Through official channels, Salhi's government launched large construction projects deep within Asteria's mountain ranges, officially to extract minerals for Mobius, and unofficially to setup independent bases of operation for Salhi's underground movement. These facilities were entirely built and supervised by Salhi's people, either through clever loopholes, personal favors or blatant corruption and bribery. While Mobius cared little, for they received plenty of raw materials, these facilities became shipyards and military bases for what would become the Provisional Government of Ceryx. At first simply built to assemble a large military fleet, Salhi's plan radically changed after the discovery of Enodia in 203. With the discovery of Enodia and the Medean system as a whole kept secret by Salhi's agents, the governor's objective changed from a simple rebellion to a full on exodus towards the new planet, free of anyone's rule but her own. This dream quickly spread among the populace like wildfire, uniting the citizens of Asteria and Pyrrhus towards a single goal: to escape Mobius Group's tyrannic rule.
Declaration of War
After a decade of constant toil, Mobius Group did not change any of its policies regarding the stagnant colony. While this was partially due to the fact that, as promised, Salhi's government provided more profits and less unrest than the previous government, it was mostly due to the lack of interest of the executives, who only saw the colony as an investment and, while they wished for it to grow on its own, refused to invest further due to their existing loans taken to purchase the charter to Ceryx back in 159. With Mobius focused on bringing in more profit to repay their loans, Salhi's underground movement prepared for their inevitable rebellion. During this decade, sixteen "mining" facilities were built, assembling a massive fleet of nearly fifteen hundred vessels, waiting in their underground launch silos. Most of those were located on Asteria, but two facilities, holding roughly a hundred vessels, were located on Pyrrhus. With most of these ships designed to evacuate both planets towards Enodia, only a third of Salhi's fleet was armed and combat-ready vessels. Despite this, many of Salhi's followers were retired soldiers from MINERVA's military, who initially looked for a peaceful life on Asteria. This resulted in a surprisingly well-trained and well equipped force, now ready to take on their masters.
Through corruption and local ingenuity, Salhi's forces had indeed managed to obtain the blueprints to numerous modern weapon systems and, while they were unable to produce large-scale vessels, had incorporated those designs into new, radically different vessels from what MINERVA and Mobius fielded. In the meantime, Kayla Salhi and her government planned for their casus belli by preparing a press conference, sanctioned by Mobius Group and initially planned as a celebratory speech from her tenth year in office. With many agents in place to prevent the broadcast to be interrupted, everything was in place for Salhi's declaration. After an introduction from Mobius Group's branch office director of Asteria, Salhi began her speech and made an outrageous demand to the outside world: recognize Ceryx as an independent nation and expel any and all MINERVA and Mobius asset from the system, or face the consequences. In a show of force, Mobius Group's branch office director, who ordered his forces to arrest the civilian governor, was shot and killed by one of Salhi's sharpshooters, and the rest of the corporate security detail was massacred live as the broadcast continued. At the end of the broadcast, only one thing was certain: war had begun.
Early engagements
As Mobius struggled to form a proper response force to counter the Provisional Government of Ceryx, Salhi's government swiftly launched its fleets and armies to take control of the major facilities throughout both Asteria and Pyrrhus. While the battles were bloody and difficult, even with Mobius forces in disarray, the PGC was successful in its operations, cutting off the corporation's fleet from any resupply points some 48 hours later. Mobius Group's fleet of both commercial and military vessels was surrounded by Salhi's fleets from Pyrrhus and Asteria and forced to evacuate who they could beyond the reach of Salhi's fleet, which only had the range to reach orbit and travel between the two planets. The corporate fleet, which was not designed for extensive operations in deep space, scavenged the few mining bases built around the gas giants of Aegisthus and Actaeon before returning to Auriga in the following weeks with the help of Convergence Station.
Now in control of the entire Ceryx system, at least until MINERVA and Mobius returned with a retaliation fleet, the PGC began to build what would be the basis for the modern tunnelers, the Zeus-class carriers. These massive ships, each being several kilometers long and propelled by enormous engine arrays, would be assembled from the seized assets of Mobius as well as the disassembled space stations used by the corporation to monitor the planets. Unfortunately, these new constructions did not go unnoticed, as MINERVA recon frigates quickly picked up on the bustling orbital activity around Asteria. Due to the early stage of construction of each carrier, it was impossible to determine their role and nature, and as such, both Mobius and MINERVA interpreted them to be meant for an invasion force towards Auriga. The news of such a massive construction efforts was the final argument necessary for MINERVA to jump into the fray, as a fleet of this size could undoubtedly be a threat to Vesta itself. Less than three weeks after the first reports were received, the first retaliation fleet departed for Ceryx.
