Battle of Sol

From FEInfobase

The Battle of Sol was the climactic confrontation of The Borg War and took place in 2398. Though the battle began spread out across the system with Utopia Planitia and Earth bearing the brunt of the attack, towards the end of the fight, combat began to centre exclusively around Earth.

Contents 1 Prelude 2 The Battle 2.1 Day 1 (Wed, 23rd Dec) 2.1.1 Neptune Line 2.2 Day 2 (Thurs, 24th Dec) 2.2.1 Saturn Counter-Offensive 2.2.2 Asteroid Belt 2.2.3 Mars Defence Perimeter 2.2.4 Strike Force Alpha 2.3 Day 3 (Fri 25th Dec) 2.3.1 First Fleet Engagement 2.3.2 Tactical Cube Assault 2.4 Day 4 (Sat 26th Dec) 2.4.1 Fatigue 2.5 Day 5 (27th Dec) 3 The Aftermath

Prelude

Throughout the War, the Borg had made only one incursion into the Sol System, on October 12th, 2393. A solitary Cube attacked and destroyed research outpost Jupiter Station, the Dominion shipyards and Jem'Hadar cloning facilities before attacking Utopia Planitia. Though the cube was destroyed, the damage inflicted upon the facility had a serious impact on Starfleet's ship output rate, meaning that the rest of the year was spent trying to rebuild the Fleet yards.

On March 18th, 2396, contact was lost with the inner-core worlds, Andoria and Vulcan, driving the frontlines ever closer to Earth. On January 4th, 2397, the Borg attacked Alpha Centauri with a force of eight vessels. The close proximity of Alpha Centauri to the Sol System prompted Starfleet Command to send what remained of the Fourth Fleet to defend the sytem. Though the defence was ultimately successful, almost all the Starfleet vessels were destroyed.

By March, 2398, the Sol System had become the only remaining stronghold in the Federation. Millions of refugees from the Klingon, Romulan, Ferengi, Gorn and Tholian civilisations amongst others sought refuge from the advancing Borg fleet. Sending scout ships to investigate an adrift sphere later in the year, Romulan Intelligence was able to learn that the Borg had two hundred and thirty one vessels left in the Alpha Quadrant and were preparing to attack the Sol System, specifically the Dominion outpost within Utopia Planitia - the location of the development of a Dominion Pathogen which was wreaking havoc in the Collective. Not willing to wait for the onslaught, Starfleet Command sent four hundred and thirty two vessels to attack Galorndon Core, the site of the Borg's last remaining forward base. Though the base was destroyed, only eight Borg ships met the same fate, though the entire Allied force was lost. Following this attack, the Borg regrouped and headed towards the Sol System, entering it on Wednesday, December 23rd.

The Battle

The force of 223 Borg vessels were met by a rag-tag Allied armada, formed of any and all vessels capable of carrying a phaser bank. As well as coutless civilians ships, Earth put forth former Starfleet vessels such as the USS Constitution - spaceframes which until recently had been little more than museum features. Combined with the remnants of the Klingon and Romulan fleets, and those vessels which had fled to Sol from other civilisations, this made a total of just under eight thousand vessels. Some smaller vessels unable to bear arms, or that were not refitted before the attack functioned as support vessels, using their transporters to beam survivors off the numerous drifting wrecks. Due to the neccessity of lowering shields in order to do this, many of these ships were lost.

Day 1 (Wed, 23rd Dec)

Neptune Line

At 0810 hours (Zulu time), Fleet Command recieved word that sensors had registered the Borg entering the Sol system. 210 vessels, mostly standard cubes were advancing directly towards Earth. Upon reaching the Neptune orbit however, they encountered the system's first line of defence. Thirteen ships had been working through the night to finish completion of a mobile minefield. Once activated, the minefield was able to cloak using Romulan technology, and was programmed to track Borg transwarp signatures. Should the Borg cross the programmed Neptune line, the mines would converge on the leading vessels and destroy them.

Initially ignorant to the minefield, the lead Borg vessels quickly crossed the Neptune line and suffered heavy damage. Analysis of sensor readings suggests that three Borg vessels were destroyed in the first incursion, with three more suffering near critical damage. Following these losses, the Borg spent two hours attempting to disarm the minefield. Though they were unsuccessful, they became aware that though the mines were mobile, they were limited in their speed and so the Borg would be able to circuvent the threat. Immediately setting course to skip the field, the Borg were ultimately held back for fourteen hours by the minefield and were pushed far off course giving the scrambling Allied forces time to finalise their formations.

