers. During the period, the navy saw action in the Battle of the ThonBoka Nebula, an attempt by the Imperial viceroy and dark side prophet Rokur Gepta to root out gambler Lando Calrissian, but failed due to the resistance of the native Oswaft. The C.A.F. then underwent gradual devolution following the shattering of the Empire in 4 ABY and the subsequent end of financial aid; the economic depression lasted until 15 ABY, when newly elected economic minister Vilos Cohaagen initiated a rearmament and reform program that ultimately ended the recession and extended the armed forces to fifty million men.

Following the annexation of the two spinward neighbors of the Centrality in 23 ABY, the C.A.F. fought local resistance movements in a colonial war that resulted in losses numbering hundreds of thousands of combatants on both sides. Seven years later, the Centrans were forced to withdraw due to the population's attitude on the conflict. In 130 ABY, when most of the remaining units were wiped out during the invasion executed by Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire.

History[]

Establishment and initial operations[]

As Galactic Republic expansion trailing from the Perlemian Trade Route reached its peak around 2,000 BBY, the Hutt Empire began to fear from the loss of its dependencies and colonies in the region. After years of confrontation, the two powers agreed to call a congress to the neutral planet Bothawui to decide on the future of the region. The negotiating event resulted in the establishment of a non–aligned buffer state rimward of the Triellus Trade Route and coreward of Wild Space. The resulting political entity was named the Centrality and advisors from both governments were sent to coordinate the setup of its facilities and national organizations. An army of 20,000,000 and a navy of 5,000,000 was created as part of the treaty to provide a solution to the piracy that, at the time, plagued the territory.

The new armed forces, their capital ships and heavier armament leased from the Republic, were initially occupied in breaking down the string of pirate bases that had formed along the Cadma Conduit leading into the Centrality; such establishments consisted of asteroids reinforced with durasteel that could accommodate hundreds of criminals and about two frigates. The operation, whose final goal was to make shipping along the Conduit safer, succeeded in destroying 47 of the estimated total of 50 by 1,900 BBY, killing an estimated 12,000 pirates and capturing three warships in the process. This allowed for the reduction in patrols aiming to prevent the supply of such establishments, thus allowing for additional forces to guard key locations.

From 1,850 BBY, piracy reemerged as a threat, as long-range light destroyers originating from Hutt worlds continually traversed the void trailing of the Centrality to obtain valuables and slaves in hit-and-run attacks on Centran planets and merchant shipping. To counter the emerging threat, the C.A.F.'s leadership introduced convoy shipping; cargo ships were only allowed to travel in formations of ten to thirty guarded by one or two heavier warships and multiple lighter units and gunboats. Forty percent of all combat–capable ships were allotted to the task, while the resulting reduction of planetary defenses was countered by the construction of space stations. Around seventy percent of the project was financed by the Galactic Republic, which considered it an opportunity to weaken the Hutt–backed criminal organizations in the region. Apart from monetary support, the Republic also aided the Centrality in acquiring the raw materials, primarily quadanium steel and durasteel alloy, and transporting the resources to their destinations. Until the operation's conclusion, approximately 1,200 Republic starships took part, shipping two million tonnes of metals and destroying around three hundred pirate craft. The total cost of the construction project, combined with that of the maintenance of the participating ships, numbered thirty billion Centran credits.

Anti–piracy offensive[]

Centran operations 1,800-1,700 BBY — Map of Centran and Hutt movements, 1,800–1,700 BBY

With the conclusion of the space station project, the C.A.F.'s leadership devised a strategy to assault the de jure neutral worlds trailing of the Centrality that harbored Hutt criminal activities. The offensive was preceded by years of exploration to find safe hyperspace routes through the Open Sea, a region of almost completely empty space in the area. Due to the lack of nearby bases, the cartographers only managed to complete their objective when C.A.F. operatives seized a small Hutt asteroid establishment that could be used as a supply point. By relocating their communications and reconnaissance equipment to the newly captured location, the C.A.F. managed to find the path used by the Hutt–operated vessels and pulled back to Zebitrope after logging the discovery.

