Untitled chapter 16

7th of September 229, around 7:00 AM local Marsol time, Confederate patrol make contact with the vanguard of Mazzareli’s fleet, which numbered 200 strong. After a brief exchange of barrages, the patrol disengages and retreats to Marsol’s Cluster colonies to relay news to Manfred of the threat. He orders a general scramble of the fleet at 7:55 AM and sorties to confront the Federation.

At 3:25 PM, Manfred and the Federation vanguard were drawn into the prospects of a pitched battle.

“The engagement lasted hardly an hour, less even. Whenever I peeked over to see the commodore, he was always deep in ponder. Could this really be the entire fleet? There was no way…

…Our suspicions were correct, and horrifying so… With the naked eye we could make out the distant blimps of hundreds of thousands of pecks behind our foe.. And those pecks of light terrified us! The commodore made a error, and we would have paid dearly for this thoughtless overcommitment.”

Excerpt of memoirs from gunnery sergeant Tanya Hauge

Recognizing that his force was indeed eclipsed in total ratio, Caw gave the immediate order to retreat. He tasked a squadron of destroyers to stay behind to stall while the main fleet withdrew. By 5:17PM it was mainly accomplished, with only few ships lost during the retreat.

Caw’s naval force withdrawn into the safely of the Cluster colonies which were in the process of being partially re-purposed as fortresses. Caw hoped to wither down and ultimately stall the Federation fleet until relief could arrive—although it was unknown if the fleet would arrive at all— a fact his aide-de-camp capitalized on and strongly implored him to abandon Marsol altogether in order to avoid unnecessary losses—Scuttling the military facilities and burning food storages if need be. Caw did not flirt with the suggestion at first, likening it to cowardice in the face of the enemy and turning public opinion in Greater Sol against the Confederate navy.

When Mazzareli’s armada was in bombardment range at 11:44 PM, Caw changed his mind—fearing the possibility of a reverse Schiebfonda. He ordered all military facilities to be rigged for demolition. Furthermore, he ordered all food that could not be loaded into ships to be set ablaze to deny supplies to the Federation. This tactic upset the local populace in Side colonies as he had predicted would do so.

At 6AM the following day, the Marsol territorial naval force had completed it’s task of abandoning Marsol’s Clusters. Caw once again sorted out several destroyer squadrons to delay Mazzareli. Additionally, Caw sent a courier to inform Dolz’s fleet(which at this point was at Salalla) of the situation unfolding in Marsol in the hopes that he would divert his attention there.

The unchallenged escape to Dondes caught the Federation by surprise. They were prepared for a drawn out conflict in Marsol and certainly did not expect such a immediate withdrawal amidst the noble efforts of the Marsol’s rearguard endeavor.

The disbelief was captured in the words of a operations staff officer, who recalled “We wholeheartedly expected a Northern Shiebfonda.

…What we got instead was a nasty surprise of booby traps and body bags. It it a soldier’s duty to defend the defenseless… so to abandon your ways as a champion—as a David against the Goliath—is there anything more shameful of a order to follow?”

For Mazzareli and his men, it was a victory that a seaman described as “devoid of bloodshed and glory seeking… But it was something that could be propagated, twisted and thrown like a bone to be gobbled up en masse.”

Mazzareli was forced to rein in his subordinates from chasing down the organized retreat. He had to assess damages done in the Cluster colonies much to his staff officers’ protest. The decision to not strike down the enemy with their back to them would have certainly made a difference in the coming battle.

Meanwhile, the Flying Circus entered the Alsand starzone on the 9th of September at 5:33 PM and was immediately confronted by forward lines of concentrated Confederate ships. Like it’s twin engagement at Marsol, Manfred enjoyed a brief moment of superiorly over the vanguard that warped ahead of the Flying Circus. However, as the skirmish unfolded the Alsandi naval force’s forward skirmish line began to take surmounting losses and was forced to drift back out of Federation barrage range at 5:49 PM.

Part of the vanguard was Deon Rubenfield, who ordered the line to pursue the backed up Confederates. At 6:11 PM Rubenfield was confident in what he believed was the complete destruction of the enemy before him. However, a unidentified signal came to the rear of his fleet, which was recognized as a Confederate signature. Additionally, the rest of Manfred’s fleet was able to reinforce their compatriots and half-encircle Rubenfield’s vanguard.

Fearing that this was the end of him, Rubenfield was prepared to take his own life with a pistol. Before he could pull the trigger, however, he was stopped by a staffs officer bearing the news of the arrival of the Flying Circus which came in time to relieve the pincered vanguard.

Rejuvenated with determination, Rubenfield charged towards the Confederate center once more at 7:03 PM. Twenty minutes of vicious back and fourth barrages ensued, resulting in the depletion of Rudenfield’s inventories of missiles. DeRyck ordered him to fall back and replenish as well as let his troops rest.

However, the message came too late.

Rubenfield ordered the vanguard—by this point augmented by elements from the main host—to close distance and ‘smash steel against steel’. The resulting kibosh overpowered the now demoralized Confederate middle whom initiated a chaotic retreat.

Manfred’s attempt to maintain discipline in the center had failed, and his own life was put in danger when a missile dud struck his flagship CSN Naranjo’s bridge. Compelled to give up on the center, Manfred’s attention switched to salvaging the wings whom were in hopeless skirmishes of their own. He gave the order to both wings to commence their own withdrawal at 7:09 PM.

Despite Manfred’s initial efforts to instill order, the infectious panic spread to the right and left wings of the Confederate battle lines. The resulting epidemic snowballed into a general rout. Rather than beeline to the safely of Alsand’s Clusters, the disorganized territorial force warped out of the star zone towards Saubia.

In the hours that followed, the Cluster capitol of Side Al Jahra saw a coup d'état by the Al Jahra police forces—who were secretly pro-Federation and were biding their time for such an opportunity. The civilian Confederate officials were caught off guard by this development and in response ordered the local milita to mobilize. Whey they too sided with the police the pro-Confederate government collapsed in the early hours of September 10th.

“Al Jahra is safely in Federal hands. I repeat…

Al Jahra is safely in Federate hands once more! Long Live the Federation!”

With that broadcast, the Flying Circus retired to the Cluster colonies.

Following the battle, DeRyck congratulated Rubenfield and promised to put a commendation for the Legion of Merit for him. In private however, he criticized him for acting too rashly and putting the center in jeopardy. With that, DeRyck moved on to the subject of pursuing the Confederate forces. He felt hesitant at first—cautious of encountering Dolz’s armada—but gave the order to proceed with the original plan by tomorrow.