Borderland Blitz

Broadly known as the Borderlands Blitz or locally known as the Second Klingon-Orion War, was the Klingon Empire's invasion of the Borderlands (the non-aligned worlds that primarily represented the powers of the United Ellora States, Republic of Tarlac, and Botchok Planetary Congress) during early days of the Xindi Conflict.

The regional wide battle lasted from 21 September 2153 until the main Orion forces surrendered on the 24th. The Borderlands Blitz saw one of the first major uses of shock troopers to occupy crucial targets prior to ground troops reaching the area. The Klingon Defense Force utilized shock troopers in the capture of several major transit stations in and around key Orion worlds such as Botchok and B’Morgia in order to quickly overrun the nation and immobilize Orion forces. The battle ended soon after the devastating bombing of Botchok by the Klingon Defense Force and the subsequent threat by the Klingons to bomb other large Orion colonies if Orion forces refused to surrender. The Orion Space Navy and Orion Warrior Guard knew it could not stop the invasion and surrendered in order to prevent other colonies from suffering the same fate.

Prelude
Following the Xindi First Strike on 3 August 2153, the Klingon Empire immediately shutits borders and began an intense crack down on all perceived dissension. The High Council passed numerous resolutions, removing many long held freedoms among the Klingon people and almost completely removing them among any protectorate worlds the Empire held, completely disenfranchising any non-Klingon species or Jeghpu'wI' they held control of. This cementing of power effectively removed all forms of popular opposition or competition to their rule. Following this Duras, Son of Toral, managed to use family connections and extortion via information from the Jo’avwI Order to take over control of Klingon Intelligence. As such he was able to manipulate information recovered from the Xindi Probe wreckage on Qo’nos to fabricate evidence that the weapon was of Orion origin. As such the Klingon Empire began preparations for the immediate invasion of the Borderlands, the region of unaligned Orion worlds that constituted the Botchok Planetary Congress, along with their close allied powers, the United Ellora States and Republic of Tarlac.

The Orions were ill-prepared to resist such an invasion. When Orion President Helin came to power, he had supported a re-arming program to establish a more powerful defensive navy, but more slowly than Helin had intended due to corruption and a lack of public support; only in 2151 did the defense budget start to be gradually increased. Previous Orion governments tended to avoid openly identifying Klingon Empire as an acute military threat. Partly this was caused by a wish not to antagonize a vital trade partner, even to the point of repressing criticism of Klingon imperial policies; partly it was made inevitable by a policy of strict budgetary limits with which the conservative and openly corrupt Orion governments, which hit Orion society particularly hard. Yernat Nimiia, the previous president between 2140 and 2150, was personally convinced Klingon Empire would not violate Orion neutrality; senior officers made no effort to mobilize public opinion in favor of improving military defense.

Tensions grew in the late 2140s when unsupported raids by the Orion Syndicate on Klingon frontier worlds. These attacks forced the Orion government to exercise greater vigilance, but they limited their reaction as much as they could. After the Xindi First Strike and the ensuing political upheaval in the Empire, Botchok Planetary Congress hoped to remain neutral, as they had done during the First Klingon-Orion War 15-years earlier. To ensure this neutrality, the Orion Army and Navy was mobilized from 24 August and entrenched. Large sums were spent on defense.

It proved very difficult to obtain new materiel in such a short time, however, especially as the Orion had ordered some of their new equipment from Klingon Empire, which deliberately delayed deliveries. The strategic position of the Borderlands, located between Coalition allied territories, the Romulan Star Empire and Delphic Expanse on the uncovered flanks of their fortification lines, made the area a logical route for an offensive by either side. In diplomatic talks with the Coalition powers of the Confederacy of Vulcan and United Planets of Tellar tried to convince them not to wait for an inevitable Klingon attack, but to join the Coalition Naval Accords to present a united front to deter the Klingons.

The Orion refused, mostly due to pride and the enjoyment of independence from the strict trade regulations of Vulcan. Also coming off the disastrous Fall of Denobula, the Orion believed the Xindi conquest of those territories was inevitable and since they suffered no direct attack during the Xindi First Strike, they felt their neutrality would protect them from Xindi aggression before they were finished their rearming programs. The Orion government never officially formulated a policy or contingency on how toact in case of Klingon invasion; the majority of ministers preferred to resistant attack, a minority and President Helin refused to become a Klingon protectorate whatever the circumstances.

