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Battle of Omega-3
| Battle of Omega-3 | |||
| Date | September 13, 818 A.S. | ||
| Location | Omega-3 Border Worlds | ||
| Status | Finished | ||
| Result | Pyrrhic victory for Zoner/allied forces; RoS claims moral victory | ||
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Synopsis
The Battle of Omega-3, which stretched across the area between Freeport 1 and Planet Sprague, was one of the largest and most confusing battles that has ever taken place in the Omega Border worlds. The multi-sided combat resulted in the loss of several capital ships and the start of the brief but extremely bloody Corsair-Zoner War.
Background
Repeated Corsair raids on Bretonia resulted in the drawing up of a new proviso to the Zoners' No-Fire Zone treaty at the Bretonian Crown's behest. This was intended to prevent the Corsairs from using Freeport 1 or Planet Gran Canaria as staging areas for said raids. However, this turn of events angered the Corsairs, who were themselves already incensed by Outcasts and Hessians using Zoner bases for raids on Omicron Gamma.
Additionally, the Bretonia Armed Forces had an outstanding warrant for the arrest of Kashiwaba Tomoe, an influential member of the TAZ, which soured relations to an extent which some argued was vastly disproportionate to Tomoe's crime.
Tensions rapidly built as a Corsair battlefleet, led by The Brotherhood's flagship Artemis, arrived at Freeport 1 to find a large Zoner defensive formation, who had been expecting to defend the station against what they thought was a pretext for annexation by Bretonia.
Nearby this formation was a Coalition wing on maneuvers, the Red Hessian cruiser Sigurosson and an escort fighter, several Reapers, a pair of Reaver Mercenaries, and even an errant Outcast. Perhaps the most striking was the presence of the Spyglass battleship Belisarius and several other Neo-Terran escorts.
First Wave
The Reavers and Reapers got into a scuffle against their enemies, the Hessian and Coalition ships, skirmishing each other near the Freeport.
The Corsairs, meanwhile, attempted to isolate the Belisarius, but could not prevent it from joining the Zoner formation. Unaware that the NTF were allied with the Zoners, and ignoring a pair of warning shots fired from the lead Zoner ship Attero Dominatus, the Corsairs ordered the attack. The Neo-Terrans were expecting this, however, and reacted quickly with a fierce charge against the Corsair battle line, with the Zoners holding up their end of the bargain and opening fire.
The Neo-Terran flagship quickly became the focal point of Corsair attention as both it and the Zoner fleet poured fire into the Artemis. The combined barrage was too much for the pride of the Corsair Brotherhood to withstand, and it suffered a reactor core breach. Meanwhile, the Belisarius' hull absorbed barrage after punishing barrage of concentrated fire without buckling, due in large part to the diligent efforts of the Neo-Terrans' repair ship.
The second Corsair battleship, the Chandelier, fared little better, managing to get almost past Sprague before being finally taken down by merciless fire from the pursuing Zoners, Neo-Terrans and Hessians. Meanwhile the Reapers had changed targets and were attacking literally everyone else on the field of battle, although they prioritized the NTF and Hessians.
Second Wave
While the Zoners and their allies (both nominal and temporary) attempted to clean up the remaining Corsair vessels, three Bretonian battleships appeared, led by the HMS Craven's Nest of the Albion Guard. They declared their intention to capture Tomoe by order of the Crown, and had called upon several elite Rheinland Military fighters who had been in the area to assist them. The Neo-Terrans attempted to interpose themselves between the combatants and come up with a peaceful solution, but for their trouble the already-damaged Belisarius was fired upon by the BAF and rapidly taken out of commission.
The already-confused melee rapidly degenerated even further as the debris-strewn battlefield was filled with laser fire. The Bretonians lost the HMS Sovereign to concentrated fire, while the Reapers kept attacking the Zoners and their dwindling number of allies. The HMS Majestic was lost to heavy fire just before the Attero Dominatus was overwhelmed, leaving the Craven's Nest the last battleship to fall.
As the heaviest combat began to die out, the dogfights became more intense. The tone of the fight abruptly changed again when the Vagrant Raiders arrived with the bulk of their fleet, intent on aiding their Neo-Terran friends and any surviving Zoners.
The Rheinlanders, lacking heavy support now that the Bretonian capital ships had been downed, did not have the firepower to challenge the Raider vessels, and stayed only because of treaty stipulations. The moment there were no more BAF ships to support, the Military ships withdrew.
The Reapers agreed to leave the field, as the fighting had all but ended, and with it their reason for intervening, but they claimed a moral victory.
Meanwhile, the surviving Corsair forces made their last stand around Planet Sprague itself, against Kashibawa Tomoe's gunboat and a small force of NTF troops. Tomoe's gunboat was downed during the skirmish, and crashed into Planet Sprague itself. Tomoe herself was presumed dead after the incident.
The Aftermath
- to be filled in later**
