[Starhawk]

2435.9 Changes in Policy
Admiral Tyson Babcock woke in the middle of the night as the com unit howled an emergency code, he became alert almost instantly as he recognized the sound and rolled out of bed.
As he fastened his robe he tabbed the controls and a very concerned looking Commodore Carla Sanchez appeared on the screen.
“What is it Commodore?” Babcock asked, slightly startled by the disheveled appearance of the normally vein Commodore.
“Admiral somehow the Andermanians slipped a strike fleet past our pickets and attacked Ulda Frey XII, the planetary garrison was overwhelmed in a matter of hours and the governor barely managed to get a distress call off before the Anderman shock troops broke through his villa’s security forces.” her voice was almost as unkempt as her appearance but Babcock barely took note of it as his mind raced over where the enemy could have come from, of course the 3rd fleet was supposed to have been deployed months ago but the new Praetor had chosen to hold them in reserve “for the time being” which meant that the entire crusade had come to a blazing and inglorious halt, sure the 1st and 2nd fleets could drive into enemy space but they’d leave their newly conquered worlds open to being retaken as the Alliance forces came up from behind, the 3rd fleet and Fleet Admiral Ross were supposed to engage the enemy at another point, so that the other 2 fleets could advance but Praetor Rodrick had instead deployed a farce of a ramshackle fleet called “The 4th fleet” with nothing but shiploads of State Sec troopers to put down the rioting Coria systems…..and now Babcock had to pay for that, his exposed rear had just been attacked and now he had to turn around and strike back or let the entire system fall.
“Alright Carla, this could be a good thing, they were able to capture the planet so they didn’t glass it which means we can retake it, how big is the enemy fleet from our best assessments?” Babcock folded his arms in thought, intel flights had located a 95 ship fleet in Andermanian space, and Babcock just hoped to God that this wasn’t that fleet.
“Sir it looks like seventeen ships of the line, including two monitors as well as a single assault carrier.”
“Alright then the only thing that worries me are those monitors, they’re a lot bigger then anything we’ve got, but we can deal with this, order all of our repair and troop ships left behind, I don’t want to risk exposing them to any fire if it’s not necessary I’ll pass out the orders for the fleet to get moving in fifteen minutes.” The woman on the other end of the screen saluted, Babcock returned the salute and cut the circuit as he rushed to get his uniform and vac suit on.

Less then three hours later the 1st fleet, minus is transports, minesweepers and repair ships, was closing the range with the enemy strike group, to the amazement of Babcock and every other senior officer in the fleet the vastly outnumbered enemy force continued to close the range, everyone had expected them to turn about and flee yet whoever was in command of that fleet was determined to fight, apparently even if it meant his or her death as well as those of tens of thousands of others.
“Enemy fleet is going to get into firing position first Admiral.” the tactical officer of the watch announced as the main plot showed the enemy formation and his own fleet closing in on one another.
“Fighter launch, I count one zero six enemy star fighters.” Another voice sang out from the tactical section.
Babcock tensed, balling his hands into fists around the arm rests of his chair as the two fleets closed, there was really no tactics involved in an engagement like this it was going to be quick and bloody, with two monitors in their fleet the Andermanians would take out some of the Icaran warships but the return strike would be all it took to end the battle just because of the sheer weight of numbers the Icarans held.

The opening volley was devastating, the Andermanian monitors unleashed a broadside more powerful then that of any Icaran warship on scene and did so with devastating effect, two Icaran super dreadnoughts vanished in fire and wreckage as the broadsides sliced through their shields and armor like a sword through paper, the Wildcat was wrecked and drifting after the remaining guns of one of the monitors sliced through her with incredible ease reducing the massive once proud super dreadnought to a flaming hulk as she slowly drifted away.
The Icaran super dreadnought Typhoon vanished in fire as enemy capital ships unleashed hell into them, fortunately for the Icarans the Anderman navy lacked the “talisman” project’s technology and because of the extreme range they were firing from a great deal of their energy beams lashed out into space harmlessly.
Unfortunately for HMS Renown two enemy super dreadnoughts focused their fire on her, and though most of their shots missed her enough struck home to render her a nearly crippled hulk as energy ripped at her with terrible fury.
The super dreadnought Hades was less fortunate and exploded as her reactor core breached.

“Admiral we are in optimal firing range!” the tactical officer blurted as the Icaran battle fleet finally had their chance to strike back.
“Open Fire all ships, and make sure you kill those damned fighters!” Babcock spat the word fighters like it was a curse as he watched an enemy fighter squadron cripple HMS Dreadnought.

