War of Return

After the WYN-Orion War with the shipyard in hand, production of fish ships accelerated (using much of the wealth that three generations of Usurpers had accumulated), and purpose-built variants began to appear, such as a drone-bombardment destroyer in Y182. The production of a carrier variant of the Orca in Y184 raised no questions, nor did the production of a PFT variant the next year; both designs were appropriate for defense of the Cluster. The completion of a heavy cruiser design in January Y185 raised questions, but none of those focused on a possible operation against the Kzintis. The WYNs were able to keep the production of their single Narwhal mauler secret until it was actually launched, by which time secrecy was no longer relevant.

The groundwork for the WYN War of Return, also known as the Second Kzinti Civil War, had been laid for years. The Usurper knew he could never hope to build enough ships to take the throne by himself, but he also knew that the Kzinti nobles were restive after what they perceived as bungling by the Patriarch. When the old Patriarch died in Y184, the Crown Prince did not immediately ascend to the throne as the nobles used the end “crisis” as an excuse to avoid the obligatory confirmation ceremony.

The Usurper made a deal with the Count. The Crown Prince had the support of the Barony and the Home Fleet. The Duke and Marquis professed the need to guard against foreign invasion (i.e., they waited to see who would win).

The deal between the Usurper and the Count was complex. For his part, the Usurper agreed to build a single mauler (using Lyran technology) and to use it and most of his forces to attack a battle station located near the Cluster. The battle station was in the Count’s territory, but had been built by the old Patriarch during the war and was under control of the Crown Prince. The Count could not openly support the Usurper until this base was captured or destroyed, and the Count regarded its removal as a “show of good faith” by the Usurper. For his part, the Count promised support from the space control ship Hegemony. [Indeed, the operations of the Hegemony during prior years began to make sense only after the War of Return. The refusal of Admiral Cat Who Sleeps with Dogs to directly engage the Coalition forces during the battles of Operation Cavalry was because the ship was a critical part of the post-war plan for the return of the Usurper. The involvement of this ship in WYN affairs, such as the battle of “the WYN and the Lion,” ^(SH16.0) indicates that the conspiracy reached back at least that far.]

The Usurper, supported by virtually all of the fish ships, most of the WYN-Orion ships, a handful of Orion mercenaries, and all of the Kzinti-built ships (which were left to garrison the border), stormed out of the Cluster on 14 August Y186. The campaign lasted nearly a year and can be better told through its scenarios, but ended in a titanic duel of space control ships. The Crown Prince knew it was his only chance to win since the Duke was about to join the Usurper. The Usurper, at first reluctant to accept the duel when on the verge of victory, did so when many of his ships announced plans to depart due to the ISC threat to the Cluster. ^[1]