Operation Federal Glory

Operation Federal Glory, when it began in 2117, was the Blue Star Federation’s largest military operation ever, as well as the largest military offensive in Human history. From September 1st, 2117 to December 7th 2119, the Armed Forces of the Blue Star Federation mounted a massive offensive on the United Soolan Republic, in order to take back captured territory, and push far into Republican territory. 5000 starships, 600 million service members, and 40 trillion credits went into ensuring its success. Within the BSFN and RMP, the 4126 combat vessels were organized into 3 Task Forces in September 2117, while numbers increased to 6196 starships by late 2118, each of which was in turn divided into smaller Divisions, Battlegroups, and Squadrons. The Army and Marines were deployed by Navy vessels and Troop Transports to wherever they were needed, and oftentimes were still fighting to liberate a planet once the enemy’s fleet had gone.

## Background

In late summer of 2117, the Blue Star Federation is loosing the First Solar War, and badly. The never-ending onslaught of the USRN’s Task Force 9 was pushing the Federation back and back, and their enemy seemed to understand their every tactic. The USRN officer in command of Task Force 9, William Trench, a human abducted by the USR in the mid 2080s as a child, was a military genius, and well respected by both sides.

However, at the Battle of Kalopis, Teegarden’s Star National Guard members boarded his flagship, assassinated the Admiral, and then set the self-destruct. Sacrificing their lives for a small victory, without them Operation Federal Glory is likely to not have succeeded. Trench’s successor, Shakira Pevochika, was a blunt instrument, and rarely thought on terms of tactical thinking. Her immediate response to the death of Trench was to execute 700 prisoners of war, which served only to anger the Federation.

And so, on August 13th, 2117, United Soolan Republic forces attempted an invasion of Sol. Although defense of the system was limited at first, reinforcements came from behind enemy lines after several hours, and turned the tide of the battle. At the ensuing Battle of Saturn, the BSFN and RMP fleet routed the USRN’s Task Force 9, using the Federation’s first Warp Disruptors to trap the fleet in the rings and hack them to pieces. After Task Force 9’s retreat, the BSFN assembled its fleet to chase them all the way back to Farah. The operation, known as Operation Federal Glory, was the Federation’s first chance to make a real offensive against the (now diminished) Republican onslaught.

### Initial Plan

The day after the Battle of Sol, a federation counter attack was launched, in order to take advantage of the shattered Task Force 9 and make some desperately needed ground. In the words of Sasha Petracov, the Federation “Needed some elbow room, and then they took it.” After using this counteroffensive to retake Teegarden’s Star, the New Oberon system (not to be confused with the uninhabitable Moon of Saturn), as well as Luhman 16 and Alpha Centauri. This counteroffensive was overtaken by Fleet Admiral Bane’s Task Force 2, consisting of Carrier Battlegroup 1, Carrier Battlegroup 5, Carrier Battlegroup 7, and Cruiser divisions 6 and 2. This fleet continued to keep pressure on the retreating Fahrans while the Federation regrouped its forces. After a successful counter attack, the rest of the Federation Navy would come in from behind, allowing what would now be a fully extended Task Force two to breathe, while filling in ranks. By this point, there would be the entirety of the Federation Navy pushing back, with just a small detachment guarding Sol. As industrial systems such as Wolf 359 and Alpha Centauri were fully liberated, the Federation’s heavy industry would be relied on to produce more and more ships. After that, it was a simple line drive through occupied territory, “popping” the USR-controlled bubble of star systems.

## Post-counterattack actions and liberation of Federation territory

After the successful counterattack by 8th Fleet’s Task Forces 2 and 10, a re-organization of the fleet took place; Carrier Battlegroups 2 and 10, as well as Cruiser Divisions 10, 7 and 5, and 14, Destroyer divisions 15 and 12 of Task Force 2, as well as Carrier Battlegroups 17 and 8, cruiser divisions 7, 10, and 18, Destroyer Divisions 24 and 10 of Task Force 7, and the Red Mare Project’s Task Group 1 were combined under Thomas Bane’s and Aiyakah Novahich’s flags as Task Force 1, who was responsible for being the tip of the spear. TF.1 would soften up targets and eliminate USRN opposition.

Task Force 2 was made up of the remainder of the Red Mare Project Task Groups, and protected the flanks of the counteroffensive, and consisted of two battlegroups, RMPBG 1 and RMPBG 2, which consisted of roughly 90% of the Red Mare Project’s armed vessels. TF.2 sailed under the flag of Sasha Petracov. Task Force 3 was made up of Task Forces four, sixteen and twelve, all three of whom were dedicated to protecting troopships and executing planetary bombardment for the troops once Task Force 1 had moved on. Task Force Three made up the second wave and stayed in a system for long after the other task forces had left.

