The Siege of Phobos is a major battle of the Solar War that occurred in orbit over Mars and on the surface of Phobos in 754 PCE from November 20th to December 3rd, in which the Society Remnant and the Rim attempted to cripple the Solar Republic fleet and seize control of Phobos as a staging area for their planned invasion of Mars.
Background[]
Following the Day of Red Doves in January 754, the Solar Republic lost control of Luna due to Senator Publius cu Caraval's coup, forcing the Sovereign Virginia Augustus to flee to Mars after being rescued from captivity by House Telemanus and her Lionguard.
During the Long Night, the Society Remnant forces were able to retake control of Mercury and kill or capture a majority of the Republic's Free Legions thanks to Lysander au Lune sabotaging their plans to get past the Ash Armada in orbit. Darrow O'Lykos and about two hundred other key personnel such as Cadus Harnassus, Thraxa Telemanus, and Horatius Savag, were evacuated aboard the Archimedes by Cassius au Bellona, who had travelled to the Core to warn the Republic that the Rim was joining the war against the Republic to take revenge for Darrow's destruction of the Ganymede Dockyards at the Battle of Ilium over a decade ago.
The Archimedes was unable to reach Luna before the Telemanus fleet began sailing back to Mars, forcing them to regroup to the Core and hide at an abandoned Sons of Ares base on one of the remaining Marchers in order to repair the damage the ship had sustained while escaping Mercury.
Colloway Char and another 2,011 survivors of the Free Legions managed to hide in the Hesperides Mountains on Mercury for a few weeks before managing to hire a group of iron smugglers to ferry them past the Society blockade in a stolen House Votum torchShip, which they then stole from the smugglers.
Several weeks after the Long Night, the allied forces of the Rim and the Society Remnant invaded Earth and retook control of the planet from the Republic. Virginia received word of the invasion the day she arrived back on Mars.
The Society Remnant spent the next several months securing their control over Earth and laying siege to Luna while the Rim's Dust and Dragon Armadas, led by Helios au Lux and Dido au Raa, attacked Republic outposts throughout the Core and the Asteroid Belt.
Due to the skill, equipment, and experience of the Republic Ecliptic Guard and its commanders, Atalantia au Grimmus was reluctant to commit her armada and legions to the conquest of Mars for fear that she would be deposed as Dictator by opportunistic vultures once the Republic was defeated. As a result, she committed the Society Remnant's forces toward maintaining the siege against Luna.[1]
On October 18th, Darrow O'Lykos and Cassius Bellona infiltrate the Venus Dockyards in an attempt to rescue Sevro Barca from Apollonius au Valii-Rath, unaware that Sevro had managed to escape on his own weeks ago and was hiding in the vents. Darrow and Cassius were lured into a trap and held in captivity for two days before they are forced to fight Apollonius in the dockyards' famous Hanging Coliseum. The duel was interrupted by Sevro setting off one of the atomic bombs that Apollonius had used to blackmail Atalantia and House Carthii into accepting his control over the docks, and Asmodeus au Carthii used the explosion as an excuse to finally move against Apollonius and retake control of the facility.
While Sevro, Darrow, and Cassius escaped and began making their way back to Mars, Lysander au Lune convinced Valeria au Carthii to back him and call off her family's vendetta against Apollonius in exchange for brokering the return of the docks to House Carthii and Valeria being made Primus of her House.
Seven days after the battle on Venus began, Atalantia held a summit on Earth in Rome to announce her plans for an Iron Rain on Luna in six months. Lysander objected, and urged his allies within the Two Hundred to veto Atalantia's decision in favor of an attack on Mars led by Apollonius, revealing that he has negotiated a ceasefire between Apollonius and House Carthii.
Prelude[]
A week before the Society fleet arrived in Martian orbit, the newly repaired and upgraded Twins of South Pacifica were used to fire several rail slugs made from the wreckage of the Republic's White Fleet at a point in space above Mars' north pole.
Battle[]
Despite having the advantage in speed, the Rim and Society fleets spend multiple hours probing Mars's defenses deliberately leading the Republic fleet into the path of the railslugs fired from the Twins of South Pacifica, which impact the ships of Task Force Spear in the fourth hour of the invasion.[2]
At least half of Task Force Spear manages to survive the attack, including Victra's flagship, Pandemonia. Before the fleet can recover, the Rim fleet moves to attack what's left of Victra's forces, intent on killing her and eliminating the best ships of the Republic fleet. Virginia orders Niobe and Colloway to defend Victra's fleets at all costs.
As Phobos's orbit brings the moon into alignment with the Lightbringer, Lysander's destroyers fly in front of the moonBreaker and race into range of Phobo's anti-ship guns. Lysander sacrifices at least two destroyers in his battle group to gain ground, thereby reducing the ability of the OBC guns to hit them. Four destroyers are obliterated before the Republic commanders on Phobos realize that he plans to use the empty destroyers as battering rams to bring down the moon's shields.
Parlay[]
On the fourteenth day of the Siege, Virginia and Lysander sneak away from their respective armies for a secret parley.[3]
Aftermath[]
After the exchange of prisoners, Republic forces spend the next five days evacuating from Phobos.[4]