Legend of the Galactic Heroes: A New Chapter (IC)

by **Britanania** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 4:02 pm

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: A New Chapter

In a small corner of the universe lies a galaxy that is known to its inhabitants as the Milky Way. The human race, once situated on the planet Terra, have spread and colonised billions of worlds in thousands of star systems. Humanity, briefly unified by Emperor Reinhard of the Galactic Empire is now torn asunder and divided into two warring camps.

The Galactic Empire, a constitutional monarchy headed by Reinhard's son, Alexander Siegfried, declared war once again on the newly revived Free Planets Alliance. The death of the Alliance's dictator, President Felix Mittermeyer von Reuenthal, has sparked a wave of discontent within the Alliance and hardliners in the Empire wish to see their lost territory restored. The war has until recently been only a series of minor skirmishes but with the death of the old emperor and the ascension of his 25-year-old grandson Reinhard II, the Empire plans a major offensive.

Meanwhile, the Free Planets Alliance under Reuenthal's protege and successor, President Maximilian Breen, is well aware of the Empire's designs and launched its own invasion plan from the Iserlohn Corridor. Unknown to the Alliance, however, a small fleet stationed for reconnaissance intercepted the invasion plans and a small battle near the Armistar Starzone is about to begin. Its outcome might be meaningless to the overall war, but perhaps new heroes will rise to the occasion.

The stage is set and the actors ready.

For In every time, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same...

by **Jade Confederacy** » Tue Feb 05, 2019 12:13 am

Boden Starzone, Galactic Empire GA 906

Aboard his flagship, the Triumphant, Vice Admiral Otto von Isenburg brooded. The current skirmishes between the Alliance and Empire did nothing for him. Neither side was willing to commit to a decisive engagement and instead limited themselves to probing attacks and shallow raids. A handful of spats with shallow stakes strategized by shallow men. In the end, glory remains elusive and nothing is resolved. Instead, the Empire and Alliance hoarded their strengths and circled one another like hungry wolves; watching for that one mistake that will set off an orgy of violence. Year by year these two titanic beasts circled one another and yet nothing has come of it.

He lamented his fate to be born into such a stagnant age. If he had been born just a hundred years prior, he would have fought in with likes of true heroes such as Reinhard the Great, the Golden Kaiser who reunited mankind. Or Yang Wen-li, the blessed magician who won a hundred battles. Instead, he had to serve with the likes of the senile High Admiral Brugmann or Rear Admiral von Eisenfaust who defiled the sanctity of Admiralty with her very presence. With the death of the traitor, Reuenthal so came the end of the age of heroes and the time of mighty men who shaped the fate of nations with their will. A courtesy from his aide broke him from his gloomy thoughts.

"Your, excellency, a dispatch from HQ. Its High Admiral Bugmann”

“Very well, put him through”

Otto straightened his posture and schooled his face into a mask of courtesy. A large screen in front of the bridge appeared displaying an aged man with liver spots in the attire of a High Admiral of the Empire.
“Honored High Admiral, an unexpected pleasure”

“Vice Admiral Isenburg. Reports have come through of unusual activity in the Iserlohn Corridor. Our scouts have reported fleet movements and we have lost contact with several of our scouting fleets near the mouth of the corridor. Reports of wide area jamming by the Alliance along the frontier have also been flagged by High Command.”

Otto scrunched up his face in a show of concern while barely able to hide the glee from his voice.
“Is the Alliance making their move? Are we to deploy?”

“That is of yet unknown. With the heavy jamming up, we are effectively blind as the broader strategic situation. It is why I am sending your fleet to the Armistar Star Zone effective immediately. You are to reconnect with our scouting outposts and reinforce the garrison there if necessary. A more comprehensive set of orders will be sent to you via encryption”

“By your orders High Admiral”

The screen disappeared and was replaced by navigation maps of the local star cluster.

“Adjunct, prepare for a fleet-wide broadcast. I will speak to the men.”

~ “Attention men, this is Vice Admiral Otto von Isenburg speaking. As of 0900 today, we are to immediately change course and head for the Armistar Star Zone. It seems the Alliance may have finally decided to stop hiding behind their fortress and show their faces for once. It is their first mistake and I intend to make it their last. Glory to his Imperial Majesty the Kaiser, Glory to the Empire!” ~

The void of space sparked with the engines of ten thousand ships as Battlefleet Isenburg changed course and headed for the Armistar corridor at full speed. At the van of the fleet, up top his mighty battleship, a madman with red eyes smiled.

Imperial Battlefleet Isenburg [10,000 ships]

by **Britanania** » Tue Feb 05, 2019 12:11 pm

Boden Starzone

The Hel

"The stars look very different today," Amelie von Eisenfaust said with a slight sigh as she peered out towards the sea of stars. The vast expanse of the universe never failed to amaze her, and for a moment she contemplated reaching out to try and grab a hold of the glimmering lights that lit the darkness.