Following the charting of the pirates' strike route, a detachment—two Hammerhead–class cruisers and thirty starfighters—of the Second Fleet at Tund were moved to Zebitrope to supplement the units already stationed there. The Galactic Republic also sent 500 volunteers and military advisors, who were to help in coordinating the operation. The first engagement took place two weeks after the movements had concluded, when a patrol sweep of two corvettes and ten fighters investigated the source of a signal their sensor systems had detected. The ships came into contact with a Hutt capital ship of unidentified class and opened fire on it, eventually pulling back after more incoming craft had been detected. Hutt casualties numbered around 50 crew members and one damaged cruiser, while the Centrans lost two fighters and one of their corvettes.

The skirmish prompted the Centran Armed Forces to review their tactics, as the tactical branch of the leadership declared that the previous method—the use of light warships and fighters—was vulnerable should the patrol encounter larger enemy vessels. To provide a fix for the issue, the C.A.F. resorted to pulling the patrols back to a radius of no more than ten light years around the object to be protected, allowing the heavier units stationed there to intervene in a shorter time interval if called. In the following month, 23 skirmishes were reported, of which twelve required assistance from more powerful warships; total Centran loss was fifteen fighters and a corvette, while Hutt casualties were reported to be at least twenty fighters and two larger craft. The increasing losses on the Hutts' end resulted in the use of more ships during movements and the reduction of the number of reconnaissance missions. The primary targets of pirate attacks also changed: the raiders shifted their focus on planets near the rimward end of the Open Sea, such as ThonBoka and Douglas, a feat made possible by charting a hyperspace route through the region, which branched off the original lane leading to Zebitrope near the Open Sea's westernmost point. The C.A.F sought to find and block the point of divergence, but the advance was stopped by a line of Hutt stations trailing of the Centran border, which caused the fleets to get bogged down in advancing from asteroid to asteroid to root out the pirates stationed in them. The strategic situation remained unchanged until around 1,700 BBY.

Breakthrough and termination of Hutt activities[]

Centran operations 1,700-1,600 BBY — Map of Centran and Hutt movements, 1,700–1,600 BBY

In the years following 1,700 BBY, the Centran Armed Forces received twenty Centurion–class battlecruisers from the Galactic Republic, along with communications equipment and other shipboard auxiliary systems. The strengthened Centran fleets managed to destroy the remaining Hutt establishments blocking further advance towards the pirates' point of origin and the C.A.F. moved into the area, constructing bases on smaller asteroids and comets to aid in supplying the forces spearheading the assault. The naval base at Tund also dispatched units that proceeded along the raid route leading to ThonBoka; the two fleets met at the union of the two routes in 1,690 BBY. Approximately two hundred Hutt spacecraft had been destroyed during the operation, with Centran casualties numbering 4,000 personnel and around 170 ships.

Further espionage conducted in the vicinity of the Alik Nebula—declared a neutral zone separating Hutt territory and the Centran sphere of influence—revealed Hutt fortifications and warships in the area; agents dispatched to the local administrative center, Ebusk, reported the presence of Hutt war matériel, officers and miscellaneous military personnel. The C.A.F.'s high command feared that the concentration of forces may be preparing for a retaliative attack on the Centrality as a prelude to a full–scale war against the Galactic Republic and contacted the latter party, providing it with copies of intelligence reports and reconnaissance data and requesting aid in the form of capital ships. The Republic government, preoccupied with investigating a possible Sith reemergence on Dromund Kaas, stated that it was, in its current state, unable to supply warships free of charge; as a compromise, the manufacturer of the Hammerhead class, Rendili Hyperworks, donated ten newly produced cruisers that were to be paid for over a period of fifteen years.

The Centran Armed Forces then initiated a special forces operation by inserting over 100 personnel of the covert operations branch supported by hundreds of intelligence operatives and at least five sleeper agents. The troopers executed raids and attacks on warehouses, command outpost and docks and sabotaging ships and equipment necessary for the handling of goods and machinery. The actions, codenamed Operation Sparkle, were called off a year later; until then, the participants destroyed or rendered unusable over 8,000 tonnes of Hutt supplies and equipment, killed more than 200 military personnel and conducted 1,200 actions of sabotage, with their own losses numbering 50 killed in action, 120 wounded in action and 10 missing in action. The wounded were treated at a makeshift hospital disguised as a restaurant operating in the capital city of Ebusk before being extracted over the course of weeks. One of the transports was detected by the Hutts and shot down, killing a further twenty medical personnel and victims, after which the site of the takeoffs and landings was moved to a forested mountain range ten kilometers from the capital, where the Centran craft landed in a clearing.