Space it’s self seemed to freeze for a moment as every Icaran starship in range fired their broadsides at the Anderman fleet, it was a moment that made the blood run cold as nearly a hundred energy beams all guided by “talisman” technology stabbed into the Anderman fleet, wreaking death and havoc among the Anderman with such ease that the previous moment of devastating fire brought down by the Anderman seemed like a mere spark of fire.
Not a single Anderman ship or fighter survived the multiple broadsides brought to bear upon them and in barely six minutes of actual fighting the entire battle had ended along with tens of thousands of lives.

The battle did not end there however as it took two Icaran regiments to retake Ulda Frey seven, and the losses on the ground added hundreds of Icaran dead and nearly three thousand Anderman dead to the total losses suffered.

The Imperial Palace:
Praetor Rodrick was nothing like his father, where his father was slow and methodical Rodrick was daring and quick to act, where his father had let the wars brew for decades Rodrick intended to finish them in ten years or less, though he knew that goal may be too much even under his more military oriented mind. And there had already been controversy, such as his holding the 3rd fleet back from the assault on the Andermanian alliance, and the Praetor himself knew that many said it was because he was afraid.

Whatever the rumormongers said he had held the 3rd fleet back not because he was afraid but because he had another plan for them, for too long his father had allowed worlds controlled by the enemy to remain free within the borders of the Empire, and now was the perfect time to bring an end to that and at the moment the only force available for this particular goal was the 3rd fleet. When the five swords storm trooper divisions were formed the 3rd fleet would be released to cleanse the Anderman territories with the 1st and 2nd fleets.

An older looking woman sat across the table from Rodrick, a grim expression upon her face as she read the newest report from the battle of Ulda Frey,
“We lost over thirty thousand soldiers my Praetor, and had that been a larger fleet the enemy had employed we may have lost thousands more, perhaps even the entire first fleet.” Grand Admiral Tanya Bright.
Rear Admiral Liza Adair sat next to Bright, her expression equally as grim yet she did not speak as she watched the young Praetor steeple his hands.
“How soon will the 3rd fleet be needed at the front Grand Admiral?” Praetor Rodrick spoke very softly and respectfully whenever he spoke to his advisors, and unlike his father they knew that his quiet respect was sincere, no matter what the previous Praetor’s positive sides were he had a serious lack of respect for his underlings unless they were born nobles, which very few military officers were. And though he spoke softly everyone who met Praetor Rodrick knew that he had an intellect and whit that almost spoke for it’s self.
“Highness to be honest I would have liked to deploy the 3rd fleet two months ago instead of just deploying individual superdread squadrons to reinforce the 1st and 2nd fleets. However I understand why you kept the 3rd fleet back, the storm troopers are finished with their training now and I think we should send them to take over the worlds in our space occupied by the enemy and dispatch the third fleet.” Bright looked over at Adair and quirked her eyebrow as if she expected the young woman to say something, however the intelligence officer simply glanced back at the Grand Admiral silently.

“Alright two months and I’ll deploy them to the front, I’ll let you and Miss Adair select the best target for their deployment and what system would be best to deploy them from.” Rodrick smiled a moment until a he heard a Liza Adair clear her throat politely.
“Praetor if I may, intelligence has already selected a system, though it may cause certain nobles to become irritated.” Adair finally spoke as she looked back and forth between the Grand Admiral and her Praetor.
“Really, why is that miss Adair?” Rodrick said pleasantly.
“The Swift system is the best place to deploy the 3rd fleet to it’s target for many reasons, yet certain nobles in said system, excluding of course the Spartans who consider it an honor, have spoken out against opening a third unclose able warp point into enemy space….especially in their system.” She rolled her eyes at the last statement yet said nothing further.
“They’ll get over it, is there anything else ladies?” Rodrick winked at Adair as she turned bright red, realizing she said more then she meant to on the “certain nobles’
“No Highness that’s all.” the two women said as they both stood and saluted, Rodrick stood and returned the salute, before walking them both to the door and bidding them fare well.

4th battle of Ulda Frey Losses:
HMS Lunar (SD) Destroyed
HMS Typhoon (SD) Destroyed
HMS Behemoth (SD) Destroyed
HMS Hades (SD) Destroyed
HMS Wildcat (SD) 98% destroyed
HMS Renown (SD) 52% destroyed
HMS Dreadnought (DN) 38% destroyed
Imperial Casualties: 32,300 dead
Andermanian Losses: 15 (SD)2(monitor) and 1 Assault Carrier total losses 104,300 dead, prisoners taken 6,100.

Total Imperial Losses during Andermanian Crusade: 135,647 dead, 300,958 wounded




[i]Imperial Wall of the Fallen :Anderman Crusade:"
HMS Anasazi
HMS Blackbird
HMS Catherine
HMS Cairo
HMS Hawkwing
HMS Raven
HMS Samson
HMS Sumter
HMS Tyrant
HMS Warden
HMS Lunar
HMS Typhoon
HMS Behemoth
HMS Hades
HMS Justin
2 Superdreadnoughts who’s names have been lost to history