Commonwealth War for Two Worlds
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| Intercepted Commonwealth interplanetary torpedo | |||||||||||||||
| Date | SY 2629 - SY 2631 | ||||||||||||||
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| Location | Two Worlds | ||||||||||||||
| Result | Status quo ante bellum | ||||||||||||||
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After the Republic of the Two Worlds seized the diplomatic arm and task force sent to negotiate entrance into the Rhyno Commonwealth, the Commonwealth declared war, intent on securing the entire binary star system for the Commonwealth and to bring the leaders of the Two Worlds Republic to justice.
The war would last three years and involve less than twenty combat vessels between the two belligerents. Most citizens daily lives were unaffected by the war with the exception of almost daily air raids by long-range interplanetary torpedoes that were often intercepted short of their target. The Republic of the Two Worlds never made a naval offensive in the war.
Privateers enjoyed success in the war, by commerce raiding outside of the system.
Timeline
The war officially began on galactic month July 1st, SY 2629 when the Commonwealth learned from a Somari public broadcast stating the seizure of the diplomatic core and warships. The Commonwealth representative on Irari A used her Writ of State to declare war on the 'insurgents of Somari'.
There would be no fighting until an understrength flotilla from the Commonwealth Navy arrived, three galactic months later.
2629
With the arrival of Admiral Fisker and his flotilla, the Commonwealth setup a fleet station on the ice rock of Irari XI. The Commonwealth Corps of Engineers setup a water purification facility and a planet based flotilla yard.
The Two Worlds Republic experimented with a long-ranged strike against the flotilla yard using an unmanned shuttle packed with explosives. The ship was intercepted and boarded. The marine detail aboard was killed when they triggered the failsafe. The squad of Commonwealth Marines were the first casualties of the war, and the only to perish from hostile forces by year's end.
In the final days of the year, the Republic broke ground on a fleet facility on Somari 6, with aspirations on construction of a home-built cruiser (with engineering assistance from a Rew corporation) that could lead their vanguard of destroyers.
2630
The start of SY 2630 was greeted with a mandate from the Commonwealth council to Admiral Fisker to find a decisive battle, and crush the insurgents navy. With the base at Irari XI complete, Fisker attempted a direct assault on Somari Prime. However, before he could cross the void between the systems, the Republic launched a fleet of interplanetary torpedoes and spent the next two months firing strikes against Irari A. Fisker's small flotilla were tied to the planet as a shield trying to detect the stealth weapons before they struck.
In response to their immobility, the Commonwealth began a crash program of equipping engines with explosive payloads and setting their intercept course for Somari 6. The Commonwealth fired just under a hundred of these rudimentary interplanetary torpedoes in the first galactic month of production, the following four months saw an average of just over seventy-five launches.
By mid year, the raids on Republic shipping out-system by Commonwealth privateers had finally reduced their ability to build and fire long range torpedoes. Encouraged by the lessening need of keeping all his vessels in geo-stationary orbit, Fisker left a squad of gunships on planetary patrol and set his sights on the Republic's new fleet base on Somari 6.
The Battle over Somari 6 was a resounding victory for the Commonwealth. With the destruction of the fleet base and the cruiser under construction, it appeared the Republic's dreams of autonomy were down to resisting a ground invasion. The battle was a rout after the Republic's Admiral Maxy was killed. The remaining three destroyers of the Republic's fleet fled to Somari 8 with a handful of light attack craft.
Fisker chased the fleet to Somari 8 where he trounced the Republic's forces. Admiral Fisker accepted the surrender of Commander Jea, the engineering officer on the destroyer Fearless. She was the highest remaining officer in the Republic fleet.
Battered by the fighting, Fisker established a deep orbital blockade around Somari Prime. The blockade put the planet under siege with the only supplies coming by smuggler craft.
By the end of 2630, a large ground invasion fleet of thirty-three landing craft set out from Irari A. The fleet made an emergency transmission while crossing the expanse between the star systems. All thirty-three ships were lost, without explanation on how they were destroyed. Three divisions of well-trained planetary invasion troopers, over thirty-five thousand Commonwealth soldiers, were lost to the vacuum of space.
2631
Following the catastrophe of the loss of the invasion fleet, Admiral Fisker was replaced at the start of SY 2631 by Admiral Concard. Concard launched an investigation into the destruction and determined the Republic had been launching stealth rail cannons. While Concard had some initial success in locating three of the batteries, there was no way to know how many existed. Analyst believed there had to be at least ten to fifteen considering how quickly they terminated the transports.