The decades that followed saw skirmishes along the border, both Centran raids on Hutt stations and Hutt sneak attacks on the Centrality's fleets. The standoff only ended in 1,600 BBY, when the Republic dispatched a flotilla to ensure the neutrality of the Alik Nebula, which resulted in the near–complete removal of Hutt military from the region and mutual supervision by both parties. As a result of the retreat, the Hutt Grand Council ordered the cessation of active invasive action in and around the Centrality, attempting to create political instability instead; logs of the meeting and the decision were classified and would only be leaked a millennium later.

Reorganization and inner tension[]

CAF guard on Erilnar — A C.A.F. trooper on Erilnar.

As Galactic Republic intelligence determined that Sith activities had restarted in Sith Space and its proximity as well as other Outer Rim worlds, the leadership Centran Armed Forces decided to conduct a restructuring of all branches to be able to combat the possible threat more effectively. The navy's capital ships, which had been operating alone or supporting smaller formations, were regrouped into blocks of five to ten warships and their support units, while the size of a stock division was increased from 3,000 to 5,000. The plan also saw the expansion of the special forces with a thousand additional soldiers and the purchase of modern military vehicles and spacecraft from various Republic shipbuilding enterprises.

The expansion of the military was viewed by certain student groups and pacifist political parties as the first step on the route to the devolution of local democracy and rioting spread across the Centrality. The attendants of the universities of Scillal attacked police stations and government facilities, while ten thousand people attempted to storm the parliament on Erilnar to keep the politicians hostage. In response, the law enforcement units were bolstered by soldiers armed with non–lethal weapons, such as sonic rifles or stun guns, thus reducing the number of protester encampments. Proprietary organizations dealing with riot control were also established, including the SRCTF—Special Riot Control Task Force, a rapid response detachment consisting of police officers receiving military training—the Political Security Group—a branch of the special forces concerned with organizations thought to be preparing for forced overthrow of the government—as well as a civilian company coordinating the equipment purchases of law enforcement units. The Centran embassy on Junkfort Station became the gateway to the galaxy for these projects as the receiver of foreign transports and intelligence.

In 1,549 BBY, the Political Security Group zeroed in on Leonard Gashkiy, a lesser Black Sun leader and weapons dealer who was observed several times in the Centrality, often with transports. The Centran Armed Forces' intelligence department determined that he was funding and arming a Hutt–dominated opposition cell preparing for a coup. A plan was made to kidnap or assassinate Gashkiy, but he traveled to Coruscant in 1,548 BBY for a longer absence. Due to pressure from the government and the high command, the Centran special forces devised a black operation to neutralize him; the operation was carried out the same year and resulted in Gashkiy's death, along with the loss of fifteen agents. A total of thirty–two persons deemed dangerous were assassinated until 1,500 BBY.

New Sith Wars[]

MaldranForestsAblaze-CPCW — Centran aerospace assault craft set fire to a forest on Maldra IV.

In 1,466 BBY, the Galactic Republic suffered a defeat in the Battle of Mizra from the New Sith Empire, losing more than 500,000 soldiers and thousands of Jedi, which was followed by Sith advance in the Borderland Regions and the New Territories. The Republic withdrew its forces from several Rim outposts to fortress worlds of particular economic or strategic significance, which resulted in the ceding of Dac and much of the Tion Cluster to the Empire, thus allowing the Sith to engulf the Ash Worlds as well as the Dominus, Jubilar and Shadola sectors and attack the Triellus Trade Route. Imperial strategists intended to continue advancing into the sectors Rimward of Hutt Space, which required the capture of the Centrality to improve supply conditions and reduce the danger of outflanking by the Hutt fleets that had moved in to protect the independence of Junkfort Station and guard the Triellus. Centran intelligence relayed the information about the Sith plans to the navy's high command, which convinced the parliament to provide a five–billion–credit boost to the military budget. The funds were used to renovate the fleet's capital ships and the aging space stations along the Arleen Loop together with fortifying Oseon, the planet that guarded the sole entrance to the Centrality. The preparations were aided by the Hutts—whose Grand Council gave up the previous policy of attempting to politically undermine the Centrans—with loans and warships.

