The Skirmish of Ankarr was a minor battle of the Cruentusian War that would nonetheless be considered pivotal. It occurred when Storm Ironwings, leader of the Zayre people, decided to escape their adopted homeworld of Ankarr, which had been occupied by the Srav Federation. Along with her consort Carsal Redharn, former leader of the Necasian Military, Ironwings and a elite cadre of Zayre smuggled themselves onto a Srav orbital platform. Redharn used communications trickery and hacking to sow chaos among Srav orbital presence while he and Ironwings made their getaway.
Prelude[]
Not too long before, the Srav Federation had successfully launched an invasion and subsequent occupation of Ankarr, adopted homeworld of the Zayre race. Former Zayre leader Storm Ironwings and her consort, Carsal Redharn, deposed leader of the Necasian Military, had attempted abortive resistance against the occupiers, but the majority of the Zayre warrior caste had been demoralized or imprisoned, and any Zayre who had attempted large-scale insurrection had been graphically executed.
As a result, Ironwings and Redharn had agreed that trying to overcome the Srav occupation by themselves would be hopeless. Redharn devised a plan to escape the planet and contact mercenaries or independent governments who might be willing to provide aid, and Ironwings selected a group of Zayre elite to accompany herself and Redharn.
The skirmish[]
Escape[]
One evening, Ironwings, Redharn and the Zayre elites approached a Srav landing platform being loaded with supplies and some Zayre prisoners. Milling among the prisoners, Ironwings and her cadre smuggled themselves aboard and waited until the transport took off. Once they had done so, Ironwings quickly burst out and killed the pilots. Redharn took the controls, and followed instructions to dock with a Srav orbital platform, knowing that transports leaving orbit without authorization would be shot down by the network of Tarbarossa-class orbital platforms.
Redharn docked with the platform as ordered, and then Ironwings and her cadre moved in, killing most they found on the platform. Heading aboard, Redharn began hacking into the Srav orbital network and managed to have a distress call from another adjacent platform transmitted. He also had a message sent to a Srav fighter wing that an enemy force had entered the system, and then discharged several missiles from the platform he was aboard.
Sowing chaos[]
Immediately, laser countermeasures from Srav satellites intercepted the missiles, and marked the platform as an enemy. Several FireWing-class interceptors, loaned to the Sravs from the Savi Alliance, were scrambled to take it out. Seeing the FireWings move in on the platform, the Srav fighter wing interpreted them as the attackers mentioned, and began attacking them. Confused, the computer system on the satellites nearby decided that the FireWings were enemies, and attacked the platform that had launched them.
By now, Srav orbital commander Zhara Kurvasa realized something was wrong, and established communications with that orbital sector. Redharn had several confusing and contradictory messages broadcast, confusing the situation further. Zhara tried having more fighters scrambled and tried deactivating the satellites, but this did little more than confuse the fighter wing pilots further. In the process, several transports were ordered to move away from the area. Redharn and Ironwings quickly bordered their transport and moved forward. As soon as they were out of satellite range, they jumped to hyperspace.
Aftermath[]
Within an hour, the situation had quietly ceased, and Zhara was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the kommissar partly in charge of the Ankarr occupation, Laverta Suka, and as a result she was placed under semi-official probation while Suka considered having her sent to a gulag for her actions. Meanwhile, Redharn and Ironwings picked up chatter on interplanetary media networks that a conference of some sort between neutral worlds was taking place on Corellia, and decided to head there.