Fwurg

[Veolian Commonwealth]

Round 3

After the scanning vessels of the First Shebi Fleet confirms their readings, they are immediately retasked to track every friendly in the area now referred to as "the box". This area in space, boxed in between Aenka, the Veolian Imperial and the barrage of capital ship fire from the First Shebi, is slowly turning into a literally hot zone. Wreckage is drifint everywhere, and explosions are regularly occuring on both wrecked and active vessels. And there are fighter squadrons of the Veolian Imperial Fleet weaving through it all.

As the scanning vessels reacquired scanning locks, the veolian vanguard commander aboard the Cascade of Cutting Terror, contacts the ACA commander: "Admiral Shebi Jharanā to Lady-Fleet Admiral Nethorius. Re-scan confirms report in full."

With that out of the way, the husband and wife pair of fleet admiral Shebi Naupaat and Shebi Jharanā, exchange a few words over comms to make sure that all ships in their fleet were ready to perform the next maneuvre.


The maneuvre they plan is an experimental one. After the box was established fleet admiral Saman Machal (of the imperial fleet) ordered the First Shebi Fleet to prepare for a precision capital fire strike. The maneuvre has never been used in actual battle, but has been hypothesized since the construction of the Hyperspace Tracking Vessel. The ideal of the precision capital fire strike is the combination of the targetting accuracy of fighter squadrons with the high-impact fire of a capital ship strike. The trick is to not blow your own fighter squadrons out of the skies, and this is where the scanning vessels come in.

As the tracking vessels announce that they have achieved complete battle modelling, the order is given to the fighter squadrons in the box: "Start doing fly-by attacks at all vulnerable capital ships, and paint the structural weaknesses of the vessels with burst-fire from the whole squadron. Activate the locator beacon when paint succesful."

The fighter squadron's weapons do not nearly have enough firepower to damage the capital ships. But the locator beacon can be picked up by all capital ships in the veolian fleets, and the synchronized burst can detected by the scanning vessels and used to calibrate long-range capital ship fire to fire precisely at the painted spot.

As the fighter squadrons start swooping in and painting targets, the capital ships of the First Shebi Fleet start firing off rounds of concentrated firing power directed by the calibration calculations of their scanning vessels. In effect, the veolian fighter squadrons are now all upgraded with the ability to call in on-demand precision capital fire strikes — as long as they receive firing support from the First Shebi Fleet, every Imperial fighter squadron can now take on a capital ship and come out on top!

With the first few strikes hitting home, the squadron leaders quickly take advantage of their new "superpower" and start taking down Slave Rebellion capital ships in the box!

((Combat, round 3: Veolian Imperial Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, (foregoing additional action since both fleets must work together to pull off the "Precision Capital Fire Strike")
Attack: 6 / 9 / 8 - Skirmish Formation attack
Defence: 2 / 5 / 3 - Skirmish Formation defence

• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Offensive advantage action (raided smaller vessels)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

((Combat, round 3: First Shebi Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Offensive DCA +2 ((Check: 8 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Barrage Formation + 1 Advantage + 1 Intelligence + 1 Hyperspace Tracking Vessels -- Support of Imperial Fleet fighter wings with on-demand precision capital ship fire))
Attack: 9 / 5 / 4 - Barrage Formation attack
Defence: 4 / 2 / 3 - Barrage Formation defence

• Offensive DCA (see above): +1 / +0 / +0
• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

((OOC: Combined attack (with DCAs): 9 / 9 / 8

I added a title so the thread is somewhat more readable. Also, if this works, I'm going to propose an upgrade to the Barrage Formation called "Precision Capital Fire Strike" ^_^

EDIT: Corrected outdated status modifiers listing for Imperial.))

[Praetorian Empire]

The Praetorian Primary Fleet slowly moved closer to the enemy fleet and used all the resources they had at their disposal to wreak havoc. The Praetorian Capital ships now joined forces and started to pick of the commanding capital ships of the enemy fleet one by one. The Precision of the Capital Ship fire was unparalleled. Combined with the fact that the Praetorians knew exactly where to fire the Slave Rebellion Ships started to drop like flies.