Though the minefield could not track the Borg fleet indefinately and was too slow to converge on the lead ships when they crossed the line, it was quick enough to attack the rear-runners of the invading force, and a further eight Borg vessels were destroyed. Following their experience with the minefield, the Borg advanced at a slower rate, taking time to scan the system thoroughly before proceeding.

Day 2 (Thurs, 24th Dec)

Saturn Counter-Offensive

Also informally known as the "Saturn Defence," the SCO was the first engagement of the battle. Despite reported mixed feelings in the Fleet Command, the decision was made to send a Starfleet attack force of just under two hundred capital ships to attack the lead Borg vessels. The move was disatrous. Despite damage inflicted, not one Borg vessel was destroyed by the force, which in turn lost one hundred and seventy nine vessels in the space of a few hours. By 1100 hours, the Borg were pursuing what remained of the attack force towards Earth.

Main Article - Saturn Counter-Offensive

Asteroid Belt

Though Sol's asteroid belt is neither particularly dense or large (totalling a mass approximately one half the weight of Luna), its innocuous presence allowed the Allies to hide a series of automated matter/anti-matter missiles within its area. The missiles were not detected by the Borg until they began firing, however the damage inflicted was less than the Allies may have hoped for. Only two Cubes and one Sphere were destroyed, with many others suffering only minor damage.

Mars Defence Perimeter

Following the first Borg incursion into Sol in 2367, the ageing Mars Defence Perimeter had been upgraded and refitted, and more refits came during the Dominion War when the threat of an attack on Earth was not only high, but realised in 2375 when the Breen attacked San Francisco. As such, rather than the largely obsolete fighters that the Borg had previously brushed aside, the MDP was now composed of squadrons of heavily armed fighters, advanced starships such as the Defiant-class and heavy orbital weapons platforms, inspired by the Cardassian design used so effectively against the Federation Alliance at Chin'toka.

The detour neccesitated by the Neptune line meant that in order to reach Earth, the Borg fleet would have to pass almost directly past Mars though with fighters and starships being grouped above Earth, the Borg faced a 'watered-down' version of the MDP. Despite this and though re-designed largely to fight off Dominion vessels, the MDP was successful in destroying around twenty Borg vessels before it was destroyed.

Strike Force Alpha

Despite being the second starship force to engage the Borg, the oddly named Strike Force Alpha or "SF-A" is the one most often touted by Starfleet as being involved in "the first major engagement of the Battle of Sol," and is presented as a largely successful operation.

At 2130 hours, as the MDP was beginning to be overrun, a joint force of 1500 select Starfleet, Klingon and Dominion warships engaged the Borg in orbit of Mars. Specifically, a great deal of the initial combat took place in and around the drydocks and stations of Utopia Planitia, as the Borg not only attacked what remained of the Federation's ship building capacity but attempted to break into the UP Databanks and find the cure for the Dominion Pathogen that was still infecting the Collective. Eventually, the station that held the data (Cold Station 2) was destroyed by Starfleet forces.

Though the Strike Force was largely made up of hundreds of ships specifically designed or retrofitted to fight the Borg and inflicted comparatively heavy damage on the fleet, they were eventually forced into a running defense as the Borg continued to push through towards Earth. As the day ended, SF-A's commanding officer estimated that fourteen Borg vessels had been destroyed with many more being damaged.Utopia Planetia fared far better then anyone had hoped for with a total of 80% of her structures destroyed the famed main complex and several docks escaped destruction.

It is notable during this fight that several SF museum ships at utopia planetia for restoration were hastily outfitted with several add on weapons platforms and pressed into service defending the shipyards. Leading these Efforts was Damage control officer Emel Kalain. Lead of these aging museum ships was the USS Venture Star largest and already most heavily armed Venture Star lead two versions of the constitution class who's names have been lost to history and the NX-04 Atlantis. Venture Star met her finally fate as the borg finally passed Mars. She lost orbit and entered the atmosphere of Mars and crashed at the base of Olympus Mons.

Day 3 (Fri 25th Dec)

First Fleet Engagement

Just over one hundred and fifty Borg vessels were picked up on short range sensors by the Allied Fleet in the early hours of the morning. Still involved in a running firefight, Strike Force Alpha (with over 1000 ships still capable of combat) commanders quickly withdrew to the flanks as the largest wing of the main fleet, based around Spacedock One, opened fire on the Borg fleet with Romulan, Federation and Cardassian capital vessels leading the assualt. With previous attacks lowering the Borg number to around one hundred and fifty ships, the numbers favoured the Allies and combat went as well as could be expected, with the numbers of losses for the Allies large, but "within the predicted margin for victory," established by Starfleet Command before the battle began.

