Legion War

The **Legion War** was an armed conflict between the 55th Taichii Legion and a coalition of states fought between 3536 and 3540. Incessant attacks by Legionnaire privateers on merchant shipping and colonies resulted in the formation of an alliance which declared war on the Legion in order to pacify the rogue state. After four years of unexpectedly hard fighting, the Coalition had forced the Legion raiders out of the frontier systems and defeated the Legion’s fleet in open battle. A planetary invasion of Tai was underway in 3540 and after four months the Legion surrendered. The Taichii Legion was forced to cede their territory outside their home system and give up their space force to the victorious coalition.

The causes of the war trace back to longstanding antagonism between the Legion and the surrounding powers, particularly the ethnically similar but politically opposite United Stars of Woglinde. The two states were descendants from the planet Kiyoshimo, but during the Eternal War the Legion had been taken off-world and groomed separately by Overlord Kyou Taichii of the Yohzhu Empire, while the political entities that would become Woglinde were under the rule of her younger sister, Overlord Hikari Taichii. Kyou Taichii ultimately liquidated all her legions save the 55th, which was abandon in the Hyu Ran System. The two sides remained independent of each other after the war, coming to blows after the Legion raided a Woglindian military outpost, with Woglinde’s advantage in numbers being negated by the Legion’s advanced technology left over by the Yohzhu Empire. The Legion was so far on the periphery though, Woglinde decided against sending a larger force in retaliation.

For many years, the Legion remained aloof of the rest of the Known Galaxy. Their position was so far from the commercial centers that many simply ignored them. The Legion itself had difficulty within its own borders, as Tai proved difficult to cultivate food for their increasing population. The Legion’s leadership disdained industry and commercial enterprises, clinging to martial prowess as a way of life. The Legion turned to mass piracy, sending out raiding fleets to attack shipping and settlements in lightly or undefended systems to obtain food, goods, and slaves. These attacks were so far away from Hyu Ran it was not immediately obvious who was responsible. Even after attacks became more frequent closer to their home system the Legionnaires were careful to keep their use of Yohzhu technology to a minimum and blamed Woglindian pirates for the raids, further angering Woglinde, but maintaining plausible deniability.
As colonists began pushing the frontier boundaries closer to Legionnaire space, the attacks increased. In 3533, the attack and capture of two whole separate merchant fleets shocked the Galaxy. In response, the World Web began escorting convoys through the pirate infested zone. Suspicions arose of the Legion’s direct involvement with the pirates after Burrow intelligence agencies, gathering evidence that the pirates had help of state operated codebreakers, contacted the World Web and recommended they make changes to their convoy runs. A convoy en route to Siria had been arranged to rendezvous with a Sirian flotilla at the Azukr System, where the merchant convoy would be handed off. Acting on the Burrow’s advice, the two flotillas would instead meet further off in the frontier, at the Uzjei System. This secret change to the rendezvous point threw off Legionnaire spies, who discovered it too late to warn the privateers.

On August 3, 3536, the Legionnaire pirates arrived in Uzjei to prepare the attack on the World Web convoy, several hours later however, the Sirian flotilla arrived. Both sides were surprised at the presence of the other, but the Sirians seized the moment to commence an attack. A slight advantage in numbers was unable to tip the scales in the Sirians favor, however, as the technological superiority of the Legion’s ships still proved a decisive factor. After an unfavorable first engagement, the Sirians maintained a distance from the pirates, trying to pick off the outer layer of their formation during each pass. Neither side was able to gain an advantage in the twelve hours of skirmishing, but the Sirians did have time on their side, as it would not be long before the World Web would arrive. On schedule the convoy entered the system, and with the World Web flotilla the anti-pirates forces were now twice the size of the pirates. Attempts to keep the two allies from joining failed, and the pirates began taking heavy losses. Fleeing, the Legionnaires were forced to use Yohzhu technology to clear a path out of the system. The pirates left behind blew up their own vessels to destroy any evidence of Legion involvement, but the battle recordings were a strong claim to the contrary. As more information came to light in the years to come, the Battle of Uzjei was retroactively classified as the first engagement in the Legion War.

Five months prior to the Battle of Uzjei, Tlatlathui and Woglinde established a new joint anti-piracy task force at their frontier, using the same model they had employed so successfully in the Amini Sector. Task Force Gold’s space forts were set up in several systems in preparation for the expeditions to locate what was presumed to be the hidden pirate stronghold. On August 7, just three days after Uzjei though, the latest of these installation, Fort Maggimui, was destroyed in a pirate raid. This was a shocking feat considered far beyond the capabilities of any pirate group, putting the task force on alert. After Fort New Maggimui was constructed and all other forts had their defenses redoubled, Task Force Gold set upon locating the pirate base. The variables initially proved too great to track though, as the task force was operating under the assumption the Legion was not providing support for the pirates, and that the number of ships involved, which would have required much more materials and supplies, were far greater than they truly were. For half a year the task force proved ineffectual at locating the pirates other than a few random encounters.

Uzjei and the intelligence from the Borrow drastically altered the parameters of their search. Success was finally realized with the discovery on November 22 of the pirate hideout on the second planet in the Cher Vova System, in actuality a forward base of the Taichii Legion. On November 26, Task Force Gold defeated the small contingent of space forces present and demanded the base’s surrender, a demand which was ignored. An attempt to seize the base from the ground was repulsed after the defenses proved too difficult for the small number of marines brought with the task force to overcome. Task Force Gold chose to bombard the base from orbit, letting gravity do most of the work of pulverizing the defenses. After 24 hours, the inner defenses continued to hold. Task Force Gold’s munitions began to run out and a second ground attack to take the base was put into action. but the base’s commander chose initiate the self-destruct sequence before anyone could get inside. The underground citadel and all pirates were wiped out, but ironically, the citadel was so far underground the blast did not reach the few upper chambers that had also survived the bombardment. These chambers contained further evidence that the pirates worked for the Legion and the stolen goods and people were being funneled to Tai.

On New Year’s Day of 3537, at a secret conference in the Burrows, representatives from the World Web, Siria, Tlatlathui, Woglinde, and the host nation met to share their information. They unanimously agreed that the Battles of Uzjei and Cher Vova proved conclusively that the Legion had been behind the “pirate” raids all along. Tlatlathui argued that the combined might of the nations present be mobilized to strike the Legion at once. The Burrows, however, wanted to present their case to the Galactic Nations with more evidence hoping international pressure would force the Legion to capitulate