Siege of Xelos V (Infinity War)

"Today we strike a blow against Cyrus, today we siege their capital, and today, we will be victorious."

- Supreme Admiral Kai Ar'Lya to the fleet

The Siege of Xelos V, alternatively the destruction of Xelos V was a large-scale battle over Xelos V, between the Federation of Free Planets, Dark Reach, and the Imperial Confederation. While they suffered heavily, the Federation was victorious and destroyed Xelos V.

Prelude
Planning for attacking Xelos V had begun during the very beginning of the war, but was continuously delayed due to a lack of manpower to launch it. Kai Ar'Lya as such thought it best to await until the Dark Reach manpower was spent, which it seemed to be in the aftermath of the Yavin war.

The Imperial Confederation, having broken its truce with the Federation of Free Planets, striked at Xelos V as well, planning to expand deeper into the. Unknown to them however was the attack force the Federation managed to amass.

The battle
Federation forces, joined by a remainder of   forces, prepared to invade Xelos V. Likewise, near, Imperial Confederation forces under Arcus Haven were prepared to attack Xelos V. The Federation was however first to launch the assault, with many Federation ships entering  and leaving in the Xelos system, being unable to directly jump to Xelos V.

The Federation forces started moving to Xelos V, and the first turbolasers were fired within a matter of minutes. Soon a full-scale engagement had occurred between both parties, with ships exploding every few seconds. Not long after, Arcus Haven's forces hyperspaced in on the other side of the engagement, having free play against Yavin and Dark Reach for the time being. Dark Reach withdrew forces from their battle with the Federation to engage the Confederation, only to start losing the battle on two fronts.

While more Dark Reach ships were left with the Federation, the Federation outnumbered the current fleet, as did the Imperial Confederation. This forced Darth Cyrus to evacuate and leave Darth Xaviun in place. Xaviun was forced to make strategic adjustments in order to take down as many ships of the Federation and the Confederation with them. While this succeeded, the Dark Reach casualities were unforeseeable.

Cyrus had been evacuated, and Xaviun was left in command. In the meantime, Cyrus called upon reinforcements from and, both of which sent a vanguard to Xelos V. Cyrus however, rather than leading the reinforcements, went back to  to prepare an assault upon the Federation. While it occurred to Cyrus that attacking the Confederation would have been easier, it also occurred to him how hard it is to wipe out the Imperials, thinking back to the.

Darth Xaviun started suffering losses that allowed the Federation to spearhead Xaviun's fleet, and was forced to regroup closer to the planet. Xaviun's forces retreated to the final defense line before a ring of defenses. Shortly after, a Confector-class Star Dreadnought was lost in battle against the Confederation. Xaviun, which was simply outraged, starting fueling his anger into the planet, causing the planet to start fighting against the invading forces.

Despite the now majorly growing casualities with the Federation, Kai Ar'Lya managed to force the Dark Reach fleet back beyond the defense line. Xelos V in turn strengthened the remaining ship captains with the morale to keep fighting on. The Yevethan vanguard had finally arrived behind the fleet of the Confederation, causing Arcus' ships to become outflanked. Arcus was forced to regroup and called a different formation.

While regrouping enabled Arcus' forces to take less casualities, he was still outnumbered against the combined efforts of the Yevetha and Xaviun's remainder. The Hapan protectorate forces finally arrived as well, preparing to flank the Federation forces, which were slowly breaking through the Dark Reach defenses. It was only now that the Federation realized that the Confederation had arrived as well.

Before the Hapans could attack the Federation's forces, Kai had already ordered to regroup. With Xaviun's forces on the Federation's side in ruins, the Federation moved to engage the Hapan forces. With that, Xaviun withdrew his remaining forces from the Federation side to the Confederation side, which was slowly but certainly gaining the upper hand again. The Yevethan forces were called to withdraw by Kai Spaar, much to Xaviun's dislike.

This caused the Confederation's forces to retreat closer to the planet, again. Haven made use of this and entered in pursuit of Xaviun's fleet. Xaviun, feeling that Dark Reach will no longer win this battle, abandoned his place and evacuated himself to Korriban. This left only the Hapans, the Federation, the Confederation and the Dark Reach remnant in place, with the Hapans retreating not long after, effectively turning the battle into a three-way again.

The Confederation, not long after, destroyed the remaining Dark Reach ships, and prepared to move against the Federation. While most of the Federation's ships were heavily damaged, Kai had no intention to retreat from this new threat, whereas most of the Confederation's fleet had remained clear from damage. Soon, the commanders of the Federation Navy and the Confederation Navy were locked in a battle of strategic superiority, as the battle was to be won on which commanders' tactical genius was better.

Kai prepared to engage the Confederation fleet, calling upon a final regrouping to meet the Confederation head-on. With severe damage to the fleet, but not overly heavy, Kai was confident he was superior to Arcus Haven. Arcus' and Kai's then met in another large space conflict over Xelos V, the one to decide the outcome of the planet. The Confederation desired to rule it, while the Federation desired to destroy it, having seen the effects the planet had before.

Xelos V, having picked its favor already, strengthened the Confederation's fleet. Arcus and Kai were however both unaware of this, and engaged one another as strategic masterminds at work. Arcus proved to be quite a bigger challenge than Kai expected, causing him to make strategic errors, and costing the Federation loads of ships to an outnumbered enemy. Arcus Haven, using Kai's overconfidence against him, even managed to change the tide of battle in his favor. Kai was starting to lose, and he realized it.

Kai forced strategic adjustments on his men, causing them to lose morale. While Arcus Haven's strategic genius inspired his men to fight until the end. Kai called upon reinforcements of, only to realize that Rulf's perished into battle and he had retreated, leaving Kai standing alone. Overconfidence proved to be Kai's downfall, as he called upon the Federation forces to retreat. While he considered Arcus a worthy enemy, he wasn't overly happy with the result.

Aftermath
Kai's utter defeat at Xelos V nearly costed him his rank as, and Kai promised to get back on Arcus Haven. Arcus became known as a hero, managing to turn a promised defeat into a stunning victory. The Confederation annexed Xelos V into the Imperial Confederation, and slowly starting driving Dark Reach out of the, starting with worlds like and.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Infinite War
 * The Essential Guide to the Infinity War
 * Dark Reach