The Destruction of Earth
From Acw
On 8th February 2368, a beam of intense white light emanating from the SS-WissenSchaftKorpsSchiff Eidelweiss enveloped the Earth briefly, before causing the planet to split into fragments and dissipate.
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Weapons Hot
Following the Neuostland Crisis and the return of the Arthur to New Iowa, the Great Interstellar Powers decided to hold a Peace Conference on Tiananmen Station, in order to prevent further escalation of threatened nuclear war.
Historians have argued that the Conference was essentially doomed from the beginning by the Soviet leadership dispute, the American-Arthurian war and the SS coup of November 2367. With so many national tensions, international tension would be far from the priority of the conference. It was the British who indirectly caused the crisis, however. By concluding negotiations to acquire Heaven's Gate technology from the Chinese and maintaining close relations with the Arthurians, they brought all the building blocks for interstellar war together.
Krasnikov Drives could only build temporary tunnels in low-gravity space, but Heaven's Gate was capable of keeping a stable, permanent tunnel open in high-gravity areas. By setting the Arthur's Merlin Server supercomputer to combine the two technologies, instantaneous travel was possible between any two points in the universe. Arthur 2 of the Arthurians had secretly been constructing an anti-German alliance at the Conference, and as soon as the technology came online, used it to lanch a drone attack on SS assets throughout the galaxy.
The Battle of the End
While the SS was more than capable of surviving the Arthurian attack, in Sol they were heavily outnumbered. Their small fleet around Franz Detweilier's ship the SS-WSKS Eidelweiss closed to a defensive pattern and began broadcasting on all comms, explaining that it was an unarmed medical vessel and pose no threat. Indeed, SS ships were nto seen to return fire until the Third Extrasolar Fleet opened fire on them.
The decisive role of the Russian Separatists in the Battle of the End continues to puzzle historians. Was Admiral Petrov following the orders of Secretary Baguta, or did she act alone? It seems clear that immediately after the destruction of Earth, Petrov genuinely opposed Baguta, but there is enough to suggest that she was acting in collusion up until the split to muddy th waters.
Regardless of motive, Detweiler's fatal action was precipitated by a confusing, if short, battle. The British Home Fleet was at battle stations, and uncertainly closing with weapons hot. The Russian fleet had just stood down at Baguta's order, when Petrov ordered a full-scale assault of the SS fleet. Seconds after this assault began, a stream of white light identical to the one used by the Arthur in the Battle of New Iowa enveloped Earth, killing billions and causing the planet to disintegrate.
Aftermath
The destruction of Earth caused massive shockwaves, both physical and political. The huge fleets stationed in orbit were scattered, with hundreds of thousands of screencraft and destrioyers instantly annihilated. This immediately precluded further military action, or the Battle of the End may have become a full-scale war.