Von Eisenfaust tore herself away from the window and returned to the centre of the bridge. Already her ships--and the rest of the fleet--were heading towards the Armistar Star Zone. For Amelie, this was her first time commanding a ship in a few years. Her meteoric rise as a commander came to a screeching halt only on the basis of her sex, and she spent the last few years on Phezzan on staff duty partially because she was good at it, and partially because High Command thought it looked good to have their token woman around.

Amelie tightened the riding crop she carried and sneered at her invisible opponents. She petitioned the Kaiser personally for a front line command and while he granted her request, of course it was under perhaps her most outspoken critic.

Even Reinhard the Great faced discrimination early on, Amelie reminded herself to calm down. And his relationship with his sister was criticised.

In any event, as the ships neared Armistar, Amelie knew what awaited them.

by **Avicent** » Tue Feb 05, 2019 9:12 pm

The standby alarm rung during our free time, and while we got our ships ready for inspection (making sure everything was in shape and packing extra supplies) we decided to play a short game of cards to pass time (so I could rob them blind) my pals were better known by their nicknames Glasses, the geekier kid who would fit our ships with some stuff; Doughboy, named for his 'thick skin', but also cause of his cooking skills; Mr. Amnesia, cause either he'd forget something or make you forget it; and they call me The Cheat, but you can probably guess why.

"God this guy takes forever with the inspections, just make sure my engines wont explode" I said watching him slowly making his way down the line as we played cards
"I hear they like him for his brains" doughboy said
"So he took a boring route in the academy" I laughed placing a bet
Glasses, and Doughboy called and Amnesia folded cause his inspection was up
"By the way it's amnesia's night to pay"
I said drinking from my canteen of water which would of been filled with another drink but a room inspection was carried our twice in the same day
"I just cant wait to get out there, I've been building up some rage and need to release it" I smirked, the others agreed

We went back to playing cards in the hanger waiting to board

by **Riysa** » Wed Feb 06, 2019 8:23 pm

Some music.

We've marched to a distant place, that without a navigator you will not reach,
For weeks we have waited in our compartments, serenaded by the tremble of the turbines;
We walk on top of the hottest stars, and the coldest planets;
We are the soldiers of the Alliance, the sailors of starships!

Iserlohn Fortress
GA 906

Nidal gazed at his reflection in his room's mirror, his face wet from having washed it. He grabbed a towel off of a rack, drying it and combing his hair. Quickly, he threw on his tie, then wrapped the Alliance's trademark cravat around his neck, and finished putting on the rest of his uniform. There - he looked like a flag officer again.

It was really going to happen. The CSG's own Operation Tempora, the Star Fleet's offensive through the Corridor, all of it; the emergency briefing he had just gotten out had put it in no uncertain terms. Unfortunately, it wasn't happening exactly as planned, as an Imperial recce force had managed to spot the Alliance's preparations in the Corridor, and signaled back home what was going on. From now, it was a race to the Amritsar, the strategic mouth of the Corridor, with whatever they could muster. And his 4th Operational Detachment would be at the front of the line. As an all-cruiser/destroyer force - even his flagship, the Myrsky, was a cruiser - outfitted for deep reconnaissance, it made sense.

"Sir, are you ready?" The soft voice of his new adjutant, a freshly-minted Lieutenant Emily Stockwell, sounded from outside the room's door, bringing him out of his daydream. A privilege of command - one that he still wasn't used to, but very thankful for. With every second of time valuable in war, having an extra person to help speed things up was a lifesaver.

"Ready!" He replied, slapping his beret on. Oh yeah, there was one last thing to do; he fished out a plain white envelope, and laid it tenderly on his bed. Now truly ready, he stepped out.

It was simple physics - cruisers and destroyers had a significantly lower mass than a battleship or a flagship, and indirectly had a higher thrust-to-weight ratio. This meant better acceleration, which in turn meant that they'd have a head start over the rest. Plus, one of their main roles was to perform reconnaissance, and what better to do then to send a dedicated recce unit to lead the way?

"Give me a situation report, Lieutenant." Nidal asked, as they quickly walked towards the ship hangar. His mind was racing with a million thoughts, as the tension built up with every passing second. There was so much to do, so much to plan, so much to put down on paper...but it was useless worrying about it now. It'd take them 24 hours to get to Amritsar, there was plenty of time then to take care of everything.

"Sir. Captain Wilk reports that everyone is ready for departure. He already distributed a warning order to everyone, and the staff has come up with initial plans and assignments based on your operations concept. He also says that morale is high...and that they can't wait to bloody the Imperials!"

