The Staniza Massacre

The Staniza Massacre was a battle fought between the Stellar League and the Jred, and is widely regarded as one of the darker chapters for humanity during the Jred Scourge. Stellar League forces were baited into a trap and were destroyed utterly with few survivors. The devastating loss of five whole Sol Sector battlegroups, several corps of Solar Army troops, and the entire population of Staniza took years to recover from, and demonstrated to the League that direct defeat of the Jred would be impossible. For the Jred, their victory allowed them to break the back of Stellar League resistance in several sectors of space, and allowed their spaceborne organisms to operate independently well into what is now considered the near frontier.

The Conflict

Prelude

During the early phases of the Jred Scourge, Stellar League forces were continually on the backfoot. The individual planetary defense forces, and the sector forces proved wholly inadaquate against the Jred. As a result of their inability to contain the crisis, the Sol Sector Forces were called in. With the backing of the SSF, the momentum began to turn. Though reclaiming a Jred infested world proved impossible, with SSF reinforcements more worlds could successfully defended, and Sol Sector warships could hunt swarms of spaceborne organisms on the offensive. This eventually resulted in a change in Jred behavior leading up to the Staniza Massacre. The Jred attacks became much more focused, spaceborne swarms growing larger, and planets being attacked in a more directed and overwhelming way.

Deployment

Due to the strategic importance of the Staniza it had a considerably stronger garrison than would be expected for a world of its size. In addition to its modest defensive force, Staniza was host to a Karim Sector naval base and three full corps of the Karim Sector Army who had set up a temporary headquarters on the planet to defend the rimward regions of the sector. Additionally members of the League Scout Service had established a base from which to quickly inform possible reinforcements of a Jred attack. Detailed accounting of what the Jred brought to the battle is impossible, but it is estimated that the Jred brought several hundred spawning organisms, and thousands of attack organisms for the space engagement, and had, ready to drop, tens of millions of terrestrial organisms.

Battlefield

The battle that would become the Staniza Massacre was fought primarily over the world of Staniza, which was, at the time a rich agricultural world. With very flat terrain, vast but shallow options, and a hot humid climate, it made for nearly ideal conditions for Jred spore infestation, and with vast fields of crops and grazing areas, there was plentiful food. However, Staniza was also a major food source for the Karim Sector, and could not simply be abandoned. Other areas of the battlefield included orbit around the planet, and the outer worlds of the system, though these would be lost to the Stellar League very early into the battle and never recovered.

Conditions

On the eve of the battle, the star of the Staniza system had suffered from particularly terrible solar flares, and the resulting spikes in ionizing radiation forced many of the ships from the Staniza defense flotilla had to be grounded for several weeks while the flares abated. Additionally, many of the sensor stations that kept in contact with the outer planets were taken offline. This resulted in the cutting off of the world of Staniza itself from most of the external planets within the system, and allowed the Jred to enter the Staniza system with virtually no response. Some theorists suggest that this was in fact triggered by the Jred, through their immense psionic power, though the relative infrequency of similar conditions in following battle indicates otherwise. Rather, the common consensus is that the Jred could predict or detect this flares, and made strategy accordingly.

