The Great Siege of Bergazeet: D'Avranches Strikes First
Background
Vice Admiral d'Avranches plan was as discussed, bold and audacious, but also quite risky not only from a military perspective, but from a political perspective as well. War had not been officially declared yet, as the Ultimatum was also sent to the Western Shogun and the Emperor around the same time Louis received it. While obviously neither of those two could provide an answer, this was the correct and legal way of conducting war. This is something that the commander of the Combined Fleet, Bellecombe did not understand, but that the Lunesians did (as is discussed here still unfinished though :(( ).
Louis however, had no such inclinations. Thus around 1730 hrs on October 13th, around 12 hours after the ultimate had been delivered, he departed at the head of the 8th Battle Squadron towards Caere. The roughly 125-kilometre journey would take around 10 to 12 hours, hopefully on the lower end so that a dawn strike could be launched. With the wind in their favour, 8th Battle Squadron along with half of the 11th Light Flotilla made it to Caere just ahead of schedule around 300hrs.
Two hours later, the 7th Frigate Squadron joined suit on its planned strikes on Dominica where it was also hoped that it could launch a dawn strike simultaneously. Their distance was shorter, but due to the winds, their arrival time would end up being closer to 900 hrs than 500hrs, a full 4 hours off pace. Rear Admiral Shizuka, its commander, made the decision around dawn to turn around and head to port of Broeckendal; from where he would make another attempt the next day.
The Actions of the 8th Battle Squadron on October 14th
With their jump off point reached, and its screens providing accurate information about the state of the city: the 8th Battle Squadron maneuvered its way closer to Caere Harbour. The Zetan forces located at Caere consisted of the VII Squadron, and two brigs. Along with this comparatively small force, was the dilapidated and undermanned Fort Ocella. Years of neglect, and complacency were about to bear their fruits.
At 545hrs, the 8th Battle Squadron opened fire on Fort Ocella and Caere Harbour to murderous effect. The Zetans had raised the alarmed 5 minutes before after great hesitation (since war had not been declared yet), but this was far too late to make a difference in this engagement. Red hot iron shot rained down on the helpless defenders and sailors, who could barely fire a shot in reply.
After 45 minutes of devastation: Caere Harbour was in ruins along with many of the civilian and military vessels moored in it. The frigates of VII Squadron were burning hulks, with the flagship Perditor exploding spectacularly after its powder magazine was hit by a 36-pounder ball. It's commander, Lucius Acculeius Abascantus, was killed in the explosion along with most of the crew. Only one military vessel, a small gunboat, managed to survive. 26 other civilian vessels of all types were damaged or sunk by the fire as well, and a fire broke out inside the city after warehouse containing cotton bails was hit by a Carcass shot fired from a mortar aboard the Emeraude. Fort Ocella was also in ruins, having only taken 3 broadsides to raise a white flag.
After ceasing fire at 830hrs, the 8th made course towards the much larger Portus Itius. At the mouth of the Istria River, it is one of the main trade hubs of the Zetan Republic. Louis knew that it wouldn't be a pushover like Caere was, but he still hoped that with the element of surprise and some luck, he could at least do some damage to the harbour and strike some fear into the minds of his enemies.
The 8th reached the city around 1300hrs, finding the city somewhat off guard. It appears that the news of the disaster at Caere didn't reach Itius yet in full. It's fortifications, though powerful, weren't fully manned when the 8th opened up fire without hesitation. Fire from the 8th quickly overwhelmed the defenders of Fort Pela, and then Fort Aquila after it. The Zetan gunners tried to reply, but the sheer weight of shot fired at them suppressed them rapidly, and many fled their posts. Soon, the packed harbour itself became a boiling pot from the fire raining down on it. The 8th didn't get as close as it did to Caere to Portus Itius, but extensive damage was done to several ships in the harbour, and several of the docks themselves were completely wrecked. Several merchant ships were sent to the bottom, the frigate, Defensio was at the bottom and one small brig was as well when she was broken in half by a 36 pounder, but the 20-minute bombardment, when added on with the 45 minutes of constant fire at Caere earlier that day had nearly depleted the ammunition stocks. Not wanting to get caught without ammo, D'Avranches decided to cut short his tour of destruction at 1330 hrs and return back to Bergazeet.
