A Set Stage

High Admiral Emil Kuushana at the Battle of Tethra (Part 2)

Emil Kuushana, more commonly known as the Crimson Wolf, was a legendary commander and ryder pilot of the Revolution. Frequently outnumbered and outgunned by the Imperial Fleet, she delivered miracle after miracle. Her most renown accomplishment is her victory against the Imperial Sharr Vysse. Despite her long list of accomplishments, Kuushana has shunned all political positions, making her a hero of the people. She hatched a plan, wherein she hid her personal fleet behind Tethra's moon, whilst the Crimson Fleet remained moored at Cera. The Solar Alliance, overconfident due to its early victories, and seeking vengeance for the murder of Admiral Gray, believed Tethra to be unprotected and performed a multi-planetary warp deep into PACT space to strike. However, the Alliance Fleet found itself disorganized and demoralized without Admiral Gray's brand of prudence. As soon as the Alliance Fleet warped out at Tethra, Kuushana's Fleet emerged, and counter attacked the surprised Alliance Fleet. Kuushana's fast ships and lightning ryder tactics proved effective against the Alliance's slow and bulky ships and the Emerald Fleet had no choice but to retreat.

High Admiral Emil Kuushana at the Battle of Tethra (Part 3)

Far behind enemy lines, the retreating Emerald Fleet was slowly picked apart by PACT hit and run squads. By the time it returned to the Neutral Rim, what little remained of the once mighty Emerald Fleet was a demoralized and damaged shell of its former self. Suddenly finding itself outnumbered by the Crimson Fleet, the Solar Alliance fell back to Ongess to lick its wounds and rebuild. While crushed, the Emerald Fleet would bide for time and strike when the opportunity presented itself. However, that opportunity never came. If the Battle of Tethra was the Alliance's coffin, the Trial of Kryska Stares would become the final nail which sealed it shut.

The Crimson Fleet Modernization Project

Upon Fontana's ascendance to veniczarship of the People's Alliance, he inherited Prototype Alice's existential war with the Solar Alliance abroad and the collapse of the former New Empire's economic system at home. Well aware of the Crimson Fleet's dismal performance at the Battle of Far Port, Veniczar Fontana ordered a complete modernization project of the Crimson Fleet to both increase PACT's military might and to reinvigorate the struggling domestic economy.

PACT's cruiser fleet, which Captain Kayto Shields made into the laughing stock of the galaxy in the Battle of Far Port, was ordered dismantled and replaced with the Dagger-Class Fast Cruisers personally created by Fontana when he was the head of PACT's Research and Development Division. The Fleet Modernization Project remade the Crimson Fleet into a modern fighting force capable of facing, and even surpassing, the Emerald Fleet.

Unfortunately, all did not go to Fontana's plan. Due to overwhelming corruption in the ranks of the PACT leadership, the vast majority of PACT admirals sold the obsolete PACT cruiser fleet on the Black Market to fatten their own pockets rather than scuttle them. The PACT "Guppy" Cruiser, as is popularly called, is now the ship of choice for organized criminals, pirates, and Neutral Rim dictators, only cementing its rotten reputation.