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The Conquest of Komarr by Barrayar marked the beginning of the interplanetary empire known as the Barrayaran Imperium.

"A small population, all concentrated in climate-controlled cities. No place for guerillas to fall back and regroup. No allies—we weren't the only ones whose trade was being strangled by their greedy tariffs. All I had to do was let it leak out that we were going to drop their twenty-five percent cut of everything that passed through their nexus points to fifteen, and the neighbors that should have supported them fell into our pockets. No heavy industry. Fat and lazy from living off unearned income—they didn't even want to do their own fighting, until those scraggly mercenaries they'd hired found out what they were up against, and turned tail. If I'd had a free hand, and a little more time, I think it could have been taken without a shot being fired. A perfect war, it should have been, if the Council of Ministers hadn't been so impatient."
―Aral on the Komarran Conquest[src]

The Conquest of Komarr was planned and executed by Admiral Aral Vorkosigan; his explicit goals were conquest and not revenge, with as little loss of life as possible[1][2]. His political officer, however, countermanded his orders and committed the Solstice Massacre at which the 200 ruling Komarran Counselors were brutally executed. The "scraggly fleet" hired by Komarr for defense against the Barrayarans was the Selby Fleet.[3]

The Komarran Conquest was largely fueled by fear of the Cetagandan Empire, which four decades earlier had invaded Barrayar through Komarr in exchange for large bribes.[4][2][5]

Known events of the Komarran Conquest[]

  • The Komarrans hired the Selby Fleet for protection. Employer-employee relations were disrupted by Barrayaran path-finders.[3]
  • The Barrayarans captured the Komarran soletta at almost the very start.[6]
  • The Solstice Massacre and Aral Vorkosigan's subsequent murder of his political officer occurred at the end of the conflict.[7]

Notes and references[]

  1. Shards of Honor chapter 5
  2. 2.0 2.1 Brothers in Arms chapter 7
  3. 3.0 3.1 The Warrior's Apprentice chapter 13
  4. The Vor Game chapter 4
  5. Komarr chapter 17
  6. Komarr chapter 3
  7. Shards of Honor chapter 2
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