In large organizations, leaks of data and media intended solely for internal use were unavoidable. Such leaks were far more common for in-game organizations where such leaks had no real world consequences. Thus, with over two hundred members, it was only a matter of time before someone in the Crimson Suns shared their video record of the Battle of Elaris. The vid first appeared on the nets the next day at half-past nine in the morning, eastern time – fifteen hours since the incident became public knowledge. By noon, the community had copied and shared its data across every PG related forum, news blog, and fan site. To the Suns' detriment, the leaked video was uncut and unedited, leaving bare all the org's structure, tactics, and radio protocols. Within twenty-four hours of the battle, tactical analyses appeared, eviscerating the Suns and purporting an explanation for the absurd damage ratio dealt by the Temple Wraiths.

Most popular, and arguably the best, tactical breakdown came from a streaming program named Orbital Chess, hosted by Gate News Network anchor Kat Andell and featuring Stars & Bars strategist Jazz Anders. While the two never discussed events involving S&B, episodes of the detailed and generally unbiased stream served as a bible of group combat tactics in the world of Parallax Gate. With the explosion of interest in the Battle of Elaris, GNN arranged a special episode of Orbital Chess to dissect the action. Thousands of viewers tuned into GNN to hear Jazz's take on the event. At exactly half-past nine in the evening, the stream went live on the GNN website, revealing the anchor and analyst in a virtual studio.

“Good evening, and welcome to a special episode of Orbital Chess, where we break down the tactics of fleet combat in Parallax Gate. I'm your host, Kat Andell, and with me is Stars and Bars strategist Jazz Anders. Today, we will be breaking down the action between the Crimson Suns and Temple Wraiths yesterday, which made a huge splash in the headlines. Welcome back again Jazz, are you ready to get started?”

“Thank you Kat,” Jazz said. “Before we get started, there are a few things that I think should be said before we get into the action. I understand our viewers prefer seeing when victory is achieved through tactical superiority. That will still be true today, but there are a few other factors which won't always be available to tacticians out in Parallax.”

“Could you elaborate on those factors for the viewers?” Kat asked.

“Of course. The first caveat to this analysis is that the Temple Wraiths' pilots are all extremely skilled. Far more than those on the Crimson Suns' side.”

“Can you give us some numbers, using the ladder ratings perhaps?”

“Hmm...” Jazz paused for a second. “Using sim battle ladder ratings, I'd estimate that the Temple Wraiths' pilots have solo ratings between twenty-two and twenty-three hundred while the Suns' pilots range from nineteen to twenty-one hundred. Also, the Wraiths' best pilot I'd rate at about twenty-four fifty, near the current highest rating of twenty-five sixteen. For those unfamiliar with ladder ratings, the average rating is sixteen hundred.”

“So based on those values, the Suns were completely outclassed by the Wraiths despite having pilots who'd be considered skilled by most measures?”

“Exactly Kat. The tactics presented for today’s battle will be relevant only when a clear difference in player skill is involved.”

“Okay, then what are the other factors you suggested?”

“Mistakes made by the Suns' fleet commander and plain dumb luck,” Jazz said. “A good tactician would exploit their enemy's mistakes, of course, and we could debate for hours if creating an opportunity for luck is a tactical skill in itself, but there's no denying that these factors benefited the Wraiths in this event.”

Kat smiled and looked to the camera. “Then, without further ado, let's begin the breakdown.”

As the battle video played on screen, Jazz began his commentary. “The video begins as the Wraiths are recovering from a jamming trap. Four frigates and sixteen fighters from the Suns jumped into Elaris from Revell Gate and began approaching the Wraiths. The first turning point is here. Probably according to their plans, the Suns sent the fighters of their first fleet ahead to strike at the Wraiths. On paper, this is an even match, with eight fighters and a frigate on one side and sixteen fighters on another. With the Suns' skills, this is a favorable matchup, at least, seventy percent of the time. More if you include their backup. Though neither side knows at this point, the Wraiths' interceptors were more highly upgraded, so unfortunately for the Suns, this was one of those few times when they were outmatched.

“As the Wraiths reorganized themselves, their commander decided to retreat to Mystell Gate. With the Aoshima class having a higher thrust to weight ratio than the Wu-Jian, this sets up a limited engagement with the Suns' fighters before the Wraiths can retreat from Elaris.”

The video paused and its picture shrank to a screen behind the commentators.

“So at this point, was the first group of Suns fighters committed to an attack they'd lose?” Kat asked.

“Not quite. While both sides lacked knowledge on the other's strength, the Suns had a clear advantage in numbers. We didn't play the audio here, but the Suns' commander sent his fighters out to engage the Wraiths' fighters. Since his objective was to shoot down the fighters, he probably intended to sink the Aoshima frigate with his Wu-Jian frigates. From this perspective, as long as most the Wraiths' fighters were destroyed, the tactic could be considered successful, even if all sixteen fighters were lost.”

