Battle For Khilsiek: Disputed Sovereignty. A Call to Arms Campaign, Turn 4.

Fleet Director Kalora paced the flag bridge of the Resha-Emissary deep in thought. The declaration by the Pak'ma'ra had been unexpected. The Earth Alliance assigning additional resources was unwelcome but completely anticipated. She had spent a considerable amount of time studying the Human 'Art of War'. It disturbed her somewhat that they would consider war an art form and one of the earliest works on the topic was called just that, The Art of War. She clenched her fists to stop herself shuddering. It went some way to explain their proficiency, and it provided valuable insights, such as securing your line of supply.

She focussed the Holo Display on the Jump gate. It was at the edge of the solar system, but it would take some pressure off the few jump capable ships she had been assigned so far, the only problem was the Human task force sat on top of it.... If they were to move....

    After some initial maneuvers the first skirmish of the campaign took place over Khilsiek-A-VII, the incredibly uninteresting gas giant. In that encounter a small force was able to fend off the Narn Regime and establish control over the planet.

Despite being victorious, the Resha-Kar Corporation suffered extensive damage to 2 ships and Director Kalora elected to withdraw these to a more secure location for full repairs. Reinforcements to the fleet were forthcoming in the form of a pair of highly advanced cruisers, a Tashkat and Takata, as well as a large number of Ikorta variants. A pair of standard Ikortas, and ships either dragged out of mothballs and rapidly reactivated, or else hastily converted in the form of a pair of Drikortas, a Calorta and Halikorta class ship. 

Brakiri Send ships straight from mothballs or the construction yard to Khilsiek

    The Narn Regimes appearance in the system had been a complete surprise to the Brakiri and left them with insufficient Electronic Intelligence ships to monitor all the belligerents now active in Khilsiek. Resha-Kar only operated a pair of Shakaras and these were assigned to monitor the two most serious threats to the corporations interests. Resha-Vanguard was assigned to monitor the Narn Regime, and resha-Spooky, Earthforce. This left the Pak'ma'ra with only standard units to monitor them, but they were a timid people, and Kalora didn't expect them to act in an aggressive manner at all.

    The Narn Regime had secured the main inhabited planet in the system, as well as the mysterious ship graveyard in the inner system. They now concentrated their efforts on control of the merchant shipping in the system, and a veritable horde of Sho'Kov cutters fanned out into the void.
With the bulk of the Narn force concentrated around the ship graveyard covering the very valuable Na'Ston class ships who were currently vigorously investigating the mysterious energy field.
This left the main planet, Khilsiek-A-IV with only a light force defending it and the Earth Alliance assigned a force to re-establish Earth Alliance sovereignty over the planet, and Eliminate any Narn ships that refused to comply with orders to withdraw. 

Disputed Sovereignty

    After the shock of the initial Narn intervention and the loss of Khilsiek-A-IV the newly deployed Force Z commanded by General Stark set about stabilizing the situation. Formal protests had been lodged with the Narn Regime but they had been rebuffed citing the fact that Khilsiek was not a member of the Earth Alliance and thus EarthGov had no authority to dictate anything to the Narn. Stark was a little confused as to why after a forceful and dramatic entry into the system they would leave the planet with such a small picket force, and wary of an ambush or other trickery, assigned a small force to conduct an initial sweep, with a more substantial force based around the Furious, Invincible, Anubis and Taranis in support and ready to intervene if the Narn Regime had any tricks planned. With the initial plans drawn up, the Earthforce ships moved in to push the Narn away from the planet.

Earth alliance

    The sweeping force is comprised of lighter units. A Pair of Artemis class frigates, an Olympus class corvette, a pair of Hermes, and providing ELINT support, an Oracle class scout cruiser.

2x Artemis, EAS Aeneas, EAS Dido
1x Olympus EAS Valhalla
1x Oracle, EAS Pythia
2x Hermes, EAS Wayfarer, EAS Gypsy moth

Narn Regime

    The Narn force was composed of the less valuable ships in the Narn Task force deployed to the operation to bulk up the force size while not risking any of the newer ships in the fleet on any adventures. The forces left as the pickets around Khilsiek-A-IV were therefore older ships that in any other fleet not rebuilding after a catastrophic war would have been long since scrapped or undergone a thorough modernisation.