((Combat, round 3: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Direct Combat Action, +2 ((Check: 8 = 4 Base Rating + 2 Outer Attack + 1 Intelligence +1 Advantage -- Picking of enemy commanding Capital Ships one by one))
Attack: 10 / 7 / 3 - Barrage Formation
Defence: 4 / 3 / 1 - Barrage Formation

• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)
• Offensive Advantage (Flanking) (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: I want to correct a previous statement of mine. As it turns out the rules on how Rounds work actually state that NPCs usually go last. This is counter to my earlier statement.

On a related note, there's also a small rule that describe how things work out if someone doesn't post.))

[Alexander Giambastiani]

The UDF-CORE-14 fleet analyzed the situation in the Adii Nasla System and never actually engaged the enemy. Admiral Bonavrix had been waiting for orders from the ministry of defence for a while now. Admiral Bonavrix opened a secure channel to all allied military fleets in the system.

"This is Admiral Bonavrix of the The UDF-CORE-14. Our analysis shows that joining this battle now would only lead to unnecessary damage on the Adii Nasla System. Since the Union is currently outnumbering Slave Rebellion 7 with 4 to 1 fleets the battlefield is already crowded. The UDF-CORE-14 has been retasked to the Stellaria Argentum in 12 -3. We wish you the best of luck. "

The UDF-CORE-14 started to move away from the system.


((OOC: I know that a retreat maneuvre is 2 turns, however this fleet never actually engaged and already started last turn.))

[Lady-Fleet Admiral Lythia Nethorius]

"Roger that, Admiral. Thanks for the confirmation." Came the reply to the Shebi fleet.

Somewhat put at ease, the Fleet Admiral reanalysed the situation. She ordered the ACN First Fleet to start closing in the distance between the enemy's flank and increase firing. Confident her Capital Ships would be able to put enormous pressure on the Slave Rebellion Fleet's flank that was mostly made up out of corvettes. This was meant to collapse the enemy flank.

The ACN Fleet wasn't bothered much by the few ships that fired on them. While their cruisers were fairly easy to hit, they could take a beating. Whenever an enemy shot landed, a ring of white light bloomed from where the shot had hit. This revealed hundreds, even thousands, of hexagon panels about a meter of the ships hull. As the shield panels absorbed each hit they temporarily shifted into the visible spectrum.

As the ACN First Fleet got closer to the enemy, they started to shift positions. Arch Devil class cruisers, Athena and Durga class destroyers and Janissary and Samurai class frigates accelerated and took up front positions. Phoenix class cruisers, Bishamonten class destroyers and Paladin and Valkyrie class frigates took up the rear lines.

((Combat, round 3: Attacking Slave Rebelion Fleet 7, Offensive advantage action ((Check: 7 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Outer Attack + 1 Intelligence + 1 Advantage -- Collapsing enemy flank))
Attack: 7 / 7 / 5 - Barrage Formation
Defence: 3 / 4 / 4 - Skirmish Formation

• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)
• Offensive Advantage (Flanking) (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

((OOC: Sorry for the late reply, I've been sick for most of the week.
Edit: fixed check
Edit 2: Added Edit (forgot to do that)))

[Mercury]

The Slave Rebellion fleet pulled together - in the sense that every ship was firing at everything, Union ships coming in from all directions. The fleets capital ships started to move and the countless smaller ships moved with it. From afar it almost seemed like a fluid or a bunch of jelly slowly beginning to move about as they were being strafed from all sides. The ships pulled back from the Aneka, appearing to go on the run!

But the fleet didn't exit the Adii Nasla system - rather, it manoeuvred to Nayi, much closer to the Mithuna Rasi pair, their red and orange light behind them. In a sense it might seem like a smart move - put the sun at your back so the enemy has to look directly into it, but the huge slave rebellion fleet eclipsed the light of the suns, eliminating whatever advantage that might have given.

However, the move did effectively negate the advantage the Union ships had by attacking from all sides, as there was now once again a clear battle line with the Slave Rebellion ships closer to the star and the Union fleets further out.

