Battle of XDeltaZero

Battle of XDeltaZero
Part of the Long War
Date	June 5322 A.E.
Location	XDeltaZero System
Result	Decisive Jardin Victory
Belligerents
Jardin Republic	Ur-Real
Phoenix Republicans
Commanders and Leaders
Jacques Desmond	Exarch Bhuutiliumina†
Joachim Mornstein-Montfort
Units Involved
4th Fleet La'Vienne Corporation	Long Range LMC Expedition 5
11th Black Eagles Flotilla
Strength
XDeltaZero Station, 11 Ships	6 Ships
8 Ships
Casualties & Losses
500+ Killed	1,000+ Killed
1 Destroyer, 1 Gunship Foundered	1 Explorer Unit (Long Range) Foundered
2 Prototype Ship of the Wall Damaged	5 Dragoons Captured
1 Destroyer Crippled

The Battle of XDeltaZero was the first recorded contact - as well as the first armed clash - between the colonists of the Large Magellenic Cloud with the subject-armies of the Ur-Real. Long Range LMC Expedition 5 commanded by Exarch Bhuutiliumina, consisting of the EU(LR) Pharoah Alziani the Great and its dependent craft, launched from the Milky Way and arrived in the XDeltaZero system of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a remote outpost of the Jardin Republic privately owned by the La'Vienne Company. In a stroke of fortune the recently named First Minister Desmond was personally inspecting the facility with a substantial armed guard when the Explorer Unit translated in-system. Underestimating the combined firepower of the fleet and facility defenses, the Exarch stutter-jumped to close range where it was cored by concentrated firepower.

The defeat of the Long Range LMC Expedition 5 and a breakthrough in research of the Second Core brought fresh awareness of the events that had driven their ancestors from the Milky Way galaxy to the inhabitants of the Large Magellanic Cloud. To some degree or another various powers would begin laying preparations for the Long War.

Background

Following the elections of

Aftermath

Between interrogation of the survivors aboard the Pharoah Alziani the Great and the Second Core, the Jardin government learned a substantial deal of information. Old history that had been forgotten or mythologized was rediscovered. The nearly mute testimony of the captured crew made the fate of those who had been left behind in the Milky Way agonizingly clear. Most important of all however was the news that the Explorer Unit (Long Range) had been launched to provide reconnaissance data for the 5th Banner Fleet which was projected to arrive in the Large Magellanic Cloud roughly sixty years hence. First Minister Desmond hastened to publish the most pertinent information across the Cloud, issuing personal diplomatic overtures to all known powers of the Magellanic Cloud that urged reconciliation and military preparation to meet the threat. Within a week's time the Phoenix Empire acknowledged the veracity of Jardin claims in a major public broadcast but otherwise had no visible reaction to his suggestions. Other responses varied. It is known that the releases significantly altered the goals of the Hiroshi revolt, moderating them from the defeat of an usurper to the secession of the Osakan Reach and the Rifter March, playing a major if unintended role in the formation of the Transeisdzarian Commonwealth.

For the Jardin Republic the repercussions of the encounter were tremendous for the newly elected Government's domestic policies. The struggle to reconcile the conflict between the renewed militarization programme - particularly the possibility that the next administration would abandon critical preparation efforts - and a restoration of decayed civil liberties and democratic institutions would prove one of the most difficult challenges of the Desmond government's legacy. The failed nationalization of La'Vienne assets is often considered a critical factor in permitting their later secession attempt from the Republic.

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