The Wessari Annexation was the military invasion and occupation of the Wessari species and their homeworld by the Greater Terran Union. It was the first planetary incursion executed by Land Force Command. While true integration for the species into the larger civil apparatus of the GTU would not occur for years to come, many regard the annexation as an unpleasant but necessary step in the histories of both humanity and the Wessari.
Background[]
On July 18, 2220, the TUS Hawking completed its survey of the Raznum star system, a strategically vital hyperlane alley. Plans had already been drawn to claim and fortify the system, but these were halted when it was reported that a primitive alien civilization was already present on a world in the habitable zone. They called themselves the Wessari, and their world Wessar. While they had yet to breach the light barrier, preliminary reconnaissance revealed a number of artificial satellites and fission propulsion drives in the upper atmosphere. Examinations of their broadcasts revealed that total political unification was on the horizon, with leading Terran xenologists predicting that the species was mere years from developing a hyperdrive and becoming yet another competing empire.
The Union was facing an increasingly drastic food shortage at the time, and the diverse ocean ecologies of Wessar were seen as a fast remedy. First contact with the Sophox Garden of Worlds on December 1st, 2221, a nation witch directly bordered the system, forced the National Council's hand. An emergency vote was held, with a narrow majority deciding that the threat of these two alien civilizations was intolerable. One would have to be dealt with.
Invasion[]
On June 22nd, 2222, Fleet Command disabled the orbital infrastructure of Wessar, destroying its communications network, various astronomical instruments, and single inhabited station. Land Force Command initiated ground operations on August 27th. While just under ninety-five percent of the surface was a single ocean, maritime warfare made up a small fraction of the fighting.
Atmospheric strike craft were able to annihilate a twelve of the Wessari nations' fourteen major fleets in the first week of the invasion. Avci spent considerable resources searching the ocean for submarines, which orbital sensors had been unable to detect. This turned out to be because the Wessari maintained no military submarines in this period of their history, having decommissioned them years earlier.
Most of the populous islands were concentrated in the southern hemisphere in isolated longitudinal pockets, allowing for several well-placed blockades to completely isolate them from each other.
The campaign was swift, with the entire planet being secured after only twenty-four days of fighting. Studies have indicated that the Wessari, while not yet unified, had been experiencing an unusually peaceful era of mutual trust and disarmament, leaving them with minimal defensive capabilities. Even had they been prepared, they were still decades behind in technological advancement.
Aftermath[]
The annexation of the Wessari, whose existence hadn't been made public until after the invasion was over, immediately sparked furious controversy. Such an extreme act was in direct confrontation with many of the tenets citizens prided themselves on, those of level-headed preparedness and moral fortitude, not domination. Even the more xeno-tolerant factions of the Union saw the absorption of the Wessari as cruel, as their integration into a xenophobic and human-supremacist society might be impossible. Acadian colonists questioned why a fleet had been diverted from the Algan border amidst a brewing war.
Documents were soon leaked which presented irrefutable evidence that at least one member of the National Council supported the invasion solely to test humans against alien armies without lasting astropolitical repercussions. This scandal led to the voluntary resignation of Gabriel Akintola as Marshal of State Security, an attempt to shift direct blame away from the military. This quieted concerns in the National Assembly, which had grown critical of the Council in ways not seen since before the establishment of the office of the High Marshal.
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The treaty concluded that they would remain within GTU space, follow the Terran Code of Conduct. And be integrated into the Terran currency system.
Many called for the expulsion of the Wessari from their homeworld in order to make room for human colonists, but the National Council instead decided to utilize the alien race in service to the Union, a controversial yet equally laudable venture. The economy and federal bureaucracy was already struggling to support its other two extrasolar colonies, and depriving humanity of extra workers was seen as counterproductive. Raznum and the surrounding space was converted into the Wessari Occupation Zone, where the new species would be confined until the integration process advanced. Wessar would be designated Artemis, and would remain unstable for several years.
Legacy[]
The subject of the Wessari Annexation continued to split the Union for years to come. As became standard integration policy, the only positions of authority the Wessari could find at first were within their homeworld's government or the auxiliary forces. Measures were put in place to segregate them from human civilians, these remaining in place until after the first Terran-Compact War, when they would earn tiers of citizenship for their military service.
Despite the countless Wessari who showed ultimate devotion to the GTU in both peace and war, they would remain subordinate to humans for centuries. Regardless, they were constant champions for the Pan-Terran Movement, with the first aliens to serve in the admiralty, National Assembly, and National Council all being Wessari. It was also High Marshal Tryjan, daughter of Enim, who declared the elimination of all racial requirements for citizenship tier in 2756.