2x Rongoth, Nar'Taran, Kar'Taran
1x T'Rakk, G'Tok'Nar
1x Thentus, Vel'Nar'Eth
4x Sho'Kov, Ta'Rakas, G'Goran, T'Goran, Na'kor-Na-Toc

Narn Regime ships exchange fire with the Earth Alliance

    The two forces closed with one another. challenges and counter challenges flying back and forth as the separation rapidly decreased. Neither side was willing to back down and once missile range was reached, both sides launched their ordnance into the void. The Narn Regime ships, lacking point defence suffered a few hits, while on the Earth Alliance side the missiles were intercepted.

They close the range

    With the initial volleys exchanged, the range continued to drop until the ships were in energy weapons range, and a vicious exchange followed. The Earth Alliance got the better of the exchange. The commander of the Earth ships was experienced, while the Narn commander had been recently assigned to his position. Fire was expertly directed by the Huma ships into the Rongoths. The EAS Aeneas and EAS Dido directing their fire into the pair of Rongoth's. Nar'Taran was hit first, Railgun rounds hitting the reactor and causing a catastrophic explosion that killed or seriously wounded the entire crew leaving ths hip a drifting wreck. The Kar'Taran as well suffered hits to its vital systems as accurate fire tore through the enginnering spaces and wrecked the ships engines and reactor leaving that ship too a drifting wreck. Return fire from the Narn pounded the hulls of the Earth ships, but Interceptor fire was incredibly accurate and stopped the majority of the fire.

The Earth Alliance gains the upper hand

With the advantage clearly with the Earth Alliance, the Narn withdrew their remaining ships.

Earth Alliance 25 - 0 Narn Regime

  

Mining Rights

    The Resha-Kar force while fairly large, had a distinct lack of jump capable ships. With the pair of Shakaras assigned to monitor the Narn and Humans, it left only the Aviokis and Brokados' with the capability of allowing Brakiri ships to jump into and out of the system, and those ships were some of the more powerful units currently available. Director Kalora sent an urgent request for more jump capable ships and also assembled a Task force to 'establish administrative control over the Khilsiek-A jump gate in order to facilitate the capacity to monitor and enforce all relevant trade agreements and embargoes currently being observed by the Legitimate government of the Khilsiek-A system'

The bulk of the Brakiri force remained at the construction yard with only a few pickets assigned to protect the mining station as Director Kalora led her Task force towards the Jump Gate.

    Undetected by the Brakiri, the Pak'ma'ra were using the dust and asteroids to approach the mining facility in the second asteroid belt. Their ships were jamming communications between the mining outpost and the ships at the construction yard. Almost too late the Brakiri pickets realised and scrambled to summon support

Pak'ma'ra

5x Sunhawk

Brakiri

12x Falkosi flights deployed from Resha-Caretaker and Resha-Wasp

    The Pak'ma'ra had deployed a large number of sunhawks between the mining outpost and the main Brakiri fleet concentration at the New Dawn Shipyard. They were to block communications while a larger force of ships approached the mining outpost from a different vector.
    
    Realising that there were communication issues the Brakiri detected both forces on their sensors. Fighters were scrambled from the Caretaker and Wasp and sent to break through the blockade and summon help. Caretaker charged up her jump engines and was ready to leave in the event that her fighter complement was unable to break through the Pak'ma'ra force. the pair of carriers between them had launched their entire complement of Falkosi's.

The Pak'ma'ra deploy to intercept anyone trying to run the gauntlet

    The Pak'ma'ra were fanned out to intercept the fighters, and a barrage of plasma torpedoes was sent into the Brakiri fighters as they closed, numerous shots found their marks and a dozen fighters were either Destroyed or forced to break off.

With the volley of torpedoes fired, the Brakiri fighters swept through the blockade line and were able to alert New Dawn about the developing attack.

