Quote:In the beginning of 818 A.S. Kusari was building up to launch a full-scale assault on the Bretonian Derby and Leeds Planetary Fleets in an attempt to prepare the way for a ground invasion. The Emperor and Shogun traveled to Stokes Station to begin finalizing the plan in early 818 A.S. However, Bretonian raids against their supply convoys had slowed their force buildup, and when the rapid advance of Gallic fleets delayed their plans still further, the Kusari command, with the two most powerful men in Kusari trapped in Bretonia, put its offensive on hold, redirecting most of its forces towards Tau-31 where Gallia was thought to be heading.
Kusari underestimated the power of Gallic forces that would get to Tau-31. When Gallia demanded the full withdrawal of all Sirius military forces from Tau-31, Kusari decided to buy some time to bring in more reinforcements and possibly bargain a deal with Gallia to attack Bretonia in one joint strike. The diplomatic efforts of Kusari failed to achieve any success. Soon after, Kusari refused to submit to a second ultimatum from Gallia. The Kusari Shogun chose not to wait for Gallia to start a war, and, quite surprisingly, the first Sirius House to declare war on Gallia was Kusari. Some of the Naval Forces commanders considered this decision to be suicide, and they were proved to be right.
Kusari fought fearlessly, but they were outnumbered and outgunned by Gallic fleets that brought in newly equipped ships and well-trained crews. The delay caused by the Kusari attempt at negotiations was in fact very useful for the Royal Navy, since it allowed them to bring up additional forces from Gallia and establish reliable supply lines through Tau-23. Gallia suffered heavy casualties in some of the first battles that took place near the Tau-29 Jump Gate at the hands of the battle-hardened Kusari veterans, but casualties of Kusari were still higher than those of the enemy, and Kusari did not manage to win a single large-scale battle in this war. Throughout these months, four attempts were made to get the Emperor and Shogun back to Kusari, the last attempt using the Newcastle to Tau 31 jumphole, the Satsuma Imperial Yacht was forced to withdraw into the Newcastle Nebula, where it took position, hiding from the Gallic forces, awaiting the next chance to break out and make it back to Kusari.
During the promising war with Bretonia, the popularity of the Emperor and his militaristic government led by the Shogun had steadily increased among the Kusari general public. Now, however, as the tides of war turned against Kusari, the popularity of the House's leaders declined far below pre-war values. The Democratic Party of Kusari backed by Kishiro and led by Kato Takahashi and Shimura Yokitara used the situation and the abscence of the Emperor and Shogun out fighting in Bretonia to seize power from the Emperor at the end of 818 A.S.
and as to what he does after that,
Quote:When the new Kusari government withdrew their combat forces from the Taus, a significant force was trapped behind the Gallic lines. As their desperation grew, the Kusari remnants looked for a leader. The former Kusari Emperor, who had been trapped in Bretonia at the beginning of the Gallic war stepped to the front and took command of the KNF forces trapped in Bretonia. Under the Emperor's command, these forces, now referring to themselves as the Ronin, are small in numbers, comprising some 5 battleships, 10 Destroyers and 25 Gunboats and a handful of fighter and bomber wings. While they don't pose a serious threat to Gallic forces in Tau-31, they have a potential to become an important part of Bretonia's defense during the forthcoming war.
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