Lakfakalle Campaign

The Lakfakalle campaign was a set of successful operations, undertaken by the Four Nations Alliance, that resulted in the collapse of the Empire’s frontline, the loss of the significant portion of its territories, and culminated in the invasion in the Abriel System, and the subsequent fall of the Imperial Capital to the external force for the first time in its history.

Prelude to the operation
In the late several years the Alliance have managed to avoid the general battles, instead trading its territory for time. The Hania Federation, neutral until now, saw the shift of power in the struggle between its Ground and Space factions in favor of the Ground one. This faction, motivated by various reasons, starting from purely pragmatic, like the desire to be absorbed into the Humankind Empire of Abh on more favorable terms, and ending with purely selfish, like the access to the planetary nobility titles and the associated benefits for its members, have opened secret negotiations with the Empire, discussing the possibility of the absorption of the Federation. Despite forming majority of the political center of the Federation, such negotiations had to be kept in secret, both because of the fear of the retribution from the members of the Alliance, and lack of the full approval from the citizens of the Federation and the opposition of the Space Faction. After all, even if the Ground faction represented the majority of the political leadership, the actions it was taking were almost certainly unconstitutional and illegal.

The Empire eventually decided to support the intents of the Ground Faction. It is worthy of notice, that the Empire had displayed some concerns about the possibility of such proposal being a trap, and understood the vulnerability of the Capital to the possible assault of the Hanian fleet. The loss of the Capital was almost certain, although it’s return would have been almost instant. The effect of unpredictability of the Alliance actions was also considered. The idea of such actions being fundamentally an aggression against a neutral state, relying on the local fifth column were not (although the Empress had some general personal discontent about the idea of working with the traitors).

Understanding, that it’s very existence is being put on the line, the Space Faction responded to the purely illegal actions of the Ground Faction with the purely illegal actions of their own. Their representatives have contacted the Alliance, assuring that they will provide all the necessary contribution to the war effort. The Alliance of Three Nations have become Alliance of the Four Nations once again.

Alliance general offensive
On ICU 959, following the secret negotiations with the “Space Faction” of the Hania Federation, the Four Nations Alliance had begun large-scale general offensive against the Humankind Empire of Abh, with the main focus at the Kryb Kingdom and the Lakfakalle. Banner of the Stars V novel does not describe the offensive itself in detail, however some facts are known.


 * During the battle of the Imperial Guard, more than 200 partial fleets of the Alliance were observed in the plane-space alone, implying significantly larger total initial strength.
 * The size of the Space Forces, fighting the initial push on the frontline is not discussed, but it is mentioned, that they had noticeably larger summary military potential.
 * The attacks, that were the part of the offensive specifically focused on the Empire’s frontline weak points, implying the significant amount of gathered intelligence and sophisticated planning.

Battle of Kryb
The worst situation for the Empire had occcured in the Kryb Kingdom. Being surrounded by Hania Federation, the Kingdom was invaded from all directions, not only by the Hanian forces, but also by the forces of other members of the Alliance. The total amount of the defenders, reinforced by the small forces, dedicated to the operation "Snow Crystal" were absolutely insufficient to stop the overwhelming Alliance force. Some pockets of resistance formed, such as Admiral Jamupeel at Dinin Gate; however, this resistance posed no threat to the strategic advantage seized. The Alliance would soon begin its assault of system Abriel and the capital Lakfakalle.

Contingency plans
The long time necessary to deliver the information from the frontlines trough the plane-space meant that this information was also clearly outdated, and the actual situation is probably much worse. In fact, fresh report about the loss of the Semburyuv Military Base (main strategic location in the Kryb Kingdom) was received by the Empress Ramaj almost at the same time, as the news about the invasion arrived. The lack of the defenders in the Kryb Kingdom, the inability to assemble them quickly enough, made the inevitability of the fall of the Lakfakalle obvious. The rough estimates stated that the Alliance forces will reach the Lakfakalle in seven days.

