Operation Galactica

Operation Galactica, known also as The War of a Year and a Day, was a large-scale military operation launched by Starblaydia against their Bekkside neighbour The Lowland Clans (also known as the Allied States or Alliance of Nine States) in retaliation for the attempted assassination of Starblaydia's leader, Lady-Protector Viannor Starblayde. The assassination failed and sparked a declaration of war from Starblayia and her allies, the Strategic Alliance of Autocratic States, swiftly followed by counter-declarations by the Strategic Defense League, and

Background

Ever since the formation of the Strategic Alliance and its rival - first the Federation of Like-Minded States and its successor organisation the Strategic Defense League - the general peace and stability of the Atlantian Oceania region had lay upon a knife edge.

The succession of Lady Viannor to the head of Starblaydia's government spurned a sharp downturn in international relations. Whereas the former Lord-Protector, Tiberius Starblayde, had merely been perceived as a power-mad tyrannical dictator, Viannor actually lived up to that description. A quick succession of Starblaydi military actions in Atheistic Right and Djacor-Rysonia proved Starblaydia's new-found willingness to use military force to settle international relations.

Combining these factors with changes in the heads of government throughout Atlantian Oceania - Krytenia, Nedalia, Hypocria and Bazalonia all saw new leadership and new policy directions - as well as an arms race appearing between the Strategic Alliance and Strategic Defence Leagues' Paladin Technologies, saw tensions rise higher than ever. Krytenia left the Strategic Alliance, Hypocria left and re-joined, Nedalia proved to be tougher in its international negotiations and Bazalonia, too, took a harder line against the rest of the region, Starblaydia in particular.

The proverbial match for the powder keg though, came from the newly formed nation of Quirrith. A common illness within Quirrith proved to be a deadly plague for the rest of the region, infecting the Legal Republic. The plague was not discovered soon enough, and by the time news of the plague and the vaccine had spread, a highly organized group of Anarchists, led by Lucas van der Veer, revolted and began creating chaos within the Legal Republic. The Allied States Army deployed troops after the government of President Michele Law and Prime Minister Darren Popouvel collapsed in the anarchy that followed. The Anarchists quickly struck all over the Legal Republic, and turned the place into a war zone.

Organized, efficient, and heavily armed they were able to use guerilla tactics to resist the 10th and 13th Army Groups deployed to the Republic to stop the violence. The deaths numbered in possibly 13 million people since the beginning of the plague and the collapse of the Legal government. The Army occupied small portions of former Legalese, and a new era of conflict began to dawn on the region. As winter drew near, the region of Atlantian Oceania did not look to be a happy place.

A Sniper's Bullet

A crack team of five soldiers from the ultra-secretive Section 31, a division within the Allied States' Department of Homeland Security, were captured by Starblaydi Special Forces shortly after attempting to assassinate Lady Viannor. In trying to make their escape from the island of Aquiliana, the location of Viannor's castle, they were captured within hours by Venators.

The Squad's leader, Sargent Jonathan Parker, was filmed making a full confession to the attempt and this tape was broadcast to the entire region of Atlantian Oceania as Starblaydia's armed forces simultaneously crossed the border into the anarchic former-state of Legalese, heading straight for the Legal Republic, a piece of Legalese previously taken over and admitted into the Alliance of Nine States.

The Starblaydia's allies in the Strategic Alliance soon mobilised to their aid while the Strategic Defense League swiftly called a meeting of its members to discuss the situation. Various other reactions were present around the region, from statements of neutrality, offers to broker peace, immediate counter-declarations of war against Starblaydia, or mobilisations and declarations of war from those supporting the Starblaydi.