From 1,450 BBY and onwards, the Centran High Command started to dispatch expeditionary forces to planets spinward of the Centrality to train the local armies and prevent Sith infiltration. The operations, which spanned much of the Shadola sector, resulted in the destruction of several suspected Imperial bases, though the carpet bombing of a hidden establishment in woodlands on the world of Maldra IV sparked criticism from local inhabitants and media, which ultimately resulted in the substitution of the Centran forces on the planet with Hutt–owned militia. By 1,400 BBY, about 60,000 soldiers of the C.A.F. were involved in peacekeeping in the Shadola and—to a lesser extent—Jubilar sectors, supplemented by 40,000 Hutt mercenaries and troops. The Galactic Republic, preoccupied with preventing Coreward Sith advance along the Hydian Way, sent two HoloNet relay satellites to make up for the lack of reliable faster–than–light communications methods in the area. The units were organized under the ægis of the Joint Peacekeeping Initiative—JPI—led by the rotating position of high general.

In 1,370 BBY, Maldra IV was attacked by an Imperial fleet of two cruisers and an invasion force of 8,000 troopers led by two Sith underlords. The Centran admiral responsible for the worlds's defense chose to avoid imminent spatial engagement with the superior enemy forces, instead waiting for the Imperials to deploy the ground forces, after which he launched an assault with a Hammerhead–class cruiser and camouflaged artillery batteries located in the mountains. The Sith warships were caught with their shields down and both suffered damage, allowing the peacekeeping units to move in and destroy the remaining ground forces that had scattered following the downing of their craft. The incident prompted the Sith Empire to temporarily cease attacks in the region, a decision further influenced by the arrival of Republic reinforcements to the Perlemian. The area was spared of further damage in the conflict, as Imperial actions were limited to raids or espionage on backwater worlds, easily repulsed by the combined JPI forces. Following the defeat of the Sith at Ruusan in 1,000 BBY, the Joint Peacekeeping Initiative was formally disbanded by its members, as the threat the Empire had presented disappeared.

Great Peace of the Republic[]

CAFconvoy — A Centran humanitarian convoy in the Jubilar sector.

Following the end of the New Sith Wars, the Centran Armed Forces organized a project to deliver consumables, medicine and other supplies as well as raw materials needed for reconstruction to nearby worlds that suffered damage during the war. Participation in the program was free of financial restrictions, with the only condition being the permission of Centran military presence on the planet for an unspecified amount of time. The C.A.F. gained about 70 additional bases from the initiative, which offered aid against organized crime and piracy in exchange for a fee, thus providing additional funds for the armed forces.

In 900 BBY, the Centran Armed Forces undertook a joined operation with a Galactic Republic flotilla to root out a faction of Sith–aligned colonists in the Shadola sector, who had been raiding nearby planets to sustain existence. The attack took the colony by surprise and two warships were captured undamaged, along with several heavy vehicles. The enemy forces, numbering about two million, were mostly eradicated in the ensuing landing supported by orbital bombardment; the remainder was taken prisoner and transported to Republic worlds into custody, while the non–combatant part of the population was settled on Tund in the Centrality. The C.A.F. received sixty percent of the seized equipment and supplies, which were used to modernize planetary garrisons.

The centuries that followed saw the Centrans return to anti–piracy efforts, which did not require a change in doctrines due to the increased number of enemy units and the consequent massed attacks. Aside from the commerce raiders, the Centran Armed Forces also helped prevent two Hutt–sponsored coup attempts by inserting special forces units to extract the members of the government from their hostage–takers. By 100 BBY, the disparate pirate groups attacking Centran shipping were united by the rising Stark Commercial Combine, which intended to capture the Centrality to be used as a safe haven to attack the Galactic Republic. Until the dissolution of the Combine in 44 BBY, five coordinated attacks were repulsed by the C.A.F., destroying an estimated 300 capital ships and 700 miscellaneous vessels.

