View source for Comm-Link:This Day in History - Battle for Centauri

Decimated at the end of their first [[Human]] war, the [[Tevarin]] military was scattered to the far corners of the universe, their homeworld, [[Elysium IV]], was conquered for Human settlement, and war hero [[Ivar Messer]] was granted a position as the [[UPE]]’s inaugural (and final) [[First Citizen]]. Humanity, confident in their absolute victory, considered the Tevarin threat completely neutralized. They were wrong.

February 15, 2603 SET, a massive battle fleet entered the [[Fora system]] through a previously unknown jump point. Broadcasting on all frequencies, [[Corath'Thal]], the new Tevarin Warlord, made his demands known. The Tevarin had returned to retake Elysium IV. Either the [[UEE]] could stand aside or Corath'Thal would burn a path to his ancestral home.

There were some in [[Congress]] who, hesitant to enter into another war, counseled for the concession of the planet, stating that the Tevarin’s plight was a sympathetic one. However, all debate was ended when the [[Imperator]] ordered a full attack. There would be no ceding UEE territory. The [[Second Tevarin War]] had begun.

In those first few battles, the military severely underestimated the Tevarin’s abilities. Expecting to fight against a similar show of force to what they had faced previously, the UEE’s initial losses were heavy. Corath’Thal had used the Tevarin’s time in the [[Fringe]] well, updating their technology through heavy trading with other species and reconfiguring their military strategy to take full advantage of the lessons learned from their prior defeat. Under his command, the Tevarin slowly forged through system after system. The UEE Navy, even in victory, was unable to force the invaders to retreat. Eventually, after seven long years of protracted fighting, the war had wound its way to the [[Centauri system]], just one jump away from the Tevarin’s homeworld.

Repeated attempts had proven that direct attacks against the Tevarin fleet were in vain. Though the UEE had superior numbers, the Tevarin flew in a unique phalanx formation that relied on heavy shield-generating ships to present a near impregnable front. If they were going to be stopped, it was going to take more than brute firepower this time.

The UEE Navy set up the bulk of their forces around the [[Centauri-Elysium]] jump point, knowing that it was Corath’Thal’s main target, but the Warlord denied the UEE the chance to have an entrenched battle. He instead split his forces to strafe the populated city centers on [[Yar]] and [[Saisei]]. Taking severe civilian losses, the [[Navy]] maneuvered most of its carriers to stem the tide of the attack, while leaving a small contingent behind to continue to protect the jump. The decision to leave one carrier behind in particular, the [[UEES Countenance]], is often cited by historians as the pivotal turning point in the Battle for Centauri. Why the Countenance was chosen and not some other vessel has been the subject of numerous academic debates, but one thing is certain, the fact that it was home to the then little-known [[Squadron 42 (Squad)|Squadron 42]] did not factor into the choice.

Squadron 42 was what was known as, in the military parlance of the time, a ‘keel squad.’ Founded during the [[First Tevarin War]], it was designated as a disciplinary unit to handle problematic pilots. While often disruptive and not dependable, these highly trained starmen represented significant investments of the Navy’s time and credits, and were deemed too valuable, especially in the middle of a war, to simply lock up or discharge while they were still able to fly. Whereas in previous centuries they would have been keelhauled for their transgressions, they were instead assigned to Squadron 42 and charged with missions ‘too lowly’ for average pilots. While the squad had flown in many battles, they did so without distinction, often at the periphery of the fight. It wasn’t until the Battle for Centauri, when the squadron was under the command of the legendary Captain [[Alexandra Dunlevy]], that the Squadron 42 we know today began to take shape.

Captain Dunlevy, a promising officer with a keen analytical mind, had been assigned to Squadron 42 after being found guilty of insubordination for calling her former commander’s attack plan “stupid.” At first, Captain Dunlevy tried running her new squadron as she would any other, but when what should have been simple supply runs kept taking twice as long as allotted due to infighting and hot-dogging, she realized that another approach was required. The problem wasn’t in their flight skills. She noted in her early reports that often these pilots were some of the best she had ever seen. However, the snap decision-making and self-confidence that made them great pilots often resulted in a resistance towards the Navy’s traditional command structure. More often than not, this attitude was what got them assigned to Squadron 42 in the first place. Determined to turn her squad around, Captain Dunlevy tried an experiment where, rather than outlining a specific flight path and mission plan for her pilots, she simply told them where the pickup point was. The experiment proved a success when the supply run finished hours earlier than her best estimates. Captain Dunlevy’s suspicions were confirmed; Squadron 42 could do anything you asked, as long as you didn’t care how they did it. Now all she had to do was convince [[Admiral Fraser]] how valuable her squad could really be. The opportunity presented itself soon after the attacks on Yar and Saisei had begun.