Saturn Rebellion

Background

The moons of Saturn were late-stage solar colonies, and as such benefited from increased technologies and populations that the earlier, inner colonies did not have. Titan became the center for plastic production throughout the system, and many other moons became dotted with scientific stations, small communities, and eventually settlements whose populations rivaled the early cities on Luna. With a steady flow of capital and a large population, the moons of Saturn asserted their position much like Luna and Mars had done a century earlier: creating institutions. Rhea became home to burgeoning outer-system industry and the first public university within the outer system—symbolically cutting off Saturn from the Mars(the nearest education center beforehand) and the inner solar system. The moons benefited from a frenzied industry, but given their size and distance from the Inner System, residents quickly began to see themselves as separate, despite the large presence Earth industries and governments had in Saturnian industry.

Beginnings of Revolt

With increasing symbolic independence, many Saturnians began to chafe under the control of corporations and governments who lead the first settlement of the moons long after the skittishness of Inner System colonization. Saturnian colonies were new, but much more controlled than their Inner System predecessors. In 2176, blood was first shed when Proctor Processing, based on Mars, increased fees for their processed water, heavily increasing the price of water for ordinary citizens of the moons. This move was less felt in the moons of Jupiter, who did not use Proctor machines as often as the Saturnian colones did.

After what seemed like betrayal by an Inner corporation, the attitude of many shifted to align with pro-independence groups. In April of 2178, the government of Leemhuis Technologies' main Rhea colony, with a population of around 8000, restricted offworld transportation, citing possible terrorist threats. Riots broke out in the colony, and demonstrations followed on other colonies around the Saturnian moons After four days, the travel restriction was lifted, but the damage was already done. The main independence movement, the Saturn Independence Front(SIF), had its membership skyrocket in the following weeks, and many small settlements pledged support. With support numbering around 46,000 in a orbital system of approximately 120,000, major Saturnian governments began to take serious notice of the SIF. Numerous corporations cracked down on security, and began to investigate possible SIF ties among employees, firing many.

Open Revolt

With an increasing jobless population as a result of the firings, the SIF grew in boldness, primarily by way of the newly desperate. Ozhan Industries, who provided private security for the colony of Iapetus' Tuyen Station, whose primary industry was the Ozhan-controlled manufacturing, pulled their security back to only their factories, citing in increase in SIF activity endangering their operations that they could not control.

Following that move, Tuyen Station's civilian government officially joined the SIF. Many were stunned by that development, and other corporations began to change their security to better protect their assets within the Saturn orbital system in response to the official stance of Ozhan Industries: that dangerous SIF cells had created terror within Tuyen Station, requiring Ozhan to reallocate its security to protect its assets. In order to save face, the mass layoffs and security rearrangements were being watered down for the media.

In 2179, two more major colonies aligned themselves with the SIF. With this development, SIF command held a conference of major leaders and drew up a declaration of independence, forming a loose coalition of united Saturnian colonies which nullified their corporate and national allegiances.

In response to this egregious move, private and municipal securities increased in non-coalition colonies, both within the Saturn system and among Jupiter's moons. Many companies filed for government assistance with putting down the rebellion, claiming that the colonies were breaching their corporate contracts and illegally seizing company assets. Numerous nations, specifically the United States, China, the South African Union, Tsarist Russia, and Brazil, contributed official military aid to companies trying to retake their colonies. South Africa and Tsarist Russia also sent troops toward Saturn to retake their rebellious government colonies. The United Martian Colonies declared neutrality in the matter, and for PR purposes deemed the seizure of Proctor Processing property on Saturnian moons illegal and “deplorable.” The Martian Coalition, the other dominant Martian power, was made no statement, even though there were corporations headquartered within it were affected.

As tensions within the Saturn system heated up, security forces present continued to defend their holdings, and awaited the incoming troops. While the Inner System prepared its forces to go to Saturn, the SIF began the process of forming a legitimate government. Given its popularity and increasing resources, SIF was able to take control of a series of manufacturing plants, and began retrofitting mining vessels into warships for the brewing trouble. Altintop City, the third most populous city within the Saturn system, located on Titan, officially joined the SIF after the majority of its private security forces ceased usual policing duties and began shipping all plastics reserves offworld.

Reinforcements

By 2180, all Inner System troops had arrived in the Saturn system. They were quickly dispatched to SIF-held colonies. However, these colonies were well-defended, and numerous casualties on the side of the Inner System troops resulted from SIF's large amount of converted mining ships and newly constructed military bases. However, despite the initial SIF victory, the element of surprise faded quickly, and once the SIF ships were in the open, they could easily be destroyed by Inner System missiles and cannons.

Altintop City, located underground except for agricultural areas, was the site of the largest battle in the initial fighting. The new SIF government evacuated to Tuyen Station, and many citizens of Altintop City either left or fought against the corporate and national troops attempting to retake the city. After two weeks of slow fighting throughout the corridors and chambers of Altintop, joint corporate-US-Brazilian forces retook the city and restarted the plastic industry in order to fulfill months of backlog.

The corporate-national forces made Altintop their official headquarters, and began weeding out SIF elements on Titan, including the controversial imprisonment of Deputy-Governor Antonio Collins on September 2nd, 2180. SIF continued a long campaign of quasi-guerilla warfare against the Inner System forces, who were still in the process of retaking the system. After a month of heavily-increased plastic production, the Titan labor unions, barely tolerated by the corporations before the revolt, began open revolt against the corporations, using weapons and assets supplied by SIF.

In 2181, with the region stabilized except for the various colonies still aligned with SIF facilitating some rioting and skirmishes, the nations of the Inner System deemed the situation within the ability of the corporations to control and the national troops were withdrawn. Following this, the normal riots and skirmishes continued, albeit with more effectiveness. Altintop City fell once again to SIF, and the Taking of Altintop was heralded as the lynchpin in the long campaign for independence.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 150%" lang="en-US">With Altintop retaken and the major nations tired of fighting a war so far from home, the SIF began to create a comprehensive military plan for full independence. Using their facilities, SIF commissioned a small amount of true warships—small corvettes based on designs for large transport vessels. Three of the new corvettes, assisted by converted mining vessels, engaged a small flotilla of commercial transport and combat vessels in orbit around Mimas. The SIF forces won the battle by all accounts, resulting in a massive financial and PR blow to the corporations involved with shipping plastic out of the Saturn system and policing the colonies.

<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 150%">Following this blow, the remaining corporate forces, having lost sway with tired and busy Inner System governments, consolidated their power in the colonies they still controlled. Sensing the continuing shift in power, more and more colonies sloughed off their corporate and national allegiances and joined SIF's coalition every day. A normal state of small skirmishes against the fledgling corporate powers continued for the next four years.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 150%" lang="en-US">Finally, in 2186, SIF launched an assault against the last corporate colonies, landing troops and blasting any surviving corporate ships. Following a few half-hearted battles with security forces whose hearts were not, and may have never been, in the fight, SIF succeeded in their goal of liberating the Saturn system, and set about forming a true government for the newly liberated orbital system.