User:MJ/sandbox/Earth-Romulan War
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| Earth-Romulan War | |
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July 24th 2155-November 9th 2160 |
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Victory for Earth and its allies
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| Template:Conflict | |
The Earth-Romulan War was one of the most devastating interstellar conflicts to take place during the mid-22nd century, incited by the Romulan Star Empire's expansionism. Neither side ever spoke face-to-face, with only audio communication occurring. The war ended with victory for Earth and its allies in 2160.
Prelude to War
First Contact
The Romulans first showed their aggression towards Earth when Enterprise NX-01 entered one of their star systems in early 2152. After Enterprise was heavily damaged by a mine, the Romulans revealed their presence and demanded the Earth ship leave the system at once.
The Babel Crisis
It was another two years before Enterprise again encountered the Romulans. While escorting Tellarite diplomats to Babel through Andorian space, they found the IGS Kumari destroyed, its crew in escape pods. Enterprise investigated and found the Romulans were trying to destabilise the region by inciting a war between Andoria and Tellar, a discovery that led to an alliance between the two governments, Earth, and Vulcan to counter the Romulans. This was also one of the first confirmed encounters with Romulantelepresence technology.
Formation of the Coalition of Planets
In the face of the Romulan threat, worlds banded together to discuss an alliance based on mutual defence and further cooperation in commerce and research. Efforts to expand this agreement beyond the four founding governments saw Earth, the most neutral world with the least political baggage as a relative newcomer to the galactic stage, leading diplomatic missions to the Rigellians, Denobulans, and Coridanites.
Each mission met opposition, attacked by mercenaries later discovered to have been hired by the Romulans. An attack on Coridan ignited dilithium reserves, causing devastation and killing millions, and all three diplomatic overtures failed as Coridan, Rigel, and Denobula withdrew in the face of this aggression.
This left the original parties to the agreement - Earth, Vulcan, Tellar, and Andoria - to sign what would become the Coalition of Planets. Despite the failure to expand, this was the first major diplomatic peace treaty between some of these historic enemies.
Early Tensions
The alliance was quickly confronted as the Romulans exerted their power through their telepresence technology and proxies. Challenger NX-03 protected the Andorian colony of Docana from Romulan-hired mercenaries, though the Coalition agreed to keep the involvement of the Star Empire hidden from public knowledge. In 2155, the Romulans seized control of Klingon ships to attack civilian trading vessels, resulting in the Enterprise NX-01 being forced to abandon a rescue mission of the ECS Kobayashi Maru in the face of overwhelming enemy forces. Later that year, diplomatic overtures from the Coalition towards the Deltans and Carreons failed when the Romulans stoked a conflict between these two governments.
Declaration of War
These and other attacks against various worlds, ships, and stations of the Coalition by the Romulans led to a declaration of war. It was formalised on July 24th, 2155, and fierce fighting immediately broke out. The Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellarite fleets were soon devastated by the Romulans through their use of their telepresence-capturing technology. Coalition scientists ascertained that their sophisticated computer technology, compared to Earth ships, was more susceptible to the computer virus that allowed the Romulans to seize control.
Within months of the war's starting, the three governments withdrew a majority of their forces from the frontlines, leaving Earth and its Starfleet to lead the defence of the Coalition.
The War
2155
For most of 2155, the attacks by the Romulans were quick hit and runs against the Coalition. A majority of them gave the Romulans a victory.
One of the first attacks against an Earth world was against the colony on Gault. The Romulans attempted to destroy the farming colony but were unsuccessful thanks to the arrival of a task group led by Discovery NX-04. Eventually, it was decided that the colony should be evacuated due to its lack of technology to fully defend itself without Starfleet's support. The Gault colonists were taken to Alpha Centauri.
Around the same time, the Vulcan colony on Merak was attacked. Merak II was home to one of the biggest starship construction facilities in the Vulcan Confederacy. Avoiding detection, the Romulans assaulted the fleet and dry-docks, including suicide attacks resulting in heavy casualties and high casualties.
After this attack, the Coalition were able to meet the Romulans in a number of decisive battles.
Significant Battles
The First Battle of Deneva
On October 23rd 2155, a Starfleet task group of eight ships engaged fifteen Romulan ships. The Romulans attempted to use their drone ships again, this time en masse. Starfleet defended themselves and the Deneva colony against the attack, and the crew of Discovery tricked the last two drone ships into following them into the nearby region known as the Barrens. The subspace node was effective in blocking the Romulans' long-range communications in controlling their ships. From inside the Barrens, Starfleet captured one ship.
The Battle of the Bassen Rift
Thanks to the capturing of the Romulan drone, the crews of Challenger and Discovery launched a covert attack after discovering the home base of the Romulan drone ship. They also discovered that the Romulans were using an artificial micro-singularity to amplify their telepresence signals from the Bassen Rift. The attack was successful, resulting in the destruction of the Romulan base and its support craft, but with heavy Starfleet losses.
The Battle of Sol
On December 31st 2155, the Romulans launched a daring attack against the Sol system. A fleet of Romulan ships broke past the outer defence grid and made its way across the system. In orbit of Mars, as well as in orbit of Earth, Starfleet prepared its fleet and the two sides met in a deadly and fierce battle. However, the Romulans had not been properly prepared for Earth's defence systems and were forced to retreat after taking heavy losses. Earth and Starfleet similarly suffered significant casualties in the battle.
