Historians would later tell of the Battle of Westmarch Starzone: “neither side were properly ready for war; the Tollerwald Alliance were not ready to attack, nor were the Loyalists ready to defend”.
Whatever the case, both sides were poised to clash at Westmarch. The Loyalists surprised everyone, including themselves, by putting Marshal Karl von Marbach at the head of its expeditionary force—with the Empress herself under him. “Rank is rank. But in war nobody cares about rank,” the Empress remarked.
The seasoned marshal formed a generally offensive formation of 45,000 ships, holding back 15,000 ships under Rear Admiral Eierkutchen to launch a flanking attack. Rear Admiral Eierkutchen was previously aide to the Empress and had received personal training from Marshal Karl.
Against this, the Tollerwalds arrayed 100,000 ships in “either the strangest formation I’ve ever seen, or they don’t know what a formation even is”, as the Empress put it. The only fleet to maintain some sort of proper order and cohesion were the Sixth Fleet, positioned on the left flank of the Loyalists.
“That’s a strange formation ... just what are they planning?” Karl asked as he established communications with the Empress. “I honestly can’t make sense of it. The only thing I can think of it is they’re deliberately making us let our guard down and launch a careless assault.”
The Empress smiled. “I think they’re just incompetent.”
“I sure hope so.”
The star Westmarch was generally quite stable, but at certain intervals there would be unpredictable moderate winds. It was something that the marshal had calculated.
“Admiral, we’ve detected the enemy!” a Tollerwald officer reports. “Roughly 45,000 ships!”
“Impudent mockery! Heheheh, what can they do with such a small fleet? Fire, fire, fire away!” was the order from Admiral Fogel.
The outrageously long distance meant that this order did practically zero damage to the Loyalist fleet. “The distance is too far, what is the enemy thinking, I wonder,” Karl remarked. “Prepare to fire at regular distance.”
As the fleets approach one another, the Loyalist fleet fired its armaments, unleashing orderly destruction on the wild mob that was the Tollerwald fleet. The Sixth Fleet immediately assumed a defensive sphere formation. “Focus fire on the enemy center and left flank!” Karl gave orders. He intended to shatter the mob and isolate the Sixth Fleet. Things had gone better than expected, so his plan to use decoy ships was sidelined for now.
“Attack!” the Empress said over communication channels, and that order was clarity itself. In merely a few hours’ fighting, the center and left of the Tollerwalds were already close to collapse. At that point, Karl unleashed his reserves in a flanking assault to pin down the Sixth Fleet.
The noble officers, having never tasted real battle and trusting in their noble blood to prevail, were now facing the strength of the Empire’s best fleet, commanded by its best fleet commander. They never stood much of a chance.
“The difference in experience and skill is too wide to overcome, huh,” Vice Admiral Bianca muttered to herself as her allies were butchered and her own fleet pinned by fire from fore and port. “Looks like I picked the wrong side.” Her flagship, the Phantom, stood like a fortress of order amidst chaos.
“Our allies are being routed. What do we do, commander?” her second-in-command requested.
“We’ll serve as rear guard,” she replied. “Tighten our sphere. Hold the enemy off as long as possible. Prepare to form the spindle formation as well.”
Communications came from the Illuminator, the flagship of Admiral Fogel. “ATTACK! ATTACK!” he roared like a mad man. “Prove the pride and courage of the nobility! Attack!”
At this command, the Tollerwald fleet regrouped as they could under heavy fire. Sensing trouble, Karl ordered his fleets to pull back and reorganize.
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When the Tollerwald assault arrived, Karl launched his own fleets unto an attack. This sort of aggressiveness was his trademark. The Royal Fleet soon overwhelmed their dwindled enemies, inflicting massive casualties. The Illustrious charged forward. “Destroy the Illuminator.”
Concentrated fire to take out opposing leadership was also a trait of Karl’s. The Illuminator burst into a ball of flames, prompting the remaining ships to retreat disorderly. Only ten thousand ships made it out.
Like a shining spot in a web of darkness, the Sixth Fleet fought admirably, focusing fire to cover their retreating allies. The Loyalist battleship Wendigo was struck by the combined firepower of three cruisers and exploded; the destroyers Tempa and Tempo were blasted to bits by the Phantom. “They’re causing too many casualties, Marshal,” the Empress said. “We should probably do something about it.”
