CSS Victorie Incident

The CSS Victorie Incident, also known as The Sinking of the C.S.S. Victory, was an attack on the CSS Victorie, a ship that was carrying thousands Cordelian civilians, in CY 1913, about three months after the Fall of Hisperia.

Overview
In the third month of the war, a Cordelian capital ship, the CSS Victorie, was docked at a neutral port on the oceanic world of Enosdin. The ship was transporting a large population of mostly displaced civilian war refugees and medical supplies to Reyjayyva when Valzovech terrorists boarded the ship and set off an explosion in the engine room. In what was called the biggest single loss of life in Cordelian history, the ship was sunk before most of the passengers were evacuated. Of the 15,582 passengers on board the ship built for a crew of 7,400 and a total passenger capacity of 2,000, more than 12,200 people were killed. Roughly 3,300 individuals survived. Port Iedean, where the Victorie was docked was a massive star port built above the ocean that covered 96 percent of the planet. Many of those who died drowned from the blast doors in the halls of the ship being sealed and trapping passengers, and not in the initial explosion.

Prelude
The Victorie was a Cordelian capital ship that was tasked with bringing civilian refugees and medical supplies from Cordelia III to Reyjayyva. En route, the ship stopped on the neutral world of Enosdin, in the Notera system, to refuel.

The Bombing
While docked at Port Iedean, the Victorie was boarded by a team of seven Valzovech operatives. These operatives quickly made their way to the engine rooms via the ship's HVAC systems while one made their way to the power station on that level. Once in the power station, the operative there sealed the blast doors to rooms and placed a repeater code into the communications array that repeated an all-clear signal to the bridge. This operative then rendezvoused with the other six, who then moved in on the Cordelian engine crew who were attempting to reopen the doors of the engine rooms. The operatives moved throughout the three rooms, slaughtering the lightly armed crew before planting explosives on the reactor engines. The operatives then escaped through the HVAC system where they made their way to Escape Pod Deck J, where they boarded a pod and ejected into the ocean below the ship. As the Cordelian crew began investigating the ejection of the pod, the operatives detonated their explosives, setting off a chain reaction that destroyed the engines and reverse thrusters that allowed the ship to remain hovering above the surface. The ship quickly fell into the ocean as smaller explosions blew holes in the hull. As the ship crashed into the waters below, thousands of passengers were trapped within the ship as it sank. The majority of the survivors were in the bridge, hangar, and upper rooms that the water reached last.

Aftermath
The Valzovech were widely condemned for the attack as the Victorie had been designated as a civilian ship at the time of the attack. The Cordelian military launched a bombing campaign on the Valzovech ally of Savvzara, which is very successful.

In CY 1914, King Winsûr of Cordelia dedicated a Day of Remembrance to honor the civilians killed in the attack.