Beowulf Strike

The Beowulf Strike was a string of three sneak nuclear attacks by the Mesan Alignment against the Republic of Beowulf, carried out under cover of the Battle of Beowulf in January 1923 PD.
It resulted in the destruction of Beowulf's three major orbital stations, killing over 43 million people, including a number of members of the Grand Alliance leadership.
The intention had been for the attacks to coincide with the Solarian League Navy attack, and in doing so further inflame intersellar tensions. However, due to human error the strike was delayed, making it evident that the SLN had not carried it out. ()
== Course of Strike ==
=== Beowulf Gamma ===
The initial nuclear device, hidden in Cargo Container H&L 1007-9-463(h) in Bay 16-Beta of Beowulf Gamma's Freight Hub No. 7, was delivered to the station by a Mesan Alignment crew operating the Kalokainos Shipping freighter SLMS Star Galleon. It was disguised as a fusion bottle for a Archon III cargo shuttle being delivered to Stickel & Lyman, one of Beowulf's leading manufacturers of small craft and shuttles.
The device was detonated by Harold Simmons-Gilchrest, a third-shift cargo master and a Mesan Gamma line operative. Simmons-Gilchrest was unable to detonate the device to coincide with the Solarian League Navy attack on the system however and therefore used a second of two long, complicated commands he received from his Mesan handler.
Twenty-seven seconds after he transmitted the command, the device detonated, destroying Beowulf Gamma, its 9.5 million inhabitants, and Simmons-Gilchrest himself. ()
=== Beowulf Beta ===
The second nuclear device, hidden in Cargo Container H&L 1007-9-464(h) in Bay 8-Delta of Beowulf Beta's Freight Hub No. 19, was delivered to the station by the Mesan Alignment crew operating SLMS Star Galleon. Like the device that destroyed Beowulf Gamma, it was disguised as a fusion bottle. Initially meant to detonated simultaneously with the device that destroyed Beowulf Gamma, the secondary code transmitted by Simmons-Gilchrest delayed the second device's detonation.
Precisely five minutes after the destruction of Beowulf Gamma, the device aboard Beowulf Beta detonated, killing another 11.25 million Beowulfan citizens. ()
=== Beowulf Alpha ===
The third and final nuclear device was delivered to Beowulf Alpha by the same Mesan Alignment crew as the other two devices. As with the second device, Simmons-Gilchrest's secondary code delayed the third device's detonation.
Ten minutes percisely after the destruction of Beowulf Beta, the third device detonated, destroying Beowulf Alpha and its 22 million inhabitants. ()
== Casualties ==
:For a list of casualties of the Beowulf Strike, see here.
The casualties from Beowulf Alpha, Beowulf Beta, and Beowulf Gamma totaled about 42.75 million people.
== Aftermath ==
The Mandarins' decision to launch Operation Fabius, and the way they were obviously letting themselves be manipulated by the Alignment, led the Grand Alliance to launch a direct attack on the League's power center, resulting in Operation Nemesis and the Battle of Sol. ()
== References ==
Category:Specific Events
Category:Mesan Alignment Components
Category:Mesan Operations