The Orion even tried on several occasions to act as an intermediary to reach a negotiated peace settlement between the New Xindus Cooperative and Klingon Empire. After the Klingon invasion of the al'Hmatti homeworld of Al’Hmat and the Mempan home-system of Mempa, both without a declaration of war, and a warning by the new Coalition naval attaché Captain Takasaki Shen that a Klingon attack was certain, it became clear to the Orion military that staying out of the conflict might prove impossible. They started to fully prepare for war, both mentally and physically. Orion border troops were put on greater alert. Countermeasures were taken against a possible assault on transit stations and ports.

On 19 September 2153 a state of emergency was declared. However, most civilians still cherished the illusion that their Orion colonies might be spared, an attitude that after the war has been described as a state of denial. At 01:10 21 September 2153 Orion sent an immediate executive communication the Coalition flagship UES Enterprise at the edge of the Borderlands, requesting an emergency meeting with the Coalition powers. Enterprise set course for Botchok.

Order of Battle
Coalition Naval Accords


 * IAG Bidur


 * IAG Dhank


 * IAG Kathma


 * IAG Putalib


 * IAG Saptari


 * IAG Udamor


 * VCS Ata'rib


 * VCS Bayt'Jynn


 * VCS Dahshur


 * VCS Dy'At


 * VCS Herak


 * VCS Jnynet'Ruslan


 * VCS Naucratis


 * VCS Rimmeh


 * VCS Sekt'Tod


 * VCS Tel'Bab


 * VCS Tel'Maha


 * VCS Tel'Sehl


 * VCS Thinis


 * VCS T'Plana-Hath


 * CAS Alpha-3546


 * CAS Beta-1542


 * CAS Delta-1367


 * CAS Gamma-1010


 * CAS Gamma-4026


 * CAS Phi-2099


 * HF Ezer


 * HF Hararit


 * HF Kalanit


 * HF Koranit


 * HF Ma'ale Tzviya


 * HF Manof


 * HF Mishmar


 * HF Nitzanei Sinai


 * HF Sansana


 * TRS Abu Tor


 * TRS Bab a-Zahara


 * TRS Gilo


 * TRS Mekor Chaim


 * TRS Mount Zion


 * TRS Pisgat Ze'ev


 * TRS Ramat Rachel


 * BSG Ares


 * BSG Bronze


 * BSG Columbia


 * BSG Hesperides


 * BSG Leto


 * BSG Liber


 * BSG Pegaeae


 * BSG Sol


 * BSG Vulcan


 * UES AinJalut


 * UES Griper


 * UES Idaho


 * UES Iwo Jima


 * UES Liberty


 * UES Mississippi


 * UES Nevada


 * UES Okuda


 * UES Shenyang


 * UES Shepard

Botchok Planetary Congress Klingon Empire
 * UES Tai Shan
 * OSNS Baddock in the Black
 * OSNS Nimain in Victory
 * OSNS Balon the Devious
 * OSNS Last Night of Troyius
 * OSNS Star of Rigel
 * Third Fleet
 * Fourth Fleet
 * Fifth Fleet
 * Seventh Fleet
 * Tenth Fleet
 * Thirteenth Fleet

21 September
On the morning of 21 September 2153, while the UES Enterprise was only six-hours from Botchok, the subspace comm. waves across the Borderlands suddenly erupted when reports that eleven different Klingon fleets had roared over the frontier and were destroying any ship that got in their way. Confusion exploded as 18 freighters, passenger liners and transport were destroyed before the Klingon Empire announced that they had begun the conquest of the Borderlands.

Prior to the announcement, the Klingon military violated Orion territorial space when Klingon Fourth Fleet, traversed it and then disappeared towards the Briar Patch, giving the Orion the illusion that the operation was directed at Tellar Prime and placing the Tellarites and its allies on high alert. But just prior to entering the Briar Patch the fleet doubled back to stage a surprise attack on the Orion transit stations, together with the other wings.

