Battle of Aasha

> *"The battle of Aasha was the culmination of events that take root as far back as the 18th century; no-one back then could have anticipated what the revolution would bring, but the greatest void stellar battle in history is what is brought upon us"*
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> **- Nreksta *(2350) 'Histories of the Commonwealth',* *The age of crisis.* Ortus Libraries Pg 3746 -**
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## The Battle of Aasha

A historic battle fought between the Empire & Commonwealth.

## Belligerents

The Eternal Empire: Commander: Lord Darius Nay

Sovereign Armada

The Commonwealth: Commander: Satayesh Ibrahim

Task Force Manticore

## Strength

The Eternal Empire: 50 Corvettes, 49 Destroyers, 17 Cruisers, 94 Support Vessels (Support Cruisers, Electronic Attack Cruisers, Light Carriers etc.) 66 Battlecruisers, 38 Battleships, and 25 Carriers.

The Commonwealth: 20 Corvettes, 22 Cruisers, 3 RS Support Cruisers, 4 Electronic Attack Cruisers, 4 NSC Strike Cruisers, 46 Light Carriers, 30 Battlecruisers(+5 CSV Legacy copies),11 Battleships, 4 Carriers, 1 Phantom Wraith.

## Casualties / Loses

The Eternal Empire: Crippling Defeat

The Commonwealth: Victory

## Clash of the titans

**The Battle of Aasha** occurred in the midlife of year 2326AD and was part of the larger conflict officially referred to as the Ancestral war.

The cause of the war was rooted in history centuries old, dating back to the pre-exodus conflict between the Commonwealth and British Empire; in this conflict the scars of old rivaly pushed the Eternal Empire to seek the absolute annihilation of the Commonwealth, with annihilation being the Empire's objective the Commonwealth fought this battle knowing that defeat would mean the glassing of Ortus.

### Prelude

* 2315 AD - The Commonwealth calls out for unity against the Unbidden threat. In response the Eternal Empire declares war on the Commonwealth.
* Phalangitay stations located on the borders begin sweeping the outlying systems for large fleet movements
* Over 9 years go with no sign of Eternal fleets, it is generally accepted that the Eternal Empire is too distant and has too much foreign territory to cross.
* The Great Array is finished, by chance the sensors detect the Sovereign Armada; it is approaching through the centre of the galaxy, a feat thought imposssible.
* Emergency constructions of stellar mine fields begins, Task Force Manticore takes up defensive postures in the Aasha system, Ortus begins mobilisation of ground forces.
* The Sovereign Armada warps into the Aasha system, the battle for Ortus begins.
> *"Weapons locked and missiles primed, fire patterns prepared and shields are up, we are green lights across the board and standing by"*
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## The battle for Ortus

> *What the less studious forget is that the Sovereign Armada was deep in Commonwealth territory, cut off from reinforcements; time was against Lord Admiral Darius as the tide would turn further in the Commonwealth’s favour the longer his Armada remained within it.*
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### **Opening hour**

The battle for Aasha began as the Sovereign Armada warped in, no skirmishing or manoeuvring occurred between the moment of arrival and the commitment to all out battle, this battle would be fought tooth and nail and there was no time for delay.

#### *Manticore Strikes First*

Between the fleets lay two defensive stations, the stations themselves loaded with shield inhibitors and guidance systems, over the course of prolonged battles these stations can tip the scales so this was the Armadas first target; cruiser and battleship ordinance soon made its mark on the front-most station which found its point defence systems completely inadequate against the firestorm. Task Force Manticore had counted on this though, the station was a sacrificial target; loaded with explosive material the station explosion was greater than anticipated, vanguard corvettes & fighters were caught in the blast which tore a hole in the screening forces.

(The second defence station had been loaded with experimental reactors which overcharged the shields seeing this the Armada was forced to move around it)

Quick to seize the advantage, Ibrahim pushed high volumes of missile fire through the hole where point defence was now reduced, targeting a cluster of carrier vessels she aimed to break the Armadas fighter wings and deny them the liberty of further fighter screens which in turn would open them up over the course of the battle to more missile fire; the opening of the battle looked promising as a first blow for Manticore but the Armada refused to give the first foot to the enemy, as Manticore’s ordinance approached Ibrahim noticed that there was a distinct lack of point defence across the entire Armada and its fighters had done little to intercept the stream of missiles… too late was the ruse realised. Believing the Armada lacked point defence Ibrahim had sent torrents of missile fire at them, the lack of resistance had encouraged Manticore to overcommit to missile-based attacks; as a wall of missiles approached the Armada’s vessels suddenly dropped all engine power and devoted surplus energy to flak cannons. A wall of missiles ploughed into a wall of flak and the grand volley was blasted apart, as if to mock Manticore the Armada then loosed its own grand volley before raising the flak wall again.

