Tarnahk’s Folly (T-arr-naw-ck)

The Conflict

Prelude

For the first 5 years of the War For Atalan the Reorganized Republic of Tortilia sided with the Walren, providing mainly logistic support to the Tri-Crusade Allince. Secretly though, they were allied with the Saurians and Atalanti Defense Coalition from the start, funneling battle plans and other tactical information discreetly to Coalition forces. When the Walren began to suspect something was amiss, the RRT came out and fully declared war against the Tri-Crusade Alliance and that their true allegiance laid with the ADC. As expected, the Walren did not take kindly at all to this betrayal, launching an immediate attack from their border with the Tortilians. This was expected, and that section of the border was heavily fortified with the largest Tortilian fleet lead by Admiral Tarnahk and nearby Saurian defense fleets rushing to aid as soon as the counterattack was launched. The Saurians were on their way to the location already, but the battle had begun by the time they got their due to the unexpectedly rapid response from the Walren.

Deployment

The entirety of both the Tortilian and Walren fleets met each other head on, with Walren fighters and bombers being sent out and round to attack from the right side of the battle in a flanking maneuver. The Saurians arrived from the north west shortly after the battle had begun, additionally sending interceptors via teleport strike to engage with the Walren flanking force. Due to limited range, the interceptors made contact with the Walren craft just as they reached the main engagement, but they arrived hot on their heals in prime position for an attack from the rear.

Battlefield

To prevent any collateral damage from being caused to the nearest Tortilian planet, Baeron, Admiral Tarnahk set up his battle line well in front of it, in the middle of open space.

The Engagement

Before the Walren and Tortilian battle lines closed, the Walren fighters and bombers reached the RRT fleet, with Saurian Interceptors hot on their heels. Admiral Tarnahk diverted 10 Phaser Class Light Cruisers to deal with the nuisance force while the rest of his fleet began to burn towards the full Walren fleet. The Tortilian cruisers opened up on the far smaller Walren vessels just as the Pilum Bombers began to launch their torpedo payloads. While the torpedoes did do some damage to the cruisers, including entirely disabling the thrusters of one ship, the Walren crafts were no match for the Tortilian flak as well as Saurian I19-S Flechette Class Interceptors darting amoungst them and picking them off one by one. Quickly, almost every fighter and bomber had been destroyed or disabled, with only 1 Saurian interceptor being filling destroyed. Both the interceptors and the cruisers then turned and set their thrusters on full to join their greater force. Meanwhile, the Walren and Tortilian walls of Davantium had met, thousands if not millions of projectiles streaked across the space in between them, burning shells, tracers, plasma, lasers, and torpedoes standing out starkly against the totally black backdrop of space. Shortly before, the Walren had split off 2 dozen Jupiter-Class Cruisers upon detecting a Saurian fleet rapidly approaching from their rear. 3 Ki’Yari Republic Venom Class Heavy Cruiser that had been stationed closest to where the engagement was now occurring were first to meet the Walren vanguard. The inexperienced Ki'Yari officers were not yet familiar with Walren tactics, and thus the first Venom Class Heavy Cruiser in the formation did not have time to move out of the way of the Walren battle ram, its hull crumpeling and tearing as the hardened Davantium wedge smashed into it head on. The Ki'Yari vessel was cut nearly entirely in half before its reactors finally detonated, the green-skinned ship disappearing in a ball of much brighter green plasma. The two remaining heavy cruisers quickly maneuvered away to avoid a similar fate, letting loose vollys of ion beams at the less maneuverable Walren ships as they passed by a few hundred feet away. The Ki'Yari did not have to hold out long before the Saurian fleet reached the smaller engagement, the Vantium-Clad Class Cruisers and Mandari Class Frigates smashing through the Walren with a hail of missiles before they continued towards the greater battle with the remaining 2 Ki'Yari ships. Back at the main battle, the newly recruited and hot-headed Saurian Interceptor pilots foolishly charged for throttle at the nearest Walren cruiser. Most did not have time to regret the brash maneuver as they were torn to shreds by a full broadside of cannons and flak, the few that did survive loosing a few missiles before frantically breaking off and burning in the opposite direction, a few more meeting their demise in the process. The same Walren ship was blown to pieces moments later by Tortilian heavy static rail guns as a Endgame Class Battleship moved slowly further into the cloud of Walren vessels, following by the rest of the RRT fleet. The Tortilians' vigors were redoubled upon the arrival of the Saurian reinforcements, and the battle burned bright and hot. Many ships were broken in half by angular Walren rams or Saurain force shield ones, other being blown apart by explosive mass driver fire and yet others being atomized in balld of pure plasma brought forth by nuclear warheads from all sides. The Tortilians took heavy casualties, but in the end the Walren took far more as they fought to nearly the last functional vessel, speedy Saurian ships farting around the permimeter of the massive debris field to clean up any stragglers. When all the fighting had finally died down, some Tortilian ships not in need of major repairs stayed at the new ship graveyard to retrieve survivors and prisoners, Saurians extracting their own that had preserved by their Emergency Dimensional Pocket Failsafe Drives while the rest of the Tortilian fleet returned to their nearest planet, Baeron, for repairs, rearmament, and replenishments.

