First Battle of California Minor

First Battle of California Minor
Part of the The Hellfire Offensive
Date	814 A.S.
Location	California Liberty
Status	Ongoing conflict
Result	Overwhelming Hellfire Legion victory on all fronts.
Belligerents
Hellfire Legion, Order, Asgard Warriors (mercenaries) Liberty, Bretonia, Colonial Remnant (then known as "Battlestar Galactica"), F.E.A.R. (bizarre inter-house military force; later dissolved after great outcry from the Houses)
Commanders
Drake Thastus Nussebull
Strength
Hellfire Legion Liberty Gunboat Silverfire, one Bastet-class Order fighter, one mercenary Bergelmir-class Rheinland Bomber), one Hellfire Legion Sabre-class fighter. Three Battlestar-class Colonial battleships, two Dunkirk-class battleships, one Overlord-class dreadnought, two Atlantis-class carriers, one Liberty Assault Battlecruiser, two Liberty Siege Cruisers, one Guardian-class fighter.

Synopsis

The First Battle of California Minor was a truly remarkable battle on many fronts. Between the rapid response time of allies of both primary belligerents, the truly earth-shattering number of capital ships involved, and the stunning victory on the part of the terribly outnumbered and outgunned underdogs, this brief battle threw the Southern Alliance into disarray and heralded the real beginning of the Hellfire Legion's push into the California system. This battle also served as a brutal reminder to Liberty of the lethality of snubcraft.

Lead up

The Southern Alliance, determined to crush the newly-arisen Hellfire Legion, positioned several of its capital-class warships in orbit of Planet Los Angeles in order to stage an ambush against the Legion's skirmishing fighters. However, the Hellfire Legion's High Command heard of the ambush and decided to thwart it.

The Battle

In a surprise move, the Hellfire Legion broke through at the Magellan jump gate in California instead of coming from the asteroid fields as was expected, and tore through the lone Overlord-class battleship guarding the gate. The small Legion force quickly plowed its way to the orbit of the barren Planet California Minor, the gunboat Silverfire acting as a shock trooper. Caught by surprise, the Colonial ships in orbit of the planet - at the time working for Planetform as military enforcers - called for help, confusing the large fleet Los Angeles. Eventually, however, the entire fleet mobilized and moved to cut off the Legionnaires and their allies at California Minor.

Upon arrival, the Libertonian ships found themselves totally without the support of snubcraft. Rather than call for fighter backup, they instead summoned the largest warships available from the Bretonian Armed Forces. Surprisingly, the Bretonians responded to their request, and sent two Dunkirks to assist the Libertonian forces.

An intense firefight ensued as more and more capital ships arrived at Planet California Minor. Eventually, a lone Guardian fighter - callsign Osorojo - made its way to the planet, but it was far from enough. The tiny force of Legionnaires and their allies slowly but surely incinerated their massive opposition. Finally, after hours upon untold hours of intense fighting, every last defending ship was destroyed, their smoking wrecks slowly being pulled into California Minor's gravity well.

The Aftermath

The First Battle of California Minor was a total nightmare for Liberty militarily, economically, and diplomatically. The Bretonians demanded to know why they had been involved in the fight in the first place when they had their own war to fight, and as a result the Liberty-Bretonia military alliance took a heavy blow. Following the battle, the Liberty Navy was all but pushed out of the California system, and only with the death of Drake Thastus did they really reclaim the system fully.

A year after the battle, the Southern Alliance - at the time under one Christopher Phelps - was reunited with the Northern Alliance - under Christina Robinson - bringing the Liberty Navy back to its full power.

Even today, years after the battle, from time to time, hazardous bits of wrecked ships are found from time to time in the frozen tundras of Planet California Minor, causing major headaches for surveyors, Planetform scientists, and ALG cleanup crews alike.