 Books action sequence
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 TV action sequence
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 “Fires in the dark” — Spoilers for Babylon's Ashes follow.
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| “ | Holden checked his sensors. Where fifteen warships on the burn had been seconds before, there was just nothing | „ |
| — Babylon's Ashes chapter 51 | ||
The Second Battle of Medina Station was the Free Navy's final offensive of the Free Navy Conflict.
Prelude[]
During the first battle of Medina Station, the Rocinante and their OPA allies successfully captured Medina station. They were, however, forced to destroy the railguns on the Ring Station, leaving them open to a counterattack.[1]
When Marco Inaros learned that the Ring station railguns had been disabled when the Consolidated Fleet took control of Medina Station, he led all of the Free Navy's remaining ships in an offensive to retake the station. In doing this the Free Navy effectively abandoned all its territory in the Sol system. Taking the Slow zone, however, would reopen their supply lines to Laconia and place them in a strong defensive position.[2]
Course[]
The battle seemed as if it would be an easy Free Navy victory as Medina Station had only its PDC network and torpedos along with the Rocinante to defend the position against 15 ships. In fact Marco Inaros intended to disable and capture Rocinante to add the ship to the Free Navy.[3] However, Naomi Nagata having studied the patterns of ships that had disappeared in ring gates due to an anomaly realised that if a ship would enter another gate moments before the Free Navy fleet arrived it could cause them to vanish. The captain of the Giambattista to take her ship through the Arcadia gate on the opposite side of the Slow zone from the Sol gate moments before the battle began. In case this would not be successful the Rocinante was placed to the side of the Sol gate to do as much damage as possible.
As the Free Navy fleet entered they were hit by the Ring network anomaly causing all the ships to vanish mid ring gate. None of the ships survived to enter the slow zone resulting in a complete victory for the Consolidated Fleet ending the conflict.
Aftermath[]
After the remnants of their fleet were lost along with their leader, what was left of the Free Navy fell apart, although there were still a few holdouts due to the sheer disbelief at the events that took place. A group Pallas notably declared themselves the "New Free Navy", and set off a few bombs when the Consolidated Fleet took the station back. The Jovian moons previously had the largest Free Navy presence in the system and were relatively untouched by the fighting, so the conflict there dragged on for a few months, although the victory of the Consolidated Fleet was never in question. Most of Inaros' remaining inner circle was arrested, set to stand trial for their actions.[4]
References
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Babylon's Ashes - Chapter 46: Holden
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Babylon's Ashes - Chapter 48: Pa
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Babylon's Ashes - Chapter 51: Marco
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Babylon's Ashes - Chapter 52: Pa