Template:Battle The Second Battle of Queen-Mother's Pearls (usually referred to as the Pearls) was a massive space battle in the Hapan civil war fought in the Interior region of the Hapes Cluster, near the stars known as Queen-Mother's Pearls. The battle is seen as a revenge for the Draconian Union's loss of the Zukan system some decaded earlier. The Sword Confederacy's fleet was commanded by Lady Zului who had originally conquered the Zukan system in the early stages of the conflict, while the Draconian Union's forces were commanded by Lord Tylger.
Overview
Preparation & Initial Movement
Preparing an offensive in to Sword Confederacy territory, the spies of the Draconian Union misled Sword naval command with false information regarding an upcoming attack on the Rivved HQ space station in Rivved Space. Furthermore they revealed the supposed Draconian approach vector which involved taking a small task force close enough the radiation of Queen-Mother's Pearls to avoid detection.
The Sword Confederacy, believing that an ambush would make it easy for them to capture or kill the supposed Draconian commander, Lord Tylger, prepared the 4th Sword Carrier Group to intercept the Draconian task force on April 5 3975.
Ambush
The 12th Draconian Escort Fleet passed near the Queen-Mother's Pearls on the designated date, luring the 4th Sword Carrier Group to follow them. Sword commander Lady Zului hoped to be able to sneak up on the Draconian fleet from the rear and catch them off guard. As the Sword fleet entered the gravity wells of two of the largest stars, Eye of Arwinian and Eye of Tini'duran, the 8th Draconian Order entered the arena from one direction and the 13th Draconian Escort Fleet from another. The 12th Draconian Escort Fleet came about and the three fleets engaged the 4th Sword Carrier Group.
The intense gravity in the area made the capital ship engagement extremely difficult. The Draconian Union utilised starfighters on a massive scale in the battle, using Druui Assault Bombers to take out a larger number of Sword Confederacy capital ships. Captain Trini'qar, Draconian fighter ace, was the overall fighter commander of the battle and earned the Draconian Fighter Corps a deadly reputation with her superior tactics as well as bold maneuvers.
The Draconian Union's command ship at the battle was the Tractia Heavy Cruiser Fist of Ci'hani, on loan from the 5th Draconian Order. It destroyed Lady Zului's command ship, the Nele'serin Battle Cruiser Song of Ut, within the first twenty minutes of the battle thanks to superior weaponry.
All in all the battle lasted some five hours as the 4th Sword Carrier Group was unable to jump to hyperspace and safety. Towards the end of the battle, several smaller ships attempted to break through the Draconian lines and clear the gravity wells.
Mop-Up
The few ships that did succeed in running through the Draconian lines were quickly overtaken by the Miy'cal Interceptors and Druui Assault Bombers which began to swarm the cruisers and frigates, destroying them with deadly barrages of torpedoes and missiles.
Most escape pods launched by the Sword Confederacy ships were not retrieved as they were pulled in to the gravitational pull of the nearby stars and destroyed. The few retrieved pod occupants were made prisoners of war.
Aftermath
The annihilation of the 4th Sword Carrier Group paved way for the Draconian Union's annexation of the Zukan system following the Seventh Battle of Zukan. The battle was viewed by the Sword Confederacy's leadership as one of their biggest defeats so far in the Hapan civil war and forced them to go on the offensive later on.
The Draconian Fighter Corps' achievements in the battle opened the Draconian naval commands eyes for the use of starfighters, having previously preferred to use mostly capital ships with some support and escort squadrons. Starfighter skirmishes became more frequent after this engagement.