Led by Colonel Arn’gorn, Fourth Fleet hit the naval transit station at Dav’ir, destroying the entire facility and 35 Maraar-class frigates, most of them training ships. Arn’gorn’s flagship was shot down and he was killed. The Fourth Fleet also hit Amiphol Station near the Obruli-system, where the Orion lost a third of their naval assets, most in the process of resupply or repairs. Fourth Fleet destroyed half of the 21 defending corvettes to assist Klingon Third Fleet and Fifth Fleet in attacks upon ports and communications. Fourth Fleet lost 11 D’esta Kar-class destroyers in total on 21 September and three Raptors; Third Fleet and Tenth Fleet another nine destroyers. Seven Fleet and Tenth Fleet shot down 25 Corsair-class fighters in aerial combat for a loss of nine corvettes. The Orion were left with just 70 corvettes by the end of the day.

The majority of the Klingon Bird-of-Prey were destroyed on 21 September. Orion naval units attempted to spread out over Orion territory, they continued to engage the Klingon military where possible, claiming 13 victories over Klingon Bird-of-Preys by 25 September. Immediately after the bombardments, between 04:30 and 05:00 Botchok orbital standard time, shock troopers were landed abroad the Botchok orbital transit stations. Orion orbital defense batteries shot down numerous K’nel-class troop transports. Klingon K’nel-class losses in the entire battle amounted to about 50% of the fleet’s troop strength.

The attack on Botchok's orbital installations ended in operational failure. The shock troopers were unable to capture the main orbital starbase, Jonk'an Station, in time for ship-board infantry to land safely in their shuttles. Though one corvette had been damaged by a bomb, the other five Orion shuttles, assisted by phaser emplacements, destroyed the eighteen Raptors of the first two waves, killing many occupants. When the shipyard slipways blocked by wrecks the remaining waves aborted the landing and tried to find alternatives, often burning through the station’s hull, thus dispersing the troops into the civilian modules.

The small auxiliary transit station at Zchol was only lightly defended, and fell at once to Klingon attack. The transit station at Kammzdast was likewise quickly occupied, the morale of the defenders shaken by planetary bombardment decimating the planet-side cities.

None of the transit stations were capable of receiving substantial reinforcements. In the end the shock troopers occupied Nautri but failed to advance into the Orion-system, their route blocked by hastily assembled Orion fighter squadrons. Early in the afternoon Klingon Bird-of-Preys were dispersed by fire from three Orion orbit batteries, the remnant fighters taking refuge in nearby asteroids and Jovian moons.

The attack on Botchok ground-side targets was much more successful. Twelve Klingon assault shuttles, crowded with two platoons of troops, landed in the heart of the capital and unloaded assault teams that conquered the Orion-Barbo Space Elevator planet-side base.

At the same time the military transit station of Thirat, positioned on the moon of Ssel’ami, was attacked by fighter forces. Here an infantry battalion was stationed, but so close to the transit station that the shock troopers landed near its positions. A confused fight followed. The first wave of Raptors suffered no losses and the transports continued to land. In the end the Orion defenders were overwhelmed with horrific loses. The Klingon troops, steadily growing in numbers, began to move to occupy Ssel’ami and eventually made contact with the shock troopers tasked with occupying the vital orbital tether. Although the Orion Space Navy intervened—the torpedo shuttles OSNS Baddock in the Black and OSNS Nimain in Victory attacked the occupied-Orion-Barbo Space Elevator and later the destroyer OSNS Balon the Devious moved to bombard the transit station at short range—this only resulted in the Balon the Devious foundering after being bombed. A plan to commit the OSNS Last Night of Troyius and OSNS Star of Rigel was therefore abandoned.

The Kaddamach largest starbase, Hurmi Station, was captured but in the colony itself the garrison held out. The Hoart Orbital Tethers on Ugoan were captured along with its planet-side fortified spaceport.

The Klingons tried to capture the Avali and Bensonia orbital tethers intact, using commando teams that began to infiltrate over the Orion border ahead of the main advance, with some troops arriving on 19 September. During the night of 21 September they approached the orbital tethers via their ground-side bases: several teams had a few soliders dressed as Orion military pretending to bring in a group of Klingon prisoners, to fool the Orion security teams. Some of these "military men" were real Orions, members of the Orion Syndicate, paid off without the higher Syndicate leadership knowing.

Most of these attempts failed and as standard practice, the commando teams detonated suicide bombs attached to their person and the orbital tethers were blown and destroyed, the resulting impact of debris decimating the surrounding Orion cities and leading to near catastrophic lose of life among the civilians. The main exception was the Gannat orbital tether. Immediately an armored shuttle crossed to the surface followed by a troop transport, both driving right through the ground-side fortifications and unloading an infantry battalion behind the defense line. The Orion released reports of Klingon soldiers in disguise to the civilian security agency uniforms, causing a fifth column scare among the Orion civilian populus and military leaders.

