[Su-tehp]

Brought to you by popular demand, the next entry in the Exile: Into the Dark Waters Historical Database: The Martian War (Part 2).

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Welcome to the Siraxta City Library, citizen.
Category: History, Selected Article: #37b
Thank you for using this terminal. Have a good day. Ad astra per aspera.

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The Martian War (cont'd)
    Dirty tricks
By June 2351, the Syndicate was still on the defensive, but with continuous support from their new mobile shipyards and factories, they were mostly able to hold the line and even eventually go on the offensive to attack and heavily damage the EFCa Septimus and the EFCa Hadrianus.

Determined to bring the fight back to the enemy by any means necessary, Fleetmaster Tessandras formed the Black Operations Department (BOD). Comprised of upgraded Tychicus-class frigates and squadrons of next-gen gunships, bombers, and fighters, the BOD was created to take the most difficult assignments, strike far beyond enemy lines, and attack enemy supply routes, infrastructure, and utility ships. With this new unit, Tessandras perfected his ability to conduct covert operations, launch hit-and-run attacks, and withdraw before the enemy could react. The BOD performed long distance raids on EFN military installations orbiting Earth and Mars, ambushed Federation forces trying to bomb targets in the Outer Rim, and hunted enemy carriers in order to take pressure off regular Syndicate forces. Aside from precision strikes, the BOD also developed a vast network of spies, assassins, infiltrators, and saboteurs covertly placed in the EFN-occupied sectors of Mars as well as on Federation installations and even front-line Federation units.

On July 27, 2351, the Syndicate launched a massive offensive against Mars. The battlegroup led by the ORD Damascus destroyed the Orion-class EFD Invictus at the Battle of Deimos, a costly victory for the ORS. Simultaneously, the ORD Thor attacked Augustus Station, the primary EFN shipyard in Mars orbit, destroying the still-under-construction Praetor-class EFCa Churchill and the entire 3rd Martian Fleet. Both victories were only made possible by the ORS’ new Galahad-class destroyers, which outmatched the Orion-class destroyers as well as the Praetor-class battlecarriers.

    The Iron Rain
While the ORS fleet was still battling the EFN 3rd Martian Fleet, preparations were made for a ground assault on Mars. BOD operatives had spent several weeks infiltrating occupied provinces, seeking remnants of the resistance, and organizing volunteers to take up the fight for the liberation of Mars. It wasn't long before open rebellion broke out in the major cities of Cimmeria, Cydonia and other provinces. Several important Federate governors were assassinated in the confusion. Simultaneously, ORS forces led by Fleetmaster Caliphtys of the Ironclad began bombarding planetary defenses and military garrisons located in pro-EFN provinces on Mars.

At 17:00 hours on August 1, the Syndicate commenced Operation Iron Rain. 2,800,000 ORS soldiers began the liberation of Mars, making it the largest planetary invasion since the Unification Wars. ORS forces landed mostly in the EFN-occupied provinces of Cimmeria, Aeolis, Eridania and Elysium Island where they joined forces with the resistance. On the opposing side, the EFN ground forces on Mars comprised of more than 2,200,000 regular soldiers, 900,000 militiamen and mercenaries and 9,000,000 conscripts. However, they were spread thinly across the surface and morale among the irregulars was very low. Using their temporary orbital superiority to their advantage, the Syndicate made a special effort to bombard only those areas where the regular EFN ground forces were concentrated and leave the irregular forces alone in an effort to sway the native Martians to their side.

After initial victories at Elysium and Cimmeria, the ORS offensive headed west to the heavily fortified regions of Eridania, Tyrrhena and Hesperia. There, however, they encountered heavy resistance and got bogged down. Until mid-September both sides struggled to advance, but despite several hundred thousand casualties on both sides, a stalemate ensued on Tyrrhena Plateau and Hesperia's eastern border. As all attempted offensives were held off by the opposing side, both armies used their numerous construction drones to build huge fortifications hundreds of kilometers in length and garrisons placed mostly under the planet’s surface. The stalemate wasn’t broken even by intensive orbital bombardments commenced by both sides nor by biological and chemical weapons reintroduced by the Federate military.

