Defense of Quantum Gate Beta

The Defense of Quantum Gate Beta, fought during Year 11 of the Great War, was a naval battle between the Luminarian Navy and the Zaretian Monarchy Navy, taking place during the Battle of Rigni of the Rigni Campaign. Although considered to be a minor battle by many standards, the Defense of Quantum Gate Beta had far-reaching effects for the Battle of Rigni.

In an attempt to wrest the initiative from the combined Aeverian and Luminarian forces in the Rigni system, the Zaretians decided to eliminate and remove the Luminarian Quantum Gates in the Rigni System, preventing the other Battlegroups of the 2nd BattleFleet from regrouping in the Rigni System, eliminate the combat potential of Battlegroup Noxia which accounted for 40% of the Peacekeeper forces in system via killing its logistics train, and allow the Zaretian Navy to retain its numerical superiority. The plan to accomplish this was called Operation Heart Rend and involved the mobilization of several major fleets in the Rigni System. Command of the Operation was given to General Peacha of the 7th Fleet.

Both Luminarian and Aeverian forces in the Rigni System were subjected to a massive offensive on the onset of Operation Heart Rend, a majority of targets were decoys, masking the Zaretian Navy's true objective and forcing Peacekeeper assets to be committed away from the quantum gates. Within 1 hour of the Operation, 4 out of 5 quantum gates had been destroyed by Task Force 7122 before Peacekeeper hunter-killer elements had managed to damage TF 7122 and force a retreat. With their goals still not met, General Peacha dispatched Task Force 7238, a carrier battlegroup and her escorts to eliminate the last remaining Quantum Gate. Rear Admiral Xentha of the Luminarian Battlegroup Noxia, still commanding Luminarian forces in the Rigni System, could only spare Sub-Battlegroup Citera, an understrength Sub-Battlegroup to reinforce Quantum Gate Beta's defenders, Sub-Battlegroup Mendaria.

The Defense of Quantum Gate Beta would continue for 30 minutes, in which both sides carriers engaged in strikes. In the first 10 minutes, the Zaretians managed to sink a Luminarian Cruiser and damaged a Luminarian Frigate. The Luminarians managed to sink 2 Zaretian Frigates and damage a Zaretian Cruiser. The next 10 minutes saw the sinking of 1 Zaretian Frigate and 1 Luminarian Frigate. The final 10 minutes saw direct action between both Luminarian and Zaretian forces. Zaretian forces had managed to sink 1 Luminarian Carrier, 1 Luminarian Frigate and heavily damaged another Luminarian Carrier and Frigate. Luminarian Forces would sink 1 Zaretian Cruiser and heavily damage 2 Zaretian Carriers and 2 Zaretian Frigates.

Although a tactical victory for the Zaretians in terms of ships sunk, the battle would prove to be a strategic victory for the Peacekeepers for several reasons. The Zaretian Carriers, the ZMS Beehive and ZMS Devil's Nest were heavily damaged and their air wings nearly wiped out, which included 52% of the Zaretian Bomber Craft within the system. This led to the Peacekeepers achieving numerical superiority in terms of strikecraft and allowed Peacekeeper hunter-killer elements to operate freely within the system without fear of retaliation. Additionally, within 4 days of the Defense, Battlegroup Telethia managed to transit into the Rigni system, giving the Peacekeepers numerical superiority and allowing the Peacekeeper forces to press the initiative, which contributed to the fall of Rigni.

Operation Isomer
During Year 10 of the Great War, both Luminarian and Aeverian forces launched Operation Isomer, quickly beginning an incursion into the Rigni Sub-Sector. In launching this operation, Peacekeeper leaders sought to open a beachhead into the Nu-Zartar sector as well as attempt to neutralize major Zaretian logistical capabilities.

To support these goals, during the first few months of Operation Isomer, Peacekeeper forces attacked and successfully took control of the star systems of Verdaria, Toolago, Bekkaris, and Foorid, inflicting heavy losses on opposing Zaretian naval and ground forces, establishing secure supply lines from the areas conquered during Operation Fissure and preventing a potential Zaretian breakout and threatening supply routes.

Although surprised by the speed of the Peacekeeper offensives, Zaretian forces under General Varthos and Peacha mounted a fierce resistance, but were unsuccessful in halting the Peacekeeper advance. Not long after, Peacekeeper forces had entered the Sub-Sector capital, Rigni.

The first Peacekeeper forces to enter the Rigni System were comprised of the Aeverian 542nd Fleet and the Luminarian Battlegroup Noxia. Both forces would immediately begin securing routes into the system while waiting for allied fleets to secure other theatre objectives. Within the first month, Peacekeeper forces had managed to occupy the planets Oortas and Calidon and their orbital facilities.

