For years the Corsairs, known as arguably the most powerful unlawful organization in Sirius, have been harrying the Omegas and Bretonia. According to Anna Heinrich, the chief in command of the Red Hessian Army, her forces have pushed them back from what the Hessians now call their space.

For the duration of the Corsair threat, they have been abiding by their non-aggression pact with Bretonia, whose aim was to unite the two sides against a powerful common enemy. Although the continuation of the pact suited Bretonia, more endangered than ever from the north, it denied the Hessians a source of income. Especially now, after Rheinland has signed a peace treaty with Liberty and is able to effectively fight piracy. Thus, the Hessians were waiting ready for the smallest cause to break the pact, and it was found recently in a stray independent pilot who fired his weapons, albeit without success, at an Armed Forces commodore.

The first Hessian incursion into Cambridge, reinforced by Coalition ships, expected light resistance and planned to return rich. However, the Bretonians were aware that the non-aggression pact was losing its purpose, so they had already prepared some defenses.

To turn tail and flee from a dying enemy, this one even of ideology they consider inferior? That was exactly what happened that day to the socialist forces, and although they managed to cover it up and make those who were suspicious disappear, they were striving for a rematch. And this time they will not underestimate their enemy.

The socialists are intending to cut Omega-3 off of the Norfolk Fleet in Cambridge. Their capital fleet and their strike wing are moving separately as they are coming from different bases. The capital fleet is intercepted in Omega-3 by an Armed Forces garrison of capital ships, but the strike wing manages to slip through the defenses and harass traffic in Cambridge while waiting for the cavalry, not aware that it has been attacked in Omega-3.
Meanwhile, the command staff aboard the Norfolk have concluded that the enemy in Omega-3 can be defeated with the forces available there, and have decided to send a strike wing to dispose of the enemy in Cambridge.

No matter who survives the day, it will be a turning point. There will be no coming back. It is peace that surely dies.