Human - Ipak War

Still image from the opening month of the war.

   The Human - Ipak war of 4914 - 4945, or the "Wasp Wars" as they are known, was one of the deadliest conflicts in both Human and Ipak history. It is estimated that each side lost at least 20 billion lives.

## History

### Before the war

The beginnings of the conflict happened in the year 4901, where a U.N.E colony decided to slightly tweak the temperature of a planet that they had inhabited in the Euclid Galaxy to better suit human colonists. While the raise in temperature was only a few Celsius, it was enough to completely destroy the larval Ipak which were pupating deep below the planet's crust, of which the humans did not know existed. When the Ipak returned to collect their larvae three years later, all they found were desiccated corpses.

The Ipak were quick to destroy the "infestation" of their breeding world, bombarding the sole colony on the planet until it was essentially rubble. In a controversial move, the Colony Overseer made a decision to pursue the survivors to their apparent "homeworld" - Koralia, a small, Earthlike planet from which the humans had spent the prior thirty years building up, with a population of just under one billion.

The planet was "glassed", or as the humans would later come to call it "stung". The planet was bombarded with plasma explosives, super heating the planet and turning the rock molten. Of the nearly one billion people on the planet, just under 3,000 people survived.

The Ipak, believing that the homeworld of "The Infestation" was destroyed, returned to their own space, and began recovering from the significant blow to the new generation.

   Of course, humanity was not destroyed, and instead they had incidentally only "kicked the hornet's nest". All around U.N.E space, humans were shocked and appalled at the apparent unprovoked attack and subsequent genocide by the Ipak of the human colonists of Koralia, and humans, both military vessels and civilians who wished to "Do their part" traveled to the Euclid galaxy to join the fight. Indeed, even a significant portion of the Imperial Ruthenian Federation expressed their abborance at the act, and for the first time since it's creation, the leader of the Imperial Ruthenian Federation, Emperor Ivan Saxburg-Gotha expressed his condolences to the stunned United Nations of Earth.
Further caving to public opinion, in the year 4909, Emperor Ivan Saxburg-Gotha suggested to President Anya Perov that they formally ally themselves against the "Xeno-Threat" - a proposal that Anya Perov formally accepted on the 17th August 4909 - forming the United Defense Force. Mere days later, Admiral Solomon Aldkin gave a formal speech to all of mankind, officially starting "The Wasp Wars".

> "For five years, we have battled the Ipak. We have called these attacks "raids" or "skirmishes" or "incursions." But I am here to tell you that we are *at war*! Tuval, Vinum, Garia, Charity—once human systems—all but abandoned in the face of the enemy. The Ipak are at our gates, weapons speared, while we... we hide and cower; retreating as they burn and decimate everything around us!
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> We cannot let the tragedy of Koralia happen again. We cannot give the Ipak any more ground. To defend this empire we must *attack*! And we have to be committed to that attack, whatever the cost may be. We have to rebuild our fleet. We have to use the power of *human* innovation to reclaim these so-called "red systems" and *strike back at the enemy*!
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> This will not be an easy fight. It will cost us—in resources, in units, in lives. Some of you may be asking, "Why undertake such a thing?" and I—I can tell you in one word: survival! For if we do nothing, the Ipak will not rest until we are all glassed along with the bones of the Koralians!"
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- Admiral Solomon Aldkin in his public address to the United Defense Force, in 4914, declaring the start of the Wasp Wars.

### The Wasp Wars

With the official start of the Wasp Wars, a human force number several thousand ships exited the Warp directly above a world - Charity, a world that was owned colonized by Humanity prior to being driven away by the Ipak, was bombarded the entire planet ruthlessly until the Ipak - mostly consisting of civilians, evacuated. Humanity swiftly turned the twisted and bombed ruins of Charity into a forward assault base for launching more attacks upon the Ipak.

In 4916, two years after the official start of the Wasp Wars, they came across Tuval, a planet that was once an industrial world with a small population, harboring both Viridium and Murrine- with hopes for being an urbanized human world - but was abandoned by Humanity when the human settlers received word of the Ipak heading their way.

Wishing to keep the world mostly intact, the United Defense Force agreed that as opposed to indiscriminate orbital bombardment, they would launch a ground assault on the planet. On the 16th May 2919, The United Defense Force sent down the first ground troops of the war, 5,000 of "The Bravest Men and Women that the UDF ever saw". They survived a little under four hours, with only 400 of the 5,000 surviving long enough to be successfully evacuated. Their stories told of organic horrors fused with metal being driven into battle by the Ipak.

The UDF decided then to - as opposed to withdraw entirely - to entirely increase their efforts, to send down essentially every soldier that he had at his disposal. Thus began the ground combat of The Wasp Wars. The fighting was very bloody, with humanity encountering entirely new constructs of war, such as the Ipak "House of Lords" and "Black Knight" which tore through their ranks with ease. It seemed that while humanity was exceptionally good at bombardment, the Ipak excelled at ground warfare.

   It was during "The Battle of Tuval" that one soldier, Sophia Kvass, notably distinguished herself. Stories tell of her ripping a Gyrocopter blade from the vehicle with her bare hands after her weapon jammed, and using it as a sword to slay countless Ipak and Black Knights - and leading the first charge to reclaim the capital of Tuval. For the rest of The Wasp Wars, "The Angel of Tuval" was utilized as propaganda, and she continued to use the gyrocopter blade as a weapon. In an interview from 4917, she was quoted as saying that "Reloading slows her down".

It was on the 7th January 4917 that the United Defense Force began the Militarized Eugenics program, starting with the Generation One Supersoldier. These supersoliders were recruited from the army, generally those who would otherwise be court marshaled. They were unstable at best, and outright insane at worst. The Generation One program was discontinued after only a few short months, with most of the supersoldiers either being destroyed or deployed on increasingly dangerous missions.

Most likely thanks to the help of Sophia Kvass, The United Defense force managed to beat The Ipak and reclaim Tuval in early 4917, propelling her to near celebrity status and allowing the United Defense force to use her as a propaganda tool.

The human fleet then went forth, reclaiming Garia and countless other planets that humanity had owned prior to being driven away by the Ipa - but not without loss. It's estimated that every planet that was taken, 30 million human lives were lost. For every planet that was easily reclaimed, such as Charity, there was another that was difficult, such as Tuval.

## Known Combatants

* Wakiza Jolon
* Henri Valentine
* Rudi Kashtan
* Henry Rotman
* Richard Rockhard
* Sophia Kvass