Most of the Transsunerian cities had gone dark the last hour. No telephone calls got through and the very limited Internet access was cut off. The Soormann Fighters supported by Purist brigades had begun their main offensive. The Federationalsts mobilised their last resources. Combined, the Soormanns and the Purists had the strength of two infantry divisions but lacked artillery and support units. The Federation had together a full infantry division with capable artillery units and relative secure supply lines. Both sides accused each other of being the aggressor.

Just outside Transsunerian territorial waters a Sedunnic cruiser barely managed to evade an anti-ship missile fired from a known Federation military base. Fire was not returned.

Off the Transsunerian coast:
Unaware of the Darkstraitese submarine's presence, the divers from the fishing boats had no chance to escape the torpedoes. Only a few made it ashore. The fishing boats were obliterated by the accurate missiles from the KSS Endurance.

Aboard the Sedunnic cruiser Nylittverd:
"This is the situation, Captain." A communications officer briefed the captain on the bridge. "Our helicopter will soon arrive at the lifeboats' location. It will together with the submarine from Darkstrait begin the rescue."
"Good. When we have the crew of the Liberty aboard, start making a plan on how to retake the ship, they should know its interior well. Toghether with them a boarding party using smoke and stun grenades should be successful. Hopefully the Darkstrait submarine has some kind of mini submarine to sneak aboard with."
"Yes, captain."
"Also, increase our distance from the gas cloud another 10 km."
"Yes!"

Unknown location:
"The Sedunnic ship escaped the missile. Hopefully they will believe it was the Federationalists that fired it. Too bad we are so backwards we cannot monitor their transmissions" said a man standing before Soormann.
"Right now we barely have the upper hand. We outnumber the Federationalists by more than two to one, but without that artillery our progress is limited. Having foreigners interfere now would be a disaster. Finding that old secret military base should be our priority. The surplus of canons there is absolutely crucial should they interfere."
"Absolutely, Grandmaster!"