DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER

“Duchess Annabel’s War” continues between the “Iron Wolf” Coalition (Imperial Prussia, Japan, New Roman Alliance, New Khitan Free State) and “Annabel’s Alliance” (Great Britain, Panasian League, Holy Russian Empire).

SITUATION:  The Iron Wolves aren’t done with the Russians in the Cervantes (Mu Ara) system yet.  Yes, they’ve been checked at the system’s outer debris belt, failing to “kick in the front door” at the Battle of Outer Cervantes.  Subsequently, the Black Dragons also failed to “slip in through the back door” at the recent clash at the twin moons of Chernyeva Twelve.  But the Black Dragons, particularly the Imperial Prussians, are convinced that one more solid blow will finally crack the Russians and their allies in this system and collapse all their holdings here in the “Sagittarius Wing” of the Libra-Sagittarius warzone (that’s the “west” third of the warzone as viewed from Earth).

Confirmation of this presumption comes in the form of continued intelligence reports from the so-called “Red Kitsune,” the deadly Iron Wolf spy that continues to elude the efforts of British Intelligence, the Russian FSB, and Chinese counterintelligence.  The Russians are having a hard time bringing in new ships.  Even their light fleet carrier Komarov has been called away to deal with another crisis in the ongoing war with the Black Dragons in other sectors.  The Russians are not making good their losses, the Lazarev task force remains their only real naval presence in the Cervantes system, and even that is understrength.

All the same, the bloody-knuckled victories of Outer Cervantes and Chernyeva Twelve have also steeled Russian resolve, quashing talk of cutting some kind of separate peace.  Furthermore, the Russians are making the most of their partners in the “Annabel’s Alliance,” leveraging them for reinforcements where their own navy cannot provide the needed firepower.  But whereas the British helped save the day at Outer Cervantes, this time it’s the Panasian Union who are sending the bulk of the reinforcements.

For the Russians, such contributions from their allies are the only thing holding their defense of the Cervantes star system together, a valuable colony along their Second Band trade routes.  For the British and Panasian Union, defending Cervantes is admittedly becoming expensive, but at the same time it’s been keeping the war away from British and Panasian colonies, like Annabel’s Star or Gū Xing (Falcon’s Star, HD 147513).  As with most coalitional wars throughout history, the “allies” are using each other.

The Prussians, meanwhile, have little time for such subtleties.  Amassing an elite force around the heavy cruiser Franz Josef, they enlist the aid of the recently-repaired Black Dragon light missile cruiser Zhang Jia, more or less as a guide, and set a parabolic course around the back side of the Cervantes system.  Again the Iron Wolves will go for the “back door” of the system, but rather than try to “ghost” in behind the outer moons of the Chernyeva gas giant, they bolt straight in, and by the end of December the Franz Josef task force is actually within the ice giant’s wind-swept, lightning-torn atmosphere.

It’s a hostile place to stage a naval strike force.  Winds of methane and helium rip by at 900 kilometers an hour, pelting the hulls with rains of liquid nitrogen at -200⁰ F.  Yet the Prussian commander, the impetuous and headstrong Captain Matthew Gold (hero of the Battle of Zubrin and winner of the Kriegsmarine Knight’s Cross in the Hercules Gate War), is sure that if he maintains his position here, the Annabel’s Alliance counterstrike (when it inevitably comes) will have to set a course down “into the soup” to meet him. That means a slow approach down into the dangers of the Chernyeva atmospheric pressure, winds, lightning, and crushing gravity well (Chernyeva has a mass of 1.19 Jupiters) … giving Gold’s expert gunners and huge 11-gigawatt  rail guns … that much more time to engage and destroy their approaching enemies.

The Battle of the Chernyeva Gas Giant … is on.

REPORT: Largely armed with Russian and Chinese-made short-range plasma projectors and rail guns, the commanders of the Annabel’s Alliance task force (Captain Pyotr Myshaga, Commander Sara West, Commander Chao Chen Fengbao) decide to set a relatively fast course toward the Prussians and Black Dragons.   To do this, they have to remain outside the thicker belts of the Chernyeva gas giant’s atmosphere, skimming overhead at speeds approaching 40 kps.  For their part, the Prussians set a course straight up,  still deep within the Chernyeva atmosphere but maintaining sufficient escape velocity for maneuvers and escape should any of their ships take too much battle damage.  The Franz Josef opens fire with her forward batteries, tearing open holes in the prow of the British light cruiser Requiem, while the Zhang Jia slings out a full spread of her frontal torpedo tubes.

The Chinese and British, meanwhile, are already targeting the Prussian frigate Nordwind.    The tactic is a sound one, only if they knock out this small but vital link in the Prussian fleet’s defense (the Nordwind is a powerful anti-aerospace defense ship and electronic warfare platform), the massive Chinese and Russian torpedo waves will have no chance to counter the huge Prussian edge in sheer weight of gunnery.