The war

Opening moves

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Starblaydi troops standing at ease

The first aggressive action was by Starblaydia, to neutralise the Allied States' Navy sitting in the mighty Bekk lake which bordered Starblaydia, the Lowland Clans and Footballia. Starblaydi planes assaulted, damaged and forced the withdrawal of the Flagship of the Allied States' Bekk fleet: the Gold Coast-class light cruiser Justus. For this action, the first real shots of a shooting war, Lamoni's President Stone declared war on the Strategic Alliance, leaping to the aide of their SDL allies. He then immediately resigned, leaving his Vice-President Andrew Stinson to take the Lamonian helm for the duration. Bazalonia, too, mobilised, while Nedalia swept forward to take the Southern Islands off their coast, previously infested by Miceland, to ensure their strategic value was on the SDL's side.

More battles were up in the north, however, with Starblaydi and Allied States' fleets coming into contact in the Nemyan Straights: the largest naval combat Atlantian Oceania had yet seen, between the fleets of two Flagships: the Starblaydi Tivoli-class Trimaran Heavy Battlecruiser Tiberius Starblayde and the Allied States' Graham-class Battlecarrier Winston Churchill. Legalese City, on the border between Legalese and The Lowland Clans, was the first ASA-controlled city to fall, overwhelmed despite a valiant defence. The surrounding cities of Plainsville, Okerson, Sagdineo and Nadiaville, all in the Allied States themselves, quickly became the next Starblaydi objectives.

Mobilisation of all participants was heating up, with Bazalonia, Lamoni, Khazaron and Quakmybush combining their fleets and transporting their troops to danger zones and to support their brothers in time of peril. But in response to this sweep of support to the Alliance of the Nine States, Xile responded by declaring war on her and her allies citing the Lavingrad Pact. The unique aerial forces of Falcania blockaded the border between Abattoir and The Lowland Clans, until a cessation of hostilities from that theatre enabled their withdrawal.

A second theatre

In a speech by Nedalian President Yasmine Dala'a, she called upon her country to go to war to defeat Starblaydia, the Strategic Alliance, and tyranny itself. As an immediate reply, a Starblaydi contingent of submarines unleashed nearly two-hundred cruise missiles in a single volley against the Nedalian port city of Honsfield, stretching the war into Verdena, Atlantian Oceania's south-central continent. The attack killed over three thousand military and civillian personnel, destroying thirteen ships and three civillian buildings. This action prompted the Capitalizt Defense Alliance, Krytenia and Milchama to enter the war on the SDL's side, even before it was proved the attack was instigated by Starblaydia.

A section of the Nedalian Ibis fleet quickly launched towards the Starblaydi-owned Hypocrian island of Sinistra, but this proved to be a rash move as Starblaydia's defensive fleet around Sinistra, led by the Invinicible-class aircraft carrier PNS Indefatigable, quickly saw off the small group of ships, commanded by Colonel Jiwad.

The military hopes of the Strategic Alliance in the south of the region were dashed when Hypocria's aged Grand Marshall died of natural causes in his home. With the loss of their most experienced, most dedicated overall commander, the Hypocrian Autokrator Andrius Vyntra took overall command of his Armed Forces. Originally under Titus Drax, the Autokrator had been an honourary Grand Marshall of the Army, now Vyntra took this to heart and took personal comand of all the nations' military. Drax, however, had been a former General, Vyntra was nothing of the sort: a politician.

With an empassioned speech in the ruins of Honsfield, President Yasmine Dala'a urged her country towards total war with Starblaydia and Hypocria. A third of a million troops were despatched, along with an enormous supporting fleet, with the aim of capturing Sinistra from the Alliance. With that island - and Vyntra's Starblaydi masters - gone, Hypocria would be a far easier target.

The Krytenian Prize

A new twist in the regional war came when Krytenia, hitherto 'involved' in the war with a roving fleet in Calania's north-eastern waters, withdrew from all armed conflict. President Dominique Domasca used a region-wide address to unilaterally pull her forces back to Krytenian territories. In it's place, however, was a bounty on Viannor Starblayde. Five hundred million Krytenian Credits (€K) was on offer for the head of Viannor, or at the very least for whoever removed her from power. Bounty Hunters and national agencies alike across the region pricked up their ears and prepared their plans. A strike team of eleven Lamonians was immediately dispatched, but poor planning led to their immediate execution on arriving in Starblaydia. Other groups from the Az-czid assassin community, Lamonian Society of Assassins, Krytenian Office of International Intelligence and even some private citizens made plans of their own.

