Blitz of Betazed

This article is about the Xindi attack on Betazed during th Xindi Conflict. For other uses, see Beta (disambiguation).

The Blitz of Betazed was the Xindi offensive action in the still unnamed Xindi Conflict, when the New Xindus Cooperative violently annexed the Royal Kingdom of Betazed as a slave territory.

Prelude
By 2150s, Betazed had only been a spacefaring power for 14-years, following the launch of the first warp capable starship in 2139. With no prior contact with any alien power, the Royal Kingdom of Betazed did not fielded anything close to a modern military navy.

Unknown to the Kingdom, the terminus end of a Mass Relay from the Malcor-system was located in the Oort Cloud of the system. Several Xindi scouting missions quickly determined the Betazoids were technologically inferior to even their most lightly armed civilian crafts and given the fertile soil of the planet, along with a largely pacifist population, sought to take the world as a easy but rewarding prize.

Order of Battle
Royal Kingdom of Betazed New Xindus Cooperative
 * Royal Betazed Guard
 * Royal Betazoid Police
 * Tenth Fleet

Course of Battle
Eleven days after the Blitz of Malcor III, the Xindi jumped the Tenth Fleet to the Beta-Veldonna-system and quickly moved in system.

The first Xindi target was the Betazoid colony on Darona, the sixth planet in the solar system. Due to the settlements small size, the Commandant Drevid felt it would waste vital resources to secure a stragetically unnecessary target. Instead he ordered the Darona colony of Jarkana to be bombed from orbit, destroying the entire settlement and 1,205 Betazoids living there.

Commandant Drevid ordered the Tenth Fleet to begin moving in system and deploy into orbit of Betazed, where fighter squadrons scoured the planet's orbit, launching sweeping purges of all orbital communication and teletmetry satellites, knocking out Betazed's major communication and information networks.

Queen Romina of Nalia, long know for her family's ability to sense a coming 'omen', ordered the Royal Family to be evacuated from its residence in the city of Semizod to the High Snow Palace in Rixx. Prince Nonak of Nalia however refused to evacuate with his expecting wife and instead relocated to the Tharazad country-side.

At 05:40, Rixx local time, the Tenth Fleet began a planet-wide bombardment, taking out major power grids, transportation systems and what limited military facilities Betazed had. While major cities like Rixx, Garah and Arar were left untouched saved minor strikes, the cities of Semizod, Kholara and Iscandar were completely destroyed, resulting in millions of Betazoids killed.

Even with the planetary communication grid offline and most of the homeworld’s power grid off-line, the natural element of Betazoid telepathy allowed for a messager type system to develop very rapidly, any news was relayed to the nearest Betazoid telepathically, who would continue to pass the message along. While much slower than comm. channels, witnesses to the destruction of Kholara were able to pass their knowledge across the Khara Archipelogo, up into the city of Hedeya, through the Cataran Mountains and to Rixx in only two-hours.

Knowing that an invasion of sort could be underway, Queen Romina ordered for royal contingency plans to take affect and for the Royal Family to be scattered. Princesses Lyxatta and Yolankia were hastily airlifted to Indari, while King Consort Harvorick was sent with Chief Speaker of the Royal Assembly of Noble Houses, Yvon of Troi III, to shelter in Velico Mountains.

The Xindi invasion, made up of the First, Second, and Fifth Poclar Divisions began at 09:35. They did not encounter any significant resistance save for local law enforcement trying to counter them, since the majority of the Royal Betazed Guard stayed in their barracks. Royal Betazoid Police resisted the Xindi troops, however, to little avail; the capital city was occupied before noon.

At 13:00, elements of the Queen's Royal Guardsmen under Captain Prillo, fought a running battle to evacuate the Queen from the capital city, successful but at the cost to nearly the entire company of Royal Guardsmen. On the evening of 10 June 2153, most of the planet, with the exception of the southern islands, was occupied by Xindi forces. More than 90,000 civilians evacuated from Rixx as a consequence of the advance. 47,000 fled to Lake Catoria, 45,000 fled into the central and northern part of Thetzed.

Aftermath
Queen Romina and several members of the Royal Assembly of Noble Houses fled to Lake Catoria, Vathax Mountains and the Cataran Mountains, before finally settling in Dalar for the duration of the occupation. Throughout the occupation the Xindi were never able to locate the Queen, exiled in Dekoa, and she became an important symbol of national unity.

The shuttle moving Princesses Lyxatta and Yolankia to Indari was shot down as it approached the Indar Ocean on 11 June 2153, killing all abroad. The death of her two granddaughters weighed heavily on Romina and King Consort Harvorick, a fact that was later attributed to his failing health.

Prince Nonak of Nalia was captured and installed against his will as the new ruler of the Royal Kingdom of Betazed, with forged documents from the Xindi Occupation Administration stating the planet and its people were now an annexed territory of the New Xindus Cooperative. His wife and newborn son, Talian of Nalia, however managed to flee, sheltering as peasant refugees in Arilyan City for the duration of the war. After only three days of battle, nearly 3.2-million Betazoids had been killed, whereas only 600 Xindi had died securing the planet.

Because of its fertile soil, the Xindi used Betazed to provide food and biota to Xindi forces on the frontlines. The Betazoids however were able to hide their telepathic powers, for fear of being used as weapons by the Xindi or worse exterminated as a threat. A sizable resistance movement however developed to counter the Xindi, even as the New Xindus Cooperative uses the system's Relays to secure Tandar and the Argolis Cluster.

Losses & Casualties
Royal Kingdom of Betazed New Xindus Cooperative
 * 3.2 million Betazoids
 * 600 Xindi

Resolution
Betazed would remain under Xindi control until officially liberated on 1 April 2155 when the Coalition Emergency Zero Fleet forced the surrender of Xindi General Chronan and the thankful Betazoids joined the Coalition, using their telepathic powers to send secure communications for short-distances. They become a critical asset not only for combat communications and espionage, but also in the fields of psychology and diplomacy.

On 6 October 2155, Xindi probe weapons attacked Betazed and while the Coalition defense forces managed to shot down three, the remaining working in tandem struck their fire on Betazed's major fault lines in its eastern hemisphere. The results were the entire continent of Dalar and the Piri Islands shattering into hundreds of islands and every volcano on Betazed to erupt. Nearly a fourth of the planetary population was killed, primarily on the heavily populated continent of Dalar.

1.4-billion Betazoids dead was the final death toll once recovery efforts began.