    Lion of the Federation
While the bulk of the ORS ground forces was occupied on Mars and the majority of the ORS warships struggled to support the invasion, the EFN fleet under Admiral Walker regrouped after several setbacks and started a counteroffensive from Earth codenamed "Heaven's Fury." Walker's flagship, the EFCa Tiberius, as well as the EFCa Executor and the EFCa Praetorian, launched a combined strike against the Galilean moons. After having stormed the defenses of Io and Ganymede, destroying two Orion-class destroyers, the ORD Cataphract and the ORD Vesuvius, the Tiberius and its fleet commenced orbital bombardment of both moons. Simultaneously, Walker dispatched small hunter-killer teams comprised of 3 Solomon-class frigates each equipped with advanced jump drives to harass ORS second-line units with devastating shock-jump attacks.

Forced to choose between continuing the offensive on Mars, making a surprise strike at a now vulnerable Earth, or withdrawing to defend the Outer Rim, High Fleetmaster Glenzmann chose the last option, leaving the ground troops still fighting on Mars with the support of only the Ironclad's war-torn battlegroup. The Thor then headed for Io to confront the Tiberius. Familiar with a Galahad-class' close combat capabilities and having learned a hard lesson from Operation Punisher, Walker gave Glenzmann's flagship a wide berth and sent bombers to destroy the Thor's primary railguns. The strategy worked and the partially disarmed Thor became an easy target for the Tiberius' battlegroup. Luckily for Glenzmann and the Thor, BOD frigates arrived and inflicted enough damage to the Tiberius' escort to allow the Thor to escape. The Tiberius continued to bombard Io and damage the moon’s orbital infrastructure for eight hours before the Thor and the BOD frigates could regroup chase the Federate battlegroup away from Io.

For the next few weeks, the ORS was on the defensive again. Walker kept striking at Syndicate targets across the Outer Rim, earning himself the title 'The Lion of the Federation'. His hunter-killer teams and Tessandras' BOD taskforces continued to stalk each other while the bulk of the Syndicate fleet was forced to defend the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

To be continued in...The Martian War (Part 3)!

[Gloriano]

These are nicely done. 

[Su-tehp]

These are nicely done. 

Thank you, thank you. 

There's not much more left to go in Exile's backstory. I figure one more entry for Part 3 of the Martian War, then another entry for the Second Interbellum, then maybe another couple of entries for Operation Mjolnir, and lastly, the entry for the Shivan Invasion of Sol (though this last one might be delayed a bit as I still have to conform some chronology details before I can publish it).

After that, I can publish some other already-edited, non-spoiler stuff concerning other entries in the Tech Database, such as the compositions of the various parts of the Exodus Fleet, political factions in the Exodus Fleet, and brief descriptions of the political makeup of the EFN and ORS. Anything beyond that is gonna get too spoiler-y for Exile's story.

[Nyctaeus]

And now gimme my missions rewritten at this level of writing :]

[Su-tehp]

And now gimme my missions rewritten at this level of writing :]

No, no, not now. When you grow up. 

I've finished editing Missions 00 through 03 (granted, two of those are in-game cutscenes, not missions per se so they were much shorter and a lot easier to edit) and I'm working on 04 now. Only 24 missions to go! (Dear gawd, what did I do to myself when I volunteered for this...?)

But on a more serious note, you still have access to my Google Docs so you can see my current progress, right, Nyct?

[5thAce]

Wow an EFN-ORS war campaign sounds like it could be really good! Maybe one day could something like that happen?

[Su-tehp]

Wow an EFN-ORS war campaign sounds like it could be really good! Maybe one day could something like that happen?

I’d like to see that myself. The idea of an Exile prequel has been suggested on the HLP forum before; whether it happens is up to Nyct. As it is, I think Exile has at least two more episodes in the conception/outline stage after Into The Dark Waters. I’m not yet privy to the details just yet (remember that I just joined the Exile team), but from what little I know, I’m trying to make sure that certain plot holes/wrinkles get smoothed over if and when we get there.

While I very much like the idea of an Exile prequel and I believe Nyct is amenable to it, it’s still a ways off. I’ve got plenty on my plate with just Exile and, I think Nyct is juggling multiple projects.