Battle of the Starforge

Battle of the Starforge
Part of the Long War
Date	5-17 January 5323 AE
Location	Luxor System
Result	Pyrrhic Imperial Victory
Belligerents
Phoenix Empire	Ur-Real
High Kingdom of Killian
Commanders and Leaders
Angus Ferill	Zst-Heriarch Uthxili†
Tahminah Mina bint Yasmin al-Lasalle	Sst-Heriarch Ilithici†
Haile Asakura al-Mihran
Mahsati Karapetyan vel-Azaryan
Cobthach Cóel Lorc
Units Involved
Army of the Frontiers	7th Long Range LMC Expedition
1st Guard Fleet
1st Capital Fleet
Capital Sector Theatre Command
Strength
600 Ships	1000+ Ships
[] Ships of the Line	5 [Unknown Class] Heavy Combat Unit (Long Range)
[] Cavalry	[? Slave Barges]
[] Escorts	1,000+ Assault Craft
Casualties & Losses
Gobsmacking	Ludicrous
5,000,000+ Civilians
[] Ships of the Line	3 Thilixic Class Heavy Combat Unit (Long Range)
[] Cavalry	[] Assault Craft
[] Escorts

The Battle of the Starforge, also known as the Third Battle of Luxor Starzone, was a naval battle of the Long War fought by the forces of the Phoenix Empire and Killian's World against the 7th Long Range LMC Expedition in the Luxor System.

The battle was characterized by the erratic behavior of Ur-Real forces and their conflicting priorities.

With the retreat of the rest of the other Ur-Real and the destruction of the Rose of Nu-Paris, the battle would enter its next phase that would last over a week. Colloquially known as the "War in the Pocket", Imperial and Killian forces struggled for to make headway against the fanatical and superhuman Ur-Real for control of the Hegemony of the Solar Wind. The Imperial Capital Sector Theater Command would not declare final victory until 17 January 5323 AE when it could confirm that the last holdouts had been eliminated.

Imperial forces had ultimately prevailed, with the credit of the first intact capture of an Ur-Real Planetoid by the people of the LMC, but at severe cost. The Army of Frontiers and 1st Guard Fleet were mauled, losing almost 78% of their effective force. Imperial Army elements committed by Capital Sector Theater Command suffered heavily in 11 consecutive days of bulkhead to bulkhead fighting of almost unprecedented scale within the Hegemony of the Solar Wind. The civilian casualties and general damage to the cities of the Capital were simply appalling.

Battle

"War in the Pocket"

Ur-Real warriors and warmachines stubbornly resisted the growing footholds Imperial and Killian forces had won in several of the Hegemony of the Solar Wind's cavernous hangers and holds. The [unknown] Class carried an immense complement of warriors in cold sleep intended for planetary occupation, many of which were waking to deal with the interlopers. By the end of the first day of unrelenting combat Prince Cobthac and Imperial command began to fully grasp the true scale of the battle that had yet to be fought. While the breaches were reinforced, it was decided that Field Marshal Mahsati Karapetyan vel-Azaryan of the Imperial Army Capital Sector Theatre Command would be given overall control of the battle. Using deep penetration telemetry data of the Hegemony of the Solar Wind the Field Marshal's staff divided the planetoid into roughly four different Fronts. Over the course of a week elements of the XXI, XVIII, VI, and VII Imperial Army Groups from the Capital Sector Theatre Command as well as a stream of Starforce regiments totaling almost 3.5 million troops were cycled through a continuing battle.

Victory

Early in the morning of 17 January 5323, the last holdouts were found to have ritually self-terminated in gory fashion. After such ferocious resistance vel-Azaryan insisted on waiting for a comprehensive clean sweep before declaring the end of active combat operations on the Hegemony of the Solar Wind. Worried about the possibility of a self-destruct sequence large numbers of support personnel were evacuated from the ship. With hours of patrols without contact and intelligence gained from interrogation of communicable slaves, she was satisfied that fears of hidden pockets or a self-destruct were by now unfounded. After a week and a half of almost non-stop combat, Field Marshal Mahsati Karapetyan vel-Azaryan reported victory to the Phoenix.

The Sixth Battle of Luxor was now over.

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