On November 15th wy549, after fifteen years of the [[The Whistler Colonial Corporate Council|Council]]'s "reintegration" strategy following the invention of the [[Mao-MacGregor Jump Drive|M²]] drive, the local governments of [[Grove]], [[Foxglove]], and [[Canto]] filed the [[Articles of Secession]], officially declaring independence from the [[The Whistler Colonial Corporate Council]] and establishing a set of defense treaties amongst themselves. These decisions were made with overwhelming popular support, the colonists having been independent of [[The Whistler Colonial Corporate Council|Council]] meddling in all but name for centuries. And the three secessionist colonies hadn't been idle. In the years leading up to the production of the [[Mao-MacGregor Jump Drive|M²]] drive they had amassed massive, complimentary armed forces and significant defenses, including the three massive and deadly [[Lakota-class Dreadnought]]s from [[Grove]]'s [[Cheyenne Drive Yards]]. In the five years that followed, [[The Whistler Colonial Corporate Council|the Council]] attempted numerous tactics to bring the secessionists to the negotiating table, including a number of crippling embargoes that threatened to starve the population of [[Foxglove]] en masse. In wy554, the secessionist governments began nationalizing, dismantling, and selling off the local divisions of [[The Whistler Colonial Corporate Council|Council]]-member corporate entities. The response from [[The Whistler Colonial Corporate Council|the Council]] was swift and brutal. On August 11th, wy554, dive-capable elements of the WDF 3rd Fleet surfaced in [[Canto]] and began the systemic orbital bombardment of the system's civic and government centers. The assault, while not directly targeting manufacturing or industry, disrupted the population and economy of [[Canto]] to the point that it has never quite recovered. The resulting shooting war would go on for the next 36 years, until September 9th, wy590 at the [[Battle of Grove]], [[Jack Cartwright]] disobeyed orders and rammed [[WDF Indomitable]] into [[Grove Orbital]].