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Groshyr · (This post was last modified: 08-11-2022, 06:24 PM by Groshyr.)

Susanne Weishaupt University of History and Archaeology

"Does it work?" came the question posed by a female voice. A few clicks and a video was added to the audio track. The text "please wait" was replaced by the face of a mature woman. She smiled as she saw the video recording sensor turn green and, correcting the lens, headed for one of the two chairs behind her. The other was already occupied by a broad-shouldered man who was watching the woman with some tension, but the woman slumped into her chair without noticing the gaze. "At last we can begin."

"So, General Quafer," the woman opened her paper notebook of pre-recorded questions and began the interview. Although it was a stretch to call this historical debate an interview. "Thank you for agreeing to take part in a discussion of the Gallic War, its aftermath, and its impact on the future of the Sector."

"You're welcome. It is important that our descendants understand why fixating on their own superiority and their unwillingness to see their mistakes can crush even a monster like the Kingdom of Gallia at the time of its appearance on the political scene and the stellar map of Sirius." tensely the man replied. Quafer wasn't worried about the meeting, of course not, rather it was his typical state of mind. Focus, control of the situation, attention to detail - that was what mattered to him in the first place. The woman nodded in agreement. "So, let's start at the beginning - the appearance to the world of the Kingdom of Gallia."

"Sirius had barely recovered from the short-lived but highly destructive conflict of 800-801 when another war shook the Colonies - the Kingdom of Bretonia and the Kusari Empire began a war for resources and influence in the Tau sector. Soon, after a bloody battle for control of the planet Harris, the Bretonian Armed Forces were forced into Leeds, where the Kusari Navy soon launched an offensive campaign, seeking to take control of the orbit of Leeds." began the woman, fixing a disheveled strand. Her dark brown hair was trimmed to a braid and groomed, lustrous thick curls forming an intricate lush halo that even particularly skilled fashionistas could envy. "At about the same time, in the Orkney system, a distant Breton domain that no one and even the Bretonians themselves did not care for, ships of previously unseen construction emerged, transmitting messages on common frequencies in a language long forgotten by the rest of the now-defunct Alliance colonies. They were the so-called Council, or Mouvement de Liberation Gaulois as they called themselves."

"Rebellious against despotic rule, these insurgents may have saved all Sirius by getting the Gallic Royal Navy to act here and now, in the year 817 (or 733, if we use the Gallic calendar) when it was not yet finally ready to attack - for judging by the historical chronicles and materials made public by the Gallic Historical Community, Gallia was preparing to conquer all Sirius by bringing its 'high culture and civilization' to every House. Of course, the opinions of those Houses were not going to be asked." she continued, with a slight movement removing an invisible speck of dust from her jacket sleeve. The historian's image was carefully calibrated and serious, no make-up on her face - on many people such a combination would have looked drab, but for a woman it was more than appropriate. "The story of the minefield enclosing one of the several rifts leading to Sirius is, however, rather vague and hints at a third party whose influence helped lay the foundations for the subsequent collapse of the Kingdom towards the end of the Gallic War. A side that remained in the shadows."

Groshyr · (This post was last modified: 08-11-2022, 01:10 AM by Groshyr.)

"Conspiracy theories should be left where they belong: in the tabloids. If you have evidence - show it, if not - keep quiet," General Quafer interrupted her train of thought. Focus, control of the situation, attention to detail - that's what matters to him in the first place. Compared to the woman sitting across from him, he seemed like a broad-shouldered giant, a mountain range in front of a poplar tree. "We must work with facts, and the fact is that the Gallic Royal Navy intervened like a knife in butter in the conflict between Kusari and Bretonia, quickly putting an end to it, staging a coup in Kusari, establishing a pro-Gallic regime and government, but nevertheless not making vassal of them, apparently putting it off for later."

"The Kusari forces, trapped in Bretonia, led by the Emperor himself aboard the flagship of the Imperial Fleet, enjoying the bitter taste of shame, took the name Kusari Exiles, and later cooperated with Bretonia and the Council, together desperately resisting the Gallic offensive. Ironically, the Emperor's exile was for the rest of his life-he never lived to return to Kusari, having died two years before." Quafer continued. His weathered lips contorted into a slight chuckle. In contrast to the slender features of his companion, the man's face was broad and full, and heavy eyelids fell over his small eyes, surrounded by a multitude of wrinkles. Only the nose was surprisingly aesthetically pleasing: its wings, bridge, and tip were as if carved in marble by a skilled sculptor, making it seem somehow alien. "In the Gallia-occupied Tau's, meanwhile, there was a dark time of order and subjugation to the hegemon - the Independent Miners Guild's attempts to resist resulted in Java and Holman being taken over by the Gauls, and their corporations taking control of IMG operations in the region. Over time, though, the Guild saw this as a highly profitable alliance - with the Royal Navy successfully exterminating the Outcasts in Tau-23 and 31, providing unprecedented security to the region. However, that changed as soon as more ships were needed on the Breton front."