Clone Wars and Imperial era[]

With the tensions between the Confederacy of Independent Systems—a faction uniting the largest corporations of the galaxy—and the Galactic Republic developing into an open war in 22 BBY, the centrality declared itself neutral in the conflict. A year later, Republic diplomats convinced the Centran leadership to allow their warships to refill their supplies at local naval bases, which prompted the Confederacy to issue warnings and eventually raid a refueling station in orbit of the planet Dagelin Minor, a C.A.F. forward post. The attack, which left 120 Centran soldiers dead and hundreds injured, resulted in the Centrality's entry into the conflict on the Republic side.

As the war progressed, the Centrality was cut from the rest of the Republic due to Separatist expansion around the Perlemian Trade Route. In response to the situation, the Jedi Order dispatched two of its members, who brokered a deal with the influential Hutt clan head Jabba Desilijic Tiure, thus making the use of hyperlanes controlled by the Hutts possible for Republic forces. As Confederate attacks on outposts increased in intensity, more and more reinforcements were sent to the Centrality, numbering five million clone troopers and 600 capital ships by 20 BBY. The concentration of ships was then used in what became known as the Outer Rim Sieges, an effort by the Republic to cleanse the Confederacy's Rim holdings and recapture its lost territories. Several detachments of the Centran Armed Forces participated in the offensive, fighting in battles such as the Siege of Saleucami and suffering a total of 400,000 dead and 1,200,000 wounded. Combat only ended in 19 BBY, with the assassination of the Confederate leadership on the volcanic world of Mustafar and the reorganization of the Republic into the Galactic Empire under the leadership of self–proclaimed Galactic Emperor Palpatine.

The newly–formed Empire began to pursue the members of the Jedi Order, most of whom had been killed by their own troopers with the enacting of Order 66. The Centran Armed Forces aided the Imperial military in seeking out fugitive Jedi hiding in the region, conducting several sweeps until 18 BBY, when the area was declared clear. The Centrality formally became a client state of the Empire the same year, akin to the Corporate Sector Authority and the Paqwepori sector, and a Moff was appointed to serve as the attaché representing the Empire in the government. The entry into the Empire also boosted the Centran economy and increased the armed forces' budget with 100 billion credits, most of which were used to purchase Dreadnaught–class heavy cruisers from Rendili Hyperworks and modernize the ground forces' weaponry, which had an average age of a thousand years. Imperial investors constructed multiple weapons factories in the Centrality, manufacturing mass drivers, railguns and concussion missiles to reequip the C.A.F. with effective armament that cost less than blasters and other laser–based technology. The modernization program spanned most of the Imperial period, ending in 1 BBY with the purchase of a final Dreadnaught cruiser that brought the final tally of capital ships to 200. Conscription from the Expansion Region, combined with the arrival of colonists from overpopulated Core planets, increased the number of ground troops to a million.

Warning: The following section is canon.

In 3 BBY, self–proclaimed Sorcerer of Tund and Imperial governor Rokur Gepta laid siege to the ThonBoka Nebula in the hope of capturing gambler Lando Calrissian. The native Oswaft repulsed the attack.^[1]

Canon information ends here.

Post–Endor period[]

In 4 ABY, Palpatine was killed in the Battle of Endor by anti–Imperial forces. In response to the defeat, which also resulted in the loss of several advanced warships, Grand Vizier Sate Pestage withdrew the Imperial Navy and army to protect fortified key worlds and gave up most its far–stretched Rim positions. The Imperial naval base and shipyards at Scillal were abandoned and the corporations brought in by the Empire sold their facilities to private investors, who proceeded to close them. As a result of the cessation of funding, most of the Centran Armed Forces' units created during the Imperial era were disbanded, the first in a string of events that would culminate in a fifteen–year economic crisis.

The pro–Imperial government in office since the entry into the Empire was fallen by public protests on the principal Centran planets—Erilnar, Scillal, Rafa, Arleen, Dela and Lekua—due to its inability to cope with the recession and a panel of experts was elected to power in an attempt to prevent a financial collapse. The new regime strove to repay the long–term loans provided by the Imperial advisors to avoid sovereign default, which necessitated further cuts on the size of the Centran Armed Forces. By 12 ABY, the C.A.F. had shrunk to 5,000,000 ground soldiers and 500,000 naval personnel, stagnating until 14 ABY, when the incumbent government achieved a gross domestic product growth of 0.5% and stabilized the Centran Armed Forces' funding through the invitation of foreign investors into the fields of maintenance and the manufacturing of military vehicles.