((Combat, round 3: Attack First Shebi Fleet, removing enemy Offensive Advantage Action (pulling out of the flanked position)
Attack: 3 / 3 / 3 - Standard Formation
Defence: 7 / 7 / 7 - Standard Formation

• Defensive Advantage Action (Pulled in reserves) +1/+1/+1 to defence

))

((OOC: Note: Having the sun at your back does not generally provide any actual significant advantage in fleet combat))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: After reading my own clarification request, I am reasonably sure that there is a magnitude mismatch somewhere in how we envision the situation That is, I am working under the assumption that Fleet Battles are local affairs, not system-spreading mega-battles (my assumption appears to be backed by the rules). I have no idea how to resolve this difference, so my clarification request stands.

I would like to note that I do not want to call into doubt the authority of the ST to declare how the in-game universe works. I am simply not sure what is going on right now. (Also, I am aware of the fact that Mercury might not have finished with his post yet, and that he is probably going to make the end-of-round post at a later moment.)

----

Clarification request A: Why is there even a removal of advantage actions thing? If they jump to Nayi the battle is effectively over. We simply can't follow: as far as I am aware, none of the Union worlds has the technology to actually make in-system jumps of that magnitude. They leave the Scope of Battle, and that's it... Of course, as the ST you are free to declare whatever you bloody well please :P

But I'd like to have some up-front warning if you are going to toss aside something as fundamental as "the battle area is constrained to here". Especially because I have population in this system that I'd much rather be defending if the Slave Rebellion can simply move on over there!

Clarification request B: Notwithstanding the above, is the Slave Rebellion Fleet removing the "Offensive Advantage (Flanking)" from both the ACA and the Praetorians, or are they removing both the "Offensive Advantage (Flanking)" and the "Offensive advantage action (boxing in)"?))

[Mercury]

((OOC: The battle is taking place in the Adii Nasla system. This system is the scope of battle for this battle, as defined by the name of the thread. Moving to the other planet is within that norm. To comply with whatever else is defined, I'll say that the two planets happen to be very close by one another.

The Slave Rebellion Fleet is removing both flanking advantage actions, not the boxing in advantage action as that advantage can be used to give a proper strafing run while they retreat.))

[Mercury]

The Veolian maneuvre to with the Precision Capital Fire Strike began to cut into the capital ships of the Slave Rebellion fleet. Imperial Fighter Squadrons boomed past the large vessels, leaving trails of destruction in their wake as capital ships were blown out of the sky!

((OOC: The offensive maneuvre is approved!))

Meanwhile, the Praetorian fleet targetted precise blasts, targetting enemy capital ships, picking out weak points on reactor cores, engines and power systems, and disabling or destroying the vessels. Several of the disabled vessels exploded shortly after - it wasn't entirely clear if the ships had a cascade failure or were being deliberately scuttled by the enemy, but in either case, the explosions left little to the imagination.

((OOC: The Praetorian DCA is approved))

The UDF-CORE 14 began its retreat without ever engaging the Slave Rebellion. It simply wasn't necessary.

((OOC: You are allowed to retreat here))

The ACN began blasting their way through the enemy flank, and it indeed started to collapse as ships were exploding left and right. The carefully measured out combination of ship classes was a stark contrast with the weak Slave Rebellion attempt at anything that resembled a formation.

((OOC: Your offensive advantage action has been approved))

Leaving a trail of wreckage behind them, the Slave Rebellion vessels dragged themselves to Nayi, the fleet now significantly damaged.

((OOC: Your combined attack rating is 10/9/8. This surpassed the Slave Rebellions 7 / 7 / 7 defences. As a result, you cause another level of damage and the Slave Rebellion fleet is now at a -1 rating on all attack and defence!))

[Mercury]

Round 4

The Slave Rebellion fleet retook position above Nayi, keeping themselves between the planet and the Union fleets and flying into a lower and lower orbit. The atmosphere began heating the lowest ships and some of them started to burn up as they were left without room to make altitude by other ships lowering themselves down!

As they did, the fleet came close and closer together, the hulls of the larger vessels being used by smaller vessels, combined with the planet, to attempt to shield their ships. It was clear that this was a last stand, as from this close inside a gravity well, escape through hyperspace would be impossible. But that also meant that those in the fleet would be unlikely to abandon the fleet and try to flee.