#### *Counterattacked!*

The initial phase was off to a bad start, the Armada had been taken aback by the exploding station but Manticore failed to exploit the opening it banked on, what’s more the Armada sidestepped expectations and seized the initiative; with the ace revealed the Armada had to press the moment of surprise, rather than break into typical line ship formation the Armada advanced as a single solid formation, using a wall of flak to break the majority of missile fire. Though this broke Manticore’s once distinctive missile advantage the Armada had to sacrifice its battleships’ speed, the flak wall was also less intense as power was redirected back to the engines; still, the Armada had subverted Ibrahim's expectations and along with them her plan. The flak wall made missile fire negligible when attacked from one front, the only way to penetrate it would be attack from multiple fronts, forcing the flak to spread itself thinner as it covered more fronts... but this is what Darius wanted; if Ibrahim spread her fleet to attack from multiple fronts then the Armada would break formation and drive wedges between the Manticore fleet, if this happened then the Empire would have won the battle within hours as brawler battles were their bread and butter.

Knowing this Ibrahim was forced to pull back the forward flanking vessels; these forces, comprised of corvettes and cruisers, were caught out by Sabretooth fighters and other aircraft of HM Fighter Wings. The escorting A-53 Strike Fighters performed diligently as rear-guard against the incoming fighters but fought outnumbered, 8 to 1, in the end 3 cruisers and 8 corvettes were lost before the flanking forces returned to Manticore controlled space.

What remained of the hour was spent reforming ships positions and targeting flak batteries with projectile / energy weapons in attempts to weaken the flak wall, fighters clashed in the empty void between the opposing fleets as they each paved ways for their bombers - while Manticore had greater success in this matter the potential damage they could have done was lost focussing on flak batteries - Manticore was still reeling from the backhand the Armada had given them. Manticore was not out of the fight though, they had yet to reveal their own ace; but for the first time in Commonwealth history, the first phase of combat had ended soundly in the opponents favour.

### **Committed to battle**

The battle was beginning in full, soon the fleets would be committed to outright battle, when this phase dawns in void combat the fleets cannot change formation or strategy and all that is left is victory or defeat - while changing tactic mid battle is a viable and potentially winning strategy it is countered easily by competent admirals - so Manticore poised to begin a riposte attack; banking on the hope that the Sovereign Armada was riding high on their initial success and overconfident, Ibrahim hoped to smash the offensive Lord Darius and turn lock them in an unwinnable position.

#### *Breaking the wall*

The flak wall had been weakened by targeted fire on the flak batteries but it was still a formidable wall, the Sovereign Armada was set for Ortus and they'd made it clear that anything in their way wouldn't be in the way for long; mines were blasted from a distance as the Armada made steady and calculated progress forward.

With time for manoeuvre running out Ibrahim played the ace, the minefield suddenly became a moving swarm of homing bombs; these mines had also been fitted with shields which activated as they began homing in and as the mines gained momentum secondary thrusters burned through reserves of fuel, a cluster of mines now headed straight for the Armada. The Sovereign Armada slowed as power was redirected to forward batteries and secondary flak guns, the shielding on the mines was far too intense though (the mines were shielded with extremely intense energy, while unsustainable and would barely last three minutes, the shields did not need to last long) as the mines encroached the outcome was written on the wall. All that was left was damage control...

Sovereign battleships surged forwards, breaking rank with the larger formation, as they gained distance they dropped all power from all systems… and diverted it to reactors.

> *"Long live the Queen!"*
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The reactors overloaded and the battleships exploded amidst the mines, a chain reaction was spurred by the energy of the reactors and swathes of the mines were lost; the Armada was down 12 battleships and lost an additional 8 corvettes to the remaining mines, the initiative lay with Manticore and Ibrahim had to seize it now.

#### *Double down or hit and run?*

A moment like this is rarely seen in void warfare, an enemy assault smashed within minutes and the moment where spirits ride highest for your men as the enemy stumbles; the perfect time equivalent would be the moment you consider a horse charge, the prospect of surging forward and smashing the Armada was enticing. But that exact thing has been the downfall of many who opposed the Eternals, sometimes the best thing to do is take your cut and run.

