Chapter 4 – Salarians vs. Hanars

Attacker: Illuminated Primacy
Defender: Salarian Union
Convoy escort
Century System
Transporting 100 cargo ships from the planet Canctra's moon, Presrop, to the planet Tharopto.

SU fleet groups:
Dreadnought group – (1 Vanvildur class dreadnought and 2 Tava'ruvion class heavy cruiser)
4 Heavy Cruiser groups – (3 Tava'ruvion class heavy cruisers)
12 Cruiser groups – (3 Golruda class cruiser)
23 frigate groups – (3 Kalanhai class frigate)

IP fleet groups:
Dreadnought group – (1 Watcher class Dreadnought and 4 Cruisers)
7 Cruiser groups – (5 Cruisers)
16 frigate groups – (5 Frigates)

The Salarian Admiral immediately began dividing the fleet into groups. He sent all the frigate groups in different directions to act as reconnaissance and rapid detection groups. He divided the convoy into sixteen groups of 6-7 ships and escorted each with a Cruiser group, Heavy Cruiser group, or his Dreadnought group. He immediately ordered ships to split up and reach their destination themselves if possible. In the meantime, he also calculated possible approach angles and assigned three rendezvous points where they would regroup if the Hanars took up defensive positions around the planet. The plan was brilliant and exploited to the best possible proportions the Salarian ships' greatest advantage, their stealth technology. The only problem, it takes a long time to fully implement. Time the Salarians didn't have.

The Hanar Admiral knew how screwed he was, if the Salarian fleets managed to hide in the system, he had already lost. Therefore, he decided to take some tricks from the SA and quickly attack the enemy at the beginning. But instead of a small force, he sent his entire fleet. Positioned for battle as soon as the fleet emerged from the FTL over Presrop, it quickly detected the Salarians' location and charged at full speed. Salarian fleets were preparing to depart and several groups had already jumped away, but many more were caught in his opening salvo. He ordered fighters to be sent and to concentrate fire on the transports.

The Salarian Admiral processed the entire situation before he saw the entire Hanar fleet, and he made his first countermeasures as soon as the first of his ships was sunk by multiple hits from at least two groups of cruisers, maybe even a dreadnought. He ordered all capable ships to flee immediately and continue as planned. Ships began to jump into the FTL as the Hanars pressed forward, destroying more ships, mostly transports. The split groups of Salarians quickly began concentrating firepower on the frigates to reduce them some, but when they finally destroyed one, their 3 cruisers, 1 heavy cruiser, and 12 transports had already been destroyed and the fighters had already launched their attack.

The Hanars continued their attack but quickly realized that they could not capture as many transports as needed to win immediately. Therefore, the Hanar Admiral decided to send frigates and fighters after the transports, while his cruisers and dreadnought group continued to attack the Salarian command group. Overkill in the simplest sense of the word.

The commander of one of the heavy cruisers group was calculating where his ships should concentrate fire. Together with another group of ordinary cruisers, he spotted a group of Hanar frigates that were approaching a few of the transports. More than 40 had already escaped, with 20 destroyed and the remaining 40 still able to be saved. Quick salvos destroyed one of the frigates, and Hanars immediately dispersed the group, starting the retreat. This convoy jumped into FTL, and only half of the transports left. The rest were stopped by the proximity of the fighters, which interfered with the FTL drive. These five transports were a lost cause. Or at least that's what he thought until a group of frigates appeared and immediately devastated the Hanar fighters.

The Salarian Admiral was analyzing the situation. He has drawn more than enough transports to win, but they still need to get to Tharopto. Therefore, he summoned all available frigates to quickly occupy the time of the Hanar fleet, preventing them from pursuing. He still had 6 heavy cruisers, 16 cruisers, and 20 transports on the battlefield, with frigates arriving from all sides. His dreadnought was lost and he knew it. This was confirmed when the barriers fell and at least 20 hits from the Hanar cruisers tore the ship apart.