((Combat, round 4: Attack First Shebi Fleet, Direct Combat Action +2 (minimizing exposed surface area)
Attack: 2 / 2 / 2 - Standard Formation
Defence: 6 / 6 / 8 - Standard Formation

• Defensive Advantage Action (Pulled in reserves) +1/+1/+1 to defence
• Damage Level -1/-1/-1 to attack
• Damage Level -1/-1/-1 to defence

))

[Praetorian Empire]

The Praetorian Primary Fleet fired up all its engines to full throttle. All bomber shifts were called to arms and launched all at ones. Together with the corvettes they went up close to the enemy blocking their movement even more. With the planet on the one side and the Praetorian ships on the other they had no room to maneuvre left.

((Combat, round 4: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Direct Combat Action, +2 ((Check: 6 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Outer Attack + 1 Intelligence -- Moving up close with all the bombers and corvettes in the fleet.))
Attack: 7 / 8 / 2 - Barrage Formation
Defence: 4 / 3 / 1 - Barrage Formation

• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

[Lady-Fleet Admiral Lythia Nethorius]

The ACN First Fleet, now right on top of the Slave Rebellion Fleet, switched tactics. As the capital ships stopped firing barrages as they had done till now. It was a wise choice considering they were rather close to one another. If they had continued they would have surely hit each other.

In the mean time, corvettes and fighters broke away from the capital ships and engaged the enemy. As the capital ships provided support fire and Spaceborn Warning And Control System (SWACS), fighters started bombing runs on the enemy corvettes while the ACN corvettes pushed in close as a distraction.

The ACN First Fleet started to move in the direction of Nayi in attempt to get between the Slave Rebelion Fleet and the planet so the enemy couldn't start firing on population centres.

((Combat, round 4: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Direct Combat Action, +2 ((Check: 7 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Inner Attack + 1 Intelligence + 1 advantage -- Using corvettes as a distraction while fighters attack))
Attack: 5 / 7 / 9 - Skirmish Formation
Defence: 3 / 4 / 4 - Skirmish Formation

• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)
• Offensive Advantage (Collapse enemy flank) (+1/+1/+1 to attack)
• Offensive DCA (+0/+0/+2 to attack)

))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

Fleet Admiral Saman Machal of the Veolian Imperial Fleet did not understand the actions of the Slave Rebellion. Of course, moving out of the box they were put in against Aneka was a smart move — their position was untenable.

But now they place themselves in exactly the same position with Nayi as backdrop. This planet offers little in the way of dissuading the Union forces of full capital bombardment, and the presence of a proto-atmosphere makes their position even weaker by subjecting their own vessels to atmospheric friction. The only reason the tall veolian admiral finds for the Slave Rebellion commanders to move thusly is to put their forces on death ground. They have no choice now but to fight will all their might, or die.

Fleet Admiral Saman Machal is not a trusting man. He did not reach his current position by assuming things will work out, nor by daring without consideration. Seeing how both the Praetorian and the Astrian fleets are quick to pursue the enemy and take up close proximity to Nayi, he orders the Veolian Imperial Fleet to pick up the pursuit at a more leisurely pace.

As the Veolian Imperial Fleet approaches Nayi, he orders the fleet to build up a defensive line, with the general battlegroups taking front positions at a good mid-range distance from the planet and the skirmish. Saman Machal plans on living for a very long time, and has a healthy respect for the Slave Rebellion commanders' willingness to engage this deep into Union territory. He prefers to let his allies jump into the fray and take the brunt of whatever comes next.


The First Shebi Fleet's hyperspace tracking vessels once again show their value as the Slave Rebellion fleet breaks out of the box and starts jumping out of Aneka's orbit. Tracking every hyperspace signature as the jumps are made, the First Shebi Fleet's intelligence officers are able of building up a list of all those vessels that seem to have inefficient or damage hyperdrives by correlating energy usage spikes on the point of departure with arrival coordinates that fall short of the Slave Rebellion fleet jumping pattern.

As the First Shebi Fleet enters pursuit of the Slave Rebellion forces, they make sure to stick to the long-range position that allows them to make the best use of their main cannons. From this position, the scanning vessels start picking up atmospheric entry of Slave Rebellion vessels. Knowing from the first part of the battle that the Slave Rebellion vessels are of low quality structurally and equipment-wise, this seems like a major mistake on their part.

