Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden

The Sixth Battle of Iserlohn begins. The Alliance forces proceeds with Willem Holland's plan of using the main fleet as a diversion to keep the attention of the Imperial forces and allow Holland's squadron to close in to Iserlohn Fortress and breach its walls with a missile bombardment. Holland's plan works initially; however, he is intercepted by Reinhard von Müsel, who has anticipated this move. Reinhard then continues to make full use of the narrow geography of the Iserlohn Corridor and wreak havoc on the Alliance main fleet with his squadron. Gregor von Mückenberger orders the remaining Imperial fleets to engage with the Alliance main fleet as well, which turns the battle into an outright mêlée as the Alliance commander Lasalle Lobos, taking the advice of Yang Wen-li, commits his reserves into the battlefield as well. Within this chaos, the Rosen Ritter succeeds in luring out Hermann von Luneberg, who makes a forced boarding attempt on the Rosen Ritter's strike ship Cheiron 3. Walter von Schönkopf engages with Luneberg on a one-on-one combat and manages to kill him. Meanwhile, while his squadron is being resupplied in Iserlohn Fortress, Reinhard, along with Siegfried Kircheis, is approached by Ulrich Kesler, who reveals to them the truth of the circumstances behind the death of Elizabeth von Luneberg's former fiancé as well as the aftermath of her realising the truth. He then offers Reinhard a book compiled by Admiral Grimmelshausen which records all of the unsavoury deeds of contemporary high nobles, and conveys to Reinhard Grimmelshausen's message that he hopes the book would be of use to him in his ascendancy. However, Reinhard, while grateful to Grimmelshausen, decides to decline his offer as he plans to bring down the high nobles fair and square without resorting to blackmail.

Reinhard von Müsel attends a party celebrating Admiral Grimmelshausen's recent promotion. In the party, he clashes with Hermann von Luneberg and almost gets into a fistfight with him, if not for the timely intervention from Ulrich Kesler, who is appointed by Grimmelshausen to maintain the security of his residence for the party. After both Luneberg and Reinhard depart, Grimmelshausen calls for Kesler and entrusts him with a task. Siegfried Kircheis reveals to Reinhard what he found out about Elizabeth von Luneberg's former fiancé. Kaiser Friedrich IV settles on the Lohengramm countship as the one he plans to award Reinhard with. A military campaign outside the Iserlohn Corridor is announced.

Hermann von Luneberg pays a visit with his wife Elizabeth to High Admiral Ovlesser, the commander of the Imperial Panzergrenadiers, ostensibly as a formality marking his promotion to Rear Admiral but is in fact trying to lobby for support against Reinhard von Müsel from the high nobles through Ovlesser. Ovlesser, who dislikes Luneberg as much as Reinhard, rebuffs his overtures. Meanwhile, Siegfried Kircheis tells Reinhard about the results of his investigation of Luneberg's background. A few days later, they manage to meet up with Annerose von Grünewald and Reinhard reveals to Annerose about how Kircheis was not promoted. Before Annerose could do anything about that issue however, Admiral Grimmelshausen has already recommended Kircheis to be promoted. When Kircheis visits Grimmelshausen to thank him for his recommendation, he demonstrates a level of insight which runs contrary to his usual appearance as a senile old man.

The Imperial attack on the Alliance rear support base continues. Despite inflicting heavy losses on the Alliance forces, the Imperial forces are unable to break through the Alliance defensive line easily due to unfavourable geography. Meanwhile, the 5th Fleet finally arrives in the vicinity of Van-Fleet 4-2, only to find itself engaging with the main Imperial fleet in Van-Fleet Starzone. Soon, the remaining Alliance fleets also converge outside Van-Fleet 4-2, and the battle turns into a chaotic mêlée as both Alliance and Imperial warships try to engage each other in the limited space around Van-Fleet 4-2.

Walter von Schönkopf, worried that his superior Otto Frank von Wahnschaffe, the regimental commander of the Rosen Ritter who is leading the Alliance reconnaissance mission, might have encountered Imperial forces, sets off with his trusted subordinates to find him. Along the way, they discover that Hermann von Luneberg, who is revealed to be the former regimental commander of the Rosen Ritter, is commanding Imperial troops on Van-Fleet 4-2. Although they manage to rendezvous with Wahnschaffe, they are soon ambushed by Luneberg's troops and are only able to retreat after suffering considerable losses, including the life of Wahnschaffe. After returning to base, Schönkopf requests command authority from the base commander so that he can organise the defence against the expected Imperial full-scale assault on the base. He also recommends the commander to call for reinforcements from the Alliance fleets in Van-Fleet Starzone, which is then picked up by the 5th Fleet. Its commander, Alexandre Bewcock, decides to provide full assistance.

