Rebellion in Aitvani
26 Sep 2024Argon Shadowstar
The Aitvani system: an Imperial stronghold on the frontier and a vital link in the military-industrial supply chain for Lavigny's Legion. For several weeks now, terrorist attacks on multiple military stockpiles in the system have been degrading Imperial control of the system and providing opportunities for local anti-Imperial groups to establish a foothold. Now, recent events have put Imperial military forces in jeopardy as full scale war has broken out across the system. In response, Lavigny's Legion has deployed fleet carriers and elite combat forces to the system to crush the rebellion in an all too typical display of Imperial heavy handedness. Of course, the rebels are aware of the might of the Empire and know that they cannot possibly hope to achieve victory in the current conflict, but such is the state of the galaxy that it has become preferable to die free than to live as a slave, literally or figuratively.The Northern Culture has taken it upon themselves to spearhead the rebellion, battling the Order of the Imperial Knights for control of the system. Although they are not local, they have successfully empowered other systems to secede from the superpowers and this seems to be no different. I can claim some responsibility for setting these events in motion, after all, as an Order system, it was inevitable that I would have to deal with it eventually. However, I was not quite expecting to see the rest of the system rise up so readily to challenge the Empire, especially considering the probable outcome. Regardless, it only benefits my campaign. As regrettable as the colossal loss of life will be, such is the evil of the Empire that such drastic measures are necessary to liberate the oppressed from their rule. The eagerness of the rebels to fight only highlights the truth of this statement.
In practical terms, I expect this conflict to go the way that my operation in Tatuba went, and it does indeed seem to be progressing that way. The Empire responds in its typical meat headed fashion, moving overwhelming forces into the system to crush any vestiges of rebellion, and then will likely launch a system wide crackdown, murdering anyone that survived the conflict they suspect of having anything to do with it. I have already established safe houses and secure locations for such individuals to shelter in, should they do so. Unfortunately, this will do nothing for the accused innocents who will likely be caught up in this. Such regrettable occurrences are part of rebellion, unfortunately. Fortunately, every innocent slain will further stain the Empire's already thoroughly soiled honor, and turn yet more systems against them. So at least those lives are not lost for nothing. I have also engineered the situation such that the rebels will be empowered to continue the fight indefinitely, or until the Order is driven out of the system as it was in Tatuba. In the end, I had manipulated the other factions in the system to turn against the Order and they effectively did my job for me. I expect something similar will work here. It did take several months, however. Not terribly surprising, after all such stubbornness is typical of authoritarians, and especially tyrants. The longer they take to realize that they have been pulled into a protracted conflict with no end, the longer they will have to pull their attention away from other fronts, and the more collateral damage will be inflicted upon the system.
How unfortunate.