BARD PAPER: PERI1003 | Home | Traveller | BARD | PERI |
BARD PAPER: PERI1003 | Home | Traveller | BARD | PERI |
Following On the heels of the Marathon Victrix incident the Solee Imperial Fleet CNO, Admiral Eshraa bint Reine assembled her cadre of Captains and commanders in the spring of 1202. A new enemy lay on the horizon, originating out of Oriflamme and Aubaine subsectors from their interrogation results of the RCES crew, as well as intelligence gleaned from their ship. They were organized, but apparently slack on discipline, and had the aide of the Hivers ( a blow to those who held onto the mythos of Margaret's Dream, and ammo for the Human supremacists against these "treacherous" aliens).
Solee was committed on Hindahl and Marcena with its troops. The situation called for closure, before tackling this new foe. The Empress demanded results. Bint Reine, chafing under the popularity of RAdmiral Von Kessel's successes in Jayna since his taking command of that subsector in 1200, was determined to do just that. Get results, at any price, preferably cheaply, but ruthlessly.
More men were needed, the Solee ground commanders argued, and more Fleet support. Since Hindahl' s TEDs had agreed to shun nuclear technology, and it was deemed politically a bad thing to use them, even tactically sized there, something else had to be utilized. But since 1201, Solee had been improving her starport capabilities, thanks to holding the Depot system, and the reproduction of hull forming machinery & grav slips for orbital construction. Several more ships had entered service, and as of Jan 1202, Solee began building her own SDBs. Operation Heavenly Fire-Hindahl
First came Hindahl, where Solee had been the longest (since 1198). Admiral Bint Reine made excellent use of the newly outfitted CS-Bulk freighters with their new Jump drives, and SIS's propaganda agents disguised as an itinerant priests of the Technological Renunciation Church. These agents went forth and preached a doomsday message into the lands hostile to Solee & her ally, even as asteroids were being gathered up from Marcena's system by Admiral Bint Reine's TF-"Heavenly Fire", consisting of two of these vessels, while the second two brought forth Soleean Air Force crews and CAC to the system over a period of four-six weeks. The Miners on the small world of Einsplatz received their comeuppance from Solee's military in the form of VX nerve gas, and laser Guided munitions into their caves. Col. Franz Heinrici of Hindahl surrendered after six days of intense bombardment wiped out over three quarters of his troops, and half the population. Admiral Bint Reine had those under arms shipped off to Sovtor. Anyone found concealing a weapon was shot. Survivors were shipped to the main world to Nova Schwanstein for internment. Einsplatz became a Soleean military outpost in system thereafter.
On Hindahl, the Soleean's had amassed an air armada the likes the local population hadn't seen since the war. In three days, all of the nations that had resisted lost their navies, and their air forces to the superior Planes and pilots from Solee. All 3 Guild client nations, Wurzburg, Dortmund, and Schellenberg lost their ability to wage war, and any pretext of air power. On the 4th day of this renewed offensive, the two freighters, loaded with asteroids entered Hindahl system and moved to orbit. The Mystic Dictator, August Liebowitz, (and head of the Technological Renunciation church) of Nuremwald was preaching against the false prophets (SIS agents), when his state was destroyed by meteors. Seven million of fifteen million perished that day, including the Reverend Liebowitz. Solee's ally Nova Schwanstein took their cue and warned of impending meteors with their off world supplied Radars. If those warring sides laid down their arms, they would "shoot down in space" with off world missiles the impending threat.
Those states that dismissed and scoffed those warnings were demolished in the next four days, beginning with Wurzburg, Baumwald, Skodawerken, Kruppgewehr, and Helmholtz. Millions more perished, and the resistance versus Nova Schwanstein melted, as the death toll mounted. The six neutral states begged to be spared, and miraculously, they were, as Nova Schwanstein moved in with its "radars" and troops to man the PAD missiles. The once enemy states of Bitburfeld, Nova Friesland, Nova Prussia, and Krumlfeld saw the handwriting on the wall, and yielded. At that point, Hindahl was pacified. Solee's Air Marshal, Gunter von Hastattan, declared the crises over on Nova Schwanstein's radio, and that all remaining asteroids from this comet, had been destroyed (The Soleeans had run out, and had gone back to reload). Schellenberg, Wurzburg, and Dortmund were demilitarized, and Ministers of the TRC faith were imprisoned for "preaching against technology which cost so many lives in their Ignorance". Wurzburg's leader, Vicar Bruno Liebowitz (elder brother of August) the head of the TRC was tried as a war criminal for, "putting ideology above the World's safety" , in March of 1202, and hanged 1st week of April. Also in April, "peacekeeping troops" from Kmak had arrived and relieved the Soleean forces on the main world.