The decision triggered dissatisfaction amongst the ranks of the C.A.F., especially within the higher ranks, which the Rim Front—a conservative political party—utilized in its campaign for the 16 ABY government elections. Following the Front's victory, newly appointed minister of economy Vilos Cohaagen initiated a reform program, nationalizing privatized enterprises and companies that allowed the revitalization of the armed forces. Over a four–year period, the total number of soldiers serving in the Centran Armed Forces rose to a million, as unemployed youngsters were attracted by the constancy of the environment and the increased salaries. The slugthrower weaponry that had been reintroduced during the economic crisis was phased out in favor of railguns to provide the C.A.F. with armament comparable to blasters at a lower expense.

Operation Dux Bellorum and internal warfare[]

From 22 ABY and onwards, Cohaagen and the Centran Armed Forces' leadership started to press for the invasion of the two spinward neighbors of the Centrality: the Shadola sector and a group of independent Wild Space planets. The government initially waited to ensure that the New Republic—a galaxy–spanning faction originating from anti–Imperial rebel cells—was not able to assemble an intervention force, which came in 23 ABY with the outbreak of border skirmishes between the Republic and the Galactic Empire's successor, the Empire of the Hand, resulting in the transfer of two task forces into the western Core Worlds and the start of a period of political intrigues and debates in the Galactic Senate, the Republic legislative body. Satisfied with the information obtained from intelligence reports, the Centran parliament authorized the armed forces to design and execute an armed invasion of the target area. The plan, codenamed Operation Dux Bellorum, was carried out three months after its conception, with the casus belli being the disappearance of a Centran civilian in the Shadola sector. Fifty–five percent of the C.A.F. were alloted to the offensive, suffering 1,600,000 dead, 2,400,000 wounded and 30,000 missing. The occupied territory was formally adopted into the Centrality a week after the conclusion of the operation.

With the cessation of organized resistance, the Centran Armed Forces participated in a series of initiatives to herd the majority of the region's non-Human population into labor camps situated on worlds of particular economic significance. Independent institutes estimated that at least 4,000,000 slaves were killed during the forced transport. Supplies sent to the camps by charity organizations were analyzed by C.A.F. officers and stripped of useful items that were then used to improve the armed forces' status. The Centran high command's speciesism and belief in Human High Culture also resulted in a number of atrocities against the population; on one occasion, the army fired into crowds protesting the occupation on Maldra IV and destroyed a convoy of transports attempting to flee the sector.

In 24 ABY, the inhabitants of the largest slum, located on Maldra IV, formed an armed resistance movement, which used guerilla warfare against the Centran military and was backed by the New Republic and the Shadola sector's government–in–exile. The Centran Armed Forces did not have enough resources to protect the entirety of each planet, creating strongpoints in villages and focusing on larger cities instead. Exploiting this vulnerability, the rebel organization succeeded in killing 3,000 soldiers and destroying 1,200 vehicles until the end of the year, mostly by ambushing convoys to remote locations. The emerging crisis caused the C.A.F. to impose continuous surveillance and martial law in an attempt to detect and neutralize potential threats, with support from the Political Security Group. The next year, Centran special forces killed the rebels' leader in a raid; in retaliation, resistance members attacked and assassinated minister Vilos Cohaagen during his visit to the occupied territories. Weapons smuggled in from the Republic, particularly from the Calamari sector, also allowed the rebellion to execute open attacks on weaker Centran strongholds, which the C.A.F. attempted to counter by moving reinforcements to the region.

Three months after reinforcing its occupation forces, the Centran administration came to the conclusion that direct action had to be taken against the weapons transfer into the area. A delegation of military officers was sent to the Empire of the Hand via the Corporate Sector Authority and the Imperial Remnant to negotiate the pruchase of five Ardus–class stealth ships capable of intercepting the rebels' transports before their entry into the sector, in New Republic space. The transfer of the crafts' price—200,000 credits—was done through a secure account in the banks of Aargau, while the ships were sent to the Centrality along the southern half of the galaxy and up the Triellus Trade Route. Operation Vigilant Guardian, which commenced shortly thereafter, utilized the stealth units in raiding the freighters in Republic territory, destroying 34 until the end of the year. The cloaking ability of the vehicles protected them from detection, further aided by the reduced number of Republic warships in the area.

