The Arthurian Incursion
From Acw
In June 2367 (ES), the Ark Ship Arthur appeared in New Iowa space, and was immediately engaged by Russian and UIS fleets who considered it a threat. It destroyed the Russian Second Extrasolar Fleet and the UIS defence fleet in self-defence, and commenced colonisation of New Africa.
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Reaction to the crisis
All major powers hurriedly redeployed forces to New Iowa to deal with the crisis. The Soviet Third Extrasolar Fleet tunneled from Neuostland, while a relief fleet, known as the 2nd Griffin Battle Group, was dispatched from the UISA's Titan shipyards as soon as it could be made battleready. The British redeployed their squadron of Longbow-Class Cruisers from Neuostland. German presence was small, as befitting their negligible presence in-system, but a curious choice - an SS-Wissenschaftkorps ship and escort.
The Orbital Campaign
Arthurian forces maintained orbital superiority until the arrival of the UIS relief fleet. Soviet and UIS forces were able to hold the swarms of Arthurian fighters at bay, but command and control issues brought about by a lack of united action prevented them from linking up to destroy the interlopers.
Arthurian Fighters
The Arthurians' forces consisted of large squadrons of Screenship-sized craft with a variety of weapons, with firepower in some cases matching that of a terrestrial Destroyer. En masse, they proved difficult to destroy but utterly lethal to any class of ships.
Later estimates of Arthurian populations are vastly smaller than the number of fighting craft observed. This discovery has led to the theory that the ships were either remote-controlled or possessed of advanced Artificial Intelligence.
The Ground Campaign
UIS forces were arranged into a series of local defence militia, and proved unable to prevent the loss of territory to Arthurian counter-attack. Many Arthurian outposts from being established in UIS territory planetside. The Soviets 2nd Interplanetary Corps had more success in maintaining the inviolability of Soviet posessions because the Arthurians were concentrating on the UIS forces. When it became clear that the inital attacks had occured due to misunderstandings, the Arthurian ground troops ceased their attack, and became defensive. The Arthurians were gifted South Tobias by the Covanent Keepers and moved ground forces in the secure the territory. During this time UIS and Soviets noticed a sudden appearance of a large number of ground troops, and became concerned that the Arthurians were preparing for an attack that never came.
Arthurian Integration
It became apparent early in the campaign that Arthurian ground forces were corralling children under the age of 12 and taking them back to the Arthur by shuttle. As terrestrial diplomats made inquiries it emerged that the Arthurians were planning to integrate these children into their networks through a bio-interface implanted in the brain. Terrestrial scientists have not yet unraveled the exact purpose of these devices, but early reports, especially from German sources, indicate the extremely advanced nature of these implants. The Arthurians have remained mostly silent on the matter, though their spokesman, known as 'Taliesinn', indicated that the implants were safe and would allow a "greater consciousness" to the children. It should be noted that this implantation is standard procedure for Arthurian children.
After their plan became widely known, the Arthurians began offering the implants to any adult who volunteered. Small number did, but this did not prevent criticism of the Arthurians for their use of unconsenting minors in these experiments.
Russian Terrorist Action
Lady Stephanie Fairnsborough brought to light a series of allegedly Russian-controlled Terrorist actions in British territory on New Iowa. The Soviets denied all allegations. Reports are as yet unconfirmed.
Diplomatic efforts
The diplomatic efforts of the Arthurian incursion began with the arrival of Taliesinn 2 on the surface of tha planet. His initial contact with the human leaders of Avalon/New Iowa was stinted as the Arthurian refused to engage in the factional politicking of the humans and sought to identify the power structures that existed within the various governments.
The varying reactions to the Aurturian's arrival was mixed, and largely hostile, particularly from the Americans, who seemed to react as if under attack from an alien force. Over several meetings Taliesinn tried to explain that they had come to settle the planet and intended to complete their mission, seeking to arrange envoys from the various governments to visit the arkship, The Arthur, offering a chance for people of New Iowa to view the culture and society of which thy would soon be a part. Many came willingly, though some resisted, and soon the Americans were accusing the Arthurians of kidnapping children to forcefully implant Aurthurian cybernetic mind-control devices without first identifying that the children were in fact being rounded up voluntarily and being implanted with communications devices that allowed them to tap into the collective consciousness of the Arthurian networks, allowing each individual to better express their own thoughts, avoiding the the accuracy lost and misunderstandings caused by using human language.