"Many still debate what was the cause of the Gallic attack on Sirius, finding the justifications about 'culture and civilization' insufficiently valid for a war as total and bloody as the one started by centuries of isolated gathering by descent." Dr. Daniela Winkler added. There were notes of scepticism in her voice at the mention of the official version, but the historian herself gave no reason to think of herself as an insane conspiracy theorist. Even to a person unfamiliar with her monumental (and incredibly tedious) work, she seemed an unassailable and incorruptible specialist, who one wants to trust. Even the brown of her eyes with honey-coloured flecks couldn't add to the woman's warmth. He was handsome, but few could appreciate it when any thoughts of beauty are cut short by a stern gaze staring straight into her soul. "Most see it as a desperate attempt by Gaul to make up for the impoverished resources they had nearly exhausted in centuries of exploitation, aggressive military industrialization, building an enormous armada to control intimidation and the like. Others see the war as the result of the madness of King Charles, the third is that it was an attempt by the government to unite the people before an external threat, to stop the ongoing civil war at the expense of a larger external war. However, there are also completely wild theories, such as the King's obsession with an alien mind, like the rumours that went around 30 years ago about Chancellor Niemann."

Groshyr · 08-11-2022, 06:08 PM,

"As I told before, we work with facts, not rumours." the general interrupted the woman with a touch of irritation. Anyone in the woman's shoes would have been embarrassed. He was a military man, and he was dressed as well, as befitted a guest at such a serious event, with a couple of awards glittering on his chest, emphasizing status but not screaming and turning the owner into a puffed-up turkey. "And the fact is, despite a brilliant start to the campaign, the Gauls were stuck in Leeds for nearly a decade of war. Yes, the secondary fronts advanced, right up to the entrance of the Royal Army into California, but it was Leeds that stood the longest. After those few scientific stations on the surface of Gaia turned into Gallic settlements, ground hospitals, warehouses, and the like - King Charles's Fleet launched an assault on Leeds, on both sides. As far as we know from the chronicles, Gallia made a semblance of an alliance with the Mollys of Dublin at the time, promising them support for their claims to the system. They probably planned to make the Mollies their vassals."

"This alliance was not as effective as the Gauls had hoped, and it was soon broken by a very sneaky method - the destruction of the Belfast station at Newcastle. Gallic forces attacked suddenly, and the station was reduced to smouldering rubble in just a couple of hours of siege. It was then that all of Sirius could see for the first time the power of the Warwolf cannons, demolishing everything before them." The man continued, stroking his chin with his hand and looking away from his companion to glance casually around the room. The interior of the study was sparse, but at the same time not devoid of the refinements of fashionable trends. The wallpaper of a restrained walnut shade was complemented by panels of dark wood, and several pictures in gilt frames stood out like motley spots against the monochrome covering. On all were modest landscapes, incapable of boasting any particular genius. "To an outsider it might seem that the Bretons are ready to cut each other's throats-it might be true, but only if there is no force, no outside factor, against which to unite. Gallia made this mistake, and soon numerous criminal gangs coordinated with the forces of Bretonia to make the Gallic presence in Leeds as uncomfortable as possible, forming cells of rebellion on the surface of Leeds and causing problems for the Gauls, who were trying to turn Leeds into a fort post for their further advance."