Open rebellion and discontinuation of Operation Vigilant Guardian[]

In 26 ABY, the governments–in–exile of the occupied territories proclaimed their support of the anti–Centran resistance—deemed the Maldran Liberation Movement—in a joint session on Corellia, calling for the dispatching of Republic units to protect the weapons transports until their entry into hyperspace but initially failed to succeed due to tensions between the Republic and the Empire of the Hand. The Centran Armed Forces were thus able to push the rebels into the Shadola sector in an offensive, which inflicted casualties of an estimated 120,000 dead and 200,000 injured at the cost of 50,000 killed in action, 77,000 wounded in action and 8,000 missing in action. Centran Venator–class Star Destroyers performed Base Delta Zero operations on at least two planets to avoid a rebel reemergence; the two events would later serve as the basis of the prosecution against then–Magistrate of the Fleet Gregor Serundo. The Shadola sector's underground rebellion was forced to reorganize on independent worlds in the proximity of the occupied territories.

Two months after the start of the Centran offensive, the organizations fighting against the occupation united under the ægis of the exiled governments of the sectors and proclaimed the formation of a unified resistance movement, party to attempt to achieve better treatment for its captured members, whom the Centrality considered criminals and not prisoners of war. The C.A.F. criticized the declaration, calling the members “common criminals struggling to bypass their crimes” and rejected an offer of mediation by the government of the Paqwepori sector. With fears of New Republic intervention amounting, the Centran military relocated at least twenty thousand laborers to mines and other establishments from its temporary holding camps. Interplanetary transportation was performed with Lictor-class dungeon ships stripped of modern equipment by scavengers, which caused an estimated 200,000 deaths and 60,000 cases of medical complications during the operation.

In 28 ABY, the defection of a Centran courier corvette allowed the New Republic to analyze classified logs related to the C.A.F.'s actions against prisoners. Following an open Senate session and a vote, the Republic moved to end Centran incursions and deployed a fleet to protect weapons transports until they exited Republic space. The move prompted the Centran Armed Forces to put an end to Operation Vigilant Guardian to prevent risking its craft and reputation.

Republic's Operation Audax[]

AreYouSureYouWantToDoThisAndRiskYourSpecies-T3 — The CrystalWall interface at the final stage of its activation.

The Republic Chief of Staff put forward a strategy involving the funding of political opposition in the Centrality and cybernetic attacks on Centran HoloNet systems to disorganize military and government communications. The plan, codenamed Operation Audax, was approved by the high council of army and navy commanders and the Chief of State later that year.

Following the council session, the Centran Armed Forces learned of parts of the initiative through a bribed aide to the New Republic Navy's delegation in the Senate and initiated the development of CrystalWall, a cybernetic security system of interlinked firewalls and antivirus software to counter breaches in the secure communications system. The project, when activated, would assume control of network safety and execute the steps necessary to maintain it—in case of an emergency, it could be shut off with a master control switch located in the C.A.F. headquarters on Tund. The secure channels were completed in two months, with the first tests taking place shortly afterwards. The system went live in late 28 ABY, protecting military networks and key service providers; the firewalls registered 15 attempts at breaking security until the end of the year. An attack starting from a HoloNet server on Erilnar managed to compromise the system and establish contact undetected in early 30 ABY, which gave the Republic access to several lines of army communications and additional information.

After managing to acquire information about the numerics and organization of the Centran Armed Forces, the New Republic hacker, operating under the pseudonym “PT,” was tracked down by Political Security Group and arrested in his Erilnar flat. The repairing of the damage caused and the patching of the vulnerabilities exploited took an additional two months, thereby allowing the Republic to evacuate several of its agents involved in the operation.

