The Second Battle of Lakota was a military engagement fought by the Alliance Fleet and vessels of the Syndicate Worlds Mobile Defense Force. It took a diametrically opposite direction to the First Battle of Lakota.
The battle was initiated by Captain John Geary, acting commander of the Alliance fleet, as an act of desperation. The counter-attack was motivated by the disastrous losses suffered by the Alliance fleet, which resulted in the destruction of four battleships, the battle cruiser Renown, and a considerable number of lighter units, in addition to large degrees of battle damage being inflicted on the fleet, which was running low on fuel cells, supplies and ammunition. With a large Syndic force pursuing the battered fleet through the jump point, Geary, out of desperation, ordered a return to Lakota in the hopes of confronting a far smaller force with a more combat capable fleet.
The fleet arrived in-system to find an unprepared, battle-damaged and vastly outnumbered enemy fleet, with the pursuit force several hours away and the local defense forces unable to contain the advancing Alliance flotilla, the fleet quickly achieved victory before ambushing the returning pursuit fleet, inflicting massive losses on the assault group by using derelict Syndic and Alliance warships.
Prelude[]
The return to Lakota was devised as the best answer as to how to deal with the pursuing Syndic fleet. Faced with an overwhelming force chasing the fleet out of the system and then pursing through the jump point, Geary decided the best way to deal with them was to avoid them by immediately returning to Lakota to buy another five and a half days to repair his battle damaged ships and for the Third Fast Fleet Auxiliaries Division to restock the fleet's reserves of missiles, grapeshot and fuel cells, which was a factor that necessitated the withdrawal from Lakota. Geary also hoped that the pursuit flotilla would spend some time attempting the locate the absent Alliance fleet at Ixion before returning to Lakota, giving Geary's fleet precious time to mount a defense.
Arrival[]
Upon arrival at Lakota, the Alliance fleet found a large concentration of Syndicate warships scattered throughout the system. Initial dismay by Geary quickly turned into delight as fleet sensors quickly determined that nearly all of the ships in the system were those badly damaged during the First Battle of Lakota and under repair, and the entire system was unprepared for a fresh assault. Analysis of the Syndicate formation also revealed that a large number of the battle group were in fact repair ships heavily loaded with raw materials, which the Alliance fleet were badly in need of with their reserves near exhaustion from intense resupply.
In addition, the wreck of the Alliance battleship Audacious, lost while performing rearguard defense actions for the retreating Alliance flotilla, was found within the centre of the Syndic repair armada, being used as prisoner accommodation for the Alliance survivors, being used for manual labour on the damaged Syndicate warships. As the Alliance fleet moved into the system, the Syndicate technicians immediately began to evacuate from the repair works and move away from the advancing Alliance battle group. Capitalizing on this opportunity, Geary and his flagship captain, Tanya Desjani, formulated a plan to seize the Syndicate repair ships for their materiel stocks, to restock the auxiliary division's bunkers, now all but exhausted after weeks of continual production exceeding resupply efforts.
However, hopes of reaching the Syndicate hypernet gate were dashed by the posting of a small task force near the gate.
Preparation of defenses[]
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