Siege of New Earth

> "*New Earth's population must be wiped out. No stone can remain standing. Every building must be razed to its foundation.*"
> ― Admiral Aegis, 2694 AD
>
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The **Siege of New Earth** was a 4-year long siege of the planet of New Earth, as part of the Federation Civil War. Starting on 2 July 2694, The Planet, Which had a population of around 100 Billion, lost 50-80 million people every day due to poisoning, hunger and bombardment, as rebel pilots partook in the systemic, house-by-house, ocean-by-ocean, person-by-person destruction of the galaxy's largest urban planet. After the Fall of the Flagship on 12 March 2698, The Rebels had an increasingly hard time maintaining the siege, and on 9 July that same year the siege was finally lifted.

## Background

Earlier in the year 2694, The Battle of New Hampshire and the Aegis Offensive had succeeded in giving the Rebel fleet the initiative in the Federation Civil War. Bolstered by Defectors, and in control of a third of the Federation's territory, Admiral Aegis was finally in the position to fulfill his life-long dream of besieging New Earth and trying to wipe out its population. In his view, New Earth was the symbol of the Federation's degeneracy - the place where humans and aliens walked side by side, the place that had sought to replace the original human homeland of Old Earth, even thinking about it made his blood boil.

## Course of the Siege

### The Siege begins (2 July - 14 August 2694)

On 2 July 2694, The Rebel fleet began enveloping New Earth, subjecting the planet to a massive daily bombardment and forcing the population to retreat into bunkers. The Rebellion had also blocked food supplies, and forced the citizens of to live off of plantations, which Rebel bombers took delight in destroying whenever possible. Oceans were subject to mass poisonment, and entire cities were nuked into oblivion every day.

### First Federation Relief attempt (15 - 17 August 2694)

On 15 August, The Pro-Federation Commander Gregor was informed of the Siege of New Earth, but a translation error caused him to underestimate the number of rebel ships besieging New Earth tenfold, leading him to belief he could break the siege in less than a week. **Operation Peridot** started on 16 August 2694, and only involved ships that Gregor had directly on hand. Expecting to meet a roughly equal force, Gregor was surprised to find himself outnumbered and outgunned, and the offensive quickly disintegrated. Gregor attempted to order a retreat, but none of the Federation Ships managed to escape. Gregor died in on 17 August 2694 at age 32, desperately trying to fix the engines as he burned to death.

### The Siege continues (18 August 2694 - 7 July 2695)

After the failure of Operation Peridot, The Siege of New Earth continued. Intending to keep the initiative, Admiral Aegis sent commander Terest to start the Terest Offensive and "mop up whatever forces the Federation still has left outside of New Earth", believing the Federation Army to be nearly depleted. However, Aegis had miscalculated the amount of Federation troops still in action, and the offensive soon grinded to a halt, as the Federation re-organized, and the Rebellion found itself increasingly outnumbered. Eventually, Admiral Tully responded with her own offensive, The Tully Offensive, which succeeded at placing the Federation within striking distance of New Earth.

### Second Federation Relief attempt (8 July 2695 - 1 August 2695)

On 8 July 2695, Admiral Tully approved the final draft of **Operation Salamander**, an offensive where the Federation Fleet, which outnumbered the Rebels 2:1, would attempt to break the Siege of New Earth by attacking specific weak spots. However, The Rebel command had learned of this plan, and Commander Terest tirelessly worked to reinforce these weak spots, and the Federation Fleet had a harder-than-expected time trying to dismantle the Rebel defenses. Nonetheless, the Federation got serious ground, reaching the Mesosphere of New Earth, and the Federation Ships being visible from the ground. Sensing that this was his moment, Admiral Aegis gathered all nearby ships and hurried to the point of the Federation Breakthrough, barely beating them back. Aegis suffered a bullet wound during his counteroffensive, and died a few days later, on 4 August 2695. He was succeeded by his right-hand man, who would henceforth be known as Admiral Terest.

### The Resource War (2 August - 31 December 2695)

The failure of Operation Salamander was a disaster for the Federation Fleet. Their best ships were destroyed, heavy losses had been incurred, and the initiative they had gained in the Tully Offensive had completely disappeared. The Rebellion was poised to start another offensive against the rest of the federation. However, There was a problem: The Rebel fleet had used up a very large amount of Gas trying to beat back the Federation offensive. As such, they attempted a landing on New Earth to capture its largest Gas Field. The Battle of the Catalaunian Gas Field lasted from 8 August to 17 November 2695, and succeeded at capturing the resources needed for another Rebel offensive.

### New Earth resorts to cannibalism (1 Janaury - 31 December 2696)

The Great Offensive of 2696, led by Admiral Terest, would ravage through Federation territory outside New Earth. Wherever the Federation managed to stage a successful counteroffensive, the rebel fleet would reinforce those positions and force the Federation to retreat.

Within New Earth, The Supply situation had become desperate. On 4 April 2696, The New Earth council passed the Cannibalism Act, allowing soldiers to eat non-combatants in order to prevent starvation. At that point, almost half of New Earth's population had died.

### Rebel offensives (1 January 2697 - 11 March 2698)

On 1 Janaury 2697, Admiral Terest, having reduced the Federation to single sector, The Last Stand, Sent large numbers of ships to help the Rebel commanders crush the resistance in New Earth. This reduced his advantage in the Last Stand from 5:1 to 2:1. By March, The Rebel Fleet had successfully mustered enough troops to begin another offensive on New Earth. However, Federation resistance proved stronger than expected, and by November the offensive was called off, Since it became known that a single captain had become loyal to the federation and was planning to destroy the Rebel Flagship.

### The Tide turns (12 March - 1 July 2698)

The Rebel efforts to prevent the Fall of the Flagship proved futile. On 12 March 2698, The Flagship was destroyed, and the Rebel situation descended into complete chaos. Admiral Terest barely escaped the slaughter, winning a small victory in the Battle of Node 17 on his retreat.

The Fall of the Flagship and the ensuring chaos created a dire lack of supplies for the army besieging new earth. By May, Sorties had been reduced by 75%.

### The Siege is broken, Federation Victory (2 - 9 July 2698)

On 2 July 2698, On the Fourth Anniversary of the Siege of New Earth, The Federation Started a third attempt to finally break the siege. Codenamed **Operation Crystal Clear**, Tully's offensive destroyed gained complete air superiority over New Earth in just 8 Days.

## Aftermath

The Repeated Rebel failure to capture New Earth proved decisive in their failure to win the Federation Civil War. Nonetheless, The Once-prosperous planet saw its population reduced by 80%, with many buildings reduced to rubble.