The Janos War was one of the earliest conflicts of imperial history. The war itself had lasted 47 years as both sides were equally matched at the time. By the time the war was over the Korkonid had no choice but to surrender, becoming the first slave race to the Draconis.
History[]
Provocation[]
As the flourishing Draconis empire grew, it had become apparent they were not alone; over 23,000 imperial years ago they had encountered the Speeder Trade Federation, and in ID.23,340 first contact with the Korkonid Empire was made, relations were strained from the start. Although both races boasted a proud military tradition, many diplomats forgot to mention the title of a korkonid - an act considered greatly insulting, unfortunately every adult korkonid has a personal title. The korkonid were also considered by diplomats to be amoral, brutish, aggressive to even their own people and thoughoughly enjoyed shouting whatever the occasion.
In ID.23,640 a small fleet was detected heading for the planet Gritharni and the only message they transmitted translated as "We're going to loot your goods", the city of Kalivar was devastated from the raid, leaving four million dead. Lord-general Tothanor personally informed Paragon Octavus VII of the act and war was declared, the paragon asked that Tothanor - a native of the pillaged world - leads the war in remembreance for those who had died or lost everything on Gritharni.
The Early War[]
For 20 years the thinly-stretched Alcanti Royal Navy struggled to repel korkonid attacks, reports were that the Korkonid used cloaking technology to hide their ships until they began bombarding rom orbit. After 10 years the civillian death toll had reached 234,000,000 and over half of the draconid colonies were in ruins, along with 1/3 of the Speeder Protectorate being left devastated.
After 18 years of collecting elusive streams of data, scientists had found a flaw with Korkonid cloaking technology that could leave them vounerable to detection. For the next three years imperial scientists would tirelessly work on a technology to detect the flaw and it would be a further seven before every vessel in the navy would be fitted with the new blueshift sensor.
Turning Point[]
With the knowedge gained from the relief of the Delephia system in ID.23,662 the draconis pushed forward, after several victories they realised their weapons greatly outmatched what the Korkonid had developed. After 38 years of withstanding raids the draconis began pushing into Korkonid territory. Outgunned the Korkonid began developing more experimental and unstable weaponry in a desperate attempt to repel the attackers. Their line was eventually broken after a three-year raiding campaign and they were pushed back to their homeworld of Janos by ID.23,682, with imperial ships in close pursuit. After a five-year siege and bombardment campaign of the planet Janos, the capital of the Korkonid Empire, surrendered along with their leader Urzgov the Grumpy. After meeting with lord-general Tothanor he asked to be left alone in the only remaining system nearby.
Fueled by rage at how many innocent lives the Korkonid had taken, lord-general Tothanor personally executed the warlord on the spot, claiming that mercy was too good for them. He swiftly ordered that the campaign continues to the last remaining system and that all Korkonid survivors and civillians be enslaved. After arrival the Draconis razed the planetary capital on Trivener to the ground, killing 3 million in the process. In an out-of-character fashion he declared that any korkonid who do not truly beg for mercy (AN uncharacteristic and cowardly move in their culture) were to be killed on sight.
Aftermath[]
Millions had died over the 47-year war along with crippling the ageing Alcanti Royal Navy. The war had devastated much of the empire which led to many citizens asking for a better navy. The reforms took a century to be fulfilled and the Paragon's Imperial navy was the result; a more ordered and more dedicated space fleet. The Korkonid Empire was dissolved and it's highest leaders were executed, bringing over ten billion aliens into the Empire as slaves.
- Tothanor was awarded the Paragon's medal of honour for his actions and would become the first Lord Admiral of the Paragon's Imperial Navy at the age of 320, only to dying of old age seventy years later. The Empire dedicated a statue to him thirty years after the war on the walk of heroes in Minos'Drakon.
- Commodore Pelemvor would be forever remembered as a martyr and a hero, mt. Spiky on Eosina was renamed Pelemvor's Peak in his honour soon after the battle of Pelemvor's Peak, and he becomes forever memorialised in the Hall of Martyrs in Orras'Dacon.
- Commodore Akranvir spends the rest of her life on her pledge and spends the next 200 years guarding the Delephia region until her shuttle was destroyed in a pirate ambush.
It would be 370 years until the colonies colonies both attacked and claimed to fully recover, but difficulties from logistics and racial hatred meant that Janos takes over 1,000 years to reccover; Many of the korkonid taken from that world would never see it again and very few in later generations would ever fel it's soil.
Almost all of the captured korkonid leadership were executed after a two-week drial a month after the war's conclusion. those that weren't had been granted a life of servitude and kept under close guard to make sure they didn't incite a rebellion.