"Very good!" He smiled. "Let me quickly see the planning documents." He quickly sifted through the documents she handed him as they entered into the docks. It was a bunch of stuff that his staff had worked out, in turn based off of more stuff from the Operation Tempora planning session from a few days ago. This included spreadsheets for calculating fuel and ammunition consumption per ship, provisions per person, comms charts, OTP booklets, pre-prepared orders and plans, and more - everything needed to execute a military operation.

Done with his preliminary check, he handed the copies back to her. "Oh, this is your first fleet engagement, right? It shows on your face!" Already struggling to maintain her composure, she gave up and let a huge grin show.

"Yes sir! Before this I was with the command staff on Heinessen. It was way too uneventful for me, but now, I get to bring the fight to the Imperials!" She resounded, with a dash of bravado.

Of course, she was clearly trying to hide her anticipation too - but who wasn't nervous, himself included? It was something that you never fully got used to unless you were crazy or a psychopath, but with enough time and experience, you learned to control it.

"Oi, Nidal! Dajmy im wpierdol!" Shouted Captain Wilk, standing on the gangway to the Myrsky, raising his fist into the air.

"...Dajmy im wpierdol?" Emily's face contorted as she, confused by the foreign language, tried to repeat the phrase.

"Dajmy im wpierdol!" Nidal grinned, raising his fist back. "It means - let's give them a beating!" Captain Tomacz Wilk was his long-time friend and deputy, a motivated, high-flying guy who helped make sure that the Detachment ran smoothly, and executed whatever Nidal couldn't under his own authority. A good deputy and staff was just as valuable as an extra squadron of ships, and Wilk was Nidal's cornerstone. Quickly, the two hurried onto the ship, the soldiers on watch closing the airlock behind them after saluting.

"Everything's set for take-off." Wilk said, meeting them inside the CIC. "The captains have their orders, courtesy of Duval and the rest of the men, and we're all loaded up. On your orders, commodore."

"Excellent, but let me say something before we go - short-range RF only." With a thumbs up from the comms officer, Nidal picked up a spare headset and began speaking.

"All soldiers of the 4th Operational Detachment, this is Baghdash speaking. You all know now that our plans have changed and we must leave immediately, so I won't bore you with a long and dull explanation. But, I did want to say that I trust - no, that I know that each one of you will fulfill your oaths completely. You are the men and women of the Fourth; you already know that you are some of the best there is, and have no need to prove that to anyone. Together as one, we've done the most difficult tasks imaginable, and seized the day every time. So, for the sake of your loved ones, of your country, of your freedom, or whatever drives you forward - fight! Nobody but us!" He paused for a moment. "And if you don't...your mother will be very disappointed in you."

"Captains, prepare your ships for departure."

And so, with the silent lighting of engines, 500 spacecraft took off from Iserlohn.

Amritsar Starzone

Flashes of light burst into existence on one side of the Starzone, one after the other, like a fireworks show. From each flash emerged an Alliance vessel; first, came a squadron of 25 Alliance destroyers, in flights of 5 apiece and very loosely spread out, leading the way. Right behind it came a cruiser squadron of 5, itself backed by a force of 40 ships. Finally, came the main body and rearguard of the Detachment, flanked on each side by a reinforced destroyer squadron. Situated comfortably in the middle of the formation was the Myrsky, processing in all of the data its subordinate units were feeding back to it.

That was another nice thing about the 4th - with all of the strategic electronic warfare going on, a small unit of light vessels warping in separately wouldn't be easily detected by Imperial gravity sensors, compared to a mass, simultaneous fleet movement.

The force moved forward in a very loose formation, with all active sensors and FTL comms off, making small orbit adjustments to put the detachment on an encounter with Amritsar's lone planet, the gas giant Lesing. A few more firings of the main engine, and the main force sat comfortably in the planet's L2 point, stably facing towards the Imperial side of the corridor in a simple square formation, and the rearguard held up L3. Meanwhile, the flank parties moved in to seize the L4 and L5 points, using the Kordylewski clouds and Trojan asteroids accumulating in these Lagrange points to mask their ships. So far, so good.

Some time passed. Exchanging burst RF data with each other for security purposes, the main force and its scouts on the flank acted as a very long intereformetric baseline, using passive sensors and FTL emissions intercept to try to locate the Imperial fleet. It seemed they were already at Astarte. Where was everyone else?

A mass of roughly 500 ships emerged from warp, consisting of 250 destroyers, 125 cruisers, and over 100 battleships, plus a few carriers. Seemingly seeing the 4th's rearguard, they drifted towards Lesing. "Alliance force, this is PETREL, come in, over." The new force radioed, using traditional RF.

"PETREL, this is GLADIO. Begin transmission when you're ready. Over." Said the comms officer, setting up an encrypted radio datalink and generating a new session key to be exchanged by the secured OTAR protocol.

