Legend of the Galactic Heroes

January 1, 796 S.C. / 487 I.C.: in the Astarte star system, a 20 000 spaceships Imperial fleet under Reinhard von Lohengramm's command is about to be cornered by three Alliance fleets of 13 000 spaceships each. Against the advice of his subordinates, Reinhard decides to strike first in order to defeat each fleet before they can join. The Allied commanders, trusting the overall odds of 2 to 1, don't anticipate this and rebuff Yang Wen-li's advice to quickly regroup their forces.

After the destruction of the 4th and 6th fleets, Reinhard's fleet engages the 2nd Fleet. When its commander is wounded, Yang takes command and manages to escape utter destruction. In Phezzan, Adrian Rubinsky, administrator of the planet, and Nikola Boltik, his main adviser, make comments on the battle and note that it won't change the strategic situation.

In Heinessen (capital planet of the Free Planets Alliance), a memorial for the soldiers who died at the battle of Astarte is held. The warmongering speech of Job Trüniht, the Secretary of Defence, is interrupted by Jessica Edwards, whose fiancé was killed in the battle: she asks him why the advocates of war always sacrifice the lives of others while hiding in safer places. While going home, she is attacked by members of the Patriotic Knights Corps (P.K.C.), a nationalistic organization secretly led by Trüniht. She is rescued by her friends Yang and Dusty Attenborough and barely escapes death. The next day, Yang is promoted to rear admiral in command of the newly formed 13th Fleet. His mission: to take the Iserlohn fortress, a powerful space station which has repelled every attack.