War Chronicles - The Second Siege of Diamond-iz
Apr 18, 2015 19:22:16 GMT
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Post by Dominion of Zabéara on Apr 18, 2015 19:22:16 GMT
The attack was sudden and threw the Dominion defenders and high command itself off guard. Just two months before, the Dominion Admiralty had downgraded the danger of a Kortl invasion to ''Elevated'' From ''Very High.'' A Dominion Squadron with state-of-the-art warships was pulled back from Diamond-iz on the Kortl frontier for exercises elsewhere, and dominion settlers and assorted civilian craft continued to bustle back and forth on a myriad of projects in the northern systems above Vega. A sense of normalcy started to return to Dominion affairs in the west, now that their liberation of Tau Ceti territory was complete.
Like a flash flood, Kortl forces shattered this state of affairs. In the north, their raiders broke like a furious storm upon defenceless Dominion colonies and settlements. Within a matter of weeks, three Dominion colonies, over 30 million Dominion subjects, and several orbital mining settlements were wiped out. Dominion forces, prevented by treaty from positioning in those systems, were nowhere to be seen.
The situation was different to the south, over the Diamond Homeworld. Diamond-iz, as the Dominion referred to it, was the headquarters for Fleet Group B, which was the largest Dominion military unit both in personnel and ships.
Fleet Group B found itself suddenly hit without warning by a force of about 100 Kortl warships. Advancing north from Kortl space, they quickly brushed aside a tiny screening flotilla of scouts on the warpoint and fell upon the homeworld of the Diamond Race.
The forces of Fleet Group B were not on a war footing. The majority of the ships were in fact older designs out of production, and even then more than half were not active but reservist ships. The ships themselves were mothballed, while their crews were part-time warriors who practiced twice a month with planet-side simulations. These forces could not be mustered in time to meet the rapidly advancing Kortl fleet.
The on-duty head Admiral of Fleet Group B, the young and untested Admiral Zuppuzulimuma-az, hastily assembled what ships could be brought to bare and met the oncoming Kortl onslaught over the blue skies of Diamond-iz, knowing full well their active forces were likely inadequate to the task.
Kortl commanders, however, had a different plan, which reshaped the entire battle. Rather than engage the non-reservist ships of Fleet Group B in a set piece battle, they used their superior speed to rush into close orbit and began a bombardment of the planet itself. Although damage to civilian infrastructure was minimal, Dominion military installations and Army organizations planetside were devastated.
However, the Kortl fleet paid dearly for the damage it wrought on Dominion ground targets. Zuppuzulimuma-az chased the Kortl fleet into low orbit and acted as a hammer to the Planetary Defence's anvil. Although relying on inferior weapon systems and military equipment, the result was the total destruction of the Kortl fleet at the hands of the Dominion defences. In the end, nearly 100 Kortl ships were destroyed for the loss of 116 Dominion, in addition to grave planetside losses.
The following night, Zuppuzulimuma-az returned planetside to inspect the effects of the bombardment and rally the survivors. As the reservists assembled and activated their ships, the Admirals of Fleet Group B watched as the wrecks of hundreds of ships, Dominion and Kortl alike, lit up the night sky as they fell from the heavens.
'' What a wonder, far greater than the likes of any bright summer meteor shower back home...'' mused a vice-admiral that had been accompanying Zuppuzulimuma-az.
Zuppuzulimuma-az stared up to the illuminated night sky, his yellow eyes taking unblinking. ''It is the beginning, and only the first of many terrible wonders that will come of this.''
Like a flash flood, Kortl forces shattered this state of affairs. In the north, their raiders broke like a furious storm upon defenceless Dominion colonies and settlements. Within a matter of weeks, three Dominion colonies, over 30 million Dominion subjects, and several orbital mining settlements were wiped out. Dominion forces, prevented by treaty from positioning in those systems, were nowhere to be seen.
The situation was different to the south, over the Diamond Homeworld. Diamond-iz, as the Dominion referred to it, was the headquarters for Fleet Group B, which was the largest Dominion military unit both in personnel and ships.
Fleet Group B found itself suddenly hit without warning by a force of about 100 Kortl warships. Advancing north from Kortl space, they quickly brushed aside a tiny screening flotilla of scouts on the warpoint and fell upon the homeworld of the Diamond Race.
The forces of Fleet Group B were not on a war footing. The majority of the ships were in fact older designs out of production, and even then more than half were not active but reservist ships. The ships themselves were mothballed, while their crews were part-time warriors who practiced twice a month with planet-side simulations. These forces could not be mustered in time to meet the rapidly advancing Kortl fleet.
The on-duty head Admiral of Fleet Group B, the young and untested Admiral Zuppuzulimuma-az, hastily assembled what ships could be brought to bare and met the oncoming Kortl onslaught over the blue skies of Diamond-iz, knowing full well their active forces were likely inadequate to the task.
Kortl commanders, however, had a different plan, which reshaped the entire battle. Rather than engage the non-reservist ships of Fleet Group B in a set piece battle, they used their superior speed to rush into close orbit and began a bombardment of the planet itself. Although damage to civilian infrastructure was minimal, Dominion military installations and Army organizations planetside were devastated.
However, the Kortl fleet paid dearly for the damage it wrought on Dominion ground targets. Zuppuzulimuma-az chased the Kortl fleet into low orbit and acted as a hammer to the Planetary Defence's anvil. Although relying on inferior weapon systems and military equipment, the result was the total destruction of the Kortl fleet at the hands of the Dominion defences. In the end, nearly 100 Kortl ships were destroyed for the loss of 116 Dominion, in addition to grave planetside losses.
The following night, Zuppuzulimuma-az returned planetside to inspect the effects of the bombardment and rally the survivors. As the reservists assembled and activated their ships, the Admirals of Fleet Group B watched as the wrecks of hundreds of ships, Dominion and Kortl alike, lit up the night sky as they fell from the heavens.
'' What a wonder, far greater than the likes of any bright summer meteor shower back home...'' mused a vice-admiral that had been accompanying Zuppuzulimuma-az.
Zuppuzulimuma-az stared up to the illuminated night sky, his yellow eyes taking unblinking. ''It is the beginning, and only the first of many terrible wonders that will come of this.''