Running wasn't an option though, in any other situation Manticore would be hard pressed to find an excuse not to beat a retreat. The battle was not yet over though and the opportunity to press the advantage would soon be gone, a sort of sensory overload tactic was employed; CSV vessels launched everything available from projectiles and missiles to fighters and data hacks, this attack would drain large pools of energy and would hinder them after the fact as they waited for sufficient energy to come back. It would all be worth it though if the attack inflicted major casualties on the Armada, which was hoped to be overloaded with the excess fire and the loss of battleships. The attack fell flat.

As Manticore drained its energy unleashing devastating volleys of fire Darius had anticipated a second blow, not willing to risk the Armada with unchecked aggression he ordered an immediate formation break.

> *"All ships break and enact the Delta manoeuvre"*
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The Armada scattered, leaving the space they once filled with duds and flares, hidden behind the fading minefield explosion the crews of CSV vessels could not see the Armada moving and had to rely on sensors which were tricked into detecting the duds; the firepower of Manticore missed the intended target and at best destroyed 3 carriers that had been too slow to evade. As the blinding explosion cleared the view of the entire Armada retreating was what was hoped for, instead they saw battleships leading the Armada in a vertical line at full speed towards them; simultaneously flotillas of corvettes and destroyers escorted by clusters of fighters were moving around the field of combat, they could not be intercepted for the main body of the Armada was upon Manticore.

As the battle descended into a brawl the two fleets found themselves equally matched, while usually it was the Eternals field of speciality they had lost over a third of their battleships before even reaching optimal range, the Commonwealth's tech advantage played its hand again as Darius found his ships outmanoeuvred and outgunned in what was meant to be his own playing field; at such close range A-53 Strike Fighters did not have to stray far from their own vessels for protection and resupply and entire payloads could be dealt out at rapid rates, yet the competition was not one sided. Advanced tech or no this was the Armada's game and they'd had a century of practice, crews of CSV vessels still recalled the days of combat against the Zracon whose fanaticism overruled common sense whereas the crews of HMS vessels tempered themselves with discipline; HM's Fighters also vastly outnumbered the A-53 Strike Fighters and slowly asserted dominance by destroying the hanger doors of carrier vessels.

At such lose range HMS vessels even began ramming damaged vessels into CSV vessels, from that point they would board the CSV vessel... or just overload the reactor and take anything nearby down with them.

#### *CSV Legacy*

As the battle ticked into its third hour the outcome was still uncertain, while the Armada had lost around half their number they refused to back down; while the battle was in Manticores favour the flanking forces of the Empire were still moving around the flanks and were yet to encircle the battle, the diligent work of fighters had delayed them but they could not stop them. As Ibrahim directed the battle she was taken aback to see 5 vessels bearing down on her flank, but these were not HMS vessels they were CSV Legacy... all 5 of them were CSV Legacy, each commanded by 5 copies of Michael Drackovich.

The sight of 5 battleships on the flank tricked the rightward flanking force into the belief that they had been outdone and attempted to fall back, but Manticore fighters had damaged the engines and they were too slow to avoid the CSV Legacies' guns.

The battle had not turned though, the second flanking force bore down on the battle unopposed; at the same time a pack of multirole battleships broke out from the battle, these ships were the modern variants of prestigious vessels such as HMS Hood, and made straight for Ortus. The battle was turning, Manticore was losing coherence and its computing systems were breaking down under heavy ion bombing.

> *"Ladies and gentlemen, the day is soon to be ours; press them hard, break their final defences and bring it home"*
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### **The real ace**

All along though, the plan was not to stop the Sovereign Armada.

Psionics from across the Commonwealth had been drawn up from all around and brought to Ortus, altogether they amassed their psionic energy which they channelled through the most powerful among them. Aspinaca planned to unleash a blast of psionic energy and devastate the crews of the Armada; but a better target presented itself, Michael Drackovich who themselves were psionic felt the presence of a great power within the Amarda… they felt it shrouding the Armada and its tendrils of power seeping into the decks of Mantiore's vessels.

> *"Target acquired"*
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The psionics needed not discuss it for all their minds were in unison, using Michael Drackovich as an amplifier they exerted everything on this target, they may not have realised what they did but they had targeted Queen Victoria VIII; unprepared for such a masses psionic assault Victoria was taken aback. Within the minute Darius called a retreat, his fleet warped out and left the smouldering wrecks of battle behind them.

## Aftermath

Transports holding HM Armed Forces were left stranded in the Okopleron system, Manticore was quick to catch them; surrender was offered, it was not accepted. As the offer of surrender finalised the transport fleet turned to face Manticore, and boosted. A kamikaze assault... all were slaughtered and 70 million soldiers were wiped out within minutes.