The brief but catastrophic Battle of Balun[4] was a pivotal event that occurred late in the Great Garmillas War that also marked the beginning of the Garmillas Civil War. By launching the raid, the battleship Yamato was able to use the Subspace gate network to take months and tens of thousands of light years of travel off its mission to save the planet Earth. Yamato also wiped out a large fraction of the Great Garmillas Empire military fleet with the near total destruction of the Archelias network hub at Balun, and cut the empire off from some of its farthest territories.
Prelude[]
The garmillas fleet gathering at Balun
During Yamato's brief stay at Beemela 4, a landing party discovered stellar charts that included information on a network of subspace gates linking the Milky Way Galaxy and the Large Magellanic Cloud. For the Yamato crew, already behind schedule in their voyage to the planet Iscandar, the Archelias gate network offered a chance to travel far faster than conventional warp and a life-or-death difference for their dying homeworld.[5] However, the ancient alien network was currently under the control of the Great Garmillas Empire. Approaching and activating the nearest gate proved relatively easy,[6] but using the gate would require passage through the network hub in orbit of the gas giant Balun, which the empire had fortified into one of its most heavily defended facilities. Admiral Juzo Okita ordered a reconnaissance mission to the hub, sending Ensign Hiroki Shinohara to fly a captured Garmillas Czvarke fighter. At Balun, Shinohara's suspicious presence was detected and nearby enemy vessels opened fire. Shinohara was injured and his plane suffered severe damage, but he escaped back through the gate and delivered intelligence about a military presence beyond expectation: ten thousand Garmillas warships of almost every class and strength.[2]
The armada massing at Balun had been assembled by Imperial Marshal Herm Zoellik in the wake of a political crisis. Leader Abelt Desler had been assassinated, leaving a power vacuum.[7] Zoellik, the architect of the plot against Desler, was moving to rally the support of the military in his bid to become the next ruler of the empire. With Major General Gremdt Goer and other officers standing behind him, Zoellik announced the death of Desler from the bridge of his super dreadnought flagship, Zoellugut II, and began his appeal to lead the empire into a new era.
At that moment, an annoyed Zoellik was interrupted by a report of an alien vessel coming through one of the gates.
The Battle[]
Seconds later, Yamato emerged from the gate, accelerated toward the Garmillas fleet, and began firing shock cannon rounds and torpedoes at any ship in its path or making a threatening move. With the ships in tight formation for the naval review, most were incapable of responding without crashing into their own comrades or destroying them in friendly fire. Zoellik, blinded by the opportunity to prove his leadership in battle, ignored the obvious danger and commanded the fleet to "surround and crush" the intruder in honor of Desler, even countermanding General Goer's panicked instruction to separate their forces. Despite the difficulties, a small number of cruisers finally managed to break formation and maneuvered close enough to inflict minor damage on Yamato's port and starboard sides as it neared Balun. The planet's gravity captured Yamato and it fell below the thick clouds, appearing to sink.[2]
A confused Goer observes Yamato's wave motion gun firing.
Zoellik's triumph was short-lived as an unexpectedly familiar voice addressed him from the communication system, and Abelt Desler appeared on the bridge's main viewscreen, alive and well. From the UX-01 submarine hiding in subspace, Desler explained how we was able to learn of Zoellik's assassination plot and plant a body double in his place. Zoellik frantically tried to salvage support from the gathered Garmillas forces before Goer shot him in the back, killing the man.[2]
Goer, now the senior officer aboard Zoellik's flagship, was informed that Yamato was rising from the planet's equator, having navigated underneath Balun's cloud cover to the far side. As the Earth ship raced toward the gate leading to the Large Magellanic Cloud, Okita ordered it to turn one hundred eighty degrees and charge its wave motion gun. The pursuing Garmillas weapons fire drew closer to Yamato, but not before the wave motion gun reached full capacity. The wave motion beam lashed out between the Garmillas vessels, along the exact line of Yamato's course and into Balun itself, striking the energetic core of the planet. Crucial seconds passed before Goer realized what was happening. Okita disabled the gravity anchor on the wave motion engine, and the sudden recoil of the wave motion gun sent Yamato hurtling through the gate. In the very next second, the gate exploded.[2]
Goer desperately tried to pull the armada away as Balun's core overloaded in a massive blast that obliterated thousands of warships.[2]
Aftermath[]
Safely through
Balun survived the explosion of its energy core, but the design of the planet made long ago by the gate builders was undone. Its energy output faded, the distorted ovoid shape of Balun collapsed into a more natural sphere, and the planet was pushed off its axial tilt. Except for the galactic theater gate leading to the Milky Way on the far side of Balun, the Archelias hub was obliterated. Any ship entering one of the distant network gates would be unable to transit through the hub, rendering the network all but useless.[8]
Yamato exited the network to the welcome sight of the Large Magellanic Cloud looming before them. More than a hundred thousand light years from home, the crew safely arrived on the doorstep of Iscandar, more optimistic about the mission than ever.[2]
General Goer took command of three thousand surviving vessels and started the three-months-long trip across the intergalactic void to Garmillas.[9] However a portion of the fleet still loyal to Zoellik would split up and months later, after Desler's eventual fall from power, a Gatlantis Empire battle group ambushed it destroying it entirely, including the super dreadnought.[10] With Goer's fleet away and the loss of seven thousand ships at Balun, the empire scrambled to confront Yamato, now seen as the empire's gravest threat. Desler recognized his limited options and turned once more to a general languishing in a Garmillas jail for help.[11]
Footage of Yamato's raid and the devastation it caused came into the possession of the Gatlantis Empire, and was reviewed by Emperor Zworder and his ministers in 2202 in an attempt to better understand their new adversary.[12] In December of the same year Susumu Kodai, acting captain of Yamato, recalled the tactics used by Okita during the Battle of Balun when deciding to intervene in the Battle of the eleventh planet.[13]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ The Era of Space Battleship Yamato: Choice of 2202
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 2.32 2.33 2.34 2.35 2.36 2.37 2.38 2.39 2.40 2.41 "Over the Black Light"
- ↑ Given the events nature as a naval review, it is safe to assume that all forces present are part of the Astro Fleet, outside of those specifically stated to be exceptions
- ↑ First named officially in Battle to the Death – The 11th Planet Rescue Operation
- ↑ "A Choice for the Future"
- ↑ "Out of the Forest of Memory"
- ↑ "Point of No Return"
- ↑ "The Forever War"
- ↑ "The Planet That We Head For"
- ↑ Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark
- ↑ "They're Coming!"
- ↑ "The Beam of Light Flashes! / Radiance of the Wave Motion Gun"
- ↑ Battle to the Death – The 11th Planet Rescue Operation
Japanese language information[]
バラン戦 Baran-sen