The Slaughter over Nala
The Slaughter over Nala was a large space battle between CNSPAC and the Midring Bloc during the prelude to the War.
The Conflict
Prelude
(Continued from A Comprehensive and Complete Timeline of the War)
With diplomatic relations between the two factions thoroughly slaughtered, Midring breakthrough engines began their charge through the thinly-defended Cerulean backline. A firm ally of PANTA, with considerable stores of both conventional and atomic munitions, the Midring Bloc was no mere rebellion. With the full backing of the Anrayalle military-industrial complex, they were certainly an intimidating foe, even against a superpower like CNSPAC. The Ceruleans quickly rushed orbital reinforcements to the Nalan front, recognizing the danger presented to their ground forces by the Bloc obtaining orbital superiority. Though using nuclear weapons in land warfare required an escalation worth a king's ransom, atomics were fair game in outer space. So while the ground war raged below, the largest space battle so far in history was about to unfold.
Deployment
The CNSPAC juggernaut: five full-strength combat constellations. A nearby three had been routed to the theatre, being hastily reorganized into the 56th Deep Space Combat Group, while the other two were already present in Nala orbit. While the five fleets put forth by CNSPAC were a small but significant fraction of the CDSVN, the seven constellations presented by the Midring Bloc were almost half their total forces in-vacuum. A lightning first-strike in the first hours of the war had swept clean most Midring anti-orbital defenses, though the remaining sites were still a dangerous factor.
The order of battle is as follows:
CNSPAC: (19 Rockets + 11 in Misc. Constellations)(1 Lightly Damaged)
- 56th Deep Space Combat Division (3 Constellations)(Avg Mark 4)
- 57th Deep Space Combat Division (2 Constellations)(Avg Mark 3.5)
The below CNSPAC Constellations are not a factor in the opening stages of the battle.
- 666th Hunter-Killer Constellation (Avg Mark 5)
- 494th Ray Constellation (Avg Mark 4)
- 330th Silo Constellation (Avg Mark 4)
Midring Bloc: (25 Rockets)
- 3rd Nalan Battle Section (2 Constellations)(Avg Mark 3.5)
- 4th Nalan Battle Section (2 Constellations)(Avg Mark 4)
- 6th Nalan Battle Section (3 Constellations)(Avg Mark 3)
The Engagement
And so the games began. The silo rockets of the 56th Deep Space Combat Division launched a devastating fusillade of the newly-introduced Shipgutters, while the 3rd, 4th, and 6th Nalan Battle Sections replied with a heavy salvo of older Starspawns. In a surprise move, the Cerulean 57th had launched their missiles earlier than the 56th, aimed to slingshot around Nala towards the enemy fleets. While the majority of the Starspawns were downed, the strained Midring defenses caused by missiles coming in along two separate attack vectors allowed an impressive number of Shipgutters to impact. On average, each of the seven Midring constellations lost about one ship, while the Ceruleans only lost 3 in total.
Seizing the initiative, the 3rd and 4th Nalan Battle Sections hard burned towards the 57th, hoping to use their blitzer and ray rockets to maul the Ceruleans in close combat. With the 56th not yet in a position to assist the 57th, they fired off the rest of their missiles towards the unified 3rd-4th Task Force, and instead vectored towards the closer 6th Nalan Battle Section.
The 56th's missile salvo cleaved only one ship off the 3rd-4th Task Force, while the 57th, exhausted of long-range ARyMs and with only one blitzer rocket, decided to turn tail and run. Drawing away the Nalan task force, this set the stage for the 56th to take on the head of the snake, the 6th. The Midring Bloc's entire in-vacuum command staff for all of Nala was located on a well-defended flagship within the 6th, but taking it on would be no easy feat. Two of the three constellations making up the 56th were centered around a superblitz rocket, with two other standard blitzers available within the Combat Division. After losing a ship and taking damage to two more, a newly-organized Blitz-Constellation burned hard towards the 6th.
With supporting fire from the rest of the 56th, the 551st Blitzer Constellation began their assault on the 7 remaining ships of the 6th. Complete annihilation followed. With a cost of two of the four blitzers, the 56th had wiped out the 6th entirely, along with the entire Nala-region in-vacuum command staff. Though the two remaining superblitz rockets were too damaged to face combat again in the near future.
In the wake of this victory came a troubling development for CNSPAC. The 57th had fought hard, but was wiped out at the hands of the now-reduced 3rd-4th Task Force. However, they were now quite far away from Nala, and running low on fuel and munitions. With the 56th in a perfect position to intercept any potential supply fleets, and with three other constellations closing in on them (The 666th Hunter-Killer Constellation, the 494th Ray Constellation, and the 330th Silo Constellation), the 3rd-4th decided to burn away from Nala as fast as they could. They wouldn't get far.
The 666th Hunter-Killer Constellation, full of cutting-edge interceptors and blitzers, cleaved through the 3rd-4th with no losses. The Sovereign-Class scored its first five kills here, the first of many harvests to come. With the last thundering of her x-ray laser, the battle was over.
Outcome
Final Results:
CNSPAC: (7 Rockets + 11 in Misc. Constellations) (6 Damaged)
- 56th Deep Space Combat Division (3 Constellations)
- 57th Deep Space Combat Division (2 Constellations)
- 666th Hunter-Killer Constellation
- 494th Ray Constellation
- 330th Silo Constellation
Midring Bloc: (0 Rockets)
- 3rd Nalan Battle Section (2 Constellations)
- 4th Nalan Battle Section (2 Constellations)
- 6th Nalan Battle Section (3 Constellations)
Losses:
CNSPAC: 12 Rockets
Midring Bloc: 25 Rockets
Aftermath
The 56th Deep Space Combat Division would return to Cerulea for repairs, while the 666th, 494th, and 330th closed in on Nala. Additional constellations would quickly reinforce these three, with the 666th travelling to Abylla to undergo light repairs and receive upgrades. Three survivors of the destroyed ships would be found in total, with only one Nalan. He was interrogated, giving useful information, before being transferred back to the Midring Bloc in exchange for another prisoner. Orbital superiority over Nala would soon be achieved.
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