7th Fleet's Counterattack

7th Fleet's Counterattack, was the last major engagement on the Kryb front during the Lakfakalle Campaign, during which the Alliance's pursuit of the retreating forces of the Sixth, Fifth and Fourth Phoenix Fleets was stopped by the actions of the Seventh Phoenix Fleet, probably saving the Temporary Capital from the possibility of the immediate invasion.

Background
Upon seizing control over the Abriel System, Alliance had decided to maximize the benefits of its attack, and immediately sent forces to pursuit the retreating Phoenix fleets. Fleets First to Third were already out of reach of the Alliance forces, but Fleets Four to Six could still be targeted.

To provide the assistance to the retreating forces, 7th Phoenix Fleet was dispatched.

Events
""Our enemies are good traders. They use their limited resources to the maximum effect”"

- Admiral Beneej Spoor, commander of the Seventh Phoenix Fleet, (Banner of the Stars V novel) .

Except for the elite First Assault Squadron, the Sixth Fleet was the only fleet amongst the evacuating forces, that had some combat potential. Soon it stopped retreating, and formed a defensive line to cover the retreat of the Fifth and Fourth Phoenix fleets. The Sixth Phoenix Fleet was a hastily made hodgepodge of various ships from various fleets, lacking in coordination (unable even to maintain straight formation) and grossly outnumbered by the Alliance force. Maneuvers of the Sixth Fleet were observed, amongst others, by the bridge crew of the Gaftonosh Dourado, including Lafiel. For the observers its fate was obvious – Sixth Fleet was about to be destroyed.

The Sixth fleet was destroyed roughly twelve hours later, slightly reducing the numbers of the pursuers. This grim news was sweetened by the arrival of the Seventh Phoenix Fleet, under command of admiral Beneej Spoor. Bridge crew of Gaftonosh Dourado watched, as the Fourth Phoenix Fleet successfully linked with the reinforcements, and, eventually, passed them. For the Fifth Fleet, however, everything was about to be decided at the last moment.

The Gaftonosh Dourado crew had received a message from the Fifth Fleet flagship, containing single sentence: “Worry only about safety of the crew”. Losses amongst the Abriel dynasty members were high. The idea of losing another of them was probably scarier, than the idea of losing the Imperial Treasure.

Pursuers had fired the mine strike. Seventh Fleet, in response fired mine counterstrike. Understanding, that the Space Forces are very vulnerable at the moment, and the situation does not allow display of weakness, Spoor ordered to launch all available mobile space-time mines against the mine assault of the Alliance. The gambit worked – the Alliance fleet had expended too many mines in the assault on Lakfakalle, and ran out of mines as well. The Imperial mine assault managed to stop the mine assault of the Alliance, and inflicted some damage to its fleet. The Alliance’s mine assault, however, was first to reach Fifth Fleet, and had inflicted considerable losses amongst it’s transports.

The pursuing Alliance fleet was roughly equal to the strength of the Seventh Phoenix Fleet. Without mines, all that both fleets could do, was exhaust each other in direct combat, without gaining anything. Both sides decided to end hostilities at the moment.

Aftermath
The Alliance was able to capitalize on its success to some extent. The Abh, on the other hands, were able to successfully complete the evacuation, losing only one of the six evacuating fleets. The Alliance's push was stopped at the most dangerous moment for the Empire - it's Temporary Capital was just established, and it's war machine still needed time to be restarted - for example, the Empire had zero production capacity for the space-time bubble generators at the moment. Stronger push from the Alliance could have brought down the Temporary Capital, effectively defeating the Empire in The War.