Battle of Aitalyn
The first conflict in the War For Atalan, the Battle of Aitalyn would set the tone for the rest of the war, the Walren-led Tri-Crusade Alliance attacking a system and the Atalanti Defense Coalition mainly evacuating as many civilians as possible and falling back to more defensible positions for the better part of the first quarter of the war.
“We were just going about our business as usual that day, I had just got off work and was on my way home when those sirens started blaring. At first everyone just started calmly heading towards the bunkers like usual. It didn’t even occur to me that it wasn’t the right day for the attack drills. Five siren blasts like usual and then you know the drill is over and you can go home once you’ve gotten to the closest shelter’s doors. Then the sixth siren hit and people started to notice something was off, some started jogging. Then the seventh, and people started running. By the eighth it was just total chaos.
Two jetbike smashed into one another right in front of me, a bit of metal spun off and hit me in the face, that’s how I got this scar right here. Anyways, it took me a good few moments of heading for the shelter in a blind panic to remember my family. I’m not a hero or anything, and I don’t want anybody thinking that’s what I’m saying, but I just simply had to make sure they were okay. Thank the souls I did, because the bunker I would’ve been at ended up getting obliterated by a vantium tanker that crashed with a transport ship in the waters above it. Very sad. Fortunately, my family and of course myself made it to the bunker near my rent-a-pod safely, and then from there to a transport ship when they came to pick us up.
Craziest part is, I could see those Tusker- apologies, Walren ships way off in the distance out of a viewport as we left the planet. Saw the few defense ships we had left in their last moments, all those flashes of light and colorful lasers shooting back and forth. Amazing to think that I was likely one of the last people to see those brave men alive. When we came back to Aitalyn after the war, our whole district was gone. A Tusker ship had been shot down on the surface and it sunk all the way down to crush my home. I shouldn’t be so selfish, some of my neighbors didn’t make it out in time, at least I was off planet when it happened.”
The Conflict
Prelude
The only warning before the attack on Aitalyn was sensor alerts of Walren fleets closing in on Atalanti territory. Atalanti and Saurian forces scrambled to defend the first planet in their path, Aitalyn, their superior thrusters allowing them to reach the planet before its attacks, but not with much time to spare. Saurian Drop Force troops were landed on the planet to aid the Atalanti defenders while the Saurian army helped evacuate as many civilians as was possible, the ones left behind being ordered to take refuge in one of several key underwater cities and leave above water building at all costs. Around 5/8 of the planet’s population had been evacuated when the Walren forces began to land.
Deployment
Atalanti and Saurian forces immediately fell back to defensible positions in cities upon the Walren arrival, planning to draw the attackers in to specific war zones to allow for more civilians to be evacuated from alternative locations. As for the Walren, they initiated a full frontal assault, sending their space vessels straight into the water both to be used as artillery and to land their myriad troops.
Battlefield
The Engagement
As Walren ships dove into the waters of Aitalyn, hidden naval mines deployed by coalition forces detonated, destroyed multiple ships and damaging more. This delayed the Walren assault even more, allowing for additional civilians to be evacuated. In the end though, the Walren attack was inevitable and the Walren began to assault the strongholds on the Atalanti planet. Soon every fortified city was surrounded by Walren troops, making further evacuation futile. 92 percent of the population had been evacuated, and that was when the true fighting began, Walren soldiers swarming down the Atalanti city streets. The Saurian Drop Force fought valiantly, but the sheer number of bodies being pushed in by the Walren was insurmountable. It was then that the Saurians activated their secret weapon, dumping incomprehensible amounts of electricity into the planet’s water via previously hidden divers located incrementally across the ocean floor. The majority of living things below the surface died in an instant, massive amounts of electricity cooking them from the inside out as well as overloading the circuits of many underwater Walren ships. Only those above the surface and some of those aboard the Walren ships below were safe, and the Walren planetary assault force took 64% casualties from the attack. The few remaining Drop Force soldiers and Atalanti civilians and troops were sadly also either killed or captured, along with an unfortunate percentage of the local wildlife. The Walren had taken control of Aitalyn at last, but the cost of the operation left a bitter sting on their pride.
Outcome
72 percent of the local wildlife of Aitalyn perished, the so much blood from the beings killed in the battle was spilled into the water that the average color of the liquid was changed.
Aftermath
Many Atalanti cities were decimated, mainly the larger ones where Saurian and Atalanti troops made their last stands. The smaller cities and towns did marginally better as they had been mostly vacated at the time of the attack. After the war, residents of the planet began to slowly move back and rebuild, though to this day half destroyed buildings mar the various cityscapes of Aitalyn.
Included under Conflict
Conflict Type
Battle
Battlefield Type
Planetary
Start Date
10/9/1741 ASD
Ending Date
18/10/1741 ASD
Conflict Result
Walren Empire Pyrrhic victory, gaining control of the planet.
Location
Belligerents
Aitalyn Defenders
Led by
Walren Invasion Force
Strength
Atalanti Republic: 5,909,126 men of the Aitalyn planetary defense force.
Saurian Empire: 2,875,320 men from both the Saurian Drop Force and Saurian Army.
Walren: 112 Brigades of the Imperial Walren Marines which is around 48,384,000 men
Casualties
Atalanti Republic: 4,995,007 men
Saurian Empire: 933,914 men
Walren Empire: ~37,965,760 (10,418,240 remaining)
Objectives
Defend Aitalyn from invasion and evacuate civilians.
Capture and annex Aitalyn.
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