The Hindenburg, en route on a trading mission to the Zheronian planet Kel'reca in 1954, became caught in a crossfire between the Zheronian military and the Kel'recan Liberation Front, a faction of members of the Kel'recan species that sought independence from the Zheronian Empire. The Hindenburg's engines were damaged in the insurrection, and the Reich sent a fleet, commanded by Erich von Manstein, to assist the Zheronians to quell the Kel'recan Insurrection.