"Over time, the number involved in the anti-Gallic coalition only grew. Bretonia was supported by Liberty, first by a lend-lease of its equipment, and then by a full-fledged intervention when control of the Leeds orbit was lost. The Crayter Republic, suffered among the first by the Gauls' march across the Tau's, settled in the Coronado system and soon joined the coalition, working with the Bretonian Privateers to strike at the Gallic supply lines stretching back through the Tau's, making their logistics more difficult." The inspection continued, and the general mentally noted that he liked being in this office. There wasn't much furniture, apart from two armchairs a bulky desk and chair, a couple of bookcases filled with thick volumes with gilded bands on the spines, and a thin-legged table on which a decanter with a couple of glasses and a dull lamp lurked modestly. The heavy velvet drapes fell in waves over the windows, as if to swallow them up and drown the room in darkness. Even when the conversations died down, the silence was broken by the sound of a small mechanical clock with a huge number of whorls. It looked like a bizarre space monster waiting to ambush its prey on a shelf. "The Council also took part, seizing the opportunity to strike at the Royal Navy in Gallia itself, preventing the King from moving more forces to the front. Nevertheless, their strikes were less destructive than those struck by other members of the coalition - knowing full well that if they were victorious and the King were gone, they would have to rebuild all that had been destroyed during the Civil War. For the Maquis, a group of the more radical Gallic revolutionaries, it didn't matter; it even seemed that the more bloodshed and destruction that occurred, the happier their members were. Indeed, even the Outcasts had by then become part of this fragile alliance! Each with their own reasons, together they formed a force that was able to confront the Kingdom of Gallia, ultimately leading them to her defeat."

Groshyr · 08-11-2022, 07:19 PM,

"There were times when the initiative in this war was taken by members of this coalition, called Allies, destroying important facilities of the Royal Navy, damaging ships, killing Gallic generals, admirals and other important but less ranked officers." While Dr. Winkler continued to listen passionately, Quafer explained the key points that would later become decisive in this war. A grim spark splashed in his eyes, for despite the horrors he recounted, he admired the tactical and strategic genius shown on both sides both during and after the war. "There were also moments when an enraged Gallic beast came close to decapitating individual members of the anti-Gallic coalition - as when the Royal Intelligence Service found a safe route to Roussillon, the heart of Council operations, though not much more than a planet with several large settlements and a drydock."

"The thrilling, if I can say so, thing is that the Council went about detonating nukes on the surface, making the planet less habitable. Of course, they evacuated everyone, or almost everyone, from the planet, some were intercepted and imprisoned and then transported to the Royalist penal colony, while others went to Gallia or dispersed to independent worlds. As far as I know, it is possible to minimize the damage to the world's ecosystem, but that requires investment and an interested party, and there are none - despite the Crayter Republic's claims to the system." The doctor took the floor while her interlocutor sipped water from a nicely styled faceted glass. This glass was a rarity, an antique that was prized among collectors and lovers of antiquities, to which Madame Winkler included herself. "However, by squeezing the Council Liberation Navy and the 'civilians' out of Roussillon, the Royal Navy only aggravated their situation, for the fleeing force headed for Gallia, breaking the blockade at Brittany Gallia, formerly Orkney, damaging the Montmorency and soon, clashing with the Inner Worlds Fleet for control of the planet Marseilles, in Provence. A skirmish which resulted in a Pyrrhic victory for the attackers."

"The CLN offensive took place on two fronts, on the Tau side, through Provence, and on the Champagne side, which had been under blockade for some 30 years, since the beginning of the Second Gallic War, the internal conflict between the Monarchy, the pro-monarchist aristocracy and the opposition, which quickly escalated from peaceful protests into a full-fledged civil war, beginning on the planet Marne, in Champagne" continued the doctor. She corrected the dishevelled strand again and glanced at her notebook, with an easy and swift movement of her hand placing a 'tick mark' against some of the questions. "Thus advancing the overall Allies plan to disperse the Royal Navy in all directions and setting the first chords for the finale of this war. As I recall, the much-lauded, ever-surviving battleship Pamiers was the flagship of one of the two fleets. In the Picardy direction, right?"

Groshyr · 08-12-2022, 07:41 PM,

"No, the Pamiers guarded their greatest secret, the planet Toulouse, for many years after the exodus of part of the Council from Gallia. When that secret was discovered, it was part of a fleet that went back to Gallia and took part in the Battle of Provence, along with the Oblique, which had changed colours from Royal to Republican", the general interjected. He understood her well, though - it was easy to get confused with all those unfamiliar and foreign names that were constantly fighting each other, occasionally gaining the upper hand over the enemy. "The Picardian front belonged to the battleship La Fierte and its escorts, consisting mainly of obsolete Obstinate-class cruisers, which were eventually converted to battlecruisers, ceding their role to the Triumph destroyers in the Royal Navy, and their more peaceful variation from CLN. Sorry, I forget the name, but I think it was called Penance. Anyway, La Fierte's role was to lay siege to La Fere prison and free a lot of political prisoners."

