Battle of Feros (2251)

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Parnitha skirmish

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Assaults on the Maginot Line

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Operation Basilisk

Battle of Feros
Part of Operation Silent Zealot

Date:

3 January 2251 CE

Location:

In orbit over Feros / Theseus / Attican Beta

Outcome:

Dominion victory

  • 18th Contingent routed, remaining ships eventually pursued and destroyed
  • Raid on Feros is averted
Belligerents
CovenantInsignia.png
Titan Covenant
GalacticDominion.png
Galactic Dominion
Commanders
CovenantInsignia.png
Melsok;a
GalacticDominion.png
Awarnach Stanford
Strength
Casualties
  • 3 ships crippled
  • 4 ships damaged
  • 3 ships destroyed

None

 
"I sent the dogs running. By the time they knew I was bringing my full fleet to bear against them, the battle was over, and they fled...or at least tried."
Awarnach Stanford, describing his actions at the battle.

The Battle of Feros, also known as the 30 Second Fight For Feros, was a Covenant naval raid on the Coalition colony of Feros on 2251 CE. The raid was planned and initiated by a relatively small battlegroup from the Fleet of Bellerophon, consisting of ten ships, which broke the Maginot Line during a diversionary assault by Covenant forces. Once within Dominion space, the Covenant battlegroup was to cut deeply into Dominion territory and gather what data they could about enemy fortifications, colonies, fleet movements, etc. Upon realizing the Dominion had detected the intrusion, the 18th contingent penetrated deep into their enemy's territory, leading numerous pursuing ships in a goose chase across the area until they finally decided to raid Feros in an attempt to deal damage to their enemy, as per Covenant military doctrine.

However, Prometheus predicted this move and correctly predicted the 18th contingent would attempt to attack the colony. In an attempt to catch them offguard, Summus Imperator Shofo'Wul called off the pursuing ships, and redeployed the nearby Dominion Eleventh Fleet, under the command of Awarnach Stanford, which was running fleet exercises in the area. Stanford, leaving up to his reputation for brazenly charging head first into the action, took his flagship and its sixteen escorts, broke off from the fleet, and raced to Feros to engage his enemy, ordering the rest of his fleet to follow in short order. Battle was finally met when Stanford surprised the 18th contingent in orbit over Feros, his flagship dropping FTL right in the middle of the enemy fleet as they were preparing to deploy their troops to the surface. As a result, his flagship crippled three ships, and damaged four others, before the rest were forced to retreat.

In his memoirs, Stanford would go on to personally name the brief engagement the "30 Second Fight for Feros," as the actual battle itself lasted just under thirty seconds.

Prelude[edit | edit source]