The Orion-Hecate War



The Orion-Hecate war was a short, brutal affair.  The Hecatan military was a massive force, outnumbering their opponents six to one.  However, the Orion Union had spent the last twenty years expanding and modernizing their armed forces in a bid to stop the Hecatan encroachment once and for all.  This meant that the Orion forces were well a well-trained, volunteer force with a distinct technological advantage. 



Although badly outnumbered, the Orion Space forces were
able to exploit their technological advantage to
great effect in most of the ship-to-ship engagements.



In contrast, the Hecatan military was largely made up of unwilling conscripts led by an almost hereditary officer-class.  In addition the state of technical education in the commonwealth was so poor that at any given time, 25% of their fleet was laid up for major repair work. 

Knowing all of this, observers of the war were split on how the war would go, but all agreed that if anyone could fight Hecate on close to even terms, it was the Orions.

This was not the case, the Union had greatly underestimated both Hecates espionage capabilities and the ambition of its own domestic opposition.  While new warships were laid down at a record pace and new army divisions were raised and armed with the finest equipment available, a small cabal of local politicians were making a deal with the devil.  These agitators, led by the Assistant Minister of War, a man named Oskar Delavera, delivered accurate copies of the initial war plans, common encryption schemes, and most importantly, remote access codes for the planetary defense network of the capital.  In return, the received a promise that there would be as little bloodshed and collateral damage as possible, and that they would receive Hecatan support to supplant the current, duly-elected Union government and be allowed local autonomy to oversee their own domestic affairs.

In the initial battles, the Union forces managed to hold their own quite well, in fact scoring some notable victories.  They were not aware that the Hecatans were allowing themselves to be outfought to lull their enemies into a false-sense of superiority.  After six months of skirmishing on the frontiers, they began a devastating campaign that ruthlessly exploited their knowledge of Union communication protocols and codes.  The Union field forces were out-maneuvered and overwhelmed.  While their main armies were being neutralized, a massive Hecatan task force flew right through the Orion fleet, avoiding every patrol and appearing in orbit around the Union home world of Tiferet.  Ever more alarmingly, they transmitted a series of contradicting command codes that rendered the formidable orbital defenses completely impotent.  Hanging in low orbit, with no other resistance in sight, they calmly sent a transmission asking for a planet-wide surrender on pain of bombardment.

There was no other choice, the government of the Orion Cluster Union surrendered unconditionally and collapsed under popular outrage.  One of the highest ranking members of the government to remain with his reputation intact, the assistant minister for war, was named the head of an interim government and engaged in peace negotiations with the Hecatan assimilation authorities.