Battle of Sol

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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.

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 refuge 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.

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.

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.