"Around the same time, another assassination attempt was made on King Charles. The main difference from the others was the partial success - the King's shuttle was shot down, and Charles himself suffered brain damage as a result of oxygen deprivation and went into a coma, from which he never emerged. It's ironic, since it replicates Emperor Kogen's fate in a way" the general continued with a light chuckle. He did indeed find it ironic that a tyrant who had put an end to another tyrant had died in such a similar way. Karma probably exists, or fate has its own sense of humour. "The assassination itself was well planned, the attack on the shuttle happened just minutes before it entered the Versailles station dock. The attacking civilian Eclipse bombers, without any identifying marks, fired several heavy torpedoes and the station's pre-activated defence systems failed to intercept them. The station was damaged, but the shuttle was lucky - the pilot, apparently sensing something amiss, deviated from the impact course and instead of being reduced to ash, the shuttle's hull was damaged, some oxygen escaped into vacuum, the pilot died because of a pierced cockpit window, and the king, by the time Versailles rescue workers arrived, had fallen into a coma."

"The resulting power vacuum led to internal strife between the heirs, the royal admiralty and the nobility. Tensions which, unknowingly, the Allies took advantage of", the doctor seized the initiative. The closer they were to the most terrible crime ever committed by mankind, the more pathetic the phrases from each of the participants in the conversation became. It may have looked comical, but it was not so to those who had seen Leeds burn with their own eyes. "The Admiralty, ignoring the discontent of both Heirs and nobles, their calls to freeze the conflict and negotiate with Sirius to end the war, gathered forces on the Bretonian front into a single fist that would pierce the Allies defenses and establish dominance over the New London orbit, hoping to force a quick and decisive Bretonian surrender."

"But their plan was not without its flaws..." the general now took the floor, using all the knowledge he had to explain in the simplest possible words how a superior force had lost the Battle of New London, beginning its defeat in a war that had lasted over a decade. "From GRN deserters that had lost hope from the long, drawn out - and fruitless war, the intelligence services of the Allies pieced together and image of over-fatigued and overstretched Gallic supply lines coupled with internal strife and discontent - the Battle of New London was difficult, but the defeat of the Gauls was prescribed. All the way from the gates of Leeds to the orbit where the main battle took place, their ships were attacked by an array of various factions that Gallia had compounded into joining their enemies, many using guerrilla hit and run maneuvres, draining the Gauls further of their forces long before the battle began. Then, thunder rang out - the battle at the capital of Bretonia began. Bretonia, Liberty, Crayter, Council, and even Outcasts - many took part in that battle. The Corsairs, on the other hand, sided with Gallia, having dealt with the Great House for the first time in their history. When the battle was over, the orbit of New London was filled with the burning wreckage of Royal Navy and Allied ships, many of which eventually fell into the planet's atmosphere, sometimes causing even more damage than the orbital bombardment that took place during the battle itself."

Groshyr · 08-13-2022, 06:23 PM,

"The Allied command wasted no time in regrouping its forces; a counter-attack on Leeds soon began. In an attempt to drive the Royal Navy out of Bretonia as quickly as possible to at least freeze the conflict in the neutral territory of the Tau's, the Allies resolutely marched through the gates to Leed. LNS Ottawa was the first ship to light up the void with her glow as the combined strike force headed for Leeds and faced the desperate attempts of the now losing Royal Gallic Fleet to destroy their enemy", with cold indifference General Quafer listed the dry facts. He had no one he knew on the planet Leeds, or in Bretonia in general, but the very thought that such a thing could have happened to any world had another home come in Gallia's way brought grim feelings to his chest. "Being too far away to intercept, the Allies had to watch the worst war crime in human history - the Glassing of Leeds. Many recordings can be found online, but they will never convey the emotions people had to go through as they watched billions of people die in such a short space of time. Tens of millions enslaved and deported. Such is the price of war and Leeds was the bitter conveyance of the Royal Navy's unwillingness to admit defeat and lay down their arms. The Allies were advancing towards Leeds with extreme and reckless speed - but it was too late. What had not been destroyed by the Warwolf orbital bombardment of the Triumph-class destroyers was destroyed by the subsequent detonation of so-called 'dirty', cobalt bombs planted beneath the surface. With the explosion of these "gifts" and the planet was lost for centuries, if not forever. That's how Leeds died."

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