Battle of Cheff

The Battle of Cheff was an engagement in 156 ABY which saw mercenaries assail Cheff in the Golden Empire. The attack was repulsed by numerous Royal Army cohorts commanded by Breek Zagrev, and began the Empire's involvement in the First Stratos Contention.

Preparations
Forewarned of the impending assault by the Skirmish at Toriafas and her own prophetic gifts, Queen Rin Sakaros sent her sister-in-law, Breek Zagrev, to defend Cheff. Zagrev left her fleet in orbit under the command of Augu Pentag, the captain of her flagship, the Valkyrie. Breek herself elected to command the ground defense, arranging the fleet above and the shield generators onworld to force the Lugubraa to land outside population centers, which she stocked with Royal Army forces and heavy artillery.

The lightest artillery defense was around the planetary capital, Ros Peryon, as Breek had not been able to put together sufficient artillery units in time to reach Cheff. She opted to defend the capital herself, commanding the 17th Massassi Cohort, numerous other Royal Army cohorts, elite snipers from the Assault Commandos, and Ros Peryon's own guard unit of Exoi battle armor pilots. Vos'elk'eetash had a smaller command on the other side of the river, backed by company of Garjo and other cohorts.

Engagements
When the Lugubraa arrived, Pentag dueled their ships to a stalemate in orbit, but obeyed Sorrik's orders not to thrash the invaders, instead leaving them an escape corridor. Around the planet, the artillery strategy slaughtered most of the invaders. The heaviest battle came at Ros Peryon, which Breek successfully held; her apprentice Jinyx Windrunner was able to selectively kill evolved Lugubraa who were serving as battlefield officers. The snipers assisted by picking off other officers and Lugubraa armed with area-effect weapons.

By the end of the first day of battle, most of the invaders outside Ros Peryon had been massacred. The remains of the assault force at the capital regrouped, with Lugubraa pillaging nearby forests and eating everything they could find larger than insects, hoping to force the Lugubraa reproductive process and double their numbers inside a week. Rather than allow them to rebuild their numbers—and wreak havoc on Cheff's environment—Breek launched a midnight raid on the Lugubraa camp. Selkee and her Garjo charged straight in to slaughter the first groups of unwary Lugubraa and draw their fire; as they started to rally, Breek, her Royal Guards, Jinyx, and two regiments of the 17th attacked from the side and from the air. Other elements of the 17th harassed fleeing Lugubraa to speed them on their way to their landing craft.

Into the unknown
Obedient to Sorrik, Pentag allowed the Lugubraa capital ships to flee, but marked their escape vectors. Rin Sakaros appointed Selkee a Legate and charged her with following the fleeing aliens and disrupting their ability to attack the Empire again.