Battle of Trakelcja

The **Battle of Trakelcja** was a battle fought in Trakelcja on July 21, 21 806 PCE which was one of the key military engagements during the events of the Third Feline Revolt. The battle took place between forces of the feline army and the united seal and narwhal army. In marine mammal sources, it is sometimes called the **Second Battle of Obauks** or the **Last Battle of Obauks,** because obauks were crucial in the engagement and simultaneously it was the last time they played a major role in any war in the Developed East (the "second" part referring to the Battle of Krama). 27 obauks manned by narwhals and seals defeated a force of 38 feline-manned obauks, sustaining comparatively minimal losses. Despite the resulting propaganda success, this victory did not in reality have any major effect on the overall military strength of the United Feline Empire. The war between felines and the rest of the animal species would continue for another ten years after this.

### **Basic info**

* **Date:** July 21, 21 806 PCE
* **Location:** Trakelcja
* **Result:** Victory of narwhals and seals
* **Belligerents:** Narwhals, seals | United Feline Empire
* **Commanders:** Gilbert Kyle †, Nelson Polycarp, Barney Polar | Francisco Lene
* **Strength:** 27 war obauks with crews, 4 infantry legions, 2 cavalry legions | 38 war obauks with crews, 5 infantry legions, 2 cavalry legions
* **Losses:** 2 war obauks and 1534 soldiers killed | 6 war obauks and 2000+ soldiers killed, 16 war obauks and 2500+ soldiers captured

### Course of the battle

#### Opening

At the beginning of the battle, the feline forces were in a ragged, irregular formation heading south. In line with the plan, the narwhal-seal forces approached the cats in two columns of obauks, accompanied by one legion of infantry and one legion of bookers-riding cavalry to the left and right of them respectively. The four larger legions were at the rear of the obauk formation. The commander of the northern (windward) column was experienced obauk trainer and general Gilbert Kyle onboard his flag obauk Triumphator, while the commander of the southern (leeward) column was the famous admiral Nelson Polycarp riding on Eclipse Fighter. The flag obauk of the seals was Kyisa, trailing Triumphator, who carried the general Barney Polar. Because temperature during the battle was very high (spiking up to 38 degrees), the obauks were reluctant and walked extremely slowly. Most of the narwhals and seals had to endure multiple series of enemy fire from several of the feline obauks before their own shorter-range weapon could shoot. It was precisely at noon when Reuson shot the first salve at Eclipse Fighter. When Eclipse Fighter broke through the feline line, he was attacked at direct range by Reuson, San Justo, Scirio, Rayo and Michael Moore, before he was able to break the second line and engage Hortense in heavy combat. The second obauk in Eclipse Fighter's line, Royal Destiny, was attacked at direct range by San Leandro, Mont Blanc, Reuson and Aigana. He sustained heavy injuries and his cannon crews were quickly killed, but he was able to hold his own for over 45 minutes with a just a mere few survivors from his crew before being aided by some of the other obauks.

#### The fall of Eclipse Fighter and surrounding of Mirador

A heavily injured Eclipse Fighter collapsed in front. In the confusion, he was stomped on and impaled by the charging allied obauk of Atandar, causing him to bleed out to death. Admiral Polycarp was able to survive. Atandar continued his mad charge and wounded many of the feline obauks before he was neutralized and shot to death by the cannon crew of Robert Bismarck. For 40 minutes, Triumphator engaged Santa Ana, San Idelfo, Hermione and Santa Maria, also sustaining heavy injuries and having all of his armor plates pierced. At 12:45, he crossed the enemy line and made an arc, approaching the feline flag obauk of Mirador (easily spotted because of his golden tower and armor) and wounding him heavily. Soon Bucentaure was able to engage Triumphator and distract him away, but Mirador sustained even more injuries in heavy direct range combat against East of Eden, Emperor Kris and Victory Taste. General Kyle got wounded by an arrow shot from Bucentaure, dying from the injury several hours later. Because the cats were preparing to jump on Triumphator and capture him, East of Eden was positioned between the two fighting obauks and his full compartment of cannon crews attacked, wounding Bucentaure and her crew. At 12:55, Bucentaure's captain, with only 9 remaining capable of fighting out of the original crew of 34 and being heavily injured himself, ordered retreat from Mirador's area. Mirador's retreat was cut off by Triumphator and East of Eden, and he was then engaged by the cannon crews of Victory Taste, Swamp Spirit and Neptune.