Concard attempted to reinforce the siege of Somari Prime, but his vessels were again intercepted. Concard lost six newly arrived vessels, and only located a single launcher.
By mid year, running low on supplied, Concard broke the siege of Somari Prime. Upon returning to Irari XI, his surviving vessels were damaged by long-range rail gun strikes while awaiting provisioning.
The damage to Commonwealth morale and supplies was compounded, when the next rain of rail gun strikes hit the flotilla facility on Irari XI. While not eliminating the facility, the damage was severe. The vessel that had arrived for refit and rest were now tasked with search and rescue.
Without a fleet near Somari Prime, or the gap, the Commonwealth were unable to calculate or hunt down the remaining platforms. Additionally, with the Republic no longer under siege, new rail gun platforms and supplies could be launched easily.
The Commonwealth sent a peace delegation. Their goal was to attempt to secure the freedom of the original diplomatic contingent that were still being held as prisoners of war, and to receive payment for the vessels that were seized and were now lost.
The Republic rejected the terms outright and over the next month sent a half dozen rail gun rounds into Irari A, providing a clear threat of their capabilities. The Commonwealth countered with a status quo ante bellum treaty, offering an apology for their demands and requesting a release of prisoners. The Republic agreed to release the prisoners six months later in a separate agreement that included a sizable payment for their feeding and housing over the last three years.
The treaty was ratified on galactic standard December 1st, 2631. The prisoner release and recompense payment were made six months later as agreed, outside of the terms of peace.
Major Battles
The Commonwealth decisively defeated the Republic in every naval engagement. The Republic's naval leadership was hampered by a lack of experienced naval officers. The penal colony on Somari Prime had been predominantly occupied by political dissidents and disenfranchised educational elite, resulting in a higher tactical and technological execution of the war over brute strength in battles.
Battle of Somari 6
| Date | June 13, SY 2630 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Location | Somari 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result | Rhyno Commonwealth Overwhelming Victory | ||||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Somari 6 was fought in an effort to eliminate the Republic's naval forces from the fight. Led by Commonwealth Admiral Fisker the battle was decidedly one-sided.
Prelude to Battle
Without advanced warning, the Republic force of six destroyers and a dozen light attack craft, were on standard wartime patrol. The Republic's intelligence services were unaware that Admiral Fisker broke his screen of Irari A.
Combat Actions
Admiral Fisker brought his ships out of subspace directly below the planetary pole. The subspace exit was impossible for the Republic's forces to miss, but the planet eclipsed the size of Fisker's force. It's unclear why the Republic's admiral, Admiral Maxy, took her own ship to investigate. There is speculation among the surviving officers that she'd assumed it was a recon flight and wanted to dispatch the vessel herself.
The lone destroyer was horribly out matched by Fiskers three cruisers and four destroyers. Admiral Maxy immediately called the fleet back, ordering a counter attach. She concentrated her attack on one of the Commonwealth destroyers while trying to draw it away from the group, but her vessel was vaporized before reinforcements could reach her.
The separated Commonwealth destroyer shared her fate as the flight of Republic LAC's tore the damaged ship to shreds.
The wing of Republic destroyers, altered their tactic as they no longer needed to rescue their commander. The flight of five destroyers pressed down the curvature of the planetoid and locked a pair of cruisers into a slugging match.
The other Commonwealth cruiser and destroyers had followed the flight of eighteen LAC's and missed the approaching destroyers. The Republic destroyers managed to disable one of the cruisers and land a critical blow on another. The disabled cruiser lost RCS control and spiraled into the planetoids gravity well, crashing on the surface. The fight with the cruisers had left two of the five destroyers with critical injuries, including the loss of their subspace dive engines.
Opting to protect their retreat, the two Republic destroyers Savant and Cascade, charged the returning Commonwealth cruiser and escorts, who had just finished eliminating the Republic's LAC flight.
The two Republic destroyers were cut to shreds but gave the remaining three destroyers enough time to escape into subspace.
Aftermath
With the death of Admiral Maxy, Captain Volm was given a field promotion to Commodore, and he began organizing repairs using a supply station in orbit of Somari 8.
At Somari 6, Admiral Fisker threatened to bombard the fleet station on the surface. The one hundred man crew surrendered and were sent to Somari Prime on an unarmed transport. Fisker was court-martialed following the battle for releasing the prisoners but was later exonerated at trial on account of his vessels inability to handle that quantity of prisoners, especially in their battle damaged state.