'Blue replaced by purple'

Back in Calania, Starblaydi forces had quickly overrun what still constituted Legalese, before them now lay the Legal Republic. Once through that, all of The Allied States could fall prey to Strategic Alliance forces. Aided by Footballia troops in the west, the sledgehammer of the Starblaydi war machine rolled forward. The Allied States' forces had already proved their worth tenfold in the streets of Legalese City, where Starbladi advantages turned to weaknesses and the Clansmen were at their best. A new strategy was required on the part of the Strategic Alliance.

"You all know as well as I that the [Starblaydi] Army is nigh-on unbeatable on open ground, so the key is simple. Fight them on a field, not a pavement. We'll bring our forces to bear on them: fast, mobile and aggressive. We will surround their cities and pound them out of existence. Blue will be replaced by purple."

—Viannor Starblayde, on Starbladyia's strategy

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T-7 Gilgamesh with supporting troops

When the horizon could be seen, the Starblaydi T-7 Gilgamesh heavy battle tank was king of the battlefield. In open ground none could stand before it. With this in mind, Starblaydi forces targeted the countryside of the Alliance of Nine States. Rather than attempt to take each of the Clansmen's ciies in turn, Starblaydia simply surrounded and besieged them before moving on. Like stars in the night sky, the cities of the Allied States proved the only pockets of effective resistance against the Starblaydi onslaught, everywhere else the hastily-assembled forces were smashed aside by the mighty Gilgamesh divisions.

Behind the lines Starblaydia's Law and Order machine had kicked in. Thousands upon thousands of police officers swarmed into the lands of former Legalese, keeping looting and rioting to an acceptable minimum. Many were veterans who had pacified Legalese during the ten years it had been under Starblaydi control, and others were experienced in the annexation of Aquiliana, and some who had even been young men and women when Nemya was brought under Starblaydi control.

The police walked around in their black uniforms doing the normal things that policemen do across the world, but behind them came something more sinister. The instrument of terror and control: the K.E.R.E.S.. They murdered, assassinated, burned, blew up, threatened, kidnapped and cajoled. These female operatives were there to bring Legalese into Viannor's shadow, to pacify and silence the people as they did so effectively to the other five and a half billion people living within Starblaydia's borders.

Counter-attack

As Stablaydia had taken the Legal Republic cities of Okerson, Plainsville and Sagdineo, the Allied States tried to take them back. They attempted to establish corridors of territory which could be well defended, while essential supplies and reinforcements could be shipped to the front lines. At Sagdineo they were repulsed, sent back with their tails between their legs by well-coordinated and ruthless defenders. Outside Okerson the Clansmen had more success, leaving the Starblaydi commander unable to hit back for fear of exposing the city to recapture. Another huge push from Starblaydi forces, however, sent the Allied States packing. A retreat quickly became a rout, and Starblaydi forces charged all the way to the very gates of Graham City itself.

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Starblaydi troops taking cover

Turning Point

'The Tragedy of Glasgow'

With Starblaydi forces laying siege to a host of Allied States' cities, Falcanian, Bazalonian, Lamonian and Khazaronian forces joined the Clansmen's lines, aiding in the defence of Graham City, London, Athens and Glasgow. It was above Glasgow, however, where the greatest atrocity of the war would be committed. Guarded by a Falcanian fleet in the air and fortified by Clansmen troops, it was one of the bulwarks against the Starblaydi advance. Towards it was sent Starblaydia's largest ever air armada, a fleet made up mostly of Starblaydia's top interceptor, the F-23S Nightwing.