"Good morning GLADIO, Squadron 290 is reporting in." The commander, an older-looking man with rank of a captain, appeared on-screen.

"Good morning PETREL. Where's the rest of your fleet? Are they on their way?"

"GLADIO...prepare for data transmission." The captain sent an encoded message in it with some information, which Nidal quickly read. Iserlohn had scrambled whoever they could, but a lot of ships, including many of the flagships, were not in a condition to fight yet, and furthermore, some of the flag officers were still on leave. Meaning that there was nobody more senior than Nidal was coming anytime soon. Meaning that Nidal would be ordering around roughly an entire fleet.

Don't show any shock...its not good for morale.

"Understood PETREL. I'll take command then; you're now the acting commander of whatever forces from your fleet show up." Nidal paused.
"Get ready for orders, I'll have them come as quickly as I can. Over."

"Affirmative, GLADIO. PETREL over and out." The captain disconnected from the data stream. Nidal felt a lump in his throat. It'd be a monumentous undertaking - 500 ships was okay, but thousands? That was insane.

It was clear that all the old plans would have to be rebuilt. He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes for a second.

"Alright, Tomacz, Marcel, everyone - you too, Lieutenant - lets get to work."

by **Jade Confederacy** » Thu Feb 07, 2019 4:43 pm

Amritsar Starzone, GA 906

The Amritsar Starzone comprised of a single red giant orbited by a few uninhabited planetoids and loose belts of asteroids. It would have been completely worthless had it not been on the exit pipe of one of the two most important transit corridors in the Galaxy. As it was, the starzone was heavily militarized, seeded with minefields and garrisoned by a 5000 ship strong fleet. Not enough to deter a determined invasion by the Alliance, but theoretically adequate to hold off a stronger force until reinforcements arrived. It was that very garrison that von Isenburg was trying to contact at the moment.

“It is no use Vice Admiral, the interference is too thick. We can’t get off an accurate transmission from more than 0.1 AU away.”

Isenburg frowned as he contemplated the situation

“What is causing the interference?”

“It could be alliance jammers, but they would have to be either really close or be extremely powerful. The star itself may also be the problem, Amritsar is entering into one of its expansion periods and is giving off a lot of radiation on all levels. We’ve have had similar interferences before, but never on this scale.”

He didn’t like it. As it was everyone, including himself and the system garrison was effectively blind. If an alliance fleet entered into the system, the forward scouts would have no way to report their activity. Since the garrison was currently stationed around a fortress on the other side of the system behind the star, an alliance fleet could theoretically slip past unnoticed into the next system.

Isenburg clicked his tongue and began issuing orders.

“Take the fleet to sector D-562. Assume the presence of hostile forces in the system until we have more information. In the meantime, send out scouting vessels and establish a perimeter around the fleet. I also want shuttles to be sent fortress to manually contact the garrison and inform them of our arrival.”

“In the meantime, once we arrive, I want our fleet to establish a picket on our side of the system so no ship can pass without encountering either us or the garrison fleet.”
“Sir, should we take battle formations?”

Isenburg pondered this for a moment before affirming. Being in battle formation would slow down the fleet, but in an uncertain situation like this, it paid to be prudent.

“Have Rear Admiral Scholz take the left flank and Rear Admiral Kretschmer the right.”

Scholz was a solid abet uninspiring Admiral while Kretschmer was less experienced but shows great promise as an up and coming tactician.

“Oh and have von Eisenfaust take up the rear.”

The less to be said about lady Eisenfaust the better. Best to stick her in a position where she could cause the least damage. Isenburg would rather he didn’t have her under his command at all, but High Command had insisted. He suspected the dirty degenerate liberals in the Diet had something to do with this. Democracy was a mistake and was now not only running the government but also the military as well.

by **Britanania** » Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:48 pm

Amritsar Starzone

The Hel

The Amritsar Starzone, a name well known to the denizens of the Milky Way. Over a century ago, this very same starzone was host to a battle that saw a complete rout of Alliance forces. Some 20 million Alliance soldiers lost their lives in that campaign to a man still known by the pejorative moniker "the blond brat." As the Imperial forces moved through the system, Amelie doubted the historical significance of the battle space was lost on the soldiers.

When the orders finally arrived Amelie, although not pleased, was not surprised. She would, inevitably, be used as a reserve force at the rear of the main forces.

"So be it," she said through clenched teeth. If von Isenburg wanted it this way, he was the commander after all.

And if it goes poorly he takes all the blame.

Still, as the fleet moves into position Amelie wondered what would await them on the other side. Initial intelligence suggested they were facing only a small reconnaissance force but the fact that they were jamming suggested a more serious invasion force.