On the way, he instructed the attached elements of the 11th Light Flotilla to interdict merchant shipping, which resulted in the capture of 4 merchants. The 8th and company arrived back at the Grand Harbour of Delatsuki around 000 hrs, having done everything they could and suffer no losses. It was a brilliant operational success, but much still depended on the 7th.
Actions of 7th Frigate Squadron on October 15th
The 7th Frigate Squadron had turned back early on the morning of the 14th after running into problems with timing, but once again set forth against the wind late in the evening of the same day towards Dominica. Time was now everything, and the 7th did not have much time to spare. When word reached Olympia about the action at Caere, the element of surprise would be gone.
The task of the 7th was arguably far tougher than that of the 8th as well. They weren't just going to be kicking around an unprepared and frankly untrained enemy but were playing around with the Lunar Navy, but more importantly, the Kanarucan Fleet as well. Shizuka had to think outside of the box now, and a night attack on Saint-Dominigue seemed like the best option despite the risks involved.
It was thus at around 200 hours on the 15th that the 7th started its attack on the dimly lit port of Saint-Domingue. Though the Imperial Frigates were well armed for their size and could pack a surprising punch, they really didn't have much of a shot of doing much damage to the port and it's many ships like the 8th could. Instead, they fired 5 broadsides of explosive shells into the harbour and broke off into the night before returning from another angle to deliver another 5 broadsides, this time of solid shot before breaking off for good. The damage was rather light compared to what the 8th did: A Kanarucan Frigate, BVD Perseus being demasted, a Lunar brig-sloop, HMS Brick, being badly damaged, and several other ships having either explosive or solid shot hit them. But it nearly resulted in a catastrophe for the Kanacurans, as the flagship of the 'Dominica Force, the BVD Izmail was hit right next to its powder magazine by an explosive shell fired from the Victoire. It happened to be a dud...
Shizuka was well aware of the 32 hour deadline approaching at noon and he knew that the hornet's nest had been sufficiently kicked, presuming that all went to plan for the 8th. But before returning home, he decided to test the patience of the entire Heavenly Sea Fleet by sailing within visual range of Olympia with the Imperia Ensign raised sky high in the dawn light for them all to see. As he passed close, several Kanarucan Frigates came charging at the 7th, but with the wind at their back, the Imperials merely dropped their sails and glided out of sight.
The 7th arrived back in Delatsuki around 1000hrs, without much success to his name but having done well considering the circumstances.
Aftermath
When the 7th came into Delatsuki harbour, cheers rang out as there was some anxiety over their attacks given that they couldn't go in like they wanted to the day before. After the "mailman" had delivered a threat two days before, the ITN had kicked down his door before his ultimatum even expired. It was a good start for the Imperials, but they all knew that their actions were a mere drop in the bucket compared to the challenges they now faced. They steadied themselves for the oncoming storm, but their commander had more daring plans in mind for when this storm arrived...
On the other side, the coalition's reaction was a mixture of shock, outrage, and rage.
The destruction of Caere and the bombardment of Portus Itius was an immediate deflating blow to the morale of the Zetan Navy, but was a rallying cry for the Republic as a whole. Remember Caere! Sic semper Tsukinode! was shouted in the senate upon the arrival of the news. The desired effect of terrifying the populace of the Republic had backfired severely, but the humiliation and loss that the Zetan Navy couldn't translate the popular sentiment that was emerging. A whole squadron of Frigates were wiped out of existence, two more had most of their ships in need of drydock repairs, and two important ports were damaged, with one being nearly a total loss and the other being moderately damaged. Strabo, the commander of the Thebais Classis, remarked "The people want us to sail out today and crucify every Imperial sailor involved in the horrific deeds of the 14th, but my Classis will be lucky to send out one sloop to do a damned thing about it!"
The Lunesians were equally outraged, and also would use this as a rallying cry as well but just like the Zetans, little could be done at the moment to avenge this blow for one simple reason. The Kanarucans.
The Kanarucans were the leader of this coalition, and though they had problems leading it, their commander Bellecombe wasn't about to let the emotional demands of the populace that were coming in dictate what he was going to do. This, he found mutual agreement with his allied commanders on. Also, he wasn't going to move his timetable now either though he could either. "A move based on emotion is a move based on foolishness, we shall move ahead with our plans regardless." commented Bellecombe in his diary. At the bottom of the page, he simply wrote a tally: "D'Avranches 1, Bellecombe 0."