The Botchok Planetary Congress immediately suffered a mass exodus of civilian refugees, clogging the space transit ways. Due to the brutality of the Klingon soldiers towards the Orion population, numerous civilian freighters, passenger ships, cruiser liners, and shuttles began to load themselves full of refugees desperate to escape and attempt to make it into United Planets of Tellar, Risan Hedony, United Rigel Colonies and People's Republic of Coridan. As all four governments were members of the Coalition Naval Accords, as such they presented a united front by deploying an equaled sized fleets.

After the generally failed assaults on the orbital tethers, the Klingon divisions began crossing attempts over the Celendi Nebula. The first waves typically were destroyed by the defensive stations on the Orion-side of the nebula, due to insufficient preparatory fire on the orbital defense arrays. At most places a secondary bombardment destroyed the orbital defense arrays and the attack divisions crossed the nebula; but at some, as Verix, the attempt was aborted with heavy loses.

Despite the destruction of the Linug Station and Sintaas Station, which the Klingons had intended to capture, Klingon troops passed the colony on Tini, a vital traffic hub, relatively quickly. Even before the armored transport arrived, elements of Klingon Fourth Fleet had already been planned to be withdrawn from behind the Celendi Nebula, taking with it all the plasma bombardment arrays. Each of its six regiments was to leave a fighter squadrons behind to serve as a covering force, together with fourteen “border battalions".

This withdrawal was originally planned for the first night after the invasion, but was ordered at 06:45, to avoid elements of Fourth Fleet becoming entangled with enemy troops. It would see no further fighting.

The Orion First Light Attack Squadron, based at Botchok, was the only maneuver force the Orion Army possessed. Its planned withdrawal had been similarly executed a day early. Its regiments had shuttled the Bensonia and Waal orbital tethers and then turned through the Odorc Pulsars when it was decided in the afternoon to let it counterattack the Klingon fighter landing on Ssel’ami. It reached the Orran Nebula, the nebula separating the Odorc Pulsars from Ssel’ami, in the evening.

There they discovered that the sector near the only orbital tether, built the previous year, was not strongly occupied by the fighter troops, as the Klingons simply had not known of its existence because of out-dated intelligence. It was decided to postpone an attack until the next day, to gather sufficient forces. No attempt was made to establish an presence on the orbital spaceport. Meanwhile,on the evening, around 22:00, Coalition reconnaissance elements using corvettes had started to arrive at the Orion border, forming a vanguard for the Coalition First Fleet. This division operated, with the Coalition Second Fleet; its mission was to ensure evacuation Orion and other Borderland refugees to Coalition worlds.

Attempts to coordinate the Coalition advance with Colonel Lemidt, the military commander of the Orion forces on Orran Station, were largely unsuccessful as, apart from the fact he could not be reached that day, Orion defenses there were already collapsing.

At Minano, the Orion division at first could not exploit the opportunity offered by having a battalion in the back of the defenders because it failed to locate it. When a first attack by forward elements had been repulsed, a full assault at the Main Defense Line was initially postponed to the next day because most plasma bombardment artillery had not yet passed by transport to the main battlegrounds. In the early evening in a sudden change of plans it was decided to attack even though artillery bombardment support was absent. An un-requested battlecruiser attack that also happened to hit the Minano Sector just prior to the advance routed some Orion defenders, creating a weak section in the line from which the Orion troops were dislodged.

Though the Klingons were slow to exploit the breakthrough, Colonel Lemidt at 20:30 ordered the Celendi Nebula to be abandoned and his forces to fall back to the improvising a new line at Orran II.

Else where, by the end of the day, the Klingon Tenth Fleet had reached Turkana, delayed by logistical problems and Orion demolition teams dropping 236 subspace mines into Turkana orbit. Orion troop strength in that area was weak.

The six border battalions in the system of Yaraka only slightly delayed the advance of the Klingon Thirteenth Fleet; before noon the area had been overrun and the strategic colony of Tini had surrendered, opening the way for the Klingon feint offensive into core worlds of the United Ellora States. The Klingons however, failed to capture Botchok, forcing them to delay the crossing by the main battlecruiser divisions until the next day.