Making sure to correct their fire for their allies' actions, the First Shebi Fleet opens up capital fire on any Slave Rebellion vessel that is forced to enter the atmosphere, starting with those that appear to have damage hyperdrives. Once all those targets are destroyed, they continue on to target all other vessel on the list.

Meanwhile, Shebi Jharanā commands contacts the Praetorians and Astrians to warn: "This is admiral Shebi Jharanā of the First Shebi Fleet to all allies. Be advised that Nayi has no population, and that it's atmosphere is in an unknown condition due to experimental terraformation."

((Combat, round 4: Veolian Imperial Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion 7, Defensive Advantage ((Check: 6 = 4 Base Rating + 2 Standard Formation -- fall back, regroup and change position of battle groups to focus on a more defensive line of battle))
Attack: 6 / 9 / 8 - Skirmish Formation attack
Defence: 4 / 6 / 4 - Standard Formation defence

• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Offensive advantage action (raided smaller vessels)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

((Combat, round 4: First Shebi Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion 7, Offensive DCA +2 ((Check: 8 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Barrage Formation + 1 Advantage + 1 Union Intelligence + 1 Hyperspace Tracking Vessels -- focus capital ship fire on ships weakened by atmospheric entry))
Attack: 9 / 5 / 4 - Barrage Formation attack
Defence: 4 / 2 / 3 - Barrage Formation defence

• Offensive DCA +2 / +0 / +0
• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

[Mercury]

The Praetorian Primary Fleet moved in close, further reducing the movement of the Slave Rebellion fleet. ((OOC: Direct Combat Action approved))

Meanwhile, the ACN First Fleet engaged with fighters while their Corvettes provided a nasty distraction. Luckily there were no population centers to target here. ((OOC: Direct Combat Action has been approved.))

The Veolian Imperial fleet leisurely pursued the Slave Rebellion forces to Nayi, regrouping and taking up defensive positions ((OOC: Defensive Advantage Action approved)), while the First Shebi Fleet gathered intelligence from their Hyperspace Tracking Vessels for special targetting ((OOC: Direct Combat Action approved)).

Together, the union fleets continued to blast into the Slave Rebellion fleet, causing significant extra damage. The Slave Rebellion fleet meanwhile was too damaged to cause much of an impact with their returned fire.

((OOC: The Slave Rebellion Fleet 7 has defensive scores 6/6/8, against a combined 9/9/9 attack rating of the attacking fleets. This causes an additional level of damage. The fleet remais at -1, but if they are damaged again, they will count as "Incapacitated" and will no longer be able to fight))

[Mercury]

Round 5

The Slave Rebellion fleet had been backed against the wall, which actually did seem to serve a purpose - without anywhere to flee, Slave Rebellion commanders focussed on actually fighting, which no doubt aided in the battle - it was not enough however.

While they held their line, ships started crashing onto the planet, some burning up in the atmosphere, other slamming into the ground and exploding in huge fireballs, blowing dust into the atmosphere and sending exotic particles and weapon gasses into the air.

From above, energy surges could be seen running across the planet. They looked more dramatic than they were, perhaps - enhanced by the terraformation process which had already gone awry, and by the planets magnetic field, but all in all clearly having an affect on the world:

((Combat, round 5: Attack First Shebi Fleet, Direct Combat Action +2 (minimizing exposed surface area)
Attack: 2 / 2 / 2 - Standard Formation
Defence: 6 / 6 / 8 - Standard Formation

• Defensive Advantage Action (Pulled in reserves) +1/+1/+1 to defence
• Damage Level -1/-1/-1 to attack
• Damage Level -1/-1/-1 to defence

))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: Clarification request A: It isn't clear from your wording whether the Slave Rebellion vessels are crashing on Nayi because of combat damage, or whether they are crashing into the planet deliberately; the difference between the two can usually be observed if it happens, I would say. This is not important right now, but the reaction of the Veolians to any form of communication is strongly influenced by what the reasons for the crashes seems to be.

Clarification requestB: On what scope are they crashing into the planet — is the image an indicatie of the scale of the event, or is it there to give an idea of the visuals of the event?))