“Interesting. Is there anything the viewers should keep in mind as we watch the next phase?”

“I'll detail the tactics as they come along, but interceptor pilots may be interested in the lead fighter of the second Wraiths flight, who I'm certain is in the top fifty of the fighter sim ladders. From the killboards, we know the pilot is Nova Streya, but as you know, player tags in sim battles aren't publicly linked to player tags in the PG universe.”

A second fleet appeared from Mystell Gate, and Jazz resumed his commentary. “At this point, initial objectives were set in stone for both sides. The Suns' was to pick off the Wraiths' fighters and then sink the frigate. The Wraiths needed to shoot down the first group of fighters as quickly as possible so that they could partially negate their numerical disadvantage. Thanks to this, the Wraiths reversed course and flew full speed to the first fighter group.”

The Aoshima frigate hugged the asteroid belt on its approach, and two Wraiths flights turned to meet four Suns flights in open space.

“Here, the Suns commander made the second good decision with a bad outcome. We hear him designate the two flight leaders as primary targets and the element leaders as secondary targets. With their standard tactics, one Viper flight of four was assigned to each primary target, one Viper element to each secondary, and the last flight of four Wasps split to engage the remaining Wraiths.”

“Before we get too far Jazz, can you explain why the good decision led to a poor outcome?”

“There are several approaches to prioritizing targets. Most commonly, groups prefer eliminating leaders to disorganize their opposition. The risk here is that flight leaders tend to be the most experienced, and most difficult to shoot down. Also typical is to prioritize the weakest links, which reduces the damage output of the opponent. This risks leaving your opponent's biggest threats unchecked. Let's watch what occurs next.”

On the defensive, the two Wraiths flights split, flying in opposite directions. The flights split again, becoming four elements of two. Vipers and Wasps on their tail, the flight leaders turned towards their frigate, dodging fire along the way. Again, they turned inwards, setting the chase paths to intersect. Oddly, the Wraiths leaders stopped evading the Suns' shots, instead focusing their shields aft. Without warning, two orange fireballs slammed into two of the Suns' flight leads, shredding their Vipers' shields. A second later, the Wraiths' paths crossed, and each flight shot the others' pursuer. Within two seconds, the Suns lost two flight leads.

“I watched this several times already,” Kat said, pausing the vid again, “but I can't figure how both flight leads were simultaneously hit by the frigate's ionic disruptors. Doesn't common sense state that fighters are too maneuverable to be hit by a ship's main guns?”

“Yes. For clarity, I'll use the Suns' perspective from now on. Recognizing that the flight leaders were primaries, the Wraiths split their flights apart then turned towards their frigate. As they approached, the primaries briefly stopped evasive movement. The Suns followed suit and began hitting their targets, but this briefly made their path predictable. As the frigate fired, the Wraiths wingmen broke off, hitting the Suns' leads, while the Suns' targets resumed evasive maneuver. Honestly, it was a perfectly executed maneuver with exceedingly thin margins. We can hear the results, as the Suns' teamwork fell apart for a few seconds, allowing the primaries' shields time to recover.”

The two near shieldless Vipers formed a new element and dove into the asteroid field. Without their leaders, six Suns Vipers followed in a loose combat spread. The Wraiths wingmen formed another new element, now chased by two Wasps.

“Let's step back a bit here.” Jazz said. “At this point, thirty seconds in, the battle is split into three skirmishes. The first involves the two primaries dodging fire from six in the asteroid field. The second is where four Rattlers are engaged with four Vipers and two Wasps in open space, and their maneuvers are drawing closer to the frigate. Finally, a new Wraiths Viper element is against two Wasps. Aside from the primary skirmish, which will soon devolve into a game of hide and seek, both the other skirmishes favor the Wraiths if you count the frigate support. This is critical as the first set of Suns frigates is about two minutes from firing range.”

Three seconds later, the wingmen element flew by the Aoshima, forcing the Wasps to break pursuit. With a turn, two of the Suns' Wasps were on the defensive and taking plasma fire. The secondary targets merged to form a flight of four Rattlers. Their elements split and wove, repeatedly fending off the others' attacker while returning to the frigate. Despite the Vipers' superior maneuverability, no Suns pilot could keep a Rattler targeted past a second before taking fire themselves. In the asteroids, the Suns' formation was scattered and the Wraiths lost their attackers. A minute before the Suns frigates arrived, the Suns lost two wasps and two Vipers in the asteroids. In open space, the Suns were at six against six. In the asteroids, they were four against two.

“The first mistake the Suns made was here, when it is obvious his pilots were outmatched and his numeric advantage was lost. He should have pulled the fighters, so the Wraiths fighters would then be drawn against frigates without support or the fleets regroup to restore the Suns' advantage. Instead, he lost composure and his remaining fighters went with it. While he had another sixteen fighters in the second fleet, he overreacted and ordered them to match speeds with those frigates.”

