On the Brink of Destruction
From Acw
The Sun, premier English-language news source of the planets of Sol, and their sisters in the wider galaxy presents the exclusive report of Earth’s very own Juliana Santiago.
On the Brink of Destruction
The beleaguered planet Neuostland at the centre of an interplanetary power struggle
Juliana Santiago reports from the scene.
As the dust settles on Neuostland, the peace process at a fragile close, those of us caught outside the diplomatic gauntlet can only look back and try to make sense of the events on that beleaguered planet.
The Planet
Neuostland is a planet in the Chimera system, terraformed by the Germans for primary agricultural production. Arminius is its moon, and the home of the elite managers of the ruling Grossdeutschland regime.
<stock footage of the planet and Arminius>
Commissar of the Exterior, Andropov, led the Soviet delegation at the Neuostland peace talks. Talks were arranged through the application of British diplomacy, and led on either side by Lady Fairnsborough, and William Clinton. The Grossdeutschland delegation was led by von Paulus of the Reichs Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
<images of each of these>
They came to resolve a crisis.
The Crisis
On September 7, the Third Extrasolar Fleet of the USSR arrived on the borders of Neuostland space using unprecedented FTL technology. The Soviets had clearly advanced their technical capabilities to the extent of being able to mount a huge assault at great speed.
<Sidebar: Speculation on Russian Military Advancement, links to other stories>
The Maxim Gorky deployed some 48,000 troops for an invasion of the planet, focusing on the nine major distribution centres. The Stalin and the Alexander Nevsky prepared to engage the substantial defenses of Arminius.
The territorial invasion was intercepted by an SS taskforce which appeared to have been stationed on the planet, much to the Russians’ surprise. With too few troops to continue the planetary invasion without backup, and the rest of the fleet engaged elsewhere, the Russians were forced to give up.
The Reich was furious, and the Soviets indignant, as they came to Arminius to negotiate. The Talks
Talks were chaired by French diplomat Molyneaux, selected specially by the British Ministry for the conference.
<image of Molyneaux>
They began with a heated debate over the responsibility for Neuostland, coming from the Soviet Commissar for the Exterior, Konstantin Sovietyevich Andropov.
<footage of the debate, with the introduction: “A number of tensions came to the fore as talks amongst the diplomatic delegates grew more heated.”>
<after the footage: “Each side stated its case on moral and legal grounds, and neglected to mention the substantial strategic and economic interests they might have in the planet. Theories as to the nature of these interests abound. But they remain, as ever, rumours.”>
The Soviet case was bolstered by the introduction of rebel leader Tedesceau. Though his claims were disputed by the Germans, Tedesceau claims human rights abuses planetside, and offers up this array of grisly images to lend weight to his claims against the German Central Command.
<link to the images Tedesceau distributed at the conference>
Escalation
As negotiations proceeded, the Russian Admiral Natasha Petrova announced that they were going to battle stations. According to the Admiral, a spy had been discovered amongst their ranks.
The German and the American response to the Russians was similarly assertive. They all prepared their missiles for launch.
Almost as quickly as they had announced that they were at battle stations, the Americans and Russians withdrew.
Negotiations proceeded, but as the Germans grew frustrated with the Russian refusal to withdraw from the planet, they opened their missile silos in preparation for launch.
The German response was swift. They engaged the Russian fleet within launch orbit from the planet’s surface, and the two superpowers exchanged fire in a display of brilliant might, visible from the planet’s surface.
<images of the exchange of fire, from Neuostland surface>
As the nuclear launch approached, the German Planetary Governor, Gellert Stoss, fled Arminius, leaving the other delegations to attempt to save the embattled planet and her fragile moon.
This left the diplomat von Paulus the ranking member of the delegation, and he cancelled the launch with seconds to spare. The Russians calmed after this development, and they too called off their nuclear launch.
Resolution
As the military tension subsided, the two sides were able to negotiate a settlement about the planet itself. Commissar Andropov and von Paulus were able to negotiate a settlement which will eventually amount to a Neuostland no longer under German control.
The terms of the agreement allowed for a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the planet, and all Soviet craft from orbit around either Neuostland or Arminius. This would only occur on the condition that an observer force of French, British, and American troops would be stationed planetside, to ensure the security and welfare of the local population. The observer force would have the power to determine whether a multilateral humanitarian intervention would be necessary on the planet.
With Stoss having fled, and the fate of the planet now being decided by foreigners, Central Command on Arminius appears humbled. Interplanetary superpower relations have left the Fourth Reich the losers in this skirmish, though they were the defenders, victims of Russian aggression.
The lingering issues, however, appear to leave them far from innocent.
Questions Unanswered
Planetside, however, areas officially open to the public include quaint, almost idyllic, rural settings which feature a contented, though technologically backward, populace. The contrast between the claims of the rebels and the official story, however, arouse suspicion. Perhaps with the establishment of Western observer forces, the truth will out.
