The Self-Determinance Novitiate needed to expand it's base of echelon-thinking producers, and the wide open spaces of the Desert Planet Jacobi lured them there. However, The Mb'eenies had bean and born there already, and conflict was inevitable.
The Novitiate had recently launched the battleship Glidestar to protect Prefect's aggressive acquisition strategy, and once the SDN Tokash had done with the pirates of Magmo, the fleet jumped as one to Jacobi in order to secure our freedoms.
First Battle of Jacobi - newly-promoted Commodore Prefect's fleet encounters early resistance above the dessicated paradise
Alarmingly, the Mb'eeni forces had already constructed a mobile battlestation of incredible size and power in the system, and it ponderously moved towards our fleet. It was not fully upgraded or armed, however, and Commodore Prefect faced it down with the remnants of his fleet.
Waves of trademarked SDN missiles deliver motivational therapy to the Mb'eeni relocation efforts
After a grueling battle and serious damage to the Glidestar, the battlestation was finally destroyed... but too late! The Mb'eenies had vectored relief forces, and Prefect was forced to pull out, as he couldn't do any more good in there. The fleet returned to Tastng to lick it's wounds and examine the benefits of the battle. Politically, battling the Mb'eeni empire was making friends across space, and many trade routes were negotiated, raises the average quality of life substantially and allowing Admiral Dong's starbase to be completed. The Joint Strike Fliegerschiff was finally completed - a massive fleet carrier, it used it's large hangers and stock market manipulation to assist the fleet. With replacements flowing in and the treasury full, Prefect was ordered to send his fleet back to Jacobi and capture it before the
Zerg Mb'eeni could build another starbase.
View from the hangar of SDN Tokash at the fleet review, 546A2
Early reports from the battle were positive as no fleet had been placed in the system. As the escorts split up to create chaos among the orbiting structures, the heavier vessels rained nuclear fire on the surface of Jacobi, in order to prepare it for colonisation. Sadly, millions of Mb'eeni civilians died during the procedure.
Stage-1 colonisation protocol - an armchair Admiral's view
However, the Mb'eeni's had callously abandoned their people, sacrificing them to the colonial effort, in order to lure our brave fleet into a trap. When it was spread out, they attacked in unexpected numbers and with many carriers. Prefect's capital ships, cut off from their air-defence assets and pinned against the planet by the oncoming capital ships, found themselves in a dire situation. Glidestar's autocannon batteries were reported 'nearly melting' from constant engagement of dozens of targets in all directions, including a menacing enemy fleet carrier.
Initial attempts to break the encirclement were less than successful (Image from Second Battle of Jacobi)
However, due to doctrinal and moral superiority over our foes, the fleet blasted through the enemy, and raced for the jump zone to Ice Planet Fanta. However, Prefect knew his spread-out forces could never escape without a distraction, and so he bravely turned his damaged capital ships into the enemy as his smaller escorts escaped the area. This bold manouvre saved thousands of lives and caused such confusion among the enemy that they stopped launching fighters for some time - a true triumph of the Novitiate's philosophy! The enemy carrier was a primary target for the fleet, as it was home to thousands of fighters.
Textbook example of the 'focus fire' doctrine, demonstrated by Admiral Prefect during the struggle for Jacobi (Glidestar is shown once again disobeying fire discipline)
The carrier's fighters took a heavy toll on the fleet escorts, and all the anti-fighter assets had already been destroyed. For some time it was thought that the JSF would be lost in her first battle, but the doubters were silenced after a cataclysmic explosion tore the enemy carrier - and much of their fleet - to pieces.
For these Mb'eeni, the war is over
However, the Mb'eeni high command (HPCA or 'High Principate of Creative Aggression', a poor translation) had clearly planned this all along, as another pair of enemy capital ships arrived, decisively turning the battle against the SDN fleet, which was tired and heavily damaged after nearly three days of fighting. Many of the escorts ordered to retreat had returned to assist in the previous kill, and were now exposed to the new counter-counter-counterattack formulated by the enemy.
Turning point in the Second Jacobi Conflict
The battleships were in extreme danger. At one point, the SDN Tokash was targeted by a massive 'phase missile' attack from the entire enemy fleet and hit badly aft. It was at this point that Admiral Prefect realised retreat was necessary to prevent disaster. As his ships fought a running battle to the edge of the gravity well, he ordered his fleet to transmit a parting message to the Mb'eeni. He stood on the bridge of the JSF and declared
'I'll be back'
Unconfirmed reports suggest he next transmitted to the fleet his unorthodox order for individual ships to jump at will, rather than the regulation simultaneous jump in the following words
'Come with me if you want to live'
The words - and wisdom - of Admiral Prefect have, of course, stumped thinkers for decades since this battle, and no commentary can sensibly be offered here.
Commander of the MFS Darwinian Selection Method (sexual)
