Corporate Wars

The Corporate Wars began in A.Y. 4705, which Konilic Phillips announced a merger with Mee-Apostraphe-M, which would have placed them in a position to dominate the other groups. By this time, the 17 remaining distinct mega-corps of The Corporate Era had, through a series of alliances, mergers, and acquisitions, coalesced into just five groups(though still with independent boards). The merger would have made the new corporation the largest and most powerful, and would have placed them in a position to dominate the entire region.

Operators

The war was faught between four separate organizations.

• KPMM - though not formally named as such until late in 4706, the merger between Konilic Phillips and Mee-Apostraphe-M formed KPMM. They were the largest, and had the most advanced fleet. The other three were, in some regarded, not so much fighting with each other as against KPMM.

• Mabach Consortium - Mabach had six other mega-coprs allied with it and flying under the same banner. Though these were all independent companies, they shared war materials and their ships were largely derived from the same technologies. Infighting was still rampant, and hampered the war effort.

• Beaver Collective - so named for an unfortunate acronym formed by the five corporations that made it up. The Beavers were regarded as the opportunists, who sought to gain control of resources and strategically important solar systems. While not overly hostile, their plan was to allow the other groups to eliminate each other, then declare themselves a sovereign state which would allow them to claim their newly acquired territories as spoils of war.

• 3M - comprised of the three remaining mega-corps, it was strictly a mutal defensive pact. They did carry out attacks on the other corps, but only in an effort to harassa and cripple the war effort, and in preemptive measures against invasion.

Opening Salvos

It is difficult to trace the Corporate Wars to any one in-sighting event. The corporations had been at each other's throats for centuries by then, and while all-out war had never happened before, fighting was an almost constant reality.

It is generally accepted that the attack on Mogru Hub was the first real 'battle' of the war, when forces of Konilic engaged with warships from six other consortium. The station was destroyed utterly and ten thousand civilians killed, but no ships were lost. This was still regarded as the turning point, as the attack on a 'neutral' space station and trading hub signaled the end of coperation.

Battle of Cantilever Station

By A.Y 4707, Cantilever Station was in a very despicable state. Only about ten percent of the total area was still habitable, and maintaining it had become impossible. Its proximity to Mabach Prime still assured it great importance, so the Consortium was putting in significant efforts to keep the place operational.

While Cantilever's orbit was mostly stable, about once every fifty years it encountered a tricky gravitational interaction between the fifth and sixth planets. In the past this had been corrected by the station's artificial gravity, but with the huge drain on resources fighting the Coporate Wars, the Consortium had been unable to complete the necessary repairs. Without the correction, Cantilever risks colliding with Mabach Prime, an inhabited world with roughly eight billion residents (all employees of the Mabach Consortium).

Mabach Consortium was thus forced to bring the bulk of its fleet to the Mabach System to engage in a gravity tractor operation and correct the station's orbit. Along with them, they were joined by ships from Subtria, Kongo Gumi, and Mikaa Combine, which had gathered to defend the delicate operation. The newly christened KPMM saw the well-publicized event as an opportunity to strike a single, decisive blow.

Ship Strength

KPMM Attack Force

KPMM prepared for the attack by refitting as many of their outdated and surplus warships as possible, and moving these into strategic zones where a security presence was more important than actual fighting strength. They then gathered over two thousand ships for the assault on Mabach. The plan, which would not be made public until after the war, was to attempt nothing less than the complete and utter annihilation of Mabach Prime by disrupting the gravity tractor maneuver and causing the station to fall on the planet. If the operation failed, the fleet was also armed with tens of thousands of N1.5 warheads, which would be used in an act of corporate genocide.

Beaver Collective

In addition to the KPMM ships, a secret alliance had been made with Beaver Coalition granting them exclusive mineral rights to the Mabach and surrounding star systems in exchange for participating in the attack. This remained secret even to the Mabach Consortium. The Beavers brought five hundred additional warships to the fight, though these were smaller and less well-armed than KPMM or Mabach's ships. However, as they planned to attack on an entirely unexpected axis, they felt the advantage would be theirs.

Mabach Defense

Unannounced to KPMM, Mabach was aware both of the impending attack and of the plans to disrupt the tractor operation, and prepared a powerful in-depth defense. KPMM had more ships, but Mabach's were better. They had additionally developed space mines and orbital weapons platforms, which they were able to deploy in huge numbers. While the new KPMM could bring as many as 2,000 ships to the battle, they were confident that the 750-ship strong force assembled, backed by 400 orbital platforms, 20 battle stations, and a billion mines, would be enough to hold the line.

Battle Begins

Mabach had anticipated KPMM's attack down to the hour. The gravity tractor operation on the space station was set to last seventy-two hours, the final twelve of which were the most important. Since the dates and times for this event were public knowledge, Mabach rightfully reasoned that KPMM would launch its offensive at the beginning of that twelve-hour window. As speculated, H-hour began within minutes of the reasoned time. The first wave of ships dropped out of FTL directly into a minefield. Drop coordinates for a dozen of the battle groups had been gained through espionage, and allowed the ships to be destroyed immediately upon arrival with no chance to raise shields or warn the ships behind them.

