Battle of Cul-Huq (Cruentusian War)

The  was a major battle of the Cruentusian War, and arguably a major turning point. Its roots lay at the time when Carsal Redharn noticed that the Srav Federation was setting up a major base on the idyllic world of Cul-Huq, which was rich in natural resources, providing a base of great wealth to the Srav Federation. He planned a major assault on the world, deciding that it would better serve Necasian assets and would help forward their war efforts. However, his treachrous commander Askar Invado sold valuable information to the Srav Intelligence units about the planned assault, and made sure that pre-battle Necasian sabotage failed dismally. When the Necasians arrived at the planet, they met with a large Srav force, ready and armed and completely unharmed by their planned sabotage.

As a battle raged in space, a Necasian fleet managed to land on the world, where they engaged Srav forces, offloading their heavy weapons in an attempt to storm them. A group ofSavi Alliance mercenaries were also present, however, and got caught in the crossfire, and began fighting both sides, pushing the Necasian storming attempt back. Eventually, however, with the loss of several Necasian ships and therefore a large part of their anti-missile laser countermeasures, Ivran Gresev, the Srav commander, lost patience and ordered a full nuking of half the planet. Nearly all of the Necasian and Savi forces, as well as some Srav troops, were annhilated, causing severe damage to the Necasian war machine in that system, and offering all Redharn critics ammuniton. After the battle, Redharn recieved most of the blame for the defeat, with Askar Invado useing it to call for a new leader, starting great political turmoil amongst the Necasians that would, eventually, lead to civil war and, ultimately, collapse.

Background
A few weeks after the disasterous Skirmish on Simiyar, anotheer failure led by Carsal Redharn, Redharn decided that the Necasians needed a major victory immediately to boost morale, and he needed to lead it, to silence his critics. Despite the advantage of the Zayre being on their sides for ths battle, with the fearsome Storm Ironwings being present, the Sravs were gradually encircling the Necasian territories, quickly occupying key neutral planets. Meanwhile, Askar Invado was blackmailing Redharn into boosting his power, by threatening to reveal the true cause of the disaster on Simiyar. Redharn made the mistake of trying to gain the trust of Askar Invado, by confiding in him about the plans for the Battle, which Invado then sold, or fed, to the Srav Federation, leading to the ultimate defeat of Redharn in the battle.

When Redharn got news that the Sravs were setting up a base on the neutral world of Cul-Huq, which was dangerously near the frontier of Necasian territory, and was heavily rich in resources, meaning a bonus to the war effort of both sides. Deciding to stop the Sravs and gain a foothold on an important world, whilst silencing his critics, Redharn mustered a large scale assault force and began planning a large-scale assault on the world, using Askar Invado, a large mistake on his part. Soon, a large Necasian assault force was prepared, and Redharn sent transmissions to Necasian border commanders to prepare their fleets and troops for attack. However, Invado secretly saw to it that these transmissions were not encrypted as they usually were, and notified the Sravs that they could buy these transmissions basic encryption codes, meaning that they were bought by the Sravs. Alarmed, Jasef Yuiln bolstered the Srav garrison on Cul-Huq and sent his top commander, Ivran Gresev, to command the Srav forces there and to hold back the Necasian Military.

With nearly everything prepared, Redharn sent forward an advance team of Necasian SpecOps troops to disable the Srav network of defences on the planet. However, Invado had also seen to it that the intelligence made available to the SpecOps troops was untruthful, and everything was going according to plan for him, with the Sravs being fully aware of the SpecOps team to come, and its motives and aims.

Initial moves
The Necasian SpecOps team slipped by the Srav blockade in a stealthed SkyBull-class transport. The troops aboard were slightly disturbed at the size of the Srav fleet, which was much larger than they had expected, due to Invado's treachery, but thought nothing of it. Landing on the planet, they immediately moved out, making their wa quickly and discreetly over the planet. Their target was a Srav bunker that supposedly controlled the Srav defence network for the main continent of the planet, another lie fed to them by Invado. Covertly making their way through forests and rivers, they soon came across what their intelligence indictated was their target; a large bunker next to a waterfall. They took out the defences surrounding it, which consisted of about five Srav soldiers, relatively quickly, which surprised them, but they thought nothing of it. Infiltrating the bunker, which was sparsely manned, they disabled it, and sent an encrypted transmission to the Necasian fleet indicating the all clear and mission success. Unbeknownst to them, their intelligence was falsified, thanks to Askar, and what they had taken out was merely a Srav irrigation bunker that had no strategic value whatsoever. Invado had refrained from making the bunker a death trap purely because, in his bid for power, he wanted some forces to be able to control.

The Necasian fleet appeared above the planet a few minutes later, with Redharn himself leading from his flagship, the War Legacy. He was shocked by the size and positioning of the Srav fleet, which immediately opened fire on the Necasian armada with missiles. However, laser countermeasures from the Necasian ships intercepted most of the missiles, and Necasian DarkBird fighters intercepted any Srav Yukels which got too near, with the Zayre also playing a large part in the aerial defence. As the space battle developed into a stalemate, Necasian transports descended to the planet, although they were suprised by heavy Srav flak and missiles, which destroyed several barges and seemed to know very Necasian planned attack before it happened.

