The Great Yatirian War

The Great Yatirian War was an interplanetary war between the United Socialist State and its puppet states against the United Republic and the Earth Coalition. Though the belligerents were Yatirian (formerly called Lathians) and Humans, the fighting mainly took place around the moon, deep space and Mars, although one battle occured in High Earth Orbit. The war lasted only 26 days (June 4th-June 30th), ending with the Nuclear Bombing of Sede, the capital of the United Socialist State.

## Participants

### Defender

United RepublicUnited States of AmericaRepublic of Chinaand the rest of the Earth Coalition

## Casualties and Losses

### Defender

United RepublicUnited States of AmericaRepublic of Chinaand the rest of the Earth Coalition

## Background

The "planet" of Yatir (formerly known as Laythe) was in a constant state of turmoil troughout the early 20th century, whose wars were still unkown to humans. Out of this chaos, the United Republic was formed in the Eastern Islands and the United Socialist State in the South. The two nations were locked in a war of influence and prestige, each becoming spacefaring in the late 1960s. In 1973, on a Tylo colonization trip, 4 Lathians from the United Republic were flung out of the Jool system through an accidental gravity assist. This attracted the attention of the USS, which cosntructed 3 large "motherships" and used similar tactics to transport them to Mars and Earth. 4 years later, the 4 Lathians made a landing on Mars. Several SOS signals sent between Mars and Yatir were picked up by Humans, first by the European Union, then through a Sino-Soviet effort to decode "Lathian code".

## Pre-War Events

While the signals were being studied and early communication occured between the United Republic and Humans, Chinese and American spacecraft were headed for Mars. At the same time, the USS Motherships were headed towards Mars and Earth. On June 3rd, 1978, America and China landed on Mars only 1 minute apart from each other, with China establishing contact with the stranded Lathians about 3 hours after touchdown. The Taikonauts were able to gain information about the political state of Yatir and performed cultural exchange. At this point, the first USS Mothership was already in Earth's SOI while the second was just passing into Mars' SOI. The third was approaching Earth, in deep space. The motherships shut down all tracking and electric equipment, making them invisible to human radar until they were at their intended targets.

## The Attack on Jamestown

At 5:00 PM, June 4th, 1978, a USS lander was spotted at the Jamestown refueling depot. 2 American astronauts stationed at Jamestown, Jimmy Moore and Keith Cook, went to investigate as instructed by Mission Control. When they attempted to connect to the lander's signal, they were shot and killed by a gun on top of the lander. An astronaut working at the Drilling site, Kenneth Wood, reported the attack to Jamestown before getting shot and killed by the lander too. The Jamestown astronauts attempted to escape, but were unsuccessful as the lander destroyed Jamestown moments later. The lander then destroyed itself in a Kamikaze attack on Jamestown faciliites. Only one survivor, Stanley Hill, remained, who was rescued by Chinese Taikonauts via the Chengjiu Mobile Base. Afterwards, they all headed to Mir base, where the launch of Voyager-1 was taking place.

## Course of the War

Hostilities between the USS and many governments on Earth immediately began. The USA and the ROC both declared war on the USS, and the United Republic on Yatir ended their truce with the USS. Chinese Taikonauts on Tiantangmen station were sent a resupply prepared to eject from the station using their Mass Transport Vehicle (which never happened). In the immediate aftermath of the war's start, NASA was given 600 billion dollars to work on a "spacecraft carrier", which never materialized and wouldn't have been possible to make in the timespan of the war.

That same day, Endurance and Helios, which were enroute to Mars, were both destroyed within seconds of each other. All 50 people on board both ships were killed. Unfortunately, this tragic event is often overlooked by the attack on Jamestown and the battles in Low Earth Orbit. The mothership which launched the missiles later malfunctioned and fell into Mars' atmosphere, breaking up and crashing into the surface. An unknown amount of Yatirians died.

On June 6th, 1978, a F-14C took off from Cape Canaveral runway for a routine test flight when it was downed by a missile from a Yatirian attack plane. Both pilots, Charles Howard and Albert Barber, died on impact with the ocean. F-16s were called to the area immediately after the incident, and a rogue plane was spotted. The rogue plane performed a kamikaze attack on the Vehicle Assembly Building, completely destroying it and the surrounding fuel tanks. The plane and many other missiles were later known to have come from a USS Mothership.

On June 7th, 1978, the Republic of China lanched a Jinbu rocket with several missiles on it. It successfully attacked an destroyed the USS Mothership by ramming into it. Although both motherships were now destroyed, one attack capsule managed to escape. It remained in Low Earth Orbit, made to destroy Tiantangmen station. However, the American Space Shuttle "Pathfinder" had been launched from the air by a 747. It escorted a missile (armed with a Tsar Bomba) that was strapped on a Saturn Block 2, set to destroy the last Yatirian mothership.

The Yatirian attack capsule targeted the Pathfinder, missing several times, but eventually ramming into Pathfinder's wing. Pathfinder survived, but the wing was completely gone, ensuring that the astronauts on board could not return home. The missile and Pathfinder was set on a path to intercept the mothership, and Pathfinder's crew tragically died in deep space.

As the world mourned the loss of Pathfinder and its crew, the Chinese Republic Space Program had reconnected with an old craft called "SLINGSHOT", which was intended to send all of China's nuclear weapons into interstellar space. Although it was advertised that all warheads were disarmed, they were, in fact, active. Furthermore, the gravity assist around Jupiter had failed, putting it into a Jovian orbit. Over a timespan of 24 days, CRSP controllers put it into a Yatirian orbit, and on June 30th, 1978, the SLINGSHOT dropped 1 nuclear bomb on the capital of the United Socialist State. As hoped, it destroyed almost all heads of state and seats of government, destroying the USS' Communist-Fascist Regime. What remained of the USS surrendered a mere 4 hours later.

## Aftermath

The Great Yatirian War was the defining moment of the 20th century, and perhaps the most monumental war in all of human history. The war sparked a newfound respect for astronauts and spaceflight, and the people who died in space during the war are forever immortalized by all the world. The nations of Earth forced the USS to accept the Treaty of Sol. The USS disbanded on July 31st, 1978 and was replaced by a democracy. Peace between Earth and Yatirian nations was forever guaranteed.

Cape Canaveral was repaired after the attack and returned to normal operations in 1984. The Chinese SLINGSHOT craft was purposely crashed into Jupiter, allowing people back on Earth to study the atmosphere of Jupiter. The 4 Yatirians were brought to Earth and eventually returned to Yatir via a launch from the Moon, courtesy of the ROC. Chengjiu base later became a "city", as it was the most advanced moon base ever.

A new Sino-Soviet Alliance was created, and peaceful coexistence was the foreign policy of many nations. This would eventually set the stage for the formation of the Unity Alliance after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Both nations and many more participted in further missions to Yatir, which led to further exchange of culture and technology.