Hey guys, this was something I wrote some time ago, but lost to the depths of the computer. Its written a little like a history footnote would be. It's pretty long, and I've made several assumptions...just thought I'd post and find out what people thought...
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Involved Fleets Deployments
GTVA
Third Terran Fleet
7th Tactical Wing Gamma Draconis
8th Tactical Wing Capella
9th Tactical Wing Capella
Sixth Terran Fleet
16th Tactical Wing Epsilon Pegasi
17th Tactical Wing Epsilon Pegasi
18th Tactical Wing Epsilon Pegasi
Eleventh Vasudan BattleGroup
31st Tactical Wing Alpha Centauri
32nd Tactical Wing Alpha Centauri
33rd Tactical Wing Alpha Centauri
Thirteenth Vasudan BattleGroup
37th Tactical Wing Deneb
38th Tactical Wing Deneb
39th Tactical Wing Deneb
NTF
First Fleet
1st Assault Wing Sirius
2nd Assault Wing Epsilon Pegasai
3rd Assault Wing Epsilon Pegasai
Second Fleet
4th Assault Wing Alpha Centauri
5th Assault Wing Sirius
6th Assault Wing Sirius
Third Fleet
7th Assault Wing Sirius
8th Assault Wing Deneb
9th Assault Wing Deneb
Epsilon Pegasi – Victory from defeat.
On August the 28th of 2367, the GTVA Sixth Fleet was taken by surprise. So far the NTF rebellion had barely affected the system, with the majority of the fighting occurring in the Alpha Centauri and Deneb systems – those under Vasudan control. In fact, the NTF had not even deployed a full fleet to Epsilon Pegasi. The 2nd and 3rd Assault Wings of the NTF First Fleet had gained a foothold in the early days of the rebellion, but the front lines had not really changed since the 23rd of April in 2366. The 1st Assault Wing was nowhere near the Epsilon Pegasi front – in fact Rear Admiral Koth was leading the 1st Assault Wing from the Flagship NTD Repulse in the Alpha Centauri and Deneb theatre of operations, supporting Admiral Bosch’s assaults in the Vasudan systems.
The 2nd and 3rd Assault Wings were not in Epsilon Pegasi for any other reason than to secure the jump node leading to Polaris. There were no known Ancient ruins in the Epsilon Pegasi system, and the system was under Terran control, protected by the Terran Sixth Fleet. While NTF forces had engaged Galactic Terran ships in Alpha Centauri and Deneb, and their were skirmishes between the NTF First Fleet and the GTVA Sixth Fleet, there was never a major engagement up until this point against a Terran system and fleet.
Recent events in the other Theatres however forced the NTF to respond. Admiral Bosch’s withdrawal from Deneb to Sirius, along with the under strength 7th Assault Wing from the Third Fleet, forced the 8th and 9th Assault Wings to tighten their defensive perimeter, and put an end to any offensive manoeuvres. The 11th Vasudan Battlegroup had also forced the NTF Second Fleet’s 5th and 6th Assault Wing’s to withdraw to Sirius, and had cut the 4th Assault Wing off from the node. Captain Jackson of the NTF took his remaining ships, and based himself in a large asteroid field, hoping that the Second Fleet would be able to force its way back into Alpha Centauri, so he could rejoin the Rebellion. With the Second and Third Fleets pushed back into NTF controlled space, and knowing that a forced re-entry into Alpha Centauri and Deneb would cost him more then he could afford to lose, Bosch ordered the next phase of his plan to begin – to help create a hole that the NTF could pass through so as to reach Gamma Draconis and the Knossos portal.
Rear Admiral Koth ordered the redeployments. The 7th Assault Wing of Third Fleet and the 5th Assault Wing of Second Fleet were left to defend the jump nodes leading to Sirius from Deneb and Alpha Centauri respectively. Koth ordered the 1st Assault Wing of First Fleet and the 6th Assault Wing of Second Fleet to his Flagship, which was holding position near the jump node to Epsilon Pegasi in Polaris. En mass Koth lead the combined fleet through the node. Admiral Koth had screened his entry into Epsilon Pegasi from GTVA Joint Operations Command (J.O.C) by ordering the 2nd and 3rd Assault Wing’s of First Fleet, who were already present in Epsilon Pegasi, to attack several key resupply depots throughout the system, and to maintain anti-fighter sweeps in a 100,000 km diameter of the Polaris jump node. By doing this, the GTVA Sixth Fleet had no idea that the NTF fleet in-system had more then doubled in the space of an hour on the 28th of August.
Admiral Koth acted quickly upon his entry into Epsilon Pegasi, as he was not keen to lose the element of surprise. Within hours of entering the system, he led the 1st and 6th Assault Wings against the Sixth Fleet’s 16th Tactical Wing. Koth attacked on both flanks, and caught the GTVA warships in the cross-fire. The Tactical Wing was all but destroyed, with only the GTCv Redeemer managing to flee the carnage. The Redeemer immediately informed the GTD Saratoga, Flagship of the Sixth Fleet. However, it was too late – Koth had already ordered the 2nd and 3rd Assault Wing’s of First Fleet to engage the 17th and 18th Tactical Wings of the GTVA Sixth Fleet. As soon as warships from his own offensive became available, he deployed them to whichever of his Assault Wing’s that needed support. In this way, Admiral Koth managed to destroy over 75% of Sixth Fleet in a matter of 20 hours. Admiral Walters, commander of the Sixth Fleet, tried to salvage what he could of the situation. With only nine ships left (GTD Saratoga, GTD Immortal, GTCv Redeemer, GTCv Plato GTC Allecto, GTC Oracle, GTC Octavia, GTC Resolute and GTC Charleston) Admiral Walters deployed the Fleet into the tightest defensive pocket possible; defending only the jump node to Capella and the repair yards on the out-skirts of the system. By holding the Capella node, Walters knew he could keep the way open for the J.O.C to deploy reinforcements.