#### Feline surrender

Next to him, Alvarado became similarly isolated and engulfed, with several of the narwhal-seal obauks pinning him to the ground. As more and more of the narwhal-seal obauks entered the battle, most of the cat obauks became similarly engulfed, the irregularity and lack of organization in their formation being their downfall. By 13:20, the majority of them were already exhausted and heavily injured if not dying. The remaining feline obauks went into a panic and quickly escaped to the east, while the rest became trapped. The rear legions of infantry and cavalry took care of finishing off the exhausted animals, throwing nets, chains, harpoons and olive bombs. Narwhals and seals took 22 feline obauks and only lost two themselves. Out of the lost feline obauks, Irrestible and Achille died to direct blows from enemy obauks, Argonaute and San Justo fell victim to shelling from cannon crews, while Intrepide and Santa Ana burned to death from the olive bombs. The other 16 were captured. Those were San Idelfo, Santa Maria, Ajax, Scirio, Rayo, San Leandro, Mont Blanc, Aigana, Monarca, Monte Carlo, Lexus, Artagor, Darlan Helde, Bucenture, Teide and most importantly Mirador, complete with the heavily wounded cat commander Francisco Lene still occupying his personal makeshift tower on his top.

### Engagement after the battle

When the message about the defeat reached the Cat Emperor, he immediately ordered the five reserve obauks stationed near Trakelcja deployed to recover at least some of the ones captured in the battle. A smaller battle took place on July 22 and this time the feline obauks took the lead, being fully healthy and rested. Because of the casualties on the narwhal-seal side, the obauks were not manned evenly and some of the captured ones were traveling with just one person on their back, making it easy to recapture them. The rescue obauks managed to recapture Monte Carlo, Santa Maria and Rayo, leading them towards Cattalin. However, during their return, a gigantic hurricane arrived on July 23. The group was traveling through a thick forest at the time, resulting in injuries to obauks and their crews from falling trees. Santa Maria was eventually killed off for slowing down the journey, while Monte Carlo reached the destination on his own. Out of the reserve obauks, three were shot, one reached the base, while the fifth one - Santisima - waited out the hurricane in one spot and reached the base later on. Rayo, a powerful 50-year-old obauk, lost both of his tusks to a falling tree, but went back to Trakelcja and survived. The next day, he embarked on a solo journey to Cattalin and exchanged fire with Levathian and Monarca. The latter, nearly empty, was cut off and shot to death by Rayo's cannon crew. Rayo reached Cattalin on August 6.

### The escape of feline obauks

After the battle, the 16 remaining feline obauks were scattered over a large area and only got back together on the next day after the battle. For a day, they rested together, and the command was taken over by Pawer Clawson, the captain of Armadilla Barbadosa. The heavily wounded Pluton, Oskarian, Reuson, Michael Moore and Defiance were abandoned and shot off on July 23, while the rest - divided into three groups - started their trek back to the cat capital. The first group consisting of Armadilla Barbadosa, Alvarado, Robert Bismarck and Mandarin arrived unscathed. From the second group, only Kenalta returned. San Agustin, Hermione and Hortense were all captured on August 4 after falling into a trap left by the seal ground forces. From the third group, a heavily wounded and overloaded Basil drowned while crossing a river on July 25, while the remaining two were surrounded on July 28. Heros was set ablaze and burned alive to avoid capture, while Alicie was captured.

### The fate of captured obauks

The hurricane also affected the cavalcade of narwhal and seal obauks, which now consisted of 37 animals (Leviathan was still up north, having been delegated off to search for remnants of the feline forces). Multiple obauks were too injured to continue the journey, and some of the most loyal feline obauks became completely oblivious to any commands from the narwhal and seal trainers. As a result, Polycarp and Polar ordered the four most reluctant of the captured obauks to be shot off, those being Aigana, Lexus, Bucentaure and Mirador. On August 3, the surviving 25 obauks of narwhals and seals along with 8 captured (San Idelfo, Ajax, Scirio, San Leandro, Mont Blanc, Artagor, Darlan Helde and Teide) finally arrived back to their bases. The captured obauks would later get new names and be divided equally between the narwhals and seals.