Incident at Fehgrov

Next:	1st Battle of Fehgrov
Incident at Fehgrov
Conflict type:	Hostage Rescue (Betel Propaganda say its a defense probably)
Part of:	Betel-Xeverran Theatre Betel-Luminarian Relations
Location:	Fehgrov
Outcome:	Hostages rescued and the creation of the Fehgrov Accords
Belligerents Luminarian Rebels Betel Recyclers Commanders Luminarian Commanders RADM Vetur COL Hellas CPT Belkas Betel Commanders Voivode Yodd Wikrix Brave Commander Faer Kollerbas Bulwark Lerdo Garvikon Strength 9th BattleFleet 956th Marine Division Battalion 503 Garvikon's Company 2nd North Grip Fehgrov Garrison Casualties 3 frigates damaged 3 troop transports destroyed 4 strikecraft destroyed 19 soldiers killed 45 soldiers wounded 7 hostages wounded 1 frigate sunk 7 frigates damaged 12 strikecraft destroyed 95 soldiers killed 224 soldiers wounded 400+ civilians wounded
[Source]

The Incident at Fehgrov was a diplomatic standoff between the Luminarian Rebels and Voivode Yodd Wikrix of the Betel Recyclers. Approximately 320 Luminarian R&D and Engineering personnel were held hostage for 14 days after Voivode Yodd Wikrix blockaded the Luminarian quantum gates and forbade any departure from Fehgrov in response to a mass evacuation of Luminarian Personnel from Fehgrov due to LCID intelligence of an impending Xeverran attack.

Luminarian media described the incident as an "unlawful detainment of Luminarian citizens" and "a hostile endeavor determined to repeat the bunker incident." Speaker for the Assembly Adalasia called the hostage-taking "not just as a diplomatic affront," but as a "major treaty violation." Recycler depictions were unsurprisingly different - Voivode Wikrix would broadcast reports within his jurisdiction calling the incident a "violation of Recycler sovereignty" and "an attempt to exert military force to cow the Betel". When Fehgrov fell under siege and eventually fell the next year to Xeverran forces, Yodd would blame the failure partly on the Luminarians for the destruction of critical military installations and abandoning them when it mattered most. Outside of the Wikrix Wall, the incident was not widely circulated beyond upper-class foreign policy publications and clubs and even then only after Visas had settled the situation.

The incident reached a climax after 5 days of negotiations. Speaker for the Council Gosaval, believing the Xeverran attack on Fehgrov imminent along with the increasing skirmishes between the 9th BattleFleet and Garvikon's Company, ordered the Luminarian Navy to attempt a rescue mission —Operation Haystack Needle— using the near entirety of the 9th BattleFleet and several battlegroups from the 2nd and 3rd BattleFleets. The mission was a success but resulted in the deaths of 19 Luminarian soldiers and 95 Betel soldiers.

With the success of Operation Haystack Needle, tensions increased between the Luminarian and Betel forces at Fehgrov. It was until the appearance of High Chancellor Visas that tensions cooled, and eventually created the Fehgrov Accords. The Incident at Fehgrov is considered a pivotal episode in the history of Betel–Luminarian relations.

Political analysts cited the incident as a major factor contributing to both Speaker for the Council Gosaval and Speaker for the Assembly Adalasia's re-elections, for their willingness to defend Luminarian interests. The Incident had also solidified the general distrust of the Betel within the Luminarian Grand Assembly, especially in light of the Bunker Incident. The Incident further proved to the Luminarian Rebellion that the Betel Recyclers were unable to reign in individuals and were unreliable as a central government. Luminarian policy would now attempt to influence individual Betel worlds to sustain the resource trade instead of wholly relying on the Recyclers. Within Helm's Hold and in the minds of other decisionmakers, this had all but proven that the Luminarians would be unreliable as allies. Policy would tilt towards the Karahotdoum as better allies, and brought back old closed-door discussion on the Asanian Syndicate. Luminarian-aligned Aeveria would cautiously restrict the extent of their support on the Repzork front.