The Salarain Commander, and next in line, quickly began to organize the escape of the last cruisers and transports, quickly escaping the moon's orbit while the Hanars were busy attacking the frigates. They lost a dreadnought, 5 heavy cruisers, 19 regular cruisers and 35 transports in exchange for 12 frigates and 3 Hanar cruisers. A shameful failure. But this defeat could mean their victory.

The Hanar Admiral began to analyze the situation again. The Salarian fleet has lost many of its strongest assets but is likely already heading towards Tharopto. While he was stuck fighting over 150 Salarian frigates. Of course, it was easy to guess that most of them were just decoys and errors on the scanners. The Salarians have already had to break through quite a few firewalls and other electronic warfare defense systems. Until FTL reactivated again, he simply waited, fending off attacks and trying to coordinate with the fleet.

Groups of Salarian ships pressed in and out, all the while maintaining their encirclement. There were more Hanar ships and they had greater firepower, but the Salarians' intention was not to destroy the Hanar fleet but to hold them in place. The biggest threat was fighters. They approached the targets at such distances that they could determine their positions, which were then flooded with pieces of metal flying hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers per second.

The Hanar Admiral watched the battle continue. It was the same for the last 25 minutes. They fired at every target where the Salarians might be, while the Salarians counterattacked. He had a significant advantage, but he did not think about underestimating his opponent. After all, their transports were close to reaching their destination. If he doesn't get into FTL fast enough, he will lose. So he decided to change his tactics and send 3 groups of cruisers and 9 groups of frigates to attack at a closer distance. Their group had 5 ships compared to the Salarians' 3, so they should have an advantage. At the same time, he withdrew his fighters. Despite its successes, the GARDIAN system has already annihilated more than half of them.

The Salarian group commander quickly saw the Hanar ships approaching. Direct attack to start eliminating them. The group of frigates was rapidly approaching the relatively close group of Salairan ships. He decided to intercept them by catching them in a cross-attack. A neighboring group of Salarians quickly began to do the same, eliminating one of the frigates. The frigates then closed so close that the exchange of fire remained on the Gardian systems, where the Union ships had an overwhelming advantage. But after destroying only one Hanar frigate, the Salarians had to retreat as the Hanar cruisers began to approach.

The commander of the Hanar frigate group was lucky and found a single Salarian ship. His companions were probably destroyed somewhere earlier. Now this ship had a problem as salvo after salvo from its group went towards the ship. Quickly counting 18 hits after 2 minutes the barriers fell. After that, two hits were enough and the ship was gone. The commander had no time to celebrate his success when he received orders from the admiral.

The Hanar Admiral saw that his ships were almost fully charged with FTL. He gathered all available ships and began to break through the center towards Tharopto. The remaining Salarian frigates were destroyed and left only 4 groups of frigates there to continue the fight, while the rest moved in fasting.

The commander of one of the escort groups watched as his ships started to approach their target. Along the way, they were joined by several other convoys and they moved towards their destination. When they detected the Hanar fleet, they knew that they had already been spotted in such a group. So they brought battleships into the fight and sent transports ahead. 26 transports protected by 8 cruisers had to reach their destination. If it weren't for the asteroid field, they would have been wiped out by now. We had to prepare for a hard fight.

The Hanar Admiral quickly detected the presence of the Salarian fleet, but they just as quickly began to mask their presence. The number of ships ranged from 30 to 70 on the scanners, and recognizing their type was almost impossible. Additionally, he has fewer and fewer ships left. Although he had over 60% of his initial fleet with him, several ships were already damaged. He had no choice. He ordered his ships to disperse, send fighters, and fly forward at maximal speed.

A group of Salarian cruisers, one ship smaller than was supposed to be, saw a group of Hanar cruisers passing by. They quickly launched an attack, eliminating one of the enemy ships and retreating before they could retaliate.

A group of Hanar frigates ran into three transports that separated from the main group. Even though they looked like 6 on the scanners. Salarians could make a mess. But despite this, they only needed 13 more transports to win.

