The Battle of Ileana

[Alva Calvarona]

-One of the major battles fought during the Crinan Civil War, one that did not have noteworthy leaders in either side. It was overshadowed by death of Lord General Tiberius three months prior.

The city known as the Ileana would surely earn its name by the end of the day. Just as it had so long ago. The town where the famed rebel founder, leader, and hero Nicoleta had been born in that village. Referred to as the torch because it was considered the first town to be founded by the second generation on Crina and thus the place they carried the torch from their parents that was passed on to them.

However, on the day the war came to the town, one of the first to align itself with the rebel cause, it would gain a new reason to be referred to as Torch. Though the fighting was clumsy and no grand generals took part in it, it was nonetheless a bloody and important mark for the overall conflict. Ileana would fine itself ablaze as bombs dropped atop it and the fields beyond, as missiles and turbolaser fire from capital ships spiraled about and contributed to the fires below, as the burning hulks of fighters, bombers, and even capital ships found their way to the ground, burning themselves.

A city that would be a torch in the daylight, before being snuffed out for nearly a century to come.

 

[Alva Calvarona]

The Royal Squadron would see one of its few deployments at Ileana, normally kept within the Capital city of Stefania or the Royal Palace, they never normally approached the front lines of the war, but with the death of Lord General Tiberius a few months back a Royalist victory was heavily overdue. Even though his death had been tragic and heroic, his demise had nonetheless drained morale even as it also brought a fire of vengeance to the Royal Army's forces. For too long had Ileana sat quietly as it supplied rebel forces from the very beginning, so near the battle lines between both forces territories.

It would be crushed, the rebellion's major staging point would be the price for their audacity to kill the Hero Saint. So the Royal Squadron would participate in the battle, taking the often not seen Royal Bombers, the Ralphina Squadron, to return the pain of the fallen Blessed Battalion back to the rebel forces. It would be young Lieutenant Lyall's first battle in the squadron. It would be her first time flying a Ralphina class bomber as well, considered to be Crina's most durable and powerful single person craft, albeit also the slowest.

 

[Alva Calvarona]

Lieutenant Alyson Lyall had only recently been promoted to the Royal Squadron division of the Royal Guards. It had not been long since she had served on the front lines, and as such she felt that perhaps her skills were not so rusty as some of the others in her Squadron. She did not doubt their qualifications, but at the same time one's survival could also be tied to how in tune they were with the battlefield. An absence from it could be detrimental, but then again Alyson knew she had her own handicap compared to her new flight mates. Unlike the rest she had not had much air time in the Royal's Ralphina class bomber. A craft only available to the Royal Squadron, and one that she only really knew was more powerful and at the same time slower than what she was used to, so perhaps her confidence should be reigned in.

It was a thought she took to heart, and one she was glad she had taken to,m because as soon as she launched with the rest of the Royal Squadron she saw how much of a mess the fighting was. Noble Class Destroyers exchanged volleys of missiles and their cannon fire filled the sky above Ileana as turbolaser bolts flashed between the warships and struck each other, wearing down their shields. Interceptors flashed by, both rebel and royalist, taking shots at the bombers and fighters leaving the Venerable class flagship. The young Lieutenant winced as she watched a trio of fighters leave their hanger to be struck by concussion missiles and laser fire from the enemy fighters.

Thinking it over, leaving the battlefield for a time didn't sound like such a bad concept. It was always a hell, but this seemed more chaotic than most.

 

[Alva Calvarona]

A voice would crackle over their communications channel, soon directing their squadron to divert course toward Ileana where apparently anti air flak cannons had been established and were delivering hefty punishment to the Interceptors lighter skin. A fighter squadron could likely have been diverted instead, but Alyson knew why they were calling for the Ralphina bombers to do the job instead. They had a small bomb bay, only carrying two proton bombs apiece, but nonetheless they were better equipped to deal with the problem. They could pass over the targets and drop their loads without making a strafing run and risking themselves as much.

And they also had superior armor plating as well.

The young Lieutenant herself would attest to how the bomber she was piloting saved her life. Making her pass behind the Squadron leader she had felt a pair of flak rounds strike her craft before the bombs impacted and blew the emplacement apart. The hull had taken glancing blows, but aside from some ugly scratching she wasn't facing the prospect of crashing due to damaged components. Still, all the same out of the twelve of them it seemed like three had been shot down by the emplacements across the village before they were taken down. Or perhaps that was from enemy Interceptors that got past their escorts, the fighters protecting them had been dancing about enemy craft with repeating cannons constantly firing.

 

[Alva Calvarona]

There wasn't much time to dwell on the matter as the squadron was called back to the fray, their ships pushing themselves to the maximum they could in order to rejoin the main force of fighters engaged in dog fights with the rebel interceptors. The rebels were so pitiful, only having a few of CRI's Heavy Fighter design they had managed to steal, fielding almost entirely Interceptors either stolen at the start of the war or built in whatever villages they had managed to scrap together workshops in. They were certainly fast and well armed, but they had light shields and plating compared to the Heavy Fighters and Bombers that the Royal Navy could deploy alongside their own Interceptors.

So it was with relished satisfaction that Alyson watched a pair of Rebel pilots burst in spectacular flames with their ships as her three heavy laser cannons flashed and struck both in passing. Putting her Heavy Bomber into a dive the young Lieutenant couldn't keep the gleeful grin off her face as she watched the Royal Fleet's destroyers launch a screen of concussion missiles that slammed into the hull of the lead Rebel warship and dotted explosions along its length before even greater explosions signified the damage it was taking as it teetered and fell towards the landscape.

It wouldn't be the only one to do so either, but the next would fall to the Ralphina Squadron to bring down as the orders came over to them.