The Federation had always known that all-out conflict with the Klingon Empire was possible, but the centralisation of power had always been considered a nightmare scenario. Equally-matched Great Houses, internal Klingon politics, and simple distance had always been considered the main obstacles to a major Klingon incursion. Unfortunately the first two problems had been handily solved by Karhammur and the D7, but the last proved a vital lifeline for a reeling Starfleet. For all the sophistication of their newest capital ship and the investment in building as many as possible the Klingons were still limited by their slowest and shortest-range fleet elements. The main advance stalled out thirty light years deep, leaving dozens of minor colonies behind the line but no industrial hubs that could replenish the fuel needed to continue the attack.
As the Klingons consolidated their gains they also began to ship material for depots and resupply bases into their newly conquered territory, along with the antimatter needed to fuel deeper raids while the majority of the fleet was prepared for the next push. Starfleet did not sit idle and the shipyards began crash retrofits of older ships with the new Mark II phasers. EPS compressors and power boosters were incapable of feeding the weapons enough power to fire on-cycle, but the greater particle density and the higher spike lethality were considered worth the lower fire rate, even if the raw damage on target was unchanged. Meanwhile the Excalibur-class was dispatched en masse behind the frontline to act as commerce raiders. This they accomplished with aplomb and lethal results, their high cruise speed and superlative sprint factors allowing them to swoop in on Klingon convoys and destroy them in minutes.
The penetration of the Klingon rear lines by the Excalibur had its consequences, changing the strategic shape of the conflict as Klingon commanders soon found themselves running low on everything from fuel for their ships to fresh gagh for the mess hall. The bold and relentless surge that saw Starfleet scattered before them slowly ground to a halt beyond a mere rest-and-resupply as the exigencies of war forced alternative methods of fighting. But the advance did not stop entirely, Karhammur encouraging his supporters to accrue glory and victory for their Houses with light but devastating raids on whatever Starfleet elements were within reach. Those that preferred their previous tactics had time to understand personally that lack of supplies made it impossible.
So it was in a matter of months each new push was characterised not by an overwhelming deluge of vessels sweeping away everything in their path, but isolated and strategically-directed raids. With a sudden paucity of antimatter even the most brash commanders hesitated to commit their forces to a deep strike, and instead the unedifying work of setting up well defended depots and safely transporting supplies to the front lines became their primary concern. Klingon morale ebbed from the euphoric high of victory, and the captains of the profoundly lethal D7 found themselves escorting bulk transports and cargo haulers. Nothing else could contend with an Excalibur-class starship.
In this lull the Klingon fleets began to break apart into more diffuse squadrons and task forces as the individual Houses took stock of their newest acquisitions and began to backtrack into investigating some of the more minor colonies that the lightning advances had passed by. As the war entered the second half of its second year, Starfleet became slowly more confident that the situation could be stabilised long enough for the fortification of the outer member worlds to make them too hard a nut to crack. Once it was assured this was the case, the fleet could be consolidated further for a hard counterstrike into the increasingly thin Klingon presence in occupied space.
This confidence was sadly ephemeral. For all the heroic efforts of the Excaliburs behind the line the Klingons readily rediscovered and adapted their tactics to fend off opportunistic attacks on their supply ships. Like the U-boats in the battle of the Atlantic, the captains of the Excalibur-class raiders found the Golden Time was slipping away. The loss of the UFS Excalibur in October of 2241 very much seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. With too many targets and the Klingons making further convoy strikes too risky the decision was made to recall Starfleet assets back beyond the lines to prepare for the expected hammer-blow.
It came sooner than expected, with the House of Antaak suddenly surging forward over twenty light years to strike at Arcadia. With the blow expected to fall on the other side of the front lines towards Pharos Four and the direct line of supply into the Federation core only a small defensive force could be assembled at short notice. Despite the lack of defending starships there had been extensive fortification works, and the Klingon fleet charged headlong into the gauntlet of phaser satellites that now surrounded the planet's orbital infrastructure.
The cost for the Klingons was heavy, but numbers have a quality all of their own. Although the House of Antaak lost over twenty ships in the assault they did successfully oust the few Starfleet vessels in orbit, destroying the eponymous Newton and forcing the partially-repaired Kusanagi to retreat with further battle damage. Captain Paulson would almost certainly have faced court martial for abandoning Arcadia to its fate before being given orders to that effect had he not drawn the pursuing Antaak D7 into the Orion Nebula where both hunter and hunted disappeared to become the stuff of tales and treasure hunters. The once-contender for the position of Chancellor of the Klingon Empire disappeared with him, unlamented and unmourned by followers who had been subject to tactical and strategic failings that cost them both blood and honour.
