Persei-Aries War Resumes
Arab League Joins the War!
FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
18:50 SOL GMT, 02 FEBRUARY 2521
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)
**UNITED NATIONS COMMUNIQUE**
The Third Hercules War continues to expand as a new faction joins the conflict, cutting into a star system recently abandoned by the defeated Black Dragons of the Khitan-Tunguska Free State and staking a claim along the frontier boundaries of the Hercules Rim.
After two disastrous raids against naval forces and colonies of the United States and Indian Republic, the Black Dragons have effectively been driven out of the war. Fearing retaliation by strong “Coalition of Eagle” forces (United States, Holy Russian Empire, Indian Republic, Corporate Consortium), the Black Dragons abandoned their Khaizan’s Haven colonies at the remote 14 Hercules star system.
This opened a tremendous opportunity for the Coalition of Eagles. Note that two of their major factions (the United States and the Indian Republic) are on the far spinward (“west”) arc of the Hercules Rim warzone, along the border regions with the neighboring Lyra constellation. Having a foothold at 14 Hercules, however (as remote as this might be) would allow the Coalition to apply pressure from both spinward and coreward sides of the Hercules Rim, squeezing the British and Japanese of the “Renkei Alliance” between them. Until now, the only real coreward foothold the Coalition has had in the Hercules Rim has been the Russian Krasnaya Nadhezda colony at 72 Hercules, which is probably why the British and Japanese have hit it three times.
Needless to say, when Indian and American naval forces drive the Black Dragons out of the conflict, they leap immediately to occupy the abandoned Black Dragon colonies at 14 Hercules. But the American Navy stands 60 light-years away at Vega (Alpha Lyra). Only their “Battlegroup Oriskany” can cover that distance fast enough and after two hard-fought battles their ships remain under repair. Indian Navy forces in the Bhogavati colonies at HD 176051 lack the sheer weight for that kind of power projection as of yet. So it falls to the Russians to exploit this opportunity, sending a heavy cruiser battlegroup out of Krasnaya Nadhezda up to 14 Hercules, built around the Slava class heavy cruiser Bagration.
This is a bold move, to say the least. The 14 Hercules system lies at least 10 light-years deep into the “Third Band,” the sparsely-colonized frontier of Known Space. Navies often have warships out this far, but almost never as heavy as the Bagration. This is one of the largest warships to venture this far from Sol, a clear indication of how much the Holy Russian Empire wants this 14 Hercules system.
They are not alone, however. A new faction has been lurking in the wings – with hidden sensors ships, fighter sweeps, and listening posts scattered across the outer systems of the Hercules Rim. This is the Arab League, and they already have a battlegroup in 14 Hercules as well. Last of the Ten Powers to make the leap into interstellar space, the League was forced to set up most of its initial colonies much further out from Sol than the other powers. Naturally, the league remains ever-keen to cut “a homeward path,” establishing new colonies closer to the Earth to mitigate shipping, transit, and tariff costs from their rich frontier colonies back to their terrestrial home nations. The 14 Hercules system presents just such an opportunity.
In early February 2521, an Arab League battlegroup under Captain Rashid al-Maghrebi meets the Bagration and her escorts in the harsh glare of Hercules 14 Beta, second planet of the system, just 0.3 AU from the orange dwarf star. This is not a raid, but an assault in the heart of the system. The “last men standing” here will raise their flag in 14 Hercules, and claim the system for the foreseeable future.
Cruiser Assault into Inner Orbital Zone of Contested System - 14 Hercules (Khaizan’s Haven)
The current disposition of the Third Hercules War. At upper right, we see where the Black Dragons are OUT of the war, vacating their holdings at 14 Hercules (Khaizan’s Haven). The system is up from grabs, and the Holy Russian Empire wants to snatch and hold it ... at least long enough for their American and Indian Republic allies to arrive. But a new faction has been waiting for their moment to jump into this conflict and win a new colony closer to home ... the Arab League.