The Engagement

Phase I: Initial Jred Attack

The initial Jred attack was surprising in its strength. Tens of thousands of attack forms, attacking in smaller, highly coordinated battlehroups swept aside the small naval garrisons of the outer worlds, and even the fairly substantial one guarding Staniza's main gas giant, and their terrestrial bioforms ravaged the surface. All contact was lost with the outer garrisons within seventy two hours. With the intense solar flare activity, it was impossible to determine the cause and several flotillas were sent to investigate, and too were quickly lost. It wasn't until these too were destroyed that the commanders realized what was happening. However, at that point, it was too late, the largest swarm of spaceborne forms that had been observed prior to that point attacked the orbital defenses of Staniza itself and tore to shreds almost all of the messengers, and much of the fleet itself. The temporary flagship, Ranger, was the only messenger ship that managed to escape, heading to the local Sol Sector unit. Meanwhile the rest of the fleet fought on against increasingly difficult odds, but was eventually destroyed.
The defenders of the planet's surface couldonly see clouds of red as the pieces of starship hull burned up in the atmosphere. Behind those came the rain of spores and gestation forms as the spawning beasts settled into low orbit and deposited their deadly cargo onto the planet's surface. For the Jred setting foot on the planet, it was a veritable feast, as thousands of kilometers of cropland were swallowed whole in a matter of hours. The planetary garrison and sector army troops on the planet attempted to stem the relentless assault, and met with some success close to their bases of operation, but struggled to contain further drops, and suffered heavy losses in return. After a week of operations, the League defenders set up a series of defensive rings and attempted to delay the Jred until reinforcements could arrive.
At this point the pace of the battle took a turn. Things slowed down considerably, as the Jred, after several probing attacks slowed down their assault. The League meanwhile further built up their defenses and occassionally attacked and destroyed isolated concentrations of Jred where they could be found. As more complex Jred bioforms could successfully gestated however, the attacks began anew, and a relentless siege of the League defenders began. Within a month, supplies of ammunition and food were running low, as was morale. However, League reinforcements began to arrive, first these were light, some Karim Sector flotillas, and a single Cruiser squadron of the Sol Sector Forces, however, by the end of  the month, five battlegroups from the SSF had arrived.

Phase II: League Counterattack

As League Reinforcements poured into the system, they first destroyed the Jred swarm near Staniza's gas giant. With a jump point secured, the main force arrived. Consisting of the battlecarrier squadrons of the Gaia Cosmia, the Scipion, and the Byzantion, as well as carrier squadrons Elbrus and Nilus Novus, and several squadrons of Karim Sector ships, as well as dozens of transport vessels, the League began to move towards Staniza with great haste. In a vicious counter-attack, the enormous and powerful vessels of the SSF destroyed thousands of Jred bioforms with relentless ease, creating an opening in their orbital blockade. Taking the opening the assault ships descended down to the planet disgorging several corps of Karim and Sol Sector troops and effectively turning the tide of the battle for the planetary surface.
Supply lines were reestablished allowing for the resupply of air filtration units for bases, and sealed armor for the ground troops, bringing the steady trickle of lives lost due to Jred Spore Infestation to a stop. Heavy vehicles and artillery were brought down onto the surface, and with additional air support and supplies several counter attacks were launched. Much of the planet's surface was reclaimed, and it was the Jred that were forced to establish perimeters around their gestation forms in order to keep them all from being overrun. However, with the rapid loss of matter to consume, they struggled to keep pumping out Jred bioforms with the numbers or strength to resist the Stellar League forces.
In space the battle was fiercer, but similarly turning. Though the Stellar League forces did incur some losses, the smaller Jred bioforms continued to struggle against the powerful capital ships and whole swarms were blown away with the powerful missiles and torpedos fired against them. Within a month the Jred presence in orbit was reduced by nearly two thirds, and it seemed as if victory was close at hand. Though celebrations were not yet in order, some contemplated the possibility of being the first to completely expunge the Jred from a living world. However, the tide changed once again at the turn of the month.