Immediately after the Navy reorganized, Task Force One pushed into New Oberon. They found the system abandoned, confirming rumors that the USRN had massacred the entire civilian population of the system. At the battle of Eta Cassiopeiae in November, the USRN managed some resistance, however was pushed out of the system before they could mount an evacuation of their troops, thus leaving the BSF Army and Marine Corps in a protracted battle against the Fahrans, who eventually surrendered because of a lack of supplies, namely ammunition and medical supplies.

Into 2118, the ships participating in Operation Federal Glory continued to liberate Federation systems. By the time that they reached Trappist 1 in February, the USRN had completely broken down. Despite this, the USRN continued to mount significant resistance, which only increased as the Federation crossed the border. It took nearly two years for the Federation to make the final sixty lightyears to Farah. Logistical challenges made by the extreme distance were found, and the BSFN continued to adapt their tactics to make up for this. By this point in the war, Federation industry had fully recovered, and the Navy was at a strength of 6,189 combat vessels, an all-time high.

On December 7th, 2119, TF.1 rolled into the Soola system, meeting almost zero resistance, an eerie similarity to the Battle of Sol two years earlier, however this time few reinforcements would be coming. In a speech to the Federation Congress on the 10th of December, the President told the nation that the Navy had “Completely and utterly destroyed the enemy’s ability to wage war” and that Victory was close at hand.

With the assembly of TF.1 around Farah, and the successful insertion of troops onto the planet, Operation Federal Glory officially came to a close.

## Aftermath

In the days immediately following Operation Federal Glory’s end, the Federation completely blockaded the planet Farah as well as the Soola system. Now, there were two operations occurring – Operation Homelife (The occupation and besieging of Farah) and Operation Starshot (the protection of the BSFN’s flanks from USRN attacks). The siege would last two years, while the ships participating in Operation Starshot established near total control of USR space, blockading most major systems and easily taking most of the USRN’s former non-fahran territories. However, despite minimal resistance outside of the Capitol, the USR continued to fight tooth and nail, and the BSFA and BSFMC made ground very slowly. Operation Homelife concluded after the ecological damage from the USRNS Destiny and BSS Deutschland crashed into the planet, and the civilians and military, fed up with the refusal to spare the citizenry from further fighting staged a coup, deposing the former government and then surrendering on October 1st, 2121, ending 7 years of fighting. In Operation Federal Glory, the Blue Star Federation expended 47 trillion credits, lost seven million service members, and drafted 4.5 billion people. The Navy at the peak of the operation was 6,189 warships strong, with an additional 4,215 logistics ships, including troopships, tankers, colliers, and tenders. This would be the largest fleet the BSFN would field until the turn of the 23rd century, for a total of 10,404 starships, 8,000 of which would be decommissioned or sold to civilian hands after the end of the war.

## War Crimes Controversy

Due to the Massacre of Oberon, a general need for vengeance was felt by many in the BSF Armed Forces, and even usually level-headed officers occasionally turned a blind eye to atrocities committed by Federation troops and sailors. On October 12th, 2119, the crew of the *Javelin-*Class Corvette BSS *Lindwyrm* summarily executed 15 Fahran prisoners of war that were taken with the capture of a USRN corvette USRN [Warrior]. Although the Captain would face Court-martial for the incident, he was let off lightly by Federation courts and was never tried for war crimes. Another incident occurred in December 2119, when a F-54D Tomcat II launched from BSS *Midway* fired an antimatter air-to-ground missile at a Fahran town with no military presence, obliterating the entire town and turning the ground in the area to glass. The pilot and WSO, Lieutenants Grant and Castor, were again not formally charged with war crimes, but at least this time were dishonorably discharged.

The reason for somewhat lax punishments for violations of the Geneva convention was a mathematical view of the atrocities committed by the USR. After all, the USR had glassed Oberon and Cassiopeia Prime on their retreat, killing millions of humans, as well as releasing chemical weapons upon the pre-industrial world of Volus, home of the Volain, which rendered the Federation protectorate world uninhabitable and scattering the Volain, now far more involved in galactic affairs than they would prefer, all across the Federation. These atrocities committed by the USR’s forces justified equivalent actions by Federation personnel in many military personnel’s eyes. This was especially evident in those who had family on New Oberon or Cassiopeia prime, where all of the planet’s inhabitants were wiped out.

The solution was obvious, and by the end of the war both nations signed the Oberon Accords, a modern equivalent to the Geneva Convention that clearly defined war crimes for a new age. Weary of atrocities committed on both sides, the two nations signed readily, and much of the needless bloodshed from the First solar war was avoided in the second.