Second Gallic-Kusari War

[Loremaster]

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Belligerents

Confederacy of Gallia	Empire of Kusari

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Background

During the Tau war between the Kingdom of Bretonia and the Empire of Kusari, the Kingdom of Gallia made its entrance into the Sirius sector. During this moment one of the first causalities of the incoming Gallic War was the Kusari Imperial Fleet, which was decimated in the opening rounds of the Gallic invasion. The Emperor of Kusari managed to survive the destruction of his fleet, but was for some time exiled from his home.

The defeat Kusari experienced at the hands of the Royal Gallic invaders has been noted as a stain on the honour of the House of Kusari, and persistent ineptitude in following conflicts has given rise to a strata among the people to clamour for their prestige returned and their strength restored.

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Kusari's Justification for War

Pushed by the ambitions of the military and the more hawkish politicians, the new strata in the Kusari upper echelons set their sights to reclaiming what was once lost. As the Tau region lay open once again and with the battered Bretonian forces locked in a struggle against some of the remnants of Royal Gallia, an opportunity arose for a prize to be seized.

Not wishing to fall victim to the same circumstance of defeat, and seeking to restore their honour against an enemy that once claimed the lives of so many officers of the Kusari Navy; The Kusari Admiralty planned an invasion of Gallia to cripple its military might and destroy its infrastructure, cutting it down to a more manageable size as the Reformed Empire takes the seat of the hegemon over the Taus.

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Kusari's advance into the Taus

It was summarised that in order to effectively conduct an invasion of Gallia, the corridors of Tau-23 and Tau-53 must firstly be secured. However what laid in as a problem to accessing at least one of those corridors was Tau-31, a system formerly controlled by the Crayter Republic. It was at the direction of the Admiralty that the system be taken swiftly, and the Holman junction be secured for the advance into Gallia. However the aggression displayed to seize the junction needed a reason.

The Sirius Coalition managed to give that reason in their attempt to establish a base in Kusari. A detachment of the Nagasaki, lead by the then Captain Kato, assaulted the station and its defences and forcefully ejected the Coalition from Kyushu. Using this as a pretense to then move into the Taus in order to better police it, than the current resident whom allowed Coalition's construction vessels to slip by.

A cruiser deployment was used to swiftly close the distance from the gate to the junction and issue demands to the Crayter Republic in the area. A battleship fleet deployment was close behind and such a show of force prompted the Republic to withdraw.

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Kusari's lightning war into Gallia

Through the use of their own corporations and the Hogosha, Kusari Intelligence managed to discover that Gallia had an increased presence in the Zurich system, and defences within Languedoc and Lorraine could be swiftly overrun. If the strike were to happen, it must happen now, and the orders to launch the two-pronged attack were given.

In Tau-53, Misaki Station was used as a launch point against La Charite Spaceport. The Battleship Matsumoto pre-positioned itself in the system to take advantage for when the invasion order came in. The fleet was able to strike against the communication relays in a moments notice and prevent escape through using lanes, before the fleets presence was detected by the frontier outpost.

Under the guise of trade ships, the station was quickly infiltrated then captured by Kusari marines stowed upon Samura transports. The station's security ships were intercepted by the KNF, Gallic police and navy units were destroyed, and traders were prevented from fleeing the junction. Battleship Matsumoto would then push on to Lorraine before the events could settle down.

A similar event took place in Tau-23, in which case the Kusari vanguard slipped into the system undetected with the sole aim of disabling communications. Cheronsee Outpost was used to being harassed by local pirates, and was ill-prepared to fight the vanguard force it was faced with. Using a similar tactic deployed by the pirates of the system, the KNF moved in the shadows of asteroids to close the distance on Cheronsee. A secondary force pushed ahead to interrupt the lanes to Languedoc and prevent those who attempted to flee.

The vanguard units launched their attack on the frontier outpost and were successful in disabling its communication ability and defeating the defenders. Cheronsee logged another pirate attack on the station, something that was not uncommon, before it went dark. Battleship Nagasaki had entered into the system just moments before the fall of Cheronsee, it would continue on all the way into Languedoc.

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To be continued...