While the strategic failure at Pharos Four and resultant continuation of the war's stalemate was far from unravelling the tapestry of Klingon unity, frustration was beginning to fray at the edges. By the third year of the war, Karhammur had already decided that his decisive strike on Andoria was the only method by which to end the war to his satisfaction. Insofar as the Klingon Empire possessed a strategic doctrine beyond cultural expectation and centuries of tradition the plan was still highly unorthodox. Any Starfleet strategist or indeed any strategist discounting political factors would have advocated for a series of buildups and a prolonged war that could take up much of the decade but inevitably result in the collapse of Federation warfighting capacity.
The Chancellor of the Klingon Empire and Supreme Military Commander did not have the luxury of a strategy that discounted political factors. The hostilities with the Federation were not driven by enmity or grievance, but simply the result of internal Klingon pressures. As a result of this an eventual victory after a long and meticulous campaign was not necessarily a victory for Karhammur - he required rapidity. He had two choices: either declare victory and commit the Houses to a constant brushfire war that had been rendered inevitable by House Antaak's independent conquest of Arcadia, or win an actual victory. Immediately.
He chose the latter, and after confirming Andoria as the ideal target began to brief his closest supporters and conduct the consolidation of supplies he required to launch the assault. Despite the innately desperate and all-or-nothing nature of his plan, Karhammur was not without support. In this the Chancellor had three advantages that were not commonly available to most leaders of the Klingon Empire: he commanded substantial loyalty from the clans elevated by the House of Duras' bestowal of the construction schematics for the D7, his personal leadership of the attack fleet demonstrated his heroism, and the frustrating raids conducted by the Excalibur-class on Klingon supply lines left the most powerful captains eager for a decisive counterblow. With these factors in his favour, Karhammur was able to accumulate the soft power needed to persuade the myriad captains that his plan was a viable one.
Karhammur alternatively cajoled, commanded, and castigated other forces to donate ships and crews to the effort. To the skeptical Great Houses he pointed out the disadvantage they would be faced with if the Core Worlds of the Federation were to fall into the hands of their rivals. To his allies he promised glory, victory, and spoils. To his foes he threatened generational shame if they abandoned the greatest martial cause of the Empire in over a century for petty politics. Slowly over the next months the mightiest fleet the empire had ever seen coalesced around the Chancellor. Over eighty Birds-of-Prey were supported by nearly three dozen D6 cruisers. But most fearsome of all was almost the total sum of D7s available - a terrifying twenty two. In less than six months of organisation, Karhammur assembled a force that matched Starfleet itself in raw numbers and exceeded it in raw firepower.
The Klingons set out in June of 2242, initially confounding the predictions of Starfleet who had been preparing for an attritional campaign based around heavy static defenses. However the fleet was detected by long-range scanners in early July, prompting a scramble to redeploy starships away from the front lines and back towards the Federation core. With three weeks warning the majority of Starfleet was able to converge on Andoria, but with little time to set up further defenses.
Andoria was not without orbital strongpoints and weapon emplacements in its own right, but more importantly it was defended by the Andorian Imperial Guard. Despite being decidedly smaller and less powerful than at its height a century prior, the Guard had nonetheless kept itself abreast of modern developments. The Shran-class heavy cruiser was a fully modernised Andorian design focused around a pair of supercooled phaser coils that were able to outstrip the Mark II in use by Starfleet by a fair margin: the Guard had five of them. More immediately recognisable to the Klingons were the three Ushaan-type Excalibur-class starships that had been constructed at the Andorian Naval Yards and modified for Andorian-only use. While a dozen other cruiser-weight ships were still in service and capable of fighting on equal terms with the D6, they were grossly outclassed by the D7.
The same could not be said for the Vulcan Explorator Corps, which had diminished from its height of more than twenty vessels in 2180 to only seven, four of which were within range of Andoria and able to redeploy before the arrival of Karhammur's fleet. Each of the Kishara-class Explorators massed half a million tons and were equipped with staggeringly powerful beam disruptors that were even more potent than those on the D7.
The remainder of Starfleet was not to be discounted, either. In addition to the Newton-class which had become the main line cruiser of the war, seven Kea-class science cruisers were in position for the task of anchoring the line with their durable shields and ability to engage enemies on any approach path. The Selachii-class and more modern Saladin-class, despite their heavy attrition in the skirmishes which had been Starfleet's main tool in preventing Klingon raiding on vulnerable worlds, were also prepared to act as a reserve force against Birds-of-Prey infiltrating the battle line.
But most significant were the remaining Excaliburs, all of which save the Tizona had been able to reach Andoria in time for the battle. Enterprise, Curtana, Durandal, Caldbolg, Joyeuse, Hauteclere, Tyrfing, and Hrunting were all ships which had over half-a-dozen combat kills to their name from their excursions behind enemy lines, and the Klingons had learned their painful lesson that closing with the heavy cruisers head-on was a quick way to Sto'vo'kor. With the Andorian Ushaan-type included, the eleven Excalibur-class ships were more than enough to blunt the sledgehammer of the Chancellor's D7s.
Karhammur identified this immediately upon dropping out of warp in high orbit, and hostilities did not commence for over half an hour as both sides assessed the tactical situation. The Klingon assault had two main objectives: the destruction of Starfleet and the capture of the Andorian Naval Yards. The Federation defenders had a more difficult task in both preventing the Yards from falling into enemy hands while also defending an entire planet-worth of cities and the billion-strong Andorian population. The Klingon Chancellor quickly recognised that an immediate engagement would be a risky affair, with his heavy cruiser arm countered by the defenders.
Karhammur deployed his cruisers in a supporting role while splitting his Birds-of-Prey into two task forces. By maintaining overwhelming firepower he intended to rapidly destroy the static defenses around his preferred engagement zones while forcing the defenders to reduce their concentration. The cruisers preferred by Starfleet were less maneuverable than the Birds-of-Prey at his command and often lacked weaponry to engage in suboptimal firing arcs. By splitting apart the vessels able to contend with his lighter elements over two battle zones, the Chancellor intended to overwhelm the heavier vessels with sheer numbers.
It was as elegant a plan as was maintainable in a situation that would involve over two hundred starships engaged in pitched battle. Once Starfleet was fully engaged with their defense of both the Andorian Naval Yards and the space above the Andorian capital, Karhammur would split his cruisers into smaller wings that would methodically defeat a dispersed and weakened Federation fleet in detail.
This proved a grave and fatal underestimation of the Federation's willingness to maintain cohesion, and indeed the discipline and coordination between the Imperial Guard and Starfleet in the confusion of battle. The battle itself would prove an enduring symbol in Andorian art even a century after the event, with the poet Talla writing in his epic that the blizzard that engulfed and killed the survivors of the IKS Kronos was driven by the martyred spirits of the fallen.
It is telling of the battle's lethality and the ill-will with which Karhammur is viewed in Andorian historiography that you will find few Andorians willing to completely rule it out.