Strategy shift[]

By 30 ABY, Centran losses in its colonial war had grown sufficiently to induce protests amongst the nation. A survey conducted by the Outer Rim political research firm TortStatistics on an audience of 1,000 Centrans resulted in a 76% disapproval rate for the conflict. To avoid internal struggle, the C.A.F. chief of staff decided on gradual evacuation from the two sectors, giving up outlying asteroid mines as the first step of the plan. The number of Centran soldiers in the occupied area's capital was temporarily increased by 6,000 to ensure the spaceport's peace.

Army organization and ranking[]

Unit structure[]

The smallest freestanding unit in the Centran Armed Forces was the battalion, which consisted of 200 soldiers and 50 non–combatant personnel and was led by a captain. Five battalions comprised a regiment, which possessed 1,000 soldiers and 300 miscellaneous persons, five regiments constituted a division—5,000 soldiers and 2,000 other personnel—and five divisions made up a corps of 25,000 soldiers and 15,000 support personnel. Five corps constituted an army of 125,000 soldiers and 25,000 support personnel. The largest organizational unit, the army group, mustered ten armies and a total of 1,250,000 soldiers and 50,000 support personnel.

Troops in a battalion were divided into teams of four led by a corporal, who slept in the same tent or room, if inside a prefabricated base. Five teams were supervised by a sergeant, who provided the connection between the officers and the field troops.

The support units attached to regular soldiers were medics and snipers at battalion level, reconnaissance teams and armored personnel carriers at regimental level, heavier armored vehicles and special forces detachments at division level and intelligence agents at corps level. Designated armored units received an extended number of APCs and other armor, while mechanized units had access to an extended number of transports. Such appendixes were managed by Republic officers in the early years of the C.A.F., gradually swapped by Centran officer graduates as the academy system started up.

Hierarchy[]

The Centran Armed Forces' army had five enlisted and five commissioned ranks plus the Prætor, the unified leader of both the ground forces and the navy. The ranking system developed in the first centuries of the Centrality's existence, when the combat against piracy necessitated a flexible and effective command structure. To eliminate bureaucracy and shorten the chain of command, the Republic experts drawing the outline of the hierarchy designated the highest army rank that of general. The same was true for enlisted personnel, where the number of non–commissioned officers was less than the amount in contemporary organizations, such as the Republic Marines.

The command of the entire Centran Armed Forces was in the hands of the Prætor, who was concerned with strategic decisions affecting the whole of the Centrality and informed the parliament about the state of the armed forces annually. The army was managed by a committee of its generals, while the navy was directed by the Magistrate of the Fleet, both of whom reported to the Prætor. To undertake an operation that did not necessitate the information of higher circles, two–thirds of the committee—in the navy's case, the Magistrate and half of the admirals—had to approve the decision, which could then be executed as planned unless vetoed by the government or the Prætor.

Enlisted ranks[]

Insignia	Rank	Description
No insignia	Recruit (Rc)	Freshly entered member of the Centran Armed Forces; rank held until the completion of training.
	Private (Pvt)	Lowest enlisted rank; held by graduates from training for up to a year.
	Corporal (Cpl)	Lowest NCO rank, leader of a team (4 soldiers); usually held for six to eighteen months.
	Sergeant (Sgt)	Leader of five teams or supervisor of the training of recruits; typically held for two years or longer if the person was involved in training.
	Master Sergeant (MSgt)	Aide to officers and/or weapons specialist, usually held for three years.
	Major Sergeant (MajSgt)	Platoon leader or reconnaissance chief (R–1); achievable through extended training.

Officer ranks[]

Insignia	Rank	Description
No insignia	Cadet (C)	Student at officer academy; rank held until graduation.
	Lieutenant (Lt)	Leader of a platoon (5 teams), held for at least six months.
	First Lieutenant (1Lt)	Supervised specialized aspects of a battalion, including supply (S–2) and reconnaissance (R–2); post minimally held for a year.
	Captain (Cpt)	Led a battalion (200 combatants), held for about two years.
	Lieutenant Colonel (LtCol)	Oversaw the management of regiments, similar in role to first lieutenants.
	Colonel (Col)	Controlled a regiment (1,000 combatants), held for up to five years.
	Brigadier General (BGen)	Leader of a division (5,000 combatants).
	General (Gen)	Highest attainable officer rank after Prætor: led a corps of 25,000 combatants.