Orion War

The Orion War was the war of independence fought by the Orion people against the 58 races signatory to the Treaty of Kammzdast who held them in slavery, primarily the Nine Worlds Confederation.

It had its beginnings when the Nine Worlds Confederation sought to curtail and restrict the growing freedoms of the Orion slaves. These efforts came to head with the 187th Rigel Conference, held on Rigel IV on July 14th 95 BCE (stardate -20/9507.14), where they issued what became known as the Ultimatum of the Nine Worlds. This list of prohibitions restricted Orions from participating in any commercial activities in or out of the Rigel system.

The Conference delegates had made no secret of their plans, and informed their Rigellian hosts as per protocol, while they had sufficient security and ships in orbit. The Orions panicked and triggered what followed. Which of them did was unknown, and it was theorized that a captain of the guard ordered the meeting chambers sealed, or an overzealous Trade Hall manager attempting a coup, or a technician cutting the communications. In any case, as soon as the Ultimatum was announced, all links with the outside world were broken. Minutes later, Orion troops seized all ships orbiting Rigel IV, and prevented them from leaking any warning and consolidated control of the Trade Halls.

All this was quite spontaneous; all Orions present knew that this was the time to act, and they did so with surprising organization. Later Orion propaganda however would make out that the Nine Worlds had instead acted in reckless haste, without careful planning and thereby ruining their chances for success. Their legends also embellished their part in the event, claiming that it was the result of centuries of planning coming to fruition.

An Orion "delegation" arrived at the Conference (this was the first to which they had not been invited since the 113th), led by the previously unknown Nallin Oplate. He presented his counter-ultimatum: the restoration of Orion rights and their peaceful freedom and independence – or there would be destruction and carnage on all of the Nine Worlds until they did. The delegates at the Conference begged time to form a reply (it was still technically in session), and Nallin granted it.

Anticipating that the delegates would attempt to alert the Nine Worlds to the Orion rebellion, Nallin returned to the Orion homeworld of Rigel VIII (Botchok) with a large contingent of rhadamanen from the Trade Halls to inform his people of the revolt and prepare for war. In less than a month, by August 95 BCE (stardate -20/9508), the Orions had seized control of the planet and imprisoned their former overseers. With great diplomatic skill, Nallin bound the divided nation-states together and created the Botchok Planetary Congress (BPC) to govern the newly independent world. The strictures of the Treaty of Kammzdast were discarded, proxy warfare on Botchok was finally ended, and troops readied to defend their home-planet instead.

The Recall of the Pirates was issued to provide the planet with a space fleet. Legend would have Nallin be the only one to send it, but he was not: many Orions knew that a war for their very survival was imminent. However, only half of the Orion pirates had gathered at Rigel by the time a Nine Worlds fleet arrived, presumably to investigate the silence from the Rigel Conference, or on a communications leak. The Rigellians ordered the Nine Worlds to withdraw of suffer the permanent revoking of trading rights, but they were ignored and the fleet approached Botchok.

The Battle of Botchok, on January 3rd 94 BCE (stardate -20/9401.03), became the opening conflict of the Orion War. Nallin himself commanded an armed freighter (legend would give him a warship and command of the entire pirate fleet). The Orions were shot to pieces, outnumbered and outgunned by the more powerful Nine Worlds fleet. Closing ranks and still firing all the way, they were forced into a retreat into the atmosphere of Botchok, and could go no further, and they faced imminent destruction.

At this moment, Captain Caruch the Blessed made a miraculous appearance, arriving behind the Nine Worlds fleet with only 17 ships and completely undetected. They opened fire on the unshielded sterns of the largest warships, including the flagship. Most were destroyed, and the rest trapped between the two Orion forces. Barely a handful of Nine Worlds ships got out alive to tell their tale. All this occurred in full view of half the Orions on the planet. It had been a close call, but victory had been snatched from the jaws of defeat.

They still faced terrible odds; the Recall took two years to complete, and the opening stages of the Orion War were fought with only one-seventh the number of ships that the Nine Worlds could field. But true to Nallin's words, rebellion erupted across the Nine Worlds, and Orions everywhere risked and even lost their lives to sabotage and distract the enemy war effort. They kept enemy ground forces occupied, and hindered their space efforts. The Nine Worlds suffered countless raids and attrition to their fleets, and were never able to force a battle on their own terms. Arms, diplomacy and economic threat were the weapons used to fight the Orion War.

Unwilling to give up the valuable resource of Orion labor and surrender their claims and privileges, the signatories to the Treaty of Kammzdast refused to give in. It was thought that a little war would bring the slaves to heel, and it would still cost less than doing without them. And so the war went on for thirty-seven long years.

The Orions fought a sizable battle for the world of Vab, but later abandoned it.

Zchol, held by the Kezt of the Nine Worlds Confederation, suffered heavy fighting in an event later known as the Agony of Zchol.

The culmination of the war came when Superadmiral Goluscz gathered the remnants of the Nine Worlds Confederation warfleet at the world of Rhinate, in a final attempt to take the initiative against the Orions. However Grand-Admiral Finit the Iron-Handed led the combined Orion fleets there and surprised Goluscz's forces, beginning the Battle of Rhinate in December 57 BCE (stardate -20/5712) The fighting inflicted heavy losses on both sides, but the Orions could now absorb these losses while the Nine Worlds could take no more. His warfleet devastated, Goluscz capitulated, a ceasefire was called, and on behalf of the Nine Worlds he sued for peace, bringing about the end of the Orion War.

During the cease-fire, on February 13th, 56 BCE (stardate -20/5602.13), Nallin issued the Declaration of Nallin, proclaiming Botchok a free world and denying the power of the Treaty of Kammzdast. It made all Orions everywhere a free people, citizens protected by the Botchok Planetary Congress. It also declared that the Orions would have no enemies and hold no grudges, for they wished to resume all of their pre-war trade relations, on a fair and equal basis. This began the time of the New Days, but it would not be as easy as desired, however, for there was still a lot of rebuilding and the Orions had made enemies all across local space.

Of the 58 opposing sides, the Orions had defeated only 13 in open warfare. The remaining factions eventually retired and sued for terms. The last to resist the Orions were the Miln; peace was never concluded and the Orions never tried to conquer them, and the two barely had any contact since.

For their actions in the war, particularly in the Battle of Botchok, Orion pirates were seen as heroes, the saviours of Botchok. However, many figures of the Orion War would be forgotten or only partially known, as their histories were altered or erased in power struggles in the following years and centuries. Only Nallin the Unconquerable remained untouched, his exploits intact and unaltered, though perhaps exaggerated. However, many of his adventures were created to include the ancestor of one powerful family or another, and many of these were repeated with minor changes as the tales were stolen by later families. The Tellarite historian Dvoriv B'bargalah discussed these stories in Title to the Truth: Orion Historiography and Its Ownership.