On 21 March 794 UC, Imperial forces under the overall command of Gregor von Mückenberger invade the Van-Fleet Starzone and engage with Alliance forces commanded by Lasalle Lobos. The battle progresses in an inconclusive fashion, frustrating Reinhard von Müsel, who had recently been promoted as Commodore and had received command of a squadron under the Grimmelshausen Fleet, greatly as he laments the incompetence of both forces and his own relative powerlessness.

Siegfried Kircheis is introduced by Michael von Keyserling to his old friend Christopher von Basel, a retired Vice Admiral. Kircheis notes that Basel continues to claim that he and his wife have only just arrived instead of the day before as revealed by Superintendent Hoffmann. Later the day while alone in a café, Kircheis finds a suspicious-looking man and begins to tail him. The man turns out to be a bait to trap Kircheis inside a flying ball court, where he faces five knife-wielding assailants. Kircheis holds off long enough before Hoffmann leads the local police to intervene. One of the assailants tries to escape and takes a civilian hostage, but is stopped by Kircheis. Hoffmann then reveals to Kircheis that Keyserling's would-be assailant used to be in a supply unit in the Keyserling Fleet and that unit was headed by the then Rear Admiral Basel. He then speculates that Basel might have planned the attack on his old friend due to a dispute over the thyoxin trafficking operation. Kircheis, wishing to learn about Keyserling's side of the story, requests Hoffmann to give him some time to investigate privately. Kircheis then confronts Keyserling, who admits of covering Basel's involvement in thyoxin trafficking for the sake of Basel's wife, Johanna von Basel, who he loved greatly.

In November 795 UC, Siegfried Kircheis arrives in the artificial resort satellite Kreuznach III for a vacation, as instructed by Reinhard von Müsel, who had to remain in the Imperial capital Odin to prepare for his receiving of the countship of Lohengramm. While he is checking in at a hotel, he saves an old man from a knife-wielding drug addict. The old man turns out to be Michael von Keyserling, a disgraced former Vice Admiral who was demoted and discharged from the military after his disastrous defeat in the Battle of Arlesheim on 792 UC. Kircheis then proceeds to the local police station, where he meets Superintendent Hoffmann, who implores him to assist the local police in a major thyoxin trafficking case which he believes is related to the seemingly random assault on Keyserling. Kircheis, having nothing constructive to do in Krueznach III, reluctantly agrees.

Reinhard von Müsel and Siegfried Kircheis attend Karl von Reifeisen's funeral. Reinhard notes that Moritz von Haase's eulogy for Reifeisen is formal, but lacking in emotion. After offering condolences to Reifeisen's family, Reinhard confides with Kircheis on his views about the Imperial populace that has been repressed for over four centuries. At night, Reinhard receives news that his father Sebastian von Müsel has passed away. The next day, he attends the funeral of his father with Kircheis and meets up with his sister Annerose von Grünewald briefly. Upon their return to their alma mater, they are informed that another murder has occurred in the school; the victim being one of the top students of the school. After viewing the murder scene, Kircheis begins to suspect that Haase is colour-blind and that he might have committed the murders to conceal evidence of his defect.

In April 793 UC, Reinhard von Müsel and Siegfried Kircheis, while waiting for their next assignment, visits their alma mater in Odin. They are warmly welcomed by the students there, who respect them greatly. After observing the school for a day, Reinhard and Kircheis finally receive their new assignments in the Imperial Military Police. The next day, while browsing through the archives in the Military Police headquarters, Reinhard discovers a case handled by Ulrich Kesler during his tenure as a military police and is impressed by his unorthodox method of protecting ordinary civilians from the oppression of the Military Police. However, when he finds out that Kesler's efforts were ultimately futile, he breaks out into a rant about the degenerate state of the Galactic Empire that is only cut short by new orders from the Chief of Military Police. He and Kircheis are ordered to return to their alma mater to investigate the apparent murder of Karl von Reifeisen, a student who died the night before.

Reinhard von Müsel and Siegfried Kircheis successfully ambush a Free Planets Alliance tank advance unit and secure not only fuel, but also information about an upcoming Alliance surprise attack on their base. Suspecting that their base commandant Captain Herder was responsible for their predicament, they decide to wait for any of his accomplices to appear. Eventually, Lieutenant Hugenberch finds them and after he shows hostile intent, Reinhard kills him. They then return to their base and finds the surprise attack already started. Kircheis manages to disable the attacking Alliance tanks by transmitting to them a code he wrote based on stolen data from the tanks he and Reinhard previously ambushed, enabling the Imperial forces at their base to successfully counter-attack and end the Alliance surprise attack.

In July 791 UC, Reinhard von Müsel and Siegfried Kircheis, upon graduation from a military preparatory school, is posted to the planet Kapche-Lanka as their first assignment. Unbeknownst to them, Sussanna von Beenemünde, who harbours jealousy and hatred towards Reinhard's sister Annerose von Grünewald, is secretly plotting to kill him by bribing Reinhard's new superior, the base commandant of an Imperial base in Kapche-Lanka, to do so.