22 September
On 22 September the Orion commander General Minuan was faced with two priorities. First of all he wanted to eliminate the Klingon fighters. Though the strategic assault had failed, he feared a further enemy build-up via Thirat and saw the Klingon possession of the Hoart orbital tethers as a serious impediment to the movement of reinforcements to the Selerk Starbase.

The second priority was closely related to the first: enabling the Orion Warrior Guard to build up a strong defensive line in Ugoan, to connect the Selerk Starbase with the Allied main force in United Ellora States. As he had withdrawn most of his troops from the area, Minuan had only limited means available to influence this process, largely leaving this task to local commanders. In both respects, little was achieved this day. The planned counterattack by the Orion First Light Attack Squadron against the Klingon fighter squadrons on Ssel’ami failed.

In the nick of time the orbital tether over the Orran Nebula had been prepared for defense by the Klingon shock troopers, and it proved impossible to force it. Several attempts to cross the nebula by shuttles only managed to establish some isolated beachheads in the holes created in the damaged defense arrays, and at 10:15, the Orion First Light Attack Squadron was given permission to break off the crossing at this point and ordered to shift its axis of attack by reinforcing the Orion troops on the Kaddamach, where it arrived that night.

After having cleared the Kaddamach of enemy troops the division was to advance into Ssel’ami via the main starbase at Kaddamach, Hurmi Station, in order to reach Botchok. Earlier during the day, two attempts were made by Orion battalions to carry out an attack against the flank of the Klingon perimeter.

The first battalion, withdrawn from the Tellarite border, partly crossed near Bensonia at two points (the moons of Beilan and Sheputt) and tried to storm the Klingon-held orbital tether at Barecht; the second battalion, taken from the Selerk Starbase forces positioned at Hoeerd, had already crossed towards Kaddamach the previous day, using the civilian orbital ferries at Welrech Station and now tried to expand its orbital spaceport. Although its crossings were successful, the advance of the first battalion was executed only hesitantly; the troops were surprised by Klingon counter-attacks and dispersed. The second battalion was likewise surprised with many men being taken prisoner.

In the afternoon another Orion border battalion attempted an attack on the Hoart orbital spaceport, but the corvettes of the Klingon Seventh Fleet with which it was reinforced were heavily bombed by Klingon cruisers and had to retreat.

On Botchok, though reinforced by an infantry regiment, the Orion failed to completely dislodge the Klingon troops from the Orion-Barbo Space Elevator. Despite permission by General Maru'nav, the Klingon commander on Botchok refused to evacuate the Orion-Barbo Space Elevator's orbital spaceport and the few Klingon defenders held fast if any attempt to take the facility was made, they'd blow the entire complex and all 100,000 civilians in orbit.

The two remaining Orion destroyers failed to destroy the Orion Barbo Space Elevator. The Klingon forces involved in the attack of the previous day on Botchok also held out, none of the attempts to eliminate the isolated groups of in total about 1,600 shock troopers and landed forces met with success.

On Ugoan, the situation swiftly deteriorated. The Klingon commanders of the Fifth Fleet had expected that Orion resistance at the Syrenya and the Celendi Nebula, by a force about five divisions strong, would have gained them at least four days to build up a defensive line near Bredin. They were unpleasantly surprised to learn that the best three divisions had been moved and that the remaining forces were already in full retreat. The withdrawal of the Orion division from the Celendi Nebula to the Sark Region, a region some 10 to 30 light-years away, meant leaving behind their well-entrenched positions and the little defensive arrays available in exchange for a totally unprepared line.

Aftermath
Following the Orion defeat, President Helin made the difficult decision to not establisha government-in-exile in the Coalition territories in order to avoid angering the Klingon Empire to continue their annexations beyond the Borderlands. During this period the cultural upheaval caused by the Xindi First Strike on Qo’nos had caused an explosion of isolationism mixed with xenophobia and imperialism. As such the Botchok Planetary Congress was dissolved and the Klingon occupation officially began on 17 September 2153. Helin established the Orion Colonial Confederation, a political action group to represent the 2-million primarily Orion but other Borderlands natives in the Coalition territories. It would be a century and a half before the nation was liberated, during which time over 3-billion Orions died.

Losses & Casualties
- New Xindus Cooperative

Resolution
-