[Mercury]

((OOC:

Clarification request A: It isn't clear from your wording whether the Slave Rebellion vessels are crashing on Nayi because of combat damage, or whether they are crashing into the planet deliberately; the difference between the two can usually be observed if it happens, I would say. This is not important right now, but the reaction of the Veolians to any form of communication is strongly influenced by what the reasons for the crashes seems to be.

The Slave Rebellion isn't committing mass suicide. Thus, most of the vessels are crashing onto the planet due to being damaged and unable to maintain altitude. Some are being deliberately scuttled after being too damaged to be of use, but this is just speeding up the inevitable.

Clarification requestB: On what scope are they crashing into the planet — is the image an indicatie of the scale of the event, or is it there to give an idea of the visuals of the event?

The image is to indicate the visuals of the event. In regards to scope, the crashing may "themify" the "bad things" that happen with failed terraformation, but they don't cause them. Does that make sense?))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: It makes sense. I'll see where this is going... (Not entirely sure how I feel about my nice pristine planet being "polluted" by derelict vessels and explosions ~_~)))

[Praetorian Empire]

The Praetorian Primary Fleet halted their movement and aimed its long range cannons. They focused their fire on the already damaged enemy ships with large salvos of capital ship fire. With the large concentrated fire most of the targeted ships that would otherwise crash into the atmopshere were already shot into multiple pieces before they even started to fall, minimizing the damage they would do on impact.

((Combat, round 5: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Direct Combat Action, +2 ((Check: 7 = 4 Base Rating + 2 Outer Attack + 1 Intelligence -- Concentrated fire on damaged enemy ships with capital ship fire.))
Attack: 9 / 6 / 2 - Barrage Formation
Defence: 4 / 3 / 1 - Barrage Formation

• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

With the Slave Rebellion clearly being on the brink of ineffectivity and the Union fleets outnumbering them 4 to 1, fleet admiral Saman Machal determines that it is time to end this battle. If the Slave Rebellion forces were planning to break out of this situation, they are clearly too late with their plan.

He orders the Veolian Imperial Fleet to close the rest of the distance and launch bomber wings to bombard the outermost Slave Rebellion vessels. With the Praetorians blasting anything damaged into smithereens, the combination of close-ranged bombs and capital ship fire on anything "sinking" has the potential to make short work of the rest of the Slave Rebellion fleet.


As the Veolian Imperial Fleet moves in, the First Shebi Fleet repositions to allow their capital ship fire to fly tangentially to Nayi's atmospheric boundary. In effect their shots now skim just over the atmosphere and hit the Slave Rebellion fleet from the side, where they are unable to manoeuvre their larger ships to act as cover without breaking up their cover from other angles. As the capital ship fire keeps hammering on the Slave Rebellion fleet, the scanning vessels start acquiring locks on every single Slave Rebellion vessel to ensure that they can all be tracked if they try a frantic escape dash.

((Combat, round 5: Veolian Imperial Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Direct Combat Action +2 ((Check: 7 = 3 Base Rating + 1 Standard Formation + 2 Advantage + 1 Union Intelligence -- Start hitting exposed outer layer with bomber runs))
Attack: 7 / 8 / 9 - Standard Formation attack
Defence: 5 / 7 / 5 - Standard Formation defence

• Offensive DCA (+2 / +0 / +0 to attack)
• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Offensive advantage action (raided smaller vessels)
• Defensive advantage action (Regrouping)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

((Combat, round 5: First Shebi Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Remove opponents Defensive Advantage ((Check: 7 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Barrage Formation + 1 Advantage + 1 Union Intelligence -- Force Slave Rebellion fleet to break up their cover in attempt to cover too many angles))
Attack: 7 / 5 / 4 - Barrage Formation attack
Defence: 4 / 2 / 3 - Barrage Formation defence

• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

[Lady-Fleet Admiral Lythia Nethorius]

Now that the Slave Rebellion fleet was backed into a corner, Fleet Admiral Nethorius ordered the capital ships into a more defensive position. There was a real chance the enemy would try something reckless, especially if they were committed to a cause. The corvettes and fighters, on the other hand, were ordered to increase pressure and swap roles.