2156
Significant Battles
The Second Battle of Deneva
At the start of 2156, Endeavour led Earth's forces in defending the Deneva colony from its second attack. The battle was fierce and resulted in an Earth victory, but again a number of lives, ships and resources were lost. The colony was heavily damaged and discussions about abandoning it were discussed shortly thereafter.
The Battle of Kreetassa
On 20th February 2156, the starship Endeavour intercepted a distress call from the Kreetassan homeworld. When they arrived they discovered the Romulans had attempted to wipe out the Kreetassan military, however, their assault failed due to the fact that Kreetassan technology, like Earth technology, was almost immune to the telepresence-capturing devices. Endeavour would go on to help the Kreetassans and this act would go on to begin diplomatic overtures which resulted in the Kreetassans joining the war effort as an ally of Earth.
The Battle of Berengaria
Annoyed and frustrated with their defeat with the Kreetassans, the Romulans' next target was Earth's beachhead on Berengaria VII and Starbase One. The attack took place on 29th February 2156, with the Romulans briefly landing troops on the planet and starbase before a joint response by Starfleet and their Kreetassan allies. Starbase One was recovered, but a nuclear warhead was detonated over Berengia VII, killing a majority of Earth's forces and the civilian mining community.
The Battle of Devron
5th April 2156, the starship Endeavour led a combined Starfleet-Kreetassan task force to attack a Romulan repair outpost in the Devron system. The allies suffered the loss of many brave men and women while the Romulans lost their base and several ships too. The Romulans had been wiped away from the map for good from the Devron system. After spending almost three days in the system, Starfleet forces felt they had done all they could to secure it and prevent the Romulans from ever using it again. The fleet had planted a range of mines in the asteroid field along with a basic detection grid. If the Romulans did return then Starbase One would know and the Romulans would encounter a few surprises.
The Battle of Nelvana
In May 2156, Starfleet forces, led by the Endeavour tricked the Romulans into thinking that Starfleet had established a beachhead on the third planet by placing a probe on the planet's surface. The probe emitted false readings, appearing to send signals from a concealed base. The Romulans sent eight ships into the system to remove the apparent forward base. Not expecting to find a hidden Starfleet task force waiting for them, the Romulans were outgunned two-to-one and were completely obliterated.
The Battle of Altair
On June 21st 2156, a month after the Battle of Nelvana, the Earth colony on Altair VI was successfully defended. The Romulans, thinking they could have a go at taking the planet, had not expected to find a joint Earth-Andorian-Tellarite task force waiting for them at Altair. As such, after losing ships at Nelvana and now, once again out-gunned, found themselves having to be quite ruthless to damage their enemies. Once again Endeavour led the combined coalition forces to victory, however, the battle resulted in a majority of the Andorian and Tellarite forces being lost. This high cost resulted in both sides withdrawing from supporting the defence of other worlds that were not part of their own states.
The Battle of Vega
In August 2156, the Phoenix NX-08 was dispatched on its first mission to patrol Vega. With the colony far from the Romulan border, it was considered a low-priority target, but instead Phoenix encountered Romulan forces threatening the system. After evading a warbird's interception, Phoenix marshalled the defences of Vega and successfully repelled the Romulan assault, which had clearly not been ready for the arrival of a starship of Phoenix's magnitude. But this short battle was plainly the start of a Romulan campaign against less-protected and more far-out Earth colonies, anticipated as a gambit to draw Coalition attention and sap morale.
The Vega Campaign
Through late 2156, Phoenix continued to lead the defences of the Vega Sector. Starfleet were reluctant to redirect more ships to its protection, aware this was likely the Romulan intention, and so the Phoenix shored up and trained the local militia and built defensive platforms and infrastructure through Coalition holdings in the region. Phoenix also encountered forces of the Enolian Guard attacking Earth civilian supply ships, and discovered the Enolian Hierarchy had been invaded and vassalised by the Romulans, with its military harnessed to take part in the campaign against Vega.
With additional ships eventually redirected to Vega by Starfleet, continued skirmishes occurred between Starfleet and Romulan ships across the region for months as the Star Empire tried to unlock this back door into Commonwealth territory.
2157
Significant Battles
The Battle of Gliese-47
In March 2157, local intelligence in the Vega Campaign identified a Romulan supply depot hidden in the Gliese-47 system. With Vega so far from Romulan lines, it was apparent that their continued harrying of the sector relied on supply caches and networks such as this, and Starfleet determined its destruction could end the Vega Campaign. Sent on a quick surveillance mission, Phoenix NX-08 proceeded to assault the supply depot without backup and was almost destroyed when its apparent lack of defences proved to be a ruse. Only the timely arrival of Starfleet reinforcements prevented the total loss, with all Starfleet ships escaping. While the supply depot was not destroyed, the uncovering of its location led to the Romulans quickly dismantling it, and soon after the Star Empire withdrew from the Vega sector. The campaign had ended with a Starfleet victory, though without any significant blows against Romulan resources or ships.