Brakiri Falkosi's outmaneuver the Pak'ma'ra and break the blockade

Seeing the Brakiri deploying a force to intercept their ships, the Pak'ma'ra broke off their planned operation and withdrew.

Pak'ma'ra 0-20 Brakiri

Meeting Engagement

    While the Pak'ma'ra approach on the mining station had been undetected until almost the last moment, the Brakiri advance on the Jump gate was not. The Earth Alliance fleet had Electronic Intelligence ships of their own and they had been monitoring the disposition of the Brakiri fleet as they moved through the system. General Stark decided to Intercept the Brakiri away from the jump gate and, leaving only a few ships to monitor the Jump gate, took his force, headed by the EAS Thunderchild, to meet them.

Earth Alliance,

    General Starkbrought with him the bulk of the capital ships that had been fixed to the Jump Gate. The Flagship of the Task Force, the Thunderchild formed a division with the EAS Valkyrie and the Nelson and Iron Duke. Backed up by a pair of frigates and supported by the EAS Cassandra which had been monitoring the Brakiri force as it made its way towards the Jump Gate.
Seeing that the Brakiri was intending to use a non strategic gas giant as a final way point before they attacked the Jump Gate, General Stark Elected to Intercept the Brakiri and keep the fighting away from the Jump Gate for as long as possible.

1x Warlock class EAS Thunderchild
1x Omega class EAS Valkyrie
2x Nova Class EAS Nelson, EAS Iron Duke
2x Artemis Class. EAS Diana EAS Apollo
2x Hermes EAS Ben-my-chree, EAS Vagabond
1x Oracle, EAS Cassandra

Brakiri 

    Fleet Director Kalora gathered her force and built it around her flagship, the Resha-Emissary. It was supported by a pair of Brikorta class light carriers to supplement the fighter strength of the ship, and was escorted by a pair of Haltonas to deal with any well protected ships that might be encountered. Backing this up are a trio of Haltanas which are incredibly potent skirmish level ships and able to deal with a lot of threats and disrupt enemy plans, an Ikorta to board any ships it can if the possibility develops, and finally, a Takata-class Mine Cruiser. The last ship is there to hopefully give me fighter superiority by clearing out enemy star fury's, and has the ability to deal with any small lightly armoured ships i may encounter. Outside of the Energy mines its a fairly lackluster ship, but in the previous battle I used it, the ship performed incredibly well.

1x Takata-class Mine Cruiser, Resha-Bombard
2x Haltona, Resha-Guardian, Resha-Defender
1x Brokados, Resha-Emissary
3x Haltana, Resha-Obstinate, Resha-Inexorable, Resha-Unyielding
2x Brikorta, Resha-Boxer, Resha-Nimble
1x Ikorta, Resha-Barricade

The Battle

The Earth Alliance Intercept the Brakiri just before they reach the Gas Giant

    The Battle commenced as the Brakiri force approached the gas giant. they had beaten the Earth Alliance to it by minutes, and Director Kalora directed her forces to use the planets ring system and the intense radiation belt to mask their signatures and make themselves very hard targets. The exception was the Resha-Bombard which was able to fire its gravitic mines at the proaching earth forces and catch the Iron Duke and Valkyrie in the area of effect, damaging both ships.

Brakiri Ships use the planetary rings to hide from the Human ships while Resha-Bombard hits them with Gravitic Mines

    She fired again as she dove into the gas giants rings, this time catching the Nelson and Iron-duke in the blast, but was hit by the heavy laser from the Valkyrie which had gotten an excellent sensor lock and was able to cause some serious damage.

Iron Duke and Nelson charge after the Brakiri.

    With the planets rings and radiation now obscuring the Brakir from the Earth Alliance sensors, the Iron Duke and the Nelson rapidly closed the distance and charged into the ring system. with the rapidly shortening range, they were able to get a solid lock on the Brakiri ships and found themselves surrounded by Brakiri ships. Fire from the Nelson erupted in all directions smashing into numerous ships. The Resha-Inexorable was hit particularly hard as the Valkyrie and Thunderchild both added to the barrage, almost tearing the ship to pieces. Just as the Iron duke was about to add its fire to the inferno the Resha-Bombard fired, its Gravitic mines scattering a large portion of the gas giants rings, and twisting and stretching the Iron duke to such an extent that it was instantly disabled. Nelson was also hit by the mines, but nowhere near as severely, but it was in an impossible situation. Brakiri Pulsar fire from every direction reduced the ship to a pile of scrap.