The ACN capital ships created some distance between one another. This gave them room to manoeuvre and made it much harder to take out multiple ships with a suicide run.

Already in the enemy's face, the ACN corvettes increased fire. The relatively small ships dished out a beating that was quite impressive, throwing everything including the kitchen sink at the enemy. Though it would probably take a certain young Twi'lek Jedi Initiate to notice a kitchen sink floating around during a space battle, had the corvettes actually thrown a kitchen sink at the enemy. Luckily for the cooks onboard the corvettes, they had not.

Meanwhile, oblivious to hypothetical kitchen sinks floating around a space battle, the ACN fighters started making runs at enemy ships. They flew straight at the enemy ship's bridges, only breaking of their run at the last possible moment in a daring game of chicken. The ACN fighter jocks clearly were no strangers to flying in extreme proximity of large objects. They came close enough for the fighters exhaust flame to singe what was left of the enemy's shields or even scorch the enemy paint job a few times. There was definitely danger in this distraction though. Whether the jocks had nerves of durasteel or were just crazy was anyone's guess.

((Combat, round 5: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Direct Combat Action +2 ((Check: 7 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Skirmish Formation + 1 Intelligence + 1 Advantage -- Using fighters as a distraction while corvettes attack))
Attack: 5 / 9 / 7 - Skirmish Formation
Defence: 5 / 5 / 5 - Standard Formation

• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)
• Offensive Advantage (Collapse enemy flank) (+1/+1/+1 to attack)
• Offensive DCA (+0/+2/+0 to attack)

))

[Mercury]

The Praetorian fleet focussed their fire on the damaged ships, fire from their salvo's exploding as some of these were blasted into smithereens. Meanwhile, two Veolian fleets made bombing runs and attacks on the outer edges and sides, breaking down the Slave Rebellion formation from the outside in, slowly working their way to the core of the fleet.

The ACN capital ships and fighters ran distraction fire as their corvettes focussed fire, always ready for a suicide run.

For the moment, no such runs were made however, and instead the Slave Rebellion fleet made an effort to cause as much damage as possible - which unfortunately for them was not a lot.

The combined might of the four fleets was too much for the ever shrinking Slave Rebellion fleet, and soon they had lost the numerical advantage with which they had started, rendering the individually weaker ships into an ineffective fighting force.

((OOC: All direct combat actions have been approved! The removal of the opponents defensive advantage action has also been approved, though I suspect it may not have as much effect since you already overpower the enemy significantly ^_^

The combined attack rate of the Union fleets is 9/9/9, vs defences 6/6/8. The Slave Rebellion fleet loses an additional level of health, reducing them to "ineffective". They are no longer able to counter-attack.))

[Mercury]

Round 6

With the Slave Rebellion fleet now ineffective and unable to offer any significant counter attack, order started to break down completely. Some ships attempted to make a run for it, accelerating towards a place where they could make a hyperspace jump while disregarding any Union ships in the path. Others made a desperate suicide run only to be blasted out of the sky before getting close.

A number of ships signalled their surrender towards the Union fleet. Others ejected what might qualify as life-pods before scuttling their ships and some just held the line, hoping beyond hope that somehow the Union would decide to withdraw in the face of perseverance.

((Combat, round 6: Fleet is ineffective))

[Praetorian Empire]

With the Slave Rebellion Fleet incapacitated the battle was over.

A channel was opened on board the Sword of the Stars, contacting all allied fleets.
"This is admiral Tiberios Fimbria. It was a pleasure fighting along side you all. The Praetorian Primary Fleet has been retasked. We expect that they might want to deploy the army we carry on Remunzia. We will need help since one army will probably not be enough. Praetorian Primary Fleet checking out."

Exactly one minute later all Praetorian vessels opened hyperspace windows and left the star system.

The Praetorian Primary Fleet left the system leaving enough space for the Veolians to either destroy or capture any remaining enemies.

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: The rules are somewhat of a gray area with regards to when battle ends. Generally the ST declares battle to be over, and the ST placed a Combat Round 6 marker. That said, I have no OOC problem with the Praetorian action.

The rules do not dictate the IC reality though — the Veolians see the one-minute warning as simply leaving an ongoing battle without cause; which is very rude and very unwelcome.))

