By 2110 AD the Terrans had established a substantial presence on Barnard, exploiting the rich mineral deposits and building what was to become an important colony. Naturally Sharurshid (the Vilani corporate Bureau responsible for the rimward provinces) viewed this as a clear violation of their commercial rights. Matters were not helped by the fact that the Terran’s advanced biological technologies made their operations far more efficient. Over the first decade of the 22nd century tensions between the Terrans and the Vilani over Barnard had been gradually increasing. To the Vilani, it was intolerable that these minor races from Kheraa (Terra) should blatantly infringe on their commercial interests; to the Terrans the shear size and power of the Ziru Sirka bred fear and resentment.

Against this background the hawks amongst Earth’s nations built up their military strength on Barnard; whilst cooler heads amongst the Terrans attempted to negotiate an understanding. These negotiations turned out to be doomed from the start. Not only did each of the major Terran power blocs demand an independent voice in the negotiations; the Terrans just could not understand why the local Vilani negotiators constantly had to refer every single point to their superiors. To the Terrans, it appeared that the Vilani were deliberately obstructing negotiations. Nor could the Vilani understand the Terrans impatience; to them it appeared that the Terrans were just using them as a diversion while they took over Barnard by a fait accompli.

As both the Vilani and the Terrans reinforced their military presence around Barnard, tensions grew, tempers shortened and “incidents” increased in frequency. In 2110 AD a Sharurshid merchant convoy strayed into Terran airspace; in itself nothing too serious, this sort of incident had occurred countless times before. However this time was slightly different. Four weeks previously an armed Vilani merchant had fired warning shots at a Terran patrolship in a disputed zone and the previous patrolships drawn from the European Union had just been rotated out in for those of the Western League (the most hawkish of Earth’s power blocs at that time). Thus when the Vilani merchant failed to respond correctly to the UNSCA traffic control the Western League patrolship Canberra fired several warning shots in an attempt to force the convoy to land in Terran controlled territory. The convoy returned fire and attempted to flee as the Canberra gave pursuit. At this point a Sharurshid Gadni Type 56m escort arrived on the scene and opened fire on the Canberra. A brief running battle ensued which resulted in the destruction of the escort. During the final stages of this skirmish, the Vilani ground defences had engaged and damaged the Canberra. As a result of this the local Western League commander determined to neutralise the Vilani outpost on Barnard with a rapid ground assault. This failed, both sides reinforced their positions and the First Interstellar War had begun.