There is the matchup. The battle is 214 points. The Russian battlegroup is fairly straightforward, a gun-heavy cruiser group built around the Slava class heavy Cruiser Bagration, the Kutusov class light cruiser Gavrilov, and the Sovnya class destroyer Pushka. The Arab League’s battlegroup is, well ... unusual. But this is an unusual faction. The flagship is the Almanzor class hybrid cruiser Al Fihri, part light cruiser, part light fleet carrier. There are two Basra class destroyers (Zarqa and Mersin) and the Khalifa class light carrier Abu Bashir. Clearly, the Russians have a huge advantage is size, gunnery, and torpedoes, while the League will have to rely on speed, maneuverability, and above all ... their aerospace strike group.
The Russians make a fast approach, pushing 36 kilometers per second and using the planet’s gravity to pull them even faster around the day side. The League battlegroup is far more cautious, setting a slow approach, vectoring away from the onrushing foe, all while launching “Mylekinir” (Fire Angel) fighters and “Demkikham” (Vengeance) bombers as quickly as possible from the bays of Al-Fihri and Abu Bashir.
The League continues to deny battle, doubling back over their own wakes while the Russians gravity-pull around 14 Hercules Beta, full retros firing to slow to a proper engagement speed. The Russians want to close the distance as quickly as possible to make the most of their hideously-powerful batteries, but must balance this against the ponderous maneuverability of their heavier vessels, especially the 168,500-ton Bagration.
Forward Russian guns are pounding the destroyer Mersin (Commander Hayder al-Bayati), the range continues to spare the League from the worst of Russian wrath. Meanwhile, the League’s aerospace group has positioned itself for a massive strike (even if two bombers are knocked down by Russian scout planes), their aerospace torpedoes and missiles combining with the "Ahrasyfa" (Storm) warheads fired from the light carrier Abu Bashir. Russian mass drivers knock down most of it, and the powerful gravitic shielding of the Bagration absorbs still more. The strike seems like a disappointment, the Bagration shudders but does not fall dark, the fires and decompression damage in her engineering sections significant but manageable. For the League, however, there remains one grim satisfaction ... the Bagration’s aft shields have failed completely.
While the League warships continue to hedge around the edge of the battlespace, the Russians kick their grav rudders hard to port and power straight up out of the planet’s gravity well, lunging at the Tsar’s enemies. Russian torpedo spreads, far more numerous but much slower than the League’s, have begun to land home on the Al Fihri, while gunnery continues to hammer at the Mersin. Things are bleak for the League here, the bombers and fighters too far from the carriers for immediate recovery, rearming, and launch for a second strike. Furthermore, just eight torpedoes from the Abu Bashir’s second spread can’t hope to get through the Russian mass drivers to score a hit on the mighty Bagration. But as fate would have it, the Russians don’t shoot down ALL of the torpedoes (d6 mass driver rolls for the three ships are 1, 1, and 2). One torpedo gets through ... sailing right through the nonexistent aft shielding, right through the gaping hole left by the previous strike, to detonates INSIDE the ship’s port reactor room. It’s still not enough to cripple the Bagration right away, but this amazing turn of luck has definitely put her in grievous peril. 
Perhaps shaken by the blow to his flagship, the Russian commander (Captain K. K. Malinovsky) hesitates (i.e., I generally lose initiative here). The Bagration dives toward her foes, while the more nimble League ships break to either side to swarm around the Russian behemoth. The Gavrilov and Pushka bravely stay with their flagship for gunfire support and mass driver defense, the two battlegroups exchanging fire now at just 500 kilometers (3 and 4 hexes). At this range, the power of Russian rail guns, EPCs, and plasma projectors begins to tell, and the Mersin and Abu Bashir take hideous damage. In particular, the Abu Bashir’s fo’c’sle is completely burned off, her forward magazines going up, her bridge hit, all forward hangars wiped out, all torpedoes gone, all forward mass driver turrets ripped away. The core of the ship is torn open, and crew casualties are extreme. Even the newly landed bombers that just docked in the AFT landing bay are not completely unscathed. The Abu Bashir HAS to break off, her skipper (Commander Esmat Jazayeri) hoping to stay in the battle area just long enough to rearm the fleet’s surviving bombers for a decisive second strike.