The fleet base at Somari 6 would be utilized by Fisker's fleet for repair and refit before being destroyed by scuttling charges.
Battle of Somari 8
| Date | June 20 - 22, SY 2630 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Location | Somari 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result | Rhyno Commonwealth Overwhelming Victory | ||||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Somari 8 was a direct follow-up to the Battle of Somari 6, fought a week earlier. Led by Commonwealth Admiral Fisker the battle was again decidedly one-sided.
Prelude to Battle
With repairs completed at Somari 6, Admiral Fisker set scuttling charges on the fleet base and the unfinished cruiser. With confirmed detonation, and reports of the escaped destroyers spotted at Somari 8, Fisker decided to give chase. Worried that they missed an installation or intelligence at Somari 6, Fisker ordered his LAC's to hold Somari 6 until he returned.
The Republic fleet latched themselves 'airlock-to-airlock' with a small supply depot in orbit of Somari 8. Being a gas-giant, Somari 8 offered little for the broken fleet beyond the supply yard. In fact, the station and the three ships were silhouetted in by the planet making them easy to detect on lidar.
Combat Actions
Admiral Fisker made the same maneuver he used at Somari 6, exiting subspace on the southern pole of the planet. The subspace wash alerted the Republic forces to the attack and each vessel was able to make a clean separation.
Realizing the Republic forces wouldn't take the bait a second time, he charged Commodore Volm's flotilla. Racing for the Somari 8's rings, Volm was forced to engage in a missile duel with the outer most destroyer. Fisker pulled his screening destroyer in, rather than go one-on-three in a missile duel.
Within the ice rings, long ranged detection and fire control was made more difficult. Over the next two days, Volm tried several times to setup an ambush for one of Fisker's destroyers, but each time, his ambush was broken by an intercepting cruiser.
Commodore Volm shifted his tactics on June 22nd, rather than trap a destroyer, he wanted to catch the intercepting cruiser. Volm set a trap, and as the Commonwealth destroyer moved into it, he shifted his focus to the cruiser that was barreling in. Caught in a brawl between a destroyer and a cruiser, Volm suffered immense casualties--including his own life.
The two other Republic destroyers attempted to pull their commander out of the vice (it's not clear if they knew he was dead at that point), but instead got pulled into the very same slugging match.
With the double trap sprung, Fisker sent his other two cruisers into the fight. At extreme missile range, they did little to damage the vessels, but were able to eliminate the destroyers attempt to flee. This again proved vital in forcing the battle to stay engaged and the havoc that descended upon the crews of the Republic vessels left them listing in space, leaderless.
The Republic ships held on for over six hours, but finally near the end of the galactic standard day, Admiral Fisker received an all channel call from a Commander Jea indicating that she was the highest ranking surviving officer and she was ordering all ships to spike their drives - a universal sign of surrender.
Aftermath
Admiral Fisker had one of the most lopsided victories, he had four killed and a couple dozen injured. The Republic ships over seven hundred dead and every surviving crew member was wounded in some fashion. The hulks of the three Republic destroyers were so battered that Fisker stripped them for supplies and scuttled them.
Fisker would go on to plunder the station and scuttle it as well.
Returning to Somari Prime, Fisker setup a blockade and negotiated a prisoner exchange. He bartered the release of the Commonwealth naval crews that had been captured with the failed diplomatic mission in SY 2629. The 88 surviving Republic naval crew were exchanged for over fifteen hundred Commonwealth naval crew.
Contemporary pundits pointed to the exchange as a clear sign the Republic was about to crack. However, it was discovered after the war the exchange was made because the Republic needed skilled naval officers to operate, aim, and maintain the rail cannons.
Privateers
While both sides made use of Privateers during the war, the Commonwealth issued three times the letters of marque. More mercenary and privateer captains were willing to fight for the Commonwealth as they were often considered to the be favored to win. Additionally, the Republic was known to be shipping a lot of high-value cargo and were therefore a more profitable target.
By wars end, insurance rates on Republic cargo was ten times the pre-war price.
Causalities
Casualties, by any contemporary wars standards, were light. In total between the two nations, thirteen destroyers were lost and one cruiser. The highest casualties were sustained by Commonwealth Army forces when three divisions were blown into the vacuum of space. Civilian casualties are somewhat incalculable as many died from the aftermath of torpedo or rail cannon strikes, even if the initial strikes were mostly contained.