Only time would tell what the truth is.

by **Riysa** » Sun Feb 10, 2019 3:09 pm

Amritsar Starzone
GA 906

As they planned, more and more ships came in, with different mixes - some were mainly battleships, some light ships, some balanced, but many patched together from units - and all looking for orders. With such a large force that wasn't used to fighting together, it was clear to Nidal that there was no hope of centralized control. So how would they deal with this? That would likely be the deciding factor of the outcome in the battle to come.

"Thanks for the coffee, Lieutenant." Nidal took a cup of hot espresso from a serving tray carried by Emily. Seated around a table was his core staff - Captain Wilk as his deputy, Captain Marcel Duval as his chief of staff, and twelve other officers covering various departments, plus Emily. "Is everyone ready? Okay, here is my operational concept for this battle. One..."

The planning session begun rather typically, for Nidal's style of command. It started with his operational concept, his vision of the battle. From there, he and the staff would put their brains together to put together an operations plan, with each staff focusing on their specialty - such as communications, or supply - and trading ideas with others. Going beyond typical planning, they also used computer simulations, algorithms, mathematical models, question-focused datasets, and other quantitative tools, to speed up the prediction and decision-making process. As Nidal's reconnaissance units indicated that the enemy fleet was still distant, the exhaustive approach was selected for planning, where all reasonable outcomes and alternatives were analyzed in depth.

"I order Commodore Hoshihito to take command of this section. I believe he is the best choice due to his level of experience and his familiarity with those crews."

In order to issue orders, there needed to be a clear chain-of-command, with one person clearly in charge and accountable; if there wasn't, it needed to be created. Using the first waves of junior flag officers that arrived, Nidal and the staff quickly set up ad hoc squadron commands that would report to them, combing through files and briefly talking with them personally to decide who their commanders would be. Those who had the most experience/seniority in space warfare, or seemed the most able at coordinating large units were picked, and these commanders in turn picked their subordinates. Nidal and his staff helped them gather up into dedicated formations, while trying to keep ships from the same higher-level squadron or fleet together.

"Sir, here is the electronic intercept teams' report. They correlated the machine identifier code from the FTL transmissions to prior intelligence, and it belongs Von Isenberg's ship, the Triumphant."
"Excellent, thank you - so it appears we're facing the Isenberg Fleet. That helps us with a lot in how we will act. Now, what is the enemy's most likely course of action? His psychology..."

At the same time the staff was working on the main plan, combat warning instructions were sent out by Emily to the squadrons that were present. These were created by the staff, based off of the operational concept, and was to alert them and to provide them with enough preliminary information to begin creating their own plans. This included assigned combat missions, adjacent friendly units, description of the enemy, supply consumption, and stellar terrain.

"I think its clear that trying to control these formations as normal is impossible. But at the same time, we need to make sure that Nidal's intentions are explicitly clear. What do you all think?"

With the operational plan complete, it was time to distribute operations orders. With time still on their side, Nidal brought his direct subordinates on-board the Myrsky and briefed them about the plan.

"Commodore Hoshihito, Commodore Urban, Captain Bradley, you three will be the first echelon. Hoshihito, you're on the left; Urban, you're on the right, and Bradley, you're center-forward. Captain Welsch and Captain Maxim, you're the second echleon, and Captain Lunde, you're my strategic reserve here. Commander Helms, continue directing reconnaissance on the right flank here. Captain Hallamaa, you've done this before, so keep leading the 4th Operational Detachment in my name - and make sure to coordinate with Captain Wilk and the chief of reconnaissance."
"For communications, I will be with Welsch in the top right of the formation, and I will be setting up a rearward command post at L1 under the direction of Captain Duval. My connection to L1 is conventional RF and directional only; aside from the command post, these ships will act as general purpose radio relays. FTL is limited to the scouts outside and the relays. EMCON-wise, no emissions until contact has been made, then emit sensors and defensive ECM at your discretion. Watch out for enemy jamming."
"Now, what I want to happen when the enemy comes by..."

Nidal made each person repeat their orders before sending them back, so he could feel confident that they understood their roles in his vision of the battlefield. The written orders themselves were only a few paragraphs long, with the known enemy and friendly dispositions, Nidal's intent, a general plan with specific missions, and a detailed section with supporting information for the rest of the plan; the writing was supplemented with plenty of graphics and diagrams, to make the order as clear as possible. Accompanying them were a whole set of pre-planned instructions, request forms, lookup tables, range cards, and the like.

One hour forty minutes for planning, and on top of that about thirty minutes for the Commodore to brief his new subordinates about the battle. That made two hours and ten minutes in total, and the enemy still wasn't here yet. Not bad.

by **Jade Confederacy** » Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:42 pm

Amritsar Starzone

As the battlefleet reached their predesigned position, information began to trickle in regarding the strategic situation of the star zone. Reports from contacted scouts indeed confirmed the presence of a sizable Alliance armada within the system, although their position and number remain vague. Several squadrons of destroyers were sent to secure a communication line between the garrison fleet and the main fleet. As the location of the Alliance fleet could not be pinpointed at the moment, the garrison commander refused to link up with Isenburg’s fleet for fear of losing the fortress to an Alliance attack.