By the time the Suns' frigates arrived, the Wraiths had destroyed their remaining fighters with ruthless efficiency. The Wraiths' frigate turned towards Revell Gate, spraying plasma from its main engines. Recognizing the potential escape lane, the Wu-Jians maneuvered to surround the Aoshima. In response, the Aoshima turned away and retreated from both fleets.

“So what are the combat objectives at this point?” Kat asked. “The Suns first objective met catastrophic failure, so how has their strategy changed?”

“Right, with the failure of the first fighter group, the Crimson Suns' objective at this point is to contain the Wraiths until their second fleet arrives. Since their second fleet can continuously accelerate while their first engages the Wraiths, the two would eventually meet together and overwhelm the Wraiths. That said, the action was right by Revell Gate, so the second fleet was about twenty minutes away due to acceleration and deceleration time. For the Temple Wraiths, their objective is to find an escape path, sinking as many frigates as possible to do so. Ideally for the Suns, their frigates would surround the Aoshima, but that is unlikely given the difference in mobility.”

The Wraiths' frigate gradually retreated from the Suns', staying at the maximum range of its ionic disruptors. In doing so, only one Suns' frigate kept in range, returning fire with its railguns. In the meantime, the Wraith's fighters stayed beyond the range of the Suns' anti-fighter armament. Predictably, the first Wu-Jian lost its shields to the anti-shield ionic disruptors faster than the Aoshima shields decreased from taking general purpose railgun fire.

“Let's stop here for a moment.” Jazz said, “the second mistake the Suns' commander made was prioritizing containment over his ships' durability. In doing so, he paved the way for the Suns' tremendous losses through a 'victory at any cost' philosophy. It is worth noting that the Suns were already on the losing side of credit damages when all their fighters were lost. That said, what happened next was beyond my comprehension. It is either a stroke of genius or an act of utter desperation, but either way, the results are brilliant.”

As the first Wu-Jian's shields died, the Aoshima turned to face it head on. The frigate charged the weakened Wu-Jian at full speed. But, as it entered the attack range its thrusters went dark. Instead, all four Wraiths Rattlers bumped against the frigate's aft and lit their afterburners. The Aoshima continued its advance, ionic disruptors firing in rapid succession while its forward shields radiated cyan light. Torpedoes launched from the Suns' ships. Half were shot down by countermeasures before the others slammed against the Aoshima's shields and slashed their intensity in half.

As shields faded from the targeted Wu-Jian, a flight of Vipers broke away from the Aoshima, making an attack run on the defenseless frigate. Four missiles shot towards its bridge. The first two exploded against the armored hull, but the third penetrated the airlock and detonated within the frigate's command center. As the first frigate vanished in a cloud of debris, Rattlers broke away from the Aoshima and engaged the nearest ship. The Wraiths' frigate followed, driving within the Wu-Jian's shield radius before launching four torpedoes into its hull.

“So Jazz, if I'm seeing this correctly, the Aoshima frigate approached by diverting all its engine power to shields, then using their fighters to accelerate their frigate instead?”

“Yes. This is also where luck came in. After the insane, yet somehow successful approach, the four Vipers were able to destroy the first frigate's bridge with anti-fighter missiles. In the chaos, heard in the Suns' radio chatter, the Wraiths' frigate moved inside the shield radius of the next nearest frigate to bypass those defenses. That ship happened to be the Suns' flagship, and the Wraiths sank it with torpedoes at short range. At this point, we can hear the Crimson Suns' morale was shot, as the Wraiths destroyed sixteen fighters and two frigates without a single loss.”

In the face of a second oncoming fleet, the Wraiths sank the remnants of the first Crimson Suns fleet. One Wu-Jian vanished into a blue fireball after absorbing the focused fire from eight fighters and the Aoshima frigate. The last attempted to regroup with the now close by second fleet but was disabled in its retreat. As the second Suns' fleet entered attack range, the fourth Wu-Jian frigate broke to pieces.

“So against the last fragments of the Suns' first fleet, were the Wraiths at an advantage again?” Kat asked.

“Conventional wisdom says that eight fighters are equal to a frigate in power, so by the numbers, the fleets by Revell Gate are evenly matched at this point. Psychologically though, the Wraiths had a huge advantage. Without their fleet commander, we hear the two frigate captains panic, effectively halving the offensive strength of the remaining first fleet.”

The studio view screen vanished, leaving only the two commentators on camera.

“Well thank you Jazz. That concludes the first part of our special program in Orbital Chess,” Kat said. “If you have any questions or comments for our analyst, drop us a line at channel GNN on VRG-Chat. The final phase of the battle is coming up, after this break.”