System: Primus

[3030] On 13 September, just two days after the Andurien Secession, the Duchy’s forces jumped the border and struck at key targets in the Confederation. There was little finesse in the initial attacks; rather, they were attempts to shatter the Confederation’s resistance before they realized the new war had begun. Four worlds were targeted in the initial wave, with two more attacked at the end of the year once the initial CCAF response had been measured and found lacking.

The first military operation of the war saw a battalion of the mercenary Tooth of Ymir drop onto the agrarian world of Primus. Little resistance was expected or present at the landings, and the Tooth quickly established control over the few major urban centers. The small planetary militia faded away, but an underground movement grew up in its place, determined to resist the “Davion perfidy.”

This idea grew up because Primus’ population assumed the mercenary landings were a continuance of the Federated Suns’ invasion of the Confederation, and while the major population centers soon learned different, it would be some months before rural districts followed suit, and even at the liberation some farmsteads talked of the “Davion occupation.”

This resistance movement could do little to oppose the Tooth militarily, and instead sought to sabotage the Andurien war effort, harassing the supply shipments routed through Primus — the principal reason for occupying Primus was to use it as a supply distribution hub and source of foodstuffs — and intimidating those farmers who chose to cooperate with the invaders. In the months that followed the occupation, attacks on the Andurien troops were minimal (aside from the odd sniper attack or mugging) but reports of lynching of collaborators became an everyday occurrence.

[3032] Sister world to Prix, the supply caches of Primus were a juicy target for McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, another two regiments attacking the occupied world concurrently with Prix in June 3032. With a minimal garrison and no Andurien line units present, it is ironic that Primus inflicted the largest single loss of life on Big Mac in the war.

As the First McCarron’s, the Nightriders, descended toward the defenseless world, one of their Union-class DropShips suffered a drive failure during re-entry. Spinning out of control, the vessel disintegrated, killing all the passengers and crew, more than sixty souls. The occupation of Primus itself was accomplished with no additional loss of life.

There are no functional factories located on this planet.