The Battle of 14 Hercules hits a horrific climax. Like a wounded bear, the Bagration lumbers out of the crossfire, trying to keep her fatally-damaged stern away from enemy guns. She succeeds in this admirably. In fact, the only way the League can get to this vulnerability is to send the Basra-class destroyer Zarqa, just 46,700 tons, in a high speed dive straight across the Bagration’s stern. Distance, speed, and geometry means that she has to do this alone (the Mersin has maneuvering thruster damage), and she has to cut this turn to close that she all but collides with the Russian heavy cruiser, putting a point-blank broadside into the Bagration’s ravaged stern at the suicidal distance of just 50 kilometers. The Zarqa reels as she makes her approach, the aft guns of the Bagration ... AND the full broadside of the Gavrilov ... putting up a desperate, cruel counterbarrage that all but rips the ship in half. For the record, in these sixty unbelievable seconds the Zarqa is fighting over SIX TIMES her weight in warships here, AND shoots down all four Russian scout planes. But the Zarqa maintains power just long enough to fire her own broadside. Not only is the Bagration crippled, she actually EXPLODES in a titanic explosion. The blastwave finishes the Zarqa herself, and rips off almost all the armor from the Gavrilov’s fo’c’sle and starboard bow. Well over four hundred people on both sides are killed here, but the Zarqa’s captain, Commander Yasminah al-Qadiri, has - at a stroke – turned the battle for the Arab League.
At last the bloodbath begins to wind down. The Abu Bashir has remained operational just long enough to launch her six remaining bombers which has put a torpedo strike into the port quarter of the Gavrilov. The Pushka has also been forced to break off, trying to stay in the battle area just long enough for her torpedoes hit slam home into the stern of the Al Fihri. While the League flagship has lost her entire port engine, she remains operation and continues scoring the Gavrilov with accurate laser fire. With the Bagration exploded and the Pusha fleeing for her life, the light cruiser Gavrilov stands alone. She’s missing huge amounts of armor and has significant systems damage (mass drivers, sensors, maneuvering thrusters) but remains a threat. But it’s not enough. The Mersin miraculously survives, which when combined with the Al Fihri and the remaining fighters and bombers (ten fighters are lost, two bombers), means the Arab League has won this fight.So that’s it. The score is 90 to 70, an Arab League victory, and enough to claim the 14 Hercules system as a new colony for the League. This is the first defeat the Russians have suffered in the Third Hercules War, and means the Coalition of Eagles will not be able to strike easily from both sides of the Hercules Rim. While the Coalition of Eagles are, on the balance, still winning this war (especially the Russians), the British and Japanese now have a new partner in the Renkei Alliance. The Bagration is gone forever, and so is the Zarqa (judged a total loss and scuttled after the battle). Her skipper, Commander Yasminah al-Qadiri, has survived however, and will take command of a new vessel.
Congrats to @Muakhah on his first Darkstar win!
Congrats @Muakhah and welcome to the Renkei Alliance, Kama send her regards
Cheers Rasmus! Here’s to future victories!
It was indeed looking a little rough there for the Renkei Alliance, @rasmus and @muakhah. The Indians are about to cash out as winners and for a second there the Russians were close to the same. 😀
Finally! Victory!
A long but satisfying game. I feel I got lucky with a lot of Russian Gunnery attacks either missing or not hitting important spots.
Thanks for giving the occasional tip @oriskany
Looking forward to contributing to the Renkei Alliance.
Thanks for the comment! No worries, @muakhah! My “ulterior” motive is not to win games, but to train new Darkstar players so I have more opponents for my more advanced task forces / ships / commanders. 😀
You guys were at this for a while. If I’m counting the slides right, this one got to Round Seven?
Yep, it’s my fault for being shamefully cautious the first few rounds. That and the desire to win at all costs!
Seven rounds is correct, @gladesrunner. Thanks for the comment and the +1 project points!
No worries, @muakhah. 😀 Caution is what is called for when a carrier group faces a Russian cruiser group (i.e., light fast ships against heavy Russian ships bristling with powerful, close-range guns).