The ground battle
Settling in a semi-forested mountain valley a short distance away from the Srav base, the Necasian task force immediately came under attack from Drapeznik hovercopter gunships, who had, thanks to Invado, become aware of their position, which dealt heavy damage with their nuclear-tipped missiles, inflicting heavy casualties upon the Sravs. However, Necasian DarkBirds were able to drive some of the gunships away, despite Invado's treachery, although Srav flak was filling the sky, meaning that Necasian air support was limited, with only a few Zayre daring to make the treacherous descent down to the planet. Desperate for cover, the Necasians advanced into a small town in the centre of the valley, holing themsekves up in there.

However, unbeknownst to both factions and Askar Invado, stationed in the town were a group of independant mercenaries from the Savi Alliance, who had arrived on the planet a few days before looking for any available jobs, and had been resting in the town. Caught in the crossfire between the Sravs and the Necasians, the mercenaries fought back against both sides, believing that they were the target of the battle. Savi Hopper craft fried many soldiers on both sides with their microwave emitters and their Stinger buggies ran rings around the tanks of the larger factions, pummeling them with missiles and inflicting casualties. In response, the Srav commander called in a Yukel airstrike, which resulted in half the town being razed, damaging all three sides, the Savia Alliance the most.

Desperate to destroy the Srav anti-air system to make air support available, the Necasian field commander managed to guide SkyBull transports to landing sites on different part of the continent to take out Srav command bunkers, however Askar Invado was notified of this plan. To bolster their numbers, the Necasians forced the peaceful inhabitants of the planet to fight, using them as cannon fodder to use up Srav ammo in an act that would turn many in the galaxy against them. This had the side-effect of forcing the planet's militia to fight back, delaying the Necasians and turning their plan into a backfire. Meanwhile, some of the Savi mercenaries took the opportunity to flee, feeling that they stood no chance against the superior might of the two warring factions.

As Necasian forces spilled across the continent, commiting acts upon the planets inhabitants that would scar Cul-Huq for some time, Askar, who was observing the battle from his personal ship a distance away from the battle, noted that Redharn actually had a slim chance of winning the battle, due to the un-calculated presence of the mercenaries. This jeapordised his chances of Redharn failing and he usurping, and he wouldn't risk this. Fabricating a transmission which instructed several Necasian frigates and DarkBird squadrons to enter the atmosphere and transmitted a jamming frequency to override any other orders, he tried to insure Redharns failure again. His orders were carried out. Redharn was horrified, and disturbed by the fact that his troops were not listening to him however, his attention was drawn to the fact that the Necasian system of laser countermeasures was now broken, to Invados satisfaction.

The Holocaust
Gresev, on the command bridge of his Vesetroika destroyer, immediately took the opportunity presented to him. He ordered all ships to launch some of their nukes down on designated targets on the planet below, whilst the Necasian fleet, in dissarray, were powerless to stop them. The Srav fleet released a hail of missiles, and each missile in turn opened up to release several independent warheads. On the surface, the Necasian forces felt that they were winning when the Sravs suddenly make a desperate retreat to the nearest nuclear bunkers, or to caves in the mountainside. They pushed on, intent on destroying the remaining Sravs on the surface, after Invado fabricated an order from Redharn to do so.

Moments later, the Srav nukes impacted all at the same time on the continent, and the destruction was total. Mountainsides were razed, forests were incinerated, deserts were turned to glass, lakes boiled, and any and all Srav, Necasian and Savi forces on the surface were destroyed utterly, as well as the locals, who had no chance of fleeing to nuclear bunkers, turning a large proportion of the galaxy against the Necasians and Sravs.

Horrified by his losses, Redharn called a full scale retreat. As the Srav fleet opened fire on his ships, taking down several Necasian frigates, they jumped to hyperspace. The battle had been an utter disaster, with the manipulative Askar Invado orchestrating the defeat from the beginning, his tactical genius overlooking the fact that the Savi Alliance had become involved.

Aftermath
As soon as Redharn returned to the Necasian homeworld, he immediately came under attack from Invado and his supporters, who were releasing recordings of the battle, Askar Invado wasting no time in blaming him and gathering supporters, and they blamed him for the battles outcome, as well as the results of many other Necasian defeats. Askar called for a change in leadership, and announced that Redharn would not willingly give up his command, so violence would be needed. Redharn in turn branded Askar a traitor and a defeatist, and soon the Necasians were split between the two leaders. Tensions increased rapidly, and civil war was clearly imminent, with Invado claiming that Redharn was wanting the Necasians to fail, and was planning to kill them all, and ordered that he be executed for war crimes. Civil war was only avoided by Invado manipulations of the few Redharn supporters, with blackmailing and bribery being the key uses of his plans to avoid civil war. This allowed him to take Redharn prisoner, and his execution was scheduled for a months time.

As for the Sravs, Gresev was chastised heavily by Yuiln for destroying the Srav base on Cul-Huq, and for rendering the resource filled planet uninhabitable, therefore losing the Sravs a potential great asset. Gresev pointed out that the riches of Cul-Huq were denied to the Necasians too, which eased his position somewhat. Meanwhile, the Sravs eyed the Necasian political situation with great interest, ready to make a move. However, both sides, so caught up in the recent events, were ignoring the growing Death's Tongue Militia, which was gaining alarming support amongst neutral planets.