Phase III: The Trap is Sprung

With Stellar League Forces seemingly at the edge of victory, the Jred sprung a deadly trap. For the first time since the scourge, a vast bioantenna entered orbit of Staniza, in an unprecedented move they arrived within 100D of the planet's surface, something deemed extremely risky even in the best circumstances by human engineers and scientists, and brought with it an enormous fleet of Jred bioforms. For the first time ever, the Jred Kraken was unveiled. Unlike all previous Jred space bioforms, this beast was enormous, the size of a capital ship, and had a dense hide that could shrug off nearly anything short of the meson lances of Sol Sector battleships. Though it lacked the complex bioweapons of the smaller forms, its great mandibles and pincers could crush the hulls of warships even through their armor.
The new Jred fleet caught the spread out human forces unaware and destroyed them utterly. Hundreds of thousands of jred bioforms overwhelmed the defenses of the ships as the great Krakens rammed into and shattered many surprised ships. Those few that had a Black Globe Generator, turned them on, but their capacitors couldn't survive a relentless torrent of bioplasma and detonated, leaving the collapsing energy field as the tombs of naval personnel in the thousands. Within hours the bulk of the human vessels had been destroyed, their pieces once again raining down on Staniza.
With the fleet destroyed, the defenders on the surface of the planet were quickly overwhelmed as billions of Jred forms poured onto the surface of the planet, and the skies became so thick with spores that it was impossible to seal them out for long. Within a matter of days, the majority of humans on the planet were slaughtered, including the entire civilian population. The survivors of the fleet, and what civilian craft remained attempted to stage a desperate breakout, but the overwhelming majority of these too were utterly destroyed. Of the entire population, and the military forces on Staniza, only two frigates badly damaged, and some four military personnel managed to make it off Staniza. No civilians are believed to have survived.

Outcome

The destruction of five whole Sol Sector battlegroups, as well as the majority of the Karim Sector's forces, and millions of personnel was a severe setback to the capabilities of the Stellar League in the region. With the backbone of military resistance shattered, the Jred were free to expand steadily throughout the rimward reaches of what is now called the Far Frontier. With the loss of one of the more important agriworlds in the frontier, acute famines broke out throughout the Karim Sector and beyond. The League was essentially forced to withdraw from offensive operations for nearly a decade, and much of the rimward reaches of the League were lost.
The Staniza massacre marked a significant change in strategy for both sides of the conflict. For the Jred, Staniza marked the first targetted offensive. Previously, the Jred spread out in a seemingly random pattern, going as quickly as their spaceborne bioforms could take them, and travelling in a more uncoordinated, swarm like manner. After Staniza the Jred became much more strategic in their attacks, going specifically after important worlds, and aiming for decisive blows to cripple the war effort. The destruction of a huge chunk of their fleet, and the increasingly intelligent Jred behavior indicated to the League that the Jred could not be defeated conventionally, and a new effort was made to destroy the galactic overmind of the Jred even as League Forces turned to scorched earth tactics to at least deny the Jred food. Without the ability to resist in many areas, the League turned to nuclear bombardment of inhabited worlds to destroy their biospheres, committing to a defense only were necessary. Such tactics eventually led to the Great Cataclysm.

Historical Significance

Legacy

In the aftermath of the Staniza Massacre, the Jred Scourge entered a new phase, becoming more desperate and brutal. The Stellar League increasingly turned to harsher tactics, including destroying their own worlds to slow the Jred, and turning to increasingly unconventional means to destroy the galactic overmind. This change eventually resulted in the Great Cataclysm, a catastrophe that ultimately destroyed both the Jred and the Stellar League. To this day, the effects of Staniza are felt, both as a result of the Cataclysm, and the chain of dead worlds, burned away in atomic fires in a desperate attempt to slow the Jred down.

Included under Conflict

Jred Scourge

Conflict Type

Battle

Battlefield Type

Planetary

Start Date

19th of December 4062

Ending Date

10th of April 4063

Conflict Result

Devastating loss for the Stellar League, and the near collapse of the front.

Belligerents

• Stellar League

Jred

Strength

• ~35,000,000 personnel (including 9 million from the Sol Sector Forces)
• ~220 warships (including 42 from the Sol Sector Forces)

Unknown (likely in the billions, including spaceborne bioforms)

Casualties

Nearly total, 4,015 survivors and two surviving ships ships
Total Loss of the Staniza System, and its entire population.

Unknown (likely in the hundreds of millions)

Objectives

Defend the world of Staniza, destroy the Jred attacking the planet.

Consume the world of Staniza

Jred Kraken by Nightcafe

PDF troopers being overrun at Staniza by Hailou