Background

Betel-Luminarian Treaty

In the 9th Year of the Great War, the Betel Recyclers and Luminarian Rebels signed a treaty following the Bunker Incident. The treaty essentially stated that the Betel Recyclers would trade precious resources important for the Luminarian Military in exchange for technology that would better improve both the Recycler's Landwehr and the Sky Spears.

The treaty would face considerable pushback within the Luminarian Grand Assembly. Many within the Assembly misguidedly believed that Speaker for the Assembly Othelus, had diminished the reputation and called into question the military ability of the rebellion by not retaliating against the Betel Recyclers for the leaks and not enough had been done to avenge the deaths of the representatives sent.

For his part, Othelus had no intention of dragging the Luminarians into what could be a long and expensive campaign that would have resulted in the deaths of potentially billions of Betel citizens. Furthermore, Othelus knew from military experience in the colonial wars that the terrain in Betel Space would be "The Graveyard of Empires." Othellus also believed that the Bunker Incident was not entirely the Betel Recyclers fault and was also the work of Pact operatives. Fortunately for Othelus, he had managed to secure the backing of the moderates within the Assembly and Security Council, thus he managed to prevent war from breaking out and allowed the creation of the treaty. This unfortunately contributed to his landslide loss to the more militaristic Adalasia in Year 10.

On the Betel side, the treaty was received with optimism. With the general population believing it to be a friendly agreement, having little to no knowledge of the Bunker Incident. Many within the Recycler Government had mixed views. Some understood the precarious state the Betel–Luminarian relations were in and had hopes that the treaty and resulting trade would cool down tensions, while others didn't fully grasp why the Luminarians were upset as they were not informed about the leaks and those who were believed that the leaks were not the fault of the Recycler Government, but instead rogue Doisu operatives.

Voivode Yodd Wikrix

When the Repzork begun their invasion of Betel space, resistance put up by the Betel was ineffective at best. Betel forces were unable to put up any form of organized resistance due to a number of factors, chief of which was that the Betel chain of command was fragmentary. Orders issued to Betel forces were constantly overridden by other authorities and contradictory.

In an attempt to solidify command, High Chancellor Visas Jorental created the title of Voivode, bestowing it on Ruusad Hassai and Yodd Wikrix to take command of the Repzork and Xeverran theatres respectively.

Yodd Wikrix immediately took advantage of his title and shut down all incoming and outgoing trade to the Xeverran theatre. Utilizing propaganda to control the inhabitants.

As part of the Betel-Luminarian treaty, approximately 5000 Luminarian personnel were dispatched by the Rebellion to various places in the Xeverran theatre. Speaker for the Assembly Adalasia was alarmed by the shutdown of trade by Yodd Wikrix, fearing that the Voivode would strand Luminarian personnel within the sector. Her concerns were also shared by Speaker for the Council, Gosaval, who was the only representative to survive the bunker incident that occurred a year ago.

Although Yodd Wikrix would not restrict Luminarian Movements within the Xeverran Theatre and LCID reports indicated that he welcomed the Luminarian presence and assistance. Gosaval directed LCID to redirect several stealth frigates from Operation Burning Lance to the Betel-Xeverran theatre to act as passive listening posts.

9th BattleFleet's Entrance

When it became apparent to the Luminarians that the Betel-Repzork front was on the verge of collapse, it threatened the stability and safety of the treaty and Luminarian personnel currently working in Betel space. Speaker for the Council, Gosaval convened an emergency session to deal with the potential threat the Repzork posed. Concluding within 5 days of debate, the Luminarian Defense Council voted to reactivate the 9th BattleFleet.

Utilizing elements from the 2nd,3rd,7th and 8th BattleFleets, the 9th BattleFleet's official mandate was to secure and protect Luminarian personnel and interests within Betel held space. The 9th BattleFleet would be sent into Betel Space in the 11th year of the Great War with Rear Admiral Vetur, a seasoned veteran of the Schism and of several battles during Operation Burning Lance in command.

The 9th would be primarily deployed in the Betel-Repzork theatre, with a smaller fraction of forces in the Betel-Xeverran theatre. The 9th would take up a defensive posture, but would not conduct any overt actions against the Repzork Invasion. Gosaval was very reluctant to authorize any offensives against the Repzorks as it would draw the Luminarians into a Betel originated war. Despite Gosaval's reluctance, the 9th would undertake several covert operations against Repzork forces that were capable of penetrating the Phylasio line without the Betel Recyclers finding out.