The commander of a group of Salarian cruisers engaged in an extremely close-range fight with a group of Hanar frigates. Both sides used a minimal number of side guns, so the clash could take some time. But the Salarian GARDIAN systems were the best in the galaxy and quickly began to cause heavy damage to the Hanar. As another group of ships began to approach them, the Salarians quickly turned on them, while putting in their final salvos to damage as many of the Hanar ships as they could.

A group of Hanar fighters saw Salarian cruisers engage their own. Using the asteroids as a shield against the GARDIAN systems, they managed to get into close range, fire a salvo of torpedoes that destroyed one of the Salarian cruisers, and managed to retreat before the loss of even a single fighter.

One group of Salarian cruisers sighted the Hanar flagship. They managed to slip through without anyone seeing them, giving them the perfect opportunity. If they eliminate the enemy flagship, the Hanar forces will be decoordinated and the remaining transports will be able to escape. They quickly prepared for battle, hiding behind one of the asteroids and awaiting their target.

The Hanar Admiral was pleased. Another group of transports was found and they only needed 7 to win. In addition, most of the Salarian warships were annihilated, although at a high cost. Due to their size advantage and superior GARDIAN systems, they destroyed 4 ships and damaged 7 more. The first group of Salarian frigates also arrived on their backs, but they were too far away to intervene. Then the Dreadnought will shake and 3 enemy ships will appear on the screen, firing directly at the Dreadnought.

The frigate group was lucky and came across 4 Salarian transports. Thanks to their superior speed as a warship in a fleet that primarily patrols the borders, they quickly overtook them and waited at the edge of the Asteroid Belt. They were not the only group to attack, but they were the first to destroy enemy transports.

Over Tharopto, the remnants of the Salarian fleet, including 36 transports, were gathering. The captain of one of the ships watched as another group of their ships arrived. He was angry. They underestimated their opponents too much. Their plan was almost perfect, but before it could be implemented, the Hanars struck the first blow and, as the humans say, caught him and the rest of the Salarian fleet with their pants down. Such an understatement was simply a disgrace, and he knew that the crews of this fleet would be ridiculed for years for this failure. When the next transports arrived, the end of the fighting struck. They only had 47 transports. They lost.

Result:
Illuminated Primacy Victory:

Other units:
IP: 26 crusiers, 48 frigates, 54 support crafts
SU: 8 heavy crusiers, 14 crusiers, 43 frigates, 47 transports

=CNN studio=

"The last match of the first round of War Games has ended, the winner is Illuminated Primacy." - said Seyifma Besava - 'I won't be wrong if I say that it was the most unexpected match. Today I invited Commander Ehran Vick, who commanded a squadron of Volus cruisers around the planet Eletania, to the studio."

"*hiss* It's good to be here miss Besava." - said Volus - "And you are right that this result was unexpected. *hiss* The Hanar move was more of a strategy discouraged in naval school as dangerous, risky, and stupid. *hiss*"

"Why?"

"*hiss* Because devoting all your resources to one fight exposes you in all the other places. *hiss* And that's why there are reserves and that's why the Salarians didn't expect this. *hiss* In fact, if they had used this strategy on anyone other than the Salarians, the Hanars would probably have lost in a landslide. *hiss*"

"But Salarian ships are some of the best in the galaxy."

"*hiss* But not in defense. *hiss* Their fleet has smaller armor, hangars, and much of its weapons so they can have more of Steelth and Cyberwarfare systems. *hiss* As a result, they will be able to attack you from long distances without the risk of a response. *hiss* If you try to get close to them, they will escape using decoys and Steelth systems. *hiss* But the protection of the transporters almost annihilated these two advantages. *hiss* The Salarian Admiral tried to send most of the transport defense ships to carry out this tactic, *hiss* but it left his forces exposed to the Hanar attack. *hiss* If it had been a Batarian or Elcor fleet, the Hanars would have been overwhelmed in a direct fight. I wouldn't be surprised if these were the only points they get in the entire War Games."

"That's true. We have to finish now. Judges will now award bonus points[1], as mentioned by Commander Panion in the previous edition of our War Games analysis. See you in the future."

[1]Whoever is willing can award additional points and indicate the next fights in round 2.