Tactical Cube Assault

Whilst the main battle went compartively well for the Allies, a force of thirteen Borg tactical cubes approached from the rear, unnoticed by fleet sensor sweeps which were focused on the immediate enemy. Approaching Earth quickly, they opened fire on the surface and tera'tengchaH; the Klingon armoured starbase that had been constructed upon the Empire's entry into the Federation and was orbiting the planet away from the area of combat. Because the station was left largely unmanned with its crew assigned to warships in the fleet, it was unable to put up a strong resistance to the assault, however ultimately survived because the Borg attack was focused on the surface, where they primarily but not exclusively targeted military installations such as Starfleet Command in San Francisco, Planetary Operations in Lisbon and Starfleet Intelligence in London. The uncontrolled nature of collateral fire though, led to many civilians being killed in these three cities and others, in itself leading to a crucial break-down in formation for the Allies.

Many of the Earth-based civilian ships serving within the fleet broke rank and moved to either engage the Borg in what turned out to be little more than suicide runs, or rescue family members from the planet's surface. This created a sizeable gap in the Fleet's lines, forcing them to quickly regroup. The neccesity of driving off the tactical cube wing however, meant that what remained of the front line was stretched thinly with its back against the gravity pull of Earth. During this frantic period of battle, the immense firepower of the Spacedock proved to be key in holding the Borg fleet back, and was in itself responsible for a number of kills throughout the day.

Late into the day, the force that had seperated from the main fleet to fight the tactical cube wing rejoined the main fight, having proved successful in destroying most of the attacking force, and driving what remained away. Despite this boost to moral and the drop in Borg numbers, the day's constant battle had left many crews fatigued, and so when the Borg launched a heavy attack directed towards the Spacedock, the Allies were caught briefly unawares, and though they fought late into the night, the base of Earth's defense was ultimately destroyed, with hull parts scattering and burning bright in Earth's orbit, and some falling to the planet below.

During the reign of the Spacedock debris a great many portions of the earth surface suffered bombardment. A very large dangerously radioactive crater was formed in the Australian outback which remains to this day.

Day 4 (Sat 26th Dec)

At the start of the fourth day of battle, both fleets had suffered heavy losses. The vast majority of smaller civilian vessels serving within the Allied fleet had been destroyed, and the destruction of the Spacedock had neccesitated a heavy switch in organisation. Though fortunately, most of the vessels still capable of combat were the more advanced and deadly classes and variants, the total Allied fleet now numbered a severely reduced 2160 ships. For their part, the Borg had lost all their spheres, a great number of standard cubes and retained only two of the tactical cubes that had attacked from the rear on the pervious day totalling a combined number of just over sixty vessels. With no halt, the battle continued as a constant dance between giants and men. The Borg fleet had lost most of their numbers, however those that remained still proved deadly effective against the Allies and over the course of the day, around six hundred of the remaining Allied vessels were destroyed.

In the late afternoon, the results of the day's fighting were obvious. The Allies now numbered just over 1400 vessels, the vast majority of which were Starfleet, Klingon, Romulan and Dominion. The Borg had been depleted to a force of forty two ships; a seemingly small number, but based on the battle's (and indeed, the war's) averages, more than enough to destroy the Allied fleet, which statistically, would have needed over a hundred extra ships to defeat the Borg fleet. Unexpectedly, at 1715 hours, the Borg fleet ceased fire and withdrew to beyond the Mars line in order to regenerate and repair their ships.

Fatigue

It should be noted that some military analysts have suggested that anywhere between 5% and 40% of those Allied ships destroyed on Day 4 were lost as a direct result of mental and physical fatigue on the part of the crews. The sheer exertion of effort needed to fight against such a relentless and powerful foe would have resulted in an overly quick burn out of the body's natural energy, including natural stimulants such as adrenaline rushes. As such, later into the conflict, officers would find themselves having to think for longer to overcome problems. Situations such as warp-core breaches or loss of anti-matter containment which could conceivably have been resolved by a mentally fresh crew, took longer to deal with and and in some cases too long. This theory is disputed by other analysts, who attribute the numerous destruction of vessels to the capability of Borg vessels and weapons.

