It would be a short war they said. After the successes in the dark marches with the Terran navy battling back what we at the time believed was the imperial navy, propaganda was everywhere. 

"Navy takes to the fight to Empire space" It read. "Researchers predict fall of empire within the year" . . . . Everything was wrong. It was all bullshit, or these people didn't know what they were talking about. Because while our Navy was out battling against what we thought was the Imperial navy, the real one came out of the hyperspace lanes all across the Federation's outer rim. Far behind where our navy was. 

And then came the hordes.

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Halle, the Terran Federation's outer rim world is also it's bastion world. A fortified planet and system that stands ready to deploy Terran soldiers if any neighboring systems are invaded. It's defensive fleet, despite most normal defensive fleet sizes is actually fairly big, boasting 3 cruisers in it's ranks. When the Azen armada showed up on it's doorstep though, the navy at first tried to hold, but was recalled by the military. It abandoned the world of Halle and it's defenders to their fate. The Terran Government knew it wouldn't have lasted against the Empire's, and several other systems were now being attacked. They needed whatever ships they had available to counter-attack while they waited on one of the three main fleets to return from the front to assist. But Halle was left on it's own.

It's been an unspoken rule to refrain from using any nuclear weapons on agricultural worlds. Though theirs other forms of orbital bombardment with kinetic strikes, too many will fuck up the planet beyond what most nations can afford to repair. So the initial bombardment hit only centers of extreme military interest. After that, the nightmarish waves of clones were unleashed planet-side. The Azen Empire's goal of capturing the planet had already partially been accomplished with the Terran fleet retreating a few weeks into the siege. With full naval control of the planet, and the last few pockets of Terran resistance being pushed into industrial or residential hotspots, the planet was essentially theirs. Halle hadn't officially fallen, but at the time it might as well have. The Navy's withdrawal had been seen across the federation as the government abandoning the thousands of trained and loyal Terran soldiers to death.

Halle was the signal that the war was not nearly over. It had just begun