For hours, the air had been rent with the sounds of terrified screams, gunfire and unearthly howling. The gunfire was gone now, and the screaming was infrequent and distant. The dusk was now dominated by the crackle of fires, and the tramping of twisted feet as the repurposed abominations of the Reapers went about their work. In the ruined centre of what had once been a megatropolis filled with activity, Galen deactivated his lightsaber and knelt, examining the pale face and glazed eyes of the tank commander who had led the futile mission to repel the attack. The man had been a keen strategist, quickly spotting the advantage that the tall, spiky headed beasts gave to their ex-human brethren and assigning divisions efficiently to target the large, hulking brutes that had smashed through infantry lines while their bullets failed to affect them, but nothing he could do was any defence against Galen. Standing, Galen glanced around in satisfaction. Dozens of soldiers had fallen to his blade, and many hundreds to his Force powers, both civilian and military. He noticed two Marauders dragging a middle aged man towards one of the 8 foot tall spikes which was retracted, ready to take him. The man was kicking, screaming and sobbing like a child. Galen grimaced in distaste. He despised the means by which they converted the locals into new troops, but he knew it was necessary. Harbinger assured him it was so.
Galen walked around the streets, inspecting his troops. He was pleased. The city had fallen in less than a day, and his forces still had easily enough numbers to repeat the process until the entire Island chain was theirs. Best of all, with communications severed, the rest of the world would have no idea of what was happening till he moved on. As he contemplated, a sound of rattling stones drew his attention. It had come from a pile of debris and he marched over to it. Blasting it off, he uncovered a small child no more than 9, cowering on top of the body of a young woman who had likely sheltered him at the cost of her own life. As the child gazed up at him with dusty, panicked eyes, Galen glanced back at the man who had just been lifted into the air by the spike through his chest before looking back down at the child. Sighing, he ignited his lightsaber again.