Chapter summary - The Battle of Pahilōdēśa Bay

The assisting officer Pavel Umsky took the binoculars from the captain, worrisomely baffled by his stressed-out expression. But after just a short glance through them at the slowly emerging sleek body of a distinct Consortial ship, he already could fully understand the situation.
"A heavy cruiser? There were no reports of a heavy cruiser docked here..." he put down the binoculars as his face turned pale.
"There has to be a bay over there which our scouts missed. Or maybe it arrived later." captain Konstantin Lukov answered, firmly holding onto the railing of the deck and staring at the enemy ships.
"Those are 250mm guns against our 100s. If they hit us with those once, JUST once, we're dead!" Umsky shakingly exclaimed.
The captain took a few steps back and looked at him.
"If, they hit us." Emergance of the Solarian heavy cruiser from the deck of the TNS Karl Albrecht

Structure

Exposition

After the clashes of Consortial colonial forces with those of the Tsardom on the continent of Onia, the conflict escalates further and the two world powers are on the brink of a full out war. Negotiations yield no results and no viable option of resolving the matter is found. To avoid a literal world war, a different approach is taken. War is the choice taken, it is however decided that armed actions shall be taken only in the colonies. With this completed, the two sides send reinforcements to their colonies, both firmly set on humiliating the other.

Conflict

With the arrival of the news of an approaching Consortial fleet, the Tsarist colonial command knew they had to act quickly and eliminate the Consortial port in Onia. A plan was devised to lure the defensive ships docked there into a trap where they could be easily taken out by the more impressive Tsarist colonial fleet. With their naval forces out of the way, the Tsarists could shell the port and adjacent fortress into oblivion. The ship TNS "Karl Albrecht" was chosen as the bait.

Rising Action

The TNS "Karl Albrecht" sets out an hour before the rest of the fleet and makes its way to the enemy base. After half a day of sailing, the ship reaches its destination and begins firing upon the base and the docked ships, dealing little damage but causing great chaos in the Consortial ranks. After around ten minutes, the enemy begins retaliating back, beginning to chase after the tsarist ship. Everything would be going according to plan, if not for the sudden emergence of a Consortial heavy cruiser, that was not noted as present in the port. Now the crew of the "Karl Albrecht" needs to somehow manoeuvre good enough to avoid deadly shells and make it in one piece all the way to the Rendevous point, where the rest of the fleet is waiting to ambush the Consortials.

Climax

The "Karl Albrecht" is hit by a shell from one of the smaller ships, damaging the pipes and causing a loss of speed. As the situation turns desperate with the heavy cruiser calibrating its big guns to fire at them, captain Konstantin Lukov aids his crew with the guns and they manage to score a hit on the cruiser's targeting bridge, forcing them to repair it first before they could fire. The pipes are fixed before that and the tsarist ship can continue its escape.

Falling Action

Through the combined efforts and sacrifices of the TNS "Karl Albrecht's" crew, they manage to get their ship into position and successfully lure the Consortial ships into a trap, leading to their destruction by the Tsarist fleet.

Resolution

The Tsarists return full force to the Consortial outpost and begin shelling the infrastructure, causing the stationing forces there to take whatever they can and retreat further inland, cutting themselves off from any supply lines.

Plot type

Chapter summary

After evading enemy fire for at least fifteen minutes that seemed like a drawn-out eternity, a sudden explosion rocked the ship, throwing the captain and his assisting officer backwards. Moments after, the ship began gradually slowing down.
"What's going on?" captain Lukov looked at Umsky.
He turned to the tube that was by the steering wheel and yelled into it:
"Engine room, why have we slowed down?" TNS "Karl Albrecht" is hit by an enemy shell