Chapter 82
Phindar Approach, Phindar System
Demetras Sector
One of the original hurdles the Confederacy of Independent Systems had to overcome was its decentralisation. At the outbreak of the war, the Confederacy was split into four different theatres, none of which possessed direct hyperlane connections with each other. As Raxus Secundus blundered through the opening stages of the conflict, the unorganised Confederate fleets lacked the impetus to form a unified front, in large part due to the unfortunate nature of the divorced state.
Operation Sidestep was the first concerted effort to change that nature. Confederate Generals Sev’rance Tann and Grievous spearheaded a two-front assault in the south, carving their way through Loyalist held spacelanes and successfully linking three of the four great theatres and establishing vital logistic routes to the far-flung western corners of the Confederacy’s vast war.
Buoyed by the success of Operation Sidestep, Raxus Secundus authorised the last of the great ‘unification offensives’ in the hopes of establishing a direct hyperlane connection with the second largest theatre in the New Territories. A similarly two-pronged assault sailed down both ends of the Salin Corridor, led by Confederate Admiral Kirst and Commander Drogen Hosh, thrusted by Sidestep’s momentum and eager for a quick and decisive victory.
And Phindar readied her fleets, marshalled her armies, levelled her guns, and turned the Phindar Star System into a cosmic graveyard.
That was the Confederacy’s first attack on the sole Loyalist stronghold straddling the Salin Corridor, Phindar, and the results of that battle engraved Phindar’s legendary status into the psyche of all Confederate officers. Once thought to be an isolated and ill-defended backwater world in the Outer Rim, Phindar was now known to the galaxy as the fortress world Phindar.
That was two years ago.
Soon afterwards, the Republic’s Operation Trident shattered any remaining dreams of unifying the Confederate state, and that defeat at Phindar left lasting consequences on the budding Separatist Alliance. For one, the New Territories were irrevocably divided from the rest of the country, preventing Raxus Secundus’ influence from spreading whilst allowing Serenno to dig in its roots, ultimately leading to this bloody schism that gripped the Confederacy today.