Initial Betel reaction to the 9th BattleFleet's entrance was initially optimistic, with many believing that the Luminarians are finally arriving to assist. However, after many months of relative inaction from the 9th against the Repzork led several in the Recycler government to distrust the 9th's intentions.

Prelude

LCID Information

Near the end of the 11th Year of the Great War, the LNFg Octave on a deep space recon mission managed to locate a growing concentration of Xeverran warships. This piqued LCID's attention and assets were sent to gather more detailed information. Eventually, LCID managed to piece together from fractured communications, FTL vector tracks, the Xeverran OrBAT, led LCID to believe that a massive Xeverran assault was inbound. LCID predictions indicated that there was an extremely high chance that the Xeverran Assault would be launched within 3 months, with the gas giant fortress Fehgrov as its primary target. Furthermore, LCID predicted that Fehgrov would fall despite the defenses that the Betel had in place, and the spillover could potentially affect the entire Betel-Xeverran theatre.

This information would be relayed to Admiral of the Fleet Lumira. Lumira believed that as this information concerned the Betel-Luminarian Treaty, informed Speaker for the Council and Assembly, Gosaval and Adalasia as this could potentially affect diplomatic relations with the Betel Recyclers and also potentially require a military response.

Both Gosaval and Adalasia would instruct Lumira to begin the immediate evacuations of all affected personnel at Fehgrov while LCID predicted the extent of the Xeverran attack. However, this information would not be provided to the Betel Recyclers as both Gosaval and Adalasia, in light of the recent Bunker Incident, mistrusted the Recyclers OpSEC. Furthermore, if said information were to leak to the Xeverrans, it could potentially cause them to accelerate their assault, jeopardizing the lives of Luminarian personnel in the theatre. "There was a real lack of confidence that the Betel could keep this secret for more than a second," a senior Luminarian Naval Officer was reportedly heard to have said.

Initial Evacuation

When the order to evacuate Fehgrov came through to the 9th BattleFleet, Rear Admiral Vetur entrusted the task to Captain Elda, commanding the Battlegroup Xenlai which was currently orbiting Fehgrov. She immediately began the arduous task of evacuating 800 personnel all over Fehgrov with only 3 cruisers and 10 frigates.

It did not take long before Yodd Wikrix noticed the Luminarian Evacuation. Luminarian personnel on Fehgrov were overseeing important military work and the loss of Luminarian personnel could potentially setback efforts by years. Yodd immediately demanded an explanation from Captain Elda, but Elda was given strict orders not to violate OPSEC and could not give Yodd an answer.

Blockade of the Quantum Gates

With the Luminarians suddenly packing up shop with no explanation and no plan in place to replace them was a perceived stab in the back to Yodd. He immediately ordered Garvikon's Company to blockade of the Quantum gates near Fehgrov as well as the 2nd North Grip to take into custody any Luminarians still on Fehgrov.

By the time the blockade was in effect, 8 frigates had already crossed the gates, taking 480 with them. The remaining Luminarians had been taken into Betel custody and spread out throughout Fehgrov. Additionally, the Betel had cut power to the gates, rendering them inaccessible.

With only 5 ships available to Elda, she was in no position to wrest control from the Betel. Additionally, her ships were composed primarily of Pre-Great War era ships and were not equipped with the latest modern communications package, and thusly required an active quantum gate to link up with the rest of the 9th BattleFleet.

The 1st Week

Hostage conditions

(Amad Insert Hostage conditions and how the Betel hate water ty).

Luminarian Response

With the sudden loss of communications with Battlegroup Xenlai, Rear Admiral Vetur assumed that Fehgrov was potentially under assault and electronic warfare was ongoing. However, the appearance of the frigates and the reports from their commanders proved otherwise. Unsure of what was going on in Fehgrov, Vetur contacted LCID and requested a recon run of Fehgrov.

