Babylon 5 Fanon Wiki
Babylon 5 Fanon Wiki

Buildup to War[]

In the 2740s and 2750s a split began to form within the Earth Alliance. While Mars and most of the Outer colonies remained loyal to the ideals and goals of the Interstellar Alliance Earth and many of the older Human colonies saw the ISA as a force that was restricting human growth. As time passed the tensions rose and the conflict became less civil with a number of riots sparked by both sides. In 2762 the discovery of a plot by the Earth loyal Politdivision to launch a massive sneak attack on the ISA loyal colonies under the cover of a propaganda campaign led to a preemptive strike against earth and the Anti-ISA Faction's military centers. These strikes would mark the beginning of almost 10 years of war. The ISA stayed out of the war beyond offering intelligence, and safe passage to ISA loyalist forces and offering humanitarian aide to both sides.

The Frigate War[]

Most of the yards capable of constructing new Destroyer class vessels belonging to the Earth loyal worlds were destroyed or suffered severe damage in the opening days of the conflict while the outer colonies had never possessed such yards. Mars, which was loyal to the ISA allied rebel colonies, did possess such yards but was under blockade by Earth Loyal forces within 2 weeks of the war beginning.

As a result of these facts the first 4 years of the war were known as the Frigate War with Frigates, Corvettes, and small Cruisers fighting most battles and Destroyers being reserved for the largest of fleet actions, or defense of vital worlds while new Destroyer production centers were built, and new Destroyers produced in sufficient numbers to make risking them feasible. Numerous battles were also fought over storage areas which contained mothballed Destroyers that the two sides sought to retrofit with advanced weapons and equipment. While dozens of engagements were fought in this period very few systems changed hands after the first year of the war and the frontline systems on both sides were devastated.

The ISA Loyalist Offensive[]

The Outer Colonies were able to, with rumored but never proven ISA assistance, to begin mass production of their new Titan class Destroyers sooner then the Earth Loyalists could deploy their Roanoke class counterparts. This gave the Outer Colonies a massive advantage in the fifth year of the war and while the resistance of the Earth allied forces stiffened they never managed to turn the tide against the Outer Colonies. From this point on the front lines slowly but steadily shifted closer to the Sol System.

The Final Days[]

Four months before the war ended Rebel forces liberated Mars. While the shift in the balance of power the liberation of the terraformed world and its shipyards represented all but sealed Politdivision's fate the Earth Loyal Forces fought on. ISA Loyalists on Earth began to rise in revolt but the Outer colonial forces feared Earth's defense grid. While they had developed a new Stealth technology which allowed ships to evade detection outside of point blank range this technology could only be fitted to small transports, shuttles and fighters. This led to a period where the main rebel fleet lurked just out of range of the defense grid while stealth ships were used to launch sneak attacks on Earth's Defense fleet, and run troops and supplies to revolting areas of the planet's surface. Three weeks before the cataclysmic final battle of the war the fleet guarding Earth jumped out of orbit in a desperate bid to launch a counter offensive against the Outer Colonies with most of the rebel fleet in pursuit. While the loyalist fleet was defeated it devastated a number of worlds before being stopped, including Mars which was struck by a volley of 500 megaton nuclear airbursts that undid centuries of terraforming in moments.

Meanwhile on Earth the amount of loyalist controlled territory was steadily shrinking, and soon only a few isolated areas and the territory surrounding Earthdome itself remained in loyalist hands. That was when the final horrific tragedy of the war came. The Rebels mounted an ambitious plan to jump an Agamemnon class Frigate into position to bombard loyalist lines around Earthdome opening a gap which rebel forces would pour through. Since the mission was considered virtual suicide only a volunteer skeleton crew was sent. But an error in the vessel's navigation system led it to emerging from Hyperspace too low over Earthdome with the center of the Earth Alliance's government being destroyed by the energies of the frigate's jump point. This triggered a last resort contingency turning the orbital defense grid against the rebel controlled regions. While both the small rebel fleet that remained in system, and the few surviving loyalist vessels based in the Asteroid field whom had been harassing the rebels raced to turn their guns on the defense platforms they were far too few in number to disable the grid, and were decimated by the orbital weapons platforms. In the end more then 80 percent of Earth's population and over 95 percent of the crews of the vessels which engaged the defense grid lost their lives in what became known as The Great Burn.