The Novas are overwhelmed by fire from all directions

    While the Brakiri were distracted the pair of Artemis frigates raked the Brakir Haltanas with railgun fire, heavy slugs punching through armoured plates. Severe damage was caused to numerous Brakiri ships, but as yet, only the Inexorable had been severely damaged, its engines barely able to maneuver the ship.

The fight turns into a close range brawl

    The Thunderchild and Valkyrie closed with the Brakiri as fast as possible, Particle beams, lasers, missiles and pulse weapons fired into the mass of Brakiri ships. The Resha-Guardian was hammered, the Obstinate and Unyielding hit hard, and the Inexorable was wrecked under the intense barrage. molten metal from weapon impacts flared from the Brakiri ships as raking fire from the Artemis frigates added to the relentless barrage. Nothing could survive the barrage for long and survive, but the Brakiri were not defenceless. The Bombard laid in a constant stream of fire into the Valkyrie and Thunderchild scoring numerous hits on both ships, but the most dramatic event happened as the Takata concentrated its gravitic mines on the Cassandra, the ship was crushed like a tin can by powerful forces before being torn to pieces by the same weapon, debris smashed into the Valkyrie. as the Guardian and Defender fired their beams into the ship. the fire from the humans faltered as the Ben-my-chree was disabled, then the Diana, and the Valkyrie found itself crippled and losing artificial gravity as its rotating section had to be secured to reduce the stress on the ships hull.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the Earthforce ships prepare to withdraw

    The Thunderchild was still in the fight, but the Brakiri had stripped away almost all of its supporting vessels. General Stark gave the order to retreat and the Thunderchild opened a jump point for both it and the Valkyrie to use to escape while the Apollo and Vagabond both used the gas giants rings and radiation to slip away.

    Leaving their most heavily damaged ships to secure the wrecked human ships and pick up any survivors, the rest of the force continued towards the Jump Gate to secure it.

Brakiri 21-3 Earth Alliance

Conclusion

    The turn was a little more active than the first 3 turns, but that is to be expected when all the strategic objectives have been secured.
The Narn Regime despite losing both their encounters so far aren't as badly mauled as you might expect, having only lost 3 ships of any significance, and those easy to replace.
The Earth Alliance and Brakiri are more badly mauled. The Brakiri have only lost 1 ship, but 5 others have been withdrawn for a couple of turns for full repairs. It was either that or eat into the RR points that have been hard won.
The Earth Alliance has come off worst this turn. a strong showing against the Narn is contrasted to quite rough handling by the Brakiri and resulted in 5 ship losses, and 1 Omega crippled. Its far from a devastating blow but unlike the Brakiri who have withdrawn their ships for a few turns, They have to be replaced by new requisition ships.
Depending on how badly damaged your ships are, its often a better idea to withdraw your heavily damaged ships and simply buy replacements which you will be getting back into action after 2 turns rather than spend the points repairing them. 
The Pak'ma'ra haven't suffered any casualties so far, obviously, so we will have to see what the next turns bring for them.

Current Holdings

Earth Alliance: 
Industrial Planet

Verdant planet, with additional resources

Ice Comet

Brakiri Syndicracy: 
Jump Gate
Mining Outpost
Construction Yard
Medium Gas Giant

Pak'ma'ra: 

Mining Outpost
Agrarian World

Narn Regime: 
Ship Graveyard

Trade Route (This Turn Only)

This concludes turn 4 of our campaign. I hope you have enjoyed it. If there is anything you would like to see in future articles, please let me know

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thanks for reading, and I will see you next time.

Miniature STL's by Tyrel Lohr
Resin miniatures painted by me
Metal miniatures by Mongoose games