War between the Klingons and the United Federation of Planets broke out after the Klingons cited that the Federation were bringing too many civilisations into the UFP fold, civilisations who were very close to Klingon territory.
The Klingons threw everything at Starfleet early in the war and they were handsomely rewarded as system after system fell to the Klingons while Starfleet’s losses were extensive with the loss of many experienced ships and their crews.
The Klingons were making threats to take even more territory, they wanted to take the nonaligned planet Axanar and it’s system for their resources and a clearer path to bringing conflict directly to the Federation’s strongest members and their planets Earth, Vulcan and Andor.
The Axanarian government requested the help of the United Federation of Planets as they did not have the means to fight off any Klingon invasion force and they had no eagerness to be subjugated by them.
Starfleet was stretched thin by multi system combat but they sent five vessels to the planet with more en route and they were quietly confident that the help would arrive in time.
Captain Wilson of the USS Nelson was ordered by Admiral Todd to head up the fleet that comprised of Captain Hilton’s ship the USS Parkes, Captain Rogers’ ship the USS Savannah, Captain Lee skippered the USS Canberra and Captain Garth was in command of the USS Heisenberg.
Captains Wilson, Hilton, Rogers and Lee were all older and experienced Starfleet veterans while Captain Garth was a young but still experienced Captain who had a thirst for no holds barred battle making him an automatic choice to be in this fleet though questions were raised about him being too eager for bloodshed.
The fleet arrived at Axanar ahead of the Klingons and they set up a defensive pattern, the plan was to spread out the Klingons and try get a two on one situation allowing one starship to fire phasers and the other to fire torpedos for maximum damage in a charge and retreat pattern that Captain Wilson learned about in history books.
The Axanarians had some basic planetary defence platforms around their planet and Captain Wilson decided to keep the ships away from those as long as possible and instructed the Axanarians to power down and wait for the signal to spring into action.
The Klingon fleet of six ships arrived and the Starfleet crews were worried, these ships were Cruisers and not the Destroyers that Starfleet had but Starfleet had speed and nimbleness on their side and were confident of having even odds.
Captain Wilson ordered a charge at the leading two Klingon ships with three starships targeting one and remaining two targeting the other, phasers and torpedos cut through space as the Starfleet ships got in range first and blew one Klingon ship straight to Sto’Vo’Kor.
The Klingons answered with disruptors and torpedoes with the USS Canberra taking a couple of hits but it was not knocked out of action, Captain Lee reported that the ship was ship was still in the fight and the ship quickly scored hits on a Klingon ship as it pulled back.
It was five on five as the ships continued to fight, the USS Savannah was rotating phaser fire on two Klingon ships while the USS Canberra and USS Parkes were playing tag with a Klingon cruiser with the Klingon ship’s captain angrily threatening the Starfleet crews on subspace.
A brace of torpedoes slammed into the USS Nelson and all lights went out on the starship as the USS Heisenberg covered the ship from Klingon fire while the Nelson crew desperately tried getting the ship stabilised.
The USS Nelson was heavily damaged and was incommunicado, Captain Garth after getting no response to his hails assumed command of the remaining Starfleet ships and changed up the battle plan to try throw off the Klingons.
Captain Garth changed the battle plan in an attempt to encircle the Klingons using the Starfleet vessels superior speed and nimbleness to evade fire and keep hitting the Klingons in return, there was no time for the other Captains to come up with a new plan or debate keeping the previous plan.
The Klingons left the USS Nelson alone, they wanted prisoners and planned on boarding the ship after the battle was over to take the prisoners they wanted and make examples out of some of the crew.
The Klingons were now confident of victory and perhaps they got a little too eager as they spread their ships out and decided to hunt down the Starfleet ships one by one for maximum glory for their houses.
Captain Garth remembered that the planetary defence platforms and signalled the other ships to get closer to them while still circling the Klingons who were turning rapidly trying to keep a lock and fire on the Starfleet vessels who were getting hits on the Klingon vessels.
The Klingon ship chasing the USS Savannah was hit by torpedoes by the USS Parkes and their port shields were down, the closest Axanar planetary defence platform was signalled to power up and fire on the Klingon ship as it passed by which it would in just a matter of seconds time.
The defence platform powered up and fired a brace of torpedoes at the Klingon ship, they slammed into the ship and hull breaches formed sucking many Klingon warriors out into space.
The USS Parkes was in range of the platform while out of Klingon fire range and beamed the platform’s crew aboard before the Klingons could destroy the now automated platform.
The Starfleet ships fired everything at the damaged cruiser and it was destroyed with debris hitting another cruiser, soon the other Klingon cruisers were in range of the other platforms and they were damaged too allowing Starfleet to hold the line against the Klingons.
The Klingons were shocked by the heavy damage to their remaining cruisers and were more eager than ever to punish Starfleet for what they have done to their ships and their warriors.
The space around Axanar lit up with flashes of light as additional starships arrived on scene, these were the ships that were promised to arrive at Axanar by Admiral Todd and they were more than a match for the damaged Klingon cruisers.
The Klingons took stock of the situation and came to the conclusion that retreat from Axanar would not be dishonourable and that the Klingons would have other glorious plans in the future that would involve the ships and they immediately set a course for Klingon territory.
The reinforcements raced over to their fellow starships, the USS Nelson was in rough shape having taken dozens of casualties after torpedoes hit their engineering section and medical teams were beamed aboard to assist.
The defeat of the Klingons at Axanar was followed up by a series of other victories as the Admiral Todd led Starfleet turned the tide and forced the Klingons to come to the negotiating table.
For those commanding the Klingon ships at Axanar, life was not going to be easy for them as they were all stripped of honours and busted down to the lowest rank and they were lucky the Emperor was in a forgiving mood otherwise execution would have been a foregone conclusion.
All Starfleet officers received the Defence of Axanar Medal for their service at Axanar.
Captains Wilson, Lee, Hilton and Rogers were made legends throughout the Federation while Captain Garth’s adventures were making him both legendary and feared in the known universe as he racked up a string of successes in combat.
The Battle of Axanar become required learning at Starfleet Academy and the lessons learned from it aided Starfleet personnel for centuries to come including the legendary James T. Kirk.
It had taken some time but the Klingons and the United Federation of Planets came to terms and the Klingons abandoned all gained territories as the Federation done the same with captured Klingon territory, peace was once again in our time.
That was the Battle of Axanar and it’s aftermath, a major part in the history of the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet.
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