Operation Heart Rend
With the capture of both Oortas and Calidon, Peacekeeper forces would be able to resupply their naval forces in-system, allowing the Peacekeepers to conduct offensive operations at a higher tempo then if they had to utilize carriers and other logistical ships. This posed a huge risk to Zaretian Naval Forces as Zaretian ships were designed with the mindset that they would be on the offensive, and would suffer heavy losses on the defensive despite their numerical superiority. It was decided by General Peacha to wrest control of the initiative from the peacekeepers as soon as possible or risk losing the Battle for Rigni.

At the start of Year 11, the Zaretian Navy developed a plan that was titled Operation Heart Rend. The plan called for a major offensive on all Peacekeeper held locations in order to distract Peacekeeper commanders from the true nature of the attack, the destruction of the Luminarian Quantum Gates. Peacha had learned the locations of all 5 Luminarian Quantum Gates, and also knew it would take about 2 weeks for the Luminarians to send in replacements. Operation Heart Rend would quickly move to eliminate logistical resupply for Luminarian Naval Forces in system, giving time for the 7th Fleet to force the Peacekeepers out of the system before reinforcements could arrive.



Task Force 7122 was a carrier-based taskforce handpicked by General Peacha to strike at the gates. Comprising of 6 Command-Class Carriers and their escorts, TF 7122 was commanded by Admiral Filt'ka, who had been given 60% of the total Zaretian Bomber forces in the system. 20 minutes into the offensive, TF 7122 would begin a series of jumps away from Rigni while launching waves of strikecraft at the Luminarian Gates. TF 7122 would be successful at destroying 4 quantum gates over the course of an hour.

Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Xentha had taken note of the losses of her Quantum Gates in system. As Gate Eta, the 3rd quantum gate was under attack, she tasked the Hunter-Killer Team Arins to track and destroy the source of the strikecraft attacks. Recon probes, combined with subspace tracking had managed to determine the location of TF 7122 and HKT Arins immediately sortied to engage TF 7122. Although successful at destroying 2 carriers and damaging 3 more, Hunter-Killer Team Arins had failed to interdict TF 7122 in time before a strike could be carried out on Quantum Gate Epsilon.

General Peacha had anticipated the loss of TF 7122, and activated Task Force 7232, a reserve force comprising of 3 carriers and their escorts to engage the remaining gate. Furthermore, Peacha had the surviving bombers from TF 7122 transferred over to TF 7232. Command of TF 7232 was given to Admiral Novikarn commanding from the ZMS Devil's Nest.

Rear Admiral Xentha now knowing the threat posed, issued orders that sent Sub-Battlegroup Calixa to reinforce Sub-Battlegroup Mendaria at Quantum Gate Beta, but revoked her orders the moment the ZMS Pansophical, Peacha's flagship and her escorts arrived in orbit over Oortas and engaged Xentha's Battleship, the LNBs Redoubtable. The only remaining force that could be sent to assist Sub-Battlegroup Mendaria was Sub-Battlegroup Citera, which only had 3 combat-capable ships left. Overall command of the defenders of Quantum Gate Beta was given to Captain Scharn commanding from the LNCr Falchion.

Prelude
TF 7232 departed from Rigni 83 minutes into Operation Heart Rend, emerging from subspace on the outer sector of the Rigni System. Admiral Novikarn knew the location of Quantum Gate Beta, but did not know how many forces were assigned to guard it, and was also not sure if there was a peacekeeper hunter-killer team on standby to engage his forces. Further complicating matters was that the longer he took to assemble his strike, the more time the peacekeepers had to reinforce the defenders. In light of that, he decided on an all-out strike on the gate, utilizing bomber wings from the ZMS Devil's Nest and ZMS Beehive. To further ensure the success of the strike, Novikarn ordered the deployment of the Silencer-Class Artillery Cruiser, the ZMS Defenestrator and her escorts, the ZMS Mantis and Wrong Target to bolster the initial strike.



However, with only 3 carriers, Novikarn faced a dilemma. If he wanted to deploy all the bomber wings, it would take 15 minutes to arm and launch all the bombers. Additionally, Zaretian doctrine also required each carrier to launch its own Close Air Patrol, in case of an opposing strike force, which would increase the amount of time it took before he could assemble his strike. Novikarn decided to forgo doctrine and had only the ZMS Fist of Rigni deploy her CAP. To also further reduce the amount of time needed, Novikarn had elected not to provide the strike with fighter cover, hoping that the speed and amount of bombers would surprise and overwhelm the defenders.

Meanwhile, Captain Scharn began deploying an enhanced CAP from the LNCr Falchion and Formidable, prioritizing the deployment of Spatha-Class Interceptors. Captain Scharn knew that the previous gates were primarily destroyed from Bomber strikes, and following Luminarian Doctrine, he opted to use strikecraft as the primary interception method. Scharn, unlike Novikarn, knew his opposition strength, thanks to ACI providing the peacekeeper forces with the Zaretian Order of Battle, and could extrapolate the number of Zaretian ships that would be deployed against him.

