Battle of the Pleiades
Battle of the Pleiades was a decisive battle of the first, and most active, stage of the Federation-Krawk Border War. During the battle, the human forces almost completely annihilated the fleet of the krawk warlord, Puck. As the result, the Krawk reduced the intensity of their raids into human-controlled systems and later into all systems of the Federation aligned powers.
The Conflict
Prelude
The relations between the Galactic Federation and the Krawk were tense long before Humans made first contact with them. Back then, both sides managed to keep each other at bay and stayed on each other's sides of the border. The situation changed when, in the year 2285, a human science ship, ECNS Marco Polo entered a Krawk-controlled system as the result of lacking the accurate star charts of the region and lacking knowledge about the diplomatic situation. Despite Marco Polo's peaceful attempt at first contact, the Krawk opened fire on the unarmed science vessel. The human captain managed to send a distress signal to Earth, but it was too late.
When the word of Marco Polo's destruction reached Earth Space Command, the military was placed on high alert and the Standind Fleet was sent to the Pleiades star cluster which was the closest human territory to the krawk border.
As Humans were already aligned with the Galactic Federation, Krawk took the science ship's intrusion and fleet mobilization for a federation provacation. Not much later several human outposts were hit by Krawk raids and destroyed. During that time rapid response fleets of the ECN were on constant move looking out for the next raid.
Deployment
On the 3rd of June 2285 long range sensors detected a big fleet of enemy ships on a direct course towards the Pleiades. When the ships were closer, it was determined that their target was the Electra system. This was home to a newly established Horizon colony. The Standind Fleet was still patrolling the Pleiades cluster and was ordered to move to Electra. Additionally, two rapid response fleets were also ordered to that system and placed under direct command of Admiral Lucia Serrano of the Standing Fleet.
The ships arrived in the Electra system in the morning hours on the 5th of June, just hours before the krawk fleet. Protecting Horizon colony was of an utmost importance, so Admiral Serrano decided to position her ships not far from the planet.
Soldiers of the ECN, today we fight for all of humanity. The Krawk think that they can defeat us, but I know that they can't. You are the best humanity has to offer. We will prevail! We will win! Battlestations!
The Engagement
In early afternoon on 5th of June 2285, the krawk fleet under the command of Warlord Puck engaged the human ships in the Electra system. The first ship to engage the enemy was a corvette, ECNS Berlin. It was approached by a krawk raider that attempted to board the ship. Luckily, the ship's crew was able to shoot down most of the boarding shuttles and the one that reached Berlin's airlock was repelled by the ship's marine detachment. Later, the Krawk tried to seize control of several other human vessels, but in every case they failed.
Next, the enemy cruisers and battleships attempted to break through and reach the planet's orbit. They were met with a barrage from the human ships and several of them were damaged. In next attacks the Krawk were much more cautious. They didn't charge towards the human ships, but were slowly advancing and taking advantage of long range weaponry. One of their missiles hit the battleship ECNS Charles de Gaulle while it was repositioning to allow all of its railguns to fire at the enemy simultaneously. The missile hit near the engine causing a massive explosion of the ship's reactors that consumed the whole ship. Debris from the Charles de Gaulle severely damaged a nearby cruiser, forcing it to retreat.
For almost two full days the battle was at a stalemate. The Krawk were attacking. Humans were repelling them and later it repeated itself. Admiral Serrano knew that she had to do something. The morale in the fleet was low and they were getting closer and closer to depleting their supplies of ammunition. She knew that Horizon colony had a ground to space missile system, but its effective range of targeting was limited to the planet's orbit. Luring the Krawk so close to hte colony was risky, but Serrano knew that those missiles had the power to destroy battleships. She ordered the battleships and cruisers to retreat away from the planet while the small ships flood the enemy with missiles to hide the others from sensors. Then, the smaller ships were supposed to move towards the planet.
The admiral's plan worked. The Krawk were too focused on dealing with the missiles to notice the retreating ships. Certain of their victory, the Krawk proceeded to advance towards the planet. When they reached the orbit, the corvettes, destroyers and the planetary ground to space missiles opened fire. Then the battleships and cruisers returned and attacked them from the side. The Krawk fleet was destroyed and the few surviving ships fled the system.
Outcome
The defeat in the Electra system showed the Krawk that the Humans are a worthy opponent that should not be underestimated. As the result their raids on human controlled systems became less intense.
Aftermath
The battle started the current stage of the war, a stage that is much "colder" than the previous one. Nowadays, most fighting that happens between Humans and Krawk is between single ships and it rarely escalates beyond a minor skirmish.
Excellent work here. This was a great introduction to the setting and its associated conflicts. I also loved reading about space battles, which I think means I might need to read more space-set stuff (my primary interest in the genre being the big boys of Star Wars, Star Trek, and the 2000s-era Battlestar Galactica).
Thank you for the comment! I'm glad you liked it!
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