However, KPMM had anticipated a strong defense, and had commmitted the bulk of its fleet--especially its nearly invincible capitol fleet--to a direct assault. The much larger, slower battle ships left FTL well outside Mabach's defensive rings, and despite heavy resistance, were able to push forward. At H+5 hours, KPMM ships breached the second defensive line and attached the sixth planet.

At H+6 hours, the Beaver Collective arrived, from the opposite end of the solar system. Mabach's lines were weakest here, the Beavers easily broke through and began dropping dirty bombs (containing depleted radioactive elements) on the heavily populated second planet (then on the far side of the sun from the Mabach Prime). The second planet, called Miristead, was not actually owned by the corporations, and had been an independent government before the war began, though was under de-facto corporate rule by then. Five hundred million civilians died in or the in the immediate aftermath of the assault.

With Miristead attacked, Mabach was forced to pull ships off the line for a desperate defense, which in turn allowed KPMM to break through the lines and clear a path for the assault on the tractor operation. While most of Mabach's warships were involved in this, any disruption in the operation (such as ships breaking off to fight) would lead to the destruction of Mabach Prime.

At H+11 hours the the first tractor ships were forced to break off and mount a defense. The operation was still four hours from completion, so the line only had to be held for so long. Mabach's CEO John Powers (who directed the defense) would later comment that "A mere sixty minutes stood between us and the largest mass-death in history".

Peace Keepers Arrive

At H+11 hours, with 1 hour remaining on the tractor operation, both sides' high commands detected a new group of signals dropping out of FTL. The fleet that arrived was comprised principally of Crimson Blade warships, but was accompanied by Alliance regulars, Runarins, and vessels from over a hundred Alliance member worlds. The MK'Harens also contributed six battle groups, but despite revisionist claims, none engaged directly in combat.

The Crimson Blade warships immediately took up a position between advancing KPMM forces and the tractor operations. The Alliance, meanwhile, was spread through much of the field. Along with the ships were an inordinate number of communication and control vessels, which began broadcasting stand-down orders on all frequencies. The message was simple: any corporate ship that did not immediately power down its weapons would be subject to the full force of the Alliance. While the Alliance ships themselves were not on their own a serious threat, the presence of Foundation-built super-capitols gave the words significant strength.

Despite the warnings, KPMM pressed the attack, and were able to bring a crushing blow to the tractor operation. This was only accomplished by several score KPMM destroyers and cutters making suicide runs against the Mabach cruisers pulling the station. For their effort, the Crimson Blade destroyed most of the KPMM ships. Though in the aftermath it was claimed they were merely "caught in the crossfire", over two hundred Mabach cruisers were also destroyed by the Crimson Blade. These were ships, upon the failure of the tractor operation, set out to take revenge - in defiance of the stand-down order. The directives had been very clear: their Coalition was on no one 'side', but were there to put a stop to the fighting.

Collision Eminent

With the gravity tractor operation interrupted, Cantilever Station was left on a collision course with Mabach Prime. Some ships broke off to attempt rescue of civilians, others attacked KPMM ships in retribution, and some even turned their weapons directly on the Crimson Blade. The blade fought off any attackers and began broadcasting clearance orders, even using their super-capitols as "tacklers" to knock ornery ships out of the way.

At H+13 hours, the Bladers completed clearing a swath of the battlefield in time for the arrival of a WorldCraft Terraforming ship. Larger than the station itself, the ship set a tractor beam and towed Cantilever into the outer solar system. The station was set on a fast, eccentric orbit, ensuring it would not again become a danger to the inhabited inner planets.

Aftermath

The battle at Cantilever lasted for 76 hours and ended with a full-scale planetary invasion of Mabach Prime. The senior leadership of the Consortium managed to escape shortly after the station was taken under tow, having kept a small force of reserve ships planet side exactly for this purpose. This allowed the war to continue for another two years, while Mabach Prime was eventually subjugated fully by the Gudersnipe Foundation.

Policing Action

Since the corporations were not governments, no formal declaration of war was ever made. However, since their actions were resulting in the blatant loss of human life on a major scale, the Alliance declared a "police action" be undertaken to subdue and disarm them. Most of the heavy lifting was done by the Crimson Blade, who for once were being employed as actual mercenaries. The Alliance did not want anyone responsible to escape justice, so early on it was made clear that amnesty would not be given for ships that surrendered. The Foundation made a counter-offer, promising the crews would be spared, and that any captain who requested it would receive, quote "A full magazine and some privacy" if they laid down arms peacefully.

The actual fighting was over within two years. Crimson Blade battle groups were far superior to the sub-dreadnoughts being fielded by the corporations. In addition to all the obvious advantages(range, firepower, sensors, supply lines), Crimson Blade admirals had far and away superior tactics at their disposal. The corporations were dismantled systematically, first their ability to construct new ships, then replacement parts, then their supply lines. Many ships were capture when they ran out of fuel. Others surrendered to avoid starvation. There were no more major battles fought; after Cantilever everything else was effectively a clean-up action.

