BOMBARDMENT OF HORNQVIST
The Jade Empire of Ingen orbitally bombarded the city of Hornqvist during the Sarnath Campaign in the early hours of the morning of 13th Jet 2487 AT. The bombardment caused an estimated 26,000,000 deaths, the majority of whom were civilians, and led to the unconditional surrender of the Great Marchander Guild of Commerce.
BACKGROUND
Despite early successes in the campaign, the Jade Marine Corps suffered significant losses at the Battle of Cass City and the allied fleets were significantly reduced in strength following the Second Battle over Marchand. Jade naval assets had been reduced by almost 50% since the onset of the campaign, whilst its ground forces were depleted by approximately 25%, insupportable losses in the face of the numerical superiority of the GMGC and their Cult militia allies.
CHANGE IN COMMANDAdmiral Josef Prescott, senior officer of the 7th Fleet and overall theater commander, was relieved of his post by Mitsuyoshi Kuriyabashi, the Crown Prince of the Jade Empire and a brevet-Capitan in the 77th Marine Regiment. Although Kuribayashi's status as a commissioned officer meant that his royal prerogative was suspended, he resigned his commission before confronting the admiral, meaning that he legally held the full executive force of his royal position.
Absent the intervention of the Shogun or the Jade Empress, there was no-one to contradict Kuribayashi's authority and he thus seized direct control of all Jade assets in-system. BOMBARDMENTAt 0642 local time, six Katsumo-class hayabune and two Takeichi-class sekibune of the IJN 7th fleet moved into position and fired a controlled volley of Type 85 and Arisaka Flame Lance weapons at the city. Firing from approximately 0.5 lightseconds distant, their munitions took significantly less than a minute to travel the distance to the planet. Although the volley was intercepted by debris from the earlier battle and by countermeasures from the nearby Union vessels, the majority of the barrage made contact.
The city was rapidly overwhelmed by a growing conflagration fueled by neon-helium supercritical fluid. The resultant firestorm spread rapidly throughout the city, resulting in spiraling civilian casualties. |
Although many were able to escape through the underground tunnels and warrens, the smoke and heat spread rapidly, whilst the initial bombardment killed many where they stood. The initial volley was only a minute long but consisted of nearly two hundred 900 Q-Cyl rounds. The GMGC lacked any anti-orbital defenses capable of defending against the attack, having lost the vast majority of its fleet during the First and Second Battles over Marchand.
AFTERMATH
The Union and FRK contingents under Captain Mephissa immediately attempted to intercept the bombardment munitions but were only partially successful.