Here something to add some spice to a Dominion War series
The Commonwealth
Of Free Worlds
The Commonwealth of Free Worlds, formerly known as the Affiliation of Outer Free Worlds, was a strong and traditional ally of the Federation and declared war as soon as Deep Space Nine fell to a combined Cardassian/Dominion attack in late 2373. The Commonwealth had been the first non-aligned power to seek and gain considerable trade opportunities in the Gamma Quadrant before the Dominion began to harass and even capture most free traders in the gamma quadrant in the early 2370’s. The Commonwealth council reacted by being one of the first Beta or Alpha Quadrant powers to break all trade and Diplomatic relations with the Dominion in 2372 and later with Cardassia in 2373.
Into the Fire: 2373-74
In the first major crisis leading to war in early 2373 the Commonwealth sent a small task force to aid the Federation defense and to enforce its own grievances with the Dominion but it did not arrive in time before the crisis was resolved and it was quickly returned home. The respite was short and before long another larger task force was preparing yet again to sally forth to the environs of Bajor. The first principle battle that Commonwealth forces were significantly involved in was at Tyra as part of the Seventh Fleet. Here the Commonwealths 3rd Tactical Wing under the command of fleet captain Gunther Pern consisting of what some considered the best ships in the Commonwealths fleet, fought steadfastly but were almost totally annihilated. Only 3, of the original 17, vessel survived and all very severely damaged at the battles end.
With the cream of the Commonwealths fleet destroyed it reacted with typical dedication and went about building a new fleet. This included the deployment of the new Hoot class escort and receiving nearly 30 older peregrine class fighters all of which were soon modified. Meanwhile the Commonwealth Naval Academy rushed three full classes of cadets through final classroom preparation and assigned them to positions in the new fleet. Meanwhile many Orions who supported the Federation and in deed the Alpha/Beta Quadrant cause and were ashamed of their own governments neutrality flocked to the commonwealth and volunteered to serve in its fleet. Enough did so that the Commonwealth’s 8th Tactical Wing earned the nickname “Big Green Machine” due to the high numbers of Orions serving in it.
It took nearly one full year to rebuild the Commonwealths fleet, meanwhile some of its ground forces participated in the ground battle on Chin’Toka and in guarding rear areas in the Bolian front area. In this fighting Commonwealth troops showed a deep loyalty to one another and a deep disrespect to any higher command authority especially if they happen to be Starfleet admirals and generals under whom they served. But there fighting quality was second to none and many Starfleet ground commanders put up with it, if only to keep them in their sector of the frontline.
The Commonwealth’s Intelligence service, Pat Dar, proved to be of great assistance to Starfleet Intelligence in making inroads into Cardassian space thanks to its many links with the Orion’s and the Syndicate. The most widely important intelligence contribution being the information gained just prior to the Battle of Verdanis which allowed Starfleet command to realize that the Dominion had made reinforcement to the Bolian front a low priority for some unknown reason. (Unfortunately the Pat Dar agent who gained this information was soon after betrayed by his contact just prior it is assumed to his potential uncovering of the forthcoming Breen alliance and the subsequent launched counter attack )
Return to the Front – Mid 2375
The long wait and rebuilding of the Commonwealth’s fleet and the strengthening of its ground forces was finished at roughly the same time that the Romulans entered the war. These forces participated notably in the battle of Verdanis. From then on most of the Commonwealth’s effort was directed toward the Bolain/Betazed front, though some forces were temporarily directed to the defense of Teller during the Breen offensive and some naval forces even managed to hunt down some of the raiders who had attacked Earth and destroyed them. The final Commonwealth contribution to the Bolian front was at Daxura where the newly rebuilt 3rd Tactical Wing gained a measure of revenge for the Tyra battle.
Meanwhile Commonwealth forces continued to fight on in the Chin’Toka system slowly fading away with the other ground forces suffering from lack of supply’s and support in the wake of the Breen counter offensive. The experience of the 41st Regiment of Commonwealth Infantry is typical of all such units in those terrible months, its original strength of 2300 at the start of the campaign went down to a bare 345 when contact and supply had been reestablished. Meanwhile in the Kalandra Sector small contingents, normally one or two wings of 4 or 5 ships, continued to serve after Tyra until major reinforcements arrived in time for the Ducha’asa Velt campaign where both Commonwealth space and ground forces assisted in breaking the Dominion strong hold and opening the road to Betazed.
For the actual liberation of Betazed nearly all current active Commonwealth forces were brought together and formed the 37th fleet which then went on to fight heroically and stubbornly to liberate a people who had often opposed them in dealings with the Federation. At wars end now Admiral Gunther Pern, a survivor of Tyra and commander of the 37th fleet accepted the surrender of Juyon, the Vorta commander of all Dominion forces still fighting along the Betazed sector. The war was over and for such a small power the Commonwealth had made a great sacrifice on the “Alter of Freedom” nearly 82,300 were dead, another 156,890 were wounded and 10,567 were and are still considered missing in action and presumed dead.
The Commonwealth Order of Battle
Commonwealth Star Navy
The Commonwealth Star Navy came to the war largely unprepared for a major long term war, in fact it had not fought in such since the Four Years War nearly 130 years before. It was also in the middle of a fleet modernization program which was roughly one half finished when the war began.
The commonwealth’s Navy had since its founding been largely a constabulary force used to resolve disputes between Commonwealth members and to defend the Commonwealths frontiers and to enforce its trade laws. As the nature of interstellar politics changed the Commonwealth decided its defense force had to adopt and become a force capable of protecting Commonwealth ships beyond its frontiers instead of relying on Starfleet for such protection, thus in 2371 it began a large program to restructure its fleet.
Oganization
Commonwealth ships were organized in a more exacting manner then Starfleet, though very similar. A normal Commonwealth Tactical Wing, of which there were four peacetime wings, consisted of 1 cruiser wing and 2 escort wings each of five ships. In addition the peacetime fleet consisted of two transport wings and a scientific wing of three very old Grissom class survey vessels. The fleet’s main base was located on New New Aberdeen with major forward support bases being located on Risa and Deneva. In total, the Commonwealth raised and maintained 12 tactical wings and 23 independent type wings of various types.
Commonwealth Tactics and Strategy
In the main the Star Navy followed Starfleet tactics and strategy. While there battle contributions were great it was the formation of specialized Convoy escort wings that the Commonwealth made perhaps there most respected effort in guarding convoys and going after deep space raiders and Orion marauders.
Commonwealth Ground Forces
The commonwealth’s ground forces were organized into 5 active and 10 reserve brigades in peacetime. Each brigade consisted of two regiments of infantry and a battery of artillery. In addition the ground forces had many independent units of engineer, artillery and mechanized/armor troops. The commonwealth did not expand its ground forces during the war significantly instead deciding to keep up the strength of the pre war units. Eventually the 15 peacetime brigades were organized into 5, 3 brigade divisions, one of which, the 4th, was entirely made up of Orion volunteers
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