However, Scharn was not aware of how and when the Zaretians would strike, adopted a multi-layered interception sphere, with strike craft operating at the outermost layer, followed by the frigates, and finally the carriers and cruisers closest to the gate. Although this would spread his forces out, Scharn was particularly worried about a multi-axis bomber attack and deemed this to be the most reasonable tactic to employ.

The First Strike
The first group to enter the battlespace comprised of the ZMS Defenestrator and her escorts. The Defenestrator immediately opened fire on the Quantum Gate, while the Mantis and Wrong Target begun assuming escort positions. In response, Captain Scharn immediately sortied the LNFg Valorous to disarm the Defenestrator. The Valorous engaged the Mantis and Wrong Target in close combat and managed to sink the Mantis via a beam strike into her flak ammunition magazines, causing an uncontrollable fire that destroyed her reactor. The Wrong Target was also sunk after a beam strike penetrated the bridge and engineering, causing the Wrong Target to lose all mobility and floated away from the battlespace.



3 minutes since the arrival of the Defenestrator, the second strike group to enter the battlefield comprised 28 Ambassador-Class Bombers, 22 Gemini-Class Bombers and 34 Crusher-Class Bombers from the ZMS Beehive, arriving from subspace at standoff range and begun launching ordnance at the Quantum Gate. The Luminarian CAPs attempted interception, but with the Luminarian CAPs spread over a large distance, only 15 Spatha Interceptors could attempt a feasible intercept. The Zaretian strike managed to hit the LNFg Vindictive with 7 torpedoes, blowing apart her frontal port side beams and destroying her topside plasma cannons. Additionally, the LNC Indefatigable maneuvered into the path of incoming Zaretian ordnance, taking 24 torpedo strikes that exposed her entire starboard side to vacuum, but still managed to retain maneuverability. The Quantum Gate itself took only 3 torpedo hits, with the remaining munitions destroyed via Point Defense Fire from the Luminarian Carriers. 19 Zaretian Bombers and 4 Luminarian Spathas were also destroyed in the strike.



A third strike group entered the battlespace 5 minutes after the Defenestrator arrived, comprising of 35 Ambassador-Class Bombers and 39 Crusher-Class Bombers from the ZMS Devil's Nest arrived via subspace in a different axis from the second strike group, but were immediately in range of 20 Spatha Interceptors alongside the LNCr Formidable. With intense point defense fire from the Formidable, the Zaretian Bombers were forced to break off a direct attack on the Gate. The strike leader instead opted to launch his munitions at the defending Luminarian ships. The LNFg Audacious took 3 direct torpedo hits, but didn't lose any critical systems. The Indefatigable took 12 torpedo hits, finally sinking the cruiser. 28 Zaretian Bombers and 7 Luminarian Spathas were shot down.

Meanwhile, the Valorous had managed to destroy the main railguns on the Defenestrator, rendering a mission-kill on her, forcing her to jump out of the battlespace. In light of this, the Zaretian pilots reported to Admiral Novikarn that a second attack on the gate would be necessary.

Dilemmas
With the failure to take down the Quantum Gate, Novikarn was now in a quandary. It was imperative that he take down the Quantum Gate before additional peacekeeper forces could be sortied to reinforce the Quantum Gate. This meant that he had to order all his remaining bombers to immediately jump back to the carriers to rearm. However, he also couldn't risk the location of his task force to be exposed via subspace vector tracking and risk a hunter-killer team shock jumping his forces.

With that in mind, Novikarn ordered the bombers from the Beehive to directly return back to the task force, while the bombers from the Devil's Nest would jump to a random coordinate before returning to the task force. Additionally, since the Fist of Rigni had finished deploying its CAP of 30 Avengers, he ordered the deployment of Fist of Rigni's bombers, intending to use the combined strike from both Beehive and Fist of Rigni to destroy the Quantum Gate.

Captain Scharn, on the other hand, faced a dilemma of his own. Knowing that reinforcements were not available for another 30 minutes, Scharn only had 2 carriers and 3 frigates that were simply not sufficient to defend the Quantum Gate from another strike. Scharn had to launch his own counteroffensive to disrupt and delay the impending strike by hitting the Zaretian Carriers for long enough for reinforcements to be freed up and arrive. This, however, meant that he had to utilize the remaining defending units he had on hand. Furthermore, he had 3 subspace tracks to follow up on, and each one could also not lead back to the Zaretian Carriers, exposing the gate to another attack.

With his remaining CAP of 59 strikecraft, he dispatched 25 to follow the bombers from the Devil's Nest, and another 25 to follow the bombers from the Beehive, and 9 to follow and harass the Defenestrator. Scharn also ordered the deployment of all remaining strikecraft from the Falchion and Formidable.