Second Saturn Crisis
The Second Saturn Crisis was a series of small conflicts that occurred around the Saturn system, principally on the moons of Mimas, Titan and Iapetus.
Background
After the ratification of the Treaty of Saturn, the U.N had limited colonization rights to the three Saturn satellites it had already settled. Lacking the shipping and industry to sponsor state colonies in the sector, the U.N was dependent on the British Petroleum megacorporation to maintain the mining outposts. From 2027 to 2030, BP rapidly expanded its operations in the sector, which in turn lead to a massive boom in population - Iapetus alone hosted a population of nearly three hundred thousand BP employees and other UN-affiliated civilians.
However, two key problems quickly emerged as a result of BP's rapid colonial growth. Living conditions were incredibly uncomfortable for the workers of the colony, and the difficulty of exercising U.N oversight (except on Titan) effectively left BP in sole control of the UN Saturnian mines.
Poor Conditions
On November 17th, 2030, after another round of Iapetus expansions, the first grumblings of the workers in the Saturn sector were heard. With the announcement that more workers would be shipped to the cramped Iapetus and Mimas facilities, several small groups of miners gathered together and began to draft a list of complaints to the management of BP. The small movement saw significant growth, when less then twenty days later, BP announced another, even larger expansion of Iapetus, further exacerbating the overpopulation problem.
As a response to criticism of over population, BP announced on December 27th that it would expand living facilities on Mimas. Several labor leaders from the BP colonies made a televised response, pleading for civilian administrators to oversee the BP executives on Mimas and Iapetus. They claimed that the garrison battalions, despite nominally being under the command of UNGF officers, were in the pockets of the BP execs and do little to enforce the human rights of the workers there.[1]
As a response, the U.N decided to sent administrators Jihad Joe and occipitallobe to Mimas and Iapetus to over see the colonies and to try and reassert UN authority over the increasingly renegade BP executives of the Saturn system. Col. SPERMCUBE.ORG was also dispatched to oversee the UN police garrisons of the sector.
Deteriorating Situation
Jihad Joe and occipitallobe arrived on February 23rd 2031. They quickly found that they had their work cut out for them. BP executives had gotten use to having the Saturn system as their own personal fiefdoms and were reluctant to allow the UN greater authority. This was however a sentiment shared only on Mimas and Iapetus, Titan had had a UN overseer since the early days of its colonization, so it was used to the UN presence and was more resistant to the rampant corruption the the Saturn system.
On March 22nd, amid another round of expansion in Iapetus, workers managed to smuggle missives and videos out of the sector. These showcased BP abused, including private security forces bullying workers and poor living conditions. Worker morale was at an all time low, and rumblings about worker actions against BP began to emerge. BP officials in turn were determined to make sure no worker action occurred, fearing that an organized effort by workers would cut into their bottom line.