As diplomacy degenerated during these events, a conference was organised between many of the governments of New Iowa and the representatives of the Aurthurian collective. It was made plain to the humans that the Arthurian way of life was in many ways superior to the current social structures on Avalon and that the Arthurians offered a chance to overcome racial, political and social boundaires that had restrained mankind for centuries, and that if they did not open themselves up willingy to the idea then they would probably find themselves without choice after a generation (approx 1 month). The Americans took this opportunity to launch an attack on the Arthurian ship which resulted in the almost complete annhialation of the crews of the Americaa space fleet along with any other craft in the vicinity of the Arthurians defensive maneuvers.
Meanwhile, left stranded on Avalon and severed from the Arturian netowrks, Taliesinn tried his best to keep calm, but found it extremely difficult to adjust to the lack of information flow.
The Arthurian Weapon
Shortly after the American 2nd Griffin Battle Group arrived in-system, a transmission from the German SS-Wissenschaftkorpsschiff Eidelweiss managed to jam all Arthurian transmissions. The UISA and Russian fleets decided to take advantage of this opportunity and started preparing to launch nuclear weapons towards the Arthurians. The Arthurians decided to move their ships to a higher orbit and asked for permission to pass through space currently occupied by the British fleet.
The Russian and American forces in pursuit succeeded in engaging the Arthur itself. It quickly became apparent that the UISA and Russians were willing to launch nuclear weapons at the Arthurians, despite the presence of the British Fleet in the detonation range and the presence of two prominate Americans, an industrialist, Phineas Carter Franklin, and a journalist, Juliana Santiago, on the ship.
The Arthur began to evacuate the system, and energy readings were detected emanating from the ship. Within minutes, the readings were off the scale. Later telemetry showed that the levels of Gamma, Alpha and Beta radiation suggested another radioactive quality that terrestrial equipment cannot measure.
Several ships were caught in the blast, including the entire Russian 3rd Fleet and a good portion of the American relief fleet. The crew of these ships were killed almost instantly. Autopsies revealed the cause of death to be massive simultaneous systemic failure, in turn caused by every cell in the body becoming cancerous over an incredibly short space of time. The Arthurians seemed to have exceptional control over the weapon, devastating the Russian and American fleets, but avoiding the British forces.
The blast affected ships in planetary shadow without affecting people on the planet itself, indicating unprecedented control. Similar readings to those that indicated the blast from the Arthur were found to be emanating from the SS ship.
Aftermath
After this blast, which rendered every ship in orbit either in planetary shadow or combat ineffective, pursuit was impossible. The Arthur limped out of the system. Last reports indicate that the Arthurian mothership is in deep orbit outside of New Iowan Cislunar space.
The Arthurian ground forces, including Taliesinn and their commander, Lancelot Cavanaugh, remained stranded planetside as the mothership evacuated New Iowan space. Gifted North Tobias by the Vozvrashhenie (“Return”) sect of Covenant Keepers, the Arthurians retreated and began to set up more permanent bases.
Arthurian Settlement
Arthurian forces rapidly forced the capitulation of the Confederation of African States (CAS), and by end of hostilities no major Earth power had attempted to dislodge them from it. New Africans also flocked to take the free Arthurian wetware implants. When Taliesinn 2 began to offer the CAS a pledge not to change existing governmental structures in exchange for access to New African populations for (he stressed strictly voluntary) implants, and access to New African lands for Arthurian settlement, the New Africans leapt at the chance. Terrestrial Powers have not yet managed to uncover evidence that the high rate of volunteers from the New African population is subject to Arthurian coercion, but they do suspect.
The other bone of contention for the Terrestrial Powers is South Tobias, now renamed Avalon in some circles (Mainly Arthurian Collaborators, the sensationalist news media and Covenant Keepers). As the land was a gift from the Vozvrashhenie (“Return”) sect of the Covenant Keepers, with a ceasefire in effect it seems that the Earth powers have no way to remove the Arthurians from it. THere are some pockets of territory that have been annexed by the Arthurians, but it seems the American owners are happy to give it up as lost. South Tobias is now a gigantic military base. Sattelite passes reveal that Arthurian military engineers have begun to build infrastructure for a much larger population than those left behind.