Soon after, reports indicated that the quantum links with the gates at Fehgrov went down. This worried Vetur, and further delayed LCID's run as a specialized frigate with an inter-system subspace drive had to be brought in. It took 2 days before LCID could prepare the LNFg Clandestine with an inter-system subspace drive.

The LNFg Clandestine's Breakthrough

When the LNFg Clandestine entered Fehgrov, the initial outlook was grim. The remains of Battlegroup Xenlai were moving erratically, avoiding attempts at contact with Betel ships who were in pursuit, attempting to prevent Battlegroup Xenlai from approaching and re-powering the de-powered quantum gates.

The Clandestine immediately contacted Captain Elda, requesting a transfer of information, sensor logs and camera footage from the past few days. This was immediately accepted and forwarded to the Clandestine, who then begun to spin up her subspace drive for a transit back to the 9th Battlegroup.

Yodd had anticipated that the Luminarians would return to Fehgrov in force as a result of his blockade, and needed time to shore up his defenses. What he needed was to delay the inevitable Luminarian response to buy time to create an impregnable defense that the 9th BattleFleet would not be able to breakthrough by interdicting Luminarian recon elements. As such, he had recalled the elite 2nd North Grip led by Brave Commander Faer Kollerbas, to begin entrenching the Fehgrov garrison. Additionally, Garvikon's Company would be placed on high alert, watching out for any Luminarian recon elements.

When the LNFg Clandestine arrived in system, it was a shock for Yodd Wikrix, who had anticipated Luminarian recon elements to vector into the system via quantum gate as Luminarian forces in Betel territory were only seen entering systems via quantum gate, and not subspace as per LCID INFOSEC measures.

This unexpected entry caught the Betel off guard, but the Byervid-Class frigate, the Aggressive Compactor was close to the Clandestine's arrival point and immediately vectored towards it. Yodd's standing orders were to not provoke the wrath of the Luminarian Navy, and so the crew of the Aggressive Compactor did not fire upon the Clandestine, but instead attempted a close run by and conduct a marauder boarding action.

The Clandestine was also given strict ROE to not engage any ships. Keeping her beams offline, the Clandestine instead attempted to warn the Aggressive Compactor off by firing warning shots using its PDN. This was ignored by the Aggressive Compactor and it narrowly missed collision with the Clandestine but managed to offload its contingent of Marauders onto the hull of the Clandestine.

The Marauder squads attempted to breach the Clandestine's hull via various methods, but the 4th generation active armor utilized by the Clandestine had proved rather resilient to Betel breaching charges. Attempts were made to breach the ship's hangar bay, but the array of AAA beams and plasma repeaters suppressed attempts to enter the ship via that method. However, Betel Marauders managed to find the underside docking port and successfully breached it.

But at this point, it was too late. Yodd had originally planned for at least 4 frigates to launch a boarding team to quickly suppress a Luminarian vessel, but due to the Clandestine's subspace entry, only one ship managed to offload its marauder contingent. Additionally, delays in attempting to breach the Clandestine's hull had given it enough time for it to finish charging its subspace drive and thus take it back to the 9th BattleFleet with the Marauders onboard.

When the Clandestine arrived back to the 9th BattleFleet's staging ground, it immediately reported Betel borders, which led to a quick reaction force of 5 Luminarian frigates immediately counter boarding the Clandestine and subduing the Betel Marauders onboard. The report was immediately transmitted to RADM Vetur, who upon reviewing the contents, immediately forwarded it up the chain of command, all the way to speakers of the council and assembly, Gosaval and Adalasia respectively.

The Betel Marauders on the Clandestine were detained and moved to an LCID facility for interrogation.

Impact in the Luminarian Rebellion

When the report was received and read by both Gosaval and Adalasia, an emergency council session was convened by Gosaval, but despite furious debate and discussion, the defense council was unable to act due to disagreements between its members. In response, an emergency assembly session was convened by Adalasia, and was held within 6 hours.

A majority of the Grand Assembly held the view that the Betel Government had essentially taken Luminarians hostage and was seen as a major treaty violation and an affront to diplomacy. Furthermore, in light of the Bunker Incident that occurred 2 years ago, had created a growing faction of anti-Betel hardliners within the Assembly, and this new incident had drawn more neutral worlds, with many declaring that the Betel-Luminarian treaty was null and void and as such the rebellion had the casus belli.

