Overview

The Jovian war was a conflict taking place in and around the Jupiter system between the Jovian Liberation Front and the Jovian Federation following the "Ice war". It lasted from December 21st 2256 - February 14th 2257 and resulted in the destruction of nearly half of all settlements on Callisto and the shattering of the moon Himalia.

It was the first time in recorded history that a Gigaton Thermonuclear weapon was used in any conflict and resulted in the death of almost 119 Million civilians and caused the formation of the Jovian Commonwealth in 2260.

Prewar

The standoff at Themisto would mark a major escalation of the Ice war having the Jovian Federation's joint strike force...

Course of the War

2256 - The first Month

On December 21st 2256 Callistan allied Themisto and Callisto itself were attacked by almost 540 thermonuclear warheads sent from the JLF. With many allegedly being decoys

The stationed Callistan Navy at Themisto would intercept multiple of these, 172 of these would be intercepted, however 3 would impact Themisto, killing 96% of its population of 8,000.

Callisistan orbital defence installations would result in around a total of 240 warheads being intercepted, however this would not prevent the remaining 125 warheads from being able to hit important Callistan cities and settlements. Killing almost 32.5 million in the initial blasts alone, with a total death toll after 6 months being 119.9 million (36% of Callisto's total population) of which almost 40 million would die in decompression events and late rescure efforts.

The Jovian Federation, which Callisto was a part of would retaliate by sending the majority of their navy to intercept the Himalia fleet, resulting in the battle for Themisto.

2257 - The latter two Months

Intense fighting would take place with no clear winner, Himalia not having enough troops to truly attack the Jovian Federation, and the Jovian Federation refusing to take any further action.

However this quick stalemate would end in January 2257 with a suprise attack of Ganymede orbital installations by terroist cells implanted by the Jovian Liberationists, the following month authorisation of a gigaton nuclear strike on Himalia was authorised with the moon being hit on 14th of Feburary, 2257, causing the remaining moons to surrender and a armistice be signed with the remaining Jovian Liberationists hours after the shattering of Himalia.

Post-War

After the nuking of Callisto the Jovian Federation would begin to initiate rescue operations on Callisto for remaining surivivors who were trapped in pressurised solar storm shelters. However with response teams having trouble with delicately pressurised pockets and debris, many of the initial survivors found would die in accidents cause by dislodging debris or starvation due to slow response times.

Contraversy

The shattering of Himalia would be the point of huge contention between the interplanetary community, citing the launch of a gigaton nuclear device to destroy the moon as "overkill" or "generally unnecessary."

The Jovian Federation at the time would comment on this citing that "the nuking of Himalia was a necessity to the survival of the millions of people who live on the inner jovian moons."

Rescuers were also criticised for being too slow with most of them reporting long term depression and PTSD from said events.