Admiral Koth dispersed the 6th Assault Wing of Second Fleet between First Fleet, to fill the holes that had been left in First Fleet’s order of battle. He was also forced to rest his fleet, as the majority had been fighting for well in excess of 38 hours. Koth was confident that despite this halt, the fact that he had a nearly full strength fleet, and was only opposed by a mere nine enemy warships, would mean certain victory for the NTF. GTVA Command was forced to juggle – the Sixth Fleet was in tatters, and would not be able to hold out for long. If they delayed reinforcements, the NTF could have pressed their assault, and captured the Capella node, meaning that recapturing the system would be extremely costly. However, with the Shivan’s returning in Gamma Draconis, they could not leave that system unguarded.
Allied Command therefore left 7th Tactical Wing, GTVA Third Fleet – which was already in the Gamma Draconis system – to guard the Knossos and prevent any further Shivan incursions into Allied space. The 8th Wing was deployed in Epsilon Pegasi from its position in Capella just hours after Admiral Walters had established his defensive perimeter around the repair yard and the Epsilon Pegasi-Capella jump node. This allowed the remainder of the Sixth Fleet to conduct hasty repairs on its most damaged vessels. The 9th Tactical Wing of Third Fleet was deployed to defend the jump node leading to Capella from Epsilon Pegasi – just in case. The Flagship of the Third Fleet, GTD Aquitaine, was redeployed from the nebula theatre to Epsilon Pegasi to lead 7th Tactical Wing. However, even with these reinforcements, the GTVA presence in the system numbered only 21 warships, almost half of which were heavily damaged, against the NTF’s 33. Only a miracle could save the GTVA’s perilous position in Epsilon Pegasi.
In an effort to minimise the NTF’s advantage in warship numbers, the GTVA deployed a majority of its fighter and bomber wings to attack resupply depots, repair yards, rally points, and known command posts. This managed to tie down the majority of the NTF fleet, leaving little in the way of reserve ships with which to capitalise on the NTF’s numerical advantage. However, this tactic had its down side for the GTVA – they had no warships available to counter the NTF’s few reserve ships, as the GTVA fleet was either under going hasty repairs, or guarding the vitally important but lightly fortified Capella node and Tarbo Repair Dock. This left reinforcement duties to the few remaining fighter and bomber squadrons of the GTD Aquitaine. An example of this lack of forces was a single wing of OpEval interceptors defending Enif Station, a key transmission relay station and rally point, against a Leviathan cruiser, a Deimos corvette, and several bomber wings. The 242nd Suicide Kings somehow managed to hold the rebels back long enough for Allied Command to reveal its answer to the desperate situation in Epsilon Pegasi.
The GTVA Colossus, a six kilometre behemoth designed to hunt and destroy smaller warships, crossed the subspace node into Epsilon Pegasi in the midst of the initial GTVA counter attack. Once Allied Command had the Colossus in position, they commenced with the second phase of the plan. The Colossus engaged and defeated the NTCv Hawkwood at Enif Station, freeing up several GTVA resources. The Colossus needed to be resupplied after its rushed deployment, and was therefore unable to press the attack, but with news of a ‘massively powerful’ GTVA super warship now in the theatre of operations, the NTF halted their advances throughout the system. This gave the elements of the GTVA Third and Sixth Fleets the opportunity to strike, leaving their defensive positions and smashing into the 1st Assault Wing of the NTF First Fleet that had been ordered to defend the Polaris jump node. The GTVA destroyed the NTC Rapier, NTC Explorer and the NTD Normandy, crippling the offensive capability of the 1st Assault Wing, and forcing their withdrawal back into Polaris. This left 2nd and 3rd Assault Wings of First Fleet, as well as the flagship NTD Repulse, cut off.
Koth hoped that he could use the 2nd Assault Wing to hold the GTVA back from advancing any further towards the Polaris node, while using his flagship in combination with 3rd Assault Wing to systematically destroy the remaining elements of the Third and Sixth Fleets that had since fallen back to their defensive positions. Koth spread his cruisers throughout the NTF controlled zone within the system, hoping to lure in enemy vessels which he would then pounce on, waging a war of attrition against the beleaguered GTVA Navy. His own plan was however used against him, and the GTVA Colossus dropped out of subspace right on top of the NTD Repulse as it attempted to engage the GTC Rampart, which had in turn engaged the NTC Majestic and NTC Refute. The expedient demise of Rear Admiral Koth and his Orion Class Destroyer left the remaining light warships of 2nd and 3rd Assault Wings in little doubt of their chances against the GTVA’s latest weapon. They promptly surrendered. The GTVA redeployed these captured hulls almost immediately in Epsilon Pegasi in an attempt to rebuild the shattered Sixth Fleet.
The GTVA suffered heavy losses in the Epsilon Pegasi Offensive. Over 80,000 personal were lost just in the initial attacks by the NTF, with the total death toll nearing 90,000. However, the cost to the NTF was higher. They lost almost an entire Fleet, with many vessels captured and redeployed against it. It also lost one of its senior commanders, Rear Admiral Koth. Bosch’s goal was however achieved. With the Sixth Fleet shattered, it would be unable to hinder his bolt for the Knossos portal in the weeks to come.
