Parthian Shot

Parthian Shot, referred to alternatively as Parthian or the Parthian OptionIt was named for the Parthian shot tactic of old Earth cavalry, where retreating horsemen would fire their bows backwards at pursuers, was a special dispensation of the Solarian League Navy's Operation Buccaneer. In the event a Buccaneer task force encountered Grand Alliance defenses too strong to overcome, the Solarian commanding officer was to launch missiles at the target system's orbital industry from extreme range while withdrawing from the system, in order to avoid a battle with the local defenses.
It was considered questionable even by many SLN officers, as it mandated an attack without warning. This would give the local civilian population of orbital habitats effectively no time to evacuate, likely causing violations of the Eridani Edict with mass casualties.
Ultimately, the League Navy did not execute this specific plan—which was originally envisioned by Mesan Alignment moles as a way to bring ruin to the League's credibility and moral stance on the galactic stage—but its preparation played a role in the thinking of officers like Hajdu Gyôzô and Martin Gogunov at the Battle of Hypatia. 
Before the battle, the SLN demanded the evacuation of all space infrastructure, including densely populated civilian habitats, but in anticipation of Alliance reinforcements, deliberately did not allow time for this process to be finished. Had the vastly outnumbered Task Group 110.2 of the Royal Manticoran Navy not made the near-suicidal decision to ambush Task Force 1030, Gyôzô likely would have ordered a "Parthian"-esque fire mission on Hypatian infrastructure still inhabited by millions of innocent people. The Manticorans barely prevailed and prevented the atrocity from taking place. 
Honor Harrington later cited the existence of Operation Buccaneer and Parthian Shot—and the League's refusal to denounce such tactics, even when they nearly killed countless civilians at Hypatia—as one of the causes for demanding the surrender of the Mandarins to Alliance custody for war crimes trials. () 
== References ==
Category:Solarian League Navy
Category:Military