This attack, however, was just a diversion, designed to draw out one of Falcania's dreaded floating aircraft carriers. As the two fleets engaged in battle over Glasgow, a more terrible threat was brought to bear: Starblaydia's Damocles orbital weapons station. One of the eight kinetic energy weapons, known as 'Godrods' was used to not only destroy one of the carriers, but also to devastate a huge portion of Glasgow, killing thousands in the worst atrocity Atlantian Oceania had yet seen.

Reaction to Glasgow

In a spontaneous response across the entire front line, Allied States' forces simply charged, eager for vengeance. They pushed the unprepared Starblaydi forces back up to ten miles in a single night, capturing many thousands of them. The Allied States recaptured all the territory of the Mediterranean Coalition, but Starblaydi forces held firm in the east of the Scottish Republic around Graham City. It was in the Kingdom of England, specifically Manchester, where Starblaydia would make their first real defensive action of the campaign.

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A pair of F-23S Nightwings flying low over Manchester's suburbs

A massive battle took place, which included ex- international footballer Infantry Captain Darijo Cravex, and Starblaydia held firm, in general, against the assault until the arrival of Falcanian air reinforcements. Their F4 Birds of Prey proved superior to the Nightwings, as they had done over Glasgow, and once Starblaydi air superiority had vanished, their attempts at defending Manchester proved far more difficult.

Meanwhile, in Verdena, Nedalia's large naval fleets were taking the fight to Hypocria and the small Starblaydi garrison on Sinistra island. The Starblaydi theatre commander-in-chief, Admiral Hierro, had failed to communicate adequately with his Hypocrian counterpart, Brigadier Andreev, so much so that on nearly a dozen separate occasions, patrolling Starblaydi warships had been mistaken for incoming hostile forces solely because there was no communication between the two commands.

Starblaydia on the defensive

There were battles in Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Portsmouth as The SDL forces pressed their advantage. A number of Lamonian infantry corps entered the Legal Republic but were encircled and destroyed by Colonel Iago Forlan's Gilgamesh tank divisions. As their forces retreated, the Starblaydi were forced to used a scorched earth policy to deny anything that might have been useful to the SDL. Road and rail links were destroyed, while the sky was turned black as the southern-most oilfields of the Legal Republic were burned by the KERES, denying the precious resources to their enemies. Slowly, fighting for every inch of ground, the SDL pushed Starblaydia back into the Legal Republic and beyond.

Starblaydi commanders consigned their forces to hedgehog tactics, deploying in depth in heavily fortified positions suitable for all-around defence. The idea was for attackers to penetrate between these "hedgehogs", but each position continuing to fight on when surrounded. This tactic channels the attacking tanks into salients between the hedgehogs, allowing the defenders to use their mobile armoured reserve to cut off the enemy armoured spearhead, separating it from its infantry support and allowing it to be destroyed in detail.

The early success of this tactic prompted Lady Viannor to declare that Starblaydi forces would fight to the last man in defence, re-take the initiative and push back to the gates of Graham City. Momentum and troops numbers, however, proved her statement futile.

List of Nations

Nations declared in military support of Starblaydia

• Abattoir (SAAS)
• Footballia (SAAS)
• Hypocria (SAAS)
• Xile (SAAS)

Nations declared in military support of the The Lowland Clans

• Bazalonia (SDL)
• Capitalizt Defense Alliance (non-aligned)
• Falcania (SDL)
• Khazaron (SDL)
• Krytenia (SDL)
• Lamoni (SDL)
• Milchama (ASPIRE)
• Nedalia (SDL)
• Quakmybush (aligned with Bazalonia)

Nations declaring neutrality

• Az-cz (non-aligned)
• Chacor (non-aligned)
• Myrtannia (SDL)
• Neu Amerika (non-aligned)
• Nova Britannicus (non-aligned)
• Pacitalia (ASPIRE)

Nations with undeclared intentions

• Delesa (SDL)
• Manhattan Prime (ASPIRE)

External Links

• The Sounds of Battle Horns Draw Near
• Operation Galactica
• The First To Answer - Verdena theater opens
• Operation Ultimate Prize