Aurigan response
The newly assembled Cerysian Liberation Armada, under the command of fleet admiral Isma Kattan, rallied the surviving Mobius Group forces and sailed towards Asteria at full speed. Regrouping nearly a hundred ships and carrying thirty-six divisions from MINERVA's space and ground forces, the Liberation Armada was expected to crush the PGC in one fell swoop. Receiving regular updates from the various recon frigate squadrons positioned throughout the system, admiral Kattan expected some resistance along the way, but remained confident that the PGC had nothing to match his forces, even with the testimonies of the Mobius Group survivors. As the Armada reached the asteroid belt, nearly eight months after the beginning of the hostilities, it was divided into three groups: Interception, made of 74 destroyers and frigates, Support, made of 6 fleet tenders, and Rear-Guard, made of 18 transports and 44 corvettes. Waiting for them was the PGC First Defense Group, comprising of 357 frigates.
Admiral Kattan's strategy was to rely on his fleet's superior long-range precision fire combined with intelligence gathered from his recon squadrons, picking off threats as they appeared before mopping up the survivors. Unfortunately for him, the PGC had the perfect counter. Aware of MINERVA's preference towards precision long-range fire, adapted to combat small threats like pirates, the PGC's Hera-class frigate proved to be a devastating foe against the Aurigan ships, as their low radar and thermal signature, sheer number and long-range firepower decimated the Armada. By hiding within the asteroid belt, the First Defense Group forced the Aurigans to approach within range, sacrificing their advantage, before unleashing a deadly barrage. Despite their vigilance, the first salvo knocked out or damaged numerous vessels. As the barrage continued, it became clear that Aurigan maneuvering algorithms were at least partially known to the PGC, as evasive maneuvers failed to avoid multiple hits.
After several hours of intense fighting, the PGC successfully repelled the attack, with the Cerysian Liberation Armada suffering tremendous losses, including its flagship. This battle was a devastating blow to Aurigan morale and would be known as the Kattan Massacre, quickly becoming a famous subject for historians and tacticians to come. The Armada returned to Auriga after licking its wounds, with only a third of its strength and more than four hundred thousand dead or missing, including most of its ground forces. The PGC, on the other hands, had only lost a quarter of its forces, which were relatively easy to replace, especially with all the salvage that came with their recent victory. This allowed the PGC to prepare their counter-attack quickly after the battle, banking everything on the sleeper computer virus they had uploaded to the Armada during the battle. As the PGC reorganized and refueled its fleets, Salhi's plan continued to progress without any major hitch.
Enodian counter-offensive
From the beginning, the PGC knew that fighting a defensive war against MINERVA, who had an immensely larger industrial capacity, was never going to work. Despite the outstanding victory against admiral Kattan, Salhi and her staff knew better than to rely on luck a second time. As the PGC reorganized its forces to strike at Auriga, it centralized everything around the newly built Zeus-class carriers, which were rushed into production without much of their armor and weapons installed. These enormous vessels would carry hundreds of Hera-class frigates into Auriga, unleashing them around Convergence station and wrecking havoc within the system. As these ships regrouped at the edge of the Ceryx system, the computer virus previously infiltrated within the Cerysian Liberation Armada finally triggered after a set delay, hacking into the unprepared Convergence Station and opening a tunnel to the PGC's invasion fleet.
The PGC's invasion fleet struck without mercy into the station's meager defenses, capturing it within less than fifty minutes. As the remnants of the Cerysian Liberation Armada turned back to face their enemy, the PGC's invasion fleet divided into several smaller groups, each heading for a different strategic target within the Aurigan system. While the PGC had superior numbers, the Aurigan ships were better armed and more resilient, making each victory costly for the PGC. Still, this guerilla warfare within Auriga lasted for nearly a year, exhausting the already battered Armada and its reinforcements. After these long months, both sides were reluctantly stuck in a stalemate, with both sides having suffered heavy casualties and being unable to push forward. Unfortunately for the PGC, these months were all that was needed for Auriga, and Vesta in particular, to assemble a second retaliation fleet, despite the damage done to its supply lines and industrial capacity.
As the Aurigan sent out their reinforcements to take back Convergence Station, the Asterian Evacuation Fleet, the PGC's trump card, finally arrived, fully loaded with the system's civilian population and its remaining military forces. The PGC's military focused on delaying the advance of the Aurigan fleet, while Convergence Station, still under PGC control, ran at full capacity to evacuate the civilian fleet towards Enodia. It became a bloody battle known as the Convergence Grinder, with many smaller fleets of PGC vessels sacrificed to delay the unstoppable Aurigan fleet. As both sides raced against time to stop the enemy's plans, casualties continued to accumulate, until the last wave of civilian ships was caught in the crossfire. With Convergence Station now within reach of the Aurigan fleet, it was decided to sacrifice the entirety of the PGC's forces in Auriga to maintain the safety and secrecy of Enodia, who was now guarded by minimal escorts. As a result, Convergence Station's final tunnel was formed back to the Ceryx system, before scuttling charges destroyed the station's critical components. The PGC retreated back to their homeworld, with the Aurigan fleet hot on their heels.
