TRELLEN (INB) - The Imperial News Bureau broke news today of a crippling strike against New Republic forces at a deep space staging area, where the Republic was massing for an attack on the Imperial controlled Trellen system. The ill-conceived invasion was reported to be planned and directed by High Marshal Wedge Achilles and involved significant elements of the Republic’s military and civilian personnel, a small contingent from the Triumvirate military, and Holowan mercenaries. In an overly-bold manoeuvre codenamed 'Operation Heartbreak', High General Orion Chan was given command of the forces on the ground and tasked with invading two Imperials worlds and wresting control from the Galactic Empire through a violent surprise assault.

An unnamed source within Imperial Intelligence disclosed that they had been aware of Operation Heartbreak from its earliest stages, resulting in the Imperial counterpoint: Operation Romance. A specialist taskforce was formed by II which slipped past rebel sentries and made a stealthy approach to the rebel ships clustered at a deep space rendezvous to enact their daring counterattack. Aided by an as yet unidentified II Agent who is known to have been in a position of authority within the ranks of the Republic forces, the Imperial counterattack boarded several enemy vessels and arrested at least nine of the Republic personnel, with no less than five officers seen by the unnamed source. The lightning strike of Operation Romance is said to have lasted less than twenty minutes but has proven to be a crippling blow for Operation Heartbreaker, resulting in the immediate cancellation of the operation and a general retreat ordered for all Republic forces. Absent the captive rebels secured on board Imperial vessels, the defeated fleet chaotically left the sector in ignominy. In unison with the launch of the II-led Operation Romance strike-team, forces coordinated by Regional Government from the Imperial Army and Navy, as well as personnel from the Ministry of Industry, converged on the Imperial targeted worlds with troops and construction materials to wipe out the last vestiges of the invaders on the planet and secure it against any future attempts of invasion.

When asked to comment on the operation, Director of Imperial Intelligence Marshall Ridgeway said "Exact details of this operation will remain classified, but I can tell you that as soon as the information crossed my desk I began forming the necessary response, which the taskforces executed flawlessly." The severity of the damage done to the New Republic's military capabilities and the degree to which trust was eroded in the continued bungling of affairs by Wedge Achilles was emphasized further, "I predict it will be a severe blow to their belief that rebel leadership can be successful or even competent in effectively planning and executing operations of this magnitude. A total retreat and loss of a number of personnel before they even had an opportunity to launch their invasion; it’s going to take a while for that wound to heal, and they’re going to have to look seriously at whether their leadership is actually fit to remain in place."

It is understood that the doomed Republic forces were ready to launch an assault against the Galactic Empire with the primary objectives of subjugating the local populace loyal to the Empire, destroying Imperial morale, and trying to win back ground in the public’s eyes after successive and disastrous political defeats over a number of years. One analyst, Harkin Nevarine, a professor of Military History at the University of South Corellia, commented "While their leaders were aiming for what amounts to a press-victory, this turned out to be one of the most devastating counter-insurgency operations in quite some time, and is bound to have left the New Republic commanders reeling. This is a substantial defeat for [the Republic], demonstrating the same kind of incompetence in their leadership that led to Chief of State Quche being kidnapped."

With the New Republic Chief of State Ru Ro Wok allegedly struggling to pull together a coherent response to the combined failure of his Intelligence and Military personnel, the captive personnel are reported to be en-route to an undisclosed holding facility. Removed far from their target of the Trellen system, they will inevitably be judged by the merciful Imperial justice system which awaits all those who seek to attack the New Order.