Ad Astra Per Aspera: Battle of the Laguna System

The Technocracy declaration of war against the Coalition brought the Galactic War to the 60-120 region of the Milky Way. The Coalition-aligned Coloradan Federation and Democratic Republic of Qurac were assaulted by the neighboring, Technocracy-aligned Imperial Commonwealth of the Milky Way and the Greater Seidonian Protectorate. However, the two warring superpowers allowed their puppets to destroy one another with minimal support, as they focused on battle with one another.

The Laguna system, which was claimed by both powers but controlled by the Coalition, was a major point of contention between the two powers. While the tensions resulting from the unresolved Laguna Skirmish were put on hold when the United Technocracies was officially neutral in the conflict, the fallout from Operation Hibernia allowed the Technocracies to once again publicly voice their outrage at the "illegal" Coalition occupation of the system. With the beginning of open hostilities between the two powers, the United Technocracies launched an entire battlegroup against the system, hoping to prevent a repeat of the Laguna Skirmish. However, the Coalition expected the possibility of such an attack for decades, and heavily fortified the system. Both sides knew that the battle would most likely take years, possibly decades, and prepared accordingly. Neither side knew the battle would last the entire war.

The key to the Laguna system’s resistance was the large network of underground fortifications the Coalition constructed on Laguna II after the Laguna Skirmish, which were deep enough to be protected from all but the heaviest of orbital ordnance and had enough fungal and hydroponic farms to feed three hundred million soldiers nearly indefinitely. The fortifications were unique among the Coalition worlds, as the Laguna system was the only Coalition system in that area of the galaxy. While the Inner Sphere worlds or the border systems could be retaken after they are lost, the Coalition would have to fight through hundreds of star systems, some either within the United Technocracies itself or in uncharted space.

Initially, the battle was in the Coalition’s favor, as the Laguna Home Fleet was able to repel the initial Technocracy attack. However, the Home Fleet was destroyed in 2749, when the Technocracies launched an even larger assault force which outnumbered the Home Fleet five to one. Knowing that the war for Laguna II, the heart of the system, would be extremely difficult, the Technocracies focused on securing the other worlds in the system. Even these worlds were difficult to take, as the Coalition forces had entrenched themselves as soon as war was declared and were prepared to fight to the last man. Even the barren, airless worlds of Laguna I and V were fanatically defended to buy Laguna II more time. The Coalition plan worked, as the fighting bought enough time for Laguna II’s entire civilian population to be moved underground and trained to defend the planet.

The Battle for Laguna II began in 2752, beginning with Technocracy orbital bombardment which lasted for three weeks prior to the first landings. While the surface was secured by the Technocracies by 2754, the underground networks remained under Coalition control, and from there the Coalition launched sporadic attacks against the surface. While the Technocracies initially tried to ignore the hiding Coalition forces, reasoning that they would starve soon, the constant attacks made this impossible. Nuclear weapons were snuck under Technocracy bases and detonated, convoys inexplicably disappeared under sinkholes, and Coalition troops would disappear without a trace, only to reappear hundreds of miles away. As the Technocracies already secured the planet’s surface, they could not use heavy orbital weapons en masse against areas believed to be infested with Coalition troops, although this did not prevent some commanders from taking matters into their own hands and firing on perceived “hives” with complete disregard to their own forces. By 2760, the Technocracies elected to fight a war of attrition against the Coalition, reasoning that the Coalition would inevitably starve to death or lose the will to fight.

But the Coalition refused to surrender. While there were lulls in the fighting, especially after major Technocracy counterattacks, no Coalition negotiators were sent to even negotiate official ceasefires. The Technocracies elected to continue building their own military infrastructure in defiance of continuous Coalition attacks. The world became so deadly that Technocracy soldiers found guilty of disobeying orders on other fronts were reassigned to the world, where they could expect to live only a few weeks. Assignment offworld was only possible through major reassignments to other fronts, which only happened once every few years as the Technocracies launched another offensive elsewhere in the galaxy. Many soldiers, upon hearing of their assignment to Laguna II, commit suicide.

The Battle of the Laguna System would be the largest battle between the Coalition and the United Technocracies, with all other battles between the two powers prior to the Coalition Civil War being relatively minor skirmishes of only a few million soldiers. Over a billion lives would be lost during the battle, and the Coalition forces defending the system refused to surrender even after an official peace treaty between the United Technocracies and the Coalition Fleet Junta. After thirty-three years of war, the Coalition forces were mostly composed of people who knew nothing but war.

Surrender only occurred in 2782, when the Fleet Junta sent several high-ranking generals which had survived the Galactic War to negotiate with the Coalition forces there. These generals managed to gain the trust of local Coalition forces, and after explaining the events of the Coalition Civil War and the Athena Rebellion, convinced the Coalition forces to lay down their arms. These forces would not be punished by the Technocracies or the Fleet Junta, with both governments respecting the Laguna forces’ demand to be treated well in exchange for surrender. Indeed, the Technocracies government had a grudging respect for the Laguna resistance, and considered them wartime belligerents despite their continued resistance after the end of the Galactic War. Instead, these forces were reorganized into the Sixteenth Coalition Army, an elite force designed to protect the new Coalition government’s interests. After all, it would be a shame to waste such good soldiers. In 2795, the Sixteenth Army would become one of the first Coalition forces to face off against the Gray Swarm.