The Periphery War was Humanity’s first interstellar war. It started because of a political movement on Earth and then spread out to many other star system. The idea was a desire for a greater political and economic unity between all the human settlements and nations among the stars.
This was not acceptable to five frontier star systems who prized their political and cultural independence. This lead to an expedition being dispatched from Sol to the largest of the resistant colony systems, with the intent of subduing the colony as an example.
The expedition was opposed and not allowed to land. The Commonwealth next decided to blockade the world and interdict all space travel within the star system. This sparked an emergency conference between the other four independent minded worlds.
These worlds put together a hastily gathered expedition of ad hoc armed ships and set out to contest the Commonwealth’s blockade of the main world. The first engagement was indecisive, but the first ships of the Peripheral Worlds engaged the Commonwealth, but would pull off to the second gas giant in the system and await the arrival of further forces.
Within a month the second wave of Periphery starships arrived in the star system, and set course to rendezvous with their compatriots. During that month the Commonwealth task force made a sortie with a secondary force to the inner gas giant to keep a checking force eon the 1st Periphery force orbiting the outer gas giant.
This holding force was to just stay out and keep the Periphery rebel starships from attack the transports and other naval ships in the orbit of the main inhabited planets in the system.
In time the Periphery starships gathered and launched a coordinated attack targeted at the Commonwealth forces. The holding force fought the Periphery starships on a running battle as the battle moved inward. Once the full battles entered closer to the main inhabited world, the planetary forces launched aerospace forces from the planets surface.
The Commonwealth commander became shaken by the slashing attacks from the aerospace forces, and the determined hit and run tactics of the Periphery starships. In a period of bad maneuvering by the Commonwealth forces, their flagship was destroyed, which demoralized the Commonwealth task forces. A negotiated settlement soon followed which saw the Commonwealth forces begrudgingly departing the star system under truce conditions.
By the standards of later battles it would be a minor one, but it would be the start of the Periphery War, humans’ first interstellar war.