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Originally Posted by (E)
Question 40
What was the last major conflict in the system?
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Answer 40
Battle of Proxima Terminus
Extreme spacesuit operations at the Sun-Mercury L1, and combined tank war on Mercury's sun-side
Background:
Mercury has been settled for 150 years, where "settled" means "mined and industrialised." Mining products are He-3 for fusion power and heavy minerals from the planet's dense regolith. Due to Mercury's extreme daylight temperatures of 700°C, standard procedure is for a mobile mining head facility to operate a shaft for most of the 176 Earth days of a Mercury night, then relocate across to another shaft on the opposite terminator and work it for the next night-period. So apart from the permanent polar settlements, Mercury's surface is peppered with open mine shafts on the dayside, and crawler mounted mining settlements on the nightside. In general, mining companies operate along a particular latitude band, with a number of mobile mining heads operating simultaneously.
Politically, Mercury's had a perennial issue with territoriality and sovereignty. Mining companies have been essentially working unclaimed territory. Extra-territorial governments try to lay claim to sectors of the planet's surface, but corporate security and rival exo-government forces drive them off in alternating waves. Alongside this, the populace of mining staff, who originally were just contractors shipped in for multi-year stints, after several generations of native residence on the planet, have started agitating for their own native sovereignty. Earlier movements were soon put down, but now sovereignty groups have been gaining off-world governmental support to hopefully bring stability to the planet, and the agitators have learnt that it's more effective to pay someone else to spill their blood for your cause rather than risk your own.
One disruptive tactic the partisans would use is to occupy mine shafts after the mine heads move off them, and hold them for the duration of the day-cycle, hiding deep down in the cooler depths of the mines. Then, after 6 months of habitation, the squatters could try to claim territorial rights against the mining companies or disrupt their operations. This of course just led to bloodier and nastier battles, and companies started taking the precaution of stationing guards in the empty shafts for the sunny season, which led to battles with partisans on the bright sun-scorched plains in 700° weather, fought over empty holes in the ground.
Proxima Terminus Station
Launched 40 years ago, Proxima Terminus was the closest inhabited human settlement to the Sun, stationed at the Sun-Mercury L1 at an altitude of 300,000km as a solar observatory and comms platform. With successive military actions occurring on the landscape below, however, it gained strategic value as well.
Thus, in the last round of military action, Mercurial partisan group
Warriors of Nabu, with backing from a faction of the UMCS, attempted to oust the garrisoned Ares Network forces operating on behalf of United Mercury Mineral Extractions. The action was complicated by Nabu forces entrenching anti-orbital rail guns deep inside mining wells to lend artillery support against ships approaching the station. This then necessitated a ground battle with an Ares tank division specially adapted for the unique extreme combat environment, fighting against entrenched Nabu forces in adapted mining mechs with UMCS-supplied arms.
While Ares Network contractors eventually successfully held Proxima Terminus, there is a significant amount of political fallout continuing back on Mars, with many seeing the action as a proxy battle between the Martian states of UMCS and IDMS, both of whom have high stakes in the outcome of Mercury's territoriality.
Question 49
On the Ark, what relationship did the passenger races have with each other?
Were they all isolated, incommunicado from each other, or could they interact, trade and mingle?
Do any rivalries, alliances or collusions exist now from their time on the Ark?
Belated edit:
Question 50
For this kind of scenario to play out on Mercury, there would have to be some body that territorial claims could be made to- like the old International Court of Justice, a treaty body, or even just the court of public opinion. There would also need to be a way to enforce decisions or bring punitive measures against a defendant. So what's the situation?