3990 Dewekona incident

## Summary

The 3990 Dewekona incident was an unprovoked attack on a Renegade ship that had entered the outer regions of the Dewekona star system, in which a total of 129 AIS starships attacked a Framework-class Renegade ship and its onboard force of subcapital ships. The Renegade ship entered the system on 20 August 3990 Galactic Standard Time and was destroyed on 24 August 3990 GST.

## Order of battle

The leader of the AIS forces claimed that the Renegade ship had attacked a trading convoy in the system, although it was proven by an independent investigation that the trading convoy was destroyed by a large UEO pirate squadron of approximately 80 ships. The two forces engaged in battle at an orbital distance of 5.7 AU, quite far out in the Dewekona system. All the AIS ships were registered to owners in Dewekona, and 107 of the pilots had licenses as bounty hunters in AIS territory. The pilots later stated that the local government had made an arrangement with them prior to the attack: for each Renegade subcapital ship destroyed, they would receive 50,000 credits, with an additional 2 million credits planned to be split between the surviving pilots if they destroyed the Renegade supercarrier.

## Incident summary

The battle took place on 24 August 3990 GST. The AIS pilots, many of whom had cloaking devices, rushed in and began attack runs on the Framework without any attempt at communication, similarly to the beginning of the battle in Teskalon in 3928. The crew on board the Renegade ship hurriedly took battle stations and began to launch the Framework's massive force of subcapital ships. Within a few minutes, however, the battle was already over; though the Framework had managed to launch 42 of its subcapital ships and destroyed 23 of the AIS ships itself, it took a hit to an antimatter storage tank and exploded, taking another 37 AIS ships and 15 of its own ships with it. The remaining 27 Renegade subcapital ships mostly attacked in suicide runs, destroying another 20 AIS ships; none of the Renegade ships survived. The Framework-class supercarrier had an estimated 25,000 civilians on board in addition to its crew. The Framework was only classed as a supercarrier due to its size and the fact that it had massive launch bays for subcapital ships; like most Renegade capital ships, however, its primary purpose was to serve as a living space for the Renegade population. Unlike the Renegade ships in Teskalon, the Framework class ship in Dewekona did not send out any distress signals or communications of any kind. There are several different explanations for this: one is that its comm systems were taken offline by damage caused in the initial AIS attack, which is unlikely since most Renegade capital ships, and certainly all those of Framework-class size or larger, have multiple comm systems. Another explanation is that this ship belonged to a Renegade splinter group which was not communicating with other Renegade ships. This explanation is quite possible, since Renegade ships usually only went into AIS or Asgardian-controlled systems if they needed repairs urgently and had established communications agreements with an Bandorian or LABS trader to come to their location. No Bandorian pilots reported a contract with this Renegade ship, and apart from an official condemnation of the actions taken by the AIS forces, the Protectorate made no official statements concerning the incident.

## Reactions

The local government issued a statement on 25 August 3990 GST stating that "a Renegade ship proven to have destroyed a trading convoy in Dewekona was destroyed by a volunteer force yesterday". They offered no evidence of the claim that the trading convoy was destroyed by the Renegades, and made no mention of the civilians on board the Renegade ship, or the unprovoked nature of the attack, which was commenced without allowing the Renegades the option to leave the system first, or any communication with them at all. The number of ships destroyed, as well as civilian casualties, were later confirmed by a independent investigative team. A total of 80 AIS ships, one Renegade capital ship, and 183 Renegade subcapital ships were confirmed as destroyed; casualty estimates showed that approximately 100 AIS pilots and crew, 25,000 Renegade civilians, and 1,500 Renegade pilots and crew were killed in the battle. The battle itself took no more than 30 minutes. The Bandorian Protectorate condemned the AIS pilots' actions, stating that there was a disturbing pattern of unprovoked violence against Renegade ships in AIS territory, and vowing sanctions against the AIS if another such incident occurred.