In 832 AS, Platinum was discovered in Galileo. The system’s rock fields had previously gone entirely unsurveyed due to hazardous dark matter pockets that ate away at hulls and masked sensors - not to mention the large populations of pirates. For reasons unknown, freelance pilot Taro Yamada had been surveying rocks in the field, and happened across a rich lode of Platinum Ore. Then another. And another. With Platinum mining in Shikoku dwindling to highly inefficient and expensive dust cloud particulate filtering, Yamada knew he had discovered something monumental.

He sold exclusive exploitation rights for his claim to DSE for an undisclosed sum. Simultaneously, he also sold exclusive exploitation rights to Kishiro Technologies and Samura Heavy Industries. Pocketing his windfall, Yamada vanished and has not been seen since, despite large bounties for his capture from all three corporations. The three have since been locked in fierce court battles on Manhattan and New Tokyo, with all three aggressively asserting their right to sole ownership of the field deposits. This has come to a head in recent days, with Samura initiating their own large scale mining deployment, in defiance of Libertonian court orders. With the impasse broken, the other two corporations have rushed their own assets into the system.

Violence has already become a common sight, with clashes between sponsored mercenaries, pirates and even corporate vessels directly. This comes at the worst possible time for relations between Liberty and Kusari, which have been on a downward spiral since the bombing of Roppongi, brazen Farmer’s Alliance attacks on Synth transports, and LSF whispers of a successful field trial of a Kusari jump drive. Squadrons aboard the Battleship Myoko and Carrier Ohio have come close to conflict several times after patrols intercepted one another in Galileo. Their respective High Commands have struggled to restrain hot-headed and impulsive elements within their forces.