At 20:30 a squadron of Imperial picket destroyers reported contact with a similar size Alliance task force and a skirmish ensued. As Imperial reinforcements arrived at the scene, the outnumbered Alliance fleet retreated in the direction of the Amristar I, an uninhabited planetoid close to the star. Despite interference from the star, the Alliance fleet was located at the L2 point of the planet.
“Your Excellency, scouting reports indicates the presence of 6000-8000 Alliance Starships, arrayed in a defensive formation. It is of yet unknown where more hostile fleets are present within the system. Preliminary scouting of the enemy fleet composition indicates the lack of troop transports and possess the expected amounts of logistics and supply vessels”

So, in other words, a standard battlefleet. What is going on? Was this a punitive raid? Amritsar was hardly an economic hub and had no vital industries present to warrant strike in itself. No there must be more to it. 8000 ships were enough to contest with the Amritsar garrison fleet but without a sizable troop transport component, they could never hope to land enough soldiers to capture and garrison the system’s fortress.
The most likely explanation was that this was only the vanguard of a much larger fleet, meant to secure a foothold and neutralize the garrison fleet while the rest of the Alliance forces gathered muster at the other end of the corridor. They were using heavy jamming to mask their activities while they consolidate their position.

Isenburg regarded the map of the galaxy and began to ponder. Based on the information from the Imperial Intelligence, both sides roughly had access to 100,000 ships. According to the last update, the Alliance fleet of 20,000 was still stationed at the Phezzan corridor to check High Admiral Helmer’s fleet of 30,000. If the Alliance didn’t strip the garrisons of its core star systems, they could theoretically muster a force of 50,000 vessels for the campaign. More than what the Empire has in the sector by a good 15,000 ships. If the Empire lost Amritsar then the corridor will be wide open. The Empire would have to fight a defensive campaign on a front that got progressively wider and harder to defend.

However… it would seem like if the Alliance has made the classic mistake of dividing their forces leaving them open to a defeat in detail. If Isenburg’s predictions were true, then this was a golden opportunity to make a strategic level impact on the eve of the all-out Alliance attack. He had to destroy the alliance force at Amritsar before the reinforcement arrive, which means that time was of vital importance.

...Get there first! Order the fleet into battle stations. Notify the officers of our intention to attack. We are going to making a full burn to the enemy. We will accelerate to 90 degrees from the hostile fleet and attack them from north of the solar plane to avoid interference from the sun. Once we are at 50 million kilometers from the enemy fleet, the fleet is to take spindle formation with the battleships to the front.”

“We will use our superior numbers and firepower to punch straight through the center of their formation. And hail von Eisenfaust, I have a job for her.”

by **Britanania** » Mon Feb 11, 2019 3:01 pm

Amritsar Starzone

The Hel

The moments before a battle seemed to drag longer than any other times. Any veteran of combat could attest to this simple aphorism, and Amelie was no stranger to the odd cocktail of emotions that stirred within individuals--and groups--on the eve of a confrontation. How many of her soldiers would survive? How many of her friends? It was largely impossible to know.

As was typical when the enemy jammed their sensors information came through slowly and unreliable, almost as a throwback to a pre-FTL communication age. An FPA force, roughly of similar size to the Isenburg Fleet, was waiting for them on the other end of the Starzone. From the formation that Isenbrug was putting the fleet into, Amelie gleaned some of his thoughts.

"Overwhelm them with our superior forces and push them back to Iserlohn," she muttered. "A standard procedure. He suspects, then, that this is a screen for a wider invasion force? That would explain their jamming."

However, Amelie had some doubts as to whether this was the Alliance's intentions.

Coming so quickly as the Kaiser's declaration of war, it would be nearly impossible for the Alliance to plan and executed an invasion of significant size so quickly. That is, of course, unless they were planning their own invasion for some time? Possibly. More than likely this is a defence in depth strategy. Seize Amritsar and use it as a buffer between us and Iserlohn while they plan a true invasion?

There were simply too many unknowns, Amelie admitted. Deep in thought, one of her adjutants approached and told the Rear-Admiral that von Isenburg was hailing her. The young woman nodded.

"All right, bring up the screen."

As soon as her superior's image appeared, she gave a salute.

"Your Excellency, what do you require?"

by **Riysa** » Sun Feb 17, 2019 9:15 pm

The Myrsky

With the planning and briefing long out of the way, the ship was now quiet. Many were now asleep or resting in their quarters, in preparation for the upcoming battle. That left a few essential personnel on the CIC, plus a Commodore Bagdash who stared intently at the CIC's main screen, lost in thought.