If the House of Antaak and any other Klingon Great Houses hoped to use the industrialised facilities of Arcadia to support a further invasion they were to be gravely disappointed - Starfleet had never set up refuelling depots over the planet and the small Arcadian naval presence was equipped and supplied to do little more than act as an arm of customs and excise. What antimatter they found stored was barely enough to replenish the fuel and power that the Klingons had expended travelling to the planet, let alone provide the impetus for a further push. In terms of grand strategy the Empire had gained very little and lost valuable ships.
The fall of a Member World was nonetheless catastrophic for Federation morale, with Commander Starfleet resigning for being unable to foresee and predict the assault on Arcadia. The pressure on Starfleet was clear both politically and publically to have at least some small victory now that the Excalibur campaign had been called off. Shortly thereafter they would have their chance, with Karhammur personally leading the long-awaited assault on Pharos Four. Once in his possession the station would be the gateway to the Federation core and the highly developed worlds there.
This timing was not ideal for the defenders, as Admiral Blake had hoped to have at least several Excaliburs repaired and ready to assist in the defense. Instead the defenders were faced with the strongest Klingon House Fleet in the war - a veritable swarm of two dozen Birds-of-Prey, ten D6 cruisers, and nine D7s. The full force of the House of Duras crashed down onto Pharos Four with a vengeance, but this was now a starbase reinforced by phaser satellites and a small flock of Kea-class cruisers in addition to the defenders that had been so thoroughly chased away from Pharos Seven.
Karhammur was not without tactical acumen, and prosecuted a ruthless and incisive command style that saw his cruiser arm advancing first to dismantle the defensive platforms before he committed his lighter forces. This was not without losses to the D6, who were subjected to attack from both the satellites and the defending starships. Of the ten cruisers, only four returned from the second attack run. But the deed was done, and the phaser satellites had been destroyed or disabled by disruptor fire. The wave crashed down as every Bird-of-Prey under the House of Duras' command slammed into Starfleet's defensive line and then straight through to strike at the station's heavy weapon emplacements.
Pharos Four quickly lost its ability to contribute to the battle, while Karhammur held back his heavy cruisers at longer range. The Newtons were forced to rely on the Kea's wide-angle coverage to assist against the Birds-of-Prey, whose attack runs on the slower ships meant focusing fire was nearly impossible. Unfortunately the sheer quantity of the small but deadly Klingon ships meant it the majority of their casualties resulted from the initial closing pass rather than the prolonged engagement that followed, despite it taking a fraction of the time. As the shields of the Newtons failed and Selachii frigates were outright destroyed, Karhammur whittling away at them from extreme range all the while, the lack of supporting fire from Pharos Four or the phaser satellites became a crippling weakness.
With battle turning against Starfleet several of the Newtons disengaged from the main line and retreated behind Pharos Four to beam off the station's skeleton crew, but Karhammur perceived this as a sign that the Federation forces were about to abandon the position and potentially destroy the station. His D7s charged forward from their position at the rear of the engagement, a trio swinging wide to hit each flank while the Chancellor and his own guard pursued the disengaging ships. As a result the crew could not be evacuated while their evacuation ships were under fire, and Admiral Blake ordered all forces to retreat along different routes. While five more ships were chased down and destroyed, the remainder limped away from the battle to fight another day.
Pharos Four was another loss for Starfleet in a war that was becoming characterised by losses for Starfleet. The Klingon boarding teams not only disabled the self-destruct but in a feat of impressive coordination also prevented the detonation of the scuttling charges. While the antimatter production facilities were successfully wrecked by the station crew the undamaged outer tanks promised to provide a ready-made depot for Klingon antimatter supplies in range of the Core Worlds. Or they would have been were it not for an unknown saboteur who escaped the Klingon kill teams with a spacesuit and used an overloading hand phaser to critically damage the magnetic constrictors of Pod Three.
The largely depleted pod then demonstrated that a 'few' kilograms of liquid antihydrogen absent a perfectly controlled magnetic field would soon become a diffuse cloud of expanding gas and subsequently a very large explosion. The cause of the sudden self-immolation of Pharos Four would be unknown to Federation historians for over a century absent Klingon accounts and sensor logs, but the effect was immediate: Karhammur's base of operations for the final conquest of the Federation disappeared in a very large fireball.
Frustrated, Karhammur fell back to his forward bases to recover and consider his grand strategy. Friction was beginning to appear internally - glory or conquest would satisfy the other Houses, but a lack of either in an active war would create discontent that could not be afforded when the Chancellor was away from Qo'nos. He decided that if the Federation was to be broken that a single decisive victory was required, and not merely one that would humble Starfleet but a triumph so cataclysmic it would make clear that the United Federation of Planets was a failure altogether. He conceived of a plan that would see the mightiest warships of the Empire - the full force of the House of Duras and its supporters - victorious once and for all. After all, he reasoned, his fleets could strike the very heart of the Federal Core if they didn't need to save fuel for the return trip.
He set his eyes on Andoria. Once the orbitals were secured the world could be used to replenish the Klingon fleets. It was there that the Federation would finally be humbled.
