War On Smuggling

The War on Smuggling, taking place between 1221-1236, was a large FDC operation to reduce the increasing smuggling in the Dominion, especially in the Royphus-Askadus trade route.

## Background

With the increasing piracy & smuggling that coincided with the expansion of the Dominion, military leaders began to discuss taking serious action in 1219, nearly a century after colonization ceased. Sensing the apparent stagnancy of the Dominion, smugglers began to increase their operations.

In 1220, Tufl Staec attacked a freighter belonging to Coeb Incorporated, an important government partner and large industrial company. Staec and his band of smugglers ended up escaping with multiple prototype Ion Flux Rifles(produced for the FDC), being shipped by Coeb from Vuytis to Askadus.

## Beginning

After the theft of the Ion Flux Rifles from Coeb, the Vice Admiral of the Dominion Navy, Blyr Gecog, began organizing a large retaliation in order to prove the ineffectual nature of smuggling. Gecog, supported by his allies in the Council, partnered with Coeb Inc and Dahz Systems to produce 4 new corvettes for anti-piracy purposes. After a year of rushed production, the first 2 Vespa Class Corvettes were ready for deployment.

The Corvettes, the *FDS Beholder* and *FDS Stellar Flare*, were staffed with experienced navy personnel and sent to Royphus. The Corvettes were assisted by the system's small contingent of Arden Class Fighters.

#### The Battle of Spore 4DX0

Approximately 8 months after the *Beholder* and *Stellar Flare* arrived in the Royphus system, scouts reported a band of Staec's Smugglers hiding out on the asteroid Spore 4DX0. The *Beholder* and 4 Arden Class Fighters were dispatched to deal with the smugglers. The smugglers, who numbered at around 20, possessed 2 older fighters and one small cargo craft outfitted with a plasma torpedo launcher, despite their finite amounts of torpedoes.

Following two days of travel while observing radio silence, the *Beholder* and it's group of fighters engaged the smugglers in a surprise attack, destroying one of its fighters before it could take off. Over the course of a few hours, the Arden Class Fighters chased the 2 remaining smuggler ships throughout the group of asteroids. 4 hours after the battle began, the surviving smuggler fighter was destroyed by fire from the *Beholder*, and the Arden Class Fighters chased down and crippled the cargo ship. The cargo ship was finally finished off by a torpedo from the *Beholder*. The Dominion task force took 6 prisoners from the smugglers' cobbled together base on the asteroid.

## The Greater Dominion

While the was was focused on the Royphus-Askadus trade route, smugglers were active throughout the Dominion, and Vice Admiral Gecog made sure to deploy resources to other systems. After the Battle of Spore 4DX0, the *Stellar Flare* was sent to Egroth to focus on removing the active smuggler groups there. In 1222, the third Vespa Class Corvette, the *FDS Shooting Star*, was finished and deployed to Nothaewei, mainly to take advantage of the considerable positive perception the corvettes had gained after the *Beholder's* victory in the Battle of Spore 4DX0.

In 1223, the fourth Vespa Class Corvette, the FDS Dagger, was deployed to Juslade to prevent smuggling of essential supplies.