The assault begins with an artillery barrage. 

The Aotrs have not had a sustained contact with Azura ground forces, but the brief exchange they did have heavily featured the use of acidic and poison gases. The evolutionary branch of that technology traces back here. Artillery fire alternates between two modes: metal eaters, that corrode and destroy armour and melt plastic alloys into liquid sludge, and toxin clouds to shock and kill exposed organic life. Whatever conflict this technology was designed for it is ineffective against the Aotrs; the loss of armour does not render units combat incapable and the toxin does not impact them at all. 

A secondary effect of the barrage is the reduction of visibility. Gas clouds are thick and lingering, and the shells tend to have cascading sequences of secondary explosions deliberately designed to overwhelm auditory input and distract secondary visual senses. Battlecrab forces are also actively concealed from secondary sensor technology - chilled against thermal scanners, inert beneath magical senses, preceded by vast randomly moving schools of winged fish charged with electrical currents that serve as point defense, anti-drone and confusion to movement sensors. 

The battleplan that follows is based on infiltration tactics. Battlecrabs advance into the combat zone under heavy concealment. When a crab encounters an enemy position it opens up to deploy a clutch of light infantry creatures that resemble sting rays, while the crab provides support fire. The light infantry are barely armoured - exposure to the toxin kills them instantly should their skin be pierced - but they have rapid fire suppression weapons and direct fire anti-tank missiles, and their low, flat silhouette and skill at taking cover lets them entrench quickly. Their role is to fix and engage the force encountered by the battlecrab, enabling still-active maneuver elements to bypass the enemy strongpoint and find ways to engage from the sides or rear. This, too, is a tactic not optimized against the Aotrs - a lot of this doctrine rests on the concept of morale shock. The final piece of the puzzle are the war orca - ominous shadows that prowl on the fringes of the battlefield, descending rapidly on isolated squads or units that have strayed from their formation, ready to follow in close pursuit if the enemy breaks or attempts to withdraw.

There are no communications or attempts at jamming during this battle, not even from the Azura's omnipresent Electromagnetic Flux. There is clearly an intelligent battle [i]plan [/i]at work here but everything beyond that is based around the individual instincts of the units in question, followed like doctrine. 

[Friction roll: 2]

While the Aotrs will carry the overall battle due to being on the defensive and the enemy being optimized against the wrong targets, bad luck strikes when a number of Battlecrabs slip past the defensive network into the backfield during the confusion. During this process a number of them are able to locate and engage Killstorm and her protection detail. It is an unfortunate accident - even if she survives, she will need to burn so much mana in the engagement that she will not be able to withdraw the expeditionary force via Gate.