Similarly, some Borg experts have since suggested that the drawn out nature of the battle would have had an adverse effect on drones. The number and tenacity of the Allied fleet would have required at least 80% of the drones on a standard cube to function on a round the clock basis, and the inability to regenerate both themselves and their vessel (an operation requiring a large number of drones to desist individual activities) would have meant that in essense, the Borg became fatigued and suffered as a result, leading to their withdrawal from Earth's orbit. Critics of this idea have argued that any fatigue that may have been felt by the Borg did not appear to show in their losses.

Day 5 (27th Dec)

Following frantic reorganisation within the Allied Fleet, debate was rife through out the evening and night as whether the Borg should be pursued and engaged or Earth should be fortified. It has been noted by some historians that this historic argument was a clear indicator of things to come, namely the exploration/security debate that runs through the fleet today.

At 0300 on the fifth day of battle, Allied command eventually decided to actively attack the remaining Borg vessels, in a "do or die" action. Unfortunately for the fleet however, because the decision had taken so long to be agreed upon, upon crossing the Mars orbit they found the remaining Borg vessels had been able to repair themselves a great deal, certainly more than Starfleet had been able to, despite crews working constantly throughout the night.

The two fleets collided, with the Allied group leaders keeping a tight grasp on their squadrons despite the seemingly uncoordinated nature of the assault to spectators. The Borg, holding off the attack began to advance once again towards Earth, entering weapons range by 0600. Even without the firepower of the Spacedock however, the Allies proved to be a deadly opposition, with many damaged vessels diverting power from life-support to their weapons systems before being finally destroyed, some by final suicide runs into enemy vessels. The stubborn resistance proved effective, and the Borg began to lose their ships, and the thousands of drones onboard them.

By 1100, the "all or nothing" tactics of the Allies had reduced the Borg fleet to only three remaining vessels, but at the cost of over twelve hundred of their own starships. The situation was made all the more grim when realizing defeat, the Borg vessels began to ignore the spatial opposition and targeted their weapons on Earth. Though the lack of defensive fire should have allowed the Allies to finish off the remaining cubes quickly, the damage done to Earth's population centres was massive, and the impact to the population's consciousness ever moreso, with terrified civilians rushing to leave the cities and thousands being killed in the resulting panic. The final cubes; the last remaining tactical variants, simply exited the sol system by way of unknown means at 1201 hours bringing a unspectacular and costly end to the twenty-year war.

The Aftermath

For the entirety of 2399, Starfleet kept all vessels close to Earth with fears of further Borg attacks commonplace. However, as the months passed, it became apparent that Earth was not in immediate danger of attack and so on January 1st, 2400, Starfleet tentatively declared victory, both encouraging the inhabitants of Earth that they were safe and officially re-forming the First Fleet; the Earth Defence Force. Though some in Starfleet called for a return to exploration, this move was opposed by many in the Admiralty and Vice-President Edward Jellico. Despite this, the calls were loud enough to warrant the formation of the Starfleet Re-Exploration Initiative, now named the Fourth Fleet.

At the same time as the Fourth Fleet's recreation though, efforts were taken to fortify the Sol System against any further possible attacks. The majority of remaining Starfleet vessels were assigned to the First Fleet and were tasked with patrolling the System. Pluto Station was set up as the hub of a series of defence satellites based around the outer system, composed largely of hastily recovered torpedo turrets and phaser emplacements. Incoming vessels from outside the system were instructed to enter from select points and stick to pre-determined flight routes. The remaining debris from the battle was collected with previously created debris and cordoned off via forcefields between Earth and Mars and the USS Challenger was charged with leading the effort to scan and catalogue the debris. Because of the intense Starfleet presence around the Field, the debris was cleared in some areas to allow for Starships to pass through and this pass was used as a checkpoint for those craft entering and leaving the inner system, with vessels attempting to pass through outside the designated area being fired upon.

Another causuality of note was the Defiant-class, USS Amistrice commanded by LtCmdr. Kroe'nn. This is worth mentioning because of the extraordinary circumstances that was forced on the crew after. When the Amistrice was damaged beyond repair in the battle, Kroe'nn transportered his crew into a derelict borg cube, where they spent next two years trying to survive the remaining Borg Drones and the hazards of a wrecked vessel. When the USS Challenger finally arrived on the battlesite to take score of the damage done, only one crewmember was still alive and just barely. Kroe'nn himself.