Further fueling the anti-Betel hardliners was the fact that many believed that Voivode Yodd Wikrix was a representative of the Betel Government, as the title of Voivodeship came from Helm's hold and as such viewed the incident as Helm's hold essentially declaring war.

However, the moderates within the Grand Assembly advocated for a more measured reaction and requested for the immediate negotiations with Helm's Hold. The moderates were backed by worlds who had benefited from the Betel-Luminarian treaty and posed credible opposition to the Anti-Betel faction.

After much debate, the Grand Assembly had finally managed to vote on a concrete plan of action:

• The immediate halt of the Betel-Luminarian Treaty, pending the end of Luminarian captivity in Fehgrov.
• The deployment of additional forces immediately to the Betel theatre and Fehgrov to prevent any more hostage situations from arising
• The immediate activation of the 7th BattleFleet to prepare for a potential war
• Negotiations to immediately open with Helm's Hold to attempt a peaceful resolution.

Negotiations with Helm's Hold

Negotiations were opened with Helm's Hold involving Speaker Adalasia and High Chancellor Visas Jorental. Adalasia presented the situation to Visas and demanded the immediate return of hostages held at Fehgrov. Adalasia informed Visas that the Luminarian Rebellion would view this incident as a violation of the Betel-Luminarian Treaty, as the treaty stated that technology sharing would be conducted under the supervision of Luminarian personnel, and with the hostage-taking, the Betel had access to Luminarian tech without supervision. Additionally, Adalasia also stated that the hostage-taking of Luminarian personnel was essentially also a diplomatic affront and a Casus belli as a subordinate of Helm's Hold conducted said hostage-taking.

High Chancellor Visas was not expecting such a development to occur and was caught off guard. Visas attempted to explain to Adalasia that Yodd Wikrix was not part of the Recycler Government and that only he and Helm's Hold were the Governing body. Additionally, Visas believed the incident was probably a big misunderstanding and promised Adalasia that he would make this a personal priority and visit the area to resolve the issue.

Adalasia took Visas's words as an attempt to try and distance the government from a potential black op and was stalling for time. This was because Adalasia believed that Yodd was a subordinate of Helm's Hold as Visas himself had created the office of Voivode and was indirectly tied to Helm's Hold despite Visas claiming otherwise. Further complicating matters was Adalasia's general distrust of the Betel due to the Bunker Incident, and was not convinced that Visas would resolve the matter.

9th BattleFleet Moves to Fehgrov

Based on the Assembly's plan of action, Gosaval directed the Luminarian Navy to undertake measures to defend Luminarian personnel in Betel space. Admiral of the Fleet Lumira immediately ordered the entirety of the 9th BattleFleet to transit to Fehgrov, hoping that the show of force would be capable of cowing Yodd Wikrix and ending the hostage-taking with ease. Additionally, Lumira would also order elements of the 7th and 8th BattleFleets to secure and recover Luminarian personnel and technology on Betel worlds in the Wikrix Wall as per the Assembly's request to halt the Betel-Luminarian treaty.

As per doctrine, LCID also inserted several stealth frigates into neighboring systems to keep track of Yodd's movements. LCID also drew up two plans to resolve the Incident using LSOC forces, the first was the assassination of Yodd Wikrix, and the other was the crippling of Fehgrov, allowing for a quick raid and retrieval. When presented with the plans, Lumira put the assassination plan on hold, believing that Yodd's death would cause the situation the spiral out of control and instead directed LCID to develop the plan for a quick and decisive raid. This led to elements of Battalion 503 to be chosen to be inserted into Fehgrov.

On the 7th day of the incident, the 9th BattleFleet begun the transit into Fehgrov space, setting up 3 quantum gates on the system outskirts, before conducting a subspace jump near Fehgrov. The 9th BattleFleet immediately forced elements of Garvikon's Company that were guarding the original quantum gates into the safety of Fehgrov and covered Battlegroup Xenlai's return to Luminarian space.

Aftermath

Betel Impact

(Amad Insert Betel Specific Impact).