“You’re right. Let’s allow the others to leave and surround the Sixth Fleet.”
The Royal Fleet quickly extended their wings, enveloping the Sixth Fleet. “Form the spindle formation,” Vice Admiral Bianca said. “We need to get out before they fully surround us.”
The Sixth Fleet’s movements were neither particularly fast nor sluggish. The Loyalist fleets, as if struck by some sort of dumbness, withdrew slowly and tethered their ships unto one another and held back fire. Vice Admiral Bianca seized the moment to retreat.
That was when a burst of strong solar wind from Westmarch’s fixed star disrupted the movement of her fleet. The Loyalist fleets fired again in earnest. “Commander, over 50 percent of our fleet is destroyed or disabled, and the rest is in shambles. I fear we cannot possibly escape,” her aide said with a worried expression.
“... shut down the engines. Tell them we surrender unconditionally.”
Fighting like a mercenary for a side that abandons me ... I’m not that stupid.
And so ended the first clash of the Imperial Civil War. The Loyalists returned to their throneworld to regroup. The same day the Royal Fleet returned, Admiral Valentina’s First Fleet and Admiral Holm’s Eleventh Fleet also arrived. The Loyalists had captured their first officer.
“Vice Admiral Bianca Scarnhorst. I value both your tactical ability and your rationality. I can only conclude a misjudgement to be your reason to join the rebels.”
Vice Admiral Bianca, her hands cuffed and with two soldiers with laser rifles standing next to her as the Empress interrogated her in the throne room, nodded. “It is as you say, Your Majesty.”
“Yet you still call me Your Majesty?”
“I am born of a poor aristocratic family, with more debt than coin. And I am a defeated admiral. There’s no reason to not acknowledge your supremacy.”
“So you so easily betray the Tollerwald Alliance, to whom you have sworn loyalty?”
“I have done my best. My efforts are not enough to overcome Your Majesty’s strength. And if I may be bold, I don’t think anyone else in the Alliance could have done any better.”
“You’re bold. I like that. Very well then. I will have you rejoin your Sixth Fleet in due time. For now, I will put you under house arrest and your fleet under supervision of Admiral Holm. Certainly you understand, I cannot have a former rebel switch colors so seamlessly.”
“No words can convey my gratitude, Your Majesty.”
Vice Admiral Bianca Scarnhorst couldn’t believe she got out in one piece; hell, she couldn’t believe she was even standing there, as she entered the fairly luxurious villa that would become her place of house arrest.
Republicans were treated with little mercy by past emperors, but rebels were treated with even less. A quick execution would have been overtly generous. A prolonged torture and a gory death in a public execution were the norm.
Of course, she couldn’t have known the background event that led to this magnanimous treatment. For once, Marshal Karl and Imperial Spymaster Klaris agreed on the same course of action.
“Speaking purely from a military point of view, Vice Admiral Scarnhorst is certainly a rare gem. It’s a waste to not have her on our side. The Sixth Fleet is quite an asset as well, obviously,” Karl said. He glanced at Klaris, seemingly anticipating a rebuttal.
“For completely unrelated reasons, I agree,” Klaris said. “The optics of an important enemy commander bending her knee to you would be quite a sight, Your Majesty. It will drive home the point of your supremacy, and deal a political blow against our opponents. We’ll have to monitor her for a while, of course.”
“I see. If both of you suggest the same thing, I see no reason to be a contrarian. For my part, blood in battlespace is one thing, but shedding it outside battlespace isn’t pleasing to me. I’ll implement what the two of you suggest,” the Empress said. “Now, on to the next matter. Klaris, I believe Duke Dahl had just declared a military revolt.”
“Indeed. Joining him are Admiral Luvert of the Seventh Fleet and Admiral Boll of the Eighteenth Fleet. The former has rendezvoused with him at his base in Thalassa Fortress, while the latter is still on his way. Incidentally, the Tollerwalds are launching a major assault in that area.”
“Marshal, your opinion? They could be a useful shield against the Tollerwalds, especially with the trap you’ve set with Duke Dahl.”
“I agree, but it doesn’t mean we passively do nothing. I suggest we send some forces to waylay the Eighteenth Fleet, at least. Send another contingent to deal as many casualties against both the Tollerwalds and the military revolt.”
The Empress nodded and stood up. “Well then, let’s retake the Empire.”