Neuostland Crisis

From Acw

On September 7, 2367 The Russian Third Extrasolar Fleet arrived via FTL on the border of Neuostland's cislunar space. This unprecedented use of a wormhole for planetary assault meant that planetary defences based on Neuostland’s moon Arminius were less significant a threat to the Russian battlegroup. The sheer speed with which the fleet appeared sparked debate about the existence of Russian Stationary Assault Generators near Pluto.

The Russian Dropship Maxim Gorky began deploying for what looked to be a large scale invasion of the planet's surface, while the remainder of the Russian fleet in two battlegroups centered around the Stalin and the Alexander Nevsky moved to engage the Arminius base and its significant defences.

Before the Gorky could complete the ground deployment, it was engaged by an SS taskforce that appeared to have been stationed on the planet itself. Russian intelligence was unaware the taskforce was even in-system, so the German counter attack came as a surprise. With the Russian forces split between engaging the moon base and fighting the SS taskforce, their numerical superiority was of little use. The invasion was suspended, managing only to capture two of the nine distribution centres on the surface, but successfully conducting strategic bombing of several major rail lines.

Russian Admiral Petrov ordered her fleet to rally out beyond Arminius, an order which stranded a significant number of ground troops on Neuostland’s surface. The SS taskforce was unwilling to engage the combined Russian fleet and instead moved to orbit around the Arminius base.

In the Russian fleet, the Gorky sustained the most damage, although few ships survived completely unscathed. On the German side, the SS taskforce was relatively damage free, but the Arminius base had suffered significant damage to its defensive infrastructure.

Aftermath

The Neuostland Crisis created a nightmarish diplomatic situation - 45,000 invading troops on the planet's surface and the three largest ships outside Sol in the planet's cislunar space. After a military impasse was reached, a diplomatic conference was hurriedly arranged by the British, and a number of diplomatic personnel flown out to the moon of Arminius to negiotiate a lasting settlement of the dispute.

Media Coverage

Juliana Santiago, who was at the conference, wrote an exclusive article that was published in the Sun, and widely distributed amongst many planets. It generated a great deal of interest in the Neuostland Crisis, and attracted wide attention to the planet.

• On the Brink of Destruction, by Juliana Santiago. "The beleaguered planet Neuostland at the centre of an interplanetary power struggle"