The possibility of the fall of the Imperial Capital was always considered during the war. The plans for moving the capital was presented by the Advisor for the relocation of the Capital on a yearly basis, constantly being updated according to the War state.

The final decisions to ensure the survival of the Empire were:


 * Kryb and Ilysr could not be defended with any meaningful results.
 * Operation Phoenix was declared with Crown Prince Dusanyu in charge, focusing on the establishing the Temporary Capital (Arosh Sera) in the Barker kingdom, at the Sotryuural Military Base, and the evacuation of all personel to it's location.
 * All active military personnel would have to be evacuated to the Barker Kingdom. The ships, unable to reach the Temporary Capital, were to be redirected to the Skiil Kingdom.
 * Since all five shipyards, capable of producing the space-time bubble generators were located in the Lakfakalle, they had to be transported to the new location. Unprepared to give up more territory, than was required, Ramaj had considered sending one of the shipyards to Skiil Kingdom, and one to the Barkzedel kingdoms, however, after reviewing the estimates about the efficiency of such action, she had decided to send two of the shipyards only to the Skiil Kingdom. The remaining three would be sent to the new Capital.
 * The defense of the Lakfakalle would be focused on gaining as much time for the evacuating forces. The main weight of it would be placed on the shoulders of the Imperial Guard and the Capital Defense Society.

Stand of the Imperial Guard
The first move to gain time for the evacuating Phoenix fleets was done by the Imperial Guard, led by the Empress Abriel Ramaj herself. The forces had met the Alliance forces on the Plane-Space, behind the Sord, leading from the Kryb Kingdom territory to the Abriel system. The 25 to 1 advantage of the Alliance forces did not allowed the Imperial Guard to do any meaningful damage to the Alliance fleet, but the expenditure of the ammunition and the need to reorganise their ranks had allowed the Guard to buy additional twenty-four hours for the preparation of the defense in the Abriel System, and for the ongoing evacuation of the Phoenix fleets.

Battle of Abriel System
The battle for the Abriel System could be divided into three distinct parts, separated by large amounts of time between them:


 * Battle near the Sord Kryb
 * Battle against the main force of the Capital Defense Society
 * Invasion in the Lakfakalle itself

During the first two parts the Alliance had managed to effectively employ it's overwhelming forces, swiftly and completely destroying the opposing Abh forces, while taking acceptable and sustainable damage on their own.

During the third part the majority of the Alliance forces rushed to attemt capture of the local antimatter production facilities, only to witness their destruction when they approached at 1 ls to them, while the smaller part of the Alliance forces, sent to capture the Lakfakalle itself saw brutal fighting with the few remaining defenders of the Lakfakalle, determined to fight until the end. The force, sent to capture the Imperial Capital had suffered serious losses, likely forced to pay roughly 2 or 3 ships for each strongpoint, and much higher losses in terms of the manpower.

Pursuit of the Phoenix Fleets. 7th Fleet's Counterattack
Upon seizing control over the Abriel System, Alliance had decided to maximize the benefits of its attack, and immediately went to pursuit the Phoenix fleets. The only fleet amongst the evacuating forces, that had some combat potential was Sixth Phoenix Fleet, who, upon noticing the enemy space-time bubbles soon 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 and grossly outnumbered by the Alliance force. The Sixth fleet was destroyed, slightly reducing the numbers of the pursuers, but gained enough time for the 4th and 5th fleets to receive the protection of the incoming Seventh Phoenix Fleet under the command of admiral Beneej Spoor, but not before Fifth Fleet was caught by the Alliance mine strike, which inflicted considerable losses amongst its transports.

Understanding, that the Space Forces are very vulnerable at the moment, and the situation does not allow display of weakness, Spoor had decided to bluff, and ordered to launch every single available mobile space-time mine against the mine assault of the Alliance. The gambit worked – the Alliance fleet had expended too many mines in the assault on the Abriel System, and ran out of mines as well. The Imperial mine assault managed to stop the Alliance's own mine assault, and inflicted some damage to its fleet.

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 the hostilities for the moment, content to leave the battlefield.