The war on Marcena had slowed to skirmishes and commando raids, frequent artillery missile exchanges of conventional warheads, most often shot down by the Soleean ABM batteries provided. Solee's ally with a navy, the island-continent state of San Jose, was plagued by several foes submarine services, namely Del Rio, El Barone, and Santa Ana. With TL-15 densitometers salvaged from Depot, Admiral Bint Reine was ready to go after the elusive relic TL-11 & TL-9 PAD subs of these three nations. First she knocked out the GPS TL-7 satellite system with small subcraft teams in armed modular cutters and Termagant Ftrs, replacing them with TL-9 satellites their allies alone could access, in 1201. The WA (World Alliance) nations attempted to launch more of their own, but had them successfully shot down by ABM's from San Jose & El Marcena. The WA nation of Esteban was completely bogged down with the Guerrera insurgency, as the Basque natives there proved to be the most resilient foe the Estebanian's had ever encountered, even the children thrust grenades at their men, dumped sugar in petrol tanks, and sold food with ground glass in it to their men.
In the third week of March 1202, Operation Meteor began, from the ground. The Soleean TL-9 GPS satellites were also equipped with jamming devices, and these were selectively switched on and off over their target nations of the WA. Using data taken from aerial reconnaissance and their satellites, El Marcena, and San Jose's Soleean led Missile commands struck, with Solee's ships in orbit giving the SS-ICBMs their final laser guided commands detonated a series of neutron bomb MIRVs (TL-8/9) over Del Rio's, main Naval installations, airbases, and ground forces installations. Esteban 's, Juarez, Cordoba's, and Vasquez's airbases, and ground forces installations, and communications central networks met similar fates. The capital of Del Rio, Nova Madrid, was nuked by a single 5ktn meteor from near orbit, as was the capital of EL Barone.
Also on the ground while these paralyzing attacks were under way, the newly equipped El Marcenan Army utilized its new TL-9 arsenal to deadly affect, with the Soleean TL-10 Grav Brigade in the vanguard. The MRL's laid waste to the entrenched & dug in forces, and were aided by orbital missile submunition strikes from Solee's missile laden fleet. Nerve gas, and tactical neutron bombs for the 20cm rocket artillery wreaked havoc, and the El Marcenan armies smashed Juarez & Vasquez's armies.
The Navies of the three nations attempted to launch counter strikes from their carriers, and they were sunk as they attempted to launch their armed aircraft, by orbital meson fire, and Space borne Ftrs from Solee, bearing TL-9 anti-ship cruise missiles.
The Densitometer-equipped ships tracked the PAD subs and as they attempted to contact ground stations for localized launches, they were pinpointed and destroyed.
Two days later, the World alliance was in ruins, 50 % of their populations or more of the targeted states were killed, and their militaries had ceased to exist. Esteban's surviving government surrendered on the morning of the third day. Del Rio was occupied by Soleean drop shipped troops, as they had no government to surrender with.
Any Guild members caught planetside, were arrested, and all assets seized. Mop Up and policing the dead and wounded was left to El Marcena, which airlifted in its forces, as San Jose's navy conducted various amphibious landings into El Barone and other coastal nations on the main continent.
The Two TEDs of El Marcena, Duchess Anne Marie de Seville, & Generalissimo Hector Rodriguez-Guerra were united by marriage of state, the second week of April 1202. On the last week of April, Marcena's newly trained graduates took over their space forces, and took delivery of a small squadron Of TL-9/10 SDB's. The Empress Solee was pleased, and withdrew all but cadre forces from the main world, after demilitarizing all but their loyal allies, of everything but police forces in May 1202. The Security divisions of both nations, keeping their Veteran & experienced troops for planetary defense, provided for these "security forces". The Basque state of Guerrera was glad to see the Estebanians defeated and leave, but they remained a contentious, insular lot.
Admiral bint Reine's strategies here were to see use again in Shenk, utilizing limited nuclear war (neutron bombs) to maximum effect against populations of resistance. The cost cutting measures of asteroid bombing also were to be repeated. Marcena's ecosphere suffered a bit after the two meteorites over Del Rio, and El Barone, but the people who survived were all too aware that surrender, and living under new governance was better than vaporization. C-class starports were begun for both San Jose and EL Marcena beginning of May 1202. They were completed in the spring of 1203, ten months later.