Key Battles[]
Liberation of Delephia[]
In ID.23,662 a large raiding fleet was detected in the Eduadsus system, over thirty Korkonid warships had emerged to reak havok on one of the Empire's most promising colonies. Under command of Commodore Selua Akranvir a fleet of 20 vessels: 2 Axon-class carriers, 12 Gloryseeker-class frigates and 6 Sunburner-class cruisers arrived at the edge of the system. upon arrival the Korkonid had sent a fragment of it's fleet to engage the new arrivals. Upon seeing the splinter group, the yong Commodore ordered a missible barrage before they were in range. The Korkonid ships were easily destroyed by missile fire. Realising that the Korkonid had inferior weaponry she ordered that all vessels to be on high alert, eventually reaching the main fleet who were already bombarding the planet's surface.
Watching in horror, the commodore ordered a full broadside, devastating the Korkonid fleet. Several smaller ships broke off from the main fleet while the majority of Korkonid capital ships remained and continued bombarding the planet. The broadside had crushed the dispatch and the fleet moved closer, only five capital ships were left but the ARN fleet had lost 1/3 of it's frigates in the assault. Discovering that the Korkonid had focused their designs or raw firepower she ordered for the dispatch of several marine squads to capture the vessels and their commanders.
Although vastly outnumbered, the marine squads pressed the attack within all five capital ships, the Korkonid inside were strong in numbers but many were poorly trained while the marines took full advantage of their advanced armour and weapons. Two out of the five ships could not be captured and the commodore ordered missile barrages on all of them. The fleet's comander; Warboss Gozvid the large who had been leading attacks since the war's beginning was brought before the commodore after his capture. Watching as his ship was destroyed he spat in Salua's face, which only pushed her to personally execute him via fusion pistol. Their advance had taken three days and civillian casualties had reached 120 million. Stricken with grief Akranvir pledged to defend the adjacent systems until the war's conclusion.
Battle of Pelemvor's Peak[]
In ID.23,680 Commodore Pelemvor led a fleet of 34 vessels to claim the Adera system in the name of the Empire, upon arrival at the system's first planet - Eosina - there was little visible defence; a token fleet was destroyed in orbit and the commodore ordered a ground assault force to inspect the planet. Resistance was high when on the ground, the air was heavy and the ground was dry. Upon arrival at Kragg - A major city holding 4 million people - the expedition had heard rumours of a laboratory after interrogating captured guards.
After a month of searching they had discovered a weapons lab buried deep inside mt. Spiky, the assault team had discovered thousands upon thousands of rifles, grenades, vehicles, even strike craft within the mountain. Exploring further they discovered the Korkonid had been working on a superlaser but before they could destroy it they were ambushed by a horde led by Warboss Kang the Ugly, he announced to the orbiting fleet that unless they leave immediately he would use the superlaser to destroy the fleet.
In a bid of desparation a Draconis soldier fired his fusion rifle at Kang and killed him instantly, the soldier was shot immediately after. This alerted the base to fire the superlaser, striking and tearing Pelemvor's flagship - the ARNV Raye - in half. With the ship's captain dead the Commodore ordered the remaining bridge crew to redirect the maneuvering thrusters so the broken front would impact with the mountain. He ordered the assault team inside (who had killed their ambushers by this time) to evacuate the facility since the commodore was "delivering a thank-you for what happened on Gritharni" The ship's impact created a fireball that spread throughout the facility.
The remaining fleet soon after dispatched a larger assault team to later claim the planet.
Siege of Janos[]
A total of 142 ships were sent to Janos in ID.23,682 under the command of Lord-General Tothanor. Their mission was to capture the planet, taking any prisoners they could. As per protocol the sattelite network was disabled and thousands of probes were deployed. After a four-month blockade over 10,000 EMP bombs were detonated planetwide and the planet's expansive forests became overrrun with marines. Much of the population was forced into the cities but the Korkonid would not go down without a fight. In retaliation many hunting parties were dispatched to engage the marines but many were ambushed by hunter-probes the expeditions had left behind. Those that had found marines and survived the ambush (Something few of the parties had achieved) propmptly brought them to the cities for interrogation.
Over the next five years the orbiting fleet isolated the planet from the rest of their empire, leaving the colonies weak against fleets sent by the Draconis empire. Orbiting ships on Janos bombarded outlying clans and hemming the surviving Korkonid into the larger cities. in ID.23,687 the blockade deployed a series of EM charges and outright killing all electronic SAM sites, soon after dropships deployed soldiers both on the outskirts and on the rooftops of the largest cities and leaving the defence forces helpless against the onslaught. Many militia threw down their weapons; some requested a warrior's death but were subsequently refused. Over seven billion korkonid were forced into slavery on a day marked 'Vengence Day' - or V-day - by the Draconis.
Desperate to prevail Bokir the Insane organised for as many leaders as possible to hide until the blockade was lifted however Urzgov was captured in his office and brought to a shuttle to be taken to the lord-general's flagship. After learning of Urzgov's death Bokir pledged to take up the duties of command, fleeing to Plathis with the surviving commanders and organising a massed militarisation programme. Bokir pledged that he would personally slay the lord-general without a second thought and vowed the empire would burn for that they had done.