Aftermath

It was with great horror that Admiral Tarnahk realized his mistake, nearly having returned to the station at Baeron for repairs after the battle, when he received the transmission from Tortilia. A tremendous amount of Walren ships, several times more than what had attacked at the border, had violated Allied Systems of Tellmar space and gone through their territory, circumventing most RRT defenses, to attack the Tortilian capital. He already knew that he would be too late, but he ordered all ships to jump to their home system anyways at maximum speed. A debris field was all that remained of the Tortilian homeworld, along with several more important worlds in the area, and the attacking force had already returned to Walren territory having completed their mission. This event functionally eliminated the RRT for the remainder of the war, their efforts being diverted entirely towards rebuilding their tremendous losses. Admiral Tarnahk never forgave himself for his shortsightedness, becoming exceedingly depressed. He continued to serve for the remainder of the war, helping wherever he could. The day after the war ended however, with all his remaining purpose gone, he ended his own life.

 

 

Included under Conflict

War For Atalan

Conflict Type

Battle

Battlefield Type

Naval

Start Date

10/9/1746 ASD

Ending Date

11/9/1746 ASD

Conflict Result

Diversional Atalanti Defense Coalition Victory

Belligerents

The Tortilian Navy

• Reorganized Republic of Tortilia

Led by

• Admiral Tarnahk

Strength

863,469 souls, 421 ships
x40 Endgame Class Battleships
x75 Hammer Class Cruisers
x106 Phaser Class Light Cruisers
x200 TX-56 Experimental Corvettes

Casualties

344,321 souls, 288 ships
x6 Endgame Class Battleships
x42 Hammer Class Cruisers
x72 Phaser Class Light Cruisers
x168 TX-56 Experimental Corvettes

Objectives

Defend the Tortilian border from encroaching Walren naval forces.

Saurian Reinforcements

• Saurian Voidfleet

Led by

Strength

52,478 souls, 15 ships, 42 fighters
x3 Vantium-Clad Class Cruisers
x9 Mandari Class Frigates
x3 Ki’Yari Republic Venom Class Heavy Cruisers
x42 I19-S Flechette Class Interceptors

Casualties

5,902 souls, 4 ships
x2 Mandari Class Frigates
x2 Ki’Yari Republic Venom Class Heavy Cruisers
x38 I19-S Flechette Class Interceptors

Objectives

Support the allied Tortilian forces before they can be overwhelmed by the Walren.

Invading Walren Force

• Imperial Walren Navy

Led by

Strength

1,329,080 souls, 300 ships, 200 fighters
x80 Jupiter-Class Cruisers
x100 Bellum-Class Frigates
x120 Deus-Class Galleots
x120 Gladius Fighters
x80 Pilum Bombers

Casualties

1,268,004 souls, 282 ships, 191 fighters
x78 Jupiter-Class Cruisers
x94 Bellum-Class Frigates
x110 Deus-Class Galleots
x114 Gladius Fighters
x77 Pilum Bombers

Objectives

Attack the Tortilians at their border and cause as much damage as possible, buying the necessary time for an equally large fleet to circle through Allied Systems of Tellmar territory to attack the RRT capital of Tortilia while the Tortilian navy is preoccupied.