"Can't sleep, sir?" Emily walked up to the Commodore, a cup of rich hot cocoa in each hand.

"More like I don't really want to. Thank you for the drink, Lieutenant." He took one of the cups. "I just napped in a tank bed. I know, its not the same, but it'll be fine for now."

"If you say so, sir." Emily gently blew into her cup. The two stayed silent for a little bit, sipping from their drinks.

"Say, Lieutenant." He scratched his head. "How does the crew - how do you feel about this?"

"About what, sir? Oh, Amritsar?" She took a big sip. "Well, its famous - its where millions of our soldiers died, and what started the first Alliance's fall. I'm not overly superstitious, but..."

"...Many soldiers are. Yes, I was thinking about that - even though it was over a hundred years ago, something that traumatic leaves its mark for generations. I'm sure the Imperials haven't forgotten this either."

"Aye, sir. My friends are fine, but I can not say that nobody will be affected by it."

"Oh, you have friends now?" He teased.

"They couldn't resist my charming personality." She beamed back.

Again, they sat in silence, finishing their drinks and reflecting on what was to come.

"I wonder if there's some way we can bend this situation to suit ourselves?"

"...Aha! That happens to be one of my specialties." Nidal stood up, smiling. "Lieutenant, come with me - lets go fetch Captain Wilk. I've just thought of an idea."

Some time later...

Some more music.

"Confidential message received, sir - Captain Duval reports that some of the reconnaissance vessels have made contact with enemy screening units. They've disengaged and fallen back." With an electronic "ping!", the big screen at the CIC, as well as the operator and command consoles, updated with the location and vector of the enemy fleet as determined by by the scouts, correlated with electronic intelligence data. It was a very good track.

"Perfect. Send a message back; tell them to make sure that the pathfinders do not engage the enemy unless its an unarmed vessel. They are to flee otherwise, I don't want to lose soldiers or a vessel over reckless heroics. I know they're mostly professionals, but anyone can get bitten by the glory bug." Emily nodded, and quickly scurried off to carry out his orders.

"So the wpierdol begins now, doesn't it?" Captain Wilk quipped, peering over Nidal's shoulder at the plotting table.

"Lets hope we give more than we receive, Tomacz." He grinned. "You and Emily did a great job getting those posters up across the formation in time. Thank you for designing them."

That had been part of the "idea". With Captain Wilk's expertise, they had quickly designed some morale-boosting posters and sent. One of them had the admirals of 1st Amritsar, depicted as ghostly figures, pointing towards the Imperial side of the corridor, while a modern Alliance fleet launched an attack in the foreground. Another one had a masculine Alliance soldier sharpening his bayonet while a long-haired Imperial soldier cowered behind a rock. These came with short taglines such as "Remember 796!", or "Molon labe!", or "At your call!". Some ships also played patriotic music, on low volume so that it wouldn't disturb the crew. All of this was to harness the memory of Amritsar and turn it into anger against the Empire.

"Of course Commodore, its what I'm here for. By the way, comms is ready for your broadcast."

The keying material had been distributed before, so all that was needed was to make sure that the system had the right keys selected, and it would all be encrypted. As determined in the plan, it would be sent by a RF directional link to the rear command post, and subsequently have it relayed it by dozens of random ships.With a thumbs up from the comms officer on the bridge, Nidal slid on a headset.

"Listen up everyone - this is Commodore Baghdash!" He shouted over the encrypted voice stream. "The honor of our Fleet is calling on us, and the spirits of our dead are demanding from us, to avenge our forefathers! This time, the enemy has no Kircheis or wonder-weapon to save them, but we have some of the best ships and officers from Iserlohn at our side. So be inspired by the promise of our victory, and strike with all of your strength! We will paint Amritsar grey with the wreckage of the damned Imperials! Hurrah!" Nidal cheered, emphasizing his point by raising his service pistol into the air.

"Its Valentine's Day, so lets give them a token of our affection. I order the operation to begin; Captain Hallamaa, do your best to give them a headache."

Under the direction of Captain Hallamaa's electronic reconnaissance, the enemy's communication links had been mapped. Thousands of machine identifiers transmitted in those links had been collected, ranging from a flagship's comms system to personal electronic devices. It was helpful for determining how they were organized and how they talked to each other, and now, it'd be useful for the first phase of the battle.

Nidal had been very precise about what he wanted to happen, but aside from a couple things, Captain Hallamaa had in turn free reign over the details of how to cause those effects. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait for a juicy target to appear to get started - electronic intelligence captured the start of a video link between one of the squadrons and the Admiral's flagship. Perfect. He let the link partially finish before making his move.

All the identifiers they had collected were bombarded by a mass of replayed and modified enemy packets containing an image; an "electronic leaflet", one of several pre-prepared for Tempora and quickly adapted by Nidal and Captain Wilk for the current tactical situation. Immediately after the first one was received, a second one came too.

