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	827 AS - Cologne Falls to Hessian Invasion
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	827 AS - Rheinland Plunges into Civil War

Cologne Falls to Hessian Invasion

COLOGNE - Rheinland's descent into civil war has impacted almost every aspect of life in the tumultuous House. No-where is this truer than the frontier system of Cologne, which has fallen to the forces of the Red Hessians. Cologne has long been subject to raids by Hessian and Unioner pirates, but the latest attacks represent a concentration of Hessian forces unprecedented since the Fall of Dresden in 818 AS. Reliable reports indicate that the Red Hessian battleship Kassel led the incursion into the system - its first sighting since the destruction of the Bretonian battleship Gwent earlier last year.

Raids on the Cologne system had up to this point been subdued by the large population of Bounty Hunters garrisoned on Tholey Station. Federal subsidies had encouraged large numbers of Guild pilots to head to the Cologne frontier in order to hunt pirates throughout the local region. This heavy reliance on the Guild had previously been criticised by as unreliable and inhumane by Rheinland's United Democratic Foundation political party, due to the Guild's penchant for killing rather than detaining "inconvenient" revolutionaries. Following recent elections and the formation of a more liberal ruling coalition, the Federal Government had committed to reviewing the system's security status.

With the outbreak of the Rheinlandic Civil War and intense fighting in Stuttgart, neither the Federal or Imperial militaries have had the resources to respond adequately to rapidly deteriorating situation in the system. It is believed that the Red Hessians exploited this fact by redeploying forces from all across the their Omega theatres of operations in order to launch the overwhelming strike. Tholey Station was abandoned by the Guild upon realising the scale of the force opposing them, prompting the undergunned Federal Police garrison to evacuate soon after. In the sporadic fighting that followed, Tholey Station amd Wuppertal Refinery were occupied and Olpe Border Station destroyed altogether.

The system's fall comes at a critical moment in time, with the completion of the Zurich jump gate occuring mere days before the offensive. Originally sponsored by the Gallic Crown, the trans-Zurich corridor was intended to act as a super-highway between southern Gallia and Rheinland's rich resources. This project was later enthusiastically supported by both the Gallic Confederacy and Federal Rheinland, with the intention of boosting economic cooperation and investment between the two Houses. While the Confederacy's political factions remain gridlocked on the issue of Rheinland's Civil War, it is clear that the fall of Cologne represents a severe blow to Gallic ambitions in southern Sirius. Trade within Zurich has consequently stalled to almost nothing, with heavy losses being incurred by EFL Oil and Machinery, who had invested heavily in its success.

Confederal forces have already been deployed to the Zurich system in order to safeguard critical Gallic infrastructure. Hessians in the Cologne system have been put on notice that any pilots approaching the Zurich jump gate will be fired upon without hesitation. The extension of CDF and Gallic Intelligence patrols into Cologne is likely to have a significant impact on local affairs. Rheinlandic officials have not yet commented on the Gallic incursion, but have blamed the Hessian's push into Cologne on the Federal government's "underfunding" of security forces in the area. Despite Imperial claims that the system will be reoccupied "promptly", the Hessians appear to be preparing to dig in for the long term, with landing sites being established on the Saarbrucken terraforming site. How this will impact their broader operations remains to be seen.

Colony News Service