Our long-range probes had discovered the presence of a series of resource-rich systems on the border between the Eldritch Empire and the fringes of Human-explored space.
One in particular was attractive for the purposes of setting up an extraction colony as it has been settled by a small Human colony already, providing some initial infrastructure and a supply of slave laborers.
The Supreme Council has appointed me Sword of Silver Stars, or Warlord, for this mission.
I have assembled an attack fleet, chosen my most skilled and trusted officers, and loaded my assault ships with a swift and powerful ground invasion force. The plan is simple and bold, to strike quickly and overwhelm the Human system defense fleet before they are able to prepare any significant defense.
Upon translation into the system, designated Depot 319-3, I delivered a short broadband transmission - "Surrender" - before setting course to intercept the third planet.
As I expected, the Humans merely drew in all of their ships to defend the lone space installation like so many fish drawn into a seine.
As my fleet approached the upper orbital limits of Depot 319-3 we initiated 'The Day Lily Opens to the Sun' maneuver:
The Humans came forward to meet us, accelerating straight into the heart of our formation, precisely as I had anticipated.
In the following plot you can see how Task Force Blue (on the right) is getting into position to outflank the Humans from one side while Task Force Yellow takes position on the other side. Attack Flight Crimson can be seen accelerating toward the larger freighters at the Human rear. The Midge-class Corvettes are armed with plasma torpedoes and tasked with destroying the cruiser guarding these valuable vessels.
The humans sent two squadrons of small fighters on a suicide mission to attack the surface assault ships, diving straight through the center of my attack line. I remained confident of the defensive capabilities of these craft and their captains, veterans of several landing campaigns.
The Morays launched their own attack fighter squadrons in response, as it appeared the Humans were attempting to sneak a small flight of attack corvettes in behind the fighters.
The ECM and defensive batteries of the Morays turned out to be very effective, as the Human fighters were only able to cause minimal damage before being destroyed.
The missile cruiser 'Permit' was able to launch a highly effective salvo of missiles into the center of the Human task force.
This attack was followed up by a crushing series of attacks from the rest of Task Force Blue:
(the black flame counters indicate a ship has fired, the orange fire tokens indicate a ship has sustained damage, the small black smoke token on the Permit indicates damage this turn and the large smoke token indicates a ship destroyed)
In the following plots you can see that the right-hand wing of the Human fleet has been nearly destroyed as Task Force Yellow bears down on the flank of the left wing. In the rear the Midges attack the cruiser and in the center the Nightblade attack fighters have engaged the Human corvettes.
Combined fire from the Midges and 2 Nightblade squadrons overwhelm the cruisers' defenses and it becomes an expanding ball of super-heated gas and debris:
Return fire from the cruiser and the freighters was too late to save them, but was able to cripple and destroy one Midge corvette - the only Eldritch casualty of this battle! I commend their souls to the Emperor and the Infinity Circuit.
The rest of the battle progressed swiftly, as Task Force Yellow was able to outflank and envelop the left-hand wing of the Human fleet. Here you can see the Outrage-class battlecruiser 'Denial' orchestrating the destruction of the Human ships:
The Moray-class SAS sustained minor damage in the Human's last-ditch effort to protect their world:
But in the end the superiority of the Eldritch fleet could not be denied. As the last Human warship was destroyed the Humans self-destructed their freighters and all staff abandoned the orbital station.
With only minimal casualties the skies above Depot 319-3 have been swept clear of the enemy.
I ordered the Midge flight to track down and eliminate all Human communication satellites and any interface transfer vehicles they may find lurking about, while Task Force Yellow patrolled the debris fields looking for survivors.
All of the living Humans that we recovered were transferred to the abandoned station as prisoners for interrogation.
The surface assault ships are moving into position and recce forces have been dispatched planetside to establish a bridgehead for the invasion and pacification forces.