Before even engaging the enemy, several end-game scenario's had been discussed among Veolian high command. In the end it was agreed upon that­, in accordance with the diplomatic message issued to the Slave Rebellion, all Slave Rebellion military were to be destroyed. Since diplomatic channels are clearly ineffective in dissuading the Slave Rebellion from attacking it seems necessary to send a clear message.

To this end the First Shebi Fleet had started to track all Slave Rebellion vessels to prevent run-aways. The plan was to simply widen the "net" and stretch out both Veolian fleets to cover all paths of retreat. Unfortunately, with the sudden leaving of the Praetorian fleet the Veolian fleets would now have to stretch very far indeed; they needed to cover the direction the Praetorian were originally covering.

"Really, a one-minute warning? One works with the allies one is allotted...", was all fleet admiral Saman Machal verbalizes in response to the abrupt leaving of the Praetorians. Though only those near him on the bridge could hear him say so. He opens a channel to his fleet to order half of the carrier groups to make an emergency jump to take over the positions of the leaving Praetorians.


The First Shebi Fleet had just started to relay tracking and targetting information to all allied fleets as they received the message from the Praetorians. Their intelligence officers simply adjusted the targetting priorities to allow the Praetorians to use capital ship fire while they were backing off. Much to their surprise, they were suddenly seeing large numbers of outgoing hyperspace jumps, and a complete lack of Praetorian vessels afterwards. This rather threw a wrench in their destroy-or-capture plan, and they quickly adjusted to the new reality.

The Shebi intelligence officers were actually not all that surprised by the sudden change of situation, they had contigencies for that, as well as a whole slew of other unlikely outcomes such as "Union Command retasks Praetorian Army, and therefore fleet", "Unity City is attacked", but they also covered exotic contingencies like "Astrians change allegiance based on ideology" or "Praetorians withdraw before taking damage to keep repair costs minimal".

They did not, however, have contingency for "Praetorians let Slave Rebellion escape". They smoothly switched over to the "Union Command retasks Praetorian Army, and therefore fleet" contigency — in a way, this might even be true, but no such orders reached the Veolians.

Not going to allow their pre-arranged plans to be binned, fleet admiral Shebi Naupaat quickly determined the best course of action. He opens a channel to all remaining allied fleets:

"This is fleet admiral Shebi Naupaat of the First Shebi Fleet. We are adjusting our tracking stream and will have updated targetting priorities available in a moment. No enemy vessel is of technological or military interest. Our orders are to destroy first, and capture only if at all convenient."

True to his word, the First Shebi Fleet's tracking vessels adjusted their targeting priorities and started assigning priority lists to each individual allied vessel still present. Most of the Veolian vessels quickly adjusted their headings and started picking off prioritized targets. The priorities are assigned roughly by following these guidelines:

1. prevent escape of enemy vessels by targeting propulsion,
2. disable any serious weapon systems through precision fire,
3. destroy any vessel for which the Union Intelligence report lists structural weaknesses,
4. and only once all threats have been neutralized capture life-pods and accept unconditional surrenders; fall back to destroy order of threats remain

The Veolian tracking and targetting data stream did not contain any instructions on handling surrendered ships, nor did it contain any notes on handling prisoners. Those that know Veolian culture can be assured that the prisoners will never become slaves in the Veolian Commonwealth — but that could very well be the only pleasantry coming from their capture.

((Combat, round 6: Veolian Imperial Fleet: Follow destroy-or-capture targetting priorities, preventing any Slave Rebellion ship or life-pod from leaving.
Attack: 7 / 8 / 7 - Standard Formation attack
Defence: 5 / 7 / 5 - Standard Formation defence

• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Offensive advantage action (raided smaller vessels)
• Defensive advantage action (Regrouping)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

((Combat, round 6: First Shebi Fleet: Follow destroy-or-capture targetting priorities, preventing any Slave Rebellion ship or life-pod from leaving.
Attack: 7 / 5 / 4 - Barrage Formation attack
Defence: 4 / 2 / 3 - Barrage Formation defence

• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

((OOC: Checks omitted, if necessary assume checks are based on each fleet's strong attack.))