DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER

The Battle of Xenia’s Fortune, between the Black Dragons of the Khitan-Tunguska Free State and Task Force “Oriskany” of the United States Navy (18 October 2518) concludes …

The captain of the cruiser Xin Tian takes command of Black Dragon force, coming hard about and trying to consolidate with the frigate Natelyeva and destroyer Xianhoa.   The Valley Forge, now the only American destroyer left, cuts in behind them, hoping for another broadside into engines and reactors.  The Tarawa stays alongside for defensive fire support, too far away to recover her bombers for a second strike.  The Daggerfish continues to lurk half-hidden behind asteroid fields, locking on successive torpedo spreads.

The US Marine fighters, meanwhile, are lined up on a gunnery strafing run behind the frigate Natelyeva, only to have six of them shot down by Black Dragon point-defense fire.  Those that remain, however, tear into the Natelyeva, opening a big enough hole to where their carrier’s torpedo spread hits a moment later and cripples the Black Dragon frigate.  Overall,  however, this is a bad trade for the Americans, losing over half of an elite Marine strike squadron for one enemy frigate.

Meanwhile, a second smaller battle no less vicious breaks out behind another of the nearby planetismals, where Black Dragon scouts have engaged the Marine Grumman FS/A-81 “Avenger” torpedo bombers trying to get back to the Tarawa.  Two are shot down, while the Marine scouts likewise manage to shoot down two of the Black Dragons’ scouts.

Things turn around, however, as torpedo hits, rail gun impacts, and laser fire from the Valley Forge likewise leave the Xin Tian afire and adrift a moment later, thanks in no small part to devastating torpedoes launched from the corvette Daggerfish.

In that moment, this battle is more or less won by the Americans.  With only the destroyer Xianhoa still operational, supported by less than a dozen scouts, the Black Dragons are seeking only to keep this from turning into an outright rout.  In this they are successful, thanks in part to some rather dim American decisions later in the battle.

First of all, the Tarawa all but breaks off the engagement, heading off on a different vector to recover her remaining bombers (her captain perhaps shocked by the losses his pilots have just sustained).  This leaves the Valley Forge alone against a torpedo spread  from the Xianhoa, which finally scores some lucky hits along with a nasty broadside Xianhoa manages to put across Valley Forge’s engineering sect  ion.  This costs the Valley Forge her aft shields, a vulnerability exploited by the Black Dragon scouts, who start murderous (if desperate) strafing runs.  The Valley Forge cannot fire her mass driver defense guns at these scouts, as they are needed to fend off successive torpedo strikes form the Xianhoa, which has now slid up beside more Xenia’s Fortune asteroids to screen her own damaged stern.  The Valley Forge has no fighter cover since the “Tigerhsark” Marines are off chasing the crippled Natelyeva and Xin Tian, hoping to actually explode one of these derelicts.  Not only do they fail in this effort, but leave the Valley Forge unprotected and she finally goes down to a lucky strafing run by some of the last Black Dragon scouts.

All the same, this battle is a clear American victory.  Even as she’s picked apart by the harrying scouts behind her, the Valley Forge’s last torpedoes and a torpedoes from her and the Daggerfish smash into Xianhoa’s starboard quarter and all but blow the ship in half.

At last, the Battle of Xenia’s Fortune is over, and with it (as subsequent events will bear out) so ends the Scorpion’s Tail War.

Result:  Americans have operational: the light carrier Tarawa, the corvette Daggerfish, four double-elite fighters, two double-elite bombers, two double-elite scouts, and six regular scouts = 40 + 12 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 6 = 86 points.  Black Dragons have four regular scouts = 4 points.  Americans win by 82 points, a minor victory.