Shaps Crisis

The Shaps Crisis was a short-lived period of military and political clashes between the UNSC and the Saggitarius Republics of the Madaran Fringe.

Background
Although contact was reestablished with the Saggitarius Republics right after the Covenant War's conclusion in 2553, the UNSC maintained a policy of leaving rogue human populations to their own devices. Driven by recognition that removing the Torchbearers from the Human Sphere was by far the greater priority, and the UNSC had lost far too much during the Covenant War to also put resources in combating human insurgencies too, Lord Terrence Hood of the UNSC Security Council proclaimed that the UNSC would not interfere in the affairs of rogue human worlds until their fate was determined by the UEG Senate. This was part of Hood's larger policy to both transition back to civilian control, and build up trust the UNSC's trust with all human communities, both allied and otherwise. After all, only half a lifetime ago, the Human Sphere had been rocked by civil war, and Hood was not keen to weaken humanity's position while surrounded by so many external threats.

Unfortunately, this was a view that many others even within his own organization did not share, and the sovereignty of the Madaran colonies had been violated several times. In 2553, before Hood's announcement, a small battle group had been deployed to Gao to investigate rumors of a Forerunner artifact found on the planet. The ensuring Monteroan Incident involved the theft and destruction of a Line Installation and fighting between Gaoan and UNSC troops; to avoid a war that was detrimental to both parties, it was covered up. Not desiring a repeat of the incident, Gao's president Arlo Casille journeyed to other nearby, like-minded worlds to discuss the possibility of creating a united faction to oppose future UNSC aggression. Diplomats and politicians were invited from Talista, Venezia, and multiple minor worlds, with mixed feelings; there were concerns that uniting could threaten the UNSC and invite their attention, that lucrative trade would be cut off and more importantly, a centralised polity might create the same issues that caused them to revolt in the first place. Still, the talks continued, and a secret defence pact had been signed between first Gao and Venezia, then the minor colonies, and finally Talista.

Their fears were no doubt unfounded. Although the UNSC distanced itself from the Saggitarius Republics, the Office of Naval Intelligence remained active here. Informants had been dispersed throughout the region, and ONI often struck in stealth attacks to sabotage what they felt were rebel attempts to arm themselves. It was during one such operation when they stumbled into the Shaps system, a relatively minor star system notable only as a transit point between Venezia and Gao. They were tracing the recent proliferation of minor Forerunner artifacts, which saw them uncover the excavation of a massive city on the system's third planet. This was far too big to destroy with nuclear weapons, but it could not be ignored due to the implications of allowing Insurrectionists access to such advanced technology. As a result, ONI went behind Hood's back to gain approval from the UEG for the deployment of a massive fleet to secure Shaps III, citing the Treaty of Arusha which allowed them to "secure Forerunner sites of strategic significance."

Aftermath
The Shaps Crisis' was one of the most important and pivotal moments in the Via Casilina Community's history. Previously, although the colonies of the Madara Fringe had acted and traded independently from the larger Human Sphere, the UEG and by extension the UNSC still considered them as part of their colonial empire. With the ratification of the Treaty of Terceira after the Crisis' conclusion, the UNSC had to recognize them as their own sovereign entity, giving up their claims and plans for reoccupying the region in the future. It established total political, legislative, judicial, and commercial independence from the larger UEG and later the Phoenix Initiative, and firm borders that defined where their respective territories were. Crucially, it also cut off the military protection that the colonies previously benefited from, which would be a driving factor for their unification into the Via Casilina Community.

The entire period was seen as an embarrassment for the UNSC, and demonstrated several hard lessons they had to appreciate. The biggest was that nobody was quite yet willing to fight another war against a human opponent. Even though the UNSC had a decisive military advantage over the Madaran colonies in all areas, exercising that was problematic as many servicemen refused to commit to battle unless they themselves were fired upon. There were even instances where soldiers gave up positions without firing a shot, and those that did usually expressed profound regret or even more serious mental illnesses over ending human lives. In addition, the UNSC was extremely sensitive to unrest among its civilian population, and the threat of widespread civil war acted as a sword of Damocles that hung over any suggestion to invade the rogue colonies.

The Shaps Crisis also established the influence that Covenant successor-states could have on human politics. The Strewn Shore was deeply concerned with the escalating situation outside their rimward borders, and in any case preferred the creation of a buffer-state that separated them from the larger UNSC. Even the Concord of Reconciliation urged the UNSC to end the crisis quickly, as a prolonged invasion scenario would've tied up ships that would've been used to combat the Torchbearers in the Human Sphere and the Hades Gulf.