The Vice Admiral received a special present. Unlike the electronic leaflet that the other ships and devices got, the one sent to his flagship was much simpler..and more direct:

With the leaflet bombing done, Hallamaa could now work his magic. Bouncing his high-powered jamming signals off of Lesing's moons to make it appear as if it was coming from the planet, he went after the mapped communications links, with each grouping of specially equipped ships targeting a certain subset of links. The signals were varied in amplitude and modulated across frequencies, creating an annoying sound resembling a siren to interfere with any voice or data transmissions.

The sensors were not spared either, and Hallamaa had the help of the main body of ships to pull this off. False targets were injected into the sensors by modifying the characteristics of the sensor pulses received to generate false returns, creating three squadrons of 2,000 ships apiece that appeared to rapidly converge onto the Imperial fleet from its sides and rear. Velocity noise was generated, causing more false targets to appear, moving at different velocities towards the fleets and scouts. Ships at the center of the L2 Alliance formation retransmitted false sensor range and velocity returns at a higher power, making it appear as if the Alliance ships were now on the move and accelerating towards the Imperial fleet.

"Power on the engines!" Nidal ordered. It was part of the deception, giving the impression that the fleet was really moving to intercept, when they were just setting into a Lissajous orbit. As he looked at the CIC's screen, his thoughts drifted to the two Baghdashs before him - his father and grandfather. What would they have done? Would they have approved of his operations plan?

"Dad, Grandfather, if you're watching from up there...I hope you like it."

by **Zjaum** » Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:03 am

Amritsar Starzone
Commodore Schultheiß-Scharfrichter
The Geschworenen

Veronika cursed her luck that she had arrived to the battle tardy. Under any other circumstances, she would have been charging the enemy headfirst, pounding her ships against the horde. And yet, thanks to the most bothersome asteroid field that entrapped her squadron and rendered two dozen ships non-functional, the Alliance had managed to entertain the first shots. The navigator was obviously fired... at... by her blaster. There was no recompense for her actions; she merely hoped that she could atone for her sins by inflicting righteous vengeance upon the foe.

"Open the comms; I wish to speak with the admiral!" she barked at the radio operator. The prompt response was "Sir; they have jammed our signals. We can't get through to them."

Veronika put her hand on her blaster but the cooler part of her mind prevailed. This was not his fault. He could still be of use to the Empire. For now, though, she needed to convey her sincerest apology. "Then open the Morse signals! Must I think of everything?"

The operator nodded, pulled out the relatively-antiquated equipment and began to tap upon the commodore's orders. "Vice Admiral von Isenburg. This is Commodore Veronika Schultheiß-Scharfrichter, reporting for duty. I have no excuse for my fleet's absence at the beginning of the batt..."

At that moment the window of her ship was bombarded with what could only be described as heretical leaflets. So this was the Alliance's "first salvo." Her face was filled with ugly rage. "There is no word for the foul insult hurled so flippantly at us, and no punishment too great! Relay the message anew: 'We can only hope that, in hope of your forgiveness, we will hurl ourselves at the enemy. There shall be no rest until the death of one side. Glory to the Empire!'"

The first mate knew better than to question her decision, but clarification was never off the table. "Commodore, which of the enemy battalions should we fight?"

Veronika was tempted to reply with "all of them," but she looked at the computer's tracking systems. There were too many of them. Comically too many. Far too many of them for her not to be suspicious. Ships coming from the planet, battleships coming in front of them, ships at every angle, very well spaced. This must be a trick of the enemy. "We shall fight the fleet furthest from the planet." she announced. "From there, we can have a full view of the rest of the Alliance fleet. Their silhouettes will contrast with light bouncing from the planet, and the planet itself will betray them."

The Molybdenum Squadron marched forth.

by **Britanania** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 9:50 pm

Amritsar Starzone

The Hel

Amelie had only just opened the com channel with her superior officer when the alert systems flared red and siren exploded throughout the bridge of her flagship. The Rebel fleet had suddenly and with no warning appeared on the flanks of the Imperial force, and seemingly even approaching from the rear.

How could they get past our pickets? the Countess thought as a flurry of information entered, with various staff officers reporting on the situation. Already an opening salvo came as such a surprise that it caused panic and confusion among the officers: they simply were not prepared for the coverage of the enemy fleet so quickly after arriving.

It was, frankly, not time to lose anyone's head and Amelie was just the sort of cold individual for the job. Returning to her place on the bridge she ordered her communications officer to open channels to her immediate subordinates.

"Launch Walküre fighters to get some distance between us and the enemy," she barked. "Form up in a spindle formation and punch through the centre to get us a better view of the situation."

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: A New Chapter (IC)

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: A New Chapter (IC)

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