Justice

What followed was the largest manhunt in history. Though they could not be tried for war crimes, the leadership of the corporations was plenty guilty of many civilian atrocities. The security forces in particular were in quite a lot of trouble. Though the Alliance had not been able to enforce the laws, many of the weapons being carried by the ships were patently illegal, and using them could be considered a capitol offense.

Still, most of the senior leadership of the corporations escaped justice. They had constructed a network of secret bunkers and safe houses, and many were able to live out their days on distant worlds. The highest-ranking official caught was Mabach Constrium CEO John Powers, who evaded capture for ten years before turning himself in. It is suspected he was offered as a sacrificial lamb to divert attention from other executives. Indeed he did turn himself in. Powers was found guilty of crimes against humanity(the first such time a civilian was tried for this) and hanged. There is some suggestion he was spared, but no proof was ever made public.

Punishments

The punishments for the Corporate Wars created a very interesting dilemma. In traditional warfare, lower-ranking officers and enlisted soldiers are typically given a "pass" as they were simply following orders. The Rules of Organized Warfare offered them certain protections that were regarded as sacrosanct. For example, no soldier had ever been tried for killing an enemy combatant.

But the nature of the corporate structure stripped away all of these protections. Corporate Security were legally considered private citizens, meaning that killing an enemy combatant was in reality an act of murder. The legal ramifications were staggering, especially when it was pointed at that the Dragoon Lancers of the Crimson Blade should also technically be regarded as civilians. However, the Foundation, while not toughting itself as such, is largely considered to be a sovereign entity and thus affords its soldiers the same protections as any nation. One key element brought up in several trials is simple designation: 'Corporate Security' called their people 'guards', not soldiers.

The trials were long and very complicated, with few cooperating witnesses. The biggest challenge in determining culpability lay in the simple fact that no crime of this nature had ever taken place. Eventually, the courts applied the statutes applied to space piracy. Namely, if a ship fires a weapon aggressively upon another ship, then everyone onboard that ship at the moment the weapon is fired is considered cuplable for the crime. If a death occurs, everyone onboard is not an accessory to, but in fact perpetrator of murder. This meant that virtually every security guard who served aboard a starship during the war was considered a murder. Most of the non-officer corpse of security personnel still received comparatively light sentences, if for no other reason than to reduce the number of prisoners that would have to be kept.

The caste system proved to offer some protection to the rank and file. Laborers and workers, since they had no decision-making power within the corporate structure, were given exemption from prosecution except in certain circumstances. For the majority, anything they did as part of the job to contribute to the war effort was excused, though exceptions were made for civilians working aboard security vessels(under the piracy statues), and those who had participated in the ground campaigns during the war.

A large number of the 'scientist' caste were tried, with some even executed. Culpability for them hinged on whether they knowingly contributed to war work, even though most were unaware that what they were doing could be considered a crime. Many were given suspended sentences as they were needed to help rebuild after the war, and those who coperated were even later pardoned.

Of greatest importance, of course, were the executives. In the end, every corporate executive who was captured received either life imprisonment or the death penalty, depending on a number of factors. Security officers were given similar similar treatment; and it was ruled that any captain who fought in the war could be executed at the court's decision. Most of the highest-ranking officers in the security service received the death penalty.

Only about one in four executives was ever brought to trial, and their punishments were severe. Only one member of any corporate board of directors was ever capture, John Powers, the rest are thought to have escaped justice, living out their days on remote corners of long-forgotten worlds. It is, however, common knowledge that the Assassin's Guild, under the direction of the Gudersnipe Foundation, continued to aggressively hunt the executives for decades after.

Mark

Two years after Power's death, the Alliance declared that all remaining corporate executives still in hiding could lawfully surrender themselves for trial, and that the death penalty would be removed from consideration for those that did so. Any who did not surrender were officially marked for death.

Guild Activities

About seventy years after the end of the Corporate Wars, a memoir was published by a man known only as "Marty". Marty claimed that, in his youth, he had worked within some of the most secretive locations of the Assassin's Guild. Most of the book was about the things he saw, but one passage did gain notoriety: "About 30 years after the war ended, i was replacing a light fixture, and my eyes happened to fall on what appeared to be a leader-board. I recognized identifying marks belonging to particular assassins, as well as the names of several defunct mega-corporations. There were tally-marks next to the assassins names, and pictures of corporate staff, some with red marks across them.". The guild never publicly acknowledged that "Marty" even existed, and many speculate his memoirs were a hoax. One popular theory is the entire book was written by the Assassin's Guild itself, who wished to reveal some inside information without actually revealing it. In any case, even if Marty published his memoir's posthumously; the guild at the time had access to Necromancers.

There was, however, one further public comment made. In the early Fifth Age, long after any normal person who fought in the wars was dead, it became known that certain prominent members of the Assasin's Guild who were still alive had been active and participated in the man0hunt. One such assassin was questioned about the possibility of corporate executives having escaped justice. He replied "I suppose it depends how you define 'justice'. A lot of them certainly got away from the courts.".