Turning point
In 213, two years after the beginning of the war and months after Convergence Station was rendered inoperable by the PGC, the Cerysian Liberation Armada, bolstered by most of MINERVA and Mobius Group's forces, finally arrived in Ceryx. During this time, the remnants of the PGC's forces salvaged everything they could, forming a large defensive formation around Asteria and having their ground forces and the remaining civilians hunkered down within the underground facilities previously built to let them escape. With no way out, each and every one of them were getting ready to die for their brethren's safety in a world away from MINERVA and Mobius Group. Among them was Kayla Salhi herself, among with most of her military staff who decided to stay until the end. While the PGC was readying itself for its last stand, the Liberation Armada continued its journey unchallenged towards Asteria. Having learned from the Kattan Massacre, however, its approach was slow and meticulous, avoiding a single large formation that could be wiped out like the previous attempt was.
When the Armada finally reached Asteria, the ensuing battle in orbit took the Aurigans by surprise, as the PGC forces fought with unparalleled savagery, using civilian ships as guided missiles and refusing to stand down even when disarmed, forcing many ships to be boarded only to be destroyed by scuttling charges. After the last of the PGC ship had been destroyed, the Aurigans landed their forces on Asteria, and the following weeks were among the bloodiest of the entire war. For each PGC facility overrun, tens of thousands of Aurigans died in the assault, only for the base to be buried under rubble by explosives. The last facility to stand was Salhi's headquarters, reinforced against orbital bombardment under a massive mountain and with most of its external facilities already destroyed by the Aurigans. The siege lasted for nearly two weeks, after which the base's self destruct mechanism was triggered. Unlike most facilities, however, Salhi's stronghold was where most of the PGC's underground operations took place, including the discovery of Enodia. To ensure the total destruction of these sensitive information, the base's self destruct mechanism was a nuclear fusion warhead salvaged from the wreckage of the Liberation Armada's first assault. The resulting explosion annihilated the entire base, leaving nothing but a massive crater in its place. Unfortunately, the explosion also triggered something that neither side expected: the awakening of the super volcano upon which the base was built on. The resulting eruption, enhanced with radioactive material and ferrite dust from the ground's mineral composition, created a planet-wide blanket that would last for decades to come.
Aftermath
With the last of the PGC's base destroyed, nothing remained of the rebellious government and its forces. For the Aurigans, their primary objective was achieved, and yet no one celebrated. As the Armada recovered its ground troops from the contaminated planet, both Mobius and MINERVA leadership questioned the final intentions of Salhi and her forces, as most of them died during their last stand, whether at Convergence Station or Asteria itself. This brutal end, and the fact that the entire solar system was now deserted and, without a home planet to support it, unusable by humanity, left many within MINERVA in shock over what transpired in the past few months. The PGC seemed to have been defeated for good, although most of its massive fleet was only seen around Convergence Station and was nowhere to be seen around Asteria. The price for this relative safety was a ruined Ceryx system, as well as a battered military and industrial infrastructure within Auriga, along with many casualties to mourn. MINERVA's military proved unable to properly defend Auriga against what initially seemed to be a minor threat, Mobius was unable to control the situation in Ceryx in the first place, and now years of reconstruction efforts would be required to bring Auriga back to its prime.
Despite MINERVA's attempts to keep the situation under control, most of Auriga's population began to riot in favor of a new government to replace what was now seen as a brutal and ineffective administration backing tyrannical corporations. With the official proposals rejected alsmost instantly, the riots continued to worsen, and the military, tasked with bringing back order no matter the cost, lost faith in its leaders, letting the chaos continue unchallenged. In the following weeks, Mobius Group was dismantled, with its assets and staff either peacefully relinquished or brutally destroyed by angry mobs. In 220, some seven years after the end of the war, MINERVA collapsed, and a new government rose from its ashes. Many were dissatisfied with the previous government, and had begun to try and form their own. This took several forms, from revolts to public votes and petitions. In the end, most of Auriga fell back to an egalitarian movement, the Federalists, who founded the Aurigan Federation in 221. Other groups disagreed, and most eventually left Auriga in large nomad fleets, some in good terms, others with spite or anger bottled up against the Federation or its predecessor. This period was eventually called The Great Exodus. The following decades saw Auriga isolating itself, mending its wounds and attempting to become a better place for mankind. Contact with the nomad fleets became rare, and while rumors of some of them becoming independant nations reached the ears of many, few dared to visit them.
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