Battle of Sol

The Battle of Sol was the final battle of the Solarian-Manticoran War, fought in January 1923 PD in humanity's home system of Sol. It brought an end to the war, and resulted in unprecedented political and socio-economic changes for the Solarian League.
== Prelude ==
Following the Beowulf Strike and the loss of over 43 million lives, including many members of the Grand Alliance's political elite, Fleet Admiral Honor Alexander-Harrington convinced Empress Elizabeth that the Solarian League had to be brought to heel, quickly, and by whatever means necessary. Still grieving over the death of her husband and wife, she was dispatched to Sol with the Grand Fleet in what was officially called Operation Nemesis. ()
== Order of Battle ==
Solarian League Navy
* Naval Station Ganymede
** 62 SD
** 106 BC
** 62 cruisers
** 117 DD
** 120,000 pods
* Earth
** 200+ SD
** 400 BC
** 1,000,000 pods
Grand Fleet
* 600+ ships
== Course of Battle ==
=== Initial Arrival ===
SEE: Attack on Cruiser Squadron 572
The Grand Fleet transitioned from hyperspace outside the hyperlimit of Sol, surprising Cruiser Squadron 572 of the Solarian League Navy on maneuvers less than eight million kilometers from the Grand Fleet. A brief engagement occurred. In her grief and fury over the Beowulf Strike, Alexander-Harrington initially disregarded an attempt by CruRon 572 to capitulate, but when the Solarians struck their wedges, Mercedes Brigham managed to convince her admiral to abort the assault. Alexander-Harrington accepted CruRon 572's unconditional surrender.
=== Assault on Ganymede ===
SEE: Assault on Ganymede
The Grand Fleet proceeded to attack Naval Station Ganymede, destroying ninety percent of the ships of the wall in Reserve One in a single launch to demonstrate NSG's tactical inferiority, before using a well-timed hyperspace micro-jump to escape the Station's counter fire, and close the range between it and NSG. Grand Fleet subsequently forced the surrender of NSG and every piece of research being conducted there by both the SLN and Technodyne Industries. Alexander-Harrington realized that this intelligence coup culminated perhaps the most decisive military victory in human history, as the Grand Alliance now knew everything there was to know about the Solarian League's war effort, at the cost of no casualties. Yet her task was far from finished.
=== Destruction of Orbital industry ===
After a pause of several days, the Grand Fleet proceeded further in system until it was exactly one light-minute inside the hyperlimit. Once Grand Fleet halted, Alexander-Harrington used a Hermes buoy in geosynchronous orbit above the Atlantic Ocean to send Fleet Admiral Winston Kingsford an ultimatum: Evacuate all deep space industrial infrastructure and scuttle all SLN assets in the system within ninety-six hours, or she would destroy them.
Kingsford acquiesced to Alexander-Harrington's demands and was even granted an extension of twelve hours to finish the evacuation and scuttling. It was shortly before the expiration of that extension that Hamish Alexander-Harrington arrived on board of the HMS Duke of Cromarty, bringing relief to his wife, who had believed him to be dead. Honor Alexander-Harrington no longer felt tempted to execute an atrocity against the League to avenge Beowulf and her slain loved ones, but resolved to continue her mission.
When Alexander-Harrington's deadline expired, she activated the signal that destroyed more than 2,000 years of built-up infrastructure and equipment, effectively terminating all space age development in Sol, which had previously been the most industrialized star system in the galaxy. Harrington spared only residential space habitats and the orbital power collectors required to support them.
Hermes buoys channeled her peace terms publicly to every Solarian media service on Earth:
: "We have tried from the beginning to minimize casualties and loss of life. Until today, until I arrived in the Sol System with my fleet, we had not initiated a single conflict with the Solarian League Navy, or any of the League's armed forces. We have stood our ground; we have defended our friends and allies. But, we have not attempted to take the war to the League, as we have just conclusively demonstrated we might have done at any time ...
:
: "In all that time, we have not killed a single League civilian in a single League system. Even today, we have not killed a single civilian. We have attempted to use diplomacy. We have attempted to use economic pressure. We have done everything we possibly could to bring this conflict to an end, without mass destruction, without mass murders, and our reward has been to have our civilians, our families murdered in their millions instead.
:
: "This ends today."
: — Admiral Honor Alexander-Harrington, in her address to the people of the Sol System
She demanded the arrest and extradition of the Mandarins, the dismantling of the Office of Frontier Security, liberation of all Protectorates and the reform of the Solarian Constitution to remake the League along more democratic lines. Member systems would be permitted to secede. After a month, any SLN vessels present outside the League's territory would be condemned as pirates and destroyed, with no chance to surrender. ()
== Aftermath ==
Fleet Admiral Kingsford personally met with Fleet Admiral Harrington to accept the Alliance's terms. At the same time, his senior officers, with help from the Gendarmerie, arrested the Mandarins based on a warrant given out by Deputy Attorney General Marie-Claire Rorendaal.
With the war over, the SLN defeated, and Sol's economy devastated, a Constitutional Convention was called in which the member worlds would redefine the shape and nature of the Solarian League. The Office of Frontier Security was abolished and many Verge systems regained their independence.
Fleet Admiral Alexander-Harrington retired from active duty to carry her late wife's remaining embryo to term and spend time with her family. ()
== References ==
Sol
Sol